4156/Changeling: There's Something I Think You Should Know

Changeling: There's Something I Think You Should Know
Date of Scene:	27 March 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Quake, Hawkeye (Barton)

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Quake has posed:
As with last time something of this magnitude happened, Skye didn't return home right away. But unlike last time, she didn't try to pretend all was well, or keep a secret. This time, Skye intended on telling Clint what she'd learned that day in Fury's office, and what was likely to happen over the next while.

She'd brought dinner, though. Gino's - as though that were a surprise. Pizza and two six packs. She wasn't sure if they'd need them both, or any at all, but she wanted to be prepared. And she didn't want to leave the house again this evening.

Quietly, she opens the door to their home, and just as quietly closes it after herself, turning the lock before turning around and seeing if she can tell where Clint is.

"Hey, Hotshot. I brought dinner."

Her words lack their usual apolomb. No life or vibrancy to them. She isn't even trying to hide the fact from him that she's unsettled. In fact, she's looking forward to being able to share this time around.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint is in the kitchen though thankfully he hasn't started dinner, yet. He's just back from the Trisk himself, having gotten a ride with Coulson before heading in to shower and then make dinner. So, as he peeks his head out of the kitchen, his hair is still damp. He's dressed in his usual hanging out at home gear, sweats and a t-shirt, a clean one this time, unlike the dirty one he wore during his Brooklyn exile.

Seeing Skye with pizza and beer, Clint begins to smile before he clues into her tone, suddenly those two sixers of beer didn't look so celebratory. "What's up?" he asks stepping fully out of the kitchen, drying his hands with a towel. Though he didn't really have to ask, so he amends the question, "What did Fury say?"

Quake has posed:
Skye looks between the couch, and where Clint is at the door to the kitchen. "Uh.. can we wait to start the talk until after we've settled down somewhere? Your choice, just.."

She shrugs and shakes her head. She doesn't even know where to begin. And perhaps unexpectedly, she's not fuming about Fury either.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint tosses the towel back over his shoulder, and naturally it lands on the kitchen island, he doesn't look back to confirm.

"Sure," he says coming to collect the beer and a brief kiss from her before moving to the sofa, setting the beer down on the coffee table when he passes.

Then, he turns to sit, studying Skye, she wasn't angry, just /quiet/ he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad.

Quake has posed:
Skye is glad of the kiss, tilting her head up to him for it, and actually smiling for a moment. But by hte time she's moving towards the couch, the silence is back.

She sets the pizza on the coffee table, and reaches for a beer of her own, cracking it open and taking a long sip. "How was your day?"

Yes, she actually asks him about his day. Perhaps to give herself time to collect her thoughts, or maybe because after they start in on what she has to say she might not get to ask. And she'd like to know something went well today. Not that her talk with Fury had gone badly. Not quite.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles after the kiss as well, squeezing her hand briefly before the beer is collected and heads into the living room.

On the couch, he leans forward to yank a beer free and crack it open. "Not bad, trained with the STRIKE guys, like I said this morning, it was fun, like hanging out with a heavily armed frat house."

He is more than happy to help Skye gather her thoughts while he rambled away about some STRIKE hijinx, involving a dummy in tac gear and dropping it to the roof of one of the training buildings to freak out the range master, or something like that. He's not too into the story, his eyes rarely leave Skye, as the tension builds in his gut.

Quake has posed:
"STRIKE guys? Have I met them yet?" Normally she'd be more on the ball than that, but along with the news of today, the past weeks have been chock full of new everything, and old everything else.

She smiles in all the right places. Even nudges him with a toe to open the pizza box and take a slice. "Gino still says I'm too good for you," she says without her usual humour. Only they both know they're delaying the inevvitable.

"I talked with Fury," she says, finally.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Sort of," Clint says with a smile after a swig of his beer. "They were part of the group that arrested you with the Rising Tide. The tactical boys."

He carries on with the stories, until she mentions talking to Fury.

He stops, nodding, "Yeah, so, how'd it go?"

