End of the Beginning

Everything was hazy, his head throbbed, his muscles burned, he wanted to die from the fire in his veins. He hadn't felt this way since he was bitten by Arachnid all those years ago. He wanted to scream, but no sound escaped his throat. He swallowed, even that was excruciating. Nothing topped the horrible images that swept through his mind. Jemma and Fitz screaming for help as the medical pod plummeted from the Bus, and himself being powerless to save them. He couldn't even defeat Ward. He was useless now. A rat trapped in a cage. He leaned down on his folded arms as his chains pulled from under the table. 

The door opened as Raina walked in. Mick scoffed turning away from her. "You should drink something, I'd hate for you to die from dehydration."

"What do you care?" Mick barked. 

"Despite what you may think, I have no loyalties to Hydra, Centipede, Cybertech, or even Garrett," Raina said as she sat down across from Mick. 

"Like I care who you're loyal to," Mick growled. 

"Maybe you should," Raina smiled at him. "You care for Skye don't you?" 

Mick stared at her, his mind drawing up several ways to kill her even bound in chains. "I don't care for anyone. It never ends well." 

"If it matters, I'm sorry about your scientist friends," she seemed quite genuine.

"I don't want your sympathy," Mick growled. 

"Fair enough," she sighed. 

"What do you want?" Mick grumbled. 

"We'll be landing soon, I just wanted to offer you a bit of help before they lock you away."

"Why? What do you get out of this?" Mick was skeptical. 

"Someone to help bring about a beautiful change in the world. Making it what it was always meant to be," Raina seemed fixated on some fantasy. "Something special." 

"And just how do I do that?" Mick sneered. 

"You protect Skye," Raina smirked. 

"You see how well that worked for Fitz and Simmons," Mick huffed. 

"If you drink that water, you might just feel better," Raina gave a mischievous grin. 

Mick stared at her, then looked down at the glass of water, then back at her. "How do I know you're not trying to poison me?"

"You don't," Raina shrugged. "Just have to put some faith in me, just like I'm going to trust you to keep your end of the deal." Raina then stood up, leaving without another word. 

He sat in the cell, staring at the water, debating relentlessly over drinking it or not. What could Raina have been talking about? Making the world special, it sounded like a fever dream, akin to global peace and prosperity. His darker thoughts urged him to resist the call of the water, but his burning throat begged for it. With a heavy amount of reluctance he drank from the cup. 

His body felt cold, almost like ice swimming down his throat, spreading through his arms, chest, abdomen, finally his legs. He trembled violently as his muscles fought to regulate his temperature. 

His eyes opened as the Bus bounced in an unusually rough landing. He looked around the room, something felt different. A deep breath, and he realized it wasn't the room. He felt normal again, or at least as close to normal as he could. He carefully turned his wrist, grateful to see the shimmering silver webs versus the black that had been. He wanted to test this, just to be sure he wasn't going crazy. He carefully moved his wrist to point up, then flick, splat. He smiled as he saw the small web stuck to the ceiling. 

Now he could face any of the Hydra agents, even Ward, and win. He knew he needed to play it cool, he may have his webs back, but that didn't make him invincible. Unfortunately, his muscles were still very sore, so fighting his way out wasn't a going to work, at least not yet. Maybe he could trigger a beacon to call Coulson and let him know Garrett's location. This would be pretty tricky with Ward around as he knew the Bus just as well as Mick. He wiggled a bit, hearing something fall by his feet. Upon inspection, it was his phone! He was sure Ward would've taken that before leaving him in isolation. Could that have been Raina as well? 

He knew time was of the essence, they'd be rounding him up soon. He quickly slid his foot out of his boot, carefully using his toes and leg to get the phone up his leg back to his lap. He then carefully, albeit painfully, angled his wrist to web his phone, then carefully ease it to the table. He ripped the web and tossed it down, stepping on it with his boot as he called Skye then leaned down on the phone. Unfortunately she didn't answer so a voicemail would have to work. 

"No time to explain everything. Look into CyberTech Incentives Program! That's how they're controlling Mike. Not sure where we're at, but Garrett said something about the staying low in the gulf. And, Fitz-Simmons," Mick paused not only because he wasn't sure how to explain their loss, but the door opened to see Raina once again, two soldiers followed her in. He sat up brushing the phone under his hands as Raina didn't seem surprised at all. She walked over, unlocking the cuffs from the table and ground, slipping the phone out as she stood up turning it off and slipping it into her bag. 

"Be good now," she whispered in Mick's ear. He stared at her as the soldiers walked over to him, grabbing the chains and urging him forward with their guns pointed at him. "Take him to the incentive suites," she said as they lead him out of the room.

Suites was a lie, this was more like a prison. Bright yellow pained concrete walls, with a small overhead light, and a tiny cot for a bed. At least the cuffs were gone. He began pacing the room, which didn't really help his muscles, but it kept him from dwelling on losing Jemma and Fitz. He sat on the bed and began to ponder if Skye would even get the voicemail. Would they be able to find him? Maybe the medical pod would be floating with Fitz and Jemma still alive inside. Maybe. Or maybe it was all just hope for something that would never happen. 

