Hey guys! I've been working my ass off recently to keep this story going for y'all! I read every comment that's made so thank you and keep them coming! As for ConlonKeith, I have watched all of Agents of SHIELD and FATWS, and WandaVision and Loki, but this takes place before then so none of that is coming into play yet. As for Agents of SHIELD, I didn't particularly like the ending, which is why I'm here writing, changing it!
Anyways, I know I haven't really brought Lyla into this story too much, but if y'all would like I can bring her in more! Or if you guys wanted Karley to switch ships, I can put her with Wanda or Peter still, it's not too late. Alas, here's another chapter for my dedicated readers, I hope you enjoy! As always, if you have suggestions for what you want to see, or any ships you'd like, leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to add it in. Enjoy!
The team was setting up their trap in Pennsylvania, having arrived early thanks to Starks high powered Quinjet. They agreed that it'd be best to set the trap inside the temple itself, surrounding the alter that the obelisk was meant for.
"It's Ultron all over again," Steve commented as the team formed a circle around the alter, knowing that the teleporting Inhuman could sneak up on them. Or Elliot, who was somehow very much alive even after Nat, Karley and Steve left him in the astral plane.
"This'll be fun," Tony said from the hallway, having been out there to keep an eye out. "I don't see anyone coming. Sam what about you?"
"Nothing on my end Tony," Sam answered from the Quinjet parked on top of the mountain. He had to sit this one out with his broken arm so he agreed to run comms. "Disregard that last, a jet just landed at the base of the mountain. They're here."
"Remember," Daisy started, eyes scanning the room around them. "We can't let Enzo or any of the other Inhumans get the obelisk on the alter. No one can touch it except for Karley and I."
"If the obelisk does happen to make it to the alter, evacuate the room before the doors close," Karley continued for her sister, bad memories flooding in from the last time she was in this cave. "If the obelisk, mist or crystals touch you, it's game over. Instant death."
"Uhhh, Mr. Stark while we're waiting I actually had a question for you," Peter said as he lowered himself from the ceiling, dangling over the billionaire. "When I go back to college is there any way you could come in a give a speech on thermo nuclear astro physics? That's why I went to the tower in the first place."
"Tell ya what kid, I'll do that if you can answer me this - if teleportation is the hypothetical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them, how much power would it take to do that?"
The rest of the team looked to Stark like he was crazy.
"Well, as we know teleportation isn't hypothetical anymore as Surge-"
"Call me Karley."
"-Karley has already proven, and you said that there was another Inhuman who was creating portals to teleport. But, to answer your question, according to a highly entertaining University of Leicester study into the power it would take to teleport a human being, your cells, broken down into atoms, equates to around 2.6 x 1042 joules of energy, which is 2.6 followed by 42 zeroes. You would require a stupid amount of energy to do that, roughly 10tn gigawatts of power."
No one knew what the two of them were talking about as they kept their eyes peeled.
"So don't hit him, little Johnson," Tony warned, shooting her a look.
"Got it, don't feed the energy sucking Inhuman power. Same goes to you Vision," Karley said to the android. Surely if she could gather energy from him, so could this other Inhuman, though she didn't know how he got his.
"I will do my best to keep out of his reach," Vision responded by flying above the alter.
"Show off," Wanda mumbled to her friend, shooting him a grin.
"Wanda, same goes to you about not hitting that Inhuman," Stark warned her as well, seeing her hands glow their familiar red.
"I'm sure there will be plenty of other things for me to hit." Wanda used her powers to float into the air next to Vision. "Care for some company?"
"Of course, Wanda," he smiled gently to the woman. "It's easier to keep an eye on you up here anyways."
"They're close," Daisy announced, sensing multiple vibrations approaching. Too many to count. They chose the worst spot to fight in this temple. It was at least bigger than the one she went through.
Everyone tensed, ready for their incoming targets, but as the seconds turned into a minute, they looked around confused.
"I-I can't sense them anymore," Daisy whispered, confused as the rest. Suddenly multiple vibrations were felt from above her. "They're above us!" She said just in time to see body after body jumping through a portal. Two people aimed their way towards Vision, grabbing onto the android and dragging him to the ground. As Wanda went to help her best friend, something grabbed her through the ceiling. Looking up she could see the shadow man that the team told her about.
People easily landed all around the room, more than Daisy thought possible as they charged towards the alter. Not wanted to kill anyone, Natasha jumped into the fray, her pistol left on the Quinjet. Steve was right behind her as they fought side by side.
Daisy moved to help Vision off the ground from where he landed next to her, but stopped when she people breaking through their line of defense. She rushed over, cutting them off from advancing any further.
"Going somewhere?" She asked, raising her hand and sending a shockwave into them. As she did they all went flying back except for one of them. She sent another, more powerful shockwave into the man as he approached, unbothered.
"Silly girl," he taunted as they began throwing punches at each other. "None of your powers will work on me."
"Good thing I don't need them," Daisy smirked, sweeping his legs out from under him.
Karley kicked another girl to the ground, turning around when she saw a portal opening in the corner of her eye. Out stepped Mrs. Frederic and Enzo, flanked by many Red Dawn agents, including one that made her heart drop, bile raising in her throat.
