Epilogue: Broken Pieces

Fitz's recovery was hard to watch. His stammering had gotten worse, the lapses he had in thoughts, the way his mind would just hang when trying to complete simple sentences. Mick struggled to watch, and if it was this hard for him, it was magnified for Jemma. She blamed herself for not finding another way to save themselves, even more than she blamed Ward for dropping them in the situation to begin with. 

Coulson had been fairly distant as he locked himself in the office studying the box Fury had gifted him relentlessly. May had spent time training Skye, who was more interested in becoming a better agent to better assist in the fight with Hydra. Ward, however, was kept in a special cell deep inside the Playground. Both Coulson and May tried several times to get information out of him about Hydra, but he refused to give them anything. 

Mick's concern wasn't so much Hydra, rather than the haunting nightmares he had with Skye fighting against two very dark shadows, both seemingly connected to Raina. So badly he wanted to confront Ward. Perhaps he could, maybe would, help protect Skye from whatever was coming.

He snuck down to the holding cell in the basement, swiped his badge then watched as the large metal doors slowly opened. Once opened, the lights came on, and Ward's eyes fluttered open into a hate filled scowl. "We need to talk," Mick said boldly. 

"Bring me Skye," Ward growled. 

"Not a chance," Mick snapped. "She doesn't want to see you, and I don't blame her." Ward's fury was easy to see as Mick took a deep breath and stepped closer. "I'm trying to protect her, but I don't know what I'm protecting her from. Raina said something about Skye and changing the world when she gave me whatever was in that drink, and since then I've been having nightmares of two shadowy monsters coming after Skye, both somehow connected to Raina."

Ward simply stared at Mick. Mick wasn't sure if he was debating on saying anything or sitting silence as a play for getting what he wants. Mick's frustration came to a head as he spun around ready to leave. 

"Wait," Ward said sympathetically.

"Are you going to tell me where Raina is?" Mick looked over his shoulder. 

"Maybe shed some light," Ward sighed. "Raina told me about a file on Skye's drive that mentioned a monster destroying a Chinese village. She seemed to think the monster was more of a man, and that man being Skye's father." 

Mick turned to see the sincerity on Ward's face. He felt so much skepticism in believing anything Ward said, but something inside him wanted to believe this was true. "Where did she go after you guys dropped me at Cybertek?" Mick asked as Ward frowned. 

"That I don't know," he held the same sincerity, almost remorseful. 

"Then I'm no closer to figuring any of this out," Mick huffed. 

"Garrett'a mind went crazy after Raina gave him her serum. Maybe it's connected?" Ward suggested as Mick glared at him. 

"Then maybe I should see if Jemma can figure out what Raina gave me before I go crazy too." Mick sneered. "At least we still have her, no thanks to you." 

"I said I was sorry," Ward sighed. 

"Sorry isn't enough to fix Fitz," Mick snapped as he turned, leaving the room and swiping his badge to close the doors. 

"Wait!" Ward screamed repeatedly until the doors closed him off from everyone else once again.

Mick didn't account for May and Skye's early morning lessons being so early, which made it extremely difficult to sneak back upstairs to the bunks. Even more unfortunate, Jemma was sitting on his bed, clearly furious at his absence. "Where have you been?" 

"Midnight snack?" Mick said as Jemma's eyes narrowed. 

"You had another nightmare didn't you?" 

"Yes," he admitted.

"If you keep sneaking out to check on her, she's going to find you creepy."

"I didn't," Mick started then shook his head wondering how Jemma even knew he'd done that. 

"I saw you one night when I went to check on Fitz," Jemma sighed. "So where did you go?"

"Don't get mad," Mick sighed as Jemma gave a disapproving glare. "I went to talk to Ward."

"Why on earth would you willingly talk to that lunatic?" Jemma barked. 

"I hoped he had information on Raina," Mick frowned. "The only info he had was a potential lead on Skye's father, but I'm not sure if I believe that." 

"You should tell Skye! She'd want to know!" Jemma urged as Mick shook his head no. 

"I'm not going to give her false information," Mick said then glanced at the ground. "I'm going to look into it on my own."

"Do you think Director Coulson will approve of that?" 

"I'd rather ask forgiveness than permission," Mick groaned. "Especially if the guy is as much of a monster as Ward suggested." 

"Maybe I can give you an out then," Jemma said as Mick stared at her curiously. "Director Coulson wants me to be a Hydra mole, which means I'm going into deep cover soon." 

"Where at?" Mick asked.

"A place called BeneTech Labs, Coulson believes it to be a Hydra front." 

"Never heard of it," Mick sighed. "But you can count me in. When do you leave?" 

"Tomorrow," Jemma frowned. "Agent May is taking me via Quinnjet." Jemma looked a bit uneasy. "Please don't get into trouble." 

"Then I'll go have breakfast with Coulson, and see what he thinks about me tagging along to protect you," Mick frowned. 

"Are you at least going to tell Skye how you feel?" 

"No," Mick said firmly as Jemma gave him that disapproving stare again. 

"I wish Fitz would've told me sooner," she said bitterly as Mick groaned. Yes, he felt terrible about the timing of things with them, but he doubted Fitz would've done anything different if they were together. 

"I don't think now is a good time," Mick sighed. 

"I'm not so sure there ever is such a thing," Jemma huffed. 

"I'll tell her, one day," Mick said as Jemma frowned. "Just not today."