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chapter seven

(April 6th; 2017
Zephyr One; Classified)

HIS BREATH had been taken from him.

Leith stared at the monitor, even over thirty minutes after; nearly an hour. Staring and staring, unable to believe it. He didn't want to believe it. Fitz, Coulson and Robbie were gone after the blast, turning to ... to nothing. It screamed to him that they were dead; that was the rational part of him that knew what he had seen. But they couldn't be dead━they can't be dead. No, he refused to accept it. Not Fitz and Coulson━please not them.

There was silence in the Command Centre of the Zephyr. Leith stood next to Daisy, his gaze locked━wide with his mouth agape. A lump started to grow in his throat, one he couldn't swallow. He doesn't think he was fully comprehending it. There was a part of him that chuckled and said, okay, fun's over, waiting for them to reappear as if nothing had even happened. But they kept watching the footage and kept watching, and watching ... and the rooms stayed hauntingly empty; empty of the ones they cared about.

Director Mace broke the silence with a long and deep breath. "This is a tragedy..." he told them all. "We have to prepare for the likelihood━"

"Whatever you're gonna say, don't," Daisy snapped, her gaze fixed on Robbie's little brother, Gabe, who glanced back and forth between the footage and Mace. Leith felt something more drop━another part of his heart to see the kid's whole life fall away right then and there. "I see the way you're all looking at that screen. We don't know what happened."

Mack sighed, shaking his head, "Daisy━"

"It's okay," said Mace and he fell silent. Daisy narrowed her eyes at the new Director. "This is a process."

"No," she snapped again. "It's S.H.I.E.L.D. Impossible things happen all the time," glancing at Leith, she tried to look for someone to back her up. Leith wanted to agree━he wanted to nod and say yes, yes they're alive! (Because to admit the alternative was more than daunting; it was breathless, aching pain). But he couldn't speak, or move, all he could do was still stare at those stupid monitors. "That ... that machine ghosted that Lucy woman."

"So what?" Mack spun on her. "Coulson and Fitz come back in five years, bloody and insane?"

"I don't know!" cried Daisy. "That's my point. They could be stuck in one of those boxes or━"

"Or maybe they're gone," May said, giving her a stern glare. Daisy frowed at her. She clenched her jaw, shaking her head to push back the tears starting to well up in her gaze. Makc sighed, looking away while Leith clenched his hands around the back of Fitz's chair━that lump grew almost unbearable and he forced himself not to hang his head. He took a sharp breath through his nose, his lungs screaming.

After his father and his mother, Coulson ... Coulson seemed like a━Leith didn't know how to explain it. He wasn't just his friend. He looked up to him. He admired him. He wanted to prove himself, and be the best agent Coulson could want. Leith had gotten to know him really well the past months, and there was a grip to his chest; a pull that made his knees want to collapse at the thought of Coulson dead.

And Fitz? God, Fitz was Leith's good friend━a brother. That bloody idiot with his grumpy scowl and scoffs of joking insult and hatred to Leith━he was a brother. And now that brother was gone.

No.

Daisy wasn't going to give up━not now. "M━May," she walked up to her old S.O. "I know it's crazy, but Coulson came back from the dead, Fitz and Roy pulled Simmons through space through a rock, and Robbie's head lights on fire.'

A blow hit Leith's gut. Jemma ... Clara ... He seemed to lost the ability to breathe altogether. Clara━oh god, Clara ... Glancing up, he saw that Mack was thinking the same thing.

"Roy and Simmons," he breathed, full of dread. How were they supposed to tell them? How were they supposed to tell Jemma that her best friend was dead ... how━how were they going to tell Clara that the man she loved was gone?

Mace pursed his lips, "We need to approach this with level heads."

"No," Daisy's eyes sparked with hope━completely opposite to everyone around her. "No, we need to call Roy and Simmons. They can solve this, if anyone can."

Leith managed to croak out a hoarse, "No ... no Daisy," he whispered, shaking his head. "No, they deserve to know ... they ..." he felt the tears and quickly blinked them away, pushing off Fitz's desk and turning, hands on his hips as he tried to keep it all in.

Quake clenched her jaw━she wasn't going to believe it. But Mace's figure slumped, and he nodded, solemn. "Okay..."

"But why did Eli turn on us?" then asked Mack. "What does he want?"

"What he wanted all along," May crossed her arms, "a power. I bet he hired the Chinatown Crew to steal the box in the first place."

"We need to take him off the street, now."

"No," said Mace and Leith frowned at him. "Daisy's right━" she turned to him, surprised, "━we need Agents Roy and Simmons here to study this tech, see what makes Eli tick."

"He's going to kill again," said Leith.

"Eli killed four agents with his mind. Go after him now, and you'll make it five."

"Those agents died for no reason!"

"And, hopefully, Roy and Simmons will give us a way to avenge them. And if we're really, really lucky, maybe they'll find hope for saving our friends." Leith clenched his jaw, and Mace nodded, knowing he had won the argument. "I'll call them now."

"No," Leith shook his head, fumbling for his phone. "N━No, I should call them. I━I'll do it━"

"No," Mace's stern snap made him falter, taken aback.

Already a explosion of emotions, Leith couldn't help but glower, "What do you mean no? Clara's my sister, and Jemma━" he gritted his teeth, choosing to keep what he was going to say to himself and instead add: "I just ... I know I should be the one to break it to them ..."

"No," said Mace again. "I will be the one to call," his tone made no more room for objection. Leith clenched his hands into fists so hard his nails dug into his palms.

May stopped the Director before he could leave, "Mace," he glanced back at her. "When you talk to Clara ..."

