Agents of SHIELD: Nexus

Mick marveled as Daisy quickly hacked her way into the old database. Then she used several different encryptions and variable routing techniques paired with VPN's to hack into the Damage Control servers from the back door Jerren provided and the government servers as well. It was almost like having the set up in the Mission Room in the Hub with the screen set up to show constant news streams as well as a map with hot spots. Several of the smaller computers Jerren had snagged before they were sent to the land fill had been fully repurposed and set up for data collections. Coulson came in and was quite impressed with how hard they'd clearly been working in his absence. 

"Feels like home already," Coulson smiled as he looked at the screen. 

"Well, we'd better get comfy," Daisy huffed. "Our whole team is now at the top of the most wanted list. They really want us alive though." 

"Thankfully," Coulson smirked. 

"I don't think they care too much if we're dead or alive," Mick sighed. "They've tried to kill me several times now." 

"Uh, guys who's that?" Daisy asked as a sharp dressed man walked into the room with Fitz and May beside him. 

"This is Noah. Apparently Enoch didn't want us doing this alone," Fitz said as Mick frowned. 

"Let me guess, you're a Chronicom too?" Mick tried not to be too bitter against him, considering he was partially sentient. The Chronicom then nodded at Mick's question. "Why wait until now to show up if you knew Enoch?" 

"Sorry," Noah said in a monotonous way. "We are not to interfere."

"Yeah, that didn't stop Enoch from stealing our team and launching them into the future," Mick huffed, his resentment for Enoch still quite fresh aided by the loss of Davis. 

"That was to prevent a cataclysmic event. Also Enoch is considered reckless among the Chonicoms," Noah stated as Daisy raised her brow. "It is my job to notify you of a strange light that has appeared over St. Louis." 

Coulson and Daisy's curious expressions dropped, both much more somber. Mick glanced at May to see her with the same look of concern. "Why do you all look like that?" Noah asked as Coulson sighed. 

"Light in the sky, that's how it starts," Coulson sounded deflated. 

"That's how what starts?" Mick asked looking between everyone with wild skepticism.

"The end of the world," Daisy said weakly. 

"Then we figure out how to shut it down?" Fitz said firmly. 

"I'm sitting this one out," Daisy said as Mick wanted to argue, rather kept his mouth shut due to her concerns about being called the destroyer of worlds. Yet, he held his tongue. Whatever prophecies they heard about in the future, whatever she saw, this was taking a much harsher toll on her. 

"Don't worry, I'll stay with her," Patten said as he walked in. "I'm sure with Lance keeping an eye on Robin I can manage to keep Daisy safe."

"We could really use you out there," Coulson said with a frown on his face, then looked to Mick, with hope. 

"I'll be fine," Daisy said as Mick sighed then nodded. 

"I know," Mick said reluctantly, hugging Daisy.

"How do we get to St. Louis now?" Coulson asked as Mick, Patten, and Fitz smirked. 

"Well, not long after we arrived, we started exploring. We found a series of tunnels and a strange video of a guy named Rick Stoner," Patten started to explain. "Turns out this base was for some kind of world ending event from the 1970's. Well, SHIELD being SHIELD, placed several escape passages, including a jet hanger."

"And we may have stolen the Zephyr from General Hale so that we could get around easier," Mick added as Coulson began comprehending everything he was being told. 

"The Hydrogen Crisis?" Coulson asked as Patten nodded. "How was this not on Fury's list?" 

"Maybe he didn't know about it?" May suggested. "No one person knew everything. That was his thing, wasn't it?" 

"True," Coulson nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to join us?" He asked looking at Daisy who shook her head. Then with a shrug he said "It's not going to be the same without you, but I understand."

Daisy smiled half hearted. "Besides, I have plenty to do here. Surely there's more back doors we could use for gathering intel." 

"I can link you to the Chronicom Oversight System if you'd like," Noah replied as Daisy smiled. 

"We'll be back, I promise," Mick said as he walked over to Daisy, placing his head against hers. 

"I know you will," She smiled. 

After a short ride down the elevator, they reached the hanger. May seemed to feel the most at home looking at the Zephyr parked with the lights shining off it's black paint. "Man, how good is it to see this again?" Coulson stated happily.

"Finally starting to feel like home," May replied. 

"World ending stakes, robot aliens," Mack said with a smirk. "I'd say it's home alright." 

"I'd take them over the Kree any day," Jemma stated as they boarded the Zephyr. 

