Chapter 56

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.

AN1: Thank you so much for the support.

Sorry about there being no update in the past few days. Like so many others I have been getting used to what life is like now and haven't been writing.

Law School has been moved online and I am facing the reality of not finishing when I was expecting too.

I don't know what the coming days/weeks will look at in regards to updating but I will try to update at least one story a day.

Hope you all stay healthy.


October 24th 2013

Ever since Daisy, Fitz and Simmons undertook Physic experiments together the three of them have become even closer, to Ward's dismay, and because he knows he has to try to get closer to Daisy if he is going to achieve his mission Ward has resulted to playing board games with Daisy, Fitz, and Simmons in the upper level of the plane.

"I can't believe you actually agreed to play games with us," Daisy comments, looking at Ward in shock.

"I like board games," Ward says, with a shrug, trying to make it seem like it's not a big deal, as he doesn't want Daisy, or anyone else, to become suspicious of him.

"Right," Daisy says, not really sure she believes that, "Whatever the reason it's nice that you're joining in for once,"

"Really is," Simmons confirms, as the group of four continue to play their game.

While Daisy, Fitz, Simmons and Ward are playing board games together Phil is standing at the doorway that leads downstairs and Melinda walks up to him, drinking some water.

"She's happy," Phil notes, once Melinda gets to his side.

"Yeah, she is," Melinda confirms, "She can be more open with them than she usually is," Melinda admits, knowing that Daisy has struggled more than either of her siblings when it comes to opening up before people, because of all the secrets their family has to keep, but with Fitz, Simmons, and Ward, she can be more open than she is around anyone other than her family.

"It's good to see," Phil comments, smiling slightly as he is glad to see Daisy so happy, especially around people who aren't family.

"It is," Melinda confirms, as she takes a drink of her water, "You were up early this morning. Heard you puttering around even before I started Tai-Chi," Melinda explains, not mentoring that she had just finished a phone call with Tony when she did hear him, "Having trouble sleeping?" Melinda asks, sounding concerned.

"No, I feel great," Phil admits, "Just have a little extra energy to burn," Phil admits, knowing better than trying to lie to Melinda.

"If you want, I could lay out the mats downstairs, we could go a few rounds, like the old days?" Melinda asks, sounding amused, and Phil turns to look at her, but before he can say anything an alarm goes off, "Saved by the bell," Melinda comments, and once she does she and Phil heads towards the command centre.


A couple of minutes later Melinda and Phil have been briefed about what is going on and have been joined in the command centre by Daisy, Ward, Fitz and Simmons.

"Chan Ho Yin, just a struggling street performer until a few years ago, when Mr. Chan began to exhibit moderate pyrokinetic abilities," Phil explains.

"So, what gave him powers?" Fitz asks, being curious about that.

"It's still under investigation," Phil admits, which Daisy is pretty sure is code for 'no one has a clue;' "But Chan did live near the decommissioned Wan Tai nuclear plant when it caught fire," Phil explains, "To our knowledge, no other nearby residents have exhibited similar traits," Phil explains.

"So how did we find out about him?" Simmons asks curious.

"Informant saw him lighting torches in a street show… with his pinkie," Melinda explains.

"Brought it to S.H.I.E.L.D's attention, we told him to keep his abilities under wraps, he's been on the index ever since," Phil explains.

"The index is a list S.H.I.E.L.D keeps of people and objects without powers," Simmons tells Daisy.

"I know," Daisy says, knowing that because her sister is on the index, and she is pretty sure that technically her father is too.

"You do?" Ward asks, sounding surprised, and suspicious and as he does Daisy can feel the look her mother is giving her which tells her this is something she probably isn't supposed to know so has to pretend she doesn't.

"Um, yeah," Daisy says, not sure what to say, "But what I don't know is how people on the list is monitored," Daisy says, looking at her uncle in an attempt to try to get him to change the subject.

"The methods vary," Phil explains, realising what Daisy needs, "Mr Chan was low-risk, he was assigned a case agent who checked in with him every few days, that's how we discovered him missing," Phil explains, and once he does he looks at Melinda who connects the call, and greats the agent on the other end in Cantonese, and once her mother does so Daisy also greats him in Cantonese.