"I know what Agent Fitz means to her," he said.

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(April 6th; 2017
Classified)

CLARA WAS angry.

First, she was pulled out of her day and launched into a classified mission. Second, the Director had a bag be put over her and Simmons's heads, like this was some low-budget spy movie. They were placed in a car, completely unbeknowest to where they were heading, or where they were. They were not spoken to. Not acknowledged. Agent Roy had spent the entire lengthy trip feeling like she was alone, stuck to a chair in a containment room (and she knew that all to well). The only relief she felt was having Simmons's shoulder at her own, her own shaky breaths matching hers, letting her know that she wasn't alone in this.

She only just wished she could've let Fitz know before she was forced to go.

But as they reached wherever they were supposed to be, their phones were confiscated and they were guided along. Roy felt the sound of hardwood floors under her flats, a set of strange-feeling cuffs around her hands, and the glare of lights to her side.

Was this it? she wondered. Was Mace throwing me in jail?

(Why else would she be in handcuffs?)

She stumbled a little on purpose, trying to understand her surroundings. She bumped into Simmons and brushed her fingers near her wrists. Jemma didn't have handcuffs. Which meant, Clara was being detained for being Inhuman━or at least that was the most probable reason. But if that was her reason, then why was Simmons here? That told Roy that this might be something else.

Her breathing was growing stail behind the bag, and she tried not to focus on it━because as soon as she did, she became aware of how little she could capture of fresh air, and the inability to see nothing except brown threaded fabric. Instead, she focused on her steps━how many it was from the moment the car stopped and to where they were heading now. She took notice of turns, left or right, the glares of the lights and the distance between each; just in case her and Jemma would have to make a quick escape.

She counted the number of extra feet━how many were escorting them. Five. A lot, but when it came to Clara, she suspected they believed they needed five people. They were wrong of course. They either needed very little, or way more than five━

They came to an abrupt stop.

Clara's breath hitched, feeling her heart beat rise as she heard a few mutters; there was the sound━like a tent opening up. For a second, she thought that somehow they were back in England, being separated and tortured for information on the opening of the Monolith━but then she realised with a breath of relief that that wouldn't be the case, as HYDRA was finally gone, and Malick was dead.

Fingers grasped the tip of the sack over her head and tugged it away. Clara blinked at the sudden change of light, taking a quick breath of fresh air as the world slowly came into focus around her.

She briefly glanced to see whether Simmons was still beside her. The two best friends shared a quick exchange before turning to look in front of them. They were in a dark corridor, but had stopped before a set of bright white fabric; the entrance into a quarrantine tent. Before it, standing with his arms crossed was a man in a lab coat; his expression was indifferent, but he must have been expecting them.

"Welcome, Doctor Simmons and Doctor Roy," he greeted, "we need your help."

Roy glanced down at the handcuffs and frowned to see an intricate, electronic design; bulky and with a distant whir━definitely made for someone specifically like her. She looked back up at the scientist, her trust very thin.

But she let herself be put into a hazmat suit. A little miffed she wasn't allowed to do it herself, she kept the scowl on her face. Simmons stood in beside her, and once they were both done, they were led inside through the tarps.

As soon as she saw what was inside, Clara's breath hitched. She froze. The man followed in behind the two agents, stepping around their shocked figures staring at the crusted cocoon in the centre of the tent. Other lab techs worked around it, but Roy paid them no mind. She knew exactly what was happening━however, the fact the cocoon was here and not broken away confused her. Usually the cocoon encased the Inhuman for mere seconds before chipping away (first-hand experience, of course).

"Is that━?" she couldn't finish her words. She wasn't sure whether to be horrified or outraged━or intruiged.

"━A Terrigenesis cocoon?" Simmons finished for her, sounding just as breathless. The man hummed to tell them that yes, it was. "In progress?"

Roy's feet drifted forward without her telling them to. They travelled along the tarp ground and up to the cocoon. Her eyes were wide, and her heart was in her throat. She was torn between her curiosity, for no one has ever seen something like this until now, but she also knew what it was life. She knew how frightening it felt to have that rock crawl up her body; suffocating and paralysing her. How long has this subject been like this? They must be absolutely terrified.

Her fingers clenched in and out from her bonds, egging to reach out and touch the surface; but she couldn't move them. All she could do was stare. "I━I can't believe it ..." she croaked. "It's incredibly rare to see the actual metamorphosis. It only lasts a few moments."

"Not this one," replied the man. "This subject's been gestating for seven months."

Roy and Simmons spun around at this. Eyes wide; their curiosity through the roofs, but also their horror. "What━?", "━Come again?"

They glanced at each other.

"How has he survived━?"

"━What could possibly cause this━?"

"━That's horrible, really━"

"━he has no access to water, food━"

"━Who is he?"

"Classified," the man answered Clara's question. At those words, she sent him an annoyed glare. Of course. "Agent Roy, we're not worried about who he was. We want to know what he'll become."

Her glare only harshened. She wanted to snap and say━he wasn't some object, or some lab-rat forced to scurry around in the same cage; analysed and experimented on. But then she remembered the own cuffs around her wrists, and had a feeling that to these scientists, that might just be all they were.

Considering she had been dragged all the way to wherever to help someone who wanted to remain anonymous, Clara really felt mistreated. They wouldn't take off the cuffs, and she could do nothing but stand, watch and make a few comments here and there. Jemma was tense; her shoulders rigid as she sensed the way the room temperature seemed to drop, as if all the energy was being drawn right from it like water through a straw. She sent Roy a warning look and she shook her cuffs at her to say, I couldn't do anything even if I tried!

