Hello, dear readers, I am so terribly sorry for the long wait, but I hope that this long chapter makes up for it! Also, this is the last Redemption chapter, yay! I will be taking a break to get Book 2: Belong in order before posting. Don't worry, once Family Ties' hiatus is over, I will be posting it more regularly in the meantime.
Ok, so I guess I want to thank you all for the support during this story, it really helped with the writing! Hope you will be sticking around for Book 2.
Also, quick word, this chapter has a lot of original stuff in it, so I hope you like it!
Warning: mentions of child kidnapping (subtle, idk why I'm writing it), violence, torture, some minor swearing, mentions of torture, mentions of child abuse, fighting, minor canonical character deaths, panic attack, Ward is a dick
I think that is all. Lots of warnings here, but like I said, you're in for a big one! That last warning is very much my sentiment after reading what he does to Bobbi. Feel free to hate him with me.
Now onto the story!
Disclaimer: I still don't own marvel!
Fitz looked around frantically and back at the spot where Jemma used to be just a few moments ago. "Where is Jemma?" the Scotsman asked, to no one in particular. "What the hell just happened?" He wasn't ready to lose his best friend, not when he'd gotten her back not so long ago.
"I don't know Fitz, but we'll… we'll figure it out, alright?" Coulson told him, and the younger man nodded. "Call in Trip, and ask him to come in please. I know you two are good friends, maybe he can help you with finding Jemma, and provide backup."
"Yes, sir," Fitz nodded, and moved to head out of the hangar. As he left, he heard Cal grunt as he tried to push the parked car off him.
"This won't hold me for long, Phil," Cal said, as the hangar doors closed behind him. Once that was done, Fitz moved to the gym, where he imagined a field agent would be. Trip and the other field agents on the team liked to train while they had time off, and Fitz didn't really understand it, but respected it. They were keeping themselves sharp for their next missions. Trip was kept on base as backup in case the Iliad needed tactical assistance, and Coulson trusted him to help.
Just like he thought, Fitz found Trip punching away at a bag, letting out small huffs as he punched. "Triplett?" Fitz asked, trying to get the field agent's attention. Trip jumped ever so slightly and turned around to face him. He seemed to notice the frantic look in his eyes and moved closer to the engineer.
"Hey, man. What's wrong? Something happened?" Trip asked, worriedly, and Fitz nodded.
"T-the teleporter… h-he took Jemma. We d-don't know where, but Coulson wants you to help me find her, and p-provide b-backup for him with Cal."
"Alright. I can try to help, whatever you need." Trip gave him a comforting smile as he spoke. Fitz then noticed that the other man was shirtless, and his very defined abs were-
No! This was not the time to think about how confusing his sexuality was at the moment. Fitz internally shook his head and returned his mind to the task at hand: finding Jemma. "Thank you agent Triplett. Now, let's go." He was about to turn and leave, when Trip's voice stopped him.
"You know you can call me Trip, right? We're friends," Trip reminded him, and Fitz smiled, before nodding slowly. It wasn't the first time he was flustered at the sight of a shirtless man, and it probably wouldn't be the last. He'd always attributed it to being uncomfortable, but this time felt different. He wasn't sure yet what it meant for him, but he was willing to look into it.
Daisy wasn't sure how she was feeling about this entire situation.
She had woken up in a cell, on what she guessed was the Iliad, and she watched Alisha and her clones oversee transport of agents to an unknown location. Well, it was unknown to Daisy. What wasn't unknown to her, however, was the feeling of waking up in a cell. She thought she'd left that behind when she left Hydra, but clearly, she was wrong. Daisy simply leaned on the bars of her cell, watching Alisha carefully, and making sure to look nonchalant despite her mind throwing twisted memories and nightmares at her. Every scar every inflicted from the dark basement she'd called home for so long screamed at her, pained her like the day she'd gotten them.
She took a deep breath and changed sides so she was leaning forward, arms on a horizontal bar. She had cuffs around her forearms, inhibiting her powers, and she was tapping them on the metal bars to get attention and try to get them off. When Alisha finally looked at her, she gave her a sarcastic grin. "You wanna lend me a hand getting these things off? Or a face?" Daisy asked, repeating the tapping motion on the cuffs. Suddenly, a fist connected with Alisha's face and Daisy saw Mack standing over the redhead's unconscious body. Once that was done, he opened the door separating Daisy from the hallway and entered the room where they had locked the young woman in. Daisy noticed the tactical gear Mack had on, and guessed he was really in it now. "Mack? Never thought I'd be glad to see you! Who's with you?"
"Just you and me, Tremors," Mack told her, before unlocking the cell door. "Your people just took over the ship. About 100 or so prisoners. The rest are dead." Daisy quickly got out of the cell as he spoke, never loving to taste of freedom more. "Guess they're not as harmless as you thought."
"I swear I never meant for any of this to happen. I-"
"We need to stop them. But if you're in here, then I guess you tried to, already and failed, if Coulson was right about you."
"Yeah, but my mother's manipulating them, not all of these people are bad."
"They're using their powers to kill SHIELD agents, so I don't give a damn about intentions right now."
"From the little interaction we got after I revealed I was Hydra, you don't like me, so why are you here talking intentions, when you could be fighting to get those agents back."
"You're right, I don't like you very much, but I came here because I need your skills, not the company. No offense."
"None taken. I was told repeatedly that I was a handful. But I don't know if you have noticed but…" She held up her forearms as she spoke. "I can't use my powers. They locked these inhibitors on me. I can still fight, tough, but I didn't think you'd want that considering who trained me all my life."
"Not the skills I'm looking for." He took out a laptop from his bag. "Heard you have a history of hacking into SHIELD." Daisy smirking at him was his only response as she looked between the tall man and the laptop.
Jemma was panicking.
Like a full-blown panic attack.
She had just been kidnapped and brought to the Iliad, where a bunch of Inhumans were gathered. Their leader – Jiaying – had even put her inside of a cell next to the other agents, who were being held at gunpoint. "Why do you want me? Why am I here?" Jemma asked, fist banging on the window of the cell she was in.
"Because my daughter loves you. Which means that either you die and she joins us, or you become one of us and you both join us," Jiaying told her, and evil glint in her eyes that made Jemma shiver down her core.
"How do you – no, Daisy never loved me. She said it herself, her entire time with SHIELD has been a lie, and so was our relationship," Jemma countered, though she knew her own words were lies. Daisy had indeed said her time as a SHIELD agent – or consultant – was a lie, but she also said that through it all, she did love her. It was all confusing, and Jemma would rather not think about it. She also didn't want to die today, not without telling Daisy how she still felt about her.
"All in good time, agent Simmons. All in good time," Jiaying told her, her evil smile still painting her face, and Jemma almost felt bile rise up her throat at the thought of what the Inhumans had planned. The two women started a staring match with each other until voices from the corridors broke the eye contact.
"We have a problem," Lincoln's voice suddenly sounded as he barged into the command room and ran down the small staircase. "I disabled the communication systems, but an emergency beacon was sent out to Coulson's base. It's hard-wired, and there's no way to cancel it without the proper code. Also, I went to get Daisy like you asked, and she's gone. Someone broke her out."
"We'll deal with that later. We have something to keep her in line, now," Jiaying said, giving Jemma a quick glance, before looking to the agents who were being hauled to their feet by some Inhumans. "Do one of you have the code?"
"I suggest you surrender peacefully. When Coulson gets the message, he'll come at you with everything he has," Weaver threatened, despite the clear and overwhelming fact that they were outnumbered.
"Coulson's being dealt with. I don't need you to cancel the beacon. I want you to expand it. This ship and Coulson's base aren't the full extent of SHIELD's operations. Expand the beacon. Invite them all."
"You want them to know we're here?" Lincoln asked, confused, as he leaned over to his leader.
"We have to show them what we're capable of. It's the only way they'll ever leave us alone."
"We don't know what you're planning, but we'll play no part in it," Oliver told Jiaying, who looked over one of the Inhumans, and nodded. The man grabbed Oliver and pushed him into the cell, where Jemma and a few more agents were already locked up. "Hands off, you freak!" Before Jemma knew it, she was pulled out of the cell and kicked to the ground, forced to watch Weaver's protests from behind the older woman.
"What are you doing? Let him go!"
"Do you like rare gems?" Jiaying asked, taking out a blue crystal from her sleeve.
"You don't think you can bribe me."
