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chapter thirteen

(April 27th, 2017
The Playground, Classified)

    WHEN CLARA had felt like she was going to break━stuck alone in that containment room with nothing left ... feeling nothing more than a blank page with no thoughts, no energy to cry, or to scream, or to do anything aside from let herself drown in all the horrible things she had done, the one person to get her back up onto her feet had been May. It had always been May. From the moment she'd drape her blanket over Clara's shoulders and sit a chai tea on the table, May had been there for Agent Roy in a way no one else had before. She made her feel stronger, able━made her feel as if she could stand up, again and again, no matter how many times she'd fall down.

    For a girl who never met her mother until she did, and was met with something far worse than she had ever imagined, Agent Melinda May had become something more of a mother than Clara's real one ever had been. May was cold, and she was calculating, and she never beated around the bush to tell someone how she felt━but she cared deeper than most. She loved from the bottom of her heart, and that love wrapped Clara in warm blankets when she needed it.

    And now, she was gone, and Clara felt like she was stranded. She remembered the moment she had thought May had died━that she killed her at Radcliffe's. Clara had felt like a part of her had been torn away; ripped with sharp claws right out of her chest. And for those few seconds━those few, terrifying seconds, Clara had been miserable; absolutely, choking, unable to breathe, miserable.

    She didn't know whether May was dead or alive, with all that was left of her a broken L.M.D. on a stretcher down in the asset room. What if that was all that was left ... Clara didn't think she'd handle that, knowing the body they buried wasn't the real May. Wasn't the May that Clara held so close to her heart.

    It all made her mind wander from what she was supposed to be doing. The treadmill was nothing more than white noise in the back of her head. She heard Director Mace's heavy breathing, saw the dreadful readings, and it made her throat close up━everything was going wrong again. Clara couldn't handle that. She was scared that this time, she'd finally break.

    She stared at the readings a little longer than she needed, hoping that they'd change. She hoped everything would change. Whether that if she went back in time, and changed a few things, a lot would be better. May wouldn't be missing, at the very least.

    Clara took a deep breath, glancing briefly up at the Director still running. "That's enough for now," she muttered, turning the treadmill off and it slowly came to a stop, Mace with it.

    He noticed the look on her face immediately. His jog turned into walk, and then to a halt, sweaty and out of breath. Director Mace frowned, gripping the edge of the machine, "Agent Roy?" he asked, a little scared for her answer.

    And she didn't have a good one to give.

    Pursing her lips, she hugged her tablet close to meet his gaze, "It's not good news," she told him gently. "The ... the serum that's been giving you your strength ..." she watched his face slowly drop. No matter how many times she gave news such as this, it never once got any easier. Clara bit back her choke, "It ... it is ... potentially lethal."

    She turned away, jaw clenching to keep her composure. She set the tablet down, fingers hovering over the readings, feeling as though she was standing forth and delivering Director Mace's euology.

   She's lost so many people, and here she was ... on the verge of possibly losing another.

    "So ... you're saying it's ... a little risky?"

    "No," Clara shook her head, "what I'm saying is that ..." she glanced back to meet his gaze, and sighed. Walking up to him, she stepped up onto her toes to reach and remove the wires stuck to his chest. She unclipped them from the pads she stuck on. "It's sort of━well, it is Russian roulette. You've been fortunate so far, but the next injection ..." she swallowed hard, "... might cause cardiac arrest. And ... if it doesn't, the one after is even more likely to kill you, and ... well ... and so on ..."

    "Geez..." said the Director sarcastically, but it was weak. Clara hung her head, forcing back her oncoming tears. "Don't sugarcoat it, Doc." He pulled off the blood-pressure cuff off his arm, passing it over to her. Clara took the sphygmomanometer and placed it down with the wires, heavy-hearted. "And by that, I mean, please, go ahead and sugarcoat it." 

    "I'm sorry," she murmured. But there was no way to sugar coat it. "I know General Talbot was hoping to replicate what was done to Steve Rogers, but ..." she sighed, pressing her hand lightly against her forehead, "but you'll never be Captain America..."

    Mace continued to frown. He slowly started to realise what she was entailing, and he didn't like it one bit. "But━you know━I agreed not to take the serum until you completed the medical tests. I'm even in daily physical conditioning, learning to fight."

    "And I heard it's going splendid━"

    "Piper had me pinned in under ten seconds this morning."

    "Well, then, next time, I'm sure it'll be twelve━"

    "Clara, you don't understand," he stepped off the treadmill to stand before her. "I need my strength. We're already a man down."

    "We'll find Agent May," Clara didn't mean to snap, but she couldn't stop herself. Mace's brows lifted softly. Clara bit back her tears, swallowing them right down to the pit of her stomach. "Everyone is doing everything they can ..."

    "You know I'm a team player," Mace grabbed the towel, "I am willing to play any position that gets us the win. But I already went from head coach to quaterback, and now you're telling me I'm gonna be on the bench for the season?"

    "Yes," said Clara, forcing herself to be stern. Mace didn't expect it. He blinked, taken-aback in a solemn way that made Clara almost ache for him. He was only trying to do his best━it was what he had always been doing, from the very moment he took up the role as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., even if it had been on the basis of a lie. "That is exactly what I'm saying. And a team cannot be a team if we're focused on someone the entire time. We can't have you out there, on the possible verge of fatality when we're trying to save the life of May and stop Radcliffe."

    "So, now you're saying I'm a liability?"

    Clara didn't know how to sugarcoat it. She didn't know how to tell him that he'll never be able to have that serum again for his own protection. "I'm ... I'm saying that if you want to help, then you should work on staying up twelve seconds next, and then thirteen ..." 

    Mace sighed, shaking his head. Clara sadly passed back over his shirt, leaving the conversation at that.

    "Ladies and gentlemen," Clara closed her eyes briefly at Fitz's voice, knowing that this could not possibly be the worst timing he's ever arrived at, "straight from engineering and complete with all the modifications that you requested." He arrived straight into the medical pod, hanging up a concealed suit onto the rack with a bright grin upon his face. Clara winced, trying to get a word in. She managed a weak, "Honey━" but Fitz did not hear: "Director Mace, say goodbye to your briefcase, because ..."