Jemma sighed, but it wasn't out of anger to her━she was just as furious over the circumstances Clara was. But they didn't say anything, they worked, they tried to see what was causing this man's transition to last so long in the cocoon, and Clara kept her fury to herself.

Roy could hear his heartbeat. She could see it on the monitor, speeding and thumping against his encased chest. He was scared━he was so scared. Simmons pursed her lips, meeting her gaze before glancing back at the scientist who had led them in. "Listen to that ... the heartbeat, and it's fast━one-hundred-and-thirty BPM. He's nervous."

Jemma suddenly looked determined. She gritted her teeth. "Lower the lights," she ordered the scientist. "Clear the room. And take off Clara's cuffs."

He frowned at her, "What? We can't do that."

This caused for Simmons to spin around, glowering right through the fibre of her helm. She was not in a good mood. "You will do that, because, despite the lack of respect we've been shown today, I assume we were bought here because your boss values our expertise. So, impress them by keeping me happy. Free Clara's hands, and then everyone out." When no one did anything, she snapped. "Now!"

Roy was relieved when she could move her hands again. She massaged her wrists, glaring at the scientists as they left, dimming the lights as they did. Once they were gone, she took a deep breath and walked up to Simmons, "Thanks," she murmured.

"Don't mention it," she said softly.

There was a moment of silence as the girls stared at the Inhuman. Clara felt her heart clench. She could still hear his fast heartrate, and without thinking much, she tugged off her gloves. Unzipping her hazmat suit, she greeted the breath of fresh cool air like a relaxation to the soul. Simmons followed suit, and soon the both girls were setting the helms over their shoulders.

Carefully, Clara walked up to the man, her heart in her throat. Stopping right in front of him, she took another slow, deep breath. She remembered how scared she had been. How horrified; frozen and unable to breathe ... she had thought she was going to die right then and there in the temple, screaming Trip's name until she couldn't any longer.

She wasn't sure whether he could hear her, or see her, but Clara still smiled. "Hi," she greeted gently. "We're Clara Roy and Jemma Simmons. We're from S.H.I.E.L.D." She heard his heart beat━thump, thump, thump ... but it seemed to gradually get slower. Maybe he did hear her after all. She stepped even closer, and with little hesitation, she reached out her fingers to the crust of his arm. It was rough under her skin, but underneath, it was hot, and burning; every piece of your DNA opening up and changing. Becoming something else; awakening the secret part of you. "And we're here to help you. I ... I know this is all frightening, but ... but I've been in this exact position before. And I've turned out all right. So, it's going to be okay," she told him. "Jemma and I are here, and we'll get through this together."

She heard the splinter crack, and Clara's smile brightened. "You're going to get through this," she promised. "Just keep breathing, okay?"

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(April 6th; 2017
The Zephyr; another dimension)

FITZ FELT as though he was floating; drifting along a distant river with his ankles submerged. He felt dragged, and yet light; torn like he couldn't decide whether he wanted bricks in his shoes or wings on his shoulders. No one else from the team apart from Coulson and Robbie (who were stuck here with him) knew they were there with them, watching what looked like their own deaths right next to them. Fitz stood beside Leith, seeing the way he was pale in staring at the monitor, gripping tight onto the top of his chair. He wished he could get his attention. Somehow. Just to let Leith know that he was right here━they all were. But every time he tried, his hand just passed right through his arm.

"I hate watching my own demise," sighed Coulson, shaking his head.

Muffled, as if speaking through a pillow, Mace's voice said, "This is a tragedy ..."

Fitz scoffed. No. He can't be gone. He can't be dead━this wasn't death. He had once thought he had died, when that water rushed in through the containment module; feeling every ounce of his breath escape, leaving him breathless, unable to do anything as the water filled him up and he lost consciousness. This wasn't that. But maybe ... maybe that did mean he might be dead. No one knew what life was after death. Fitz always assumed━as a rational thinker, and a scientific brain, that there was nothing. They were all animals after all; organisms, energy, once the brain died; they were just bodies. Clara thought it drifted into the First Law of Thermodynamics; a scientific way to explain rebirth━they could live on through their energy in something else, give a new organism a fresh life. But his mother always told him death was just like how it was before they were born ... (and that wasn't too bad, was it?).

But if this was death? Fitz might actually just believe it after all the crazy things they've experienced already so far this year. That didn't mean he'd like it. He didn't want to be here, watching everyone he cared about continue on; grieve when he was right there beside them. That wasn't death; that was some sort of punishment.

"I don't think we're dead," said Robbie, shaking his head. "I feel sick. My stomach hurts ..." glancing up, a thought crossed his mind. "And the lights are darker, right?"

Fitz frowned. He looked up. It only just hit him that they were. Everything had a yellow-orange glow to it━the furniture, the lights, their friends and teammates. It made his stomach only clench tighter. No, they weren't dead. They weren't dead━no, no, no━ "The lights ..." he muttered. "Yeah. Their voices are hard to hear. They can't penetrate wherever we are ..."

It was slowly coming to him, and it didn't help the dryness to his throat. His head was slowly becoming muddled. No, he told it. Stay focused, don't break.

"What do you mean 'where we are'?" asked Coulson. Fitz walked up to where Mack and Daisy looked to be arguing and Leith clenching his hands around the back of Fitz's chair tighter. "Do you understand what this is?"

