TW: Implied and referenced Child Abuse and PTSD.
Misconception — Bouncing Back — Chapter Four
There was next to no one in the lab anymore, just Mr. Fitz who seemed to be working on something. Lukian was pretty sure that Mr. Fitz had finished his previous project for the other guy by now. He had heard snippets of conversations from time to time, but it wasn't constant— nor could he do it on command.
Lukian wasn't exactly sure what time it was, he didn't really have much in the ways of objects in his room.
If he had to guess, and use context clues— it was probably night time now judging by how all the scientists had left. He had no friggen clue how long he was required to stay here, he just knew it was pointless.
He was absolutely perfectly fine.
There was nothing wrong with him
And as long as he didn't drink or inject himself with any chemicals from the sedative it was going to stay that way too.
The only bad thing he had going on was the headache from the background noise. And as the whistling wasn't as prominent as before, it was almost fully gone now— but the white noise was a constant, in a low tone. Lukian had absolutely no idea as to what that meant, or what he was even hearing. All of it was still a mystery. He just wished it would be case closed soon, Lukian hated not knowing things. Then again, everyone did, and if you didn't you trusted way too easily.
For the millionth time Lukian took apart the pen.
While he didn't have much in the ways of objects… he did manage to grab a pen to entertain himself with. For the past hour he's taken it apart, imagined it was a launching space-ship, then tried to sling shot the ink compartment across the room, and then also see how high up the spring would go.
He was intensely bored and longed for something to do that didn't evolve a pen.
Lukian leaned to his right to look outside of his little room. He admired how prestine the lab was, now nice a modern it looked. No scrambled parts, or tools lying on the floor, or piled all up in a bin, no grease all over the workspace. Lukian would kill for a lab like this in the high-school.
While he wasn't in high school himself, after school— middle school— he would always go to the tech lab in the high-school and just mess around with the electronics. He had taught himself a few things as well as copied from some other high-schoolers that were there doing a project for their robotics class.
It was a hobby of his, and he apparently was natural gifted at it according to his teachers.
But everyone else—
After looking around the lab for a few minutes, the urge to check it out and mess around with a few things grew.
Everything looked so friggen cool!
He knew he was told to stay put, and that he was still recovering. It wasn't like this was the first time he didn't listen— it mostly definitely wouldn't be the last either.
Lukian took a chance— a very stupid chance. He flicked off the pulse-finger-equipment then quickly and quietly made his way out of the med-room.
He made sure to stay out of the line of sight of Mr. Fitz in the lab. When suddenly Fitz glanced up from his workstation Lukian swiftly ducked behind a lab table. For a second the white noise grew then just as quickly returned to its normal hum, he ignored it for now the best he could. It was driving him insane anyways.
Lukian was about to move farther back in the lab when something on a workstation in front of him caught his eye.
Cautiously, Lukian crouched up enough to see what was on the table. It looked like a really-really-really small motherboard, but Lukian recognized it to be a Nucleus 5 micro chip that is usually used in hearing-aids. There could be other uses for the chip he was sure, yet the main use was for hearing-aids nonetheless. He moved on to a different lab table, most of the parts here he wasn't familiar with. Except for the small battery-pack. Lukian fingered with it trying to find out what model it was. After turning it on it's side a few times Lukian noticed the little, tiny, white writing on the side, it said:
O NantEnergy
It took him a minute to recognize where he had heard that name before. He almost started snapping his fingers and tapping his foot hoping it would jog his memory— right before realizing that would be incredibly stupid and he was doing something idiotic right now. But it didn't matter because it came to him anyways, it was a Zinc-Air battery.
Lukian only knew all about Zinc-Air batteries because one of his friends was deaf, or at-least partly deaf. He had the possibility to use hearing-aids, but he just didn't have the money to be able to get them since hearing-aids were incredibly expensive. So instead Lukian scrounged for the proper parts and built some himself as a favor to his friend.
