Engine Surge

Engine Surge

Head pounding, I opened my eyes with a long strain. I took a few minutes looking around my surroundings. To my surprise, I was laying on some random bed. There was a window near where I had been laying, that was draped closed. Feeling a mysterious pain in my head, I slowly worked my way over to the window and pulled the drapes open, letting some sunlight in. I looked out the window and saw the world outside was speeding past. “Where the hell am I?” I wondered out loud. I reached my hand up to my ear saying, “Fitz, come in, Agent Daisy Johnson reporting.” No response came. “Shit” I thought, “communication must be getting interfered with somehow.” I looked out the window and came to the conclusion that I had somehow been put on a train.

I decided it was time to go figure out what was going on, having remembered I had been on a mission to locate a potential Inhuman. Walking through the train, I came across some passengers and asked, “Excuse me, sorry for the intrusion, but could you tell me where we are?”

“Sure, sweetie” the woman smiled, “we’re on an Amtrak train heading to Chicago.”

“Thank you” I said, turning away from the couple, trying to rack my brain as to how I had gotten here.

What I had remembered was going to New York to track down a potential Inhuman, but there’s no way that person would be on this train. “Oh shit” I thought to myself, “I don’t even know who the potential Inhuman is, what ability I could be dealing with or even if they could be an ally.”

I sat down in one of the passenger seats and noticed the girl I had sat next to looked a little anxious. “First time on a train?” I asked, turning to her.

“No, just a little nervous about traveling on my own” she replied.

“You heading to Chicago?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got family there” she replied, “I haven’t seen them in a few months.”

“How come?” I asked.

“I’m attending a boarding school in Upstate New York” she explained.

“Oh, and they don’t mind you leaving campus in the middle of the semester?” I asked.

“Not in the slightest” she stated.

I looked at her more properly this time. She looked to be about sixteen, maybe seventeen years old. “I never understood why parents would ship their children off to a boarding school” I told her.

“Actually, I chose to go to this boarding school” she stated, “they’ve been helping me with my…”

“Learning disability” I finished for her, “that’s always nice when a school can help a kid work through their mental blocks.”

“So, how about you?” she asked, “Are you heading to Chicago too?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some friends there that I’m going to see” I said, “do you know how much longer the train ride will be? I think I’ve slept through a lot of the journey.”

“Last I heard, they said we were half an hour away and that was maybe ten minutes ago” she answered.

Over the next few minutes, the two of us sat in silence and I looked out one of the windows seeing the familiar skyscrapers of Chicago speeding by. “I think we’re almost at our stop” I said, turning to the girl “it was nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you, too” she said, grabbing a bag she had placed in one of the compartments above the seats. “Have fun with your friends.”

“Thanks” I smiled, “have a good time with your family.”

She and I looked out the window again and noticed we were entering the Amtrak station, yet we weren’t slowing down at all. “That’s odd” I pointed out, “if this train is supposed to be stopping in Chicago, why aren’t we slowing down?”

“Maybe they have a way for the train to stop without slowing down?” she suggested.

“That’s incredibly dangerous” I stated, “maybe I should go ask one of the conductors what’s going on.”

“You know, I haven’t seen a conductor walk past since we entered the city limits” she stated.

“Alright, that’s it, I’m going to go see what’s going on” I said, standing up from my seat.

The hood from my sweater fell off from my head, revealing my face a little better. The girl looked me in the face and said, “Oh my God! You-You’re Daisy Johnson, from S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Oh shit!” I exhaled, “Yes I am from S.H.I.E.L.D. I’m on this train by accident.”

The girl went from being relaxed to having her face show fear. Suddenly, she slipped through the back of her chair and started running away from me. It clicked into my head that she must’ve been the potential Inhuman. “Looks like I’m on my own with this one” I said to myself, “please don’t run!”

I was chasing this girl through the train car and passed by some windows and saw us fly past the station. I noticed that some of the people on the platform looked both confused and worried. I was getting close to the passenger rooms and saw the girl I was chasing laying on the ground, unconscious. “Oh my God, what happened to you?” I questioned, crouching down to check on her.