Quake has posed:
Skye winces. "Oh. Them. Yeah, I think I'm supposed to hit a training session with them. Not sure if I've had a chance to apologize to them yet."

By the time she mentions talking to Fury, she's ready. Or at least as ready as she's every going to be to talk about this. "It was pretty good, as far as things go." She shrugs and gives Clint a helpless little look. "I think we turned some sort of a corner. You know, one where as far as everyone else thinks I badmouth him, and he draws me up short. Only, it's weird. We were something else there today."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Bring pizza, and non-frou-frou beer, no apologies necessary, trust me," Clint says of the guys from STRIKE. They were pretty straight forward guys. "Plus they enjoyed arresting Coulson during your escape, so, you have worse fans at the Trisk than STRIKE."

Clint take a long pull of his beer, chuckling, as he lowers the can, "Something else how?" Clint asks, he knew the boss put up with a lot of her shit, but then he did that with him too, this sounded something bigger than that. "Like he trusts you?"

Quake has posed:
Skye chuckles. She'd forgotten she'd gotten Coulson arrested. Well, Oracle had. It gives the young woman a few moments reprieve.

Skye's nose crinkles. "He's always trusted me. But yeah. Kinda like that, only more. I don't know. I shut the door and it was like we were equals somehow. Maybe it was respect?" Of course she'd shifted her attitude a lot, too. Though they'd always dropped the attitude behind closed doors. She'd had no need of bullshit with Fury, and he'd not asked her to kiss his ass. In return, she'd always been honest with him. Well, except for those back doors, but he'd have been an idiot to not think she'd put her own in. And a bigger fool if he didn't understand why.

Fury was no fool.

Skye exhales, and takes another long sip of her beer. "He dropped the Agent, Clint. It was so weird. He wasn't even gruff. It was like he felt sorry for me. Or sorry about what had been done."

And she's not even got to the good parts yet.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles, "They arrested me too!" he protests with a laugh. "Hm not sure if it counts if I'm unconcious, anyhow, that was pretty good," he raises his beer to her. Time had allowed him to see the humor in it, the cleverness. "Also, remind me not to piss you off."

He nods, "I know, just thought he might have trusted you even more-" he decides it's better to wait to the end to speak. When they get there, he grins, "Called you, Johnson huh?" he asks. "Holy shit, that means you're not just part of the team, but you're part of the /team," he says meaning those select agents who Fury counted on most. "That's got to be a record."

The smiles and cogratulations last until the other part. "Glad he was at least sorry. So, did he give you more context, like why the team that recovered you were hunted down?" he askes, he'd read the report.

Quake has posed:
"You were unconscious," Skye teases, almost sounding like herself for a moment. "That hardly even counts as being arrested. Quit complaining."

Her smirk says no harm is meant by that.

"Called me Ms. Johnson," Skye mutters. "After blanketing the room in silence."

She lets those two things sink in. Not that they're quite unexpected, but somehow, to her, they'd carried a different weight than they otherwise might have. And while he might not have been there, or consider it anything special, it's clear by how she speaks of it that she felt that weight. Though his congratulations throw her off. "Huh? Not sure I follow."

Though Clint wouldn't be that far off. Really, Skye didn't fit any of the usual Agent molds. And maybe that's why she and Fury had found themselves in this particular dynamic together. It had taken them a long time to build it, but it was there. There was no denying it, and maybe that was the weight she'd felt. She knew Fury still considered her young, but she also knew he respected her in a fashion few got from the man.

"Context? You could say that." Her answer cryptic for now.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint grins and tosses a coaster at her, "Heh," he says before says, "On the plus side, the STRIKE guys had to carry me up medical, so, there's that."

"Ms. Johnson, huh?" he asks, trying to parse that weigh where it stood in the myriad levels of Fury's estimation. He wasn't certain of where Skye'd landed, but it was somewhere up there for sure.