    Grinning, Fitz unzipped the case to show a brillaint, wonderful suit that would have been perfect ... if the circumstances had gone the other way. Clara tried to stop him, but couldn't, being cut off by his extravagant hand gesture towards his creation, "You now have a serum-delivery device on the belt of your suit. Just one turn and the injection is delivered directly into the━"

    "Honey," Clara tried again gently in a whisper, holding up her hand, "Honey, Fitz, love━"

    He realised, and the grin dropped right off his face. Fitz stared back at her, horrified that he got this far. "The tests," he muttered, "the tests━the tests didn't go that well, did they?" he scratched his beard before propping his hands on his hips. Clara subtly shook her head. "O━Okay. Well, in that case, it's also good that we added a heart monitor and a GPS, so, when you do use the injection━"

    "Fitz━"

    "━what? I was just━"

    "━Shh━" Clara grasped his arm, giving him a knowing look to stop, "━just━he can't," they glanced at Mace who stared at the floor, grave, "━it's too dangerous ..."

    Fitz pursed his lips, letting out a sheepish, "Oh..." turning to her, he added in a quiet, rushed mutter, "You could━you could've━why didn't you tell me before I did my whole big presentation━?"

    "Well, I tried but you just kept going━"

    "━I was having a really great day for once, you know━"

    "━Oh, Fitz━"

    "━Hey, don't 'Oh, Fitz me'━"

    "Director," thankfully, they were interrupted by a member of Piper's tactical team, who had taken over now that May was indisposed, "we got to keep you on schedule."

    "Oh, thank god," breathed Mace and rushed past Fitz and Roy, having heard enough of their whispered quarrels so early in the morning.

    They watched him go, and once he was out of the lab, Fitz turned back to Roy with hands upon his hips to add, "Seriously, you could've have just━?"

    "Fitz," she threw her hands up and left the medical pod with him at her heels.

    "━stopped me, it honestly wouldn't have been hard..."

    "Fitz, honey," Clara turned to him, leaning in to give him a look that said, please, shut up, "I love you, I need to do things, you need to fix the L.M.D scanner━"

    "Oh, don't get me started━"

    "I'll see you later," Agent Roy scrunched her nose through her smile, and Fitz rolled his eyes, muttering a, whatever. Her smile turned into a grin and she rose to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Don't blow over, darling."

    As she brushed past him with her tablet, she heard him say, "Can't promise anything," and it made her snort softly to herself. She just knew he was going to be a grumpy grandfather when he was older. Grumpy Bobo.

    Clara made her way out of the lab to pass over these results to Simmons, and then to Daisy who was up in the Director's Office to take care of things while Coulson and Mack were out searching for the possible model of A.I.D.A. in hopes it would lead them to May. Roy prayed to god that it would.

    Stepping out, she didn't see Leith waiting for her until he jumped out of nowhere with his hands in her face, crying out a quick, "Clara!"

    Clara gasped so high she sounded like a squealing kettle. Her brother immediately burst out into laughter, and she was left standing there, trying to regain her breathing but to also do her best not to smack him. "Leith!" she scolded, "Don't do that!"

    It was no secret that Leith was growing bored of being stuck in the base ever since the incident at the hearing with Senator Nadeer. But if he wanted to keep out of jail, they had to keep him here for the time being. But he was searching for things to do, whether it be productive or unproductive, like constantly sneaking up on his sister to scare the living daylights out of her!

    Proud of himself, Leith crossed his arms and said, "Do what?"

    Clara scowled at him. She pointed a finger at her older brother, "That. Go make yourself useful and stop scaring me! That's the third time today! Or I'll scare you back!"

    Leith snorted, "You scare me? I'd like to see you try."

    Clara gaped, if not a little offended, "I could scare you! I'm very scary."

    Her brother arched a brow down at her, "Clara, you're the size of a tall ten-year-old, and you have a grandmother's collection of teapots in your room. It's insufferably British, and I'm British."

    "And?" she countered, now determined. "Being small means I can hide in small places and pop out of nowhere and then━Boo!" she flung up a wide-spread hand to her brothers unimpressed face. "You scream like an inhaling gree tree frog."

    "What, like you just screamed like a girl?"

    "I am a girl!" she let out before passing him, knowing Fitz told him to say that just to get under her skin.

    Leith decided to follow her. "I've done everything, okay? I helped Jem with organising her folders, I trained with May's tactical team, I cleaned out the coffee machine, I did inventory for the armoury, I scared you three times, and it's still the morning! I need something to do. I need to get out━screw Senator Nadeer, okay? Going to jail is better than finding things to do in a secret spy base, there should be everything to do!"

    "Slow down," muttered Clara, "or you'll sound like Mace."

    "We just need something to do in the meantime, you know?" Leith went on, waving his hands about. "Something separate from everything━like━I dunno━some stray Inhuman. Remember those? I miss those━"

    He trailed off as they came by the common room and saw the television. The news was playing━breaking news of an explosion at Capitol Hill. An explosion right in Senator Nadeer's office.

    Leith came to a stop, eyes wide, "And I spoke too soon ..."

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(April 27th, 2017
The Playground, Classified)

    "DETAILS ARE scarce, but it appears that Senator Ellen Nadeer's office was ground zero in an explosion that looks deliberately set. Many are asking if Nadeer's outspoken anti-Inhuman stance made her a target. Currently, there are no suspects, but the F.B.I is still asking..."

    Clara blinked, sharing a shocked glance with her brother who stood at her side, a hand over his mouth. It dragged down and he pressed his lips together, keeping his many comments smartly to himself. It was no shock that Nadeer would've made herself a target for angry Inhumans, but an explosion right inside her office at Capitol Hill (possibly one of the most secure places in America)? It was surprising.

    "Is it possible?" asked Director Mace, glancing to his side at Daisy who stared at the monitor, troubled. "Could an Inhuman have done this?" 

    "No way," she said. "They've all been accounted for━by me."

    "You can't account for the Inhumans we don't know about," said Fitz. "Or the sympathisers."

    Daisy frowned, "Come on, you guys. This is just another set up. Nadeer's furious about the relocations and she wants people riled up against Inhumans," she gestured to the screen angrily.

    Simmons wasn't too sure about this. She ran fingers through her hair, apprehensive at Leith's other side. "Would Nadeer go so far as to bomb her own office?"

    "Trust me," muttered Daisy, walking closer to the television. "She's gonna show up on the news having just missed the blast and she's gonna pin it all on S.H.I.E.L.D., that's what she does ..."

    Her words fell away at the reporters next words. "We're just getting confirmation from the FBI. We have four confirmed casualties and one positive identification. We are sad to confirm that Senator Ellen Nadeer, leader in the Humans First Movement is among the dead..."

