Quake

"And an 0-8-4 is?" "Object of unknown origin, kind of like you."

- Skye and Phil Coulson

Skye is a genius-level hacker who worked for the Rising Tide "hacktivist" group so she could reveal the truth about the existence of aliens, superheroes, and demigods to the world. When she appeared on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar, Phil Coulson recruited her into his team. However, the real reason why she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. was to discover the truth about her lost parents.

Early Life
"Found the senior agent up under a bridge. He managed to escape with a gunshot wound to the neck, but he bled out. He was still holding on to the 0-8-4. Poor thing was covered in blood. We thought she was dead too, but she was just asleep in a dead agents arms." "Wait, the baby? The girl was the 0-8-4?"

- Phil Coulson and Richard Lumley discussing Skye's past

Born in a small Chinese village in Hunan Province, Skye's parents and her entire village were killed when she was just an infant. Designated as an 0-8-4 by S.H.I.E.L.D., a team was sent in to investigate. After losing contact with the main team, the back-end team, consisting of Richard Lumley, Linda Avery, and three other agents, investigated only to find the infant sleeping in the arms of the dead lead agent. The rest of the main team was dead.

Once back in the states, the other members of the team started to be eliminated. To ensure her safety, Skye was dropped off by Avery at the St. Agnes orphanage and arrangements were made for her to be moved to different foster homes to keep her safe. When she was nine she stayed with a family, called The Brody's, that Skye particularly wanted to like her, but she was soon sent back to the orphanage. Skye became obsessed with finding out the truth about her parents and eventually she ran away and at some point in her life joined the Rising Tide, a computer activist (Or as Skye would say, "hacktivist") group. Skye and the Rising Tide shared certain beliefs about the freedom and accessibility of information. It was through the Rising Tide, that Skye bonded and became involved with master hacker Miles Lydon.

Skye spent two years living out of her van and using her skills to reveal classified data to the public while searching for information about her parents. However, in all of her searching, the only evidence she was able to find about them was a document with all of the pertinent data redacted by S.H.I.E.L.D. It was then that she came on to the idea to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.

The First Mission
"With great power comes... a ton of weird crap that you're not ready to deal with."

- Skye to Michael Peterson

While investigating the rumors of something called "Centipede" in Los Angeles, Skye witnessed Michael Peterson's display of superpowers during an accident which would kill a normal human being. She posted video of Peterson on-line and left just enough evidence for S.H.I.E.L.D. to track her down. She met with Peterson and advised him either to run, as she did not trust S.H.I.E.L.D.'s motivations, or to get ahead of the situation by using his abilities to become a super-hero.

However, after the meeting with Peterson, she was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Phil Coulson and Grant Ward, who were seeking out Peterson for his own safety, and taken to the Bus for interrogation.

After helping S.H.I.E.L.D subdue Peterson and get him the help he needed, she accepted an invitation to join Coulson's team, while maintaining contact with Lydon and Rising Tide. Realizing that S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the monstrous behemoth she originally believed it to be, Skye realized that she wanted her place in S.H.I.E.L.D. And after a harrowing incident in Malta, decided to commit herself to her training and the team, with team-mate Grant Ward acting as her supervising officer.

Conflicting Loyalties
"I'm not exactly a team player." "We're not exactly a team."

- Skye and Phil Coulson

When a hack from Miles Lydon endangered the life of "Registered Gifted" man Chan Ho Yin, Coulson's team sought to bring him into custody. Tipped off by Skye, Lydon evaded capture and met up with Skye at his apartment in Austin, Texas. Coulson, fearing that Skye might turn, tasked agent Melinda May to follow her. She confronted Skye and Lydon at his apartment and took them into custody.

While in custody, Skye tried to convince her team that Lydon was a good man who only believed in freedom of information. However, when agent Ward provided evidence that Lydon sold the information about Chan to mysterious sellers for one million dollars, she realized that he was not the man she thought he was.

Skye helped Ward extract Coulson and May when the operation to rescue Chan went bad. Afterward, Coulson gave Skye an ultimatum-- come clean with him, or be left behind. Skye decided to tell Coulson the truth about her quest for her parents and agreed to the stipulation of wearing a Tracking Bracelet, one that keeps her from operation electronic equipment, in return for being allowed to stay with S.H.I.E.L.D. In return, Coulson agreed to find out what he could about Skye's parents.



The Mystery Deepens
"Will you help me find out what really happened?" "Dangerous waters. But, I can try." "Thank you."

