Chapter Text
“Jemma.”
Automatically, Jemma glanced up from the bowl of fruit that she’d been straightening at the sound of Kasius’s voice in her ear, turning to show that she’d heard and was awaiting instruction.
“I have a job for you,” he informed her, that smug smirk that was such a staple of her (unfortunate) master’s expression curving his blue lips.
Jemma nodded in understanding, bending low in a bow to him before following him down a series of halls on his floor of the Lighthouse, the once underground bunker that now contained the last remnants of the human race, after the earth had been destroyed.
It had all happened long before Jemma had been born, of course, and life on the Lighthouse was all that she’d ever known – though she had heard plenty of whispers about what the world had been like back before it’d been destroyed. Truthfully, though, she wasn’t sure that she believed all of it – it just seemed too perfect to have ever been real, in her opinion.
Things on the Lighthouse hadn’t always been horrible, however, despite the bleak life its habitants led; Jemma’s parents had always made sure to try and shield her from some of the more horrible realities of their lives. Her mother had even taught Jemma everything that she knew about healing people, about what she knew from her mother of science and math. Along with Jemma’s natural curiosity and ability to soak up new things effortlessly, it had made her an impressive force among the other children her age.
Unfortunately, it had also gotten her noticed by Kasius, not long after Jemma had come of age and gone through the mist unsuccessfully. Without thinking, she’d saved the life of one of his servants, and she’d seen the tears in her mother’s eyes, and the fear that her father had been trying to hide in his when she’d been subsequently collected and brought up to his floor, and almost immediately into his employ.
“Ah, here,” Kasius said suddenly, pausing in front of a closed door to one of the guest quarters, holding out his hand in invitation for Jemma to go on inside.
Before she even opened the door, though, Jemma knew what she was walking into. It was about that time again, and the latest children to come of age had to have gone through the mist just recently. She was quite sure that there was another new Inhuman waiting for her inside, waiting for her to talk them through their new powers so that Kasius could eventually sell them to the highest bidder.
She thought that this business of his was absolutely filthy, selling people as though they were objects, but she had had to swallow down her disgust and keep her thoughts to herself for so long now, she had become all-but numb to it by then.
Though, that didn’t stop her from considering every single time that Kasius had her talk a fresh Inhuman through developing their powers, using her wealth of compassion against her, simply not helping them so that he would be left without a product to offer to his wealthy associates.
But, every time, without fail, she would walk into that room and all she would see was a scared kid that didn’t understand what was happening to them, and she forgot all about screwing Kasius over.
So, Jemma resigned herself to it once more, pushing the door open and stepping into the room, where she quickly spotted a young girl sitting on the edge of the bed. Her back was to her, and she appeared to be hunched over, staring down at her hands in her lap.
The familiar feeling of her hearing being returned to her rushed through Jemma, moments before she heard the sound of the door closing behind her. She cleared her throat, once more adjusting to speaking again after going weeks at a time without being able to, and greeted, “Hello.”
The girl twisted around on the bed, finally turning to face her, and her lips turned down in a frown. “Who are you?” she questioned, an almost accusatory tone to her voice.
Jemma arched her eyebrows, a little taken aback by the hostility where she was so used to panic and confusion. “I’m Jemma; I’m here to help you adjust to your new powers.”
She snorted in something almost like disbelief, folding her arms over her chest. “Oh yeah? Why, so I can work for the Kree? Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
Taking a brief moment to reevaluate the situation and figure out a new way to approach this girl, Jemma took a couple of steps closer, telling the girl, “And you think that I want to be working for them?”
The girl furrowed her brow, studying her intently for a moment. Then, she said slowly, “Maybe not.”
“What can you do?” Jemma prompted gently, taking another half-step closer so that she could perch on the opposite edge of the bed.
Clearly considering for a moment, the girl didn’t answer at first. But, then she pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut, and after a moment, a vase on a table nearby shattered, startling Jemma. The girl cracked one eye open, and muttered under her breath, “Damn, I was aiming for the lamp.”
Wordlessly, Jemma rose from the bed, going over to inspect the vase that was now in pieces. She carefully picked up one shard, eyeing it for a moment, before turning back to the girl. “You certainly have an impressive power, one that with training, could be…quite remarkable.”
“Thanks.” The girl pursed her lips, then added in a rush, “And my name’s Daisy, by the way.”
-
“I’m still not sure this is worth it,” Fitz told Enoch, keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard by anyone else meandering through the dining hall that they had just been led into.
