A/N: No intro, let's just get down to business.

Response to reviews:

spiderman1fan: Thank you, glad to hear it.

Chloe (Guest): Thanks.

Two Weeks Later

September 4, 2016

Morning

Daisy roamed through the halls of the massive mansion, dressed in her black pants, black t-shirt and black leather jacket. When Barry had rescued her two weeks ago, he had brought her to an abandoned mansion that he was staying in. Barry's base, which he called the Flashcave (Daisy thought the name was cool), was underground, beneath the mansion. Sometimes, whenever Daisy went down there, she would see him workout. She never directly watched him, she always hid behind the door and watched him secretly. Daisy didn't know whether to be impressed or to be shocked, the way Barry was working out was literally insane. Hundreds of pull-ups with a block of concrete tied to his waist, push-ups with multiple bricks on his back and keeping them there, lifting an entire block of bricks and concrete with just a rope and pulley. Honestly, at some points, Daisy wondered if Barry was trying to kill himself with these workouts.

On top of that, Daisy rarely, if ever, saw Barry eat or even sleep. Whenever she saw him, he was awake doing something. In the three months Daisy had been the vigilante Quake, she'd always push her limits despite her fractured arms or broken bones. Barry, on the other hand, seemed to completely ignore his limits. Almost like they never existed in the first place. Daisy had never seen a man who could push himself beyond the breaking point and look perfectly normal, not even Ward nor Mack were capable of having the strength, the speed or the stamina to do the kind of things Barry did in his workout. And all that time in working out, Barry never dared to use his speed, he did the right way, the human way, if there even was such a thing, considering what kind of things Barry did when he worked out.

Daisy walked up the stairs of the mansion, the entire floor having been quite safe for the sounds of her feet thumping on the steps of the stairs. Then, Daisy could hear something from one of the rooms, something moving. Barry. She realized. She made her way to the room and simply stood outside of it, leaning her head against the door, trying to listen to what was going on inside. Daisy then placed her hand on the doorknob, turning right by a few centimeters as she slowly pushed it open with a creak. She looked into the room and watched as Barry pulled off his shirt and tossed to his bed, Daisy tried to hold back a gasp of shock. Even now, Barry's arms, abs and chest still shocked her. His body's skin had completely tightened around his muscles. To put a comparison, a normal person would've thought Mack to be strong and muscular if they saw him shirtless. If they saw Barry, the correct terms would've been jacked and 'totally shredded'.

As Barry changed his t-shirt, he turned around his back to Daisy, whose eyes grew large in horror at what she saw. The fifteen scarred cuts on Barry's back, the small Flash emblem burn mark on it. Daisy placed her hand over her mouth, she had never seen so much damage, not like this. At that point, Daisy stopped hiding behind the door and went into the room as she stood a mere few feet from Barry, who was still shirtless, giving Daisy a good view of his scars.

"Barry," Daisy called out.

Barry turned around and jumped back before sighing in relief at the sight of Daisy. "Jeez, Daisy, what the hell?"

"How'd you get those scars?" Daisy asked.

"What?" Barry shot back.

"You heard me," Daisy said. "I saw all those scars on your back, those cuts, that burn mark, which coincidentally matches the symbol on your suit. Turn around, let me see it."

"Daisy-"

"Now, Barry. Turn around and show me."

Barry sighed, utterly having to give in as he turned his back towards her. Daisy once again saw the scars, she was horror struck by what saw, the cuts and the burn mark scared but what scared the most (apparently) was the fact how Barry took that pain or how he got it. Daisy placed her hands on Barry's back, feeling his soft skin but dry scars as she moved her hands around the scars. Barry did his best not to be tickled.

"How'd you get this?" Daisy asked.

"Remember I told you about the League of Shadows?" Barry asked.

Daisy knew about the League of Shadows, they were based of an old group of warriors called the League of Assassins. Daisy learned that they were the ones who trained Barry to fight.

