"Daisy!" Karley squealed in excitement, dropping her duffle bag of belongings and running to envelope her older sister in a tight hug. They both laughed as the taller sibling picked Daisy up and spun her in a circle before gently placing her back on the ground. Just off to the side, they could see Yelena and Natasha hugging each other as well.
It's been a long four months, and Daisy had noticed the changes in her sister.
Karley had grown her hair out longer. Her braided brown hair went well past her shoulders and the older sister could see that she had added blond highlights in as well. The last time she saw her younger sister she had large, dark bags under her eyes from restless nights, but now she could barely see them.
Daisy also noticed that her sister looked a lot healthier. She has put on some muscle, that much was obvious. But all her bruises and cuts from her time in the Red Dawn and the Raft were gone. The only injury visible was a very obvious black eye, which was in the healing stage.
All in all, Karley looked better. Healthier. Happier, even.
"Hey sis," she said, still grinning from ear to ear. "What happened to your eye?"
"Dipshit wrecked a motorcycle when we were chasing one of the widows down," Yelena answered with a laugh, causing the Daisy to frown.
"Do you even know how to drive a motorcycle?" She asked the younger girl, checking her over for any more injuries.
"Yes, I know how to drive a motorcycle," Karley replied with a sigh. "Do you forget I was raised on a farm?"
"No," Daisy laughed. "It won't stop me from worrying though."
"I know," Karley said with her own laugh as she walked up the ramp to grab her discarded bag.
"It's good to see you all," Coulson said from the side, causing everyone to turn to him. "It's also nice to meet you, Mr. Barnes. My agent, Mack, has told me about the good work you all have been doing these last months."
"Nice to meet you too, sir. Stevie has talked about you," Bucky said, ruffling his friends hair. Coulson was fangirling on the inside at the fact that Steve had talked about him, but he kept his face professional at seeing his new team. They were quite the force to be reckoned with.
They had FitzSimmons, Mack, Yo-Yo, May, Daisy, Karley, Natasha, Yelena and Bucky working as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Steve was here too, but he wasn't staying. He had business with Sam Wilson that he had to return to, but wanted to check on his friend first to see how he was doing.
"All good things, I hope," Coulson said with a smile, leading the group inside the base to somewhere more private. As they rounded the corner, they almost ran into Flint and Tess.
"Daisy!" The young inhuman boy called out, opening his arms for a hug. She obliged, much to his pleasure. Flint was a very happy kid, even more so since he's arrived back on Earth.
"Hey Flint," she greeted, smiling as they pulled apart. "How's training been going?" She asked him curiously.
"It's been great," he told her, levitating some nearby pebbles off the ground to prove his point. Tess smiled from behind him. She looked much healthier as well, their time on Earth obviously treating them well.
"I'm glad to hear it," Daisy said. "Maybe later we could practice together."
"I'd love that," he told her, walking off with Tess once again.
Eventually the group made it to the common area of the Playground, which was really just the living room where everyone would hang out. It was right down the hall from their rooms, and that's when it hit Daisy.
She hasn't been here in almost a year. The nostalgia was overwhelming. This had been her home for years and she missed it. Being back here brought back so many memories, good and bad. She wondered if her room had been touched or moved. She hoped not.
"So how've you been doing?" Coulson asked to Bucky, Yelena and Karley once they all sat down comfortably.
"We're good. So far we've rescued twenty-five widows," Karley stated, passing out beers to the group with help from her sister. "Most of them were processed and then set up with a life in the outside world. Others have agreed to work for S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Is that so?" Coulson asked her with raised eyebrows. He didn't expect any of them to stick around, but he wasn't complaining.
"We've gotten five widows to join us," Mack stated as he cracked his beer open. "Mostly they work as counselors, helping us process the new widows we bring in and whatnot. But two of them agreed to work as field agents. They're making a name for themselves quickly."
"I would imagine," May said with a small smile. "If they're anything like Natasha then they'll rise through the ranks quickly."
Natasha smiled at that. She wasn't wrong. The widows were perfect for this line of work, and she was glad that they were getting the same chance that she had been offered all those years ago. To work for the right side, for the good guys.
"We've got a good system running here," Mack told them, having been in charge of the base for awhile now. "But it's good to have you back, sir. You ready to be Director again?" He asked Coulson.
"I was thinking about that, actually," Coulson admitted, setting his drink on the table. "I don't think there should be a single Director calling all of the shots. I was thinking about co-directors?" He tossed the idea out to the bald man, who blinked in surprise.
"I think that's a great idea, sir," Mack told him with a smile.
"Good, then you'd better stop calling me sir," Coulson replied.
"Look at these changes," Daisy laughed, thinking back to how differently things have been. "Last year we were in the framework taking down Aida, and look at us now."
Everyone went silent at that, taking a moment to reflect just how much they had changed. Everything was different now, but not in a bad way.