"I think I understand why Lucy and her friends looked like ghosts now ..." he waved his hands in front of Leith━even though he was looking right at him, he did not see him. "They were out of phase with our reality. It's like the ..." he tried to keep his breathing steady as he turned back to Couslon, "... the invisible quantum mechanics inside the boxes, moving in and out of our dimension. Lucy and her friends were stuck in between, and now ... now we are, too."

"Trapped between dimensions?"

"Yeah," he walked up to him, "that shock wave ... that wasn't turbulence ... that━that was friction between two dimensions."

Robbie stared at him. "Dude ... what?"

He sighed. He wasn't in the mood for this. He had to find a way out of here━he had to get back. He had to find a way back. "O━okay, imagine the world is a ... is a raft floating on water━" he crossed his palm, flat, over the other, hovering above, "━and Eli punches━" his top hand formed a fist and he slammed it right down against his other, breaking it away, "━a hole right at our feet. We're getting sucked down into ..." he sighed, this wasn't good, "... who knows what?"

A thought crossed Coulson's mind. "What about Leith?" he walked up to Clara's older brother. He waved a hand across his face, too. "He can travel dimensions, right? Shouldn't he be able to see us? Maybe he can help?"

"N━no, this is different," Fitz took a deep breath, clenching his eyes and pushing his chin against his chest. Just breathe ... what are your words? One word at a time, Fitz. One word at a time. "He━he travels through the subconscious. This ... this is something completely ..." if he was honest, Fitz didn't know. He didn't know at all, and he hated that.

"Or maybe they're gone," he heard May cut off Daisy; a distant echo.

Couslon sighed, "And," he held a hand out, "we've been pulled further than Lucy ever was━" he stepped back as Daisy brushed right past them. "We can't affect them, or even our own environment. And wherever we are, they think we're dead."

Fitz took a few more deep breaths. Think, Fitz, think! But his mind was as blank as a piece of paper. "W━well, we may well be soon."

Mack's words━like under water━made his heart jolt: the breath of names that brought all of his stress that he had been pushing down right back up to the surface, "Roy and Simmons ..."

"Thank you," Coulson told him, walking up to stand next to the big guy, "finally."

But Fitz didn't see this as a win. It all hit him━far worse than before. They think they're dead. Fumbling, he reached inside his jacket pocket for his phone, heart suddenly beginning to race. His mind ran on race tracks, starting at his mother, and then to Simmons, until it finally landed on Clara, and he felt like he had lost all of his breath yet again; galleons of water filled his lungs, making it hard for him to speak. "They're━they're━they're gong to tell her I'm dead," he croaked, trying to turn on his phone, but it wouldn't work. His fingers trembled. "I've got to phone them━I've got to phone her ... let her know I'm in another dimension..." he realised.

Fitz slumped, his knees suddenly weak. "That's not gonna work." No, no, no━Fitz clenched his eyes shut so tight they stung. He doubled over. "Oh, what's Clara gonna think?"

They were torn apart. Torn again. Pulled from one another like puppets on a string. Always. Again, and again, and again━

Coulson hurried up to him, his hand clasping his shoulder, "Fitz," he said. He could barely hear him over his own shaky breaths. "Fitz, we're gonna find our way home. Focus on that. We're gonna figure this out."

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded, standing back up. I'll make it back, he told himself. He made himself promise. He'll make it back no matter what. I'll get back to her. "Okay, well, we better do it fast, 'cause whatever water we're treading, we're sinking."

"I bet he hired the Chinatown Crew..." at May's words, Robbie's attention away from the pain in his stomach was grabbed. "To steal the box in the first place."

"The Chinatown Crew," he muttered. "I think they're right about that. I can help them."

"They'll need to know we're alive first," replied Coulson. Fitz shook his bad hand, beginning to pace. Think, think, think, Fitz!

Unwelcome, his father's voice joined his own. Come on, boy, don't be stupid. Get off your backside. Or are you as much of a retard as I always thought you were?

He hated how it sobered him up and made him able to take a moment to think. But it had.

"You got any hell-demon tricks up your sleeve?" went on Coulson and Robbie shook hsi head.

"No," he looked down at his gloved hand, gritting his teeth hard. "He's fighting me right now."

"Then we'll stick together, and we'll find a way to make them hear us ..." Coulson turned to Fitz and gave him a determined nod. "All of us."

"No," Mace's voice made him glance over. He and Leith were glowering at each other, just finishing a stiff and quick argument. "I will be the one to call." He was about to leave and Fitz watched him stop at May's comment:

"Mace," he glanced back at her. She pursed her lips. "When you talk to Clara..."

"I know what Agent Fitz means to her," he replied.

Clara ... Fitz found himself following the Director out of the room. He knew Robbie came after him, but he didn't care. He knew where she was? He could call her? Fitz's stomach twisted and churned as he watched Mace step into the Director's cabin, pressing his thumb against the trigger to cloud and sound-proof the room.

Inside, Burrows was on the phone. Mace tensed his shoulders, addressing him with a, "Were you able to get Roy and Simmons on the line?"

Burrows jumped. Turning around, he shook his head. "They confiscated their phones. But I do have Senator Nadeer on the line, sir."

What? Fitz stared. He could feel his anger growing. Mace knew where Clara and Jemma were━but why was Nadeer the one that replied on the phone? Why was Nadeer in the same sentence was Roy? The Senator who hated Inhumans. The Senator who hated Inhumans and Clara who was one? Why were they in the same━?

"Yo, Fitz," Robbie managed, grasping the back of a chair, "you're a doctor, right?"

"Uh, not exactly..." he left his side, marching up to Mace and Burrows. "Hold on."

Mace was frowning. "They wouldn't let us talk to them?" Burrows shook his head, shrugging.

