Archive of Our Own ^beta

"You'll never win."

Fitz sniffed a bit at that declaration and shifted in his seat. Then he gave the smallest of smiles, raising a hand to hail one of the guards outside. A big burly man entered the room and stood at attention.

Fitz turned his attention to him. "Divest the prisoner of her clothes."

Daisy huddled in a corner and only understood what was happening when the guard hauled her up to her feet and started pawing away her jacket. She kicked him in the balls and he dropped to the floor, coughing. Her eyes widened and she looked at Fitz. "What are you doing?"

Fitz sniffed and shrugged. "I want to know where your rebel friends are. Tell me, and I won't escalate this further."

Daisy stared at him. "Your father did this to you. Aida twisted your mind. This isn't you, Fitz. This is the framework!"

Fits smiled coldly and stood up, waving at the still-coughing guard to leave them.

"Sir, that's against protocol. We-" the guard never finished that sentence. He fell down dead from a blast to the heart.

Fitz looked at the body with cool disdain, and then Daisy, staring at him in horror. He stood up and shrugged off his jacket, unbuttoning his vest and rolling up his sleeves. Daisy's eyes widened and she began limping away from from him. He reached out and snatched her hair to drag her back.

"Where do you think you're going, Agent Skye?"

Daisy gritted her teeth. "It's Daisy. And you're Leopold Fitz, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not Hydra."

Fitz slammed her into the wall and twisted one arm behind her back. She winced but kept talking.

"This isn't real, Fitz. It's the framework. Aida did this to us."

Fitz's cold blue eyes stared at the side of her face, his head twisted to look at her. "Where are the rest of your rebel friends?"

"What? Are you even listening?"

He gave her a shake to shut her up, and then sighed, flipping her around so that she faced him. "I'm only going to say this once: tell me what you know or I will hurt you so badly that you'll wish you were dead. Your choice."

"I'll never betray my friends. You'll have to kill me."

Fitz nodded slowly, pausing for a moment before speaking. "That's what they all say … before I set to work. They think they're heroes until they're on the floor, bleeding and crying." His cold eyes flickered over her battered face. "You'll be no different."

Without further ado, he hit her hard, right over her left cheekbone, and she fell to the floor. Before she could gather herself, he kicked her in the stomach. Daisy rolled to her side, clutching her abdomen and coughing. Fitz stepped over her, a foot on either side of her body, and then crouched down.

Daisy raised a leg to kick him in the groin but he easily diverted it. Then he was sitting, straddled over her hips. "You're quite pathetic. I'm going to have to see to the recruitment division about who we're letting into Hydra in the future."

Daisy coughed a little more, but managed a small smile. "You're not going to have a future, Fitz. The framework is being destroyed. If you die here, you die in the real world."

"This is the real world." For the first time, Daisy saw a hint of anger and annoyance in his face instead of the usual blank mask. "But why are we still talking? I gave you that chance earlier and you didn't take it." He hit her with the back of his hand across her cheek, snapping her head to the side. "No more talking."

While she was regaining her senses, Fitz's fingers moved nimbly over the button and zipper of her pants, undoing them with ease. He hooked his fingers into the waistband and tugged down hard. Daisy moaned and coughed, spitting blood onto the floor.

"Fitz … don't. Stop."

In response to her pleas, he jerked her pants down all the way, exposing her underwear.

"Black, huh? Figures."

Something cold and sharp was at her hips and she tried to roll away from it, but this Fitz hit hard, and she was still disoriented. Fitz cut away her underwear in just two quick movements and then pulled the material out from between her legs, dumping it somewhere behind him.

Focus, Daisy told herself. This isn't your Fitz. This is a sick, evil Hydra agent who wants to hurt you.

She swung an arm out, her vision still blurry a bit, but managed to connect with Fitz's face. He knocked her arm to the side and then punched her hard in the nose. Her head slammed back, hitting the cold floor with a thud.

When she came to she couldn't move her arms at all and from the waist down she was naked. Blood ran down her nose and the side of her face.

