Chapter 2
Back in the Zephyr, Daisy explained the situation to Piper and waited for the team back at the Lighthouse to call in.
Once Daisy told Mack and Fitzsimmons everything, Mack reluctantly gave her the go-ahead.
“I don’t feel to great about this one Tremors,” Mack said, apprehensively.
Daisy sighed. “I know, but what other choice do we have?”
“Well,” Fitz started, “We’ve been working on improving the comms so that they can work cross dimension. You should still be able to call in if you need anything. We also gave Robbie Reyes a special set of comms before he left- you should be able to find him.”
“Thanks Fitz.” Daisy smiled. “Alright, it’s time for me to head out. I’ll see you guys soon.” Hanging up the video call, she turned to Piper.
“I need you to stay here. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I want you to watch over in case anything…weird happens.”
Piper nodded. “You got it. See you soon Daisy.”
Daisy headed to her bunk to get ready.
When she got into her small room, she laid back on the bed. This is too crazy, she thought.
Sitting up, she thought about that vision she shared with Tandy. She still didn’t fully understand what that was, but she did know one thing- she was still in love with Lincoln.
After all this time, she couldn’t get him out of her head. Daisy knew that he was gone, but she missed him more and more each day.
She took the small picture frame from her bag, tears welling in her eyes. She forced the thought from her mind and placed the frame back in the bag.
Daisy had time to think about him after she got back from this mission. Right now, she needed to figure out how to find Robbie.
—
Arriving back at the hideout, Daisy waited at the bottom of the staircase for Ty, Tandy and Nico to come down. She noticed the young girl, Molly, watching her from upstairs.
Daisy adjusted her gauntlets, and without looking up said, “So, are you inhuman too?”
“No, I don’t even know what that means. I got my powers from an explosion.”
Daisy looked up at her. “Well, you’re quite strong for being so young. You could be a great asset to SHIELD one day.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Nico came down the stairs, trailed by Ty and Tandy. Nico was carrying a red satchel with what Daisy assumed to be the Darkhold inside.
“Molly, watch the Hostel while we’re gone. We’ll be back soon.” Nico ordered. Molly nodded and retreated to her room, closing the door behind her.
Ty stepped forward. “So,” he took a breath, “are we ready to go?”
The mix-matched crew looked at each other, ready to get this done with.
“Everyone grab hands,” Ty instructed.
Forming a small circle, Ty and Tandy interlaced fingers. Nico, grabbing Tandy’s other hand, extended her free hand to Daisy.
Daisy sighed and grabbed Nico and Ty’s free hands.
“Hold tight.” Ty looked at Daisy and before she knew it, a black mist surrounded them. There was a sensation of flying almost, and next thing Daisy knew, they were back standing in the Hostel.
But this time, the Hostel looked different…more rustic and vintage. The staircase was covered in vines and flowers, and the decorations seemed reminiscent of the 1920s.
“Is this the right place?” Daisy asked?
The three others nodded, obviously recognizing the place.
Nico looked ahead of them to the French doors on the left, with pools of light coming through the curtains.
“The first time we were here, we all got split up,” Nico explained. “Then, the last time we were here, we were able to stay together. Who knows what will happen when we walk through those doors.”
Daisy glanced over to meet Nico’s gaze. “I’ll take the Darkhold. You guys can wait here or come with me. I just need to find Robbie and return the book to him.”
Nico glanced down at the satchel on her shoulder. “Not a chance. Ty, Tandy,” she turned to them. “You two wait here. Daisy and I will return the book to her friend and come back. If we aren’t back by nightfall, come find us.”
Ty and Tandy nodded. “Good luck,” Tandy gave a weak smile and the two headed upstairs.
Nico turned back to Daisy. “Let’s get this over with.”
She walked to the French doors, Daisy trailing behind. Glancing at each other, Nico pushed the doors open, revealing a gloomy, distorted version of Los Angeles.
“Good,” Nico sighed, “looks like we won’t get split up this time.” Together, the two girls stepped outside.
“So how do we find this friend…” Nico trailed off, realizing that Daisy was no longer standing next to her. She rolled her eyes, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
—
In the blink of an eye, the scenery around Daisy had changed. She called out for Nico but realized she was alone.
She took a breath and took in her surroundings. She was in the Zephyr control room. Everything felt off, like she was standing in the shadow of a scene.
Daisy turned, seeing Fitzsimmons running into the room, May and Coulson standing just behind watching.
She knew this wasn’t reality. She remembered what Nico had explained before, about how the first time they entered this in-between dimension, they were taken to different moments in their life that happened in the past.
But not just any moment- they were taken to some kind of defining moment in their lives.
Daisy knew this moment. She had lived it in her mind over and over again. She turned and immediately took off running to the hangar.
“Lincoln!” Daisy screamed. She knew what happened next, and this time, she was there to stop it. Or at least try to.
She reached the hangar, where she saw Lincoln climbing up the ramp to enter the quinjet.
Hearing his name, Lincoln turned and looked down at Daisy, standing breathless at the bottom of the ramp. Tears began streaming down her face.
“I didn’t think I would get to see you again.” She gave a faint smile.
“Daisy? What are you doing here?” Lincoln looked concerned.
“Please, Lincoln, just wait.” She walked up the ramp to him. Hesitantly, she reached up and put her hand on his cheek. He looked down at her, wiping away a loose tear.
“How did you find me?” He asked.
“What do you mean? This is just a memory.” Daisy was confused. She looked around the quinjet, realizing it was just the two of them- no Hive. This was that memory though, Hive should be here, Daisy thought.