"Yeah," Daisy replied back. "The...warrior assassins who trained yo-" and that's when the realization hit her. "Wait a minute...did they do this to you?"

Barry turned around as Daisy removed her hands from Barry's back. Barry held a black t-shirt in his hand as he put it on, letting it slide and cover his body.

"Yeah, they did."

"W-why?"

"It's part of the training," Barry explained. "In order to prove that I could begin my training, I had to commit to the league. And for four months I did, I practically did almost anything they asked me to do. Went on missions, took down enemies. If they asked me to burn the world down, I would have done it without a second thought. I did anything they asked me to do, except kill. I never killed, ever. Not once. Killing is the one line I will never cross...ever."

"It was really that complicated, huh?" Daisy said.

"You could say that." Barry said as he sat down on his bed (which he rarely, if he ever, used).

Daisy sat down next to him and for a while the two remained silent, not knowing what to say. They would cast a look or a glance to one another every few seconds and then look away because of how awkward it would rather get (or could get). And so, the two remained like that for a few moments when Daisy finally spoke up with a question.

"Why'd you do it?" Daisy asked, catching Barry's attention. "Why did you come here and leave your earth?"

"It's a long, complicated story." Barry said.

"I'll wait, I can be patient."

"Okay, if you really want to know, here it is. On my earth, I was also a superhero called The Flash. It was after I was struck by a lightning bolt from the particle accelerator accident caused by Dr. Wells."

"Who turned out to be the murdering psychopath who killed your mom and made your father go to prison for the crime."

"Yeah, right in front of me. I was eleven years old."

"God, I'm so sorry, Barry."

"No, it's fine. It's not your fault. Eventually, as time passed I was able to free my father from prison and for a year, we were together. Then, Zoom took him to my childhood home where he...killed him...in front of me, again..."

Daisy was speechless, all this time, she'd thought that she had the unbearable pain to deal with after losing Lincoln. Yet here Barry was, a broken man forced to live with too much unbearable pain. All this time, she thought The Flash was just a man with powers who beat criminals to a pulp because he enjoyed it or because he enjoyed the fame it gave but now, Daisy saw Barry for what he really was: an angry, confused and raging victim. A man who had been suffering from childhood, always losing so much and gaining so little in the process. Daisy listened as Barry continued his story.

"After I defeated Zoom," Barry continued. "I was angry, broken and upset. So...I changed it all. I went back in time, back to the day my mother was murdered. I saved my mom and stopped Thawne from killing her and in doing so, I created a completely new existence. A new timeline called Flashpoint."

"Wait, wait, wait," Daisy said quickly. "You were able to not only travel back in time but create an entirely new existence?"

"Yeah, I can do those things."

"Dang, here I thought I could do cool stuff."

Barry nodded his head. "This 'stuff' isn't so 'cool', Daisy. Whenever I change the timeline, there are deadly consequences. It's like throwing a rock through a glass window, the window shatters and it's never the same. With Thawne, it's different. It's like throwing a rock into a lake, there'll be a few ripple effects, little-to-no changes and everything will go back to normal."

"You're hammering my brain too hard." Daisy joked as Barry smirked.

"Not my fault," Barry's smile then vanished. "Anyways, so I live in Flashpoint for a while. A few months but eventually, I realized I made a mistake and I tried to reset the timeline, make things right."

"But things didn't just 'return to normal', did they?"

"No, there were changes to the original timeline. My friend, Caitlin, had powers, the alter ego kind, like the Hulk but her alter ego had ice powers and she was an evil, homicidal, psychotic maniac. Caitlin could barely control it, she always had to wear some sort of Meta-dampening cuffs on her wrists, to dampen her powers."

"Okay."

"Then, there was Iris and Joe, their relationship changed, Iris ended up hating Joe for god-knows-what because I don't remember right now. One of my other friends, Diggle...his daughter ended up becoming a son instead. Then there's Cisco...his brother ended up dying in a car crash."

"Oh my god." Daisy said in a soft whisper.

