Authors note: Some of you might have noticed that I published this chapter a few days ago but took it down after a few hours. I decided I did not like where the story was going, and wanted to update it to get it back on track. Here is the updated chapter 10, similar at the beginning but the ending is different. Sorry about that!

It didn't take long for Daisy to find an unattended computer with internet access. She sat down and began typing, not hesitating before cracking through the locked login screen and starting to pull up programs that would help her hack into anything she wanted. She was so focused that she didn't realize her computer was facing another. A young man in a white lab coat stared at her, clearly too surprised at seeing her across from him to realize he should probably do something or stop her. Daisy paused a moment in her typing, meeting his eyes before smiling sweetly. "He said it was ok that I sat here, and that I should talk to you if I have any questions." The man just blinked at her. "I'll let you know if I do!" Daisy said cheerily before directing her eyes back to the screen and ignoring him again. It was amazing how often you could get away with things when you act confident and don't hesitate. Most people, like this guy, either don't care enough to try and confront you or they are afraid they might be in the wrong if they do. Either way, worked for her.

Maybe the skinny lab guy didn't have anything to worry about though, because Daisy was having a hard time breaking through Stark's system to gain the access she needed. It was one thing to view information online, another to be able to change or erase it, and Daisy needed to erase a lot as quickly as possible.

She hadn't waited around to hear what else Stark had to say about the Watchdog attack at the shopping center. Taking her stolen tablet with her, she had retreated as quickly as possible to find a computer and get her face off the news and social media sights. There was no chance Coulson and Shield hadn't already seen it, but maybe she could at least delete what's already out there and get ahead of whatever's coming. Either way, she was going to have to run again. She was vaguely surprised at how much the idea saddened her. She hadn't been with these people long, but they had helped her. Maybe it was also that they were familiar. Not Steve or the others specifically, but it was their type of people she was familiar with. Soldiers, spies, and people who had seen and lived extreme lives and weren't scared of her because she was different.

She allowed those feelings to linger, finally quashing them once she could identify them, what they meant and what had caused them to occur. That was a technique May, of all people, had taught her. Apparently May wasn't as out of touch with herself as she seemed. She had admitted to Daisy that she felt things as strongly as Daisy did, and that Daisy wasn't weak for feeling them. It had been a shockingly tender moment, until May had ruined it by informing Daisy that she still was weak, but only because Daisy allowed herself to be influenced by those feelings. The lesson had ended with May warning Daisy never to share her feelings with May, because she didn't want to hear it. And then driving that point home by making Daisy run laps around the base until she couldn't breathe enough to speak at all.

She wished it worked as well on frustration, because she was getting pissed at this system right now. It wasn't as if she hadn't cracked Stark's systems before, she'd been doing it for years. On her old computer she even had an undetectable monitoring program set up to send her alerts whenever there was any new or especially confidential activity that she might be interested in. But apparently Stark kept his people on a tight leash, because not only was she not getting anywhere with her usual techniques, she was actually getting locked out whenever she failed. She would have been better off on even the most basic of computers, anything that wasn't hooked up to this system.

Realizing she was getting nowhere with half the computers system now fried and completely inaccessible she shoved the keyboard away from her and stood up. Not bothering to explain herself to the wide-eyed guy across from her she had completely forgotten about, she stalked out of the room. Time for plan B. Or time to figure out a plan B, she amended silently. Not focused on where she was going her legs carried her back down the only familiar path in this facility and back to the elevators. It wasn't until the people seated in front of the elevators stopped talking and looked up at her did she realize that probably wasn't a good idea.

"Welcome back!" Stark said, his words dripping sarcasm. "Are you all done, or would you like to destroy the programming on more of my very expensive equipment?"

Daisy couldn't help but bristle at his tone. She'd always had a problem with authority, not to mention the fact that she couldn't help but be embarrassed that Tony Stark had witnessed her total failure to hack his system. Suddenly she forgot that this man had helped her, was her host, and that she had just tried to violate and then damage his property. Instead, she just needed to regain the upper hand with this guy.

"When did you get rid of JARVIS?" she asked casually, not bothering to acknowledge his accusations and choosing to try and rile him instead. She was instantly gratified when he froze for just a moment, blinking at her once before finding his words again. Someone who wasn't trained to read human behavior might not have recognized it, but she did.

