Chapter 29
A/N: Hey guys! This is the final chapter for this story. I can't believe I wrote over 200k for this but it was worth every word and I'm glad that everyone enjoyed it. To celebrate the final chapter, it will be extra-long. I hope that everyone stays safe during these weird times! Until next time, goodbye!
Daisy peaked around the corner when she heard Bobbi talking to Hunter privately. She was pretty sure that this was the first time she has ever heard a normal conversation between the two that didn't result in dying.
"Be careful Hunter" Bobbi's voice was dripping with concern as she looked at her ex-husband.
Hunter sucked in a deep breath and looked into his ex-wife's eyes, "You too… don't try to be a hero. If you can't destroy it, then get out"
Bobbi shot him A short but sweet smile. She leaned down and gave him a peck on the check, "Maybe after all of this.. we can finally talk about what we are" she whispered softly, her lips slightly brushing against his.
"I'd like that love" Hunter said as he hesitantly pulled away. Deep down in his gut, he could tell that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it, "Why don't you come on this mission with us, and Calderon can go on a solo mission?"
Daisy had to admit, she liked that idea. If Calderon dies on mission, she won't be mourning his death in fact, she'd think the world was better off without him.
"It's fine Hunter '' Bobbi reassured me, but that didn't mitigate any of his concerns, "I have to go. Be safe"
"Always" Hunter said as he watched Bobbi leave.
Daisy followed Bobbi who was walking towards Mack. She watched as Bobbi pulled out a small key ring and gave it to Mack, "If I don't make it back…"
Mack shook his head, "No" he said sternly as he pushed the key ring back towards her, "This isn't a sucide mission. If you can't deploy the bomb, then you get out"
"You and I both know the risks. The iliad doesn't just contain dangerous cargo, it's also a battleship" Bobbi argued. It gave HYDRA the advantage. She knew that HYDRA must already have the cargo in their possession, however the battleship was already a dangerous weapon that can kill hundreds of people in a matter of seconds.
"Then tell Coulson the truth" Mack shouted frustratedly, "He'll find another way!"
"This isn't up for debate!" Bobbi shouted back. She didn't want to die, not yet. She finally found a team to call her family but then Gonzales shows up and orders her to complete the mission that she was supposed to complete a year ago, "I'm not planning on dying, but there's a risk. Just like there's a risk with you guys infiltrating a HYDRA facility"
Mack shook his head and rubbed his head, "Let me do the mission. I know the layout of the base just as well as you do"
Bobbi looked at Mack with sympathy in her eyes. She knew that she was making Mack carry this burden around and she knew it was unfair to her partner, but they both knew the risks. She raised her hand and cupped his cheek. There was a tear in his eyes and she gently wiped it away, "I'll be fine… if I come back, we'll have a beer together"
Daisy's amused expression dropped when she heard Bobbi's voice. She was content with dying… and for what? For a mission? That was bullshit. She was starting to think that her decision to not go on the mission was a good call. If she went on the mission, knowing that Bobbi was potentially going on a sucide mission, then the overbearing feeling of guilt would crush her. She would have chosen revenge over her own friend's life… and that is the sort of thing that a monster would do.
"Not if, when" Mack said as he pulled his partner into a tight hug. Bobbi closed her eyes and allowed the embrace to bring her warmth. She reminded herself that her sacrifice could mean, one life saved, and that was enough for her.
"Mack! Let's go!" Hunter shouted as he boarded the zephyr. Mack gave his partner a tight squeeze before boarding the plane. Bobbi watched as the Zephyr flew into the air and disappeared from sight. She let out a soft sigh before boarding the mini quinjet and setting off to go and complete her mission… and possibly her last mission.
Mack was pacing up and down nervously. He looked over to the meeting room where the science twins were designing a glove that could negate the effects of the terrigen that turned people into stone. In the likelihood that they came across it and needed to hold it, this should protect them.
He noticed that Daisy wasn't here in the room with them but that wasn't unusual. Daisy liked to lurk around in the shadows, especially when they were up in the air… now that he thought about it, Daisy didn't seem to be a fan of being in a plane. She was quieter than usual..
His eyes moved to Hunter who was quieter than usual. He was sitting on the couch thinking about something… probably Bobbi. Mack slipped his hands in his pockets and walked over to his friend, "Thinking about something?"
Hunter clenched his jaw and sighed, "Something's off with Bobbi… I might be reading too much into it, but it felt like she was saying goodbye " he muttered as he thought about it. Mack began fiddling with his hands nervously. Hunter turned his head to look and asked, "How dangerous is this mission?"
Mack made a promise to Bobbi, he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about the risks of this mission, "You heard her man, it's risk free" he lied smoothly, but Hunter wasn't an idiot.
"Come on mate… enough with the bloody lies" Hunter was tired of this, he was tired of the team lying to each other. He just wanted to go back to how things used to be, before Gonzales came barging in. Mack bit the insides of his cheeks, afraid that he was going to reveal everything to them, "Just tell me… is she coming back". Mack's silence was enough for Hunter's fear and anger to boil. He shot up from the couch and glared at the man who was supposed to be Bobbi's partner, "You son of a bitch"
Without meaning to do it, Hunter threw a punch across Mack's jaw, causing the man to fall off of the couch, but Hunter wasn't going to let him off that easily. Hunter straddled his hips and clenched a fistful of his shirt and shoved his face towards him, "What is her real mission?" he growled venomously.
"Hunter?" Fitz dropped his equipment and ran over to the couch where Hunter looked like he was on the verge of knocking Mack out. Jemma stood behind Fitz but peeked over his shoulder and saw that Hunter was on top of Mack.
Hunter heard Fitz's voice and realised that he was currently in the middle of the bloody air, while Bobbi was off doing some sucide mission.
Fuck.
He let go of Mack and was ready to storm into the control room where Coulson and May were, and force them to either go back to the base or land so he can get to Bobbi before she did anything stupid, but when he turned around he saw Coulson staring at him with an unamused expression and May who looked ready to punch him.
"Did you know?" Hunter growled as he took a step forward towards Coulson. He was pissed off at Mack for keeping this a secret, but Coulson was worst if he knew. He was worst because he had the power to actually stop Bobbi from going.
"Back down!" May's voice was seeping with annoyance and anger at someone causing such as ruckus when the stakes were high.
Hunter visibly backed down at May's voice but couldn't stop the anxious feeling that was fueling his paranoia. He looked at Coulson desperately, "Bobbi is going on a suicide mission" he heard both Jemma and Fitz gasp at the statement, but when he looked at Coulson and May, neither of the pair seemed surprsed, "You knew?" he questioned in disbelief as he took a step back.
Even Fitz and Jemma were looking at Coulson with disappointment at hurt in their eyes, "Wait… I thought Bobbi said the mission isn't dangerous" Jemma started looking at everyone. She could tell that Coulson didn't know the details, but someone in this room did… "Mack?"
Everyone's attention was now turned to Mack who's lip was slightly bleeding from Hunter's punch. He knew he deserved it, which was why he wasn't going to retaliate, "Bobbi was given orders, during the HYDRA takeover, to blow the entire ship into the sea, but in order to that she has to get into the control centre room…"
"How's she supposed to do that when the Iliad is filled with HYDRA agents?" Fitz questioned, he then realised why this mission was so dangerous… and practically suicide.
"And even if she's able to sneak into the control room and activates the bomb, not only will she be destroying the iliad… but she'd be caught in the explosion" Jemma's eyes widened as she spoke her thoughts out loud.
"Mack, you should have come to us with this information" May didn't seem to worried about Bobbi being out there alone, she seemed more pissed that Mack kept this information from the team.
"I know" Mack agreed, but his promise to Bobbi… his devotion to S.H.I.E.L.D had to be greater than any potential danger… right?
"Turn this bloody plane around, we're going to stop her from doing something stupid!" Hunter shouted at no-one in particular, but he saw neither Coulson nor May move, "You guys aren't seriously going to let her go through with this?".
Hunter had to refrain from commenting that if it was Daisy going on this suicidal mission alone, they wouldn't even think twice about abandoning this mission and going after her.