"You speak other languages?" Ward asks, sounding a little surprised, though he realises he should have seen that coming.

"Of course," Daisy responds, in a tone which clearly says 'why are you surprised'.

"Everyone, this is agent Kwan, Chan Ho Yin's case agent," Melinda explains, before ward can say anything else. "What can you tell us?" Melinda asks.

"Not much, I'm afraid, Chan is a magician, so at first, I thought he'd made himself disappeared," Agent Kwan explains.

"The file says you've caught him violating his index agreement before," Melinda says.

"On two separate occasions, claimed we were, 'hampering his artistic expression.'" Kwan explains, "But late last night, he was taken by professionals. The only thing they left behind was this scrap of aluminized material," He explains.

"Fireproof clothing," Simmons realises, recognizing it.

"So, whoever took him knew about his power," Ward realises.

"Yes, and we think we know why. Over the last few days, tech division discovered a crack into our data stream. It's the same cyber punks who hacked us before. Somehow, they got in again. It's the Rising Tide," Kwan explains.

"Thank you, Agent Kwan, we'll look into Rising Tide and inform you of what we find," Phil explains.

"Of course," Kwan says, before the call ends.

"Daisy, you have contacts in the Rising Tide, don't you?" Phil asks.

"Kind off," Daisy admits.

"Do you think you can contact these contacts of yours in the Rising Tide, find out who hacked S.H.I.E.L.D?" Melinda asks her daughter.

"No….," Daisy says as that would risk exposing who she is, "but I can find out who hacked S.H.I.E.L.D another way," Daisy explains, knowing she has several ways of finding out.

"Do it," Phil instructs, and Daisy takes the tablet off her mother and starts to do exactly that, Daisy feeling like this would be a lot quicker, and easier if she could ask JARVIS to help.


A little while later Phil walks back into the command centre where Daisy, Ward, Fitz, Simmons and Melinda are.

"How close are we?" Phil asks, looking between everyone.

"Almost there," Ward admits, as while he can't tell a lot he can tell that.

"Daisy's identified the remote-access trojan and infected endpoint…" Fitz starts to explain.

"And is searching for a TCP to correlate the hypertext with signature information and the…" Simmons adds.

"Bob is your uncle," Fitz finishes, the two of them amusing Daisy with their whole 'finishing each other's sentence thing'.

"You get any of that?" Phil asks Ward curious, as he knows he didn't.

"Only the uncle part," Ward admits, as Melinda is amused as Daisy, Fitz, and Simmons remind her a lot of the way Bruce and Tony act when they work together.

"Got it!" Daisy says, "Origin is Austin Texas," Daisy explains.

"You got name?" Phil asks curious.

"Just the café our hacker worked out of, but I'm in the system. I'm gonna check to see if any credit-card charges from the day match up with any known hackers," Daisy explains, "Got a hit, Miles Lydon,"

"Is he one of the hackers you've talked to?" Melinda asks her daughter.

"Yeah, a little," Daisy says, knowing that that is an understatement, but she's not going to tell her mother that, "But even if I hadn't I'd know him, every hacker in the world does," Daisy explains, knowing that even her father would know of him, but he certainly doesn't know how much Daisy has talked to him.

"Not just the hacker word, he infiltrated the Kremlin," Simmons explains.

"Yeah, the picture of, um, Putin shirtless on horseback, that was his hack," Fitz reveals.

"It was also his hack that got Chan kidnapped," Ward points out.

"May, set a course for Austin," Phil requests, and once he does Melinda takes the tablet from Daisy and does that very thing.

"Just did," Melinda comments.

"What's going to happen when we get to Austin?" Daisy asks curious.

"That depends," Phil admits, "Do you think you can find where Mr Lydon is?" he asks curious, and Daisy just gives him a look that he has seen on Melinda's face many times, "She looks just like you when she does that," He says, looking at Melinda.

"I know," Melinda says, sounding proud, as Tony has pointed out that fact before, and while it does worry her she is also glad about it.

"Of course, you do," Phil says, not even trying to hide his amusement, "How long do you need?" he asks, looking at Daisy, who is looking very proud of the fact that she has been compared to her mother.

"I'll have his exact location by the time we land," Daisy explains.

"Good, get to work," Phil says, before leaving the command centre, Melinda not fair behind him.