“Something must have caught your attention,” Enoch replied matter-of-factly, his tone matching Fitz’s, “you have declined every other invitation Kasius has sent you.”
Fitz didn’t bother to answer that at first, simply folding his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall behind him. It was true – he’d never bothered to attend any of the Inhuman biddings at what was left of the planet Earth. He knew of the Kasius family by reputation, of course, and knew that Inhumans were quite popular among armies these days, but still, he’d never felt the need for one before.
But, when he’d heard word of this most recent one from a few of his contacts, he’d gotten the idea that his crew could perhaps use some powered help on their side. After all, more and more people were coming into possession of their own, so he’d decided that it was at last time to see what the fuss was all about.
Finally, he replied sharply, “Nothing caught my attention, alright? Just thought it was time to see what these Inhumans are all about.”
Then, Enoch (predictably) went into a detailed description of what Inhumans were, and how they were created. Not interested in a history lesson, though, Fitz tuned him out, instead sweeping his gaze across the dining hall, getting a feel of who else was there to bid and what he might have to do to get the upper hand over them if it came to that.
There was no one too terribly intimidating, and Fitz was quite sure that he could outmaneuver any of them if he had to, which was comforting, and actually rather disappointing. He’d often heard, after all, that the most powerful in the galaxy were in attendance at these biddings, and were the ones coming into possession of Inhuman fighters.
Just as he was about to tune back in and tell Enoch that he got it, he happened to notice another one of Kasius’s blue-clad and gold-painted servants just stepping into the hall with a tray of drinks in hand. At the arrival of someone new, as he always did, he looked over to size them up.
From his first glance of her face, Fitz felt his breath catching in his throat, as though he’d received a particularly sharp punch to gut.
Automatically, he reached out to steady himself on the closest solid object, which happened to be Enoch. “Who – who…” he managed to get out, his voice barely above a hoarse whisper.
Enoch followed his line of vision, and answered, “Ah, that is Jemma Simmons. She is one of Kasius’s loyal servants. Would you like me to broker an introduction?”
“I…” His mouth suddenly feeling too dry, Fitz licked his lips, unconsciously clenching a hand in Enoch’s jacket as he watched Jemma gracefully cross the floor to place the tray down on a table in front of a window. She then reached up to brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and he felt weak in the knees, imagining brushing the backs of his own fingers over her cheek as he tucked her hair back into place. “She’s…”
But, there simply were no words, and he just knew that he needed to speak to this woman, to get closer to her, to bask in her presence if only for a handful of moments.
Hastily, Fitz darted a glance around, finding Kasius all the way on the other side of the room, speaking in low voices with his right hand woman, Sinara. Feeling bolstered by his distance, he released Enoch’s jacket and ignored his warning, instead slowly approaching Jemma on still slightly weak legs.
He paused a few steps away from her, lightly clearing his throat, then moved to stand behind her, greeting quietly, “Hello.”
Nothing.
Fitz waited a few long, tense moments, but there was no response from her. She didn’t speak, she didn’t even turn to face him; she simply went about her work as though she hadn’t heard him.
Frowning, he inhaled a steadying breath, then tried again, just a bit louder, “Hello?”
Once more, there was absolutely nothing by way of a response from her – she hadn’t even shown that she’d heard him, or sensed his presence behind her.
Just as he was reaching out to lightly touch her arm to try and gain her attention, he heard from behind him, “Is there something that I can help you with?”
-
At the sudden and expected pressure of fingertips on her arm, Jemma whirled around, her eyes growing wide when she caught sight of Kasius and a man that she didn’t recognize conversing about something just feet from her.
At first, she kept her attention on Kasius, trying to figure out if she’d done something wrong, or had missed a command from him while she’d been off in her own head, gazing out the window in front of her at the space beyond the Lighthouse.
But, then she happened to catch another glance of the man out of the corner of her eye, and though he seemed upset about something (something that could’ve been her), he managed to capture her full attention. He was rough and scruffy, wearing a worn and dusty jacket, with a broach pinned to it that she knew the exact meaning of.
There was just something about him, though, something that had Jemma’s cheeks growing warm and her heart picking up speed in her chest, her hands unconsciously curling into loose fists at her sides.
“Jemma.”
Hastily blinking away her distraction with the man, Jemma immediately looked to Kasius, bowing her head to show that she was listening and ready to receive instruction.
“Is it not time for you to see to our champion?”
