And there went another piece of furniture. This time it was a couch Dante had been sitting on. He had been watching the television when Howard decided to spring out of nowhere - ostensibly in the name of science - startling him into his other form. Thankfully Moira, who after nine days was starting to get rather used to such proceedings, had started to keep an extinguisher within reaching distance at all times and after calmly setting her book down extinguished the fire.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry." Dante said, wiping foam out of his eyes. "I'll replace the couch - I'll replace everything."

Howard, who was also clearing foam from his face, offered his usual smirk. "Don't worry, I'll just write it off as a business expenditure. That's what we did with the boat."

The boat, as Howard so offhandedly referred to his luxury yacht, had deposited them at the end of Howard's jetty which led directly to his seafront villa where Howard had only arrived a short while before the yacht docked. Fortunately, Dante had slept heavily throughout the drive and, after briefing waking to gawk at and board the yacht, passed right back out for the last leg. Unfortunately, Howard found his other form absolutely fascinating and seemed to go out of his way to force Dante to shift into it at every possibility.

Still, they were making progress. The morning after their arrival, Dante was fully rested, well fed and willing to talk with both of them and share how he had ended up in Honduras with a trail of scorched out buildings behind him.

"I was at a diner with my Mom." He explained, rubbing his eyes as he lent back into his chair. The three of them were sitting on the balcony where they'd eaten breakfast, looking out toward the ocean. "Everything was normal, then there was this big white cloud, like smoke or something. It filled the whole diner, the smoke alarm went off, but almost as soon as it had spread it just disappeared. Then things just got even worse. I looked at my hands and they were turning into stone, I couldn't get it off." Dante said, his hands clenching closed at the memory. "I tried calling for help but it was happening to everyone. It started growing everywhere, people were screaming until it covered people's faces. When it did everything just went dark, really dark and then I think I passed out. The next thing I knew the stone was just flying off me and I looked like - well, you've seen." Dante pointed to Moira. "I was huge, and then I realised I was on fire. I ran outside and tried rolling on the ground and then I realised it didn't actually hurt. I just felt really hot. Almost as soon as it started I turned back to normal, but I felt really weak. I went back inside but it was chaos, I couldn't see my Mom and I started to feel hot again so I ran back outside in case it happened again. Then all the cops started turning up and I just ran home."

"You didn't see anyone else back in the diner?"

Dante shook his head. "There was bits of stone everywhere and lots of dust. I think I heard someone groaning somewhere but I'm not sure. I didn't even know what had happened until I got home. I passed out almost as soon as I got through the door. When I woke up the next morning they said on the news that there had been some kind of gas leak that had killed people - including my Mom." Dante said, his voice thick. "I turned again not long after that and nearly burned the house down. I was worried what people would do if they saw me like that, and when I saw the cops coming near the house I just ran. And I kept running. I think they were probably just coming by to tell me about my Mom - but I was just so scared." He confessed. "When I started running I realised it wasn't just the fire - I could run faster, I was stronger too - I broke through stone at one point when I needed to get past a border wall. And I had more energy, but I think using my powers makes me weaker."

Howard was quickly working to write up everything Dante had said and, after Moira promised to look into the event at the diner, he started on a list of questions which he still hadn't finished asking nine days later. After taking a blood sample, Howard found that Dante's DNA had drastically changed from that of an average human being. He also theorised, after running more tests, that Dante may be capable of limited regeneration.

"I'm not sure if you could survive an A-Bomb or anything like that, but I'm pretty confident that if I chopped your hand off it would grow back." Stark said, not noticing how Dante instantly drew his hands behind his back.

"I think I'm alright being in the dark on that ability." He answered, making Moira laugh.

Dante had soon fallen into an easy friendship with Howard. It transpired that when he wasn't having his DNA altered and running between continents, he was a pretty laid back young man. The two had gotten so close that Howard had christened him into the organisation with a superhero name, Inferno. Dante had then excitedly asked Moira if that could be his official code name once he became a proper S.H.I.E.L.D agent, which he had already decided was happening after Howard started regaling them both with stories of Captain America and other powered S.H.I.E.L.D operatives like Rapture, who was apparently a low level telepath.

In response Howard had suggested a new exercise regime under the pretence that Dante could get into shape for training. In reality Howard did it in order to test Dante's limitations and to look for new stimuli to trigger his transformation into Inferno.

"Wait until I get Jason to look at this data." He said eagerly after the first workout, led by Moira. "He'll lose his mind over this. And look." Howard pointed to a sharp increase in the chart he was holding. "His adrenalin spiked but he stayed in human form."

"So?"

"So, Miss MacTaggert," Howard said affectionately. "It means his transformation isn't physical it's emotional. And if it's emotional, it means he can learn to control it." He grinned, showing Dante the chart to share the good news.

Which led to Howard's new experiment - attempting to trigger different emotional responses. And fear and anger seemed to be in for the win.

