#someday when I have to clear my brain of useless information to make room for things that are actually important

[c4p7ch4]

[hallowedmuses]

𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭: 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞.

SUMMARY:  With little to go on regarding Daisy’s kidnapping, Deke brings together a ragtag team of agents to help him search for Daisy. Clues in the camera footage lead the team to unlock Natasha’s memories of a pervious mission gone wrong that proves useful in locating Daisy Johnson in there here and now. TRIGGERS: Manipulated memories, brain washing, violence mentions WRITTEN WITH: @oflokismischief , @ofdcniels , @oflemcns , @ronniestvns, @daisyljohnson (mentions of)

DEKE: So Daisy was a badass. Not just a badass, but the badass. But just because she was a badass, didn't mean she was invulnerable. Maybe not as vulnerable as the average Joe, but Daisy had her vulnerabilities nonetheless. He knew firsthand, having been in her body when he was. Having been in her body and gotten her kidnapped, that is. Now, having returned to their own bodies, kidnapped she remained while he roamed free. A shitty deal for her he'd wager. His memory wasn't 100% on all that had occurred, but he'd tried to gather what he could. Including the best agents and biggest badasses he knew (or had previously known of) all together to rescue the director of shield. "So Daisy... kind of super kidnapped right now. Kind of my fault." Super his fault. "So how do we do this-- the whole rescue thing." He was used to being kidnapped, not on the opposite side of the spectrum as the rescuer.

NATASHA: She ran her fingers through her hair as she glanced at the team Deke had collected. She'd spent the morning questioning the kid and didn't get much. The list of people who had a vendetta against Daisy Johnson was long. Any number of people could've taken her. Deke didn't seem to know much about the people that had taken him while he occupied Daisy's body but he was able to give Natasha his last known location before the kidnapping and a rough timestamp of when the kidnapping might've occurred. "I pulled CCTV footage from various cameras around the location where Deke was taken when he was Daisy," she explained to the team. "We need to start cataloging it. Any faces that you see in the footage we need to identify because they could be potential witnesses. Pull license plates, even partials can be useful. Tattoos, piercings, birthmarks, presence of a limp, any apparent injuries...they can all lead us to witnesses or to the perpetrators themselves. It's gonna be a long day so be prepared to be here a while."

DANIEL: When Daniel had found out Daisy was missing, no... taken, he was furious and stormed into Mack's office practically demanding to be a part of the rescue effort. If i hadn't stayed in the other timeline I could have been with her... helped prevent this... he sighed quietly from his place against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he studied the screens. This was something he could do, look over photos- footage and mark anything important, he'd done it for years and it gave him something to focus on other than Daisy being tortured again. He turned his gaze away from the screens and over to the woman, Natasha, as he stepped closer to the group "Just point me where you want me ma'am. I'm not leaving until Daisy is back."

Loki: Was one of the first people to notice her disappearance, Daisy and him had schedule a couple meetings that she didn't attend. Being called to this little joint recuse mission was something he demanded to be a part of. He looked to Nat knowing she'd be ideal to lead this mission after having plenty of a experience. The Footage would be key in understanding who planned this attack any little thing could go unnoticed when it came to watching things. "I agree the CCTV footage would be our best route to figure out just who we are dealing with, with all of us cataloging what we noticed I'm sure it will be quite easy to piece together the necessary information that we can run against the SHIELD Database." He mused agreeing with Nat before turning towards the somewhat new face he hadn't seen since that time in the dinner. "Good to know Mr. Sousa, It might be a little fast paced for you watching live CCTV but if you require any assistance I am quite good at muiltasking"

Jemma was concerned. No one had any idea yet on who had taken Daisy and it had been at least a few hours. She looked around at everyone who was in the room unsure of what to think about them. She knew Daisy trusted these people but some gave her slight weariness.  She stood to the side of Deke listening as everyone spoke, finding that she agreed with the decision. "Have you already starting watching the footage?" She asked as her gaze settled on Natasha.

RONNIE: “Sorry I’m late.” Veronica apologized, sliding in to a chair next to Loki. She pulled out her laptop, listening to the conversation as she typed with great passion.  When heard from Deke about Daisy’s kidnapping she felt the need to help in some way. While she wasn’t close to daisy per say, she cared about her a great deal, hoping the two might become good friends someday. “I’ll get started on those background checks while Daniel reviews the footage. Surely there’s got to be some kind of lead there. My A.I. JUSTINE run background the checks as we pull suspects. We won’t rest till we find her.” She agreed. “Have we got any leads so far?”

DEKE: Being surrounded by these super spies and all around badasses was harrowing to say the least. It reminded him of his own mortality (his own uselessness... ) He tried to give them all he could, but his memory was limiting to say the least. It seemed Black Widow (Natasha) had already done more for the investigation than he'd even touched. She reminded him of Daisy as she spoke, so serious and so authoritative. Ma'am. As fun as it would be to make fun of the man out of time (much like himself) it was hardly the situation for such thing. "Me too." He sputtered a bit, struggling to keep up with all going on. "I could help look over the footage or anything you need me on-- I'll help." Help in any sort of way he could, he would give it his all. Maybe it wouldn't be enough, but if nothing else Deke was confident in his scientific mind. He could help that way at least.

