“Yeah, maybe. I probably should digitize my notes, like you said, but I also don’t want you hacker types breaking into them when my password is as easy to crack as the name of my first pet.”
“I wish my teachers in high school could have been that understanding. All I did was not turn in assignments. But, signed Captain America cards? I think Coulson’s more your bet for meeting Thor if he knows the Avengers personally.”
“The hacker types will break into your notes whether your password is the name of your first pet or the entire script of Shrek the Third, so it really doesn’t matter. Oh. Sorry. I was supposed to be comforting.”
“Signed Captain America cards. Some of our nights on the plane consisted entirely of bothering Coulson about the Avengers. He’s really tired of people asking him what Captain smells of.”
“That’s so cool,” Alexis said. “God, I wish I were good at
computers and stuff, but on some days I barely know how to turn mine on.
Are you sure you won’t, like, get in trouble for sharing stuff? I don’t
want to get you fired, and even if Coulson’s understanding, he can’t be
that understanding.”
“Want some help with that? I mean, when people come to me with computer problems I usually ask them if they’ve tried turning it on and off again, but if you want to, we can work on your skills. Or, the lack of them.”
“He really can. Coulson went against S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol after I-” she stopped, her voice cracking ever so slightly. Though Skye knew what phantom pain was and how it worked, she still somehow found her hand travelling to her abdomen. “- did a really reckless thing, so, at this point, he wouldn’t just throw me out. I also know where he keeps his signed Captain America cards. For leverage.”
Amelia snapped her jaw closed before she started drooling and nodded about the coffee. She wasn’t a terribly huge coffee drinker but she had a feeling her hours as a student might change that. She visibly winced at the words ‘liberal hacker scum’, scandalized. “That is insane.” She said in almost awe. It was a tie between which part of that sentence to focus on, the offending title or that fact that Skye had actually met someone with abilities. Amelia had found that no one really talked about them and any trail she had found was sealed tight behind dozens of fire walls and encryptions. The only thing she had to work off was what was commonly known about the avengers. “So you sort of had the crash course on all things Shield huh? From the inside. How was it?”
She extended a full cup of coffee to Amelia (who didn’t seem like a coffee person, but the milk she’d added would hopefully smooth things over) before picking up hers, cradling it in her hands for some well-needed warmth. The way Amelia lived Skye’s words without holding back was insanely adorable and she had to admit it was nice to finally share the stories with someone that didn’t go through them with her. “Fast-paced. Unexpected. Kinda scary, but you didn’t hear it from me. I was anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. before I met Coulson, but he and hi- our team proved me wrong.” Snapping out of the thoughts that overcame her after saying that, her eyes flickered back to the girl. “Anything else you want to know? There’s a lot to tell, I just don’t know where to start or whether to start at all. It’d probably take us all night.”
“How was I supposed to know what the logo was? As far as I knew, the CIA had recently gone through a rebranding. Eagles are quintessentially American, and they can see everything.” There’s not much Alexis remembers about that day, other than a sense of terror and exhaustion, but at the academy, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s logo certainly was everywhere.
“And is there even anything bad to say about Captain America? I mean, the guy’s perfect, right?”After the Battle of New York, the Avengers had been all over the news for months, even as the members went underground. Cap had been the only one with an approval rating of over 50%, like they were all running for president or something and he was winning.“I kind of want to develop our own transport to Asgard and the other realms. Interstellar space travel is a dream.”
One piece of information caught Alexis’ attention, though. She’d basically told her entire life story to Skye, while knowing nothing about the other girl. Maybe, if she didn’t mind… “What sort of hacker group? Doesn’t the exposure of state secrets kind of go against S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mission?”
“When you do, tell Thor hi from me.”
“Rising Tide? The network dedicated to exposing powered individuals and other things they don’t want us to know? S.H.I.E.L.D. apprehended me after I beat them to finding someone and then decided to keep me around if I promised to behave, but clearance levels are just numbers I don’t care about and Coulson said nothing about not sharing things with a future S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.”
“Yeah, he kind of did act like a cool dad. Brought me coffee. I expected more of a 24-style interrogation, especially since they didn’t tell me what agency it was at first, with Jack Bauer busting down my door and beating me until I told them which enemy country I was working for. Instead he was pretty chill and in the end offered to let me come here. Best case scenario, all things considered.”
