"Jiaying, she… she gave me my sister's location and phone number, told me to tell her what happened, and be there for her now that she can't…" Daisy said, once she was done, a lone tear falling on her cheek.
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah, apparently Jiaying had another kid with someone here a few years after I was taken. She couldn't be with my father, and had a one-night stand with some Inhuman, I think. I don't really remember how Kora came to be, but now I have a 19-year-old sister to look after and tell her that her mother's dead."
.
After a couple months, Daisy finally decided to take out her sister's phone number so she could call her. She had her mother's letter and Jemma with her as she made the call, feeling more nervous than she had ever felt in her entire life, despite having been trained as a Hydra operative since she was very young. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Jemma said, placing a comforting hand on Daisy's shoulder.
"I have to. It's been two months already, she has a right to know," Daisy explained, before grabbing her phone and dialing the number indicated on Jiaying's note. It rang and rang for a few moments until someone finally picked up.
"Hello?" a young woman's voice asked on the other line.
"Kora?"
"This is she. Who is this?" Kora asked, confused.
"I'm Daisy Johnson…. your sister."
"Sister?"
"You didn't know, either, did you?"
"This is the first time I ever heard you existed, no offense."
"None taken. But I didn't call you just to tell you about a long lost older sibling," Daisy told her sister, unsure of how to say what had to be said. She could feel Kora tensing a little even on the other line of the phone.
"What is it?" the young woman asked, her voice shaking a little.
"Um… this is gonna be hard for you to hear… it is hard for me to say and I haven't been in this family for long… Granted I only found out about you all barely six months ago." Jemma squeezed her hand to give the younger agent strength, but also to remind her what she had to say. "Right… I called because mom wrote a letter to me telling me where you were and your phone number, just in case something happened."
"Something happened? Is mom ok? Where is she? Is everyone at Afterlife ok?"
"The Inhumans are ok, but… something happened and mom, she… she went crazy trying to protect us from SHIELD, thought they would attack Afterlife so she had the Inhumans attack them first." Daisy heard a shaky breath on the other line, but nothing else, so after a few moments of silence, she continued. "I tried to stop her from attacking them, I knew the Inhumans would die if they followed her… but she wouldn't listen. Mom was so stubborn in her beliefs and her need to protect Afterlife that it…" Daisy was the one to take a shaky breath then, before continuing. "That it killed her…"
"Mom's dead?" Kora asked, her voice tainted with disbelief and fear.
"My father killed her when I couldn't… she was killing me with her powers, weakening me, so my father saved me by killing her. I wish there was another way to save her… that we could bring her back, but… but we can't."
"She… she's dead… h-have you tried giving her energy?"
"I'm sorry, Kora… it's too late. Most of the Inhumans survived and moved back to their homes… Afterlife is gone… so is Gordon."
"What am I gonna do now… if Afterlife and mom are gone… where am I supposed to go?"
"Mom said in her letter that you were traveling… if you wanted to continue that, you could, but if you wanted to leave… I'm your sister, you're the only family I have left, we could be there for each other."
"I need some time to um… to think about it… mourn my mother."
"That's all I ask, take all the time you need."
"Thank you for telling me, Daisy."
"You're welcome." And with that, the phone call ended. Daisy pressed her head on Jemma's shoulder, and let out the tears she had been too afraid to shed for so long.
-l
Another three months later, Daisy lay in her bed that morning, her arm around Jemma's shoulder and her finger delicately caressing the older girl's arm. She couldn't believe six months had passed since Coulson gave her her job back and asked her to build a secret team filled with people with powers. Trip had disappeared, God knows where, and Fitz had spent the past five months trying to figure it out to no avail. At least, Bobbi had been back from rehabbing her knee, so now Daisy had her partner with her. She liked Mack, but she and Bobbi had trauma bonded a little over what Ward did to the tall blonde. At least now she was done with all the rehab and wouldn't complain constantly about being stuck in the lab. She wasn't at the same level as she was before, but that would come back eventually, everyone knew it. And it wasn't like they were doing that much fighting for now, so Bobbi was fine.
There was a lot more that had changed, too. Hunter was gone most of the time, going after Ward with Kara's help, May had just… left, Fitz was buried in his own mind in his search of the monolith and Mack was there as backup for Daisy and Bobbi, but now he was more partnered with Jemma if she came in the field.
"Hey," Jemma said softly, bringing Daisy out of her thoughts as her fingers played with her girlfriend's now short hair.
"Hey," Daisy replied, kissing her girlfriend's lips.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"Just thinking about how everything's changed."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Hunter and Kara are gone half the time, May is just… gone, Trip got taken by that crazy stone, and Fitz has his head buried in books almost everyday."
"Do we have to go soon?"
"Bobbi said she would text me if anything came up."
"So we can stay in bed some more?" Jemma asked, the hope in her eyes making Daisy chuckle.
"I can't believe I'm hearing you. Doctor Jemma Simmons, asking to relax late in the morning."
"Well we've been waking up at the early hours of the morning for the past five months with very little days of calm, so I apologize for wanting to sleep past eight in the morning."
"No need to go all defensive, I just think it's cute," Daisy said, a smile crossing her face.
"You know, your training is probably going to kill me faster than anyone I go up against in the field," Jemma complained, hiding her face in the crook of Daisy's neck.
"Doubtful," the younger girl replied, pulling up the other girl's head with her finger so she could kiss her lips.
The kiss would have led up to something more heated had they not been interrupted by the knock on the door, making both girls groan. "We got a mission. Are you both decent?" Bobbi's voice asked, from the other side of the door.
"Yeah," Daisy simply said, and waited for her partner to open the door before adding anything. "I thought you were going to text if anything came up?"
"I was going to, but I had a feeling you would be getting distracted so I came in person. Turns out, I was right."
"We weren't even doing anything," Daisy groaned, but Bobbi raised a single eyebrow in a 'yeah, sure' kind of way, so Daisy got up from the bed. "I'll grab my duffle and I'll join you on the Zephyr."
"Do you need me on this?" Jemma asked, sitting up.
"No, you and Mack can stay. Hunter and Kara are already here, so we'll use them this time. We'll send you the file once we've gotten the Inhuman out safely," Bobbi replied, so Jemma nodded and stayed in bed.
"Well, call me if you need anything."
"Of course!" Daisy assured her, kissing her girlfriend on the lips before grabbing her mission bag and following Bobbi out. "Love you, Jem."