Releasing a silent sigh, she nodded in understanding, dipping into a lower bow before brushing past him and the man with him to go tend to Daisy for the day’s lesson – though, she couldn’t quite help herself from taking one last glance back just before she left the room.
A jolt of…of something passed through her entire body when she instantly locked eyes with the man himself, his eyes already on her, as though he’d been watching her as she crossed the room.
Sucking in a sharp breath, Jemma forced herself to break their gaze and hurried down the hall to Daisy’s room, not stopping until she’d opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She dropped back against it, taking a handful of deep breaths and closing her eyes.
“Whoa, what’s with you?”
Jemma’s eyes sprung open, and she found Daisy perched on her bed, arching an amused eyebrow at her. Flushing in embarrassment and pushing herself off of the door, she brushed it off, telling her, “Oh, nothing. I just came from the dining hall; Kasius’s guests have arrived.”
Daisy’s lips turned down in an immediate frown, and she shook her head. “I don’t get it; my exhibition isn’t for another few days, so what are they already doing here?”
“Knowing Kasius, he’ll have a handful of other exhibitions in the days leading up to yours; you’re not the only Inhuman he’s having trained, you know.”
Daisy was quiet a moment, and Jemma allowed her the time to get her thoughts in order. They’d only been working together for a couple of days, but already she’d taken a bit of a shine to her – which was never a good thing.
Finally, Daisy confessed bluntly, “I’m getting the hell out of here.”
Eyes growing wide, Jemma froze where she’d been pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher on Daisy’s bedside table. Slowly, she put the glass back down and shook her head, asking in alarm, “What?”
But, Daisy simply nodded firmly, her eyes narrowing in determination. “I’m going to escape, Jemma. I don’t know how yet, but…but I just have to. It’s not the same for me as it is for the other kids; my parents are dead, so…so Kasius doesn’t have them to use against me. And, well, there’s no one to worry about if I do make it out.”
The reminder of what kept Jemma herself complacent, what kept her from making the same decision as Daisy had her briefly clenching her hands into fists, had her thinking of the soundless dreams that she often had, where she woke in tears because she could no longer remember the sound of her parents’ voices.
“If they catch you, they will kill you,” she informed Daisy, her voice hoarse with sudden and unshed tears.
“So?” Daisy replied flippantly. “It’s not like I have anything to lose if they do.”
And, though Jemma knew that she should tell Kasius about this immediately for fear of being taken down with her, she only had to give it a moment of thought before she met Daisy’s searching gaze and told her, “I’ll tell you what I know, and I’ll do what I can to help, but Kasius can never know.”
After all, she still had something to lose.
-
The first of Kasius’s Inhuman exhibitions had come and gone, along with more meals with the other bidders than Fitz would have ever wanted to attend – and it had only been a day. But, perhaps that was simply because time seemed to be moving at a crawl until the moment that he saw Jemma Simmons again.
She’d been at dinner the previous night, and had served him his first course, during which they’d caught gazes and he’d discovered that her eyes were brown and she exhaled the softest of breaths when she was taken aback by his fascination with her.
After that, though, he hadn’t caught a single glimpse of her, and Fitz was beginning to think that Kasius had noted his interest and was purposely keeping her hidden from him, which only served to frustrate him.
He couldn’t put his finger on what drew him so much to Jemma, and that was a small source of frustration as well – there was her obvious beauty, but it was more than that. There was something about her, something that seemed to call out to him…
And, it was driving him mad, not being able to see her, not having the chance to figure out what that something was.
Figuring that things weren’t going to get any better alone in his quarters, pacing the floor as he had been for some time now, though, Fitz left. Instead, he would seek out Enoch, who was always a sound counsel when he was in need of it.
However, he’d been striding down one of the darkened halls for only a handful of moments when he caught sight of movement at the other end, caught the flash of golden paint in a spare bit of light from a cracked door as they passed it.
His heartbeat almost immediately took off in his chest, and his next few breaths came with difficulty as he and the figure came closer and closer to crossing paths. And, as soon as he was close enough to see her parted lips, her wide brown eyes, Fitz didn’t think – he simply grasped her arm and tugged her into the empty room to his right, closing the door behind them.
Once he was sure that no one had seen them, he reached over and flipped on the lamp, throwing Jemma’s face into sharp relief, and he finally felt like he could truly breathe.
Her expression was somewhere between astonished, fearful, and inquisitive, and he noticed that she’d taken a step away from him, but was still standing quite close regardless.
He opened his mouth to speak, but remembered himself at that moment, remembered Kasius’s explanation as to why Jemma hadn’t heard him – all of his servants had an implant in their ears that only allowed them to hear his voice unless he decided otherwise.
