Some People Just Want To Watch The World Burn
Chapter Two: Some People Just Want To Watch The World Burn
June 5th, 2014
“Alright,” Coulson said, turning on the large monitor so everyone could see the file. “This is our newest assignment.”
“Our newest assignment is a kid?” Daisy asked in disbelief as a photo of a young girl popped up on the screen.
She couldn’t have been more than 15 years old, and that was being generous. The way the photo had been taken, it almost looked like a mugshot or a passport photo. Except, of course, for the fact that she was smirking at the camera. She had chestnut brown hair and deep blue eyes, and what Daisy instantly recognized as a faint bruise on her cheek.
“Cameron Delaney, age 13. The Advanced Threat Containment Unit tracked her down and she can apparently manipulate quantum energy,” Coulson explained.
“Like Gordon can, you mean?” Fitz asked.
“Exactly.”
“Wait, this kid can teleport?” Hunter questioned and Fitz nodded. “Doesn’t seem like much of a threat to me.”
“Well, she’s not. They’re not trying to bring her in, they just want to have surveillance on her,” Coulson replied.
“So, what’s stopping them?” Bobbi asked.
“She’s in foster care and ran away. Price sent two men after her to bring her back to her foster family and well…” he trailed off.
“What?” Hunter asked.
“Someone apparently taught the kid to fight. She broke one of the guy’s ribs and knocked the other one out before teleporting somewhere.”
“Maybe she had a good reason for running away,” Daisy noted softly.
She was all too familiar with the horrors of foster care. Sure, her experience had been worse than most after constantly being moved around by SHIELD, but judging by the bruise on the girl’s face, she hadn’t fared much better.
“Regardless, we need to bring her in. Price says as long as we deal with her accordingly, they won’t have any reason to take her to their headquarters,” Coulson told her gently.
“I’ll start trying to see if we can track her quantum entanglement,” Fitz offered before heading down to the lab with Jemma close behind.
Mack headed back down to the garage as May went to go and sort through some gear, leaving Daisy, Lincoln, Hunter, and Bobbi alone with Coulson.
“Coulson, where have I seen this kid before?” Bobbi asked, knowing the man hadn’t told them the full story.
“According to her file, Cameron was raised by her uncle. That is, until her uncle died two and a half years ago. You’ll probably remember him, he was sorta famous around here.”
“Hold on, her uncle was John Delaney?” Hunter exclaimed, jaw dropping slightly.
“Who’s John Delaney?” Daisy asked, confused.
“He was a contract killer for SHIELD,” Coulson informed her.
“You mean an assassin.”
“Yes, but he was also a brilliant engineer. He designed the original cloaking for all the quinjets.”
“The bloke is up there with Barton as far as SHIELD legends go,” Hunter stated.
“What happened to him?” Daisy questioned.
“Got killed on a combat mission,” Bobbi answered.
They heard Fitz shout from downstairs that he’d found the girl’s quantum entanglement and Daisy and Hunter rushed down the stairs. Just as Bobbi was about to follow them, Coulson stopped her.
“Just don’t underestimate her, okay? You know as well as I do what a Delaney is capable of,” he warned her.
“I won’t, don’t worry.”
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They landed the cloaked quinjet on the rooftop of an abandoned building. May had decided to stay on the jet in case they needed to leave quickly, and Mack and Coulson had stayed back at the Playground with Jemma and Fitz. Bobbi, Daisy, and Hunter quickly scaled down the fire escape on the side of the building and soon found themselves in an empty alley. The ATCU had managed to develop some sort of technology that could block certain Inhuman powers. Price had assured them it would keep the girl from teleporting out so long as she stayed within a two block radius of the beacon, but none of them were really confident in the device.
“Fitz said she should be within a block of here,” Daisy said as she watched Hunter look around.
“Guess we better split up then,” Bobbi decided. “Radio on the comms if you think you see her.”
Daisy headed towards the street across from the alley while Bobbi took the left side of the street and Hunter took the right. Hunter walked at a normal pace, careful not to look back and forth too much. Somehow, he had a feeling the kid was keeping an eye out for people that were looking for her. But, no matter how smart she was, and even if she was related to John Delaney, she was still a kid. And maybe she’d managed to ditch Price's unit a few times, but Hunter doubted she’d manage to hide from them for long. Sure enough, about twenty minutes after they landed the quinjet, Hunter spotted her. She was sitting on a park bench reading a book near some other kids her age that were playing soccer. To anyone else, it would’ve seemed like she was just one of them, a regular kid. But Hunter noticed the way her eyes glanced over the top of the book every few seconds, darting around quickly to check her surroundings before looking back down.
All of a sudden, the kid shoved the book she’d been reading into her backpack and stood up from the bench, walking away from Hunter. She was walking away at a normal pace so he slowly followed her as he reached toward his ear with one hand.
“I’ve got her in the northwest corner of the park. She’s heading toward the train station,” he murmured quietly.
“Hunter, you have to keep her in the boundary of the beacon,” Bobbi told him.
“Yeah, I got that, Bobs,” he retorted.
Hunter watched as Cameron weaved her way through a group of teenage boys walking down the sidewalk before crossing the street. As he was about to follow after her, a bus pulled down the road, preventing him from crossing for a moment. By the time it drove away and he could cross, the kid had begun to run down the sidewalk. He’d just been made by a 13 year old, he realized with a shock. He quickly began running after her as he frantically reached for his comms again.
“The kid saw me. She’s headed your way, Daisy. You can’t let her get past you, otherwise she’s outta here.”
“I’m on it,” he heard Daisy reply in his ear.
He saw Cameron turn down a street and he felt a little relieved, as he knew the street was a dead end. Sure enough, by the time he caught up, the girl was already face to face with Daisy. Daisy was blocking Cameron’s only exit. The girl had been backed into a corner and she knew it too, judging by the slight panic in her eyes.
“Look, just come with us, okay?” Daisy tried to reason with the kid. “It’ll be fine, I promise.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take my chances with the other guys they’ve been sending after me,” the girl scoffed.
“It wasn’t a suggestion,” Hunter spoke up and Daisy glanced back quickly at the sound of his voice. “You’re coming with us whether you like it or not.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” the girl replied and suddenly there was a knife embedded inside of the building not three inches from Hunter’s head.
He hadn’t even seen the kid reach for it. And her aim was spot on, at least, if she was trying to give him a warning. Definitely a Delaney. Daisy sprang towards the girl, ready to stop her from doing anything that could actually injure someone, when a shot rang out and the girl slumped to the ground. Bobbi stood behind her, gun still raised.
“Neither of you thought to use an ICER?” Bobbi asked.
“Well, Daisy was content on doing things the slow way and it was kind of entertaining to be honest,” Hunter explained.
“Just get the kid, Hunter,” Daisy said, sighing.
He walked over from where he’d been leaning against the building at the front of the alley and grabbed the kid, lifting her into his arms. Her head lolled before resting on his shoulder, and it wasn’t until he felt how light she was that he remembered how young the kid was.
13 years old and she already had the whole world against her.