    Daisy kissed her teeth, "Okay ..." she mumbled. She sighed, awkwardly glancing around. "Well ... we ... can't be too sad, she did try to have you killed," she nodded to Mace.

    Clara made a face, "Daisy," she scolded

    Director Mace agreed with a grit of his teeth, "She could have been brought to justice, now we won't get that chance." He took a deep breath. "But it's not too late to do the right thing ..." he turned to the others. "Grab what you need. It's time to show the world what S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for."

    Leith threw his head back. Despite the situation, he let out a low, "Yes ... finally, the end of boredom!"

    "Guess you could say things just changed explosively," added Daisy and Clara felt bad for hiding back a short into the palm of her hand, kicking her friend lightly in the shin.

    They all arrived to Capitol Hill via Zephyr One. Clara led the team of agents through the doors towards the office, fixing her S.H.I.E.L.D. forensic jacket over her shoulders. They passed through press upon press━flashes of bright cameras and bypassing reporters desperate to have any answer as to what had happened, or other things aside from the problem at hand: such as questions about Quake, or Clara's brother━to which they all ignored, ducking under the tape keeping everyone away.

    Agent Roy felt almost refreshed wearing something with the S.H.I.E.L.D. words plastered across material again. Almost like she belonged somewhere again, that she wasn't wandering around hidden under shadows, but instead held back out to the world that she was good, that she had the right intentions, that she was doing heroic things for peaceful means━to save the world and the people in it, and not wearing a badge that had been defaced by the name of HYDRA.

    Flashing her badge with a swipe of her fingers as she passed the F.B.I consultants, Clara felt like she was all those years ago━except she held experience under her belt that made her modest, made her grave, and made her professional. She wasn't that same girl that raced into the explosion debris of the lab when they first met EXTREMIS━excited and desperate to begin her first mission. But she embraced that girl into the woman she had become.

    Before she stepped into the room, Clara could already see the charred black wood and ceilings; smelt it like a shot to her nose. She glanced back at the growing reporters and cameras, briefly meeting Director Mace's gaze as he stood in the rear, still holding up the crime scene yellow tape. He pursed his lips at the media and Clara shuffled back to say to him, "Well, you wanted to help," she offered, quircking a brow. Mace sighed, clenching his jaw. Clara nodded to the reporters. "How about you show the world what S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for."

    Mace frowned, "W━well, I was hoping to do that by solving this thing."

    Agent Roy managed a slight smile. She glanced back at Fitz and Simmons, "This is what Fitz, Simmons and I do, Director━we got this. And this is what you're good at." She patted his shoulder, "Break a leg."

    With that said, Clara hurried along back to where Fitz and Simmons were waiting, and together, the three of them entered the office, basking in the ashen disaster. Agent Roy took a deep breath, sighing out an exasperated, "Well, they were thorough..."

    "Mental," muttered Fitz in agreement.

    "Double mental," finished Simmons.

    "Okay," Clara clapped her hands together, thinking everything through. "Fitz, Simmons, we need to find the original source. Daisy, Leith━" she gestured to her fellow Inhumans, "━you're on research, please. Look at the phone-logs, check with reception, we want to know whose been in and out of this office the past twenty-four-hours. Davis━" she faltered at the training pilot, "━uh ... how about you ... um ..." He wasn't always the brightest needle in the haystack when it came to science, "... Oh! I know. You can work with Piper and keep HQ updated on comms."

    Davis frowned, "I don't get to do any sciency stuff?"

    Roy glanced at Fitz, wanting help. He ignored her on puprose, unpacking the D.W.A.R.V.E.S. She narrowed her eyes at him before turning back to Davis. "Er ... Well, I guess ... you could━er━" she glanced around, "━well, this whole place needs a thorough search for anything suspicious, so, just━" she quickly threw out her hands, heart jolting as Davis reached for a forensic kit, "━make sure you check with Simmons, Fitz or me before you take something and bag it, okay?"

    Piper and Leith shared a few snickers at Davis who flipped them off as he walked past.

    They all got to work. Gloves on, devices out, kits open━Fitz-Roy-Simmons led the small team they had created, hovering around with Grumpy and Dopey analysising corners of the room. Clara had a brief moment where she thought of Hunter and Bobbi. She imagined Bobbi finding something of key importance, thinking of all the quips and jokes Hunter would make to which Mack would reply with a quip of his own.

    Clara crouched down, trying to pick apart what parts of the debris were furniture or human remains━though while most of it from what she could guess was the centre had disintergrated at impact, it's specific origin━what or who━seemed to not exist, at all. It was as if a ghost had caused this explosion and left not even a ghostly footprint to work from.

    She stared, thoughtful at the ash pattern. She knew it came from here; inside, with an outwards burst. Which frustrated her, because she figured that already from the video on the news. If May was here, she'd tell her to get her mind back in the game and figure it out, not taking any moment of disbelief or doubt. Clara tried to imagine her voice in her head, but it didn't seem to work, and that only made her grow worse. She took a deep breath, hanging her head forward against her exposed wrist outside the gloves. She felt as if she had walked straight into a boiling room, her stress over this, May and everything else making her light-headed.

    Roy took another deep breath. She couldn't get herself distracted right now. She had to figure this out. The answer had to be here.

    A torch light brushed past her, making her glance up. Clara's brows knitted together, growing emotional despite it at the immediate response from Fitz. She felt him crouch down beside her, holding the torch in one hand and his D.W.A.R.F. tablet in the other. "What're you looking at?" he asked, glancing at his readings momentarily.

    Clara clutched her own torch tight in her palm, "I don't know," she whispered, ashamed of it. "I━I know this ... this is where the explosion happened. The blast pattern on the floor shows that but there's━there's nothing here. Even if it disintegrated there should still be a debris radius, right? I━there's nothing."

    "Well," sighed Fitz, "I'm not finding any bomb-making material. I don't know how to explain that."

    "Probably the same way I'm not finding any trace of accelerant," added Simmons from across the room. She glanced over, looking just as annoyed.

     Roy shook her head, glowering at the marks on the floor. She's seen limbs, debris of bone and skin━there were people within this blast radius; bodies not even able to be identified. It was a strong bomb━there should be a trace.

    "There has to be something," she didn't know whether she was telling Fitz and Simmons this, or herself. Clara chewed at her bottom lip, feeling an ache in her throat. "I━There needs to be something. What if━what if this could be a key to a lead with May? Then━then we have nothing..."

