Chapter Text
Chapter One
‘The Recruit’
From the moment she was born, she was convinced she was cursed. Not in some melodramatic ‘woe is me’ complex, but truly, undeniably, cursed.
At least, that’s what everyone had told her. The foster system was like a seesaw. One minute you’re up in the air, and the next, you’re crashing onto the ground. Your legs ache as you try to push yourself back up. Anything for that fleeting moment of pure adrenaline, when you could just swear you’re flying.
She spent a painful amount of time on that seesaw.
Some families were better than others. Some were suitable, some were kind. Others were worse, but she chose not to dwell on them. It didn’t matter, because none of them were permanent. It always ended with her shoving her things into a trash can, and refusing to look back as CPS loaded her into the back of another car.
She heard what they whispered about her as well. Even used her computer to read some of the files. ‘Cursed’ or ‘haunted’ constantly popped up. That was something the girl couldn’t deny. The inexplicable glass tipping over and falling. The occasional earthquake that rocked only the house she was staying in. Even when the lights flickered, it was never a power outage. Just another finger in her face, an adult asking what horrible occult demon she had summoned. She never responded.
So imagine Daisy Johnson’s surprise when a man sat down with her one day and called her something else. Inhuman.
She could recall this memory vividly. Daisy was ten, legs swinging from the booth seating as she scarfed down the cheeseburger the mysterious man had ordered. He didn’t look friendly, but her assigned social worker looked like she’d seen a ghost when he demanded to speak with her. The next thing Daisy knew, she was sitting in the run down diner, her foot tapping absentmindedly to the music that grated out of the jukebox.
“So are you a pirate?” Daisy finally asked. The man tilted his head. He leaned forward, expression serious. His patch hid one of his eyes, but the other one was staring intently at her. Daisy had a feeling she was being sized up.
She knew this feeling very well. When the other foster kids in the house would stare her down, wondering how much they could push her around. Daisy would either have to meet their gaze, or kick them in the groin. She opted for the first choice with this man, considering she had noticed the gun resting at his side.
“I’m Nick Fury,” the pirate man - Nick - introduced.
Daisy took another bite of her burger. She chewed for a few moments, her brows furrowing, like she was thinking about something really important. “I can’t tell if that’s the coolest or corniest name I’ve ever heard.”
She braced herself for the man to yell at her. Instead, he propped his elbows on the edge of the table. The corner of Nick’s mouth twitched upwards. Clearly he could take a joke.
“I think you are a very talented individual, Miss Johnson,” Nick continued, undeterred by her remark.
“Uh…thanks?” Daisy frowned. She certainly didn’t feel like a ‘very talented individual’. She felt like a ten year old girl that yelped whenever an automatic toilet flushed while she was still sitting down.
Nick cleared his throat. “I believe, considering your abilities, you might pose a risk to any civilian homes you stay in. SHIELD can take custody of you for the time being, until you’ve had proper training.”
Daisy dropped the fry she was holding. Her brain was sputtering out like a failed car engine. She blinked a few times, glancing around the diner. When she was sure a camera crew wasn’t going to run out and yell something like ‘Ha! You just got Punk’d!’, Daisy fixed her attention back to Nick.
“Hang on, abilities? Listen dude, I think you got the wrong kid,” Daisy stammered quickly, “I’m barely passing math right now.”
“Also, kidnapping kids is illegal,” she added, although her voice lacked its usual bite, “And I don’t need a shield. What is this, Game of Thrones?”
Nick held up a hand and she fell silent. Damn, he was good. He raised a brow, clearly unimpressed with her ramblings. “First off, you’d be given shelter, food, training, and anything else you’d need back at SHIELD. Secondly, SHIELD is a government agency meant for global peacekeeping. We identify and neutralize potential threats.”
“Neutralize?” Daisy repeated nervously, her face turning a shade paler. “So if I’m like…on your radar, why don’t you just lock me up somewhere? If I’m a potential threat.”
“Because you haven’t done anything wrong,” Nick responded, his voice getting just the slightest bit softer (if even possible for the John Wick reincarnate). “And I believe we can give you stability, and a better future than the one you’re aiming at now.”