He laid on the cot, wishing, hoping, dreaming that maybe he'd be found. He tried going over every possible scenario. Coulson and the others show up, wreck stuff, rescue him and whoever else was unlucky enough to be trapped in a room like this. He also considered breaking out himself, but who knows how many soldiers were here, wherever here was. His luck, even Mike Peterson was here which, even at full strength, Mick stood no chance against with the Deathlok upgrades. 

Even still, for Raina to betray Garrett and give Mick the chance to alert the others, she clearly hoped they'd win. What was her play in this game? Why did it involve Skye? Who else was involved? She mentioned not caring about Centipede, nor Hydra, so who could she be working with to see this new special world? The way she seemed to be dreaming after mentioning a special world bothered him as well. 

After what felt like hours of fruitless wonders, he gave up. There was no way he could get any answers being trapped here. Maybe it would be best if he just slept until something happened.

An explosion rattled his cot, waking him up in a panicked state. He smirked as he realized what that must mean. "The Calvary is here," Mick said to himself. "And I'm sure she brought friends." He took the opportunity to walk to the door, beating on it and yelling. 

"All of you shut up!" The guard bellowed. 

"There's a hole in my wall I thought you should know about!" Mick called out. The door popped open as the guard entered. "Gotcha!" 

Mick shot a web into the guards face, then grabbed him, slamming him against the wall dropping his side arm. The guard bounced back ripping the webs from his face, when Mick noticed the Centipede machine near his wrist. 

"That I should've seen coming," Mick sighed as the guard began to retaliate. Mick blocked a few of the attacks before then kicked the guard, staggering him backwards. He slammed into him, then webbed his arm to the wall. The guard then began ripping and pulling while Mick picked up his cot, and using the frame, slammed into the guard, rendering him unconscious. 

Mick let out a sigh of relief then went for the guard's keys. He glanced at the side arm, deciding not to take it, but unloaded and stole the clip. 

Several more guards were in the hallway, which wouldn't have been a problem, if Mick knew where to go to escape, but the lack of windows and the hallway being extremely long in both directions meant he was going to have to fight to rejoin the others. The other problem he realized, if he was trapped in one of these rooms, there were probably others trapped as well. "Alright Recluse, time to be the hero," he said to himself.

He popped his neck and sprinted down the hallway. He flicked his wrist, the web hitting the shoulder of the first guard, he jerked causing the guard to stagger right into Mick's leaping punch. The guard fell unconscious, drawing the attention of several others. Mick then sprinted at them he used his webs to clog their guns, then slid under the legs of the first, webbing the second one, then tripping him as the first spun around swinging. Mick caught the fist and jerked him forward kneeing him in the gut. The second freed himself only to see Mick spin kick him in the face. The guard bounced off the wall, then fell to the door unconscious.

More guards began to pour into the hallway from the left, which made Mick realize that had to be where he needed to go. Unfortunately these guys weren't playing games, they opened fire, forcing Mick to duck into one of the rooms. Inside a brunet woman sat with a mortified look on her face. "Incentive program?" Mick asked as the woman began screaming. "You should probably duck behind cot. I can handle the guards!" 

No sooner than he said that, the door kicked open, Mick then seized the opportunity to web the gun and face of the first guy, then bulrush the guard, knocking him into the group behind him. The three fell backwards as Mick put everything he had into webbing them to the ground. They struggled to escape but clearly they weren't upgraded like the others. 

Mick then turned back leaning down seeing the fear in the woman's eyes. "You can stay here if you want," he said as she eased out from under the bed. 

"No, I want out of this place, but my husband," she stammered. 

"Maybe we can find him too?" Mick shrugged.

"Shouldn't be too hard, he's a handler," she said as Mick raised a brow. 

"Handler of what?" Mick asked as she frowned. 

"The super soldiers," she said sadly. 

"Then I'm sure he knows I'm free already," Mick grimaced. "Mick by the way," he held out his hand. 

"Kelly Zeller," she shook his hand. 

"Any idea how many of these rooms are occupied?" Kelly shook her head as Mick frowned. "Well, looks like we'll have to do this the hard way then." 

The two set off, opening doors, some empty, some having occupants who were too scared to leave. They reached the last door without any commotion, which Mick thought was extremely odd, upon opening it, Mick saw Ace Peterson laying on his bed drawing. "Ace?" Mick gasped. 

"I've seen you before," Ace said as Mick nodded. 

"Yeah, I'm a friend of Skye and your dad," Mick smiled warmly. 

"Why are you here?" Ace asked as Mick glanced down the hall, seeing a guard. 

"To save you of course," Mick smiled. "Kelly, get inside, I'll handle this." 

Mick sprinted down the hall, slowing down when he saw the guard flash blue then slump to the ground. A smile crept across his face as he saw Skye holding an ICER in hand, followed by a man he never saw before. He exhaled in relief as Skye ran to him, embracing him. 

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see you!" She teased. 

"I was hoping that was you guys causing all of that trouble," Mick smirked. "Who's he?" 