A door behind me opened and a man’s voice said, “Well, isn’t this my lucky day. Not only do I get to capture this enhanced young girl, but I also have a chance to recapture Quake herself.”

I slowly turned around, ready to use my powers and saw a man who looked surprisingly younger than I was expecting. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Who I am, doesn’t matter” the guy said, “why I’m here, should be rather obvious to someone of your reputation.”

“Let me guess, you tracked this girl down and want to use her as part of some evil plot” I stated.

“Clever girl” he said, with a malicious grin on his face “though we couldn’t have guessed that Quake would be trying to find a Mutant too.”

“Wait, so she’s not an Inhuman?” I asked.

“No, she never went through Terrigenesis” he smirked, “so she should no longer be a person of interest to you.”

“You’re with HYDRA, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Correct again” the man smiled, “any other questions?”

“Did HYDRA take control of the engine?” I asked, “Because we flew past the station a couple minutes ago and I won’t allow you to put other people’s lives at risk.”

“And how are you going to stop us?” he questioned, “You’re all alone and have no way of communication.”

“If you know who I am, then you should know how this is gunna work” I smirked, “I’m about to rock your world.” I lifted my hands to quake him but nothing happened. “Shit!” I exhaled, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, I hate having performance issues” he said, “usually happens when I’m nervous.”

“Oh screw it!” I exclaimed, running up to the man, but one of his HYDRA agents came out of the room and shot me, causing me to blackout.

A few minutes later, I woke up and found myself tied to a chair, in a dark room. My heartrate started to quicken, as I tried to figure out a way to get myself out of this situation. “I’ve got to save that girl from HYDRA” I thought to myself, trying to stand up. I was having a tough time adjusting my eyesight to the darkness but was able to tell I was left in a supply closet. “May could get out of this chair with minimal effort” I thought, coming across something made of glass. I grit my teeth as I smashed the glass to cut myself free. “What I wouldn’t give for that girl’s power right now” I said, out loud. I finally cut through the rope and quaked the door open and took off toward the engine room.

The woman I had first talked to was pacing and panicking. “Ma’am, please calm down” I said, placing my hand on her shoulder.

“I can’t” she stated, “this train won’t stop and I need to get to Chicago!”

“Everything will be alright” I said, trying to reassure her “can I use your phone to call someone?”

“Yes, of course” she said, handing me her phone.

“Thank you” I said, immediately calling one of the phones on base.

The other end of the line stopped ringing and a familiar voice flooded my ears, “Hello? Who is this?”

“Coulson! Thank God someone answered!” I exclaimed.

“Daisy?” he questioned, “Oh my God, I thought you were dead. Uh, where are you, your tracker is down.”

“I’m not sure where I am exactly, but I’m on an Amtrak train that’s been hijacked by HYDRA and could seriously use some help here” I explained.

“Hold on a second, let me trace the call” he stated.

“Coulson, that potential Inhuman you sent me to find is on this train” I informed him, “but she’s not an Inhuman, she’s a Mutant and HYDRA captured her and knocked me out.”

“Alright, that’s a lot of information to take in at once” he stated, as something beeped on his end “the tracer worked. Looks like the last major city you’re close to is Chicago.”

“Yeah, we flew past the station in Chicago” I explained.

“Looks like you’re heading Southwest” Coulson pointed out, “so the next station you should be hitting is in Galesburg, Illinois.”

“Great, so I don’t have long to stop HYDRA by myself” I groaned.

“At least you have your powers to help out” he stated.

“Except one of the guys from HYDRA did something to negate my powers” I explained, “and I don’t have any other weapons with me on this train.”

“Well, if you’re going to get this mission complete, you’re going to have to use your brain and be creative” he stated, “you’ve got less than two and a half hours to figure it out. The team will meet you at the Galesburg station to help get things back to normal.”

“Alright, thanks Coulson” I replied.

“Just get back to us in one piece, Daisy” he said, hanging up.

I turned back to the woman who lent me her phone. “Thanks for letting me borrow your phone” I said, handing it back “you don’t have to worry, I’ll take care of everything.”