"You know, it's funny," Barry said with a sigh. "All this time I thought people like Thawne and Zoom were monsters. Yet, I never took the time to think how much of a monster I am. Creating Flashpoint, practically killing Cisco's brother. All the things, all the damage I've caused to the people around me. Zoom was right, he and I are the same."

"Barry," Daisy said sternly. "That's not true, you're not a monster. You made a mistake, things happen and you made a choice, you wanted to see your parents again. I would've done what you did, in a heartbeat."

"Doesn't change the fact about me. I'm a monster. I infect and destroy the lives of everyone around me, it's who I am. Everything I touch dies."

"That's not true."

"It is."

"Well, I don't believe that."

Daisy then slowly moved her hand to Barry's as she held it tightly, Barry, having really needed the hand, took it and gave it a light squeeze.

"Is that why you left?" Daisy asked. "Because you thought that."

"That," Barry admitted. "And Cisco, Caitlin, Diggle, many of my friends, hating me for it. I-I snapped, I lost it and I left. I just turned around, left and never looked back."

"I'm sorry," Daisy said, still holding Barry's hand. "Look, Barry, I won't even try to understand what it is you're going through but just ask yourself this: the people you love and care about, would they want you doing this to yourself? Working out to the point where you could drop unconscious any moment, going out at night and beating criminals to a pulp?"

"It's not like I can do anything else." Barry said.

"Try doing something normal."

"How?"

"I'll help you."

"Thank you, Daisy," Barry said. "Now, enough talk about me. What about you?"

"What about me?" Daisy asked.

"Why do you want to die?"

Daisy blinked a couple of times. "What?"

"When I rescued you from Alchemy two weeks ago, you were unconscious but I heard you begging me to kill you. You said you deserved it."

Daisy looked away from Barry, trying her best to hold back the incoming tears. Barry noticed as he held Daisy's hand.

"Look, Daisy," Barry said. "I know that you left S.H.I.E.L.D. because Lincoln died. I just don't know how it happened or even what happened. You don't have to tell me but if you want to talk to someone, just know that I'm here."

At that point, Daisy broke, tears pouring out of her eyes as she threw herself onto Barry, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him immediately. Daisy buried her head in Barry's chest, her hair trickling down his neck, as she began bawling and sobbing uncontrollably. Barry wrapped his arms around Daisy as he tried to comfort her as best as he could while Daisy continued crying. Daisy fell to her knees on the ground and so did Barry as they both leaned on the side of the bed.

"It's okay." Barry whispered, rubbing Daisy's back.

"It's not okay." Daisy sobbed, her voice muffled by Barry's shirt. "It's my fault."

"No, it's not. Maybe it's not okay but it isn't your fault."

Daisy continued bawling, let out three months of suppressed pain as Barry comforted her, holding her close and hugging her. Eventually, after about half an hour, Daisy managed to finally calm down. She was still sniffing, her eyes were red and her cheeks completely wet from her tears. Barry noticed that Daisy was doing slightly better as he decided to get something to eat for her.

"Hey Daisy," Barry said. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

Barry tried to get up but Daisy grabbed his wrist, making Barry look back down at her.

"Please don't leave me." Daisy whispered.

Barry got back on the ground, pulling Daisy back into his embrace. Daisy rested her head on Barry's chest as she sniffed, slowly recovering from her earlier breakdown. Barry and Daisy remained on the floor, holding onto each other.

Later

Afternoon

"...are you sure you wanna do this?" Barry asked as he and Daisy stood by the door of the mansion.

"I've spent a lot of time away from S.H.I.E.L.D.," Daisy said. "It's time I went back. You're right, Lincoln wouldn't want me to be doing what I've done."

"And you're sure they'd take us in?"

"Barry, do you trust me or not?"

"I do trust you, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. that I don't trust."

"Trust me, Barry, I have friends in S.H.I.E.L.D. and I trust them."

"I mean-"

"Barry, trust me. This'll work."

"Okay, if you trust them, then I guess I can go with it."