    "Hey, hey," Fitz took her free gloved hand in his, discarding his torch. Clara met his gaze again. "We're going to find something, all right? May would want us not to give up. We'll figure it out."

    "Together," echoed Clara softly, the words an automatic response.

    He nodded. As he stood back up, he brushed his lips past her temple for a short, comforting kiss before getting straight back to work. As her gaze wandered back to her work, they passed Simmons's who sent her a sweet, encouraging smile. Clara replied with one of her own, the gesture giving her a surge of confidence.

    With that confidence, Clara realised what they'll have to do. It'll be strenious, but she wasn't giving up on this━she wasn't giving up on May.

    "Well," she said as she stood up. "It's obvious what we'll have to do."

    "What?" Fitz glanced up from his tablet by the burnt desk, curious.

    Clara tugged at her gloves, fixing the fit on her fingers as tight as she could. "We'll have to go old school. Take a bit of everything and test a bit of everything."

    Fitz's shoulders slumped. He threw back his head, "Really?" he groaned, not liking the work behind this idea at all.

    Simmons, however, grinned. She loved old school forensics. "Ooh, a good ol' television forensic investigation." She added, gleaming with sudden excitement. "Reminds me of the Academy."

    "Yeah, like in the chem lab," smiled Clara to Fitz, "at our old school."

    He rolled his eyes at the play on words. Simmons snorted, "Oh, no, I was talking about that night in our dorm."

    "Oh..." Clara remembered. She snickered at the memory.

    Fitz's eyes widened. "What?" he asked them, having no idea what they were talking about. "Wh━what did you do?"

    "The smart team has arrived back with some annoucements!" Leith spoke loudly as he and Daisy returned through the burnt doorway. He pointed to the tablet that Daisy held up as if a sign on the street, smirking. "And my smart I mean smart━er━geniuses━ers."

    Jemma frowned at Leith, as if realising just how much of an idiot he could be. She smiled a little to herself despite it, as if this was the cutest thing she has seen in her life. "Leith, that sentence made no sense."

    Daisy pointed to her temple, "It only makes sense to us because we're smarter." Fitz frowned, incredulous. "Anyway!" Daisy moved back to the situation at hand. "Guess who was seen entering Nadeer's office right before the blast?"

    "You all have one guess only," added Leith.

    Davis stood up from where he was having difficulty sealing one of his forensic bags. "Uh ... someone suspicious."

    Leith turned to him, disappointed, "Okay, no one likes a smart arse, Davis. Does your wife know she's married to this side of you?" Davis rolled his eyes. "Because if I was her, I'd be concerned. The answer would be our friendly neighbourhood cattle-prod enthusiast Tucker Shockely."

    Fitz-Roy-Simmons all shared intruiged looks. They left their stations of forensic gatherings to huddle around Daisy and Leith, peering over onto Quake's tablet backtracking yesterday's security feed. And sure enough, there he was, passing through security with his own lanyard, looking rather dressed up consideirng the pictures Clara has seen of oily skin, oily hair and a horrible beard.

    "He was with the Russians who took the Darkhold," went on Daisy. "And if memory serves, I quaked his ass."

    Fitz thought about this, his hands raising to his hips. "Senator Nadeer was also aligned with the Russians." He shook his head, finding this rather confusing. "Why would they want her dead?"

    "Villain-on-villain violence?" suggested Daisy but Leith shook his head.

    "No ..." he murmured, all joking aside. "I mean━yes, but not in this case. They needed the security and support from Nadeer. She was giving them the ammunition━literally. Something must've changed on their end."

    Simmons glanced at him, following his thread of thought, "Well ... if the Russians and Radcliffe have the Darkhold, they could have created a new, untraceable explosive."

    Clara let her head drop, closing her eyes in brief frustration. Fitz sighed, looking very similar, "I really hate that book," he grumbled.

    "However they did this, if Shockley's not one of the three bodies in the morgue right now," said Daisy, "he's our bomber. We need to find him."

    "What about a facial-recognition search in the city with the most surveillance cameras?" piped up Clara.

    Daisy blinked, "Uh━well, yeah, sounds like a good start━but also sounds sarcastic, so I don't exactly know how to take that ..."

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(April 27th, 2017
The Zephyr, Classified)

    WAITING FOR Daisy to capture Shockley with May's team and bring him back up to the Zephyr was an anxious wait. More so because Leith wished he was down there, grabbing the guy himself. He was supposed to be in that team. He should be leading with Daisy, checking whether the coast was clear, counting the guys and sabotaging from within. It made Leith feel good. It made him feel like he was atoning for everything he's done━his service was for all those he hurt, and the lives he helped destroy. And now, thanks to Nadeer, even in her absence she was keeping him still like a sitting duck, unable to do anything without breeching his chance of freedom.

    He often wondered whether it was everything finally catching up to him. Leith had always considered himself a master in running away from his past, but no matter how far he ran, the world was round━he'd always end back where he began. And where he began was a lost kid without a father and without a sister, always thinking he left and took Clara with him because Leith and his mother weren't wanted. But even then, even surrounded by his mother his entire life, Leith never felt wanted by her, either. It was always Clara. We have to find Clara.

    And Leith did find his sister. He spent most his life trying to find her, too. He joined S.H.I.E.L.D. for her, never once thinking twice. And he's found something here━something great, and something solid. A place where finally he felt wanted. But Leith often wondered that if nothing had influenced his choice, what would he have picked?

    Would it have been the life he found in Chicago? Or would it have been something different?

    Leith spent so long wanting to be wanted, he never stopped to think about what he wanted himself.

    And sometimes it was jarring to realise that maybe he would be in a completely different place than he was now, and Leith was never sure whether he'd prefer it.

    If he could change things. If he could go back and fix his worst mistakes, his worst regrets, what life would he be living? Would those he cared about now still find a way to be in it? Would they like the person he'd be? Would he like himself? Would he feel right to wake up and know he wouldn't see Jemma, or Clara, or Fitz, or anyone from this home he's slowly gained?

    Leith's strikes to the bag in the Zephyr gym was absent-minded. He wasn't focusing on how much strength he used, or how he punched it, he just knew he was getting more and more aggressive with each hit until he gave it a final swing. He stopped, watching it dip upwards and back. He caught it, letting his forehead press against the surface, appreciating the cool touch.

    He knew Jemma had stepped into the gym. He didn't know why she had stepped away from the lab, but she seemed to just know when he needed her. She always seemed to know to say the right thing Leith needed to hear. He might have powers to travel through the subconsious and find others, but Jemma had powers to always find him.

