Chapter Text
Jemma had woken before sunrise, but it hadn’t yet been time for her to get out of bed and start the day. She was dreading it, in fact, because of the rumors that were going around. They weren’t bad, necessarily, but Jemma hardly found the idea entertaining. Leopold Fitz was to take her to the countryside in the early afternoon, and one of his stable boys had told a horse trainer, who told one of Jemma’s family’s stable boys, who told a maid, who told Jemma herself that Fitz was planning to propose to her on said trip to the countryside. Her step father, Phillip Coulson, would be pleased with the news. He had been Jemma’s guardian since her mother died when Jemma was a baby, and he seemed to be ready to have her marry and leave the household. It wasn’t that Jemma was a financial burden, because the Coulson estate was wealthy beyond one’s imagination and spared no expense, but she could tell he was eager for her to become a woman, marry, and have his grandchildren. The only problem with this plan was that Jemma wanted to become an alchemist, not arm candy for a wealthy inventor whose sole purpose was to bear sons.
It wasn’t exactly her choice though, because how could she turn Fitz down? There had been much worse suitors to ask for her hand in the past and Jemma was positive her time to stall was coming to an end, since she was the fertile, attractive age of 19 and it wasn’t very common for women to reach twenty without marrying, at least for someone of her status. Jemma could read every book on alchemy in Britain, but it wouldn’t change the fact that she was a woman.
Eventually, Jemma heard footsteps, but she was too full of dread to do anything but squeeze her eyes shut and burrow into the blankets.
“Five more minutes, please, I beg of you.” Jemma groaned, trying to get any maids that were entering to wake her to get out and leave her be. She was given an intense surprise, however, when the voice of a man reached her ears instead of the familiar one of her maid.
“Sorry, darling, but we’re on a schedule.”
Jemma’s eyes flashed open and she opened her mouth to scream, but the large dark haired man standing over her bedside clamped a hand over her mouth and nose, attempting to send her into unconsciousness. Jemma thrashed and kicked, but the man hopped onto her bed and straddled her legs. Jemma bit down into the heel of his palm, drawing coppery blood into her mouth and causing the man to grunt, pull his hand back, and slap her across the face.
Jemma reached out to her nightstand and grabbed a candlestick, swinging it up and making contact with the man’s temple. He yowled and rolled off the bed, and Jemma couldn’t help her smirk of satisfaction. She jumped out of bed herself and held the candlestick out at him, circling around him to get to the door. He didn’t let her, though, and snatched at her wrist, twisting it sideways and causing the candlestick to drop. Jemma shrieked and called for help, but nobody came.
“I wouldn’t expect a rescue. The rest of the household is currently incapacitated.” He snickered at her.
“What did you do to them?!” Jemma shouted. She brought her knee up and made unforgiving contact with the stranger’s groin. He cried out and dropped to his knees, but when Jemma darted for the door he stuck his arm out and grabbed her ankle, effectively tripping Jemma so she landed face first on the floor
“I’ve had enough this.” The man told her. He jammed his boot into the small of her back and grabbed her arms, wrenching them behind her back and tying them together with Jemma struggling the whole time. When he dragged her up to her feet and had her close enough, Jemma swung her head and slammed it into the man’s forehead, causing her own head to throb and her pulse to pound in her ears. The man elicited a near animalistic growl and grabbed at her hair, moving them over to the nearby table and slamming Jemma’s face down into it. She groaned and spit blood from her nose onto the wood, but she seemed to have pissed the man off more than she should have. He brought her head up and slammed the side of it against the table again before tossing her to the ground and kicking at her gut.
“Why?” Jemma asked weakly with a wheezing breath.
“Because of your witch bitch of a mother.” The man growled. “This is going to be fun.” He cracked his knuckles and Jemma felt a feeling of dread when he knelt next to her and pulled his arm back just before impact. It didn’t seem to stop, and after when it felt like the beating would never end, she was finally graced with unconsciousness.
__________
“Here’s the goddamn witch.” Ward stormed into Daisy’s quarters on the ship without knocking, unceremoniously letting the unconscious young girl over his shoulder slide down his front and collapse into a heap on the floor with a thump as her head hit the wood. Her white night gown was spotted with blood and her face and arms were a mess, eye swollen shut and lip busted open, topped off with a bleeding nose and bruises covering the rest of her face.
Daisy had been waiting for Ward to return with their captive. He hadn't been sent out alone but the scouts that had gone with him were just to help keep anyone from raising alarms and preventing the kidnapping from taking place. The moment Ward left the ship, Daisy regretted putting him in charge of this task. Mack would have been too conspicuous with his sheer bulk and size alone or she would have sent him. Elena and Bobbi would have been a better choice but she'd needed them for a few other tasks to ensure the boat was ready as soon as they had Jemma onboard. She was organizing her notes and some course charts when Ward came busting through the door.
