Daisy lay awake in her bed. The Reyes boy was on her mind. She didn't understand. He said he wasn't Inhuman, but he was certainly gifted... Or cursed, in some way. Some gifts felt like curses. Her own felt like that after she went through terrigenesis. Even now that she was used to her powers, she could hurt herself. There was no greater pain than feeling her own bones shatter, even though she was rarely pushed to that point. She also had a hard time getting a grip. At first, whenever she'd get nervous or angry, the whole block could start shaking. Maybe that's why Robbie stayed alone all the time, trying to stay calm. His unnatural body heat suggested some sort of fire powers. If those got loose, that really would be bad. What really helped Daisy during her transition was her family. Being around people she loved helped and motivated her, she got support from them. Yo-Yo described the same after she transitioned. So why did Robbie have such a hard time? Did he have no loving family to help him? Then it dawned on Daisy. Do they even know? Daisy sighed. Based on how Robbie acted, he probably didn't tell anyone. Not his family, not his friends. Though the more Daisy thought about it, the more it seemed like Robbie didn't have friends to tell it to. He was always alone. No one tried to draw him into conversations or tried calling him to hang out after school. "He needs to know he isn't alone," Daisy determined. "He needs support." Driven by a sudden idea, Daisy got up and grabbed her laptop from her desk. She was always good with computers and knew how to find information. It took some digging, but eventually, Daisy found some information. Robbie did have family, just not too good. His parents had died. Daisy didn't really want to dig into that. Just knowing that it had happened was rattling enough. She couldn't imagine how Robbie must've felt. It was his uncle Elias Morrow that had custody over him and his little brother, Gabriel. His attitude suddenly seemed different to Daisy. That trauma could have caused Robbie to push away from people. That's why he didn't have anyone to talk to about his abilities. Whatever those were. Daisy started wondering. If the gifted index really was a list of people with powers, was Robbie on it? Suddenly Daisy's eyes widened. "Am I on it? And Yo-Yo?" Daisy felt like a dagger was stabbed in her heart. If she and Yo-Yo were on the list, their parents must have known about that. Why did this SHIELD even keep a list? Were they with the ATCU? A thousand questions bolted through Daisy's head and each one of them took away a little bit from the love and admiration she had for the man and woman she called her parents. She needed answers, and she was running out of patience.
Both May and Coulson noticed how awfully quiet Daisy was the next morning.
"Any idea what's up with her?" Coulson asked as they were driving to work.
"She's closer to you, you know," May answered simply to cover for the fact that she had no clue.
"Yeah, I don't know either," Coulson said, reading his wife.
"Could be something in school. Maybe Ward." May tried.
"I hope it's just that and nothing more serious," Coulson said while staring out the window.
"More serious? Like what? A boy?" May asked jokingly.
"Come on! You know I'm not that kind of father."
May just smiled, amused by his reaction.
"We're almost there," May stated. "And you should talk to Daisy when you get home. She might open up to you."
"Monday. The beginning of a new week. It's the perfect opportunity to start things you set out to do." Daisy was thinking on her way to her classroom. The previous night she set out to do two things. Get to know Robbie Reyes and find out more about her parents and SHIELD before she lost all her patience and barged in front of them with all of her questions. Currently, being in school, she could only do one of these. But how was she to get to know someone who wanted nothing to do with people in general? Daisy decided that the best way might be to address him directly. As she walked into the classroom, she stopped at the door and looked around. She found Robbie sitting in one of the back corners, alone, as always. She took a deep breath and walked up to him. As she stopped beside the desk, he looked up at her.
"Mind if I sit here?" Daisy asked. Robbie looked at her but didn't say a word.
"Cool," Daisy mumbled. Robbie sighed before removing his backpack from the chair next to him, so Daisy could sit down. Daisy smiled a little as she sat down. She didn't expect Robbie to actually let her sit next to him. She could see some weird looks from the others in the class as they saw Robbie Reyes not sitting alone. Even the teacher looked at the two of them stunned for a second before beginning the lesson. Robbie wasn't stupid. He knew Daisy had an intention. So during the class, he slid a note over to her.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing. Just needed a place to sit." Daisy answered quickly.
"You usually sit with Peterson."
"Are you stalking me? : )"
"All I can do in this cursed classroom is watch others."
"Cursed? That's rather harsh." Daisy looked at Robbie and could see it on him that he had no idea how to reply. The words seemed to cut deep and he seemingly regretted writing his comment in the first place. Daisy took out a new paper and wrote on it.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to push."
Robbie just sighed and looked at her. They exchanged a few words the other day, but this was the first time they made eye contact. Daisy saw something in Robbie's eyes. There was hurt, sure, but she was prepared for that. But now looking into his eyes, she saw longing. He was longing for a friend, for actual human connection. Robbie, looking into Daisy's eyes, saw caring. He didn't understand why. Outside his household, no one seemed to care. And he didn't want people to. But just now, seeing Daisy, looking into her eyes, seeing that she truly cared, it was like that was gone. He wanted to get to know her, to be her friend. Both Daisy and Robbie were pulled out of their thoughts by the teacher's voice as it cut through the otherwise quite quiet classroom.