“I overheard your conversation, dear” she said, “knowing that you’re with S.H.I.E.L.D. makes me sure that we’ll all get out of this just fine.”

“Alright, I’ve just got to figure out how to find that girl I was sitting with” I stated.

“I think I saw some men taking her toward the engine” she said.

“I need to get there without them seeing me coming” I said, looking around “I might have an idea, but it’s going to be risky.”

“You should take my phone in case you need to call your team again” she said, handing the phone back.

“Thank you” I smiled, “I promise I’ll get your phone back to you.”

Before heading to the engine, I ran to the dining car to try to locate some weapons I could use in case my powers stopped working again. Luckily, I found a few knifes I could use so I just grabbed two of them and tucked them away. Next came the risky part of my plan. I went to the room I had originally been in when I woke up on the train and slid the window open. I took a deep breath and climbed out the window, climbing up to the roof of the train. I figured if I walked across the roof of the train, HYDRA wouldn’t see me coming at all. So, I quickly and carefully started walking toward the engine, having to make mini leaps across the cars until I reached the front of the train. I crawled to the edge of the front of the train, where the glass was, and looked in to see several HYDRA agents, including the one I had talked to standing with their backs facing me and I noticed the girl was passed out on the floor, not drawing attention to herself from the agents. Luckily, there was no one sitting at the controls. I reached my hands down to the glass and began using my powers to make it shatter, then grabbed the frame and jumped down into the engine room, startling the unsuspecting agents, fighting them all without using my powers. I heard the girl begin to stir and glanced in her direction, knowing I needed to get her untied. “Glad you’re awake!” I shouted, ducking under one of the agents “How good of a fighter are you?”

“I’ve been getting trained to fight, but I’m not sure how much help I’ll be for you” she explained.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine” I stated, rolling over to her and pulled out one of my knives “here, cut yourself free and help me out!”

The main leader of the HYDRA group grabbed me from behind and threw me against the door of the engine room. He sighed saying, “You’re really starting to become a nuisance, Quake. You could just leave and not bother us, then you wouldn’t be going through so much pain.”

“This is nothing compared to when I first went through Terrigenesis” I spat, “it doesn’t matter to me whether there are Inhumans, Mutants, or regular humans on this train, I will never idly stand by and let HYDRA terrorize innocent people!”

“Silly girl, if only you had someone else to help you stop us today” he said, with a smug grin.

While I was pinned against the door, I noticed the girl rise from the ground and using the butt of the knife, knocking him out. He dropped to the ground and I gasped, “Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome” she said, nervously looking away.

I gingerly approached her saying, “Hey, look, I know you’re afraid of me being from S.H.I.E.L.D., but I will not hurt you at all. I am here to help you out.”

She looked up at me and said, “Thank you for, uh, coming to save me.”

“There was no way I was going to let HYDRA take you” I responded, directing her out of the engine cab “so, what’s your real story now that I know you’re a Mutant.”

She hesitated before saying, “I really do go to a boarding school in New York, but it’s not a traditional boarding school. The boarding school is for people like me, Mutants who have had their mutation come forward and have nowhere else to go because their family kicked them out.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that” I said, “then why were you heading to Chicago?”

“My professor had sent me out on a mission for something that is in Chicago and knows that I’m the best person to do it because of my mutation” she explained.

“I understand why he would think that” I stated, “your ability is amazing!”

“Thanks” she smiled, “by the way, my name is Kitty Pryde. So, what’s the plan for us getting the train back to Chicago?”

“I’m not sure if we’ll actually be able to get this particular train back to Chicago by ourselves” I explained, “I called my leader and told him what was going on and he said he’d have a team waiting for us at the Galesburg station, which we should be there in about an hour.”

“Maybe I should call someone from my team to come help us out” Kitty suggested.

“That might not be the best thing” I replied, “HYDRA likes to capture and experiment on powered people.”

“But you’re one of those powered people and they don’t seem to be as interested in you” she pointed out.

“Oh, trust me, if I was their target, they would be holding this whole train captive” I explained, “even more than they are right now.”