Even before he pretty much dumped Jemma on the ground, Daisy saw the red blood splotches on her nightgown. Her face darkened and her jaw clenched when she saw the full force of Ward's handiwork. "What did you do?!" She crossed the room in a few strides and grabbed him by the collar, pointing with her free hand to their captive. She reeled a fist and swung it, hard, into Ward's gut to double him over. Letting go of his collar, she gripped the back of his neck, fingers digging tight into his skin as she made him look at Jemma's injuries. "I ordered no harm come to her! Does this look like she's been left unharmed?!" Daisy growled.
Ward coughed and sputtered from having the wind knocked out of him, but he was laughing at the same time and the more Daisy made him look the prouder he was of what he’d done.
“She fought me.” Ward shrugged and chuckled, giving what he knew was a pathetic excuse for beating the girl to a pulp. It was just the beginning of his revenge and if Daisy wasn’t going to let them kill her, there were other things he could do. “She’s alive isn’t she?” He asked, brows raised. “And on our ship no less.”
Daisy ground her jaw tighter together. Her nails dug deeper into his flesh for a moment. "Oh, she fought you, eh?" She said as if she were about to just let it go like that. Of course she wasn't. Instead she began to swing at Ward. First she delivered an uppercut to the underside of his jaw to stand him back up. "I. Gave. You. Orders." She swung, left and right fist quickly back and forth, accenting each word until the last when she hooked her heel behind his calf and punched him hard enough for the momentum to take him off his feet.
Once he was on the ground, she pulled her dagger from the sheath at her belt and brought the very sharp blade to Ward's neck as she knelt with a leg thrown over either side of his chest, effectively keeping his arms from coming up to swing at her. "Look at me" She smacked hard at his cheeks and made him squint through his own swelling eyes at her. "Listen well, Boy," she practically snarled at him. "This woman is not responsible for our cursed misfortunes," she had repeatedly reminded the crew of this while they had been mounting a plan for their operation. "If anyone on this crew attempts to lay a vengeful finger on this woman with any sort of malice or intention to do her harm, I will hold your personally responsible and will not hesitate to desert you on the closest uninhabited island I find if I don't lose my temper and run you through with my blade first. Now, you get one chance to answer me correctly when I ask you, do you understand me, Boy?" She spit the words at him angrily.
“Crystal clear, Captain.” Ward grumbled, giving in to his position in the crew. He didn’t regret his actions, but he knew he had to stand down when Daisy got this angry.
A few feet away, Jemma elicited a groan and shifted on the floor, wrapping her arms around her torso and curling in on herself a bit. She didn’t know where she was, but she could tell she was near the ocean because of the salty sea smell. It made her squint through sore eyes and when she saw Ward, they widened, but she didn’t have the energy to scramble away like she wanted to. She could tell, from the general look of her kidnappers, that they were pirates, but she didn’t understand why this was happening other than the possibility that she was worth a hefty ransom.
Daisy stared hard at Ward, trying to decide if she believed him or not. She didn't get to decide further because she heard Jemma groan. Daisy stood up and put her dagger away. She pulled Ward to his feet by the scruff of his shirt and vest. "Return to your duties," she ordered, pushing him out the door, not at all sorry that his height cause him to hit the back of his head on the top of the doorframe on the way.
Daisy momentarily leaned out through the door and spotted Elena and Bobbi hovering nearby, having heard the commotion. "Make sure everyone's present and accounted for and all supplies are secured then set sail and get us out of here before the hounds follow her scent to our boat," Daisy glared at Ward and looked to the women for confirmation. Both women nodded and went into action, calling out orders to the crew to remove the mooring ropes and get the sails going to navigate away from the port.
Daisy returned into her quarters and shut the door behind her. She turned around and surveyed Jemma's injuries with a frown. "Good day, Miss Simmons. I would like to express my sincerest apologies to you for the grievous mishandling you've suffered at the hands of one of my crew," she stepped closer but stayed out of arm's length of Jemma mostly to try to avoid further scaring her after she'd been beaten so severely. "You have my word that it will not happen again."
“A pirate’s word?” Jemma questioned skeptically, attempting with all her might to struggle to her hands and knees. It didn’t sound like a very good promise to her. “How can you claim morality if you are not above kidnapping?” She questioned, eyeing Daisy up and down. She got herself into a sitting position on the floor and tried to wipe away some of the blood in the corner of her mouth. She wasn’t sure how to behave around the female captain whose words tried to portray a softer side of her than the one shown by her beating and threatening of the crew member who did her dirty work.