Lincoln sighed. “I know. It’s yours, and mine.” He walked over to take a seat inside the jet.
Daisy followed and sat next to him, waiting.
“When I flew the quinjet up into space with Hive,” he paused, “The last thing I remember was looking out at the Earth.”
He went on, “The next thing I know, I wake up here and the whole scene plays out again. Taking the necklace from you, running up to the quinjet, taking off, hearing your voice on the comms…”
Daisy looked own at her hands. That conversation plays on a loop in her mind, like elevator music that she can’t turn off.
Lincoln continued. “I’m stuck here Daisy. Somehow, when that explosion went off, I was brought here. I’ve left before, taken the quinjet back to Earth, only to get off and find myself walking around a gloomy Los Angeles.”
Daisy looked up, remembering her mission. “Lincoln, this is all…so much right now. But I need your help. I have to get back to Los Angeles. I have to find the people I came here with."
Lincoln chuckled, “I wish I could get you there Daisy, but after living this scenario over and over again, the quinjet lost power."
“Okay so that shouldn’t be a problem,” Daisy perked up. “Just turn on the spark and we can take off.”
“It doesn’t work like that here. Our powers don’t work in this dimension.”
Daisy stood up and put out her hand, but as Lincoln said, nothing happened. She kept trying.
“Ugh! You’ve got to be KIDDING me!” Daisy paced back and forth. “Okay, um, well Fitzsimmons have been working on new tech. Maybe I can use something to jump start the jet.”
She walked over to the controls, seeing the fried wires hanging loosely under the flight panel. Getting down on her knees, she bent under the panel and pulled out a small device that Fitz had given her before she left.
It was some kind of mini generator. She held up the small needle-like end to the wires and hit the button at the bottom. A spark went off and she leaned her head back. A light buzzing noise started, and the lights on the panel all turned on.
“Ha! You did it!” Lincoln walked over and helped Daisy up from the ground.
Daisy stood, peering up at him. “I can’t believe it’s actually you.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him in for a hug. He was here, and he was real. For a moment, she forgot that there was a more serious mission at hand.
Lincoln pulled away, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Let’s head out.”
He sat in the control seat and together, they headed for Los Angeles.
—
They flew in silence, not sure what to talk about. Daisy wanted to tell him everything he missed, but she didn’t know if he wanted that. As they neared LA, she turned to him.
“I’m-I’m sorry that you’ve been stuck here. Reliving…this moment.”
Keeping his eyes on the sky, Lincoln replied. “It’s better than being dead dead.” He let out a light chuckle.
Daisy reached out and put a hand on his arm. He looked over at her. “I just, I never got to tell you that I-“
Before Daisy could finish her sentence, Los Angeles came into view and the quinjet was jerked forward. They were suddenly flying too fast to land safely.
“Lincoln! Slow us down!” Daisy yelled.
“I'm not the one doing this!”
As they neared the street, the quinjet came to a jerking stop. Daisy and Lincoln were jolted forward, lucky to be strapped in or they would’ve flown through the front dash.
With the quinjet hovering just above the street, Daisy unbuckled herself and peered out the front window. She looked down to see none other than Nico, staff in hand, holding the quinjet in place.
Nico, seeing Daisy through the window, lowered the jet to the ground. She walked to the back of the jet as the ramp lowered.
“What the heck was that!” Daisy stormed down the ramp to meet Nico at the bottom. Lincoln lingered inside the jet.
“Hey, when you see a giant, random jet flying in your direction, you tell me how to react!” Rolling her eyes, Nico stored the staff away, adjusting the strap of the satchel on her shoulder.
“Good to see you still have the book at least.” Daisy smirked.
“We gotta get moving, it’s getting dark. Time works differently around here.” Nico started to walk away from the quinjet back toward the streets.
“Wait just, give me a second.” Daisy headed back up the ramp to where Lincoln stood.
Nico, glancing back, nodded.
“Lincoln, come with us.”
He shook his head, “I can’t. Every time I come here, I’m just sent right back. Seems like this dimension doesn’t like when you don’t follow it’s orders.”
Daisy looked down at her feet. She nodded. She knew there was nothing else she could say to keep him here, but she couldn’t stand knowing what he went through everyday.
She grabbed his hand and looked up at him. He smiled faintly before leaning down, gently kissing her before disappearing. Daisy opened here eyes to see both Lincoln and the quinjet gone.
“I love you.” Daisy whispered under her breath. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she turned and walked past Nico down the street.
Nico jogged to catch up with Daisy. She assumed the man was the one from Tandy’s vision. They walked in silence, before Nico turned to Daisy.
“So, how are we supposed to find your friend?”
Daisy straightened her shoulders. Right, she thought, we have to find Robbie.
“Robbie has a set of comms that we gave him. My team was able to amp up our comms to work across dimensions.” Hopefully, she thought to herself.
The two stopped under a street lamp. “Okay,” Nico started, “let’s give him a call then.”
Daisy nodded. She reached up and clicked on the comms. She heard static from the other end, and then grunting.
“Robbie? Are you there?”
She waited for a response. There was heavy breathing and sounds of punches being thrown in the air.
Daisy kept calling his name until she heard a faint, “Daisy, is that you?” from the other end.
“Yes, Robbie, it’s me. Where are you?”
“Daisy, hurry, I need help. I’m-I’m on Hollywood Boulevard and I-“
The comms cut out. Daisy glanced at Nico, and without saying a word, the two took off running down the street.