Chapter Text
If Daisy had a dollar for every time someone captured her and tried to use her genetics to her advantage, she’d have two bucks. Two dollars wasn’t a lot, but it was annoying that it’d happened twice.
She hated I.V.s with a passion, and now she glared at the one coming out of her arm with evident distaste, before shifting her gaze over to Robbie, both of them cuffed to a chair and fitted with something meant to restrict their powers. Unfortunately, Robbie was outfitted in the same chains he’d been in when Daisy had first found him.
She still felt the inhibitor muffling her powers. It was cold and heavy behind her ear, and the vibrations she was so used to feeling like a song thrumming through her bones, the rumblings of the world around her, were gone.
They shared a tired glance as Kasius rambled on and on about how “I rescued humanity. Did you know that? What you may not know is how much I've sacrificed to do it,” and “Before I arrived, this place was nothing but wreckage, the rotted shell of a dead organism. But I saw it for what it could be. I had a vision.”
Vision, in her experience, usually meant grand master plan with genocidal expectations.
“And now, thanks to you, that vision has finally come to fruition,” Kasius added finally, concluding his monologue.
“You’ve taken my blood,” Daisy said, watching him preen over a tree, “What more do you need from me?”
“Despite all I did for these humans-” More rambling, only now Kasius had the decency to face them and make eye contact. So much for a conclusion. “-I found them clinging to their gods, their fairy tales, one of which was Quake, and one of their demons even, Ghost Rider.” His gaze slid over to Robbie before turning back to the tree. “The Old Ones, rest their souls, they used to tell the story of how S.H.I.E.L.D. would return one day from the past to save them...Now here you are.”
“Not by choice,” she muttered. She knew Deke was leaning against the wall, waiting to negotiate his price with Kasius. She was going to kill him if Robbie and the Ghost Rider didn’t get there first.
Something ticked in Kasius’ expression, as if he’d tasted something sour. “Yet here you are, banded together with a past lover, a long-time prisoner of mine, showing up at the exact same time as another human, with no marks on her wrist and a skill set beyond her station.” He looked at Daisy, waiting for a reaction, but she gave him nothing more than a glare as she considered his words, refusing to take her eyes off him even as she felt Robbie’s gaze on her.
“Ghost Rider and Jemma,” Kasius clarified, as though Daisy was a small child.
“I know you’re trying to say something, I’m just not sure what,” Daisy said. “Maybe we could cut the riddles bullshit and get to the point?”
“Perhaps you are more than a fairy tale,” Kasius mused, ignoring her barb. “How many of you are here?”
“No one else,” she answered tonelessly.
“I want to believe you, Daisy. May I call you ‘Daisy’? It's a lot less formal than ‘Destroyer of Worlds.’” Daisy bit back the urge to say ‘no.’ Kasius moved closer, both of them trying to stare the other down. “You see, I have my own interpretation of the fairy tale,” he said lightly, walking around Daisy’s chair before leaning down uncomfortably close, his breath fanning across her cheek. “I think you're here to help me,” he said softly.
Daisy scoffed. “That seems unlikely.”
“Does it?” Kasius finally moved out of her personal space and paced, his back to them. “Word of your presence has piqued much interest. In fact, bidders are on their way, and with the price I'll fetch for you and your performance, I'll finally have the means to leave this horrendous place once and for all.” He paused, before turning back with a smile that seemed horribly out of place.
“This one, unfortunately…” He gestured at Robbie. “I thought perhaps we could contain it, but you have proven that theory to be incorrect.”
“He,” Robbie said through gritted teeth. “I’m not an it. And what makes you think you can force her to do anything?”
“You know my methods,” Kasius answered.
“No, he’s right,” Daisy chimed in. “What makes you think I’d go along with that?”
Kasius feigned pity. “Because of course, your friend’s face is so beautiful.”
Daisy wavered, looking over at Jemma standing by the wall, staring straight into space.
