The Hunters and the Prey - Chapter Seventeen

Author: Milady Dragon

Daisy did the best she could to hide her nerves at being left alone with Grant Ward.

She didn't want to do this. The very last thing she wanted was to be there, in that dungeon, facing the person she'd thought was a good friend, and who could easily have been more…if he hadn't turned out to be a homicidal bastard.

The young Wizard really didn't know how it had happened, what had caused Ward to decide to cast that spell and try to kill two of their friends, who'd never done anything to him to deserve such a thing. Ward had always claimed it was an accident, but no one believed it, not after Grand Master Ianto had gone into the specifics of the spell Ward had used. For one thing, it had been well within his power to cast, despite telling the hearing that he'd only attempted that particular spell because it was advanced, and because of that he'd lost control of the magic and it had led to the hermetically sealed bubble that had trapped her two Elven friends. He'd never admitted to where he'd gotten it from, but now Daisy suspected it had been John Garrett. Now, whether Garrett had, for some reason, ordered Ward to do it, or if he'd just decided one day that Jemma and Leo were a danger to him, she doubted anyone would ever really know.

She found that she didn't really want to.

"Hello, Daisy," Ward greeted her, his tone smooth and warm.

Daisy crossed her arms over her chest, the gauntlets clinking softly as they touched. "Ward." She was proud of the fact that she didn't sound as defensive as she felt.

The bruise from the punch she'd given him back at Hydra's hideout was now a worn-out yellow, but there were now marks on his face from where Lola had stepped on him. At no point did Daisy believe that was an accident on the dragon's part. Lola was protective of Daisy's Dad, and that extended to Daisy as well. Knowing that Ward had been responsible for kidnapping her and then ambushing Dad would have given the dragon all the motivation she'd needed to get a little damage in.

Apparently, Natasha had done some damage as well, judging from the black eye. Daisy was spitefully pleased about that.

"I'm really sorry about what happened."

Daisy scoffed at that. "No, you're not."

"But I am." Damned if he didn't look sincere. The young Wizard had had no idea that he'd been such a good actor. "I don't care what Jones said…what happened was an accident. He just doesn't care about Voids, and will do whatever he can to make things our fault."

She had to laugh at that. "You obviously don't know Ianto Jones all that well if you think that! One of his best friends was Mistress Suzie Costello, a Void Wizard and the woman who taught my Dad. He doesn't hold a thing against the Voids…unless they're traitors to magic, that is. Then he'll do his damnedest to hunt you all down and make sure you're punished for what you've done."

"I didn't realize you were so naïve."

"And I didn't realize you were such a manipulative asshole."

Ward sighed. "These recriminations won't get us anywhere. I have something important to tell you, and I need you to listen to me."

Now, his voice carried such conviction that Daisy found herself wanting to listen…for about the space of a heartbeat. Then she remembered what Ward had done, and that she had to real reason to trust him. "Fine. Share away."

He nodded. "I let the Widow find me, because it was the only way I could get to you."

Daisy didn't believe that for a second. Even though she'd never met the Widow before, she'd gotten the distinct impression that the woman was extremely capable of knowing a con when she saw one. No, Ward was a prisoner, and this was his chance to sow a bit more chaos and doubt, so he was going to take it.

"I only want to hear about Hydra," she told him. "What can you tell me about them?"

"I'm simply a Novice, Daisy. Why would they tell me anything about their plans?"

Well, he might have had a point about that. Would they have shared their plans with their Novices? Daisy knew that Pepper didn't share everything with her, after all, and the Head of Cardinal Order trusted her. There were just things that a Novice shouldn't know. She wasn't ready, or they were Guild secrets that Pepper didn't tell anyone.

She didn't say anything, though. She waited to see what Ward would do next.

"Look," he finally spoke, "I might not know their plans, but there are things that they did share, and one thing is pretty personal…to you."

"I'm not sure what Hydra would know about me. I'm just not that important…unless, I'm a bargaining chip to get my Dad to do what they want him to."