"Told you I'd be seeing you again," Rumlow said, walking up to her. Without hesitation Karley threw a ball of energy at him, but he held his hand up, shocking the shit out of her when the energy sizzled out. Looking closer she could see that he was wearing a modified version of the bracelet that Tony made to stop her from stealing their energy from the astral plane. Apparently they made some changes though, because her powers were useless against him. "Ready to come home yet Surge?"
Karley knew she was good at fighting, but she wasn't an expert at it. Not like Rumlow was. So when the man in question started walking towards her, pulling out a sturdy red needle, she panicked. He threw a punch with his free hand, Karley easily blocking it, as he went to jab her with the needle with his other hand. Jumping back and out of the way, Karley was tripped by Rumlow who had now pinned her to the ground.
"You forget girl, I taught you how to fight," he said evilly, smiling as he moved to inject her. Karley watched as a foot connected with his forearm, kicking the needle away.
"Let me show you how fighting is actually done," Steve said, putting his shield onto his back and taking a stance. "Karley you need to grab the obelisk."
She nodded her head, taking off through the crowded temple, watching as Tony fought off another Inhuman with a mask identical to Karley's. The girl was moving unnaturally, her body bending in and avoiding every attack the billionaire threw at her. Up above Karley could see Peter swinging around the small cove, jumping onto the walls and launching into enemies that were shooting, collecting their guns.
Clearly the Red Dawn didn't care who got hurt, it didn't surprise her.
As she ran back towards the alter, where she could see Mrs. Frederic was approaching, Enzo beside her, she glanced to the side where she saw Elliot had Wanda pinned to the ground, hand wrapped around his throat. Making a choice, she stopped for a split second, throwing a few energy balls into the shadow, watching as he disappeared, leaving Wanda to jump back to her feet. The witch nodded thankfully in Karley's direction as they both took off after their targets.
Approaching Mrs. Frederic this time, knowing that Wanda was keeping Elliot busy, Karley fired a warned shot at the case. Enzo let go of the case that the obelisk was in, watching as Karley then pulled the item in question out of it's case and into her waiting hands.
"You're not getting this," Karley stated confidently, watching as the runes on the obelisk started glowing at her touch.
"I'm going to take what's rightfully mine," Enzo answered, stepping closer to Karley. "You know, my mom gave you a chance to serve someone with a great purpose, and you're running from it. You coward," he spit at her feet before pulling out two knives. "I'll take your place serving he who is to come."
"You keep saying that," Karley started backing up as he walked closer. "Who is coming?"
Enzo laughed, taking a swipe at Karley, who refused to set the obelisk down since they were less than twenty feet away from the alter. His knife barely missed her stomach as the thrust his second one towards her neck, going for the quick kill. Karley threw her left hand up, which was still tightly clutching the prize both parties were after, effectively stopping the knife in its place.
"Enzo!" Mrs. Frederic's voice shouted over the chaos. "Don't you kill her! We still need her!" She warned, pulling her gun out again. She had three vials left.
Karley kicked out, connecting with Enzo's chest as she channeled her energy into her leg, the kick sending him flying into the alter. She never saw the needle shoot into her arm, but she certainly remembered the familiar drug entering her system, burning her veins as if it was acid.
"Fuck!" She screamed in pain, ripping the dart out of her chest before throwing it to the ground. It was empty. Mrs. Frederic walked up to her, a red book in hand. Guess they were about to find out if Tony's mask worked. Karley watched as Mrs. Frederic's mouth moved, but she couldn't hear any words coming out.
"Karley, I regret to inform you that Mrs. Frederic is trying to -"
"Yea I know Jarvis," she cut the AI off, nervously glancing around her to see everything still in chaos, the fighting not slowing down, but to Karley everything was dead silent. The only sound was her breathing and the AI in her mask.
Mrs. Frederic looked at her in confusion, seeing that it wasn't working she tried reading the words again. Nothing.
The older woman, seeing the pissed off Inhuman girl approaching her, turned to run away as a bolt of energy caught her in the back, sending her to the ground. Her book skidded to a halt a few feet away.
"Jarvis activate my hearing again, I wanna ask her some questions," Karley instructed, walking to grab the little red book that has ruined hers and many other lives for the past months, tucking it under her arm. Her ears flooded with the sound of fighting once more as Mrs. Frederic turned around, laying on her back. Karley reached behind her and grabbed her pistol, throwing it across the room. "Not so strong now, are you?"
"Why are you doing this, my child? There's a war coming, and you're on the losing side," she wailed, upset that she didn't reach the alter. "Even without the army I promised him, he will still win. Don't you see? You're all already dead."
Karley crouched down to her level, taking her mask off so she could look into the woman's eyes.
"Who is coming?"
"Thanos," she whispered, as if his name was a secret.
"Who is Than-" Karley was cut off however, when a strong body collided with hers as she dropped her mask, the two figures rolling as they fought for control of the obelisk. As the man grabbed it, the runes began glowing to his touch as well. So he was an Inhuman, or wanted to be one.