NATASHA: "I've only had the opportunity to do a cursory overview of the footage. There's a lot of it. Six adjacent stores have CCTV, but Deke was able to narrow down the time frame to a two hour block window at least," she replied. She knew the kid was nervous. Truth be told, it wasn't entirely his fault. Daisy had a lot of enemies being the Director of SHIELD. Someone must've known she wasn't herself and taken the opportunity to grab her knowing whoever was in her body wouldn't see it coming. Natasha entered her credentials into the system and pulled up footage from six different CCTV cameras, all timestamped within the same time frame. She then shared the camera views with everyone in the room. "Deke, you're with me. We'll start combing through footage on Camera A and B. Loki and Daniel you can take C and D. And Veronica and Jemma you can take E and F. If any of the traces you run get a match, please let the team know."

Natasha watched as everyone broke out into their teams to survey the footage found. “Alright, lemon boy,” Yeah, she knew about the lemons. She did her homework on Deke Shaw. “I’ll take Camera A and you take Camera B.” Natasha pulled out two legal pads and a few pens to hand over to him. She pushed play on her footage and watched it go one loop around at 2x the speed. In the far right corner of the screen, see saw Daisy’s form appear. The footage wasn’t incredibly clear, but she knew Daisy well enough so, she slowed the footage down. Sure enough, a few minutes in, she saw a van pull up. The license plate was obscure from this angle, but she hoped maybe one of the other cameras would pick it up. As the men stepped out of the vehicle, Natasha slowed down the footage more and more. She zoomed into their faces but the faces were obscured by a mask and helmets. The helmet itself seemed familiar in a way. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling she’d seen something like this before. She took a screenshot of the video, trying to get as clear a picture of the masks and helmets as she could, so that she could run a search for gangs that may use similar paraphernalia. It didn’t take long to get the results back. No match.

“This is weird,” she replied as she played back the footage in slow motion to Deke. She was sure she’d seen these helmets before. They were so distinct. “Do you recognize any of them?” she asked him. She could feel the beginnings of a throbbing headache developing. She wasn’t sure if it was the stress of the situation. Natasha was normally calm and collected on missions no matter who’s life was on the line purely because their life depended on her being calm and in control. But, right now, she could feel pressure building up in her temples. It was an odd sensation. One she hadn’t felt since...since deprogramming. It was the feeling of blocked memories. Her mind was grasping at old ghosts she couldn’t reach. Where the hell had she seen these helmets before? Why wasn’t it coming back to her?

DANIEL: He nodded at the direction before moving towards Loki "Sir. I assume the basic functionality is the same as what's used on the Zephyr? It's been a few years but I'm a quick study." Daniel sat in front of one of the stations trying to keep himself focused. He'd made promises to Daisy, and staying in the alternate timeline made him break them. He didn't want to stay, but someone had to... they couldn't just leave the chronicoms to run amok there after all. "I can review Camera D if you want to take C." he suggested after pulling himself out of his thoughts. Part of him was hoping that there wouldn't be anything useful on his camera, but he also wanted to see her... even if it was a grainy image.

After they decided on who would review which camera Daniel started scrolling through the footage, albeit a bit of a slow start as he figured out the way the device worked. It was much more advanced than what he'd been using for the past few years, even with working with Stark and Pym technology, the eighties could only do so much. He had to admit, looking for clues and suspects was easier when he could pause and rewind the footage this would have made for shorter nights at the ssr, that's for sure he chuckled quietly at the thought. As he scrolled he glanced over at the other male "How has she been? Apart from getting kidnapped I mean." he chuckled, eyes turning back to the screen "I'm not really sure what exactly I'm trying to ask. She hasn't been running into too many brick walls has she?"

Loki: he couldn't help but smirk at Daniel's response he was definitely going to take a liking to this new man out of time if he kept it up with the sass. "Ooh I love when you call me sir, but I'm merely offering assistance, It's been awhile since you've use equipment, don't worry boy scot I want her back just as bad as you do" he whispered the last part as he took to camera C before quickly running through a basic run through of how to work the buttons in his favor. He needed to find Daisy and stop this torture's he'd failed her once before back when they were an item he swore he'd never do so again.

It was always tiring reviewing camera feeds but anything little thing could've been capture that needed to be addressed so he watched the video waving his hand to have his pen magically catalog the women's movements before looking at the other it was almost adorable the way his worry leaked through as he put together sentence to come out and ask how she was doing. "Daisy as I'm sure you know is a very strong girl who if given a direction would just run full barrel. She had a little incident back with a breech of her trust, in the form of a hydra spy, nothing bad was leaked in term of information but safe to say her circle of friends have greatly stepped up and provide a protective circle around her." He mused knowing there was plenty more but most of it should be Daisy's story to tell all he could do was ensure this Daniel was true to his word. If he ever hurt Daisy like scarlet had no one would be able to stop the pain he'd bring down upon them.  "So all this interest, Do you have intentions towards Miss Johnson?" he smirked.

 JEMMA: Once the recordings were divided out gave a reassuring smile to Deke. "This isn't your fault. We will find her." She then watched him go off with Natasha before turning her attention to Veronica. Another person she didn't know but she supposed that if the  woman was here then she wanted Daisy back just like the rest of them.  "Shall we get started." She went to sit down to start looking through the footage.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

RONNIE: Veronica listened intently, all the while she continued to stare at her laptop, aside from the occasional nod or glance towards the others as teams were assigned with a basic strategy set into place. “Sounds good, best of luck with your footage everyone, we’ll find her.” Veronica added, a look of determination on her eyes. “We shall, the quicker we get through all this, the quicker  we find her.. I really hope she’s okay.” Veronica sighed, a worried look coming over her. “Oh! I’m Veronica by the way, Veronica Wayne. I don’t believe we’ve met.” She extended her hand to her new footage partner.

