Beyond the veil
Summary: Coulson, Robbie and Fitz got stuck in the in-between. Daisy unstucks them.
Notes: Horrible summary, no plot whatsoever, Daisy in the end puts the Director in his place, and this is the result of an almost completely forgotten dream combined with the idea 'Coulson turns into a ghost'. Tittle; Lindsey Stirling's song, melody?, of the same name.
"Coulson? Coulson can you hear me? Coulson?" Daisy frowned when he didn't reply. "Mack? May? Fitz? Anyone? Damn it!"
"What's wrong?" Gabe asked.
"The comms are down." Daisy siad.
"What does that mean? Is it bad?"
"Something is blocking the signal. They'll have to come out of the building." she said, distractedly.
A few moments later, Mack asked for the continuous EMP the Watchdogs had used a few days ago, to be sent down to prevent the experiment from being completed.
It was berely a minute later when Mack called in the explosion and the disappearance of Coulson, Robbie and Fitz.
"I'm coming down there." she said, calling the containment back up. "Gabe, you stay here. We run into trouble." she told the young teenager.
"Hey, if my brother is in danger, I need to be there."
"Look, I get it. But I can't take that risk."
"Hey -" he started, but Daisy was already getting into the pod and nodding for an agent to send it down.
"What happened?"
"Don't know. Were on our way to get back inside when a wave hit us." Mack said.
"Coulson?"
"The comms went dead the moment we entered. Don't know if they'll work now. Robbie was fighting Lucy." he replied. "And Fitz was in control room. Coulson was in the main chamber were the whole experiment was to happen. I suppose the wave meant we were too late."
"Damn it. I should have been here with him." Daisy walked off towards the Roxon building.
"He's probably fine." May said.
"Why are you out here?"
"I was running an errand for Coulson."
Daisy nodded once and then went inside to find Coulson and Robbie.
"Mack? I'm going for Coulson."
"Yeah, I hear you. We'll track Robbie and Fitz."
"Copy that." she said. "Howler if you have anything."
"Yes, ma'am." Mack said, good-naturedly.
Daisy reached the inner room, same as the one she first saw Mack and Fitz again, but no sight of Phil.
"Coulson?" she called out. Nothing. "Coulson!" she searched the room, "Phil! Answer me!" she called worried. "Mack? Any sign of Robbie or Fitz?"
"Nothing. Just a couple dead agents. It's pretty bad. You got Coulson?"
"No. He's gone, Mack."
"They can't have gotten out. We'd've seen them." he repleid.
"Thanks, Mack." she sighed, turning off the coms. "This is why I didn't want back in; this. I got attatched to you again, Phil. And now you go and disappear in thin air." she talked to herself
'Daisy!'
"And now I'm hearing voices!" she said humourously. "Great. Just great."
'Daisy. It's me, Coulson. You're not imagining it, I promise. We are...stuck.'
"For real?" Daisy blinked. "And how come I can hear you?"
'Quantum entanglement? Our Kree blood? I don't know. I'm just glad I can reach you finally.'
"Finally?"
'Yeah. Found May first. Told her to give you the Darkhold. If anyone can find a way, that's you.'
"Wait, how did you find May?"
'She died for seven minutes. Lucy had touched her and it was the only way to save her from dying.'
"Talk about weird science..."
'And we think the Devil doesn't exist, right?'
Daisy smiled.
"You told Robbie you didn't believe he got his powers from the Devil, too?"
'In my defense, it is a little hard to believe.'
"Yeah, well, apparently, there is another Ghost Rider out there, riding a bike." she said. "Passed on his power to Robbie."
'Huh.'
"Yeah."
'Call May. Tell her to give you the book. And Daisy?'
"Yeah?"
'Be careful.'
"Ain't I always?" she smirked. "Sit tight, Phillip. I'll bust the three of you out of the Neverland you got stuck in."
'I know.'
"May? Can you meet me at the Quinjet?"
"Sure."
Daisy walked quickly out, May already there.
"What is it?"
"I need the book."
"You talked to Coulson." she realised.
"Yeah."
"He said he would try to reach you, but I never realised..."
"They're in-between I think. I might find something to get them here." she said.
"Do we need to stay here?"
"I don't know. This is more mysticism rahter than science."
May handed her the book and Daisy sat down and opened it. The words slowly started to appear, in English to her relief, and Daisy got lost in reading.
'How's it going?'
"We'll see. I've only started, Phil." she mumbled. "Patience."
She felt a light pressure on her shoulder and she looked around, bewildred.
"Did you just...squeezed my shoulder?"
'Oh, you felt it?'
"Yeah."
'Interesting.'
"You can play crazy science after we get you three back home, Phil."
'Okay.'
They spent a few hours in the building, Daisy having migrated to the control room, trying to replicate the process, Mack reconnecting the chamber.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" May asked.
"No. Not at all. This is not my field of expertise, you know. Computers? I'm your girl. This? Let's hope I will not send myself into the spacetime continuum and expect the Doctor to save us all with his TARDIS."
A snicker in the back of her mind makes her smile.
"Shush, you." she grins.
She misses May's look.
"Now, let's see...I pull the lever and..." a shockwave goes through the building and slowly Phil, Fitz and Robbie appear. Only, not exactly.
"Did it work?" Phil asked the moment they appeared.
"Not completely." Daisy said, standing close to him.
Phil looked down at himself and then took a step away from Daisy.
"No, don't touch me." he said. "I don't want to infect you."
"I'm sorry. That's the best I could do."