"Oh, good, you're awake. I was hoping you wouldn't be out for too long. Let's get started, shall we?"

Distantly, she could see Fitz moving off the side. Then he came into focus. His shirt was off and his pants were undone. He straddled her once more and then sat back, breathing deeply through his nose.

"It's no use struggling. Even if you do manage to somehow get the better of me, there's a hundred guards between you and the exit. More beyond. You'll never make it."

Then Fitz bent over to--smell her?--and she could feel him between her legs when he did so. A wave of nausea rolled over her, twisting her stomach.

"You're a piece of shit," she gritted out, thrashing around to get away from him. It didn't work.

Fitz didn't care what names she called him. "You could always tell me what I want to know, although let's be honest. I'm still going to have you. I'm rather looking forward to it now."

Faster than she could process what was happening, Fitz moved in between her legs, forcing them open and settling down. His cock probed her center and Daisy gave a little shriek, panic beginning to set in.

"Fitz, please, please don't do this. We're friends. This isn't real," she cried.

A little smile curved his mouth and she realized he liked her begging him. He liked causing pain and torment and torture.

There was no hope for her. Not unless a friend came barging through that door and shot Fitz dead.

He reached a hand between them and she knew what he was doing. Then she felt warmth between her legs, pushing and prodding to seek its own pleasure. Fitz gripped her waist hard, digging his fingers into her soft flesh, under her shirt, and thrust forward once.

She choked out her pain as he filled her, inch by inch. When he was completely inside, he stopped and took a deep breath through his nose, relishing the feeling of being completely surrounded by heat. Daisy squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the look on his face.

He deepened his position, drawing one leg up to the side and bending it so that it moved Daisy's leg and gave him better access. Then he slowly began to move inside her, slowly at first and then faster.

Tears ran down Daisy's face, not just because it hurt, but because she was humiliated and betrayed by one of her best friends. Of course, this wasn't the Fitz she loved. On some level, she did know that. But that knowledge didn't really help her mind right now. It was fracturing, spiraling off into some void where she didn't have to deal with any of this-

A sharp blow to the face snapped her out of it. Fitz's face moved over hers with every thrust. "Don't think you can just block this out. I won't let you."

He thrust harder and faster after that, gripping a chunk of her hair and holding tight. Her body shook every time he entered and withdrew until finally he slowed, giving a few small quick thrusts and then collapsing on top of her. His breathing came in hard and fast and after a moment he chuckled.

"Not bad, Skye. Give me a minute will you?" He slid out of her and began moving away. Hot and sticky warmth spread between her legs. "I'll be ready for round two soon."

She closed hers and turned her head to the side, tears quietly leaking from her eyes and down her face.

XXXXX

They were out and free. The framework was destroyed.

"Fitz!" Jemma saw the man she loved a few feet away in the shadows and ran over to him. He met her halfway and she threw her arms around him.

"Jemma? What happened?"

Daisy noted how small and confused his voice sounded and a part of her was glad. No one knew what he'd done to her in that interrogation room, no one but the two of them.

Fitz lifted his gaze and saw her. Their eyes connected. For just a moment, there was nothing in them. Only confusion. Then she could almost see the moment when memories of his other life started filtering in.

She saw the moment he remembered what he'd done to her. Absolute horror washed over his face and her straightened up, forcing Jemma away from him. He covered his mouth with a hand and started shaking.

"No, no, no, that's not possible," he muttered. "It's not possible."

"Fitz?" Jemma said softly. "Whatever you did, it wasn't you. Aida twisted and used you."

Daisy abruptly lifted a hand and used her quake powers on a table across the room. She smiled hard. Accurate. The others looked at her, except for Fitz. "We don't have time right now for reunions. Aida is around here somewhere and we've got to take her down." Also, she didn't want to listen to Jemma coddle Fitz through his emotional breakdown. He could suffer a little for what he'd done to her. She didn't really care at the moment if it had been him or not.

