Still Small Voices

Author's Notes: I do not own Agents of Shield or any of its character. I am also borrowing the title of this story from the lifetime movie "Still Small Voices" with Catherine Bell. An amazing movie that I highly recommend, but it has no bearing on the plot of this story, I just like the title. This story will contain mostly Sky and the team friendship/family elements and maybe some Philinda. Please read and review! I live for comments.

Chapter 1:

"Well, this mission has turned out to be boring as all hell" Skye complained for at least the sixteenth time.

Ward glanced at her, making a concentrated effort to control his temper, but today his rookie was making that an exceedingly difficult task. "Field work isn't always going to be fast paced and exciting, Skye. There's going to be times when a little patience will go a long way."

"Patience? Sorry, my patience ran out about 4 hours ago. We are looking for a needle in a haystack here. Actually, that would probably be easier, because at least then we would have an idea of what we were looking for." Skye plopped down onto one of the couches that occupied the massive living room she and Ward were in the process of searching, and just as quickly jumped up in disgust to wipe off the thin layer of grime that had settled over the furniture and now clung to her clothes.

"Well, Frank Scott wasn't really in the mood to be cooperative when SHIELD arrested him. We know he's been collecting alien artifacts for quite some time and its our job to make sure we find and secure any 084s he might have acquired, no matter how long it takes."

Skye sighed. "Well at this rate it will probably take weeks. This place is huge! And did you take a look at the garage? Frank Scott was not only a billionaire, he was also a hoarder."

"It would take a lot less time if you spent less time talking and more time scanning for anomalies." Ward said as he continued to scan the room with his hand-held device with military precision.

"You know, this would be so much easier if this guy kept any sort of records. There's got to be a computer in here somewhere, maybe Scott kept inventory records of what he had. Or better yet, a list of the top ten dangerous alien objects he owns with a handy map to their location. Hey" she shrugged when Ward glared at her "a girl can dream."

Ward sighed. "Well if you want to go and look for Scott's computer go ahead. I'll get more done without all of your blabbing anyway. Just don't forget our comms don't get reception in here, so if you need to get in touch..."

"I know, use the good old fashion walkie talkies" Skye interrupted, grabbing her canvas backpack and digging through it until she found the walkie. "You know it sure says something about technology when this guy managed to find a way to block cell signals and our comm signals in here, but these old things still work."

"Well just be glad they do." Ward replied, turning his focus back to the task at hand. Skye gleefully left him to his scanning as she practically skipped down the hall, grateful to be doing something different. After four hours she didn't think she would be able to handle one more second of the painfully slow process of scanning every inch of this mansion.

It wasn't until Coulson called him on the radio that Ward realized he had completely lost track of time. Skye was right, scanning every square foot of this house was boring as all hell, but without her constant chattering to distract him, Ward had managed to clear all the rooms on the first floor. "How did it go?" Ward asked as he joined Coulson and May in the front living room.

"Nothing of any interest in the basement." May replied.

"I found some rather interesting SHIELD antiques in the study on the 2nd floor, but nothing that needs to be contained." Coulson said.

"How'd things go in the garage?" Ward asked FitzSimmons as they trudged in the front door, looking tired and covered with dust.

"Oh, not too bad. Most of it was junk, but we managed to find a few Asgardian artifacts." Fitz replied. "

Did you find anything?" Simmons inquired.

Ward shook his head. "So far we haven't found anything that was really worthy of SHIELD making this a top priority."

Coulson shrugged. "Sometimes the intel is wrong. We still have the 3rd floor and the attic to look through tomorrow, so perhaps we will find something there." Coulson glanced around. "Where's Skye?" The other agents looked up, just noticing her absence.

"She was getting antsy, so I sent her off to look for a computer, to see if she could find any information about Scott's collection." Ward said. "It was a couple of hours ago, so she must have found one."

"Did she take a walkie?"Coulson asked. Ward nodded. "Skye, can you hear me?" Coulson called into the walkie. The only answer was a loud burst of static. Coulson didn't like that sound any more than he liked the feeling of dread that was settling over him.

"Maybe she's out of range." Simmons suggested hopefully.

Fitz shook his head. "These are long-range walkies, they should cover the whole house and then some. Not to mention, if Skye had found something she would have let us know, and if she hadn't she would have gotten bored and come back down here" The teammates glanced at each other with looks of dismay. After Skye's shooting they had each grown more protective of the young hacker, and the thought of her being in danger again had them all on edge.

"Alright, search the house" Coulson said, trying not to think about how the last time he gave that order ended with him finding Skye bleeding out on a dirty cellar floor.

TBC.