"Just meant you're becoming one of the people Fury relies on," he elaborates on the team and /team/. "It's good news, but it also means there's a target on your back, too. We're the guys the badguys go after first." No shock there, whoever the Benefactor was, he wasn't going to be happy at Skye's betrayal already.

"Well, what sort of context? What happened with the team that rescued you? Why'd someone hunt them down?"

Quake has posed:
Skye shakes her head. "Not so sure that's what he meant by that, Clint," though Skye couldn't actually argue his words. Fury might not have meant it there, but the things that happened later would suggest she'd moved into a whole new category at SHIELD. And Skye already thought she'd been a trusted member.

"We didn't actually talk a lot about it, Clint. We both knew I'd seen what was there. I wasn't yelling at him. We skipped the bullshit. I guess we figured out we didn't need that step. But he confirmed it was done for my safety. "I don't know, I don't think he liked the choice he had to make. It was weird, Clint. He looked.. like he cared. Like I mattered somehow." Soe odd cross between sorry, and like they'd failed her, and like it actually mattered to him that they make this right.

"They lost a lot of Agents to me, I guess. When I disappeared, I suppose it made it easier somehow. If they couldn't find me, maybe Hydra wouldn't either. We didn't talk about that. Mostly we talked about the rest of the shit I went there for."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint tilts his head considering Skye's confusion, "Trust me, whatever he means by the name, you're definitely one of /his/ agents now. I mean, how many level fours get one-on-one meetings with the boos?" he asks, mostly rhetorically before shutting up to listen to the rest.

He gets up though, when she speaks about it looking like Fury cared, and moves to sit beside her on the couch rather than across the way in one of those comfy chairs. This, he knew was important, that Fury had cared and wanted to make it right. He slips an arm around her. "I'm glad," he says softly. "That Fury is giving a shit and trying to make things right, you deserve it, you're a good agent and you're well," he smiles. "You."

The idea of Fury caring, made sense, hell, Clint had said as much at various times, but the image just feels wrong in his head, he smiles at that, Fury's tough guy persona was hard to shake.

"So, the rest of the shit, what happened there?" he asks.

Quake has posed:
...There is a break in time. Darcy and May are invited over to dinner so that Skye can tell them about what she's learned from Director Fury. (+scene 4176 Changeling: The Inner Circle) They go home, and Skye and Clint continue this discussion...

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
May and Darcy have gone home and Clint and Skye are left with the rest of the cleanup. But only some, because May is May and she was sure to do her share and force Darcy to do her share too. Clint heads back from the doorway to the kitchen and hops up on the island, feet swinging, he gives Skye a warm smile, "I mean I don't want to tell you I told you so, but, I told you so, our friends are awesome. They weren't rattled a bit," Clint opens, grabbing a beer he left on the table and taking a swig.

Quake has posed:
Skye crinkles her nose and makes a face. But if Clint can sit on the kitchen island, Skye can sit on the counter. Of course, it's not so neat a hop up for her. She sorta has to cheat and use a chair. The advantage, of course, is now she has a place to rest her feet.

"I guess?" It all still seems pretty surreal to her, and part of her adjusting to the news really is this swimming around in confusion and flailing about in fear that her friends will see her differently. Not having had any for most of her life, she's not up to spec on how such things go, though one might expect Fury's reaction should have told her. Still, it's a major life-shaking revelation. Girl has a right to be a bit confused by it all.

"They did take it pretty well. I mean, even the bit about the level 10 file. I didn't even know shit like that existed."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles when she uses the chair, but laughs when he sees what she does with it once she's sitting. "Clever," he says pulling up one of his legs under him. Looking around the kitchen island, he finds a beer that's still cold, he holds it up offering to toss it to Skye.

Clint could tell the good response confused her some still, he could understand it. To him and their friends, Skye was just Skye with some weird genetic markers in her DNA. Nothing had changed. For Skye, the stuff was inside of her, inescapable it had to weird her out.

Nodding he says, "They did, and yeah, even the Level 10 thing, which pretty much means Fury reached down from on high and sealed that stuff," he says. More than that he'd done it some twenty-odd years ago.