May and Coulson headed for the cockpit, Mack and Yo-Yo hunkered down in the cargo hold, while Mick, Fitz, and Simmons headed for the lab. Jemma seemed more relieved to be around familiar equipment, almost as if it eased some of the mental suffering she had been through. It was quite nostalgic watching her reorganize things while Fitz just watched her with the most enthusiastic stare. Mick was so grateful to have her back, not just her, but all of them. They worked so hard for this moment, now they were going to fight to keep them. Now they had the job of stopping that future from coming. 

It wasn't long before they cloaked the Zephyr, landed in a clearing and set off. Their target was a small holding facility. It had bright white tile floors with grey walls, several locked doors. Fitz lead the way with his scanner, and Mack beside him, Yo-yo, May, Jemma, Coulson then Mick at the end. It was truly like old times. The hallway wrapped around leading them to a large steel door. 

"This has to be it, right?" Mack stated as Fitz held his scanner to the door. 

"I'm getting strong signals," he said then paused. "There's also a few people in there!" 

"Mack, if you would," Coulson said as Mack stepped over to a small panel placing a rubber looking flat cover over it. A few seconds later, the panel beeped, and the door slid open. 

"So much easier this way," Mack smiled. 

"I miss the boom," Yo-yo teased as Mack rolled his eyes and smiled. 

"The boom was pretty cool," Coulson smirked as they walked in, prepared for any kind of conflict. 

They entered the room and saw through a small window leading to a room around the corner seeing the large alien artifact, it's rectangular base, and small sphere atop the shaft. Then a woman with short black hair, followed by another woman with bright blonde hair, both wearing tactical vests and black SHIELD fatigues, each with a gun pointed at the team. "Piper, Morris?" Coulson asked as the ladies both slowly lowered their weapons.

"What are you doing here?" Mick asked in disbelief as Bobbi smirked. 

"Lance said you were working on finding them," Bobbi replied pointing at Coulson and the others.

"We heard about this device, and figured if you guys were around, then you'd probably be coming for this," Piper stated. "We tried disarming it, but I'm really not good with the tech stuff." 

"Don't worry, these two can handle it," Coulson stated proudly as Fitz and Simmons headed into the other room. Coulson then followed with Piper behind him, leaving the others to look around the large, almost lab like, room. It had steel cabinets, a few large examining tables, yet no equipment to be seen. 

"It's a little odd that there's nothing here," Yo-yo stated as she looked around the room. 

"Agreed," May stated firmly. "With a fireproof door, you'd expect more." 

"Maybe it's a diversion?" Mick rubbed his finger across the table, finding a thick layer of dust, then looking back to see Bobbi's eyes fixed on the door. "What are you looking at?" Mick's question attracted everyone's except for Bobbi's. 

"Morse?" Mack said firmly.

"Huh?" She looked at all of the skeptical looks she was receiving then shook her head. "Sorry, it's been a long day. I was zoned out." 

"Looked like you were waiting on something," May said harshly as Bobbi acted as if she were offended by that statement. 

"Something is off," Yo-yo said with a huff. 

"Agreed," Mick rubbed his neck with one hand while reaching for his pistol with the other. "Maybe someone should check in with Coulson to see how FitzSimmons is coming."

Bobbi nodded as she set off, leaving the suspicious party behind. "What's you play Webs?" Mack asked as Mick frowned and touched his nose. 

"Watch and wait," Mick shrugged. 

"Hand up!" Several guards in high tech looking masks hollered as they poured into the room pointing their M-16's at the team. Following behind them was a foe Mick had run into several times now. She donned a black skull mask which matched her black leather suit with pointed shoulders. Mick tensed up, if she was here, Jake and Bree wouldn't be far behind. 

"Now what?" Yo-yo held her ground, gritting her teeth as the others did. 

"Put down your weapons," a Bobbi's voice stated firmly as she returned to join them with her pistol pointed at them once again. The team shared a look, before all agreeing to toss aside their side arms. 

"Where's the rest of your team?" Mick barked as the Assassin tilted her head, looking around the room. 

"Where's Daisy Johnson?" A robotic voice came from her mask, almost mocking Mick for asking. 

"She's not here," Morse responded. 

"Then kill them," the Assassin replied. 

"Yo-yo!" May called out, and before she finished, Yo-yo had already dashed across the room, disarming the soldiers, and Morse. 

"Intriguing. Leave no survivors," the Assassin remarked as her soldiers sprung into action, Bobbi standing horrified as the SHIELD responded by fighting hand to hand. 