"Let go!" He screamed from on top of Karley, throwing a punch to her stomach, causing her to wheeze as the wind was knocked out of her.
"Daisy! I need some help over here!" Karley screamed, hoping her sister was nearby as her death grip started loosening on the obelisk. Another punch to her stomach weakened her grip even more, but she refused to let go, instead throwing her other hand into the mans body, blasting him. The energy didn't move him though, not even an inch.
"Your powers aren't going to work with me," he grinned, throwing punch after punch into Karley as she slowly lost grip of the obelisk, hardly able to move after he got off of her. Managing to role onto her side, Karley watched in horror as the man walked towards the alter.
"Everyone get out!" Karley screamed, watching as the obelisk floated from the mans grip and onto the alter. She knew it wouldn't be long until it opened. Karley was proven right when not a moment later the doors started closing.
Tony, seeing what was happening, flew for the closing door, grabbing Steve in his hands as he flew by, nudging Peter towards the exit as well. Those three made it out, stopping just outside the door to watch as the others ran for it as well.
Vision and Wanda were next, slipping through as the large doors were 3/4 of the way shut.
Red Dawn agents scrambled for the exit on the other side of the temple, helping Mrs. Frederic up as they slipped out as well. Standing up behind the man that had taken the obelisk from her, Karley could see that there were about twenty people left in the chamber, every single one of them watching in awe as the obelisk moved closed to the alter, settling onto it.
The doors were nearly closed at this point, every one in the room being an Inhuman descendant as they didn't run. Everyone except for one person, Karley noticed, as a flurry of red hair was still fighting against Rumlow, knocking him out before turning towards the door, running as fast as she could.
"Natasha!" Steve shouted from the other side, watching the redhead run but he noticed she wasn't going to make it.
Daisy was pushing people out of the way as she made her way towards the exit, her heart stopping when she saw the temple doors closed. Natasha was still inside.
"Nat!" Daisy rushed to her side, looking up at the door blocking the way out. "Move back, I'm going to quake it down."
Natasha quickly obeyed, watching as Daisy put both hands against the door, sending the strongest shockwave she could into the rock. It wasn't going to budge, of course it wasn't. The Kree built this place. The Inhuman girl continued trying to blast the door down, blast after blast, but it wasn't doing anything.
"Daisy," Nat whispered, wiping sweat off of her face. "Hey, it's okay," she comforted the girl, stopping her before she hurt herself. Glancing back she could see that the rest of the people were gathered around the obelisk now, awaiting for it to open.
A portal opened up next to Rumlow, who lay on the ground unconscious, as the portal creating Inhuman dragged him through, the portal closed.
"No," Daisy whispered back, holding Natasha's hands. "No I already lost someone in these stupid temples. I can't lose you Nat, I can't. We need to find a way to get you out of here."
"I can help," Karley said, walking up to the woman holding her stomach. Her mask was somewhere back there in the crowd, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. "It's time to leave, Natasha. I should have just enough to get you out of here."
Daisy sighed in relief before quickly letting go of the redhead, knowing there was only a few moments before the obelisk would open.
Karley got to work on pushing all of the energy she had left into Natasha's body, watching as it covered her head to toe before the energy folded in on itself. Nothing was left behind, as Karley collapsed onto the ground, her nose bleeding at the over exertion of her powers. She felt drained after she was shot with the mind wiping drug.
"Hey," Daisy dropped to the ground, holding her sister who was way too pale, sweat dripping down her face. "What happened? Are you alright?" She asked in concern now that Natasha had made it out.
"Yea, I'm good. I got injected with the mind wiping drug again, but my mask worked, keeping Mrs. Frederic from taking me over again," she held up the red book triumphantly, handing it to her older sister.
The two sisters watched in silence as the obelisk opened, the familiar mist shooting out and hitting everyone in the temple. They both watched as the people who were huddled around the alter started becoming encompassed in their cocoons. Some of them screamed in terror, while others embraced the chance. Enzo was standing by the alter, staring directly at the sisters as he too was taken over by his cocoon.
What neither sister was expecting, however, was their feet and arms becoming encompassed in a cocoon as well, starting on their feet and slowly travelling up to their knees.
"Daisy what's happening?" Karley's voice broke a bit as she tried moving to no avail. It was just like the first time it happened.
"I-I don't know!" Daisy admitted, her voice panicked as the cocoon made it's way to their hips. "It's okay, Karley, I'm right here," Daisy assured her little sister, reaching out to grab her hand in comfort. "Wherever you go, I go. Remember?"
The material made its way up to the girls necks, before slowly crawling over their mouths, their nose, then their eyes. Encasing them in darkness.
"Daisy? Karley" Coulson was shouting into the comms. No one answered.
"I'm going in," Tony decided, only a few moments since the door closed when suddenly Natasha appeared next to them. Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the woman.
"Daisy and Karley are still in there," she said, walking over to the sealed door. "We need to go back in before all those news Inhumans kill them."
"She's right. Tony do you have a way to get in?" Steve asked, taking charge of the situation.
"Yea but you might wanna stand back," he instructed, lifting one arm up as a laser shot out, carving a human sized hole in the door. It took a few moments but it was done rather quickly.