    "Hey..." her hand set on his back, running up and down with a comforting touch that made him sigh, "I know you want to be down there, but it's for the best right now."

    Leith turned to her. He must look horrible━sweaty with his shirt sticking to his skin, his hair stuck to his forehead and his cheeks flushed, but she still smiled at him like he was something more than special. He was in his workout clothes, and she had a lab coat on her shoulders with large clear glasses hanging out of the pocket. They seemed on such opposite ends, and yet, closer than ever.

    When Leith first saw her, he always thought she was pretty. In a cute━oh, she has freckles!━kind of way that he never saw himself going for. They never even had time to get to know each other before she was taken by the Monolith. But when she got back, there was something different about her. She had seen horrible things━Jemma had become more than a survivor, and Leith started to see himself in her eyes. Somehow, they became friends, and somehow, that became more, and now, Leith was a little scared by just how much he'd do for Jemma Simmons.

    And right now, she looked insanely beautiful.

    Leith sighed again, shrugging. He started to unwrap the bondage around his hands. Even with them, they revealed brusies and tender skin. He had not been paying attention how he was hitting that bag, at all. He winced, and immediately, Jemma reached forward to unwrap them for him, her fingers far gentler, far more caring━loving, almost.

    He watched her fingers work. He's always been enamoured by them. "I feel trapped ..." he told her. "All over again. I was trapped at Afterlife, I was trapped by myself in Chicago, and then I was trapped in Afterlife again. I don't want to be trapped here."

    Because it's becoming home, he realised to himself, gaze still fixed on Jemma. 

    "We'll figure it all out," Jemma promised him. "You're a good person, Leith, and they'll see that."

    "If they want to see the good part of me," Leith managed a dry joke, "they'll need to find a really, really good lawyer."

    "And we'll find them," said Simmons. She sounded so determined, it made him start to believe it'll work out, too. Finished, she folded the bandages and reached up to cup his cheek. Leith found it far better than the cool touch of the punching bag. "I won't let them take you away, okay? I refuse to lose you, too."

    Leith dipped down, setting his forehead against hers. He felt her sigh against his lips. He closed his eyes, murmuring, "They'll try to take me away from you," he found himself saying, "but I'll fight. And if they do, I'll find you again. I'll make it back to you, I promise."

    "Not if I make it to you, first," added Jemma with a little smile. He chuckled. He would never hold it against her.

    "I would never doubt it," Leith tilted his head, capturing her lips with everything he could. He pulled her close, not caring if he was sweaty, or if he must smell horrible━he didn't think she cared, either.

    When she pulled away, she murmured against his lips, "It's not hard to see the good part of you, Leith, believe me."

    Leith kissed her again, and the time waiting for Daisy to return with Shockley went by fast under the heat of the gym shower.

    When she did, and the slimey git was sitting with his slimey friends in the cargo dock, Leith made his way over, albeit thrilled to do something other than make his muscles sore. On his way, he wasn't expecting another small scienctist to be out of the lab, appearing out of nowhere with a, "Boo! Bees!"

    Clara waved her fingers in front of Leith in the hallway, gloves on and in her lab coat. She grinned, proud of herself, until she realised she had done nothing to even make Leith jump a inch.

    He was disappointed. His sister was better than this. She was very scary when she wanted to be, but when it came to childish prank wars that he started, she was hopeless. He often wondered how this woman frowning at her hands, as if this was their fault, and the one that took on Hive was the same person. "Ahhh!" Leith said, very belated. "So scared."

    "You're scared of bees, you told me!" Clara defended.

    "Yeah, of the flying menace with a stinger on its arse," said Leith. "Not the bloody word."

    Agent Roy scrunched her nose, "I know that!" she swiped a finger. "I'm just testing you!"

    He scoffed, "No your not."

    She narrowed her eyes, "I have it all planned. Just you wait, mister━" she waved the finger like a mother. "See you at the curtain call of the best jump scare you've ever experienced!"

    Leith rolled his eyes. He continued walking, "Get back to your school science summer camp."

    "Ha ha!" she called back at him. "Very funny! Because I'm short! Well, you get back to━the━uh━the cave you live in! But with high ceilings because otherwise the stalacites would take your head off you're so tall! Take that!"

    Watching her brother leave, Clara turned up her nose, herself even realising how horrible her comeback was.

    Turning back to the lab, she stepped inside, her solution now should've settled for long enough. Clara brushed past Fitz growing frustrated at his findings by his desk and grabbed her tablet, rushing over to check her many rows of possible chemicals. As always, start basic━determine your acids and your bases. Fitz-Roy-Simmons tested each, adding solvents, solutions, solubles━anything to hopefully produce an answer as to what could be in these bomb casings to then help narrow it down.

    But Fitz-Roy-Simmons were having no luck whatsoever.

    "Damn!" cursed Simmons lightly from her desk. Fitz and Roy pursed their lips. "Got hydrocarbons up the wazoo but not a single oxidizing agent that would cause an explosion."

    Fitz sighed, spinning around as he tried to think. "No niro-methane?"

    "No."

    Roy crossed her arms, scowling at the colour the solution in the beaker had turned. "No sulphonic acid━?"

    "No," let out Simmons in exasperated frustration, "just carbon, nitrogen, phosphoruous━"

    "Whoa, wait, wait, wait," Fitz stopped in his place. He leant a hand against the table, his eyes darting off with sudden thought. The girls turned to him. He met Jemma's gaze, "Did you find selenium?"

    She frowned, taken aback. "H━how did you know?"

    Fitz flung out a hand to the beaker, it all coming to him with a breathless, "Simmons, you didn't find pieces of bomb casing in that office. Clara━the pattern on the floor━"

     Roy was starting to realise, too. Her breath hitched, eyes going wide━and if not feeling a little sick at the irony━ "━It burst outwards, from within━" she tapped her chest, knowing this feeling all too well. Then she flew them out, her heart starting to pace. "Those bomb casings, they were━"

    "━Pieces of Inhuman husk!" the three friends all finished together.

    "Fitz, you're brilliant!" stated Roy.

    Fitz shrugged, "Well, we all said it at the same time, so..." he muttered, starting to pace.

    "So, that means that somebody in that office when through a Terrigenesis," said Simmons, eyes wide, "and then what, just exploded?"

    "We've seen worse."