Who was actually more like a brother to him over anything else.
Lukian had used the same batteries when he built his friend's hearing-aids, they worked differently than other batteries. They were powered by oxidizing zinc with oxygen from the air surrounding it.
After seeing the microchip and the battery, it would be safe to assume that someone was building hearing-aids— or at least some technology built to go in the ear.
Maybe that's what Mr. Fitz and the other guy was talking about.
Lukian glanced up at Mr. Fitz, trying to get a read on what he was doing. He was reading a few charts on the computer monitor. Lukian was about to move closer to get a better look before hearing the whistling and white noise grow, it was coming from the hallway. Lukian quickly looked to see what it was, it was Dr. Simmons coming into the lab.
Lukian panicked— he knew he wouldn't be able get back to his room in time without her spotting him. She was conveniently placed between him and medical. Lukian swiftly adjusted his hiding spot behind a lab table to make sure he was out of view from both.
Dr. Simmons paused at a workstation directly behind Mr. Fitz. "When did you get done?"
It was relatively quiet in the lab, the only people in it was him, Mr. Fitz, and Dr. Simmons— yet it still was difficult to hear the actual conversation between the two. Mr. Fitz quickly glanced behind him, Lukian could tell he was slightly startled by her sudden presence.
"Uh, earlier today." Lukian believed that's what Mr. Fitz replied, his voice was too quiet to hear properly. "I think he's gonna like this one."
Lukian tensed slightly when the whistling grew again, then morphed into their voices once more. If his new power meant he was able to eavesdrop easier now— he was in.
"How are you?" Mr. Fitz asked after a moment, his voice was much louder now and clear enough to make out. "Must be fascinating gettin' to know all about DNA and—"
"I miss you." Dr. Simmons cut him off. "There it is. I miss you."
Mr. Fitz turned back around. "I'm here. Together. We're—"
"Professional and matter of fact, and there's this chasm in the middle of the room of all these things, of our kiss, and Will's death, and..."
Lukian suddenly got the idea that this was supposed to be a private moment between these two… but, technically, it's not like he could go anywhere. He would have to pass right through Mr. Fitz's line of sight. So unfortunately he was stuck. He just hoped they didn't just start kissing, then it would get uncomfortable for him. Though, it could pose a good distraction to get back to where he should be at the moment.
"And I'm sorry about that, Jemma, because— Because maybe there was another way… and there was something else that I could have done."
"Will died saving me." Dr. Simmons stated. "What you did was kill a thing, a monster."
Okay, now Lukian was confused. Was Will the monster who killed all those people back at the compound?
And did Mr. Fitz kill him?
But if Fitz killed him already then why did Lincoln give him that warning? Mr. Fitz had been in the lab almost the whole day and when he was gone it was only for an hour or so. He really wished he had the context for this. Even if it was none of the business, Lukian was curious.
"You've been nothing less than extraordinary this whole time." Dr. Simmons said.
Lukian heard the swivel of the chair, the white noise slightly increased with it then faded away again.
"So, Umm…" Mr. Fitz started. ". . . About this… chasm, as you call it."
"Can we start over, back to where we began?" Dr. Simmons suggested.
"Sixteen and achingly shy,"
"Two people, endlessly inquisitive, about to embark on a relationship that will change their lives, but they don't know where it will go." Dr. Simmons said.
Yeah, these people are weird.
"I'm Jemma Simmons, biochemist."
Lukian ducked futhed as Mr. Fitz stood up. "Leopold Fitz, engineering."
Yep, definitely weird.
"Hey, do— do you want to help me with the— that,"
"I would love to, Fitz." Dr. Simmons said.
Lukian was about to return to his snooping around when the white noise and whistling grew just like when Dr. Simmons came into the lab. He saw Lincoln pass by in the hallway, as he went through a doorway to somewhere else, the sounds subsided.
