Skye stood in one of the lab rooms, working on one of the computers sitting on the tall lab counters. She’d been working with Fitzsimmons but they’d been called to go meet with Agent Coulson, and now she was taking advantage of the lab’s computer—and the quiet—to get some stuff done.
No one else was in the room, and the only sound was the computer humming in the background and the sound of her fingers against the keys. It was peaceful and silent, a nice change from being in the harrowing and intense atmosphere of the field.
After a few minutes of working, the doors to the lab hissed open and a girl with red hair entered. Really, like, super-long hair.
The girl wandered over to Skye’s workstation, a slight annoyance which niggled at her. She didn’t mind meeting fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but only in her off-time, and this assignment was taking all of her concentration.
Skye barely glanced away from the screen and kept typing as she said, “Oh, hey. Need something?”
“Don’t let me interrupt you.” This new girl — Skye? — typed even faster than she did, and there was stuff scrolling across the screen she didn’t even begin to understand. “I just thought it would be nice to meet the new girl. I try to be an unofficial welcome wagon around here, because god knows the field agents won’t bother.”
Summer found a chair and draped herself backwards on it, positioning it so she couldn’t see what was on the screen, and watched Skye. The depth of concentration there was admirable; Summer could see already how she could be a real asset in the field — or the office. Tony would love her, and wasn’t that thought a little painful.
Skye let out a slight laugh. “Trust me, I won’t.” She kept typing, fingers flying over the keys, then finished her sentence on the screen and glanced over at the girl. ”Yeah, the field agents have been pretty unwelcoming. Fitzsimmons are great, if a little… eccentric. Ward needs a little work.” She pressed enter. “Thanks for the privacy,” she said, glancing over again. “Classified stuff, and all that.”
She leaned forward, resting her forearms on the tall desk and paused for a moment, trying to process the coding issue she was having. Her mind kept working on the problem even as she glanced over at the girl. She wouldn’t stop working completely, but it was pretty useless to try to address the harder issues while this person was here. A little break wouldn’t hurt. She turned to her visitor. “I don’t think I caught your name?”
“Summer,” she responded. “And you’re Skye, right?” The empath smiled. “It’s a lot easier for us, with only one of you to learn. You’ve a whole agency full of people, some of whom you might only see once!” She nodded her head toward the computer. “Most of us consultants get it, about privacy and levels of access and stuff. It’s a bit more complicated than being a full agent, but there’s some nice freedom to it. I like being able to tell the Director where he can take himself sometimes.”
Summer laughed a little. Usually she didn’t tell Fury to stuff it to his face; if he called, it was something she dared not turn down for the sake of her own sanity. “So how did they get you?”