"It's not a bribe. It's an incentive." Jiaying handed the crystal to the man and he dropped it in the cell before closing the door. When the blue gem cracked to bits, a gas escaped it and the men in the cell started to cough. Jemma saw the men's skin turn to stone, slowly, and heard them all scream, until they suddenly stopped and the mist dissipated. The four of them were now stone statues with clothes and hair, and Jemma was very afraid that this would be her own fate unless Daisy did what Jiaying wanted. "Expand the beacon, or there will be more," Jiaying ordered Weaver, once the silence lasted a few minutes. Jemma watched Weaver move to the computers to do just that, and Lincoln looked at Jiaying with a horrified expression on his face.
Mack and Daisy watched the scene through the cameras in the room, and Daisy couldn't tear her eyes off her ex, who could be seen in the corner of the screen. "What the hell does she want with Jemma? She has nothing to do with this…" Daisy muttered to herself, though she knew her mother could make her do whatever she wanted if it meant keeping Jemma safe. How far was Daisy willing to go to do so, she wasn't sure, but she knew she would do a lot of things.
"If we don't cut that beacon, it'll bring every available agent racing here," Mack said, breaking her out of her thoughts. Luckily, he didn't look like he heard her muttered comment only seconds earlier.
"And she plans to do that to all of them."
"The problem is, it's hard-wired, clear on the other side of the ship, with a dozen ginger ninjas and god knows who else standing in the way."
"But we're still gonna try," Daisy said, smirking ever so slightly. She wanted to get her ex-girlfriend back before her mother could do anything to her.
"Hell yeah." Mack nodded as he spoke, and Daisy nodded back, closing the laptop as she did so.
Once he managed to convince Cal to help them stop Jiaying from destroying SHIELD, Coulson had seen the distress call from the Iliad, and ordered a Strike team to get ready. Jemma wasn't with them anymore find out all the changes the serum did to Cal, but Fitz was doing his best to work medical. He had seen Jemma work enough times to know his way around the medical aspects of the lab. "I can't… I can't do the full workup, because that was – that was Simmons' job, but uh… his physical changes seem to have improved," Fitz informed the director, as he reached him and Trip standing near Cal, who was sitting on a medical bed. Cal, however, smirked at the young Scottish man before turning to Coulson.
"Sorry, Phil. This looks expensive," he told Coulson, apologetically, gesturing to all the medical equipment he'd destroyed during his outburst from earlier.
"We have a tab running," Coulson assured him, and Cal sent a wink and his index finger his way, as if to say 'Gotcha'.
"Sir, the carrier's distress call – it's expanded to all channels," Fitz then notified him, going to the screen, where he did the work he was very good at.
"Jiaying used Cal's distraction to take over that ship in minutes," Coulson said, and Fitz looked back at him.
"Yeah. It's intimidating."
"You get Bobbi and Hunter on the line?"
"We lost all communications a while after they entered. The last thing we picked up was gunfire, sir." After Fitz and Trip had tried to find Jemma and he found the distress call from the Iliad, Fitz had lost track of comms from Bobbi, Hunter and Kara, which either meant they'd gone dark or they were in trouble or even that Kara had turned out to be with Ward after all. May had seen it and had left in a rather big hurry.
"And May? We might be able to use her in this fight."
"I believe she is assembling a strike team to go after Bobbi, Hunter and Kara."
The last thing Bobbi remembered after she, Kara and Hunter had entered the warehouse in Spain was that they had separated and Bobbi had spotted something. Then, static hit her comms and she felt a sharp pain in her right knee and in her head before everything went dark.
She really hated getting knocked out.
It was definitely the worst thing, now. Or maybe it was getting her knee broken, but it could maybe be a tie.
When she became lucid enough without opening her eyes to look around, she tried to listen in on the open channel of her comms. Panic struck her when she realized that there was only the crackle of static running through her ear. Without her consent, her eyes opened wide with fear and she ignored her surroundings. "Palamas? Hunter? Does anybody copy? Hunter? Please, answer me!" Her only reply was the static in her ear, and the familiar voice from behind her. She was sitting on the ground with cuffs around her wrists, and she was facing the wall, so she couldn't see who spoke, but the familiarity in that voice made a shiver run down her spine.
"Don't waste your breath, agent Morse." Grant Ward's voice made her turn around, but when she tried to stand up, she's met with devastating pain in her right leg, forcing her to stay on the ground. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned her, but she still tried again. She was met with a foot in her stomach at her attempt, causing her to push herself into the wall that was now behind her with her good leg. "Alright, now that you understand that you can't stand up, let's go back to the business at hand. Your comms unit has been cut off, you can't ask for help or anything. Kara – that traitorous bitch – and Hunter can still communicate together, but you, my dear Mockingbird, can't." The smirk on his face made her want to throw up, but it took all her training to keep herself from doing so.
"What the hell do you want?" Bobbi managed to ask after a moment, once she'd gathered her breath from the kick.
"You see, it used to be simple. I wanted closer for Kara, since you hurt her when you let that Hydra team raid her safe house and let Whitehall brainwash her. But now, since that bitch decided to go against me and with the people that brought her this pain in the first place, then I'll just have to do this for the sake of hurting you. Call it closer for myself, for stealing the woman who I thought loved me." Again, she wanted to throw up. Not because of his face, but because of the words spewing out of the traitor's mouth.
"Kara and Hunter are going to find me, and if something happens, then backup will come. If either of them gets their hands on you, they'll make you regret everything you've done," Bobbi spat, and every word she spoke were honest. Because she hoped to God someone would find her and kill that bastard.
.
"Bobbi?" Hunter asked through his comms when the static hit for about a second. "Bobbi, do you read?" Static again. "Palamas, do you copy?"
"Yeah, Hunter, I copy. What's going on? I felt a short static hit the comms," Kara said, making Hunter sigh in relief as well as panic.
"I have no idea, but Bobbi isn't responding. Where are you? I'm coming to you so we can find her."
"I'm about 200m from the point where we separated, on the left. We shouldn't have separated. Ward's after her, Hunter, and if he gets his hands on her, who knows what'll happen…"
"Best case scenario she just lost her comms, but you're right. Ward probably has her, I'm on my way to you, stay where you are."
"Copy that."
It took Hunter about 3 minutes to get to Kara once he took off in a sprint. The woman was a little jumpy and aimed her gun at him, but put it down the second she saw who it was. "Sorry, thought you were Ward for a second," Kara said, apologetically.
"'S alright. Now let's find Bobs." Kara nodded and they ran back on their tracks, to the separation point, and continued forward, since Bobbi went on the right of them.
They looked inside every room from the moment they got to the hallway Bobbi had ran into, but still nothing after 8 doors. Where the hell was she?
They swept almost every room in the hallway, but still nothing, and an hour had passed since they lost communications with Bobbi. The blonde was nowhere to be found, and they are starting to lose hope when another static noise hit their comms, just not the same kind. "Heard you needed backup," Melinda May's voice sounded over the comms.
"Oh, thank God," Hunter sighed into the comms. "Ward has Bobbi, we need you to help us find her."
"On our way. We'll sweep every room here while we're at it, maybe he brought her here."
"We'll come to you near the entrance then," Hunter added, and Kara nodded at him, since he hadn't really said anything to her about it, but he had a feeling she would agree with his decision. Which she did, of course.
"Copy that, see you then."
"She just killed them – all of them – didn't even think about it," Daisy said, as she and Mack carefully walked down the halls of the Iliad. She couldn't say she was shocked by it, she'd killed people without a second thought or without asking questions. She'd done the same thing as those Inhumans while she was under Hydra's control. She knew her employers were dangerous, but she had no idea that she was on the wrong side of the war. The Inhumans were the same in a way, so she couldn't really judge them.
"Yeah, I thought my mom was bad when she started watching Fox News," Mack muttered as they moved down a corridor.
"Pretty sure I would have fell for the whole act if I hadn't been trained to see through these kinds of acts, or been through it before. Never thought I would be this glad Hydra trained me…" Daisy grumbled, but Mack heard all of it. She knew he wasn't a fan of her life choices, but the words just slipped from her mouth. "Can't believe I let it all happen. I was there – I could have stopped it."
"Look, you had to find out what her plan was before-" Mack cut himself off as he grabbed her arm and pulled her through a new hallway. "This way. You had to figure out what her plan was before you acted. It would have been hard to stop a plan that you had no idea what it consisted of. You had a choice to make, and I get that."
"Thanks…" Daisy told him and he was about to wave her off, but she continued. "I know you didn't have to break me out and ask for my help, or even talk to me right now, so… thank you. I hope someday we can be friends, again?"