Lukian released the breath he didn't know he was holding. He wasn't exactly sure why he cared so much about being caught, maybe it was the fact that he could possibly— and probably, would go to jail.
Eh.
On the table in front of him looked like the reason for all the hearing-aid hardware. Lukian fingered one, he could tell it wasn't a hearing-aid, but definitely was built for an ear, and had many similar components. There were seven of them laying around, two were opened up with the parts laying out next to it. The battery in one of them blew up from the inside out.
It was a good thing it wasn't a normal battery.
The second one laying about didn't seem to have any physical damage— or at-least none that he can openly see.
The speaking between the two adults changed into the whistling once again much to Lukian dismay. He would definitely rather listen to a conversation opposed to hearing something that made his head want to blow. Lukian suddenly had an idea pop into his head. If hearing-aids amplify sounds, maybe, just maybe, he can reverse engineer the technology to silence— or quiet certain sounds, such as the whistling.
If that was possible Lukian would jump on that in a second.
The only problem was he didn't have the supplies, or money to build such a thing.
Well. . . .
There was the supplies he needed right in front of his eyes, just sitting there. And these two specific ear-pieces— with the hardware inside, were broken so it's not like anyone would miss them, in fact he was doing them a favor. He was saving them a trip to the garbage can. And with the proper tools he knew he could fix them.
Lukian hesitated slightly before grabbing the ear-pieces and stuffing them into the case nearby, then into his pocket. He wasn't usually one for stealing— he just couldn't handle the noise, it was getting to be too much. He swore his head was going to pop off.
Lukian went back over the other lab table to grab the new fresh battery and stuffed that into his cargo pocket too.
He took a peek over at Dr. Simmons and Mr. Fitz, they were both hunched over a lab table distracted by whatever-the-hell it is they were doing. Lukian took his chance and made his way back to his medical room. Once he did make it back to the room he noticed a file just laying about, it wasn't the file that caught his attention— it was the date on it that did. It was written in script so it was a little hard for him to read it, but it was clear what the actual numbers were.
15 - 8 - 2016
It was written on the cover of the file at the bottom in thin black ink.
At first it didn't make sense to Lukian, there weren't fifteen months in a year. Then he realized that since Dr. Simmons was British, it would be obvious that she wrote her dates just so. But even if the month and day was reversed, that still didn't make sense. It was May, fifteenth— definitely not August. That was impossible, not true.
How could it even—
They said he was asleep for a long time…
One minute he's on the street of queens— next minute he's in a dark castle halfway across the world.
It's why Mr. Lincoln asked what the date was back on the plane.
All the pieces fit but….
How could that even be possible?
How can he just skip… Three Friggen Months!?
All of his friends—
The baseball season—
He lost all that time…
The white noise grew louder in his ears. Lukian backed away from the file trying to process everything. How come they didn't tell him? Why did they keep him in the dark about this? This was massive!
I missed three damn months?!
That at-least deserves an explanation. Or the privilege of the knowledge that he was asleep for all that time. He must have backed up far enough into the table causing something to fall because the loud noise of a metal tray and medical tools crashing on the ground snapped him away from his thoughts. He quickly tried to pick up and recover the fallen items before anyone noticed. He just finished putting everything back on the table when Dr. Simmons and Mr. Fitz ran in.
"Is everything alright, Lukian?" She asked. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Lukian was a little too shocked from the previous events to realize that she was speaking to him, despite her even saying his name. His mind was seven paces behind.
"Oh, uhhh… Y-Yeah," Lukian stuttered, he put on a fake smile. "I'm fine."
Simmons seemed sceptical but didn't bring it up more. Mr. Fitz was glancing around the room like he was tracing a lost fly in the air.
"Jemma, is the air-con on in here?"
She looked down at her tablet and just shrugged. Lukian did notice a slight breeze in the air, something that he knew wasn't there beforehand.
"Okay— Well, anyways, if you don't mind, I'd like to check that you're in tiptop shape before I can let you go back to your own room." Dr. Simmons said. Lukian nodded as he climbed back into the cot.