DEKE: It was intimidating, working with these top agents. Which was almost funny because he felt normal working with Daisy, May, Mack, other top agents. Maybe it'd been that he'd met them on his ground, in his world. Or maybe he just knew them so well that he couldn't bring himself to be scared. Well except maybe of May when she got the kind of pissed that made ever instinct scream RUN. "On it." He wasn't much of a good shot, nor was he particularly brave but at least he was smart. Deke was confident in that much. At least this was something he could actually help with, to which he was grateful. "Thanks Nana." He said, grateful for her confidence in his innocence that he himself sorely lacked.

Lemon boy. Despite himself, despite the situation, Deke couldn't help but feel a lightness at the fact Daisy had actually given such mention of him that Natasha knew his affinity for lemons. Or at least, he presumed Daisy had mentioned it. He tracked through his footage, eager to find Daisy's face (himself, technically, but her face), he looked for familiar looking surroundings as well. Maybe he could stir some memories of where he'd, as Daisy, been taken. Natasha inclined him towards her screen and- "Yeah. Those are the asshats." Though it felt almost rhetorical to say when it was quite obviously them. He wished he had more information to offer, but he'd given as much as he could remember already. Anything else was just wasting time and repeating things.

NATASHA: She sighed deeply, her features taking on a troubled sort of look. “The head pieces,” she replied as she tapped on the screen to magnify it. “I’ve seen them before but the database search is coming back with no results.” Where had she seen it before? Was it the Red Room? She thought she’d unlocked most of her memories from that time. Whatever this was, the feeling of the memory was more recent than her time with the Red Room. Natasha’s expressions grew more stormy. If these memories that she was struggling to grasp onto occurred after she’d already been taken in by SHIELD that meant someone inside of SHIELD had programmed them away. Was she surprised? No. Not everyone in the agency had good intentions. Even after she’d exposed HYDRA’s infiltration of the agency with Steve at the triskelion and even after the agency went through a period of reformation, there were still people within the vast organization that couldn’t be trusted.

Could she trust everyone here? Her eyes glanced around the room. Deke seemed genuine in his concern for Daisy. He came to Natasha directly when he returned to his body. If he wanted to harm Daisy, he wouldn’t have done that. Then there was Daniel Sousa, he was a living legend within the agency, but had time and his absence from the team changed him? Natasha eyed him momentarily and gauged that she could trust him. His concern held a genuine nature - it was hard to fake the kind of concern that his eyes shone whenever Daisy’s name was mentioned. Then there was Loki. Most would doubt the God of Mischief and his alliances, but not Natasha. They’d been through too much together for him to have been playing her this whole time. Jemma, too, had been a long time colleague and proven her worth time and again. Veronica was new to Natasha. She was family to both Bruce and Tony - they’d both vouched for her and from what Natasha could tell she was willing to step up to the plate even though she did not know Daisy as well as the others. Natasha decided that she could trust everyone on this team.

“Loki,” she leaned back in her chair to get a better look at him. “When Daisy and I were out drinking once, she’d mentioned how you helped her retrieve some memories that were taken from her. I think...” Natasha glanced at her screen and then back at Loki. “I think I’ve seen these helmets before but the memory isn’t clear. And I fucking hate the memory machine,” she frowned and made a face. It was painful and while she didn’t mind the pain, she’d very much rather take the alternative option. “You up for some mind spelunking?”

DANIEL couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at loki's comment, the humor reminding him of howard before he met maria "i appreciate the help loki. even with working with stark and pym tech for a few years this is still miles ahead of what we had then." he gave him a smile, nodding before turning back to the footage. daniel wasn't sure exactly what was important so he was noting down license plates for cars that showed up more than once while listening to loki "that's daisy for sure, full of fight." he smiled slightly, shaking his head "i'm sad to hear that happened but i'm glad her friends had her back." his grip on the pencil he was using tightened as he watched the van pull up and grab daisy... deke? no, deke in daisy's body... god, he'd been right in thinking that the further forward in time the worse/weirder things got. he looked away from the screen, pausing the footage, to look at loki again "mack beat you to this conversation, but yes. i do have intentions towards daisy."

Loki: rather liked Daniel if things were so darier he could see himself getting to know the other merely to ensure he had the best intentions for their Daisy.  "You've quickly turned into quite the tech bug, I have to admit its pretty simply looking at footage, once you get over the amazment of the fact that yes we can record people" He mused looking through the footage as the other nodding his head "She is, sometimes even more so then she has the strength to give, she needs someone to catch her when she falls, not many people are like that in this world. So willing to give everything for those they care about, its easy to betray their trust, something I will never allow happen Mr. Sousa " he replied rather pointily before nodding his head 'We will always be there for Daisy, regardless of how hard she tries to push away, I love her dearly" He mused before looking at  the other smirking "Well then, Try to speed up that Courting? we aren't in the 20's anymore and I'm almost positive she likes you." He mused before turning his attention to Natasha as she spoke.

