𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 ✈︎ 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚍

𝟸𝟺| 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙰𝚛𝚎

『••✎••』

After the call, Skye and Hazel had been taken inside Coulson's office with the owner of it and agent Ward ushering them inside before starting the dreaded conversation.

"The Rising Tide is a huge organization of hacktivists from all around the world. Any of them could've done this. It wasn't us," Skye explained trying to defend herself and her best friend from being accused of it.

"No one's saying it was," Ward assured from where he stood, arms crossed with an unreadable expression as always.

"But you're thinking it," Hazel spoke from where she was sitting, her leg bouncing nervously on the floor as well as having her fingers fidget with the rings that adorned her fingers.

"I can see your faces thinking it," Skye said looking in between the two agents that seemed to not take their eyes off of her.

"We're assessing the situation," Coulson argued from the place he was sitting behind his desk.

"Then I'm sure you're taking into account that I have been living on a plane with you this whole time. It would be impossible for me to hack S.H.I.E.L.D.," Skye tried defending herself, her hands gesturing along with her words.

"Or easier. We're gonna need more than that," Agent Coulson argued looking in between both of the girls almost as if trying to pick them apart to figure out which one was lying.

"Fine. Let us trace the hack, and We'll prove it," Skye suggested glancing towards her best friend who looked like she wanted to throw up.

"Whether you believe me or not, I haven't touched the Rising Tide since I stepped on the bus," Hazel spoke up, and just like Skye, she looked at both agents, hoping they could see how honest she was being. "You can check my laptop, my phone, and any tech I have touched while being here. I have not had contact at all with the rising tide in days," the blonde confessed not looking away from Coulson who only studied her silently.

"I believe her, sir. And if they are telling the truth, we need to track down the person responsible," Ward spoke up looking between both girls, holding eye contact with the blonde for a few seconds before looking at Agent Coulson who stood up from his chair.

"Dig up something, and fast," Coulson ordered the girls looking between both of them. "The longer Mr. Chan's missing the more danger he's in."

With those words the girls were dismissed, both of them glancing at each other before walking out of the office. Hazel had looked at the agents as she stood up before almost running out of the office.

I'm going to kick their ass once I find out who it is, Hazel thought to herself as she grabbed her computer.

『••✎••』

Inside the briefing room, Skye was typing on the big computer tracing the signal that had hacked into Agent Kwan's database through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database while Hazel traced the signal and hacking signature and code through her computer trying to pinpoint exactly where and who had gotten the information.

"How close are we?" Coulson asked as he stepped inside the room where Skye and Hazel were working, while the rest of the team watched them.

"Almost there," Skye answered glancing up at him.

"They have identified the remote access Trojan and the infected endpoint," Fitz explained almost excitedly.

"Yeah, and they are searching for a TCP to correlate a hypertext with signature information, and then, voila," Simmons explained in awe.

"Bob is your uncle," Fitz added at the same time causing Hazel to smile glancing at them before she concentrated back on her screen as her system started filtering the signature in the code of the breach and started matching it with different individuals in the world.

"You get any of that?" Agent Coulson asked the specialist in the room.

"Only the uncle part," Ward admitted still looking down at the stuff being displayed on the screen of the table.

Both the computer and the laptop beeped at the same time, the girls glanced at each other with a smile before Hazel spoke up.

"We got our origin. Austin, Texas," Hazel said turning her laptop for them to see.

"You got a name?" Coulson asked to which the girls shook their heads.

"Just the cafe our hacker worked out of but I'm in the system," Skye assured as she started typing. "I'm gonna check to see if any credit card charges from that day match up with any known hackers."

"I have my system filtering their coding signature and Trojan access to see if I can pinpoint who exactly did it," Hazel explained turning the laptop back to her as her system completed the search. "We got a hit. Miles Lydon," Hazel read the name at the same time it popped on the big screen that Skye was using.

"Miles Lydon. Not Skye or Hazel. That's to all of our relief," Fitz spoke up nodding his head making Hazel smile at his words and his assurance.

"You know him?" Agent Coulson asked looking at the ID shown on the screen before looking up at the girls.

Both of them nodded their heads. "Every hacker in the world knows him," Skye stated before Simmons started speaking.

"Not just the hacker world. He infiltrated the Kremlin," Simmons informed the team.

"Yeah, the picture of Putin shirtless on horseback, that was his hack," Fitz added as they both smiled in awe of the hacker's work.

"It was also his hack that got Chan kidnapped," Ward reminded the two agents to which Hazel agreed when you put people in danger your work is not as cool as it seems.

"May set a course for Austin," Coulson ordered to the agent who placed a tablet down as he finished.

"Just did."

"What about Chan?" Skye asked.

"Kwan's got a S.H.I.E.L.D. team on the ground. Our best bet is to chase this thing from the other end," Coulson assured from where he stood at the table. "Find Mr. Lyndon, bring him in, see what he knows."

With that he walked away dismissing the team, everyone started walking out of the room Hazel stared at the ID card with a small frown on her face as there was something familiar in the blond that was shown on the picture.

Hazel glanced at Skye and sent her a smile before grabbing her laptop and walking out of the room, ready to try and find out more about the hacker who looked a little too familiar to her.

Skye in turn, watched everyone walk out with a heavy feeling on her chest which had appeared ever since Miles' picture had shown up on the screen. Yet, as she smiled back at Hazel and watched her walk away it was when the guilt started hitting her instantly knowing what she would cause her best friend if her secret was discovered.

Hazel is going to kick my ass once she finds out, Skye thought to herself with worry.

『••✎••』