Middle School Heroes

Chapter 18 - Confessions and Code Names

"Skye? Hey Skye. Don't try to move, okay? I think she's waking up, man."

"What gave you that idea? Her moving, or the fact that her eyes are opening?"

"Should we get Dr. Storm?"

"Suppose so. You wanna go?"

"No way! You go!"

Skye opened her eyes slowly and blinked in the bright light of the room. She realized that she was lying in a bed, and that there were two familiar faces hovering above her. Sam and Clint had stopped their arguing, and were both smiling down at her.

"Ummm......hey guys." She tried to sound casual. She wanted to wave, but realized that her arms were much too heavy for that to happen. "What's going on? Why can't I move?" She looked at the two boys who were just staring at her. Clint finally reached down and gently lifted up one of her arms. She was shocked to see that it was covered in a large white cast. Glancing over, she saw that her other arm looked exactly the same. "Seriously, guys. What happened?"

Sam grinned at her. "Officially, or unofficially?"

"Uhhh......I guess officially?"

"Well, as you both were running for the flag, Rumlow grabbed you and tied you to a tree to stop you. In a panic, you yanked at the ropes and hurt both of your arms." Sam took his seat next to her bed.

She looked at Clint, because she remembered that she saw him right before she passed out. At least she thought she'd passed out. "You fell out of a tree," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but really it was more like I was shaken out of a tree." He looked at her sternly, before his face cracked into a wide grin. "Someone has been holding out on us Skye. That was incredible!" His eyes lit up as he took the seat on the other side of her. "I'm still not 100% sure what you did, but I saw the whole thing happen. I decided that it might be a good idea to keep an eye on you, since it seemed like STRIKE was out to get you. I'd worked my way through the trees to where you were right as Rumlow was tying you to the tree ......excellent move kicking Ward out of the game, by the way. I can't believe the idiot fell for that." He paused briefly to smile at her and take a breath. "Well, I was getting ready to come down and untie you so that we could run for the flag when the ground started shaking, and I decided that I was better off in my tree, up until the point where I got knocked out of it, of course. Then you were on the ground and Sam was flying overhead."

"Was someone else there? I could have sworn I saw something flying at me out of the corner of my eye."

"I didn't see anyone, but then again, I was focused on you. I grabbed your gloves and was going to put them back on your hands. That's when I noticed all the bruises. Honestly, I thought the fingerless gloves were just an odd fashion choice. I guess they stop you from being able to do the shaky thing?"

"Seismic energy manipulation. That is what they call it. Yes, Professor Xavier had them made for me."

Sam laughed. "Ohhh......I bet Professor Magneto hates them."

"He does, but it seems like a safety issue, and it isn't like I can't take them off. It could be worse. Look at that poor Rogue girl. She is covered up day and night."

She looked between the boys and finally asked the question that she wanted to ask. "Did we win?"

Both boys smiled. "Oh yeah. We won. I saw you and Clint, and was about to land to help, when he motioned me on. Rumlow had to run back to find Hall, so I flew up, grabbed our flag and dropped it to Natasha outside of the tree line. She ran it across the finish."