No sooner than they reached the Lighthouse, several reports of space ships landing across the world poured in. "What do we do, Boss?" Mick asked as Mack and Daisy pulled up the various feeds.
"Looks like the Avengers have that one covered," Mack said as a reporter showed footage of Iron Man, Spider-Man, and someone in a cape with mystical looking powers facing off against an eerie grey humanoid alien with tentacle like fingers and powers of it's own.
"So we'll have to play clean up then?" Daisy asked as Mack shook his head.
"We'll get a team out there to assist with rescue, but clean up isn't our job anymore," Mack said as they watched several different news streams on the main monitor. "That's all Damage Control's problem. We still work in the shadows, for now."
"FitzSimmons isn't going to like not going on their brief honeymoon," Yo-yo stated as she entered the room.
"We're not going to stop them from going," Mack stated. "We can handle this on our own."
No sooner than he said that, the phrase 'Thanos is coming,' appeared on a report, followed by another one 'Destruction in Chicago, Return of SHIELD?'
"So we're getting back to work immediately?" Mick asked as Mack seemed to be debating.
"Can you get in touch with Mr. Bennet and see if they need assistance?" Mack asked as Mick nodded. "Maybe if we can show we're helping them, it'll help us get back on track with becoming legitimized again."
"Or at the very least let some of the ones who want to return to SHIELD do so," Yo-yo said as Mack seemed a little uncomfortable with that plan.
"Let's just get some rest for now, let our wounded recover while we wait for a response from Damage Control," Mack said, then turned away. "Can you make sure I have this feed to my room?"
"Sure can," Daisy replied. "I'll stream it to the handhelds."
The next morning the news was just a ripe with all kinds of speculation from the attacks on Chicago, New York, as well as the ships that appeared in London, Paris, Sydney, and Moscow. Each report barring the warning, Thanos is coming, and held heavy debates on if the Avengers could stop whatever Thanos was, or if SHIELD would send Quake and Recluse to handle things like they did in Chicago. Mick was glad to see SHIELD being spoken of in a good light, especially after being blacklisted due to HYDRA and the LMD debacle. Strangely enough, Jerren never contacted Mick, but Mack did send the new agents that had been with them into New York to assist.
Things seemed relatively quiet the rest of the day, until 1:00PM. The received a massive energy spike warning over Wakanda, which drew Mack's attention. "Is that our jurisdiction?" He asked as Yo-yo, Mick, Daisy, Patten, and Ruby stood in Mission Control.
"I don't think we're allowed to interfere with Wakandan issues," Patten said to Mack's disappointment. "They've never allowed us to send aid for anything. Remember how the treated everyone after their king's assassination?"
"Even Hydra didn't dare to mess with them," Ruby stated. "And we never had boundaries that I knew of."
"That's saying something," Daisy replied.
"So we just have to sit back and hope they can handle it?" Mack asked slightly irritated.
"I'd imagine there were several jobs that Coulson just had to let play out, not that he wanted to, but because we just couldn't interfere," Patten said as Mack groaned.
"Still no word from Jerren?" Mack looked at Mick in the chair beside Daisy.
"Nothing, sorry. I've called and texted." Mick said with a frown. "Either they've got everyone hands on deck and have it covered, or Jerren just has a lot on his plate too."
"Then I'll take a small team and head over to the city and check on things myself," Mack said in frustration.
"If that's what you want," Yo-yo said as Mack nodded. "Who else is coming?"
"We'll take Davis, Piper, you, and myself," Mack said looking at Yo-yo. "You guys hold down the fort. Let me know if you hear from Mr. Bennet, or if anything else comes up."
"We can do that," Daisy said looking at Mick, Patten, and Ruby. "All else fails, I can fly the quinjet."
"I'm impressed in how far you've come getting control of your powers," Daisy said as Ruby smiled at her.
"That means a lot coming from you," Ruby said warmly. "I won't lie, when Patten handed me the inhibitor band, I was scared it wouldn't work. It's even helped me silence the voices."
"I remember dealing with similar control issues when I first got my powers," Daisy said as Ruby nodded. "I know movies make it look so simple, get new powers, become totally awesome. That's just not reality, it takes a lot of time and discipline."
