Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

There are many different sayings out there, throughout history there have been many different sayings. They're never about the same thing, naturally, but one has to admit... some things people say are quite strange. Some make sense when you think about them hard enough... others don't make any sense at all!

"Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!"

Okay, that doesn't make any sense! Who would want to butter their butt?! Then again, it's a saying from the Deep South... hardly anything makes sense down there, no offense.

"Having a wide face."

This one's quite confusing, really. Some people have wide faces, I should know, I've seen it. Well, apparently it's a Japanese thing that means you have many friends. Okay... how does having a lot of friends have to do with having a wide face? I'm not sure myself. Then there's an interesting saying about rejecting someone in Spanish society.

"Give someone pumpkins."

What? Pumpkins are cool! They're sturdy gourds, you can make awesome baked goods out of them, even ice cream! Plus, you can make Jack-o'-lanterns and pumpkins are the symbol of not one but two holidays! So why would someone associate pumpkins with rejection? See? Some things just don't make sense in this big world of ours... why tell you all of this and give examples? Well, I guess it has to do with a saying that I heard quite often growing up in Foster Care, that I never really followed. I was about five years old when I heard a worker say:

"When you live your life a certain way, you have a rhythm to it... a schedule you follow, you might freak out if something disrupts what you're use to."

To be honest, I never took that one to heart, even though I was only five. I rolled with the punches... sometimes literally since older kids pushed me around or beat me up to make themselves feel superior. Until I started fighting back after learning self-defense through books or on the computers at the local library. I heard the worker say it pretty often, but I mostly ignored it as I got older. I figured that freaking out when things went wrong would be just a waste of time... shit happens! Why freak out about it? I just continued to roll with it, taking most situations in stride as best as I could.

I will admit, what happened in New York in 2012 was a shock... I mean, who wasn't shocked and scared when they saw an army of aliens attacking New York on the news? It proved that Earth wasn't the only planet with intelligent life on it! It proved that aliens were real and they could bring us harm. Ever since then, I'm glad that I didn't take the worker's saying to heart, because A LOT of strange shit has happened to me, and I didn't massively freak out. Let me say this... so much weird stuff has happened in my life that hardly anything surprises me anymore. Being an agent of SHIELD helps with that quite a bit, we have experienced a lot of shit, plus working closely with the Avengers leads to interesting experiences. We have seen mutated creatures, evil robotic creations, and everything in between! SHIELD has even helped the Avengers take down old HYDRA bases, take on drug lords, and put an end to dangerous experiments that crazy scientists were working on.

My name is Daisy Johnson, agent of SHIELD and the only Inhuman in the Field Agents now. Yo-Yo is on a different SHIELD team with Mack, but I see them from time-to-time, we even try to hang out every other weekend. I see Jemma whenever I get excessively hurt, talk to Fitz when I go down to the labs, and I still train with May every once in a while. Of course I see Coulson, we talk on and off the clock, he's by far the person I trust the most from my old team. Coulson has become a positive father-figure that I didn't know I needed in my life.

As you can probably tell, I don't work for SHIELD by living on the Bus and sleeping in a bunk anymore. Nope. I work at SHIELD HQ in New York on a team of Field Agents that need to get over the fact I'm the only woman on the team, and I out rank them. It's different working for SHIELD this way, but it's not so bad... I still get to help people, hack into mainframes, and kick ass like I did before, so I can't complain too much.

So, why was I giving example about serious stuff not bothering me too much? Well, today has been quite the day! I don't mean that as in I was having a bad day, it started out normally enough (for what passes as normal for SHIELD, anyway). What changed? I'll tell you.

Flashback and Change of POV...

Phil Coulson sat down at the break room table with a sigh, it felt good to take a break from his stack of paperwork. The older male sipped at the coffee he had in his favorite mug, letting the caffeine take effect.

"Working hard?" a voice asked

Phil looked up to see Natasha walk in, the red head's uniform was a tad bit different than the one she had worn into work and her semi damp hair was tied in a braid.

"I always work hard." Phil replied "Looks like your mission went well."

"It was so much fun, that I was covered in blood by the end of it... most of it not mine." Natasha said

"The good missions usually end up that way." Phil chuckled

"It's the best way to know if I did a good job." Natasha smiled

The red head poured herself a glass of fruit juice and took two bananas out of the fruit bowl before sitting down at the table.

"Too much paperwork clouding your brain?" she asked

"A bit." Phil replied, rubbing his forehead "Just needed a short break... my brain was starting to feel like sludge."

"Can always make it fun by putting it through the paper shredder." Natasha stated

"Tempting." Phil admitted "But then the ghosts of stacks of paperwork would come back to haunt me."

Natasha leaned back "I don't think the Ghostbusters could help with that."

A voice laughed "I got that reference."

The two agents looked up to see Steve walk into the break room, the blond was geared up in his Stealth Gear and his faithful shield on his back. Daisy followed Steve in, dressed in her usual Field Agent uniform and her special gauntlets.

"Finally discover the best movie of 1984, Cap?" Daisy teased

"Two years ago, actually." Steve replied "It's become one of my favorite movies to watch around Halloween."

Daisy smiled as she grabbed two Fudge Rounds out of a cupboard and tossed one over her shoulder, Steve catching it without looking.

"How did training go?" Natasha asked

"Daisy and Mike did very well, but Jack, Jake, and Dustin need some improvement." Steve replied

"Looks like we might have to put them through the School of Hard Knocks." Natasha stated "I could help."

"I think you'd be too much for them, but I could talk to May about training them." Phil said

"If you want them to wet their pants and run for the hills." Daisy laughed

"Fair point... we could try Mack or Clint." Phil mused

"We all know who I would choose." Daisy quipped, taking a bite of her Fudge Round

Steve sat down with his "I'm The Boss!" mug filled with coffee and dipped his unwrapped Fudge Round in it.

"I think Mack could set them straight without scaring them, being too strong, or making them soil themselves." Steve decided

"I'll talk with Mack after I defeat my stacks of paperwork." Phil said

"A battle I'm quite familiar with." a voice admitted "Not an easy fight."

Daisy looked up to see Tony walk in, the billionaire wasn't at HQ often outside of Avengers calls, but he had been called in to fix a few things and upgrade the Sleeper pistols.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Phil assured

"Of course you will, Agent." Tony agreed, grabbing a mug "You'll just have tons of paper cuts and have nightmares about staplers and paperclips chasing you down endless hallways."

Daisy gave a short laugh as Natasha rolled her eyes, Steve chuckled at the joke as Tony filled the mug with some coffee and grabbed a couple Twinkies out of a cupboard.

"The Holo Table working again?" Steve asked

"She's better than brand new and should stay that way... until Eye Patch touches her again." Tony replied

For years, Daisy only saw Nick Fury a handful of times, when she joined up with Coulson and his team. Now that she worked at HQ, she saw him more often, the man wasn't a full Director anymore, but he helped keep the base running and gave everyone orders.

"For a former Director of SHIELD, he sure doesn't know how to work a Holo Table." Daisy stated

Natasha shrugged "Not sure why."

A strange sound outside caused the four to look up suddenly in confusion and judging by the voices in the hallway, other people in the building heard it as well.

"What was that?" Steve asked

"No idea, but I'll find out." Tony replied "What going on out there, FRIDAY?"

"Something entered the Earth's atmosphere and hit the far East side of Central Park, Boss." the AI replied

"We better look into this." Phil stated

"We'll assemble the main team just in case it's something that isn't friendly." Steve said "Daisy, get the boys and follow us there, we might need you guys to keep civilians away from the area."

Daisy nodded "On it, Cap!"

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

The female Inhuman ran out of the Break Room as Natasha and Tony followed Steve out a minute later, luckily Clint was training at SHIELD HQ today and Bruce was at the Avengers Compound. It would be easy to contact them, and a short wait for them to show up.

"FRIDAY, see if you can contact Thor." Steve ordered

"Right away, Captain." FRIDAY replied

"Are you sure assembling the team is necessary, Cap?" Tony asked "It could just be some space junk or something."

"If it's space junk, we'll have no problem cleaning it up, but if it turns out to be someone or something unfriendly... we'll be glad that we have the team already there." Steve responded

Natasha nodded in agreement, Steve made a good point and his plan was solid. Trouble was, what if the situation turned into a war-zone? Like the Battle of New York? The team would need extra hands to help them deal with it.

