"I'm afraid this might scar," we were all gathered in the medical lab, where Simmon's was tending to Ward's wounds, who had appeared last night out of nowhere. "Upside--you'll look badass, dangerous," Skye shrugged. "He's gonna be fine though, right?" Fitz asked, getting quite close to Ward. "He will if you back up and give me some room," Simmons scolded, coming over to that side and waving Fitz away. "So what then?" Coulson asked.

"By the time we got to the Fridge, it was too late. It was overrun--HYDRA everywhere. We couldn't stop them," Ward admitted. "What were they after?" I asked, crossing my arms.  "Everything. They took weapons, alien artifacts--anything they could grab," he said. "I assume that means the prisoners are no longer prisoners?" Coulson asked and Ward nodded slightly. "So...Ian Quinn..." Skye started.

"I'm sorry. He's out. They all are," he admitted. "And Garrett? Did he get away?" Fitz asked. "Couldn't stop them from taking the Fridge, but I wasn't gonna let Garrett walk...not after what he did," he said, glancing at Skye. "Is he the one that did this to you?" Skye asked. "He was a tough son of a bitch," Ward grumbled.

"'Was?' Past tense?" May asked. "As soon as I got the upper hand, I put two in the back of his head. One from me...one from you," he said, looking at Trip. "I would've emptied the mag," Trip admitted. "You're all set--well, I mean, as set as you can be with two cracked ribs and a zygomatic fracture," Simmons said. "Uh, for those of you that don't know what that is, that's a..." Fitz started.

 "Hairline fracture to the cheekbone," Fitz and Trip said at the same time, looking at each other weirdly. "Your body needs time to heal. Please take some time," Simmons said tentatively. "Understood. Thanks. Ah. One small victory. HYDRA didn't get their hands on this," Ward said, holding up a hard drive. "A hard drive?" Trip asked. "It's all the research our team's ever done, downloaded off the plane and encrypted for safekeeping," Skye explained.

"We should probably back it up now that we're in a secure facility," Ward suggested. "First, Skye, I need you on threat assessment. Pull up a list of all the inmates in the Fridge. I want to know just how bad this is," Coulson ordered.

-

"This is really, really bad. Quinn is the least scary of the bunch and he shot Asya...twice," Skye exclaimed. "Quinn's more a sociopath. A lot of those inmates are full-blown psychopaths--violent, impulsive," Coulson admitted. "And some have superpowers. Lovely," Skye griped. "Is Marcus Daniels on the list? That's him. Cross-check the list of inmates with crime databases, recent activity. Got a feeling we'll be seeing a slight uptick," Coulson ordered. "Okay, but that'll take time and more computing power than my laptop. Agen Koenig probably has some sort of--" Skye started.

"I'm sure he'll lend a hand. The plane you flew in on--is it operational?" Coulson asked Ward. "Yeah. You need me to pilot?" Ward asked, standing up. "You heard Simmons. You stay and get better. I'm gonna take a splinter team out and start going after inmates on that list, starting with Mr. Daniels. I think I know where he's going," Coulson said. "Are you sure it's wise to split up the team, leave this base? What if it's part of HYDRA's plan--a distraction?" I asked. "She's got a point. I mean, Fury brought you to this base for a reason. We're safe here," Skye said.

"Yeah, we're safe here. But what about everyone else--people who don't have access to a top-secret underground shelter? What about them? I don't know if it's wise, but it's right. I'm taking a team, and that's the end of it,"

-

We all stood in a line in a room, Eric standing beside a large and suspicious-looking chair. "Alright. Just gonna need you guys to answer a few questions, a few psychoanalytic, non-sequester questions," Eric said. "A lie detector," Coulson summarized. "The lie detector, Agent Coulson. This baby measures galvanic skin response, oxygen consumption, micro-expressions, biofeedback brain waves, pupil dilation, voice biometrics--ninety-six variables in all. Fury designed this himself. He wanted a lie detector Romanoff couldn't beat," Eric said. "Did she?" I asked.

"Like Fury would tell!" Eric scoffed. "Okay. Sooner we get this done, sooner we can get to work. So who wants to go first?" May sighed, and we all stepped out of the room. I went right after May. "Alright, we're gonna start with some easy questions and establish a baseline. Can I have your full name?" He asked.

  "Chebotaryova Kosana Anatolievna," I answered monotonously. "Eye color?" He asked. "Brown," I answered. "You ever been married?" He asked. "No," I said. 

"Please list your immediate family," He said. "My mother, my father, and my uncle," I said. "Not your grandfather?" He asked. "Not something I want to advertise. I don't want expectations caused by being related to someone," I said.  "If I was the granddaughter of a Howling Commando, I'd have that tattooed on my chest," he muttered.

"What's the difference between an egg and a rock?" He asked. "One you can eat and it's easy to break, the other is difficult to break and I wouldn't advise eating it," I said. "Have you ever heard of Project Insight?" He asked. "No," I answered. "Ever had any contact with Alexander Pierce?" He asked.

"Once. For a mission," I admitted. "What was the mission for?" He asked. "Retrieving any overlooked information from a HYDRA base in Siberia, the same one raided by Captain America and Lutienant Star," I said. "And your grandfather," he muttered. "And Grandad," I muttered.

