Can you believe this was intended as a one, maybe two-shot?
(-)
When he was done updating/lying to Canelo, he turned to find Daisy gone. The stab of panic that went through him was calmed when Coulson approached him. "She's getting blood drawn with Fitz-Simmons. I imagine they'd be interested in sampling yours, if you'd agree."
Not happening. Not until Robbie knew what their plans were. "What do you plan on doing with me? Daisy seemed really worried about what you'd do if you caught me."
Sighing, Coulson said, "Well, it's hard to say. You're a bit of a puzzle. You're a demon-possessed murderer, but you're also a vigilante who only kills those who have committed horrible crimes against others. Daisy seems to have a connection to you outside of her emotional one, so that factors in. She's Angel Spawn?"
"Apparently created with the purpose of destroying or banishing the Riders from Earth. But she's almost compatible with my Rider, and It would do anything to protect her, same as me. So we don't know what she is. Something special," Robbie said.
"We've always known Daisy was special," Coulson said with a soft, fond smile.
Robbie examined the man before he said, "She trusts you. She loves you and calls you her family."
Coulson smiled. "We are her family. Before we…met her, we were a chaotic group of individuals. With her, we became a team, and then a family."
"Why did you hesitate to say 'met her'?" Robbie asked.
Looking amused, Coulson said, "Well, she was a hacker that kept getting into our networks, so we stuffed a bag over her head and abducted her."
For some reason, that made him laugh. It sounded like exactly the kind of thing that Daisy would turn around into something good.
"Abducting her was the best hiring decision I've ever made," Coulson said confidently.
"You guys are weird. I can see why you make a good family for Daisy," Robby said.
Suddenly, Bobbi was looking down from the upper deck. "Coulson, we have a situation."
"We have a few," Coulson said, though he was frowning in concern. "Which one are you talking about?"
"We sent a team to investigate those electrical surges with Deathlok as back-up, remember?" Bobbi asked.
Deathlok? Suddenly this agency seemed slightly sinister. But Robbie listened as Coulson said, "Agent Peterson was their back-up, yes. What happened?"
"Well, the source of the electric anomalies was an Enhanced. But Hydra was onto them too, and they captured it and Agent Peterson," Bobbi said, clearly making an effort to use the name and not the nickname. Still, he had to wonder what kind of man got "Deathlok" as a nickname.
"What intel do we have; do we know where they were taken?" Coulson asked, and Robbie could see how important the man was to him.
"Daisy is on it," Bobbi said.
Coulson headed to the staircase up and looked over his shoulder. "Mr. Reyes, why don't you join us? We may need your help."
Robbie followed, but asked, "You sure Mack is going to be okay with that?"
"He has to, if he ever wants Daisy to forgive him," Coulson said. "Not to mention the chain of command."
"You're in charge, huh?" Robbie asked as the rooms got progressively more important-looking.
"Director of Shield," Coulson said.
Well, the Director seemed to like him, so maybe Robbie would be okay. More to the point, the fact that Daisy liked and trusted Robbie seemed to convince the man that Ghost Rider might be good.
They got into the main control room, and Daisy was at a computer with everyone gathered around. Mack was keeping his distance, but it seemed more like he knew he'd piss Daisy off if he got too close. His eyes narrowed when they met Robbie's, but that was his only hostile action.
"They took Mike and Sparky into Plena Arce," Daisy said. When everyone's faces looked discouraged, Robbie assumed it was a difficult place to penetrate.
Bobbi said, "The manpower at that base is overwhelming. Even if we sent our whole fighting force in, it would be a bloodbath."
Daisy suddenly looked up and over at Robbie. And he got it. He went to join her, looking at the screen with an aerial view of the place. "This place is full of bad guys, huh? Murderers?"
"No!" Mack said.
His side was suddenly warm as Daisy leaned into him. "If we want a good bloodbath, Robbie is our guy."
"I'm not sure about this," Bobbi said.
"We brought Mr. Reyes along to see if he's more helpful than harmful; this seems like the best situation to find out," Coulson said. "You said it, Bobbi. All of our forces can't take out enough Hydra agents to pull off a rescue. Sending Mr. Reyes in first to clear the way would be a big help. And we don't have to worry about him dying."
Before committing to this plan, he figured he should check with the Rider. 'Massive amounts of evil men sound like a good time?'
Bring me to them.
"It's on board," Robbie said. "At this point, I think It would be irritated with you if you didn't send us in."
"Sounds like a plan," Coulson said. "Mr. Reyes will clear our way in while a team infiltrates behind him to rescue the hostages."