"Look at you giving her the May speech," Mick walked into the room wearing a tee and sweats.
"Shut up," Daisy teased as Mick smiled at her. "What do you need?"
"We were planning on calling out to River's End for pizza, wanted to pass on the invite," Mick said as both Ruby and Daisy looked interested. "Maybe we eat atop the Lighthouse and watch the boats on the water or something."
"You sure you want company for something like that?" Ruby asked with a sly little grin.
"I'm sure you've earned your break from training," Mick said looking at how sweaty the two girls were.
"Oh yeah," Daisy said gleefully.
It wasn't long before they were atop the Lighthouse. Mick sat on the outside with the portable monitor beside him, Daisy sitting on his left, Ruby to her left, and Patten on the other end. They watched as boats sped across the lake, some with skiers behind them, some had inner tubes full of passengers, none the wiser how close they came to losing this luxury. "I wonder how the Fitz's are doing," Mick said aloud.
"That's not going to stick," Daisy said with a chuckle. "They're always going to be FitzSimmons."
"They should just make that their last name," Patten added.
"They really should," Mick laughed as well. "I think every new member to this team has referred to them as that at one point or another."
"Really?" Ruby asked as Daisy nodded.
"Everyone could see a mile a way that those two were made for each other. Even when they couldn't," Daisy said reminiscently.
"That's what made them such a powerful duo," Mick said with a smile.
"You still regret going out with her in spite of Fitz?" Daisy teased as both Davis and Ruby laughed at the thought.
"Wait you're serious?" Patten looked down at Mick. "You dated Jemma too?"
"Shut up," Mick rolled his eyes and laughed. "It wasn't exactly like that."
"We saw you making out several times on the Bus," Daisy shoved Mick. "It was definitely like that."
"I don't see how you landed a girl like Daisy, but the scientist girl too?" Ruby teased as Mick shook his head and smiled.
"Wow," Patten teased. "Wait until I tell Davis about that."
"Do you think Enoch knows we changed the future yet?" Mick asked only to receive shrugs.
"I would imagine he'll figure it out soon," Patten said looking out on the horizon. "Fitz said he was sending a message before they left."
"It'll be nice to get the gang back together for once," Mick said leaning back looking over the horizon. For the moment, everything was perfect, beautiful, peaceful. A cool wind began to blow, as Mick closed his eyes basking the the calm. The moment was shattered when an alarm screamed from the tablet, then Ruby began screaming as well.
Mick's eyes shot from the tablet to Patten, as his body turned brown, then dissolving into the air like dust. "What the-" Mick couldn't think, he didn't know how to react. "Patten!" Mick screamed as his friend's dust blew away with the wind.
"What's going on?" Daisy gasped as she pulled the panicking Ruby close.
"It looks like it's effecting everyone," Mick pointed at the empty jet skies and boats crashing into the banks, and the people frantically scurrying across their boats looking for their missing passengers. He picked up the tablet to see another massive spike of energy from Wakanda. "We need to get inside the Lighthouse and contact Mack now."
"What about Patten?" Ruby asked through her sobbing.
"We'll figure out how to get him back too," Mick was struggling to keep his calm. As they sprinted down the steps and into the Lighthouse.
"Lighthouse to Mack, can you hear me?" Daisy called out over the radio.
"I read you," Mack responded after what felt like an eternity.
"How is everything in the city?" Mick asked as he held Ruby as she trembled.
"People are turning to dust, there's wrecks everywhere, it's complete chaos out here!" Mack responded. "Thank God Yo-yo is here, she's saved several civilians, but we lost Davis and Piper amidst it all, we don't know if they turned to dust or not."
"We lost Patten, saw several civilians vanish on the lake," Mick said somberly. "Seems to be stemming from another off the charts power surge from Wakanda."
"Then that's where we'll start our investigation," Mack said. "Yo-yo says she can fly the quinjet, so there's that. Have you checked in with FitzSimmons or May?"
"No, we called you first," Mick said not even thinking that it could've effected them.
"We'll get on it though," Daisy replied. "You guys just get back here safely so we can figure out what to do next."
"I'll see if we can get anything from FitzSimmons, you handle May. They should have their trackers in case cell towers are jammed," Daisy said as Mick closed his eyes, trying to maintain focus.