"When Hydra figured out that Phil Coulson was the Dark One," Ward explained, "they checked into him…and you. Whitehall went all the way to Asgard to question Loki, after all, because they were so certain he was the Void version of the Deathless."

Daisy hadn't known about that. Loki was a prisoner of the Asgardian King, Odin, and from what she did know there was no chance of him ever getting out. How Daniel Whitehall had gotten in to see him… that seemed impossible, but it certainly explained how they'd all been certain that Dad was who they'd assumed he was.

"Hale also went searching for information on you…the Dark One's Cardinal daughter. Garrett thought he'd adopted you in order to make some sort of power play later on, that this was just some sort of long game that only Coulson knew about. Hale felt that, if she could find out more about your past, we could somehow co-opt you into acting as Hydra's Cardinal figurehead as well."

Daisy had heard that sort of thing from Garrett, back when he'd first approached her Dad with this whole Deathless scheme. She knew it wasn't the truth, but she could see why they'd think it; after all, he was Void, and she Cardinal, and usually magic followed bloodlines…plus, Cardinals and Voids were opposite. A Void parent even adopting a Cardinal child was basically unheard of.

Her Dad loved her. She knew that in her very bones.

Still, she found herself curious as to what this Hale person had discovered. Not that she could necessarily trust whatever came out of Ward's mouth, but she really wanted to know what he was about to drop on her.

"What she found out," the captive Wizard continued, "was who your true parents are."

What?

Now that….that, she hadn't expected.

There had been a short time in her life that Daisy had wondered about her birth parents; why they'd given her up, and if they were still alive. She'd grown out of that, understanding that even if she did know, it wouldn't have mattered. Phil Coulson was her Dad, the only parent she'd ever known, and she loved him fiercely.

There was a small, burning anger deep within her that her parents had simply dumped her at that first orphanage. She had no desire whatsoever to know anyone would do that to a defenseless baby.

Daisy snorted. "Like I care."

That seemed to take Ward by surprise. "They're your parents, Daisy…and not the man you call your Dad.."

"No, you're wrong." Now, that low-banked fire was rushing forward, and it was all she could do not to step right up to those bars and punch Ward in his oh-so-smug face. "The people who abandoned me aren't any sort of parents I ever want to know. My Dad is the man who took me in, who gave up his entire life just to raise me, the person who loves me unconditionally. Not someone out there who didn't give a damn about me."

The young Wizard clenched her fists at her side, even as Skye was hissing at Ward, her outrage echoing Daisy's own. Even if he did know her real parents, she could see this was just some sort of ploy: was he going to offer to take her to them, as long as she released him from his cell? That was the only motivation she could see for this sort of revelation, because she was absolutely certain he didn't care one way or the other about any sort of reunion.

"You're not getting a damned thing from me," she swore. "You can rot in that cell for the rest of your life for all I care."

She spun on her heel and stalked down the corridor, Ward's voice calling her back hurting her ears. There was no way she was turning around to listen to more of his bullshit. Skye was agreeing with her, the dragon angry on her behalf, although she wanted to fly back to Ward and flame his ass.

That sounded like an awesome idea, but Daisy wasn't going to allow it. She could appreciate the sentiment, though.

How dare he? Trying to wreck the relationship she had with her Dad by throwing up these missing parents at her. Well, it wasn't going to work. She didn't give a single fuck about the people who'd birthed her. Childhood curiosity was one thing; but, now that she was older, she had absolutely no desire to know them. They'd left her, and she'd lived the first six years of her life being moved from orphanage to orphanage, no one caring enough about her to take her in and make her their own.

Not until her Dad had found her.

He'd completely changed his life in order to raise her. He'd taught her, and helped her, and supported her and loved her. He was her father, and it didn't matter that his blood didn't run through her veins. He was more her Dad than those bastards who hadn't wanted her, because he had.

Arms wrapped around her, and she recognized her Dad's embrace without registering that he was there, holding her. She hugged him as hard as she could, needing him to know that she loved him and that she'd never leave him, no matter what.

"I know," he whispered into her ear, understanding without her even saying anything. "I know."