“Don’t you want to make sure it stays that way?” Kasius asked. “Not to mention of course…” He took a few steps towards Robbie.
“I’ve had my experiments with this one,” Kasius said. “The best torture victim is one who can feel pain, but cannot die.” His words were implicit enough without the way Robbie’s eyes narrowed, his grip on the arms of his chair tightening, leather gloves drawn taut amidst the chains. “If you want to make sure your old lover and your darling Jemma remain untouched, I suggest you heed my demands. Some food for thought...Daisy.”
He left them there, bringing Jemma with him, and Daisy craned her neck to see him walking over to Deke. They spoke too quietly to be heard, but the conversation ended with Deke nodding and Kasius walking away. Deke began making his way towards the,, and Daisy turned her line of sight to Robbie, less than six feet away and just as stuck as her.
“Well, it appears my transaction is being momentarily delayed,” Deke said in an exaggerated tone, coming to stand in front of them. “Kasius is clearing up the matters of the Harvesting, and then he’ll give me my payment.”
“Don’t get too comfortable gloating,” Daisy said. “This won’t last.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised, sweetheart.”
“Call me sweetheart again and the next time I see you, I’m shattering your kneecaps.”
“I told you, Quake, I’m playing the long game,” Deke said.
“No wonder you get along so well with the blues,” Daisy said, her tone dripping icicles, “You’re practically the same.” That melted the grin right off Deke’s face.
“I am nothing like them,” Deke said roughly.
“You’re self-obsessed and only care about how much money you can make off of other people’s misery,” snarled Daisy, “Face it, Deke, you’re just like them.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Deke hissed, “My parents died when I was nine, you don’t know what I’ve been-”
“Join the fucking club,” Robbie snapped. “You want a t-shirt?”
“Kasius as good as killed my parents, you don’t understand-”
“I understand enough,” Robbie interrupted. “What kind of pathetic cobarde uses his dead parents as an excuse to sell people into slavery?”
“You might be walking away rich, Deke,” Daisy said, “But I’m going to make sure you pay for this.”
Deke scoffed, looking her up and down. “We’ll see about that, sweetheart. Have fun during the auction.”
And then he was gone, leaving Robbie and Daisy alone with their thoughts and chains.
Daisy knew they probably only had precious few minutes before they were separated, so she tried to put together a plan as quickly as she could.
“They’ll have to let me use my powers at some point, or I could get ahold of those remotes for the inhibitors. Maybe I can bring down Kasius’ part of the station, go and rescue Simmons and get you-”
“Daisy.” Barely spoken over a rasped whisper, that one word, her name, sounded like longing in Robbie’s mouth, a quiet plea. That was all it took to silence her.
“Don’t...don’t worry about me,” he said, and his eyes were so soft and so sad, “I’m-I’m not-just don’t come looking for me, don’t do anything that-”
“What do you want me to do, leave you here?”
He was quiet, and that was all she needed for an answer she refused to accept.
“That’s not happening, Robbie,” she said. “I won’t leave you here, not like this, it’s not-”
“I’ve lived my life, Daisy,” he said. “There’s nothing left for me here, and there’s nowhere else I have to go.”
“If we can find a way back, maybe we can-”
“No,” Robbie said simply. “That’s not how it works.”
They fell into a momentary silence. Something that Kasius had said stuck out to Daisy.
Past lover. Did he mean...Robbie?
“What Kasius said… about us. Is that-is that true? At all?” she asked after a small while.
And Robbie smiled. It was small, and gentle, almost as if he was reminiscing, and looked so out of place in the mess of a situation they were in, because for a moment, he looked at least a little bit happy.
And then it was gone, tainted by something she didn’t understand, and it turned sad.
“Yeah,” he replied finally. “It was.”
She would have asked for more details had the guards not come in to take them somewhere else. Chains rattling, they took Robbie first, and she gritted her teeth in frustration as she heard them leave, swearing to herself that she was definitely going to kill Deke and Kasius both as more guards came to take her elsewhere.