"Do you want me to call in Rhodey's team?" Natasha asked

"We'll see what we're dealing with first." Steve replied "If we can't keep it controlled, we'll call them in."

"What about Frosty?" Tony asked, activating his new Bleeding Edge armor "Maybe he'd like to help us out."

"Bucky's been doing well, but I don't think he wants to be on SHIELD's roster, I believe Bucky would only get involved if the situation was on a massive scale." Steve replied "Or had something to do with the HYDRA heads that went underground."

"Can't blame him for wanting to live the quiet life." Natasha mused

"After everything Bucky has been through, he deserves it." Steve said

Twenty minutes later...

Tony landed near the location FRIDAY gave him, the helmet peeled back and the inventor let out a whistle. The crater he was looking at was a bit bigger than he thought it would be, and had some smoke coming from it. Thor landed heavily behind Tony, the God of Thunder looked around in shock and awe.

"What could have caused this?" Thor asked, putting his right hand on a broken tree "To put a scar on a such beautiful place in the middle of the Urban Jungle."

"Not sure, Point Break." Tony replied honestly

A few SHIELD Jeeps pulled up as Tony saw a helicopter with a 5 on it fly overhead... the man sighed, of course the media was going to be all over this like maple syrup on a stack of pancakes! Steve, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Phil, and Fury got out of the Jeeps and walked over.

"Where are the agents of the field?" Thor asked curiously

"Keeping civilians from getting too close, including some of the media storm." Phil replied

Natasha looked around in shock, she had been on this side of the park many times before, including the picnic she had with Steve, Wanda, and Bucky just a couple weeks ago. It was hard to believe she was in the same place! Trees were snapped in half, piles of scorched dirt, bushes were pulled up from the roots, and park benches were in pieces!

Clint let out a whistle "This is gonna be one hell of a clean up."

"Stark, can you pick up on anything?" Fury asked

"Negative, Eye Patch... when I was in the air, FRIDAY wasn't able to give me any readings." Tony replied "Whatever is in that crater is giving off some strange energy signatures."

Bruce moved slightly "The Other Guy is picking up on some Gamma radiation, but not enough to be majorly concerned about."

Steve moved closer to the crater, keen blue eyes taking in every detail, he wasn't a Math genius like Tony, but even Steve knew that whatever hit had to have been moving at an incredibly high speed to do this kind of damage. The question was: what were they dealing with? What could be the cause of this damage? A very small movement caused Steve to turn his attention to the center of the crater, something was down there and it was alive! He was certain of it!

"There's movement down there." Steve reported "It must be alive."

Natasha jogged over with Phil, Tony and Thor behind her, all of them looked into the crater in time to see another small movement.

"My word, something is down there... and it is definitely alive!" Thor gasped

"That's impossible." Clint stated as he joined them at the edge

"Looks quite possible to me." Bruce said, appearing to Clint's left

Steve opened one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a pair of binoculars that could fold inwards for easy travel, the blond soldier brought them up to his eyes so he could get a closer look.

Steve gasped "My God! There's a person down there!"

Tony's eyebrows shot upwards "What? A person? As in, looks just like us person?"

"Aside from a colorful, tight-fitting outfit... they look like any other person." Steve replied "And it appears to be a woman."

Natasha blinked "A woman is down there?"

"I can't be one hundred percent positive it's a woman... sometimes it's hard to tell these days." Steve replied with a slight shrug

"How did a woman end up in this crater?" Thor asked "Is she the cause of it?"

Clint snorted "There's no way a woman could have done this kind of damage."

Natasha quickly hit the archer upside the head as Steve handed his binoculars to Phil when the agent motioned for them.

"You'd think you would have more of an open mind after what we have seen the past few years, Clint." Natasha muttered

Phil brought the binoculars up to his eyes and adjusted them a bit so he could get a good look at the person in the crater. When he was able to properly see, Phil felt himself freeze in place... he recognized that red, blue and gold clothing from the files Fury had shown him.

"It's Carol Danvers!" Phil gasped

Fury appeared by Phil's shoulder "Are you sure?"

"It's her alright." Phil assured "I remember the pictures you showed me from the file you made on her."

"We haven't seen her in years." Fury mused

"Who is Carol Danvers?" Natasha asked

"She's... an old friend of ours, but it's best that we fill you in later." Fury replied "We need to get her out of this crater and take her to SHIELD Medical."

"It's never a good thing when you're cryptic." Tony sighed

"I can carry her out of the crater." Thor offered

"What about that big ass hole?" Clint asked "We can't just leave it roped off forever."

Steve put a hand under his chin "I know a few people that can clear away the damaged foliage, repair any damage, and they can turn that crater into something else."

End Flashback...

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Daisy felt like her head was going to explode, and everything that she has just learned would be all over the floor. Everyone had been back at HQ for hours, but it took Fury and Coulson at least two hours to fill in everyone about Carol Danvers (later titled Captain Marvel) and answer any questions that came up. Luckily for everyone, the fact that aliens were out there wasn't anything new, so they weren't too shocked about that. What was a surprise is that someone was half alien and radiating energy that was taken from the Tesseract.

"So aliens were here in the 90's?" Bruce asked, confusion lacing his voice

"Yes, they were trying to find information about the light speed engine... it was quite the adventure." Fury replied "Thanks to what happened with Danvers, I found that the knowledge of aliens was easy to accept when the portal opened up above New York in 2012."

Clint pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat at the table in the Meeting Room, everyone was absorbing the new information, but the archer seemed to be REALLY ticked off.

"I have been with SHIELD a VERY long time, and I haven't heard ANY of this shit! I haven't read any files about it, they must be locked to the point that even a high level agent like myself can't read them!" Clint hissed "You chose not to tell us about her, Nick! Even though she is a super-powered individual and inspired the name of the initiative! And to TOP IT ALL OFF, you had a way to contact her! Yet, you chose not to do so! We could have used someone like her to battle an army of aliens that were attacking New York! We could have used the extra power to destroy an army of murderous robots that were created by Stark and Banner's brain child!"

"Hey now, we learned our lesson." Tony grumbled

"I understand that you're in shock, Clint... but rein it in." Phil advised gently

"Of course you're going to defend him." Clint snorted "God forbid if Nicholas J. Fury does ANYTHING wrong!"

"It is true that I didn't use the pager during the Battle of New York... I had every faith that the Avengers could handle it, and I was right." Fury spoke up "You got the job done without me calling in Danvers."

"What about what happened with the Hellicarriers?" Natasha asked "The whole HYDRA reveal?"

"I wasn't sure if she would help, Danvers knew very little about SHIELD and how it operates." Fury responded "So I didn't call her in."

"What about Ultron?" Bruce asked curiously

"That evil robot basically wanted to wipe out humanity in the same way as the dinosaurs... I tried calling Danvers in, but she didn't show." Fury replied "I thought that something happened to her out there, that she could have been killed... but now that she's here, I believe that she was out of range. The pager's reach is only two galaxies."

"So not even you two would know why she crashed into Central Park." Natasha surmised

Phil shook his head "Not a clue, we haven't heard from Carol in years."

"We won't know what happened until she comes to." Daisy stated

"She might not even tell us what happened to her." Clint said, rolling his eyes "She'll probably come to, thank Coulson and Fury for helping her, and return to her alien friends."

"I doubt that she'll be going anywhere right away." Bruce stated "I helped the doctors take care of Danvers, she has quite a few bruises, bumps, and cuts... surprisingly enough, she doesn't have any broken bones. That and she's totally unconscious, our poking and prodding didn't bother her in the slightest."

"Wow... that is knocked out." Tony mused "Reminds me of my days at MIT."

"I still don't think she'll tell us anything, it's probably her business, not ours." Clint huffed

Steve stood up "We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Until then, we do our jobs the best way we know how."

"I can agree with that." Daisy said

"It's all we can do for now." Natasha agreed

Clint stood up, grabbing his collapsed bow that had been on the table during the meeting.

"Let's just hope she didn't bring any trouble with her." Clint stated "The teams might not be able to handle it, and we can't tag her in if she's out cold."

"FRIDAY will let us know if anything else comes through the atmosphere." Tony promised

"Good, we don't need anymore shit happening today." Clint responded

Elsewhere a few hours later...

A playful breeze bounced along the branches of a few trees, tickling their leaves as it went. A few puffy clouds contently drifted along the endless sky as a comfortable silence ruled the area, everything calm and content. There had been a few people seen by the trees during the course of the day, but that was normal. All cemeteries were use to seeing all forms of activity, be it a few people visiting their loved ones' graves, or an entire family mourning a loss and watching their loved one be returned to the Earth. Then there was the paranormal activity that every cemetery has going on during the day and night.