"Sir… I agree with Hunter" Jemma quipped in with worry glistening in her eyes, "I know that this is completely irrational considering how this mission could prevent biological warfare but… Bobbi is more important"
"We're not just a team, we're a family" Fitz stated firmly while looking at his Director and May, "And family looks out for each other, no matter what", his eyes flickered to Mack who was still looking down at his feet guilty.
Coulson looked at his team and couldn't help but feel an immense amount of pride for all of them. Daisy wasn't the only one who has changed, so has the rest of the team. Especially Fitz and Simmons who used to be driven by rationality, believing that the right thing to do was to stick with the rules and trusting the system. But after the HYDRA takeover, they're entire world shattered. Everything they knew was a lie, including their own relationship with their team.
But now… look at them.
They no longer believed that science was everything.
They no longer believed in a restrictive system that could lead to corruption.
They started to believe in their emotions over their science.
They believed in their family… and that was the greatest change of all.
"I don't know who should be more offended. Me? Because you guys seriously think that I would allow Bobbi to go on a suicide mission all by herself… or Daisy? Who you guys seemed to have not realised, isn't on the actual zephyr"
Everyone's brain stopped for a few seconds, and then they're eyes moved to scan the room.
"You sent Daisy with Bobbi" Hunter couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. He trusted Daisy, he knew how fiercely protective the young girl was over her family, and Daisy wasn't going to let Bobbi die.
Mack's shoulders slumped down as he buried his head in his hand, "Thank god" he muttered.
Fitz and Simmons looked at each other with a small smile. Neither of them had to speak to know how relieved the other person was.
But then Jemma realised something, "Wait… Daisy was okay with not going on this mission? I thought she'd be the first to go honestly"
If the shoe was on the other foot, Jemma knew she couldn't resist the urge to go on this mission that could potentially reveal that the experiments were on-going. She had to admit, she was glad that Daisy wasn't going on this mission… a part of her was scared that all of the progress that Daisy has made, would be all for nought.
"Okay? No" Coulson knew how Daisy felt, which is why he needed his team to know the importance of this mission, "Daisy is choosing to trust her team… so let's not disappointment her"
The last thing that Bobbi remembered, was crawling through the ventilation system that led her to the control room, and managing to insert the key that activates every weapon on this battleship, and causes it to self-destruction. She was able to start the timer, but the second she typed the code in, something hard hit the back of her head, causing her to fall unconscious.
She groggily woke up a few minutes after getting knocked out and the first thing that she noticed was the pounding headache in her head from being hit with what she assumed was a pole. Her eyes scanned her surroundings and she realised that she was still in the control centre on the Iliad, however not so good news is that she was still in the middle of the bloody ocean. But if she was in the control centre, maybe she could get out…. wait , nope. Never mind, her hands and feet were bound by thick duct tape.
"Son of a bitch" she muttered as she tried to move her body, but she was nicely tucked into the chair. Silver lining, was that this ship was going to blow up in a couple of minutes. Bad news was, she was going to die. It was to be expected though, she was ready to die.
But why did she find herself wanting to fight death.
She didn't want to die here alone with a bunch of HYDRA agents on board. Speaking of which, her eyebrows furrowed when she saw a bunch of HYDRA agents that she had knocked out, still laying unconscious. If they weren't the ones who knocked her out… then who did?
"Finally awake"
Wait… why did that voice sound familiar? She turned her head to see the infamous HYDRA traitor who was also known to be Daisy's best friend… Grant Ward, "Y-You?"
Ward walked into her line of vision and said, "Yes. Me"
Bobbi was officially confused, wasn't he Daisy's best friend? She thought that the two of them were close, so why was Ward infiltrating the Iliad? Maybe he was still on Daisy's side… but before she could ask, Ward walked over to the HYDRA agents who were tied up in the corner, with a glint of orange in his eyes.
"W-What are you doing?"
Ward didn't bother answering her question, instead, he lit his entire hand on fire and released a power wave of fire, causing the skin to literally melt off of their skin.
Bobbi couldn't help but flinch and feel nauseated as the smell of burnt flesh melting, filled the entire room. Sweat dripped down her forehead, and her eyes remained shut due to the hot blaze that scorched the men. She could hear them screaming in pain and she had bite down on her lip to stop herself from screaming out for him to stop. Once it was over, she opened her blurry eyes and saw smoke and the burnt corpses at the front of the door.
"W-Why the hell would you do that?"
None of this made sense, was Ward on their side? Or HYDRA's? If he was on their side, why the hell was she tied up and strapped to the chair, and why was he on this ship that was infiltrated by HYDRA? And if he was HYDRA… why would he burn his own men.
Ward walked over to the control panel and tried to figure out what Bobbi had done, when he saw a timer counting down, he felt a surge of annoyance feel his chest, "I'm not fond on people who fail to complete their task" Ward replied, his voice was void of any emotions. She kept her breathing steady and had hid any signs of fear that she could feel surfacing, "You however, managed to sneak onto the base and insert the kill code to blow this entire base apart. I respect that"
Bobbi didn't know how she should feel about being complimented by someone like Ward. She didn't know Ward personally, but from the stories that Simmons and Fitz had told her, he wasn't a good man. He wasn't someone to be trusted.
"So what, you're not going to kill me out of respect?" Bobbi scoffed, she didn't think that the man cared about respect.
Ward turned around and looked at her with cold eyes that reminded her of Daisy… but there was something different about Ward's eyes, he genuinely looked like he had a cold soul while Daisy used her cold eyes as a façade to hide her warmth.
"No" Ward said, now leaning against the control panels to look at her, "You should have known that this was a suicide mission. I mean, you infiltrate a base that's filled with HYDRA agents… and even if you manage to escape and make it back to your quin jet, the chances of you making it out of the blast radius is slim. Thus, I will give you the honour of dying as a hero rather than dying by my hands"
"How chivalrous" Bobbi spat sarcastically, although she had to admit, she'd much rather die in the explosion than die a painful death by Ward's fire, "Shouldn't you be warning your men and getting them out of here?" she knew that it'd be useless, but if Ward was working with these people, he should at least try.
"They're a bunch of idiots" Ward said with no feelings. He couldn't give a damn about these bumbling idiots. They were stupid and careless for letting one person, sneak into the base in the first place, they all deserved to die.
Bobbi realised why he was here… he wasn't here for the ship, he was the one who had taken the dangerous cargo, "You came here for the cargo…"
Ward tilted his head in interest, "You know about it?"
"How do you?" Bobbi asked.
Ward shrugged his shoulders, "S.H.I.E.L.D used to be HYDRA, HYDRA used to be S.H.I.E.L.D"
That was fair and true. But there was one thing that didn't make sense, "Why are you sticking around for the explosion. You already got what you want"
"Not everything" Ward muttered as he continued watching the door, waiting to see who was going to come next.
Realisation dawned on Bobbi, there was only one reason and one reason only… Daisy. But Daisy didn't even know she was here, hell, no one did. "Daisy?" she saw his eyes softened at her name, and it made her feel nauseated, "Daisy isn't coming. She doesn't even know I'm here"
Ward didn't seem to buy that. Instead a small yet warm smile appeared on his face and he looked at her with a genuine look in his eyes. For the first time since this meeting, she began to see some humanity on his face, "You don't know her like I do"
Bobbi clenched her jaw, how the hell was this psychopath best friends with someone like Daisy, "What do you want with her?"
Ward shook his head and calmly placed his burning hands onto her shoulders, causing Bobbi to gasp in pain but she wouldn't let anything but a gasp to escape her lips, "That's between me and her"
Bobbi couldn't help but breathe in relief when he let go of her shoulder. She could smell her burning flesh, but it didn't feel too bad. She was going to guess 2nd degree burn at most. It looked worse than it actually is, "If you think that she's going to join… whatever the hell you're doing, you're going to be thoroughly disappointed"
Ward raised an eyebrow, "And why's that?"
"It's simple… Daisy isn't a monster like you" Bobbi watched as that struck a chord in Ward's heart. She flinched when he put his face right next to hers.
"You say that you know her, but obviously you don't"
Bobbi cringed when she felt Ward's spit fly onto her face, "One, you need a breath mint" she said casually, "And secondly, I know her a hell lot better than you", and she was confident when saying that. She has spent enough time with Daisy to know the type of person she is.
