Agents of SHIELD: Nexus

Things hadn't gone well for the team at the lighthouse, but things weren't exactly well for Mick and the crew aboard Zephyr One either. Deke, while no longer dying, was in rough shape after his gunshot wound from Jake. Ruby was in quarantine in the medical pod, not only for her random outburst and power fluctuations, but to keep Yo-yo away from her with Patten as her guard. Creel was still unconscious and taking up the other medical pod for safety reasons. Fitz wasn't leaving Jemma's side because they had made some kind of pack. Piper and May were probably the only two without any real problems with anyone's actions so far. Daisy was quite upset when she noticed the blood seeping through Mick's suit, in which she sent him to medical to be patched up once more. 

"Mack did a pretty good job patching you up for only a few of these to have torn," Jemma said as she cut the stitches, which thankfully wasn't nearly as bad with the numbing agents Jemma had on hand. 

"I bet it would've been better had we had some of that cream you put on there," Mick said as Jemma smiled. 

"I still can't believe you endured surgery unmedicated," Fitz said as Mick frowned. "I've seen how jumpy you get, you don't have to play tough for me." 

"Daisy?" Deke muttered almost incoherently. 

"What?" Jemma walked over as Deke began to smile. 

"Daisy," Deke repeated as both Mick and Fitz watched eagerly. 

"She's not back here," Jemma said softly. 

"I wish she was," Deke sounded completely out of it. "I want to put my face on her face and rub our tongues together." 

"Uh, what?" Mick asked raising his brow. 

"I like her so much," Deke continued to babble. "Too bad she hates me." 

"She doesn't hate you," Jemma said as she began to run more pain medicine into his IV. "She just doesn't think of you that way."

"And she has a boyfriend," Fitz added as Deke seemed to acknowledge Fitz's voice. 

"She does?" Deke was almost incomprehensible. "Lucky jerk," he muttered. 

"I'm right here," Mick said as Deke glanced at him briefly then stuck his tongue out. 

"Lucky jerk," Deke repeated before closing his eyes, then nodded off. 

Mick walked over to the medical pod where Daisy had taken over guard while Patten rested. She seemed pretty deep in conversation, with Ruby seemingly enthralled and focused. Seeing the girl still alive made him feel more at ease for his choice to save her. He looked behind him at the bunks, seeing one door shut tight. He shook his head, knowing full and well that Yo-yo had locked herself in there. Partially he did feel bad for attacking her, mostly because in any other situation he would have her back. The look in her eyes screamed that she planned to kill Ruby, not just knock her out. He still was surprised that the blades stunning feature stopped Yo-yo and her speed passed some of the effect onto Ruby. Fitz had explained that Yo-yo passing through the blade the way she did is what stunned Ruby, and the snap back stunned Yo-yo. Mick didn't really care too much about the how, but the done. 

He walked over to Daisy, placing an arm on her shoulder as Ruby looked up at him. "You coming to sit with me now?" Ruby asked as Mick shook his head. 

"Nah, just check on you two and see if you need anything," Mick said as Daisy looked at Mick's shoulder. "It's fine, Jemma sewed it back together. How are you feeling kid?" 

"Those voices argue every now and again, and I cause the pod to shake when they do," Ruby seemed disgruntled. "That and the anxiety drugs your doctor friends keep giving me help a lot. It doesn't take away the pain of losing the people I care about though." 

"Nothing can take that away," Mick said knowing that pain quite well. 

"I told her about my past," Daisy said as Mick nodded. "Maybe you can tell her your story next?" 

"Oh I'm sure she'd love that," Mick said sarcastically as Ruby shrugged. "I will if you want to take a break, we still have about two hours left before we get to the Lighthouse." 

"I think I'll take you up on that then," Daisy stretched, then stood up hugging Mick before heading toward the bunks. 

"You two are cute," Ruby stated as Mick rolled his eyes with a goofy smile. He then spent the next few hours telling Ruby his origin story, and the loss and suffering he faced before officially joining SHIELD. She surprised him by how interested she was in his story, continuing to inquire on how he and Daisy came to be. 

"Thank you for talking to me," Ruby said as the Zephyr landed inside the Lighthouse hanger. 