A little while later the team is just touching down in Austin, Phil is walking into the command centre were Daisy, Fitz, Simmons, and Ward, who felt like it would be a good way to attempt to get close to Daisy, are.

"Daisy, what have you got?" Phil asks, as he walks in.

"Found Miles's apartment, it's under an alias, but I managed to track it down," Daisy explains, being able to do that as she knows several of Miles's alias's, "I also found out he isn't currently there but is at a café nearby," Daisy explains, as she found that out by hacking his phone, which she had the number to.

"Okay, Daisy, send me the location. You, Fitz, and Simmons will stay on the bus while your Mom, Ward and I bring in Mr Lydon and any equipment he might have," Phil explains.

"Got it," Daisy says, "Location is sent to your phone,"

"Good, let's go," Phil says to Ward and the two of them leave and are joined by Melinda before they actually leave the plane.


Not long after Ward, Melinda, and Phil left the bus they have returned with Miles Lydon, and a bunch of his possessions in toe. While Daisy, Fitz, and Simmons have been going through his possessions Ward and Phil have been talking to Miles as Melinda is fly's the plane to Hong Kong.

"Guy's hiding behind platitudes, he's dirty, I can feel it," Ward comments as he, and Phil, walk into the command centre.

"Scrubbed clean, actually, nothing much on him," Simmons admits, "He's got no family records. Like Daisy said his apartment's under an alias, and he plays a lot of 'Minecraft' where he runs a rather nasty mob," Simmons explains.

"As a zombie?" Fitz asks.

"Zombie pigmen," Simmons corrects, giving Fitz a look.

"Keep looking," Ward instructs, and Fitz, Simmons, and Daisy all start to go back to what they were doing.

"Not you Daisy," Phil tells her.

"Why not?" Daisy asks, sounding confused.

"I want you to go talk to Miles," Phil reveals.

"Um, okay, but are you sure?" Daisy asks, sounding confused, and honestly not sure how to do that without revealing how well she and Miles actually know each other.

"Positive, you and Miles speak the same language, you might get more from him than me and Ward," Phil explains.

"Okay, I'll go talk to him now," Daisy says, and she goes to head out of the command centre, but she pauses.

"You can talk to your Mom, ask her to join you if you'd like," Phil assures her, knowing exactly why Daisy would have paused, and even though Daisy would prefer to keep hidden from her mother how well she and Miles know each other she also knows that it would be better if her mother was in the room.

"Thanks Uncle Phil," Daisy says, looking relieved, and she walks out of the command centre and to the cockpit.

Once in the cockpit Daisy sits down in the co-pilots seat, a seat which she has been spending a lot of time in.

"Is everything okay?" Melinda asks her daughter.

"Uncle Phil wants me to talk to Miles," Daisy explains, "And I'm not exactly sure how to do that," She admits, "I mean I'm not Bobbi who has a knack for that kind of thing," She admits.

"You don't have to be your sister, Daisy, you just have to be yourself," Melinda says, switching the plane to autopilot and turning to look at her, "Uncle Phil wants you to talk to Miles because you're both hackers. Bobbi's one of the best there is at interrogation, same with Sharon, but neither of them would be able create that connection that you already have with him," Melinda explains, "You can do this, Daisy, if you want,"

"I want to try," Daisy admits, "Will you be in the room with me when I do?" she asks curious, knowing that it might be lame to want her mother in the room while she interrogates someone, but that's what she needs right now.

"Of course," Melinda answers, "We can talk to him now if you'd like,"

"Yeah," Daisy confirms, and she and her mother both stand up, as they do Daisy realises something, "Um, so Miles might recognize me, and call me Skye," Daisy says, before leaving the cockpit, quiet quickly, and even though she has a hundred questions

once she does she and Melinda get up and head out of the cockpit. Once they are out of the cockpit Melinda and Daisy walk across the upper level of the plane, and to the cage, where Miles is.

As they walk into the cage Daisy walks over and sits across form Miles while Melinda stands by the door, Daisy knowing perfectly well that the second she needs her mother her she'll intervene.

