[orientation part 2: season 5, episode 2]
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Deke, Rose, Daisy, Mack, and Elena thought it would be best to meet up with the rest of their little group. Rose honestly agreed with the plan, if they stuck together in larger groups it would be harder for the newbies to get picked off, and Rose didn't want another death weighing on her conscience. The group exited the elevator and was met with three of the other four members.

        "At least you're okay," Coulson commented quickly.

        "What do you mean?" Daisy asked looking around and noticing who was missing. "Wait, where's Simmons," she asked referring to Jemma who was absent.

        May sighed, "The Kree took her," she explained.

        A cry of confusion came from the others who had disposed of the Kree bodies.

        "What?"

        "How?"

        Deke looked down at Tess who was charged with watching over the others while Rose and Deke were away. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked her taking Tess away from the group, dragging an unhappy Rose with him. She knew that Deke was gonna be all up in arms about Jemma going missing, and Rose hated it when he was like that. "This is not exactly flying under the radar," he hissed. "What the hell happened to her?"

        "A servant got stabbed, was bleeding out," Tess explained to them. "The girl saved him," she paused, surveying the two for their reactions. "She thought she was doing a good thing," Tess continued hastily. "These people- they're, they're not like us."

        "No, they're frickin' hazardous," Deke retorted. "They'll get us all killed."

        "Okay, I wouldn't go that far," Rose said, disagreeing with Deke's statement. "They just don't know the lay of the land around here yet. I'm sure it'll get better with time," she said hopefully.

        Tess nodded, "Maybe she's right. Maybe Virgil was right," she told Deke.

        "Just- just stop it," Deke insisted, shaking his head. "Just the fairy tale was toxic."

        "It's not a fairytale if it's real," Rose reminded him. "There is proof right in front of us that the Elders were right."

        "Well, you were singing a different tune this morning," Deke snapped. "You were all like, 'the prophecy isn't real. The Elders were wrong.' Think about it Rosie, the morons that believed that thing were eaten alive."

        Rose looked taken aback, "So our parents are morons now?" she asked him. "Deke, we both lost things okay. If was Virgil said is true, then they didn't die in vain. Their deaths could've had a purpose, it wasn't just Kasius being cruel. Isn't that better than believing that they were killed for no reason?"

        Deke shook his head, "No, Rosie that's worse," he affirmed. "If it's real. It'll be a massacre," he said quietly.

        "Can't you just accept the fact that Rose and I might be right about this one?" Tess asked him, tired of the attitude that he was giving the two.

        "We have bigger problems to deal with," Deke said ignoring Tess's question and looking back at the group of S.H.I.E.L.D agents they left behind. "I'm not gonna tell you this again," he said putting his hands on Tess's shoulders. "Get them to blend in." Deke walked away from the two girls, probably off to scam more people with his gallery.

        Rose didn't feel like following him at the moment. She really hated the Gallery. But every time she brought it up to Deke he would give her some lame excuse about how it gives him business and that she was just too paranoid. Sure, it was impressive, but Rose was not one to trust strange technology. Rose watched as Daisy passed by them quickly.

        "You handle the others," Rose whispered to her quickly. "I'll follow her," she said pointing to Daisy.

        "You're not gonna do after Deke?" Tess asked.

        Rose shook her head slowly, "No. He needs to blow off some much needed steam," she explained.

        Tess tilted her head, "You would definitely help with that," she told Rose.

        Rose rolled her eyes, "Maybe, but, I don't wanna push it."

        "Okay," Tess answered. "Good luck."

        The two went their separate ways, Rose following Daisy through the crowded hallway while Tess went to deal with the other agents. Rose wasn't entirely sure what Daisy was doing, she didn't seem like the type to wander off by herself, but Rose didn't know much about her. It didn't take long for Daisy to slip through the crowded hallway and into a more secluded one. Where she could get a better look at who, or what, Daisy was chasing.

        Rose turned the corner and caught a glimpse of the back of a brunette man's head, and she knew exactly who it was. Daisy was following Deke, but why? What did they think he was capable of, did they think she was capable of those things as well. Was someone following her? Rose looked behind her and saw no one, breathing a sigh of relief.

