The Hunters and the Prey - Chapter Thirty-Nine
Author: Milady Dragon
Daisy adored watching her Dad work.
She loved it even more when he invited her to help.
She leaned against one of the work benches in his casting chamber, listening as he began explaining to her what he wanted to do, using his magic to tack one of the largest blackboards he owned onto one of the walls. She understood instantly what he'd hoped to achieve.
"We need to work out how big a potion this is going to be," she said as he rummaged around the bench for a piece of chalk which she handed to him the moment she found one, in a box that her Dad put all his writing implements in. "Do we have any idea just how big the Quorum chamber is?"
With a satisfied sound, Dad took it and went to the blackboard, scribbling arcane equations onto it, his handwriting precise and clear. "We can make certain assumptions based on equally large rooms we've seen," he proclaimed. "We also know that the Quorum was set up to hold five hundred bodies. If we take an average of size of the Wizard, and then the approximate dimensions of the chamber itself…"
Daisy was nodding as she worked through his equations. "We know that only Masters and Novices are allowed in the chamber during a Quorum…"
"That would put the youngest Wizard at fifteen."
"Which implies a smaller body size."
"We also need to make it so that it evaporates once the bomb goes off."
Which made sense; it wouldn't do for it to just puddle on the floor. "What could we use to make that happen?" she asked.
"Some sort of Dispersal spell…"
They continued batting ideas back and forth, Daisy getting more and more excited the more and more complete the equations became. Her Dad really was onto something, his mind making leaps that she only hoped she'd be able to accomplish one day.
Crystal had no idea what she would be gaining when she officially became Daisy's little sister, if just for the learning experience alone.
The young Wizard had long ago given up the wish of somehow suddenly becoming a Void Wizard so that Dad could teach her exclusively. Honestly, he was about the only person he'd trade Mistress Pepper for…well, maybe Ianto would figure on that list, but that was a new development, since she'd only just met him. Dad had taught her so many things, spells and such that she could perform that didn't depend on what magic she could use, and Daisy would forever love him for the patience he'd shown her when she'd slammed him with all sorts of questions, needing to know everything he could share with her.
The Truth Bomb, as he was calling it, was one such magic that they could work on together. Daisy wasn't as good at potions as Jemma and Leo were, but she knew her way around the various ingredients, and she was making a mental list of things that her Dad would need in making what he was planning.
"Do we have enough lemon extract for this?" she asked.
"We might need to raid the kitchens for lemons," he answered, the chalk coming to a stop as he considered the question. "There might not be enough nettle, either. Can you check on that? If there isn't, one of us is going to have to go out on the mountainside for some."
"Andrew won't be happy if we steal all his lemons," she commented as she made her way over to the cabinet where her Dad kept most of his potion ingredients. It was a large wardrobe-like affair that, instead of holding bars for hanging clothes on, was arranged with shelves holding glass jars and bottles, with ranks of drawers along the bottom third.
"We'll make it up to him." He'd gone back to making notations on the blackboard, the chalk squeaking slightly as he wrote.
Her Dad kept the cabinet well-ordered, all of the ingredients clearly marked and in alphabetical order, so she found the jar of nettle easily. "We only have about two-thirds of a jar."
"Then we'll definitely need more."
"I'll be glad to go and get some."
He turned and gave her one of his sweet smiles. "Thanks, sweetheart. I know you'll get exactly what we'll need."
There was a burst of warmth in her chest, both at his confidence in her and his giving her the credit for aiding in making the actual potion.
He began rattling off other ingredients, and Daisy started pulling them from the cabinet, sitting them in neat rows on the nearest worktable. "We're also going to need more cabas root," she said as she pulled that from the drawer it had been stored in.
"That I have on hand, in the pantry."
That had her laughing. "Does Andrew know you put magical roots in with his potatoes?"
There was another pause. "Only if you tell him."
"He won't hear it from me."
Dad winked at her, then continued writing. "Check the storage closet for a container big enough to hold this volume of potion in? We'll most likely need something the size of a wine jug."
Daisy did as he asked. "Why not use a regular wine jug then?" She knew they had to have something like that in the kitchen; most of the wine Andrew used for cooking came in enormous jars that were often stored on the floor in the pantry. "I'm sure there's an empty one we could use."
"The glass is too thick, might be too hard to break, even with magic."
Alright, that made sense. If wine jugs were that easily breakable, the wine in them would never get to its destination.