"Are we sure it's safe for us to go in there yet?" Wanda asked, watching as Tony grabbed the cut out portion of the rock, pulling it out.
Immediately dust clouded everyone's vision, and as they inhaled the air, it tasted...odd. It was almost like the air was stale, like it had been in the chamber for hundreds of years.
Natasha was the first one to enter into the chamber, eyes widening at the sight before her.
There were bodies all over the room, every single one encased in some earthly substance. In the middle of the room they could all see the obelisk, now open, was filled with these blueish pink, almost glowing crystals. This is what Daisy and Karley had warned them not to touch, nor let break.
"Oh my god," Natasha whispered, walking over to two of the earthly bodies holding each other. She could vaguely make out Daisy and Karley inside of them, both clutching onto the other one. They weren't moving. "Do we know if it's safe to break this stuff open?"
"Don't worry Romanoff," Tony said, landing next to the siblings on the ground. "They both have a heartbeat. I don't think we should break them out though, we don't know what that would do."
Steve slowly approached the mass of bodies that surrounded the alter, all of them cocooned just as Karley and Daisy were. He reached out and gently touched one of the bodies that looked darker than the rest, jumping back when the whole thing fell to the ground in a lump of ash.
"Stark how do we get these crystals out of here?" The Captain asked, weaving his way through the bodies carefully this time as to not disturb any more of them.
"I'll handle it Cap, back up," Sam ordered through his comms. The team backed up from the alter as a small drone entered the chamber carrying a sturdy box, the inside of it cushioned. "I just need you to carefully move them inside Tony, and I'll fly them back to the Quinjet."
"Got it," Stark said, flying over as he carefully, very slowly reached out and picked the mass of crystals up, placing them ever so gently inside the box. He closed the door and locked it, sealing them inside.
"Okay team, I'll take care of the crystals," Sam said as the drone slowly but surely made it's way out of the temple.
"What's the plan?" Vision asked, as he too inspected the bodies around them curiously.
"What are we supposed to do with the new Inhumans?" Wanda gestured to the bodies. "There's at least twenty people in here."
At that moment, the team went silent as they swore that they heard a cracking sound. Steve put his finger to his lips, grabbing his shield as he circled around to the other side of the chamber. The cracking sound continued as the blond looked for where it was coming from.
"Cap," Tony whispered, pointed to one of the bodies. It looked to be a man who was in his mid twenties, his arms covering his face as he looked to have been running when the change happened. Tony and Steve watched as the earthly substance started cracking more on the mans lower back, bits of rock crumbling to the ground.
Suddenly a giant tail sprung out of the small hole, scaly and a dark red.
Tony bust out laughing at the sight, standing back up before making his way away from the man.
"We go a crocodile to deal with so far," the billionaire joked, joining the rest of the team that was circled around Karley's and Daisy's unmoving bodies.
"This must be horrifying," Vision stated as he took in the girls panicked faces, along with the many frightened faces in the crowd as well.
"Well I can't imagine it would be any fun," Peter commented, hanging upside down on his web, scared he was going to bump into one of the bodies and disturb them.
Natasha, having been watching the sisters so closely, was the first to notice the slight tremble in the ground. She could also see blue energy started to slip its way through Karley's body, growing brighter by the second.
"I'd back up if I were you guys," she stated, heading over to Steve as he held his shield out, blocking them both from the shards of rock that exploded from the sisters, Wanda throwing up a shield of some kind using her powers, protecting her and Vision, the rocks bounced off of Tony's suit harmlessly. The only one who got pelted by the earthly cocoon was Peter who couldn't avoid the blast zone in time.
When the team looked out from behind where they were hiding, they could see Karley and Daisy still holding onto each other. The only difference this time was Karley was radiating with energy and the ground kept shaking harder and harder.
As the ground shook, the bodies all around the room started to crack open.
"Daisy you need to stop," Steve ordered, seeing what was happening. The last thing they needed right now was for a bunch of brand new Inhumans to set the room into chaos again.
Daisy, for her part, was desperately trying to calm herself down. This was her third time going through terrigenesis, and she hated it more each time. Closing her eyes on the ground, she starting remembering May's training over all these years, going to a safe place in her head.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, cracking her eye open to see Natasha there. To her other side she could see her sister burning so brightly with energy, the girl took off for the entrance to the temple, not wanting to bring the whole thing down on them.
"You can do this, Speedy. I trust you," Natasha gently whispered, sitting down with her. "Just breath. Focus on the sound of my voice, everything will be alright. I'm right here Daisy."
Daisy could feel soft lips against her forehead as she sat there, eyes closed, rocking back in forth.
The sound of all the vibrations were too much. She could feel every little one of them. She felt the worm wiggling a hundred feet underneath where they sat. Daisy could feel the trees outside blowing in the wind, the water rippling from a pond miles away.
What scared her though, was the vibrations she could feel coming from the Earth's very core. She was supposed to destroy the Earth in the future, and this was the closest she's been to that since arriving back home. Her breathing quickened as the vibrations became louder and louder, roaring, drilling into her mind until it was deafening.
