Disclaimer: All rights belong to Disney, Marvel, and all the men and women that created the Agents of SHIELD TV shows, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made.

Rating: T for dark themes, graphic violence, mentions of torture, drug abuse, supernatural violence, major character death, and minor language

Chapter 49: Darts and Death

Daisy, Mack, and Yo-Yo creep through the streets on high alert. They hear screaming on and off along with the occasional gun shot. Daisy hopes they make it to Eli in time to keep the city from completely ripping itself apart.

Another scream sounds, this one closer. Daisy whips around as a man flies out of nowhere and launches himself at her. Yo-Yo fires at him and he drops at Daisy's feet. She sends a grateful look towards the agent before looking back down at the man. He's wearing a business suit and tie. This is just an innocent civilian who was hit by the superdrug. Who knows what he was seeing when he saw them?

They continue on, keeping close watch. No one else attacks them, which helps to soothe her nerves.

"This is it," Mack says quietly as they approach a building. "Eli should be inside."

"I'm going in front," Daisy says. "Flank me. Keep the guards down."

The two agents nod.

"As we get closer to Eli, try to stay out of sight. He'll feel less threatened if he only sees me, and I think I can distract him long enough for Robbie to come in behind. If he sees you guys he might try to attack me."

They nod again and Daisy slowly pushes the door open.

A hail of darts comes her way but she quickly pulls ups her arms and aims at them. The armbands send a quake through the air that knocks them backwards until they lose propulsion and drop to the floor harmlessly.

"What the -" she hears a thug say before Mack and Yo-Yo shoot them with ICERS.

"Room cleared," Mack says, and they advance.

"I think Eli's on the other side of the building. There's a large office there, and I bet he's turned that into his headquarters."

"There will only be more guards as we approach," Yo-Yo says. "We need to-"

The door to the next room bursts open and bullets come flying towards them. The three of them hit the ground and roll out of the way.

"We'll cover you out here," Mack says. "You go distract Eli so Robbie can get his job done."

"And remember," Yo-Yo adds, "Eli doesn't know that Robbie took back the Ghost Rider or that he's even still alive"

Daisy nods. "Thanks, guys. Good luck."

"You're the one who's going to need it," Mack replies before stepping out and laying down covering fire. "Now go!"

Daisy sprints across the room, keeping her torso as low as possible. Any gunners that show their faces are hit by Mack and Yo-Yo's ICERS. Any bullets coming right towards her are shot back by pulses from her Quake armbands.

Mentally she thanks Fitz. Without these things she would be dead already.

She makes her way through the building, quickly taking out any thugs in her way. She sees the huge glass doors of the office up ahead. Through them, she seems Eli sitting on a cushioned chair with wheels, a bluetooth earpiece curled around his ear as he manages his take over of the city. Two heavily armed guards stand in front of the door.

Daisy strides out confidently. "Hey, boys," she calls out.

They charge her, a wall of rippling muscles and brute strength. But Daisy had been taught to fight by Melinda freakin' May and these men are nothing. She uses the momentum of their run to flip them over onto the floor. To their credit, they wordlessly get back up and start throwing punches. Daisy ducks and weaves under their fists and lands her own hits. Gut, face, throat.

Her attack leaves them gasping for breath and doubled over. They recover quickly and try a different strategy, circling her like piranhas. The one in front of her occupies her attention while the one behind her suddenly grabs her hair, yanking her head down.

"Not cool," she mumbles, trying to keep from crying out in pain and surprise. Since they don't want a fair fight, she's not going to give them one. She aims her hands at the man in front of her and fires a strong pulse, sending him crashing through the glass doors of the office. Then she twists her body and kicks the man holding her hair between his legs. He legs go immediately and she smashes her foot into his face.

By the time she turns and continues walking towards the office, Eli is standing in front of his chair, watching her warily. For effect, she steps over the jagged edge of the door.

"Do you still think you can stop me?" Eli asks, looking confused. "Because it's too late. Over eighty percent of the city has been injected with my drug and the last twenty percent are being attended to."

She stares at him silently for a long time. "What are you doing, Eli?" she finally asks, motioning around. "What's even the point of all of this?"

"I'm fixing a corrupt system," he explains. "I'm doing this to help people, you know."

"How is all this chaos helping anyone besides yourself? They're going to get addicted to the drug and they're going to come crawling to you for more of it. They'll sell their souls to you for a quick fix. How is that fixing a corrupt system? It sounds like it's creating one, to me."

