Quake

"I should've let Mike finish him when I had the chance. I was stupid and weak." "You weren't weak. You had compassion. That's harder."

- Skye and Phil Coulson

Skye, legally known as Mary Sue Poots, is a genius-level hacker and clearance level 1 S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. Before her recruitment into the agency, Skye 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 agreed to join S.H.I.E.L.D. was to discover the truth about her lost parents. She joined them as a consultant becoming a valued member of the team throughout the course of their missions. Skye finally gained official S.H.I.E.L.D. membership just before the hunt for the Clairvoyant. After the events of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War she joined the rest of her team in going off the grid. Skye was devastated when she learned that fellow agent, Grant Ward was an agent of HYDRA and she joined the team in defeating the Centipede Project and John Garrett. When Agent Coulson became the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. she, along with the rest of the team, went with him to begin rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D..

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 agent's arms." "Wait, the baby? The girl was the 0-8-4?"

- Richard Lumley and Phil Coulson discussing Skye's past

Born in a small Chinese village in Hunan Province, Skye's parents and her entire village were killed defending her 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. However, according to another version of the story, the villagers were trying to protect Skye from her own parents, who then exterminated the entire population of the village.

After returning to the United 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, who gave her the name Mary Sue Poots, 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 Brodys, that Skye particularly wanted to like her, but she was soon sent back to the orphanage. Since she didn't like her legal name, she gave herself the name Skye. When she grew up and became a computer expert, she deleted all official records on her "Mary Poots" identity. 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 at a local diner 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 teammate 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 operating 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 original version of the 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 of Science and Technology, 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 of Science and Technology, 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 was 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.

Shortly after being shot, the team took her to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Trauma Zentrum in Switzerland, where despite the doctors best efforts, her injuries were too severe and there was nothing more they could do other than keep her comfortable. Desperate, Coulson decided to take Skye to the location where he was brought back from the dead. After some research, the team located a secret facility known as The Guest House. With the help of Agent John Garrett, Grant Ward's former S.O., the group managed to retrieve GH.325, a drug that seemingly regenerates damaged cells. Just right after the drug was administrated, Coulson arrived warning not to give Skye the drug, as he discovered in the compound that the drug is made from the bodily fluids of a blue alien corpse hidden inside the base. After initial shock and struggle Skye managed to recover thanks to the effects of the drug.

Solving the Mystery
During Skye's recovery, the team joined forces with the Asgardian Sif in taking down Lorelei. After that situation had been dealt with, Coulson revealed to Skye the true nature of the drug, and the two decided to work together to find the secret behind it without telling the rest of the team.

Chasing Deathlok
"Think about it. The Clairvoyant only knew you'd be at Quinn's villa..." "After I dropped a tracker. And the only thing he's had trouble seeing is what happened to you after you died." "Because Director Fury wouldn't release that file to anyone." "No..." "The Clairvoyant doesn't have abilities. He has security clearance. He's an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

- Phil Coulson and Skye The group soon resumed their hunt for the Clairvoyant, joining up with other significant S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Skye was given the duty of splitting the team into different groups and sending them to find and analyze potential suspects for the Clairvoyant's identity. To give her proper authorization for committing to the task, Skye was made a Clearance Level 1 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

The team eventually traced the Clairvoyant to Thomas Nash, whom Ward murdered after he threatened Skye's life. However, Skye and Coulson suspected that Nash was not the Clairvoyant, and after analyzing the evidence given, they realized that the real Clairvoyant was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

Before any further action could be taken, the Bus was suddenly hijacked by Agent Hand, who ordered her agents to take everyone on the team except for Coulson.

The Exposure
"You should really look up the word "boring" in the dictionary." "You ready to hack the system?" "Who said anything about hacking?"

- Skye and Grant Ward As Hand directed the Bus to the Hub, the team intercepted an encrypted message that revealed HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Having been exposed, the HYDRA operatives began assaulting various S.H.I.E.L.D. outposts and picking off non-HYDRA loyalists. Agent Hand, believing Coulson and his team to be HYDRA sleeper agents, brought them to the Hub for incarceration.

Upon arriving at the Hub and believing Hand to be the Clairvoyant, Skye encrypted a hard drive so that Hand couldn't access vital information that the team had collected over their various missions. Then the group split up in order to evade capture, with Skye and Ward holding off various agents while the rest of the team attempted to rescue Simmons, who had been working at the Hub during the pursuit of the Clairvoyant. During their time together, Skye and Ward admitted their attractions to each other but Skye chose not to pursue any relationship.

Skye was later present when the HYDRA sleeper agents at the Hub were rounded up, and displayed shock at the revelation of Agent Garrett being the Clairvoyant.

Betrayed
"All this time, everything we've been through why? How could you?" "I was on a mission. It wasn't personal." "'It was - ' you did not just say that. 'It wasn't personal'?" "Skye, listen to me..." "God, you might actually believe that. That - that is the twisted logic that they teach you when you sign up to be a Nazi."

- Skye and Grant Ward

In the aftermath of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War, Coulson was left in charge of the Hub and Skye gave him Intel. When Glenn Talbot insisted on sending peacekeepers there, Skye was assigned to collecting the team's badges and erasing their identities, so that Coulson's team could escape persecution. Eventually, they found Providence.