“Trust me, my team is more than capable to take on these people” she said, “please, just let me call someone.”

I hesitated, then said, “Alright, make it quick. We need a plan for how we’re going to slow this train down or stop it before Galesburg.”

I handed Kitty the phone that was lent to me and she dialed a phone number. “Bobby! Oh thank God!” she stated, “No, no, I’m alright. Hey listen, I’m stuck on a runaway train heading to Galesburg, Illinois I need someone from the team to come help me with stopping the train. Yes, tell the Professor, he’ll be able to locate me and point you in the right direction. Oh, and Bobby, please hurry.”

Kitty hung up the phone and handed it back to me. “Is everything taken care of?” I asked.

“Yeah, one of my teammates will be here as soon as possible” she smiled, “now, let’s figure out how we’re going to stop HYDRA.”

“Well, we knocked out some of their agents, including that guy you hit over the head with the butt of the knife” I stated, “I’m not sure how many other HYDRA agents are on here.”

A few minutes later, we had talked over a couple ideas about a plan, in the room I first woke up in, so we could stay out of sight of HYDRA. As we were talking, we heard a knock from outside the window. I looked over to the window and whispered, “Stay down!”

I crawled over to the window and glanced out the window and another knock came on the window. I reached out, grabbed the arm and pulled the person through the window, before throwing them on the ground. “Who are you?” I asked, ready to punch the stranger.

“Bobby!” Kitty stated, rushing over to the stranger.

I looked at the guy and realized his entire head was made of ice. “You’re a friend of Kitty’s?” I asked, understanding he must’ve been a Mutant.

“Yeah, I’m her boyfriend” he stated, “she called me to come help.”

“Great! Well, you’re here now so we can get a new plan going” Kitty said.

“Kitty” I said, “that’s great and all, but we’re only going to have one shot at this the longer we sit here.”

“Alright then, let’s be quick about getting a plan figured out” Bobby stated, “give me the details on what we’re dealing with here.”

So, Kitty and I took turns explaining what we were up against, including the guy who found a way to disrupt my quake powers. The three of us settled on what we thought would be a perfect plan. We heard someone kick in one of the nearby doors outside the room we were in, which caused me to jump and had me rushing over to the light switch to turn it off so if that same person did that to our door, we wouldn’t be caught off-guard. I moved to the side of the door and heard footsteps approaching, then they stopped right outside the door. The door flew off it's hinges and the person strolled in and started scanning the room. I ran up to him and jumped, putting my legs around his head and kept the momentum going by bringing the two of us to the ground. “Kitty, Bobby go!” I commanded.

“What about the plan?” Kitty asked.

“Stick to the plan” I stated, “I’ll be right behind you guys.”

Kitty started running through the walls toward the engine room, as we thought it would be best for one of us to go to the engine room to be able to help stop the train when we get to the station. Especially since my S.H.I.E.L.D. team would be there too. Bobby and I were running through the train, fighting through all the HYDRA agents that had regained consciousness. I looked out one of the windows and saw us approaching Galesburg a lot faster than I had thought. So I called up Coulson and asked “Hey, Coulson, we’re approaching Galesburg so much faster than we had expected. Is there a team waiting for us at the station?”

“Yeah, Fitz has an EMP set up so that when the train gets close to the station it’ll lose power and be able to slow down to a stop.”

“Perfect!” I said, “I’ve got a small team put together to help me keep HYDRA distracted in the meantime.”

“Great job, Daisy” he said, “see you soon.”

Bobby looked at me confused, “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, my team is waiting at the station to help put an end to this runaway train nonsense that HYDRA has been doing” I replied.

“Great” he said, keeping himself alert “I wonder where the rest of the agents are? Especially that guy you told me about.”

“I’m not sure where they could be” I said, as a thought crossed my mind “oh shit, I hope they’re not all waiting in the engine room.”

Bobby looked me in the eyes, with fear entering his head and ran toward the engine room. I grabbed his arm, trying to stop him. “Let go of me!” he shouted, “I have to save Kitty!”