"Daisy's right," Mack said, swallowing down the grief of re-losing his daughter all over again. "We gotta go. Fitz, you know Aida the best. How do we take her down?"

XXXXX

It had been weeks since they'd escaped the framework. Fitz and Daisy went out of their way to avoid each other. Everyone knew and noticed the fracture in their relationship, but no one could get a definitive answer out of either of them as to what had happened.

Jemma was at her wit's end. Fitz wasn't eating or sleeping. She was losing him all over again.

"Daisy, please, can't you just talk to him," she begged. "Whatever happened in the framework between you two, it's over now. Can't you see? It wasn't really him."

Daisy loved her friend which was the whole reason she hadn't told her. "I know that Jemma," she snapped. "I know it wasn't really him. On some level. But you don't know the whole story."

"So tell me," Jemma begged. "I can't take this anymore."

"She doesn't want to tell you because she loves you." A quiet and familiar voice said from the shadows. Both women turned toward the voice and then Fitz stepped out, looking tired and worn. "Daisy's been protecting you this whole time, but she can't protect you anymore."

"Fitz," Daisy snapped. "Shut up."

He looked at her then. His face was pained and full of sorrow. His eyes seemed tortured with guilt. "No, Daisy. I can't. She needs to know the truth. What I did. What I am."

Jemma was growing more and more frantic with every word he spoke. What could the love of her life possibly have done that was so bad he was killing himself over it. "You're the best man I know, Fitz. Whatever you did in the framework, we can get past it."

He shook his head. "No. We can't."

Daisy turned away. A small part of her she didn't want to acknowledge was glad Jemma would know. The secret was eating her alive. But the other part, the larger part, knew this would rip their family apart.

"I tortured Daisy in the framework," Fitz said quietly.

Jemma was silent for a moment. "You did a lot of bad things, Fitz, but it wasn't you. Not really. Daisy, please, can't you forgive him?"

"I didn't just torture her," he spoke up. "I… I…" He couldn't get the words out and Daisy wasn't about to help him. "I did something unforgivable."

"What?" Jemma whispered, wondering now if she really wanted to know.

Fitz looked over at Daisy, facing away from him. "I know you can't forgive me, Daisy. I can't forgive myself."

"What did you do?" Jemma asked in a hoarse voice.

"I forced her… I raped her."

Tears sprang to Daisy's eyes. Her fist shook in rage as she whirled around. "Over and over. Until I screamed and begged for you to stop. Until I blacked out." Fitz stepped backward, as if her words had physically hit him.

Their words dropped like hammers in the air. Jemma stared blankly across the room. "No. That's not right. That's impossible," she murmured.

Fitz and Daisy stared at each other, both silently crying. Fitz spoke first. "Now you see, Jemma."

He turned and walked away, leaving both women to their own tortured thoughts.

XXXXX

A month later

Daisy sat in a chair in the empty conference room, typing away at her laptop when Jemma walked in. Her hands hesitated over the keyboard.

"Daisy, I was hoping I'd find you here." Jemma's face was too eager, her smile too bright.

Daisy knew what she was here for without her even saying a word.

But she kept silent.

Jemma took a seat next to her. "You're my friend. I must admit I came here with ulterior motives, but that was wrong of me. I'm sorry."

"What do you want, Jemma?" Daisy snapped her laptop shut and turned to her friend.

Jemma's smile was still plastered across her face, but there was fear and uncertainty in her eyes. "I came … to beg you."

Daisy's eyes widened. "Beg me? For what?"

Jemma's hands twisted on the table in front of her. "It's Fitz."

Daisy abruptly straightened.

"He's not eating. Or sleeping. Or drinking… anything." Tears sparkled in Jemma's eyes. "It was Aida. She did that to him. She made him into a monster, Daisy. He would never… The Fitz I know would never…"

Daisy wasn't entirely unmoved by her friend's plight. She wanted nothing more than for everything to go back to normal. Including with Fitz. She'd loved him like a brother. "Jemma, don't you think I know that? Everything that happened was all in our minds. It wasn't real. Except I can't forget. I can't look at him and not see what he did to me."