Ward didn't seem to believe that, instead he backed away and started laughing, "You call me a monster… but what you don't know is that she's actually worse than me" he stated calmly. Bobbi wasn't going to buy a single word that he says.
"I doubt that" Bobbi said. She doubted that Ward would be willing to put his own ass on the line for two random strangers.
"Why? Because you think she's some… damaged orphan girl who you can fix?" Ward was starting to get more angry by the second, and if it wasn't for his angry tone that gave it away, it was the heat in the room that was making her sweat, "She doesn't need fixing! She needs us!"
"Needs you?" Bobbi couldn't believe that she was going to spend her final moments, arguing with a psychopath about Daisy's true nature, "The last time she went with one of you guys, she went on a murderous rampage!"
"Exactly!" Ward shouted.
Bobbi cut him off before he could argue anymore, "Which is why she needs us! If you care about her, you will see that we can offer her family!" She didn't know why she was speaking as if she was going to live to see tomorrow.
"She has a family… and that doesn't include you"
Wards was seconds away from lighting her ass on fire, she could see it. She could see his entire hand combust and a wave of flames heading towards her. Reactively, her body tried to curl into a ball but due to her being tied up, the only thing she could do was bury her head into her chest and wait for her imminent and painful death… wait a minute… she wasn't dead.
She slowly opened her eyes to see something, almost like a forcefield blocking the flames from hitting her. After a few seconds, the fire died down and there was nothing but smoke. She coughed a few times and squinted her eyes to see what the hell just happened. She was pretty sure she was supposed to be dead.
"Seriously? I've been gone for 10 minutes. How'd you get yourself into this mess? "
An exaggerated and familiar voice smoke as they walked through the broken down door and through the smoke. Bobbi felt her heart sink into her stomach and the relief and anxiety wash away at the sound of her young friend's voice. She never felt this relieved in her life. Which was saying a lot since she did get divorced from Hunter.
The smoke cleared up and Daisy was now standing next to Bobbi. Bobbi instantly took note on how Daisy's clothes was dripping wet, as if she had just swam across the entire ocean to get to this boat… wait… is that how Daisy got here? She had so many questioned to ask, but first thing's first, the battle ship was going to blow up in a few minutes, and Daisy was on board.
She was willing to die, but she wasn't willing to drag Daisy with her but it was too late, the kill code has been activated and there was no way of stopping it. Instead of feeling grateful, she suddenly felt anger, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Daisy shot her an offended look, "I'm here to stop you from doing something stupid" she defending herself, not appreciating the accusing and angry tone in her friend's voice, "But obviously it's too late seeing how there's a massive countdown on the screen!"
Daisy completely ignored Ward's presence and pointed to the massive screen that said they had 3 minutes left.
"You weren't supposed to come!" Bobbi shot back as she tried to get her hands out of the rope, but it was too tight, "How the hell did you even get here?"
"Don't ask" Daisy was glad that she wouldn't have to go back to the cramped space.
Ward blinked a few times, his mind trying to register the fact that this was the same Daisy who not only kicked his ass, but also went on a murderous rampage, "Why the hell are you soaked?", the casual question slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
Daisy shot him an annoyed glare, that wasn't filled with venom or anger. It was a simple glare between two best friends, "That's none of your business"
Ward smirked and said, "You don't know how to swim do you?"
"When would I have time to learn how to swim?" Daisy questioned with embarrassment and anger, it wasn't her fault that HYDRA taught her how to assassinate people yet forgot to teach her the basics about swimming, "Do you know how to swim?"
"Christian once threw me in the middle of the ocean… it was either sink or swim", Yeah… that made sense and she couldn't argue with that, "Daisy Johnson… did I finally find something that I'm good at and you're not?"
Bobbi's brain was starting to hurt, seeing Daisy and Ward acting like best friends… genuine best friends was disturbing and weird on so many levels. If Bobbi could, she would stomp on Daisy's foot to get the young girl's attention back, but her feet were also restrained.
"Shut up" Daisy didn't appreciate the cocky smile that appeared on her best friend's face, "I still kicked your ass on land"
Ward shrugged his shoulders, knowing that it was true, "Yeah… but all I need to do is throw you in the middle of the ocean to win" he said with a teasing smile.
"Daisy!" Bobbi shouted. It was disturbing to see Daisy acting so… nice and chummy with Ward, but she wasn't allowed to judge their relationship. Bobbi saw Daisy's face and saw that she was no longer smiling and nor was Ward. Good, Daisy was now getting back to business.
Daisy looked at Bobbi and then back at Ward… right. She forgot about the reason why she was here. She looked at the timer and saw that she didn't have much time left. There was no way for her to escape this battle ship with Bobbi, so she was going to have to improvise.
"Right, sorry" Daisy muttered as she secretly pulled out a knife and dropped it in Bobbi's hands, allowing the older agent to discreetly cut through the ropes that was bindings her wrists together, "Mind telling me what the hell you're doing here? This is S.H.I.E.L.D's territory"
"I'm not here for S.H.I.E.L.D" Ward sighed and leaned against the consoles casually. He knew that he could have gone with an easier route and just asked Gordon to bring Daisy to them, but somehow Daisy was blocking him teleporting to them. He was going to assume that it was Fitz's work.
Things between them were getting tense, Ward knew it and so did Daisy. They both knew that course of this conversation was going to determine the rest of their relationship from here on out…
Bobbi looked between the two and was starting to feel like the odd one out. A part of her was scared… scared that Daisy will choose Ward over them. She knew that this wasn't only going to change Daisy's relationship with Ward, but it was also going to test her loyalty to her team.
"So what? You've become a rock hound since our last meeting?"
"What can I say? After our little argument, I picked up a hobby" Ward joked,
"What are you actually doing here Ward?" Daisy was glad to see her best friend was healed, and seemed to be back to his usual self, but something was still off about him.
"I can't tell you that… not unless you join me" Ward stated clearly, he wasn't naive enough to tell Daisy his plan. Gordon trusted Daisy, but he didn't know S.H.I.E.L.D.
Daisy looked into Ward's eyes and saw something that she hasn't seen in a while, he found a purpose. The only time that Ward had this look in his eyes was when…"You're working with HYDRA", the realisation felt like a crushing weight of disappointment and anger, but none of it was directed at herself, it was all directed towards Ward.
Bobbi, who was now free of any restrictions, could hear the disappointment and sadness in Daisy's voice. She couldn't help but think of Hunter… what would have happened if she or Hunter turned out to be HYDRA? Daisy's dysfunctional relationship with Ward, reminded her of her relationship with her ex-husband.
Ward nodded his head, there was no point in denying it. He knew there was no chance that Daisy was going to go with him, but he had to try, he owed her that much, "I am…"
"Are you one of the heads?"
A part of her hoped that he was, because at least that way he was in control and she could handle Ward, but if he was following someone's orders then that would be a whole new story.
"Not yet"
Daisy sighed, she already knew where this was going to go so she might as well poke the bear, "So, you're back to being someone's bitch again?"
Ward gritted his teeth when he heard that, "And you're not? You're fighting with S.H.I.E.L.D"
"It's better than HYDRA" Daisy shot back with anger in her eyes. Bobbi saw that she wasn't pissed at Ward for stealing the dangerous cargo or taking over the battleship that could cause hundreds of deaths, she was pissed at the fact that he was working for HYDRA. Bobbi realised that between Daisy and Ward, there was no judgment for the messed up thing that they had done, wrong or right.
"Is it?" Ward pushed himself off of the console and started walking towards Daisy. Daisy didn't move or flinch, she knew Ward wasn't going to hurt her… not yet anyways, "HYDRA accepts me for who I am… for what I am…. S.H.I.E.L.D however, they make you think that there is something wrong with you. How many times have your team members tried to fix you? Tried to tell you that you're not a monster instead of accepting you for who you are?"
Bobbi immediately saw Daisy's face drop at that. Guilt suddenly settled into the pits of her stomach when she realised that she had contributed to making Daisy feel this way.