"Skye? Is that you?" Miles asks, looking shocked, and Daisy decides it would be better if she doesn't reveal the truth about her name, "You're a SHIELD agent? I thought you were a kid,"

"I'm seventeen," Daisy corrects, "And I'm not actually an Agent," Daisy admits.

"Still, I can't actual believe you'd be working with SHIELD," Miles comments.

"SHIELD'S not as bad as you think it is," Daisy reveals, knowing that better than almost anyone.

"Isn't it? You'd forgive me if I don't believe you considering they locked me up," Miles admits.

"Because your actions have put a man in the hands of people who are as we speak are most likely torturing or experimenting on him," Daisy explains, and Miles gives a disbelieving snort, "I'm serious, Miles," She admits, "There are people in this world who do whatever they can to learn more about people with powers, and that involves experimentation, and pain and suffering, and you just handed a man over to people like that,"

"No, the women I talked to is harmless," Miles argues, refusing to believe that he did what Daisy is saying he did.

"How can you be sure?" Daisy asks.

"Because she was just some small woman in a flower dress," Miles reveals, "And I traced the account the money came from to make sure it wasn't some evil corporation. It was just an eco-research lab, some study with centipedes," He explains.

"Did you just say Centipedes?" Daisy asks, looking at Miles in shock.

"Yeah, that's the study the women was working on, what's more harmless than that?" Miles asks, and once he does Daisy just gets up and hurries out of the room, Melinda right behind her.

"Daisy?" Ward calls, from the command centre as Daisy hurries up to Phil's office.

"Daisy, what's wrong?" Phil asks concerned, from his desk, as Daisy hurries into his office.

"It's centipede, centipede is back in play," Daisy admits.

"Are you sure?" Phil asks.

"I'm as sure as I can be," Daisy admits.

"Come on, let's tell the team," Phil says, and he and Daisy head downstairs, meeting Melinda at the bottom of the stairs, and the three of them head into the command centre.

"Did you get anything from Miles?" Jemma asks Daisy curious.

"Yeah," Daisy confirms.

"It appears Centipede is responsible for Mr Chan's kidnapping," Phil explains.

"First L.A, now Hong Kong. What kind of organization are we dealing with?" Ward asks, trying to make it seem like he doesn't know the exact answer.

"International, well-financed, interested in creating a supersoilder," Phil says, looking worried and exchanging the briefest look with Melinda, who knows that he is wondering if they need to bring Bobbi, or even Tony due to his history with extremis, into things soon, "Let's hope finding Mr Chan will provide some answers," Phil explains.

"But that doesn't help us to find him," Simmons points out, "Does it?" she asks.

"No, but now that I know who paid Miles, I can use that to figure out some things," Daisy says, taking a tablet, and getting to work.

"Any ideas what Centipede wants with Chen?" Melinda asks, looking between the two scientists, figuring one of them will know, and knowing that if neither of them do then she will call Tony who will definitely know.

"Hard to say," Fitz admits, "But Simmons thinks that, considering he's pyrokinetic…,"

"There's a good chance his genetics could stabilize the extremis element of the Centipede serum, keep their test subjects from going…,"

"Boom," Fitz finishes.

"If Mr. Chan is Centipede's lab rat, we need to get there before the experiment's over," Phil instructs, and once he does the group continues to work hard, doing everything possible to figure out what is going on and where Centipede is holding Mr Chen.


While other members of the plane are working on other things Melinda has headed to the cockpit and after checking to make sure she has things on her tablet, Melinda makes a phone call to Tony, as while she is pretty sure they are she wants to check to make sure Fitz and Simmons are correct.

"Hey Mel," Tony says, answering his phone after a few rings.

"Hey, I'm sending you through some info, formulas," Melinda explains, as she presses send on the information pack she prepared.

"Okay…" Tony says, sounding slightly confused, "Got it…. Hang on, this is extremis, altered though….. and super solider serum," Tony says, sounding surprised, "Mel, what is this?"

"What we're currently dealing with," Melinda reveals, "Someone who's pyrokinetic has been kidnaped by the people who developed that," Melinda explains, "The scientists on my team suspect that he was taken so that his platelets could be used to stabilise the serum," Melinda explains, "What do you think?"

"Yeah… I think that could work," Tony admits, sounding thoughtful, "Mel, how can I help?"

