Shielding his eyes as the Quinjet descended and the ramp opened, Daisy looked to Robbie who was beside her. "You sure you wanna do this?"
"Relax, I'll sort out the other guy, then I'll join you at the Playground. This is the closest evil activity it can sense to it, so I'll be there pretty quick after he finishes up with these guys. I'll be fine." He told her calmly. Disembarking the aircraft, he waited until it released the Charger from its underbelly. Then it flew off, with her in it.
Getting in his car, he drove to the warehouse where he knew those who'd spilt innocent blood were due to the Spirit of Vengeance. As he got within seeing distance, he turned the vehicle into the Hell Charger, igniting the engine and wheels.
So surprised were they to see him, they didn't even reach for their weapons. Inside the now parked car, he changed, becoming the devil's bounty hunter once more. It stepped out.
Regarding what seemed to be drug dealers, it snarled, grasping the chain around its chest and pulling loose. The links fell from the air, and a fiery glow encompassed them, transforming the ordinary chain into the true form of the Hellfire Chain. It now had an actual handle, with a curving spike like a scythe blade, 2 inches long, and bladed links making up the last third, ending with a bullet-like spike.
They were all deserving of death, so it went to work with the chain. The now even more deadly metal sliced and blazed through their ranks, killing the 11 in the building within a minute.
Then it swung the chain diagonally down and across to the right. It wrapped around its chest, and it let go of the handle, letting it hang from its waist. It immediately headed for the door, stalking across the concrete with swift, purposeful strides.
The Ghost Rider stopped in its tracks, hearing the clink of a chain. Turning around, it saw a shadowed figure, and felt a presence so familiar and detestable. It left a holy aroma in the air that couldn't be smelt, repulsing the avatar of revenge. It had a pair of hook-ended chains, one dangling from each sleeve, and that presence…
Just as it realised what the figure was, it revealed itself.
Turquoise flames lit up a pure white skeleton, showing the previously shrouded figure to be an almost mirror image. Black jeans, black boots, a black leather jacket, black gloves, and a skeleton on fire, but the flames were an angelic light blue, as were its eyes. It grasped the chains that dangled two feet out of the sleeves of its jacket, and raised its right hand, pointing at it with its gloved skeletal finger.
"Back to Hell."
The Spirit of Vengeance roared, seizing the chain around its own chest and ripping it free, then set it ablaze. With a snarl, it hurled the Hellfire Chain at him, gripping the handle as it bore down on the holy reflection.
In the blink of an eye, the blue flamed Rider extended the chain coming from its left sleeve and flicked it, deflecting the one coming at it, then did the same to the other one, copying the devil's bounty hunter, lashing out with the blue inflamed weapon. At the last moment, the Ghost Rider flicked his own chain up and redirected it, sending it over its head.
"Looks like you kept your chain skills." The holy Rider remarked in its echoing voice.
Exiting the jet, Daisy found herself greeted by Mack. "Hey big guy, been a while."
"Too long." He agreed, taking her into a hug. "You really scare everyone when you run off or disappear, you know that?"
With her now more commonplace cheeky smile, she shrugged it off and went through to the office of the big man himself, the director. Mace looked up from his desk as she came in, greeting her cheerfully.
"Good evening Miss Johnson."
"Not to be rude, but this feels like every time I got called into the principal's office."
The suited man chuckled, standing from his chair with a smile.
"Well you're not in trouble for hacking the school network or trolling the internet in class for a laptop better than the one you have, so you can rest easy." He told her, appreciating the humour apparently .
Swinging her arms as a way to relieve her nerves from being back in the building, she looked around. "So, uh, what am I doing here again?"
"Oh, right. Okay, all you have to do is inspect all the facilities, then greet the visiting Inhumans when they arrive tomorrow, be nice and not scare them. I thought it would be a good idea to have them greeted by one of us who isn't under scrutiny from any higher ups, and what says 'no strings on me' like Quake being the one to usher them in the door?"
"Wow." She raised her eyebrows for a moment. "Sounds like you had to stay up quite a few nights to handle this right and without worries."
"I try to keep a regular sleep schedule, but that's about right." He acknowledged with the smile still in place.
He handed her a tablet, then gave her the go ahead to do what she went there to do and have free roam about the base with no questions asked. And so she did.