"Maybe, kid. Maybe." Mack smiled as softly as he spoke, and they looked around intersections of hallways to make sure no one spotted them. When it was clear, they continued walking. "Like I said, you made your choices. Sometimes, it works out. Sometimes-"
"It didn't," Daisy said, cutting him off.
"It did not," Mack said, nodding in agreement. They stopped in front of a new corridor and Mack gestured to it. "Beacon's in the sat room down to the left. Go get started. Try to hack the code and turn it off." He was about to walk away, but Daisy stopped him.
"Wait. Where are you going?"
"To find a power saw in case you can't." Mack walked away at that, and Daisy eyed around before continuing the route on her own.
They started to hear voices from behind the closed door, calling her name, and Bobbi felt her hope blossom once again, but Ward suddenly had a smirk on his face that stopped it ever so slightly. "They want you? Then maybe you will distract them all enough for me to take my leave."
Oh. Oh, shit. That was bad, he wanted to hurt her more or kill her as a distraction, now. He hadn't done anything much since she woke up about an hour and a half ago, except toy with her with a knife and mess her knee up even more. He had put a gag in her mouth, as to not attract to much attention, but clearly attention was coming whether he wanted it or not. She tried to plea with him, which was something she never thought she would do with a psychopath. "Night-night, Mockingbird," he said, gun now in his hands and he aimed the rifle in her shoulder. He shot the blonde, and she felt a searing pain in her shoulder before she went down, vision blurry with black spots dancing around and it hurt to breathe, so bad. She heard Ward run off through a back door or something that she didn't know existed, and she was suddenly alone, whimpering and groaning in pain with blood forming a pool under her.
.
She wasn't sure if she blacked out, but a few moments later, the door slammed open and someone was cradling her weak form. She could see a blurry figure over her, but she couldn't identify them. Everything hurt so, so, much. "Shit, Bobbi, stay with me, please! Stay with me! May! I found her!" Hunter yelled, and she whimpered at how loud his voice was. "Sorry, love. Just stay awake for me, ok? Just stay with me."
She wanted to stay awake, but it was hard… it was painful and all she could think of to get a break from it was to close her eyes and sleep, but Hunter wouldn't let her, he was talking to her, whispering assurances in her ear until another blurry form knelt near her. "Find Ward! He has to be nearby," May called to someone, but she wasn't sure who, and a few pairs of footsteps ran off God knows where. Only one other figure stayed, and she couldn't tell who it was, since everything was blurry.
"G-go-gone…" Bobbi tried to said, but she was getting weaker every second she was awake.
"Try not to talk, sweetheart, you were shot in the shoulder, you'll be weak for a while," Hunter said, soothingly, shushing her softly as well.
"W-ward… g-gone…" she managed to say, before her eyes closed weakly.
"No, Bob, stay with me… stay awake, please… stay awake for me," she heard Hunter tell her softly, and someone took her in their arms, probably Hunter.
"Coulson, do you copy?" May called to her coms and they must have answered because she continued to speak. "We found her, but she has a GSW to the shoulder, a few lacerations on her left leg and on her chest, as well as a broken right knee. We're coming to you." And with the sound of May's voice, Bobbi let the darkness greet her into its open arms, rendering her unconscious and limp in Hunter's arms.
A few hours after getting news form May, Coulson was standing in his office looking at the map on the screen in his office when a voice made him turn to the door. "Sir, good news," Fitz' voice sounded down the hall, and he barged in, device in hand. "I've modified my field generators to act in unison as a quantum-field disrupter."
"Great, you're saying you found a way to shut down Gordon's teleportation ability?" Coulson asked, excitedly, but Fitz' mood went down.
"Well, now my news sounds less good."
"Oh. Sorry."
"The disrupter should keep him contained to a single space."
"I'll take anything. We have quinjets flying in from all over the world right now to answer the SOS with us. It will be nice to have something more to offer them than an encouraging thumbs-up."
"What about Bobbi?"
"They are on their way here."
They then went to the makeshift lab they made downstairs near the living area. Luckily, no one was there due to the missions, so they could put in all their equipment there no problem. Since Jemma wasn't there, they had to go with the second-best thing, which was one of the other scientists that worked in the lab, and she was the second best they had in medical science – or biology. When Coulson and Fitz approached, the scientist joined them. "Mr. Zabo destroyed the lab. It's unusable right now. This is our best option. We'll make it work."
"Any update from May on Bobbi's condition?"
"They've slowed the bleeding. She's holding on, but barely."
"Okay."
"We'll see."
"And Fitz, from what you've seen, is Cal stable enough to join the mission on the carrier?"
"Why would you want him on the mission? That doesn't sound like a very good idea," Fitz protested, but they couldn't argue more, as May, Hunter and Kara walked in with Bobbi on a stretcher, ambu-bag helping her breathe.
"Gunshot wound to the shoulder. Exit wound in the upper back. Pulse is 140 and weak. BP's 60 over 30," May told them as they wheeled into the makeshift surgical room, her voice sounding very worried for the blonde barely holding on.
"She stopped breathing just before we landed," Hunter said, also worried. Kara had stayed out of the way, guilty for the entire ordeal.
"I bagged her – got her going again. Hurry," May begged them, as the doctors and scientists moved to transfer Bobbi out of the gurney and onto the bed.
"1, 2, 3," the woman scientist Coulson placed in charge of the surgery said, as they moved Bobbi. "Let's get her prepped for surgery. CBC with diff, chem-20. Portable chest x-rays. Cross and type for two units."
"Yes, doctor."
In the meantime, Daisy rushed into the sat room and be-lined to the beacon, typing on the screen to try and stop it, but a voice made her stop. "How did you get out?" Lincoln's voice sounded, and Daisy turned around. Clearly, they had known she was gone.
"Lincoln. I-I can explain."
"Don't bother." Lincoln's hands lit up with electricity and he sent a blast into her, which pushed her into the wall behind her. Despite having healed from her GSW to the shoulder, she was still sore in that area and the blast seemed to hurt the spot more. Daisy gasped and panted as she pushed some hair out of her face.
"You've got this wrong… very wrong. Listen, please," Daisy begged, but Lincoln was having none of it.
"I just found you trying to reach out to your SHIELD friends. You planning the next assault?" Lincoln asked, threateningly, and Daisy held her hands up in surrender.
"Why would I – that attack didn't happen, Lincoln. Jiaying staged the whole thing. She murdered Gonzalez, then shot herself to frame SHIELD so we'd follow her to war. She even kidnapped my ex-girlfriend for some twisted reason!"
"Do you even hear how crazy that sounds? Shot herself?"
"She's already healed, hasn't she? I'd tell you to ask Raina – she can see the future – but she's not here, is she?" Daisy asked, grunting slightly as she got up, massaging her sore shoulder. "She's not here because she had a vision of what happened, what's going to happen. And Jiaying couldn't risk her talking, so she cut her throat."
"Why are you doing this – trying to turn us against her?"
"You saw what she did with those crystals – killed unarmed agents. What she is planning to do to Jemma. Okay, think. Why would she want the rest of SHIELD to come here? It's – it's not to hug it out. She wants to execute them. We can stop this. Please, just tell me where she took the crystals," Daisy said, and she could see Lincoln's gears turning. He took a moment to think, before he finally seemed to come through.
"The fan room… where the ship's air circu-" he said, but was cut off when someone behind him knocked him out. When he collapsed on the ground, Daisy saw Mack standing behind him with a saw in his hands.
"Found a saw," the taller man said, showing off the item in his hands.
"I was getting through to him."
"Right now, I'm in a 'crack heads first, ask questions later' frame of mind. Here." He handed her the saw, which she took. "Hack that beacon or just cut it. I'm gonna make sure those crystals don't hurt anyone else."
"Mack, you know what happens if one breaks near a vent, near you."
"That's why they won't," Mack said, before leaving. Daisy looked down at the saw and got to work.
When the surgery was over and Bobbi was mostly out of the woods, Hunter stood at her bedside, taking her hand in his gloved one. From the doorframe, May watched it all, as she dialed a once very familiar number. "Melinda?" Andrew's voice sounded on the other line, clearly worried.
"I just wanted to hear your voice."
"You haven't made a call like this since Bahrain." May sighed as she shifted in her position.
"Yeah."
"Well, then I know it's not good. Do you want to tell me what's going on? How bad are we talking?"
"There's no way it will end well. Andrew… there's a lot I didn't say that I wish I did."
"Me, too. Do good, Melinda, and get home safe." May the hung up the phone and gripped the device in her hand, looking back at Bobbi's still unconscious form.