"Love you!" Jemma quickly called out as the door closed. The scientist then laid back down, knowing she would have to go train soon. Daisy had told her to continue training all the time, even when Daisy herself was on mission without her. Before Trip disappeared, he would always train with her, help her with her technique. Now, Mack was helping her whenever he could, and with his height, he showed her how to take down bigger opponents.
About five minutes later, Jemma stood from her bed with a groan, going to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and breakfast. Daisy usually ate with her before training, but since she was out on a mission, Jemma went to find Mack.
She made herself a cup of coffee and breakfast, finding Mack in the living area playing a video game. "Hi, Mack," Jemma said, smiling as she dropped down next to the taller agent.
"Hey, Simmons," he replied, smiling back at her. "No Daisy today?"
"She had to leave with Bobbi to go on a mission with Hunter and Kara."
"Oh yeah, I did see the agents on the Zephyr getting ready for a mission. We're not joining?"
"No, they said that Hunter and Kara were already going, so we are to stay here, but I'll assist if they need me."
"Well, if you need any help with training in the meantime, I'm here," Mack assured her, smiling at his friend.
"I may take you up on your offer, Mack, thank you," Jemma told him, returning his smile. "I will probably go to the lab for some time once I finish training my powers, there are some things the Director needed me to look over."
"Come find me and Fitz in the gym in 20 minutes?"
"Alright."
.
When she made it to the gym, she saw Fitz was already there wrapping up his hands under Mack's watchful eye. With everything that had happened, Coulson made it mandatory for all field agents to be trained, so Mack and Daisy had taken upon themselves to train FitzSimmons enough so that they could pass the field assessments. It had become clear that they would be put in danger repeatedly, so it would be crazy to let them continue in that pattern without any kind of training. Daisy was obviously the one they didn't want teaching them but also they did, as she was probably one of the best agents they had. The former Hydra agent was a major hardass and enjoyed making everything hard for them. Would they tell her to calm down and make it easier on them? Not at all, unless they wanted to make things worse.
Once they got ready and were all stretched, Mack had them stand in the middle of the mats so they could begin their sparring session. Jemma let Fitz throw the first punch, which she blocked easily, before reacting with a hook to his ribs, a cross in his face and a thai kick that collided in the same spot in his ribs. Fitz groaned a little at the kick's force, but he still retaliated with a jab, cross, hook, side kick sequence. The kick landed on Jemma's chest and sent her backwards about a foot's distance. "Good job, Turbo," Mack commended his friend.
Jemma ran up to Fitz, hitting him in the chest with two punches, then a hook to the ribs, another hook and finished her sequence with a Thai kick, which Fitz blocked. He countered the attack with a jab and a hook, followed by a powerful hit directed at his best friend's gut, but Jemma blocked it. She then hit him in the chest with a side kick and decided to finish the fight with one of Daisy's moves she'd taught her. With a running start, she climbed up Fitz' shoulders, twisted herself with the momentum and forced them both to fall on the ground, though she kept her hold on him until he tapped out. "Where did you learn that?" Fitz asked, coughing a little from his sudden lack of oxygen for that moment.
"Daisy taught me that last month. She said May taught her, but she'd started to learn it at Hydra before she came here."
"Tremors is a good teacher, I gotta say," Mack told them, smiling.
"She really is," Jemma replied, her own smile drawn on her face.
-l
When Daisy, Bobbi and the others arrived on the scene, it was to find a group of heavily armed men in tactical gear moving around the streets, guns drawn out in front of them, searching for someone – probably the new break-out. Daisy was in the field first, as the 'muscle' to take out the men. "Hey, he's in the alley!" one of the men yelled, and they all turned to the alley where the Inhuman had been spotted. Daisy used that as her moment to strike, and created an earthquake around them. She then sent three of the men flying, and then the car, moving over to the alley as she forced them back.
Daisy was wearing her new suit that Jemma and Fitz had designed for her, with her gauntlets to protect her arms whenever she used her powers. When she lowered her hand, she turned to find a young man – Hispanic – with very short hair, slowly standing up with fear in his eyes. "Hey. What's your name?" Daisy asked, as she approached the Inhuman, but he backed away in fear. Behind her, Bobbi, Hunter and Kara were setting everything up, so she guessed he was worried about what they were doing. That, or the black ops group that might be onto them soon enough. "Guy, what's your name?" Daisy asked, a hand up as a calming gesture, as she stood in front of him, but he was backing away while she moved forward.
"Joey," the Inhuman – Joey – said, his voice shaking.
"Joey. Okay, my name's Daisy, I'm with SHIELD, and we're here for your protection." Daisy hated how weird it still felt now that it was 100% true, but it did, and maybe someday she'll finally feel normal at those words. Hydra really did do that big of a number on her, did they?
"There's more incoming. First unit's down or wetting themselves. That SUV got the point across," Bobbi said, backing toward them, gun drawn to the entrance of the alley. In the meantime, Hunter moved over to the end of the alley and dropped a device on the ground to signal evac for Joey.
"Joey, Joey. J- Joey! Stay with me, okay?! I know you're scared and your world's being turned upside down. But believe it or not, I've been through this, okay? I can help."
"We'll get you out of here," Kara promised the Inhuman, standing near Bobbi as she helped in securing the alley.
"It's you who made the car, the people, and the thing…"
"You're gonna want to stand well clear of that, mate," Hunter told Joey, grabbing his arm to bring him away from the perimeter the module would take once it landed. The containment module stopped inches from the ground before dropping smoothly, its doors opening up automatically.
"Didn't I tell you?" Bobbi asked, her gun still aimed at the entrance of the alley.
"I know it's a lot to take in. But right now, you have very few options and zero time, so, please, just go with it," Daisy said, pushing Joey into the module, and taking a few steps back away from the module.
"We'll be right there with you," Hunter assured him. "It's not like this day can get any crazier, right?"
"Right?" Joey asked, echoing Hunter's last word, but his voice wavered a little, as the doors to the module slid closed. Once the module started to fly away, the four agents looked at it for a moment before going back to their quinjet.
.
In the module, Joey clutched the ceiling bars tightly, breathing heavily as he watched the ground get smaller and smaller. "I take that back!" he told himself, fear tainting his voice.
"How are you holding up in there, buddy?" Mack's voice sounded over the mics, as the quinjet flew up and past him.
"Fine. I guess. I hope this is going somewhere other than higher."
"Rest easy. We're almost there."
