Mick watched as Coulson paced around the door frantically. He explained what triggered Talbot's mentality to change so drastically. Thanos; a titan who sought out planets that were over populated, wiped out half of all life so that the other half would survive. His quest proved too difficult to seek out through the cosmos, which then lead him hunting for mystical jewels called Infinity Stones, destroying anything and anyone who stood in his path. Apparently, there were a stone found on earth, one of which SHIELD learned about through communications with Jerren Bennet via Tony Stark, the Mind Stone. It had been deemed safe in the hands of the Vision, which in itself, deemed and Avenger. This was what Thanos was after, and potentially world ending threat level, it begged the question, is that was Daisy was fighting when the world shattered? The other problem at hand, Talbot felt he needed more power from Gravitonium, which had several deposited deep within the earth's core. That way he could stand with the Avengers and take down the monstrous titan before he could destroy the world. All of this information was given by a Kree of the noble family; Kasius, the same family that ruled the Lighthouse with an iron fist in the dystopian future Coulson had been in.
"Does that all make sense?" Coulson asked as both Mick and May nodded.
"About as much sense as any of the other things we've dealt with," May replied, saying exactly what Mick was thinking.
"Are we supposed to just let him do go absorbing more gravitonium?" Mick asked leaning against the wall.
"No, not after seeing him squash Hale like that," Coulson said flatly. "It's clearly messing with his head in ways that he won't even admit."
"That makes me wonder if the voices Ruby heard are just triggers from the stuff trying to take control of it's hosts mind?" Mick said as Coulson looked surprised.
"That would make sense, if Talbot didn't say he silenced them," Coulson responded.
"Ruby still heard them after Talbot left with you, so it's not a universal silence," May stated.
"I wish we would've just launched the stuff into the sun all those years ago, then none of this would be a problem today," Mick sighed.
"I wish we could've done a lot of things differently," Coulson said somberly.
"None of that is going to matter if we don't get out of this cell," May said as she began tapping on the wall looking for a weakness.
"If only we had Daisy to quake the stupid wall down," Mick grunted.
"I don't think quaking apart a ship in the middle of space is the best plan of action," Coulson said as May nodded.
"I don't understand you Phil," May said flatly. "Some days you're so reckless, and other days you care about not dying."
"I always care about not dying," Coulson said as he turned to May. "Especially now that I'm on a much more pronounced time table."
"You don't have to be," Mick said as Coulson shot a skeptical look at him. "We're trying to find a solution to your dying."
"I thought I was clear about that? I've cheated death enough, it's time," Coulson said firmly.
"You don't get to just make a selfish decision like that alone," May sounded angry. "You've got a lot of people who care about you and need you, and I'm sure I've been clear about my feelings on the matter."
"And I was clear on mine," May stated firmly.
"None of this matters unless we get out of here," Mick interrupted as Coulson nodded in agreement.
Coulson then picket up his arm, using the holoscanner feature that Fitz installed into his robotic hand. He walked around the room until he found a strange looking device in the wall and then he and May booth shared a smirk. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"How are we going to get to it to short it out though?" May asked as Coulson pulled back his arm, ready to punch the wall. He paused as guards began shouting outside their door. "Daisy?"
The door then slid open to see Deke standing there with an icer in hand. "You guys were taking way too long, and that crazy guy showed up and stole the quinjet. Hey where's Daisy?"
"Not with us, clearly," Mick responded.
"Talbot stole our quinjet?" May asked as she turned to Coulson.
"Why not just fly himself?" Mick asked
Coulson sat for a moment thinking, then nodded. "He didn't need the quinjet for it's flying ability. He took it for air."
"Great," Mick muttered. "Can this day get any worse?"
"Why would you ask that question?" May responded bitterly.
"How do we get to Qovas?" Coulson asked, then turned to Deke.
"I don't have a clue," Deke shrugged.
"Can't you read these?" May pointed at a few alien markings on the wall.
After a nervous chuckle Deke realized the seriousness from May and Coulson. "No, we just lived there, they didn't teach us anything except how to count to five. Even then it's only cause they'd give us five seconds to comply or we die."
"Seriously, you really only know five numbers?" Coulson seemed even more annoyed than May.
"I know zero, so no, I know six alien numbers! How many do you know?" Deke fussed as Mick shook his head. "Look, my plan was to get us back to the Zephyr! You're the ones that lost Daisy!"
"Hey, we didn't lose Daisy!" Mick barked. "She was taken from us."