"I'm surprised you were interested," Mick said with a shrug. 

"Maybe when this is all over, and I'm better, we can be friends?" She seemed quite hopeful. 

"We'll keep in touch for sure," Mick said as his mind strayed back to the concern over the potential end of the world. 

Yo-yo then passed glaring furiously at Mick and Ruby. Jemma and Fitz passed by with Deke leaning on their shoulders. May and Piper then followed suit, with Daisy walking out sternly. Patten then surprised Mick walking up behind him. "You'd better go, Coulson is expecting all of you in Mission control."

"Who's going to take care of these two?" Mick asked as Patten pointed at himself. 

"I can handle the kid," Patten said with a smirk. "It's Creel I worry about." 

"Understood," Mick started off the Zephyr. 

Mick walked into Mission Control, unsurprised with how thick the tension was. The most surprising was how angry Mack was, he made it a point to stand far away from Yo-yo, Fitz, and Jemma. Daisy was standing near Mack, having the same annoyed expression. May seemed to be the only one indifferent on the whole situation. Not long after Mick entered, taking a spot almost joining the split in the team, Coulson walked in, equally as frustrated as everyone else. 

"I'm going to need an explanation on what happened," Coulson said glancing over the entire team. "What were you guys thinking?" He glanced at Jemma and Fitz. 

"No one asked for them to follow us!" Fitz grunted. 

"No one asked you to run off without talking to anyone before hand!" Mack stated harshly. 

"I had given strict orders for you to stay put in that cell!" Daisy yelled. 

"Nobody voted you leader!" Yo-yo yelled back. 

"Coulson gave that order," Mick jumped into the yelling match.

"Oh, like you have any say so," Yo-yo sneered. "You turned on your own teammate!" 

"I wasn't about to let you kill Ruby!" Mick yelled. 

"She's the Destroyer of Worlds!" Yo-yo argued. 

"She's just a kid!" Daisy added. 

"She was going to let her team kill us!" Jemma jumped in. 

"Jake wasn't holding back, I've got a few cracked ribs to show for it," Fitz said bitterly. 

"And Deke took a bullet!" Yo-yo added. 

"That doesn't give you the right to kill anyone!" Mack bellowed. "That's not who we are!" 

"So we're just supposed to leave the Destroyer of Worlds alive then?" Yo-yo snapped. "I thought we were changing the future not staying in that time loop!" 

"Enough!" Coulson's voiced echoed through the room. "We are going to change the future, but Mack is right. We're not going to do it by killing unless we have no other option." 

"Right now we have several issues before us," Coulson continued. "Talbot turned out to be mind controlled, and tried to kidnap Robin. Thankfully, Mack and I handled that. Also, your friend Jerren got us a little extra help from some former SHIELD turned Damage Control agents, along with our old friend James Davis."

"He's recovered?" Daisy seemed pleasantly surprised. 

"Quite well actually," Mack said happily. 

"Do we have any leads on how to help Ruby and Creel?" Coulson asked as he turned to May. 

"I spoke with Tony Caine," May stepped forward. "He says he may have a treatment for Creel, but Ruby is far too risky." 

"I kind of agree," Patten walked into the meeting. "I think Ruby is safer here, not only for anyone who catches her when her mind jumps, but for her own sake as well." 

"So we just leave the time bombs together so the world can implode?" Yo-yo huffed. 

"Agent Brent, do you have a thought on how to reverse all of this?" Coulson shot a silencing scowl at Yo-yo. 

"Not yet, Sir," Patten sighed. "I'm sure between Jemma, Fitz, and myself we can figure something out, we just need time." 

"Time isn't something we have a lot of right now," Coulson frowned. "Is she at least stable?" 

"She seems to be," Patten said calmly. "She's sleeping peacefully, and I have a monitor on her." 

"Good, that's one less stress that we need right now," Coulson said as he returned his focus to May. "Do we deliver Creel to Caine or what?" 

"He'll be expecting us as soon as we make contact again," May said as Coulson nodded. 

"Great," Coulson said with a hint of relief. "We also need to get Robin and Polly out of here just in case Talbot loses it again."

