Agents of SHIELD: Nexus

With each base they visited, it bought them even more time for Jerren and Fitz to set up another layer of work arounds. Something that would be much easier if Daisy were around. Thankfully they should be returning today, if they understood how the time traveling worked, hopefully nothing went wrong on Davis' end. Patten, Lance and Mick returned to the Lighthouse, only to be greeted by an overly eager Fitz. "Any sign of them?" Mick asked as Fitz shook his head. 

"No sign of them yet," Fitz muttered. "What if we're completely wrong about how all of this works?"

"We have to hope you two were right," Mick nodded hoping to give off more optimism than he actually felt.

Patten began working with Jerren while Lance went off to check in with Bobbi. She had been helping out between her own couvert missions as a mercenary. On one hand, working with Jerren was a great help, as they kept the SHIELD database up and running. The problem was, Stark was in charge, and he wasn't a big fan of outsiders hacking in. Thankfully Jerren had access, but it was very risky putting this base on Stark's radar, so rather than staying at the Lighthouse, he spent his time at the now empty Stark Tower in Manhattan sending an encrypted feed to the Lighthouse. 

Mick and Fitz walked down to the monolith, watching for any signs of hope of their friends returning. The large white stone began to tremble and the lights flickered wildly. Mick and Fitz both wore a look of sheer excitement. This was it! They should be here any minute! The stone collapsed like water, splashing around the room before shifting into a large mirror like shape. Out came Coulson, followed by May, then Mack and Yo-Yo together. Out came Jemma, then Daisy. Everyone looked extremely rough. Clearly they had fought their way to wherever the monolith was in the future. Where was Davis and Enoch though? The mirror began to ripple, pieces steadily hardening as Mick's eyes widened. His heart sank as more of the rock began to reform into it's usual shape, no Enoch, no Davis. 

"Where are the others?" Mick gasped as Couslon walked over placing his arm on Mick's shoulder with a regretful expression. 

"Agent Hale isn't coming back," he said mournfully. 

"What?" Mick's eyes widened as Daisy walked over, embracing him tightly. 

"He stayed behind so we could escape," she said somberly. "He said when we fix the future, you'd know how to save him." Mick bit down on his lip, his emotions conflicting. He was so happy to be in Daisy's arms, but how could he be happy when one of his best friends just died? 

There was a loud explosion, and a twenty something year old boy crashed on the ground wearing Davis' Recluse jacket. He had thin, probably recently grown, facial hair. An oddly familiar looking facial structure, but Mick couldn't quite figure out why. Mick stared at him skeptically as the boy stood up. "Did it work?" The boy asked.

"You're in 2017 if that's what you're asking," Mick answered, ready to punch the boy for wearing Davis' jacket. 

"But if I'm here doesn't that mean fail to change the future?" The boy asked as Mick stared at him. 

"We haven't even figured out what we have to change yet," Mick stated bluntly, returning his focus to his formerly lost friends.

"First we're going to need to get you lot up to speed," Fitz said as he lead them out into the hangar of the Lighthouse with Zephyr-One parked nicely inside. "This is our new HQ, we call it," Fitz started to say. 

"The Lighthouse," Coulson said bitterly.

"We've had the tour." Mack grunted. 

"I wouldn't say that counts," Jemma tried to be a little more reassuring. 

"It counts," May said flatly. 

"Lived my whole life here," the boy said from behind everyone.

"Hopefully there's less Kree now," Daisy said as Mick gave a confused glance. "Big, ruthless, blue human looking aliens." 

"Yeah, there's none of that here," Mick said with a half smile. "At least not in the area's we've been working in, I'm sure there's more that we haven't seen." 

"I highly doubt there's an entire alien species hidden here," Fitz smirked. "What did you think about our hiding places for the weapons?" 

"That was pretty good thinking, Turbo," Mack smiled. 

"Well, if it wasn't for our new team members, we wouldn't have succeeded," Fitz smiled proudly as they walked into the mission room. The large screen in the center showed a few new terror attacks in Russia, an alarm at Providence, presumably Jake's new team; The Assassin's, as Jerren aptly named them. 

"You really have been busy haven't you?" Coulson asked proudly. 

"Had to get SHIELD back up and running somehow," Mick smiled. "Unfortunately we're too dependent on Damage Control at the moment." 

"You've got this place linked with Stark?" Coulson fussed. 