"Look, someone just pick a direction," May moaned. Deke then spun around, clearly having lost his baring.
"Uh, that way," Deke began moving to his right, with everyone quickly shrugging and following behind.
They passed through the long corridor before landing at a branch, which had two guards which hadn't noticed them yet. "We can turn around," Coulson said as Deke began moving without waiting for a response. The black clad guards then turned, pulling out a pair of black saber like weapons. They then snarled showing their canine like fangs.
"We'll fight our way passed!" May said as Mick smirked. Mick then drew both of his sabers holstered on his belt, tossing one to May. She then charged forward with Mick on her heels. The two blades crackled with power as they sprinted toward their foes. Before they reached the end, a powerful blast launched the two aliens across the branched hallway. May and Mick stood upright, slightly confused until Daisy stepped into view holding her left hand in front of her. "Found Daisy," May shrugged as she handed the blade back to Mick.
"We were coming to find you," Mick said as Daisy smirked.
"Well, it looks like I found you this time. Just had a little run in with the father of Kasius," Daisy said slightly winded.
"Whoa, what?" Deke began to stammer. "You can't be serious, he's here?"
"Not exactly, but I'm sure he's coming," Daisy said as Coulson shook his head.
"Then we'll be ready," Mick said as Deke shook his head and slammed his hand into the wall.
"No! We need to get out of here before anything else bad can happen!" Deke demanded.
"We've got to disarm the missiles they have pointed at the Lighthouse before we can leave," Coulson said as Deke shook his head adamantly.
"The Lighthouse can survive an attack! It survived being cracked off the earth for crying out loud!" Deke argued.
"But the people of River's Edge may not be so lucky," Coulson responded calmly.
"We're not about to let people die, not when we can prevent it," Daisy said firmly.
"I hate this idea, just so you know," Deke grumbled.
"Noted," Coulson said as he rolled his eyes. "We need to find the bridge, ASAP."
"Well, it's not down this way," Daisy pointed back in the direction she came.
"Not the way we came either," Mick shrugged.
"Sounds like we go left," May said as she and Coulson started forward.
The corridors felt endless, the scenery so dull it was easy to lose just how far you'd gone. Lights began to flicker wildly as they reached a branching path. "We're getting close to a guard," Deke said nervously.
"So which way to we take?" Mick asked looking at May and Coulson.
"Any that doesn't involve the Remorath is good by me," Deke said.
"Guards must mean we're getting close to the bridge," May said as Coulson shrugged.
"Could be," Coulson replied. "Or they've realized we're lose and hunting us down."
"Great," Deke murmured. "I escaped one hell only to end up in another one."
"Oh it's not that bad," Daisy replied. "You could be on your own."
"At least then I wouldn't be running right into trouble!" Deke fussed.
"But you wouldn't have any fun either," Mick smirked as Deke shook his head.
"You guys have a sick sense of fun," Deke leaned on the wall with a sigh. "I liked the idea of just sitting back in my room relaxing with my stuff and knowing I survived another day. That was fun."
"As great as all of this sounds," Coulson stepped in. "None of us are going to have any fun unless we finish this mission."
"You're right," May said as she turned to Coulson and nodded. "But we probably should split up. I can handle taking down Qovas. I really want to take him down a few pegs."
"Great, I love that plan, now can we get out of here?" Deke asked as May turned to him in annoyance.
"You'd be with me," she said grabbing Deke as he hung his head. "I'd need you to reset the coordinates for the missiles."
"Right, numbers," Deke moaned.
"So we'll take Coulson and get to the Zephyr?" Mick was just confirming May's plan.
"No, we're not doing that," Coulson said firmly.
"I'm not asking Phil. I can handle this," May replied much to everyone's surprise. "Leave now."
"Are you giving me an order?" Coulson looked slightly confused, as well as quite intrigued. "That sounded like an order."
Mick turned as a remorath guard charged toward them, drawing his sabers, only for Daisy to quake it backwards. "Well they found us," Mick grunted as another guard ran toward them from the opposite direction. It surprisingly began firing at them, only for Coulson to quickly grab May. His energy shield pulsed out from his robotic hand as he held it up deflecting the shots. He also took the opportunity to kiss May, in the heat of the moment.
"When did this become a thing?" Mick asked passing by the ducking Deke, while Daisy smiled slyly. Mick then shot webs at the oncoming attacker who flipped over them continuing his charge. Mick then slammed the blade into the chest of the Remorath guard as it screamed out in pain with the electricity flowing through it's body. Daisy then kicked the guard into the wall, and he slumped down unconscious.