This cemetery was no different than most when it came to those kinds of activity, and today seemed no different in many ways. The trees and a few birds did witness something a tad strange however. A few hours ago, a very small, burning hot object fell from the sky and hit the ground so fast that it left a small hole in the ground. No living human had been around at the time, so no one could do anything about it, so the trees kept watch as the day continued to progress. A few birds talked with each other as they hopped along the ground, eating anything that looked appetizing, the breeze tickling their soft feathers as the sun started its slow descent... the day was coming to a close. The birds knew that they had a couple hours or so until they had to go back to their nests for the night, so they continued their meal and conversation.

A small movement under the ground caused the birds to stop what they were doing, nothing like that has happened before... that they knew of anyway. The movement stopped, so the birds went back to eating as the breeze decided to play with the small flags that stood beside quite a few of the gravestones. The trees and birds had been feeling a strange energy ever since the small object hit the ground... perhaps it was the reason behind the small movement?

A larger movement followed a couple minutes later, the birds chirped and looked around in confusion. What was going on? The grass-covered dirt moved a moment later, the birds took off with panicked chirps, going into the safety of branches. The little birds watched as the ground moved again, like something was below the ground and trying to get out. The birds let out loud squawks when something came bursting out of the ground! A HAND! A HUMAN HAND! They didn't want to know what else could possibly happen, so they took off flying with the playful breeze following them. The hand dug its fingers into the dirt, trying to gain purchase as the sky gained a few more clouds and grew a tad bit darker. With quite a bit of effort, the hand was able to get the rest of the arm free, but the movement didn't stop... like it was desperate to get into the open air. The hand reached forward, grabbing onto a tree root that lined the dirt, a muffled grunt was heard as the hand and arm tried to get most of the body out.

After a few moments of intense pulling, the dirt gave way, clumps of it going everywhere as a man clawed his way out of the hole, gasping for air. The man tipped over onto his side, desperately getting air into his lungs as the trees stood silently, trying to understand what had just happened. The man was dressed in a suit, now stained with dirt and slightly torn at the sleeves, black hair that was cut in an older fashion and had stray pieces of dirt sticking to the strands. A curious breeze drifted toward the man as his breathing slowed down slightly, still taking in fresh air as if he hasn't experienced it in years. The breeze has a feeling that this man has been away from the world for quite sometime... why? It wasn't quite sure. As the man tried to calm his breathing, he coughed a few times, pieces of dirt falling off of him at the movement... it definitely appeared as if his lungs hadn't experienced fresh air for a long time.

Silence took over as the coughing stopped for the time being and the man's breathing evened out slowly, the breeze moved closer... going along the man's suit and across his face. The breeze had seen a lot of people, but it was quite curious about this man, it has never seen him before... not that it could recall anyway. The man let out a deep breath, glad to feel open air on his skin again, and glad to be out of the hole.

"Where am I?" he thought

The man opened his eyes, the brown orbs finding the trees and disturbed dirt... that wasn't telling him much, but it was a start. With a grunt, the man slowly sat up, his vision going fuzzy as his blood reacted to the change in position. The man blinked a few times as his vision started to clear, he didn't know what was going on or why he felt like this... but he was going to. Determined to get the answers he wanted, the man worked his left leg out of the hole.

"Okay... now the other one." he said to himself

Using his hands, the man grabbed his right leg just above the knee and slowly pulled it out, glad to feel the brace of the prosthetic for once... it meant that he didn't have to crawl or hop around. The trouble was, he couldn't find his cane nearby, it was possible it was deep in the hole. Why was he in the hole anyway? The man looked around again, now that he was sitting up, he could see a lot more this time. Small American flags, standing gravestones, flower pots, small decorations and a still silence that he had heard before in his past. He had seen this before when he attended burials for family, or fallen comrades... he was in a cemetery! No... it couldn't be! The man moved away from the hole, to where most of the disturbed dirt started, to find a standing gravestone, instantly going pale when he saw what was engraved on it.

Daniel Jordan Sousa
1919-1955

Underneath the engraved lettering was the symbol of a regiment of World War Two, the SSR and SHIELD. The man's face lost even more color as he stared at the gravestone... he was looking at his own name! The hole he pulled himself out of was his own grave! How... then it hit him! His suspicions of HYDRA being within SHIELD, the information drop off, getting shot... the pool. He died! Something that he thought would happen to him during the War, or his SSR days ended up happening when he was trying to protect the organization that Peggy, Howard, and Phillips were building.

"If I died doing my job... how am I here now? Why am I alive... looking at my own gravestone?" Daniel asked himself

The trees stood silently, unable to answer the questions, all they could do was let the curious breeze play with their leaves. Daniel looked up at the sky, his experience as a soldier told him that it was getting late into the evening... no one would be here to help him, he would have to try and find it on his own. Granted, he didn't know where he was, but he couldn't just sit here and do nothing! Just like with the War and the SSR... he had to take action in order to figure things out! Carefully moving away from the hole, Daniel eased himself onto his feet, almost falling over due to not being on his two feet for quite sometime... but he managed not to fall.

"Now, I just need to figure my way out of this cemetery and find some help." Daniel thought "It might take a while... I have a strange feeling it's not 1955 anymore."

Placing his right hand on his leg where the brace attached to his stump, Daniel began making his way through the maze of gravestones, hoping that he could figure out exactly what was going on.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

The Next Day...

Daisy smiled as she sat down at a table that was just outside the Brookside Cafe, enjoying the content temperature and peaceful breeze, the wonderful scents of various baked goods and coffee surrounding her. This is what weekends were made for! Enjoying the day and letting the stress of the work week just melt away!

"What a beautiful day." a voice stated "A perfect day to relax with my sisters."

Daisy's smile widened as Natasha sat down at the table with Wanda following her, the three women got along very well and enjoyed hanging out together. They tried to meet up to hang out during the weekends, but sometimes work missions, weather, or Avengers-related attacks caused plans to be pushed back, but they didn't mind. They couldn't control stuff like that, so there was no use getting upset over it.

"I'll take weather like this any day." Daisy said "September is usually all over the place."

"It's still early in the month, things could change." Wanda pointed out "We all need some time outside that doesn't involve kicking someone's butt anyway."

"It's fun kicking ass, though." Natasha responded "But, I think we all do need to take our minds off work for a while."

"We heard..." Wanda sighed "My brain was spinning for a while, I know Fury is a secretive man, but why not tell anyone about Captain Marvel?"

"Coulson never told anyone either... but he was a new guy back then." Daisy said

"Right now, I really don't want to torture my brain about it. I just want to enjoy the day and hang out with you two." Natasha stated

"Here-here!" Daisy smiled, raising her cup of coffee

The three women dug into the baked goods they purchased and drank their coffee, or in Wanda's case green tea. They ended up chatting about various things, like Daisy replacing her toaster after the old one suddenly stopped working, Natasha's latest date with Steve at Olive Garden, and Bucky's progress with his recovery and memories.

"Sounds like everything is going well for him." Daisy stated "Just proves that people who have been used and abused like him can be helped."

"Steve's been determined to help Barnes from the beginning, I had no doubt that he'd do whatever he could to help his best friend. It's been a long road and he still has bad days... but Barnes is making real progress. I think he has even found himself quite taken with a certain spell-caster." Natasha noted

Wanda blushed, moving her hair to the side a bit as Natasha and Daisy smiled, it was quite obvious that Wanda was interested in Bucky as well. Natasha once told Daisy that she saw Bucky making "moon eyes" at Wanda on more than one occasion.

"Bucky is cute and fun to be around." Wanda admitted "I like him a lot, but I don't want him to go into something that he might not be ready for... like a relationship."

Daisy sipped at her coffee "Maybe you should talk to him about it, it's obvious that you two like each other... maybe start slow and simple, if you two decide to go for it."

Wanda smiled slightly "That could work."

The three fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to enjoy their baked goods and drinks. Wanda and Natasha knew better than to ask Daisy about her love life, Daisy had crashed and burned too many times in the game of love. Even though Natasha and Wanda would like to see their "sister" happy, they weren't going to push Daisy into anything, they both understood why Daisy was so nervous about going back into the dating world.

