Going Home — Chapter Fourteen
"Why do you guys need forty completely identical cars?"
Daisy sighed in vain. "There's a red Corvette in here somewhere." She pointed out.
At that Lukian started immediately to strain his neck and walk on his tippy toes attempting to get a better view over the forty black SUVs— and it was all completed with a good frog hop too.
"I'm not gonna be the one to tell Coulson what happens to Lola if the kid finds it," Mack grumbled.
Daisy scoffed. "Please— it's like a needle in a haystack here. There's no way he's gonna—"
"I found it!"
Mack looked at her innocently. "You were saying?"
She shoved his shoulder. "Shut up,"
"Now do I do that before or after I tell little Turbine not to touch Coulson's prized possession?" Her partner teased.
"I'm pretty sure his prized possession is the ax you cut off his hand with." Daisy shot back. Her brows furrowed. "Like who keeps something like that?"
He shrugged. "The hell if I know."
Daisy shook her head and took a deep breath to calm herself. This was the big day, the day she was simultaneously looking forward to and yet utterly dreading at the same time.
It was the day Lukian was being sent home.
While it was amazing that he was getting off the base and going back to his normal life, the bad feeling that took hold of Daisy ever since she started searching for the kid's family didn't seem to fade in the slightest. She met the step-dad over the phone and while he seemed nice and like he genuinely cared for the boy— Daisy knew how easily people could put up acts. It didn't help that she was CIA in this case, they would all be on their utter best behavior because of it.
"Lukian!" She called out. "Don't touch Lola, Coulson's gonna kill us!"
"I'm not gonna touch a damn person!" He yelled back, she could hear the disgust in his voice. She bit back a laugh. "Who the hell is Lola anyway?"
"Language," Mack reprimanded. Daisy was sure she could hear Lukian rolling his eyes, mostly because she was doing the same.
"Lola's the car, Luke, now get back here— we gotta get you home before your step-dad calls the squad and gets there first."
Lukian appeared from behind a car. "Step-dad?" He asked with a frown.
Oh. Maybe she shouldn't have said that.
Daisy's face sobered up and after a quick glance to Mack, she spoke. "Yeah, your mom and Celeb got engaged." She broke the news lightly.
A strange emotion passed through Lukian's face, she couldn't catch it before it disappeared completely.
A little smirk played on his face. "Without me? That's rude." His tone was jovial. That could honestly have meant anything.
Daisy exchanged a look with Mack discreetly.
"Sorry, bud," Mack said, sounding apologetic. Lukian just shrugged in response, not seeming to care.
Daisy seriously couldn't tell how Lukian felt about his mom getting engaged while he was gone. He didn't seem happy about it, nor angry, or sad— in fact, other than that strange emotion Daisy couldn't catch, his face was entirely guarded. It pissed her off knowing she wouldn't be able to get a read on how he actually felt about step-dad Dougg because knowing that could change a lot. If… he was the reason Lukian had a traumatic backstory.
Which she doubted much herself, just a feeling telling her no, but what else was there?
Why did it also feel like she was missing a massive piece?
Lukian was a highly complex kid. He had thick walls he put up that were almost as strong as hers, which was damn impressive and scared the hell out of her. What the living hell did he go through to walk out like this? She barely survived her own trauma, in some cases, she shouldn't have at all, but here she was anyway as this person. So how did he come out the same at thirteen?
Daisy sighed and willed her thoughts to come to a halt.
There was no use going crazy over it. She was just going to drop the kid off at home, see him at check-ins, and that was that, whether she liked it or not.
Mack clicked the car keys making one specific black SUV's lights blink and the horn honk, they made their way over. Daisy was just glad she didn't have to go sorting through license plate numbers to find it. There was only one black SUV in the garage that was registered as official CIA property so they had to take that one to keep up the cover for appearances.
"How come we're taking the secret spy car and not your fancy spy jet?" Lukian asked. "We could be there in like five minutes— instead of an hour."
