Monsters
“I can’t get a hold of Daisy.”
Coulson nods slowly, in a way May knows means he’s still processing the information. Not yet concerned, but getting there.
“Have you checked all her known frequented locations?”
“Not yet. I had been trying to call her.” May says, incredulous.
“Well maybe it’s time for that next step. Check the index, it should give you a decent list.”
“I’ve been her S.O for five years. I don’t need the index.” It’s a bit chastising, and May knows it
“Check it anyway, you never know.” He says it calmly, and May figures Coulson just wants to be thorough, but it grates her all the same.
She leaves his office, heads to the BUS’s command center. Daisy should have reached out by now. She had asked for a few days off, said she had to sort out some issues with her van. May doubted that was all, but she didn’t pry. Daisy never took time off and May felt she was owed some. Though she did have to ask where she was going, standard protocol for people with powers on the index. May was Daisy’s supervising officer, so she had been a bit lenient with the details. Needless to say she was regretting it now.
Years ago, May was never one to bend the rules, she didn’t even want out of her office, but Daisy had wormed her way into her heart. She wanted the girl to have as normal a life as she could while working with S.H.I.E.L.D.
She pulls up the young agents file on the monitor, sorts through her known locations on the index. The last recorded one was no surprise, May had logged it in herself: Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. That’s where they had last dropped off Daisy’s van to be kept in a storage house somewhere. She looks at other logs of frequented locations, some addresses in Old San Juan in Puerto Rico and Pasadena, L.A. She makes a note of them, planning a flight log she could take a quinjet out to.
She hears someone come in, and turns to face her. “Simmons.” She greets.
“May, good to see you, any update on Daisy?”
“Nothing yet” She sighs. “Coulson wanted me to double check the index for places to look around.”
“Let me know if I can help with anything.”
“Do you think you and Fitz can run facial recognition? I’m going to fly out to New York, see if she’s still by her van.”
“Of course.” The scientist says with a smile that doesn’t quite hide her concern.
***
“It’s your destiny.” Cal said plainly.
“It’s crazy.”
It wasn’t the first time they had this exact exchange. She was in the passenger seat of an old minivan. She wanted to pretend they were on their way to drop her off at highschool. That she would hug her dad goodbye and then go in and learn about math and history, see her friends and have lunch, maybe go to a party at a friend’s house after school. Have one too many beers and stare at the stars. She would have been a senior by now.
In reality they had been leaving their fifth home in the past 5 months. S.H.I.E.L.D was relentless in searching for them. Cal had insisted this is why they weren’t able to meet Daisy’s mother. That because their trail was too hot, Daisy was stuck with him for now.
Cal told her that her mother thought she was dead, the feeling was starting to become mutual.
He was an inventive man, if not insane. He filled Daisy’s time with stories of blue aliens who came from the sky to give gifts to humanity. Of a place in the middle of nowhere where her mother had helped these gifted people through the change, helped them accept their birthright and be free from the oppression of the world outside. He told her she was one of these gifted people. She thought it was a bunch of bullshit, but Daisy had no one else to turn to, and really, for all his flaws, Cal was kind to her.
At first, she hated him, was terrified of the monster who stole her from her family. Who called her by a name that wasn’t hers and who’s temper was erratic.
But, he had gone slow. He made sure he was safe from the many people after her, and was always looking for ways to uplift her and give her access to the opportunities he could. They played board games, went out to arcades and bowling alleys. He tried to treat each new location like it’s own mini-vacation, and despite being overprotective, he respected Daisy’s need for privacy and time away from him.
Once she allowed it, he would hug her when she cried, laugh with her, and celebrate her birthday in an increasingly extravagant fashion each year. For eleven years, Cal was doing the best he could as a father, given the circumstances.
He had even bought Daisy her first laptop, which Daisy was incredibly grateful for.