She mulled over the offer. And by that, Daisy was actually just gulping down the strawberry milkshake the waitress had dropped off. It was an unexpected offer. A pro would be not having to move from shitty house to shitty house. A con was…well, she’d be working for the government. Daisy was many things, but a super spy wasn’t one of them.
“How do you even know about me?” Daisy finally asked, “I didn’t even know I had powers, I just thought I had really bad luck.”
Nick leaned back in the booth. He exhaled deeply, like he was weighing how much to share. ‘Cool dude,’ Daisy thought internally, ‘Just use your mental scale to figure out how to explain to a ten year old why you’re offering her government employment after tracking her down to butt fuck middle of nowehere Kansas.’
“Your biological mother passed away a few weeks ago,” Nick said bluntly, “When she was…inspected, we found DNA that didn’t resemble the typical human physiology.”
Oh. Cool. Daisy stopped drinking her milkshake. This guy just told her that her mother was dead, like he was discussing the weather. Luckily for him, Daisy hardly knew the woman. All she knew was that she was born and then promptly dumped off outside a hospital. So maybe she shouldn’t have felt as gutted as she did.
“Thanks for breaking the news gently,” Daisy forced out, hating the hoarseness of her own voice. It was the only way she knew how to survive or cope. Humor was an excellent distraction, and she preferred that over…anger.
Nick cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but you would have found out eventually,” he explained quietly, “But her DNA was something we’d never seen before. The scientists have called it Inhuman. Nearly human, but with some extra…abilities.”
“We believe that these powers have been passed on to you, in your DNA,” Nick continued, “Which is why we wanted to find you before any other third parties could.”
“So you tell me my mom is dead,” Daisy started slowly, “That other people might try to track me down and - what? That I’m a superhero? Like - like Iron Man?”
“That man is hardly a superhero,” Nick grumbled.
“No, seriously!” Daisy’s voice was rising, “I think you’re full of shit!” Her hands were gripping the edge of the table, knuckles going white. Nick tensed slightly. She didn’t miss his right hand resting on his gun now.
“You hear me?” she yelled. Then, a deafening boom shook the diner. Daisy could hardly process it behind all of the tears and white hot rage. It wasn’t until she noticed a waitress diving under a table that she snapped out of it.
It looked like a tornado had swept through the place. Every window had been shattered, shards of glass littered across the floor. The lights hummed, restoring themselves after flickering from the impact. Daisy’s face burned a bright red. Had she done that?
Nick slowly turned to look at her. Yeah, she had done that.
“I didn’t mean to - to do that,” Daisy stammered out. A weak excuse, one that her teachers never believed when she would accidentally blow a door clean off a locker. She braced herself, waiting for Nick’s reprimand.
It never came. He just stared at her, fascinated. “The offer still stands, Miss Johnson,” Nick replied quietly, “I believe with enough training, you could help a great deal of people with your abilities.”
Nick motioned to a sleek black SUV in the parking lot, looking wholly out of place between the beat up pickup trucks and small sedans. Daisy hesitated for a few moments. She then climbed into the backseat.
There was a redheaded woman in the front seat. Daisy could see her sharp blue eyes analyzing her in the review mirror. This was different than when Nick looked at her. Nick saw potential. This woman was trying to figure out whether or not she was a threat.
Luckily, right before Daisy jumped out the car window, Nick slid into the passenger seat beside the woman. “Agent Romanoff, meet Daisy Johnson,” Nick said gruffly.
The woman didn’t say a word. Just shifted the car into drive and peeled out of the parking lot.
“So does everyone get a kickass name?” Daisy blurted out. Nick sighed as he started rubbing his temples, like he was fighting an oncoming headache. “Seriously, you guys have names that sound made up. Who the hell carries a kid in their womb for nine months and is like, ‘Yeah, let’s name him Axel or Killer or Blade!’”
The Romanoff lady’s eyes were trained on the road ahead as she merged onto the highway. However, her voice was a bit lighter when she spoke. “I think Daisy Johnson is a kickass name. As long as you learn how to kick ass.”
Nick shot the woman a side glare, clearly annoyed she was encouraging Daisy. Daisy just blinked a few times. A really cool lady thought that her name was also really cool. She smiled quietly to herself.
She also didn’t miss the smile on Agent Romanoff’s face.