Chapter 14
A few minutes went by, and soon the black jet touched down outside rolled into the building from the late evening darkness, the crew scurrying around her. The main stairs and ramp folded open and the three SHIELD agents and their passenger made their way down to the floor where Mrs. Riley was waiting for them.
“How’d it go?” She asked.
“Remember when we told you your dad had a terrigen Crystal on him.” Daisy told her as the group climbed down “We’re pretty sure that’s what Tisch was after.”
“Where’s it now?”
“After Daisy and Scott brought it in last year, it’s been in SHIELD’s Terrigen stash.” Coulson told her “We move it at regular, if random intervals. Never handled by the same people twice and never all at once.”
“Wow… how much do you guys have?”
“I hate to say this to you of all people, Gwendolyn, but that’s classified, ‘need to know’ only.”
“If it makes you feel better, mum, we don’t know ether.” Scott said.
“Well…” She said, with he hands on her hips “And here I thought good old Phil here told you lot everything?”
“It’s different when you don’t WANT to know.” Daisy told her. “where’s Toni?”
“She’s in the lounge with Skye.” She said as Daisy headed off to check on her child.
“So, what about my parents?”
“MI-5 showed up while we were there.” Coulson said to her, “They’re taking point on this.”
“Given the Prime Minister is still good buddies with Stark,” Scott said “Odds are the house will probably be crawling with AI Avengers… God I hate those tin cans…”
“Alright, you two, my office, now, come on.” Scott said to Laura and Gwen, who were standing nearby, Gwen having been woken up by their arrival.
“Wow… look at you, boss man…” Laura said as he ushered the two inside, with Coulson following.
“Sit.” Scott said abruptly to the two, pointing at the chairs facing his desk. They took their seats while Scott went around and took his, with Coulson standing by the door.
“How did you know about Tisch?” Scott asked Gwen. “What made you come straight to Daisy and me?”
Laura spoke up first “I’m…. I’m the one who told her. Truth is I’m part of the Rising Tide. Gwen knows that. My brother, Milton, is as well. He was one of the ones who got into their server farm and saw all that stuff and leaked it.”
“Miss Goldmark…” Coulson asked, moving to stand next to the desk, leaning over her slightly “Is it just happenstance that you’re pregnant with the child of someone who just so happens to be related to one of Rising Tide’s most prominent former members… or should Agent Riley and I be reaching for our guns?”
“Well, no. It’s how we bonded as a couple. There’s kinda sorta an unofficial club at University.”
“Fan club… Great,” Scott muttered “Even more groups of people bonding over how much they love Daisy… that’s not creepy or uncomfortable for me at all.”
“I mean, have you seen the fan…” Laura began to say before Scott cut her off.
“NO… I… HAVEN’T…” He said “I knew Daisy before she knew herself, I respect her too much to violate her like that. Okay, are we clear on that?”
“If I’m honest, it mostly our lot, the students in the computer science classes, there’s only like five or six of us and we usually just hang out during our downtime. It’s not so much just Daisy, it’s like a Rising Tide club in general, those of us who support the mission. Gwen didn’t tell me about the personal connection till later. ‘I guess at this point I probably should tell you that I’ve not only met Quake, but she’s married to my cousin. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding.’ We were already dating by that point. Hell, she told me she’s trans before she told me that.”
“We didn’t know he’d be there when we got to the house that night.” Gwen said, taking over “I wasn’t even going to tell Nana she was my girlfriend; just that she was a classmate, and we were working on a project together and I’d invited her over for dinner. Nana likes to have company over so she can brag, you know that. When we got in, Tisch was standing there. He looked right at me, he knew my name, it was fucking creepy. When Nana said she found me a husband, I flipped out. I started yelling. I got so pissed I dropped the bomb that Laura was pregnant with my child and I didn’t care if they accepted me for being different…”
Scott held up his hand.
“What exactly do you remember?” He asked them “Did ether of you recognize any of the other people in the room?”
They both shook their heads.
“what about the young man Nana said she wanted you to marry? Did you recognize him at all?”
“No.” They both said in turn.
“What happened after you left.”
“We… ran outside, and that’s when Laura told me everything. We… realized we needed to leave and fast and… you guys were the only ones we knew could keep us safe.
“Look, I’m not calling you guys liars, but there is something I’m missing here. What clued you in he was a threat?”
“… When Gwen yelled about being different, I saw him mutter ‘She must have changed” Laura said “Gwen had already told me about you having powers and I put two and two together and told her we needed to find you guys right away.”
Scott sat back. “Tisch thought you were misted… That would confirm what he wanted…”
“we drove back to Cardiff,” Gwen continued for Laura “back to University, so we could get our stuff. I kept a few changes of clothes in her room. We threw it all in that suitcase, drove into London and got on the first flight we could.”
Scott sighed
“Is that everything? That’s all you two remember?”
They both nodded.
“Okay then… Head back out to my mom, she’ll…” Scott began to say.
“Scott, wait… one more thing.” Gwen interrupted. “We’ve come to a decision. Laura and I have decided to stay here.”
“I mean, you two are adults…” He said
“It’s not just that. The thing is… I don’t want to be in the dumb family business… I want to be in the fun family business… I want to join SHIELD.”
“Gwen…’ He said “They made changes earlier in the year. You now have to be a citizen of the US to work for SHIELD. We are doing our damnedest to get them to change it back, but for now, we can’t take you on…”
Scott noticed Laura smile a little when he said that.
“There are other things that have to be worked out first, as well. Mum and I are your relatives, we know the right people who can easily make it so YOU can stay here. Laura, on the other hand, is going to be a different story… I don’t know, unless you two get married or something…”
“Fine. Then we’ll get married.” Gwen said, before turning to Laura who nodded in agreement “Just like you and Daisy, marry my baby momma…”
“For the last time I asked her to marry me BEFORE I knew she was pregnant. It just so happened to be the same day she chose to tell me.”
“Right…” Gwen said with a wink.
“God, I hate you sometimes. Go on. Mum will drive you two back to my place. We have some things to take care of first.”
The two grabbed hands and walked out.
“She’s hiding something.” Scott said.
“Yep.” Coulson said, “now we just need to find out what.”