Daisy’s demeanor didn't change at Jemma's accusations. She stood up and strode over to a cabinet grabbed out a clean cloth and went to her wash bowl, used the pitcher there to wet the cloth. She squeezed it out and walked back toward Jemma, only getting close enough to hold it out where Jemma could reach it. "The word of a captain," she said, her tone calm and even, much different from what she'd used with Ward - who, by the way had disobeyed orders and knew what sort of consequences came with those actions.
"I would have sought private counsel with you on your own terms, but," she shrugged. "It is not my preference to have you aboard this ship, Miss, but I had little choice given the circumstances we find ourselves in," she said. "My orders were that no physical harm come to you. Ward disobeyed and I assure you, he will pay for his failure."
Jemma frowned, wondering what exactly the captain’s objective was if it didn’t appear to be ransom- nobody would prefer to kindly meet with someone they were going to ransom off.
“Why am I here?” Jemma asked, hesitantly accepting the wet cloth and cringing as she dabbed at her injuries with it. Nothing was making any sense, from the way the captain and the crew member acted down to the purpose of the whole debacle.
Daisy eyed Jemma's wounds with great concern etched into her facial features. "You're here because you are, unfortunately, a piece in a very complicated puzzle, I'm afraid." She answered, not entirely sure what Jemma knew of her parents and the curse that Jemma's own mother had put on the ship's crew after her father's demise. Now was not the time to get into politics, though. Jemma had been through a terrible ordeal because of Ward and it would take her longer to settle in now because of it.
"We will discuss details later," Daisy held her hands out to help Jemma up, offering the help rather than just reaching out to force it in the hopes that Jemma would at least understand that she was putting effort in to avoid manhandling her. She greatly regretted having to send Ward to retrieve Jemma over the others but if she had, the boat wouldn't have been ready to sail and that would have presented its own problems. "First, I'd like to care for those wounds, if you'll let me of course, give you something to change into and have something to fill your stomach. It’s the very least I can do for having to meet under these circumstances and doubly so for the terrible treatment you were first afforded by a member of my crew."
“But I’m not allowed to leave, am I?” Jemma asked, meaning for the question to show how she felt about this situation, even if the captain was attempting to be a nice kidnapper. She reached out and took her hand anyway, but only because she didn’t think she could get up without it, not because she was trying to show mutual respect.
What had Jemma even more confused was what kind of puzzle she was a piece of. She didn’t know how she was connected to pirates other than that her father had been killed by some, but by the look of the captain she was too young to be that pirate.
"I'm afraid that's not possible just yet," Daisy was careful not to be too rough as she helped Jemma up. When it was clear she'd need further assistance to the oversized plush chair in front of Daisy's desk, Daisy slipped an arm around Jemma’s waist and eased most of Jemma's weight off her feet to make moving easier, steady too since the ship was swaying a bit more now that they were moving out of the port. She eased Jemma into the chair and took away her journal and charts to clear space on the desk.
Daisy knew quite a bit about Jemma’s parents. She knew why Jemma's father was killed. She knew Jemma’s mother was a witch, who had been pregnant with Jemma when her father was killed. She knew Jemma's mother had cast the curse that still afflicted her crew, though they were not members of the crew who had killed Jemma's father. She knew that her own father was dead because of hat curse. Her mother lasted longer than her father, but eventually she succumbed to the inevitable fate of the curse. What she didn't know, however, was how much Jemma knew about her parents' history.
"Perhaps if we're lucky, you’ll be back in time for your nuptials," Daisy said as she rummaged through a drawer of the desk.
“How do you know about that?!” Jemma asked, but she also figured she was the talk of the town at the moment and if any of the pirates had spent any manner of time in town or even at the docks then they had probably heard. It made her angry to feel like the captain knew so much about her when Jemma didn’t even know the woman’s name.
“I haven’t said yes yet.” Jemma huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, completely indignant. She didn’t know why she was making conversation with her kidnapper in the first place, but she couldn’t help but tell someone she wasn’t pleased with her situation at home either.
"Is that so?" Daisy quirked up her right eyebrow as she came up from the drawer with a decanter full of rum and a small jar. She filled a short, round glass halfway and set the glass in a carved cradle in the desk in front of Jemma, figuring it would help ease the pain from her injuries a bit. Then she placed the other jar closer in front of Jemma. Inside was a thick gel-like substance of a deep emerald color. It didn't smell so great, but it had a purpose. "If you spread some of this around your eyes, cheeks and jaw, it should help with the swelling. Not the best smell in the world, but," she shrugged. "Takes some of the sting out too. Old Chinese remedies," she gave Jemma a small wink before she sat back in her chair. "So, are you going to say yes?" She asked. "Or is it actually Coulson's decision in the end?" Daisy honestly wasn't sure of the answer to this question so she asked it with genuine curiosity.