And as promised, a few moments later, the module's speed lightened up, and it entered a hatch inside what looked like a plane. A very big plane.
.
Once Daisy landed the quinjet on the Zephyr One's secure hold on top – Coulson had finally agreed to let her fly once she had shown him she was just as good as May and Trip – she, Bobbi, Hunter and Kara exited the jet with their gear. Daisy was still packing some things in her duffle when they walked past the module, but she still needed to talk to the new Inhuman so she shoved her things inside and gave her partner a look. "We'll leave you to it," she told her, signaling to Hunter and Kara to follow her away from the cargo hold.
"Who are you? W-what is this? What is SHIELD? Did you do this to me?" Joey asked, his breath heavy, once Daisy was standing in front of the window of the module, her duffle now on the floor at her feet.
"We try to protect people like you from the world or from yourself, unless we have to defend the world against you."
"People like me? What is happening to me?"
"You've experienced what's called a bio-morphic event. Short version – your DNA changed."
"And the long version?"
"Is… long, but… right now, you need to understand that you will survive this."
"Okay. Okay, s-so you guys can cure me," Joey said, hopeful, but Daisy's apologetic look drained it away from him in a heartbeat.
"I'm sorry. We just learn to live with it. It may feel like your life has ended, but it's just… got more interesting."
"More interesting?" Joey asked, scoffing at Daisy's words. "I'm not a freaking TED talk. Did you see the power line hit that tanker truck? I'm literally a catastrophic meltdown. Everything was…" Joey cut himself off as realization hit him. "Wait, wait, wait. Why… why isn't this box liquefying or this plane or whatever the hell this is?"
"It's poly-tectic adaptive materials. Each module can be customized. So, you're safe in there, and we're safe from you."
"I don't feel safe. I feel like my skin's crawling and my organs are shifting and-"
"Joey, just take a breath," Daisy told him, cutting Joey off from his panicked rambling. "First thing you need is rest, medically speaking. We'll be in the air for a couple more hours, and you will be in this box, so why don't you lie down? You'll feel better after some sleep." Joey nodded, taking some calming breaths as he went to sit on the bed in the module. Daisy bent down to grab her bag, so she could give him some time alone, but his voice stopped her in her tracks as she started to walk away.
"Well... thanks, whatever your name is."
"Daisy."
"Well, thank you, Daisy, for not letting them shoot me in the head." Daisy nodded at him with a soft smile on her face. She was about to leave, when she remembered something.
"Uh, oh, one last thing… do you take vitamins every day, Joey? Fish oil?"
"Not every day."
"All right. Get some rest," she told him, and Joey laid down on the bed, so Daisy turned around to leave. As she did so, she noticed Coulson now standing in front of her.
"How's he doing?" the director asked, as Daisy approached him, placing her bag on the crates next to them.
"Okay. For now."
"Third incident already this month, but at least we were able to get our hands on this one."
"The rate of new cases is increasing."
"We knew it would after the initial reports."
"A new Inhuman could emerge anywhere without having any idea what's happened."
"Only in the continental U.S. so far. Plus, this new aircraft can stay in the air much longer than the old plane. Days, really, so rapid response anywhere is-" Coulson was cut off from his rambling by Daisy, though she was smirking.
"You love your new toy, don't you?"
"I very much love my new toy, but even with the mind-boggling range on this puppy…"
"Inhumans are still disappearing."
"This is the first one in a while we've been able to secure."
"Well, it's no mystery who's taking them. That black-ops group was there before us."
"I know."
"Again. Whoever they are. How many do you think they've taken?"
"We know of at least five sightings, five individuals who vanished before we could get to them. But the real mystery is, who's running that group?" Coulson asked, leading Daisy to the desk with computers on the side of the cargo hold. The young brunette grabbed her bag again, and followed him there.
"Not if you did your part."
"Hmm."
"How did it feel to join the paparazzi, Phil?" Daisy asked, joking at him. She didn't know if he was ok with her calling him that, after everything, but he didn't seem angry, so she went with it.
"I think I might have missed my calling," Coulson returned with his own joke, and their faces became serious when they turned their gazes to look at the photos of the woman running the black ops group. "I have every body, every piece of software tasked with identifying that woman so we can figure out where she's taking Inhumans and what exactly she plans to do with them."
-l
A few hours later, Jemma was notified that the Zephyr was landing, so she proceeded to go to the containment room where their new guest would be staying. As the module dropped down into the room, Jemma stood there, tablet in hand, waiting. She had made sure to be standing where Joey could see her. Once the module was safely docked in the room, Joey stood up and eyed her from the window of the module. "Hey. Who the hell are you?" Joey asked, clearly confused at seeing a new face in the room, and one with a lab coat no-less.
"Hello, I'm Jemma," the young scientist introduced herself, smiling at the young man. "This room is all yours, so feel free to make yourself at home. When you change, just put your clothing and any personal belongings in the drawer over here for analysis. The screen will then ask you to perform a series of medical scans. I know that you're not a huge fan of check-ups, but this will be painless."
"No offense, but I don't know you, so don't act like you know a damn thing about me."
"I know you put off your yearly physicals at least once every year, which is bad for you, if you ask me. I know that your ex-boyfriend was a health nut and was on you to take better care of yourself. But it wasn't until you two broke up that you finally got your gym membership."
"You've been spying on me?"
"Not at all! We only skimmed through your Facebook page, honestly," Jemma said, waving it off. She took a few more steps, until she was right in front of the module before she spoke again. "I did see enough to know that you're generally more concerned for others than you are for yourself."
"Did I hurt anyone?"
"Probably. But there have been no reported fatalities – not yet, anyway, so it's a good thing. Daisy will be around to see you to give you the rundown in a little while." She pressed a button on the tablet as she spoke, the door to the room opening up seconds later. "But know that you're not a danger to anyone in here. And you're safe from those people out there who were trying to hurt you. Whoever they are." Jemma gave him a reassuring smile before walking out of the room, the door closing up behind her. Once the door was closed, the module doors opened on their own, and Joey walked out of it hesitantly.
-l
"They're not Hydra," Hunter informed Coulson, as the two men and Kara headed down the corridor to the director's office. "You know, Palamas and I've been digging, and our street sources tell me Hydra's gone silent – eerily silent – yes, but-"
"Yeah, the Hydra finances we track are static. No money's changing hands," Coulson noted, as they entered the office, where Bobbi was waiting for them.
