I finally found a chunk of time big enough to both binge on episodes I missed and think of next steps for Simmons's Odyssey. I particularly enjoyed Simmons's story about how she and her dad would stargaze while she had spina bifida. I will admit that I have a sizable amount of notes planning out where I had intended on taking the story, but I won't have the time to edit it down to a more fluid narrative. Special shout out to adorestories, who made a request, which I was glad to oblige. My schedule is picking up again, and I've realized I'd rather post the unedited outline for your perusal, instead of leaving a story unfinished and open ended. Please overlook, or enjoy, whatever random comments or bracketed details I've missed or left in. At a later, unforeseen point in time, I may come back and work it down into a more manageable and coherent story.
Part 2 [Picks up from where Simmons left the Kyln, and is transported to a stolen Kree stone in their cargo hold/]
Yondu Udonta had sent Sudhir to the cargo bay to begin cataloguing the Ravager's latest haul of loot. He received a call over the comm to get down there, and he arrived to find a Terran girl in the hold, having apparently stolen away. She is fearful and won't tell them her name. They also cannot discern how she got aboard, since their holding bay door camera doesn't show her entering. Sudhir comments she must have been as fast as a velok [alien-style velociraptor, in honor of Chris Pratt], and everyone agrees. Yondu decides to put her in one of their holding cells until he can figure out what to do with her, since a rivaling band of mercenaries arrive to loot the area they've just plundered.
Simmons is fascinated with the different species she has been coming across, and is thankful she still has her life. It can't have been longer than a day or two since she was first taken by the monolith. She begins to theorize on the different evolutionary advantages the different specifications give the humanoids she has seen. She wishes she could speak to Fitz, who is likely beside himself with worry for her. [Note: her thinking has fundamentally shifted from a scared victim in need of saving to someone with agency and a mission to return home, although she is still very afraid.]
Fitz was driven by both the faith he would get Simmons back and the fear that this reality was unlikely. The team was at a constant hover in his periphery, and he knew they were staying out of his way for lack of a better plan. With Simmons and her knowledge of alien biology and experience with their artefacts gone, Fitz's speciality with mechanics and Simmons's notes on the monolith were the next best thing they had to offer.
The next day, Simmons is taken from her cell to Yondu. He demands to know who she is and why she stole away on his ship. Simmons jumps into a long-winded explanation of her name and that she is a medical student who has somehow been taken from her planet, Earth. Yondu jokes that lost Terran children keep finding their way aboard his vessel, but isn't sure whether to believe that she is truly lost. The rival crew has caught up to them and are looking to retake the loot. They fire on their ship and overload one of the compression thralls and badly injures one of the crew and injures a couple others. Their medic, a disillusioned man, is passed out from drinking and useless. Simmons offers to help, although she is unfamiliar with their anatomical specifications. Yondu agrees and commands her to earn her keep while the rest of the crew man the ship's guns and defenses. Simmons, with the help of Sudhir for answering questions of anatomy, stabilizes the crew member and tends to the other two. Picking up on the differences between them, she returns to the first patient and closes up the wounds. With Sudhir's help in finding a first aid manual, she reads it and makes an educated guess as to a safe dosage.
Yondu Udonta decides Simmons is a useful asset and "hires" her services to the "Ravager" and informs Simmons her services will be her fare home to Terra. Simmons argues she isn't sure his idea of Terra and her name of Earth are one and the same planet, but he rebuffs this, saying he is certain. Simmons presses on, saying she isn't a stowaway, nor is she an ordinary passenger; she is a lost and confused human who has never been to space before, and if he won't take her to Terra, they should take her to someone who might. Yondu replies that as far as he is concerned, she is a stowaway and she is getting a far better deal than she should ever expect. Now in new assigned quarters, Simmons wonders just how she will get back to Earth, and whether she should have stayed with the Nova Corps Denarian, Rhomann Dey. With nothing else to do, she uses her phone, which she had in her pocket, and takes notes on everything she's seen and learned thus far. With no signal, she sadly puts it in airplane mode and wonders whether she'll be able to configure a phone charger in alien space that will give 5 volts so as not to fry her phone. Wonders whether she'll be able to measure the correct voltage for her phone, in case this section in space uses a drastically different unit.
Fitz is dejected at the end of the second day, having drawn up a whole slew of plans, but not knowing much of the stone's properties or functions. Mack calms him by saying he'd likely have to start from where Simmons left off, but wherever Simmons may be, she's capable of taking care of herself. Fitz isn't convinced, and wishes he could talk to Simmons and get her input, since they work best together. Mack acknowledges that may be true, but from what he's seen and heard of them over the past year, they work pretty well individually, too.