The hairs on the back of Jemma’s neck bristled when she understood just how much the pirate knew about her. And Jemma didn’t even know her name. She eyed the remedy suspiciously and pushed it away, preferring a slow healing time and the soreness of the bruises over lathering an unknown substance on her face. She sat back in the chair and frowned.
“It’s yours.” Jemma said bitterly. “I have to be home for my step father to marry me off, so it would seem the decision has fallen onto your shoulders.” She explained. “Unless of course I am found and rescued, in which case you would be hanged and it wouldn’t matter for you whether I get married or not.” Jemma shrugged nonchalantly. “What is your name anyway?”
Daisy watched Jemma’s body language with genuine intrigue. Through the bruising and welts (which, she wished Jemma would use the gel on to reduce a bit at least) she could see that Jemma was an attractive woman. It was a little surprising that Coulson hadn’t managed to marry her off already. She smirked a bit, not letting the words rile her up. It wasn’t the first time she’d been informed of the punishment for being a privateer. She’d grown up in this world and knew no others. “Are you avoiding the true answer to the question or are you avoiding making the decision yourself by deflecting it onto me?” She challenged with a small smirk, realizing some of Jemma’s feathers were more ruffled than the others. “Daisy,” She offered her first name and then a knock came to the door. “Excuse me a moment,” Daisy stood from the chair and walked to the door. Unlocking the latch, she swung open the door and found Kamala at the door. She was one of the crew’s youngest, at thirteen with brown skin and dark hair tied up on her head. She had a full tray in her arms with roast chicken, a small assortment of roasted vegetables along with a pile of red grapes and a few oranges.
“Hi Da-,” The girl cleared her throat. “Captain! Trip said I ought to bring this up to you now that we’ve left the port.” She said.
Daisy smiled at the girl. “Thank you, Kamala. Have you eaten yet today?” She took the tray from the girl but nodded for her to follow to the desk. Kamala shook her head. She’d normally have to wait for the others to get their fill before it was her turn and Ace’s turn as they were toward the bottom of the totem pole so to speak. Even so, Daisy always made sure they were properly fed. Daisy set the tray on the middle of the desk. “Have a seat,” She patted her plush chair and Kamala looked at her, as if she see if she were sure and Daisy nodded.
To Jemma, she said, “You wouldn’t mind if one of ours was to partake in the meal, would you?” IT wasn’t really a questions as Daisy was already breaking a few pieces of meat off and piling them onto a steel plate with an orange and some grapes for Kamala.
Jemma was stunned when the child walked into the room. She’d seen hangings of pirates before and had never been bothered when they were murders and thieves, but a child? She hadn’t thought about it. Was a child truly guilty of anything when they were born into something? In that case, did it make adults who had been those children guilty? Jemma’s head started to hurt from all the moral debates happening in her head (and from the hits she’d taken to it). She didn’t speak, but she nodded and swallowed a lump in her throat. She didn’t feel much like eating, the child could have it.
Kamala took the plate and thanked Daisy for it before she started digging into the chicken. Daisy gave Kamala’s shoulder a squeeze then took an orange for herself and began peeling it, moving to sit on the wide arm of the chair. She looked over at Jemma. “Try not to overthink it,” Daisy said to Jemma after noticing the various twitches of her expressions, thought she didn’t explain how Kamala came to be on the ship. “It’s not poisoned if that’s what you’re afraid of,” She nodded to the food and rum. “I’ll taste everything to prove it if you’d prefer?” She tilted her head. “Or is it pity?” she asked, arching her eyebrows. “If that’s the case, I assure you, there’s enough to go around for the whole crew.” Daisy didn’t let them go hungry. They didn’t let each other go hungry.
“You should give her your jelly,” Kamala murmured around her food as she licked at the juice on her fingers.
Daisy smiled at Kamala. “I did,” She pointed to the jar and lowered her voice. “She doesn’t trust us,” she pretended to whisper.
“Because of Ward?” Kamala asked.
Daisy pressed her lips together. “That and we didn’t give her a choice,” she nodded.
Kamala glanced at Jemma and then looked at Daisy. “Because of the cur-,”
“Why don’t you go ahead and take this with you? You tell Bobbi I said it’s okay to let you finish before your lessons, eh?” She gave Kamala a little more chicken and some more grapes to added to her plate and began to walk her to the door.
