Chapter Five: The Women
Setting: Approximately seven hours before the events of the previous chapter.
"You can't say we don't treat ladies well. This is more food than we've given your male teammates," the Watchdog said as one of his colleagues placed a tray inside the airlock.
"Oh, I'm sorry. We're supposed to be grateful for this crap?" Daisy replied flatly. She wanted to add that more food hardly made up for having spent the last three days listening to vile comments and threats from Watchdogs – but she knew to keep that part quiet. The enemy doesn't need to know if they are getting to you.
In addition to receiving more food, there was one other difference between the female agents' cell and that of their male counterparts. A large device – about the size of two men – sat outside their cell. It constantly pulsed and emitted noises. Not only did it make all five agents lethargic, but it also neutralized Daisy and Yo-Yo's powers.
Simmons hung back and watched as Daisy made her verbal jab. On the rare occasions the agents responded to the Watchdogs, Daisy was the one who did so. Mack might now be officially Coulson's second-in-command instead of Daisy, but everyone recognized that Daisy's leadership potential was still a force.
Although Jemma's mouth might have been quiet, her mind certainly was not. Just as Fitz had, she too had recognized the particular hum of the engines in the background and knew it meant they were on a starship. Just as with Fitz and the others, she was baffled as to why and how Watchdogs had captured them and were bringing them into space. And she wished she could take apart the device that sat outside their cell.
Jemma had said to the others at one point, "If their goal is to spew hatred and harassment at inhumans, then they have to get rid of us eventually. SHIELD is the best protector that inhumans have now. But why not finish us off when they first captured us – why take us into space?"
The agents had had plenty of time to bandy about different theories. If the Watchdogs had wanted SHIELD's help to refine the device parked in front of their cell – the one that apparently neutralized inhuman powers –there was no need to bring the agents into space. Where had the Watchdogs even gotten a starship from - or the brains to operate it?
Jemma turned these ideas over and over, both silently in her mind and aloud with her teammates. She desperately wished Fitz were here. She needed her collaborator, her other half. She wanted his brainpower, and more importantly, wanted his arms around her. Jemma silently praised herself for her independence and ability to comfort herself. She certainly had had many nights to practice. The hopeful but nerve-racking weeks in space as they searched for Fitz. His (thankfully short) time in lock-up after The Doctor persona had taken over. The silent prison that Kassius had placed her in while she didn't know where Fitz was. Jemma inwardly snorted as she reminded herself 'and those are just the recent ones!'
Yes, she had become used to grasping the pillow, folding her body against it, and pretending it was Fitz. She certainly would've appreciated having even a pillow in this bare, cold cell.
Today, the agents remained silent other than Daisy's retort, as they divided up the food. Three Watchdogs stood outside their cell and observed them.
"Remember what we said earlier," one of the Watchdogs piped up, raising his eyebrows. "Yeah," another one said, nudging the first and leaning forward. They went on to make lewd and sickening remarks and gestures at the agents.
May shot Daisy a warning look. She knew when her surrogate daughter was approaching the "all out of fucks to give" stage. Between the confinement, the lack of sufficient food, the device outside their cell, and the Watchdogs' ongoing harassment, Daisy's patience appeared to be at its limits.
"Alright," Daisy said, launching her hands into the air as she walked towards the front of the cell. "Let's do this. If any of you want me, you can have me."
May, Simmons, Yo-Yo, and Piper exchanged glances as they watched Daisy.
"I haven't showered in three days," Daisy continued, "and there's stubble all over my armpits. But I'm ready to party, if you are."
Yo-Yo took a few steps to join Daisy. "Me too. It's a secret that few know about, but we inhuman women are insatiable!"
Two of the Watchdogs exchanged excited glances while the third one smacked their arms. "Don't listen to them," he said. "The big guy told us a hundred times that they'll try anything to get us to open the cell."
