It is almost midnight. Skye has been sitting in the bar for over an hour now. The small place has changed from a party scene to now a lost area. There are only a handful of people there, all drinking their life away. Skye sits and examines them all. These people remind her of…her. Lost. Like they are watching their lives happen in front of them. A life that they lost a long time ago.

She takes one last sip of her beer before taking out her wallet and placing a twenty down on the counter. She began to situate herself as she hopped off the stool, placing her wallet into her back pants pocket. There was a man who began having an aggressive tone with a woman who was with him for the entire time that Skye had been at the bar. She decided to sit and watch for a couple moments. The man was large. At least twice Skye's size. Tattoo sleeves that covered both arms and a beard that was longer than any man should allow. The woman was small. Smaller than Skye. She was wearing a tightly formed black dress which lead Skye to believe that she was an escort of some kind. Despite this, the tone he is using with her makes Skye cringe. It was not until the man put his hand on the woman's shoulder that Skye decided enough is enough.

Walking over to the situation, she knew that it was going to be difficult. But she also knew it would be worth it.

"Is there a problem here?" Skye spoke as she stood next to the woman.

The man turned to Skye. Staring at her up and down before releasing the grip on the woman's shoulder. "Yes, there is. Until now anyway. Why don't you come and make me feel better pretty lady."

Skye rolled her eyes and swallowed back the throw up that was creeping up her throat. "Look, don't call me that. Now, I meant is there a problem here." She began motioning back and forth between him and the woman.

He laughed and moved forward to grab the woman by the arm, forcefully lifting her up off the stool. Which was reciprocated by the woman being visibly in pain. "Don't worry about it. She is mine."

He began to walk off when Skye grabbed her arm, stopping them both. "I am going to worry about it. Don't ever, ever put your hands on a woman." Skye still held on to the woman's arm and stood in between them to give space from the two.

He leaned forward and became inches away from Skye's face. Scrunching up he's nose in disgust. "Oh. So you're one of those."

Skye arched her eyebrow in confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, one of those…" he walked even closer to Skye and whispered in her ear, "…a dyke."

Skye immediately let go of the woman's arm. She walked forward and made a mischievous smile in his face. Then without warning, she punched him so hard, it made him tilt. She took him by the arm and with everything she had, flipped him over her shoulder. He was on the ground, conscious, but unable to move. She kneeled down to whisper in his ear. "Never. Never call me that."

She got back up, gave the woman an apologetic smile, and walked out of the bar in a huff. If there is one way to get under her skin, it is making fun of her sexuality. Even though she knows that being gay is one of those open ended things for people to make fun of, she never got used to it. When she was in the foster system, Skye would always hear other girls gush over how cute a boy was, but she always wanted to gush of how cute a girl was. It was always easy for her to accept this fact because there was never anyone to tell her differently. However, when she got her first girlfriend, or friends with benefits, or whatever, the other kids made fun of her. This stopped very quickly though because Skye learned from many of her foster homes how to hit on other people.

Her apartment is a mile away from the bar. She does not have a car and wasting any amount of money on a cab for one mile is ridiculous, especially because her job barely pays her rent every month. When turning one corner of the street, she could her a faint help coming from a man. She looks around to find an alley. Although it is dark she can still see four figures surrounding someone on the ground and one tall figure watching over the whole scene. Skye runs across the street and into the alley. "Hey!" she yelled hoping to sound stern. She keeps running toward the scene and realizes that they are jumping the man on the ground. "What are you doing?" she said when she finally got close enough to see the scene more clearly.

The taller figure was in the shadows, unable to be identified. He stepped out and grinned at her. "Jeez. Calm down Skye. It is just us."

Skye looked to see that it was Grant Ward. The guy she had known since her first days in the foster system. They became fast friends, especially when he found out about her interests. He would always tell her, "It's nice to have someone to be just as interested in girls as I am." When Skye would return from a foster house, Ward was always there to help patch up the wounds she gained from being there. He even beat on the other kids that made fun of her sexuality. One day though, when she had returned from one specific foster home, Ward became angry. Skye told him about what the guy did to her, late at night when everyone else was asleep. Gently shaking her awake and then becoming forceful after. Ward came up with a thought. If there was only a group, gang, organization, whatever to put these bad guys in their place and lock them up for good, the world would be better.