"First off, it's not a secret spy car— it's just a normal car." She neglected to mention the fact it was bulletproof and had guns pop out the sides (you know, because). "Second, it's the same reason why we did your training on base and not at the Cocoon."
"And third," Mack joined in. "It's going to be a lot longer than an hour, Turbine."
Lukian groaned, it echoed nicely throughout the cement garage.
Lukian huffed through the black bag over his head. "Why does it feel like we're going in circles?"
Mack and Daisy had fought over the idea of putting the bag over his head, Daisy being against it. But the argument came to an end when Agent... Lether? Leper? Lathen? Nope, no, it was Lather. When Agent Lather pointed out that it was the Director's orders.
Yippee for him!
He was a big fan of the director this morning.
Bag or not though— Lukian's head felt like exploding.
The noise level wasn't anything near what it was when on the plane, but it felt terrible nonetheless. He's had a constant headache for over a month now. He couldn't wait to get back to the house and have an Advil. Sure, he was sure Daisy would've given him some back at the base had he asked— but she didn't need to know what was going on, they were his powers after all, not hers.
"We're not going in circles," Daisy stated, aspirated.
He knew it was a lie.
"Can I take the bag off yet?" Lukian asked impatiently.
Screw him. He was bored.
Plus the air inside the bag sounded different, the molecules felt different. If he had to guess, it would be that there's now more carbon dioxide in the bag than oxygen— which wasn't necessarily good. Well... it wasn't good at all. Theoretically, he could help fix that with his powers, however, he wasn't there yet. If he tried to drain the carbon dioxide and let a new supply of oxygen in, he would end up blowing the bag off his head by accident. Which, Lukian felt was worse than what he was dealing with currently.
It's fine.
He's like forty-five percent sure he won't suffocate.
"No," Mack answered his question from the driver's seat.
"Are we even in Queens yet?"
"What are you playing— Twenty-One Questions?" Daisy inquired. "But no, we're not there yet. We are close though, so we should start going over the covers and your story."
Realization hit Lukian, yet it was easy to hide since his face was covered. "Hence why Halloween came early." He remarked towards their CIA get-ups.
"It's not a costume, these are genuine CIA uniforms." Daisy corrected.
"You know Halloween is still two months away right?" Lukian jabbed.
"Hilarious," Mack remarked.
Someone groaned. "Why'd we get stuck with this kid?" Agent Lather questioned.
"Hey! I'll have you know I am a delight," Lukian said rather stubbornly.
Daisy sniffled her nose. "In what universe,"
Some odd feeling flooded through him after Daisy had said that. It wasn't a good feeling, it had him resisting the urge to frown even if no one could see him— it made his insides clench painfully together.
"That's just rude," He muttered while crossing his arms.
"You'll get over it," Daisy said, but he was sure that he could hear her smiling through her voice. Why was she smiling?
"What are our covers?" Agent Lather asked.
Beside him, Daisy shifted in her seat. Lukian's muscles tensed preparing for… something? Daisy wasn't going to attack him, was she? No, of course not. Daisy was good, nice, she wouldn't. So why was his first reaction to hearing her move was: get ready to throw her to the ground.
Well that he knew why.
And there it was, yet another reason why he greatly disliked the black bag on his head. It left him vulnerable, he couldn't see. He had no clue if someone was about to strike him or plan something against him. It stripped him of a sense he needed to use to be able to tell where and what everything was. And it stripped him of a choice to know where he was, while that was the point, it left his insides turning and twisting in on themselves. He never liked the feeling whenever this happened.
Lukian tried his best to use his other senses to get a grasp of what was happening. It helped calm his nerves and settle his stomach. He heard the ruffling of a jacket— Daisy's jacket, she pulled something out of a pocket, he believed.
"Here, these are for the two of you," Daisy said, her voice sounding a tad closer than before. Lukian refused to move an inch.
"Thanks," Agent Lather spoke from the passenger seat.
"Mack," Daisy said. "Mack, take it."
"I'm driving, Tremors."
"Yeah, with one hand— you can use the other to grab the badge."
"Why can't you just hold it 'till we get there?"