While there, Skye learned from Agent Eric Koenig that the Fridge was raided by HYDRA, and, fearing for Ward who was sent to the Fridge to imprison John Garrett, Skye gave Ward the location of Providence. As half the team went to Portland to capture Blackout, Skye and Koenig discussed using NSA satellites to find the escapees. They brought Ward in their discussion, not knowing that he was a HYDRA sleeper agent and helped free those escapees. Ward had come to Providence to retrieve the pass codes to the encrypted hard drive Skye handed him earlier. To keep his identity secret, Ward killed Koenig; however, Skye found his body in a closet. Realizing "Ward is HYDRA," Skye sought Ward's motive for being there so she boarded the Bus with him to learn he wanted her codes.

Skye tricked Ward into taking her to Ruthie's Skillet in Los Angeles, claiming that the code was location-based. When she tried to escape him, she was captured by Deathlok. She confronted Ward on his betrayal and he told her that his feelings for her were real. When Deathlok induced a heart attack in Ward to socilit her cooperation, Skye acquiesced and revealed that the codes were altitude-based, causing the Bus to take off. Fortunately, Coulson came to her rescue and they used Lola to escape. The next morning, Coulson's team made a plan to defeat Garrett and retrieve the Bus. After the meeting, Skye and May had a candid conversation about their feelings toward Grant Ward and how to focus them effectively. May also offered to be Skye's new S.O. Eventually, Coulson's team found the Barbershop Headquarters Garrett was using; when they entered, Skye and the others were surrounded by Centipede-enhanced soldiers and Kaminsky holding the Berserker Staff.

Skye was able to access the computers in the headquarters to put a trojan program for Garrett as her teammates battled the Centipede-enhanced soldiers and Kaminsky. Coulson's team escaped as the building collapsed, burying their opponents.

Garrett was found in New Mexico and, on the Jump Jet, Coulson gave instructs towards the Battle at Cybertek.

Skye entered the Cybertek facility and went into the handlers' control room, threatening that she had a bomb. She let Kyle Zeller know that she was in charge and called Garrett to let him know that Coulson was coming for him. Garrett bragged about ending Fitz and Simmons to her in response.

Ultimately, Skye found Mrs. Zeller for Kyle, freeing him from the incentive program that  HYDRA was using to ensure cooperation and then she found Ace Peterson, who was being held hostage to assure Deathlok's cooperation. With his son's freedom, Deathlok killed Garrett. Skye approached Deathlok, asking him to join Coulson's Team, but he declined.

Skye went with Coulson's team to the Playground and was reunited with Simmons who survived Garrett's kill-order. When she asked Simmons about Fitz, she learned, "He was alive." Then she met Billy Koenig.

Skye's Parentage
Later, Raina went to a guarded room and handed a photo to someone she knew. She told this person that she had found Skye.

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.

Equipment

 * Weapons: During her first months of training to become a full-fledged S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Skye took some weapons training under the supervision of Agent Grant Ward. Although she has used some handguns during her first mission with Coulson's Team, she actually never has fired a gun against an opponent.
 * IMI Jericho 941 R: When Skye infiltrated Ian Quinn's compound in Malta, Quinn himself pointed one of these guns to Skye. She managed to disarm Quinn and pointed him with the gun, but she fled before actually having to use it.
 * Smith &amp; Wesson 910: When Akela Amador attacked Skye, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons while they were performing surveillance activities inside a van, Skye tried to defend themselves using a gun. However, she mixed up the safety release with the magazine release, and Amador managed to knock the van off the road.
 * Beretta 92FS: When Skye infiltrated Lloyd Rathman's house posing as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, a private security agent pointed one of these guns to Skye. She managed to disarm the guard and used it to menace his partner, managing to tie both up.

Allies

 * Family
 * Unnamed Father
 * Unnamed Mother
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
 * Maria Hill - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director
 * Victoria Hand † - S.H.I.E.L.D. Superior Officer
 * Anne Weaver - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Felix Blake - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Eric Koenig † - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Billy Koenig - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Dr. Jazuat - S.H.I.E.L.D. Doctor
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson - S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Team leader and father figure
 * Leo Fitz - Teammate and friend
 * Jemma Simmons - Teammate and friend
 * Melinda May - Teammate and new Supervising Officer
 * Antoine Triplett - Teammate
 * Michael Peterson/Deathlok - Enemy while under HYDRA coercion, now Ally
 * Akela Amador - Enemy while under HYDRA coercion, now Ally
 * Elliot Randolph - Ally
 * Sif - Ally

Enemies

 * Camilla Reyes
 * Miles Lydon - Former Rising Tide colleague and former boyfriend
 * Cybertek - Enemy organization
 * Carlo Mancini
 * HYDRA / Centipede Project
 * John Garrett † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Grant Ward - Former Teammate and Supervising Officer turned enemy, former love interest
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Raina
 * Ian Quinn - Attempted Killer
 * Kaminsky
 * Edison Po †
 * Lorelei

Trivia

 * An unrelated character with the same name appears in Marvel Comics.