"Yeah." Daisy said softly.

"What is it?" Barry asked, he could see that something was wrong with Daisy.

God, how does he do that? Daisy thought to herself. Barry almost always knew what Daisy was feeling and when she was feeling it. It was almost like Barry could also read minds or sense emotions.

"Nothing," Daisy replied quickly. "It's just, it's been a while since I was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"No," Barry said. "You're worried that your friends are gonna reject you. That they don't want anything to do with you."

Daisy had to give in. "What if they don't, Barry? What if they never trust me again? What if they can't or don't forgive me? What if-"

"Hey," Barry said, placing both his hands on Daisy's shoulders. "Calm down and breathe. You said these people were your friends, right? The closest thing you had to a family. If they love and care about you, they won't have to forgive you for anything."

"You really believe that? You think they'll forgive me?"

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't but either way you have to try."

Daisy took a moment to think and breathe. "Okay."

"Alright." Barry said, taking his hands off Daisy's shoulders.

"Barry, I don't know if I can do this alone. I need a friend, someone with me there."

"Don't worry, I'll be there with you every step of the way."

"Thank you."

"I told you, you never have to thank me."

Barry and Daisy remained silent as they began gazing into each other's eyes. There was a very deafening silence in the entire mansion, it had almost never been this quiet before, there was always some sort of noise but now, there was nothing. Just the light sounds of Barry and Daisy breathing, they stared at each other, not knowing what to do or what to say. Then, Daisy walked closer to Barry, her face was a mere few inches away from Barry's. Barry could feel Daisy's fresh breath on his face, neither of them went forward to close the gap between them. Barry and Daisy leaned their faces closer, they were now mere centimeters apart.

Daisy couldn't help but notice Barry's short, brown hair, the kind he had before he came to this earth. Before they agreed to go to S.H.I.E.L.D. Barry and Daisy had agreed that Barry needed a haircut. Daisy had personally cut Barry's hair and Barry had gotten rid of his black hair dye, letting his hair return to the normal short cap of brown hair it once was. Daisy, on the other hand, decided to keep her hair short and black, like she always had the past three months.

"You know you shouldn't let me give you a haircut again." Daisy commented.

"I think I look great, you did a good job." Barry said.

"Thanks." Daisy whispered.

Barry leaned their faces, closer. Closer. And even closer. Their lips were on the verge of touching each other's when Daisy's fun buzzed, causing Barry and Daisy to jump away from each other. Daisy pulled her phone out of her pocket, noticing what the notification was.

"What is it?" Barry asked.

"It's Yo-yo, she's at the bus stop," Daisy replied. "She's waiting for us."

"We should go," Barry said. "We speedsters don't like to be kept waiting."

"For the record, you are like twenty times faster than her from what I've seen. Plus, you have ways can get faster. Yo-yo can't, her speed is always the same."

"She's that slow?"

"Well, her powers aren't powered by an entire extra-dimension that encompasses the Multiverse, so..."

Barry smirked. "Fair point. Let's go."

"Yeah, do your thing."

Barry grabbed Daisy as he ran out the door at super speed, phasing through it. He ran far from the mansion and closer to the emerging city of New York.

Radcliffe Manor

"...it's brilliant." Radcliffe said, pulling the virtual reality headset of his head as he handed to Fitz.

"Yeah, it's a virtual reality training simulation," Fitz explained. "I call it the Framework. I've designed so that..."

"So that anyone in it can feel pain, like the real thing."

"Yeah, that's the plan." Fitz said, setting the headset on the table.

"Are you kidding me?"

Fitz turned around to face Radcliffe, confused at the older scientist's words only to realize that he had been talking to the TV, specifically the football game that was being live streamed on it. Radcliffe's team had been losing by multiple points to the point where they were essentially screwed, Fitz didn't even have to know anything about football to know that. He could see it on the scoreboard. At that point, Radcliffe gave up as he grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. Radcliffe wasn't very keen on failure and so, he didn't want to see his team lose the match. Fitz, on the other hand, was smirking to the point where he just couldn't hold it and started laughing.