"Take it!"
"No,"
"Take it!"
"Daisy, not now—"
There was a distinct slap of leather on the skin.
"Daisy!" Mack exclaimed. "You can't just do that!"
Daisy scoffed. "Please, you're fine, no one died and you're still driving straight..." There was a pause. "—ish."
"Oh, no. You don't get to throw a wallet at me and then insult my driving too. Nah."
"It was your CIA badge, not a wallet." Daisy corrected without missing a beat.
"I'm still driving!"
There was a large intake of breath, Lukian's head's pulsed. "What are the covers, Agent Johnson?" Agent Lather questioned.
The car fell silent for a moment.
Daisy spoke. "Lather, you are Agent Mark Olson, CIA— obviously. And Mack," There was the tiniest of hints of laughter in her voice. "You are also a CIA Agent— Agent Teddy Soportar. And I am Agent Julia— Ugh— Powers." Daisy groaned. "Dammit, Fitz! Seriously!? I told you not to do that." She mumbled.
"Did Fitz get to decide all the cover names, Daisy?" Mack asked, his tone oddly soft.
There was a long stretch of silence.
"No….?"
The silence went on for longer this time.
"Tremors…? Did you by chance decide my cover name?" Mack's voice was uncharacteristically calm.
It was not hard for Lukian to tell that he was far from calm. And that was when it hit him, Soportar meant bear in Spanish, so Mr. Mack's cover name was essentially: Teddy Bear. And yeah, he knew Spanish— not very well, mind him, but it wasn't like he was all that eager to learn it in the circumstances then. Only a few words and phrases kept with him over the years. He knew Russian and Scottish Gaelic much better than Spanish.
Nevertheless understanding what was Mr. Mack's cover name truly meant, was undoubtedly hilarious. Lukian tried to hold back his laughter but after he heard Daisy audibly gulp next to him sent him over the edge.
"What are you laughing at back there, Turbine?" Mack questioned, the untruthful calm in his voice was oh-so gone this time.
"Nothing," Lukian sobered up the best he could even though his chest was bubbling with laughter. "El osito." Teddy bear. He quickly added before it spilled over again.
From the driver's seat, Mr. Mack agonizingly grumbled. Lukian could hear the sound of the large man gripping the steering wheel tighter. Once Daisy started snickering, Lukian couldn't hold himself back anymore. He (very) vaguely heard something about Agent Lather complaining of being in a car full of children.
After a minute or so Mack was done. "Alright, that's enough. And for the record, Daisy, I am not like a soft, fluffy teddy bear."
Lukian chuckled.
"Yes, s-sir." Daisy was trying to keep a straight face, he could tell. He could also tell she was failing miserably. Once they all calmed down (Lukian refused to believe Agent Lather wasn't also laughing— it was far too funny) Daisy was the first to speak.
"You know Spanish, Lukian?"
"One of my friend's parents is from Peru. I Picked up a few words here and there." He lied with no hesitation. With no way to know if they all bought the lie, Lukian forced himself to relax and to keep his breathing even. Any deviance from normal would give him away, they're spies, they'll pick him out in a heartbeat. And speaking of heartbeats— his was beating a mile a minute. That was something he couldn't control.
Lukian breathing in deeply, it was really not fun in this head bag. "How much longer?" He whined.
"Uhh— Ten minutes," Mack said.
"Ah, okay, so, there's more to the cover than just names—"
"Oooh, do I get a fake name too?" Lukian cut Daisy off.
"Ha, ha. No," Daisy said. "But this is about you. What you're gonna say. You already got out of a lot of questioning since the CIA cover has kept things quiet, so you won't have to go through a debrief at the police precinct. But no matter whatever covers you have it won't stop the questioning and curiosity of the people around you. So…."
"So you're saying I get to lie to everyone I know." He smirked.
"Yeah basically," Daisy agreed. "Okay, I've set it up as a fraction of the truth. You were kidnapped on the street at gunpoint— because there's no way around that a lot of your friends were there." She shifted in her seat. "Now, the only good thing Hydra has ever done was erase every known recording slash media about it all. So it's been kept even quieter."