"I know S.H.I.E.L.D… I've been in there a lot longer than you have" Ward didn't want to hurt Daisy, he simply wanted her to see things how he did, because then maybe she will join him and they could be a team again, "Aren't you tired of being in control of your emotions every damn second? Our powers are connected to our emotions…"
"Yeah… I am", Daisy couldn't deny it. She was tired. She could see Bobbi's face drop at her confirmation, but she didn't care if Bobbi knew. May and Coulson were already aware of the fact, and it was something that she was working on, but it was tiring nevertheless, "I'm so fucking tired of feeling everything all the damn time… but you know what?"
Ward and Bobbi held their breaths for different reasons.
"This isn't about S.H.I.E.L.D" Daisy stated simply, "It's about my team who taught me that I don't have to be in control of my emotions every damn second" Daisy looked over to Bobbi with an appreciative smile, she hoped that Bobbi knew how much she and the team meant to her.
"Once again… we're fighting on opposite sides of the war" Ward muttered with genuine disappointment in his voice.
"We don't have to" Daisy said, maybe if she gave Ward a way out, just like Coulson and May gave to her, then there was still enough time to stop this war between them, "Lincoln offered me to travel the world, I'm sure that he wouldn't mind the company of another inhuman"
Ward didn't want to fight Daisy either and the offer that she was making was nice, but he made a choice. He wasn't going to hide behind this fake facade where he had to pretend to care. When it came to Daisy, it wasn't fake. But when it came to other people like... Coulson or even Fitz and Simmons, he genuinely could kill them without blinking an eye, and he was tired of feeling like a monster because of that.
"Travelling the world… it sounds like a dream" Ward muttered softly. Daisy inhaled a shaky breath when she heard his tone… he wasn't going to leave this life, just like she wasn't going to leave either, "One day… me and you… we'll go to Hawaii… or maybe back to China. We can build a small hut where nobody can find us… completely isolated"
Bobbi couldn't believe the nerve of this guy, what makes him think that he and Daisy can go and live happy life, exploring the world when he was literally working for HYDRA. She was disgusted by this man, but her anger slowly dissipated when she saw a small smile appear on Daisy's face, "One day…"
Bobbi realised that Ward nor Daisy actually believed this. Maybe in another life, if they both made different choices, then they could be happy together… but it wasn't going to be this life. Bobbi's heart started to ache for Daisy… even if she hated Ward, she knew that Daisy didn't.
Suddenly, a loud explosion went off which caused the entire ship to rock back and forth. Shit, Bobbi completely forgot about the damn ship. She grabbed onto the rails to steady herself however, both Ward and Daisy were leaning against the console, completely unaffected by the explosions that were rocking the ship. They both continued staring into each other's eyes with pain, hurt, betrayal and disappointment… but underneath all of that, there was an understanding between them.
Suddenly, someone materialised beside Ward, which surprised Bobbi but not Daisy who had been expecting Gordon's appearance. Bobbi recognised him… wasn't he Daisy's inhuman mentor? Who, instead of deterring her from going on a suicidal mission, encouraged the young assassin to take revenge.
"I'm disappointed that you won't be joining us" Gordon stated as he walked over to Ward. His expressions were hard to read, but Daisy could tell that Gordon was disappointed in her, just as she was in him.
"Likewise" Daisy replied to her mentor with a cold tone. Her heart was finally catching up to the reality of things, Gordon and Ward were no longer people who she could rely on.
"Skye.." Ward looked at his best friends for the last time, he knew that this was the last time that they will be seeing each other as best friend, "One day…"
Daisy's face remained neutral, she looked both hurt yet unimpressed at the same time. She watched as Gordon put his hand on Ward's shoulder before teleporting him out of this explosion. Bobbi wanted to give Daisy a second alone, but she literally couldn't.
Daisy snapped out of her thoughts and her survival instincts suddenly kicked in. She turned to the older agent who was looking at her with sympathy, but now wasn't the time to deal with her emotions, "Is there an injectable pod in here?"
Bobbi nodded her head, "But we won't be able to escape the explosion"
"Not with that attitude"
Bobbi rolled her eyes and gestured for Daisy to follow her, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to walk when the entire ship was sinking, "Who's grand idea was it to sink the ship?"
"Seriously? Now?" Bobbi shouted at the young agents as she guided her to the closest closet. An another explosion went off which caused both Daisy and Bobbi to hit the wall with a bang. Bobbi felt her head hit against something hard, but at least she wasn't unconscious, "Daisy?" she called out to the young agent who was trying to stand back up.
"This is a terrible mission Agent Morse!"
Was Daisy seriously going to lecture her now? She ran over to the young agent and helped her up, "You weren't supposed to be here!" she shot back frustrated. She pushed open the door, revealing several HYDRA agents who were running around like their heads were on fire.
None of them knew how to get the injectable pods to work, but Bobbi knew. Both Daisy and Bobbi shared a familiar look, "If we're going to die, might as well die trying"
Bobbi was ready to die, she was prepared. She had said her goodbyes… well, goodbyes that weren't really goodbyes. But she made her peace with it and she wasn't going to fight her fate, but now that Daisy was here, she was going to do everything within her power, to fight to stay alive.
She and Daisy lurched forwards and managed to knock out all the HYDRA agents in a matter of few minutes. Water was quickly filling up, it was now up to their knees and they knew that they only had a minute or less left before they were either killed by another explosion, or by the water.
Bobbi moved her legs against the water, towards the control panel. She pressed a few buttons which opened up another door with a pod that was big enough to fit an entire squad of people, "Let's go" Bobbi said, she and Daisy made their way towards the pod, but just before they could step into it, another explosion teared through the ship.
This was powerful than the last.
Daisy could physically feel the ship ripping into two.
Bobbi's eyes widened when she saw a gush of water hurling towards them, "Hold your breath!" she shouted but Daisy didn't seem to hear her.
In a split second, Bobbi found her entire body and head being submerged by water. The impact of the water caused both Bobbi and Daisy's body to go hurling into the wall like ragdolls. Bobbi wasn't sure how many seconds passed but when her eyes snapped open, the burning sensation in her eyes forced her to realise that she was underwater. Being trained for this situation, she swam to the top where there was a small air pocket, but something was missing… Oh fuck.. Daisy.
She filled her lungs up with air before diving back into the waters to find Daisy. Her eyes widened when she saw a semi-floating Daisy who was evidently unconscious. She swam towards the young girl and grabbed her by the collar, before quickly swimming towards the pod. She had to be quick about this, the second she opened the pod, water will gush in, filling the empty space in a matter of seconds.
She pressed the button to open the pod, and felt her body, as well as Daisy's body, wash into the pod like a sea shell being washed up ashore. She used the momentum of the water pushing her towards the control panel where she could close the door with a push. Simultaneously, the water stopped rushing in and the pod was ejected from the battle ship, but none of the controls were working… which meant they either were going to die from being caught up in the explosion, or die from lack of oxygen.
She didn't have time to think about any of that when she saw Daisy's unmoving body.
"Daisy" her voice was shaky and dripping with fear. She was scared of losing her friend, of losing a younger sister… and it was all because of this damn mission. She needed to clear her mind and focus on the task at hand. She checked Daisy's pulse and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and she could feel the exhaustion slowly creeping up on her. Her breathing was hard and laboured, and reality began sinking in.
She was going to die… but she wasn't okay with it.
She wasn't okay with it because she had dragged Daisy into her suicidal mission.
Her thoughts were broken off by a loud, rasp gasp that turned into a coughing fit, "Hey" Bobbi gently rubbed Daisy's back as the young agent vomited up the water that she had swallowed, "Hey, it's okay…" she spoke softly as she waited for the young girl to catch her breath.
"Fuck" Daisy's throat was sore and she felt like she just chugged a mouthful of sandpaper. Her eyes scanned the small pod and saw that the water was up to her hip. She looked outside of the window and saw how the battle ship was sinking, but there were still mini explosions going off from underwater. She knew that sooner or later, they were going to die, and she was not okay with death by drowning.
Bobbi slumped against the wall and rubbed her face tiredly, "Daisy… you weren't supposed to be here"
Daisy slowly began to sit up from her spot and walked towards the window, trying to think of a solution that didn't result in them dying, "Yeah well you weren't either"
"It's a mission…"
"It's a bullshit mission" Daisy shot back angrily without looking at the older agent.
