Then Hope Flew Away
Episode 12: Then Hope Flew Away
Muffled screams were the first thing Bobbi heard when she came too, dazed and confused. A persistent ringing continued in her ear making the screams hard to differentiate. Smoke had filled the building and she squinted her eyes trying to make out what had happened among the chaos.
A voice sounded far away into the distance coming closer until it was right in front of her and she found herself being hauled up with a voice, hunter, shouting at her.
Eventually, the ringing stopped, and the noises returned in a wave of the onslaught. Elena, she could hear Elena screaming in a way she had never heard her scream. Scrambling to her feet she took two steps and her legs gave out, “Elena” she gasped speaking for the first time. Her throat incredibly dry and cracked. Slowly the smoke began to clear, and she saw the blood.
Thrashing and screaming on the floor was Elena. Mack leaned over and was trying to hold her down as she was being lifted onto a gurney. Her eyes glued to her friend as Elena was being carted away. Another thought crossed her mind at that moment, “Daisy” she said the name in almost a whisper, but Hunter heard her loud and clear.
“I’m sorry Bob, but she was down below at the time of the explosion there is no way Daisy could have survived,” he said gently as if he was talking to a child.
“No,” she said softly at first shaking her head in disbelief, “She’s not dead—I… I have to go down there she needs my help. She could be buried under that rubble. She could still be alive” Choking the words out she got to her feet and shoved past hunter stumbling to find her friend.
“Bobbi, Bobbi stop!” Hunter said grabbing her arm, “She’s gone Bobbi” he whispered gently.
“Noo!” she howled whirling in his grasp and smacking him hard in the face, “She’s still down there! You haven’t even finished sorting through the rubble. She could still be alive! She is still alive.”
His face dropped into a grimace, “No, she’s not and you know that. You have to let her go” Screaming she lunged at him and smack his face again only this time he grabbed her arms as she thrashed against his body the tears running down her cheeks.
“She’s not dead! She’s not dead! She’s not. We have to save her. We have to help her. Please, Hunter, please” she said her voice slowly quieting as she clutched his shirt and cried. She cried for Elena and she cried for Daisy. All the while she kept whispering the same thing, She’s not dead. Right up until her knees gave out and she fell to the ground clinging to Hunter Sobbing into his clothes.
For a moment Jemma couldn’t remember what had happened. One second, she had stormed off after seeing Daisy kiss Robbie not even realizing where her feet were carrying her and the next all she knew was darkness.
Opening her eyes slowly she reached her hand out and felt around the ground her hand running over the glass. Oh, that’s right. She had been heading towards Fitz when the window had exploded from a large earthquake. She must have hit her head during the fall. Pushing her body up she put her hand towards her aching head and stepped over the glass before making her way down below in the darkness to check on Fitz.
The lights flickered overhead and sitting in the center of his cell was Fitz. His head snapping up upon her arrival, “What the hell was that?” his inquired raising a brow at her.
“I—there was an explosion, I don’t know—I just… I was coming down here when it happened.” Stuttering, her hands shook with stress and she collapsed into the chair with a heavy sigh.
Closing her eyes, she felt a headache forming and she rubbed her eyes tiredly. She didn’t look at Fitz not really knowing what to say to the man or way she was even there to begin with. All she knew was that her feet had carried her there. Her mind was not able to wash out the image of Daisy kissing the ghost rider.
Getting to her feet she stretched her arms her mind running with adrenaline right before she felt a slight twinge. Wincing she glanced down at her chest and lifted her shirt, “Jemma” Fitz said getting to his feet slowly his eyes trained on her stomach. “Jemma, you need to get help now. Jemma are you listening to me?” Looking back up at the man she took a hesitant step forwards before her knees gave out. “Jemma!” letting out a yell he got to his feet and banged on the screen.
Sticking out of her stomach was a large shard of glass that she must have gotten when the window exploded. Her legs felt numb, her arms felt numb and she couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence.
“Get up! Jemma get up!” Removing her hand away from her stomach Daisy’s hand came away wet with Blood.
“I can’t, I can’t get up” she murmured softly not sure if she was telling him that or herself.
“Hey!” Fitz yelled glancing at the ceiling his palms banging on the screen, “Somebody help us!” He screamed, “Jemma open the door! Let me help you” She didn’t speak. Too tired to even lift her head and finally the blood loss began getting to her and she found herself drifting off to Fitz’s screams, unable to help him.
Feeling a brush against her shoulder May glanced up to Coulson who pressed a water glass against her shaking hands, “Here, you need to say hydrated” Laughing she shook her head and took the glass weakly.
“Judgement day happened, and we failed. Pretty pathetic time travelers” She croaked her eyes forcing tears back.