Part 3
Fitz becomes frustrated, because almost a week has gone by and he has a rising sense of urgency that the longer it takes for him to figure out a way to get her back, the less likely it is she ever will get back.
Since medical events don't occur every day for the Ravager, Simmons spends most of her time each day studying the anatomy of different species on the ship from whatever materials they have aboard, taking notes and pictures on her phone, and internally planning her escape to Nova Corps, where she might reach the nice man, Rhomann Dey, who had told her he would try to help her. She finds "junk" parts that she's pretty sure she can turn into a handheld reusable electromagnetic pulser, should she think back to what information Fitz imparted to her over the years. She completes the device and hides it in her belt buckle. Sudhir is equally fascinated with her, since she is the first female Terran she has ever met.
In her first week aboard the Ravager, a deal goes wrong and the client tries to take Simmons hostage to get off the ship. Simmons doesn't want to leave the Ravager, yet, since the Kree monolith is still aboard, so she uses her combat training to disarm him. He kicks the phaser out of her hand and pulls out a second, leaving her in the lurch. He decides she is too much trouble and primes his blaster for a shot. Simmons instinctively clicks her EMP device, though she's unsure whether it works, and the blaster fails to fire. At the same time, other crew member's tech and gear that rely on electronics are rendered useless in that room. Yondu's crew knocks the client out and rounds on Simmons. He is suspicious of her again, since she still hasn't told them her full name beyond Simmons. With the event and what Yondu's crew are calling a spontaneous EMP, Yondu is suspicious that Simmons is a Terran Inhuman, which Simmons denies, saying she has never had any special abilities, and she doesn't know what happened.
Sudhir realizes that the EMP did come from her when they reboot their systems, and relates this to Yondu. Everything about her annoys Yondu, due to the complicated nature surrounding her presence, but he sees a lot of value in her, since she is a gifted scientist and medic, so he lets it go for the time being. Simmons wishes for the umpteenth time that she could confer with Fitz, and bides her time by taking the opportunity to remove the Kree stone from Sudhir's manifest and cart the monolith to the back nook of the holding bay, where she hopes it will be overlooked.
Weeks later, Simmons is losing hope that the stone will take her back, or that Yondu will ever willingly take her home. Simmons realizes that the stone will, every so often, liquify and take whatever objects are within its reach, and she hopes they are arriving on Earth and letting Fitz know it is possible to get back. Yondu's crew starts taking bolder assignments and start using Simmons on certain missions where they anticipate injuries, and Simmons obliges despite. Simmons begins building a name for herself as she completes more jobs for the Ravagers, and part of her even likes the opportunity to break the rules. She finds doing her own thing can even make her feel happy where only following the rules could do that before. She gains the name Saga in honor of her tendency to deliver long winded explanations. Hears of Star Lord, but they keep missing each other's paths.
Yondu realizes Saga's many trips to the holding bay is to visit the monolith that seemingly never gets moved. He realizes it for what it is when he inspects it and immediately dumps it for fear of who could portal in next. Simmons confronts him and tries to convince him not to, but Yondu refuses and tells her she can look back, but only go forward. Simmons realizes this is accurate and plans to escape one way or another.
On a mission soon after, they are wiping a Kree man's criminal record from the central database so that when their system resets, his record will be erased over the entire system. The facility hovers over one of Hala's [planet] oceans, and the team infiltrates it. The mission goes wrong, because their intel was off and they tripped a silent alarm. Without enough time, Simmons forms a plan to separate herself from the Ravager crew and await the Kree authorities. Then, she would work on getting sent back to Earth. Barring that, she hopes to contact Asgard, more likely Nova Corps, although the later options are not ideal. She is eager to reunite with Fitz.
Yondu realizes her plan and gives chase, Sudhir following. Yondu catches her on an outer deck of the hovering fortress and tells her that her plan is stupid, because she doesn't understand that the Kree authorities hate the Nova Corps, Asgard and don't even like Terra, seeing Terrans as weak and inferior. Simmons realizes that may be true, but she would rather find her way without the Ravagers, since she has basically been a comfortable captive for two or more months. With the Kree authorities arriving, Simmons backs off the deck.
Sudhir is stricken that they leave without Saga, since they have grown close, though he realizes his compliance in Saga's captivity. It is only now that she is gone that he realizes he cared her like his dead sister [note: develop this or cut?]. Now that he doesn't know what became of her, he determines to help her if he ever runs into her again.
Simmons falls towards the water. When she hits the water, she dives in and angles her body upward. It takes a minute for her to resurface, since the height of her fall sent her so deep into the water. She treads water and panics when she realizes a large beast is circling her under the water. She kicks out and feels a strange current, but assumes it is her imagination. The beast disappears into the depths and she swims until she finds driftwood from strange tree-like organisms. She is glad that, while she never had more than basic combat training, she had always been a strong swimmer, and her time with Sudhir has given her many more insights into this corner of space. From her raft, she realizes she sees no land.