"How is this any different from your suicidal mission?" Bobbi questioned, but she wasn't asking it out of anger, she was asking it because she thought that Daisy, out of every person in S.H.I.E.L.D, would understand her sacrifice.
"One, my mission wasn't suicidal. There was a chance that I would die yes, but it wasn't a sacrificial play" Daisy replied with a hint of sass in her voice, "Two, my mission wasn't a mission. It was personal", Bobbi could sense the pain in Daisy's voice, she felt like an idiot for even bringing it up, "And three, unlike you… I don't have a family to mourn my death"
Bobbi froze when she heard that, "Are we not your family?" she asked with anger in her voice.
Daisy bit the inside of her cheeks, "Don't turn this around on me" Daisy replied with annoyance, "You were ready to die a few minutes ago"
"Yeah well…" Bobbi actually couldn't argue with that, "I would say we both need to work on that, but we're going to die so there's no point"
Daisy scoffed in offence, "Have a little faith in me Morse" she mumbled as she took a few steps back from the windows, "You don't think I came all this way to die with you did you?"
Before Bobbi could asked what was she talking about, Daisy bent her knee and placed her palms onto the floor. Bobbi could feel the entire pod shaking, and a part of her was afraid that Daisy was going to quake this entire pod apart, but she might as well let Daisy do whatever she thought was best. It wasn't like they had any other options.
She walked over to the pilot seat and buckled herself up.
Daisy closed her eyes and felt the pressure building up in her bones. If it wasn't for the adamantine bone, she was pretty sure that not only her arms, but her entire skeleton would have shattered due to the amount of pressure that she was building up in her arms. Being underwater, drowned out any extra noise that would otherwise disturbed her. She could feel the massive battleship sinking into the abyss, and she could feel remnants of the ships being hurled towards them underwater. The pod began to shake from the debris hitting their pod, but she didn't let that distract her.
Coulson trusted her to save Bobbi.
She couldn't let him, or the team down.
She remembered May telling her how sacrificing herself would be pathetic and stupid, and she couldn't agree more.
An extra layer of motivation when she remembered that Bobbi had family… she had a mother waiting for her.
Unlike her…
Suddenly, a wave of anger and betrayal washed over her when she thought about her conversation with Ward.
The next time they meet, they'll be two soldiers fighting on opposite sides of the war.
That thought alone, was enough for Daisy to build up enough strength that was enough to shatter her bones, and release it all at once.
The explosive quake forced the pod to skyrocket towards the surface. Daisy felt her entire body defying gravity when her body was now being flung into the ceiling as the pod sprung up at lightning speed. Daisy and Bobbi could hear the pod exiting the ocean, and for a few seconds, it was suspended in air, until it all came crushing down, including Daisy who was being flung around like a ragdoll.
A solid minute passed when Bobbi cracked an eyelid open. Relief flooded into her system when she saw the glistening stars that lit up the night sky. She wasn't dead… for the second time this day.
She moved to unclip her seatbelt, but she immediately gasped in pain. Her ribs were not agreeing with her sudden movement.
"You okay?"
Bobbi tried to turn her head to look at Daisy, to see if the young girl was okay, but the whiplash prevented her from doing so. If she was suffering from a possible broken rib, and whiplash when she was tucked into the seat, she couldn't imagine how severe Daisy's injures were.
"Peachy" Bobbi muttered as she ignored the protest of her ribs to unclick her seatbelt. Once she did, she looked down at her wet grey shirt and saw blood seeping out of it. The seatbelt had cut into body in the most painful way, but on the bright side, she was alive to complain about it. She tried once again to move her leg but her knee stopped her from doing so, pain was radiating in her knee area… yep, that was definitely a dislocation.
Daisy, who was half slumped against the wall due to the exhaustion and pain that was radiating across her entire body, ignored the protest of her body as she clumsily stood up and took sloppy steps towards Bobbi. She made it to Bobbi and couldn't help but slump against the passenger seat, "How are your injuries?"
Daisy made sure that there wasn't any life-threatening injuries on Bobbi's body before relaxing into the chair, "Barely even notice it" she lied. Yeah.. so it turns out her bones can't break, but they can dislocate, which was noticeably more painful then she will let on. Her shoulder was definitely dislocated, her head was pounding from a possibly concussion, but she'd bet her money on the fact that her back was going to be covered by bruises.
Bobbi could hear Daisy's heavy breathing that was slowly turning into a wheeze. Her breathing wasn't all that normal either, but she was more concerned about Daisy, "How are you really?"
Now that Daisy's body was slowly relaxing, she could every part of her bone ache, but at least it wasn't broken, "Let's just say that if it wasn't for my metallic bones, I'm pretty sure I'd be paralysed right now"
Bobbi shot her a worried look, "Oh Jesus Christ", she tried to move her neck to get a better view of Daisy, but her neck was stiff and crooked, "Did I apologise already?"
"You have not"
"I'm sorry", she really was. She never meant to drag Daisy into this mess.
"You should be" Daisy replied, she couldn't help but rub it in Bobbi's face that they're predicament was because of her suicidal mission. Bobbi couldn't be mad at Daisy's anger towards her, she was in the right and she knew that it was stupid not to tell the team, "You didn't want to die did you?"
Daisy's questioned threw her off, she had to think about her question for a few seconds. There were two ways she could answer this; be an asshole who'd hide behind her sense of duty, or be truthful and pour her feelings out.
"You were crying" Daisy pointed out in case Bobbi tried to give her a bullshit answer.
That's embarrassing, "Where the hell were you hiding?"
"In the engine"
"The engine? How the hell did you fit in there?"
Daisy knew what she was doing, she was diverging from the topic, "Don't ask. Now back to my question"
Bobbi leaned her head against the headrest of her seat and began picking the leather from the seat that she was sitting, "No I didn't", admitting it out loud was like a breath of fresh air.
"So, instead of apologising, you should be saying, Thank you Daisy for saving my life"
A smile cracked on Bobbi's face, "Thank you… for risking your ass to save me… again"
"Yeah well… don't be too thankful" Daisy muttered as she looked out into the night sky.
Bobbi knew she was going to have to move eventually, if she didn't then she and Daisy might die here from whatever internal injuries was going on inside of their bodies. But for now, she was going to take this opportunity to lecture Daisy since she was alive, "By the way, you need better taste in men"
Daisy shot her a glare, there was nothing going on between her and Ward. They were best friends, and that was it, they agreed to being nothing more other than best friends, "Like you can talk. You and Hunter literally have the most dysfunctional relationship on the base"
"At least he isn't HYDRA" Bobbi shot back.
"You were HYDRA in the relationship" Daisy replied back with annoyance. Oh yeah, she had forgotten about her undercover mission with Simmons. It was the first time she met Daisy… wow, it felt like a life time ago, "I don't think either of us can give relationship advice"
"Fair". Yeah… Daisy was right about that.
"So Agent Morse… tell me you have a way to get back to base"
"I wasn't expecting to live to see tomorrow so no"
A moment of silence passed… and Daisy rolled her eyes, "Great… "
Coulson and the team trudged back to the bus tiredly. It had been a long day that almost ended in a global extinction level event. Coulson and the team raided the facility, only to find that someone had beat them to it. Someone had killed all the scientist, as well as the subjects. However, they didn't leave the facility empty handed, they managed to grab boxes filled with files in it.
No-one has been able to read it yet, but when they get time, they'll go through it and hopefully gather some intel on what HYDRA wants with the monolith that they had stolen off of the Iliad.
Fitz managed to find the location of the HYDRA jet that were planning on dispersing the terrigen crystals, however, May, being the expert pilot that she is, managed to shoot down the jets before it reached New York.
Good news, the terrigen crystals were no longer being dispersed over New York, bad news is all the jets carrying the cargo sank to the bottom of the ocean, which meant that ocean life was at risk. He already sent out agents to search the area, but right now his anxiety was rising due to the fact that Agent Morse, nor Daisy, had reported in yet.