"It wasn't him," Jemma cried, leaning forward. "It wasn't."

"But it was him, Jemma," Daisy countered. "A version of him. It was his face, his hands, his… He tortured me for hours. I can't just forget that. No matter how hard I've tried." And she had tried.

Jemma nodded miserably. "I know. I know. I shouldn't even be asking this of you. But… He's killing himself." She made a helpless gesture. "I have to save him."

Daisy felt a little guilty at that, but she shoved it away. "I can't help you, Jemma. I'm sorry." Then she got up and walked out of the room.

Daisy hadn't been quite honest. She would try to help Fitz… In her own way.

And that way was Mack.

XXXXX

"I need to talk to you." Daisy paced the room where Mack sat working on Coulson's car. "It's serious."

Mack pulled himself out from under the car and stood up. A look of concern covered his face. "What is it?"

Daisy chewed on the side of her thumb. "First of all, I haven't told Coulson or May."

"Why not?"

"I don't want Coulson to know, and May… I already know what she'd say." Daisy practically vibrated from nerves and energy. She was surprised the whole building hadn't started shaking.

Mack took his gloves off and sat down on an old stool. "What's on your mind?"

"I need you to talk to Fitz."

A look of recognition crossed his face. "Ah. Fitz. I heard the two of you are going through a pretty hard time."

"You could say that."

"You wanna have a seat?" He gestured at a crate off to the side but she shook her head.

"No, I can't. If I sit, I'll never get this out." Her hands twisted within each other. There was silence behind her and she knew Mack was waiting for her to begin. "I… I know the framework was fake. What happened in there wasn't real."

"It felt real."

His daughter. Her eyes widened and she turned. "Mack, I didn't mean anything-"

He held a hand up. "I know you didn't, Daisy. What you said was true. What I said was also true. As far as we knew, we were those people. Those were our lives."

She nodded slowly. "Yes. That's what I'm having trouble with. Aida did that to us. To you guys, actually. We didn't ask for that."

"No, we didn't." He paused and cocked his head at her. "This is more complicated than just the usual guilt we're all feeling, right?"

Daisy finally sat, afraid that she was pass out if she didn't. She pressed her hands to her forehead. "I can't get past something that happened in there. It's messing with the team. Fitz is my friend and I can't… I don't know."

"Something happened with you and Fitz," Mack guessed. "I sorta figured. You wanna tell me what it was?"

Daisy took a deep breath through her nose. "I'm only telling you this--well, I'm telling you this for several reasons, but the main one is you and Fitz are friends. A big part of me wants him to be okay. I just… the thought of going down there and talking to him… I just can't."

Mack frowned and leaned forward. "Daisy, you're starting to worry me. What happened in the framework?"

She clasped her hands and rested her head on them. Nausea rolled and twisted her stomach. "I was captured by Hydra. Thrown in a room for interrogation."

After a few moments, Mack supplied some of the answer. "You were tortured?"

Daisy nodded against her fingers.

"Fitz tortured you?"

"Off and on."

Mack took a moment to digest that information. "I see."

"No, that's not all."

"Tell me."

Daisy squeezed her eyes shut, remembering everything. "Fitz was different in there. Nothing I said got through to him." She fell silent and Mack let her. "I didn't have my powers or else nothing like that would've happened. If I'd just had my stupid powers…"

"Daisy." Mack paused. "Are you… Did Fitz…"

When she looked up, her face was deadpanned, devoid of emotion. "He forced me to have sex with him." She couldn't say 'rape,' not to Mack. She stared off in the distance. "He'd alternate between torturing me and forcing me. I begged him to stop but he wouldn't and after awhile I was just too weak to fight back."

Mack didn't say anything for awhile. Couldn't say anything. He just sat there on the stool going over everything she'd said. Probably thinking back to how Fitz had been acting and linking it altogether.