"Aww, come on," another Watchdog said. "This ship is so boring. And we got that device right outside of their cell. It makes them tired and they can't use their powers. I say we have some fun with them. One of us can keep his gun on them at all times while the rest of us..."
"No, you idiot –" the other Watchdog responded, and then was cut off. The ship lurched suddenly just as the red alert siren began wailing. The ship continued to swerve.
All three Watchdogs began shouting at once, panicked and unsure what to do. After much yelling and many expletives, they remembered that when red alert sounded, the protocol was to return to your station unless told otherwise. Two of the Watchdogs were truly supposed to be stationed outside of the cell; the third one scrambled to his station in engineering.
"What's going on?" Daisy shouted, but the Watchdogs didn't answer. It was fairly clear that they had no idea.
The ship continued to careen, and the lights flickered on and off. And then it happened. The inhibitor device outside of their cell – it flickered as well. The noise it emitted stopped for about three seconds, before its power was restored.
But those three seconds were all that Daisy needed. She raised her hands up and quaked the doors of the cell down. Unbeknownst to Jemma and the others, this happened almost simultaneous to the launch of the cell containing Fitz and the other male agents.
The agents' next moves unfolded quickly. They made short work of their two guards, and grabbed their weapons. They decided to head for the bridge. Any Watchdogs they encountered on the way there were quickly dispatched; none stood a chance against Daisy and Yo-Yo with their powers, or May and Piper ready for combat and holding guns. Jemma brought up the rear as they rushed to the bridge.
Once they took over the bridge, they quickly deduced that engineering would need to be their next stop; Jemma was unable to contain the engine malfunction from the controls on the bridge. The bridge's sensors also told them where on the ship all the remaining Watchdogs were – so that they too could be overtaken and restrained. The agents soon realized that a shuttle had been launched and that their male teammates had to have been on that shuttle.
Just as the remaining Watchdogs were dealt with and May was getting ready to escort Jemma to engineering, Daisy gasped when new alarms began to blare on the bridge.
"A wormhole?! You have got to be kidding me."
Seconds later, the ship was unceremoniously and immediately sucked into the wormhole.
Ivanov stood up and exited the room, leaving Fitz, Coulson, and Deke exactly as they had been – wrists and ankles still shackled and Deke's mouth duct taped. Out of sight of the agents, or any of the planet's staff, Ivanov paced the corridor.
He had expected that Fitz would refuse to help. He had not planned on being told that Simmons was crucial to both projects, but he suspected that Fitz had been telling the truth and not just trying to stall. Ivanov was furious at himself for that miscalculation.
And equally bad, not having any of the female agents here would make it far harder to coerce Fitz into complying. Ivanov had planned on torturing Daisy and May to get Coulson to order Fitz to do the work - if torturing Simmons wasn't motivation enough. Plus, there was Mack's love for Yo-Yo; that was another lever that could have been pulled. These SHIELD men were weak, lovesick fools, really.
Ivanov would now also have to deal with the fact that many of the Watchdogs enjoyed torturing women and no doubt were simmering with rage at the realization that there were no women here, and there would not be for some time.
He took another breath as he continued to pace. He reviewed the information he did have and mined for what he could exploit. Coulson was a father-figure to Fitz, and Mack was like a big brother. Fitz obviously cared about both of them. Davis hadn't spent as much time with the rest of the team; the others seemed to like and respect him, but didn't feel familial bonds for him. Davis was more like a distant cousin, Ivanov decided.
Deke was a bit harder to place, and Ivanov didn't have much intel on him; he obviously was a newer agent. But Ivanov deduced that Fitz and Deke were also akin to brothers, though Fitz treated Deke as something of an annoyance. There was affection there too though; perhaps in this relationship Fitz was like the elder brother. Ivanov snorted as he thought of it. Damn these foolish agents and their pretend family. Ivanov had never had one, blood-related or otherwise.