"We need to get out of here!" Steve screamed as the ceiling above them was coming undone, a rock falling near one of the Inhumans who was slowly crawling out of their cocoons now.
"I'm not leaving without Daisy!" Natasha shouted back, jumping when a piece of rock the size of her crashed a few feet away. "Can you carry her Steve?" She asked desperately. The cave was going to come down.
"Yea, I'm right behind you!" He hollered, picking Daisy up as blood started dripping out of her ears. The rest of the team was running in front of him, except for Natasha who was by Daisy's side, trying to bring the girl back from wherever her mind had gone.
"Where's Karley?" Vision shouted over the rumbling of the cave as they made their way to the open mouth, darkness greeting them.
"She already ran outside!" Wanda told him, pushing him to continue forward.
As they stepped into the open night air, crisp and fresh compared to inside the temple, Vision was searching everywhere for the younger sister.
He didn't see her anywhere.
"Karley!" He called into the darkness. They should've been able to see her considering she was burning an intense blue when she left.
Steve had gently placed Daisy onto a patch of grass once they were a safe distance away from the temple. The ground beneath everyone was shaking violently at this point, everyone starting to lose their balance. They could hear the cave entrance collapse on itself, looking to see rocks tumbling into the rest of the opening, sealing everyone inside.
"There's an earth quake happening!" Sam's voice came through on the comms. "I'm getting the bird into the air and heading towards your location now."
Natasha grabbed Daisy's hands once more once they were outside of the cave. The younger girl was gripping so tightly that Natasha was sure it was going to bruise.
"Speedy," she called out as the brunette continued rocking back and forth, eyes squeezed tightly as if she were in pain. "Hey, you need to calm down. What can I do to help?"
"I-I-I don't know! I can hear everything, feel every vibration. It's too much!" She screamed, jumping to her feet as she stumbled towards an opening in the trees. Looking up she could see the stars shining impossibly bright against the pitch blackness of the sky.
'The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.' Her sister's voice echoed in her head.
"This isn't my darkest night," Daisy whispered to the stars as she focused her powers into launching her into the air. Natasha had stumbled a bit from the backlash of Daisy's powers, but watched as the Inhuman disappeared into the sky. It felt like ages before she could finally see Daisy crashing back to the ground. The Inhuman landed a couple hundred feet away, creating a small crater where she landed, before walking towards the rest of the group.
The shaking had stopped.
"Feeling better Johnson?" Tony asked, walking up and patting the girl on her shoulder. He looked around for a second, eyes scanning the faces around him. "Where's your sister?"
At that moment Sam had landed the Quinjet in a nearby opening.
"I don't know, I thought she was with you guys?" Daisy said panicked, looking around for any sign of her sister.
"No need to worry," Tony said, making his way to the jet, the rest following him. "I installed a tracker in that new suit of hers. Jarvis, where is Karley's current location?"
"One moment sir, pulling up the coordinates now," Jarvis responded. "It looks like Ms. Danvers, or as she had me calling her, Karley, is in the middle of France, on he outskirts of Paris. Would you like me to call her?"
"Paris!" Daisy's eyes popped open. "How the hell did she get to Paris! She doesn't even speak French!"
"Give her a call Jarvis," instructed Tony as they all made their way onto the jet, the phone ringing a few times.
"I'll set a course for Paris then," Natasha said, making her way to the pilots chair as she got them in the air.
The phone rang but no one answered.
"Her mask was left in the temple," Daisy realized, smacking her hand against her face.
"Well," Stark hung up the phone. "That would explain it. Don't worry, your sister will probably teleport back here any -"
He was cut off as a familiar blue portal opened up above Daisy, proving his point. Barely a second later Karley flailed out, screaming as she landed in her sisters lap.
Her usually slick ponytail was sticking every direction, eyes wide as she clutched onto her sister like her life depended on it, her suit smoking.
"Perfect timing little Johnson," Tony said, clapping her on the back as she stared at the floor in shock. Everyone could see she was covered in water, dripping onto the floor. "How was Paris?"
Karley slowly snapped out of her shock, arms still tightly wound around her sister. She looks as if she had seen a ghost.
"D-did you know, that it's raining in France right now?" She said, still blankly staring at the floor.
"Yes, we can clearly see that," Wanda stated, gesturing to her soaking body. Natasha, seeing that they had Karley with them again, put the jet in hover mode above the temple, scanning for any heartbeats.
"When I ran out of the cave, I was trying to burn some of that energy off. I couldn't contain it. So I accidentally teleported to like, six different places before I ended up in Paris," she looked at Wanda. "Guess where I was lucky enough to land?"
"Palace of Versailles?" She asked hopeful, giving a little shrug.
"No... I LANDED ON TOP OF THE EFFEIL FUCKING TOWER. In the middle of a STORM," she screamed before jumping to her feet. "On one hand, it was amazing, the view from up there is really nice. But then I realized I didn't have enough energy to teleport again, so I was hanging onto the tower for dear life. I was there for a few minutes before I was STRUCK BY LIGHTNING."
Karley pointed to her suit which was still smoking, completely ruined. Wanda could see the beginnings of her black laced underwear from where she sat.