"I'll take them," Daisy volunteered after exchanging a look with May. 

"I'll be her backup," Mick said, surprising no one. 

"Then we have a team handling that. We have our scientists on Ruby's situation, everyone else is to focus on getting the Zephyr ready for space travel so we can slingshot this Gravitonium into the sun," Coulson stated firmly. "If there's any objections, I don't care. We have a world to save, and you have your orders." 

Patten grabbed Mick as they all headed away from Mission Control. "That research Deke and I were working on, I have run through it several times. Daisy isn't strong enough to shatter the world, but from what I saw of tremors that come from Ruby when she has her fits, she just might be." 

"So what do you intend to do?" Mick asked with sharpness in his tone. 

"I'm going to find a way to get the Gravitonium out of her, or help her stabilize her mind. Something, anything really," Patten replied sternly. "But if it comes down to it, you're going to have to be ok with saving the world rather than a life." 

"No," Mick was point blank. 

"I'm not saying that's the only solution," Patten said as Mick stayed tense. "I'm saying that if worse comes to worse, it may be either save Daisy, or save Ruby." 

"Hopefully it doesn't come down to that. Maybe whatever treatment Caine has in mind for Creel will work for Ruby too," Mick said as Patten shrugged. "Or maybe you guys can figure something out between now and then." 

"We can only hope," Patten said as he and Mick shook hands and embraced before he set off toward the labs. "Just don't lose sight of what we're fighting for." 

"Quinjet is ready to transport," Daisy walked up to Mick with a grin. "Why so glum?" 

"It's nothing," Mick lied as he followed Daisy down the corridors. 

"Is it because we're going back to Louisiana?" Daisy asked as they boarded the quinjet.

"What?" Mick didn't even realize just how long it had been since they spoke. "No, I just keep thinking about how crazy this change the future mission has been, especially since we don't know if it's even working." 

"What happened to Mr. Hopeful?" Daisy asked taking the pilot's seat. 

"I guess it's just because we're all at each other's throat," Mick sighed as he sat copilot. "Fitz is convinced that the only way we'll know if we change the future is if Deke vanishes." 

"Wow, that's pretty grim," Daisy said as the quinjet shook violently. "So either we all die because I shatter the world, or Deke just vanishes? I think I understand then."

"That and Patten thinks I made a huge mistake saving Ruby," Mick moaned. "Apparently they believe that you and Ruby are going to fight and destroy the world."

"Why would we fight now? We have her contained?" 

"That and she seems pretty fond of you when you guys were talking," Mick smiled as his insides turned when the quinjet lunged forward. It wasn't that bad when he couldn't see it, but sitting copilot made his dislike of heights much worse. 

"Apparently Candyman said he may be able to give us something to save Coulson," Daisy said happily. 

"Finally a bit of good news!" Mick was cheerful as well. 

"I'm hoping it's something easy, not like a wild goose chase that's going to take us forever to figure out, when we don't know how much time we have," Daisy said as Mick reached over, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"We always make it work," Mick wanted to believe his own words. He had to. How else could SHIELD keep going if Coulson wasn't the one leading it? 

Daisy landed on top of Charity Hospital in New Orleans as Caine met them with a team of physicians and nurses to unload Creel. "Nice job keeping him sedated," Caine commented as the team of nurses struggled to lift the heavy man over to the transport bed. 

"Honestly that's the hard part," Mick said as Caine smirked. 

"Man who can change skin density, I'd bet keeping a needle in that is tough," he replied as Daisy walked over to join the two men. 

"Please tell me you have it," Daisy seemed almost desperate. 

"Look, I know you guys know this stuff pretty well," Caine pulled out something wrapped in cloth. "From what my source said, this is the last vial of the stuff. It was used by some sociopath, John Garrett, or something like that."

"Yeah, we knew him," Daisy grimaced at the thought while unwrapping the vial of centipede serum.

"This is a prototype version of that serum. It was tucked in one of his safe house walls and said emergency use only," Caine said as both Mick and Daisy frowned. "Apparently they had another version with some secret stuff added to it, but this one never got that update." 

