Chapter 6
I see the window-I know I will die if I jump. But at least my destructive power cannot be used against my family again. Or the world for that matter.
So, I push my thumb down- pain flaring up from it-to make my hand smaller. And then I slip my wrist out of the cuff, and break the glass with my powers, flinging myself out of the now broken window.
I feel a rush of happiness and terror as I fall. Happiness because I do not feel his mind tricks, no urge to comply to him. Terror because: I. Don’t. Want. To. Die. The ground is so close now, even as this whole thing seems to have been stretched into an eternity. My heart pounding in my ears, eyes watering from the wind in my face…
This was it, I’d survived, somehow, getting blown up and a crash course down to earth, but now…I’m going to die splattered across the pavement. I won’t get back to the guys. I won’t ever get to see Jemma and Leo dance around each other. I won’t ever get to see May’s twitching smile, or Coulson’s fatherly reprimands-both relieved probably at seeing me alive and safe again.
And I’ll never get to see Alphonso Mackenzie again. Suddenly, his desperate face, for me to stay, to not die…and the figures of the people closest to me when I was shot by Ian. I had hacked into the cameras from when I was in my coma. May beating up Ian. Coulson hellbent on finding a cure. Jemma working tirelessly. Leo’s shoulders tight with worry, as he comforted his friend.
I see all of them together, worried, devastated I won’t be coming back-my family. Mack at the front-freshest in my mind, hand on that glass window…I have to do something.
I panic-I can’t die! -and fling my uncuffed hand towards the ground and quake.
It counters my decent and slows me down. It’s uneven, flings me sideways into a car parallel parked at the sidewalk-but it slows my descent enough. My landing is sharp-painful with my already sore body-and ungraceful, but I’m not dead. I’m away from Hive. It’s worth it. I have a few more bruises-my arm hurts like hell from quaking without my gauntlets-but I’m alive.
I’m not captured, not dead, and I had managed to send that message. Now all that’s left is for Coulson to message me back.
And then I’d be headed home.
I roll onto my feet and off the car and run. I ignore all the people that gather around where I fell, darting past them with a limp in my gate. Damn, my body hurts… All I have to do is keep off the radar. Keep myself away from Hive, until Coulson and everyone else got to me. Easy. I’ve lived off the grid before. I can do it again now.
Mack
My muscles strain as I push the weight up one last time, and lodge it back in its place above my head. Instead of getting up straight away like I usually do, I lay there. One hand on my chest, the other hanging off the side.
My mind is consumed with her still. Was she ever coming back? We’ve gotten the device. We don’t know how to work it yet, but Fitz’ll get it going. We’re close to getting rid of Hive. But will she be here to see it? Or will she be looking in on us from up there? Probably cracking jokes about us already. My eyes close, as I take deep breaths.
Maybe if I’d offered her that necklace sooner, we’d have been able to set the c-4 up correctly. Or if I hadn’t given it to her at all. Found a way to knock her out. I could have set off the c-4 instead. Been a little quicker in getting to the door. Not allowed her to go. So many different scenarios are always flashing in my mind.
I want my partner back.
“Mack!” I hear an excited voice exclaim. It’s off. Not the voice, but it's tones placed here at the base. There hasn’t been much excitement or merriment to be going around-even if it is so close to Christmas. Not since Daisy was taken by Hive. Not since Daisy went up and- “Mack, you have to come! Hurry!” Fitz’s voice disappears and I sit up.
For Fitz to be excited…it was either something to do with Daisy or with Hive. Either way, I feel hope raise up-hope for the first, rather than the last. I absent mindedly grab a towel to wipe away my sweat as I run hard after Fitz.
When I catch up, I can see him buzzing happily, energy clear in his body. “What is it, Fitz?” I ask, as I slow down to meet his pace.
He shakes his head. “You have to see. Coulson wants us all to meet in the Directors office. He and I found something!”
I almost protest, but the Directors office was just down the hall. I could hold on until we got there-no matter how much I wanted the answer now. I feel nerves forming in my stomach, over my hope. If it wasn’t her…If it wasn’t her, it would be some good news on how to defeat Hive. It should make me happy enough for that, but all I can think is…if it isn’t her, I might lose it.
When we enter over the threshold of Coulson’s office, I see we’re the last to arrive. At least, out of those closest to Daisy. Hunter, Bobby, Simmons, Coulson, May, Lincoln, and Yo-Yo are all there. It has to be about her.
The door closes behind us, and I take in Coulson’s serious face. Right up until the moment the doors locked, and he presses something to dim the lights and a screen pops up. And then he’s grinning. I look closely at the screen. To those shady looking babysitters in black-and of course my partner Soft Little Fluffy Little Teddy Bear, I’m alive. And hoping for a pickup. I’ll be in touch with my coordinates when I know where I am. It could only be… “She’s back.” Coulson says, voice full of life. I see the relief on everyone’s face.
May steps forward. “We just received another encrypted message a few minutes before you got here. We decrypted it too. She needs our help.”
Coulson’s eyes harden. “Hive’s after our friend again, and I don’t take kindly to people Stockholm syndrome-ing my friends and hurting them. Let’s bring her home.” Coulson doesn’t look like a man trying to protect a friend. He looks like a man trying to protect a daughter, and ready to kill the son of a bitch who was threatening her.