Most of her down-time not running from Hydra or doing basic online schooling was spent teaching herself computer science. She hadn’t been able to find friends outside of Cal because they moved around so much, and their anonymity was the only thing keeping them alive, but through the Rising Tide, she had found a community. Her hacking skills also became useful to find out when S.H.I.E.L.D. was gaining on them, and to help erase Cal’s existence from the web.
Secretly, she looked for her old family. For Natasha and Yelena, but she frustratingly couldn’t find any information on them. It was like they never existed, and Daisy was starting to question her memories in a simple home in Ohio. Cal had told her she was kidnapped by the then-Soviets, that they knew of her potential as a gifted person and wanted to exploit it by making her one of their soldiers. But all she could remember was an older sister who would do anything for her, a twin sister who’d never leave her alone, and a mom and dad who were loving, protective, and smart. She wasn’t sure what to believe, so she searched for the truth on the web, the laptop her gateway for information. She was just.. still learning how to turn some of the more complicated keys.
“Yes, it is, but we’ve been preparing for it.” He says, veering the minivan off the highway. Flat views of marshy grass moved by.
“What- your ‘super fun mental’ exercises?” She said sarcastically.
Cal smiles. “Your birthday is soon. You’ll see then.”
She groans, “Nothings gonna happen Cal, I’m not a damn alien.”
“Just, tell me you’ll remember what I taught you.”
“Cal.” she groans.
“Please?”
He looks so sincere that she caves. “Fine, yes, I’ll remember.”
She pushes down the nervous pit in her stomach asking her what happens if he’s right.
“Where are we even going anyway?”
“Puerto Rico.” He says, and the minivan pulls into an airspace. “This nice young man is going to take us there.”
***
May has always appreciated flying. The quiet view of the world above on a plane cloaked from any intrusion was an aspect of her job she was grateful for. Unfortunately, the quiet didn’t last as long as she would like.
She answers the beep of communications. Simmons' voice rings in her pilot headphones, frantic.
“May, there’s something you need to see. I’m sending it to you now”
She puts the plane in auto and reaches for the tablet on the dashboard. The security footage video that plays makes her heartbeat betray her, and she tenses in anger. She can’t quite see Daisy’s face, but she’d recognize the girl anywhere.
“We tracked the plates outside a private airspace in Upstate New York, I’m sending you the coordinates now.”
May prays she can catch her before they take off, veers the plane to her new destination “They drugged her.” she snarls. “That means she’ll need medical.”
“Copy that. But uh- May, do those weapons look familiar to you?”
She watches the footage back, focuses on what was used to take her down, it looked-
“I think I need to call in a favor”
“I’ll tell Coulson.”
***
Natasha barges into Fury’s office.
“Why was I pulled off the case?” she seethes.
“There’s a quinjet waiting for you outside.” He says, his tone a warning. “Your expertise is needed somewhere else.”
“My expertise was needed in Belgium, with Barton, we were about to head out-”
“Barton can take Morse. This needs your attention specifically.”
“What is it?” She crosses her arms, looks at him with a furious expectancy.
“It’s a favor for Melinda May.”
She scoffs. “My expertise is needed for a favor?”
“Her pet protogee’s gone missing.”
“May can handle that her-”
“Let me finish!” He snaps.
Natasha quiets. Waits.
“The girl was kidnapped, taken by someone they believe might be another Widow.”
Natasha shakes her head. “That’s not possible. I stopped the Red Room, I watched Dreykov die myself, by my hand.”
“I am aware. But you can’t argue with the footage.” He slides the tablet in front of her. Plays the video of…
“Is that?”
“She look familiar?”
“I’m not sure.” she says evenly.
“Well then find out. The quinjet’s waiting, they’re trying to catch them before they leave the country and tracking them becomes a whole new kind of hell.”
Natasha leaves without another word, a lump in her throat.
Yelena?
***
Three days after a rough landing in Puerto Rico, Daisy was trying to navigate through an alien city with a space rock that killed most people who touched it.
It’s the strangest birthday of her life.