"Sir, we found the quinjet that Bobbi used… but it's not good"
Coulson just wanted to have a drink after the tiring day that he had, but he wanted to have a drink with his entire team, including Daisy and Bobbi who were currently missing. Everyone was on the bus, Fitz and Simmons were trying to use their thermal imaging device that picked up on any heat signature while Hunter was in the passenger seat next to May, trying to find any signs of life in the ocean of wreck. All they could see was debris from the ship.
"The quintjet got caught in the blast"
This day literally couldn't get worse. He rubbed his face tiredly, he just wanted some good news. Mack felt guilty for piling on the pile of crap that Coulson was already dealing with. He already knew that whatever happened down in that facility, shook him to his core.
But Coulson wasn't the only one who was bothered by what they saw.
Jemma inspected the bodies on the tables, and found that they had been cut into and possibly experimented on. It forced the entire team to have a glimpse on what experiments had been performed on Daisy. Everyone was feeling nauseated and drained from what they saw down there… and just thinking about how someone from their own team… someone as young and talented as Daisy, was subjected to these kind of treatment.
"Are there any injectable pods?" Coulson knew that if Daisy was down there, the she and Bobbi would fight till their last breath to keep each other alive.
"There is but… sir… the kill code not only activates every weapon and cause it to self-destruct, it also prevents any escapable pods from working, so even if they manage to get in one..."
"Don't talk to me about the odds of survivability" Coulson snapped, he didn't mean to snap but he seriously couldn't handle any more bad news, "It's Bobbi and Daisy, two of my best agents. They're not going to die like this"
Mack had to bit his tongue from retorting that statement, but a small, hopeful part of him reminded him that if anyone could survive this, it was going to be his partner and Daisy. All of a sudden Fitz came barging into the room with a tablet in his hand, "Sir, we detected two heat signatures down below"
"Fitz, guide May to the location. Simmons, prepare the med bay, we don't what injures they may have sustained. Mack, go get Hunter and prepare for an extraction, we're going to bring the pod up into the garage"
The second the orders slipped out of his mouth, everyone began scrambling to do their jobs. Coulson could finally breathe, he knew that they were alive, and for now, that was good enough.
Daisy was starting to find it harder to breathe with every second that she was down here, and so was Bobbi. It wasn't because of the lack of oxygen, there was plenty of oxygen going around now that were on the surface, however the pain was increasingly getting worse. Each time Daisy tried to move into a comfortable position, it felt like her bones were rubbing against each other in the most painful and disturbing way.
"Stop moving" Bobbi muttered, she was starting to feel light headed and dizzy, probably from a concussion, but she knew she couldn't sleep. If she fell asleep she might never wake up again and that thought was a lot more daunting than she'd like to admit.
"You stop moving" Daisy muttered like a child who was annoyed at being told what to do. How could she not move? The pain was getting increasingly worse, and she was afraid that she was going to lose feeling in her arms and legs if she didn't move. She slowly fitted her relatively okay arm, and pressed down on left shoulder, but she yelped in pain when she felt that it was definitely dislocated.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bobbi shouted when she heard Daisy yelp in pain.
"You know… just chilling" Daisy replied sarcastically. She closed her eyes and tried to find out what the hell was wrong with her body, but before she knew it, the entire pod began shaking and a beam of light shined upon them, "Holy fuck… we're getting abducted by aliens… I hope it's the TARDIS"
Jesus Christ, Daisy was spending way too much time with Fitz and Simmons, "You need to stop watching Doctor Who"
"Excuse me, we literally live in a world where an Asgardian God of Thunder exists. You think that's it far-fetched to say that aliens could abduct us?"
"Or, it could be HYDRA"
Yep, that was a mood killer. Daisy mind suddenly flashed back to her conversation with Ward, and she suddenly remembered that she didn't have him in her corner anymore. She didn't realise how much it sucked… but it did.
Suddenly, the pod began being lifted in to the air, caused both Bobbi and Daisy to let out grunts of pain due to the sudden movement of the pods.
"We're going to have to fight aren't we?" Daisy muttered as she started moving to lift herself up from the seat, ready to take on the HYDRA agents.
"Good news is we hijack their ship… bad news is…"
"We can barely move" Daisy took a step forward but slipped when her knee buckled, causing her to crash into the water.
"Daisy" Bobbi was going to push herself up and help the struggling young girl, but suddenly the doors were pried open and all the water that filled up the pod, went rushing out. Daisy lifted her head up and sighed in relief when she saw Coulson, Mack and Hunter standing on the opposite side.
"Damn, not aliens" Daisy muttered playfully.
Both Mack and Coulson ran to the young agent while Hunter went straight to Bobbi. Everyone began talking at once, asking if they're okay and what happened but both Bobbi and Daisy weren't in the mood to answer their questions.
"Enough!"
Jemma's voice cut through the chatter and everyone fell silent as she made her way towards Daisy to check her injures. Daisy was going to make a joke to lighten the mood, but she knew that now wasn't the time to make a joke, seeing how Jemma looked like she was in doctor mode, which meant don't talk to her or she might snap. Daisy learnt that the hard when Simmons threw sharp objects at her head.
Jemma suspected that Daisy had several dislocations, seeing how the girl's shoulder was popped at a weird angle. She gently lifted Daisy's shirt to inspect her stomach and cringed when she saw that there were numerous bruises on her body,
"I'm going to gently move your arms" Jemma said with a sweet smile that made Daisy smile back involuntarily at how sweet Jemma sounded. But her smile instantly dropped and she no longer was feeling happy about seeing the young, when Jemma suddenly popped her shoulder back into the socket with a loud popping sound that made everyone cringe.
"Son of a bitch!" Daisy shouted, but the debilitating pain suddenly disappeared and it was replaced with a subtle ache that was bearable but still uncomfortable.
"You know what Simmons, give me a few days in this chair and I'll be right as rain" Bobbi did not want to be nursed back to health by an angry Jemma. The sound of Daisy having her shoulder popped back into place was a given of how angry Jemma was.
"Carry Daisy into the med bay"
Jemma moved from Daisy to Bobbi who was shrinking into her seat trying to avoid Jemma's wraith, but no-one could avoid it. Not even Hunter wanted to stick around when he could feel Jemma's anger radiating throughout the room, "I'm just going to wait on the side…" Hunter quickly moved out of the way, exposing Bobbi to Jemma.
"Now…let's check those injures shall we?"
The sweet voice covered up the anger and menacing underneath, and Bobbi knew that she was screwed.
Daisy should be used to waking up in pain and in a medical lab, but she could never stop the wave of anxiety that triggered memories of distant past. She shot up from the bed, ignoring the protest of her ribs and frantically searched the room for any signs of a mad scientist. Someone shifted in the seat next to her and spoke in soft yet firm voce, "it's okay, you're safe"
Daisy's shoulder visibly relaxed when she heard the familiar voice. It was amazing how someone's voice automatically made her feel safe. It was kind of like hypnosis. She calmly sunk back into the pillow and saw that next to her, was an unconscious Bobbi who looked like shit. In the seat next to Bobbi, Hunter was sleeping next to her, snoring away peacefully.
"How are you feeling?"
Daisy turned her head to look at Coulson who had bags under his eyes. When was the last time he got some sleep? A better question would be, how long was she and Bobbi out for? She was pretty sure that she told Jemma not to knock them out… but yet again, she and Bobbi were both being little shits.
"Surprisingly, not to be bad considering how we could have been dead" Daisy said optimistically. Coulson didn't seem to be happy about her comment but he was relieved nevertheless. He walked over to the counter and poured Daisy a cup of water. Seeing how Daisy's left arm was in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder, and her entire body felt like it was on fire, she was grateful that Coulson could read her mind that was saying how dry her throat was… but that could also be due to how hoarse her voice was.
"They got away with the dangerous cargo?" Coulson assumed as he gave Daisy the cup of water. When Daisy lifted her 'good' hand up to pick up the water, he couldn't help but frown when he saw how bruised Daisy's entire arm looked. May had told him what Jemma and Fitz had told her, and he couldn't help but be grateful that Daisy's bones weren't so brittle anymore. But he felt like that was unfair to say considering the pain and trauma that she had to go through inorder to have this kind of power.