"Okay, excellent. Fitz?" She prompted.
They both got to work, Dr. Simmons got the arm-band-sleeve— thing, to check his blood pressure and the stethoscope, and Mr. Fitz grabbed the ointment for the hives. Dr. Simmons was all ready well before Mr. Fitz was. The two ended up getting into an argument about where the bottle of ointment actually was. Turns out Lincoln put it back in the cabinet— Lukian knew that but their bickering was hilarious and he was bored.
Dr. Simmons checked his blood pressure, took a look at his lungs with the stethoscope, then also scolded him for taking off the pulse clip once more. Once Dr. Simmons was done Mr. Fitz was up with the ointment.
Lukian hesitated slightly before asking. "Could— Could I do the… the cream?"
He wasn't exactly having a party over some stranger rubbing some cream on his arms. He much rather do it himself if possible.
"Yeah, sure." Mr. Fitz handed him the bottle. "Okay, you— you only need a little for each, don't drench 'em."
Lukian nodded.
After carefully putting the cream on, and was handed a paper towel to clean his hands, Dr. Simmons spoke. "You know the drill, no touching or scratching— if the hives start to get irritated, call one of us right away."
Lukian nodded in understanding. Just then the whistling grew louder and the white noise followed suit. Lukian tensed as he started glancing around the room to see what the cause was, it seemed to be coming from the doorway out to the lab. Surely enough seconds later Daisy and Dr. Lincoln came through. Dr. Lincoln veered off to collaborate with Dr. Simmons about something, while Daisy lingered near the doorway.
"Hey," Daisy greeted. "I heard of your little incident earlier— How are you feeling?"
"M'Fine," Lukian stated, he really was. Even though a constant chill kept running down his spine and he had a pounding headache from all the noise. But if he were to complain about that, he would just be considered a baby for it, so he kept his trap shut.
"That's good," Daisy nodded. "I'd thought I'd also let you know that we're offering a new protocol now. Once you get a handle on your powers, and we can trust you not to use them aimlessly," She gave him a pointed look. "You'll be able to go home again."
Every nerve in Lukian's body seemed to jump at the mention of home. The beeping on the monitor started to go crazy. His breathing hitched and his body tensed as the white noise grew dramatically. Lukian curled into a ball and cringed massively from the excruciating sound. It wasn't as loud as it was on the plane but it was close, too close for Lukian's comfort.
"Simmons? What's happening?" Daisy questioned.
"I—" Dr. Simmons looked lost. "I-I don't know."
That's when something changed in the room.
"Umm… J-Jemma you didn't happen to turn up the air-con more did you?" Mr. Fitz asked, panicked.
"No," Simmons verified.
Lukian watched as a cyclone started to form inside the room, the wind picked up and whirled around him. Objects on the tables were flung to the ground, papers were dancing everywhere, the paper towel he used previously was flying around in a circle about his head like an angel's halo. The white noise prominent in his mind, pushing it's way over his other senses— making it stand out.
He had no idea what the hell was happening, everyone seemed as confused and scared as he did— everyone but Daisy. She was staring straight at Lukian, the wheels turning in her head.
"It's not hearing— he can control the air!" She yelled over the wind.
Hold on—
Lukian retracted from his fetal prosition. "Wait-Wait-Wait-Wait-Wait. I'm contro—"
He got cut off with the monitor crashing to the ground from the wind, last he saw his heart rate was three— sixty five. Or in other words, way too freaking fast. The lab quickly went from a pristine clean and sorted lab, to ground zero for a natural disaster— that was inside an underground base. And he was doing this. Lukian. Himself. He couldn't be doing this...
No—
No, that wasn't possible.
Was it?
The glass barriers between medical and lab shattered as the wind picked up, Dr. Simmons let out a little yelp, Lukian flinched. The tornado expanded to the lab, Lukian still being at the center of it. The white noise was steadily growing, as was his headache.