"Good," Daisy said, slipping her hand into his and squeezing. "Poor Mike has been through enough. And Ace needs his dad."
"Mike?" Robbie asked.
"They call him 'Deathlok' after all the cybernetic upgrades they did on his body. He's Enhanced, but his gifts come from science instead of deals with the Devil or angel rape."
"Angel what now?" Hunter asked.
"Later," Daisy said. "Now we need to prepare, because Hydra has no idea what's about to hit them."
Shield didn't know either; they hadn't seen what he was truly capable of. He'd just have to see if he was more useful than dangerous.
(-)
"Blimey, glad he's on our side," Hunter said as they waited for it to be clear enough to follow Robbie in. "Why didn't he do that to us?"
"Two reasons," Daisy said. "One, you aren't bad. Two, I asked It not to."
"When did you ask that?" Bobbi asked.
Daisy smiled to herself. "When I was checking out his car."
"That boy wanted to eat you up," Hunter said. "And I guess it wasn't just from the car-kink strings you were tugging at."
Coulson said, "Shush, I think it's almost time to make a break for the door."
"Stay in the middle of us, Simmons," May said, which was the first thing she'd said since they'd got there. Daisy got the impression she didn't think sending Robbie in to clear a bloody swath through Hydra's ranks was a good idea either.
Jemma had been brought along to see to Mike, since she was the most familiar with his tech and how it interacted with his biology. She'd been in the field enough that she wasn't terrified, but Daisy could see she was nervous. Daisy slid her hand into Jemma's briefly and squeezed it reassuringly. In doing so, she accidentally sent a gentle pulse through the girl. That just made Jemma grin at her, eyes wondering.
"Now!" Coulson said, and they raced across the yard into the facility, trying not to trip on bloody, charred corpses as they did.
Once inside, they could tell the path Robbie had taken: more corpses. But he was heading to Operations; the opposite direction had Technological Research. It was hard to be sure which place would be more likely to have Mike, but Jemma, Coulson, and May headed that way while Hunter and Bobbi followed Daisy following Robbie. Given his bias against Enhanced people, Mack had been left behind on the plane to run back end on the mission.
They turned the corner, and the Rider was picking up some doctors operating on a guy on a gurney and tossing them away. It looked interested in the guy, but more Hydra agents came to back up those already dead on the floor, and the Rider had more work to do.
Daisy had work to do. Luckly there was only one initial incision, but the monitors he was hooked up to showed him suddenly flatlining. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing there to save a life with, but Hunter and Bobbi looked around for something they could use.
Her own heart was pounding as she looked at him lying there, pale and helpless. And there was the answer. She focused on her heart, how the rhythm of its beating felt, how the flesh of it pulsed with life. Daisy focused on his chest, hands over his heart, and tried to recreate those vibrations in him. It took a few shockwaves, but as she was about to give up, the last one triggered electricity to spark between her hands and his chest. And the monitors started up again. She beamed; she could control this. She could use it for all kinds of constructive purposes. Daisy wasn't just a natural disaster.
His eyes blinked open, and Daisy said, "It'll be okay. We're here to save you. We won't let them hurt you."
Of course, Ghost Rider threw a man into the window of the operating room, blood splattering everywhere. One glimpse at the flames made the man pass out again. But his heart was beating. Whatever mess had been made, he was alive. Hopefully Mike was too.
(-)
Daisy volunteered to stay with Lincoln (Lincoln Campbell, according to Hydra's medical chart on him) while they were in transit. He was stable, but waking up in an unfamiliar environment might spark, quite literally, a bad reaction. So Daisy was in the containment pod with him. To Robbie's displeasure.
She wasn't sure if he was jealous or what, but he hadn't spoken much after they'd gotten back on the plane. It was a relief to see Mike walking around. They'd mainly disabled his weapons, not getting much farther before they showed up.
The air was getting charged, and she looked over to see Lincoln waking up. "Hey, you're okay," she said softly.
He looked at her and said, "You."
"Me," she said with a smile. "My name's Daisy."
Of course, Robbie clearly didn't like that soft smile being given to anyone but him, and he was watching from the window. When Lincoln caught sight of his intense frown, arcs of electricity came off him, and he tried to scramble out of his bed. "That! That thing will kill us both if we don't kill It!"
And Daisy realized what was happening. Lincoln could see the Rider inside Robbie just like she could. Which meant… "You're Angel Spawn too?"
Lincoln looked disgusted. "The Ultio call us that. We're Sancti Pueri."
It sounded kind of pretentious to Daisy, but she wasn't going to start a fight when someone might have answers for her. "You're like me. But you can manipulate electricity, not vibrations. Can we all do different things?"