“I won’t be able to go down there with you.” Cal had said. “I’m not what you are. But I will be waiting for you when you come back. I promise. Whatever your change is, I’ll help you through it.”
She hadn’t wanted to go into the tunnel. It was dark and tumultuous and she wasn’t thrilled about going into what was either an alien city or a system of abandoned and restricted tunnels. Both options screamed danger.
But after 11 years of her life leading up to this, she needed to know if Cal was right. It wasn’t just about the “gift”, it was about trying to understand the man who raised her. It was about protecting her own mind from the gnawing what ifs when she eventually left him behind.
And a very small part, one she wished she could ignore, wondered if all of this was real, if she could do this and get her gift, if that would mean her mother would come to help her, like Cal said she might.
She just had to know.
There were symbols on the ground that matched those of the rock in her hand. She reached down to clear the dust off of them, and the markings glowed a brilliantly unnatural blue. She shuddered, goosebumps forming across her arm. And then, like wil-o-wisps, the floor guided her through the city. To a pillar at the center of it all. A light shone through the ceiling like a spot light. She remembered watching Indiana Jones with Yelena and Natasha. This felt eerily similar, like at any moment something was going to jump at her, or a giant boulder was going to come crashing through and squash her forever.
She took a deep breath. And placed what Cal had called the Diviner on the center pillar.
She never expected what ensued. Nothing could have prepared her for the rock that crawled over her skin, the feeling that she was dying, that she would never see the light again. She screamed until she couldn’t.
And then she felt it for the first time. Her insides were made of bees, buzzing frantically, flying over each other and fighting for space, begging to be released. Every object around her was screaming at her, buzzing louder and louder. She felt it in her skin, in her bones, in every fiber of her being. It needed to be let out.
Daisy burst through the prison of stone, and watched as the city rattled to pieces around her.
What have I done?
She remembers running, frantically trying to get to the surface, to get out of the city that infected her. She couldn’t breathe, could barely move her legs. Everything felt wrong. When she finally managed to crawl out of the rubble, fingertips bleeding from the rocks caught in her nail beds and knees and elbows scraped from the climb, she saw she was not alone.
Planes in the sky shone bright lights on her, she shielded her eyes with her arm. There were people armed on the ground, surrounding the exit to the underground city.
S.H.I.E.L.D she thought with dread.
She looked around desperately for any sign of Cal. She didn’t spot him. Panic overtook her. A voice shouted out above the chaos.
“Hold your fire!”. And Daisy turned to face it.
It was a woman, with loose black hair and a stoic expression. She took as much comfort that she could in their similarities.
“You’re doing this.” It wasn’t a question, but Daisy nodded anyway.
“I can’t stop it! But I want to! I want to stop it, please- please don’t shoot me.” Her voice trembled like the earth beneath them.
Her heart was beating faster than it ever had before, like it was trying to pound a hole to escape through in her chest. She couldn’t push the thought out of her mind: at least when she was taken from her family, she wasn’t the monster.
“It’s okay. You’ll be alright. What’s your name?”
“Daisy.”
“Okay Daisy, just focus on my voice. Nothing out there matters.”
She struggled to do so, looking up nervously.
“Don’t look at them. Look at me.”
She had. Though Daisy’s glassy eyes and raised eyebrows betrayed her desperation.
May was undaunted. “Good.” She praised. “Now breathe in for me, slowly, count to five in your head.”
“Now hold it, one… two… three… four… five. Now exhale slowly for five seconds.”
Daisy had clung to the instructions as tightly as she could. She repeated them until everything had stopped shaking. Until much of her anxiety had melted into exhaustion.
“Good job Daisy.” May had said. “Look I know you’re scared, but we’re here for your protection. You need to come with us.”
Daisy had known, of course, “What about C- my dad?”
May didn’t betray any emotion. “It’s okay, we’ll let him know. What’s his name?”
“Cal… Cal Johnson.”