"You wash up on a deserted island alone. Sitting on the sand is a box. What is in that box?" He asked. "A satellite phone," I answered. "S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer exists. The agency has been labeled a terrorist organization. So why are you here?" He asked. That was a hard question. I licked my lips before answering.

"Loyalty to my team, and a commitment to doing the right thing, whatever that means," I answered. "Congratulations, Agent Ana--An--" He stuttered. "Anatolievna. Just use Asya," I supplied. "Right. Let's go get you a lanyard," he said.

-

"Marcus Daniels was an assistant in a physics lab where they were trying to harness the electrical power of something called Darkforce. And nothing bad ever happens when you work with something called 'Darkforce.'" Coulson said, passing Trip a gun. "It's a form of cosmic radiation, pure negative energy. Unstable but powerful. You knew that already, didn't you?" Fitz asked. "Daniels was exposed, ended up being able to absorb energy--all types," Coulson explained. "Well, the human brain, the heart, run on electric impulses," Simmons said. "Exactly. He can kill with one touch," Coulson said.

"And I'm guessing he likes to. Do we need to put a bullet in him?" Trip asked. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. He can absorb the energy of most conventional weapons," Coulson admitted. "He sounds unstoppable," Simmons observed. "Like Fitz said, his power's unstable. Last time we managed to capture him by overloaded his system with pure light," Coulson said. "By exposing him to more energy than he could absorb at once. I'm sure we could engineer some sort of delivery device en route," Fitz said.

 "That's what I was hoping you were gonna say. Asya, you and Trip mind flying, being the specialists on mission?" Coulson asked. "Sir, I'll be whatever you want me to be," Trip said. "That's what I was hoping you were gonna say," Coulson admitted. "I will do anything and everything required of me," I said. "Three for three. Let's move out, team,"

-

"We should be safe here," I said. "I thought he was locked up," Ms. Nathan said. "He escaped from prison," Simmons admitted. "You don't have to worry. That's why we're here. We're gonna keep you safe," Trip said, turning away from the window. "'We?' Meaning the CIA?" She asked.

"Of course. That's what we said, isn't it? We're the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency...people," I nearly facepalmed then and there. "You're not. You're S.H.I.E.L.D., aren't you?" She asked, and my jaw set. "We're just trying to help. We're not the bad guys," I said. I could only hope she didn't take the news word for word.

 "I know. I don't believe what they're saying about S.H.I.E.L.D. The agency saved my life once before. A few years ago, I saw Daniels at one of my concerts, front row. Then I started seeing him at all of them. At first, I was flattered. Cellists don't get many groupies. But then one night, I saw him outside of my house. I was terrified. I begged him to leave me alone. He just stood there, saying I was his light. I didn't understand what he meant, until he started blacking out my entire block. I ran and called the police. They didn't believe me. But then a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent came to my door. I don't know why, but I trusted him right away. Something about his face--the handsome part, maybe. He just swooped in. It was like...out of a movie,"

I listened close to the story, taking in every detail. "You two were...close?" I asked. We needed more information to find Daniels. At this rate, we were gonna have to use Ms. Nathan as bait. I didn't want to do that.

"Very. He promised me he would stop Daniels. And that's exactly what he did. That's why I know I can trust S.H.I.E.L.D. Phil never lied to me," I perked up at the Phil part. "Phil?" I asked. "Agent Phillip Coulson?" The three of us exchanged a glance. "We've heard the name," Trip admitted. "What happened to him?" Simmons asked.

"He died in the line of duty. I don't know the details. We were planning a trip up the coast, and then I got the call," she admitted. "You must miss him," Simmons said. "For so long after he died, everything reminded me of him. I still dream about him sometimes, just us together, laughing. I wake up feeling like he's watching over me. It's nice," she admitted. 

-

"What if he doesn't show?" She asked tentatively. "Before they put him away, he never missed a rehearsal, right?" I asked. "No," she answered. "Then he won't this time," I said confidently. "Don't worry, we'll be close," Simmons comforted her. 

"All you need to do is keep playing until Daniels gets close to the stage. We'll do the rest," Trip instructed. "The last time, there were two whole teams of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents," she admitted. "See up there?" Simmons pointed at the room Fitz and Coulson were in. "Our best Agents are watching. I promise. They won't let anything happen to you," She assured her.

-

We watched from the rafters as a soft melodic song flowed from the cello, waiting for Daniels to appear. If we weren't on a mission, I would've paused to take in the music. As he appeared, the lights started going out, Ms. Nathan stopping when she spotted him. "No. Keep playing. I'm sorry I scare you. I know that I'm a monster. But you're the one that can save me," after a very pregnant pause, she continued playing. We tensed up, readying our overloaders as he crept closer and closer.

They activated and we all aimed them at him, but he shot stuff out at us, and we had to drop them and the beam broke. Coulson activated one, Trip and I joining in soon after. He screamed before exploding into flecks of black particles, Ms. Nathan ducking to avoid being hit. Coulson darted over, checking to make sure she was alive. "You're safe. I'm still here. I promise. I'm still here with you," he said, before darting off to the shadows.

I kneeled in front of her as she woke up. "Phil..." She breathed. "Are you okay?" I asked. "I...I thought...he was here. Seemed so real this time. See what we want to see, I guess," she admitted. "I guess so,"

-

When we arrived back at base, the Bus was missing. "Where's our Bus? And our team?" Fitz-Simmons asked. "I don't know,"