Now Lincoln was looking at her, confused. "Why would you ask that?"
"Because I had no idea I was anything but human until a month ago," Daisy said.
"You were raised off the reservation?" Lincoln asked incredulously.
"Since I have no idea what that is, yes," Daisy said.
"Okay, then you'll have to take my word for it, but that," he pointed at Robbie, "is pure evil."
Frowning, Daisy said, "No, he isn't." Then she added, "It isn't," because Lincoln wasn't looking at anything other than the Rider. "He and It saved your life."
"Those things aren't any kind of savior," Lincoln said, giving Robbie a look of disgust.
Rolling her eyes, she said, "Carving a path through the bad guys so I could get to you in time to restart your heart is nothing like saving you. Right." But since she had a feeling she and Lincoln wouldn't be on good terms much longer, Daisy redirected the conversation. "You sound surprised that I'm from the regular world. Do we never get abandoned outside?"
"Abandoned? Never. Someone must have stolen you when you were a baby, that's the only possibility," Lincoln said.
Daisy's heart leapt. It wasn't that she was unwanted. That thought had been lingering her whole life. "How can you be sure?"
"Because if your parents didn't want you, they would still have given you to another family of our kind. Even if we settle down with ordinary people, we belong on the reservation. And we aren't very fertile, so any children are precious and brought home to be raised right. So someone must have taken you before your parents could bring you home." Lincoln was solely focused on her now, not paying any attention to Robbie.
"Why would they do that?" Daisy asked.
"Well, one or both of your parents had abilities. If someone saw that, they might hope to raise you as theirs and take advantage of what abilities you might have. Who raised you?"
"The US foster care system, so there goes that theory," Daisy said. "So you have no idea who my parents might be? Nobody ever had a baby that went missing?"
Now Lincoln looked troubled. "No, which is strange. If someone's child had been kidnapped, everyone would have went looking for it. We would have found you long before you grew up. Probably before you were even old enough to be aware anything had happened."
"So I was right about us all being different? You have electricity, I have vibrations…would my parents have had vibrations? Is it inherited?"
"We are all unique," Lincoln said. "Your parents could have anything. But each of us, whatever we can do, is made to banish and destroy the Ultio."
And here came the diverging point. "They aren't all bad. At least, mine isn't. He and It care about me."
Lincoln's face twisted in disgust. "Yours? Those things belong to no one but the Devil."
"Actually, they have minds and wills of their own. Sure, they all carry out vengeance, but at least it's on people who deserve it," Daisy said.
"Deserve it? I've seen one tear through a village of innocent people," Lincoln said.
That was news to Daisy. "That makes no sense. My Rider has a code, and It has bad-guy radar that lets It find them."
"How can you be sure they're bad?" Lincoln asked.
"Because every person It's killed has been proven to have committed horrible crimes. I helped It intervene in a gang rape and save the woman. It just tore through some of the evilest people on the planet to save you."
"Well, I don't know what game It's playing, but don't fall for it, Daisy." Lincoln took her hand. "If It finds out what you are, It will kill you. They're terrified of us."
"It knew what I was before I did," Daisy said. "That's why I said 'Angel Spawn' instead of 'Sancti' whatever. It told me what I was, that I was made to destroy It."
"It let you live? They'll burn you to ash; it's their reflex towards us." Lincoln pulled up his sleeve to show a nasty-looking burn scar. "I was helping Gordon take one out when It gave me this."
Daisy looked from the scar to Lincoln's eyes. "Its fire doesn't burn me. It feels nice."
That got the biggest reaction, and Lincoln was trying to get away from her now, still too weak to get out of his bed. "Perfuga. I thought that was a myth."
"What was a myth?" Daisy asked, giving him more space so he'd stop looking at her like a hunted creature.
"Corrupted. Legends say there would come a Puer that was born blighted, touched with the influence of the Ultio. No one thought it was possible since we are antithesis to each other." Lincoln glared at her. "And it makes sense why your parents abandoned you and told no one."
That was like a gut punch. Validation that she was unwanted, seen as defective. "Daisy, I'd like to speak with you," Coulson said on the intercom.
She stood up and the door opened. She got out before Lincoln could get up or try to send his power out of containment, and the door closed behind her. And she was wrapped in Coulson's arms. "There's nothing wrong with who you are, Daisy. Your parents didn't deserve you if they thought otherwise."
It was just what she needed to hear after having her life-long fear of being abandoned validified. Her eyes were wet, but she wasn't crying. Not when she belonged right where she was. "Guess it's a good thing they were stupid. Because Shield is my real family." He squeezed her tighter at that.