“You don’t know what you’re running into” I stated, “you can’t just go in there by yourself.”

“Fine! Then come with me!” he exclaimed, “I’m not letting her be in there by herself!”

“Okay, let’s go” I said, “but I’m fighting that asshole who blocked out my powers.”

“Deal” he said, as we took off toward the engine room.

As we were passing through the section of the train that the rest of the passengers were staying in, I realized that HYDRA hadn't been extra cruel by having taken anyone else captive. "How are things going?" the woman who lent me her phone asked.

"Not too bad" I admitted, "we'll be at the Galesburg train station soon and I've got some of my team waiting there to force the train to a stop."

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed, "I saw that girl you've been worried about pass through here a few minutes ago. She was heading to the engine room."

"Great, thank you" I said.

"Daisy, you can talk later" Bobby stated, "we've gotta go help Kitty."

Just as we were turning to go toward the engine room, the door that lead in that direction swung open and the HYDRA leader I was most concerned about walked through and I turned to Bobby saying, "Change of plans. Get these people out of here before an innocent person dies."

"But what about Kitty?" he questioned.

"I'm sure she's fine" I stated, "unlike the three of us, these people don't have any mutation that'll keep them out of harm's way. If you have to, just get them to the dining car then hop out the window and get to the front of train."

"Got it" he said, glaring at the HYDRA agent "alright everybody, I'm going to need you to follow me to the dining car. Please go a bit faster."

The passengers quickly ran, following Bobby out of the common area of the train. "How considerate of you to get those people out before we fight" the man smirked.

"How about we skip the witty banter and get to the part where I kick your ass?" I questioned, slowly approaching the man.

"No witty banter?" he questioned, "I never agreed to that. Though if you truly insist, I guess we can begin our legendary battle."

The two of us exchanged blocks with each other, causing me to realize that this guy had legitimately earned his position in HYDRA. "How'd someone like you come across HYDRA?" I asked.

"Well, I'm the son of the legendary head of HYDRA Michael Oneil" he explained, in between strikes "so it was in my nature."

"And was this ability you have in your nature too?" I questioned.

"What ability? he asked, with a smirk.

"Oh please, as if the son of a legendary head of HYDRA wouldn't recognize when he has powers" I stated, "so either you're an Inhuman and went though Terrigenesis like me or you're a Mutant like Kitty."

"How observant of you" he smirked, "that's why you haven't been able to 'quake' me at all."

I glanced out one of the windows and saw the Amtrak station quickly approaching and smirked. "You might've cancelled out my Inhuman abilities, but that doesn't negate my combat prowess" I stated.

Oneil and I continued fighting, as I knew I only had to keep him distracted for a few more minutes. Then, suddenly the whole train jerked backward, causing the two of us to stumble off our feet. "What's going on!" Oneil shouted, turning attention back to me "What did you do?"

"What could I have done?" I smirked, "I've been here fighting you this whole time."

He turned around and tried to go back to the engine room, but the electric door didn't open. Then the train came to a stop. "No no no no!" he cried, dropping to the ground in embarrassment.

Then one of the side doors of the train opened and a familiar and friendly figure entered the threshold and immediately shot Oneil with an ICER. "May!" I exclaimed, hugging the always stoic woman "Thank God this is over!"

"It's not over yet, Daisy" she stated, "we need to rid the rest of HYDRA off this train."

"The there's some in the engine room as well as that way" I stated, pointing the way I had previously came from.

"Alright, you go check the engine room and we'll meet back here" she instructed.

So I went to the engine room, leaving the unconscious Oneil by himself and walked in seeing Kitty and Bobby kissing in the middle of the many frozen HYDRA agents. "Well, I guess I was worried about you guys for no reason" I smirked, while blushing.

"Oh, hey Daisy" Kitty said, spinning around "uh, yeah, we took care of them."

"We're at the Galesburg Amtrak station, so it was great meeting both of you" I said, turning to leave.

"Daisy, wait" Kitty said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into a hug "thank you for everything. I hope to see you around."

"I'm sure we'll see each other again" I smiled, "stay out of trouble, Shadowcat."