"Shut up." Radcliffe half-gritted.

"I told you they were going to lose." Fitz pointed out.

"Hmm..."

"Radcliffe, say it."

"Hmm?"

"Say it."

"No."

"C'mon."

"No."

"C'mon, Holden. Say it."

"Not happening."

"Just say it."

"Never."

"Never say never."

"I hate that saying, you're basically saying never. Twice."

"Holden, say it."

"You were right, I was wrong." Radcliffe said quickly before breathing in a huge breath of air as Fitz completely burst out laughing, repeatedly (and lightly) smacking his fist on the table.

Fitz' face was completely red, his skin straining on itself. He finally calmed down as he made awkward facial gestures to stretch his face, which finally returned to it's Caucasian-like form, the redness disappearing. Fitz packed up everything he had brought with him to Radcliffe's house except for the Framework headset, that he was leaving with Radcliffe. Radcliffe mentioned earlier if he could borrow the Framework project and make a few edits and upgrades to it, Fitz didn't know what more Radcliffe could've possibly done to upgrade the Framework or even what he was going to do but either way, he trusted the man. He reminded him of his father and in some ways, Radcliffe really was a father to Fitz.

Fitz scooped up his bag, the black strap was hanging from his right shoulder and it went in a diagonal direction, leaning on the left side of his waist. He was about to turn around and head for the door but Radcliffe's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Fitz, wait!" Radcliffe yelled out as the Scottish engineer turned to meet him. "I want to show you something."

"What?" Fitz asked.

"C'mon."

"Alright, but make it quick."

Fitz followed Radcliffe through the halls of his large house, passing many empty bedrooms, many studies before finally making it to the end of the hall. The pair stopped at near a wall as Radcliffe turned to Fitz.

"Alright, I've told about my LMD plans, yes?" Radcliffe asked as Fitz sighed.

"Yes," Fitz admitted. "but I looked over them and they won't work. The Life Model Decoys are impractical designs, there's no way they can succeed and look human at the same time."

"No, but it did work."

"What?"

"Let me show you."

Radcliffe turned to the wall as he placed his hand in the middle of it, part of the wall suddenly glowed blue as it scanned Radcliffe's handprint. The blue light then flashed green as a small part of the wall, slid open like a door. Inside, there was a human-like, android LMD who appeared to be asleep. She was standing but her head was slightly tilted downward and her eyes were closed, the LMD wasn't breathing and it (she?) probably didn't need to. The LMD was wearing a green dress, though she obviously didn't appear to care. Radcliffe then pulled out a remote as he pressed a button on it. Then, like a computer, the LMD came to life as she stood tall and came out of the corridor.

"AIDA, I think it's time you met Fitz, isn't it?" Radcliffe said to the LMD.

'AIDA' nodded her head. "Indeed, I believe it is." AIDA turned her head to Fitz as she held out her hand to him. "I'm happy to shake your hand, Leopold."

Fitz shook hands with AIDA, having not wanted to be rude. "A pleasure to meet you. Your name is AIDA?"

AIDA and Fitz dropped hands. "An acronym, Agent Fitz. It stands for Artificial Intelligent Digital Assistant."

"Isn't this nice?" Radcliffe asked rhetorically. "Well, I know this is a short meeting. AIDA, do show Fitz to the door, please."

AIDA smiled. "Happy to."

She left the hallways and made her way to the door, leaving Fitz and Radcliffe alone.

"What're you doing?" Fitz asked.

"What?" Radcliffe shot back.

"This is dangerous."

"Fitz, I know there're some risks to it."

"It's more than just risks, Radcliffe. If this gets out of control, it'll be chaos..." Fitz then dropped his voice to a whisper. "...this is illegal, internationally illegal. Remember what the Sokovia Accords said?"

"I know what they said but Fitz, there's always risk in stuff like this, sometimes you just got to go for it. You know this better than most. Besides, AIDA is intended purely for good purposes."

