The First Day
A/N: I’ll be going back and forth between the past and future in this story and like I said, not everything will be the same as it was in the time loop timeline. Enjoy and thanks for the people that have followed or reviewed this story so far. :)
7 Months Ago
The Earth was destroyed and there wasn’t a single thing what remained of Shield could do about it. But before this tragedy. Before humanity’s fate was changed forever. There was a moment. A peaceful moment where Team Coulson casually ate their breakfast at a quaint and friendly diner. They knew someone would barge in any second now and arrest them, but they paced themselves nevertheless to savor their food. Who knows when they will get to enjoy a proper meal again.
“Wonder where they’ll take us,” May says biting a strip of bacon in half.
“I kind of hope it’s The Raft,” Coulson comments. “One of the most state of the art facilities ever. Plus, it’s underwater.” Fitz gags on his food at the mention of The Raft being underwater and May elbows Coulson for his statement. “Oh, right. Sorry about that, Fitz.”
“It’s-it’s ok sir,” he says taking a deep breath; Simmons rubbing his back to ease his worries.
“You won’t have to worry about going there. The Raft is only for people like me and Elena from what I know about it,” Daisy says then glances at the waitress giving the group a confused look. “The Raft is a special training facility for people like me and my friend,” she lies pointing to herself and Elena.
“Like FBI training?” The waitress asks them.
“Something like that,” Elena answers then takes another sip of her drink.
“Would you like me to fill it back up?”
“Gracias, but no. I don’t think we’ll be here much longer,” Elena says and glances out the window; nothing yet. She feels Mack take her hand, which relaxes some of the tension she feels. Wherever they wind up, she hopes it doesn’t separate her from him particularly after making more progress with their relationship.
“You know what this reminds me of?” May asks.
“What?” Simmons asks.
“The Avengers.”
“How so?” Mack questions.
“After the Battle of New York, pictures of them peacefully getting lunch at a Shawarma restaurant got posted all over the internet.”
“Yeah, that was kind of weird to see, wasn’t it?” Daisy asks.
“Not really. Even people that live extraordinary lives need their ordinary moments. Helps keep them grounded. Reminds them of what they fight for every day.” May gives Coulson a smile when she says this, which he returns. Everyones’ spirits lift up at her statement and they happily resume eating their breakfast.
“You know, I think this is the first time we’ve been together in a really long time,” Coulson realizes.
He lives for the tender moments like this. No androids, spirits of vengeance, militarized racists, or any other evil forces to worry about. Especially the moments he got to spend with May. He’s kicking himself that it took him this long to admit to himself that he really did have feelings for her and she doesn’t even know about them.
Too bad she knows about me cracking open that bottle without her. I’m gonna be hearing about that one for a while, he thinks taking another sip of his coffee when he suddenly hears police sirens outside the diner.
“Here we go,” May says while wiping her mouth. “We’re really doing this, right? You don’t have some sort of trick up your sleeve that you’re keeping from us, so you can see the looks on our faces when you reveal it? Because I’m not in the mood for any surprises.”
“I wish, but no,” Coulson states as several armed men burst into the diner yelling the typical ‘hands up, don’t move’ orders. The team nonchalantly puts their hands up as the soldiers start ushering the civilians out of the diner.
“I’m going to assume full responsibility,” Fitz informs the team in a matter of fact fashion.
“Absolutely not, Fitz. We’re in this together,” Daisy says.
“Damn right,” Coulson agrees. He glances over his shoulder and sees a women dressed in military attire, air force perhaps, entering the diner.
“Phillip J. Coulson,” she says.
“That’s me,” he replies.
“Lieutenant Evans,” she introduces. “You and your colleagues are under arrest.”
“Yeah, we figured as much. We’re prepared to go quietly,” he says and the rest of the group nods in agreement.
“My superior will be pleased to hear that,” Evans says then gestures to her men to begin handcuffing the group. When they get to Daisy, one of Evans’ men holds up a briefcase. He opens it revealing some type of contraption Daisy’s never seen before. She gives Evans a questioning look.
“Don’t worry. It’s completely harmless. It’s just a means of keeping you from quaking your way out,” Evans explains. Daisy looks to her right and sees the soldiers placing some kind of special boots before Elena for her to step into, most likely to hinder her speed.
