Chapter Text
"You have to be brave, Skye." A month had passed before he knew it and he'd enrolled her into the best-suited school that he could find with his own research and Pepper's help. He'd also employed a few tutors that had successfully gotten her up to the academic expectations they'd be starting with since she didn't know much about it.
"I don't want to go. Other kids are mean." Most of all she had settled in a bit, reassured by her name change that yes, he very much intended to keep her permanently. The first week was by far the hardest in reassuring her constant doubt but she'd settled down a bit in her assumptions about being abandoned, at least for now.
"You have to Skye, it's school, I can't just not send you." he smiled, crouching to remain at her height as she frowned, pleading with him to not have to go. "If you have any trouble you just need to call alright?" He reassured softly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I need to get work done too. As sad as I am that we can't spend all day together anymore." she pouted a bit, letting out a little huff.
".....can we watch a movie together after we get home?" she asked softly, still unsure in making requests.
"Of course, your pick." she smiled a little, nodding in acceptance "Now, are you ready to go?" she wrinkled her nose a little but nodded.
"Alright, we're going to go with Happy alright? He's our driver," he explained softly, buckling her into the back seat of the car, sliding in beside her as Happy slipped into the driver's seat. Skye looked at him curiously every now and then throughout the drive but didn't ask any questions about him, too shy to bring anything up.
School was boringly miserable. It was also the first day so really the teacher didn't have them do anything but introduce themselves and play games that she had no interest in anyways.
"How was your first day?"
"Boring." she deflated, leaning against him as he chuckled.
"Yeah, school isn't really known for being super fun kiddo, I'm sure it'll get better though, it's only the start of the year." he smiled "Now let's go watch that movie," she huffed a little at the clear diversion but didn't argue as she rifled through the kitchen to make the popcorn.
Tony's reassurance helped, but the following week didn't get any better for the painful boredom she was feeling. She did all her work of course, but she was getting distracted a lot and she was getting done quickly enough that she just had to find something to do while everyone else worked, which was already getting her into trouble.
Thankfully the problem was very quickly addressed and determined that she needed to be placed higher.
Which was very confusing because she was stupid. Maybe it was just an error to say she needed more difficult classes?
Having Tony called there was nerve wracking, she didn't like it at all. In preschool she always got calls to her foster parents and got scolded harshly for whatever she'd done wrong.
She really should have tried to be better and not look so bored, Tony was already doing so much for her he shouldn't have to be called in for a meeting about her behavior.
She looked up as Tony came out of the principal's office, looking rather calm about the whole situation which was odd.
"Alright kiddo, you're done for the day. We'll get some testing ready for tomorrow to see where we need to put you but for now we are going get lunch." She blinked, furrowing her brows at him.
"I'm not in trouble?"
"Why would you be in trouble?" He picked her up in one arm, grinning at her widely. "This is good." she blinked.
"Good?" he nodded softly
"You're just that smart, we have to move you up to harder classes already." Her eyes widened, hiding her face in his jacket as he chuckled.
"I'm smart?" she muttered softly, her disbelief lining every word.
"Very smart." he nodded, gently setting her in the back seat of the car. "Do you want to hang out with me while I work?" she nodded a little, pushing her face into her hands in embarrassment as he buckled her in.
"Should we grab some food on the way?" Happy glanced at them.
"Course, she's being put in more advanced classes, we have to celebrate a little at least." Happy smiled softly at the news, nodding. Resolved to go off and buy some treats to bring to the tower while Tony worked so she'd have something special for the day. "We'll do something after school tomorrow when you're done with the placements." He ruffled her hair a little, dulling her nerves on the matter a bit.
She smiled a little, nodding but still not entirely reassured that this was a good thing.
Standing out felt dangerous on so many levels. The nuns always got short with any kids who stood out, even if it was because they were excelling. Hanna was the favorite of the nuns at the orphanage because she was kind and she encouraged their growth, she didn't just write them off as stupid as soon as she saw them,
it was nice to be looked at like a person, would that stop soon if she skipped a grade? Would the other kids not like her if she did?
"It'll be alright Skye, you don't need to worry about it." He reassured her softly, smiling at her. She nodded stiffly, fidgeting with the edge of her shirt lightly.
----------
Tony was evidently right, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She got evaluated and skipped a year and a half worth of classes to start on more advanced work that she'd been covering with her tutors already. Tony also had her enrolled in specialized classes for tech replacing some of her electives. The school was more than willing and happy to offer the high school level tech classes to her considering who was asking so it went smoothly. She didn't really make any friends but it didn't bother her, she liked keeping to herself anyways.
As months passed she felt more reassured that Tony really was going to be her family from now on and started bothering him a bit when he wasn't sleeping because he needed to sleep and she wasn't going to tolerate it if she had a bedtime. he had to have one too, it was only fair after all.
Rhodey was also a constant in her life along with Happy and Pepper. Rhodey was the cool uncle that slid her treats when Tony wasn't looking, Happy aided her in sneaking about to get Tony's birthday gifts and generally aided any mischief, and Pepper was very supportive of her appointing Tony a bedtime at the same time she was supposed to go to sleep. Pepper she saw less of but she was still nice when she did see her.