It’s palpable in the air-relief, determination and excitement. I set my shoulders. I would get the chance to apologize. To comfort her in the future, to have her back, for her to make jokes and poke fun. Everything was going to be fine. A weight lifts from my shoulders and unfurls from my stomach. She was going to be okay.
Daisy.
It only took them a day to decode my message! The reply back was simple. We’re coming, Tremors. Mack! He was the only one to call me that! A name I knew Hive wouldn’t know, because he never asked, never looked. He only knew me as Daisy or Skye. Mack and the others were coming, all I had to do was wait.
I’m hiding out in an apartment. I can’t take a shower, for fear Hive’s people will catch me in that bad situation (With my pants literally down). It hardly matters at this point, because my team was coming for me. I did wash my dirty face in the bathroom though. It didn’t look dirty, but it felt it. Probably wasn’t dirty-I’d just escaped from a hospital, a sanitary one. But I felt as if I could never wash out the dirt in my head. It was probably more psychological. Then again, I did crash land into a car…but after three times washing would get rid of that.
So, before I tried to clean it for the fourth time and got lost in a never-ending loop, I turn off the faucet. Instead, I looked in the mirror. My hair has grown out since the last time I’d looked-discounting the hospital mirror. It was wild, windblown. I could see my all-brown roots peeking out. My face was… scarred. Only slightly, but it looked as if they had had to stitch up a few cuts. Faint pink lines, down the left side. Also, a bruise on that side, when they knocked me dizzy so they could take me to Hive. It was deep looking, and wide.
Was the rest of my body scar covered? Had I broken bones? Was that why I feel so weak right now-physically at least? Was I ugly where once I was smooth-despite years of mistreatment under the sisters? My hand shakily grasps the hem of my shirt and lifts it slowly.
I sharply inhale at the sight. It looks as if I were burned. It’s only on the left side, still. gnarled skin greeted me, and I felt a cold sense of okay with it. If this is what I got for my freedom, it was okay. It’d be okay. My other hand reaches, and I barely feel the warmth from it there. It feels almost smooth, but bumpy. This was a symbol of my freedom from that monster. A badge of honor to show that I had won against him. I had stopped him-even if only momentarily-and will continue to do so.
A ping on the stolen cell phone brings me back. I quickly tuck in my shirt-no chance of it riding up-and then reach for the phone. We’re here, wait for the knock, and to hear Agent Mackenzie’s voice.
They’re here. Oh god. I suddenly remember all the things I’ve done to them under HIVE’s direction. I nearly killed Fitz, and Mack. I threatened Fitz. I wanted to do those things. I was happy to comply, I was a monster!
I shake my head. I can’t freak out yet. Not right now. The only safe place from HIVE is with them. If it was only life or death on my part, I’d stay away. But if he caught me again, he might have me kill them. I don’t want to. I don’t want to be used again, stand by happily as a tool for him.
I shove the phone in my pocket-stolen jeans-and my eyes dart to the mirror again. Mack was going to be the first I see. Excitement wells up, as well as fear. I feel shame push me to cover my face with my hair quickly. I didn’t want him to see the scars. Both because of the scars themselves on me and…The strangest feeling that he would blame himself.
There’s a knocking at the door, and I sidle up to it, kitchen knife in hand-couldn’t get a gun-in case it wasn’t him. “Tremors?” His voice calls. Immediately, the knife drops to the ground with a soft thud, and I throw open the door. He’s got his gun out-ready for a hive threat, no doubt. Ready to save me, in case Hive got here first.
For a moment, I freeze. He isn’t almost dead. Doesn’t have any bruises from my beat down. He’s alive and well, and for a moment, I let the happiness and excitement that he is well, overwhelm me.
I grin at him. “Mack!” I throw myself at him in a full body hug. He has just enough time to lower his gun away before he catches me. Tears come to my eyes. Last I’d seen of the team, I’d been hurting them. Being used against them. Until I’d finally broken free.
“Hey, Daisy. Nice to have you back, too.” He says softly, hugging me back.
Suddenly, the reason I was so happy reminds me that I’m the reason that I was worried about them. I had been the one to cause the bruises and cuts on Alphonso the last I’d seen him. My grin fades, and I push down the sudden self-loathing.
I step back, wiping at the tears carefully. The hug lasted barely a moment, and I see his look of confusion, but he shrugs it off.
His arm shifts, bringing his arm not holding a gun up to his ear. “I’ve got her, Coulson. We’re coming.” He says. Then his eyes focus in on me more closely. “It’s been a while, Tremors.” He says, smiling at me, and it causes something inside me to twist uneasily, painfully. He turns and starts down the hall.
I clutch at my bad arm harshly, holding the cuff dampeners in it. “Last I remember, it was only two days since I saw you.” I tell him, following him down the hallways.
“Two days?” He risks a glance at me.
“Yeah. How long was I actually out for?” I ask quietly. I hadn’t bothered looking at a calendar or date on my acquisition phone, but by Alphonso’s response perhaps I should have.
“A few months.” He says.