"Hey, Lovebirds! How about you pay attention instead of flirting with your eyes?"
Daisy and Robbie tore their eyes away from each other and looked down at their notebooks. As the teacher turned back to the board to continue her lesson, Daisy sent another message to Robbie.
"What's the deal between you and Mike? If you don't mind me asking."
Robbie took a bit to answer. He clearly didn't want to talk about it. Which was why it surprised Daisy that his reply included an actual answer. Even if just a vague one.
"We got into a fight and he got hurt. The burn marks on his face..."
Robbie watched carefully as Daisy read what he wrote. She seemed shocked for sure, but she didn't seem scared like Robbie expected.
"Why do you care? About me? Why do you want to know about me?"
Now Daisy was the one taking her time to answer. She wasn't sure how to put her concern for him into words. Especially since she didn't know him.
"I'm an Inhuman," she wrote finally. "I had a hard time with my powers. And I know you said you're not Inhuman, but I know you have powers. And I can tell that you're lonely. I just wanted to help... With whichever I can."
Robbie, once again, had a hard time figuring out what to reply, but what he wrote surprised Daisy a bit.
"I've heard a lot of bad stuff about Inhumans. Never really knew what to believe... But you don't seem so bad."
Daisy smiled.
"'Not bad' enough to give me a chance before shutting me out?"
Robbie looked at Daisy. He let out a long breath before slightly nodding his head. Daisy smiled victoriously. Robbie turned back to the paper for a second, before sliding another message to her.
"Peterson's not gonna like you around me."
"He's not the boss of me."
Robbie was hesitant to admit it, but he liked Daisy. Just the fact that she wanted to get to him was appealing. And if she was Inhuman, he might not be that dangerous to her.
"So how was school?" Coulson asked Daisy. They were alone in the kitchen as Daisy agreed to help Coulson cook a few days before. At first, she regretted it, but now as she was there, she was glad she kept her promise.
"It wasn't bad. Same as always. I made a new... acquaintance." Daisy answered Coulson's question.
"That was uncertain," Coulson remarked.
"Well, he's not exactly a friend. But we're getting on pretty good terms, I would say."
"Glad to hear that."
Coulson wanted to ask about Daisy's behavior that morning but wasn't really sure how to bring it up.
"Dad..." Daisy addressed him as she saw him stop while stirring the food.
"Hm?" Coulson looked up.
"What is it?" Daisy asked him. She trailed off in thought and believed it would be a good opportunity to try and bring up her thing.
"Is it work?" she asked carefully. "You and Mom never really talk about it."
"No, it's not work," Coulson said while moving from the gas stove. "It's... You seemed a little troubled this morning." He turned to her. "Just wanted to know if everything was okay."
"Everything's fine." Daisy knew her father wasn't an idiot, but she couldn't talk about what was troubling her with him and May. And after all those suspicions about the index, she didn't feel comfortable telling him about Robbie's powers. Seeing as neither of them would tell the other what was truly troubling them, they returned to cooking. The rest of the time went by in a more uncomfortable atmosphere.
Daisy snuck out of her room. Taking the immediate left turn towards her parents' room.
"What are you doing?" she heard someone whisper. She only recognized it was Yo-Yo by her accent. Daisy turned to face her.
"You're sneaking around," Yo-Yo stated. "And since you stopped sneaking sweets into your room a while ago, I have to assume that your destination is Mom and Dad's room."
Daisy couldn't lie. Yo-Yo already had her figured out, there was no point.
"They're lying to us, keeping things from us," she said as an explanation.
"I know, and we agreed to find out what it is together. You going rogue is just going to expose this operation."
"Yo-Yo, we're not going anywhere with overheard conversations. It's not giving us any real information. All we have is city names and more questions than we originally had."
"You are not sneaking into that room on your own," Yo-Yo stated. Daisy raised her eyebrows at what that statement was implying. Yo-Yo just walked past her and Daisy followed her to May and Coulson's room. They opened the door and peeked in to make sure their parents were asleep. Daisy placed her finger to her lips, signaling Yo-Yo to stay quiet. Yo-Yo nodded then pushed the door more open. The two of them went in. Yo-Yo signaled Daisy to check Coulson's desk while she herself moved to May's. Looking through Coulson's desk, Daisy found a file. It had the same folder, the same SHIELD symbol as the one she found a few weeks before. This one had a lower clearance level requirement. As Daisy opened it, she gasped. Right on the first page, she saw two pictures. One of them she recognized as Raina, her old classmate. Right next to the girl's picture was another one. Daisy assumed it was still Raina, but this time covered in thorns, her face was rather deformed, and her eyes were orange. Daisy's eyes swept through the information the page was filled with. She spotted the word 'terrigenesis'. Raina was Inhuman. She also noticed a section. She only read into it, because right before it she spotted the words 'mentally deteriorate'. The file said Raina had gone crazy after terrigenesis. She lost all of her self-confidence and had multiple attempts of suicide. Daisy was shocked. She didn't necessarily like Raina, but she knew her quite well and the Raina she knew was not like they described in that file. Daisy caught a glimpse of the last sentence. It described that Raina was kept locked up at the New York facility for the safety of others.