"Yes I did, its quite a process one that takes a very hands on approach to things. I did it for Daisy to help her recover using a tiny bit of information using it as a trail to follow." He explained looking at her screen taking slight notice of the helmets, it'd been awhile since he'd been inside of Daisy's head but he could feel something about the imagine that seem familiar like Nat had said. "My way is a lot less painful, but it gives me access to your mind, whatever we uncover I'll see as well and sometimes it can give you a headache with the rush of information. I'll see and feel everything you'll go through so it's best we ensure no one else tries to interfere or touch either of us." He mused looking at her "Always down if you are Nat."

Jemma gave Veronica a slight smile. "I'm Jemma. Glad you're here." She replied as she sat down next to the woman. Her focus then turned to the videos that they were looking at. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for but she picked out every detail out that she could about the car. Even though she was focused on her side she picked up the ending of the convo between Natasha and Loki. Her gaze turned towards them both. "Will that help?"

Veronica nodded, returning the smile towards Jemma. “Me too.” She agreed, her eyes following the footage. She was glad Deke had come knocking on her door, asking her to assist him with this delicate matter. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt something pulling her to daisy, like she was meant to help rescue the girl, and Veronica never was one to say no when a person was in need. aside from Wayne enterprises, Stark Tech produced the most advanced tracking equipment. Ronnie was the VP of one and one the board of the other so naturally it made sense he’d come to her for help. “Actually, that might be hold them key to finding daisy. I think we should we try it, if your sure your up for it Natasha.” Veronica perked up, both intrigued and excited to see what Natasha’s memories could offer in their search.

DEKE: He watched Natasha, the Black Widow, as she began to figure things out. He wasn't fully following, there was so (too much) he didn't know of. But, one thing he did know for sure, was that everyone here was someone who cared for Daisy. Who had her best intentions at heart and who only wished for her safety. That was all he needed to know. He'd keep watch, see where he could possibly offer his expertise. Though identifying those who had taken him (her, Daisy, technically) he didn't feel all too useful. "They used knock-out gas," It was shown in the video, so perhaps saying it was rhetorical. "So they have had a ton of info on Daisy, right?" There was still a long list of enemies, that didn't cut it down. It was clear this was something planned from the very start. He just wished he could offer something new, something helpful.

He stayed back as the other's went on. Natasha speaking to Loki. It was good that they had a lead, that they could have Loki go into Natasha's mind and uncover more info. Though, he did feel a pang of sympathy for Natasha and Loki both. From what he had remembered from his conversation with Daisy, mind stuff wasn't the greatest. And from the sound of it, it wasn't going to be pleasant for Loki either. Especially not for Natasha. He admired that they could do it without hesitation for Daisy, though he wished the situation hadn't occurred at all. At Loki's mention of no one interfering or touching either of them, Deke made sure to distance himself as far as he could while remaining in hearing range. He knew he had some clumsy tendencies, and he didn't want to risk screwing it up. Grimacing, he said. "Good luck guys." A pause. "Not that you need it because your both badasses and you could for sure do it and know what your doing but uh-" Yeah, he should just stop talking now. "Good luck." He repeated, lamely.

NATASHA: She sighed as she looked at the screen which was paused on the men with the intricate helmets. A design like this that generated absolutely no leads in any of the systems she had access to? It was beyond fishy. Someone was trying to hide something. Not only had they erased whatever it was that they were trying to hide from the computer systems, they'd also erased it from her memory. She was beyond furious. What else had been taken from her memories? What else might've been implanted? She hated this. She thought she'd been done with this phase in her life but here she was again trying to answer the age old question: what part of me do I own and what part of me is someone elses programing? "I was hoping my next surprise trip would be Greece, but I guess a trip down memory lane works just as well," she replied with an easy sort of calmness as she looked up a Loki. "Never mind the skeletons then."

 The method might've been new to her, but she knew the drill by now. She grabbed a few of the wireless heart rate monitor straps and secured them around her chest. Despite the stress of the situation, her heart rate remained steady with no signs of elevation. "Alright, gang," she looked at the team. "Guess that leaves you guys on make sure I don't end up in a coma filled with my worst memories duty. When I get out of this, someone remind me to demand a raise," she winked before taking a seat across from Loki. "This ought to be fun. I'm assuming it works like the memory machine? Focus on what I've forgotten and you'll bippity boppity boo your way through my mind like a tour guide?"

Loki: Had little issue using his powers to help find Daisy, this brand of magic took a lot out of him but if there was a chance at getting Daisy back by unlocking Natasha's Memories it was something he had to try. He looked at the other chuckling softly "They must enough to know not to take her conscious even if Deke was in her body he could've taken them down by mistake." He mused looking at the other this process would be hard on them both but this information proved that it was a hit by someone who know just what Daisy was capable of. "After this I'll take you to Greece personally, tell Clint we are on  recon mission." He teased looking at her "I've got you" He whispered only for her to hear.

He watched her get everything ready moving to take off his suit jacket knowing that he'd have to be pretty comfortable before moving to place his hands on either side of Nat's head. "Yes focus completely on that memory, and anything about it feelings, smells i need you to try and paint me a picture from there I'll find the cord to pull and we'll unlock this door. It's extremely important that no one touches me if something happens, if I break the connection I could loose Natasha" He addressed everyone in the room before looking at the other ensuring she was ready before closing his eyes as his hands glowed green waiting for Natasha to start remembering.