"Though, how are you taking all of this?" he asks her. "Got to be strange, parts of you not being like you thought they were."

Quake has posed:
Skye holds up her hands to catch the beer, indicating he should throw it.

"You know me, outside the box." She's smug about her footrest. Of course without it Skye wouldn't have managed the counter. She really was just that short. It was kind of cute, even if she didn't like it pointed out to her.

Their cupboards were all arranged with skye height in mind, because while Clint would be more than willing to help reach things she couldn't, she was just as likely to take things used regularly placed out of reach as a pointed statement on her lack of height. Even if joking really was part of their vocabulary.

"Not sure when he sealed it? Whenever he did, he did it good." She'd been under the impression it was a recent thing. Fury had made a point of saying Maria Hill and the UN Security Council hadn't been told of it - Maria knew just about everything Fury did, it was a known fact,and to have kept her in the dark all these years... not to mention the only reason the Security Council might have cared was the recent Tidepool happenings. Still, she really didn't know. She knew they'd done blood tests when she'd entered traiing at SHIELD. She didn't know what they'd done when she was a baby..

"I feel.. violated?" Skye wasn't sure if that was the word. "I mean, I don't know if I know who I am anymore." Which was an odd thing for someone without any sense of family history to say, given she'd always had that lament, that not knowing who or where she'd come from had left her not knowing who she was.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint lobs the beer to Skye's waiting hands. Chuckling at her little brag. "Yep, that's why you're the leet hacker or whatever you people say," he grins.

The other has him sipping his beer thoughtfully. "Got to be at least when they took you into SHIELD as an agent they give you all sorts of tests when that happens," he takes a sip. "And I think your report said some doctor did tests on you when you were a baby too."

It was weird, he read the report, read it more than once but until now it never really clicked that Skye and the baby in the report were the same person, like he knew it intellectually, but just getting the sense that the person here went through all that. "Huh," he says. "Anyhow, Keyboard, I want to say, sorry all of that happened to you, even if you don't remember. It. Just sort of clicked it wasn't just some abstract thing in a report, but you."

Clint nods, finishes his beer, then grabs another as he slips off the island and moves to jump up beside her on the counter. "Yeah," he says. "I get that," he says putting his hand on hers, "But we're going to find out. I mean, that's got to be the next step right? Can't leave this a big question mark."

Quake has posed:
The beer is caught and held a moment, letting its contents settle before opening it.

"Yeah, it hit me talking to him, that's when they found out there was something wrong with me." She lowers her gaze, thinking about it all. "But they'd done them when I was a baby, too. They'd have known then, wouldn't they? I mean, what? Did he make two sets of files all the long ago? Why'd he not..."

Skye stops herself. Why he'd 'not' anything didn't really matter. Not much of it mattered, because she was still the baby in that file, and the woman who had a mystery associated with her.

Her beer is cracked open as she shuffles over to make room for him on the counter next to him. Much more shifting over, and she'd end up in the sink, but so far so good. "Yeah. That's why I wanted to talk to Darcy and May before we started on all this. Fury says it's all up to me. To go on that vacation he ordered. Think about it. And come back and whatever I wanted. When I wanted to deal with it."

She sips her beer. "I was thinking I'd talk to Fitz and Simmons before we left. Let them get a head start on things and go be somewhere else while I couldn't do anything about it." Another sip of beer is taken. "Where do we want to go, anyway?" Because as far as Skye is concerned, SHIELD is footing the bill for this one.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Settled in beside her Clint puts his arm around Skye's shoulder. "Yeah, they must have had some reason, probably because there was somebody hunting the teams, I don't know."

And he really didn't, but he wanted to.

He cracks his beer with his teeth while she cracks hers, he takes a swig and listens. "Really, all up to you?" he asks, considering that. "Well, I don't think it needs to be said, but I'm in on helping you."

"As to where, I know we were talking Italy before," he says of their vacation. "Still sound good?"