.
About a half-hour later, Fitz was packing his things for the mission in the locker room, since he was joining Coulson in helping fight the Inhumans, when the director walked into the room. "Agent Fitz, we're on the move." Fitz nodded at him and joined him out in the corridor. Trip was already standing there geared up in full tactical.
"You coming with us?" Fitz asked, curious.
"Well, Coulson needed all hands on deck for this, so I decided to tag along," Trip explained with a shrug, and Fitz nodded. The two followed Coulson into the quinjet they were taking to the Iliad.
Soon enough, they were in the air, and the other jets from the other SHIELD bases followed close behind, having joined them on the way. May was piloting their quinjet with Trip as her copilot, while the field agents – plus Cal – were sitting in the jump seats, Fitz was working at the computer and Coulson was surveilling everything. "I'd like to formally voice my doubts about bringing him on this mission," May spoke up from the cockpit, so Coulson moved over, hand gripping the ceiling bar.
"I understand your concerns, May, but Cal's lived with the Inhumans. He knows what we're getting ourselves into. We do not."
"He's a loose cannon." May snapped her head at him as she spoke, while Trip was trying to ignore the banter and concentrate on the skies. Coulson looked back at Cal, who was staring blankly in front of him, before looking back at May.
"Worse comes to worst, we let the cannon loose. Any distraction might help us take that boat. Look, Cal's erratic, but if there's one constant, it's his concern for Daisy." May knew Coulson was right about that, so she didn't reply, letting silence fill the cockpit until Fitz' voice snapped them out of it.
"Sir, something's happening with the SOS signal from the boat. I thought it was breaking up, like someone cutting the line."
"Radio interference?" Coulson guessed, standing behind Fitz, now.
"No, but there's, um, uh, a pattern to it, like a code."
"It's Daisy. What's she saying?"
"That it's a trap." Coulson nodded in understanding and stood back to the edge of the cockpit, pressing a hand to the button activating the intercom between him and the other quinjets.
"This is SHIELD 218 ordering all other forces to fall back. Repeat. Fall back," he ordered through the comm, and all the other quinjets left formation.
"And what about us?" May asked, turning her head to look at the director.
"We're gonna finish this."
On the Iliad, Jiaying, Gordon and another Inhuman man observed the satellites, which showed the quinjets leaving formation until only one remained. "All the SHIELD jets have turned around except one," the man told Jiaying, looking at her, now.
"Someone must have warned them. Go check where Daisy could have gone," Jiaying ordered, and the man promptly left to do so. Once he was gone, Jiaying turned to Jemma, who was now back in the room where they had dropped the crystals on the other agents, so she was surrounded by crumbling statues of her former colleagues. "It will soon be time to find out what you really are." Jemma shivered in the back of her spine at Jiaying's words, making the older woman smirk.
"What do you want to do with the rest of the prisoners on this ship? If SHIELD's not coming…" Gordon said, trailing off, gaining his leader's attention once more.
"Then there's no reason to wait. Break the crystals. Release the mist. Either they're Inhuman… or they're dead. But, Jemma will be misted right here, where Daisy can see her when she arrives."
May landed the quinjet smoothly on the Iliad, and Trip assisted in post-landing procedures while everyone else geared up for the fight that was sure to come. "We don't know the size of the force we're up against, but priority one is saving the crew of the ship. Find them. Free them. May, head to operations with Trip. Take control of the ship's functionality," Coulson ordered around, and by the time he was ordering May and Trip, they were both out of the cockpit. Fitz cut him off, however, before he could add anything more.
"Sir, um, Daisy's last message came through. It reads, 'modified crystals lethal – HVAC room'," Fitz told them, as Coulson and May moved over to him to see the screens, while Trip went to get his gear nearby.
"Does she mean the terrigen crystals that release the mist?"
"Yeah. But 'modified' and 'lethal'."
"And the HVAC room controls the ship's ventilation," May pointed out, concern clearly painted on her face.
"Ah!" Cal exclaimed from his seat, drawing Coulson, May and Fitz' attention to him. "So that's what this little mutiny's all about. Gas them all. See what shakes loose."
"Not if I get to her first."
"Oh, no, no. Not you, Phil." Cal stood up as he spoke, making all field agents aim their weapons on him. "This is a family matter. My wife, my responsibility. You just find those crystals and leave her to me." Coulson didn't really know what to say to that so he turned to May for help, but the woman scoffed.
"You brought him," May told him, and Coulson decided to drop it, turning to the rest of the agents.
"All right, everybody." They opened the ramp and drew their guns before moving out of the quinjet.
Mack had found a crate of modified terrigen crystals, and moved them to an empty room, which he could use to bait the teleporting Inhuman. Sure enough, Gordon teleported into the room, looking – well, not literally, clearly – for the crate. "It's Gordon, right?" Mack asked, sitting on the box, one elbow on the handle of his ax.
"And you are?"
"I'm the guy who kills Gordon." Gordon smirked at Mack's words, before disappearing, only to reappear a moment later behind Mack and hit him in the back of the head.
The fight was now officially on.
.
In the command room, Daisy was being escorted inside by one of the Inhumans, who found her wandering around trying to find the crystals. Knowing that he would take her to Jiaying, Daisy didn't put much of a fight and let herself be dragged into the room where she saw Jiaying and Alisha watch over two other Inhumans while they closed up all the crates. Daisy also noticed that one of the slots was empty, meaning she had either used one or was planning on it really soon. "I want you to remain behind. Gather anyone who makes it through the mist alive," Jiaying was telling Alisha as she got close enough.
"What are you doing with those?" Daisy asked, cautiously, when they stopped in front of Jiaying, the man still restraining Daisy.
"What I've always done," Jiaying told her, once she fully turned to her daughter. "There are descendants everywhere. I'm going to find them and build them a better world, where they're not hunted, not afraid."
"And kill anyone in your way."
"Only if they're in our way."
"What does Jemma have to do with any of this?" Daisy asked, finally pointing out the Jemma was there as well. The other girl stood up in her cell and watched the interaction worriedly.
"Your father told me about your love for her. I know now that she is your only true link to SHIELD."
"Daisy? Daisy, you need to go! Get out of here!" Jemma called out, knowing that Jiaying's plan probably involved Daisy, so if the younger girl ran, then the plan could be foiled. A simple glare from Jiaying made her stop, however, and the older woman turned back to her daughter once it was silence. Daisy, however, had noticed the two other Inhumans taking the crates outside, and was getting impatient to finish this.
"If she dies from the mist, then you can join us for real, and if she is one of us, then you and her can take your places within our ranks."
"No, wait! You want me, take me, but don't hurt Jemma! Please!"
"Daisy, don't to this, I'm not worth it!" Jemma begged, not wanting Daisy to pay any kind of terrible price for her.
"I'm sorry, Jem, but I love you, I can't have you die like this!" Daisy told Jemma, before her pleading eyes met her mother's own eyes. "Mom, take me, please, I'm begging you, don't do this!"
"I'm sorry my daughter, but it's already set in motion," Jiaying said, but it was clear she wasn't really sorry.
"No, please!"
"Goodbye, Daisy," Jiaying said, ignoring her daughter's cries, and nodding to Alisha, before leaving.
"No, wait!" Daisy tried one last time, but Jiaying was gone, and Alisha had gone to the cell and dropped a crystal inside that she hadn't seen in her hands before. Once it was done, the man restraining her let her go and she ran to the glass window of the cell instead of going to attack Alisha. She didn't really notice that the man had left or that Alisha was watching her, all she cared about was to girl she loved surrounded by mist. Daisy was unable to do anything, however, when a familiar stone like material covered Jemma's body. All she could think about was how she couldn't live without-
Wait.
Her body?
When her superior had died from the mist, only his skin was covered, leaving his clothes and hair fairly intact. The only times she saw the stone cover the whole body was when-
But that would mean-
That would mean that Jemma was Inhuman, just like her!
A sigh of relief escaped her, but she couldn't help but be worried about her ex-girlfriend now being in a cocoon.
.
Jemma wasn't in there for long, however, maybe about 15 minutes, but she couldn't tell, it still felt like hours to Daisy. It wasn't like her own transformation, as small parts of the cocoon slowly detached from there, until the rest crumbled off easily. Before the process was over, Daisy was already at the door, which had been left unlocked for some reason, and she burst in. "Are you ok? How do you feel?" Daisy asked, repeatedly, once she could take Jemma into her arms.
"I'm ok… I'm alive. But-but how?" Jemma asked, confused.