Jemma: She realized pretty quickly that although she would've been helpful with any medical issues that might surface, the process they were doing involved things that might've been beyond her knowledge,  at least for now. Magic was just science that they didn't understand yet after all, and while this would have been a prime opportunity to observe such magic and try to understand it better, she received a message that made her unable to stay. Fitz needed her help with Alya back at home. She would've felt guilty for not helping as much as she could with finding a way to save Daisy, but in this situation, her help wasn't really necessary until they knew what was in Natasha's memories anyways.

She walked over towards Agent Sousa. "I know this must all be very hard on you, arriving here in the middle of this," she said, keeping her voice quiet, so as not to break the concentration between Loki and Natasha. "I have to see to my daughter, but I'm sure we'll find Daisy soon. She's strong, and I imagine that reconnecting with you will make all of this a little more bearable for her. She'll be delighted to see you. Take care, Agent Sousa." She moved towards the door closer to where Deke was. "Fitz and Alya need me, but just call me and let me know what happens, please?" she asked him. "You did a good job organizing all of this, but don't let it get into your head that this is your fault, okay? Daisy will need everyone clear-headed for this, but I know you'll help them figure things out." She gave him a quick hug. "You'll do great. I'll see you later," she said before departing out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

RONNIE: Watching Jemma exit, Ronnie turned back towards Natasha and Loki, nodding silently as she stood up, going to man the door to ensure no one interrupted them. While she knew she couldn’t be of any real assistance,  she still chose to stay and offer moral support to Deke if nothing else. Plus, she was intrigued to see how Loki memory surfing with Natasha would go. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m recording this, strictly for the archives.” She pulled up the holo pad on her watch, setting the camera to record. “Hey, relax..” She looked at Deke, resting her free hand on his arm. “Natasha and Loki have been through this before, they’ll find something to help us get to Daisy.” She offered him a smile of assurance before turning back to watch.

NATASHA: "I'm not picky. If we can't go to Greece, I'll take Asgard." She was probably going to need to get nice and drunk after this. Knowing the fact that your mind and memory were manipulated was never an easy pill to swallow. She nodded when Loki said he had her. "I trust you," she replied as she made herself comfortable for what was sure to be an uncomfortable experience. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating on the memory of the intricate headpieces. She could feel Loki's hands above her almost guiding her mind from memory to memory. It was like doors opening and closing in her head until her mind latched onto one particular memory.

The Kingdom of Latveria. She was here on some kind of mission. What was it again? Something off books, no doubt but not for herself. She remembered. Fury believed that Latveria and their prime minister Lucia von Bardas were supporting terrorism by equipping B-List super villains with high-tech equipment. So, he gathered a team that included both Natasha and Daisy and they broke into Castle Doom. Natasha could see it now almost as if she was relieving it. They were fighting their way through to get to Lucia, and then Daisy...Natasha gasped and gripped the seat of her chair as Loki pushed the memory further. He heart rate ticked slightly higher than usual. She could see Daisy with this glazed look in her eyes that Natasha now recognized as one associated with brainwashing. Daisy wasn’t in control, someone else was. She watched as her friend quaked the country and wrecked into near oblivion, presumably killing Lucia in the process.

When the dust settled, they turned on Fury. They were all rightfully angry at him for tricking them into being a part of this, but he didn’t want to face his own shame. Instead, he wiped both the records and the minds of all those involved, herself included. She never wanted to be a part of this and neither did Daisy. It looked like their involvement in it was now coming back to bite them in the ass. As the memory faded, Natasha felt herself resurface. The room came back into focus and she found herself staring up at Loki’s face. “Lucia von Bardas,” she replied as she sat up. “I need someone to pull up her last known whereabouts now.”

DANIEL: he didn't want to hover, it wasn't really his place seeing as daniel didn't really know natasha or loki, but they were important to daisy which, by proxy, made them important to him... so he wanted to hover and make sure everyone was okay. delving into someone's memories, in his extremely limited experience was not an easy task, but if daisy trusted loki to look in her head then daniel would trust that he had the knowledge to do it again. he forced himself to stay by the computer he'd been using earlier hoping he'd be able to look up anything helpful if the two discovered anything. daniel hoped what little he'd been shown on the zephyr combined with working with stark and pym for a few year and what he'd been shown so far would be enough for him to help. right now, being so out of his element, he felt a little useless but he wasn't going anywhere until daisy was back safe. hearing the name, daniel started typing "i have to say, this is a lot easier than going through files in some basement." he chuckled before opening the file that was pulled up. "ok, lucia von bardas. former prime minister of latveria... looks like she attacked shield hq and was focused on attacking some heroes. she was captured but broke out and stole a hellicarrier to make her escape." daniel looked over to natasha "i assume you and daisy were part of the group she was attacking."

Loki: chuckled softly at how jovial Natasha was being if anything it was good she was in a joking mood it helped to allow him access to her mind. "Fine by me, I'll have them waiting on you hand and foot like the princess you are" he mused nodding his head as they began his mind reading, he'd give her the lead it was always less painful that way when the one's who's mind he invaded lead them through the rooms that seem more familiar.  It was only when her memory tried to fight back did he have to push throw following the thread, who ever messed with Natasha's mind had done a piss poor job of it, he was able to unravel plenty missing spots from the memory of the latveria. The Brainwashing he wasn't surprised to find out it was Fury who done this to Nat, he never felt such rage until he learned just what this man thought he could do with his power. Once they'd learned what they needed he started bringing Nat out of her memories and back to the surface feeling weaker then he had in awhile as he let his hands drop away breaking their connection as he turned to look at daniel to ensure he got the information before making a glass of water appear in front of Nat "Drink it all before you return to kicking ass and taking names okay?" he replied a shared moment between them.  