"These guys are using military-grade hardware, which means they're well-funded," Kara said, while Hunter nodded, placing the gun he was holding on Coulson's desk. The lit-up screen in front of them showed four pictures of the same woman within different organizations and showing different names.
"Did our resident Hydra expert recognize her?"
"No, she didn't. Her own contacts say that Hydra is underground, just like ours did," Palamas replied to that question.
"So if this woman's not Hydra, what is she?" Coulson asked, gesturing to the woman on the screen.
"Everything else. I mean, look at this… two years CIA…"
"Is that MI6?"
"Yeah, under which time, she was consulting with the CDC, apparently. All under different aliases."
"Oh, I like her."
"Yeah, but how are we supposed to track down someone like this? We can't look everywhere."
"If we can trace that hardware, that could give us a place to start. Take that down to Simmons in the lab. Have the team analyze it," Coulson ordered Hunter, as he turned to his desk.
"Yes, sir," he said, nodding his head, while Coulson removed his prosthetic hand. "Palamas, I need you to trace the hardware once the team analyzes it. Bobbi, you should head downstairs, assist Skye with intake."
"Daisy."
"Daisy. Damn it. Hard for us to get used to, huh?"
"Not really, no, just you, sir. She's been going by Daisy for over eight months now."
"Okay. So, what do we know about this José Gutierrez?"
"He says he prefers Joey," Bobbi told him, taking the pad with the paper file on it that Coulson now had in his hand. "Construction foreman, motorcycle enthusiast. Appears to be able to liquefy certain metals spontaneously at a distance of up to three meters."
"Yeah. And understandably, that development has scared the living crap out of him."
-l
After they landed, Daisy entered her room with a sigh, dropping her duffle on her bed and the door locking when it closed behind herself. The fact that she wasn't using her powers often made her more tired every time she used them a lot, now. She knew she shouldn't be saying that she missed harder missions, but she did, and she hated herself for it. She also hated the voice in her head – it sounded far too much like her superior – telling her how weak she was for being SHIELD's willing pet. She still heard him, even after all those months of being out of Hydra's control. He kept on talking, kept on trying to break her down again, and now that she was back on base, he was back in her head as well. He rarely showed up when she was on missions, her brain too focused on the task at hand, but it didn't stop him from showing up from time to time despite that.
When she was at the Playground, though, where she was happy and safe, that was when he liked to ruin it all for her, like he always did when he was alive. If she got too comfortable with something, he would somehow show up to take it away or make things worse for her. 'You should have stayed with Hydra. SHIELD has made you weak. We can make you strong again. Your powers can bring great joy to the heads, if you will just… give in,' his voice reverberated in her mind, again, and she closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head, her hands pressing at the sides of her head.
"No… just… just stop," Daisy demanded out loud, but barely above a whisper. She knew she sounded crazy, but it was the only way to make him stop, sometimes.
'Phil Coulson will throw you away like trash once he finally realizes how broken you really are. Look at yourself, you are talking to a voice in your head. Hydra can help you be great again.'
"Stop."
'You betrayed Coulson for the Rising Tide once before you were revealed to be Hydra. You are already on your third chance. Coulson won't have an infinite number of chances to give you.'
"Stop it… please…"
'You beg now?' Her superior's voice scoffed in her head. 'You really have gone soft. I doubt the Hydra heads would take you back like this.'
"Make it stop… please… please stop…"
Daisy heard the door unlock behind her and she knew Jemma had arrived from meeting Joey. Jemma would help, she was the only one who knew that she heard all her biggest doubts in her mind through the voice of her dead superior. Now that she was here, she would be able to help Daisy, make him disappear for a while. "Daisy? Are you alright?" Jemma asked, and then the sound of the door closing and locking reverberated in her ears.
'Even Jemma will leave when she finally figures what you are.'
"Jem…" Daisy called out, her nails digging at the sides of her head, trying to get the voice to stop antagonizing her.
"Is he back?"
'Tell her how messed up you are, go on.' Daisy nodded softly, eyes still screwed shut. She felt delicate hands touch her arms and twist her body so she was facing the other side. Facing Jemma. She now realized she was still wearing her suit. Then, she felt Jemma's hands move up to her wrists and tug them down, so her arms could rest at her sides.
"Can you open your eyes for me, darling?" Jemma asked, and Daisy complied, opening her eyes slowly. Daisy watched as her girlfriend leaned in and gave her forehead a kiss. "Is he still here?"
'Pathetic. Love is weakness, and having your girlfriend calm you down from me is weak.'
"Yes…" Daisy whispered, and Jemma kissed her temples next.
"And now?"
'You should have listened to me when you still had a chance at being somewhere you truly belong.' Daisy nodded, so Jemma went and kissed her lips. When she pulled away, Daisy moved her hands to Jemma's cheeks and caught her lips with her own, furthering the kiss.
"Now? Is he still here?" Jemma asked, once they finally pulled back from each other.
Nothing. No antagonizing voice telling her all her doubts. She was free. For now.
"No. He's gone," Daisy said, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.
"Then let's take advantage of our alone time and do something before you have to go talk to our guest. Okay?" Jemma said, and Daisy nodded. The British girl went to unzip Daisy's suit shirt, but the younger girl grabbed her wrist before she could grab the zipper.
"No… I don't want you to see them… I'm too broken…" Daisy said, pleadingly. Even after they got back together, Daisy had refused to wear anything other than shirts or jackets in her presence. She wasn't ready to show Jemma her scars, what Hydra had done to her. They had broken her so badly that she couldn't show herself to her own girlfriend.
"You have seen me at my lowest more than once. Let me see you. All of you. The scars they gave you are a part of who you are, and I have seen every other part of you. Let me see this last part that you keep hidden. I've seen your file. I won't like you any less because of a few scars," Jemma told her, guiding Daisy to the bed they shared most nights. The younger brunette nodded after a moment, and Jemma smiled, unzipping the suit jacket slowly.
"Is the door locked?" Daisy asked, shrugging the jacket off once it was fully unzipped.
"It is, yes."
"Good," Daisy said, her own smirk crossing her lips. She removed the tank top she kept under her suit, and then helped Jemma remove her cardigan. Jemma took a moment to take in the scars on Daisy's body that she could see. She was aware that there were more on her back, but the look in her eyes showed Daisy she didn't care about it.
Daisy leaned over to catch Jemma's lips, but the other girl stopped her, before removing her shirt, rendering her in only a bra and leaned back on the bed. Once that was done, Jemma let Daisy kiss her passionately from her position above her.