"Right now, I'm not sure you can," Melinda admits, "I'll call if there is,"

"Okay. I'll keep looking through all this, see what I can find," Tony admits.

"Thanks Tony," Melinda admits, "I love you,"

"Love you too," Tony responds, before hanging up.


A while after the team found out the fact that Centipede are behind Chan's kidnapping, a little while after Melinda called Tony, Phil is walking into the cockpit where Melinda is, having purposely shut and locked the door behind him.

"We're still an hour away from Hong Kong," Melinda explains.

"Okay," Phil says, "From the information Daisy got HQ has determined where it seems Chan is being held," Phil explains, "Can you put the plane on autopilot?" he asks, and Melinda does that and turns and looks at him.

"What's going on, Phil?" Melinda asks, knowing there must be something for Phil to be in the cockpit at the moment.

"I want Daisy to come with us to the location," Phil reveals, knowing better than trying to beat around the bush.

"Why?" Melinda asks, with a simple voice, and even from the simple tone Phil knows that she is less than happy with the suggestion.

"Because this is Centipede, and this might be our first chance to get some intel," Phil explains, "I don't like it either, May, but I think while you, me and the team are rescuing Chan Daisy and Ward can go straight to the server room so that Daisy can get any intel she can," He explains.

"It would be a smart play," Melinda admits, but she really doesn't like it, and she knows Tony won't, "But that doesn't mean I like it," she admits.

"I know," Phil admits.

"And it has to be Daisy's choice, she has to be okay with doing this," Melinda explains, as while she could stop Daisy, or allow her to do that, ultimately it is her choice.

"I'll talk to her," Phil assures Melinda, who nods, "I'll see you when we land," He says, before heading out of the cockpit.

After heading out of the cockpit Phil heads to the command centre where Daisy, Fitz, Simmons, and Ward are

"Daisy, a word," Phil requests.

"Sure, Uncle Phil," Daisy says, before heading out of the command centre, and the two of them head to the other end of the plane, away from the others, "What's up?" Daisy asks, sounding confused.

"If you're willing I want you to come to the location where it seems like Chan is being held," Phil explains, "While your mom, a team and I are saving Chen I want you and Ward to get everything off their servers that you can, if you're willing," Phil explains.

"I'm willing," Daisy reveals, "Scared, but willing," She admits.

"A little fear can be a good thing," Phil admits, "But If this is too much for you, if it's something you don't feel like you can do, just tell me,"

"I will, but I want to do this," Daisy reveals.

"Okay," Phil says, with a nod.

"I'm going to head back to the command centre, see what else I can find," Daisy admits.

"Okay, tell Ward I want to see him," Phil requests, and Daisy nods, before walking towards the command centre.

About a minute after Daisy left his die Ward walks up to Phil.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Ward asks.

"Yes," Phil confirms, "While May and I are rescuing Chan I want you with Daisy going to their server room, getting all the intel you can," He explains.

"Are you sure that's the best plan?" Ward asks, feeling like that is far from the best move, especially considering what he knows it could lead to.

"Yes, we need to get ahead," Phil explains, "This is the best way to do that,"

"Yes Sir," Ward answers, before walking away, and not long after Ward walks away Phil heads back up to his office.


A little over an hour later Melinda, Ward, Phil, and Daisy along with Agent Kwan and a strike team are outside the building where it seems like Chan is being held. Melinda, Ward, and the strike team are in full tactical gear while everyone else are in regular clothes.

"Building has give floors. The first four are research, fifth is listed as maintenance but uses half the building's energy," Phil explains, "Either they're guarding the world's largest vacuum…"

"Or that's where Chan's being held," Melinda finishes before walking several steps away.

"Send your b and c teams in through the tunnels to secure the lowers floors, warn them that the Centipede serum's highly explosive," Phil explains.

"Understood," Kwan says, "Where do we go in?" He asks, and as he does Melinda ascends to the roof.

"The roof," Phil answers.

"Cool," Daisy says, with a grin.

"Daisy, hold on tight, okay, don't let go," Phil instructs.

"You got it Uncle Phil," Daisy responds.

Over the next couple of minutes Phil, Ward, Daisy, and Kwan make their way up onto the roof too, and once they are on the roof Phil, Melinda, and Agent Kwan go one way why Daisy and Ward go another.