NATASHA: She must've sat up too quickly because she was seeing stars. Being back in the here and now was jarring, but she tried to focus on what Daniel was saying. She nodded as he read through the details of the Lucia's last known whereabouts. Natasha remembered the attack on SHIELD HQ, but she wasn't in charge of the interrogation of Lucia nor was she there when the woman escaped. She now realized Fury had kept her out of that on purpose. He didn't want her to remember their infiltration of Latveria. Natasha felt Lok thrust a drink into her hands. She reluctantly chugged it before taking a seat at one of the computers. She pulled up the file Daniel was looking at and found the serial number for the Hellicarrier. If it was active, she could find it. She had enough of a clearance level to access the satellite feeds triangulate its coordinates. "There." She pointed on the map. "You'll find her there. We need a team ready for search and rescue efforts." She swiveled back in the chair to look at them. "Who's in and who's staying here to monitor this thing in case they decide to take it for a test flight." /

DANIEL: he stood from the computer, looking at both loki and natasha. there was a snowball's chance in hell that he'd be sitting this out, daniel was going in and was gonna help pull daisy out even if he lost his other leg in the process. "where ever daisy is that's where i'm going to be. i know you don't know me but i've got your back, whatever it takes." while daniel had no idea what he'd be walking into, even if he had 500 miles, he was going to help get daisy back. "mack can vouch for me and i'm happy to go through whatever tests you'd like."

Loki: He keeps his eyes on Natasha to ensure there wasn't any side effects to his mind reading so far she seemed alright which he was quite grateful for given how much he'd come to care about the other. He left her be when she downed the water without issue before following her to the monitor to look over the file Daniel had pulled it, it was exactly like the men from Nat's memories so he knew they'd finally figured it out.  He couldn't help but smirk looking at the other "It's been quite awhile since I've bathed in the blood of my enemies, I think I might try my hand at Field work" he mused looking around at the other, if anything they could handle the extraction without issues. "I will vouch for the fossil who hasn't wanted to see history come alive before." he smirked teasing the other.

DEKE: When Sousa mentioned Mack as a someone to vouch for him, Deke gave a look. "I could vouch for you too," He'd been there too, he'd seen the badass-ry Daniel was capable of. He remembered him carrying Daisy into the ship, remaining by her side all that time, all the googly eyes between them both. However he deflated at the realization perhaps his vouch meant nothing at all, Sousa was probably still pissed at him too so- "He is very badass on the badass scale. Killed lots of Chronicom." Maybe it went different in the other versions reality, but Deke remembered vividly the badassary of Sousa, Daisy, and Mack together after they rescued him and Nana. So, regardless of hos much it was worth, he put his vouch out there.

Deke knew he wasn't all too much good in a fight. Sure he was scrappy, he SURVIVED from being scrappy in his own timeline. But this timeline had a very different set of rules, and he wasn't nearly so as attuned to it. Regardless of that, like hell he was going to sit back and do nothing. "You'll need a science person in case you run into something science-y." Bullshit, and these very smart secret agents and god-like beings probably knew it too. "I could science." While survival in this world consisted of things he wasn't used to, it was also full of new things he never had access to. Things he could put together, take apart, and make into other things. If there was one thing Deke was confident about himself it was his ability to make something out of nothing. That was his life in a nutshell back in the light house. Now he had actual things to make stuff from. Maybe they didn't need him, but he would insist to come either way. Hopefully, he'd be of use. Worst come to worst, at least they'd have a human shield if they needed one. "Actually it's more of engineering, but I'm pretty sure that's under the science scope." He added, a bit sheepish.

RONNIE: “Oh, you bet your asses I’m in.” Veronica was the last to speak up, but her voice was full of willful determination none the less. This wasn’t her first trek into the unknown to help rescue a fellow agent, friend, of person of importance. She was agile, as well as tech smart, and could certainly hold her own in a fight. She felt she could be a good assistance in helping to rescue Daisy due to her multitude of skills, and she felt like she owed it to her boss to help save her. Looking around, she saw several friends and a few acquaintances whom she was sure would become friends by the end of this. . “No offense to Deke, but I think I should handle the Scientific part of all this since that’s more of my department, and you, my friend, can on the engineering aspects of all this.” Ronnie kindly suggested as she stepped forward to look at region Natasha was pointing at  meant not malice towards him with her words. “Shall we suit up now, or later? I’m ready when you are.”  

NATASHA: She'd made plenty of time for herself to do research on each member of the team whom she hadn't had the pleasure of working with before (what else was she supposed to do with her time when she couldn't sleep?). This included Daniel. She knew what he was capable of but it was, dare she say, cute seeing this many people vouch for him. "I believe you, blue shirt," she nodded and patted him on the shoulder. Loki and Veronica both seemed ready to throw down, but Deke was more reserved. She understood some agents weren't necessarily field agents. That didn't make them useless. Natasha was a field agent but she was also a handler. Her job was to assess the attributes of each one of her agents and determine where their skills best fit. "Actually, I'll need someone to be the eyes and ears. Ronnie, will you run communications for us? I'll need you to hack into the surveillance system of Lucia's helicarrier and tell me what's coming." She didn't like turning corners and being surprised by what she was met with so coms was the best assistance to avoid that. "Deke, I'm going to need you in medical bay. I don't know what kind of condition Daisy will be in once we get to her. I'll need you to have the Hyperbaric Chamber up and ready." She turned to address Loki next. "I'm going to need you to wake Clint up from his beauty sleep. It's time to work for a living. I'll go get the plane ready. Everyone meet me back here in 20 minutes so we can get started."