        She turned back around and was met with a strong hand on her shoulder, pushing her against the metal wall of the hallway. Rose looked up and was met with the eyes of Daisy. "Why are you following me?" she asked, her voice in a low whisper. "Did Deke put you up to this?"

        Rose shook her head, "No!" she said. "He doesn't know I'm here, and he also doesn't know you're following him. I just, do you need help-"

        Daisy took her hand of the girl's shoulder. "What?" she asked, a little surprised by Rose's offer to help Daisy with whatever she was doing. "Why would you help me?"

        "You wanna know where he's going right? I happen to know the answers," Rose said quickly, afraid that Daisy would pin her against the wall once more. "Look, I know you guys don't trust him and you probably have very valid reasons for that. But for me. Me, I'm an open book. You basically know all you need to know about me, so you have no reason to distrust me. I promise."

        "He's your friend, you're offering to help me spy on your friend?" she asked, skeptical of Rose's actions.

        "Yes, I'll help you spy on him," Rose said instantly.

        Daisy chuckled, "Okay let's see what you are made of," she said, grabbing Rose's hand and carefully walking down the hallway with her.

        "See what I'm made of?" Rose questioned.

        "Yes," Daisy answered simply. "You wanna help me spy? Let's make you into a spy."

        Rose raised her eyebrow, "I'm an alright spy, I think," she said slowly, unsure of her own answer.

        Daisy laughed once more, "That's cute," she said turning back to look at the girl. "I could tell you were following me since you left the group."

        "Okay," Rose said throwing the hand that Daisy wasn't holding up in the air. "That's because you are a trained S.H.I.E.L.D agent, whatever that means. I mean Virgil never really went into details. He just said S.H.I.E.L.D and expected us to fill in the gaps. But, Deke, I mean he definitely doesn't know that we're following him. From my many years of spending time with him as his best friend, I know one thing is that he's not really good at taking hints."

        "If you know him so well, then where did he go?" Daisy asked, relinquishing her grip on Rose's hand.

        Rose looked up to see that Deke had completely disappeared. The pair turned to corner to a dead end, with three sheets of metal lining the small edge of the hallway. Rose knew this spot all too well, she smiled. "Ever heard on a secret entrance, Daisy?" she said leaning against a spot in the metal where she knew that the door to the Gallery was.

        The sheet metal cracked open to reveal a small spiral staircase. "Impressive," Daisy commented quietly. "You'll make a good spy."

        Rose smiled widely, following Daisy down the narrow staircase. "Thanks!" she responded happily. They walked down the staircase quickly and into the big open space that led to the Gallery, where Deke probably was probably giving people their daily dose of life 'outside' of the lighthouse. Daisy pushed past the red curtain and began to walk into the room. "Oh, no, Daisy. I wouldn't go that if I were you," she tried to warn her. Rose knew what would happen if Daisy walked into this room, but she wasn't sure if Daisy knew.

        "Relax, just keep watch outside and I'll be back in a second," Daisy instructed the girl.

        "Daisy, I'm serious, you're gonna be-" Rose started looking behind her, but Daisy had completely disappeared into the Gallery.

        "Oh- ugh! Deke's right you guys are frustrating!" Rose said to herself, deciding what she should do. Daisy didn't know what she was getting into, she didn't give Rose the opportunity to tell her about the gallery. Rose took a deep breath in, "Okay, okay! I guess I'm helping," she whispered to herself, walking back and forth in front of the doorway.

        'Do I go in?' Rose thought to herself. 'I mean I have to, right? I really should go. Daisy might be in trouble and if Deke sees her in there without charging her, he's going to be very pissed. A pissed-off Deke is not fun a lot, and Daisy shouldn't deal with that alone.

        Rose huffed and instead of standing watch outside as Daisy told her to, Rose marched into the gallery to try and find her. The smell of the mist permeated the room, filling all of Rose's senses. "I really, really hate this place," she expressed weaving through groups of unconscious people. "God! Daisy?" she called, walking through the clouds of mist that filled the air. "Daisy? We have to get out of here now before we," she started.