"The program is still there, and updated now. To keep punk hackers like you out." Stark replied haughtily, his weak insult failing to bother her now that she'd seen that she had ruffled him a bit.

"No. The program is similar, and updated, but new. JARVIS is gone, which is a shame because I liked him." Daisy trailed off a bit, not looking at anyone but off to the side, still feigning casual and confident but not actually sure where she was going with this. Forcing herself to focus, she tried to get back to the plan. Or the plan to make a plan. First step, was getting out of here.

"So, deals a deal. You said you had questions. Ask them, because I have to go." She didn't believe for a second that she would be able to waltz out of here if they didn't let her go. Not only was she outnumbered, underground, and unarmed, but now she couldn't even hack this stupid new system. It would be easier to just play ball. Then if they tried to keep her here against her will after she held up her side of the bargain she would feel totally justified in quaking this place apart.

Tony just stared at her a moment longer, apparently unprepared to be put on the spot for all of his questions for her classified secrets. Not one to miss an opportunity like that, it was Natasha who spoke up first. "Why are you running from Shield?"

Daisy wished she could have stopped herself from looking down and away, not liking how much the question hurt, or how complicated the answer to it was. "I said I would answer his questions." She said instead, chickening out and hoping to buy herself time to compose herself for this. In truth she wished she hadn't forced this Q and A right now. In trying to throw Stark off by putting him on the spot she had actually done the same thing to herself. She would have preferred some time to come up with answers to the obvious questions they would ask her, but since she screwed herself on that she was left with a simple choice. Be honest and risk exposing herself to these strangers, or lie and hope to outmaneuver the world's best spies and secret agents.

She looked around the small group, meeting each of their eyes as she tried to come to a decision. Tony was quickly pulling himself together, his whole body seeming to move as he gathered himself for whatever he was going to say next. She moved onto Natasha's unreadable face, and then Bucky and Sam who were both wearing small frowns as they looked back at each her. She met Steve's eyes last, but couldn't hold his gaze for long before having to look away. The shame she felt that forced her to look away made her decision for her. She didn't want to lie to people who had helped her. It had been so long since anyone had.

"Uh no, you will-" Stark began, before Daisy cut him off as if he hadn't spoken.

"Six months ago a mission went wrong, and I was… compromised by a hostile alien enemy." Her voice was quiet, her tone flat as she struggled to compose the events into something impersonal and factual, like any of her mission reports would have been. She couldn't say that she had been victimized, couldn't convey how psychologically and physically violated she had been. Wouldn't ever admit what she had done, happily, while under hive's sway. It was all she could do to think back to those events, so she pushed past it, hoping that they would too.

Glancing up she noticed that everyone had straightened, giving her their full attention but not speaking. Natasha was the only one aside from Daisy standing, her arms crossed and legs shoulder width apart as though for balance. Apparently she was going to run this show. Not liking the idea of being manipulated in an interrogation by the Black Widow herself, Daisy forged ahead, hoping that if she kept talking Natasha wouldn't feel the need to prompt and direct her.

"Afterward, I left. Against orders. I mean, I didn't actually try and resign the right way… but he never would have let me. So I just left. They have been looking for me ever since." Daisy didn't even realize her slip, so focused was she on telling them the broadest scope of events. As she opened her mouth to begin telling them about the watchdogs, a topic she was far more comfortable discussing before Natasha cut her off.

"Why wouldn't he let you leave?" The question was deceptively simple. Natasha had noticed that Daisy had said he instead of they, and rather than put Daisy's guard up right away by asking who he was, this question was made to seem safer and keep Daisy talking while still gaining enough information to be able to figure out who he might be. Daisy recognized all of this immediately. She didn't say anything for a moment, staring Natasha in the eye. 'They're not supposed to know about Coulson.' She thought, unwilling to share Coulson's secrets even if she had to share her own. She finally gave the spy a tight-lipped smile, tilting her head a bit as if to say 'yup, bitch, you caught me'. Natasha smiled back with the friendliest look she had given Daisy yet, instantly making Daisy's eyes narrow. The whole were all friends here, you can tell me anything vibe Natasha was giving off was plain as day, and she didn't like it.

