Cap and the Black Widow stand outside of a warehouse, lingering in the shadows and waiting patiently for Hawkeye to case the inside of the building and give them the green to enter. Tony is flying up above, keeping an eye out and ready to warn them in case someone drives in their direction.

The whole purpose for this op is to retrieve alien weaponry that landed in the hands of banded mercenaries- Natasha having caught wind of the information from one of her contacts. And since the Avengers aren't under SHIELD jurisdiction, they're rarely in contact with the new Director of the new SHIELD and are in charge of their own ops.

"Captain, we have a problem," Hawkeye radios in. "We've got one hostage bound and one merc threatening her with a knife."

Steve lightly groans and his head falls back before he radios back. "Can you take him out?"

"Won't be a problem."

"Well, get a move on then," Iron Man's voice crackles over the comm line. "We've got incoming."

"Stall 'em," the Black Widow tells him. "Hawkeye's got the merc, and Cap and I got the hostage."

"Aannddd that's your cue," Hawkeye muses. "Might wanna get in here fast, Cap. She's panicking."

Captain America and the Black Widow rush for the building, the Captain kicking the door in with ease. There are plenty of crates- crates of all sizes- stacked high and it takes them a moment to get clear of them before they're running into a clearing where said hostage is wiggling in her seat. The merc that was holding her captive is lying face first on the ground, an arrow protruding from his back.

As the Widow kneels behind the hostage's back to start cutting away at her ropes, the Captain runs around front and pulls free the material stuffed in her mouth. "No worries, Miss, we're here to help."

The woman stares up at him in something resembling awe and Steve offers her a small smile as explosions sound outside. Glass shatters from somewhere up above and then Iron man is sliding to a halt right next them, his face plate sliding up seconds later.

The woman then glances from Iron Man, to the Black Widow as she comes around to her front, to Hawkeye who's dropped from seemingly thin air, and then back to Captain FREAKIN' America and snorts as she holds his gaze. "I'm totally not the damsel you think I am, Captain."

Steve actually rears back at her words, a soft gasp falling from his lips that has Iron Man and the Black Widow staring curiously at him. He locks gazes with the girl and when it sinks in that this is the woman meant for him and him for her, he starts to slowly smile. But then she has to go and shake her head as if clearing a thought, averting her gaze with a frown and Steve's stomach drops.

"Thank you, Lady and Gentlemen," the dark haired woman speaks, "but really, I had this handled."

"Says the person who's bound to a chair," Clint snorts.

"Yeah, well, the mission called for it," she shrugs and everyone watches as she stands and steps out of the rope that was still binding her feet with ease.

It's then everyone notices the black tactical clothing, Steve's eyes immediately falling to the nearly indistinguishable bird logo emblazoned over her heart. "You're SHIELD."

"Agent Skye at your service." She offers the Avengers a grim smile and then presses a finger near her ear. "Hey, DC, I've run into a bit of a problem. Mission's been compromised by Avengers."

She pauses briefly, listening to the person speaking via comm and Tony huffs. "DC?"

"Director C-" she starts to say, eyes widening a fraction before backtracking as she realizes just who she's speaking to. "The Director," she says instead with a gulp and Clint rolls his eyes. The girl really needed to work on her agent face. "I'm sort of his favorite field agent at the moment."

"Mhm," Tony hums, not believing a word. "We- the Avengers- have yet to meet the Oh-So-Secretive Director. What makes you so special, kid?"

"Because I'm not a pain in his ass, Stark," she fires back. Skye then realizes being blunt and defensive right off the bat is not the way to go when Tony Stark starts smirking, so she cautiously takes a step back and offers up a sheepish shrug as an apology. Her attention is quickly diverted to the words being fed through the comm in her ear, she nodding along to whatever's being said before relaying it to the Avengers. "They have an extraction point about a hundred yards to the east. They want- wait, what?" She pauses, eyes darting to nothing in particular as she listens to her feed. "Did I just hear you correctly? He wants.. Okay," she then sighs. "I'll bring them in."

"Them? Do you mean us?" Tony scoffs. "Are we being collected to be disciplined?"

Skye rolls her eyes, but nods nonetheless. "You're not being disciplined. The Director just wants to have words with you. But-" she pauses, staring each of them in eye so they know she's being serious, "I'm warning you right now. You attack DC, you attack me. And trust me, you don't want to get on my bad side."

The Black Widow and Hawkeye seem to share amused glances, but Skye doesn't pay them much mind. Her attention is more focused on her soulmate who she's completely ignored and Tony Stark who can't seem to stop talking. Or scoffing as if offended.

"Jeez, Kid, just who exactly is this guy if you're so protective of him. What'd he do for you?"

Though it's Tony who's asked the question, Skye can't help that her attention is solely fixed on Captain America when she answers, "He gave me family. A home."