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Vital Signs, pt26

Word Count: 2213 Tags: @to-pick-ourselves-up-7 @outside-the-government, @jimfromsales, @donnaintx, @enterprisewriting @starmission @supermoonpanda @rayleyanns @sistasarah-sallysaidso @flirtswithdanger @anyakinamidala

Physio had me on a treadmill down in the gym, walking slower than molasses during a cold spell. I tried to sneak the speed higher, but Matt smacked my hand and dropped the pace again. I shot him a glare.

“You don’t scare me. Who do you think helped the Widow learn to walk again?” Matt asked, as though I knew what the fuck he was talking about. I continued to glare, plodding along like an old woman after a hip replacement. I scratched absently at my arm, and then dropped my hand, remembering not to touch.

The DNA test results had not come back yet. SHIELD apparently kept a dermatologist on staff at the Hub though, and he came to take a look at me. He’d concluded that it was frostbite. And other than that had largely been completely useless. Between the lack of answers about what was going on with my body and the over cautious treatment of my in physio, I was so frustrated I wanted to scream. I looked down at my arm. It was still red, but had started to peel in large flakes. So gross.

I tore my gaze away from the mess on my arm and focused on the monitor. My heart rate was steady and low. I’d been on the treadmill for fifteen minutes and wasn’t even close to feeling like I was exerting myself. I growled under my breath.

“Hungry?” Matt asked, glancing up from the tablet he was charting my progress on.

“Bored out of my mind. Please. Let me run. I was running 10k a day. I know I can run. I feel fine,” I complained. Matt sighed and pursed his lips.

“Push it up until you’ve doubled your current speed,” he consented. I bumped my speed up, but was still only walking briskly. I kept at that pace for five minutes and looked up at the monitor. My heart rate had barely moved.

“I’m going to run now,” I told Matt, and pushed the speed on the treadmill up to my usual running pace. He stood up and perched cautiously beside me, I guess thinking to catch me if I suddenly collapsed. I honestly expected to feel winded after five minutes, but I was feeling great. I glanced at the monitor and saw that my heart rate had finally started to rise, but it was still lower than it should have been. I found a spot on the wall and kept running, setting the treadmill for ten kilometres. I stared at the spot, focusing on it instead of the itching in my arm. After twenty minutes, Matt stepped back from the treadmill. He stayed standing by me, but wasn’t as guarded. At thirty minutes, he had relaxed. By forty minutes, he was sitting back in his chair, watching me keenly and making notes in my chart. The program cycled down and stopped after I’d been running for about an hour. I was tired, but not any worse than before the surgery.

“Stretch out and then sit. I want to assess you,” Matt ordered me. I worked through a cool down and then sat in the chair he’d vacated. He checked my vital signs manually, then checked them a second time.

“I feel pretty good,” I offered. Matt nodded.

“You shouldn’t though. You shouldn’t be able to do what you just did.” He was dumbfounded.

“But I did. And until Fury gets some answers on the tests he’s having run, we just need to listen to my body,” I shrugged. I was much calmer about this genetic corruption than I should have been. I should have been freaking right out.

“I feel rather stupid requesting you sit in your wheelchair to head back to the unit, but it is protocol.” Matt motioned toward the wheelchair. I rolled my eyes and sat. Matt pushed me back to the elevator and then back to my room. I moved from the wheelchair to the bed and laid back, suddenly tired.

“You overdid it. You’re exhausted.”

“I have always loved a nap after a run. I’m sure you’ll hear if there is ill effects from today’s experiment,” I smiled and closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep. I wasn’t dreaming about the Destroyer or New York anymore, but instead had dreams of snow and mountains. They weren’t unpleasant dreams, but confusing. The snowcapped mountains I saw in my dreams were like none I’d ever seen at home, and I’d really never seen any mountains that compared to the Canadian Rockies. The mountains in my dreams were jagged, and larger somehow. I awoke cold, goose bumps tracing across my skin. My arm tingled painfully.

Director Fury was sitting in the chair beside my bed, reading a romance novel that Steve had brought me. The look on his face was priceless. He was completely engrossed, yet looked completely disgusted. I cleared my throat and he snapped the book closed.

“Interesting choice in literature for a doctor who finished with distinction,” he commented as he put it back on my bedside table. I smiled.

“Can’t always be medical journals.” My laugh was unashamed. Fury leaned back in the chair and stared up at the ceiling.

“Matt says you’re progressing at an unnatural speed.” He didn’t make eye contact with me. I nodded anyhow, forgetting that he might not notice the gesture with his bad eye facing me.

“I feel good.”

“We have preliminary results on the DNA samples we took from you.” He clicked into the lab results section of the tablet he was carrying, and handed it to me. They’d taken a sample from my mouth and a sample from my arm. The lab app showed all my results. Initially they looked fine. But then I noticed there were discrepancies between the two samples.

“These have been messed up,” I stated. Fury shook his head.

“No. I personally took them to the lab, and sat with them for the initial processing. And compared to the results we have on file for you, there’s some disparities,” he started.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Richmond, that your first sample, your historic sample, the one we took when you were recruited, is enough different from your most recent swab that you don’t even qualify as related to yourself anymore,” he explained. The tablet slipped from my fingers, landing with a dull thump in my lap.