"It feels like I'm back where we were when you guys vanished," Mick said exhaling slowly.
"I know, it's going to be okay," Daisy said confidently.
"It's got to be, right?" Ruby chimed in as she regained her composure.
"Yeah," Mick said as he nodded, pushing away his dread and doubt.
————————————————————————————————————————————
Deke opened his eyes, wondering how he wasn't crushed under several pounds of debris. Instead he found himself in a nice comfortable bed, with sunlight streaming through a small window. He climbed out of the bed, looking around curiously. Did someone find him and bring him to safety? Who's clothes was he wearing? At least they were extremely soft and comfortable. As he walked around the bedroom, he noticed pictures of a girl, she looked so much like Daisy it was surreal, but there was something different about her. Her eyes, they weren't the right shape, even more than that, they weren't the right color either, they were more of that weird green like Mick's. Even her hair seemed a little lighter.
"Where am I?" Deke asked as he set the photo down, and walked to the window. He peered down, and it looked like that place, Chicago, he thought they called it, but much cleaner. No broken buildings, no fires, just people moving about like normal. Almost like the attack didn't even happen.
"Deke, are you up?" A woman's voice called from outside of the room. Even her voice was like Daisy's, maybe a little bit happier, more perky.
"Uh, yeah?" Deke responded. Should he have? Was this a mistake? Shouldn't be, I mean, whoever this mystery lady is, clearly saved his life and nursed him back to health, right?
The door opened as the girl walked in, she was even more beautiful in person. He couldn't help but smile as he looked her up and down. He just couldn't get over how much she looked like Daisy. "Did you sleep good?"
"Yeah, I think so?" Deke replied as the girl smiled warmly at him. "Can you tell me where I am and how I got here?"
"What do you mean?" The girl asked as she walked over to him, pressing her hand to his head for some reason.
"The last thing I remember is shoving Fitz out of the way before that ceiling crushed him, Daisy, Mick, and Coulson were in route to fight that crazy Talbot guy, and then I woke up here," Deke said as the girl glanced at him sideways.
"You must've had a crazy dream, and since when do you call your Bobo by his last name?" The girl asked, surprising Deke even further. "Did my grandpa tell the story of the Battle of Chicago again?"
"I don't know your grandpa? How do you know about my Bobo?" Deke asked as the girl looked at him skeptically.
"Deke, did you hit your head?" She asked as he shook his in uncertainty. "We've been together since we were kids, are you sure you're feeling ok?" She pulled him down, kissing his forehead.
Suddenly his mind began to spiral, new memories flooded his mind, clashing with the memories he once had. Memories of growing up in England and traveling back and forth to New York with his entire family to visit friends of the family, Mick, Daisy, Melinda, Mack, and Elena. It was a yearly trip, if not more often his Bobo and Nanna would take since they were young. He loved playing with with Cori Blake. His mother thought it was funny because of her relatives being Sammie Bellouve. It never made sense to him why that was so funny until he and Cori got married. It was then he asked Sammie, who explained that her parents had a friend named Deke a long time ago who gave his life to save his Bobo.
Deke staggered backwards, piecing it all together as he doubled over shaking his head at the influx of memories. "Holy crap, I didn't blink out of existence," Deke panted. "I went back to the year I came from, but it's better." He then looked up at Cori in amazement. "Your grandparents are names Mick and Daisy Bellouve, aren't they?"
"Yes," Cori asked more than answered.
"You're never going to believe this, but I'm pretty sure I'm the same Deke that helped them save the world in 2018," Deke said as Cori shook head and chuckled.
"I think you had a little too much to drink last night," Cori teased as Deke shook his head, the past memories steadily fading as if they really were just a strange dream.
"You're probably right, it would be impossible for me to be in both 2018 and 2094 at the same time," Deke said as he hugged his wife. "It just felt so real."
"Even if you are somehow connected to that guy, Deke Shaw," Cori said as she wrapped her arms around him and stood up on her toes. "It wouldn't change how I feel about you. Just that weird fascination you have with spending time with my grandparents." She kissed him and it was everything Deke could've ever wanted. Everything was perfect, a beautiful wife, an amazing job as an agent of SWORD, and a whole galaxy they were getting ready to explore.