“Now that is awesome. Are they actually gods, or just aliens? Can you even tell me that? Sorry.” Alexis looked away a bit sheepishly. “No need to spill state secrets.”
“So, they don’t tell you what agency they’re from, but they have their logo on everything? Honestly. I’ve seen it on water bottles. They’ll probably fire me for this, but S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t that good of a secret organisation,” she retorted. “In all seriousness, he’s great. I’m lucky to have stumbled onto him and not some other stone-faced prick, even though he hogs the mic and will hold a grudge if you say something negative about Captain America.”
“Both, actually. ‘God’ is a man-made term. The technical definition would be ‘aliens that arrived to earth, shocked the fuck out of everyone and as mankind had never had contact with creatures from other planets, jumped straight onto the opportunity of giving them credit for this,’” Skye motioned all around herself with her hand, then setting it down onto her lap again. “Alexis, I’ve worked for an anonymous hacker group that was hellbent on establishing freedom of information. I can tell you everything if you want to.”
“Coulson was the agent that interrogated me after… that thing I did,” Alexis said. “At least, I think that was his name. Coulson? Carter? Collins? It began with a C. I don’t think I could picture him doing karaoke.” She stifled a giggle at the thought of whoever that agent had been singing (probably drunkenly, because nobody did karaoke while sober) Phil Collins in front of other people.
“So, do you like working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
“Did he try too hard to give off a cool dad vibe? If so, it was him. Coulson interrogated me, too, but without the scary government douche act. He actually sounded like he was about to make me a friendship bracelet and take me out for margaritas.”
“Occupational hazards aside, yes. So far I’ve met like, three Asgardians. If the order is correct, Thor should be next. Fingers crossed.”
Alexis blushed. This was officially much, much better than high school. “Thank you. You deserve it as well, you know.” She smiled at the other girl, thankful it had been her who’d heard her groan earlier. “Is that a common occurrence around here? Because I feel like I could get in on that debate - the answer is, of course, that the only people that are inherently evil are the people who fucked up Firefly.”
“Of course I do. I didn’t live through all of the karaoke nights and Coulson hogging the mic for nothing. The team started calling him Phil Collins after the last disaster,” she shuddered, fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater. “But don’t tell him I told you that. It’s classified.”
“Jesus. I don’t think the lax bros at my school made as many dick jokes as you do. But yet again, they didn’t like me much, so I’m not sure why they would have made dick jokes with me.” Alexis shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t know why I keep bringing up bad high school experiences. If this is a place where I can openly be a nerd, I’m ready to leave that all behind me, I think. Thanks for being so kind to me, Skye.”
“I’ve had slightly more practice with both the jokes and what they’re about,” she laughed, features softening in preparation for what she was about to say. “You deserve it. I mean, everyone deserves kindness, but some people more than others. Slightly. Or maybe not everyone. I’ll get back to you on that after staying up all night debating whether people are inherently evil and why Firefly was cancelled.”
“Lindley,” Alexis said. “I don’t think they built a monument in my honor. Unless monuments nowadays include biohazard signs.” But when Skye called her the coolest person she’d met today - that felt good. “Thanks. It… means a lot. To not be the weird nerd girl anymore. It seems like there’s a lot of those types here.”
“If it’s up and people stop to look at it, it’s a monument. And not in the very wrong way. Don’t stop to think about it. Definitely not an innuendo,” she explained hurriedly, struggling to keep the last of her dignity intact. “Oh, this place is packed with nerds. But, being called one isn’t that bad of a thing. It just means they’re intimidated by your -” more noncommittal hand gestures towards the girl, “ - everything and are hiding behind one syllable words.”
“I might of messed up a science experiment,” Alexis admitted, “that might of damaged my school. And made it a quarantine zone because of radiation.” She looked down at her hands a bit sheepishly, but with a smile. “Science is hard. But it got me here, so there’s that.”
“So, my question is, when are we gonna take a field trip to the monument built in your honour? I’d like to go on the record and say that you, Alexis, uh-” she tried to recall whether the girl had ever shared her last name, but she came short of an end to that sentence. “We’ll get to that later. As I was saying, you’re the coolest person I’ve met today. And I’ve had a very eventful day.”