"I thought that might shut you up," Coulson said with a smirk as May looked down, hiding her smile. "Good luck."
"Same to you," May said looking back only briefly as she patted Mick and Daisy's shoulders. "Let's go Deke."
Mick and Daisy both smiled as they caught up to Coulson. "Not a word out of either of you. That's an order," Coulson said as they both glanced at each other and chuckled.
"Yes sir," Mick snickered.
"Copy that, Hotlips," Daisy teased as they followed Coulson down the opposite corridor than May.
They reached the Zephyr, as the lights began to flicker wildly. "They're here," Daisy said in an eerie tone.
"That's not funny," Mick said as his sparking blades cast shadows across their faces.
"Stay alert, these guys are hard to take down," Coulson said as Mick nodded. "We need to make sure Agent Davis is still alive so we can get out of here!"
They quickly made their way up and into the belly of the Zephyr until a Remorath in all black with sharp fangs and yellow eyes attacked with a blade in his hand. Mick blocked the blade from hitting Coulson, quite surprised by the power of the alien creature, barely pushing him backwards giving Coulson the opportunity to move forward. The creature let out a piercing roar as Mick slashed the blade across it's chest and fell to the ground. "Behind you!" Daisy called out as Mick instinctively ducked, and she quaked the foe into the wall, rendering it unconscious.
"Daisy!" Coulson called out lunging at another Remorath that appeared, slamming it into the wall beside her. He slammed his fist into the creature, it drew back to retaliate with a knife that appeared in it's hand. Coulson's energy shield shot through the creature's chest ending the scuffle. The lights then flickered back on as Agent Davis walked in, extremely grateful to see them.
"I hate those things," he sighed.
"Tell me about it," Coulson seemed extremely winded.
"Uh, boss," Mick started to say.
"You're bleeding!" Daisy pointed at Coulson's right hand as blood dripped off at an alarming rate.
"Eh, I'll survive," Coulson looked at his hand then back to the team. "Davis, get this jet ready to go, we need to leave yesterday."
"What about Deke and May?" Agent Davis asked.
"Don't worry, they're taking an express way," Coulson replied as Agent Davis nodded.
Coulson, Mick, and Daisy stood watching the monitor as two missiles fired from Qovas's ship. They moved at incredible speeds toward the earth before u-turning, slamming into Qovas's ship with a massive, multi-tiered explosion. Thankfully at the same time, they received a call from Jemma. Daisy opened it as Jemma smiled happily.
"Please tell me you have them," Coulson's nerves bled through his cool demeanor.
"They just arrived!" Jemma said proudly.
"What's taking you so long?" May teased as Coulson shook his head in relief.
"Mack and Yo-yo should be back any moment now," Jemma started. "Then we'll just be waiting on you guys."
"Wait, where were Mack and Yo-yo?" Daisy asked as Jemma seemed very distraught.
"It's a long story," Jemma said as Coulson shook his head.
"We've got the time," he stated firmly.
"Well," Jemma took a deep breath. "Talbot found and killed Creel, which set off our alarms. Apparently he turned him into gravitonium and absorbed him. They left, with a little help from Jerren Bennet and Damage Control, they went to confront Talbot at his home. Things went south quickly. Patten is deeply concerned he's going to come for Ruby, which at the moment I can't blame him."
"Talbot is a bigger threat than I expected," Coulson sighed. "I don't think we can treat him with kid gloves anymore. He's too dangerous, especially if he gets any more gravitonium."
"Coulson, you're bleeding again?" Daisy said as she pointed at the blood dripping on the floor.
"I don't understand?" Coulson lifted his hand, surprised at the heavy amount of blood pouring through his tourniquet. He then began to bobble, his face turning pale, glass like, before he fell backwards into Mick's arms.
"Coulson?" Mick asked as he carefully eased Coulson down.
"Coulson!" Daisy cried out trying to shake his chest. "No! You have to fight!"
"Radio base! Coulson's down!" Mick called out.
"Got it!" Davis called from the cockpit.
"Please, oh God, please," Daisy begged as she clutched Coulson's arm holding it up hoping to slow the bleeding. "Stay with us Coulson!"
"Fight for us Coulson, please don't leave us now," Mick said as Daisy began to cry and plead more for Coulson to stay with them. How could they take down Talbot without the one person who could talk him down? How could they function as SHIELD without Coulson as their leader? The even harder question, would Coulson die in their arms, or would he make it back to base?