Daisy had to bite the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from pouting in annoyance. Coulson could tell that Daisy was hiding something from him, but he wasn't sure what. He sat down on the chair and waited patiently for her to speak.
"You're going to need to add Ward and Gordon onto your shitlist"
Coulson had to wait for a few seconds for his brain to register what Daisy was saying. He thought that she was joking for a few seconds, but the betrayal and hurt in her eyes told him that she was being dead serious.
Ward and Daisy's mentor, Gordon, joined HYDRA.
Damn, this young girl couldn't seem to catch a break. It was just one problem after another with her. The amount of emotional distress that Daisy is being put under this past few months, is enough to make him genuinely concerned about her mental health, "I know you're close to Ward"
Daisy knew what he was doing, and usually she would indulge him and talk to him, but she didn't feel like talking right now… or ever. Not about Ward, "Yeah well… you were too. I bet you can imagine how it feels being betrayed by him"
No, this was completely different. Ward wasn't his best friend, not like Daisy. Ward was a bad man, and he didn't want Daisy anywhere near that traitor. It would be easy for him to dismiss their relationship, but it wasn't fair on the young girl. He could see the hidden pain behind her eyes, she just lost a friend, her best friend at that. It isn't something that she could just get over in a matter of hours.
"Ward and you have history"
"We do" Daisy muttered as she began fiddling with her the blanket that was keeping her warm.. Talking about it made it feel real, she could still pretend that she and Ward were off doing different things like old times… but she knew the truth. The two of them were no longer fighting on the same side, "You know… we always joked about that" Coulson remained silent and listened to his youngest agent talking about her past with Ward, "We always joked about fighting on opposite sides of the war…"
Coulson cringed when he heard the word 'war'. He hated how Daisy saw herself as a soldier but he couldn't do anything about that. Not only was Daisy as soldier, so was May, Bobbi, Mack and Hunter. This battle between HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D was definitely a war, but Daisy was created for an entirely different purpose, she was created to be a weapon.
She and Ward… were weapons.
"You didn't have to" Daisy tilted her head in confusion so he clarified, "He offered you to join, but you chose not to"
Daisy bit the insides of her cheeks, the reason why she always told Coulson and May the truth, was because she wanted to scare them away from her. She wanted them to see what she saw in the mirror everyday… but they never did. They always came back to her and comforted her. She wondered how much would it take, until they called her what everyone called her… a monster.
"You know… if you didn't come and take me back to base when I was in the mountains… I would have said yes", Daisy felt empty and cold when she was in that mountain, staring at the make-shift graves. Thoughts about what to do next came flooding into her mind, and one of those options were to work for HYDRA again.
"And that's okay"
Daisy's eyes snapped up and she looked at Coulson with confusion in her eyes. Wasn't he supposed to say some… speech that went along the lines of no, I don't think you would have. It was a bullshit line, especially because yes, she would have.
"I would have understood your decision" Coulson felt responsible for everything that had happened to Daisy, "I never apologised for what I did"
What he did? Coulson didn't do anything wrong…well, aside from trusting her and fighting for her. But she was coming to appreciate Coulson's and May's devotion towards her.
"I forced you down this path of vengeance" Coulson has made various reckless and tough calls, but this was one that he was always going to regret, "Guilt tripping you to take control of your powers… and allowing you to go off with this random guy who I don't know or trust"
Daisy couldn't believe that Coulson was redirecting the guilt back onto him, this wasn't his fault. Not in the slightest.
"You took a chance on me. You trusted my judgment and I trusted Gordon" Daisy felt an invisible stab into her chest when she remembered that Gordon was no longer going to be helping her… but it worked both ways. She was no longer going to be helping him, "If you feel guilty for trusting me, then I'm going to take full offence to that statement"
Coulson rolled his eyes, he knew what she was doing. She was guilt tripping him right back to force him to understand that none of this was his fault.
"And secondly… if I didn't have control over my powers, Bobbi and I would be dead right now"
"This was supposed to be me comforting you"
Daisy shrugged her shoulders casually, "It goes both ways"
"You know, even if you did choose to go with Ward… I wouldn't have given up on you"
Daisy was taken aback by that statement, that's not the usual sentence that you hear coming out of your Director's mouth.
"You're going to regret that one day" Daisy said with a cheeky smile.
Coulson doubted that he would ever regret his decision on trusting Daisy. She brought so much life into their team of dysfunctional misfits and he couldn't be happier. He knew it was wrong of him to feel this way, especially since Daisy already had a father, but he couldn't help but see her as his own daughter.
The way he has been acting, the chances that he was taking on her that he wouldn't give to anyone else… there was no rationality behind his decision making. Everything that he did for her was out of protectiveness and emotions. It was dangerous for someone in his position to be taking such risks, but he couldn't help it.
"How about you guys?" Daisy wanted to change the topic, "What did you find at the facility?"
Coulson could hear the fear in her voice and lowered his head. He didn't want to add to the pile of problems that Daisy had to deal with, but keeping it from her was worse. Daisy saw hestiance written on his face and immediately knew that there was going to be good news, and bad news was coming.
"You're finally awake" A steely voice interrupted their conversation, sending shivers down Daisy's sine when she could feel the angry aura fill up the air. All of a sudden, May started storming into the room with a pissed off expression. Daisy tried to look for an escape, but there was no use, "You're not a bloody robot Daisy!"
Hunter slightly stirred in his seat, but Bobbi was still knocked out from the pain medication. Right now, Daisy was jealous of the older agent, she was able to escape May's lecture.
May was starting to get sick and tired of how careless and reckless Daisy was being. She was partially responsible as she nor Coulson, never reprimanded or punished her enough to deter her away from making a reckless decision again.
Daisy could feel the anger radiating off of May, but she couldn't help but lighten the mood by saying, "Technically I am. A.C compared me to Ultron"
"Betrayal" Coulson spat in offence when he felt May's fierce glare move from Daisy towards him. Daisy shrugged her shoulders without much care. She would happily throw Coulson under the bus if it meant that she could escape May's wraith.
"You compare her to the killing machine that almost destroyed all of New York?" May's tone of voice was rising with every second.
"Well… I didn't mean it like that" Coulson tried to defend himself but it was no use. The best was released out of its cage, and there was no way of controlling it.
Daisy snorted when she saw Coulson cower in fear of May, but she quickly turned he snort into a short cough when May's glare redirected towards her again, "You think you're off the hook?"
"N-No m-ma'am" Daisy stuttered out while looking down at her bruised hands that were clutching onto the blanket.
"Anyways, I was telling Daisy what happened on our mission" Coulson swiftly changed the topic, "HYDRA was planning on dispersing the terrigen crystals across the world but before they could, May intercepted them and managed to down the planes carrying the crystal… however, we might have an inhuman epidemic at our hands"
Oh wow… That was a turn of events. That was… wait, what? More inhumans? She couldn't even deal with the inhumans that she was close with, let alone an inhuman epidemic, "Can we prevent it?"
"The crystals sunk to the bottom of the ocean. I already sent out agents to collect it but…. We're not sure how it has affected marine life"
Daisy clicked her tongue and nodded her head, "Why would HYDRA want to create an inhuman epidemic? And what's the space rock got anything to do with this?"
"We were hoping that you could tell us that" May stated as she crossed her arms over her chest and hoped that they weren't overwhelming Daisy with this conversation.
She sucked in a deep breath and tried to think of a reason why he would join HYDRA, if anyone hated HYDRA it would be Gordon. Gordon spent his entire life thinking that the inhumans were a superior race… was he behind the mission to release terrigenesis in the air?
"Oh fuck" she muttered, yep. Gordon was definitely capable of doing so and with Jiaying's death, he lost his voice of reason. She wasn't exactly the moral compass of the inhumans, Jiaying was. She needed to find out what this space rock is, she had a feeling it had something to do with the inhumans, "Gordon has a… strong distaste towards anyone who isn't an Inhuman"
"Yeah, we met the guy" May couldn't help but clench her fist when she remembered her brief yet unpleasant encounter.