"They're dealing with the Senator that hates Inhumans," said Fitz, hands clenching tight as he tried to stay focused. But as he watched Mace take the phone and sit down, he couldn't help but spit out with sheer venom: "How in the hell did Roy and Simmons get mixed up with all of this?" He was thinking the worst, and a bubbling pit of fury was starting to overflow.

"Senator," Fitz cut himself off when Mace took the phone, sitting down with a strained smile on his face, "thank you for taking my call. Yeah, we have a crisis brewing, and I know we had an arrangment, but, uh, I need Roy and Simmons to return immediately."

Fitz shook his head, unable to say anything anymore━he was so angry. They were with Nadeer? Clara was with Nadeer? What was she doing there? Was she in captivity━what had the Director done to her?! Did he just hand her over to that Inhuman hating, doaty, boggin of an Senator━?

"Ellen," continued the Director, "you have generously kept this situation quiet, and I thank you, but we're pst that now. I need my agents back. Lives are on the line." Pause; Mace's face fell. He suddenly stood back, and Fitz shuffled away. "Wait. What do you mean? Where are they?"

He blinked, and then pulled the phone away. Looking down at it, Fitz's fists clenched even harder. They didn't know where Roy and Simmons were. Mace had let them━he had let Clara be placed into Nadeer's clammy, lying hands with no idea where she was! To someone who hated Inhumans, who could want her gone, her dead, her thrown somewhere like trash. He stormed up to him, seething. "What situation? What have you done?!"

"She hung up," Mace turned to Burrows. "Tell me you put a tracker on them or something?"

"We didn't know we needed one," he replied and Mace cursed.

"Damn it!"

"Cold," said Robbie suddenly.

"Yeah!" agreed Fitz, wishing he could send his fist right along Mace's jaw. "Yeah, it's cold and heartless. I swear, if I get out of here━" he brandished his fist at the Director's face, following him around the room, "━I'm gonna knock him stupid! The bloody bastard!"

"No," Robbie shook his head, clutching his stomach, "I'm cold."

Fitz frowned, spinning on his feet, "What?"

"I'm freezing," he fell to his knees and Fitz━forgetting his anger━ran up to him.

"What happened?!" crouching at his side, he held Robbie up who heaved and shivered.

"I don't know," he said. "I need sunlight ... warmth, anything━" he hissed, wrappinghis arms tighter around his stomach. "I'm dying here!"

Fitz's eyes widened. "O━Okay, okay," he pulled Robbie's arm up, wrapping it over his shoudlers as he dragged him to his feet. "Okay, let's get you warm."

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(April 6th; 2017
The Zephyr; another dimension)

ROBBIE writhed on the ground. Twisting and yelling as if his stomach was turning inside-out. Fitz hovered over him at his side, hands shaking a little as he tried to think of what to do. But he had absolutey no idea. Robbie kept squriming and contorting; painful and gritting his teeth━but that didn't stop the cries of agony that erupted from his throat. To the left, Daisy and Gabe were having a muddled conversation, but Fitz couldn't hear anything they said over Robbie's screaming. '

It wasn't long before Coulson came running down the stairs into the cargo bay with a, "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" exclaimed Fitz. He stood back up, turning to the old Director with a frenzied gesture of his hands. "He just doubled over. There's nothing I can do about it."

"We're being dragged down," managed Robbie, turning to his side with a grunt. His voice was raw from his yells. "He doesn't want to go." He was breathing very heavily, face contorted and eyes clenched shut. "He won't go!"

Robbie's body suddenly jerked and his back arched. He cried out in more pain than he had before. Fitz's breath hitched, heart thundering as he shared a horrified glance with Coulson━he had no idea what to do━ "He won't go!"

"Who won't go?!" demanded Coulson.

And then, Robbie flung up.

Fitz gasped, stumbling back as an imaginary force propped Robbie up onto his two feet and then into the air. It looked like some scene in a horror movie━but this was real. Robbie screamed as his arms were stretched behind his back and his back arched. There was a horrible sound━like the sound of the hiss right before an explosion.

Then, Robbie let out a final, ear-splitting cry that shook their bones before dropping right to the ground.

He was there for a moment, heaving. Fitz was hesitant to help him, not sure whether what had happened was finished or not━or whether he even could move past his horror and shock in the first place.

Robbie took another deep breath. He looked up, pale, sweaty and sick. He croaked, "It's━it's gone..."

Fitz and Coulson shared a worried glance. "What do you mean? Where did it go?"

Fitz could finally hear Gabe and Daisy's conversation. Robbie's younger brother hung his head and muttered, "He's gonna go straight for Uncle Eli."

There was a jolt; the whir of pistons cranking, and for no reason at all, the cargo bay ramp door dipped open. The Zephyr was getting ready for a flight, no one should be opening the ramp right now. Fitz searched for the culprit, and his eyes widened when he saw Mack ready to go on a roaring motorcycle.

"And he'd be doing the right thing," he said in a low, gruff voice. It was his, but at the same time, it wasn't; it gave Fitz chills━the worst kind. The ones that made his knees quiver. That wasn't Mack.

Daisy shot to her feet, startled. "Mack?" she asked, but he ignored her. "Mack, what are you doing?!"

Davis had come to check the commotion, and in seeing Mack, his face dropped, "Sir━" he rushed forward, "━you got to stop. Director's orders. We're about to take off any minute━" he tried to pull Mack off the bike, but with an insane strength that not even Mack held, Davis was pushed away━knocked off his feet and to the ground feet away.

"Mack!" cried Daisy. She surged forward, but hesitated. "What's gotten into you?!"