“That isn’t possible.”

“It is possible. You are sitting here as proof of that. The lab is currently cross-referencing your sample against other known samples. They were able to rule out exposure to Captain Rogers immediately. Some of the nucleotides in your DNA strand have never been seen before in a human,” Fury explained. He was somehow softer than he usually was, which made me think he had more bad news. And really, the reality was that Director Fury didn’t interact like this in every SHIELD employee’s life. He got involved for big stuff only. The amount I’d seen him over the past year should have been setting off warning bells long before now.

“So this genetic corruption didn’t come from Steve.” I made that logical leap. It was really more of a tiny logical shuffle in one direction. He nodded.

“No. The Captain is not at fault here,” Fury agreed.

“Wait, you said the nucleotides had never been seen in a human. But they’ve been seen somewhere?” My head was spinning.

“A quick and dirty reference pool matched one of the alien nucleotides in our database.”

“To whom?”

“You’re not going to be happy about this, Dr. Richmond.” Fury was avoiding giving over the information. I scratched absently at my arm, frustrated. And then I stopped scratching because I knew.

“This fucking frostbite. Loki,” I breathed.

“It is only one nucleotide of eight,” Fury offered.

“There are only four nucleotides that make up human DNA.”

“Well, you have eight at play now.”

“And one of them matches Loki.” I could feel myself growing so very angry.

“Yes. The extra four probably all do, Richmond.”

“I will kill that motherfucker with my bare goddamn hands.”

“I hope to someday give you that chance, Doctor.” Fury stood, and picked the tablet up from where I’d dropped it on the bed.

“When can I be discharged?” I asked.

“I don’t follow,” Fury replied.

“I ran 10 kilometres today and barely broke a sweat. I don’t need physio. I could be set up for outpatient check ups at any hospital with a neurology department. I know I’m not supposed to be back to work for a while, but I’d rather be at home. Back to some sort of routine that doesn’t have me languishing in an uncomfortable hospital bed,” I explained. Anything would be better than a plastic mattress. Fury nodded.

“I’ll see what Dr. McAndrews has to say.”

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon, and there was just nothing that felt quite as good as a run through Central Park. After a battery of testing to make sure my brain was decompressing properly, Dr. McAndrews acceded that I could be discharged to outpatient services at Midtown General. I would be going for neuro check-ups every other day, and was to check in with physio once a week. The freedom felt so good.

My apartment was dusty and in need of airing, so I’d flung open the curtains and windows and decided a run was in order. The feel of my feet against familiar pavement was refreshing after months on the helicarrier. It felt solid, and real. There was some serious joy welling in my chest, and I picked up my pace on the back five kilometres of my run. I checked my timer when I ran up the stairs of the apartment and was astonished. My time was four minutes faster than my previous record, which was when Steve and I were running every day. I stared at the red handprint on my arm and wondered what else was going to come up as result of this DNA corruption Loki had inflicted on me.

The hot water of the shower streamed down my body and as I lathered my hair, I felt the stitches in the back of my head, and admired how little of my hair Dr. McAndrews had needed to shave for the surgery. If there was anything I was prideful about, it was my hair. Long, wavy and an auburn red that usually defied categorization, it had always been my best feature. I rinsed the shampoo out and conditioned before deciding to shave my legs.

I didn’t hear the guy come into the bathroom, but when he pulled back the shower curtain, all the extra work with Natasha that I’d been doing before my surgery paid off. I stood over the intruder, my knee in the centre of his chest, and arm cocked back, ready to punch. There was soap in my eyes, and I tried to blink it out before he got the upper hand. And then he started laughing.

“For fuck’s sake, Steve! You scared the shit out of me!” I stood up and hopped back into the shower, chilled. He quickly stripped down and joined me. He kissed the back of my neck and wrapped his arms around me.

“I was aiming for pleasant surprise. I’m impressed. Obviously the work with Natasha has paid off.”

I rinsed off, and grabbed a towel. Steve came out into the living room with a towel around his waist as I was pulling a t-shirt on. He pulled me into a close hug and just held me for a few minutes. I relaxed into his arms.

“How long are you here?” I looked up at him. He smiled.

“Long enough to move us into a 2 bedroom on the fourth floor. Before you pick another fight with me, Lex, hear me out. We’re both permanently stationed here in New York. You can have your own bedroom, we can say we’re roommates if you are uncomfortable with the idea of living together. That’s the reason I requested a 2 bedroom. It means that when we are both on leave we actually can spend time together. We won’t always be working in the same places.” He spoke quickly. I smiled.

“I wasn’t going to pick a fight. I thought Stark was planning residences in Stark Tower?” I asked. Steve nodded.

“He’s calling it Avengers Tower these days. I’m not quite reading to move in there. Are you?” He asked. I laughed and extricated myself from his embrace. I sat on the couch. Steve walked over to my fridge, opened it, made a disgusted noise and closed it.

“I’m not the Avenger,” I answered.

“You’ve been home for a day and you haven’t gone shopping yet.” He changed the topic.

“I was going after my run.”

“It’s a good thing you have me to take care of you, sunshine. Let’s go get some groceries while the movers get started.” He disappeared back into the bathroom to get dressed. As if on cue, there was a knock on my door. I let them in and Steve gave them instructions for my apartment and his, and handed over keys for both of them and the new place.