        Then she saw the silhouette of the woman passed out on the floor. "Oh, oh, shit. She's in the gallery," Rose said walking up to an unconscious Daisy, who was lying next to Deke. Rose felt her vision getting fuzzy, her mind a blurry mess. "And here I go," Rose said before clasping onto the floor, next to the other two.

---

        Rose woke up with a ray of sunshine burning her eyeballs. She looked around at the scene in front of her. There was a bright blue sky above her and a small bar kitty-corner from the sidewalk she was standing on. Rose knew that Deke would be there. So, therefore, Daisy would be there too.

        Rose caught her right as she walked into the bar. "Hey," she told Daisy, placing her hand on her shoulder.

        "I thought I told you to wait outside," Daisy questioned.

        "Yeah, well I figured you should know what you're getting into before, well, anything bad happens," Rose explained quickly.

        "Where is it?" Rose heard Deke ask the barkeeper. "Did you throw out the old papers?"

        "Yes it was a mess," the barkeeper responded.

        Deke looked up from the old newspaper he was reading. "Stop doing that! You're always cleaning."

        "Yeah, you programmed me to," the barkeeper retorted.

        "Really? Because I don't remember programming you to talk back to me," Deke said, There was a long awkward pause after Deke spoke. "It was a joke, because I- I did program you to talk.. Will you just find the papers, please?"

        Daisy leaned in, "What is this place?" she whispered in Rose's ear.

        "I believe it's called, a bar?" Rose responded, unsure of her answer.

        "Yes, well I know that," Daisy retorted.

        "You guys might as well pull up a stool and have a beer," Deke commented, looking at the pair out of the corner of his eyes. "Surprised to see you here, Rosie. I know you try to steer clear of this place."

        "Yeah, well I was just following Daisy, so," Rose said, taking a seat to the right of Deke.

        Deke scoffed, "So you were helping her stalk me?" he asked.

        "Uh, well, she did call me pretty earlier so, I was kind of inclined to help her," Rose said.

        That reply earned a laugh from Daisy, but a scowl from Deke. "So all I need to do to get you to help me is call you pretty?" he asked.

        "No, It wouldn't work with you," Rose responded giggling.

        "Hey, what the fu-" Deke started, but Daisy interrupted him.

        "You wanna fill me in on where I am?" she asked Deke.

        "You're passed out at my place of business," he explained. "You got too close to my transmitters when you were stalking me."

        Daisy scoffed, sitting down next to Rose. "So this is your racket? You're- you're pimping the Framework?"

        "I never called it that, but yeah," Deke said. "That's the technology the hardware interface is based on. I- I had to rebuild the software from scratch because Kasuis had the historical archives erased. But I was able to get my hands on the servers. I gathered bits of data here and there, and... the rest is guesswork."

        "But your customers don't know the difference," Daisy retorted. "You've got them addicted to Earth-as-it-was scenarios."

        "Among other simulations, yes," Deke responded.

        "So this is the business that you're protecting?" Daisy asked him. "Your creepy opium dem of fantasy?"

        Deke folded up the newspaper he was reading and gave Rose a side-look, who was not really listening to the conversation. Instead, she was glancing around the bar, studying the architecture. "That's not the only thing I'm protecting," Deke said under his breath, looking away from Rose and back at Daisy. "But, I can't get real opium, so.." he continued, returning to his normal tone. "I'm selling escape. The only other way out of here is the final exit."

        "They're trading one prison for another," Daisy pointed out.

        Deke stood up, looking down at the agent. "You think the Lighthouse is a prison? Sweetheart, prison would be nice."

        Rose finally looked up, tuning back into the conversation. "It's not that bad, Deke," she insisted. "Sure it's basically hell, and the Kreepers are absolutely terrible, but it could be worse."

        "Worse meaning you and me are dead right?" Deke clarified.

        "Yes, we could be dead," Rose answered. "But we're not."

        "Not for long," Deke said. "Not while they're around."