"So was Ultron."

Before Fitz and Radcliffe could carry out their discussion any further, Fitz' phone panged, indicating the sound of a notification. From his pocket, he pulled out his phone and looked down at the notification.

"What is it?" Radcliffe asked.

"It's a text from Jemma," Fitz said as his eyes grew large in shock at what he was reading. "It's Daisy. She's coming back to S.H.I.E.L.D. She just called them."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she literally just called. I got to go then."

"Alright, see you."

"Next week?"

"Sure."

Fitz then walked down the halls and through the door, which AIDA had been holding for him.

"I look forward to our next meeting, Leopold." AIDA said.

"Likewise." Fitz replied, not wanting to be disrespectful, even if it was to an LMD.

Fitz then exited through the door as AIDA closed it behind him. Radcliffe slightly smiled as he watched Fitz leave and watched as AIDA performed her daily routine. Suddenly, a dark, metallic voice echoed inside Radcliffe's head. A voice only he could hear.

"Holden." the dark, metallic voice echoed inside Radcliffe's head.

Instantly, Radcliffe's smile dropped from his face, which now wore a blank expression. He knew what he had to. He what it was time for.

A Few Hours Later

S.H.I.E.L.D. Base

In the meeting room of the Zephyr One, Director Jeffrey Mace as well as Coulson, May, Simmons, Fitz, Mack, Hunter and Bobbi all stood around the meeting room, spread across in different spots. The entire Zephyr One was empty except for Mace and the rest of the agents. They had been waiting patiently for Daisy to arrive. Daisy had also mentioned that she would bringing Elena and a new friend with her. Now here they were, waiting for their friend to come back.

"Where is she?" Mace asked.

"She's probably on her way here now." Simmons suggested.

"She should be here by now." May said, sounding even more worried by the second.

"I already am." a familiar female voice said.

Everyone's eyes grew large as they turned to face the direction where the voice came from. At the entrance to the meeting room of the Zephyr One, there were two average-height females and one tall male. Everyone was staring as Coulson ended up being the first person to speak.

"Daisy." Coulson said in a bare whisper.

A/N: I'll end that chapter right around here. The next chapter will mainly kick off interactions between Barry and the agents and feature Daisy reconnecting with her old friends and family. The next two chapters will kick off S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Flash's war with Savitar, Alchemy, the Cult and the Watchdogs.

Well, what an chapter! AIDA has arrived, Daisy has returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. and she's brought Yo-yo and Barry with her.

For this chapter, I decided to just bring Daisy back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and have her bounce back from Lincoln's death thanks to Barry helping her. I also decided to skip the whole Daisy being rogue/Daisy trying to get herself killed arc because to be honest, I hated that arc. The things that Daisy did as the vigilante Quake are downright unforgivable: bringing down buildings and bridges, knowing very well that innocent people could've been caught and/or even killed. Holding Simmons at gunpoint to force her to help her. I don't even want to go further. I get Daisy going rogue after Lincoln's death but the lengths she went to with that is plain unforgivable. Like WTF. The things that Daisy does and the way she keeps trying to get herself killed really makes me wish that someone would just sit her down and be like 'girl, he's not worth it. Just chill out a bit. Go to a therapist or something and just deal with your damn trauma.'

I'm currently watching season four of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I'm on the agents of HYDRA arc. I will say I am impressed but it doesn't change the things that Daisy did. Honestly, the Daisy Johnson of season four of AoS wasn't worthy of being Quake. Neither was the Barry Allen of season three of The Flash for having been so obsessed with saving Iris while completely ignoring everything and everyone around him. Honestly, after seasons two and three of their shows, I heavily dislike what was done to Barry and Daisy's character arcs in The Flash and AoS. They deserved much better. But then again, the writers just always have to go and screw things up cause why the Hell not? Snart is right after all with pretty much any plan-making process. You make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails and then throw away the plan. Snart's a genius and a true legend.