"This isn't right," Jemma mumbled between kisses, making Daisy raise an eyebrow.
"Oh? How so?" Daisy asked, curious. Jemma only smirked in response, before performing a move Daisy herself taught her during their numerous training sessions to flip them so she was on top.
"Much better."
"You learn fast."
"And you need to relinquish control from time to time, love," Jemma retorted, going back to kissing her girlfriend. As she did so, her fingers lingered on some of Daisy's scars, tracing them with a soft touch that made the former Hydra agent shudder.
.
They didn't continue making out for long, maybe 20 minutes, before Daisy got a text that Bobbi was waiting for her in front of Joey's containment room. "I gotta go," Daisy said, from where she now lay in Jemma's arms. "Bobbi's waiting for me." Jemma groaned, her arms not moving from their comforting position around her girlfriend. "You have to let go, Jem. I'm fine now."
"Bobbi has the worst timing. You'll have to make it up to me when we have an hour to ourselves."
"I will, I promise," Daisy said, getting up from the bed and going to find some clothes, since they had removed their pants in the heat of the make-out session.
"And I want you to tell me the story behind your scars," Jemma said, pointedly, eyes gesturing to Daisy's bare back.
"I will. Someday," Daisy assured her, shrugging on some workout pants and a tank top. She had some marks on her arms, but she felt confident in herself now that she'd shown all her scars to Jemma. "I'll see you later?" Jemma nodded, and Daisy unlocked the door to leave, but she didn't just yet. Daisy turned around and smiled at the other brunette before she left to join Bobbi. The older woman had a pointed grin on her face when she saw her, and Daisy raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I see Jemma's treating you well."
"How – I don't know what you're-" Daisy cut herself off, not knowing how to react to that.
"You have messy hair and you're wearing a tank top for the first time since I've known you. I can make guesses."
"Oh frack," Daisy said, in a panic, fixing her hair quickly and looking down at the marks showing near her shoulders. "And I have worn tank tops before, you just haven't noticed."
"Cause you wear something above it, so it doesn't count."
"Can we just go in, now? Joey's waiting," Daisy pointed out, changing the subject.
"Fine, fine." Daisy shook her head playfully at the taller woman's antics, before putting her game face on, and opening the door.
"Hey, Joey. May we come in?" she asked, as she took a few steps into the room.
"You're in," Joey pointed out, as he gestured for them to come in further. The door closed behind the duo as they did so.
"This is my field partner, Bobbi," Daisy introduced the blonde woman, gesturing to her as she spoke. "We're just gonna talk."
"So, she's the greeting party, and you're the muscle, huh?" Joey asked, trying to joke through his nervousness.
"Believe me, she is the muscle," Bobbi said, and Daisy couldn't help but add on.
"She looks tall and intimidating. But inside, she's just a sweet, tall, fluffy teddy bear," Daisy assured Joey, grinning a little.
"Yay." Joey sounded very sarcastic at that.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like a stranger in my own body who I hate," Joey replied, sighing. "Nice of you to ask."
"So, as I said, this phenomenon is mostly-"
"You know what? Lay it on me," Joey cut her off, clasping his hands together. "You don't have to soften the blows anymore. Thanks."
"All right. Um…" Daisy faltered a little, turning to Bobbi for a little support, but she got none. This was her ball. "There exists a small percentage of the population with a dormant alien gene mixed into their DNA. There's a chemical compound that activates this gene, giving them unnatural abilities."
"Okay," Joey said, once he'd processed Daisy's words.
"This chemical compound, called Terrigen, was recently released into our ecosystem. And you, Joey, are one of the first people with this gene to come into contact with it."
"So… I'm an alien?"
"Part alien," Daisy clarified, though she nodded, since it was accurate, in a way. "Welcome to the club. We call ourselves Inhumans." The room was silent, as Joey took everything in, until he started chuckling, then it turned to laughter.
"Okay." Daisy chuckled nervously as Joey laughed, turning to Bobbi in slight confusion and concern, but all she did was mirror her concern. Once he calmed down, Joey sat on his new bed, still smiling. "All right. At least it's, uh… it's a good drinking story. I can't wait to tell my friends."
"Unfortunately, you're gonna have to wait," Bobbi told him, sobering the Hispanic Inhuman in a matter of seconds.
"What does that mean?"
"We can't let you leave before we know you have your abilities under control," Daisy replied, and Bobbi continued on without missing a beat.
"And even then, only if we decide you're stable enough not to use them unless absolutely necessary. And even then, we…" Bobbi trailed off as she spoke, looking to Daisy to finish it for her, since it might be slightly better if it came from the younger girl.
"We can't let you go back to your old life, Joe."
"What?"
"I'm so sorry. It's just the reality."
"Wait, wait. You're not saying I can't go and have a beer anytime soon. You're saying I can't go back to my life, ever?"
"Not in the foreseeable future."
"The first step is control, but then SHIELD will set you up with a new identity-" Daisy said, but Joey cut her off, standing up abruptly from the bed, having heard enough.
"But I like – I like my life. It has taken me a long time to get here, to build a life where I'm actually comfortable, much less happy. I'm not about to toss it. As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, I'd like to get back to it right now." Joey grabbed his jacket, ready to leave, and Bobbi opened the television on the news channel.
"-are unsure what to call this, whether it was a calculated alien attack or an experiment gone wrong," the news-anchor lady told her viewers, and then there was a change of channel with a beep. Now on the screen stood a man getting interviewed on the events that led to Daisy and her team finding Joey.
"-get too close, but, uh, he was a Latino guy. Normal. Uh, he had this crazy look in his eyes." Bobbi changed the channel again, to show a car on fire and some firemen trying to get it out.
"-manhunt is underway. Authorities are asking witnesses to come forward with any information that could lead to the capture-" Bobbi then closed the television, but Joey's eyes never left it, so when Daisy spoke up again, Joey jumped a little.
"The world's been a little twitchy since Sokovia fell out of the sky. Right now, your apartment is being torn apart, and your relatives are being questioned."
"So I need to get to them before-" Joey said, moving forward to the door, but one step in and Bobbi stopped him, cutting off his words.
"Your best-case scenario out there is that black-ops group kills you quick before you bring a building down on someone."
"SHIELD is your best option."
"Let me the hell out of here."
"Calm down."
"Let me out."
"Joey, you will lose control if you don't calm down," Daisy told him, as Bobbi noticed her metallic paper-pad starting to liquify, so he dropped it.
