Oceans Away || Leo Fitz Book Three

Chapter SixtyEight

Asia was in one of the workout rooms, slamming her fists against the punching bag, ice clinging to the walls and hovering in the air around her. Her face was pressed into a form of cool, calm, and collected, but inside, she was raging. She couldn't believe that Daisy had tried to hurt Leo like that. He had told her, of course, what had happened. How she had used her powers to suspend him against a wall by his neck so that he couldn't speak or breathe. It made her blood boil. She knew whatever was in there wasn't Daisy, not completely, but she also knew that Daisy was aware enough to know she'd be raging mad.

It was the kind of mad she didn't even know how to control, really. The same kind of anger that had drawn water from those Hydra agents like a sieve before she had disappeared through that portal. The kind of anger that made her wonder what all she really could do with her powers. The kind that reminded her she was dangerous. The kind that reminded her she would get vengeance on those who hurt the ones she loved.

She had to have known that doing that to him would make it so nothing could ever convince her to join Hive's sway. And yet, she did it anyways.

Asia's right hand landed solidly, with finality, against the punching bag, her shoulders heaving up and down, sweat dripping from her face. Slowly, a soft trickling sound could be heard. From the middle of her knuckles, a blade of ice had shot through the bag, piercing it like a plump, red heart, the sand spilling on the floor below. When she found Hive, she'd do that to it, too. She bet her life on it.

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"Yes, sir?" Asia asked, as she entered his office. An agent had come and collected her from another one of her workouts, pounding away at the treadmill. "I heard you needed something from me?" She brushed a few strands of hair from her face - they had fallen stray from her ponytail during her exercise.

"I'm going to be calling a meeting," he said calmly, from where he stood leaning against his desk. "But I wanted you to know first." He looked at her as if she should understand what he meant.

"You wanted me to know...that we're having a meeting?" She said slowly, face scrunching up with confusion. "Is this some weird, humorous attempt at making sure I still show up in time?" She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her shoulder and leaning against the door frame. "And, I really haven't been late in like...a year. New year, new me, yea?" She said dryly.

He raised and eyebrow at her, but didn't smile. She stood up a little straighter, suddenly uncomfortable with the vibe in the room. "No, Agent Monroe. I wanted you to know first. We caught Daisy, on security footage, today." All at once, the hairs on the back of Asia's neck stood on end. Whereas before she had been warm (ish) from her workout, and for the first time in a long time, a chill ran over her body.

"Understood," She said, standing to full attention and walking into the room, taking a seat in one of the black leather chairs in his office, crossing one leg over the other. "Can I see it?" She asked after a moment, wanting to get her eyes on the footage before everyone else was in here. She wanted to prepare herself to see the friend she had lost. She knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"Of course," Coulson said with an understanding nod, picking up a remote control which sat beside him, as if he had anticipated her request. He aimed it at the large center screen, which glowed to life like the sun coming over the horizon.

Asia looked up at the image, watching a Coulson pressed the play button, bringing it to life. The imagine wasn't the clearest, but it was clear enough. It looked like a warehouse or body shop of some sort, with not much around it but a few, beat up cars. There wasn't much to see, not much which distinguished it, until the door to the building opened.

Out walked Daisy, wearing a leather jacket that Asia had picked out for her from the store. Her hands were shoved into the pockets and her short hair was blowing out lightly in the breeze. She walked briskly, and her face was turned slightly so Asia could see a healing cut running down her cheek. She didn't look sick, she didn't look hurt. She looked okay, normal even. Yet it still hit like a gut punch.

"Alright," Asia said after a moment, leaning back in the chair. "Call in who you want to call in."

The meeting ended up being Asia, Coulson, and Mack, reviewing the town where this footage was captured. It was a tiny place, in Wyoming, not much of a town really. What was left over was a shell of the place, recently purchased by a front company...which lead back to Malick. The town, per surveillance, was now crawling with military figures.

"So it won't be easy for us to grab Daisy and get out of there," Mack concluded, crossing his arms over his large chest.

"Wait," Coulson paused, squinting his eyes up at Mack. "You do realize this is a trap, right?" He turned and looked over at Asia. "Please tell me at least one of you realizes this is a trap."

Asia shrugged. "I mean, yea." She looked back up at the screen and nodding towards Daisy's figure frozen before of them. "Daisy is too smart for that. She would know where all the cameras are. On top of that, she would be running her own counter facial recognition technology and removing any potential sightings. If she didn't want us to see them." As she said the words, she knew they were true. It's what she would have done, and she didn't have half of the hacking skills Daisy did.

"Wait," Mack shook his head, a perplexed look crossing his face. "Daisy made it incredibly clear to FItz she didn't want Shield following them or trying to stop whatever they were doing. So why would she let us see her intentionally?"

"Daisy helped design and code the facial recognition software we use here - why would she not notice this possibility?" Coulson reiterated. "It wouldn't be something she forgot, she would know full well it was there." And it was a valid point. Daisy had all of her own thoughts and memories, she just shared that hive mind with the others now, too.

"I..." Mack trailed off, shaking his head, before turning to face towards the window. "Maybe it's because she's reaching out to us." He finished softly, shaking his head. "Maybe she's still in there, and she wants us to come save her."

Coulson stood up, facing Mack as he turned around to look at their Director. "You know that's not true," Coulson said, shaking his head as he spoke softly, yet insistently. He knew how badly Mack wanted this to be true, how badly they all wanted it to be true. But that didn't make it so.

"The science even proves it," Mack argued back, face starting to contort in frustration. "FItz said it was still Daisy in there, that she knew him, knew about him, but just had Hive along for the ride. She's still in there somewhere, and she could be crying out for help."

Coulson turned to look at Asia, eyes burrowing into hers, as if he were trying to read her mind. "Monroe, you've been awfully quiet. What do you think about all of this?"

Asia tucked herself further into her seat. Mack had a point, when she thought about it. Why else would Daisy show herself after making such a big threat? Why would she threaten Leo in such a way that she knew it would keep Asia from ever going near their group and getting swayed? That had to be to help her, didn't it? But to Coulson's point, it was very easily a trap. "I don't know," she replied after a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"Alright, well I know I need you both to get your heads in the game. Because I'm sending you in as a team. Asia...you're going to have to where the...bomb vest, if you're going in."

"Understood, sir," She said with a nod, reflecting on that for a moment. It could be worse. And, after all. Mack had a point. A very valid point. And she wanted to get to the bottom of this, herself.