- Phil Coulson and Melinda May

Soon after, during a visit the The Hub, Coulson was as good as his word and looked up the un-redacted file. Coulson was truthful when he told Skye that the document was not about her specifically, and that it was about the woman who dropped her off at the orphanage, an unnamed female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Coulson apologized for the lack of specifics, but Skye was grateful for the information anyway.

However, Coulson was not being completely honest with Skye, as he indeed discovered more than he was willing to reveal to her until he knew more. The file itself created more questions than it answered creating a larger mystery that Coulson wished to solve for Skye's sake. To this end, Coulson recruited Melinda May to help uncover the truth.

Sink or Swim
"I know I'm not some bad-ass field agent like May or Ward, but this is what I do. You can't kick me off this mission. Listen, I will do whatever you say. All this protocol crap doesn't matter to me. All that matters to me is Coulson."

- Skye to Victoria Hand

While Agent Victoria Hand was on-board the Bus briefing Coulson's team and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on leads for Coulson's captors and plans to find him, Skye attempted to pursue a lead on the case by hacking the financial system in order to look into the finances of Vanchat. This caused a disruption to the briefing when her Tracking Bracelet locked down the Bus' computer systems. Hand's course of action to remove her from the plane was backed by May, who claimed that she was of no use on the plane. The rest of the team helped to avoid being sequestered by S.H.I.E.L.D. and provided her with a satellite phone that she'd be able to use once. While on the lam from S.H.I.E.L.D., she tried on her own hack financials but was met with similar success to her efforts on the Bus, forcing her to use social engineering to gain access to the home of Lloyd Rathman, impersonate Agent May, and force Rathman and the security guards to use a computer for her to divine the information she sought. After discovering Centipede's Mojave site on her own, she was able to inform the rest of the team that she was headed over there.

After actively participating in his rescue, including the incapacitating of Raina with a right cross, Coulson finally saw fit to remove Skye's Tracking Bracelet.

The Truth Revealed
"When we started this, I told you that you might not like what you learn." "And I told you... That it can't be worse than what I've imagined." "It is."

- Phil Coulson and Skye

Soon after, while Skye and the rest of the team visited S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, Coulson and May travelled to Mexico City, Mexico, where they tracked down former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Richard Lumley, who had been involved with Skye's case and fell off the grid soon after.

Lumley told Coulson the story of that long-ago op. Soon after returning home, the other agents involved in the op began to be eliminated until only he and Linda Avery remained. Avery took steps to hide Skye in the foster care system, making sure she would never be in one place for too long, before being murdered herself.

Coulson, tiring of secrets, revealed this to Skye but feared that learning of all of the lives lost on her behalf would shatter her spirit. However, in the end, Skye's resilience surprised him. She was grateful that S.H.I.E.L.D. had protected her all of these years and now considered them to be the family that she never had.

Near Death
"Oh, no. Oh no! Oh God! Simmons! Get down here! Oh- oh God. Hang on. Just hang on, okay? Oh god. She's been shot."

- Phil Coulson to a dying Skye

After the mission at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, the team found a lead to the whereabouts of the Clairvoyant through Ian Quinn. Tracking a mysterious package that Quinn acquired from Cybertek Technologies, the team went undercover and boarded the train transfering the package to Quinn's care. However, the team was jeopardized by Luca Russo, and Cybertek sent operatives to neutralize the team. In the ensuing chaos, the group was separated, and only Skye and Leo Fitz were left to pursue Quinn.

The pair arrived at Quinn's compound, where Skye proceeded inside alone and was shocked to find Michael Peterson, still alive but horribly scarred. She attempted to get Peterson to escape with her, but unknown to her, Peterson was being controlled by the Clairvoyant through a Backscatter X-Ray Eye Implant, and the package was actually a high-tech prosthetic leg that was subsequently attached on Peterson's limb. Skye attempted to stop Quinn, but was shot twice in the stomach. Close to death, she crawled to the door and called for help, but was unable to call loud enough. She is eventually found by Phil Coulson and saved at the last minute by her team, who sustained her condition by placing her inside of a Hyperbaric Chamber.

Personality
When first met, Skye was a confident woman obsessed with superhero culture and the shadow organizations that existed within it. She's edgy and can out-talk anyone with her unflappable nature.

Relationships

 * Phil Coulson - Team leader
 * Leo Fitz - Teammate
 * Jemma Simmons - Teammate
 * Melinda May - Teammate
 * Grant Ward - Teammate
 * Victoria Hand - Superior officer
 * Michael Peterson - Friend and Ally
 * Anne Weaver - Superior officer
 * Raina - Enemy
 * Ian Quinn - Enemy
 * Miles Lydon - Ex-Boyfriend