In the Shadows

A Fateful Meeting

I'm sitting in my black van doing survailence because there's a man that claims he has a bit of the devil inside of him. Being in a van with my hula girl stuck on the dashboard makes me smile to myself. This feels like before I became a part of S.H.I.E.L.D..It feels like when I was a part of the Rising Tide. Living in my van and exposing what governments were trying g to bury.

This mission is already starting to take a toll on me. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with the boys but I had to come earlier to help Polly and Robin. Robin not too long ago went through Terrigenisis and since I'm Inhuman, Polly believed that it would best for me to help her daughter, especially since I spent with Robin's father and knew his inhuman capabilities.

Robin would go through stages of having a hard time knowing when she was in this present time since her inhuman ability has to do with seeing the future. It helped her when I came to visit to ground her into this current time. She likes it when I show her pictures of Andrew and Phillip. It helps her to see how old they are too.

I'm currently checking my phone for waiting on contacts and Yo-Yo. I'm waiting for Elena to bring me some medication that S.H.I.E.L.D. created to help speed up the bone-healing process. Since it does, Yo-Yo has been bringing me some bottles of it since she, as well as the rest of our team, must be seeing all the headlines of "Quake", as she fights against watchdogs and now hunting a man that looks like a match.

The skull-flamed man now has a name. Robbie Reyes. Since our unfateful encounter in the junk yard, I've seen spying on him all over town. I was once told everyone eventually gets attached to something, everyone. As I've been following Robbie all over LA and watching him while he works, I'm now finally getting the answer to what Robbie Reyes cares about so much and can't leave behind.

The Reyes man walks up to a grey compact car and fist bumps the passenger as a greeting. Then he proceeds to open the door and help the teen boy into his wheelchair out ofthe passenger seat. The one person Robbie cares for most in the world is his little brother, Gabe Reyes. I feel a tug at my heartstrings and my chest feels tight. I'm jealous of what they have, I'm jealous that Andy and Pj have the same thing too.

As someone who grew up in the system and met her parents late in life, I will never know what it's like to have a sibling. I grew up all alone. I'm happy that my boys don't have to go through that but I'm sad that I never got to experience it.

After both Reyes men entered their home, I left the block. Since I've been keeping my eye on Robbie I noticed he doesn't like leaving the house right when Gabe come home, he likes to spend time with his brother then disappear alone for his other job.

I will never forget how I saw his skin burn off his face as the flames began to engulf his skull. While we were exchanging blows, Robbie finally gave me some new information. The ghost that rides within him is the one who chooses the punishments, not him. I remember the first time I saw what he did to his victims. While he was dying in his hospital bed, he said, " it's too late for me. They say when the rider burns you, he burns your soul and that soul can never heal".

Since it's the afternoon, Robbie is going back to the job where he's an automechanic. I decided that it was time for me to pay him a visit so that we could resume our unfinished business from the night before. The faster I get answers, the faster I can get out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s grasps and return home to my boys. 

I take one last look at our glamourus family photo before entering the shop. One of Robbie's coworkers introduces himself to me and asks what's the reason I'm here today. I tell him something's wrong with my van and I needed someone to take a look at it. Then I continue my story of how I decided to come here because I heard my old friend, Robbie Reyes, who I grew up with and went to school with, works here.

It made the older man pleased since they were gaining a new customer. After that he decided to go over to the office connected to the garage so that he could call Robbie to come reunite with his childhood friend, not knowing that Robbie and I are strangers.