"GH325," Mick frowned then looked at Daisy. "Can't get anymore of that either." 

"Man, you guys really do get all kinds of black market intel don't you?" Caine was impressed. 

"We used to, before everything went to crap," Mick sighed. 

"I don't care what the media says," Caine said placing an arm on the both of them. "You guys save people, and in my books, that makes you heroes, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that." 

"That's a nice sentiment," Daisy said as she seemed lost in thought. "Do you think any kind of regeneration agent would work with this?" 

"What do you mean?" Caine asked as Mick glanced at Daisy skeptically. 

"We may not have regenerating Kree DNA, but what if we had DNA from an Inhuman who could regenerate?" 

"From my limited knowledge of the stuff, it might work," Caine said as Daisy seemed to be planning something. 

"Where are you going with this?" Mick asked, unsure if he really wanted the answer. 

"I may have a substitute GH325, but were going to have to get our hands messy," Daisy said as she walked back to the pilots seat with the centipede serum. 

"Good luck," Caine said as he stepped off the ramp of the quinjet. "Take care of yourselves." 

"You too," Mick nodded as he closed the hatch.

He staggered his way to the front of the quinjet then plopped down next to Daisy. "Where to now?" 

"My mom's grave," Daisy said stoically. 

"Why?" Mick was both nervous and curious until he thought back to Jiaying's powers. "Didn't she heal by vampire means or something?" 

"Not exactly, but kind of," Daisy stated in a nervous like tone. 

"So how is that going to help Coulson?" Mick asked as Daisy sighed. 

"I'm hoping that some of her healing abilities will transfer over, I know it's a long shot, but it's really all we've got!" Daisy's desperation broke through her wall of defense. 

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea," Mick placed his arm on her shoulder. "I'm all for anything that can save him too." Mick was just as desperate if he was being honest. He didn't want to lose anyone, especially not Coulson. He knew, just like Daisy, Coulson is the only father figure either one of them have left. 

"I don't like the idea of digging up my mom's remains, but what else can save him?" Tears began to fall down Daisy's face. 

"I'll handle the digging," Mick said somberly. "You handle the faith." 

"You see where my faith has gotten us so far," Daisy wiped her eyes as Mick chuckled. 

"If this works, it'll have gotten us one step closer to solving one of our problems," Mick said as Daisy shook her head and smiled. "Baby steps, right?" 

"Yeah," Daisy feigned a laugh. 

It had been a while since they visited the ruins of Afterlife. It was perfectly fitting that the Inhumans that were killed were now buried here. Few normal people even knew about the place, and the Inhumans that knew of it now, held reverence for it. Daisy buried her mother here, she buried an empty casket for Lincoln here, and several of the others she knew from here that died along the way. The graveyard had sadly grown in population, surprising both Mick and Daisy. Thankfully they were alone, only the moon and stars watching the dark deed they were about to commit. 

"You'll probably want to wait on the jet," Mick said as he held a shovel in his hand with a duffle bag in the other. 

"Not a chance," Daisy said as she walked down with a second shovel. "We need to be quick. We don't know how long he's got left."

"Daisy, this isn't going to be a pretty sight," Mick urged as she shook her head in determination. 

"I don't care," Daisy said as she slammed the shovel into the ground. "I'll be fine."

"Ok," Mick sighed as the two began digging. 

Even the wind seemed to disagree with them, blowing harshly, clouds darkening the moon as they flew across the sky. The eerie quietness only broken by breaks in the ground, until they finally slammed into the pine box deep in the earth. Mick watched as Daisy shuddered as she dusted the front enclosure of the casket. "Let me do this part," Mick suggested as Daisy seemed much more distraught than determined. 

"We need whatever remains are in that box. Hopefully Jemma can work her science magic and get enough of Mom's DNA to blend with the serum," Daisy said as Mick helped her climb up the side of the six foot hole they were in. 

"Want to get the jet ready and I'll meet you up there?" Mick asked as Daisy nodded. He wanted her far away from this sight. He remembered how bad she was broken when Cal killed Jiaying. The pain she had when they buried Jiaying, the stream of tears as she clung to Lincoln, losing the other piece of the family she was so excited to finally have found. That was more than enough of a push for him to deal with pulling up whatever remnants remained of Jiaying Johnson rather than Daisy having to suffer again. 