As Melinda, Phil and Agent Kwan make their way through the building Melinda is holding a device which is detecting things.

"There, heat signature confirmed," Melinda says, pointing to a door, and as she stops walking she takes a device from one of the other people who is with them.

"I love these things," Phil says as he puts a device on the door, the same device he used to break into sector seventeen, and the second the door is open the group head in, Melinda taking down several of the guards as they do.

"Agent Kwan, it's you," Chan says, sounding shocked.

"We're here to get you out," Phil says, and as he does Alarms start to blare, "Da…" he starts to say, but as he turns to see Kwan with a giant hole in him, "Chan, what have you done?" Phil asks, looking surprised.

"I've set myself free," Chan explains.

"Daisy, we need a security override, once you do that stay where you are, with Ward," Melinda says, as she and Phil dive for cover.


In another area of the building Daisy is sitting in front of a computer while Ward is standing behind her.

"Please be careful Mom, please," Daisy says, as she hurriedly types, it being clear enough to Ward that she isn't working as effectively as she could be.

"Daisy, take a breath," Ward says, putting a hand on Daisy's shoulder, "Your Mom and Uncle Phil need the security override, but you can't do that if you're worked up, take a second, calm down, and then focus," He tells her, as he knows he has to play the part of kind team mate, even though he doesn't think it would be horrible if something happened to Phil or Melinda.

"Okay,"' Daisy says, and she takes a few seconds to close her eyes, pictures her entire family together and happy, and breaths, before opening them and hurrying to type, this time it is clear that she is effectively doing what she has to do.

"How long until you get the doors open?" Ward asks curious.

"Already done," Daisy reveals, and she goes to hurry out of the room, getting just outside the corridor, before Ward grabs her arm.

"Daisy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Ward asks, stopping her from going too far out of the room, neither noticing a women by the name of Raina hiding in a doorway a little down the corridor, but close enough to hear and see everything going on.

"Going after my Mom, I've got to make sure she is okay," Daisy says, clearly worried, though she is worried about both her mother and Uncle.

"She's fine," Ward responds, being pretty sure it would be bad if Daisy went after Melinda, and if something happened to her then that would be bad for him because of the way Phil and Melinda would react.

"You don't know that, no one knows that," Daisy says, as she pulls her arm out of Ward's grasp, "You may have heard the legend of Melinda May, but that doesn't mean she's always going to be okay, no matter what, it doesn't mean she can't be hurt," Daisy says, having needed to stop herself from saying 'Stark-May', "I'm going to go make sure she's okay," Daisy says, side stepping Ward.

"No, you're not," Ward says, blocking her path.

"You can try to stop me, Agent Ward, and you'll probably succeed, for a while," Daisy says, "But I'm my mother's daughter and nothings gonna stop me from making sure my Mom's okay," Daisy explains, determined and brave, which is actually exactly what she is feeling right now, and knowing it's what her father would say.

"You're the most annoying seventeen-year kid I've ever met," Ward reveals, meaning that, "Stay behind me and do what you're told," He reveals, and he and Daisy start to walk down the corridor, in the opposite end to where Raina is.

For a few minutes Daisy and Ward walk through the corridors, Ward having to take down more than a few men, before they finally see Melinda and Phil, who unknown to Daisy and Ward have been trying and failing, to talk down Chen.

"Mom," Daisy says, looking relieved, as she hurries over to her mother and hugs her.

"I'm alright Daisy," Melinda assures her daughter, "Are you?" she asks, looking at her daughter up and down.

"I'm fine," Daisy assures her mother.

"Daisy we need you to go back to the server room, change the path of the ventilation shafts so that an explosion is vented onto the roof," Phil explains.

"I don't need to go anywhere, I can do that from my phone," Daisy explains, pulling out her phone.

"Good, then go with Ward, get out of here and I'll tell you through the coms what I need," Phil explains.

"What, no," Daisy argues.

"Daisy, you've got to. That's your mission," Melinda tells her daughter, wanting her to understand, and from everything she has seen members of her family do she is pretty sure that she will understand how important a 'mission' is.

"Fine," Daisy says, rolling her eyes.

"We'll catch up," Phil says, looking at Ward.

"Yes Sir," Ward responds, and once he does he gives Daisy a look.

