The Avenger’s Soul

3rd Person POV

"Undersecretary Pierce grants medical parole in 1989," read out as she skimmed over the old SSR file she had found on Wener Reinhardt. Hunter leaned against the desk after glancing at her, and continued to read. May and Mack also had a stack of files at another table. "After that there are no records of Reinhardt."

"Drops his name, loses the accent. A year later, Daniel Whitehall surfaces," Hunter added. He looked down at the file he had, complete with an old age photo of him.

"Whatever he did to survive happened in that year. Was it alien tech? Where did he go?" Simmons asked, none of them guessing the role Daisy had/will play.

"The Fountain of Youth, apparently," Hunter said.

"May, I think we should cross reference the name Daniel Whitehall with any criminal activity from that time," Simmons suggested.

*****

Daisy's POV

"The satellite network we need to map the Earth and find the city is controlled by the US Air Force facility at Kaena Point, Oahu, and it's too heavily guarded to infiltrate. Which is why we came to Australia instead. There's a small station here that comes online whenever Kaena Point's feed goes down," Coulson told us.

"But Kaena still needs to go down," I pointed out.

"You already took care of that. The watch and the button are two pieces of a Trojan horse. They'll take down the base's feed," Coulson said.

I saw Trip looking over at Fitz giving him a knowing look.

"Man with the plan," he said.

"Once per quarter, General Cole inspects Kaena point," Coulson explained. "This time, he'll meet the new relay commander."

"Let me guess, Commander's name is Darren," I said as I remembered the inscription he had me put on the watch.

"That's right. And since he's new introductions will be made. On their own, these two pieces are harmless, undetectable to security. But, as they near each other they'll power up and EMP and boom – kiss your wi-fi, your coffee maker and your top secret satellite feed goodbye," said Coulson.

"And the Australian site goes online," I nodded in understanding.

"We'll have roughly six minutes to patch a back end into the network. Trip, you'll provide backup. Fitz, you'll install the transceiver to let Daisy hack the network so that we can find out if this city exists once and for all," Coulson instructed.

"All because a General got too fat for his jacket," Trip laughed.

"Fitz, how you coming with the transceiver patch?" Coulson asked.

"I've got it down to 7 minutes, 20 seconds," Fitz closed and latched the case.

Coulson walked to stand closer to Fitz.

"That's not good enough," he said.

"No, that's with my bad hand. With both I can do it, definitely," Fitz told him proudly before walking away with Trip.

"We may actually have a shot at finding the city," Coulson told me.

"Are you sure it's something you want to dig up?" I asked, I had a really bad feeling.

"If we don't, HYDRA will. We need to get there first," Coulson replied.

*****

3rd Person POV

"This doesn't feel right. Daisy you reading us?" Coulson asked into his comm unit.

"Standing by with Geek Squad. Paddington and Timelord are closing in. EMP ready in 40 seconds," I told him as I looked over at the two techs standing next to me on the Bus.

"Copy that," Coulson said.

"Kaena Point is down. Six minutes on the clock," I informed Coulson. There was nothing but static coming from my connection with the guys. "Guys?"

"Daisy, there's something jamming us –" Coulson tried to say but it was pointless.

Trip saw movement at the back of the room.

"Down! Down! Ambush!" He shouted as two soldiers appeared as Coulson and the others took cover and returned fire. Coulson, after firing a few rounds, looked around and saw three people tied up on the floor looking terrified. Trip took out one as Coulson moved closer to the hostages and took out another.

"Fitz! Untie the crew!" Coulson ordered. Fitz hurried over to where Coulson was. He got to his knees and slid past the opening where Coulson was shooting at another soldier. Fitz started untying them. "HYDRA, how the hell'd they get here?!?" Coulson exclaimed.

Suddenly the mainframes around the room started to power up.

"Oh, it's coming alive! The server's online!" Fitz said.

"Time to move! Find the access point! We can't miss this window! Follow me! Now!" Coulson instructed.

Coulson and Trip provided cover fire for Fitz and the others as they hurried into a room.

"Get comms back online. You guys are my satellite wranglers. I need vector scripts ready to execute the second Fitz gets us on that network," Daisy told the two techs next to her.

A soldier appeared before Trip but he knocked him out quickly. Coulson opened a door, looked inside then back out and glanced to the hostages.

"Lock yourselves inside. Go!" He told them.

They do as he said then he walked away, gun drawn. Trip led the way for Fitz checking around corners and nodding him on when he saw that it was clear. Trip made it to one of the servers and opened a drawer.

"Stay down," he warned Fitz.

"I need a few minutes," Fitz replied.

Trip looked around, then heard the noise of a door opening. He walked around behind Fitz and checked around the edge of the server he's working on – a soldier appeared and Trip took him down. Trip then looked the opposite direction and saw another soldier appearing on the other side of some glass.

"Fitz, down!" He cried out, shoving Fitz to the floor as he fired on the soldier. While Trip was dealing with the soldier at the window another one rounded the corner and put two bullets into Trip's bulletproof vest – but he still goes down hard.