A small piece of brick from the wall behind him shot out into the air like a bullet. Daisy raised her hand and shot vibrations at it, disintegrating the piece before it flew directly into Fitz's face. Just the fact that the brick was coming undone proved that the tornado wasn't just contained to the lab, it was in the surrounding rooms as well.
Just— What?!
How was this friggen possible?!
How could he cause so much destruction?
Lukian took cover behind the cot as the wind picked up even more. He was clinging to the covers, hoping he wouldn't get blown away like a piece of paper— or the other lab equipment laying around. Lukian watched as a computer monitor in the lab went into the glass walls separating the hallway— the glass shattered on impact, falling to the ground with multiple little pings.
Not that he could hear it over the wind itself and the white noise screaming in his mind.
Lab equipment and parts were flung around like rag dolls. Lukian flitched and watched it unfold with wide eyes. There was a tornado inside, and he was controlling it— or wasn't.
"What the hell do I do?!" Lukian yelled. The fear was evident in his voice as it was several octaves higher.
Lukian's breathing and heart rate were at a much faster pace than recommended, and his stomach was churning from the sight in front of him. He felt like his ear drums were about to pop, the white noise was penetrating his skull.
"Just calm down. Focus on a single point." Daisy shouted, she and Mr. Fitz were holding onto the door frame for dear life. Dr. Simmons and Lincoln only had their palms resting on the counter top, but it seemed to be super glued to it as the rest of their bodies were still being pulled into the chaos.
"Focus on a single point?!" Lukian repeated. "What the hell does that mean?!"
"Just breathe." Daisy exclaimed.
"Focus on calming down." Lincoln yelled.
Lukian's breathing was staggering and as fast paced as it was, it seemed like no air was actually reaching his lungs. He had no idea what to do and how to solve this. So much for staying under the radar and fitting in, he completely trashed the lab. And now was endangering everyone in it as well. If it wasn't glued, or bolted down, it had crashed on the ground or was now on the opposite side of the lab. If the possibility of going home was an option now, they would send him back in a heartbeat. That thought definitely wasn't contributing to his calming down notion at the moment.
He had to fix this.
He had to stop it.
He needed to make it right.
Because if he didn't...
If I don't...
They were going to—
"Hey!"
Daisy shouted to get his attention. His fearful eyes snapped to meet her brown ones. "Don't focus on the destruction you're causing— focus on the sound... tone it down."
Lukian breathed in a shaky breath, he buried his face in cot's covers and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block everything else out but the white noise. The noise itself was making his head throb, he couldn't take it. He tried to imagine the noise was attached to a speaker and all he had to do was turn the dial down. He imagined it over and over again, yet it didn't seem to work, it only seemed like the white nose was increasing. Lukian thought back to when they had become a bottle rocket in the pod, he remembered it being windy and loud. Once the pod had been loaded onto the plane he had taken a few good deep breaths to calm himself, then the wind had died down relatively quickly after that.
He didn't think much of it then.
To be honest, then, he was still freaking out over the people coming out the grey pond on the floor, and the monster man, and the guns pointed at his face. A little wind while in a rocket ship wasn't in the tops of his concerns. But he realized it had been him to be the cause of the wind, it wasn't a crack in the window.
There was never a crack in the window— it's why Mr. Fitz got so aggravated about it, he was the cause for the wind.
Him.
And it all died down once he got his breathing level. He wasn't sure if they were connected but it was worth a shot. It was that, or destroying the lab even more and passing out again, because he could tell he was on the brink of shutting down soon if he didn't stop.
Lukian focused on his breathing, nothing else— just like back at the Cocoon. Only this time he could do it. He pushed the white noise to the back of his mind, he pushed the sound of agents' worried cries with it, he pushed the sound of glass shattering and items clattering away...