"See you soon," Daisy says, looking at Phil, and her mother, and once she does she and Ward go off in their own direction, while Melinda and Phil go in another.


A while later Melinda, Phil, Daisy and Ward are back on the bus having dealt with Chan and having handed Miles over to the proper authorities. While the others on the bus are downstairs Daisy is up in Phil's office with her mother and Phil.

"How do you feel about what you had to do tonight, Daisy?" Melinda asks her daughter.

"It was scary, and I freaked out at one point, but I'm glad I went, glad I could help," Daisy explains, telling the complete truth.

"That's good," Phil comments.

"Yeah, I really feel like I belong here," Daisy admits, and Melinda isn't quite sure how she feels about that, "I'm gonna head downstairs so you guys can talk," Daisy says, before she leaves the office without so much as another word.

"I need a drink," Melinda says, once Daisy has left the room, and in response, Phil laughs opens his desk draw and pulls out an expensive bottle of scotch, one that he got as a gift from Tony.

"Will this do?" Phil asks curious.

"Do you have to ask?" Melinda says, walking over and sitting across from Phil, and once she is sitting down Phil opens the bottles and pours them both a drink.


While Phil and Melinda are drinking up in the office Daisy has walked downstairs where Fitz, Simmons, and Ward are.

"Board games again?" Fitz asks curious.

"Definitely," Daisy confirms, and as she does her phone goes off, and she pulls it out to check the message and sees, 'let me in by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin.' From her Uncle Clint, "No way," Daisy says, looking shocked, and she turns and starts to hurry downstairs.

"Daisy?" Ward calls after her.

"I'll be back," Daisy calls back, as she hurries into the platform above the cargo bay and as she does she sees two people she knows very well standing in the cargo bay, leaning against Lola, and so she hurries down to them, "You really should know better," Daisy informs the two people.

"Yeah, but just doing what you should do is no fun," Clint comments.

"I've miss you, so much," Daisy says, as she hugs Clint.

"Missed you too, Kiddo," Clint says, as her returns the hug, kissing the top of Daisy's head as he does.

"Good to see you, Aunt Nat," Daisy says, before hugging her as well, after she and Clint break apart.

"It's good to see you, too," Natasha assures her, whispering something in Daisy's ear before they break apart the two of them having hugged a little longer than Daisy and Clint.

"Where's your Mom and Uncle Phil?" Clint asks.

"Upstairs," Daisy answers, "I'll show you where they are," Daisy explains, and the three of them head upstairs.

When Daisy, Natasha and Clint get upstairs less than a minute later they find Ward, Fitz, and Simmons standing together,

"Oh my god," Simmons says, looking shocked, clearly recognizing who just walked onto the Bus.

"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, this is a surprise," Ward comments, trying not to display the fact that it is far from a good one.

"You are?" Natasha asks, having no idea who this guy is.

"Agent Ward," Ward answers, knowing he has to be careful as the last thing he needs is for Natasha to become suspicious of him.

"Garrett's boy. I've heard about you," Clint comments.

"Aunt Nat, Uncle Clint, this is Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz," Daisy introduces.

"Nice to meet you both," Natasha responds.

"It's a pleasure," Simmons says, looking amazed.

"Really is," Fitz confirms.

"Mom and Uncle Phil are upstairs, we should probably go to them before they think something is up," Daisy says, looking between Natasha and Clint, both of whom nod and the two of them follow Daisy up to Phil's office, Ward making himself scarce as they do.

As Daisy, Natasha, and Clint make their way up to Phil's office Natasha and Clint allow Daisy to go first so that she can explain. Walking into Phil's office Daisy finds Melinda and Phil sitting side by side on the little couch Phil has in his office drinking, the two of them having moved from Phil's desk.

"Mom? Uncle Phil?" Daisy asks.

"Daisy, is something wrong?" Melinda asks, concerned.

"Nope, we just got a couple of visitors," Daisy reveals, as she takes a step further into the room, and the second she says the word visitors Phil and Melinda look concerned, but before they can say or do anything Natasha and Clint walk in.

"Nat, Clint," Melinda says, sounding surprised, as Phil stands up.