He opened the casket as a wave of putrid decay whipped up in the gust of wind. He grimaced and gagged at the sight of Jiaying's still decaying skull. The black rot of flesh clinging to the bone, everything barely hanging together with small strings of thin black strands of flesh and greyed out hair. He held his breath as he began to place the bones into the duffle bag Daisy had dropped down. He knew this was wrong, he even wondered how Coulson would've approved of this knowing his reverence for the dead. That's when he began to notice, no one communicated with them. They didn't check in with Coulson and the others after dropping off Creel with Caine. Coulson didn't know about this. 

He used webs to climb out of the hole, then walked over to the quinjet to see Daisy standing at Lincoln's grave. His heart sank, he knew about how she must've felt. She was probably telling Lincoln all about what's happened, pouring her heart out to the man she once loved. He had done that every time he visited Sam's grave as well, and would probably continue to do it even with Daisy at his side. He knew there were just some things you could never forget or let go of. He silently walked over, placing his arm on Daisy's shoulder as she turned to him, burying her head in his chest. He could feel the warmth of her tears dripping on his bodysuit. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as she sobbed. He silently looked over Lincoln's grave, and he could almost hear Lincoln's voice calling out to him, the same words he spoke when he pushed Mick aside to launch himself into space killing both Hive and himself. "Take care of Daisy." 

"I'm trying," Mick mouthed as he tried to fight back his own sympathetic tears, feeling a brush of wind as if Lincoln heard him. "We can leave as soon as you're ready." 

"Ok," Daisy said taking a deep breath, and stood up to recoup. "I'm sorry, just being here is harder than I thought it would be." 

"I completely understand," Mick said as Daisy half way smiled while wiping tears from her puffy eyes. 

"That's why I'm glad you're here with me now," Daisy said as she took his hand, leading him back to the quinjet. 

Mick debated several times on wether or not he should ask if Coulson knew where they were, or what they were doing, but he decided a confrontation probably wouldn't be wise right now. Daisy slumped into the pilot's seat, clearly not ready to leave just yet. "It's not a rush, I'm sure everyone at the Lighthouse is fine." 

"Thanks, but it's probably best we head back. May can only cover for us for so long," Daisy admitted as Mick raised his brow. "Sorry, I meant to tell you, May sent us on this mission. We're code black." 

"I was wondering," Mick shrugged. 

"You were just lost in thought when we took off, then pretty focused during the flight I didn't think about it again," Daisy said as Mick placed his hand on her leg. 

"It's fine, really," Mick felt a little uneasy about that statement. "All that matters now is that we get back in time to save Coulson." 

"Agreed," Daisy smiled. "Maybe we should try to check in though, and at least let them know we're ok." 

"I'm sure Coulson would be happy about that part," Mick said as Daisy nodded. 

"He's certainly not going to be thrilled about what we've done, but like we agreed, anything to save him," Daisy said as Mick nodded. She then tried to call out, only for everything to return static. The two shared a look of concern as the moonlight faded under a cloud. 

"Maybe it's just the weather, let's start heading back and try again." 

Daisy quickly had them in the air, cruising at high speed, when she tried again. Static once more. Her face reflected in the windshield her look of deep concern and dread. "Why aren't they answering?" She muttered. 

"Better question is, why are we only getting static?" Mick asked as they tried to radio the Lighthouse once more. 

"Something is wrong! I bet Hale is jamming our signal!" Daisy slammed her fist into the control panel. 

"She wouldn't even know where we are to jam our signal," Mick said as the sick realization occurred to them at the same time. 

"But she could know where the Lighthouse is," they muttered in unison. 

"We need to hurry back!" Daisy began to press buttons, as the engines roared on the quinjet, shoving them hard into their seats. "We'll be there in a few hours. Keep trying the radio until then!" 

"I will," Mick said as Daisy locked her hands on the controls. This time he wouldn't let Hale escape. If anyone in the Lighthouse was hurt, Hale was going to pay for it, even if it meant with her life.