"Haha, one could say that you're smoking hot," Wanda laughed to herself until Daisy shot the girl a glare, silencing her. "What, it was funny," she defended.
"Yea, I guess I am," Karley laughed, waving the smoke away as best she could. "That was too wild for me. I need to learn how this whole teleporting thing works."
"You need to learn how to control your powers in general sis," Daisy said, walking over to the still smoking girl. "I can help you with that, if you want."
Karley smiled at the thought of spending time with her sister on something other than a mission. Or going through her memories. Or, the worst yet, shopping.
"Yea, I'd love that sis."
"Not to ruin the moment," Steve interrupted, walking to the middle of he jet to face everyone. "But what should we do with that."
Karley and Daisy followed his gaze to see the terrigen crystals sitting in a container.
"Well, ideally we'll send them to an offsite S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, somewhere no one can reach them," Daisy answered, crouching down to examine the cluster of crystals that was the size of her leg. These could certainly be a problem in the wrong persons hands.
"The Refrigerator?" Natasha asked over her shoulder.
"Yea, that's what I was thinking. But we may have to move them somewhere even more secure." The redhead smiled.
"And what's more secure than the Refrigerator?"
"I know a place, Romanoff. Trust me, I know a place," she answered. She was going to need her sister to get there, but this wasn't their main concern at the moment.
"What happened to the rest of the changed Inhumans in the cave?" Karley voiced her thoughts, picking bits of rocks from her hair. Wanda laughed seeing her do this, moving to stand beside the much taller woman, helping her pick the rocks out. Karley gave her a warm smile, crouching a little lower so she could be on the same level as her hair.
"Well," Natasha said from the cockpit, checking the scan of the temple below them. "There's no heartbeats or even body signatures coming from the temple, so unless all of those Inhumans had teleporting abilities..."
"They were teleported out by the Inhuman working for the Red Dawn," Peter finished for her. Everyone looked at the quiet kid. "What, I'm smarter than I look."
"It's not that, I just forgot you were with us," Sam said for the rest of them. "You're usually rambling a lot more than this."
"Well I usually do it's just that those were some powerful people, it was a little...different than I'm used to," he explained, not saying that he was outright scared, but admitting that it was a lot to handle at once.
"You did a good job kid," Tony praised, patting his back for reassurance. "We all did. We did as best we could, even though they opened the obelisk, it wasn't a total loss. We flooded them out of their main base, learned a lot about them, especially Mrs. Frederic. She'll be having a hard time staying off the radar now."
"Not to mention we also have the terrigen crystals, so they won't have another powerful weapon to create more soldiers for this 'war' they say is coming," Daisy pointed to the crystals sitting safely inside the miniature vault.
At the reminder of the war, Karley recalled back to the name that Mrs. Frederic said to her.
"Thanos," she whispered the name for the first time aloud. Something about the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. She was sure that she's heard someone else say it before.
"I need to go now Karley, but you have your memories back. It'll be disorienting for a bit, but you'll get all of them back in time," Strange said, cupping Karley's cheek after they had just finished getting her memories back.
"Where are you going?" She asked, blinking her eyes to try and rid the tears forming. Her head and hands were on fire. "I still have questions."
"I know, but I need to go follow my own leads," he explained, standing up and letting her go. "You'll be seeing me very soon, don't worry."
"Don't leave," she crawled towards him, her head swimming. "I still need your help."
Strange crouched in front of her, gently helping her lay down.
"I can't stay. Thanos is coming. And you're the key to stopping him."
With that, the wizard stood up, opened a portal, and disappeared, leaving Karley lying there more confused than before.
"What was that?" Steve asked, his super hearing picking up Karley muttering something. Standing up from her seat, her suit no longer smoking, she walked up to stand next to Tony.
"Thanos is coming. That's who this army is being made for, who Mrs. Frederic is selling us to," she explained, the dots finally connecting in her head. "I don't know where or when, but Strange will let us know."
"Slow down there," Tony said, putting a hand on her head. "You sure that lightning didn't fry your brain? Who the hell is Thanos."
Swatting his hand away, Karley practically skipped over to the computer system on the jet, typing in the name 'Thanos'. Nothing came up.
"I don't know who he is or when he's coming, but I know this is the name we should be looking into," she growled in frustration, crossing her arms.
"Okay, we'll look into our databases and see if we can find anything," Daisy reassured her sister, resting her arm on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll look into it sis."
"Thanks," she whispered, patting the hand she felt on her shoulder before taking a seat again, her ribs aching at the beating she took. Not to mention her throat was a bit black and blue from earlier when Natasha and Steve saved her in the astral plane.
The rest of the ride back to the tower was quiet, everyone exhausted from the past few days. It had been a long week, for everyone.
As they got off of the Quinjet, Karley wanted to do nothing more than shower, eat and go to bed, but she was interrupted by Peter on the way to the kitchen.
"Hey!" He greeted warmly, a genuine smile on his face. Peter was a bit shorter than Karley, who laughed as she look down on him a bit.
"What's up Pete?" She asked as they walked to the kitchen together.
"So, I remember you from the news now. It didn't click in my head earlier, but I recognize you," he said as he grabbed pancake batter out of the cupboards. "Oh sit down, this is a job for the master pancake maker."