"Let me out! Let me out!"
"Now, Joey! Stop!" Daisy called out, before she raised her hand and blasted Joey to the wall with a shockwave, knocking him out. Even after the shockwave hit Joey, the room shook beneath their feet.
-l
In the meantime, Jemma returned to the lab, where she expected to meet up with Daisy once she was done with intake on the new Inhuman. What she didn't expect was to see Hunter walking in not too long later. "Is there anything I can do for you, Hunter?" Jemma asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Actually there is," the field agent replied, fidgeting with the evidence bag in his hands. "Coulson wanted me to give this to you and the rest of the nerd squad."
"We're not a-" Jemma cut herself off, seeing the smirk on her fellow british's face. She sighed and took the bag from him. "I'll look into it."
"Thank you, Simmons. It might help Coulson's search for that mystery woman leading that black ops group."
"My pleasure, Hunter." The scientist then turned away from him to look at the gun through the bag, but the sound of Hunter clearing his throat made her turn back to him. "Yes?"
"You talked to this guy, yeah?"
"I did. Coulson wanted me to meet him before he left the containment pod, have a good look at him before Daisy and Bobbi talked to him. Why?"
"Do you think it's those bloody fish oils again?"
"He took some, so I believe it could be what caused him to turn. We may have pulled every bottle off the shelves, but there were still so many that were sold, we can't just track every single one. We are lucky the components dangerous for humans broke down and sank to the bottom of the ocean, or else we would have so much more work to do."
"Yeah, people dying from the fish oils would be bad for everyone."
"It really would."
"I heard Coulson say that it could have spread elsewhere as well. Do you think it is possible?"
"I do. Bobbi and I hypothesized that it could have gone to other sea life and a new Inhuman could surface due to any sort of fish ingestion."
Hunter was about to speak, but was cut off when the entire building shook. "Is that the bloody monolith?"
"No, it was Daisy," Jemma told him, pointing to the video feed from Joey's containment room, which showed Daisy and Bobbi laying an unconscious Joey on the floor. "Since Trip… since he was swallowed by it, we haven't done anything with the monolith. Fitz stopped sending probes in and Mack won't let us do much in that room."
"Understandably, we don't know what it does."
"I agree, but Fitz is still desperate to look into it. He spent yesterday looking into SHIELD archives without much luck. Mack said he would go in his place if he did find something, though."
"That's good," Hunter told her with a nod, leaving them in a short silence.
"Well, I'll give this to Fitz so he can analyze it," Jemma said, after a moment, holding up the bag with the gun inside. "And then I'll go see Joey in case he got hit too hard."
"I'll leave you to it, then." With that, Hunter was gone.
Jemma got up and went to Fitz' desk, finding her best friend furiously typing at his computer. "Fitz, could you look into this for the Director? I have something I need to go take care of," she told him when it was clear he wouldn't look up from his work.
"I'll get on it in a moment, Jemma."
"Thank you."
.
"Did you have to hit him that hard?" Jemma asked, as she entered the containment room a few moments later, heading to where Daisy and Bobbi were kneeling over Joey. The young scientist had come as fast as she could the second Fitz agreed to look into the gun.
"I didn't even go for hard, it just… kinda happened," Daisy defended herself, but Jemma's smirk showed she was just joking.
"Alright, move over, I'll see if there is any damage from the blast," Jemma told her girlfriend and Bobbi, making them both take a few steps back so as to not overcrowd the doctor and new Inhuman. The British girl examined Joey, and she only spoke after a few moments. "Good news, he will be fine, no damage. He will be sore at the points of impact on his back and chest, and will bruise, but he doesn't seem to have bigger injuries. He will probably have a headache from the impact, but otherwise that also seems good. If he shows signs of concussions you need to let me know."
"Thanks, Jems," Daisy said, pulling her girlfriend into a kiss. Behind them, they heard Bobbi groan in fake objection, but they continued kissing for a few more seconds, before Jemma left, followed by the blonde field agent. Daisy sent her vibrations into Joey to reassure herself that he was ok, and didn't find anything abnormal in the vibrations of his body, so she left as well.
-l
"Do you have anything for me, agent Fitz?" Coulson asked, as he entered the lab, be-lining to the Scotsman.
"I have something, yes," Fitz said, before getting up and grabbing the gun, cocking it. He aimed the weapon at the gelatinous cube they used to test out guns, standing a few feet away from it. "Fire in the hole," he warned, before firing three shots into the gelatin cube, making the scientists around them jump at the sound, despite the warning. Fitz looked up at the screen showing the bullets and their speed as they moved inside the cube. "It seems to be a prototype," Fitz told the Director when he turned back around, looking over the gun. "There's a thumb detection in the handle. Liquid-helium-cooled, titanium barrel and slide…" Fitz slid the barrel to check the chamber and slide as he spoke. "Looks like an emerging technologies design. DARPA, if I had to guess."
"Could you run some surveillance on known DARPA facilities? It could be black market. I'll ask Hunter to contact the back-alley traders he knows."
"I'll get right on it, sir."
-l
"He's going nuts," Daisy told Coulson, as she and Bobbi met with the director at the table in front of the kitchen once he had met with Fitz, where there was a screen showing the footage of Joey's containment room. "Joey's having a tough time. The change is hard enough physically. But emotionally, it's a whole other thing." She turned back to Coulson as she spoke, walking back over to the table. "I tried talking him down, but I blew it in there. And Bobbi is not exactly coming off as a teddy bear."
"You just told the guy I'm a teddy bear."
"And then you told him the best-case scenario was his head blown off."
"Yeah… not my finest moment."
"Agreed." Daisy turned to her boss before speaking again, with a calm tone. "I need help, and there's one person who's better at that than anyone."
"Lincoln? You really want to go there again?" Coulson asked, as the three of them started walking out of the kitchen and dining area and up to the older man's office.
"He could help with intake. Plus, he understands the physical change. He's a doctor, whereas we don't even know what medical treatments to give. Jemma's trying, but no one in the medical field here knows Inhumans better than him."
"Last time you tried to sell him on it, he wasn't exactly buying."
"I'd like to try again."
"Bobbi, what's your take?" Coulson asked the blonde, stopping in front of his office.
"I wasn't back in the field the last time you guys went to get him, but I do think him being here is better than out there. I'll gladly drag him in here where he can't hurt anyone, but if Daisy can talk him in… he might actually do some good."
"Both of you go. Requisition a flight team and a quinjet," Coulson ordered the two women, who nodded, before Hunter and Kara ran into the room, tablet in hand.