He said nothing. With a rev of the engine, Mack accellerated and shot down the ramp at a jolt. He struck the tar and spun his wheels, turning onto the road at an alarming speed. Or not Mack━no, that wasn't Mack; The Ghost Rider.

Daisy ran to the edge of the ramp. "Mack!"

Coulson was stunned, "Did what I think just happened just happen?"

Robbie didn't competely answer; they all knew Coulson was right. "He's going after the Chinatown Crew."

Daisy clenched her jaw before spinning on her toes. Running for her jacket, she slipped it on and made a beeline for Robbie's car. As she did, she said to Gabe, "Tell May and Leith what happened. And if we ever get the chance, never tell your brother about this next part."

And with that said, she dipped into the driver's seat of Robbie's precious vehicle. Robbie stared at her, shocked she'd even try such a thing. "Oh, no," he said, "we're way past that." He went to follow her, but Coulson stopped him:

"Wait━what are you thinking? Don't go."

But Robbie shook his head. "If I'm being dragged down to Hell, this might be my chance to take Eli with me. Sorry, Coulson━" and with that said, he ducked into the passenger seat. Daisy didn't know she had a ghost back-seat driver. She just turned the keys, cranked the engine and in seconds, they were racing after Mack down the highway.

From above, Leith and May rushed in.

"What the bloody hell?!" let out Leith, eyes wide. "What just happened?! What's wrong with Mack."

He held a picture in his hand. Fitz didn't think much of it, but even amongst the haunting golden gaze of this dimension, he noticed the unfamiliar face captured; a smiling, young man holding a champaign bottle.

Instead, Fitz answered, sarcastic, "Oh, nothing. Just Mack's the Ghost Rider now, but you can't hear us, so ... bloody hell."

Split up, possibly being dragged down to their deaths and no closer to finding a way out of here, Fitz was in a horrible foul mood as the Zephyr took to the air back to base. Clara and Simmons were out there, and he was stuck here, unable to do anything. Unable to think, unable to understand━even with Radcliffe and A.I.D..A waiting in the lab to help figure this out, he still wanted to shout.

What if he couldn't get back? What then? Fitz felt his throat ache to even think about it; there was so much he had left, people he cared so deeply about. And Clara ... after everything they've been through, if he couldn't make it back to her━part of him wasn't even surprised. But he'd lose so much━lose a future, lose a life, lose the possibility of peace: a happy ending, as Roy always wished.

He had to get back to her. If he had to fight for anything, he'd fight for that. But he was terrified that this was it. He was stuck here, and he didn't even get to say goodbye. He'd have to leave with the weight of their last conversation ever to be an argument on his shoulders. It'd break him; kill him more than this deranged, confusing place ever could. It made him wonder, made him go over every moment in his life━each moment he could've told her sooner, taken the leap━

And Radcliffe closing the damn book made him want to throw it across the room! "What are you doing?!" he shouted at his friend. Glancing back at Couslon, he pointed an angry finger at the group: May, Leith, Radcliffe and A.I.D.A huddling around the table, trying to find a way to bring them back. "Why did he stop reading the book?"

"Because he's smart," said Coulson. He wasn't happy with May's choice in using the Darkhold, and it angered Fitz. "That book is too dangerous to use. IT should be locked up or burnt."

"Oh, come on," seethed Fitz. "That's defeatist!"

Coulson stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"It's surrender," he told him. "It's a death sentence. I'm not gonna do it to Roy. Science can solve this." Standing next to Radcliffe, he heard a muffled argument between him, Leith and May. Pressing his hands on the table, he stared at the Darkhold, wracking his brain━for anything at this point. He was desperate, and he needed to bloody think! "Science can solve this ..." something Radcliffe said made him fatler. He watched his friend, feeling his whole shoulders lift up with hope. Finally there was hope. He breathed a grin. "Human mind," he repeated. "Oh, I am so thick! A.I.D.A━" he rounded the table and rushed to the android who stood in the back, listening to the argument unfolding in front of her, "━A.I.D.A., read the book!"

"What are you doing?" Coulson followed him.

"She can process it better than anyone," said Fitz, waving his hands in front of her blank face. "A.I.D.A.━" he clapped his hands together, "━listem to me. Listen to me. Just understand what I'm saying, please..." he bounced up and own on his toes, wringing his hands. "They can't hear me. Maybe you can."

"Fitz," Coulson appeared on A.I.D.A.'s other side, "Radcliffe just said it himself ... the human brain can't handle the book."

"Yeah, well, she's not human," he stepped closer, clicking his fingers up near her ear. "A.I.D.A., the book. Read the book. Read the book!" he looked back up, hoping━praying━that he was right. And then he saw the change in her expression, the flicker of her brown eyes. A.I.D.A. took a breath, and said:

"Perhaps I can read the book."

Fitz felt himself slump in relief. He stepped back, eyes set on her back as she walked forwards towards the table. His fingers were to his lips, pressed tightly together. Coulson's expression was hard to read; Fitz didn't know whether he was hurt, shocked, or angry, but he couldn't care at all in this moment. "I'm sorry. What do you mean ... not human?"

"Because Radcliffe and I built her, okay?" Fitz didn't mean to be snappy, but he couldn't help but be angry at Coulson. He had given up, surrendered his job. He had given up, and Mace took on the role━a new Director who had given Roy to a woman who wanted no good intentions towards her. "Her mind can't be corrupted because it's just programming. She's a perfect fit."

Coulson blanched, "She's a robot?!"