A few people sitting nearby suddenly turned their attention to something, causing Daisy to put down what was left of her chocolate chip muffin and look in the same direction. The woman saw a couple police officers having an intense conversation with a man. The man was dressed in a suit that was stained with dirt and had his hand on his right leg... like it was injured or something.

"Looks like that guy slept in a ditch." the man at the other table stated

The blond woman next to him wrinkled her nose "Probably smells like he slept in one too. He's probably just some drunk that doesn't have a life beyond partying and taking advantage of naive women."

Daisy watched as the officers look at each other, apparently not believing what the black haired man was telling them. The man seemed to be lost... but apparently the cops weren't buying his story, something about the man in the stained suit screamed 'innocent and honest'. Daisy felt like she had to help this man, if she didn't, the cops would probably take him to the drunk tank. Wanda and Natasha had their attention on the situation as well, they had seen many things too, so they certainly weren't going to judge what was going on too harshly.

Wanda's eyebrows were furrowed, like she was picking up on something, but could quite place it at the moment. They had to do something before the poor man was arrested for something he possibly didn't do. The three got up from their table and made their way over with Daisy leading them, normally she would be following Natasha, but she really wanted to help the poor man.... he just looked so confused and lost. As the women approached, they saw the younger officer take his handcuffs off his belt.

"Perhaps you should come with us, Sir." the young cop stated

"I just need to know where I am." the man replied

"We've told you that before, you're in New York." the young cop said "You're covered in dirt and acting very strange... we have to take you in, Sir."

"Need some help, boys?" Natasha asked

The three men looked at them, the black haired man wearing the suit had an intrigued look on his face, like he hasn't seen a woman in a long time. The younger officer glared at the women and huffed.

"Go about your day ladies, we're dealing with this. Just a random drunk who decided to keep his party going." he said "We'll make sure someone comes to collect him, once we know who he is."

"I'm not whacked out on Giggle Water! I just don't know what is going on... hardly anything looks familiar." the black haired man responded

Natasha blinked, she's heard that before, she heard Steve say it before when he was referring to alcohol. When the other Avengers raised an eyebrow at it, the blond soldier said that it was a term from the 1940's. The team had heard Bucky use it a couple times too, but no one they knew born after the 1960's used the term, perhaps this man was from the same era as Steve and Bucky somehow?

"Maybe we can help him, Officer Davis." Natasha offered

The older officer shrugged "I don't see why not, Natasha.... just don't let him get into anymore trouble."

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on him." Wanda assured with a smile

"He doesn't look like the trouble making type anyway." Daisy added

"Don't fall for the innocent act, Miss." the younger cop warned "That's how they fool people and take advantage of them."

"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself and helping this gentleman." Daisy replied "Follow us, we'll help you out."

The man nodded, a relieved look on his face at the knowledge he was going to get the help he needed. He followed the women, keeping his right hand on his leg.

"Are you injured?" Wanda asked

"This is an old injury, I'm use to it." the man replied, patting his leg "I lost my cane, though... it's been tough getting around all night without it."

"Don't worry, I didn't park too far from the cafe, so you'll be able to sit down." Natasha assured

The man tilted his head "I hope that I didn't disrupt your meal."

"We were just hanging out and shooting the breeze." Daisy responded "Besides, helping someone who needs it is more important."

The man smiled gratefully "Thank you so much, I really appreciate this."

"It's no problem at all, we help people all the time." Wanda said

The four approached Natasha's car a couple moments later, as Natasha unlocked it the man whistled.

"My God... this thing looks amazing!" the man marveled "It looks like it's from the future or something!"

The three women looked at each other, there was no way that this man was playing some sort of trick. Natasha and Wanda knew that Steve and Bucky sometimes looked at cars the same way. Natasha took the driver's seat with Wanda sitting up from with her, Daisy kept an eye on the man as he eased himself into the back seats with her. The man let out a relieved sigh when he settled against the comfortable leather.

"Where to?" Wanda asked

"SHIELD HQ would be out of the question right now, Fury's in charge on the weekends... he would probably lock this guy up until Monday in the questioning room." Natasha replied

The man smiled "SHIELD is still around, huh? That's good to hear."

"For now, we can take him to my house." Daisy stated "I think the Compound would be far too much for him."

"If you're sure." Natasha said

Daisy nodded as Natasha started up her car and started driving out of the city, Natasha decided to keep the radio off for now... if her theory was right, current events would blow the man's mind! As the car moved along, Daisy observed the man from the corner of her eye, there was something familiar about him. And for a guy wearing a suit stained with dirt, he didn't smell all that bad... but he did look tired.

"Were you limping around all night looking for help?" Daisy asked curiously

"Pretty much, I found some benches to sit on so I could rest for a while." the man replied "I couldn't fall asleep, though... too many thoughts and the pain in my stump didn't help matters either."

"My goodness, you poor thing." Wanda said

"It's fine, ma'am, I'm use to it giving me trouble." the man assured "Besides, I had plenty of time to think."

The women didn't know how to respond to that, they had to play things carefully, the man could react defensively if they asked the wrong questions. Not wanting things to go sour, Natasha decided to get the ball into a different court... maybe it could help them figure out who this guy is.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff, these are my good friends Wanda Maximoff and Daisy Johnson." Natasha introduced

"It's a pleasure to meet you gals." the man stated "I'm Daniel Sousa."

~The brains of the three women promptly froze and shut down for the longest twenty seconds in history.~

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Daisy's eyes widened instantly, it was no wonder the man looked so familiar! She had read the files about the SSR and the history of how SHIELD came to be, Daniel Sousa was once Peggy Carter's partner and a SHIELD legend! Despite having a fake leg, Daniel Sousa was credited to be excellent at hand-to-hand combat and was the best shot of all the male agents in his sector! The man was also once the SSR Chief of the West Coast base, the head of security in Area 51, and was the first agent of SHIELD to die for SHIELD's cause.

"Oh my God... how can this be?" Daisy thought "Daniel Sousa died in 1955... but this guy looks exactly like the pictures I saw in the files."

Natasha's emerald green eyes caught Daisy's through the rear-view mirror, the redhead shook her head minutely even though her eyes also held shock and confusion. Daisy thickly swallowed down everything she wanted to say, it would have to wait.

"It's nice to meet you, Daniel." Daisy said

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Daniel stated "You're the only people I've met that want to help me."

Wanda gave a friendly smile "We're happy to help."

"I really appreciate it." Daniel said "I hope that I can one day repay you for your kindness."

"Think nothing of it, we help people who need it all the time." Natasha replied

Daisy gave a nod as Natasha continued driving through the busy streets that the city offered. The female felt some concern as she watched Daniel blink slowly, as if he was trying to stay awake... the poor guy had been up all night trying to find help, or sitting on hard benches trying to figure out what was going on... he had to be completely exhausted!

"You can take a short nap if you want, we'll wake you up when we get to my house." Daisy offered

"I'm okay, Miss Johnson." Daniel assured with a tired smile "If I fall asleep now, I might not be able to wake up easily... and I'd hate to make things more difficult for you ladies."

"A real gentleman, aren't you?" Daisy asked with a fond smile

Daniel chuckled "I try to be."

Twenty minutes later...

Daisy unlocked the door to her simple two bedroom house, letting everyone in, but Daniel insisted that she go ahead of him. Luckily, Daisy's house was one floor with no stairs except for the basement and the front steps, so it would be easy for Daniel to get around while he was here.

"We can talk in here." Daisy stated "Make yourself comfortable."

Daniel made his way over to the couch, keeping his hand on his right leg as he did so, the male sat down with a slight grunt and sighed in relief. As Daisy put her keys on the hook by the door, she motioned Natasha and Wanda over.

"So, how do we play this?" Daisy asked "There is a SSR and SHIELD legend that died in 1955 in my house."

"There is a strange energy inside of him... but I don't know what it is." Wanda added "It feels similar to the Mind Stone, but it's not an exact match."

"We need to start by asking him simple questions so we can get a feel for the situation." Natasha said

"We can do that." Daisy responded "Then, we can try to figure out what the strange energy might be."

"Sounds good." Wanda agreed

The three women walked into the living room, finding Daniel looking content, but his chocolate brown eyes were looking at everything in confusion and interest. They didn't really blame him, Daisy wasn't expecting a resurrected man from the past to be in her house today.

Natasha spoke up "So, Daniel... mind if we ask you a few questions."