"Hey Mels," Clint says, being the only person on the planet who can get away with calling Melinda, 'Mels' while Tony is the only one who calls her Mel, never Mels, "Phil," He says, looking relieved and he walks, rather quickly, over to his friend and hugs him, tightly, "I'm glad you're okay,"

"I am too," Phil response, as the two of them break apart, "Nat," he greats.

"You were an idiot for going after Loki alone," Natasha informs him, as she walks over to Phil, and hugs him too, "I'm glad you're okay,"

"Thanks Nat," Phil responds, "I'm really glad to see you both, but what are you doing here?"

"We found out about the team, and found out you were in Hong Kong, so we thought we'd say hello," Natasha explains, giving Melinda a look without anyone else noticing, a look which tells Melinda that they're going to talk later.

"I'm glad you're here," Phil admits, "Scotch?" he asks curious.

"You really shouldn't have to ask that," Clint says as he sits down on the table.

"He's right about that," Natasha confirms, pulling over a chair, and as she does Daisy, the only one in the room who doesn't get scotch, sits down between her mother and Phil and the group of five, who are family to each other, start to catch up with one another, and a little way into the catching up they video call in Avengers Tower.


Away from the plane Raina, the person who got Miles to hack S.H.I.E.L.D, who heard everything Daisy and Ward heard each other say, is standing in the middle of the apartment she is currently staying in.

From the way she is standing it is clear that Raina is waiting for seconds later and after a few minutes there is a flash of blue light and a man in his thirties, with no eyes appears, as he does Rania's appearance changes and suddenly she covered in quills and thorns.

"Gordon, good to see you,"' Raina says, telling the truth though most people would assume she is lying.

"You too, Raina," Gordon confirms, "But I thought…," He starts to say.

"We agreed on near zero contact, we did," Raina confirms, "But I discovered something, something that Cal and Jiaying need to know," She reveals.

"From a vision?" Gordon asks.

"No, another way," Raina confirms, "It's about Melinda May," She explains.

"What about her? Melinda May was a single mission almost twenty years ago, what could they possibly need to know about her?" Gordon asks, looking confused.

"She has a daughter," Raina reveals.

"Well yes, Rania, but we already knew that," Gordon responds.

"A seventeen-year-old daughter," Raina says, not raising to Gordon's bait.

"Seventeen….. are you sure?" Gordon asks, sounding shocked.

"Positive, I saw her myself. She's May's daughter," Raina assures him.

"I'll tell Cal and Jiaying as soon as possible," Gordon assures Raina, "Is there any other update you'd like me too pass on?" Gordon asks curious.

"Things are progressing how I expected them to," Raina admits, "I should know more soon,"

"I'll pass it on," Gordon assures her, "If you need anything…,"

"You, Jiaying, and Cal will be there, I know," Raina responds and once she does Gordon nods and disappears in his blue light, and seconds after he does Rania changes again so that she is no longer covered in thorns and heads over to her desk, as she has work to do.


After a lot of time catching up with their family Natasha and Clint end up needing to leave the bus, and Melinda has made an excuse to leave with them.

"How much do you know?" Melinda asks, once the three of them are away from the plane, away from everyone else.

"As much as you," Natasha answers, "I confronted Fury, made him tell," Natasha explains, "And if you decided to quit I would have quit too,"

"Same," Clint adds, "I assume Tony knows everything, anyone else?"

"Not that I've told," Melinda answers, "Did Fury tell you what he asked me to do?"

"More like made you do," Clint corrects, with a frown, "If things get bad, or if you need us, just call, and we'll be here, no matter what,"

"We Promise," Natasha adds, saying something she doesn't say much and to Natasha and Clint's surprise, Melinda hugs her two friends.

"Thank you," Melinda says.

"And that offer is still there even if you just want to talk," Natasha assures her friend, even though she knows Melinda won't just take her up on the offer.

"I'll remember that," Melinda says, as the three of them break apart, "I'm glad you came for a visit,"

"So are we," Clint confirms, "We'll see you, Mels," Clint says, and once he does Melinda and Natasha exchange looks and nods, before Natasha and Clint leave together, and after watching her friends leave Melinda heads back into the Bus, checking on her daughter before heading to bed herself, feeling a sense of relief as just knowing Natasha and Clint know makes her feel a little better.