Since the Kyln, Dey continued to search for her, but feared she was been killed or had befallen further trouble. Visiting his wife and daughter, he commiserates at her desperation to return home.
Fitz becomes neurotic about finding Simmons and devotes himself to running simulations, tests and reviewing the data they have on a daily basis. [Mack moment?]
Simmons spends a couple days adrift at sea. She is too afraid to drink the water, which is much saltier than on Earth, though it doesn't taste inherently lethal. Fitz rigged her phone to be waterproof, but is incompatible with this planet the same as all the others, so she can't keep track of the days. She spends several more of its days adrift at sea, realizing she will likely die, since she has had no food and has drunk only the rainwater from the safety of her raft. She has lost count of the days she has spent adrift since escaping the fortress. [More Odyssey references?]
One day, the sea gets stormy and Simmons's raft is capsized and ripped from her. Simmons swims aimlessly, then spots land and paddles towards it. Reaching land, she stumbles around, finds a hilly area with a ravine and falls asleep in a pile of leaves.
The next morning, Simmons wakes to the sound of laughter. [Odyssey reference, check.]
Part 4
The next morning, Simmons wakes to the sound of laughter.
Simmons wakes up and realizes she was hearing the sound of a gurgling stream. Realizing she hasn't had any water recently and she is close to death anyway, she gives in and drinks the water. She starts to believe the water is bad for her, because she still hears discordant laughter. She realizes the laughter is coming from Kree children who are playing with their new head-cam nearby, and she returns to and hides in her pile of leaves. They find her and when she asks for help, bid her to come to their parent's place.
Vin-Tak, his memories still partially gone, is at his sister's and brother-in-law's farm with their children while he recovers from his memory loss. He spends a lot of time alone and meets his niece and nephew with Simmons, though he doesn't recognize her. He is still a warrior, and patriotic to his planet Hala, and sees her as an intruder. Simmons remembers his name and convinces him she is just as lost as she looks. She knows she can tell him about his lost memories, although she is internally conflicted over how much she should share.
Vin-Tak's niece and nephew, Vel-bak and Ar-bak, are excited to meet a real human, and are fascinated with her physiology. Vin-Tak's sister, Boz-Tak, gives Simmons fluids and treatment to undo the damage of her sunburns, scrapes and bruises. [Too many bak/taks?]
The family plans on how to return Simmons to Earth. Vin-Tak is untrusting of any plans to send her directly to Earth, since, he has a large gap in his memory concerning Earth. He tells the table of recent rumors that the Kree's old weapon, the Inhumans, had recently lost in some battle on earth, and Simmons realizes he is speaking of Skye's family. He tells of how he remembers a feeling that he needed to help protect Earth, but then the next thing he knows, he is on Earth, and without memory of why he came, even with long-belated touches from his hammer/mace. Now, he suspects it had to do with the Inhumans, but he cannot be sure.
Simmons formally introduces herself and gives an explanation of what happened to him. When she mentions the terragen crystals and how they were lost at sea, tying it to his tale, Vin-Tak's memory clicks and he remembers everything. He is grateful to her for filling in the blanks and promises to help her return to Earth. Simmons is relieved, although she fears how he would react if he ever stopped to think of whether Shield had ever thought of returning his memory to him.
Vin-Tak obligingly contacts Rhomann Dey, who sends Star-Lord and his crew to ferry her to Xandar, since other Kree would likely try to prevent Simmons from returning home.
Star-Lord's crew sees how emaciated Simmons still appears after three weeks lost at sea, and let her have free reign over the mess area. Simmons takes more pictures of the foods. The crew promise to get her to Xandar as quickly as possible. Peter Quill (Star-Lord) asks many questions on pop culture, and Simmons is fascinated to learn he is Terran, though he avoids discussing details. She doesn't have much music from the 70s, 80s or early 90s, but has some classics that she lets Peter Quill listen to.
Rhomann Dey is relieved to see Simmons alive, and takes her home with him, where his wife and daughter feed her and let her sleep. [Check: can she hold solids, yet?] The next day, they head to the Kyln, where the stone has stayed in the property room, cordoned off.
Sudhir had been arrested by Nova Corps some time after Hala, and is in the Kyln to hear that Nova Corps was gearing up to use a Kree artifact in the Kyln property room. He figures Simmons must have gotten to them. He wants to say goodbye, since he never had that chance with this sister before she died, [keep?] and if she leaves the Nova Corps territories, he will likely never see her again.