“Okay, good. These men are going to take you to the plane now okay? They’ll give you a sedative so you can rest.”
“No- I mean, please, I promise I’ll stay calm- I won’t shake the plane-”
“It’s okay Daisy. It’s going to be fine. But you can’t know that you won’t shake the plane, and I don't want it to go down with me in it.”
The last time Daisy had taken a sedative she had woken up in Ohio.
“I’ll be there when you wake up.” May promised, and Daisy went with the men, and childishly hoped she’d wake up somewhere similar.
***
May lands the quinjet and finds a team has already surrounded the truck. She runs over as fast as she can.
“Daisy’s in there?” She asks Natasha.
“That your index protege?”
May doesn’t answer, so Natasha tries another question.
“Are you sure those were widows?”
“Guess we’re about to find out”
One of the armed men opens the back door and is immediately shot with an electric weapon. May doesn’t hesitate, she moves to the side of the truck, hoping to use it as cover for a surprise attack. When the blonde Widow leaps out at the armed guards, May shoots an icer into her back, and watches as the girl falls limp. Natasha goes to take care of the Widow in the driver’s seat, so May runs into the truck.
The sight is infuriating. Daisy’s hands and feet are tied, and she’s out cold.
“Get her to the quinjet, now. Call Simmons, she’ll tell you where to take her.”
The men do as they're told, and May joins Natasha to help defeat the last Widow, May finds an opportunity to slam the Widow’s head on the side of the truck, takes it, and after that she’s out too.
“I could’ve handled that.” Natasha wipes blood from the corner of her lip.
“I did.”
*
“Do you recognize her?” They had secured the two (non-Avenger) Widows on the plane. May had shot them with as many rounds of the icer bullets as Simmons deemed safe.
“I think she’s my sister.”
May raises an eyebrow. “You think?”
Natasha sighs, “I just- I don’t understand. I took down the Red Room years ago. It was the final step in my defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. I killed Dreykov”
“Well you didn’t kill him hard enough.”
“Apparently.” She agrees and sighs, runs a hand through her hair. She can’t quite pry her eyes away from Yelena.
“I just hope S.H.I.E.L.D. can break her programming like they did mine.”
“I just want her off my plane.”
“That girl, the one she took. She means a lot to you.”
“I’m her S.O.”
“It feels like more than that.”
May doesn’t say anything, and the spy takes it as confirmation. “Well I’ll need to speak with her. See what she remembers about Yelena and the other Widow. Maybe she knows their objective.”
May nods. “Of course.”
Natasha is quiet for the rest of the flight. A mix of emotions eating at her mind. On the one hand, she’s glad Yelena’s alive. She hadn’t looked for her after, didn’t think she’d want to see her after they were separated in Ohio. She had seen her out on mission once, when she first defected, but she assumed after she’d killed Dreykov that Yelena had been freed like everyone else. Or, she thought like everyone else. The thought of how many Widows were still under the Red Room’s control sickened her. She wanted to hug the girl, wanted to tell her she loved her, tell her she was sorry. But first she had to give her her freedom.
Yelena and the other Widow are taken to containment when they land at the Triskelion. A young scientist approaches Natasha.
“Daisy’s in medical. She’s tired, but you can talk to her now if you’re brief.”
“Thank you…”
“Dr. Jemma Simmons. It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Romanoff.”
“You can call me Natasha.”
The scientist, Simmons, gives a curt nod and walks away. Natasha allows herself a brief stretch, and then goes over to meet the girl who had caused them so much trouble.
“Natasha?” Daisy immediately lifts herself up with a grunt, a nurse rushes to get her to lay down, but she shoos him away.
“Can we have the room please?” The older spy says, not taking her eyes off the woman who just said her name.
Daisy’s eyes are wide, her hair is frazzled and she looks exhausted. But there’s something familiar to her.
“Oh my god, do you, I-”
Daisy is struggling with her words, and Natasha notes her tension. The pieces start to assemble in her head.