This is why when they turned ten, they developed a plan to run away. The police only looked for them for a good day and gave up. Why spend time worrying about two runaway foster kids when there is some donuts calling their name? Ward did everything he could to find shelter for the two of them. He hustled and gambled anyway he could. Skye never questioned when he one day started getting some money from a mysterious group of people that he had discovered while hustling. This is when his plan started taking place. He would get a tip from this group that the two would walk miles to see and they would go out and do their job. The job was simple. Find the criminal, beat on them as much as they pleased, and drop them off at the police station. Any criminal really, a rapist, murderer, thief, you name it, they found them.

After many weeks of doing this, the police became suspicious. Who was helping them do their job? This is why Ward decided it was time to broaden their little group from just two, to now six. Maria Hill, Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanoff, and Antoine Triplett were exceptional fighters. It was agreed upon Skye and Ward that their drive and devotion to lock up these criminals was enough to recruit them. Thus, Rising Tide was born. After beating up on the person, they leave a tiny RT on the side of their forehead to signal it was them. The police made a mass report in the news that as long as they continue to help lock away criminals and criminals alone, they would pay three thousand dollars a month to them. The police left the money outside of their building in the corner where they would place the wounded criminal. It may sound like a lot at first, but divide that by six, well needless to say that this is why they all have other jobs too.

Skye looked at the man and furrowed her brow. "What did this one do?" she questioned at Ward.

Ward examined Skye's demeanor. He knows when Skye is upset about something, especially when her hands clench in a fist for no reason. "Does it matter? I mean you look like you need to let out some anger." He looked to the others. "Stop! Let Skye finish."

The others backed away. They gave Skye a nod and stood by Ward. Skye walked over to the man. He had to be in his mid to late forties. This was unusual to Skye because most of their criminals were not any older than thirty. However, when she looked back to her team, they made faces like they were waiting for her to be the kick ass Skye. She turned back to the man and remembered the anger she just felt at the bar. Picturing the guy from the bar, she knelt down and punched his face multiple times. Skye stood back up and kicked him once in the stomach. "Whatever you did, I'm sure that you won't do it again." She told him and walked back toward the group. "I'm going to head home. Early shift tomorrow at the gym. Can you all handle taking him to the police station?"

The group looked at Skye and nodded. Ward walked forward and gave her hug. "You did good Skye. Trust me, this one deserved it. Go home. Get some rest. We will take care of it."

Skye squeezed tight once more and let go. She gave them all a half smile before heading off back to her apartment. It is really small. It has a kitchen, living room (well for Skye the two might as well be the same since it is all in one section), and her bedroom which connects to her bathroom. Since it is only her there, she manages. When she walks in she notices the time. Two in the morning. Great. She has to wake up by six just to get to the gym by seven.

The local Shield gym is owned by Melinda May. A retired Agent of Shield. She opened this gym for the locals in their small town. Skye had passed by a couple of times noticing that the gym is mostly for people who want to learn self-defense moves and all that. So when Skye noticed a help wanted sign asking for a trainer, she couldn't pass it up. May hired her five minutes after seeing how she can fight. Impressed does not quite cover it. The rest of May's trainers are men and for Skye to be the only woman, May is very picky with who she lets Skye train. It makes no difference to Skye. There are some days where she goes and does nothing because May gives the clients to someone else. Yet, May still pays her like as if she was training someone. Skye uses that free time to train by herself in the private room May provided for her.