A small voice in the back of Daisy's mind wondered if she was focusing too much on not letting Natasha win this competitive spy game they seemed to want to play with each other, and not enough on the reason she was here in the first place. Forcing herself to take a deep breath she turned away from Natasha and walked around to sit on the couch next to Steve again. Directing her answer to the group instead of Natasha she finally said "Because my team was worried about me. They wanted to help me, but they couldn't. I wasn't wanted for anything criminal." She paused. "well not until after I was on my own anyway. Now I am." She forced herself to say this last bit, trying to be honest with them that she was being hunted by a lot of people for a whole range of reasons. "Is this really the kind of stuff you guys want to know?" She had thought they would be asking her about inhumans, Shield's current activities or about the people she almost killed the other day.

"Don't worry we'll get to all the stuff we want to know." Natasha's smooth voice said from behind Daisy.

"No. She doesn't have to talk about stuff she doesn't want to." Bucky's harsh voice surprised her, it was the first time he had spoken. She tried to meet his eyes but he wouldn't look up at anyone, instead staring vacantly at some point on the floor in front of him. "None of us should." There was a long pause where Daisy waited for someone to contradict him, but no one spoke.

"Ok, but I still want to know about that show you put on for me outside." Stark finally said, obviously not interested in her sad personal history anyway. "What are your powers? What can you do?"

She wanted to smile as she recalled standing on a mountain, trying to answer that question for someone else. "I make things shake." Would make her sound like an idiot in front of Tony Stark at this point though, so she took a deep breath as she prepared to break it down for him with all the science lingo Fitz-Simmons had used to describe her powers.

Surprisingly Tony was not as obnoxious with his questions as she expected him to be. They went on a bit longer as she clarified a few things, touched on a few more subjects but the questioning was a lot less painless than she had expected. Bucky's halt to her interrogation made all the difference, and she was able to avoid or coast over any unwelcome topics. She didn't notice that Natasha didn't speak again.

Momentarily satisfied with her answers, and apparently having forgotten his anger at Daisy for wrecking his computer, Tony directed her to follow him. He led her to another enormous workspace where gleaming steel worktables were littered with mechanical parts and pieces, some even carrying over onto the floor. There were a few very cool, very large robots moving around throughout the space doing various tasks. Coupled with the various monitors, blinking lights and holographic displays the whole scene was exactly what you might expect to see in a futuristic sci-fi movie. Or, you know, in a modern day Tony Stark secondary lab that he almost never used.

He led her to a table empty but for two pieces of what looked like tubes that had been ripped from a more advanced machine. They each had exposed framework from which loose wires and what looked like other important pieces dangled out when Tony lifted one for her to see. "Try this on" he said, angling it so that she could slip her arm inside. The gauntlet prototype chose that moment to emit a small shower of sparks, something clearly short-circuiting in the system. Daisy quickly lowered her arm, not willing to get electrocuted or her arm chopped off due to some malfunction. Tony sighed and quickly set it down. "Here, try this on" he said in the same casual way, as though nothing had gone wrong the first time. Daisy gave him blank look, but quickly stuck her hand inside when he made a pushing gesture with the gauntlet. Who was she to turn down the chance at some Stark tech?

To her surprise she felt her whole arm buzz violently, and then lessen as the gauntlet synced up with her system. Even the usual buzzing that she felt from her powers lessened, leaving her feeling unbalanced as one side of her vibrated normally and one was hushed with the gauntlet. Tony made some adjustments, tightening some things, hooking wires and readouts up to record data, and ripping other pieces off entirely.

She tried to stay quiet as he worked, clearly immersed in the creative process for she didn't even know how long. Eventually Steve came to get her, offering to show her to the room she had been given while she stayed there. She was drained, and more than happy to slip the prototype off her arm and set it back on to the table. Tony didn't even look up as she walked away, completely absorbed in the rapidly moving code flashing across the screen he held.

Daisy allowed Steve to lead her away to her new room, not mentioning leaving again. She couldn't leave until her new gauntlets were done anyway, right?

Authors Note: This is the first update in almost a year for this story, and for those of you who have been waiting I apologize! I had some serious writers block, and have been trying to push through it to carry on and finish the story. So if you notice a change in the speed or tone of the story that is why. If anyone has any suggestions for scenes, plot ideas, characters, or even just some things that you do or do not like with my story I would love to hear about them! That would definitely help get me back in the flow of writing and hopefully more updates for you guys soon. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!