The storage closet was just as neatly arranged as the spell ingredients; her Dad could be so totally anal about that sort of thing. He kept all sorts of things in there…including several large containers that might just work. She grabbed a couple out, for him to approve or reject. He'd know what he needed better than she would.
"Dad?"
"What is it?" He sounded distracted, but if there was one thing Daisy knew, it was her Dad was very good at multitasking, so she didn't feel at all guilty about bringing up what she was about to bring up.
"If we're adopting Crystal, does this mean you won't be taking on Wanda as a Novice?"
He was silent for a moment, and Daisy's heart dropped a little. Yes, she wanted Crystal to stay with them – even though she had yet to meet the little girl officially, she'd always wanted a sister – but Wanda was so looking forward to becoming Dad's Novice, especially now that it looked like Ianto was going to be petitioning to become Pietro's teaching Master. She wanted the best for her new friend and, to her, the best was her Dad.
"No," he finally answered, "that doesn't mean that at all."
Daisy stifled her sigh of relief.
"What it does mean," he continued, "is that Ianto and Stephen have finally gotten their wish."
The grin Daisy got as she realized what he was saying hit her. "You're going to be staying on as Grand Master?" That was the best news ever.
Well, maybe not ever.
There was still Crystal. That was really the best news ever, gaining a sister Daisy could love and take care of and teach her all sorts of things that sisters did with each other.
"Well, that depends on if the Order wants me to keep me in the position. It's up to them, really."
"But what changed your mind?" He'd been so set on giving up the job once Hydra had been rooted out.
"To be honest," he turned from his equations, in order to look at her with his full attention, "it was finding Crystal the way we did."
Daisy was a little confused, and said so.
"There's a lot of bad things being said about Voids," he explained. "Cardinals, too, but I'll leave that to Ianto to correct. But the pervasive idea that Voids are evil because they work with the Deathforce… that's something that's not only affected me personally, but now there's an innocent child upstairs who was rejected by her family just because she was born Void. How many other children out there have gone through the same thing? And how many have died or been killed just because of the magic they have coursing through them? It has to stop, and I think I'm the one person in a position of power that has had to go through all that. I have personal experience, and a lot of people out there know about the Dark One and what he did. I can use that, to show ignorant Wizards and regular people both that these lies need to be buried before we get another rogue Wizard on our hands who might even be worse. And it's all because it's far too easy to dismiss Voids as being evil."
Daisy had to hug him for that.
So she did.
He hugged her back, his magic tingling against her. It wasn't at all unpleasant, and Daisy never really could understand how either Order could be offended or disgusted by their opposites, or the Greats so convinced they were better than anyone not of their own Order. It didn't make any sense, and her Dad had the right idea.
He pulled away slightly, in order to meet her eyes. "You're a part of that too, you know."
"Me?" she asked, surprised.
"You and your friends. You don't care what magic they have, as long as they're good people. And each of them are the same. You're an example to all of us, Daisy. Don't ever think yourself otherwise."
She found herself blushing a little. But her Dad was right in this, too. Daisy just didn't care about her friends' magic; she cared about them.
"So," he said, "staying in the Grand Master's position would give me the political power to change things." He grimaced at that. "Gods, I never thought I'd actually want to play the politics game. I spent all my time as a Wizard avoiding it."
"Not anymore," Daisy grinned. "You're gonna be neck deep in politics in no time at all if you continue with what you want to do."
"Now, that just sounds terrible." He made an 'icky' face.
Daisy cracked up. "Oh, please do that again in front of Uncle Nick. I want to see his reaction."
"Not going to happen."
Gods, she loved her Dad to bits.
"As for Wanda," he said, picking up the thread of Daisy's concern, "I'll be speaking to her after all this Hydra nonsense is done. Even if Void Order decides it wants me out of the Grand Master position, I'll still be her teaching Master. Besides, one other thing I'd like to do is find the other children from Buda-Pest and see how they're doing."
Daisy jiggled up and down on her toes in excitement. "She's gonna be so thrilled! Ianto's already going to be speak to Pietro tomorrow, so you might want to say something to her so she's not left hanging."
"I will," he promised, "the next time I see her. Now, let's get this potion started. You'll need to go out and collect the nettles before it gets dark out."
"Let me get the shears and some gloves, and I'll head on out." She knew just where the best nettles were, and would take her about half an hour to get there.
The items were in the storage room, and Daisy had just collected them when there was a sudden bright flash along with a rush of air, and two people appeared in the middle of the casting chamber.