"Not at all, you're probably quite curious why you found a man wearing a dirty suit wandering around." Daniel replied

"Where were you before you ended up in the city?" Daisy asked curiously

"In the cemetery, sitting in a hole and looking at my own gravestone." Daniel replied honestly "It was... shocking to say the least."

"Do you remember anything before that?" Wanda asked

"I remember being shot and falling into a pool." Daniel replied "I also remember it being July 22, 1955... I have a feeling that I've been... dead for a while."

The three women knew that they had to avoid that conversation for right now, they had to get the ball into a different court. It was a little too soon to tell Daniel exactly how long he had been dead.

Natasha moved a bit "You mentioned a hole, did you make it?"

"Kind of." Daniel replied "I remember being desperate for air and following a small stream of light... there was a small hole above me, about the size of a silver dollar. I just made it bigger so I could get out."

"A silver dollar... too small for a rodent to make." Daisy said as she sat in a chair "Anything else that you can tell us?"

Daniel shook his head "Not that I can think of right now."

The three women didn't know what to think, this situation was getting weirder by the minute! A man that died in the mid 50's had dug his way out of his own grave, somehow alive and well! The man also had a strange energy that Wanda couldn't quite place... could this somehow be linked to Carol Danvers crashing into Central Park somehow? After all, Fury had mentioned that Carol radiated energy that was taken from the Tesseract.

"Do you feel different in any way?" Wanda asked

"Physically, not really." Daniel replied honestly "I'm just tired, confused... and just too much to list."

"That's interesting... you don't feel any different at all?" Daisy checked

"No." Daniel responded "I don't even feel like I was shot."

Natasha sat down on a chair "We might have to call Doctor Strange, he might be able to help us get some answers as to how you're alive and don't look like a zombie... no offense."

"None taken." Daniel said "Are you sure a doctor will help? He might think I'm some sort of nut just like those cops did."

"Doctor Strange is a special kind of doctor, he's helped us with weird things before... and he has seen his fair share of weird stuff, so he'll believe what's going on." Daisy responded

"I'll give him a call." Wanda said, walking out of the room

Daniel nodded "Alright, if you think it'll help. I won't mind being poked and prodded a bit."

"No worries, Doctor Strange isn't a rough guy, you'll be in good hands." Natasha assured with a gentle smile

Wanda walked back into the room, putting her cellphone in the pocket of her long, magenta-colored skirt.

"Stephen says he's currently busy with another appointment, but he'll be over as soon as he's done." she reported

"I don't mind waiting... but I'd hate to ruin the rest of your day." Daniel stated

"You're not ruining anything, Sousa." Daisy assured "The girls and I can hang out another day."

"Daisy's right, this is more important." Natasha said

"Do you need anything while we wait for Doctor Strange?" Wanda asked

"To be perfectly honest, I would really like a shower... but I don't have any other clothes." Daniel replied

Natasha put her hand under her chin as she looked at Daniel, the black haired male seemed to have an average build and height... maybe she could borrow some clothes from one of the other Avengers until everything was figured out.

"I'll give Scott and Sam a call, you could borrow some clothes from them." Natasha stated "They won't mind too much."

"And I can show you where the bathroom is, you can use the shower stool that I have from when I got injured on a mission. I don't think you can get that wet." Daisy said, motioning to Daniel's leg

"You'd be right." Daniel replied sheepishly "I'm not suppose to sleep with it on either, but sometimes I would do so anyway."

Daisy faked a gasp "You rebel!"

Daniel chuckled as he stood up "I know, quite the scandal isn't it?"

"I'm taking mental notes as we speak." Daisy said with a smile

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Sometime later...

Daisy and Natasha quietly chatted among each other as Wanda let Doctor Strange into the house, the man was dressed in his usual robes with the Cloak of Levitation over his shoulders.

"Thank you for coming." Wanda stated "We didn't know who else to call... I tried to sense it out, but I just can't quite place it."

"It's no trouble at all, Wanda." Stephen assured "I just hope that I can find the answers you seek."

Wanda led Stephen to the living room, Natasha and Daisy turned their attention, the room instantly going quiet. Stephen was quite perplexed, usually when dealing with someone he hasn't met before, he is asked a lot of questions about his wardrobe choices... but it nothing yet. Stephen's multi-colored eyes then spotted a black haired man sitting on the couch, lightly dozing with slightly damp hair wearing a white button down shirt, gray pants, and white socks.

"He dozed off about ten minutes ago." Daisy informed "Everything that he's been through so far, he deserved to close his eyes for a bit."

Stephen stepped further into the room, his senses instantly went into high alert and the Cloak of Levitation fluttered against his shoulders. Stephen took a deep breath, trying to center himself, but the energy made him glad that he left the Time Stone with Wong.

"That energy..." Stephen breathed

"Do you know what it is?" Natasha asked

"I have a theory... but I need a closer look." Stephen replied

Daisy nodded in understanding, she went over to the couch and gently nudged Daniel, the male came awake with a small grunt and looked to Daisy in slight confusion.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked

"Doctor Strange is here to examine you." Daisy replied

Daniel nodded and sat up a bit, a confused look crossed his face when he saw the man in question.

"You're a doctor?" Daniel asked

"I am." Stephen assured "I just do things a bit differently than I use to. My name is Stephen Strange."

Daniel extended a hand "Daniel Sousa."

Stephen blinked as the two men shook hands, he wasn't as familiar with the history of the SSR and SHIELD as the three women standing nearby... but even he has heard about the most legendary agents of the organizations.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, hopefully I can give you some answers." Stephen said

"Do I need to do anything?" Daniel asked

"Just keep your breathing calm and try not to move around too much." Stephen replied

Daisy, Natasha, and Wanda stood by the doorway, keeping quiet so Stephen could concentrate on his work. They watched as Daniel took a deep breath and keep himself still as Stephen's fingers sparked with orange energy, the women could tell that Daniel wanted to flinch but stayed perfectly still like he was told to.

"This is going to feel a little strange at first, but it won't cause you any discomfort." Stephen informed

"Okay... I'm ready." Daniel responded

Stephen focused a bit more, the magic coming from his fingers growing stronger, he moved them over Daniel's body, a couple inches from touching. The atmosphere of the room changed instantly, causing Wanda to shiver and flex her fingers as Daisy and Natasha shifted from foot-to-foot a bit.

"Your brain looks very good, eyes are clear, lungs sound very healthy... all things considered, this is very interesting." Stephen said

Daniel moved very slightly, the persistent ache in his stump making hard for him to keep himself still, but kept his breathing calm. He didn't want to make things harder for Doctor Strange, even though this examination was nothing like he was expecting. Once Stephen's fingers were over Daniel's heart, the sorcerer froze and the Cloak of Levitation vibrated, the energy in the room grew stronger causing the lamp in the corner to flicker.

"Is there something wrong, Doctor?" Daniel asked

"Possibly... could you unbutton your shirt for me? I need to see if my senses are correct." Stephen replied "This could be the source of your sudden resurrection."

Daniel gave a small nod, unbuttoning the shirt that Sam had loaned, when Daniel was finished, a small scar could be seen on the left side of his chest. Judging by the confused look crossing Daniel's face, the man had never seen the scar before... which made sense because he didn't mention anything about getting hurt after digging his way out of his own grave.

"Well that's new." Daniel stated

"It looks fairly recent, but completely healed..." Stephen said "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Could it lead to the energy that effects him?" Wanda asked

"I will certainly find out." Stephen replied

Stephen moved forward slightly and let his magic spark from his fingers again as he moved his right hand toward Daniel's chest. The soldier kept himself as still as he could as orange tendrils moved around Stephen's fingers.

"If you feel any pain, let me know." Stephen said

Daniel nodded "I will."

The orange tendrils moved off of Stephen's fingers easily and crawled along Daniel's chest, heading toward the scar. Everyone watched silently as a tendril touched the scar curiously before disappearing into it, Daniel's brow creased for a brief moment but otherwise didn't move. Daisy had to hand it to Daniel, the guy had really good resolve.

"Are you feeling any pain?" Stephen asked

"No, it just feels like I had a shot of vodka." Daniel replied

"I have a feeling that after we know what's going on... I might end up draining a bottle of vodka." Natasha said

Before the other women could agree, they saw Daniel's eyes close in pain as a groan escaped him, the man's fingers dug into the couch as another tendril went into the scar.

"Okay... now I'm feeling some pain." Daniel grunted

"On a scale of one to ten?" Stephen prompted

Daniel let out a breath "About a five... it's nothing I can't handle, Doctor."