When he let go, Robbie was waiting. And she was drawn into his arms, that overly-warm skin feeling wonderful on hers. "Guess we know why you're special," he said gently.
"Yes, I'm delightfully corrupted by the influence of a Rider," Daisy said before she kissed him. She heard Hunter whistle but didn't care. It had taken them too long to get there. And Robbie was highly animated, holding her close and sliding a hand through her hair to keep her lips on his, even squeezing her butt once and startling a slight moan out of her.
"You realize we can see you, right?" Fitz asked from nearby.
"And so can Sparky, because he just threw up," Hunter said.
Daisy was still right by the door and turned to look through the window. Lincoln was slumped over the side of his bed, vomit on the floor.
Jemma was pushing her aside in an instant. "I'm not entirely sure that's from revulsion. I need to get in there and check on him."
As she was working on the keypad to unlock the door, Daisy said, "If he tries anything, tries to hurt you, tell him I'll quake his head apart if he does." Because manipulating frequencies was getting easier, and making all the bone and tissue of his head vibrate excessively was a very real possibility. It would be messy, but Lincoln wouldn't get away with hurting Jemma, who was just trying to help him.
(-)
Daisy defended them. Kept saying that he and It were good, that they weren't just senseless murderers. And when she was told she was corrupted, that that was why she was immune to their flame, the Rider agreed that that felt right. But It had no idea how such a thing would come to be. Riders couldn't possess Angel Spawn; they were inherently immune to their influence.
And when she kissed him, that set him on fire. Everything he'd been holding back, all the desire to touch and kiss her was set alight, and his hands were all over her. When Fitz brought them to their senses, Lincoln had thrown up, and Jemma was going in. Daisy pulled him away before the door opened, likely aware that if it was a ploy, it was to get at Robbie. And, yes, the Rider knew that lightning would be effective at harming them. Just like Daisy could quake them apart if she figured out how.
But, unlike most of the rest of his life after he sold his soul, he didn't want the Rider gone. They were together now, not just a host and possessing force. It went deeper. And it was because of Daisy. Their bond with her drew them together, making them function better than ever. At that base, instead of just letting the Rider take control of him, Robbie helped him. With his support, the Rider was faster and stronger, not needing to override his body's natural controls. Robbie wasn't just letting go of the wheel so the Rider could drive, he was driving with him.
It said it wasn't unheard of, but most hosts couldn't synchronize with their Riders to work with them. It didn't know why, but Robbie was betting it was because they weren't close to their Rider. It wasn't like they were personable and easy to talk to. But now it felt more like sharing his body than allowing his body to be inhabited.
"I don't know what we'll do with Lincoln," Daisy said. "We can't keep him locked up if he isn't a threat to the public, but he's a threat to you." She hugged him and said, "If we let him go, they'll all try to find you and kill you. And if there are enough of them to make their own settlement, and this is what they've dedicated their lives to, they will kill you. Even with me on your side, we can't win against those odds."
"I'm hoping Mr. Campbell can be persuaded to ignore Robbie," Coulson said. "A large group of Enhanced people coordinating an attack in the middle of a city…that's definitely the kind of thing Shield deals with. Going after Ghost Rider on his home turf would make them a threat to everyone. And I doubt Mr. Campbell and his kind want to deal with that kind of exposure. We already need to Index him before we let him go."
Sighing, Daisy said, "And even if I'm still an agent, we need to Index me too."
Grimacing, Coulson said, "An unfortunate necessity. And Robbie as well, although I hope we can count on it being voluntary."
These were good people; Daisy's people. "Yeah, we can do that. Not sure anyone has tried to use science to learn about a Rider."
Fruitless, no doubt.
'Guess we'll find out,' Robbie thought.
A mechanical sounding noise prefaced a cyborg approaching them. His leg made noise with every step. Some of his skin was burned, and other parts of him were covered in tech. And he was looking at Robbie. "I wanted to thank you for making an impossible rescue possible."
When a hand was extended to shake, Robbie took it. For a guy called "Deathlok" he seemed decent. "No problem. Daisy said you have a kid waiting for you. Too many kids don't have fathers." Like him.
That seemed to pain the man. "I can only talk to him on the phone. He hasn't…seen me yet."
"I'm sure it'd be an adjustment, but if he's still young…what kid wouldn't think a cyborg dad is cool?"