"Not exactly," Fitz said as Coulson seemed a bit relieved. "More like we have a back door into Jerren Bennet's feed." 

"Guess that means you could use my help then?" Daisy smirked. 

"I was hoping you'd be able to get us back online completely," Fitz replied. 

"So we need a back door into the government, Damage Control, and link it all back to our old database without any interference?" Daisy asked as Fitz nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem." 

"Agent Coulson?" Patten walked into the room quite surprised to see everyone. 

"Agent Brent," Coulson nodded. "It's been quite a while." 

"Who's that kid in Davis' gear?" Patten seemed just as upset as Mick was about it. 

"Name's Deke," he replied. "Deke Shaw. I'm from the future. I was beginning to think I was invisible considering no one was introducing me to anyone!"

Patten glanced at Mick, then at Fitz, then to Deke, and back at Fitz only to get a shrug of a reply from the question he clearly wanted to ask. "I'm going to assume someone can fill me in while we debrief?" 

"Yeah, it's a long story," Coulson sighed. 

Patten pulled everyone back, one by one, staring with Coulson. Mick and Fitz sat outside listening as they all recounted the horrors of the future. The planet had been shattered, few people survived on the surface, living a very harsh life. Those unlucky enough to have been in the Lighthouse had it even worse. After the world shattered, the Kree swooped in claiming the humans as slaves, and forcing terragenesis on anyone who had traces of the inhuman genes, selling them off as slaves for higher princes. Davis had arrived as a fake buyer for Daisy, who they called the Destroyer of Earth. Thankfully after a series of unfortunate events, Davis gave his life to hold back the Kree by using a bomb to close off the area where the monolith was. Just as heroic as Davis, Enoch gave his life to hold the monolith open long enough for everyone to escape. What didn't make any sense however, was how Deke managed to come back. Fitz tried explaining to Mick how Deke was a paradox, and by all means should disappear if they change the future, but the fact that he was there meant something was off. Mick simply shook his head giving up on any hopes of understanding the how and why of it, especially when Daisy was finished giving her account. 

Once she exited the room, Jemma went in, and Mick left Fitz to hear her account. He needed a break, sure it was great hearing how heroic Davis was, but it still hurt. How Patten was handling the news so well was beyond him. Daisy saw the look on Mick's face and Fitz gave him the go ahead to leave with her. She held his hand as they walked out into the central hub of the Lighthouse, with the center piece being the elevator to the surface. 

"You ok?" Daisy asked as Mick grimaced. "You can talk to me." 

"I know," Mick sighed. "It's so confusing. Davis is both dead and alive at the same time. I know he's safe up in space with Enoch, but yet." 

"I understand," Daisy rubbed Mick's shoulders. He leaned his head on her hands so glad she was here now. This moment should've been magical, should've something to be so exciting, but instead, it's a bitter victory. "At least you have us here now, right?" 

"Yeah," Mick smiled halfhearted. "And once we change the future, we'll have Davis back too I hope." 

"He really was pretty amazing," Daisy smiled, her eyes slightly damp. "He told me that you were fighting just as hard as we were." 

"Maybe," Mick brushed his eyes, hoping Daisy didn't see him crying. 

"He also told me that you cared so much about me that you were willing to come to the future yourself," Daisy said as Mick turned away. That was indeed true, and by all rights, it should've been him to make that sacrifice. "But he cared about you so much he wanted to make sure you got to see me again." 

"He was one of my best friends," Mick sniffed, which lead Daisy to wrap her arms around him. She laid her head against his shoulder, and he laid his atop hers. 

"I'm sorry," Daisy said softly. She then eased her head up, looking at Mick, who's face was now red, tears pouring down his cheeks. She brushed the tears away gently, then caressed his hair. He eased down toward her, and her upward to him. Their lips met in the middle. Mick's heart fluttered, his stomach flipped, time seemed to freeze around him. Was this for real? He pulled her in closer, and she kissed him harder, more passionately. He was sure he could here fireworks now. They eased back from each other, each wearing a smile. 

"Do you feel better now?" She asked as Mick sniffed once more, unable to quite smiling as he wiped the tears from his eyes. 

"Maybe one more will help," he smiled as she rolled her eyes, then kissed him once more. "Yeah, I think I can manage now." 

"Good, because we have work to do," Daisy smiled.