She took a breath to go on, the whistling made him wince. "So long story cut short, we— being us the CIA— were a part of the team that had rescued you from the douchebag bad guys."
"Daisy!" Mack exclaimed.
Daisy probably rolled her eyes. "He's thirteen and about to go into high school, I'm sure he's heard a lot worse than douchebag."
Lukian shrugged. "It's true," Oh, yeah, he's in fact heard and said things worse than just douchebag. He could say them in Russian too, Scottish Gaelic he was still learning those words.
"Anyway, moving on..." Mack prompted.
"Yes, okay… We rescued you, blah— blah— blah, you were tortured a very small amount and are now deathly afraid of needles. And yeah, I know that's just really specific and totally unnecessary— but, we needed a reason for the bandage on your arm and if someone were to get a sample of your blood and do some… science ninja know-how they'll find out you're Inhuman. And by all means, you do not want that to happen."
Lukian understood. "'Cause I'll be targeted and or Hydra will try and capture me again."
Daisy took a beat to answer. "...Right. Exactly that. Umm… what else— what else… oh! You were brought over to England, that part's not a lie. It backs up the reason why we're CIA and not FBI. We held you for a month after we found you because we couldn't ID you and you were recovering physically and mentally. And, the— um... little details you can come up with on your own. But that's the main report, I think that's it. Mack, did I missed everything?"
"Um.. no, you seem to have covered everything."
"The Inhuman watch." Agent Lather said.
Daisy sighed. "Yeah, sorry, I forgot— we're supposed to tag you like a dog."
"You know it's for their own good, Tremors."
"Yeah, I do." Daisy conceded. "Still sucks ass though." She muttered. "Alright, Lukian, take off the watch we gave you. We're gonna swap it out for a different version."
Lukian nodded, he felt it was pointless with the bag on his head though. After a bit of feeling around and fumbling, he managed to get off the (really fucking cool) SHIELD watch.
"Here, lemme put it on you," Daisy spoke, she scooted closer. "I really don't want to watch you struggle to put on a watch with a bag over your head."
"But Daisy, think of the blackmail material." Lukian joked.
"Eh, it's not worth it. Besides, I've got more than enough already. Adding to the pile would just be considered rude."
"As if blackmailing a person isn't?"
"Hey, I'm just looking out for my best interest." She amended.
"Two minutes out," Mack informed them.
"Got it, Macklemore," Daisy said. "Here, gimme your right hand."
Lukian was reluctant. He much rather do it himself, hence why he brought up the blackmail material to begin with. Maybe he was even hoping they would be there by the time the conversation was over so that he could just put the watch on himself. Holding out his wrist made him too vulnerable to an attack (as if having a bag over his head wasn't), yet he trusted Daisy. He hoped he did at least. She hasn't given him a reason not to so far. Besides, even if he was living in (a white box with a virtual view) prison, he still had the time of his life there. Daisy was really fun and seemed to actually care for his best interest.
It was odd.
"No, your other right hand." Daisy jabbed. "Okay, this is for emergencies only. You can contact us through it if you ever need help, but help is someone's trying to kidnap you again, not, your cat is stuck in a tree kind of help. This watch— just like the last one monitors your vitals, they'll send us alerts if anything doesn't look good." Well, that doesn't sound good. "And it also has a built-in tracker. For just in case. Don't worry no one outside of SHIELD will have access to any of your watch's info, alright? Oh, this model also has a flashlight and can connect to your phone."
That was good to know, but…
"I don't have a phone," Lukian said. "But cool. Free flashlight." He grinned despite it doing nothing.
The car rolled to a stop.
"We're here."
Regardless of what Agent Leather pants had to say about it, Lukian finally tugged the damn suffocating bag off of his head. The nice deep breath in felt nice on his lungs but did nothing to calm his nerves. Now that home was actually in front of him, the idea was a whole lot scarier than it had originally been.
Those Twizzlers were not worth it.
At all.