Changes | Marvel

FORTY EIGHT. It's Time

Phil offered to let me go with Joey and Elena to the Cocoon, but Daisy was like my sister. If she was brainwashed, then I was not going to ditch her. Lincoln had the same idea as me, and he also refused to go. Although, he was more on the lines of 'I love her' and was a little angrier at Hive because of that. I was just pissed at Mack, Phil, May, Phil, Fitzsimmons and Phil. Did I mention Phil?

"Daisy's still one of us." Phil told everyone in the communication room. I ignored everyone but Lincoln, only looking at the floor. "What she did here was not of her own free will. Hive infected her. She's his hostage. We need to remember that. But this alien creature messed with the wrong team." May walks off, probably to start up the jet. "It thinks if it breaks our legs, we'll stop fighting, but it doesn't know how damn stubborn we are, especially when it comes to protecting our own. Hive is building an Inhuman army, but we're not gonna let that happen. So, strap in. Because you might feel a little sick after this."

I strap myself into the chair using the seatbelts given, and everyone else does the same. May starts up the jet, and we begin to get higher up. The jet slowly began to lean to the side, and things began to fall off the shelves around us. May managed to manoeuvre the jet so we were parallel to the floor so that we could get out. I see the team walking off in the direction of the lab and Lincoln nods his head at me.

"I know you're angry at them." He tells me quietly as we walked behind all of them. "But we need your help if we're going to save Daisy. Please." He begged me. I just shake my head.

"I'll see." I tell him. We enter the small lab and the door closes behind us. I walk to the isolated part of the room and sit down, crossing my arms and keeping my mouth shut. Stark's can hold grudges for years, I wasn't an exception of that.

"Well, the thing with this infection, is that it latches onto the brain stem. It's controlling her using pleasure." Fitz explains.

"You're saying Daisy's addicted to this thing?" Phil asks him, kind of weirded out.

"It's the closest scientific explanation that we've got." Fitz shrugged.

"She said she was happier than she's ever been. Wanted me to experience the same thing." Lincoln told them quietly.

"Most parasites have one goal attack and weaken its host. But Hive does the opposite. Its parasites swarm the brain's pleasure centre, releasing so much dopamine that-" Simmons begins to explain.

"Infected Inhumans not only feel bulletproof, they actually are." Fitz finishes for her.

"Well, at least when it comes to a dendrotoxin. We took tissue samples from Lucio and –"

"So ICERs don't work on them." Phil asks them.

"No. I'm afraid not." Simmons informs hi, wincing slightly.

"Okay. Then, how do we disinfect Daisy?" He asks slowly, sharing a look with Lincoln.

"Well, meet Dr. Holden Radcliffe, a fellow Scotsman." Simmons says joyfully. She brings up a file on the computer, showing us the documents involving an oldish man. "He was lead researcher on parasitic organisms at the agrochemical lab we raided. Based on his expertise, we believe he's our key to finding a cure for Daisy."

"That facility and everyone in it were wiped clean." Phil shook his head. "How did Radcliffe escape?"

"He didn't have to, 'cause he wasn't actually there." Fitz explains.

"He was asked to step down a month before for conducting irregular experiments." Simmons adds.

"'Irregular' meaning..." Lincoln trailed off.