Mack went hand to hand with one soldier, as May went for her signature drop. Mick webbed the second one before he could attack May, then slung him into another. Yo-yo used her speed to try to attack, but nothing really seemed to slow these guys down. They seemed to take hits without flinching, and return hits were hard. 

Mack managed to grab his gun, firing into the arm of one, revealing they were cyborgs. 

"They're robots!" Mack called out as two piled on him, and another two pinned down May. 

Mick managed to pull his Chilecrea, stabbing into his attacker, ripping the blade from the attacker as it sparked wildly crashing on the ground. "She's controlling them!" Mick called out as he rushed at the Assassin. She moved with such amazing grace and poise. She dodged every punch he threw, every swing of his blade, and every kick. Finally she had enough, sweeping Mick's legs out from under him, then dropping him faster with her heel. He slammed into the ground hard, the air leaving him. He gasped and rolled as she slammed her fist into the ground where he once was. He started to stand, only to be kicked sideways, sending him crashing into the wall before falling back to the ground. He shook his head, watching as the Assassin pulled her chakra from her back, looking around at the team seeing Mack pinned to the wall by two soldiers. She released the chakra at blinding speed, Mick couldn't even react to stop it due to his daze. 

"Mack!" Yo-yo cried out, then the chakra bounced, followed by a thud. 

"No!" Mack roared as Yo-yo stood where she was, completely mortified, her arms from her elbows down missing, blood pouring down. 

Coulson then lead the charge into the room, with Fitz and Simmons behind him, firing into the robotic attackers. Bobbi and Piper joined in, firing at the Assassin as well. She danced around the attacks, ducking behind a table for cover. May helped Mick to his feet as Mack grabbed Yo-yo, as they fled. They were in a race against the clock as Yo-yo was steadily bleeding out, muttering about how the future was coming true before passing out. They reached the Zephyr thanks to Bobbi's SUV parked nearby, and Jemma immediately went to work trying to save Yo-yo. 

The flight back was completely silent. Mack pacing about, while Mick and Fitz stood beside the Kree orb keeping it stable. Piper and Bobbi sat in silence against the wall, both swearing looks of total betrayal and regret. 

"What do you think Yo-yo meant by the future is coming true?" Mick asked Fitz.

"Well, she mentioned in her debriefing about seeing herself in the future, but she had no arms, and was barely alive," Fitz said with deep concern in his voice. 

"That sounds horrible," Mick sighed as Mack walked over toward them. 

"It was," he said. "I wanted to believe it was just the Kree messing with us, but now, I'm not so sure." 

"And what about the stuff with Daisy?" Mick asked as Mack frowned. "So she really did destroy the world?"

"It sure looked that way Webs," Mack sighed. "We just have to hold on to hope that we can stop it, or we might just see what happened the old fashion way." 

"Daisy wouldn't destroy the world," Mick said with a sigh. 

"I know," Mack and Fitz said in unison. 

"Not without a good reason," Fitz added as Mick's expression was with coated with despair. 

They arrived back at base Coulson, May, and Mack following Simmons into the medical hanger as Patten lead the way. Bobbi was with Lance, as he lead her and Piper to holding. Mick, and Fitz took the Kree Orb down the the hanger. Noah and Daisy joined them. The orb had held it's warm temperature preventing Fitz from doing any work on it, which is why they were going to put it in a cooler.

They filled Daisy in on the happenings of the night as they reached the holding facility which now housed the three monoliths, white, black, and grey each in their own container. Daisy seemed sick as they explained what happened to Yo-yo. She explained how Deke had left the Lighthouse by means of the underground tunnels into the small town of River's End, and how she had to break him out of jail, all while Noah examined the orb. 

"Did you say that this machine has remained hot since you took it from St.Louis?" Noah asked as Fitz nodded. 

"Why do you ask?" Fitz asked as a troubled expression fell across Noah's face. 

"You need to run," Noah sounded concerned. "You need to run now!" He urged as he pushed the trio toward the exit of the room. 

"What's going on?" Mick asked as Noah continued acting erratic. 

"It is going to explode!" Noah fussed. "I may be able to contain it, but I probability says I will not survive. You most certainly will not!"

"Noah!" Fitz called out as the chronicom ignored him, running back toward the orb. 

"Please run!" Noah called out as Fitz, Mick, and Daisy shared a look and reluctantly obeyed. They were barely clear of the large metal door before the ground shook, and the shockwave of the explosion knocked them to the ground.