    "Well, the only survivor is Shockley," went on Roy, tugging at her gloves, "so question is ... how did he survive ... it ..." a horrible feeling settled onto Clara's stomach. Her gaze shot up, horrified, "Oh, no━"

    "Oh, bloody hell━" let out Fitz as Simmons pushed them to start off at a sprint out of the lab. They raced down the hallway, feet thundering as they descended the stairs━too many stairs. Shockley was down there in the cargo bay. He was down there with Daisy, and Leith, and the Director━a perfect place to use his new power. He would take everyone out in the room, and then the plane. He had become a perfect Trojan Horse. The ideal suicide bomber.

    They made it barely in the nick of time. Bursting through the doors into the cargo bay, Clara heard a terrible high-pitch sound. Like the rising of a kettle, or the distant sound of gas in car before it went━

    "Get away from him!" shouted Simmons, taking two steps at a time down the stairs.

    "He's the bomb!" added Fitz, he and Roy not far behind.

    Leith, who had been standing right in front of him, cried out a, "MOVE!" he tackled Davis out of the way, the two of them hitting the ground as Daisy threw out her hand, throwing Shockley back to the wall of the plane. They had to knock him out━stop the process. But it seemed as if once it started, it couldn't be stopped; like a locked trigger. And the ringing got louder, and louder, and louder━

    Clara's heart was pounding. She reached the bottom, trying to think of what she could do. She threw her hands out, hoping to somehow encase the bomb in some sort of energy blanket, but when Mace surged forward, she had no choice but to stop. "No!" She shouted, throwing it off course so it wouldn't hurt him. The impact shuddered her backwards, and her back hit the floor.

    Without his serum, Mace was no match. His hits went astray, and Shockley jammed his own right at the Director's gut. Clara pushed herself back onto her feet. They needed to get him out of here. They needed to expel Shockley out of the plane.

    Her eyes fixed on the containment module. Her throat tightened. She wasn't the only one with the same idea. Before anyone could stop him, Fitz ran to Mace's aid.

    Clara cried out his name, hoping it would hold him back━she knew better than that. Her stomach was wrapping over and over, tightening and tightening as he and Mace tackled Shockley away from the rest of them, straight for the containment pod.

    Leith realised. Pushing past them all, he skidding along the floor to adapt the module to Shockley's new powers. Shockley resisted, and as Fitz struggled, he shouted, "Clara!"

    She acted. Hands shooting back out with a desperate cry, she weilded the energy around her far faster than she's ever done before. It wrapped tight around Shockley, encasing him. She could feel the grow of the blast until it shook in her very bones. Clara gritted her teeth and forced him inside the open module, Fitz ran for the eject button, the ringing got louder and louder and louder━

     He hit the button, and the module dropped. Clara tried to contain it, but the blast was too much. It exploded through the module and her own containment, blasting up a sudden heat that seared their faces and skin. Roy lost her footing, slipping down. She would've fallen if Simmons didn't take her hand, pulling her up with all her might, her other hand latched onto the nearest rope. Everyone held on, watching the cloud of fire and smoke get further and further away ... until the door closed, and they all slumped to the ground, relieved.

    "Is everybody okay?" shouted Mace and Simmons helped Roy back onto her feet.

    Seeing Fitz slowly let go of the stairwell, Clara's breathless relief went from worry to anger in seconds. She ran up to him, not even giving him a moment to compose himself before she smacked his arm, "Don't do that!" she snapped.

    Fitz stared at her, alarmed. Out of breath, he managed, "What? Help save the day?"

     "No! Do that." She pointed to where the module had been seconds ago. "Just do go risking your life when you're doing it━blimey, you could've been blown to bits! Just━I could've━you━" Clara couldn't get anything more out, she just pulled him into a tight hug.

     Fitz blinked, taken aback, but it wasn't soon before a smile scoffed its way onto his face. He wrapped his arms around her, relaxing in a way that made her slump with relief, her hold turning gentle as she hid her face in the crook of his neck. "You idiot," she mumbled to his skin, beyond grateful that he was okay.

✲══〖✰〗══✲

(April 27th, 2017
The Zephyr, Classified)

    AS CLARA MADE her rounds, checking and making sure no one had been hurt terribly in the blast, her mind was alive with theories. She remembered EXTREMIS, and her theories on spontaneous combustion━the serum producing flammable substances in their system that cause a reaction that literally made them explode. There was always science behind Inhuman powers━even the philosophy of balance. Her own powers made her learn a lot surrounding the energy of the universe. Everything was made up of energy, everything shared energy and it used energy to warp things into reality over billions of years. Shockley's combustion had to be biological. Whether the molecules he gained after his transformation were flammable, or created something flammable, something was causing him to explode. Something was causing enough friction inside him to hold enough power as a bomb.

    The sound he made was perhaps the key. Clara knew that. A kettle makes that noise as it boiled; as all the particles came together to force steam out of a small expulsion that caused it to whistle through the air vibrating at a rapid pace. A gas leak in a car is met with oxygen, igniting a fire so large with so much cramped energy it expands out into a blast. So, what was creating the friction in such a compact space that it needed Shockley to explode to be released? And how do they contain it? And even more, how does he form back together? What scientific explanation could possibly support that?

    She gave Davis some ice to support his bruise from hitting the floor after Leith tackled him, not really paying attention to his gratitude. Clara heard Piper make fun of him in the back of her mind, still feeling her ears ringing a little from the explosion. (If she gets deaf by the end of her life, she will definitely blame S.H.I.E.L.D.). It was a distant ringing, like the ringing she heard from him.

    Friction causes heat. But enough friction to create an audible sound emit from a body? Clara could feel it━she had felt it when she tried to contain Shockley's explosion. She felt it grow and grow and grow...

    She rubbed her hands together thoughtfully, most likely looking ridiculous. She tried again, holding them up to her ear. She rubbed until her palms grew hot and buzzed; something so simple in science class. Something everyone did when they wanted warmth. They used friction, turning the kinetic energy into heat. On a far grander scale ...

     Clara clicked her fingers, it hitting her. "Oh, my god."

     Without saying anything else, she made a beeline for the lab. Piper peered around Davis, curious, "Bye Clara," she said, not expecting an answer.

     Agent Roy rushed into the lab, completely startling her brother who had been hanging out inside. He jumped, gasping in a short squeal with his hand to his heart. If this was a different moment, Clara would've rejoined in the fact that she finally got him back. Clara bypassed him and said nothing, grasping the tablet and connecting it to the monitor, ignoring the questioning words and glances from her friends. She searched for the camera feed in the cargo bay moments before the explosion.