Kamala leaned toward Jemma as she walked. “You should use it - it’s yucky but it feels better.” she said before she hurried along to the door. Daisy locked the door again behind her and headed back for her chair. She poured some rum for herself and put the decanter away before she picked up the glass and took a sip, watching to see if Jemma actually took anything to eat, drink or help her wounds.
Jemma’s one good eye was narrowed when Daisy interrupted Kamala and shooed her out of the room before she could reveal something Jemma very much wanted to hear.
It made Jemma more comfortable to see them eat and drink the same things they were offering her, but Jemma didn’t have much of an appetite after such an eventful morning and she was honestly exhausted, though she wasn’t exactly in a position to go to sleep comfortably. She wanted to know what she was doing here, but she had a feeling Daisy didn’t want her to know yet and that made her nervous.
“It’s true that I don’t trust you, but I don’t pity you either.” Jemma crossed her arms over her chest, but mostly just to brace her sore torso so she didn’t have to put so much work into holding herself up. The pirates were clearly doing their own thing and enjoying it, so if anyone should be pitied at this exact moment in time, Jemma thought it might be her. She’d been kidnapped out of her bed with no idea what her fate would be, but here Daisy was, offering her food and drink. It was all too suspicious and Jemma didn’t know what to think, so she stayed silent and didn’t touch the food or the medicine.
There was another knock at the door and a tall blonde woman entered, already speaking.
“No followers.” The blonde confirmed for Daisy, but when her eyes landed on Jemma she had a look of shock on her face. “That bastard.” The woman muttered, referring to Ward. “Is she okay?”
Daisy tilted her head. She hadn’t meant pity for her but she’d seen it on her face for Kamala with the plate of food. She didn’t want to get into the details of Jemma’s presence on the ship yet since she still wasn’t sure what Jemma knew of her real parents. The crew’s first mate was the only one Daisy trusted enough with a key to her quarters. Bobbi had been with the ship ever since Daisy’s parents had raided the child trade ring Jemma’s father had set up. She was in it for the long haul and Daisy trusted her with her life, trusted her to obey orders if given them too.
“Well enough to talk,” Daisy answered, her eyes darkening as she thought about further punishment for Ward’s actions. “Seems he’s done a number on her ribs to go along with the welts on her face,” She motioned toward Jemma’s crossed arms. “Trying to hold them braced,” She mimed Jemma’s crossed arms. “Doesn’t want ma’s jelly to ease the pain. Doesn’t seem to like Rum either. Or chicken for that matter,” She said. “Ward still need to be knocked down a few more pegs?” She asked Bobbi since she was sure he was walking around bragging about what he’d done to whoever would listen. She was going to have to address this in full before the sun went down.
Jemma eyed them both while they talked about her like she wasn’t in the room, like she was their new pet and they couldn’t figure out how to feed her. At least Daisy was getting revenge for Jemma by making sure Ward didn’t get away with nearly beating her to death.
“He’s spreading fire as usual.” Bobbi said, giving a concerned glance toward Jemma. There were two ways to solve their problems, and one of them was much less preferable, but because it was the easy route some of the crew was starting to believe it was the best route.
“Would anyone mind telling me why I’m here?” Jemma spoke up. Daisy wasn’t answering her questions and was instead asking Jemma personal questions about herself that Jemma had no mind nor reason to talk about with her. She wanted to know what they planned to do with her and for some unknown reason, Jemma decided she needed to stand up, but when she did the ship’s swaying along with her sudden dizziness got the best of her, and her knees buckling where the first and only sign before she collapsed.
“Well then.” Bobbi raised her brows. She had seen Jemma’s face but hadn’t expected her to be in this kind of shape. It made her angry at Ward, but she also knew he had been acting as if Jemma was her mother and not her own person.
Daisy sat forward but didn’t have time to jump up around the desk to stop Jemma from collapsing. She at last didn’t hit her head on anything but her arms on the way down. She frowned and sighed. Lifting her glass, she chugged back the rest of her rum, set the glass down and wiped her hands on her pants. “I never should have sent him,” She grumbled and walked around the desk. Crouching down, she shook Jemma’s shoulder. When she didn’t get so much as a groan, she looked up at Bobbi. “I’m still trying to figure out what she knew about her parents,” She said, to explain why Jemma was asking her why she was on the ship. She knew Bobbi was with her and would help her convince the others on the fact that the needed to find solution number two because solution one was unacceptable.
“Let’s roll her over,” She said. “You can help me get her into bed and changed. We’ll take care of the wounds if she doesn’t wake up by then,” She laid out her plan, feeling a great deal of exhaustion deep in her bones that she pushed aside a moment later.