Daisy closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. It felt good to tell someone besides Jemma. Jemma hadn't really handled it well. Not that you could. "I can't be the one to try and fix him. I just can't, Mack." Tears filled her eyes and she tried to keep them at bay. "I know he needs something from me but I'm done. I helped everyone escape the framework. That has to be enough."

Mack snapped to attention. "Daisy, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I didn't know. All this time…"

She gave a short laugh. "Why would you know? Why would you even guess? Never in a million years would I have thought Fitz even capable of something like that."

"We're all capable of something, Daisy. The Fitz in the framework was raised by an abusive father and taken by Aida and twisted. He was a completely different person than the one we know."

"I get that. I do. That's why I'm here. You helped him once. Do it again."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

Daisy stood up, ready to be gone. "Tell him… I don't know, tell him what I told you. And other stuff." She smiled. "You're good at that."

Then she left and Mack stared at the floor, wondering how the hell he was supposed to fix a boy who'd tortured, murdered, and raped his friends.

XXXXX

Daisy hid in a darkened corner of a landing and watched Mack make his way down the stairs to where Fitz sat, curled up against the tire of an old Humvee under tarp. She couldn't make out either of them very well but she could hear their voices and see their relative shapes.

"Hey. Came down to see what you're working on." Mack looked around and then down at the boy huddled at his feet.

"What are you doing here, Mack?" Fitz's voice sounded hoarse and tired.

Mack was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Daisy sent me."

His words hammered in her heart. She'd given him permission to tell Fitz what she'd said but it was still… scary.

"What?" Fitz sounded incredulous. "I doubt that very much."

Mack took a seat next to him, his large frame dwarfing Fitz's smaller one. "It's true."

"Why?"

"I got the impression that she's worried about you. She wanted me to talk to you."

"I'm fine," Fitz muttered.

"You've been holed up here for a month. Not eating. Not drinking. Doesn't seem fine to me."

"Yeah, well you would too if you'd done the things I have."

"I know it doesn't seem like it now, but we will get past this. Everyone. We're a team, Fitz. That means something."

"I'm leaving," Fitz said abruptly.

Daisy wondered if that wouldn't be better for everyone. Jemma would go with him. A pang hit her heart. Their family was broken.

"Because of Daisy?" Mack asked quietly. "She told me what happened."

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed.

"Does everyone know?"

"She swore me to secrecy, so I don't think so."

"God, Mack. I'm in a nightmare. I'm trapped and all I can do is remember everything I did. And I can't fix it. I can't apologize because no apology is even good enough."

"So your solution is to leave the team?"

There was a snort and Daisy assumed it was from Fitz. "Uh, yeah, Mack. They're better off without me and being around everyone is torture."

"Daisy told me how she feels."

"I'm sure she did. I deserve everything she said."

"She knows it wasn't the real you. She doesn't want you hate to yourself."

"Yeah, well I do."

"If she can say that, it means something."

"What am I supposed to do, Mack? Go back up there and pretend I didn't do those things? God, I can still feel it."

"Feel what?" Mack asked quietly.

"Her," he yelled. "Daisy! You know, I love Jemma. I swore myself to Jemma. And then because the thing I created decided she wanted to play God, I did things I didn't want to do." Emotion colored his voice then and Daisy moved closer, crouching down to peer over the railing. Fitz's head was in his hands. "I didn't want to do any of that. It's like someone else was in my body, using it."

"That's exactly what happened. The you I know would rather die than hurt one of his friends. You were mind and body-snatched. We all were. I had a daughter in there and when we left-" Mack broke off for a moment, swallowing tears. "She died twice. Aida did that. Not you. The son of a bitch who tortured and … hurt Daisy got what he deserved. He's dead. You, Leopold Fitz, Agent of Shield, are here, alive. Because your friends rescued you. Because that's what you deserve."

Wow, Mack was good. Daisy slid down the wall and closed her eyes. She'd picked him for a reason. Nothing he said was untrue.