Coulson rounded the corner and took out the soldier that shot Trip. Coulson leaned over Trip looking down at him as he breathed rapidly.

"Ah, damn it, Trip. Trip, talk to me," he said worriedly.

"Oh, sir, he's gonna bleed out," said Fitz.

"We need to stop it," Coulson told him.

"I can help," a voice suddenly said. Coulson and Fitz both looked up to see Zeus; though neither of them knew that's who he was. He leaned down and grabbed a hold of his shoulder. "Put pressure there, please," he instructed.

Coulson put his hands on Trip's shoulder replacing Daisy's Father's.

"Can you control it?" Coulson asked.

"First went though clean. Second bullet is deep," Zeus said as he examined the man before him. There's a lot of blood. Got to get it out," he waved his hands and a glow of golden light fell over Trip as Zeus worked on slowly getting the bullets out. Coulson and Fitz stared at him in shock.

"Can you heal him?" Coulson asked.

"The bullet's holding the wound open. If we keep our heads about us, he has a chance, Phil," Zeus said, he might be a god but one of his powers did not include healing. That was his daughter, who he was desperate to be reunited with. Coulson quickly looked up at him wondering how he knew his name. "Shouldn't have said "Phil"," Zeus chuckled. "Not supposed to know that. You probably wouldn't recognize me from the picture I left for her, though. I haven't changed as much as she has since then." Coulson pulled out his gun and aimed it at Daisy's Father's head. "If I let go of this clamp, he dies," Zeus said, gesturing to the clamp that he had conjured and was using on Trip. He looked up to Coulson then took out an ancient dagger of his and sliced. "I just sliced this man's brachial artery. Mr. Coulson, hand me the gun," he instructed. He held out his free hand and slowly Coulson gave him his gun, glaring at Zeus the whole time. "You too, son," Zeus said looking at Fitz.

"Fitz," Coulson called out. Fitz stopped what he was doing for a moment handing Coulson his gun. "You'd use this man's life as a bargaining chip?" Coulson said. Zeus resisted the urge to laugh. He was lord of the skies and current god of all universes, everyone's life was his to do with as he pleased.

"An opportunity, actually. To get out of this sticky situation. And we get to know each other a bit," Zeus said.

"Daisy wouldn't want Trip to die," Coulson told Daisy's father.

Zeus looked over at him quickly, almost with hope or fear – it was hard for Coulson to tell.

"She's not here, is she?" He asked. Coulson shook his head and Zeus let out a relieved sigh. "That's a relief. I'm only gonna get one chance at a first impression. This doesn't look very good," Zeus said.

"You've already made an impression. Pile of bodies, going to work for Whitehall. I don't think it's good for Daisy to –" Coulson started to say.

"You're not her father! You're Shied, who took her from me. I need Whitehall. The end will justify the means," Zeus told him; though if he knew the truth of what Whitehall had been doing with Daisy her whole life he would have killed him already.

"The end. And that's gonna happen in the city we're both here to find?" Coulson asked.

"Yes. I anticipated you'd be close, but you're already trying to map the Earth. I guess we had the same idea. Whitehall didn't even know about the city until I turned him on to it. He thinks the Diviner is just a weapon. He has no idea of its true power, of what's inside," Zeus said. Coulson looked up at him quickly surprised. "Oh. There's something inside," Zeus added with a smirk.

"What are we talking about? Tesseract-level power?" Coulson said.

"Sure. I don't know what that is," replied Zeus.

"You realize we're talking life and death here," Coulson pointed out.

"I know. It's exciting, isn't it?" Zeus exclaimed, giving Coulson a big smile. "I mean, both sides racing to the temple. Life and death, flesh and blood, emotions! Who knows how it'll shake out? All I know is, my baby's gonna be right there in the center of it," Zeus said, his eyes glinting as he thought about his daughter.

"I know you want to meet her," said Coulson.

"Oh, I can't wait. I mean, I have to wait for the right circumstances, but –" Zeus started to say. He was breaking his own rule about the gods not having any contact with their offspring but he figured since his daughter would soon be a full blown goddess, that the rule for halfbloods didn't apply.

"Cause if you let this man die, Daisy will never –" Coulson warned.

Zeus suddenly exploded in anger.

"That's not her name!" Everyone froze, including Fitz, for a very tense moment. Zeus blinked a few times and seemed to get a hold of himself. "And I won't let him die. I'm gonna tell you just how to save him, which will give me time to get away," he added. He waved his hands and more golden light appeared and when it had faded there was a black bag sitting on the ground. "Two syringe packets inside."Coulson leaned over getting what's indicated out of the bag. Coulson found them and held them up. "When I release this, you're gonna pump his wounds full of that clotting agent as fast as you can if you want to save his life. And apply pressure, okay? Here we go," Zeus stated.

"We'll find you. And when we do, you and I will finish this conversation," Coulson said, gritting his teeth.

"I look forward to it," Zeus said, releasing the clamp and standing up as Coulson hurried to where he was sitting and applied the clotting agent.