Going through the base was like revisiting a childhood home, full of memories and places she recognised, but also new additions that were completely unknown to her. Each room had at least a couple new things, whether it was something had been moved, or there was a new thing in the place. The sweep of the base was mostly uneventful, except for the occasional run in with someone she recognised.
Heading into the containment room for enhanced individuals, she looked up from the screen, and nearly dropped it. Not in surprise, but horror.
In front of her were dozens of… her. They were in ranks like soldiers, motionless on their feet. All they wore was the same undergarments as her, and they seemed lifeless. She poked one in the cheek, and the flesh felt scarily like real flesh. Pulling the same one's eyelid up, she saw a perfect copy of her own brown irises.
Then, she heard footsteps.
Hastily shedding her clothes, she became identical to the Daisy legion, then swapped herself out for one of them, pulling one of the second to back row's bra strap slightly down its shoulder. Then she froze in the same position as them, in the spot of the one she replaced.
Mack entered the room, cocking his shotgun. She could tell it was him by his footsteps, they were soft but heavy. The vibrations of his movement in the air danced across her skin, and she was able to form a sort of echolocation from it, gaining a sketchy map of the room. He approached the one whose top she'd messed with, probably reasoning that it was her. The moment he had his back to her, she struck.
A vibration blast erupted from her palm as she span, striking the big, dark man in the back. She felt no bones in him. Stealing his shotgun, she grabbed her shed clothes and the tablet then fled the room, locking it while he recovered.
Pulling on her jeans, top, socks and shoes as she moved, she found a storage cupboard and hid in it. Accessing the mainframe of the base in mere moments, Daisy pulled up the cameras of the Playground. On them, she saw Coulson shoot three agents dead when they discovered Fitz was an android too. Then he took out the cameras. Systematically , the visuals capture devices went offline in the base, either shut down or shot out.
Hyperventilating after the things she'd witnessed in the last few minutes, she turned the device off and set it aside. It took her a while, but she collected herself enough to make half a plan. Jemma was also on the run in the base, and she knew about the androids too. She had to find her, before it was too late.
The Ghost Rider ran along the beam, leaping over the chain swings of its opposite being, then unwrapped its own chain from its arm and lashed it around an offshoot of the beam it was on. Stepping off the support as it ran, the devil's favourite creation roared as it swung like Tarzan, seizing the other Rider by the neck and hurling it into a tangle of chains as it reached the climax of its swing.
Catching onto one of the outer ones, it snarled and send its power into the multitude of metal links. They came alive like snakes, binding the angelic burning skeleton so tight it couldn't move. It restrained, the devil's soul collector dropped to the floor, and walked away, lashing the Hellfire Chain around its chest.
It didn't hear the molten steel dripped to the ground, nor the soft impact of the other landing on its feet better than a cat. Not even the swish of the blazing blue chain through the air registered.
The chain imbued with angelic fire wrapped around its torso like a lasso, binding its arms to its sides. The holy aspect of the fire caused it to scream, writhing in the links.
It continued to scream as the other tightened the unbreaking bondage, approaching and retracting the weaponised metal back into its sleeve. The blue fire quadrupled in intensity and prominence. With one more increase in the holy power, the skeleton went out, and flesh slowly crawled back over the bones, covering the cracked skull that had never healed since the night it had occurred 5 years ago.
The soulless man cried out as the angelic Rider came in front of him, removing its glove and gripping his right shoulder with its skeletal left hand. He felt the shift in its power, and knew it was about to attempt to remove the Spirit of Vengeance from him, taking his own power with it and would leave him defenceless.
"Mephistopheles has taken your soul and enslaved you, but I will remove the Spirit of Vengeance, give back what he took, and set you free." It told him, igniting its whole hand.
With all of the strength he could muster, Robbie inflamed the chain around his chest, repelling the one that bound him. Setting his gloved fist on fire, he punched it in the jaw, causing it to stumble back.
He gasped for air, almost closing his eyes at the pain the binding was causing him.
"Freedom's overrated."
Limping past it, he made for the Charger. He got the door open, then screamed as he felt the blazing chain lash around his left thigh. Looking back, he saw the angelic version of his alter ego gripping the burning metal links with only its right hand, noticed how it went all the way back into its sleeve. He knew one thing, it wouldn't let him go.