“We told you that you have our cooperation, but alright then,” Daisy says and places her hands inside the special cuffs, which seal themselves around her hands. “Ok, lead on.” Daisy stands and follows the soldiers out of the diner to where two trucks are waiting. She sees her friends being loaded into one truck; Simmons keeping close to the sullen Fitz. Daisy starts to follow them, but one of the soldiers places his hand on Daisy’s shoulder to stop her. He points to the truck behind the first one. Daisy nods and walks over to that truck where she finds a containment unit waiting for her inside.
Oh for crap’s sake. What part of ‘we’re prepared to go quietly’ did they not understand? Daisy exasperatedly thinks.
She climbs into the back of the truck and enters the containment unit. She sits down inside it and the soldiers strap her chest and legs to the seat. Once they finish, Evans enters the unit holding a glass of water and a pill.
“Seriously? Do I look like I’m in any sort of position to pull a fast one?” Daisy complains.
“Not used to being on the other side of a cell are you?” Evans asks.
“Now that you mention it, no, but this is still one more precaution than necessary.”
“Ms. Johnson, I hope you realize that you’re getting better treatment than you deserve. General Talbot might never wake up after what you did to him.”
“That wasn’t me. That was a Life Model Decoy. You’ll all soon see that this was a frame up job.”
“That’s for my superior to decide, now drink up.” Daisy sticks her tongue out and Evans places the pill on it. She holds the glass of water to Daisy lip’s and she drinks from it. She swallows and sticks her tongue back out to show the pill is gone.
“So, how long before it kicks…”
A Few Hours Later
Daisy’s eyes drowsily open. She’s lying on a bed in a room that looks like a cell; her hands no longer cuffed.
What happened? I don’t even remember falling asleep, she thinks sitting up and rubbing her throbbing forehead before scanning the room.
There’s not much else in it with her. Just a mirror and desk across from her bed with a change of clothes on them. Daisy gets off her bed and approaches the desk. She rolls her eyes at the sight of the clothes. They are the exact same clothes she wore all those years ago when she first met Coulson; maybe an extra size bigger.
Is this part of a good cop, bad cop routine? Daisy wonders.
She takes another look around and does not see any cameras in the room with her, but figures whomever’s holding her must be watching somehow. She almost considers defiantly tossing the clothes aside, but then realizes that if she wants to know what happened to her friends, it’ll be in his best interest to cooperate. So she quickly changes out of her Shield attire and into the civilian clothes. They fit her perfectly. She steps in front of the mirror provided for her and looks herself over.
I can’t remember the last time I wore something this colorful, she thinks.
Despite her situation, the color and familiarity of the clothes did bring a smile to her face. A buzzing noise sounds and the door to her room opens up automatically.
Daisy leaves the room entering a dark hallway. She looks around and sees a single lit area at the end of the hall.
“I swear if I have to fight through a gauntlet of soldiers to reach that room,” Daisy mutters cautiously approaching the end of the hall. Beads of sweat forming on her forehead the closer she got. But much to her shock, nothing ever came to impede her progress and she stepped inside the room. It looked like an ordinary cafeteria. There was even food laid out for her on one of the tables.
“Wow, I really am getting treated better than I expected,” she says when someone else walks past her towards the food. She’s a blonde haired girl, a couple of inches shorter than Daisy, with a white T-shirt and jeans on. She looks slightly petite, but with a physique that suggests she works out constantly. Daisy wonders if the girl is being held here too.
“Um…hello?” Daisy calls out.
The girl ignores her and starts placing some of the food on a plate. Daisy walks up beside the mystery girl. She’s wearing headphones and is listening to music. Daisy taps her shoulder to get her attention and clears her throat. The girl looks at Daisy out of the corner of her eyes. She looks just a little younger than Daisy with the appearance of your typical aloof young adult.
“Hi. Do you know where we are?” Daisy asks. The girl’s eyes look up and down as if she’s giving Daisy the once over. Her lips form into a smirk breaking her appearance of aloofness and she takes her headphones off.
“The Legendary Quake,” she says.
“I never called myself that. It was just something the News came up with,” Daisy corrects the girl.
“My apologies, Daisy. I must say, you’re much prettier in person,” she compliments.
“Um, thanks. Where are we?” She asks again while overlooking the girl herself. She has a friendly almost flirtatious look in her eyes, but Daisy can see just a hint of danger lurking behind the girl’s welcoming expression. Daisy clenches her fists in preparation for a fight, but the girl just laughs.
“Relax. You’re safe here. I’m Ruby,” she introduces then puts her headphones back on, takes her plate, and leaves the cafeteria and the confused Daisy behind.
To Be Continued...