Hello! The story goes onward!
Also, I have noticed another story on AOS fanfiction using some intriguingly familiar writing... Well I suppose imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right?
I'm keeping the chapters long which means the story is going to be not as many chapters (obviously). We are over halfway done at this point, just warning you so you are prepare!
Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of Shield
Dripping sweat and blood, Daisy collapsed on the chair Rranik motioned to in the medical wing. She didn't know how many beings in red shirts she had fought. She didn't want to know. Her body was numb, her mind was numb, everything was numb but also on fire at the same time.
"Species?" A tentacled doctor examined her, poking her arm.
"Inhuman." Rranik answered. The doctor grunted and went to a wall lined with items. She came back with a small pointed metal tube.
"Hold still." The tube was slid into Daisy's arm, right above wrist, so far in only a small metal circle sat on top of the skin.
"What the hell is that?" Daisy grit her teeth.
"Permanent access to your blood stream," Rranik explained as the doctor poked in a needle.
"Got the vein," the doctor rasped happily as the tube filled with red. She pulled the needle back out, the access point automatically closing. The doctor turned again to the shelves lined with strange medical objects.
"Damn." Daisy stared at her wrist.
"She needs some Pulse." Rranik called out to the doctor before turning back to Daisy. "You get one dose then we're heading back to the arena."
"What's it going to do?" Daisy asked, her mind shutting down at the mention of the arena.
"Just a simple energy boost. You won't get these in the games though, it's illegal."
"It's illegal," Daisy repeated, not sure whether to laugh or cry. "Out of all the things I've seen today, the slavery, torture, murder… doping is illegal."
"It is not fun to watch a fight that isn't fair."
Daisy stared at him. "There is absolutely nothing about this that is fair."
Rranik bared his black teeth in a smile.
The doctor came back and inserted a small syringe into the access point, slowly emptying it.
First Daisy's arm itched. Then it burned. Then her entire body felt as if it were on fire. But when the feeling faded, a burst of energy took its place.
"Let's go."
They headed back to the arena, Daisy suddenly reaching for the feeling of mental numbness. It was far preferable to the alternative.
"You are shutting down," Rranik noticed. "Good. Let your body do what it has to do."
Daisy glared at the floor, suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness.
She was going to have to fight. If she refused, there would be hell to pay and she wasn't going to be the one to pay it. She couldn't watch Rranik torture another being on her account. But how could she just listen to them and hurt beings?
She didn't have much of a choice. Either way, harm happened. One way though she could slightly decrease the suffering.
"What do you fear?" Rranik hissed. Daisy closed her eyes. She couldn't even feel her own body at this point and she didn't want to.
"Failure."
"Good."
Rranik motioned to the opponent door and this time a young woman in a blue shirt came out.
"Remember, blue shirt means you cannot kill," Rranik reminded her.
Thank god.
Daisy had never been so thankful to see a particular color of clothing.
Following the woman in blue was another woman dressed similarly to Rranik, her skin a pale green. Another trainer, Daisy assumed.
Her inhibitor switched off and she slowly examined her opponent. With red hair and pale blue eyes, she seemed human.
That was until lasers shot from the eyes.
Daisy didn't think, just reacted. She vibrated the air around her in a shield, bending back the light.
The woman screamed as she was hit by her own attack, suddenly lifting up off the ground, still shooting lasers.
Taking a deep breath, Daisy joined her in the air, using one hand to keep herself in the flight, the other pushing wave after wave of vibrations at the woman. The woman managed to dodge a couple before being knocked out of the sky by one.
Daisy landed next to her, jumping as another blast of lasers barely missed her. One more hit her square in the shoulder, burning a neat round hole in her shirt and branding her skin.
Aggravated and tired of the fight, Daisy hit the woman hard with a vibration. The woman crumpled, breathing heavily, clearly spent.
Rranik motioned for the fight to be over, stalking up to Daisy.
"You depend too much on your powers."
The next fight, he kept the inhibitor on.
Her opponent was a large reptilian-like animal with a spiked tail.
Unable to use her powers, Daisy relied instead on her agility and the alien's limited turn radius. After getting her thigh sliced open by the tail, she managed to jump on the creature's back and choke him from behind.
Rranik watching approvingly as the alien finally collapsed and Daisy rolled off him, breathing heavily.
"Good. You are ready enough," he nodded.
"Ready for what?" Daisy turned before feeling the cold metal of Rranik's knife slide into her side.
She saw rather than felt the blood begin to drip down her tunic. Then the feeling hit and she clenched her jaw so tight she could feel her teeth groan under the pressure. It didn't hurt as much as she expected, she was still numb, but it was painful nonetheless.
"Why?" She looked up from the stab wound to stare at her trainer. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"The most important task of a fighter is to learn to battle while injured. Until you can win a fight while half-dead, you are not worthy of the arena."
"And if I die?" Daisy stared at him. At this point, she wasn't necessarily opposed to that.
Rranik shrugged. "You won't. That is my job; to bring you right to the brink and back again. If worst comes to worst, you're inhuman; we'll just bring you back to life."
Daisy turned away, one arm wrapped around her side in an attempt to stem the bleeding, her mind reeling.
She wanted her family. She wanted to be back on the Bus. She wanted this to be over.
She wanted everything she couldn't have.
"Next opponent," Rranik called out.
(line)
"Doesn't quite fit," Mack looked down at the loose fitting brown tunic.
At least, it was supposed to be loose fitting; on him it was way too tight. Nutrition was clearly an issue among slaves and they hadn't been able to find anything that fit the large muscular man better.