"I don't know, but I guess you're Inhuman, too…" Daisy suddenly held her closer as she spoke. "I thought I'd lost you… I love you, I will always love you… I can't lose you, not again…" the brunette said, softly, feeling tears in her eyes. She wanted to cling to Jemma forever, but the other girl pulled away from her carefully after a few minutes, looking around.
"We can talk more once this is over, but I think you have somewhere to be first."
"Right," Daisy said, looking back to where Jiaying had gone. "Stay here, I'll come back soon." At Jemma's nod, Daisy gently kissed her forehead before walking out and heading to the door to follow her mother.
"Not so fast," Alisha said, eyes turning fully white, and four copies of the redhead basically came out of her. Daisy clenched her fist and prepared for the fight, both parties moving toward the other.
.
Mack swung his ax at Gordon, but the Inhuman disappeared before it made contact, so the ax only cut through air and the gray-blue smoke residue from Gordon's portal. "Come on, no-eyes! Show yourself!" Mack yelled, and he heard a crackling noise from his left, indicating Gordon had portaled there.
"'No-eyes'? That is the best you can do?" Gordon asked, mockingly, though he was clearly out of breath
"Oh, you want clever? Come a little closer. I'll get real clever."
"You're different than the others. I sense you've encountered something Kree."
"Wasn't pleasant."
"I can imagine. So why don't you put that thing down, avoid any further unpleasantness?"
"I don't think so. I've seen what these crystals can do. So if you want them, you're gonna have to come get-" Mack was cut off from finishing his sentence as Gordon appeared in front of him and kicked him in the chin, which made him take a few steps back. Gordon walked over to him, intending on attacking him further, but Mack swung his ax again, which made Gordon dodge. They fought for a while, Gordon dodging Mack's ax with his portals, until he managed to disarm Mack and kicked him to the ground. Once he had dealt with Mack, he quickly went over to the crate and opened it, but he felt Mack get up and grab his ax, so he disappeared, dropping the crate's cover as he avoided getting hit by the flying ax.
.
Jiaying had joined the other two Inhumans, as they headed out, once she had made sure Jemma was about to be misted, and led them both through the corridors of the Iliad. They turned a corner and stopped in their tracks when they saw Cal standing in the middle of the hallway. "Hiya, honey. What you been up to?" Cal asked, taking slow steps towards his wife.
"You came back here… with them?" Jiaying asked, disbelief and hurt lacing her tone.
"I know. I know what you're thinking. But I've been thinking some thoughts of my own, like… maybe we both kind of lost our heads."
"Get out of the way, Cal," Jiaying said, taking a few more steps forward, but Cal's voice stopped her again.
"No. You need to stop this. This isn't about us or them. This is about our daughter. Think of what you are doing to Daisy. She has been hurt enough in her life."
"I'm trying to protect her from the cruelty of this world, from getting hurt again… like you swore to."
"I know. I failed you. I failed you both. But we can turn this around. It is not too late," Cal begged her, walking forward faster so he was standing right in front of the older woman.
"For you… it is."
"Where's Daisy?!" Suddenly, Gordon was behind Cal and he grabbed the older man, disappearing with him, which gave Jiaying the opportunity to resume her walk to the outside of the boat.
.
"What the hell took you so long?" Mack asked, as he turned around when he heard footsteps from the entrance, finding Coulson and Fitz.
"It's a big boat with poor signage," Coulson defended, as he and Fitz hurried over to Mack, the younger man with a duffle in hand.
"That no-eyed guy keeps popping in here, trying to get at these crystals. If he breaks them-" Mack said, and Coulson cut him off, knowing what he was about to say.
"Everybody's a statue. We heard." Coulson then turned to Fitz, who was gathering some of the items in the bag. "Fitz?"
"On it," the Scotsman said, running around the room to put his devices at each corner.
"Here. Take this," Coulson told Mack, handing him a gun.
"Thanks, but I'll stick with the ax. Ricochets in here will be bad. And trust me, you will miss."
"Right."
"What are those things?" Mack asked Fitz, once he was standing next to them to grab some more devices.
"Quantum field disrupters. Should contain him here if he comes back."
"Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"
"That's okay. You've been busy, and you're not a quantum physicist. It's completely understandable."
"Jiaying's not the only one who can set a trap," Coulson said, moving over to the side of the room and taking one of the tools laying there. "You know, I batted over 0.400 in little league."
.
Daisy punched one of the redheads before quickly turning to the other side, as one of them went to attack her from behind, but the brunette managed to dodge her high-kick and punch. Daisy grabbed her fist when Alisha went to punch her a second time, twisting the redhead so they were both facing the same way, but the clone kicked her in the knee and elbowed her nose. When she was out of her grip, Alisha summersaulted, but Daisy managed to time a punch that knocked her down. Another clone went to attack her, and they exchanged some punches, until Daisy grabbed her wrist, twisted them so she could aim a kick in another redhead's ribs, which sent her flying. The redhead in her grip summersaulted away from her hold and Daisy punched another redhead in the face. The other redhead tried to attack her again, but Daisy blocked her punch and retaliated with her own punch to her face, before grabbing her in a chokehold. While doing so, she kicked another redhead in the face, and knocked the other one in the face.
.
In a hallway nearby, May and Trip were doing some fighting of their own. Trip was probably at equal strength with his opponent, and they exchanged punches or kicks, dodging other blows. In the meantime, May was clearly superior, as she attacked her opponent, punching him three times before grabbing his arm and flipping them to the ground. Once he was down, she quickly knocked him out, and looked over at Trip. The younger man managed to get a one up on his own opponent and knocked him out as well.
They both suddenly heard footsteps at the corner of the corridor, and Lincoln walked in, carefully making his way over to them, probably ready to attack them.
.
Daisy blocked a few blows from one of Alisha's clones, but then a second one got up and they teamed up. One of them punched Daisy in the face, and another one kicked her, before the first one kicked her in the back, sending her to the second one. She grabbed the Alisha-clone's shoulders and made them fall to the ground. The clone got up, and now they were three kicking at her ribs, making her grunt repeatedly. The force of the attack and the way they did it reminded Daisy of her time in Hydra, and she pulled herself into a fetal position to protect herself. Her mind wandered to another time as the three clones kicked her, and all she saw now was her superior's goons performing the attack. No one, and especially not Daisy, noticed the screens closing for a moment, before opening back up again, or Jemma's worried eyes flickering a soft shade of pink for a small moment.
She was supposed to be better than that, Daisy was supposed to be good, the perfect soldier, and that wasn't what she was. She had become weak during her time at SHIELD, and it showed.
Trapped inside her own memories, Daisy barely noticed when the kicking stopped, still feeling them anyways, as the Hydra soldiers in her head were still very much around her. She also barely noticed two people crouching on either side of her, until one of the touched her and she flinched. The contact seemed to snap her mind back to reality and she was able to see and hear what was really going on. Lincoln and Trip were standing close by, while May and Jemma were crouched next to her. "Daisy? Daisy are you ok?" May asked, and she was clearly worried.
"Can you hear us, Daisy? Make a sound if you can hear us."
"Thought I told you to stay put…" Daisy groaned out, trying to sit up, so both women got up and helped her to her feet. Everyone seemed relieved that she was back with them, but she still gave them looks that meant they wouldn't talk about it.
"I was worried," Jemma simply said, shrugging.
"Well, I'm ok now," Daisy commented, and May's look almost translated to 'yeah, right' as she eyed the younger girl.
"Hey, girl," Trip said, after a moment
"Hey, Trip," Daisy greeted him, smiling softly, before turning to her (former?) SO. "Hey, May…"
"My head still hurts," May said, bitterly, though it really looked like she was more worried about Daisy then bitter about the girl knocking her out to keep her cover.
"I'm sorry. I needed to know the truth."
"I understand. But now we have to stop Jiaying."
"Might help if we lose these," Lincoln spoke up, going to Daisy and taking her forearms in his hands to hold them up. If he noticed the small flinch, he didn't mention it, and neither did anyone else. He held his hands, palms down, above the rings blocking her powers and sent electricity into them, so they would overload and be forced to open
"Hurry. There will be more redheads coming," Daisy told him, and soon enough, she was free from the block, and she welcomed the vibrations back around her. "I'll go after her."
"Daisy, I'll do it. I've done it before," May told her, but the younger girl shook her head.
"No."
"You have to be willing to-" May tried to argue, but Daisy cut her off.
"I won't hesitate. You forget that I did this before, too. Whatever it takes."