She wished she had someone to talk to like him.

XXXXX

2 weeks later

"Alright, everyone listen up," Coulson said loudly. "The mission is search and rescue. We locate, identify, and grab the target." He turned and Daisy pushed a few buttons. In seconds, a young woman's picture was on the screen. "Amanda Lewis, inhuman, powers unknown. We do know she's being held in this complex outside Rio de Janeiro." Another picture popped up, a rundown mansion surrounded by jungle.

"Why is she being held there?" Jemma asked.

Coulson's smile was tight. "Human trafficking. More specifically, Inhuman trafficking."

Daisy's eyes widened. "There's others?"

"Five others to be exact. But we're only there for one girl. This one."

"Why not the others?" Daisy protested.

"Because this is the girl Robin saw in her vision. This is the girl that's supposed to kill thousands of people. She's the priority."

"Sir, we can't just leave them," Mack said. Daisy nodded and moved over to him. "They're being sold to people who want to use them for their powers. To do evil."

Coulson sighed and tossed his pen on the desk. "I know, Mack."

"So let's include everyone in the plan," Jemma said. "Saving six girls can't be much harder than saving one."

"It is when they're all being kept separate until the auction. During which there will be dozens, if not hundreds, of the world's most powerful people, not to mention ex-Hydra, all gathered together in one room."

Everyone visibly shuddered at the mention of Hydra.

"What's the plan then?" Mack asked after a moment, putting aside his concerns for the moment.

"Undercover operation."

"Undercover? Like pretend to be buyers?" Jemma asked.

Coulson nodded slowly. Then he glanced at Daisy. "It would be helpful to have someone on the other side too. In case something goes wrong on our end."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, as Daisy realized what he meant. "You want to put me on the auction block."

Mack immediately jumped to her defense and Jemma looked especially green. "No, absolutely not. We can't stick Daisy in the middle of something like that. How would we extract her if something goes wrong?"

"I assume they have a way to keep the girls from using their powers until they want them to?" Daisy asked, looking at the screen. At the young face who was at the mercy of people more powerful than her. She knew how that felt.

Coulson sighed. "Yes, Daisy, there's an inhibitor chip placed at the base of the skull that can only be controlled remotely. When a buyer wins, he or she is given the remote."

"So if I can't use my powers, how is it helpful to have me on the inside?"

Coulson smiled. "You're lethal enough without your powers, Daisy. You were an agent of Shield before an Inhuman, remember that."

Suddenly, Daisy remembered another time she didn't have her powers. She hadn't been lethal then. Coulson wanted to put her back in a situation like that where she could get hurt. "May should do it." May was far more badass than her. May would never have gotten…

"That being said," Coulson started, ignoring what Daisy had said, "I have a plan for voiding the chip if the need arises. Fitz?" He turned to him. "You're a doctor. You think you can perform minor surgery in under two minutes?"

He wasn't even joking either.

Fitz's mouth dropped open. "What? Minor surgery?"

"If things go south, I'll cause a distraction. You get to Daisy and remove the chip."

May held up her hand. "Or I can just get to the remote controlling her chip and turn it on."

Coulson nodded. "That's an option but I want a back-up plan. The diversion is a last resort. Once it's in play, those guys are going to pack up and leave, taking Amanda and the rest with them. We might not get a second chance."

"How are they going to know I'm an Inhuman or not?" Daisy asked, speaking up. "What is there some kind of test?"

"Yes." Coulson was grim. "There is. That's why it can't be May." He turned to her. "I had you in mind for a buyer."

She nodded. "I'm in."

Daisy was panicking but she couldn't let anyone know. She wouldn't look weak in front of Fitz. "I'll do it on one condition." Everyone looked at her. "We save them all. All the girls."

Coulson turned his head to think for a moment, then turned back. "Alright. Six targets instead of one."

"I have an idea," Jemma said, clearing her throat. "Fitz can't possibly surgically remove six inhibitor chips in under two minutes. What about … shorting them out?"