     "Uh, Clara━?" Tried her brother but she immediately shushed him, turning the volume up on Fitz's tablet.

     At the sudden pike in the noise, Daisy winced and pressed fingers to her ears. "Aah!" She let out. "What is that?"

     "What is that indeed!" exclaimed Clara, stopping the video once she knew she was right. Turning back to Fitz, Simmons, Leith, Mace and Daisy, she grinned. "That would be a high-pitched frequency caused by Shockley's cellular vibration. Basically, it's the ramping up of his kinetic energy━" she rubbed her palms together to showcase her point, "━at an atomic level before going━" she made the noise of an explosion, throwing her hands out, still grinning. She bounced on her toes. "It continues and continues rubbing and shaking until it reaches critical threshold, to which that massive energy transforms his body from a solid into a flammable gaseous state and them boom!" She made an explosion again, adding a few golden sparks from her fingers for dramatics.

     "What?" Daisy stared at her, taken aback.

     Simmons stared at Clara, a grin forming onto her face. "You figured it out."

     "It's energy," said Fitz, shaking his head, unable to believe Clara's mind sometimes. "Kinetic energy. You know when you rub your hands together? That friction turns into heat, here, it's turning into something━"

     "━something far bigger!" Roy was giddy. "It's extraordinary, isn't it?! Though how he re-constitutes," her cheeks blew out as she puffed out a incredulous breath of air. "I can't even begin to understand that━yet. But that means that he is alive somewhere, back together, with his organs working and his nervous system not fired it's━it's━" seeing the way Fitz carefully shook his head, waving a hand under his throat at the frustrated sigh coming from Mace, Clara realised she was probably sounding a bit too excited over a deadly threat, "━horrible," she quickly fixed. "Absolutely, disdainfully horrible. Disgusting, even, I'd say..."

     "Okay, Clara," said Leith, "we get it now, you can stop."

    She hunched up her shoulders with a sheepish, apologetic smile.

     Director Mace pinched the bridge of his nose, "All right, so we know he can control it, but how do we control him?"

     "Well," went on Clara, "I assume you'd need something with the ability to control the energy; to keep his molecules still so he can't set them off..." she didn't realise all the eyes set upon her. The exchange Fitz and Simmons shared, nor how they gradually gravitated towards her expectantly passed her mind; she was too busy expressing the roller coaster that were her thoughts. "Perhaps we can adapt one of the spare modules, for I can't think of anyone with the power who can ..."

      It dawned on her. Clara's excitement fell away, finally noticing the stares and Fitz's hesitant purse of his lips. "Oh," she said. Simmons gave her an encouraging smile. "But━you guys know━I mean, I can't, the theoretical power needed to━"

     "Yeah, well, you did almost contain the explosion," Fitz said. "In fact you contained the explosion and Shockley..."

     "To get him into the containment module," corrected Clara. "And I don't know what any of you noticed but I didn't stop the explosion, he still exploded. To stop him I somehow have to tap into the energy inside him and━and control it, I don't think I can do that. Not since..." her words trailed off. She didn't need to finish them. Fitz hung his head, admittedly not liking this idea either, but she knew that she might be their only chance to stop this. Clara's gaze flickered over to Leith's who chewed his bottom lip.

     "This'll be you, Clara," he told her. "Only you."

     Only her.

     Clara glanced at her hands, feeling something heavy weigh down upon her. But with a deep breath, she set her jaw and nodded. "All right, I'll do it."

     Daisy watched her. She knitted her brows, "Clara, if you don't want to━"

     To hear her offer a chance not to do this made Clara's heart swell. But she shook her head, telling her friend, "I can do it. I want to do this."

     On her own accord. Without guilt in her conscious. Without someone's control. Clarissa Roy was making this decision on her own accord.

She heard May in the back of her mind. Figure it out, Roy. Do your job.

    And so she will.

✲══〖✰〗══✲

(April 27th, 2017
Park Mesa Motel, Nevada)

     CLARA REMEMBERED the night she searched for those Watch Dogs with Daisy, finding one just driving down the street. She assaulted him, threatened him to give them the location of the farmhouse. That resulted in Fitz almost getting killed.

    Clara wasn't prepared to make that mistake again.

    She's been a follower, she's been a villain, and Clara tried to be the hero, none worked out for her. She didn't know what that made her now, but at least it was her choice. Clara stepped down the deserted road, her heeled boots scraping the tar amongst the distant smell of smoke from the hotel rubble in her own state of mind, in her own confidence, in her own acknowledgement and power. She's never once felt like herself with this power. She always felt like it was given to the wrong person, like she was holding a stranger's identity. She hid it, she was forced to use it, she shadowed its power down; Clara has never let her power be hers.

     The skirt of her dress billowed slightly in light wind. She tugged at the sleeves of her cardigan, lonesome and powerful.

    She saw the light of the hotel sign in the distance, and with it, the dark silhouette of Shockley. She stopped a good few metres from him, letting her hands drop down to her sides. He stopped as well, and there as a silent showdown as he stared at her, confused. Clara clenched and unclenched her hands, starting to focus on the energy around her. She had to pick it apart, search through it like she was fishing in an ocean. "Simmons," she murmured as she did. "You there?"

    "Yes," she replied. "We're about half a mile away."

     "Okay," Roy took a deep breath. She needed to concentrate.

     Shockley wasn't going to make it easy.

     He whistled out to her, amused, "Hey! Where's Quake? Is she cowering behind you?" He chuckled. "Not that there's much to cower behind, eh, cupcake?"

     Over comms, Daisy scoffed, "Looks like Shockley's back to his old self."

    Clara readied her stance as Shockley started to walk up to her, closing the long gap she had set. She set a scowl upon her face, resisting the urge to just blow him up. "Well, he is completely formed."

    "Really?" gasped Simmons. "Incredible. He's gone from an explosive gas to a fully functional━"

    "Jackass?" Offered Daisy.

    "Git?" said Leith.

     "Wanker?" Added Fitz.

     "Just consider the sheer amount of kinetic energy required to reform. It's remarkable! I'm exhausted just thinking about it."

     And like that, Clara was hit with an idea. "Exhausted...?" She echoed. "Simmons, that might actually work."

     "What━?"