"What's the framework?" Yelena asked cluelessly. Fitz just laughed and shook his head.
"Don't ask, just don't," he told the blond who shot him a look. "You don't want to know, trust me."
"Well now I really wanna know," Karley said, her interest piqued.
The original S.H.I.E.L.D. agents looked at each other.
"Who wants to tell them?" May asked, taking a sip from her beer before sitting down. This was bound to be a long story.
"Well it all started with Fitz," Simmons spoke up, starting the story for the newcomers.
As she explained what the framework was and what had happened, the rest of the team jumped in helping her tell the story. The rest of them sat there and listened intently, shocked that something like the framework was even possible. Especially Steve and Bucky who had no idea how any of this worked in the first place, having been born and raised in the 1900's.
"So you were in a dream world essentially?" Yelena asked, dumbfounded. She had no idea what the future adventures with S.H.I.E.L.D. would bring, but if it was anything like what she's heard so far, it was certainly bound to be interesting.
"Yup," Daisy said, finishing a beer before grabbing more for the rest of them.
The night went by in a blur as the group shared stories from their past. Steve and Bucky told them about their time in the war and how they grew up, which Coulson memorized every detail, being the Captain America fan he was. Flint and Tess had joined the group as well, also sharing with them what it was like growing up in 2091. Natasha had told them about the time she had met Tony undercover all those years ago, causing the group to laugh when she showed them the video of the billionaires first test flight in his suit.
As they sat there laughing and bonding together, Karley sat between her sister and Yelena, the latter discreetly holding her hand away from prying eyes. She still couldn't believe that they had kissed earlier, causing the brunette to grin like an idiot. Not only had Yelena and her decided they wanted to give a relationship a shot, but their sisters had surprised them by coming home for good.
Of course the Avengers were still going to call them for help from time to time, but for now they were home and that's all that mattered. They were together once again.
"All right team, it's been a long night and we have some work to do tomorrow," Coulson stated, standing up as he started to clean the empty bottles around the room. "We best get heading to bed."
"Oh you're no fun," Bucky complained, standing to help with clean up as well.
"Can it, Buck," Steve told his friend with a laugh, knowing that Coulson was right.
"We don't have enough rooms for everyone since the base is at full capacity," Mack told the group. "Some of us will have to pair up in the rooms."
"Simmons and I will share a room, obviously," Fitz said, grabbing his fiancés hand as they headed off. "Good night."
"Natasha and I will share a room too," Daisy said, helping her girlfriend up from the couch. "I hope my room hasn't been touched since I've left."
"It hasn't tremors, don't worry," Mack laughed.
"Good," she said, looking to see Karley and Yelena stand as well.
"Yelena and I don't mind sharing a room, either," Karley told the rest of them.
Natasha shot a knowing look to Daisy, confirming their suspicions. They knew that there was something going on with the two younger siblings, this was proving their point.
"Sure, yeah, that works. That should leave enough rooms for the rest," Mack said.
Slowly but surely the party had started heading down the hall to settle in for the night. Outside of Karley's room, Yelena paused for a moment.
"I'm going to grab my stuff from my room so Steve has somewhere to stay," she told the brunette, glancing around before standing on her tippy toes to kiss the taller girls cheek. "Be right back, дорогой."
Karley blushed a bit as Yelena disappeared behind her door to grab her stuff.
"You know, we had a bet going on," Natasha's voice startled Karley, causing her to jump a bit as the redhead and Daisy rounded the corner with grins plastered on their faces.
"A b-bet?" She stuttered, knowing she had been caught.
"You're not a good liar, sis, just admit it," Daisy taunted as they stopped outside her old room.
"I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about," she lied, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. It wasn't like her and Yelena had told each other to keep their beginning relationship a secret, but here they were already exposed by their sisters of all people.
"Don't even try it, Danvers," Natasha said with a smirk. "You two are cute together. Not as cute as your sister and I, but still cute."
At that moment, Yelena emerged from her room, arms full of her belongings. She looked between the trio and knew something was up.
"What's going on?" She asked innocently.
"Nothing," Daisy told the blond, opening the door to her old room before slipping inside.
"Behave you two," Natasha warned, repeating her words from many months ago when the two younger siblings first shared a room.
"They act like we're going to do something crazy," Karley told the blond with a laugh, opening the door to her room.
As Daisy stepped into her old room followed by her girlfriend, she took a moment to close her eyes and breath in the refreshing air. It had been forever since she's been here, her home. It was the one place she knew she could always come to.
Just like Mack had promised, her room hadn't been touched since she left. There wasn't even dust in here, and she made a mental note to thank whoever had kept it clean for her.
Her bedsheets were the same red, lavish ones she'd bought years ago with her favorite throw blanket still neatly folded at the foot of her bed. For a moment, a flash of pain hit her. It was the blanket Lincoln had gotten her.