Mike looked a little startled. "I mean…my face. My weapons…"
"He's right, Mike. Ace needs his dad, and that's always you. I'd even go with you, explain some of it to him so it isn't so sudden," Daisy said. Her hand reached out to take his that was shaking ever so slightly. "You're a team, remember?"
The big man was still. The eye not damaged seemed to turn red, but it also glazed over with tears, as did his bad one. Coulson said, "We can talk about it over here. Along with some other things," and steered the metal man away.
"Mike is a great guy," Daisy said when he was out of earshot. "He didn't deserve everything that happened to him. All he ever wanted was to make a difference, to be a hero for his son."
"So he didn't ask for that?" Robbie asked, because that kind of body modification involuntarily…that was horrible.
"No. We thought he died in an explosion, but Hydra took him and started modifying him after he was injured. They put an eyeball in his head that would explode if he didn't do what they said. So he was forced to be a bad guy. But we got the finger off the trigger of his kill switch and swapped the eye out for a better one. And Mike got to be the good guy he really is again." Daisy smiled. "He's how my adventures with Shield really started."
"Glad he's a good guy," Robbie said. "I mean, he still probably couldn't hurt me, but I wouldn't want him as an enemy."
'Speaking of enemies, what are we going to do about a possible horde of Angel Spawn coming to kill us?' Robbie asked.
Daisy is right; we couldn't fight them all and live.
'So we just have to hope Coulson's plan of intimidating them into staying in hiding works?' It was a big "if" to gamble on.
We can't change the mind of the Electric Spawn. He is indoctrinated.
'About that, are all Riders not like you? I mean, all the killing is bearable because I know they deserve it. But do some of you just kill for the fun of it?'
Not all of my kind are made alike. I was made for Balance, not Chaos.
'So the Angel Spawn have no idea that you aren't all bad? And you don't hunt them down or anything?'
We are the hunted. When they find us, we fight back. But we don't seek them out. At least, few do. I imagine some enjoy preying upon our hunters.
That meant Lincoln had a lot of things wrong, and there was a lot he didn't know. But, as It said, he'd been told these things from birth. Changing his mind wouldn't be easy.
"Good conversation?" Daisy asked with a smile.
Robbie realized he'd drifted off in the middle of a conversation with Daisy. But she understood. Which was good; most girlfriends would just assume he wasn't listening to them. "Yeah. Lincoln isn't wrong; some Riders are monsters. But some, like mine, are about vengeance. It's never hurt an innocent person when it's been with me. Only those who have committed horrible crimes against others."
Daisy looked thoughtful. "Where is the line? I imagine pedophiles are fair game." When Robbie nodded, she asked, "What about non-violent crimes? An embezzler that ruins the lives of hundreds or thousands of people with his greed."
Unrepentant greed would draw me in. The fact that his aggression was monetary and not physical doesn't change his guilt.
"That's a yes. If it isn't a large scale, I'm not sure, but someone who ruined that many lives deserves it," Robbie said.
Putting a hand against his face, thumb stroking his cheek, Daisy said, "Starting to sound like you agree with It."
"We're…synchronizing. We can work together now. And…the closer we get, the more we talk. It was never like this before," Robbie said.
Not all hosts are worth talking to. But not all hosts encounter a Spawn like Daisy.
Robbie smiled and put a hand over the one on his cheek. "I guess you gave us something to talk about."
"Hate to interrupt, but we need to finish Indexing Daisy," Fitz said. "And then we need to Index Robbie."
"Who gets to be the one who tells Lincoln he doesn't leave until he's Indexed?" Robbie asked. Not him.
Daisy sighed. "I'm not sure if I'm the best or worst option. Coulson should definitely be there, if he's going to bring the threat of Shield against the Sancti…the Angel Spawn. So maybe both of us."
"Well, whatever we plan, we should do it soon, before he's recovered enough to give us real trouble," Fitz said as they started heading to the lab.
Robbie glanced in the containment unit as they walked by, and Lincoln was glaring at him. The one in real trouble if Sparky got out would be him.
(-)
Yay! And, to be clear, I love Lincoln, but we know he isn't immune to drinking Kool Aid if he's been raised with it. I hated how the show left things with Mike, so they got the rescue going sooner, quick enough that they didn't dismantle him.
And Daisy said they didn't have any Enhanced agents, but she meant the naturally, can't-be-explained, Enhanced. Shield has all the specs for Mike, so even if he's Indexed, he isn't any kind of dangerous they can't explain.
Well, I hope this is getting good, because we're shaping into the larger plot. I'd love to hear what you think about this; still kind of hoping to get more feedback. But, review or not, I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to the next chapter: drama and integrating Robbie and proving Lincoln is a good guy.