After his latest scare, Dante went back to his room to clean up while Howard hastened downstairs to the old wine cellar which he had converted into a lab, leaving Moira to clean up the latest mess.

Collecting the remains of the couch in her arms, Moira headed out front to the trashcans which were starting to overflow with the remnants of ruined furniture. Trying to balance everything atop of each other, she was startled by a crack of blue out the corner of her eye, yet, when she turned, there was nothing there.

Frowning to herself, she went back in the house. Locking the door behind her, Moira headed into her suite where Howard had set her up with a phone to call her S.O. with updates.

Having already spoken to Peggy earlier in the day, Moira instead chose to check her home answering machine - S.H.I.E.L.D had set a system up for her for when she was away on missions which, in the fortnight she had been away, hadn't been used to store a single message. It was a poor reflection on her social life, but then being an Agent means one has already made the decision that they'll never be home in time for dinner.

"Hold. One message pending."

"Agent - Moira," Alex corrected, sounding uncharacteristically anxious. "Look, I don't know if you're anywhere near here, but the Professor, he's...well, things are getting a little weird around here. I really think he would listen to, well I mean he could use your help. I could use you help. Whether that's you or S.H.I.E.L.D, I don't care. Could you just please come back?" He asked, giving her a number to call back before muttering something indistinct and hanging up.

Moira replayed the message. Writing down the number she started to phone back when she heard a guttural yell down the hall. Seizing another extinguisher from the stash she kept at the foot of the bed, Moira sprinted towards Dante's room.

Blue light flashed through the gap under the door.

Easing herself into the room, she saw Inferno (thankfully stood away from any soft furnishings) standing opposite the blonde stranger she had first seen in Honduras. He had on a large black pair of sunglasses which dominated his face, and looked to be a close age to Dante.

"You." Moira said simply, contemplating whether or not to draw the weapon which had found a permanent home on her hip.

"Me." He replied dryly, returning his focus to Dante. He spoke calmly, his hangs hanging loosely at his sides. "Dante. We haven't officially been introduced, my name's Gordon."

Dante glanced at Moira. "He's like me - he can teleport or something like that."

"Who are you?" Moira asked, edging closer to Dante.

"I'm the kind of person you think needs protecting." Gordon sneered, disappearing in a sudden circle of shockingly blue light, before reappearing in the same fashion next to the door leading to the balcony. He looked at her with disdain, much like Erik used to, waiting for the inevitable fear or hostility from the human.

Sweat started to bead at her brow as Dante's flames grew, but she stood her ground.

"Dante," Gordon said, breaking his withering stare to focus on him. "We should have met a month ago after you went through the transformation. You must have already left the diner when we started getting people out, and we lost you in the confusion once the humans turned up."

"You know what happened that day?" Dante rumbled, his voice considerably deeper than in his human form.

"Yes," Gordon said reluctantly, his glance at Moira clearly indicating that he didn't want her to be privy to the following information. "An Inhuman decided to release a Terrigen Cristal in the diner - the crystal, when dropped, releases a mist which quickly filled the room. This triggers something called Terrigenesis, which activated a dormant gene in your DNA."

"Inhuman?" Dante asked.

"That's what we call ourselves. A member of our community acted individually, stealing a crystal from us, to turn people. She created three other incidents, which produced more Inhumans than we are used to dealing with. I'm sure your friend here is aware of them." He nodded towards Moira.

Moira tried to keep her face blank. Undoubtedly this was one of many incidents that were classified above her level.

"Why didn't my mom change?" Dante asked, the fires growing in intensity, forcing Moira to take a step back.

"Everyone went through the metamorphosis, however only people who possess the gene survive the process. Usually our community is very selective of who goes through the process, and we guide them the best we can. After the incidents we collected as many of you as we could - to help you understand the process, to guide you through the change. Unfortunately it took us longer to find you." Gordon took half a step forward. "Come with me Dante, I'll take you to our community. You can finally get the answers you've been waiting for. You can be with people like you."

Gordon stretched out his hand.

Dante cooled down, shrinking back to his usual size and moving closer to Moira. "What about Moira?"

"Oh she's coming to." Gordon sighed.

"What?" Moira asked, but Gordon had already grabbed Dante and disappeared, the brilliant blue blinding her as it erupted beside her.

She heard footsteps, Howard was coming down the hall.

"Howard!" She cried out, moving her hand to her draw her gun. Gordon stopped her as he flashed back, wrapping his arms around her torso.

Starks' footsteps started thundering toward the room but, too late to do anything, the pair disappeared.

XXXXX

It started light hearted, got more serious. I was unsure about whether or not to keep the Inhumans in my story but I didn't want to lose Dante as a character, so fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D will know where we're going next! I hope people are still reading and enjoying this story - let me know how you're finding it and if all the MCU references are easy enough to follow.