All of the lights in the room flickered quickly, the energy growing thick, making Daisy feel like she was going to vibrate out of her skin. Wanda backed up a bit, flexing her fingers as Natasha tried to keep herself centered.

"What is causing this?" Natasha thought

Daniel's fingers dug deeper into the couch cushions, knuckles going white, as a dull glow could be seen under the surface of his skin.

Stephen blinked "How is this possible?"

The glow pulsed, causing Daniel to groan deep in his chest and move his head back. The glow seemed to be in the exact location of Daniel's heart and purple in color, it was quite mesmerizing.

"It's... it's a shard of the Power Stone!" Stephen gasped

"That can't be right, Thor told us that the Power Stone is on the planet Xandar." Natasha said

"Thanks to the Time Stone, I'm quite familiar with the energy waves of the Infinity Stones." Stephen pointed out "It's a good thing that I left the Time Stone back at the Sanctum... it would not have reacted well to this."

"Speaking of reacting... I think whatever that shard is... it's reacting to that orange stuff." Daniel choked out

Before Stephen could react, the glow in Daniel's chest pulsed a couple times causing the soldier to clench his hands into fists. Within twenty seconds, the orange tendrils of Stephen's magic were forced out of Daniel's chest and hit the floor, the spell breaking. Daniel let out a groan of relief as he tried to regulate his breathing, his face slightly pale and sweat along his forehead.

"Are you alright, Mr. Sousa?" Stephen asked

"I'm not sure... the pain is gone, but I feel very light-headed." Daniel replied "What was that orange stuff?"

"It was an energy location spell." Stephen said "I'm truly sorry that it caused you such pain."

"A spell... as in magic? When did people learn that?" Daniel asked

Stephen moved back a bit "Not everyone can master it, but there are many who study it."

"Okay... I had a feeling that it wasn't 1955 anymore considering some of the things I saw that prove my theory... but what year is it really?" Daniel asked "You can be honest with me, I can take it."

Daisy let out a small sigh as she looked to Natasha and Wanda, after everything that has happened to Daniel so far, he deserved to know what was going on... even if it meant telling him what he wanted.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

"What you want to know won't be an easy thing to hear, Sousa... but you deserve to know the truth." Daisy stated

The woman sat down on the cushioned footstool that stood right in front of the couch, her eyes on Daniel so that the man would know that she was telling the truth. Taking a breath to steady herself, Daisy put a gentle hand on Daniel's left knee.

"Today is Saturday, September 7th... 2019." Daisy informed gently

Daniel blinked with wide eyes, his face going a shade paler, Wanda and Natasha looked at each other worriedly as Stephen kept a close eye on Daniel's body language.

"2019? I've been..." Daniel swallowed "I've been d-dead for sixty four years?"

Everyone silently grew concerned when Daniel's complexion whitened again, but the man remained sitting on the couch.

"I don't understand... how can a shard of a stone be responsible for this?" Daniel asked, motioning to his body

"The Infinity Stones are something we know little about... and what we do know is a long story." Natasha replied

Daniel shifted slightly "I have a feeling that there will be a lot of long stories."

"We can tell those later, you've been through enough for today." Daisy said "I can take you to the guest room so you can lie down for a while."

"That... that sounds good." Daniel replied

Daisy gently helped Daniel stand up, the man let out a shaky breath as he put his hand on his right leg and let Daisy guide him out of the living room. Once the two were gone, Natasha looked to Stephen and Wanda.

"So, how do we deal with this?" Natasha asked

"The Infinity Stones don't really fall under one person... but one of them being destroyed is quite the concern." Stephen replied

"It's news to us that's for sure." Wanda said

Natasha ran a hand through her long red hair, this situation was not only shocking, it was complicated as well. Most of the Infinity Stones were out in space and weren't really protected by one person, the stones on Earth were protected by more than one. As far as anyone knew, the Power Stone was on the planet Xandar and protected by the Nova Core... so what happened? Unfortunately, no one knew the answer right now.

"I think we might have to report this to Coulson and Fury." Natasha eventually stated

Wanda blinked "Why?"

"Because a SSR and SHIELD legend is once again among the living... and Fury will want to know the reason why." Natasha replied "With the Power Stone being inside of Sousa, no doubt the Avengers will be tasked to protect it."

"You make very good points." Stephen said "It's a small shard, about the size of a quarter... so it shouldn't draw too much attention."

"Will it greatly effect him?" Wanda asked curiously

"From what I found, no." Stephen replied "The shard is directly responsible for keeping him alive, it's operating everything from head to toe. Mr. Sousa is the picture of health, I'm greatly impressed."

"Good to know he won't suddenly start glowing, that'll just make things worse for him." Daisy said, walking back into the room

"How is Mr. Sousa doing?" Natasha asked

"The fact he hasn't thrown up or passed out due to shock is amazing." Daisy replied "But he's still pale and shaky... I'll keep an eye on him for the rest of the day."

Natasha nodded as she folded her arms, she knew reporting this to SHIELD would not be easy, but this situation somewhat fell into SHIELD's radar. Natasha also had a feeling the Fury would not react well to this, but they couldn't keep this to themselves.

"After we report this to Coulson and Fury... we don't know what will happen to Daniel." Natasha pointed out

"I know... but the least I can do is show him some kindness instead of treating him like a Science project like Cap was." Daisy said

"I bet Sousa appreciates the gesture, Daisy." Stephen stated "Small actions sometimes speak the loudest."

Two days later...

Daisy was actually uncertain about going into work... normally, she was content and wanting to go in so she could do her best to help people. Today though, she was not so sure about going in. Today, they would be reporting everything that had happened on Saturday... Daisy didn't know why, but she had a strong feeling that it would not go well. It was pretty easy to push the feeling aside yesterday since it was a quiet day, Daniel had spent most of it sleeping since he didn't sleep well Saturday night. Too many thoughts, emotions, and nightmares kept him from getting more than three hours of sleep, waking up with a yell that sounded like he was in pain. For the rest of Sunday, Daniel was mainly in the guest room silently reading some books Daisy kept in there, and didn't eat much at all... still adjusting to the shock.

Daisy didn't blame Daniel at all, she let him have his space, only checking on him off and on to make sure the ex-soldier was okay. She found him dozing a couple times during the afternoon hours, but it didn't seem to last more than an hour... luckily Daisy didn't hear any screaming... small blessings were better than nothing.

Today, Daisy was feeling a little uneasy, SHIELD has greatly changed since Daniel's time and it could be quite overwhelming sometimes. Daisy would just have to pull Daniel out of any situation if it got to be too much, she would just have to keep an eye on him. For right now, she just had to calm herself and continue getting ready for work. Just as Daisy put her jacket on over her uniform, she heard the uneven steps that she was starting to associate with Daniel. Daisy looked up to see Daniel make his way into the room wearing another set of borrowed clothes, a gray shirt, black pants, and black shoes.

"Are you sure you want to come in with me, Sousa?" Daisy asked "Not too late to back out."

Daniel shook his head "I can't hide forever. And you said that this whole thing needs to be reported to SHIELD, right? They might believe you more if I'm standing right there."

"You make a good point, but I don't want you to get overwhelmed so soon." Daisy said

"You'll be there right? I'm sure you can help me out if I need it." Daniel smiled "If I'm going to be in this century for a while, I need to get use to tough situations again."

Daisy shifted "This will be a really big step for you, SHIELD has changed a lot over the years... it will be a lot to take in."

"I don't doubt things have changed, things have to change... it's how life is, I saw many advances in technology and lifestyle in my time. So it makes sense for things to continue to change while I was gone." Daniel responded "Besides, I saw quite a bit in the way of change already."

Daisy grabbed the jacket that Scott let them borrow and handed it to Daniel, the man steadied himself a bit before putting on the jacket and zipping it up.

"Since you're set on it, let's head out, tough guy." Daisy said

Daniel stepped aside "Lead the way."

The two exited the house, Daisy closing and locking the door behind them. Daniel carefully made his way down the four steps, not even faltering or needing to use the railing.

"That's an interesting car." Daniel whistled

Daisy smiled "She's a Subaru WRX, not as classy as Natasha's car, but she gets me to where I need to go."

Once the two were on the road, Daniel's attention was on the world outside the window. Right now, there were a few interesting things to see, but once they got into the city, the man from the past would be completely bowled over! Daisy couldn't help but feel badly for Daniel, he was thrown into all of this without consent and was REALLY out of touch with the world.