Slowly, as his breathing became less staggered and was returning to its regular pace, the wind had followed suit. He wasn't sure how much time had passed. Honestly he might have blacked out for a minute there, he had no clue. Lukian took one last calming breath before looking up to see the aftermath.
He didn't even notice that Daisy had moved next to him and had started rubbing circles into his back. Dr. Simmons, Dr. Lincoln, Mr. Fitz, and a whole bunch of other agents had already joined in on the cleaning effort. The lab was an absolute mess, papers were everywhere, so was the glass and a few more brick pieces had come loose.
It looked like a bomb had gone off… or a tornado hit.
Some of the more expensive lab equipment had surprisingly stayed completely put, not even moving an inch. Lukian's guilty gaze overlooked the war zone of a lab. He was so in for it.
They were going to—
Daisy gave his shoulder a squeeze to redirect his attention away from all the destruction. His body was still filled with tension as he turned back around and leaned back against the cot. For some reason he was completely and utterly exhausted.
Lukian met her concerned gaze. "M'sorry," He moved to get up. "I'll go—"
"Don't," Daisy pushed him back down. "When I first got my powers I almost brought this whole place down on us. Everything in here we can fix, or replace. The lab will be good as new by the end of the week. Don't worry about it— Don't beat yourself up over it."
Lukian stayed silent. He wasn't exactly sure what to say or do, so he just waited.
Wait for—
"We would have moved you out of here and down to the containment room, but you seemed to have a death grip on those sheets." Daisy joked.
He looked down at his hands; they were a reddish— pink, and kinda ached.
Lukian looked up at her again expecting to see anger in her eyes, or disappointment, or at-least fear. Yet there was none— only worry and concern. He was in disbelief.
"You-You're not mad?" Lukian couldn't help himself from asking.
Daisy shook her head. "These powers are still new to you, and you didn't even know the correct power that you had. Why would I be mad?"
"'Cause I destroyed the whole lab! Everything is broken and shattered!" Lukian exclaimed without first or second thought, he immediately regretted his outburst.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
"S-Sorry," He was staring at his hands again.
Just wait for—
"Hey," She said gently enough to cause him to look at her again. "I told you, don't focus on the destruction. Everything's fine."
"But I-I could have kil—" Lukian stopped short, he caught his breath. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. "I-I didn't hurt anyone did I?"
"Just a few scrapes and scratches," Daisy said. "Nothing too serious."
He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be relieved at that, he still hurt people. At least he didn't kill anyone. Daisy must have noticed his unease.
"You did good," She stated. "You stopped the cyclone all on your own. What'd you do?"
"I breathed."
Daisy laughed. "I meant specifically,"
"I-I just focused on my breathing and I guess once it calmed down the cyclone matched it." Lukian shrugged.
Daisy smiled. "That's good. Now we know how to calm the storm for next time. Then the next step is control, and making sure you don't lose it again."
"I don't want there to be a next time." Lukian muttered.
Because next time they will—
No second chances—
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stu—
"I hate to break it to you, Luke… but there will be." Daisy said. "It's inevitable, it's something that will take time and practice, and a lot of patience. It's not going to come right away, and it's definitely not something that will come easy either. It took me, and everybody else, a lot of time to learn control. You should be proud of yourself, you stopped it at first go. Even I couldn't do that, I had to shoot myself with an ICER to make the earthquakes stop."
Lukian's eyes widened. "You shot yourself?!"
"Oh, not with a real gun." Daisy cleariflied, realizing where he got confused. "Technically yes, I did shoot myself... But an ICER is essentially a tranquilizer, knocks you out cold— it doesn't injure you."
"Though it does give you one nasty headache after." Daisy said in a light tone that made him smile a bit.
It wasn't until she said it— that he replied he had a massive headache too, even larger than before. Lukian dug his fingers into his palm against the pain, his face was probably white as a sheet.
If Daisy noticed—
How are you—
I'm fine—
Daisy nudged him with a growing smile on her lips. "Hey, I'm sorry I can't give you your ten bucks I gotta put the money towards the lab."