"It makes sense on why he would try to commit… genocide" Daisy cringed when she realised how bad that sounded, and how bad it was that she sounded so neutral about it, "But the space rock… I don't get it"
Yeah, no-one did. Coulson had used Nick Fury's toolbox to find out what it is, but he had no information on it. No-one was able to figure out what it was, and why HYDRA wanted it. They would be able to study it or at the very least, destroy it, but that wasn't a possibility anymore.
"We don't either" Coulson muttered truthfully.
Daisy leaned her head back against her pillow and tried to think about what possibly reasons did Gordon have for doing his… for betraying her. Suddenly, everything started to hit her. Ward was no longer going to be by her side… they were no longer going to be there for each other. Despite everything, they were each other's rock, especially when it came to rebuilding the Afterlife.
The fucking asshole left her to die on the ship… you know what? She will see it as payback for the time she left him unconscious with Gordon and Yo-Yo after her battle. Forgive and forget right?
But she still couldn't get over this feeling… this sense of betrayal.
It was so stupid, especially since they're dysfunctional relationship was based on HYDRA morality… so basically none. They always… always! Forgive eachother for whatever dumb shit that the other person did. There was never any judgment… but now she was wondering how far their forgiveness and love for each other will go… what was their limit?
"Great. So, not only is my best friend who is able to light himself and others on fire, and my inhuman mentor who can teleport literally anywhere, working against us, but they also stole a random space rock that we know nothing about. On top of that, we have a potential inhuman epidemic on ours hands which means untrained people will be running on the streets with enough powers to cause chaos"
The expression on May and Coulson's face changed from annoyance due to the situation, to concern when they heard Daisy's heart rate slightly increasing and there was slight tremor in the room"
"Hey" May voice dropped into a gentle tone as she put a comforting hand on the young agent's shoulder, "You're not alone in this. We're in this together". She knew that Daisy's thoughts were spiralling out of control because she was willing and ready to take on the responsibility of all of these problems, so she needed to remind Daisy that she was no longer alone. That she no longer had to do everything by herself.
Daisy relaxed when she felt May's comforting hand on her shoulder… something about it reminded her of her mother's touch. She didn't realise how much she missed the comfort of her mother.
Fuck! Now she was thinking about her mum.
"Which brings us to our next point" Coulson gently spoke, not really knowing how this conversation was going to go. He looked at May and nodded his head, giving her the signal to tell Daisy about her idea.
"Daisy, your decision was stupid and reckless. I know that you used your powers in order to save both yourself and Bobbi, but that decision could have killed you". Daisy opened her mouth to defend herself but the look May was sending her, made her close her mouth. May's stern expression slightly dropped and Daisy could see the weary lines on May's face that told her that the older agent was upset with her because she was worried, not because she was actually angry, "You need to learn to find other alternatives that doesn't result in you getting injured"
Daisy turned her head to look at Coulson who simply smiled at her, knowing that the young agent was going to be really against this, or really excited about it. Either way, he wasn't mentally preparing himself for the outcome of this conversation.
"When Simmons clears you to be physically fit for duty, you're going to be going on a vacation"
…
Wait… what?
That wasn't what she was expecting to hear although, she wasn't exactly sure what May or Coulson were up to but this… this was far from it. A vacation, what even was that?
"Vacation… like a trip to Tahiti?" Daisy scoffed.
"I heard it's a magical place"
Daisy cocked an eyebrow, not really understanding the inside joke that May and Coulson seemed to have, "I'm all for a vacation, but now is literally the worst time. Like you couldn't have picked a moment to suggest that. Did you not just hear my mini rant earlier?"
"Which is exactly why you need the vacation" Coulson replied back softly, "You've spent your entire life fighting and as you said, being a solider, but have you ever taken a moment to just rest?"
First, she joined HYDRA when she was 10 years old, trained to be a killer assassin till the age of 15 where her father used her as an experiment to create a new race of Inhumans. She then lead a rebellion at age 17 which freed the Inhumans from the program. Spent the next 2 years building a safe haven for the Inhumans in China. And just this year, joined S.H.I.E.L.D, fixed Coulson's carving problem, bonded with the team, she regained her memories of her father, had her skeleton be reinforced by adamantine, being forced to learn how to control her powers, discovering her mum, then having her die right in front of her… and then finally killing her father.
Jesus Christ that was a lot to think about.
Coulson and May's brain were hurting just from thinking about the terrible life that Daisy has been living thus far. It was the reason why May brought it up in the first place.
"And if I say no?" Daisy challenged. She knew she was being annoying considering how they were offering to take her on vacation… but with the amount of crap she had to deal with, the last thing she wanted to do was runaway to a fricken island and drink away her troubles. She liked to deal with things head on, running away was never an option… most of the time.
"You can go through the normal procedure that everyone on the team will have to go through before going back on the field" May knew that Daisy was going to absolutely hate this idea even more than taking a vacation.
"And what's that?"
"You can undergo a psychiatric evaluation before going back onto the field"
Daisy started laughing, thinking that-that was a joke. Her? A psychiatric evaluation? Ha please. She stopped laughing when she saw how May's face remained unchanged, "A.C… Coulson…Director of S.H.I.E.L.D… please help me out" she begged.
Coulson stood up and just kept the smile plastered on his face, not fazed by Daisy's begging at all, "Sorry Agent Johnson but you have a choice. Psychiatric evaluation or a vacation". He never thought that he would have to argue with a 20 year old girl, to take vacation time… and he couldn't believe that he was using protocol as a secret weapon against her.
"I've been in the system" Daisy was going to use her traumatic past to get her out of this, "I've been through enough of these to know that I hate it"
May didn't doubt that, in fact, she knew it was true.
"You'll might like this one"
Daisy scoffed, "Unlikely" she spoke with a bit of sass. Both May and Coulson were taken aback by the sass in the young girl's voice, but they weren't angry or offended, they were actually glad that she was comfortable enough to get sassy with them, "Psychiatrist think they know everything and it's annoying, plus, you're going to have to tell them everything about me which I'm not comfortable with"
"I think you'll like this one" Coulson was content with this idea. He would like Daisy to see a professional personal about her problems. He and May would always be there for her, but they weren't exactly experts on how to cope with trauma.
Daisy shot Coulson a look of betrayal, "A.C, now isn't the time for pay back" she seethed through her teeth.
"He's my ex-husband"
…
Oh… wait… what?
Both May and Coulson watched as Daisy's face contorted into different facial expressions of confusion. Daisy's mouth slightly dropped as she tried to think about what May had just told her, "Y-Your ex-husband?" she looked at Coulson then back at May, "As in… Coulson isn't your ex-husband?"
Now it was May and Coulson's turn to look at her with wide eyes and confusion.
"Him?"
"Me?" Coulson pointed at himself in confusion.
Daisy always assumed that there was some hidden romance between them, but since none of them acted on it, she made the conclusion that they were divorced… but seeing the blush creeping up on Coulson's face, and the stern expression that was covering up embarrassment on May's face, she was going to assume that she was wrong, "I just assumed…"
"Never" May stated firmly.
Coulson's head snapped to his partner and there was hurt written on his face, "You don't have to say it like that"
May shot him a look back, "Like what?"
"I don't know… like it's the worse idea in the world"
"It is"
Daisy let out a snort which brought their attention back to her. She gulped her saliva and instantly regretted her decision to react to their little banter, "Sorry" she mumbled like a child as she lowered her head down and looked at her hands, "You know what? Vacation sounds a lot cooler than protocol, so I'll go with that"
May and Coulson shared a smug look, knowing that giving Daisy an ultimatum would work. Daisy unconsciously let out a tired yawn when she suddenly felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her. Man, being emotional was tiring. Both May and Coulson shared a look, knowing that this conversation was over and that the young agent was tired.
"Get some rest" May gave a comforting squeeze before leaving the room with Coulson.
Daisy couldn't believe that she was admitting it to herself, but she kind of wished that Coulson and May didn't have to leave. They're presence was comforting and she felt her anxiety wash away whenever they were here with her, but she was a grown ass woman, and she wasn't about to admit that she wanted them to stay.
She let out a soft sigh before slipping into a deep slumber.
No-one was going to take each other's trust for granted anymore.
The team trusted Daisy.
And Daisy trusted the team.
This was the beginning of the new S.H.I.E.L.D.