Some of Nova Corps' scientists stabilized the Kree stone to ensure she be sent to the right place [Note: figure out science bs to explain this - oscillations - alters which stone is picked?], but they warn her that since she is not Kree, she will bond with the material instead of passing through, and would have to wait for someone at that end to free her. Dey asks her if she is willing to take the risk, since it has been a while since she disappeared, and they may not be performing the search anymore on Terra. Simmons thinks of Fitz and says yes.
Sudhir sneaks into the property area easily enough, but he was recognizable as part of the Ravagers crew and his notoriety came back to bite him. Several rival inmates assume he is trying to escape, and they simultaneously want to come and want to prevent one of Yondu's favorite crew members from leaving. Things escalate as Sudhir tries to reach the property room to wait for Simmons and say good bye. A full out riot starts and order spirals out of control.
Fitz in disbelief. Coulson was explaining to Fitz that he needed to prepare for 'the worst.' The rest of the team had started to accept that Simmons might not come back, but Fitz was becoming obsessive. After that day's tests, Coulson was going to have some appointments for Fitz scheduled with Dr. Garner. They would not stop looking for Simmons, but the reality was that they still aren't sure what the monolith does or if Simmons was even alive.
Simmons thanks Rhomann as they head to the property room. The rioting sets off alarms and they need to race to the stone, since time is still of the essence. The guards with them disperse to deal with the riot while Simmons and Rhomann continue to the property room. The riot begins to escalate. Sudhir finds them and tells them he'll help them get to the property room, but Dey tells Simmons she may have to defer until after it settles. Sudhir says that may not be possible, since rioters tend to try for the most amount of damage possible, and the property room is a given target. If something happened to the stone, Simmons would have to go through wild space {Check: does Marvel have stuff on 'wild space' already?] to get to Earth, which is arguably more dangerous, and a lot longer.
Dey is marginally certain Sudhir is a genuine ally, so he opts to lead some of the approaching inmates away to give them more time. Sudhir and Simmons, after a few close calls, make it to the property room and barricade it from the inside. One of the Nova Corps scientists explains that the external power has been cut off, and the stabilizing reactors are running off of the generator. When some of the Ravagers's rival inmates come close to breaking the door's bolt by sparking its initiating mechanism, Sudhir suggests using an electromagnetic pulse. [Distracting details?] The Nova Corps employee negates this and says that would knock out the stabilization reactors, and defeat Simmons's goal. The Nova Corps operator, Hoshnuq, works on activating the stone while Simmons and Sudhir hold off rival inmates. It takes longer for the generators to charge without the facility's usual capacity, but it steadily grows closer. Sudhir takes the time to inform Simmons that he never got a chance to tell his sister he loved her before she died. He tells her she's the sister he wishes he still had, and just wanted to say goodbye. He tells her that if his sister had lived, he imagines she might be like the bandit Saga, whom Simmons has become. [Quirky, over-dramatic complement. Stylize the compliment towards Guardians of Galaxy feeling rather than Shield feeling. Diamonds in the rough speech for graduation - awkward.]
The inmates break in before the stone is ready. Simmons and Sudhir use weapons found in the property room lockers to hold the line. Things devolve and Sudhir takes a blaster shot, tells her to go. Simmons has to hold the line without Sudhir and Hoshnuq informs her the Kree stone's stabilizers have steadied in power. Hoshnuq is killed by a blaster rifle, and Simmons sprints to the stone before turning back, she sees Sudhir looking at her, nodding for her to go, with inmates approaching from beyond him. [Throw back to Yondu's comment about looking back - going forward.] Among a hail of fire from varied improvised weapons and weapons taken from nearby lockers, Simmons impulsively decides to stay to defend Sudhir and shouts that she's coming, but is grabbed by the Kree stone as it reacts and liquefies. Her last view of the Kyln property room is of Sudhir disappearing behind the chasing inmates trying to catch her.
Simmons next sees the familiar room where the Kree stone was being kept on Earth. She barely registers that she was sent to the right place when she feels herself unbonding with the stone as it liquefies and she is dumped onto the floor.
The team freezes at first. After every day of the stone reacting, or maybe reacting, but invariably without delivering Simmons, they aren't sure it truly happened. Simmons is equally shocked to finally see them again. Simmons's voice is hoarse from her time lost at sea, and raw from yelling in the Kyln, but greets them.
Fitz had known the team had been worried about his well-being, since he hadn't been eating or sleeping regularly, but the the sight of Simmons made him feel like he was in the prime of his life [He should, he's in his 20s]. Her voice was near-gone, her hair wild and unkempt and she had fresh scrapes and bruises from some recent event. Sunburns as anyone from the British isles would have. [Note: skeletal/feral?]. Tangibly there. Hug?
Back in the Kyln, Rhomann Dey helps Sudhir up and they wonder if Simmons made it to Terra, or if she's wherever Yondu dumped the other Kree portal, or in with yet another portal.