Karley raised her eyebrows at that last part, taking a seat on one of the bar stools. Daisy and Natasha had run off to her sisters room, likely to shower. Oh, Karley hoped they weren't doing that together.
"Yea, I didn't leave the best impression on the people of New York," she answered with a grimace, remember the girl from the lab she found earlier in the night.
Shortly after they left the Red Dawns base, NYPD went in to clear it out, making sure all the dead bodies were ID'ed and their families notified. Families that Karley had ripped apart, as she now remembered.
"I mean, that wasn't you though, so you can't blame yourself for it," Peter advised, pouring the batter onto the pan. "That's not why I brought that up though. I was thinking, you know, your suit is pretty scary because it was designed by the Red Dawn and all, and the mask does not help at all, so maybe I could help you make a new one?" He asked, looking to see her reaction.
Karley, for her part, was slightly shocked at the kind offer. It would make sense, to change her suit, that is. It was pretty terrifying, and it carried around the bad image associated with Surge, the killer of Inhumans. Maybe he had a point, if she changed the suit maybe it would help a little bit. It certainly couldn't hurt.
"I would love that, but how would we even manage something like that? I don't know how Tony's million dollar toys work," she said, holding her plate out as Peter carefully placed a stack of fluffy golden brown pancakes on top. Even Karley had to admit, these looked perfect.
"I do! He taught me not too long ago, since I'm majoring in biophysics for college, he teaches me about all the cool toys. I've been making my own suits since I turned eighteen," he gestured to the suit he was currently wearing. It was the basic blue and red color scheme he's used the past years of being Spider-Man, but the suit itself was made out of a very light and dense metal Karley had never seen before. In the center of his chest was a little black spider, symbolizing who he was, and where the red and blue parts of the suit met, a shiny gold threading was embedded into it.
It was a piece of art.
"Well then Pete, when do we start?" She asked with a smile to the younger boy who sat down next to her.
"Let's eat these pancake and go to bed, I'm tired. But tomorrow first thing in the morning I'll be up. Meet me in Tony's lab," he explained, both of them digging into their pancakes, eating in silence before heading off to bed.
As Karley walked down the empty halls of the tower to her cell downstairs, she could hear giggling coming from her sisters room. It belonged to Natasha.
"Daisy if you don't stop tickling me, I swear to God I won't kiss you for the rest of the week!" The redhead threatened, her voice muffled through the door.
"Okay, but you started it as soon as you said Lucky Charms were better than Fruity Pebbles," her sister was laughing.
Karley knocked on the door regretfully, not wanted to interrupt the moment. A second passed before the door opened.
"Hey Karley! Come in," her sister opened the door, offering the younger one inside.
"Actually I came to tell you I'm going to bed," Karley explained, staying out the door frame. Natasha poked around the corner, her hair still wet from the shower. Karley noticed that Daisy's was too.
"Okay, well I'll be down in a few minutes. I'm just gonna eat some cereal," Daisy said, sticking her thumb in the direction of the kitchen. Easily being able to see over the heads of the two woman, Karley could see where there was a box of Lucky Charms laying on the ground, the cardboard absolutely messed up.
"It looks like someone massacred that cereal," she turned to Natasha. "If my sister is abusive, blink twice."
Natasha laughed as she wrapped her hands around Daisy, hugging her from behind.
"Not abusive, just aggressive with her opinions," the redhead admitted, pressing a kissed to Daisy's shoulder.
"Well you two enjoy your dinner," Karley smiled at the duo. "But you can stay in your room tonight Daisy, I'll be fine, I promise."
"I wanna stay down there with you though," her sister argued. She knew what Karley was doing. She saw how happy Natasha and Daisy were, and her little sister didn't want their night to end because she was going to bed in her cell. "You know, you can stay in my room Karley."
"I know, but I'm serious, you and Nat sleep up here tonight. We've had a rough couple of days and sleeping on that futon can not be good for your backs," she joked, seeing the concerned look on her sisters face. "I just wanna be alone for tonight, Daisy." Seeing that her sister didn't look convinced, she quickly added on, "How about tomorrow morning I move into you room?"
Daisy thought about it for a moment before relenting and nodding her head.
"Okay, I'll be down there first thing in the morning. If you need anything, call me and I'll come unlock the cell. I don't care if it's something silly, or a nightmare, just call me. Deal?" Daisy bargained. Karley leaned down and enveloped her older sister in a tight hug.
"Deal. I'll see you in the morning for training anyways!" She called out as she started walking down the hall towards her cell.
"I don't recommend being late. May will make you run a lap for every minute!" She warned her sister, who shot her a smile before disappearing behind the corner. Daisy groaned, rubbing her hand across her face.
"What's wrong?" Natasha asked, wrapping her arms around Daisy's torso once more as she shut the door.
"It's nothing, just me being worried again," she sighed, turning the redhead in her arms so they were facing each other. "Do you think I should go down there?"
"Mmm, I think your sister just wanted some space for herself. Maybe she feels crowded with everyone always watching her?"
"Yea, maybe...or maybe I just think too much."