"I'm sorry you're going through all of this, Sousa." Daisy stated

Daniel looked at her, his brow creased slightly as his brown orbs studied the woman in the driver's seat.

"There's no reason for you to be sorry, none of this is your fault... maybe it's just dumb luck that I'm back in the world." Daniel responded

"Maybe, but we don't know how or why the Power Stone was destroyed to the point that a shard lodged itself in your heart." Daisy stated honestly "That's why I feel bad, you need more answers and we don't have them."

"Everything will be figured out eventually." Daniel said "For right now, I'm going to try embracing the 21st century."

Daniel blinked as the car drove past a fruit market where two men were looking at some freshly picked apples, wearing matching rainbow colored shirts, tight pants, neon colored sneakers, and holding hands.

"Starting... now." Daniel finished

"Don't worry, if you stick around, that will be the least weirdest thing you're gonna see." Daisy assured

Daniel blinked "For some reason... I believe you."

Chapter Text

Dear readers,

I am so so very sorry that I have not lived up to my promise of posting chapters regularly this year. Life outside of AO3 has been here and there, between projects, unexpected family deaths, and my constant battles with chronic pain I have not been able to post chapters of my fanfictions as much as I would like. I feel like I'm letting down everyone who reads my fanfictions on a regular basis or check to see if there are new chapters. But I do however promise that new chapters will be coming very soon. I am almost done with Christmas related stuff, so I should be able to find time to get on my computer for longer periods of time so new chapters can be typed and posted. I hope you all can forgive me and I really hope I have not lost any readers in the process of not being able to post new chapters.

Avengers: Shard of Power will get new chapters very soon. I know this fanfiction is quite popular with a lot of Marvel and MCU fans so I will do my very best to get new chapters up as soon as I can. I know for a fact that I really enjoyed writing this fanfiction to begin with due to season 7 of Agents of Shield and watching marvel movies, so I will do my best to make sure that this fanfiction will get new chapters more regularly then it has before. Once again I am very sorry if I let anyone down.

Sincerely,
ZebraLily112

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

After twenty minutes, Daisy pulled into the parking garage underneath SHIELD HQ. The woman parked in her usual spot, as she turned off the car, she took an extra badge out of the glove-box and handed it to Daniel.

"You'll need this to get through security without any major fuss, it's a guest pass, so you won't be able to go into the highly secure areas." Daisy explained

"No worries, I won't wander too far." Daniel assured with a small smile

The two got out of Daisy's car, making their way through the garage to the elevators. Daniel followed Daisy pretty easy despite his handicap, keeping a hand on his right hand on his leg, looking around as he walked.

"The symbol has changed." Daniel noted, looking at a wall "I like it, very inspiring."

"They'll be happy to hear that a SSR and SHIELD legend approves." Daisy smiled

The two got onto the elevator, the scanner accepting the numbers on their badges before the doors closed behind them. Daniel observed the small space with interest as Daisy observed the man from the 1950's. For a man who was dead for sixty-four years, Daniel Sousa cut a handsome figure. His black hair only showing a tiny bit of gray on his temples due to his work-life, his brown eyes held experience and warmth, and his slightly calloused hands looked strong... but also capable of being gentle.

"No... don't go that route of thinking, too much pain behind that door." Daisy thought "Just focus on what's going on right now."

The elevator opened with a ding, Daisy stepped off after taking a deep breath. Daniel followed a couple seconds later as he observed everything around him. Daisy smiled slightly when she spotted Natasha and Wanda in the lobby talking with each other, normally Wanda would be with her her team, but she agreed to be apart of the report about Daniel.

"Morning, Daisy-Skye!" Wanda greeted with a smile

"Morning." Daisy replied

Natasha gave Daisy a quick hug in greeting as Daniel curiously wandered around and looked at one of the flat-screen televisions that were on the wall.

"How has he been doing?" Natasha asked

"He didn't sleep much both Saturday and Sunday night... had a nightmare or two, and he hasn't eaten much either, but I don't blame him." Daisy replied honestly "After everything Sousa has been through... I'm surprised that he even wanted to leave my house."

"What about today?" Natasha asked curiously

"So far, so good." Daisy responded "He's taking everything in pretty well... all things considered."

"A good sign for sure, but that could change at anytime." Wanda stated "We'll have to be prepared if he starts acting strange, or if his health takes a turn."

"Could it really get that bad?" Daisy asked

The women looked over at Daniel who was quite interested in the news station that was playing on the television, right now it was a "feel good story" about a pit bull saving a baby from a burning house.

"If I learned anything from Sam when he talks with Bucky... PTSD is different with every person that suffers from it." Wanda replied "Yes, Daniel was lucky to get back home from war, but he was thrown into many situations with the SSR and later SHIELD... some could have effected him greatly, and now that he is alive again. He has been thrown into a century he knows nothing about! A shard of a stone from space in his chest, keeping him alive! He could get so overwhelmed that he could possibly harm himself... or others without meaning to."

Natasha gave a nod "Wanda has a point, Steve has admitted to me that he was pretty depressed before the Battle of New York. Even though many don't see it, Steve does have his PTSD moments... I've helped him through quite a few of them. Plus, we all know that Barnes has his 'today sucks' moments from time-to-time."

Before Daisy could say anything else, Daniel made his way over to them just as Phil and Nick walked into the lobby. Phil's eyes instantly widened and almost dropped his coffee when he spotted Daniel, but Nick's face remained unreadable... typical.

"Well... now we know why you three needed to meet us so early." Nick stated

"We felt that this situation fell under SHIELD's radar." Natasha said

"My word... Daniel Sousa." Phil breathed "It's an honor to meet you, Sir."

"Uh... thanks." Daniel responded uncertainly

Nick rolled his eye "Pick your jaw off the floor, Coulson. Now is not the time for that nonsense."

Phil nodded, schooling his face a bit so he could focus more on the matter at hand. Fury looked back at the others, his eye looking at Daniel in a skeptical manner.

"Are you sure this is actually Daniel Sousa?" Nick asked "Everyone in this organization knows that he died in 1955."

"We're one hundred percent positive, Fury." Wanda replied "He said that he clawed his way out of his own grave, and it's obvious that he has a fake leg."

"And that's good enough for you?" Nick asked, raising a brow

"He introduced himself as Daniel Sousa, he remembers the mission he was on when he was shot and killed!" Daisy replied "When we mentioned SHIELD, he said that he's glad that it's still around, and he even noticed that the symbol has changed. Only a select few remember the old one."

Natasha moved forward "We even called Doctor Strange because Wanda could feel a strange energy coming from Sousa, but she couldn't figure it out. If Sousa wasn't the real deal, Strange would have busted him instantly."

"A strange energy?" Phil asked "Did Doctor Strange find the source of it?"

"Thanks to his orange magic stuff going inside my chest... he said that it's a shard of a stone from space." Daniel spoke up "Don't really know what he was talking about, but it didn't like being bothered by those tendrils."

"What?" Nick asked

Daisy swallowed "Doctor Strange found that there is a shard of the Power Stone in Sousa's heart."

"The Power Stone? But how?" Phil asked

"Thor has told us that all of the Infinity Stones are very dangerous... and with a shard of one being in this very building, that's not good." Nick said "Director Order 301, open hatch to Containment Module!"

"Sir... I don't think..." Phil tried

Before Phil could finish or anyone could move, the linoleum square underneath Daniel's feet retracted, with nothing underneath him Daniel fell into the hatch with a startled yell.

"Sousa!" Daisy called

The square replaced itself as quickly as it had opened, the three women looked to Nick, who was still unreadable. Daisy flexed her fingers slightly, Daniel hadn't done anything to be forced to the Containment Module! He wasn't dangerous!

"Let him out of there!" Daisy growled

"You don't give orders, Agent Johnson, you follow them." Nick pointed out

"Sousa doesn't deserve to be in there, he's not dangerous! He came along so you would believe what we had to report!" Daisy stated

Nick raised a brow "Not dangerous? He somehow has a shard on an Infinity Stone inside his body! Thor has told us that all of them are dangerous, so I'm taking precautions."

"Doctor Strange said that the shard isn't dangerous, you can call him here and he will tell you everything that we have about the shard." Wanda said

"The Containment Module does seem a little excessive, Nick." Natasha noted

Nick stepped forward, even though he wasn't full Director anymore, he still had an intimidating presence. All three women kept themselves standing firm, though, they weren't backing down as Nick looked at them.