“Judgement day didn’t happen Melinda. This may not be the outcome that you wanted, but this is not judgment day. We are all still alive because of you, we’re all still breathing because of Daisy”
“Don’t!” she yelled, “Don’t say her name when it should have been me. She was the best of us. She deserved to live more than anyone and she died for nothing”
“She didn’t die for nothing. She did what she was meant to do and that saved the Avengers. She gave her life for us—”
“And she died and the man responsible still got away and we have no idea who it is or what they’re planning next,” she said lowering her voice for the last part.
“But we’ll figure it out, together” Taking her hand gently he laced they’re fingers together and squeezed her hand in soft comfort.
“It's okay to feel sad Melinda, it’s okay to cry.” Her eyes burned against her will and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut as the first tears fell from her lashes, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone”
And true to his word he turned his head away and let May Cry. It had been such a long time since she had cried, and she couldn’t remember when she had last let herself feel this way. In the past she had always remained strong for Daisy, she was Daisy’s strength, but Daisy was gone now, and she had left behind a hole. One that would never be filled.
Footsteps came up to them and May glanced up at Maria Hill, a woman that she had never really spoken to except that she knew the woman was Fury's right-hand man, “We found a body. It’s pretty badly burnt but we identified it as Daisy. I’m sorry but she’s gone” May clung tighter to Coulson’s hand and bowed her head and for the first time in a long time she broke.
When Bobbi had finally calmed down, she noticed May in the corner crying quietly against Coulson and it was that moment that she saw Maria hill come up to May and watch as May broke down that Bobbi knew, Daisy was gone.
She was numb that was the only feeling she felt now. An emptiness sat deep in her chest and she couldn’t shake the utter despair deep within her. She sat for a minute staring blankly at the floor when a name popped into her head, Jemma. The name was fleeting but it took a moment for her to realize her friend wasn’t here. In fact, she hadn’t seen her when the explosion went off.
“May,” she said her voice coming out a croak, “May” she yelled raising her voice. The older woman glanced up confused. “Where’s Jemma? I didn’t see her when the blast went off. Where is she? Oh god don’t tell me she…. She wasn’t caught in the blast, was she?” Bobbi could feel the tears welling up and she squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t lose Jemma, not another person.
Footsteps came towards her and she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Maria Hill, “Shes fine agent Morse. A couple of shield agents found her collapsed outside of the prison Fitz’s cell. Apparently, he was screaming pretty loud and it drew their attention. She had several shards of glass pierce her abdomen shes in surgery now, but she's going to be fine and now you need to calm down and get some rest both of you while you wait for Elena and Jemma to get out of surgery. It may not seem like it, but this is a victory and we will find the ones who did this and make them pay”
Elena woke slowly and then all together in a groggy haze. Her mind slowly coming together in pieces. Everything blurring in and out of focus. When her vision came into focus, she turned her head weakly and saw Mack reading by her bedside deep in concentration, his brows furrowed. Smiling she reached out to touch him in a gesture to show she was awake, and then her blood ran cold. She couldn’t move her arms. Jerking forwards she let out a gasp and felt the beginning of tears gathering in her eyes.
Mack sensed her movement and reached forward quickly placing his hand on her shoulder, “Easy Yoyo, Hey, hey. It’s okay everything is going to be okay you just need to calm down. Shh, it's alright.” Looking down slowly she froze as she lifted her arms and saw stumps where her hands, where her arms used to be” She couldn’t hold in the sobs and the next thing she knew she was in Mack’s arms as he rocked her gently back and forth.
Another thought occurred a few moments later and she couldn’t believe she had ever forgotten it, to begin with, “Where’s Daisy?” The words left her lips and she felt Mack tense in her arms. Pulling away she looked at him again and repeated, “Where’s Daisy?” the words felt like ash in her mouth and she waited with bated breath for him to speak.
“Yoyo, I… I’m sorry. She took the direct hit from the blast. She… she didn’t make it out” No, the thought left her and then slowly she felt her lungs constrict. She couldn’t breathe. She was suffocating and her tears were coming, and she wanted to scream.
So she did, screaming she thrashed on the bed the tears breaking free and streaming down her cheeks. She couldn’t breathe and she was choking. This was wrong this was all wrong and she couldn’t calm down. Her heart beating off the charts and she felt like she was dying, but she didn’t care because of Daisy…. Oh god, Daisy was gone.
She didn’t notice when Bruce Banner came in, nor did she notice when she felt a slam pinprick and then an overwhelming sense of calm, almost euphoric like.
“Don’t worry Yoyo. We’ll get who did this, I promise” Mack whispered brushing her hair away.
Still, in a daze, Elena’s eyes fluttered and she let out a soft murmur, “I know who did this” she whispered before sinking into the black oblivion.
Elsewhere
In the ruins of the explosion where the bottom half of the avenger's facility had been destroyed. In a room blackened by soot and fire, a lone cube-like object lay on Daisy’s bed untouched. A small flicker came from the object and then as if by magic the cube sprung to life glowing hotter and brighter. The Tesseract began shining getting brighter and brighter until it illuminated the room, seconds away from blowing up.