"I'm coming with you," Jemma said, taking a step forward and into the argument.
"Jem, no. I can't let her use anything against me if I can help it, and she will use you to get to me. She did that before, just a few minutes ago. I can't lose you, you know that."
"I know, but I won't be of any use here. Maybe I can help you. I don't want to lose you either."
"Fine, but you can't put yourself in a situation where you can get hurt."
"Ok." A moment later, the doors slid open, and Daisy saw one of Alisha's clones – or maybe the original one – walking into the room.
"Go," May ordered them, and Daisy ran off through another door, quickly followed by Jemma.
.
In the HVAC room with the crystals, Mack, Coulson and Fitz stood there, waiting for Gordon to appear. He eventually did, and punched Coulson in the face as he appeared in behind him and made him turn around, making the older man twist again and fall on the ground. "Damn it, you sneaky son of a-" Coulson cursed, as Mack moved to strike Gordon with his ax, only for the Inhuman to disappear. "I hate this guy."
"Fitz, hurry the hell up!" Mack yelled at the younger man.
"Yeah, I'm almost there, but I need him back in the room before-" Fitz said, looking at the still loading screen on his tablet, but was cut off as Gordon reappeared in the room.
"Fitz, now! Hit it!" Coulson ordered, and the second the loading was complete, Fitz pressed the activation button on his tablet. The next time Gordon teleported, he found himself unable to leave to the room. Coulson moved to where Gordon seemed to be trapped between the portal and material space, and hit him with the tool, which made the Inhuman fall to the ground.
"I'm trapped in here. That's not possible! What did you do?!" Gordon asked, panting heavily and shakily, as he walked to a corner to have the three agents in view.
"Science, biatch," Fitz said, grabbing a broken pipe in the position of a baseball bat.
"Looks like it's batter up, director," Mack said, and Coulson nodded, so the three agents motioned toward Gordon.
.
Daisy and Jemma managed to find their way to where Daisy's mother was, on the outside of the boat and going to board a quinjet with a crate of crystals. "Mom! Stop! You can't do this!" Daisy yelled, running towards her, stopping at a safe distance from them, while Jemma stayed near the door, as to not get in the way. She was only there for support, if needed. The two Inhumans transporting the crate placed it on the ground and moved to attack Daisy, but Jiaying sopped them.
"No, put them on the jet and get ready for takeoff," Jiaying told them, and they nodded, taking the crate to the jet.
"I can't let you leave with those crystals."
"You can, and you should. It's the only way to protect our people."
"It's not. There are other ways."
"Whose ways? SHIELD? No. Their way is what got us here."
"You started this war," Daisy pointed out.
"This war started decades ago, when SHIELD was founded to guard the world against people like us. And it will never end. But you and I together – think of how powerful we could be. We could launch a revolution… side by side," Jiaying said, slowly walking toward her daughter.
"I don't want your revolution, because this isn't about protecting me or your people. This is about hate."
"No, you're wrong."
"It's consumed you. You can't even tell right from wrong. I can't let you destroy any more lives."
"My daughter. So beautiful." Jiaying stroke Daisy's cheek with her fingers as she spoke. "So strong." She pressed her hands on her cheeks, palms glowing slightly as Daisy gasped for air.
"Mom, what are you-" Daisy tried to ask, but was cut off by her own lack of air, her skin rapidly losing its color and her legs giving out from under her.
"Daisy!" Jemma cried out as she watched the scene happen from the sidelines. She didn't know what to do to help Daisy, and seeing her struggle so much made her believe that she wouldn't stand a chance, but she really wanted to help.
"I always believed the reason I endured all that torture and pain was for you, that you were my true gift. But you're not. This is."
"Don't… do this," Daisy tried to plead with her mother, as she sucked the life force from her daughter, and the younger girl's eyes turned a gray-ish color.
"You made your choice. I'm sorry." Despite slowly losing her life force, Daisy turned her gaze to the quinjet and clenched her fists, creating an earthquake around them. "No!" Jiaying cried out as she lost her grip on Daisy and the younger girl help up her hands towards the jet, sending a powerful vibration at it, which caused the vehicle to be pushed off the boat and into the water. Daisy watched the quinjet fall, as her normal skin color returned and she fell on one knee, too weak to keep her footing.
.
In the control room, Lincoln punched one of the clones to the ground, who retaliated with her own punch, though Lincoln managed to block it. A little further away, May and Trip were also fighting a clone each, but the fights were far from evenly matched, and he three clones were knocked out. "They're gonna keep coming," May told them, walking over to the two men.
"Not if we take out the source," Lincoln told them, and they all looked up to see the original Alisha, who had her hands on the railing, her eyes completely white.
"Got her," May said, aiming her gun at her, but Lincoln quickly forced her to put the gun down.
"We're not bad. We're misled," Lincoln said, before moving to the base of the railing.
"Guy's not wrong," Trip pointed out, when May gave him an exasperated look, though her gaze moved to Lincoln to show her exasperation at the blonde man. Lincoln placed his hands on the metal bar, sending electricity into it, so that Alisha would get shocked and knocked out. When she fell to the ground, all the copies were rendered useless as well, so Lincoln lost his grip on the railing to look around
.
Back in the HVAC room, Mack swung his ax at Gordon, who caught it, and Coulson used the distraction to swing at the Inhuman from another angle, which impacted with his stomach. Coulson went to swing downwards at Gordon's head, but the Inhuman moved and pushed the director to the ground, using his momentum against him. He then ducked under a swing from Mack and portaled away when both Mack and Coulson went to swing at him, which caused their weapons to collide with each other. They saw Gordon had reappeared in front of the crate to grab it, but Fitz hit him in the stomach with his pipe, making him take a few steps back. His back collided with Coulson, and the older man used his own weapon to strangle the Inhuman, pushing it into his throat. However, Gordon disappeared from his grasp a moment later, making the director stumble backwards a little due to the loss of pressure in his arms. Fitz quickly moved to the crate and locked it up. When he stood back up straight, he felt a presence behind him, as well as a low squishing sound. He hesitantly removed his grip on the pipe, and it stayed where it was. The engineer moved away and saw Gordon wheezing with a pipe impaled in his stomach. "Attaboy, Turbo," Mack praised, but their celebrations at winning against the teleporter were short lived as they noticed the blue crystal in the man's hand. Gordon then fell on his knees, crystal falling in his hand, and when he fell forward to collapse on the floor, the crystal was thrown forward. To make sure the crystal didn't fall on the ground, Coulson dove to the ground, sliding over to the crystal and catching it in his left hand. The three agents eyed the hand holding the crystal, hoping against all hope that his hand wouldn't turn to stone, and when it didn't immediately do so, they had a moment of relief, which was once again short lived. Coulson's left fist started turning to stone, the sort-of-infection traveling to his wrist as they watched it happen with wide, scared eyes. Suddenly, the fear was removed by pain when Mack's ax slammed into the director's forearm, leaving a little skin between the infection and the amputation site, causing the man to scream.
.
On the outside of the boat, Daisy slowly got up as she watched where the quinjet used to be, but Jemma's voice made her do a double take. "Daisy, look out!" She was suddenly twisted to face Jiaying, when the older woman ran and grabbed her daughter. Once again, she placed her hands on her cheeks and sucked the life away from her daughter, making her groan. This time, however, Daisy wouldn't let her mother kill her, not before Daisy could put an end to it, so she place a shaky hand on her mother's shoulder, making her gasp when she sent vibrations into the older woman.
"Please. Stop," Cal's voice suddenly pulled Daisy's focus away from her imminent death, as he walked over to them, Jemma close behind. "You don't have to do this. You don't have to live with that pain. I will." Cal placed a hand on Jiaying's neck as he spoke, and suddenly Jiaying went limp with the sound of broken bones. With nothing to hold onto, Daisy collapsed to the floor, but Jemma was at her side in a matter of seconds.
"Oh… Cal… what are you doing?" Jiaying asked, weakly, as Cal held her up close.
"Keeping my promise," Cal replied, eyes watery from what he was about to do. He held her up and squeezed tight until there was a small gasp, which was muffled but the sound of cracking bones. Daisy's father then knelt down, holding the body of his dead wife, crying as he apologized softly to her. Daisy watched the interaction with watery eyes as well, and she struggled to not collapse back onto the ground despite Jemma's grip holding her close.
A day or so later, Coulson stood in his office, left arm in a sling, watching a machine print out blueprints, but his attention was pulled away from it at the sound of a familiar voice. "You ready to talk about it?" Andrew Garner asked, as he stood in the doorway.