“Wait- Masha?” and the spy doesn’t hide the elation in her voice.
“I thought- we thought you were dead.”
“Yeah well it’s kind of hard to contact an Avenger.”
“Wait- why ‘Daisy’?”
“The man who kidnapped me from Ohio was my biological dad. Daisy’s my real name.”
“Oh.” She pauses. “What?”
“Working theory is the Russians took me when I was a kid because they knew I could get stronger one day, or… something. They changed my name so I would blend in.”
“And they sent Yelena-”
“To take me back, yeah, now that I already did the whole- ‘transformation’ part.” Daisy shifts. “They used the relationship against me. I thought she had… recognized me”
“So you trusted her immediately even though you hadn’t seen her in years?”
“Well do you trust me?”
“You’re with S.H.I.E.L.D. and on the index, I don’t need to trust you, I can know everything about you.”
“Wow, so not answering the question.”
Natasha smirks, incredulous. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Daisy’s eyes are bright when she looks at Natasha. “Don’t worry I’m not expecting it from you. I just, I missed you.” And it’s warm and genuine and for a second Natasha feels like she’s looking at her 7 year old sister again.
“I missed you too. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Glad I’m not dead you mean.”
“Yeah, that.” She smiles.
“So Yelena, is she brainwashed, like they say you were?.” Daisy asks, and Natasha’s smile falters.
“Yeah um, she graduated from the Red Room.”
Daisy stares at her blankly, and Natasha cannot believe what Daisy’s expression is telling her. And then she realizes.
“You never went through the Red Room.”
“I’m not going to lie to you Natasha I have very little idea of what that is.”
“What do you know about Ohio?”
“Not much. My dad told me you, or I guess we, were Russian spies, which makes sense because we spoke in Russian sometimes.”
“It was probably your first language.”
“And my name was Russian.”
“Mariya Belova.” Natasha recalls with a slight airy laugh. “They gave you Yelena’s last name.”
Daisy nods. “We were meant to be twins.”
“I remember.”
“But other than the fact that I was stolen by Russian intelligence I have no idea what we were really doing in Ohio. What the mission was or… where you guys went afterwards. I tried really hard to find you. It was impossible until you became an Avenger, and then it was impossible to talk to you. Yelena I had found some photos of, but I couldn’t confirm they were her. Not until she kidnapped me, anyway.” Natasha detects guilt in Daisy’s voice. Finds it unwarranted.
“At least you tried. I had assumed Yelena had escaped when I killed Dreykov. And Alexei and Melina told us you were gone for good. I’m glad your dad saved you.”
“What did he save me from, exactly?”
“The Red Room is Dreykov’s way of making soldiers. You know what Black Widows are, well, after Ohio, had your dad not gotten involved. You would have become one.”
Natasha watches Daisy process, and she knows what the next question will be before she asks it. Knows she doesn’t want to answer it.
“What do they… do to you? In there?”
“Psychological conditioning, and physical conditioning. They turn you into weapons, and they strip you of your free will. Of what makes you, you.”
Natasha knows she’s underselling it, but she’s unsure she could ever truly describe the torture of the Red Room to someone who’s never been through it. She’s unsure she’d really want to. Thankfully Daisy seems to understand, she nods tersely, her mouth a grave line.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“For asking- I mean.”
Natasha shakes her head. “You deserve to know what you were rescued from.”
Daisy doesn’t respond.
“Why exactly are you on the index, anyway?”
Daisy considers her, and Natasha can tell she’s hesitant.“Uh-”
Before she can finish her sentence, Dr Simmons walks in. “I’m sorry Natasha but Daisy really should get some rest now.”
Natasha notices the way Daisy’s body relaxes, the girl’s relieved this is over. Natasha makes a mental note to ask again later.
“Get some rest.” She says before walking out. “I don’t want to lose my sister again.”
She smiles at the way Simmons eyes widen and immediately look to Daisy for an explanation.