Skye managed to sleep all the way until that annoying buzz sound woke her up at six on the dot. With all the lounging and slow speed to get ready, she was out the door by six fifty five. Luckily, the gym is one block away from her apartment. Two around the corners and she is there. Walking in she sees all the other trainers setting up or punching a bag. May is at the front desk checking back and forth from papers and her computer. She looked up at Skye and made a small smile to acknowledge her existence and went back to her work. Skye rolled her eyes. She is not that surprised at May's rude demeanor. She has always been like this. Skye walked forward and went behind the desk. She hovered over May's shoulder chancing a glance at what she was so indulged in. It was nothing special. Just the schedule for all of their training. Skye let out a breath and propped herself up on the counter that was connected to the desk. "Anything for me today?" she asked hoping that May would answer her.

May quickly looked over her shoulder and turned back to the scattered papers. She let out a breath and said, "Nope. All the people that came in are not in your league of fighting."

Skye let out a sigh. She really hoped that she would have someone to train. After all, there is only so much training you can do alone before it gets boring. "Free day then?"

May nodded her head. "You got it."

Skye let her head back and stared at the ceiling. She began to count all the tiles that were scattered all over, you know, because there is nothing better to do. She heard the door chime, which signaled that someone was coming in, but never lifted her head to see who it is. Skye figures that the person is not for her, so the ceiling needs her full attention.

"Can I help you?" May directed to the person that had just come in.

"Uh, yes. I would like to have a trainer." A voice of a woman spoke. Skye heard it and tried to imagine in her head who this person is. They have nothing but regulars so she assumed it was one of them. Although, she should have known it wasn't given the British accent. Still, she never lifted her head to check who it is.

May looked the woman up and down. "You want a trainer?" she let out a breath. May saw that the woman most likely never punched anything in her life. "This is your first time in here today, isn't it?"

The woman nodded. "Yes. It is."

This triggered Skye. She looked down to finally take a glance at the girl. To Skye's non-existent surprise, it was definitely not one of their regulars. Their regulars were men and three women, all of whom Skye did not find attractive. The girl standing at the front desk had her brown hair in a ponytail, a cardigan over her button up shirt, a tie, long jeans, and sneakers. Skye did not ever really acknowledge what her type in girls is, but if she could acknowledge it now, this girl was definitely it. Skye felt her heart clench at the sight of her. She was definitely mesmerized.

The woman noticed Skye staring and formed a smile as she looked down, placing one lock of hair behind her ear. Skye was about to smile back when she heard someone calling her. "Skye! Come here." One of the other trainers called motioning to a punching bag that needed to be hung up. Skye rolled her eyes, but still hopped off to go and help the guy lift it up and place it on the hook. Skye positioned herself in a way that when she grabbed the bag, the girl at the desk would still be in full view. May and her were still talking when the girl suddenly left to go in the locker room. Skye hurried placing the hook on the bag and ran back over to May.

Skye rushed behind her, stopping just in time before she would bump right into her. "Is she going to train today?" Skye asked with a hopeful look.

May raised her head to look at Skye. "Who?"

Skye rolled her eyes. "You know, that girl that was just here."

May furrowed her brow and looked back down to her work. "Oh that one. Yes she is. I'm trying to find someone who—"

Skye hopped on her heels. "Me! I'll do it." She said almost way too quickly.

May nodded her head no. "No way. She has no experience. I am not going to have you lower your standards."

Skye let out an exasperated sigh. "But May! I-I have not trained anyone in a month. I know that you are trying to be protective of my skills, but I really want to train someone. Why not let it be a new regular?" Skye began to quiver her lower lip. "Please, Please, Please May."

May also let out a long, yet rude sigh. "Fine. But don't complain to me if she is not good. Now, go on. I'll send her to your training room when she is all dressed."

Skye smiled large, and gave May a side hug. "Thanks May." Which was returned with a look of death because Skye was touching her. Skye went off to her private training room. She laid out all the necessary equipment that she uses to train. She managed to place a punching bag up on its hook when she heard the door open.

She turned to see the girl. She still had the ponytail, but this time she was wearing a bright colored sports bra that was very visible behind her gray tank, and some black yoga pants. If Skye did not already lose it, she definitely did now.

The woman smiled and walked toward Skye. Extending out a hand she said, "Hi, I'm Jemma Simmons."