Steve frowns, but before he can get a word out there are a series of small explosions outside the warehouse and shouting. Tony curses as his face plate slides back down, and they all turn towards the sound of commotion. Fanned out, the Avengers and Skye are then faced with a wall of men carrying assault rifles that are pointed towards them. There's no warning whatsoever before they start firing, and before the Avengers can even think about scurrying for protection, Skye's hands fly out in front of her- finger-less gloved hands positioned as if she can stop the bullets.. which she does.

The Avengers watch on in awe as the bullets meant for them are redirected off course and the men targeting them, plus the towering crates behind them. are blown backwards as if hit by the blast of an explosion.

When the crates all come to a stand still and the warehouse is thrown into complete silence, the Avengers all turn to Skye.

"So that's why you're the Director's favorite," Iron Man muses, his face plate sliding up to reveal a too smug Tony.

Skye's eyes dart to Captain America and part of her slumps in relief to see he's staring rather curiously at her than in disgust. "The powers are new-ish," Skye finds herself spilling. "Mission gone awry led me to being exposed to terrigen crystals."

"You're an Inhuman," the Black Widow realizes.

Skye nods. "I am. I let my team quarantine me, run tests and do what they needed to do in order for all of us to understand what was going on with me. Long story short, I was an orphan up until a couple years ago when I suddenly wasn't. My powers were thrust upon me unwillingly, I learned control and now my team completely trusts me. I am not the enemy, agent Romanoff," she finishes, eyeing the agent warily since Skye saw the agent's hand twitch near her gun.

The Black Widow seems to get Skye figured out fairly quickly and relaxes her stance, and then Skye's attention is back on the voice in her ear. After a terse nod, Skye meets the gazes of the Avengers. "Agent May's waiting. We need to go."

Everyone seems to nod and then they're jogging to exit the warehouse, except for Tony who takes off flying, and Clint huffs. "It's about time we have a little face time with Coulson. Twenty says he goes for a dramatic revealing of his not-so-dead status."

Skye trips over her own two feet, but Steve's there catching her by the bicep and steadying her. "You knew?!"

"Everyone except for Tony," Steve assures her with a tight-lipped smile. "So the only thing you have to worry about is Tony's whining."

Skye gapes for a few moments before glancing over at agents Barton and Romanoff, and mumbles about spies and their tendencies to stick their noses in everything. They make it to the quinjet fairly quick and Tony's already waiting for them on the ramp sans his Iron Man suit and smirking at an all too familiar agent May.

Greetings are had and once settled in the quinjet with Skye joining agent May in the cockpit, everyone settles in for a smooth ride to the Playground.

xXx

Everyone follows agent May's lead as they disembark in an underground hangar. She tells them that the Director will want to see them right away, but before she can turn and lead them to Phil's office, May catches Skye reaching for Captain Rogers' wrist and stares at the contact waiting for an answer.

"We'll only be just a moment." Skye gulps as the rest of the Avengers stare at where she's gripping Steve as well. "It's kind of important I speak to him in private." She says no more, but her right hand is subconsciously rubbing over her hip and after seeing the gesture, May knows.

Of course, Steve's sudden blush from the tips of his ears and down his neck intrigue everyone, but before Tony can start with his snark, agent May's laughing and causing agents Barton and Romanoff to actually lose their stoniness and gape at the elder woman. "Coulson's gonna love this," she drawls.

Luckily for Skye and Steve, Tony's attention is now drawn to what agent May's just said and Skye offers her a thankful grin before pulling Steve one way while May ushers the others away from them. It takes Skye a couple of minutes to find an empty corridor and room, she dragging Steve in and pushing him deeper into the room so she can shut the door. Leaning against the now closed door, Skye sighs and tries to smile at Steve staring rather incredulously at her.

"I'm sorry," she immediately apologizes. "So, so sorry."

"About what?" Steve tenses, lips turning down in a frown. "Making my team suspicious or being so obvious about your disappointment in meeting your soulmate?"

"Both!" She blurts and then cringes at the squeak in her voice. "But I wasn't disappointed," Skye quickly amends. "So not disappointed," she clarifies with a quick once over of him.

Shifting from foot to foot, Steve frowns, but not because he's upset. He's curious. "Why did you ignore me when I realized who you were?"

"Because," Skye groans and pushes off the door, "you're an Avenger and I'm a SHIELD agent, and we were in the middle of an op! If there had been cameras or listening devices, I rather not paint an even bigger target on my or my soulmate's back. In our line of work, just having a soulmate who's in the same line of work is a blessing, but it's also a curse because it will eventually compromise us. "

Steve gapes as the words click in his mind, but then he's actually looking relieved while Skye looks like she's moments away from tearing out her hair. "So there's nothing going on between you and Coulson?"

"Wait- what?!"

It's Skye's turn to gape now and Steve shrugs, a grin slowly making itself known. "You sounded sweet on him back in the field. Very protective."

"God, no," she complains and actually cringes at the mental picture her brain's just conjured up. "Phil's like my dad."

"Good."

And then before Skye can continue to babble about her connection to Phil, Steve's closing the gap between them and sealing his lips over hers.