She immediately recognized Clint, but it was Natasha that caught Daisy's attention.
The Widow was dressed in a slinky green dress, and Daisy had to admit that the older woman was absolutely gorgeous. She wondered what had gone on to warrant that sort of outfit, and could Daisy get one like it? Green wasn't Daisy's color, but maybe a nice purple? Daisy liked purple.
But as attractive as Natasha was, it was Clint's appearance they really got her attention.
He was pale, his eyes dark and upset. He was leaning on his companion, and she seemed perfectly able to take the weight he was sharing. It looked as if he'd just done something horrible, and was feeling all the guilt in the world.
Dad had noticed it as well; he was striding forward to take Clint away from the Widow, who gladly relinquished the Elf into Dad's arms. "What happened, Natasha?"
The last she'd known, Clint had been on the trail of Daniel Whitehall, along with Jack and Toshiko. They'd had a solid lead, and were following it up. However, something had to have gone wrong for Clint to look the way he did.
She didn't know him that well yet, but even Daisy could tell this wasn't normal for her Dad's boyfriend.
Ew.
There was something vaguely weird about her Dad having a boyfriend. For one thing, he was too old for that term to fit into Daisy's brain easily. She'd have to think of something else to call him.
"Fetch a chair," her Dad ordered.
Daisy hastened to obey, dragging the chair from the desk over and sitting it right behind Clint. Her Dad lowered him carefully into the seat, and then he knelt in front of the Elf, the better to look him right in the eye. Then his gaze darted to Natasha. "What happened?" he asked again, his voice sharp.
Natasha didn't seem to take offense by his tone. "We found Whitehall…and Raina was with him. We hadn't been prepared for her, so Clint killed her."
Daisy wasn't upset about that; she'd heard about what Raina had done to her Dad, that had led to him practically being murdered by Hydra. Hells, she would have killed Raina herself if she'd been there.
"It wasn't Raina so much that's bothering him," Natasha clarified. "It was when her dragon died with her."
Daisy got it. Apparently so did her Dad, who reached out for Clint's hands, holding them in his.
Elves and dragons had a special relationship, even the Elves who weren't Wizards. Every Elf Daisy had ever met – and it hadn't been that many, to be fair – adored dragons, and dragons adored them as well. She could vividly recall the first time Trip's dragon, Knight, had met Jemma and Leo. It had been a mess of epic proportions, with Leo getting jealous over the attention that was being paid to Jemma, despite it not being Trip paying the attention and despite Knight adoring Leo as well. The three of them had straightened things out, and had come out better friends for it, but dragons just couldn't help themselves when it came to Elves.
Elves were the same around dragons.
So, for Clint to have caused the death of a dragon, even though it had been unintentional, had to have been hitting him really hard.
Dad's eyes unfocused for a second. "Lola's on the way down."
"I'll let her in," Natasha volunteered. She squeezed Clint's shoulder then withdrew, heading toward the stairs leading up into the Keep.
"Should I summon Skye too?" she murmured, wanting nothing more than to help her Dad's friend. Having a dragon be around him would do that, and perhaps two would be better than one.
"No, she can stay with Crystal and watch out of her and Lockjaw for the time being. I don't want them left alone."
Daisy could understand why he'd not want Crystal to be alone. Waking up in a strange place would be disorienting, and even though Skye was a strange dragon it would still be a comfort to either Crystal or Lockjaw if they weren't by themselves.
Whatever Dad had told Lola through their link must have been serious, because his dragon never came into the casting chamber voluntarily while Dad was working with potions. Dad had claimed it was because she hated the way he smelled afterward, which did make sense. Some of the ingredients for his potions had very strong scents, and there were times when even Daisy didn't like it all that much. She can only imagine what Dad smelled like to a dragon, who had a more sensitive nose.
Plus, she'd been taking her protective duties toward their two new family members very seriously. For her to leave it would have been too important to ignore Dad's summons.
She suspected all Dad had to do was mention it was Clint and that would have Lola moving.
There was a flutter of wings, and Lola appeared, flying across the room toward Clint and Dad, letting out a mournful cry as she landed next to the chair. As if knowing exactly what was needed, she laid her head on Clint's knee, crooning to him sadly, and Daisy's heart went out to the dragon who was so obviously distressed by her friend's condition.
Natasha joined Daisy, standing next to her as Dad quietly spoke quietly to Clint, he didn't seem to be paying attention; his eyes were on Lola, and there were tears in them that made Daisy want to cry, as well.
