Quake and Thunder from SHIELD and Black Lightning
Quake shows up just in time to end the fight. It’s mostly clean up after that, and any other day Anissa would be happy to leave that to the agents-in-black who are surprisingly resourceful for not officially existing. With adrenaline still surging through her and her father grimacing as the British doctor pokes and prods, Gambi hovering like an anxious mother hen, frustration swells in her chest and out in a heavy sigh as she kicks aimlessly at the twisted metal of the door she’d ripped from the nearby car not twenty minutes ago.
“You’ll send that flying across the city if you’re not careful,” Quake says, moving like she wants to put a hand on Anissa’s shoulder but thinking better of it. “Nice job back there.”
“Yeah, I can handle myself,” Anissa snaps, defensiveness rising quick and hot. “Why are you even here? Those guys weren’t alien or inhuman. We don’t need you interfering in every drug deal gone bad.” At least, that’s what she thought they were dealing with, before the cavalry rolled in.
Quake - Daisy, she doesn’t have a secret identity the way Anissa has to, doesn’t have a life that could fall apart or a family to lose by putting a name to her face - stiffens, rearing back a little. “You know, some people just say thank you.”
Anissa snorts. “You get to leave here and go off to wherever the next big fight is. Save the planet, fix the future, whatever. Me, him -” she gestures at her father, who’s being stitched up - “we stay here. We do the dirty work and fight the little battles that SHIELD doesn’t have time for.” Daisy looks like she wants to argue, hurt creasing the corners of her mouth as she opens it, but Anissa cuts her off. “What, you’re telling me there’s nothing special about these guys that you came all the way out here?” She jerks her thumb to the van holding several zip-tied dealers.
Daisy’s throat tightens. “Not them,” she says, before conceding, “their guns. It’s alien tech.” Anissa nods, unsurprised. “It’s not that you can’t handle it -”
“No, I get it,” Anissa interrupts. “I do. It’d just be nice to know what we’re dealing with before you guys show up with your invisible jet and an alien armory of your own.” She gestures at her dad again. Pain is written in the line of his jaw, the set of his shoulders, and they were lucky today, but next time…
“Daisy!” The agent in charge - Coulson, Anissa remembers - calls from several yards away, and Daisy looks at him over her shoulder, clearly torn. “We’re rolling out.”
“Go,” Anissa says before Daisy can make an excuse, or worse, apologize. “It’s how it is. I can live with it.”
Daisy swipes a strand of hair from her forehead. Past her, the van is being driven away, and the doctor has left Anissa’s father to Gambi’s capable hands. “They’re lucky,” Daisy says after a beat. “Freeland, I mean. They’re lucky to have you looking out for them.”
“You have a team,” Anissa shrugs. “I’ve got a city. It’s not so different.”
Daisy looks wistful. “It is, kind of,” she says, but doesn’t elaborate. “Maybe I can come back some time. Not for a fight, just to - I don’t know. Visit.”
Anissa raised an eyebrow. “We’re not exactly a tourist town,” she replies, but she doesn’t hate the idea. “I wouldn’t mind playing tour guide, though. I know which clubs to avoid, at least.”
Daisy gives her a little half smile that Anissa can’t help but return. “Maybe,” she says again, reaching to pat Anissa’s shoulder like she hadn’t let herself earlier before jogging back to join Coulson and the rest of her team.
Maybe. As she wanders back towards her father and Gambi, shielding her eyes to watch the small plane lift off and then vanish into the clouds, Anissa decides she likes the sound of that.