     Clara extended her hand. When she did, Shockley let out a faux gasp of horror, laughing. He threw a hand to his chest. "Oh! You got me! I'm trembling!" He cackled as Clara closed her eyes, concentrating. She did her best to ignore his taunts as she searched and searched, hoping to feel the energised kinetic explosion on the brink inside him. "What is that you can do, honey, eh? What makes you a freak?"

     She found it. Roy opened her eyes. In the night, they glowed like lit candle flames. Shockley staggered to a stop, surprised. Or perhaps he began to feel the acceleration inside him. Clara gritted her teeth, clenching her fist as she felt the buzzing in her limbs; she felt it grow and grow until it hurt and almost as if she'd explode until━

     Shockley exploded into a sheer blast of fire and smoke. Clara gasped and quickly projected a barrier between her and the blast radius, keeping herself safe as the firestorm cascaded around her. 

     Once it faded, Clara glanced over to where Shockley had been. A sick intruige rose up inside her to see bones, feet, hands━every part of him form back from nothing more than ash and dust; twisting and morphing into his legs, growing flesh over his bones, up to his hips, his chest and then finally his face. And there he stood, stark naked and grinning. 

     "That is both gross and extremely fascinating," muttered Clara into her comms. 

     "Did you just explode Mr. Shockley?!" Simmons let out, if not a bit horrified by her actions.  

     "Well, it's easier to destroy something than to contain it," shrugged Agent Roy. "Just be ready to come this way, okay? And Fitz, have the containment ready."

      "Copy."

     Shockley had finished reforming. He threw his hands out with a estatic, "Whoo!" Clara turned her nose up in disgust at the view she had. It definitely wasn't the view she did prefer ... (but that was off topic). Shockley grinned at her━she wanted to explode him again. "Can't kill me that way, sweetheart. If you wanted to get me naked, all you had to do was━"

     She threw out her hand again. It was easier the second time, clenching her fingers tight. But the exhaustion that hit her after the explosion, keeping it from touching her made her stagger slightly. Clara had to keep going. If she kept making him blow, then it'll take him longer to reform each time, hopefully giving Fitz, Simmons and the others enough time to get here and contain him. 

      She took a few deep breaths waiting for him to reform again, determined to keep her stance. As long as she kept expelling the energy she took to accelerate the process of his cellular vibration, Clara should be fine. She fought worse than him, and made it out alive━barely, but that was beyond the point. 

     Another explosion. The tar beneath her feet trembled up her legs. Clara gritted her teeth, grunting in exertion. She felt like she was pulling the tightest, and largest rubber band in the world. She felt as if she was connected to a rubberband motor, making it move around and around, faster and faster and faster━

     This blast made her stumble. Clara's palms hit the ground. She took a deep breath, watching as this time, it took Shockley an entire minute to reform. Roy glanced up, forcing herself, a little dazed, back up onto her feet as Shockley returned, his narcissm and smug stance not faltering one bit. 

     "See?" he called to her. "it's pointless! I've already won!"

     Clara didn't know what he meant by that, but she took a final deep breath, standing back up and flicking her hair off her face. "Really? Well, you and I see this very differently, don't we?"

     "Really?" Shockley took a few steps towards her. Clara scowled. "You have no idea, do you?" He laughed. "I don't have to kill you, or your friend Quake, just deliver you! You and your stupid━"

     Clara pushed herself for another blast, breaking apart Shockley more forcefully this time. He didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence before he exploded apart like dirt after being hit by a landmine. 

      She dropped down again, feeling her head grow hot and painful. Her fingers clenched against the loose tar, muttering a breathless, "Fitz, I need you to hurry, please ... I don't think I can take this much longer ..." When she didn't hear an answer, Clara grew confused, "Fitz? Simmons? Guys? Daisy, Leith━are you all there? I sort of need you guys right now."

     It made her feel a little better to see Shockley in a similar position to her, barely able to keep himself from falling flat onto the road after he reformed, sweat coating his brow. His smug smile was off his face. He stared at her, a flicker of recognisation flashed across his gaze. "I know you," he realised. Clara pushed herself up onto all fours, her limbs shaking as she did her best to stand again. "You were there, at the farmhouse. You're the witch━" he managed a dry chuckle. "And look at you now. Where's all that power gone, huh?"

     Clara didn't have the energy to explain that she was using way more power manipulating his kinetic acceleration at an atomic cellular level than the usual expulsion of energy towards someone else. She just said, "Your friends aren't coming to save you, Shockley. Don't you realise that? You're just like me, now. You're a freak."

      Her legs were weak as she got back onto them for a final time. "And let me tell you," Clara raised her hands, "my power has gone nowhere."

      She heard tires screech behind her. Clara acted quickly. With a cry, she used the last of her energy to dig deeper than she had into Shockley's molecular structure than ever before. Clara felt her entire body vibrate, the high-pitch noise piercing her ears along with Shockley's painful scream. Agent Roy brought her hands back, moulding everything she felt around him━in him━before snapping them together, and with it, Shockely exploded out into a massive firestorm that expelled right up into the sky, turning the night back into day. 

      Clara crumpled. She felt Fitz, the S.H.I.E.L.D. car and their containment trap speed past her, skidding to a stop right beside the explosion. The doors flew open and Clara saw Leith running to her, reaching her side in seconds to help her up. Inside, Fitz activated his instrument, and there was relief to see all that remained of Shockley be sucked inside the sphere, never to reform again. 

     Out of the car followed Daisy, running to Clara and Leith. She was at Roy's other side, soon, too, throwing an arm over her shoulder. Together, the three of them made their way back to the car as the last of Shockley disappeared within his cage. They had done it. Clara had done it. And it had been on her terms. 

      Clara felt as if some lasting weight she had carried from Hive had finally left her, leaving her light as if filled with air. 

     Fitz and Simmons raced out to check whether the containment had worked. It locked a bright red, and Clara breathed a weak grin. 

     Until she realised there was someone missing. 

     Her grin turned into a deep frown.

     "Wait," she glanced around, eyes searching and finding nothing. She met Leith's gaze, concerned, "Where's Director Mace?"

     The look on his face said everything. 

     In a way, Shockley had been right.

     He had won. 

✲══〖✰〗══✲

     a/n: LOOK AT MAH GIRL! GOING OUT INTO THE FIELD WITH HER POWERS ON HER OWN TERMS!!! 

     one more episode until the masterpiece that is episode 15. 

     ALSO DAISY'S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT >>>

     (man this chapter took so long to write. it's super long guys, now you know why ahahah). 

     (minimal editing i'm not apologising this was over 10 000 words)