"Fitz!" Coulson shouted as Fitz got back to work. "Quickly, Fitz, quick!"

"Okay, done," Fitz told him.

He closed the drawer and dropped down to his knees beside Trip. Coulson undid the first pack containing the syringe.

"Get the other one ready," he ordered Fitz.

"We haven't heard from them in over five minutes. Wait, whoa, whoa, wait," Daisy suddenly said. The monitor in the Command Center was now showing a flashing green light. "The transceiver is powering up." The monitor showed a picture of the globe and satellites orbiting around it with lines connecting them. "Yes, Fitz! Okay, prioritize all thermal and ground penetrating imaging!" I instructed the techs.

*****

"As a person who spent a considerable portion of his life incarcerated, I know how rare second chances can me. If you're given one, take it," Whitehall was telling Ward as he flashbacks to the day his life had changed.

Flashback: Future/Past Daisy is strapped to an operating table struggling against her bonds. Reinhardt/Whitehall enters her field of vision, still looking very old.

"The opportunity may be fleeting, so it must be recognized and seized," Whitehall continued to say.

Flashback: Future/Past Daisy tensed as she watched as Reinhardt/Whitehall tightened his gloves. He then leaned over and rubbed some iodine on the woman's skin and then inserted a syringe into her skin.

"Sometimes, the solution takes days or weeks or years."

Flashback: Future/Past Daisy winced as a scalpel dug into her skin, then the sections of skin were pulled apart. She clenched her jaw tightly as Whitehall reached a hand into her body and pulled out one of her organs.

"But no matter the sacrifice, one must be willing to enjoy the trauma of shaking off all that you were..."

Flashback: Reinhardt exited the very blood surgical room and entered the observation room handing his glasses to the guy who had been pushing his wheelchair earlier. He then walked out and went into a different room where he lay down on a bed.

"To become something new."

Flashback: Reinhardt's hand gripped the bed tightly as his old skin started to take on a younger appearance.

"Something better."

Flashback: When the process was over, Whitehall stood and picked up his glasses from a desk as the guy from earlier stood next to him, he had never bothered to remember the man's name. "What did you take from her, sir?" He asked. "Everything that I possibly could," he relied.

"Everyone deserves a second chance. But few are willing to do what it takes to earn one," Whitehall continued to say to Ward.

"I completely understand. I think my skills could be of use to you. I know sacrifice, what it takes to move forward in life," Ward told him, giving him his charming smile and watching as Whitehall smiled back at him.

"I have no doubt that's true." Whitehall reached for the tablet on his desk and turned it to face Ward. He swiped his finger to a news story, complete with video footage. It showed footage of a large fire.

"The bodies of Massachusetts Senator Christian Ward and both his mother and father were identified by police tonight in what appears to be a murder suicide. A partial destroyed tape found in the fire is believed to be the Senator's confession," the reporter was saying.

"I wanted him dead! I did! He was the only one mother didn't torture. It had to end. I wanted her to feel our pain," Christian Ward's voice was saying in the video.

Ward looked up at Whitehall and gave him a smirk.

*****

Daisy's POV

"It's been running for a few hours," I told Coulson as he joined me back at the Command Center of the Bus along with Fitz. He was completely covered in Trip's blood and I did my best to focus on the task at hand. "26 satellites scouring the world for your map."

"Good," Coulson said, though I missed the look he was sending my way.

"Multispectral images, ground penetrating radar. Now we wait for the ding that says we have a match. If there's evidence of this city on Earth, the computer will find it," I said, finally
lookin over at Coulson and seeing the looks on their faces. "Guys?" I looked over at Fitz and he fidgeted nervously. "Is everything okay?" They didn't answer. "They're patching Trip up and he's going to be fine. But you're acting like you saw the devil out there," I added slowly. I saw them glance at each other. "What?"

Coulson stood up straighter but just as he opened his mouth to say something the computer dinged getting his attention. The monitor flashed green and the words "match found" appeared.

*****

3rd Person POV

Zeus entered the place where Whitehall and Ward were sitting; of course followed by guards.

"Doctor, how nice to see you. Please, come – sit," Whitehall said as the man did so, not seeing Ward's eyes widen in realization as he stared at Zeus and saw right through the Doctor disguise. "You've had a long night."

"You should tell me when we're having a meeting. I would've freshened up," Zeus said.

"Mr. Ward here is something of an expert on Shield, and you an expert on The Obelisk. Together I think there's much we can achieve," Whitehall told Zeus.

"I was a member of Coulson's team. Lived with them for months," Ward chimed in, staring Zeus right in the eyes and resisting the urge to get down on his knees.

"So you know the entire team?" Zeus said, suddenly very interested to hear what Ward had to say as he thought about his daughter.

"Like family," Ward replied. "Heard you crossed Coulson. That can be rough," he added.

"Oh, it wasn't a complete loss. It's always good to look your enemy right in the eye," Zeus said before glancing directly at Whitehall.