The Avenger's Soul

The Asset (Part 2)

Skye's POV

I got out of the taxi, smoothing out my pink dress and feeling my curled hair as I walked forward to the front door. This was the nicest I could ever remember looking. Hydra having never splurged on clothes for me...

A waitress stopped by me with a tray of Champaign, so I took one with a mumbled, "thank you."

The waitress walked away and I headed deeper into the party, sipping on my Champaign and taking it all in.

"Hors D'oeuvre, Madame?" My eyes went wide at the way he addressed me, but I took some sort of skewer off the tray and continued walking, until a man's voice stopped me.

"Who are you?"

I quickly turned around to face the man. He was an older gentleman - I noticed a younger one striding over when he saw that I was being addressed.

"Oh, apologies for his manners. He knows very little English."

"Oh, that, uh, that's – what, whatever."

I waved away the apology, extending my hand to the older man for a handshake.

"Skye."

He slowly reached out and shook my hand.

"Qasim Zaghlul."

"Big fan. You built half of Dubai, including the Arabian Blade!" I said, listening to the voice in my ear as the man gave the tiniest of smirks. "I love that building, it's super sci-fi. Where's your wife..."

"Wife's name is Nadrah," May told me quickly.

"...Nadrah? Is she staying at home with the boys?" I added as May filled me in on his twin sons.

The man nodded his head and told me what a pleasure it was to meet me.

"The pleasure is mine," I hastily answered, touching him lightly on the arm as I laughed and turned away.

"I could get used to this, people. It's like Siri if it worked!" I told May and anyone else who was listening in on the other end.

"Skipper to Bravo, I got eyes on top dog. The eagle is landing on it."

"What are you doing?" Simmons asked, confused.

"Uh, sorry, I – I don't know. I see Quinn, I'm gonna go talk to him." It's not like Hydra really taught me how to use radio/earpiece talk! They had wanted to train me to eventually not need anyone talking in my ear; so I never spoke to anyone during their simulation tests.

I headed off towards Ian Quinn, making sure to position myself in his path.

"I mean, that and it's effective on the industrial average," he was saying as I joined his group. I laughed along with his friends; trying to blend in.

"That was good," one of the men said.

"Yeah, right? Ian Quinn. I'm your last minute party crasher. Skye," I interjected, introducing myself and shaking his hand.

"Oh," he said, chuckling. "Wow. Great to meet you." He turned to address the others in the group around him. "This is Skye, she's a member of The Rising Tide. They're a group of hackers."

They all looked at me. I gave a little wave, not used to the attention.

"She's gotten some pretty big secrets out to the public," Quinn added.

"I prefer "Hacktivist". I'm glad you've heard of their site - but just to be clear, I'm not actually a member of the group. I've just used their site to post a few things in the past," I clarified, not wanting to be associated with The Rising Tide - yes, I had used their site to release a few articles I had found while sifting through Hydra's records that I had felt important for the public to know, but I definitely wasn't a member of Miles's group.