Daisy left the room in defeat, but not Yo-Yo.
"What are you smiling about?" Daisy asked as they were walking back to their rooms. Yo-Yo just lifted a piece of paper holding it in between her pointing and middle finger. Daisy took it as they stopped before her door.
"New York base address," she read. Daisy's eyes went wide.
On Saturday, May and Coulson both got called into work at the last minute for an emergency. The kids were used to it by then. It happened sometimes. It was pretty much the one constant about their job that the kids knew. They sat in the kitchen, having a meeting.
"Where did you get this?" Mack asked, staring at the paper.
"Mom and Dad's room," Yo-Yo answered, clearly proud of her finding that piece of information.
"It might just be the biggest information we've ever had," Deke said with wide eyes.
"So what? We just go there?" Fitz asked.
"It might be the only way to get any real answers," Daisy said.
"We can't just go to this place. We don't even know what's waiting for us there." Simmons argued.
"Not to mention, it's wrong," Mack added quite angrily.
"No, Mack. What's wrong is keeping your whole life from the children you are raising. They're hiding their work. All of it. The gifted index. Yo-Yo and I could be on it, monitored. Raina is on it. She's also locked up. And who knows how many more secrets they're hiding, lies they're telling? We all started this investigation because we agreed that we wanted answers. Now we have an actual lead, and you're saying we shouldn't pursue it? Make up your mind, Mack!"
"Daisy is right. Minus the yelling." Yo-Yo agreed.
"I hate to admit it, but getting answers really is why we started this back in D.C." Simmons chimed in.
"I'm with Daisy," Deke said simply.
Mack looked at Fitz for help.
"Well, I mean if the others agree... We're outnumbered anyway. Plus I do too want answers." Fitz said, somewhat afraid of Mack's reaction. Mack sighed in defeat. About fifteen minutes later, they were on their way to the address on the paper. The plan was that they would split into pairs. If a group of six teenagers was seen like that, it might raise suspicion, especially for their parents. Daisy went with Mack, Fitzsimmons together, and Yo-Yo with Deke.
"Any idea what we're going to find here?" Mack asked Daisy.
"No clue," Daisy answered. "Hopefully some insight into what this SHIELD is."
"Other than that?"
"Well, if we find nothing, at least we'll have this address."
"Not exactly looking on the bright side, Trummers."
They stopped on the sidewalk, across from the huge building. From the outside, it was just an office building, but the kids knew there was more to it. There had to be more to it. They knew their parents worked with gifted individuals. The kids made a group chat on Messenger after they started the investigation.
"Guys, I have an idea. I could use my speed to look around." Yo-Yo wrote into the chat.
"That sounds like a bad idea," Jemma replied. "You could get caught. They could catch you on camera. There are a great number of variables that we can't even think of."
Yo-Yo didn't even wait for a reply. She kind of just wanted to let the others know what she was going to do. She waited until three men walked up to the front door. One of them opened the door and held it for the others. Yo-Yo acted. Everything slowed down around her. Everything and everyone froze in place, including the open door. Yo-Yo ran to the door, she carefully pushed past the other men and went inside the building. Inside a huge hall greeted her. She saw a huge eagle symbol set up in the middle. As well as printed on the wall. "Little overdo," she thought. On the wall, around the symbol, she could also read what the acronym SHIELD stood for.
"There is no way I'll memorize that all." Yo-Yo kept looking around. She saw a wall inside the hall, made of some smooth, white stone. On top of it was the symbol again as well as a thousand times more. Under each symbol, there was a name. Agents. "A memorial," Yo-Yo realized. "What kind of place is this?" Yo-Yo kept moving. She didn't have much time before she had to snap back. She ran up a flight of stairs. People were moving up and down. Some carried a briefcase, many had guns. Once Yo-Yo got up, she looked around. To her left she saw what seemed like a meeting room with huge, half-glass walls. In there, she spotted May and Coulson. She hurried there and entered the room. On the huge table in the middle, she saw an opened folder. She looked at the folder itself. It read 'case file'. Yo-Yo read into it and was quite surprised, terrified. She felt her power pulling her back. Her heartbeat of time, ending. She put the folder back the way she found it and left the room, closing the door behind her. She snapped back and was once again right next to Deke, where she started from.
"What did you see?" Deke asked as soon as he realized Yo-Yo made her trip. She just looked at him, still terrified.