So, he instead over-prounced his intended words to make them clear, gesturing to his chest as he told her, “I’m Fitz.”
She blinked a couple of times, then gestured to herself and mouthed, “Jemma.”
Eagerly, he nodded, relieved that she understood him and was going along with it. “Nice to meet you.”
Jemma bit her lip then, and Fitz was startled to realize that she was trying to hold back a smile, rather unsuccessfully at that. As the smile spread across her gold-painted lips, he felt a matching one tugging at his own mouth. “Yes.” Her smile faded then, much too quickly in his opinion, and she looked troubled. “You’re here to bid on Daisy?”
Frowning, Fitz shook his head, asking in confusion, “Who’s Daisy?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, looking uncomfortable all of a sudden. “An Inhuman.”
Oh. Pressing his lips together, Fitz dragged a hand through his hair and blew out a breath, trying to figure out how to answer that. “Ah…well…I guess that’s why I came. I mean, I thought it’d be wise to have an Inhuman – everyone else does these days. Not really big on buying a person, though.”
Abruptly, Jemma’s eyes grew wide, and as she took a half-step closer to him, he noticed her hand twitching at her side, almost as though she wanted to reach across the remaining distance to him. “Really?”
Fitz nodded, making a bit of a face as he then shrugged and rubbed uncomfortably at the back of his neck. “Yeah. I’m not…” He trailed off, though, hesitating. What he had been about to tell Jemma, who was still a perfect stranger, despite the pull he felt toward her, was something that no one else knew. “I just don’t think it’s right,” he finally finished, sidestepping the subject rather than going for the full truth.
Jemma briefly dropped her gaze to the floor between them, then raised her eyes and again and lifted a hand, reaching out to delicately press a fingertip to the broach on his jacket. Though she didn’t speak a word, the way that her eyes bored into his made her question perfectly clear.
“It was my father’s,” Fitz murmured, giving a little shake of his head. “His reputation, his crew, his life…it all became mine when he died – whether I wanted it or not.”
Her brow furrowed as she cocked her head, sympathy crossing her features, and Fitz felt a wave of absolute awe for her. There she was, a slave being held against her will by Kasius, and she was sympathizing with a stranger that was far better off than her.
And that feeling was what he blamed his next action on.
Slowly, Fitz lifted a hand until he could cup her cheek, taking care not to smudge any of her paint. He heard her take that sharp inhale once more, but when she didn’t try to break away, he began to lean in closer. Moments after he’d glimpsed her eyes sliding shut, his allowed his own eyes to close, and his lips had just barely brushed hers when he heard the sudden sound of footsteps heading down the hall – and directly toward them.
Jerking away from Jemma, Fitz hastily grasped her shoulders and directed her to hide behind a nearby bookcase. Feeling her resistance and seeing the alarm and confusion in her wide eyes, he mouthed pointedly, “Hide.”
Finally understanding, Jemma crouched down so that she would be hidden by the bookcase to anyone in the doorway, just as the door to the room was thrown open to reveal one of Kasius’s guards. He seemed surprised to find Fitz there, and greeted him a bit dazedly, “Ah, there you are, Marauder.”
Gathering every bit of faux confidence that he’d perfected over the years, Fitz planted his hands on his hips and snapped, “You know, perhaps I ought to have a talk with Kasius about teaching his lot to knock before entering a room – especially when one of his guests is in said room.”
The guard bowed his head as he told him, “My apologies, Marauder. I was merely sent to find you for the dinner festivities and you weren’t in your assigned quarters.”
Fitz nodded stiffly, stepping out of the room and forcing the guard to move back to allow him to do so. “That’s a start,” he muttered pointedly, turning back to shut the door behind him and offering Jemma a small smile just before it had closed between them. “Now, off you go – or, should I take you to Kasius myself?”
“No, there’s no need, Marauder,” the guard replied with a shake of his head, already moving past Fitz and the room where Jemma was still hiding.
And, with one last glance back over his shoulder, Fitz reluctantly followed him.
-
After Jemma had waited an appropriate amount of time for Fitz to get the Kree guard away from the door, she slipped out of the room and managed to make it into line with the other servants in time to serve dinner to Kasius’s guests. Though, truthfully, her mind was on anything but what she was doing as she was handed a tray filled with bowls of stew and sent out into the dining hall.