"An android," he corrected. Fitz returned to the other side of the table again and back to Leith and Radcliffe's sides. "She can handle a quadrillion functions per second, and she can get us home."

"Fitz," Coulson followed him, outraged, "that was not your call to make."

Is he━? Fitz's eyes widened. He spun on him, feeling that anger rise up again; white-hot, making him want to grit his teeth. "Absolutely, it is," he replied. "Whose is it? It's not yours. You're not the Director anymore." He jabbed a finger at his chest. "I have just as much say in this as you do!"

"What are you so angry about?!"

"Because you used to make decisions like that all the time!" said Fitz. "And then you stepped down."

"I did what was best for S.H.I.E.L.D."

He scoffed, "Everybody is trying to do their best to prevent another tragedy ... like Lincoln," the name still brought a pang to their guts. They all felt at fault; each and every one of them. Felt like they should have treated him better, stopped him before he made the choice that paid for all their mistakes. "For you and Daisy, that meant throwing in the towel, but we━" he gestured back at Radcliffe, "━built A.I.D.A. to protect agents like him!"

Coulson stepped closer to Fitz's heaving figure, meeting his glare with a sharp reply of, "I didn't throw in the towel. I ran an illegal spy agency using powered operatives on American soil! Do you think the President loved that about me? I had to step down so that you could all continue in S.H.I.E.L.D."

This made Fitz snap. "You handed it over to a Director who betrayed Roy!" he shouted, and Coulson frowned, taken aback. Fitz didn't care. He pointed to the lab door, yelling in his old leader's face with a cry of: "He sent her and Simmons off, GOD KNOWS WHERE!"

Turning away, Fitz took a deep breath. Calm down! he told himself. But hi smind was all over the place, like a puzzle with missing pieces in a stream of forgotten thoughts. Rubbing his eyes, he forced his anger back down and spun back to Couslon, weak, "We were having an argument," his voice broke, suddenly thick in the back of his throat. "Now she's out there, alone ... a━and I'm gone!"

His head fell to his hands. The lump in his throat grew. This was exactly what he feared━to the point it made him sick to the bone. Again and again and again ...

Coulson gripped his shoulder, "Listen to me," he said gently. "He would never hurt her," his forehead settled against Fitz's own, and he gave him a little shake from the shoulder. "And Clara can take care of herself. She is strong. Everything's gonna be all right. We're gonna make sure of that."

Fitz found himself believing him. Taking a deep breath, he looked up, wiping away the tears that had begun to well up in his eyes to say, "All right, well, I need you in this fight, 'cause I got to get back to her."

"I'm in this fight," he told him and Fitz sighed, but nodded.

Brushing past him, he walked up to the table. "I hope I've done the right thing." Coming to A.I.D.A.'s side, he tried to see what she read in the book.

His heart dropped.

No.

"The pages are blank," he croaked.

But Coulson's eyes were on A.I.D.A.'s, watching them run along the blank pages as she flicked through. "Not to her."

✲══〖✰〗══✲

(April 6th; 2017
The Playground; Classified)

THEY took Roy and Simmons away before they could finish. Clara had cried out for the Inhuman as he watched them be dragged out of the tent, unable to move. His brown eye that cracked through the shell was teary as the only people who have been able to help him were taken away, their face covered in blag bags. Roy continued to struggle and shout until there was no point, and she was shoved into the car beside Simmons to be taken back home.

They couldn't do anything. They had to let go. They had helped the best way they could. But now he was alone, and Roy knew what it felt like to be alone, everyone she knew and cared about scared of her when she was more scared than any of them. And the thought of leaving that man in the enviroment he was in made her skin crawl.

But she had no idea where he was. She just had those eyes, and the glimpse of his terrified face.

When she and Simmons returned to the Playground, they were given back their phones. Opening it up, Clara cursed to see that she had multiple missed calls from Fitz, Mack and Leith. Simmons glanced at her and showed her something similar, and her stomach jolted━had something bad happened?

She quickly tried to call back Fitz, only for it to reach his voice mail. She tried a second time, and a third━all of it came back the same. She tried Leith, and when she heard his voice, she slumped in relief.

"Leith!" she cried, breathless. "Is everything okay?"

"Clara!" she heard him; he sounded relieved. "Oh, god━thank god you're okay! Is Simmons there? Is Jemma okay?"

Roy looked over at Jemma, breath hitched. "Yeah ..." she said, knowingly. Jemma watched her, as if knowing exactly what Leith had asked. "Yeah, she's right with me. She's all right; she's fine."

She heard his sigh of relief on the other line. Roy smiled slightly to herself, the concered weight on her shoulders lifting. She then asked, "Is Fitz with you?" She and Simmons made their way to the lab, confused as to why the halls seemed so empty. They were never this empty. "How is he? I've missed a lot of his calls━I'm really sorry, Simmons and I, we've━"

"Mace didn't ... didn't Mace talk to you?"

The tone to his voice made her falter. She stopped at the entrance of the lab; it was completely empty. There was that horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach; the pit of realisation ... something had happened; something had happened━

Clara didn't want to think the worst. She just smiled and chuckled, "No, why ... why would he?"

At Leith's lack of an answer, her brows furrowed. The churn grew worse. She spun to face Simmons, whose expression dropped at the sight of her sudden pale cheeks. "What━what happened? Is he okay?"

They had an argument, she thought. We had an argument and now ... now what was wrong with him? What had happened━?

Her brother was hesitant to talk. "L━Look, Clara ... we're fixing it it. We're fixing it right now. He and Coulson and Robbie━"

"Coulson?" she croaked, fingers growing rigid around her phone. "What━what about Couslon?" The pit in her stomach was growing into a horrible lump, rising up into her chest and making it hard to breathe. "What happened━where are you?"