        "They're just trying to save their friend," Rose insisted.

        "The Kree have her!" Daisy chimed in.

        Deke shook his head, "You can't help her. To try is too dangerous."

        "You said the same thing about Mack and Yo-Yo," Daisy replied. "How'd that turn out?"

        "A catastrophe!" Deke exclaimed. "This entire place is a very delicate ecosystem, and you all just keep taking a leak in the water left and right!"

        "You're worried we'll mess this up or we'll mess this up for you?" Daisy replied angrily. "At least Rose has been welcoming to us, trying to help us fit in. But you've done nothing to help or fix whatever problems you think we are causing. I mean, do the Kree even know about this operation? Because-"

        Deke stopped her, "Of course, they know about it," he interjected. "They're crazy about it because I'm- I'm improving people's lives. I'm giving them something other than just hour after hour of endless grind."

        "They condone it 'cause it keeps them placid," Daisy argued. "I have seen the Framework in action before. Pretended that wishes are coming true so that the real hope dies," she spat.

        "Hope is what gets people killed," Deke insisted.

        "Make them forget reality so they don't try to make a move to fix it!" Daisy continued.

        Rose shrugged, "I mean, some people want it fixed but-"

        Her sentence was cut off by the pair's continuous argument.

        "No, I'm making reality livable."

        "Don't make any waves because," Daisy said mocking Deke.

        "No, you don't want to make any waves, 'cause if you start a, you want to know what's combustible in there. We're mixing metaphors all over the place," Deke said.

        "Telling them to just chill so they don't rock the boat is so wrong," Daisy said at the same time.

        Rose sighed, "My God, you two are just going at it arent you?" she said amidst the chaos.

        "No! The boat sank!" Deke snapped, making both of the girls look at him, frightened. "Do you understand that?! We are a breath away from extinction. We make one wrong move, and in a blink, mankind is gone for good."

        The scene on the TV behind the bar switched quickly, and Deke's head snapped towards it instantly. Rose followed her eyesight and instantly read the caption out loud: "S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Daisy Johnson."

        "That- that- that- that," Deke said fumbling around on the bar countertop for the remote. "That's what I'm looking for," he said pausing the television on an image of Daisy's face. She had shorter hair and dark eyeshadow on her eyelids. "That!" Deke exclaimed once more. "Daisy Johnson, and you say you're not dangerous."

        "So you know who I am?" Daisy asked.

        "Quake," Deke said venomously. Rose knew that name too, she had definitely heard Deke mention it before, but she couldn't remember the context. "You see, I'm the one person that's pieced the history together, who has an idea of what happened."

        Rose looked over at her best friend once more. It was the first time she was hearing of this. "Deke, what are you talking about?" she asked carefully, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.

        "Rosie, you want to know what kind of force can tear a planet apart?" Deke asked her. "It was her." He turned his head back to Daisy, looking her straight in the eyes. "It was you," he repeated, letting his words sink in. "You think if you work hard enough, if you inspire them, that you can put the pieces back together? You think you can save mankind? Give them back a world with justice and freedom and all that other pledge-of-allegiance garbage? I'm telling you to make peace with it. Surrender to it and make this your home, just the way it is. Because S.H.I.E.L.D tried to save the world," he said reaching for the remote once more.

        Deke looked back at Daisy again, "And you want to see the consequences? Take a look." Deke pressed a button on the remote that removed that background of his 'framework' as Daisy called it, and showed an image of earth that Rose was used to. The half-cracked surface, remnants of debris floating around. "Do you think an Earth that can be saved?" Deke asked Daisy.

        He answered his own question, without giving her enough time to answer. "It's too late. It's already been quaked apart."

        "Quake," Rose said under her breath, remembering how she knew the name. "The destroyer of worlds."

loving you's the anecdote,
golden ☼

Grace talks ig: AHHHH when Deke said he's also protecting Rose, my heart practically exploded. Like they just have to admit they're in love with each other already, everyone can see it. But that doesn't come quite yet, we still have to wait awhile sooo :) feel free to comment/ vote if you want. I'll update soon I think <3