"Kyle Zeller, stuck working for Hydra because of the incentive program," Skye said as Kyle nodded nervously. 

"Then consider your job terminated," Mick said as he opened the door. "Kelly, I believe I have someone out here you'll want to see." 

She ran out, embracing her husband warmly as he spun her around, apologizing relentlessly. "Thank you so much!" He said as Mick and Skye nodded. 

"Have you seen Ace?" Skye asked as Mick motioned toward the room. Skye peaked in and Ace lit up with excitement. "You ready to save your dad?" 

"How?" Ace asked as Skye glanced down at her phone. 

"I need you to give me a message that only you and your dad would know," Skye said as Ace pressed his finger to his lips thinking. 

"I tried to tell you," Kyle stood in the doorway. "You can't communicate with Deathlok from in here." 

"I keep telling you," Skye smirked, flipping her phone around. "I don't need your line, I have my own."

"Ask him: What are we?" Ace said as Skye nodded. 

"And what are you Ace?" Skye knelt down. 

"A team!" Ace cheered. 

"That should work," Skye smiled as she typed. "Message sent, time to watch the show." 

"Now to convince the others that they're safe," Mick said relieved. 

"It shouldn't be too hard, I'll go to operations and send out an cease fire order to all soldiers," Kyle said with a sympathetic expression. 

"Don't worry, no one is going to blame you for being forced into Hydra service," Skye said with a grin. 

It didn't take long for the all clear to go out, Mick, Kelly, Skye, and Ace all lead the other captives into the lobby of the base, where they were greeted by Jemma of all people. Mick ran and grabbed her, spinning her around causing her to squeal. "You're okay!" He cheered as Skye embraced her once Mick set her down. 

"Yes, Fitz saved us," she said, her tone slightly remorseful. 

"Is he okay?" Mick looked around, then back at Jemma seeing her regret plastered on her face. 

"Okay is a bit of an overstatement," she sighed. "Alive, yes, but Director Fury is afraid they'll be extensive brain damage from the elapsed lack of oxygen." 

"Whoa," Skye seemed at a lack of words. Mick then did the only thing he could think of, embracing Jemma and Skye together. 

"At least he's alive, right?" Mick said hopeful. 

"Right," Jemma said with a teary smile. 

"Wait, did you say Director Fury?" Skye asked as Jemma nodded. 

"He's alive?" Mick asked as Jemma chuckled. 

"Apparently it was him that picked up Fitz's distress call and he raced to the source of the signal," Jemma said pushing back the sadness. 

"That's crazy! Does Coulson know?" Skye asked as Jemma shrugged. 

"I was just released from medical and I saw all of the soldiers than were with Director Fury heading inside so I followed them," Jemma stated. "How are you feeling so chipper?"

"Raina gave me something, not sure what, but it cleared the Darkforce out," Mick said as Skye looked a little surprised. 

"You trusted her?" Skye snapped.

"Given the circumstances, I wanted to die, because I thought I lost Fitz and Jemma, then got my butt kick by Ward," Mick frowned. 

"Where is Raina now?" Jemma asked. 

"No clue, haven't seen her since they unloaded me from the Bus," Mick stated. 

"Good riddance," Skye huffed. 

"Yeah," Mick sighed as Jemma gave a questioning glance while he had eyes on Skye.

Before long, Coulson had them loaded up on the Bus, heading to an unknown destination. It was clear that everyone was glad to be home on the Bus rather than the tiny jet they had been using. After a short briefing, they were reinstated as SHIELD agents under the new Director, Coulson. This was quite promising, as Coulson explained his vision, keep SHIELD compartmentalized but in the shadows. He would personally vet the agents, and May would do a follow up. Hydra could never see them coming. First thing they had to do was find a new base, somewhere off the radar of Colonel Talbot and the military. Thankfully Fury had given them a starting point.

They left the Bus in a large, open, yet clean, hangar. No one knew exactly what to say, as this base seemed to resemble the Providence base, but bigger. "Thought you said there were no more bases?" Mick blurted as Coulson shrugged. 

"I didn't think there were," he admitted. "I just found these coordinates in the box." 

"Oh good, Director Coulson you made it!" A familiar sounding voice chimed as a door opened leading into the base, a small round man came running out in a strangely familiar manner. 

"Eric?" Skye gasped.

"Billy, but I can understand the confusion!" Billy sounded and looked identical to Eric, which was hard to wrap their minds around. "My brother sadly passed away, but I heard he died a hero, so I'm not too upset. Welcome to what I like to call, the Playground! Technically it doesn't have a name because it doesn't actually exist."

"Oh this should be fun," Jemma said as Billy shrugged. 

"Fury told me all about you guys, we'll get your lanyards shortly!" Billy seemed quite excited. "Director Coulson, even though we don't have much, what we do have is yours. You just tell me what you need, and we'll make it happen." 

"You sure you're ready for this?" May asked as Coulson smirked. 

"Hydra isn't going to stop just because we took out Garrett. You know their whole 'Cut off one head' nonsense," Coulson said as Billy smiled. 

"Where do we start?" He asked as everyone turned to Coulson who simply smirked.