Natasha stood on her tip toes a bit, leaning into the slightly taller woman and kissing her slowly, before pulling away, staring into her brown eyes.
"I don't believe you're thinking too much, in my opinion you're just being an amazing sister."
"Is that right, Ms. Romanoff?" Daisy grinned, before reaching for Natasha's legs and lifting the smaller woman into her arms. Natasha giggled as she wrapped her legs around the brunettes waist, letting her lead them to the kitchen counter where they had been arguing about which cereal was better a few minutes ago.
"Daisy, what are we?" Natasha asked, gently tracing the girls cheek with the back of her hand. Daisy looked up at the woman on the counter, staring into her green eyes.
"Well, I know we haven't gone on an official date yet, but how about I take you on one tomorrow? Drive ins and slushies?"
"Hmmm, let me think about it," Natasha trailed off, biting her lip in thought as Daisy playfully smacked her leg.
"If you say no, I swear to God I will tickle you until you can't breath," the brunette threatened, raising her hand as a warning.
"Okay!" Natasha threw her hands up in surrender before wrapping them around Daisy's neck. "I'd love to go to the drive ins with you," she grinned as the woman below her picked her up again and led them to the bedroom.
"Guess it's time for bed then, we need our beauty sleep. First dates are important business," Daisy stated, gently placing the woman in her arms on the bed before crawling on top of her.
"Oh yeah, serious business like nervous flirting and holding hands, and stealing kisses, staying out as late as possible without breaking curfew," the redhead rambled, playing with a short strand of brown hair dangling above her.
"Good thing we're already passed all those things," Daisy whispered, leaning down to capture Nat's lips with her own, their bodies fitting together perfectly.
As Karley stared at the ceiling of her cell she couldn't sleep, knowing that the nightmares were going to follow when she did. She took her t-shirt off as it was warm in the cell, the doors sealed shut firmly. As she stared at the ceiling, her head swimming with all the memories she had recently uncovered, her eyes started to flutter close on their own from exhaustion.
'Thanos is coming. And you're the key to stopping him.'
'Told you I'd be seeing you again. You forget girl, I taught you how to fight.'
'Corporal Danvers! We're getting out of here.'
'You're stuck with us, little girl. Your Marines are all dead, no one's coming for you.'
'I'm Daisy. I'm your older sister.'
'You won't remember anything by the morning.'
'Please don't take my sister! She's only sixteen years old!'
Memory after memory flooded her mind until Karley shot up out of bed, chest heaving, sweat dripping between her eyes. Or were those tears?
Hopping off her bed, the brunette made her way to the small virtual mirror she had access to, filling her hands with water as she splashed her face a few times.
They were just nightmares, she was safe here, she was literally locked in one of the most secure cells in the world.
As Karley stood up from the sink to look at her reflection, her short shoulder length brown hair dripping with water, dark green eyes wide in the darkness of her cell, she cupped her hands together and drank some water. The coolness washed through her instantly, her dry throat welcoming the liquid.
Turning around to go back to bed, someone grabbed her arms before wrapping them tightly behind her back, pinning them with one hand, the other shoving a cloth over her mouth and nose. The chemicals coming from the cloth were burning Karley's eyes as her attacker pulled her backwards.
"We don't need the book to remember the words to activate you, Surge," a familiar voice whispered roughly into her ear. "You're going to do our work for us from the inside."
"Wait until I read the words to give her her orders Rumlow, there's no point in telling her our plan before that. Make sure she doesn't scream."
"I've been doing this a lot longer than you, kid. Now read the damn words to her so we can give her her orders and leave."
A few painful minutes later, Karley stopped struggling against Rumlow, instead standing up slowly and looking to him expectantly. He grinned, seeing that this was going to work perfectly.
"Okay, Karley. I'm going to release you, but you're not going to scream, run or anything wild," he waited for an answer as he got a nod, before turning to the other Inhuman. "Go erase the camera footage, put it on a loop so it looks like she never got out of bed," he ordered the boy, watching as he nodded swiftly, opening a portal to outside of the cell and getting to work.
"What are my orders sir?" Karley asked, waiting patiently. This was weird, even for her. She still had all of her memories, as they hadn't mind wiped her in their machine. But as much as she wanted to scream, to run away, to blast Rumlow to hell, she couldn't. Her muscles wouldn't react, her mind wouldn't give the order to her limbs to do any of that. No, her mind wanted to do whatever Rumlow needed her to. So she would.
"You're going to be our spy on the inside, Danvers."
As much as her mind screamed at herself to move, to do anything, the only thing Karley could do was nod, sitting down as Rumlow explained what she was to do.
About ten minutes later, the boys were gone, leaving Karley alone once more, her mission engraved into her head. She smiled, knowing what was to come, glancing at the clock.
2:17AM.
Only a few more hours until her cell was open.
Don't hate me! Mwahahahaha. I promise it gets good, but the Red Dawn did promise they were coming back for Karley. As for the Infinity War plot, that will be happening soon enough, but I'm trying to decide if I want to branch off for a few chapters and throw the Black Widow movie in here before skipping to Infinity War. As always, I'd love to hear your opinions, drop them in the comments!