"Oh, beautiful," Clint whispered brokenly, "I'm so sorry."
He took one of his hands from her Dad's grasp, resting it on Lola's head. That hand was shaking slightly, but Lola bucked up into his touch, her tongue poking out to lick his fingers.
"She doesn't blame you," Daisy's Dad said. "You did what you had to do. If Raina had managed to get anyone else under her control, it could have been so much worse."
"Dragons, though," Clint sighed. "Phil, dragons aren't vicious or mean-spirited; they love their Wizards no matter how bad things are. That dragon was innocent of what Raina had done."
"We don't know that," Dad denied. "Dragons are so much more than just companions. They choose their Wizards, in a way no one really understands. You remember how I was and you watched Lola follow me into fire and death and destruction. She hurt people, just like I did. She did it of her own free will. And she feels just as guilty about it as I do. But, Clint…Raina wasn't like me. There was a good person under the Dark One. Raina wasn't like that, and her dragon was her equal."
Clint let out a shuddering sigh. "Dragons love their Wizards so much…they'd do anything they were asked to."
With that, Dad barked a laugh. "You have no idea how many times Lola's told me off for something I've done that she doesn't agree with. Once, she was so angry at me she set my bed on fire! Luckily for me, I wasn't in it, but I certainly got the message loud and clear. Dragons aren't mindless creatures. They might choose us, but they don't follow blindly. Each and every dragon out there has opinions and desires and none of their Wizards can get away with shit when their dragon puts their foot down."
As she watched, Daisy could tell that Dad's words were being understood. Clint wasn't as pale as he'd been, and he was actively scratching Lola around her crest. "I just…feel so bad about taking that dragon's life like it did."
"And that does you credit. But we both know none of the others were prepared for Raina. You did the right thing."
"It's still hard."
"Of course it is. And you wouldn't be you if you brushed this off like it didn't matter."
Clint glanced down at Lola. "I really am sorry, gorgeous. That dragon was one of yours, and I'd forgotten that when the Wizard dies, so does the dragon. I never would have even considered hurting another dragon if I could have avoided it."
Lola chirped at him and then, pushing Dad aside, crawled up into Clint's lap even though she was a bit too big to fit. She cuddled him fiercely, obviously accepting his apology.
"I knew bringing him here would help," Natasha said approvingly. "He did do the right thing, but I know how he is about dragons. The moment I knew what had happened I knew I had to get him somewhere he thought of as safe, and to another dragon who wouldn't judge him for what he'd had to do."
"Lola would never condemn him for doing the right thing," Dad said, standing. "Elves and dragons have an affinity, so I get why it was hard for him to realize that he'd not only taken down Raina, but her dragon as well."
'Raina deserved it after what she'd done to you," Clint spoke up. Lola had relaxed against him, her head drooping over his shoulder and his arms around her body just under her wings. His eyes were fierce. "And her power was just insane. I can really get why she went bad, if she could control you with her power."
"I don't think – " Dad began.
"Bullshit. You're the strongest Void Wizard there is. For her to be able to convince you to stop fighting long enough for Hydra to get that cursed Vibranium chain around your neck…no one would have been able to stand up against her. She could have done anything she wanted and no one would have been able to stop her."
Daisy was nodding in agreement. "He's right, Dad. Just the very idea that there was someone out there who could twist your will to hers…that's scary."
If they'd been prepared for her, Daisy could see them taking Raina into custody. But this was the woman who was responsible for distracting her Dad long enough to nearly kill him, and to be honest Daisy felt she would have done the same thing Clint had. She'd never killed anyone before, but Raina would have been on the top of her list.
Plus, she'd been Hydra, who'd been set on turning her Dad to their cause, thinking he was another version of the Deathless. They'd kidnapped Daisy in order to convince him to work with them. Hells, Garrett had believed that Dad had been raising her as some sort of power play, to brainwash her into taking power in the Quorum and that way the Dark One would have had at least the Cardinals under his thumb. It was ridiculous, but then Garrett had been crazy. And he'd only known of the Dark One's reputation, which was a total opposite of who her Dad actually was.
Garrett really hadn't had a chance. Not with her Dad. Hydra really hadn't had much choice but to kidnap her.
The Elf really was looking more like himself now, which was good. Daisy knew he'd probably feel guilty for a while, but that just showed what a good person at heart Clint Barton was.
And the way he was looking at her Dad, in that moment…
"Who's Crystal and Lockjaw?" was what he asked.