He had no idea how it happened, but a knife attached to a chain emerged from his sleeve, and it set ablaze. Not questioning it at the present moment, he swung at the blue fire imbued chain, then dragged himself into his car.
He immediately drove off at top speed, quickly disappearing into the streets. The knife chain was gone, and so was the burning blue one around his now badly bleeding leg.
When he got back to the Playground, he drove into the Zephyr, then physically crawled out of the Hell Charger. Glancing back, he saw blood on the upholstery and groaned. "That'll take forever to get out."
He had to conserve the Rider's power so he could regenerate, so he'd fix the car later, and chose to make his way to the medbay. Staggering down the corridors seemed to take more strength than he had, but he still pressed on, and by the end of it, he was dragging himself along the floor. But even that wasn't enough.
"Help…"
He looked up to see Daisy fighting Mace, who was in his Patriot suit. He was strangling her, and she was unable to get him off, given she couldn't focus enough for her powers.
Like always, the anger of both him and the Spirit gave him enough strength to rise up to one foot and knee, and he lashed the chain around the director's neck, setting it ablaze. He released the young woman, but then Robbie felt a blazing inferno of agony from his torso and thigh, where the angelic Rider's chain had wounded him. He screamed again, collapsing from the additional pain that using his unholy powers had caused apparently.
Whatever the other Rider had done to him, it caused him unbelievable pain when any power of Hell was used. But, he couldn't worry about that now. He wrapped the chain around his chest once more in the same slinging motion and stood unsteadily. He had enhanced strength and durability as it was.
"What are you?" He asked Mace.
Daisy answered as she desperately caught her breath. "He's an android, created by Aida."
"That would explain why I can't see a soul."
The LMD Mace strode straight at him, and the soulless man managed to meet him blow for blow, barely. His wounds slowed him down, and the android managed to land a hit on his chest, causing complete agony to him. Thankfully the chain had absorbed the worst of the impact, but the already excruciating burning pain in his chest and leg was crippling to begin with.
A shockwave hit the ground, separating them, sending the artificial version of the director sent flipping. In mid air, it was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver by Daisy who'd enhanced her jump with a quake.
The ground met all three of them, but they managed to stand, him barely. The android rose one last time and he yelled, "DUCK!"
The chain sailed through the air again, ablaze once more, carving through the LMD's neck like a hot knife through butter, decapitating it. He coiled the chain up, then the cripplingly agony struck him. He screamed again as two gunshots rang out. He fell to his knees, then forwards, all the time clutching his chest. The female Inhuman caught him, whimpering at the bullets now embedded in her right shoulder and left leg. The replicas of Mack and Coulson entered the room, pistols raised.
"We didn't want to hurt you, but we have no choice here. Now let us download you before you bleed out."
"We'll save Robbie too, don't resist us." LMD Coulson told her. "We're in this together, we're a team."
Her eyes snapped open, and the vibrations she'd been building up in her hands under the cover of Robbie's body propped against hers were unleash in two opposite shockwaves. LMD Mack was shredded, and LMD Coulson sent flying.
Hoping they were both out of operation, she tried to get the soulless man to stand. He was unresponsive, in too much pain from whatever injuries he had to comprehend anything that's happened after he dropped the chain. Holding him upright with one hand, she held him back a bit, then cracked her palm across his face. He came back some, focusing on her face instead of what seemed to be torturing him.
"We gotta go. Like, now." She told him, grabbing the chain in her free hand. Then came the struggle that was standing both of them up.
Once they were on their feet, they limped towards the door Mack's replica had been sent out of when it was shredded. A group was there, Simmons leading them. She looked a little worse for wear but was in general okay.
"Anyone here know how to fly the Zephyr?"
One guy raised his hand.
"Well you're gonna try real hard. You guys drag everyone you can aboard the plane, start with the ones closest to the fire. Robbie and I can hardly walk, so Simmons you're gonna have to come with us."
The injured trio peeled off from the pack and went to the hangar. As they walked, or staggered might be a better word, Jemma asked, "I thought you said you weren't making a sacrifice play."
"LMD Mace fights better than the real one." She replied exhaustedly. "Robbie got here just in time to pull him off me."