May frowned. "That would hurt. A lot. It could cause brain damage."

"No," Fitz said, jumping in "not if the charge was low enough. I mean, yes, it would still hurt, but the chances of brain damage would be almost nonexistent."

That was better than Fitz's hands being on her again, Daisy thought. "Either way, voiding the chip will hurt-removing it or shorting it out. I pick the one that doesn't require a knife opening up my brain." Or being close to Fitz.

"Ok, that's settled."

"One question though," Daisy said, "How am I getting there?"

Coulson smiled, a little too delighted. "I get to pretend to be a bad guy."

XXXXX

She couldn't do this. People were counting on her. Her team, those girls, everyone. She'd let them down, she knew it.

Her hands shook with nerves. May wanted to train, to prepare, but Daisy had ditched her for the dark solitude of a basement level no one ever came to. Not even Fitz.

Slow footsteps sounded just then, as if mocking her thoughts. Her head shot up and she saw Fitz. Her heart started pounding suddenly. "What are you doing here?" There was no one else with him. "Where's Jemma?" Don't be afraid.

His hands were stuck in his pockets. "I told her I had to prepare for the mission."

"Well, don't you?"

"I'm finished, actually."

"Finished?"

He nodded, looking unsure. "It's just a simple device. Sort of like an EMP."

Daisy stood up, feeling like everything was closing in. "You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"I followed you. Actually, I've been waiting for you up there," he turned and pointed at the landing above them that led to the exit, "but you were taking awhile. So I came down here instead."

"Well, what do you want? I've got a lot on my mind," she snapped, unwilling to let him know he was the source of her anxiety and indecision.

"I just wanted to tell you-" He cut off and didn't finish.

She raised her eyebrows. "Tell me what?"

He raised his eyes to hers.

They were so different than in the framework. Those eyes were cold and devoid of feeling. These were soft and warm and sad and … familiar.

"I wanted to tell you … that you don't have to be afraid."

She tried to brush his words off but he cut in.

"This isn't like the framework."

Oh, wow, he was going there. He was bringing it up. A dull roar sounded in her ears and she sat back down.

"I was your friend. That's why you were caught off guard. It's why I was able to… There's no way a bunch of ex-Hydra will be able to do the same. You're the strongest person I know," he said quietly, his simple words dropping like hammers on her heart.

She lost total control just then. Tears-no, gut-wrenching sobs--wracked her entire body. She didn't think she'd cried like this since she was a child. God, and it was in front of Fitz, of all people. She just couldn't have it together anymore. Everything she'd been holding inside since the framework came pouring out in snot and tears.

Vaguely in the distance, she heard Fitz pleading with her. Something about not meaning to make her cry and other stuff.

"Just go away," she gasped out between sobs, burying her face in her arms.

He did, not as quickly as she wanted though. He didn't seem to want to leave her alone, but eventually he did. She cried for what seemed like hours and hours, until there was nothing left inside her to come out. When it was over, whatever it was, she just lay on the floor, leaning up against the bottom of the stairs.

She was aware of someone walking over and she swore that it had better not be Fitz again. It wasn't.

It was May.

"I was wondering when you'd let go," May commented.

Daisy looked over at her. Her eyes felt swollen and scratchy. "What?"

"Something happened in the framework, I knew that. So did Coulson. We just couldn't figure out what it was."

"And did you figure it out?" Daisy asked uncharacteristically sarcastic.

"I think so. I don't know about Coulson." She was quiet for a moment. "Say the word, Daisy, and he's gone." May didn't mean Coulson.

"Part of me wants him gone," Daisy admitted. "But it wouldn't be fair. He was used by Aida, same as the rest of us."

"I don't care about fair," May said quietly, coldly. "I care about you."

Daisy gave a weak laugh. "You don't know how nice that is to hear. I've been trying so hard to just get over it. For everyone's sake. For the team. I just can't seem to."