"Okay," Lukian agreed in complete understanding.
Daisy was taken back. "Hey, what no, I w— I was joking." She eyed him carefully. "I can totally give you your money. You won it, fair and square—" A joking smile crossed over Daisy's face. "Cheats and all."
"Hey, it's not my fault your plus two didn't work 'cause my last card was a plus four." Lukian argued with a smirk of his own. "You should have planned better, you'd think as an agent," He did finger quotes around the word agent. "You would have."
Daisy eyed him trying to contain her laughter. "Oh, is that how it's gonna be?"
"Don't hate me— hate the game," Lukian raised his hands defensively.
Daisy and Lukian chuckled. She seemed to be pleased by the smile on his face. When Lukian heard whistling at the door it disappeared immediately, he whipped his head around to greet the sound, slightly panicked that he was going to cause another tornado. Thankfully he panicked for no reason since it seemed to only be a person— Mack.
"How's it going in here?" He asked.
"Good." Daisy glanced at Lukian for a second before speaking again. "—Better now."
"That's good to hear," Mack nodded. "How're you feeling, Turbine?"
"Turbine?" Lukian echoed, completely dodging the question.
"Mack likes to give everyone nicknames." Daisy explained.
"How else am I supposed to entertain myself around here?" Mack defended himself with a smile. Daisy rolled her eyes.
"I don't know maybe, like, less than half the things we do around here would be entertaining enough," She inquired.
"I ah— I still don't get it," Lukian admitted.
Why was his nickname: Turbine? That didn't make any—
Mack eyed him. "And you still didn't answer the question."
How are you—
"I'm fine." Lukian replied automatically.
Daisy gave him a pointed look, he squirmed under her gaze. It was bearing into his soul.
Almost like—
Almost worse than—
He looked Daisy in the eyes. "I'm okay, I promise."
She still stared at him, now with more curiosity than anything else. Lukian heart slammered in his chest.
Did she know?
She couldn't have known.
No.
Not possible. He was fine. Just then he heard the white noise get louder once again, it's volume rising in his head. The steady headache of blistering pain almost grew unbearable.
No I'm not—
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
How are you—
Fine—
How are—
"I'm fine." Lukian answered again when her starring remained.
"Okay," Daisy said, finally looking away, but he could see she kept him in her peripheral vision.
Mack chuckled. "If this kid can handle your gaze, I'm curious to see what would happen with Agent May." Daisy burst into a fit of laughter.
But Lukian was just confused. "Who's Agent May?"
"You'll know it when you see her." Daisy said.
Lukian gulped. "That doesn't sound very reassuring."
Fine—
"It isn't," Mack said, Daisy and Mack both exchanged smirks. Daisy nudged Lukian as she started to get off the glass covered floor.
"Come on, let's get you some food and then back to your room."
Lukian couldn't help but look guilty as he looked over to all the agents cleaning up his mess. "Shouldn't I go help them? I mean, I-I caused it."
"It's not your fault, you didn't know what your gift was— you couldn't have prepared for it, or stopped it as much as you wanted to." Daisy said, knowing full well exactly what he was feeling at this moment. "You don't have to clean it up. Right now you need rest, and some food to build up your strength."
"I'm not tired, I can help." Lukian argued.
He was actually completely and utterly exhausted, plus the food sounded pretty nice.
But he didn't de—
Lukian just knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep if everyone was stuck cleaning. That only made him more guilty, the least Daisy could do is let him help.
"Sure," Mack said. Not believing his lie for a second. Daisy guided him out the door much to his protest. The closer he got, the worse the lab looked. Lukian swallowed a lump in his throat. He caused all that destruction, him.
That was terrifying.
He breathed in a shaky breath trying to keep calm, they didn't need a tornado: take two.
No second chances—
Daisy squeezed his shoulder for what he was assuming was supposed to be a reassuring squeeze, but Lukian flinched away anyways. Too much was on his mind right now.