In any case, the bonds that Fitz had with Coulson, Mack, and the others wouldn't compare with what he felt for Simmons. Obviously. It was the same situation with what Coulson felt for May and Daisy – Coulson's bonds with the rest of the team didn't share that intensity. And of course, Ivanov knew, men were far stronger than women, so they would stand up to torture better. They didn't break down and show weakness and pain the way that women did. It might take a long time to get Fitz to do anything without Simmons there as motivation.
Ivanov's mind turned over scenarios and plans. What exact methods should he use to torture Coulson, Mack, and Deke to obtain Fitz's compliance? Would Fitz be able to complete both projects without a biochemist? Would Ivanov's people get bored, especially now that the women he had promised them were marooned on a ship with busted engines that had disappeared through a wormhole? That same ship was also supposed to restock the base; how long could he keep the base running without the expected supplies?
Ivanov was determined to rid the planet of inhumans and to take control. Every person had his breaking point. Sooner or later, Fitz would have to go along with what Ivanov needed.
Fitz sat inside his cell and collected his thoughts. On the positive side, they had removed both sets of cuffs, and this cell had an actual bed and sink. It had felt like an eternity since he had sat on a surface that had springs, that wasn't a hard floor or bench. On the negative side, he was alone and not within eyesight or earshot of the others. Ivanov was smart to separate them now.
Ivanov's plan at this point, Fitz surmised, was to force the agents to wait it out. To let their minds wander and worry about what means of torture Ivanov would come up with. And he probably planned to deprive them of food again too, to make them more pliable.
Fitz couldn't decide if he was happy that Jemma wasn't here or not. They couldn't torture her if she wasn't here, and that was a blessing. But he had no idea where Jemma was. The ship went through a wormhole? Fitz cursed the fact that they had spent the last few years only dealing with crisis after crisis, and not staying up on the latest in space travel or astrophysics. What were the odds that the wormhole was open on both ends? At least, Fitz told himself wryly, that despite being a bit sick of space, Jemma likely would've been intrigued by space travel too. Of course, that assumed that Jemma and the others found a way out of their cell. Fitz had to hope that a dozen panicked and leader-less Watchdogs could have been overtaken or tricked.
He took a breath and tried to prevent his mind from spiraling. At least he had plenty of practice doing so; during his time in the black ops prison, he'd had to employ every mental exercise ever taught by SHIELD to keep from falling into a pit of mental despair. Fitz thought, instead, of his last private conversation with Jemma. It was back at the inn, upstairs inside their room, before they headed down the grand staircase to the reception. He remembered that they had talked about his kilt. He had been piqued at how much Jemma had loved it, and how she had made comments about wanting to lift it up after the ceremony. He had to stop that line of thought; this wasn't the black ops prison where he could get under the blankets and 'take care of business' fairly certain that no one would walk in for hours. He had no idea what to expect here.
He instead turned his mind to the toast that Coulson had been about to give at the reception. He would like to hear it someday.
Fitz thought back to the inn in Perthshire. How he and Jemma had loved the place so much, how it had become a peaceful refuge where they could discuss what they had lived through and forge a pathway forward. And all the delicious food they had eaten there! But thoughts of the inn brought to mind the innkeeper, Marcas, who it appeared had given information to the Watchdogs. He likely had been coerced, threatened, and had no idea how to fight off that sort of thing.
Fitz sighed. He had liked Marcas, but it appeared he could just add that to one more on his list of betrayals – although at least in the constellation of betrayals it was a small one. It paled compared to 'big brother' Ward. And Radcliffe. Fitz tried to shrug it off. Who needed Ward when you had Mack as a big brother? And Coulson was clearly the best father-figure Fitz would ever have, and the team was lucky Coulson was alive. Even Daisy seemed like she had mostly forgiven him for what he – well, the other he – had done.
His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps. Two Watchdogs approached with Ivanov. "Okay, rest time is over. You will work!" Ivanov bellowed.
Fitz was quickly shackled and marched to the lab.
The final chapter will be posted soon!