'Next time you think of beautiful things, don't forget to count yourself in.'
He had given it to remind her that her powers could be beautiful, not only destructive. The thought of her dead boyfriend brought fresh tears to her eyes as she silently walked over to the fabric and brought it to her chest. She could never bring herself to throw it away, not after everything he had done for her.
"You okay Daisy?" Natasha asked her girlfriend, seeing the sudden change in her attitude. Out of no where, the brunette started silently crying, not able to hold her tears at bay any longer. Natasha didn't say anything, instead holding Daisy in her arms as the tears fell.
"I'm sorry," Daisy whispered after a moment, quickly wiping her cheeks dry.
"You don't need to apologize, love. Do you want to talk about it?" The redhead asked as they sat on the bed holding each others hands.
"It's silly," Daisy sniffled a bit, not wanting to bring her eyes to meet Natasha. "It's the blanket that Lincoln had gotten me. He gave it to me to remind me that I'm not some monster," she admitted.
"That's not silly Daisy," the redhead told her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. Daisy had told her about Lincoln and what he did for the inhuman. Not only had he helped her with her powers, showing her that they could be a gift, not a curse, but he sacrificed his life to save hers. "He was right, you know."
"About what?" She asked her girlfriend.
"You are beautiful. Not just on the outside, either. Everything about you is beautiful, love. You've been through so much in life and you still turned out to be this amazing person. You didn't let the world beat you down, and I think he knew that," said Natasha.
Daisy let a few more tears fall at that. She missed Lincoln every day, and she had moved on and mourned his death, but seeing this blanket had brought back the memory of him and everything he's done. It should've been her.
But there was no changing the past, there was only the future.
"Thanks Natasha," she whispered to her girlfriend, giving her hand a squeeze. "You're one of the best things that has ever happened to me."
Natasha softly smiled at that, knowing how much her girlfriend loved her.
"Of course, love. You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me too," she told Daisy as they both settled into bed for the night. As they lay there, the redhead rubbing Daisy's back, she was so thankful for Lincoln. He had sacrificed himself for Daisy, and that was something she would be forever grateful for. She made a silent promise to his memory to always cherish her girlfriend the way he had.
"You're thinking too loud," Daisy mumbled sleepily.
"How am I thinking too loud?" Natasha laughed.
"I can tell something's on your mind, what is it?" Daisy asked as she turned around to face her girlfriend.
"Nothing, Speedy. Go to bed," the redhead commanded, gently kissing the younger girls nose, smiling when she scrunched her face up. Daisy did as she was told, knowing that if Natasha wanted to talk about it she would've. A few moments later, the redhead whispered, "I love you."
"I love you too, Nat."
A few days later, Steve had finally left the base to head back to the Avengers. He still had a team of his own to look out for after all.
The rest of the team, which included FitzSimmons, Mack, Yo-Yo, Coulson, May, Bucky, Natasha, Yelena, Daisy and Karley, all gathered in the briefing room on orders of the two Directors. Flint and Tess were off doing training together. It was early morning as they all sat there, the sun shining through the only window in their underground base.
"So today," Mack said as he clicked a button on the TV remote, pulling up multiple pictures. "We are going to put all our heads together and make a crime board on what we know about Hydra and the Red Dawn."
Karley could clearly see some of the people were Brock Rumlow and Mrs. Frederic, causing her to shiver at the memories that followed. There were a few other people she recognized as well. Yelena put a comforting hand on her thigh underneath the table, causing her to calm a bit.
The other picture were people she has heard of but never seen before. One was of a man in his mid forties with an almost bald head of dark hair. He had a stern, clean shaven face that sent chills through her. Over one eye he wore an eyepiece. He seemed to be staring into her soul. Underneath the picture was a name.
Wolfgang von Strucker.
She could also see faces of inhumans that were in the temple when they went through terrigenesis, including Blake, the teleporter. There was also Enzo and Elliot, who were now both inhumans. They weren't sure if they were alive or not, but they had to assume they were.
"Sounds like fun," Yelena commented.
The team spent the entire day putting their heads together and sharing what they knew about the people. Most of the questions were directed at Yelena, Natasha, Bucky and Karley since they had all been under their control at some point. Unfortunately, none of them knew much about Strucker.
Karley had told them as much as she could about Mrs. Frederic, which wasn't much. She also explained to FitzSimmons what Elliot could do with his power, Natasha helping her as well since they both faced the shadowy inhuman.
Blake, who was a problem since they couldn't seem to get him to hold still, wasn't an issue Fitz had assured them. He had something that would be able to stop him from teleporting. The same device he used on Gordan.
"So what's the plan?" Natasha asked the two Directors as she sat back in her seat.
"Well, the only thing about Strucker that we know of is that he has a son," Coulson stated, remembering the young boy they had run into awhile ago. Back when he was working for Grant Ward.