All she could think about was Fitz – or, the “Marauder”, as the guard had called him. He was so sweet and gentle and kind, everything that she would have never expected him to be with the image that he projected to the others around them. But, it was all his father’s doing, apparently, and Jemma wondered suddenly about the story behind that, about their relationship and how Fitz had ended up marauding if he didn’t believe in it.
From the moment that she stepped into the hall, she couldn’t help the way that her eyes immediately sought him out, and she quickly found him conversing with a couple of the other bidders, smirking proudly as he told what was clearly a tale of glory.
She felt a little thrill when she recognized that he was just putting on an act for the others, that the true Fitz had been the gentle man that had so lovingly cradled her face and almost kissed her just a handful of minutes ago. Everyone else around them had no idea; it had all been for her that he’d let his walls down, and the realization had her biting her lip against another smile (she didn’t know what it was about him, but he’d had her smiling more in the past ten minutes than she had in months).
Jemma was so caught up in Fitz just then, in fact, that it took her a full five minutes to notice that the remaining Inhumans were all lined up along the far wall of the hall, on display for the bidders.
Shocked, Jemma sought out Daisy’s eyes, and only felt a lick of relief when she noticed the slight upward twitch of her lips in a reassuring smile. Though she had no idea what was happening, she still went to line up with the other servants along the wall behind one of the rows of guests, resolving to ask Daisy about it when she saw her tomorrow.
She tried to focus on that, and on doing what she was supposed to be doing so as not to appear suspicious, to appear as though she hadn’t been doing something that she shouldn’t have been a short time ago – but, Jemma kept finding her gaze straying to Fitz’s.
And more often than not, he was already watching her, as though he was just waiting for the moment when their eyes would meet.
Unfortunately, though, halfway through the dinner, Kasius sent her to the kitchens with the dirtied dishes and the strict instruction for her not to return. So, despite the fact that Jemma wanted to see Fitz for just a bit longer, she did as she was told and went back to her quarters, finally allowing herself to think about just how truly screwed she was for getting involved with one of Kasius’s esteemed guests.
Such a thing had never happened before (at least, not that she’d ever heard), but she knew that nothing good could come from it. If she was as smart as everyone had always praised her for being, she would cut all ties with Fitz now, before it got her into trouble.
But, she just couldn’t get over that something about him, that something she’d felt from the moment she first saw him, that drew her in and made it all-but impossible for her to avoid him. She found herself suddenly willing to bend or even break the rules simply to spend just a bit more time with him before he left her life forever.
After all, it was the first time in so long now that she truly felt something, and she couldn’t find it in her to just let that pass her by.
So, Jemma fell asleep that night with that resolution in mind (and she dreamt of Fitz, of his lips against hers and his arms around her, of him taking her away from this place to explore space together, marauding for good, not evil), and woke with it still as firm as it had been the night before.
She did try to push it back to the back of her mind when she went to work with Daisy that day, though, feeling that she owed Daisy her full attention, if they were going to get her powers fully under control before her exhibition in a just two day’s time now.
However, Daisy’s shocking first words upon her arrival were, “Holy shit, what’s going on with you and the Marauder?”
“What?” Jemma asked in astonishment, feeling heat instantly suffuse her cheeks. How could Daisy possibly know anything about her and Fitz? And, more importantly, did anyone else know?
“Are you kidding me? I saw how you guys were looking at each other at dinner last night!” Daisy widened her eyes excitedly, throwing her arms out and shaking her head, as though it was obvious.
Chewing her bottom lip worriedly, Jemma finally replied, “His name is Fitz, and…nothing is ‘going on’, Daisy. Now, what were you doing at dinner last night? Has Kasius moved up the exhibition?”
Daisy waved her question away, replying distractedly, “Oh, no, one of the bidders just asked to see what they were bidding on ahead of time, or something. But come on, you can’t just leave me hanging like this! There’s no way that I believe there’s nothing happening between you two.”
Giving a little roll of her eyes and sighing, Jemma told her truthfully, “Daisy, I barely know him, alright? We just met yesterday. Come on, we have to get started on your training; we’re running out of time.”
Daisy eyed her for a moment, then stood from the edge of the bed where she’d been perched, agreeing slowly, “Alright.” Then, after a moment, she added quietly, “Just…maybe he’s your way out of here.”
Briefly, Jemma felt her lungs constrict, her chest tightening, and as she thought of her dreams from the night before, a flare of something like hope filled her – only to quickly be crushed by her reality.
Closing her eyes and inhaling a deep, steadying breath, she told Daisy quietly and truthfully, “No, I don’t think so.”