Coulson Squared

Key Word: Today

You guys, I had about 500-600 words of actual dialogue to work with, and I got this to 2100 words. I'm proud of myself.

"Audio file should be coming through," Skye told Fitz over the phone. "It's not compressed, so it might take a minute."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm getting it," he confirmed. So, uh, uh, when when you get back, I'll show you my thing." He paused, realizing what he had just said. "A thing," he tried to cover. "It's not I-it's my hardware. My equipment. Let's hang up."

The three women exchanged bemused glances, and you and Skye giggled a little bit.

"Well, there's another guy that agrees that you, my dear, are more physically attractive than I am," you said to Skye. You sat down in the back of her van while May stood just outside, both of you waiting patiently for the point at which you could go back to the plane.

"What? No. Give yourself some credit, (Y/N). I'm just the fascinating new girl," she deflected.

"New by, like, a few hours. I only just met both guys today, and neither of them have any problems communicating with me. You, on the other hand..." you trailed off suggestively.

"It's because you're Coulson's daughter," May pointed out. "They know that you're off limits."

"Well, off limits is a bit extreme. Sure, there's a small chance that my dad might perform more extensive background checks than SHIELD allows and watch us like a hawk, but that's just one end of the spectrum. He'd be more likely to be super chill about it," you argued.

"Boys are more worried about the overprotective side," Skye responded quietly. She reached over to a shelf and tucked something into her bra, but you chose to ignore it. Whatever it was couldn't have been of too much consequence. "That should do it," she said much more loudly than her last comment, shutting her laptop.

"Let's head back," May said.

"All right, let me just--" Skye stopped abruptly, shocked by a figure jumping down to quickly take May down by throwing her against the alley wall. You were too stunned to say anything.  "Mike," Skye started. "What are you doing?" Mike--Mike Peterson?

"Saving you from the scary men in dark suits," he explained. "And you're gonna help save us."

"Us?"

Mike dragged a little boy--obviously his son--into view. You refrained from making any noise; he hadn't noticed you yet, and if he did, you would receive the same fate as May.

"Don't cry, okay? Stay strong for me, Ace," the increasingly hysterical man commanded his son, hoisting him into the van. "What are we?"

"We're a team," he replied.

"That's right. Now drive," he told Skye, slamming the van door.

Skye backed out and directed the van through the streets and toward the train station. Ace finally caught sight of you over his father's shoulder.

"Daddy?" he caught his attention.

"Yeah?"

"Is she gonna help us, too?" he asked, pointing to you.

Mike whipped around to face you. You gave him a slightly frightened smile and a standard two-fingered salute.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"A scary woman in a dark suit," you answered plainly. "Also, the daughter of a scary man in a dark suit that you probably really just ticked off."

Mike shook his head, choosing his battles. "You don't matter right now," he said, likely to assure himself. You noticed the usually dark skin on his face glowing orange for a few seconds, but it disappeared before you could really look at it. He was sweating profusely.