"About what?" Coulson asked, turning to give Andrew his full attention.
"Your arm," Andrew said, scoffing, as he sat on the edge of the director's desk.
"Not yet. I'm looking into some options. I'd rather hear your evaluation of my team. Did you manage to get an accurate read on Bobbi?"
"I get pretty straight answers with morphine in the mix."
In the med lab, Bobbi woke up to see Hunter sitting at her bedside, sleeping with his head leaning on his hand. "Hey," Bobbi said, smiling softly at the sight. Her voice made Hunter wake up slowly and look at her.
"Hey," Hunter replied, tiredly, before stretching out his limbs with a satisfied hum. "You look better."
"Hmm."
"Stupid, but better. Going in blind was stupid."
"Separating to cover more ground was stupid," Bobbi countered, but it was slightly weak.
"It was your idea, if I recall. Listen, Bob, hang in there. It's a long road. Surgery again tomorrow. They haven't even started on your knee yet. But soon, you'll be stable, and then…"
"And then… I can't do this anymore." Hunter's eyes flickered sadly across Bobbi's face at the blonde's confession, before he looking down.
Once the machine had completed the blueprint, Coulson grabbed the large paper with his good hand and placed it on the floor of his office "You convinced Mack not to quit," Andrew said, as he had noticed the tall mechanic was still there.
"Yeah, well, he kind of owed me after cutting off my hand without asking," Coulson joked, turning to look at Andrew.
"He respects you. But he still holds a deep distrust of all the alien artifacts you've encountered." Andrew moved from his spot on the edge of the desk to an actual chair as he spoke to Coulson.
"That's why I put him in charge of them."
.
"You know, we could get better readings if we dropped a probe into the glass enclosure," Weaver pointed out, as she studied the few readings on her tablet, her eyes flickering to the monolith a few times.
"No, we're never opening that damn box in 1 000 years," Mack told her, from his spot next to Fitz at the corner of the monolith room.
.
"So, May asked for some time off for the first time in the history of ever. Does that have anything to do with you being around these last few days?" Coulson asked Andrew, teasingly and curiously.
"Now, you know I can't discuss personal matters with patients."
"I'm your patient now?" Coulson asked, a scoff escaping his lips. "I wasn't your patient the other night when you and your ex-wife snuck into my office and drank up half my scotch."
"Ah, it's time May rediscover the world outside of SHIELD, don't you think?"
"That your report?" Coulson pointed at the big folder resting on Andrew's thighs.
"No, no, these are my recommendations for the new program. You bringing other people in on this yet?"
"Slowly. I got Fitz working on these designs. We'll need to be mobile."
"Yeah," Andrew said, nodding, as he got up from his seat to hand the folder to Coulson.
"Thank you. I'm glad you think Daisy's ready for this."
"At this point, I think she's ready for anything," Andrew said, as he walked out of the director's office.
.
Cal and Daisy stopped walking as they arrived in front of the dreaded door, where Cal was to go to and never see his daughter again, while the two guards continued and waited in front of said door. Daisy was standing behind Cal, who kept his head slightly down, eyes watery, before he turned to face his daughter. "This is so long… for now. After all I've done, I'd be a fool to think I'd get a Hollywood ending. Came close. I found you and got to… you know, you're better than I imagined, and I imagined you perfect. You're way more interesting than that," Cal told her, his voice breaking a little at the end.
"I wonder where I get that from," Daisy said, chuckling
"Ah. It's paradoxical, isn't it – my love for my family is what drove me mad? I know I'm going away for good, but I was hoping… you might come visit… once in a while?"
"I will," Daisy told him, nodding repeatedly. "I promise."
"That would be…"
"Let me guess, 'the best day ever'?" They both chuckled at her words. "You have a lot of those."
"No. Just one. July 2nd, 1992." Daisy's eyes watered as well, and went to hug her father for the last time, clinging to him a little. She didn't want to let him go, but she had to, and she cried in his arms while he cried as well.
She finally did let him go with a sigh, and Cal smiled softly at her, before going to the door and following the guards through the first one and then into the hangar.
.
Jemma punched with a rhythmic set into Trip's padded hands, but after a moment, Trip twisted his body when she punched and he used her momentum to push her away. "Come on, girl, let's try again," Trip told her, clapping his pads together twice while Jemma made her way back.
"I just don't understand why I have to do this. I won't exactly be in the field, right?" Jemma asked, punching into the pads once more.
"When they start using the team, then yeah, I think you'll have to get in the field, as Daisy's second in command."
"I wish I could control these… powers… even understand them, but it's hard." She looked down at her hands as she spoke, stopping her exercises.
"I can't really understand, but I'm sure Daisy will do her best to help you with that."
"Speaking of which, why isn't she the one training me right now?"
"She's saying goodbye to her father, and she wanted me to start you up on some things before she goes all May on you."
"Oh, dear…" Jemma shivered at the thought, but she went back to boxing.
"Stop settling on a rhythm, be more unexpected." Jemma did as he asked, and he smiled. "Good, that's it."
"Looks like you're having trouble letting go – hate to see that, my friend," the bartender told Ward, as he stared at the picture of Kara that her mother sent her while she was still rediscovering herself. He never should have made her go to SHIELD, he knew she didn't want to go, and now he was paying the price for it. "Did she walk out on you?"
The betrayal hurt more than he could express.
"She sided with the sons of bitches that hurt her, over me," Ward spat at him, and the bartender left him alone. Ward brought his glass to his lips and took a swig of his drink, letting the alcohol burn through him. As he placed the glass back down, the door opened, and four men walked in, one of them placing a piece of paper on the counter next to him. Ward grabbed the paper and looked through its contents "These are all the names you could drum up?"
"You're lucky we found this many. Whitehall, Strucker, List – the leadership is gone, man. Usually, a head grows back, but not this time. The organization disintegrated."
"I want more names," Ward told the man, placing the paper back on the counter and making the man laugh.
"And I want to marry into money. Do you speak English? No leadership means nobody giving orders, and that sure as hell includes you." Ward slammed his glass on the counter at that, and grabbed the agent's head, also slamming it onto the counter. "Aah!" He then fell on the ground in a heap, knocked out from the blow.
"Do you understand who you work for now?" Ward asked, and the two other agents straightened up. "Good. I'm done flying solo. I miss having a team around me. I want more names."
"Hail Hydra to that. What's the plan, sir? Chaos?" one of the agents asked, and Ward looked back at the picture of Kara.
"Closure."
About a few weeks later, the 'Winslow's Veterinary Clinic' sign was switched to 'open' and a man walked out to place a sign, to attract new clients. As he did so, a woman with her beautiful golden retriever walked over to them, and the man noticed them as he turned around. "Oh! Hey, there, little funny face," he greeted the animal, kneeling so he could pet it affectionately. "You coming to see me today, hmm? You come inside. We'll get you a treat. Come on." He stood up and guided the woman and her dog into the clinic. He was about to go in as well, when he noticed someone standing a few feet away, watching him. "Can I help you?"
"Just passing by," Daisy said, as she approached him. "Nice place."
"Oh, thanks. Well, we're just getting up and running. It's gonna be a magical place once we get totally moved in. You know, we already have adoption days every Saturday. Tell your friends. Free spaying and neutering, too. Just ask for Dr. Winslow." The man – Winslow – was about to go inside, but he stopped himself. "I'm sorry. And you are…"
"Daisy."
"That's a lovely name. Remember, a house is not a home without a pet!" Winslow reminded her, before going back to his clinic.
Daisy stayed for a few more moments, before going over to Coulson, who was leaning on his car. "Thank you for doing that for him. I know aspects of the Tahiti program don't sit well with you," she told the director, leaning on the car as well.
"This does," Coulson told her, removing his sunglasses.
"He has a lot to give… and now a way to give it."
"And what about you? Are you ready to refocus your energies?" Coulson leaned into the car seat as he spoke, taking a folder, which he handed to Daisy. The brunette grabbed the SHIELD folder and looked down at it for a moment.
"A team centered around people with powers? How many on the list?"
"Right now, just you and Simmons. We'll take it slow."
"So basically, you're giving me my job back, but with a team?" Daisy asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yes, basically."
"I've thought a lot about it."
"And?"
"And my mother was right about one thing – people like me need to be kept a secret, not like the Avengers, out in the open. I do want my job back, but as for the team, if we do this, we need to be-"
"Anonymous. That's the idea." He gave her a look as he stopped talking, moving over to the red Corvette's passenger seat while Daisy opened the driver's door. "But it's not if we do this. We have to do this. We don't have a choice. It may feel like things have cooled down right now, but this…" Coulson trailed off as he opened the door and sat there next to Daisy, who was already sitting there. "this is my permanent reminder… that we'll always be paying the price, that we'll never get ahead of the consequences that I, that you, that SHIELD have set in motion."