"You don't have to," May said simply. "It's not your job to take care of them. Jemma had no right to put you in that position. I talked to her." May's face darkened for a moment. Daisy could only imagine how that talk went.

"I should have told you," Daisy admitted.

"I understand why you didn't."

"How did you know I was down here?"

May sighed. "I followed Fitz. He was acting shady." She paused for a long time. "I heard what he said to you. Then I figured it out."

"May, I can't go on this mission. I can't."

"You know … Fitz was right. Everything he said about the framework, about the mission. You're not weak, Daisy. You were caught off guard." Her voice was fierce. "If you go on this mission, you will go out there and save those girls and kick ass. Because that's what you do. It's what we do."

Daisy just didn't feel it.

"But none of that matters. If you don't want to go on this mission, then you don't have to. No one will know why and no one will question it, that I promise you."

"But you need an Inhuman."

"No, we don't and even if we did, we got Yo-Yo. Bonus, she speaks Spanish."

Daisy and May sat there quietly for almost a half hour. Then Daisy turned to her.

"What if I'm not strong enough?"

May gave a small smile. "That is something I've never even had to question, not with you."

"I wasn't with Fitz." Daisy's voice sounded small to her ears.

May took a deep breath and then looked at her. "When I was younger, a teenager, I'd already been training in martial arts for three years. I was good. Very good. One night, I was leaving a movie theater. I walked home alone because I was so sure that nothing bad would happen. I was too tough."

Daisy swallowed hard. Had May been…?

"There was a kid crying. I stopped to make sure he was okay. That's when I was jumped from behind."

"How many were there?"

May glanced over. "One."

No way.

"He hit me in the back of the head and I went down. I was caught off guard," she explained. "While I was on the ground, he kicked me so hard my spleen ruptured."

Daisy waited, afraid to hear what came next.

"He didn't rape me," May said, putting her out of her misery. "He just beat me almost to death. It was only because a bus driver passed and called the police that I even lived. The point of this is that no one is invincible, Daisy. In the right circumstances, we can all be taken down. What you have to do is get back up. One step at a time."

May left then, giving her shoulder a squeeze and promising that she would make sure Coulson went alone with whatever she decided.

Daisy didn't know what she wanted. Hiding forever was one option…

No, it isn't, a small voice inside her said. Get angry. People who use other people for their own amusement need to be taken down.

She believed that.

Now she just needed to believe in herself again.

XXXXX

The quinjet was loaded and ready for takeoff. Jemma and Fitz and Yo-Yo sat on one side while Mack was on the other. The seat next to him was conspicuously empty. May and Coulson were up front.

"You think she'll come?" Coulson asked her.

May looked over and then set her jaw. "If she does, great. If not, that's fine too."

"I wish you would tell me what happened," he said.

She expelled a breath. "I know. But I won't."

He respected that and didn't push further. "We can't wait any longer."

May knew that but she was hoping Daisy would suddenly pop up. She needed confidence in herself again and this mission could do that.

She pushed the button to close the hatch and then suddenly Mack was yelling at her to stop. She turned around to look back and saw Daisy, smiling and out of breath. She finished closing the doors and then it was quiet.

"Sorry I'm late guys," Daisy said awkwardly, dropping a bag on the floor next to the empty seat. "Can you still use me?"

Coulson smiled and turned more fully toward her. "I think we gotta spot for you. What made you change your mind?"

Daisy swallowed hard but looked at him with a steely reserve. May held her breath. "It's been a tough couple months. Aida really did a number on us. She used us for her own ends, made us do things we'd never have done had she not twisted our minds." She looked around at everyone, pausing ever so briefly on Fitz, before moving on. "I want to make sure that those girls are safe. That no one ever twists their minds and makes them into monsters."

Coulson's eyes looked suspiciously shiny. "That was one helluva speech, Daisy. You'd make a great Director of Shield one day."

"As long as I can still go on missions, sure," she grinned, and turned to walk over to Mack and take her seat next to him.