"Security does not come free." Eli paces behind the large desk. "The money I make from the drugs will pay for better law enforcement and better healthcare for the poor. Eventually I'll start diluting the drugs I give out until the people are no longer addicted the potent one. When I'm in control, no child will starve. We'll stop polluting the air with toxic chemicals. People of color will no longer have to fear cops. This city will be the standard for which the world strives to be."

Daisy is not sure what's worse - the fact that Eli thinks he's helping people by getting them all addicted to a superdrug or that he actually believes he's going to succeed.

"So you'll be a kind dictator?" she asks. "A generous and wise leader?"

"Sometimes things need to be dismantled before they can be put back together better." Eli lays his hands on the desk. "That is what I'm doing."

"You're willing to risk a whole 'lotta lives for that," Daisy replies.

"And what you're doing is better?" Eli shakes his head. "You go around and kill whoever you think deserves to be killed."

"You're right." Daisy smiles at him. "And now I've come for you."

Eli pulls out a gun and places it on the desk. "You recognize this, I'm sure. It's my own dart gun. I've hit you with it before. Even the devil isn't impervious to my superdrug. Try anything and I'll shoot you full of it like last time."

Daisy's heartbeat picks up at the thought of the drug. Then she feels sick. She's tired of being injected against her own will. She's sick of seeing hallucinations and then fighting withdrawal.

There's a clock on the wall behind Eli's shoulder. Robbie won't be here for a few more minutes. She still needs to stall.

"How could you do it?" she demands suddenly. "How could you kill your own nephew?"

"There is no victory without sacrifice," Eli quotes.

"But is the victory worth the sacrifice? The man you killed was like your son. And how do you think Gabe feels? He's all alone now. Because you killed his brother."

"Gabe is smart and strong. He'll recover."

"Gabe hates you." Daisy takes a steps closer and lowers her voice. "He hates you for what you've done to your family. He blames you for his legs. He blames you for Robbie. He blames you for everything."

Eli swallows. "I wish things hadn't turned out the way they did, but I had no choice. Robbie was going to kill me."

"So you killed him instead?"

"What I killed was not my nephew!" Eli shouts, finally losing his temper. "He stopped being my nephew the moment the devil entered. It might have been his body and his mind but it had no soul. And now you, too, are just a hollowed out corpse."

"He still had a soul," Daisy says quietly. She looks out the windows behind Eli's shoulder and sees familiar headlights driving towards the office. "In fact, he still has a soul. The devil's just a temporary unwanted guest."

Eli glances behind him, trying to follow her gaze. Daisy leaps forward but Eli is still quicker. He snatches the gun up from the table and fires a few quick shots. She doesn't get her hands up in time to avoid getting hit by a dart.

It only takes a minute for the effects to begin. She stumbles back, landing on her backside, and watches as the hallucination alters reality. The wall with the windows explodes and a fiery car bursts through the opening. It doesn't stop as it barrels straight into Eli Morrow and continues driving, missing Daisy by only a few feet. She feels the heat from the fire singe her skin as the car passes. She turns slowly and watches as it crashes into a brick wall, the hood completely crumpled up. No survivors.

She can't believe how realistic the hallucination is. She's just waiting for reality Eli to finish her off.

Daisy just hopes she gave Robbie enough time.


Robbie sees the lights in the office building. Through the giant glass windows he sees Daisy standing in front of Eli. She looks beautiful in her black uniform, her hands crossed over her chest as she says something to him. Her one eyebrow is cocked as she looks over Eli's shoulder, almost right at him. Robbie knows that look. He loves that look. She's saying something snarky. She must know he's right here.

Robbie sees Eli turn and Daisy jump toward. He takes this as his cue and hits the accelerator, driving straight through the wall of the building. By the time he gets through, Daisy is sitting on the floor, stunned. Eli is staring straight into his headlights. Robbie doesn't hesitate as he floors the accelerator even more.

He hears the thud as Eli's body hits the car. Robbie keeps driving. The devil's not going to risk anything, and it's in full control. He keeps driving until the Dodge hits something it can't drive through. There's a loud noise. Heat. Then intense cold as the devil takes flight from Robbie's body.

I've fulfilled my oath, it says to Robbie. I owe you nothing now.

Silence. Robbie's mind hasn't been this quiet in forever. It also hasn't been this dark and painless since the first time he met the devil.

Robbie remembers dying the first time. He would have done anything for a second chance to get revenge. Now, in the second time that he dies, he would do anything for a second chance to love.