"Hey, Coulson, got her," Kara told him, handing the Director her tablet. "We tapped surveillance at multiple DARPA facilities, got a hit… the D.C. branch office. She visits every few days."
"A routine. Tell me there's a window where we can get to her."
"It's a small one, sir," Hunter informed their boss. "Every night she visits, she leaves at approximately 9:00 P.M. With a small security detail. They're all three dropped at the metro station on 12th half an hour later. Her escorts buy her a coffee on the walk to the platform. But she boards the 9:35 train alone. Sits in the middle, drinks her coffee, and answers emails. It's the only time she's alone all day."
.
"You're not an easy person to pin down," Coulson told Price as he stood in front of her with Kara and Hunter.
"Really? 'Cause you were no trouble at all," Rosalind Price said, and everyone in the subway train with them aimed their guns at the three SHIELD agents. They sat Coulson down in the seat behind him, cuffing him to the handle while they pushed Hunter and Kara away to cuff them on the other side of the train.
"So I have trouble counting without using my fingers, but I think there's more of them than us."
"Roger that. Thanks, Hunter."
"If I wasn't cuffed to this seat I would punch you so hard," Kara grumbled to her field partner. "Remind me again why I decided to team up with you?"
"Because you love me?"
"I'm not Morse, Hunter."
"Shut up," one of their guards warned, punching Hunter square in the face.
"Thank you, I would've done it myself but… you know," Kara told the guard, showing off her cuffed hands to emphasize her point.
"Shut your mouth too, or your next."
"Ok, ok, geeze."
"I would have sent a car, but then you would have suspected something, Mr. Coulson," Price told Coulson, while the two other SHIELD agents bickered.
"And what should I call you? Mrs. Kinley? Ms. McBride? So many stage names to choose from," Coulson joked, a small smirk showing on his face.
"Call me Rosalind."
"Rosalind. I know that's the name you went by at NASA."
"At NASA, they tend to stick to last names, actually. The whole east-coast flight-school mentality is so deeply embedded."
"And yet you somehow came to it through the D.O.D."
"Space exploration and the defense department no longer eat at separate tables. But they also don't like to share recipes."
"You tend to vanish, then materialize within the walls of a rival agency. I feel like I'm talking to a ghost."
"Whereas I'm talking to a corpse. You're not the only one who did their homework."
"I guess not."
"In the eyes of the public, SHIELD no longer exists. And you were killed long before the agency you worked for was pronounced dead. Yet somehow, you both rise from the ashes. If I wasn't so intrigued, I'd be terrified."
"I got a feeling nothing scares you."
"Not true. But I'm certainly not intimidated by you staking out my route home, resorting to KGB-style tactics of intimidation."
"I wouldn't know. I haven't spent as much time as you have working with Russian counterintelligence."
"And I haven't spent any time in Tahiti, though I hear it's a magical place. Let's both agree that we enjoy a good secret, though mine do appear a bit old-hat next to yours."
"Got to get with the times, Roz. You don't want to be left in the dust."
"That's why I plan to detain you... So it stops happening."
"Three teams in position at the next stop, ma'am," one of the guards informed Price.
"That's one team for each of us. Again, killing it with math," Hunter told them, but Coulson ignored him, while Kara rolled her eyes. She kicked him in the shin, though, making the Brit yelp in surprise and pain.
"But I do hope that we can continue this conversation in a more intimate setting," Price said, completely ignoring the other two agents once again.
"I'm perfectly happy to answer any questions that might be bothering you now. Incarceration doesn't seem totally necessary."
"Nice of you to be so accommodating. Then tell me… where are you hiding them?"
-l
At a hospital in Cincinnati, Lincoln Campbell walked over to the nurses' station, switching out charts with the hope of being able to finish his rounds soon. "You finish your rounds, Lincoln?" the nurse at the station said, smiling at the doctor.
"I'm trying. Patient in 305's a little bit of a talker, I hear," Lincoln told her, before heading to room 305 and opening up the curtain so he could chat with his new patient. To his surprise, Daisy was on the bed, turning to him when she heard him arrive. "What are you doing here? I said to leave me alone."
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. We need your help," Daisy told him, a pleading look in her eyes.
"I told you, I don't know anything about that damn rock. I'm sorry, what happened to your friend, but all I heard was that it's lethal."
"It's not the monolith. We found a new Inhuman. And he's not the first, and you know there will be more. No one is better at helping these people transition than you. You taught me that it's a gift."
"I was wrong. I was regurgitating a lie they shoved down my throat. It's a curse. You of all people should know that."
"Look, I get that you're trying to build a life here…"
"Yes, a normal life, so stay out of it, please. But our heritage… let it die," Lincoln said, clearly done with the entire conversation. He turned to leave, and would have, had it not been for Bobbi coming out of behind the curtain to block the Inhuman's way.
"You're not walking out of here till my partner has said her piece."
"I think I made it pretty clear. I'm not taking orders from anyone anymore."
-l
Back in the subway train, Rosalind continued her interrogation. "These altered humans are a threat, and I am in charge of neutralizing that threat."
"'By any means necessary' sounds like it's coming next. And who do you answer to?"
"Mr. Coulson, it's others who answer to me. The laws of nature have changed. And until the laws of man change to reflect that, we can only do what we feel is right."
"I agree, I think."
"I know you do. So I understand the trail of bodies you're leaving behind. The dead ones I won't hold against you. It's the ones you're sheltering…"
"Dead ones?" Coulson asked, confused. For a moment, he got worried, thinking Daisy hadn't been forthcoming. "I haven't killed anyone. We've had some vanish before we could secure them."
"Then how do you explain the carcasses we've recovered? Blasted with some sort of energy weapon."
"That's not us."
"It's not us, either."
"Wait, is this still cagey banter, or are we being honest all of a sudden?"
"If you're not killing these individuals, then who is?"
-l
"Get your hand off me!" Lincoln called out at Bobbi, pulling his arm away from the blonde woman.
"Watch your tone, Sparky. I've heard about what you did on the carrier, you're lucky we haven't dragged you in 'cause of that."
"Bobbi…"
"I read the reports on the men you took down. They barely recovered."
"Then you know what I'm capable of."
"I'm not scared of you."
"You should be," Lincoln threatened, and the lights flickered, as if he was losing control of his powers.
"Whoa! Lincoln, cool down," Daisy warned, holding out her hand in a non-threatening manner.