"Hey, hey, no. It's okay. We'll have to find something more in that book about turning us back to flesh and bone." he said, inching a little closer, his hand instictively rising to cup her face, but stopping it in time. "This is progress." he said, pointing to the three of them.
"Speak for yourself, sir. I don't like being a ghost." Fitz pipped in.
Robbie glared at him and Phil looked like he ate something sour.
"You think you can try something else from the book?" Robbie asked Daisy.
"Yeah, of course. I wasn't going to leave you like this." she said.
"Gabe had enough surprises with me already, is all."
"I know."
"Daisy. If you can only turn a person at a time, Robbie should be first." Coulson said.
Daisy nodded, almost reaching for his shoulder and Phil takes a few steps away from her, both of them looking frustrated at their inability to touch, to draw comfort from the solidity of the other.
"Do we need to stay here?" Mack asked.
"Yes. The power provided here sort of demands it." Fitz said.
"Yeah, well, the power here only managed to turn you to ghost figures, so..." Daisy shrugged, reading through the book.
"Anything?"
"Patience, Phil." she said, not looking up.
They waited for a while, as Daisy read and ordered alterations for the control center and the chamber.
"You sure this will work?" Mack asked her.
"Well, Fitz is positive." she shrugged. "We'll see how it goes. Besides, I am going to boost things up a little." she added, waving her fingers to him.
"Daisy, you haven't healed enough yet." he said, worried.
"Ready?" Coulson asked, standing to a safe distance.
"Yeah, I think so." she nodded.
They all took positions and, with a nod from Daisy, Mack pulled the lever.
It took them a lot of time, Robbie getting de-ghosted first, followed by Fitz – Coulson had insisted – and last came Coulson himself. It was the only time Daisy needed to use her powers, because of the power drain and her connection to Phil due to their blood.
Once he was through, Daisy let herself lean heavily on a nearby console.
She breathed in and out heavily, her arms burning, when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around her pulling her to a solid body in front of her.
"Phil." she breathed out, relieved.
"Thank you." he whispered.
"Just try not to get sucked into the Time Vortex again?" she asked, her arms wrapping around him lightly.
"Okay." he smiled. "Are you okay?"
"My arms are a little sore..." she admitted.
"Did you use your powers?" he asked worried.
"Had to. Needed to stabilize you." she said.
"Daisy..." he sighed. "Come on, let's get your hands treated, yeah?"
"Okay."
She stood beside him, an arm wrapped around his waist, leanning on him. Phil had an arm around her shoulders and the other holding her hand around his waist.
"I knew you could do it." he said.
"But why could I hear only you?"
"The Kree blood, possibly. We were always connected to each other, though. Even before the blood." he said.
"Like we were soulmates or something?" she teased him.
"That wouldn't be so bad, would it?" he smiled shyly at her.
"Phil?"
"I thought you could tell, with your powers." he said.
"What?"
"How much I love you."
"They're warm and soft and safe and fill me with all sorts of good feelings, but I never thought..." Daisy admitted. "How long...?"
"I realised when you got shot." he said. "I was sure when we fell out of the Bus, in Lola. I thought it was a possibility when I never ever told you not to touch Lola. But then I found out about Project T.A.H.I.T.I. and then I started carving and by the time things were seemingly calming down for me, the world was in more danger. And then last year, I thought...if I couldn't find the moment to tell you, then..." he shrugged.
"And then we both entered relationships with other people." she commented. "We're so stupid."
"I certainly am." Phil said. "But you? No."
"Phil. You love me. I love you. I should have realised. I hear your vibrations!"
"You love me?" he asked, suddenly breathless.
They had reached the containment pod and had entered it.
"Yes, you...you human!" she said, exasperated.
With a bright smile, he cupped her face and kissed her full on the lips, not noticing the pod was nearing the Zephyr1, nor the docking or the people in the hold.
Daisy did notice, when the buzz of the vibrations around them multiplied and pulled a little away.
"Phil, I thnk you're in trouble." she said.
He looked up, noticing the people staring, among them the Director. He shrugged and kissed her again.
"Oh well." he whispered against her lips. "What can you do?" he smiled. "I am in love and I can't hide it."
Daisy giggled.
"Come on. They might need the pod."
"Agent Coulson." the Director started. "That goes against protocol."
"Did you choose him to bring back the protocols, Phil? Really? Of all things to be worried for, he is about agent/civilian relationships?"
"Human/Inhuman interactions without supervision are forbidden. Much more relationships." the Director said. "And you may be a former SHIELD agent, but you are also a wanted criminal."
"It's not my fault you are a lousy excuse of a Director. Your people didn't notice you were being hacked by Watchdogs. That's how people got killed during the blackouts. Seventeen innocent people that were in your list died and you didn't even bother to try to find how they did it." Daisy said.
"It is SHIELD's priority to protect the people -"
"I was SHIELD. I know what SHIELD is supposed to be. What you're doing isn't it. You're just a salesman, trying to sell a faulty product as the perfect solution to a problem."
"Daisy." Phil laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I wish you had asked Fury to take over. At least he knew what was important." Daisy said, turning to go.
"Wait." Phil went after her. "That won't win points with the new Director." he said. "But, he did needed to hear the truth. He wouldn't have listened to me. Not anymore, anyway."
"Can we lock ourselves in your room, so you can take care of my arms and then make out until we're too tired to care? And then sleep. And then think of the consequanses of what I just did."
"Yeah. Yes, we can do that." he smiled.
"I love you." she smiled, pulling him in for a kiss.
"Me, too." he smiled against her lips, as he opened the door to his bunk and walked backwards in.
Daisy kicked the door closed.