"Shhh," Jemma hissed while Yo-Yo just rolled her eyes.
"You got anything?" Coulson asked Tess quietly, who was staring out into the hall, completely unruffled considering they had just crawled through a garbage shaft and nearly died several times in the process.
"Yeah." The girl turned back to them. "Janitors go in sets of two which is good for us. It looks like the main two jobs are cleaning and trash removal. They do not speak and I don't think they can hear so when you're out there do not react to sound or speak, okay?" Her dark eyes surveyed them seriously.
They nodded, pairing up quickly. Fitz and Simmons together. Mack and Yo-Yo. Coulson and Tess.
The rest of the team was waiting on the ship. They almost had to knock May out to prevent her from coming; she had tried to convince them that her basically useless leg wouldn't be any problem.
"Everyone back here in one hour, no exceptions. If we haven't found Daisy by then, we'll regroup, share what we found, then go out again," Coulson instructed them.
"If you need to hide, get into an air duct or hide somewhere dirty," Tess advised.
Coulson nodded, giving the girl an appreciative smile. "And remember, if you have to choose between confrontation or hiding, hide. Do not engage unless there is no other option. If we want to get Daisy, we have to remain undetected as long as possible."
Everyone nodded, faces serious.
"Alright. Let's bring our girl home."
(line)
Daisy didn't know when she lost conscious or when she regained it but Rranik was there both times. Somewhere between the two points in which she left and came back to reality, she had been moved to her room.
"Sleep well?"
She could barely move.
Rranik dragged her off the sad excuse for a bed and dunked her head in ice water, leaving her trembling and gasping.
Her tunic was soaked with blood but she was most concerned at the fact that she could see the plethora of injuries she was covered in but could no longer feel them.
"How am I alive?" she asked.
"We boosted you with some drugs." Rranik led her out of the room. "The best part about training is that once you're through it, fighting in games will feel like a dream come true."
Daisy actually didn't doubt that at the moment.
"I'm going to die," she stated, unsure how she was even on her feet.
"No." Rranik pulled out a syringe, grabbing Daisy's arm and injected it into her access point. Her body felt slightly better as the drug flooded her system but she was pretty sure it wasn't going to last. "You're going to learn."
"Do people try to kill themselves here?" Daisy looked at her trainer dully.
"At the beginning, yeah, but your Distressor will go off if you do anything to harm yourself." Rranik seemed to be in a good mood, he flashed her one of his black toothy grins.
They walked through the hall to their arena, Rranik nodding and smiling at other trainers and their charges.
A strangely familiar figure caught her gaze and Daisy's eyes widened.
Bent over, scrubbing the floor were Mack and Yo-Yo.
As she passed, Yo-Yo looked up, catching her gaze. The woman's face paled slightly, clearly trying not to react to the fact that Daisy looked like a dead woman walking. She looked down again quickly.
Daisy's mind was racing as they entered their arena, feeling Yo-Yo's gaze on her back. Mack and Yo-Yo were here; that meant the rest of the team probably was as well.
She tried to suppress the sudden burst of hope that bloomed in her chest.
Her family.
They had come.
No matter what happens, I will find you. Coulson and I will find you and we will bring you home. May's voice rang in her head.
Daisy almost cried.
She wanted May. She wanted Coulson. She wanted her mom and dad.
Because that was who they were. Her mom and dad.
She hoped they knew that. She was going to tell them if she saw them.
Not if. When.
"We found Daisy."
They had re-gathered in the garbage chute. Yo-Yo spoke the words they all wanted to hear but Jemma could tell something was seriously wrong.
"I've never seen her look so defeated," Yo-Yo said quietly, her accent hugging her soft words. "She's not in good shape. She's hurt."
The team silently absorbed those words.
"All the more reason to get her out as soon as possible," Jemma felt that she had to speak up. The feeling of hopelessness in the training center was almost suffocating and she could tell the whole team was being affected by it. They had all seen things in this training center in the single hour of posing as janitors that they would never un-see.
"Yo-Yo, we're going to need your powers. You can grab and go?" Coulson moved them toward action.
"If she's in the same place," Yo-Yo nodded. "I will need to be closer though."
"Simmons and Fitz, you're in charge of getaway," Coulson turned to them. "We are probably going to need to get out a lot faster than we got in."
"Yes sir," Jemma nodded, exchanging a look with Fitz. "We can do that." Her mind was already churning away at the problem; they needed to stay hidden but also move quickly.
"Mack and Tess, you help FitzSimmons in whatever way they need. Yo-Yo, I'll come with you once we have the beginning of a plan to get out." Coulson looked at them all. "Sound good?"
Everyone nodded.
"I can't get into that door," Yo-Yo hissed, mopping the floor near the door she had seen Daisy disappear into several hours ago. "It's locked." She had already tried several times in the gaps between traffic.
"We'll go around to the other side," Coulson murmured, gazing intently at the spot he was cleaning.
They slowly made their way around the curve of the hallway, finding another door on the other side. Even as they watched, a trainer and being in a blue shirt came out, the alien in the blue shirt half-conscious.
Coulson casually stuck his mop in the crack of the door, keeping it from closing.
"Let's go."
Yo-yo grabbed a small bottle of cleaning solution and used it prop the door open before she and Coulson hurried down the hall away from the room. Once they were positioned by the air duct that would take them back to the meeting place, Yo-Yo prepared to jump.
"Ready?" She looked at Coulson.
"Ready."
Yo-Yo disappeared. But she did not come back.
(line)
Hmmm I wonder what happened?! :O
Question of the day: cake or ice cream?
Until the next chapter!
~silverlining