"Like a ripple in the water."
"But this ripple won't fade. It'll grow and grow until it's a tidal wave."
.
During the car ride back to base, Coulson took out an envelope and placed it on his lap. "What's that?" Daisy asked, curious.
"It's a letter for you… from your mother." Daisy's head whipped to Coulson's side for just a second, eyes wide, until she went back to looking at the road, only half focused on what she was doing, now.
"W-what does it say?"
"I don't know, haven't read it, since it was addressed to you. We found it in her things, which most was given to Garner to study over. I thought I would give this to you myself. I know how much you've worked to get your agent status back, and how much what your mother did hurt you, but if she wrote this to you, I'm sure she has her reasons."
"Thanks, I'll read it when we get back."
Daisy had finally officially accepted Coulson's offer to lead a team of powered people, with Jemma as her second. She had started training the scientist into more of a fighting shape, and there was a little progress being made since she got her powers. She still needed physical contact, however, to maintain it, but it was going well.
She had thought about getting a partner for the search of powered people, and her eyes went to a few agents. Jemma was going to be her second for the team, and would be there when they brought people in, but she wasn't ready yet. She still needed training. She thought about asking Mack, since they had gotten closer during the Iliad attack, but the man still didn't fully trust her. Daisy couldn't blame him, really, she was a former Hydra operative, the majority of her vast skillsets were taught to her through torture and death.
No, there was only one person she wanted as her partner for this, and she was heading to see her, now. She opened the door to Bobbi's bunk, where she was finally allowed to stay and saw her sitting on her bed reading a book. Daisy had read the reports, her lung was still in bad shape and so was her knee, but she hoped that once the blonde was cleared that she would want to team up with her. "You look like shit," Daisy said, to make herself known, and Bobbi looked up from her book.
"Better than you when you got shot," Bobbi pointed out, making Daisy laugh.
"Not possible, I looked hot," Daisy said, grinning, grip tightening around the file in her hands. Her face turned serious, however, as she sat on the edge of the blonde's bed. "How are you doing, really?"
"I'm better. I can start PT for my knee soon, once medical clears me, which is – yay."
"You'll do great. We need you at full strength soon." Daisy handed Bobbi the file as she spoke, but she didn't open I just yet.
"What's this?"
"Coulson gave me a new assignment; form my own team of powered people that I can lead." Bobbi gave her a look that meant she was curious and interested.
"And you're showing me this because…?"
"I'll need a partner for this, and your name was the biggest one on the list."
"I'm still benched, can't you ask someone who's already cleared? Not that I'm not glad you thought of me, or anything, but…"
"Why you?" Daisy guessed, and Bobbi nodded, so she clarified. "When we talked after I got shot in the shoulder, it made me realize that we never really talked much until then. I know that once you're a full strength you'll want to go after Ward, but I was wondering if you wanted to partners on this, too. Work on this as friends. Jemma's my second, once she's fully trained – by yours truly – but I want you as my partner in the field."
"I'm tempted, but what will happen in the meantime? While I'm still benched?"
"Might ask Mack or Trip to sub in the field, warm up your seat for you. But if anything is going on on-base, I'll maybe need you there by my side. Like when we take someone in and we have to talk to them."
"Mack would be ok just going in the field with you?"
"Who can say no to this face?" Daisy asked, grinning.
"Alright. I'll do it." If it was even possible, Daisy's grin grew wider.
"You will?"
"Sure, why not. As long as you're there with me when I go after Ward. I have Hunter for that, but if we'll be partners, we have to be at all times, right? Besides, I think he's partnering up with Palamas now."
"Of course, I'll help! What are friends for? Plus, I owe Ward my own bullet to his head." Bobbi handed Daisy the file back, and the brunette stood up. "Great! Well, I'll go tell Coulson!"
"See you later," Bobbi told her, waving with her uninjured arm.
"See yah." And with that, Daisy was out the door, closing it behind herself.
.
Daisy didn't go directly to Coulson's office, however, she found herself knocking at a very familiar doorstep. A very familiar sight greeted her as Jemma opened the door to her bunk, confused to see the younger girl standing there. "Daisy? What are you doing here?"
"Hey, I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
"Yes, sure, come on in," Jemma said, opening the door more to let Daisy in.
"Thanks…" Daisy said, sitting on her ex-girlfriend's bed.
"So, what brought you here? What's the file in your hands?"
"Oh, that? It's the Inhuman team thing Coulson wanted us on, but you know that already. I'm here for something else, though," Daisy confessed, taking out her mother's letter in the envelope that she kept in her pocket. "My mom wrote me a letter and kept it in her office, apparently. Coulson found it and gave it to me, but I don't know if I can do this alone. Do you mind if I read it here?"
"Of course not, I'm here for you if you need me," Jemma assured her, going to sit on her bed and gesturing for Daisy to follow her, which she did. She read it mostly in her head, taking in what her mother didn't – or couldn't – tell her face to face. It was mostly about why she did what she did, and stories about the short time Daisy was with her parents, before SHIELD took her to the States and Hydra 'adopted' her at the orphanage. At the end, though, Daisy almost cried. "What is it?" Jemma asked, sitting by her side as the younger girl read the letter.
"Jiaying, she… she gave me my sister's location and phone number, told me to tell her what happened, and be there for her now that she can't…" Daisy said, once she was done, a lone tear falling on her cheek.
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah, apparently Jiaying had another kid with someone here a few years after I was taken. She couldn't be with my father, and had a one-night stand with some Inhuman, I think. I don't really remember how Kora came to be, but now I have a 19-year-old sister to look after and tell her that her mother's dead."
"She's your mother, too, Daisy. You're allowed to grieve."
"She tried to kill me because I went against her, and she would have killed you with the crystals if you weren't Inhuman…" Daisy said, and Jemma pulled her into a hug, which she melted into after a few seconds.
"Maybe, but she didn't, and even if you can't grieve the woman that she was, maybe you can finally grieve the mother that you lost all those years ago, which you never really had time to do."
Daisy didn't say anything after that, she clung to Jemma tightly and cried in her arms, while the older girl held her close, head leaning protectively on Daisy's own head.
Fitz stood in the monolith room, looking things over before going back to the lab, when the door opened. "So, did you figure out what that thing did, yet?" Trip asked, as he stood in the doorway, signature smile crossing his face. Fitz lost the grip on something he was holding and turned to Trip with a small blush coloring his cheeks.
"Uh, um… no. No, we haven't… not yet," Fitz managed to say, now leaning on the door as to make sure he didn't suddenly fall on his ass.
"Well, I hope you do soon. That thing gives me the creeps just as much as those Diviners," Trip joked, but it fell flat.
"Why, um… why are you here?" Fitz asked, trying not to sound too rude or blunt. He was told that since the accident, he was more so, and it had a tendency of upsetting people when it got too much, so he hoped he was being rude to Trip. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
"The others are starting dinner soon, they wanted me to come and get you. I'll make sure everything's in order here, and continue making the rounds, so you can head out if you want," Trip told him, his smile back on his face, which told the Scotsman he wasn't too blunt just then.
"Ok… thanks…" Fitz said, walking away from the room a little too quickly for his own taste.
Once he was gone, Trip started checking if everything was in order, if the correct devices were off; he had the rundown from Mack and Fitz a few weeks back, in case he was the one to close up for some reason. As he did so, he noticed the door wasn't fully closed, so he went to close it and make sure it was locked properly. All of a sudden, as he held his hand up to close the door, the stone turned to a liquid. "What the-" He was cut off in his words as he yelped in surprise, when the monolith made it out of the containment room and sucked him in.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this last chapter! Jemma's Inhuman, yay! Kara is good, yay! She deserved so much more in the show, I hope I made her justice here, and will keep making her justice in future books! I did not expect myself to write this long of a chapter, but hope you enjoyed. If you can guess what Jemma can do with the little hints I placed, leave them in the comments!
Also, happy pride month my little queer friends! (idk who's queer, but whatever) Hope you have a wonderful time this month. If you are still closeted for any reason, I am your parent now. I am adopting you at this moment! Again, happy pride! Hello to all my allies out there as well, we love you!
Please comment and/or kudos, I love to hear what you have to say! Though flames will be deleted.
Until next the book!