Tony was her brother, that fact was set in stone now through the years that he took care of her without asking for anything in exchange.
She was in high school now, skipping quite a few grades and being the very oddly young sophomore in her class. High school had a lot steeper learning curve but Tony made sure she had all the help she needed so it wasn't as challenging as it could have been.
Nothing could have prepared her for the way her heart sank as she watched the news in the morning. Tony was supposed to come home late after doing something for work and she'd tried to wait up but fell asleep after two am and drifted off into the late morning of Saturday.
Rhodey had left a message, only a bit reassuring her that he was looking, that everyone was looking for Tony.
Pepper got to the house barely thirty minutes after the news started rolling across the screen to find her huddled on the couch, watching the live reports and updates of the situation. Her throat tightened at the sight, turning off the T.V.
Skye didn't protest, burying her face into her arms.
"We're going to find him Skye," she slid into the seat next to her, wrapping her arms around her tightly, holding the back of her head gently as she reassured her. "He's going to be okay." she forced the words out softly.
"You don't know that." her voice was quiet, Wiping her red eyes as she sniffed softly. Pepper just swallowed thickly, holding her tighter.
"We're going to do everything we possibly can to find him," she promised instead, earning a soft nod in response.
Pepper didn't force her to go to school the following week, or the week after that. They both lingered around the house in an anxious silence that grew increasingly more dim as time went on. Happy however eventually forced them both outside the house to try and stop the wallowing all three of them were currently in.
It didn't help at all, she didn't even feel in the mood to eat, none of them really were but his effort was appreciated at least.
Rhodey gave them short updates, he seemed hopeful they would find him. There was evidence he was kidnapped instead of killed so it's assumed they at least needed him alive for something.
Maybe they should have been more on guard with everything that had happened. Maybe they should have tightly locked down the house. Maybe Pepper shouldn't have left for the night to go handle the company's business. There were so many maybe's with the situation she could barely breathe.
The man she saw across from her in the living room was someone she'd seen a few times now, from a distance. Never close enough and never often enough to raise any flags until he'd appeared in the middle of the house and her mind flashed in recognition of the man.
"Daisy... you need to come with me." he spoke carefully, trying to placate her as she stepped back.
"Who the hell are you?" The man didn't answer, stepping forward as she took another step back. Her heart racing in her chest as she bolted. The man chased after her quickly as she raced out the front door, sprinting through the woods. She saw a flash of blue around her, letting out a scream as arms grabbed her from behind and in the blink of an eye she was collapsing on the floor of a very foreign room puking from the stress and the very unsettling feeling in her stomach from the warp.
"I'm sorry for scaring you, my name is Gordon." Gordon crouched down, Skye quickly scrambling away from him, already very frightened.
"What do you want with me?" she forced out, trying to force her trembling to stop as she backed herself against the wall of the room, glancing around quickly. The only exit to the room was a large set of doors that seemed to be locked shut on first glance with no handles on the inside.
"We just want to help you." Gordon reassured softly, smiling as she stared apprehensively at him.
"Bring me home."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that. I did this so I could bring you to your mother, you belong here. This is home." she tensed, nails digging sharply into her arms at his words.
"I don't want any of that I want to go back," she argued shakily.
"You're not human Skye, if they find that out they'll only fear you." she flinched, reeling from the information as she swallowed thickly.
Tony was most likely dead and the other three she knew she couldn't judge based on that.
She'd never heard of nonhumans, would they be scared? Would they hate her? If Tony was alive would he hate her too?
"What- what does that mean?" he smiled gently.
"It means you're exceptional Skye. You have the potential to be something much more than human. Here we can help you reach that potential." He coaxed slowly. "Humans are afraid of us, they think we're dangerous and they hunt us when we are discovered. If you stay with them you'll only get hurt."
"I want to go back." she cried softly.
Even if it was true she needed to go home. She wanted to go back to her room and to Pepper's comfort and Happy desperately trying to distract her from the impending fact that Tony was dead.
"Gordon, be a little more gentle with her." Her head snapped up as the door opened and closed behind a woman, her smile gentle and sad as she gazed at her.
"I'm sorry, I tried to explain it as gently as I could." Gordon backed off in her presence, leaving Skye huddled in the corner, pressing herself further into it as the woman approached. Her eyes were familiar to the ones she saw in the mirror every day, her features just as startlingly familiar. Her throat felt like it would close up any second now.
"I want to go back." She croaked out softly, Gordon hanging back now as the woman sank to her knees in front of her huddled form.
"It's very dangerous out there for you." she spoke gently, Gordon flickering out of sight in a single moment.
"Why am I here? Who are you?" Jiaying smiled faintly, her expression lined with pain.
"I am Jiaying, I lead the inhumans here and I keep us safe from the outsiders who wish to take what is ours and harm us. And you..." she paused for a moment, smiling "Are here because I have been looking for you since the day you were stolen Daisy. You are my child." She was stiff, nails digging deeper into her arms as Jiaying backed off from her.
"You should rest for now, calm from what just happened." she spoke smoothly, Skye swallowing thickly as the door opened for her and she left.
She sat huddled in that corner the entire night, petrified of what exactly might happen now that she was here, now that she apparently had a mother and she wasn't allowed to leave.