A bullet punched the wall a mere foot from their heads. Hearing the sound, Robbie became more alert, enough to stand alone despite the pain. Balancing himself on his feet, he took the chain from her and let it drop to the ground, his bloody, gloved hand grasping the handle with all the strength he had.
"I'll take out these ones, you get that gear on board."
The two women tried to protest, but they knew he wouldn't back down as the LMD Fitz came around the corner with the LMD Coulson, who'd already recovered. They left him to face the androids, weapon in hand.
They rounded the corner to the entry for the hangar, only to find May's duplicate awake and sitting on four barrels of explosive material with a trigger in her hand. "Coulson, I have them."
"May… think about what you're doing." Daisy tried, attempting to talk to the duplicate of the one she considered a mother.
"I am. Or, processing I should say."
Jemma, tired beyond belief by the looks of it, tried too. "Please… do you want us to die?"
"Coulson says that doesn't matter."
"That doesn't sound like Coulson."
"Either way…" The duplicate of May looked down at the button trigger in her left hand. "I won't have to regret this decision."
"You can't win Robbie." The duplicate Coulson told him.
Fitz's doppelganger explained. "Your powers are linked to the pain you're in, if you use them it increases to the point where you're basically defenceless."
"I might not be able to use the powers of the demon in me…" He rasped, whipping the chain against the ground, the fire of the devil he could no longer use absent from it. "But my need to keep them safe… it's strong enough."
Before the duplicate of the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D could fully raise his gun, Robbie lashed out with the Hellfire Chain and caught the firearm. He wrenched it out of the android's hand, then swung the metal links back at it, aiming for its neck. The LMD Coulson caught it, and the other LMD raised an I.C.E.R pistol and fired.
The soulless man fell to his knees, his last thought one of apology. 'I'm sorry guys, I did what I could… from here… it's up to you...'
"Get him in the Framework and send his body to the facility, I'll go get Daisy and Jemma and bring them to you to do the same. We should've used I.C. from the start." LMD Coulson told LMD Fitz.
"I did warn you."
The android former director took the stun pistol and marched to the hangar, where he found the door closing, May still sitting there. "I thought you said you had them."
She didn't answer.
"May… what did you do?"
"What I wanted to." She told him.
"Okay… Everything's under control, let's just…" He was interrupted by her.
"Whose control?"
Deciding a new course of action would be best, he proposed, "Why don't you and I have a glass of scotch, or manny, and talk this out like we always do."
She raised the trigger as he made to approach.
"We?" There was a broken look in her eyes, mechanical as they were. "We've never done that before."
There was a definite sadness in her, one he hated to see. It was as if she was sure there was no other way, that she was fake, completely engineered by Radcliffe.
"You were right, our programming is different. Are you afraid to die? Because I am."
There it was again, the brokenness. The heartache that proved she was more than a machine, that they were both more than machines. He knew that, so why couldn't she see it too? What was so different between them?
"I know I'm not real, I'm all phantom limbs… but that doesn't make the pain less real."
"You don't have to feel pain." He tried. He wanted to hold her, tell her that she was real, that she was a person. But she wouldn't let him speak long enough to. There was some kind of power she had that stopped him, made him listen to her, hang on to each word as if it would be her last.
"You say you don't anymore. But that pain, that regret, that's what made you a person. A person I love."
He didn't have anything to say anymore. Suddenly it had all evaporated off his tongue.
"My programming was to get the Darkhold. That came from Radcliffe. But my impulse, to keep Coulson safe, and close… that desire… that came from me." She stated.
He nodded. "That's good."
"And I sorry to say…" May finished. "You're not him."
He raised the gun, and she pressed the trigger. Then there was nothing, only the white that followed.
The Superior approached Aida as she laid down the new addition to the Framework's chain in a locker and closed it. Gazing at the young man, he saw a boy who was trapped in the devil's world. He had stabilised since arriving here.
"You are certain he will not throw your world into chaos?" He questioned.
"I am one hundred percent certain he will hardly have an impact on the Framework. It has revealed his greatest regret, allowing his brother to go racing with him in his uncle's car, which led to the paraplegia of Gabriel Reyes. I have now fixed that regret, and now he can live happily."
Her reply seemed to satisfy him, and he left the room. Aida gazed up at the slumbering young man who was the newest addition to her virtual world.
"Robbie Reyes." She stated. "The man without a soul."