She were going to—
"M'Sorry," Lukain responded instinctively.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
I'm fine—
Daisy eyed him carefully but didn't say anything as she dropped her hand, then discreetly shot Mack a look. Dr. Lincoln came over during the small commotion.
"I'll be down there in a sec'." He said.
Daisy nodded as they walked through the now broken doorway. Lukian noticed the same man that Mr. Fitz was talking to earlier, was now walking in the hallway towards them. The man made eye contact with Mack and Daisy and gave them a small nod. Under normal circumstances he would have been paying attention to the route they were taking, but right now he was wallowing in guilt, and to be honest— he was a little scared of his own power.
Who wouldn't be at this point?
Look at what he just did!
Eventually they reached his room, Lukian didn't even realize it at first until the floors changed from a dark grey to pure white. Once the door shut Lukian noticed all the noise, quieted.
Finally.
He looked up to see the room just as he left it, unmade bed and a pillow on the floor. He couldn't fall asleep last night so when he eventually did, he ended up sleeping through the alarm, so an agent came in and woke him up to get ready for his training at the Cocoon.
Some trip that was.
Lukian immediately walked over to the bed, picked up the pillow and tried to straighten the sheets out.
"Love the commitment, kid, but you don't have to do that." Mack stated, then smiled. "I mean Tremmors' room is a mess all year round."
Daisy shot him a look. "No it's not!"
Mack chuckled a bit, then asked. "Have you seen your room?"
"Yes, yes I have, Mack." Daisy rolled her eyes. Just then the door opened again to reveal Lincoln holding a tray of something. The strong smell of citrus of the oranges reached his nose immediately. A weird pinging sound followed in the smell's footsteps and slowly started to fade away to the background after a few seconds.
Mack turned back towards Daisy.
"You got this?" He asked.
Daisy and Lincoln both nodded in unison.
"Alright, I'm gonna go help upstairs." Mack said. "Good night, Turbine."
Lukian watched as Mack left the containment room, once the door shut Lincoln spoke up as he put the tray down on the desk.
"Okay, so things are going to change a bit." Lincoln started in a light tone.
They wouldn't—
No second chan—
"We've talked it over— Since you can no longer train at the Cocoon anymore, we're going to use a secluded part of the base for your training grounds instead." Daisy said.
Lincoln took over. "Daisy— for now, is going to help you control your powers— be your new trainer, with occasional help from me as well."
Lukian let out a small breath of relief, it was small enough for either of the two infront of him not to notice though. He nodded. But Lukian had a question in mind but was hesitant to ask it.
Don't do it—
"Umm.. W-Why can't I go to the Cocoon anymore?" He asked.
"Because you, sir, are allergic to a chemical in the sedative, and you can't handle the ride on the Quin-Jet awake." Lincoln explained.
Lukian nodded again. "That— That makes sense."
"Is that, okay?" Daisy asked.
Lukian looked between the two, why were they asking him if it's okay? They already made up their minds and it's not like if he said:
No that's terrible I hate that.
They would change it. That's just not how things worked.
You don't get a—
Lukain was genuinely shocked that they actually asked him, even if it meant nothing. He knew it meant nothing. It was a farce.
Like always.
"Sure,"
Daisy smiled in response, she nodded. "Good."
Next to her Lincoln chuckled. "Yeah, good luck with that." He pointed his head towards Daisy.
"He's joking, I'm not that bad." Daisy argued.
Lukian smirked. "As long as it's as easy as playing Uno with you, I'm fine."
Lincoln burst out laughing, and even Daisy chuckled.
"That was low."
Lukian only shrugged trying to contain his own laughter.
For a while his chaos and destruction upstairs had been pushed to the back of his mind, but it instantly returned when Lukian tried to go to sleep that night. He was fearful of what could happen, and what would've happened if—
He was on alert all night long, getting little sleep in the process.