"We're here, at the base, but Clara, listen━"

"Where?!" Clara hated to cut him off, but she couldn't stop herself. The world around her felt like she was underwater all over again. Jemma's concerned mutters were muddled, in the back of her head. "What━are you okay?!"

"Clara, we're getting them back━"

The phone line turned to white noise. Clara froze for a moment. "Leith?" she asked. "Leith!"

Jemma's lips parted. Her voice was hoarse, "What━what just happened? What's wrong?"

Clara didn't know what to say. She didn't know. She just knew━a gut feeling, that something had happened. And it was bad. And she needed to find them. She needed to find Fitz and Coulson.

The way Leith spoke ... his voice ... it was almost as if━

No. She told herself. No, no they're not. I'd know━I'd know if they were━

She wouldn't. But she told herself that because she didn't want to admit that possibility. Not after everything.

Roy hated how she left Jemma there, frozen with nothing to go off. Her phone dropped━she didn't care. She just broke out to a run towards the stairs. "Clara!" Jemma called after her, scared out of her mind.

She went to go after her, but instead picked up her phone, holding it to her ear as if hoping Leith would answer. "Leith?" she tried. "Leith, are you there?"

Her fingers rose to her lips. She wanted to cry━why did she want to cry? It was probably nothing. Dangerous things happen every day at S.H.I.E.L.D., it was apart of the job. She cared about Leith━of course. The thought that he could be hurt ached at her. But so did the thought of Fitz or Coulson being hurt. Or Clara. Yet, with Leith, it was worse━it pulled at her, and tugged, and twisted, etching up to her heart like something was trying to swallow it whole. The thought of him being hurt gnawed at her very being, and Simmons had no idea what to call it. She just knew Leith had to be okay. And she was sorry━she was so sorry, for everything, and everything━he just had to be okay━

Jemma knew she already lost Bobbi; she'll never see her again, still on the run. Jemma didn't even know whether she and Hunter were safe. She lost Will, torn away from her in rutheless ways. And she knew she couldn't lose Leith like she lost them. She could not lose him. At all.

And then when the phone rang again━it must have been only minutes, but it felt like hours━Jemma answered with a broken sob, "Leith?!"

"Jemma?" he wasn't expecting her. "Jemma? Is that you?"

"Yes, yes, it's me!" she held a hand to her forehead. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine━are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she was tearful. "God, I'm sorry━I'm so sorry, Leith, I swear━"

"I know," he sounded breathless, like he had run a marathon. "I'm sorry, too."

There should be more to say. Jemma felt like there was supposed to be more, but she just broke out into a relieved smile and talked to him━about nothing. Nothing at all. Just ... just to him.

A few corridors away, down the stairs and near the vaults, Clara felt like she could hear Fitz's voice. It was distant, but as she ran, pushing through gathered agents that tried to tell her to stay away━there had been an evacuation, and that only made her worse━it seemed to grow closer.

Roy didn't know where he was, but she knew he was around; she could hear him. Hear his voice━she could hear it even if she was on the other end of the earth; the universe. She will find him. She had to find him.

And soon, his voice became so clear and so close, she could hear his words. "Mace!" he shouted. Her heart thundered; relieved and scared at the same time. Confused, with no knowledge of what had happened aside from the tone of her brother's voice. "I know what you did! Where the hell's Roy?!"

She rounded the corner, his name tearing through her throat without thinking. "Fitz?!" there were more groups of agents, and she squeezed through all of them to try and see. "Fitz! Where is he?"

"Clara?" his voice replied, and her legs trembled.

Finally, she managed to push through, stumbling out into the next corridor. "Fitz?!" she glanced around and then she saw him. Standing there, in front of Director Mace. He met her gaze, tearful, and she knew something bad had happened. Something really bad. She didn't know what, she didn't know how, she didn't even think she wanted to know. She just was glad to know he was still here. Still around. Still waiting for her.

Fitz sighed. Brows lifting, the amount of relief that washed out of him like a waterfall made her slump. She had been so scared━terrified━for such a short moment that perhaps ... perhaps she had lost him.

"Clara..." he whispered and rushed towards her. He was breathless, exhausted ... Clara ran to meet him in the middle, leaping up into his arms. Fitz caught her, bringing her close to his chest. So tight, she could barely breathe, but she let him hold her━she would stay here as long as she wanted if she could; forever in an embrace to know that he was safe, and they were okay, and they weren't torn apart. That they were both still together.

He closed his eyes, hiding his face into her shoulder and amongst her hair. Shaking━trembling, almost. She rubbed his back, clinging onto his shirt. She heard him whisper, "I'm here ... I'm here ... it's okay ... I'm here ..." and she wasn't sure whether it was for her, or just for him. She just let her body relax, nuzzling her face into the nape of his neck. She breathed him in, feeling better that he was here. She was back home.

✲══〖✰〗══✲

a/n: lbh, this chapter could be a million times better, but it is what it is. i'm excited to write more leith and jemma moments in the upcoming chapters; i have things planned. There's like three mini series in s4; and I'm excited to focus on different things in each ya know? This first one is like just world-building for the season. And in the second we get to dive into the foreshadowing for the framework in the third, and relationships, and pasts and stuff i hope I'll make it as cool as I picture it to be. it's just so hard to fit in everything i want to and to not make these chapters longer than they already are.

    what are y'all predictions for the framework? 😏

hope you enjoyed it anyway! be sure to comment, i love it when you guys do. see you all in the next one!