Skye's the Limit |Book 1 In 'Skye Adventures' Series|

Chapter 18: The Hub

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"Do you need me to analyze the data?" I ask Phil as he watches Simmons rush away with a little tube, that apparently holds very VERY important information.

So important a guy stuffed it up his nose.

You heard me, stuffed it up HIS NOSE.

Ward, Coulson, and May had been sent to retrieve a undercover agent from a secret group.

So secret, Fitz and Simmons didn't know the name.

"That won't be necessary." Coulson replies smiling. "By the way, I hope you slept well."

I scowl at him. I'm supposed to be up by 7, and if I'm not, someone is supposed to wake me up... But according to Fitz, Phil had requested I not be disturbed.

So I won't ask questions about the mission.

"If it's encrypted, I can mine the chip for him." I try again, crossing my arms.

Coulson shakes his head, and starts walking towards his office.

"I'm afraid this mission's classified. Clearance level 8."

He disappears around the corner, leaving me confused.

"Uh, Wait!?" I call out.

"What?" Ward says walking up behind me.

"He can just shut us out of the process like that?" I ask.

Simmons walks out of the lab with Fitz babbling about something.

She stops and smiles at me.

"Well, he did say the mission is level 8." Simmons tells me like that fixes everything.

"And we're not, so we can't know about it." Fitz finishes, while Ward and Simmons nod for good measure.

I frown at them.

"Right, but this is normally the part where we all stand around the holocom and we learn about stuff. I mean, aren't we all on the same team?"

Ward rolls his eyes.

"No need to get started on one of your socialist riffs." He tells me.

I stare at him. "Excuse ME?"

"Shield's whole infrastructure is based on the hierarchy and compartmentalization of intelligence. Every agent can't have the intel on every mission. Makes the entire organization vulnerable." Ward explains.

"Okay, fine," I huff.  "But if I just fought my way out of an underground Siberian prison, I'd kind of want to know what for."

Fitz and Simmons give Ward a look that clearly says; She doesn't get it, back off.

Ward ignores their looks.

"Coulson's got you used to the plane, the way we do missions here. The Hub is different." He says firmly.

I look at the three.

"The Hub? What's the Hub?"

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"Holy craaapp." I mumble in awe. "I knew big brother was big... But not this big!"

Fitz chuckles at my response.

"Oh, this is nothing. Wait until you see the triskelion."

We go up an escalator. Then down a hallway. The building is huge! And super packed! All the rooms are glass, so I can see in them.