"Until Coulson, the team, and myself are filled in about everything about this and we get some answers... he is staying in the Containment Module." Nick addressed "No one is going down there until then, that includes the three of you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir..." the three women replied after a moment

"Good, I'm glad that we have an understanding." Nick said "Everyone should be here in at least an hour, so be ready to tell everyone everything that happened and what you know."

Daisy grumbled "Understood."

Chapter Text

Two Hours Later…

Natasha, Wanda, and Daisy sat at the head of the table in the Meeting Room with the entire Avengers Initiative, Field Agents, Phil, and Nick were seated at the table as well. All of them once again found themselves in various stages of shock, just like they had been on Friday, but this time it was for a different reason.

“So… the person you found is really Daniel Sousa?” Steve asked “Peggy’s work partner and colleague from the SSR?”

Natasha nodded “Yes.”

“Have a look for yourself.” Nick said

The dark-skinned man grabbed a remote and pressed a couple buttons, the television instantly turned on, showing a live feed from the Containment Module. Daisy found her heart aching slightly when she saw Daniel sitting on the bench, looking around in confusion, rubbing his right thigh a bit. Luckily, Daniel looked unharmed from the drop into the small space, which was a good thing… but he didn’t deserve to be in there.

“He looks exactly like the pictures in the files.” Sam breathed

“He’s almost as legendary as Agent Carter.” Scott said “I’m honored that he’s wearing my old clothes.”

“I warned Coulson about his fanboying, don’t make me say it again to you, Lang.” Fury grunted “We’re trying to figure out how this man is once again amongst the living.”

“We told you what Doctor Strange had to say.” Wanda said

“My father did sense the destruction of Xandar; he told me about it after I returned home after the discovery of Carol Danvers.” Thor stated “Trouble is, the Power Stone was already taken from the planet before it was destroyed.”

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose as the team looked at the small screen next to the TV, the display has Daniel’s vitals, and the body scan keeps resetting itself when it gets to Daniel’s chest.

“So… we don’t know how the Power Stone became a shard.” Nick said

“I think I can help answer that.” A voice stated

Everyone looked up to see a woman with long blonde hair enter the room, she was dressed in extra clothes from the storage closet, a bruise was healing on her head and looked tired.

“Carol, you should be resting.” Phil said

“I did plenty of that yesterday, but I appreciate the concern, Phil.” The woman replied

Vision blinked “Ms. Danvers is conscious?”

“She woke up Sunday morning.” Fury informed “I filled her in on a few small things, but otherwise let her rest.”

Steve stood up and extended a hand, Carol eyed it for a moment before shaking with a slightly firm grip.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Danvers.” Steve greeted

“The honor is all mine, Captain, read all about you when I was in school.” Carol responded

“Most of it is probably inspiring exploits and quotes, the real stuff would shock you.” Steve said “As they say, ‘War is Hell’.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Sam intoned

Nick cleared his throat “Have a seat, Danvers.”

Steve returned to his chair as Carol found an empty chair between Thor and Scott, the woman sat down unbothered by all the powerful people in the room.

“I didn’t hear everything… but I am shocked to hear that a piece of the Power Stone survived the blast.” Carol stated

Bruce blinked “Blast?”

“It’s what caused me to crash land here on Earth… I hope I didn’t cause too much damage.” Carol replied

“It’s being cleaned up.” Phil assured

“We do need to know what happened, Danvers… and how that involves the Power Stone.” Fury added

Carol moved a bit; she was still quite sore, but the chairs were comfortable enough for now. Nick did mention that he would need to know what caused her to crash in the middle of Central Park, so telling all of them would save on time.

“I heard a distress call from Xandar, they were being attacked by an army. I was about a galaxy away, they needed help… but by the time I got there…” Carol paused for a moment “Xandar was completely destroyed!”

Wanda blinked “The entire planet?!”

“Who could have that kind of power?” Phil asked

“Thanos.” Carol replied seriously

“Who’s Thanos?” Mike asked curiously

“A mad titan who was as crazy as my baseball coach before he was arrested for selling cocaine.” Carol replied

“Was?” Clint mouthed

“Thanos attacked Xandar with his army, got a hold of the Power Stone… put it on this gauntlet looking thing.” Carol went on “Then he destroyed Xandar, killing everyone on it… including his own army!”

“That’s not just crazy… that’s diabolical!” Daisy gasped

Carol nodded “Once I saw that he had the Power Stone, I just knew he was going to try getting the other five… I didn’t want that to happen.”

“There’s a total of six stones?” Tony asked with interest

“Space, Time, Soul, Mind, Power, and Reality.” Thor replied

Carol nodded again as she grabbed one of the unopened bottles of water on the table, she opened it and took a drink from it.

“Thanos and I got into quite the brawl, that stone packs a punch… literally.” Carol said, rubbing her side “I was able to get the gauntlet of Thanos, snap his neck, and snap his spine by kicking his back as hard as I could.”

Phil winced “Ouch.”

Steve blinked “That’s impressive.”

“Once I made sure Thanos was dead, I pulled the Power Stone off the gauntlet… but then I was left with a difficult decision to make… what to do with it.” Carol explained

The others in the room listened closely, they wanted to know exactly what had happened, it could be the answer to why Daniel had a shard of the Power Stone in his heart.

“I could think of a few planets to hide the stone, but… someone just as crazy as Thanos could try to collect all six.” Carol went on

“Then they would have the power to snap away half of all life in the universe.” Thor added

“Fifty points for big, blond, and beefy.” Carol remarked

“So, what did you do with the Power Stone?” Natasha asked

“I didn’t want someone else getting a hold of it and potentially causing major trouble throughout the universe… so I used what was left of my power to destroy it, and well… BOOM!” Carol finished “A small shard could have hitched a ride with me until I hit Earth’s atmosphere… but I’m not sure… the blast knocked me out a good one.”

Clint blinked “You destroyed an Infinity Stone? Are you completely insane?!”

“It’s better than someone tracking down all six stones and billions of lives being erased.” Carol replied honestly “I used a lot of power fighting Thanos and destroying the stone… but I’m still kicking.”

“Apparently you didn’t do a good enough job, considering there’s a shard of it left.” Nick stated

“Hey, I did what I could.” Carol defended “Where is the shard, anyway?”

“Inside him.” Sam replied pointing at the television

Carol turned and looked at the screen with the others. Daniel was still sitting on the bench of the module, the jacket he had been wearing next to him, folded in military precision. Daisy felt horrible that Daniel had been forced to be in there at all.

“Who is he?” Carol asked

Nick got up out of his chair and walked over to a small table, where a black laptop bag was sitting. Nick opened the bag and pulled out an old SHIELD file and tossed it onto the table where the others were seated.

“Daniel Jordan Sousa. Born 1919 in Twin Falls, Idaho. During World War Two, he joined the 28th Infantry Regiment of the Army and served as a reconnaissance scout. At the Siege of Bastogne, he was hit in the right femur by shrapnel, the injury resulting in an amputation. According to the files, he spent the rest of his life with a false leg, using a crutch to steady himself… and later a wooden cane.” Nick said “He became an agent of the SSR and investigated the claims of Howard Stark being an enemy of the United States. The reports state that Sousa was even exposed to Midnight Oil once.”

Tony shifted in his seat “Not the best idea the old man had…”

“After Stark was cleared, Sousa was promoted to Chief and sent to California to start a branch of the SSR on the West Coast. He assisted Peggy Carter with another high-stakes mission, which surprise-surprise… involved Howard Stark in some way.” Nick went on “After that, Sousa joined SHIELD as the SSR was absorbed into it, he was appointed as the West Coast Security Chief. Of course, I left out his brief fling with Carter because it’s not important, just like the Captain’s fling with the woman.”

Steve viably bristled and narrowed his eyes to Nick. But Natasha placed a hand on the soldier’s shoulder, her thumb rubbing into the muscle. Steve understood the silent words and let himself calm down a bit.

“According to the files, Sousa was dropping off vital information to a contact at a hotel. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed in 1955.” Nick finished “So it’s quite the surprise to see him alive and well… with a shard of the Power Stone in his heart.”

Carol blinked as she looked at the file, she moved one of the papers, the picture on the front catching Daisy’s eye. It showed the same face she had been seeing the past couple days, but in black and white.

“So… it seems that we have quite the situation on our hands, due to a piece of the Power Stone surviving your asinine actions, Danvers.” Nick grunted