"Yeah, Werner von Strucker," May recalled finding the young kid tied up. "Isn't he still in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody?" She asked Mack.
"He was before we were sucked into the future. By time we came back, he managed to escape. It was a professional grab," he told May. "Best guess is daddy dearest broke him out."
"So we track him down, then what?" Bucky asked the rest of them. "He probably doesn't even know anything regarding his father."
"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Coulson told the super soldier. "Right now, he's our best lead."
"He's right," Natasha agreed, sitting up in her chair. "We don't know a thing about Von Strucker, so anything we find out can be of use. Daisy do you think you could find him?" She asked her girlfriend.
"Already on it," she responded from behind her laptop, her finger typing away. After a few minutes she spoke up. "It looks like little Werner went back to college to study psychology of all things."
May grinded her teeth at that. She remember that Werner had signed up for Andrew's class so he could keep a close eye on the man for Ward. Now here they were, Andrew was dead, and Werner went back to college to live a normal life.
"He changed his name, but pictures don't lie," Daisy said, turning her laptop around to show the rest of the team a picture of the kid standing in front of a state college. He was in South Carolina.
"Great, we got a lead, now what's the plan?" Yelena asked the rest of them. She would make the plan, but in the last few months it's been brought to her attention that her planning skills weren't the best. Which she didn't agree with. Her plans always got the job done, they just tended to be a bit aggressive.
"You're not making the plan," Karley and Bucky said in unison, causing the blond to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, I already figured," she told the duo with a scoff. The rest of the team looked at them in confusion.
"Trust us, you do not want blondie to make the plan," Bucky told them, voice stern.
"Someone always ends up with a broken nose," Karley added on.
"They're not wrong," Mack shrugged, having watched the trio run their missions the past months. Yelena shot the bald man a betrayed look, causing him to hold his hands up in surrender. "They said it, not me."
"You're not supposed to agree with them though," she mumbled.
"Anyways," Coulson said, steering the topic back on track. "We'll leave for South Carolina in twenty."
Everyone nodded their head and went to suit up and grab their go bags.
Fifteen minutes later, the new S.H.I.E.L.D. team settled on the Bus for the flight, May in the cockpit where she usually was as they took off. After she got them in the air, she put the Bus on autopilot before joining them once again.
"So it looks like Werner has a thing for blonds," Daisy commented as she went through his Instagram page. Every girl in his picture was a blond.
All eyes turned to Yelena, who looked back at them before sighing.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll go change into a slutty college outfit," she told them, already knowing what they were going to say. She left for her and Karley's shared room, the latter girl following.
"I'm coming with you," she told Yelena as they slipped into the room. "You're going to need backup, and we both fit the young college girl profile."
"Sounds like fun," the blond grinned as she started stripping her clothes. Karley averted her gaze respectfully, her face turning pink. Of course she's seen girls naked before, but with Yelena it was different. She really liked the blond, and the two of them weren't rushing their relationship.
A small pair of hand grabbed Karley's as they turned her around.
Yelena stood there in only her underwear in front of the brunette confidently.
"You don't have to turn around дорогой," she whispered to Karley, who was staring longingly at the half naked woman in front of her. "I'm not hiding."
"I know," Karley said, eyes returning to Yelena's face. "I just don't want to rush anything between us."
Yelena smiled before slowly closing the distance between the two of them, pressing herself against the brunette as she wrapped her arms around the taller woman's back, pulling their bodies together.
"I know," she said to Karley, leaning up to kiss the girl lovingly. "With you, I'm not scared of anything. You make me feel wanted, Karley."
"I'll always make you feel wanted," she smiled, leaning down for another kiss. As they stood there, their bodies pressed firmly together, the kisses became shorter, faster, hungrier. Just as Karley's hand reached up, ready to explore, a knock at the door broke the two apart.
"Coulson's about the give the mission report," Natasha said from outside.
"Coming!" Yelena shouted to her sister. Her and Karley quickly changed, making sure their hair looked presentable before they joined the rest of the team again. They were both dressed in what typical college students would wear.
"Look at you two dolls," Bucky said with a grin. "
"My eyes are up here, Barnes," Yelena warned the man with a laugh.
"Alright team," Coulson said, gathering everyone's attention. "This is our first mission together. May, Mack and I will run things from the Bus. FitzSimmons, I want you two on the ground. Mingle with the college students and see what you can find out about Werner. Daisy, Natasha and Bucky, you three will be trailing Karley and Yelena from a distance. Be ready for anything, we don't know what we're walking in to. As for you two girls," he turned to the younger siblings, dressed and ready to go. "You're going to be talking to Werner, see what you can find out without raising any flags."
The team nodded their heads at the plan, knowing what they needed to do. Everyone was a little on edge. This was their first mission together as a new and improved team.
What could go wrong?