The flight back from the good senator’s place was subdued, to say the least – for the obvious reason.
“Daisy,” Jemma spoke in a very small voice, (unlike her usual babbling one, anyhow). “About Vijay-“
“Jemma. You did the best you could,” Daisy firmly told the other woman. “He just- wasn’t interested. He may regret it, if he lives long enough, but if he doesn’t, he won’t.”
There was a pause as Jemma stared at her InHuman friend in a strange way. “This is a new outlook for you, Daisy,” she said quietly, in an even sadder tone of voice. “I remember-“
“Jemma, don’t,” Daisy did not back down. “I told you during the mess with Robbie and Gabe and their uncle – I am a new person now, and I’m not going to change anytime soon. Before I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., I was tired of being left behind by the others. These days, I still am – but I am also tired of leaving others behind instead, of people that I’ve known who had fallen to the wayside of history-“
“It’s life,” Jeffrey Mace spoke suddenly, startling the two women. “Daisy, some things just cannot be avoided-“
“I know; I’ve learned that the InHumans in general are predeterministic and fatalistic,” Daisy shot her new boss a look. “I guess, director, it’s just me – certainly NOT you, or Simmons. I guess that I am just still not fully either: other agents – not you, people – still see me as an InHuman, while the InHumans see me as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. instead. Since the mess with the Iliad, and Hive, and everything else, the InHumans still don’t like S.H.I.E.L.D. and vice versa, and I’m almost caught in the middle.” She shot the new director an enigmatic look. “And, BTW? I do appreciate you giving me my job back – I just don’t know how to show my thanks to you yet.”
There was a pause as Jemma for once did not know how to fill in; Jeffrey Mace, however, did. (Maybe).
“Agent Johnson,” he spoke, in his ‘director’ voice. “How much do you know about the other InHumans?”
“I think that I will answer this question with the statement that I do know that these days the InHumans would rather deal with the U.S. government directly – and it works. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have to be involved in it,” Daisy’s voice rang clear and true, almost like her old self. Almost. “Which, given the fact how Phil, and May, and the rest of the old guard had reacted to the InHumans even before the entire mess with Hive, and the Iliad, and what else have you, is probably for the best. Where do you stand on the InHuman issue, director, BTW?”
"The official position,” Jeffrey Mace replied flatly. “Maybe a trifle predictable, coming from me, but-“
“I have no problems with it,” Daisy responded in an equally flat and firm voice. “Phil’s S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to incorporate the InHumans into its structure; it failed.”
“Even Lincoln?” Jemma asked quietly.
“…I’ll answer this question when he comes back from the dead,” the smile on Daisy’s face was terrifying to behold, even to an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., even to one of her friends. “Until then, feel free to guess.” Daisy’s smile grew even wider.
Jemma paled and whimpered.
“And as for the senator’s brother?” Daisy switched her attention back to the big InHuman, all signs of her terrifying smile now gone. “Director, we probably were the better choice, but most InHumans that I’ve met just aren’t interested in joining S.H.I.E.L.D., and in the six months of my absence I’ve met some bizarre ones, you should know!”
“I believe you,” Jeffrey Mace replied quietly, “and again, I too am happy that you’ve returned to the fold, as has your friend Elena. S.H.I.E.L.D. has suffered too many personnel setbacks already. Pity about your friend Robbie-“
“Let’s not talk about him,” Daisy said firmly. “He is just another person who has been left behind by us. He may or may not be back. He is not a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. I’m letting it go.”
“…I think that we need to help you,” Jemma muttered quietly. Unfortunately, the other woman heard her.
“Do you, now?” she asked Jemma with a smile – a smaller one than the one she had used previously, but still.
Jemma made some sort of an ‘eeee’ sound and did her best to curl into a knot. Since she was a seasoned field of agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. …yes, Daisy’s smile was still that sort of smile, unfortunately.
“We don’t do that to each other,” Jeremy Mace was not the sharpest man to hold the rank of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s director, nor the most thin-skinned, but still, Daisy and Jemma got even to him.
“I won’t – I’ll do my best not to,” Daisy replied quietly. “It’s just that my old teammates…they expect my old self. I cannot be that person anymore.”
Jemma uncurled herself and opened her mouth. Daisy turned back to her and looked straight in the eye of her friend. Jemma immediately blanched once more.
It was then that director Mace received notifications from Coulson, May, (cough), Mack and others about Aida almost going amok upon their HQ. S.H.I.E.L.D. was nowhere near being out of the woods, it seemed.
The end?