"This isn't me." As Lincoln spoke, they heard the commotion out in the hallway, making them leave the room to go see what was going on.
"Stop right there!" a hospital security guard yelled out to something the trio couldn't see. It wasn't long, however, before they could see the intruder walk in their line of sight. It was a big blue-ish creature with long threads and no shirt. It grabbed the man with some sort of blue energy wave and lifted him up a few inches off the ground until it was at the same height as the creature.
"Now tell me where to find the Inhuman!" the creature demanded.
"I don't know!" the guard yelled, and the creature released the blue energy, killing the security guard in a second. It then walked over the guard and turned in the trio's direction, locking eyes with Lincoln and Daisy.
"Never mind."
Lincoln ran at it full force, blasting it with his lighting, but the lightning wasn't strong enough to overpower the creature, and it grabbed Lincoln's wrist easily. Daisy was the next one to attack, sending a shock wave at it, which did manage to send the creature flying a few feet away and Bobbi shot at it with the gun she'd brought on the op.
Before they could do too much damage, however, the creature created a whole through the wall with its blue energy waves before disappearing through it. "We'll have to hit this thing with everything we've got."
"Really should have brought my batons…" Bobbi muttered to herself, following Daisy into the hole.
Before crossing with the two women, Lincoln heard the familiar sound of numbers dialing on a phone, making him turn around to see a nurse clutching the phone into her hands shakily. "911, what's your emergency?" Knowing he was caught, Lincoln ran through the hole after Bobbi and Daisy.
-l
Coulson and Rosalind looked at each other in silence, until both their phones rang at the same time. "If we're both getting the call, then I think we know what it's about."
"You'll have to excuse me," Price told him, grabbing her phone and stepping away as she took the call.
"If you don't take it out of my pocket, it's just gonna ring like that forever," Phil told the guard nearest to him. One of the guards looked over their gear, finding the device meant to call down the module, and putting it on the ground, not knowing it would activate. The second his guard got close enough to try and take the phone so he could turn it off, Phil removed his prosthetic hand. "I guess you guys didn't do all your homework." Coulson knocked down the guard, before taking his gun and aiming it at the other guards.
"That many? In a hospital? How close is the response team?" Price asked as she stood in the next car. While she heard the reply, a sudden crash made her car shake violently, making her grab onto the railing next to her. When she went back to Coulson, Kara and Hunter, they were gone, with a hole in the middle of the car showing where the module had been.
-l
Back at the hospital, Daisy, Bobbi and Lincoln walked around trying to find the large creature. They all looked into different rooms, but the moment they all had their backs turned, it opened a hole and blasted Bobbi into the wall behind her. Lincoln and Daisy stood side-by-side and both blasted the creature full force with their powers, pushing it further away from them. They both tried pushing further but their arms started to hurt and the creature started pushing through their powers by pressing its claws into the ground. It gave Daisy and idea and she aimed her waves down to the floor, creating a hole which caused it to fall down.
The trio then went to find the creature, hoping it had fell down a few levels and was now weakened, but there were more holes that that creature made, meaning it had disappeared. "He's gone!" Bobbi told them, having found a hole in the wall as well as in the ground.
"Contain the alien threats at all costs. Use lethal force if necessary."
"Come with us. We'll keep you safe. Your life is in danger," Daisy told her friend, knowing that they all had to go before the black ops group found them and probably killed them.
"My life is in ruins," Lincoln countered, running away.
"Lincoln!" Daisy called out to him, trying to go after him, but Bobbi grabbed her arm before she could do anything.
"Daisy, Daisy! He's on his own. We got to get you out of here. They're hunting you, too. Come on. Let's go," the blonde told her, prompting them both to run to their quinjet.
-l
"Good evening. I'm here tonight to address growing concerns among our citizens of the threats we face that are not of this world. I don't need to remind people of the catastrophes in New York, London, and most recently Sokovia, tragedies that seem to be growing in number and scale. And the organization we had in place to protect us, SHIELD, brought airships raining down in our nation's capital. Every day, new dangers present themselves, filling our peaceful streets with chaos. Bigger. By executive order, I have created a special task force to neutralize these alien threats on our soil. The advanced threat containment unit, or ATCU, will be given full license to act with whatever authority is necessary. The laws of nature have changed. And until the laws of man change to reflect that, we must do what we feel is right," the President said during his conference, which had been on Coulson's tablet, as well as most TV's in the base so everyone could watch it.
"People really do answer to you, don't they?" Coulson asked to himself, knowing Rosalind was in part responsible for some of the speech given.
"Mr. President! One question! Quick question!"
"Mr. President, how do you respond to reports that the recent incidents are, in fact, due to the spread of an alien contagion?"
"These are rumors. They are not true. They are fabrications meant to boost ratings and cause hysteria. Any and all possibilities are being taken very seriously by the ATCU."
.
Once she came back to base, Daisy went to Joey's containment room and watched the conference with him, drinking a beer with him.
"But if this is an outbreak, shouldn't the public be made aware?"
"I think we should be careful, the words we start throwing around. The last thing we need is panic in the streets. Any threat will be eliminated, I can assure you."
"People have a right to know. Are the infected among us?"
"Thank you. That'll be all for today."
"I've lived with a secret before. I was miserable until I came out with it," Joey told Daisy as they watched the news.
"I know what you mean. Secrets can tear us – and those around us – apart, but… this secret... the world's not ready to hear."
-l
In the lab, Fitz and Mack scrolled through every book and website they could find on the monolith without much luck. Mack thought he had found something, but it turned out to be just another false lead. According to all the books they found, and what could be considered true, was that the monolith moved hands a lot; it was with German tribes, then went to the French during the 100-years-war, before spending a few 100 years in England. Then, it got buried in the Yucatan. That was their only lead, really, that some things had been buried there with it. "I think I found something good," Mack told his best friend, showing him the book he had been reading.
"If it's another dead end, I don't want to hear about it, Mack…" Fitz told him, exasperation obvious in his tone.
"No, I promise, Turbo, this could be good. According to this, most of what had been buried with the monolith, except for one thing; a 1000-year-old scroll casting. It's said to show what the monolith really is."
"Does the book say where the scroll casting is?" Fitz asked, hope finally showing in the glint of his eyes.
"No, but we have a lead; after a while it was taken by this criminal group in Morocco. We can look into it and investigate."
"Do we have a name for the group?"
"Not here, but we do have the name of their leader… Yousef Hadad."