At World’s End

Everyone was crowed around the pod where Yo-yo lay. One hand was stretched toward Mack's pod. Everyone was up in arms about the rash decision Yo-yo made while everyone was tied up. It was hard enough having Mack inside the Framework, and knowing why he was in there, it was only made worse when Mick told Daisy that Hydra had captured and tortured Elena Rodriguez due to her inhuman powers. 

"You're right, we should've just webbed Mack up and tossed him through the stupid portal," Mick admitted as Daisy glowered furiously beside the monitors showing Yo-yo's vitals. "But like I have explained a thousand times now; I get why he stayed. If it wasn't for Jemma bringing back my old memories, I probably wouldn't have been able to leave Sam either." 

"He would've resented you for even considering that," Daisy groaned. 

"But at least we could be focused on saving their world like we promised instead of just getting our friends out," Mick said. 

"Well if my plan works, I can manipulate the Framework to their benefit and guide Yo-yo to Mack and get them both out," Daisy said frantically typing on her laptop. 

"What exactly are you planning Skye?" Mick said then growled as Daisy turned to him glowering. "Daisy. Sorry!" 

"I get it, I was Skye again in there," she moaned. "There's a lot about that world I'd like to forget. Like me and Ward being a thing," she trailed off. 

"You look like you're having trouble, what's going on?" Mick asked as Daisy shook her head in frustration.

"What the heck does this keep happening?" Daisy snapped, she then slammed her hands on the table.

"Our link to the Framework is being broken!" Jemma gasped as she looked down at Yo-yo. 

"How can that possible?" Mick asked frantically. 

"AIDA wanting to get back at us," Jemma suggested. 

"Surely you can stop this?" Mick looked at Daisy as she frowned. 

"I don't know, but you can bet I'm going to try," Daisy said firmly. 

"I'll do what I can to help," Fitz walked into the room, still quite upset about his involvement in all of this. "I don't understand the entirety of the Framework, but I understand the theory of it." 

"Then I'll leave you guys to it. I'm out of my league here," Mick said, turning toward the door. 

"No way," Daisy gasped as an alert popped up on her computer.

"I don't like the sound of that," Mick turned to her. 

"Robbie Reyes just took back his car from a SHIELD facility," she said as both Jemma and Fitz were surprised to hear his name. 

"Why did we have his car?" Mick asked as Daisy, Jemma, and Fitz shared a look. 

"I'll explain things to him, you go let Coulson know," Fitz said as Daisy walked out hastily. "What's the last thing you remember before the Framework?"

"Besides Aida attacking me?" Mick said almost sarcastically. "I remember Reyes dragging his psycho uncle and that machine into hell or whatever it was. Then May and I were assigned to come get AIDA. I think I was going to try to watch a soccer game with you guys around that time too, and then the psycho robot attacked me." 

"You mean you wanted to watch actual football," Fitz seemed rather surprised, yet sincere all the same.

"Whatever," Mick smiled as Fitz shook his head. 

"So the you missed everything to do with LMD's!" Fitz exclaimed as Mick raised a brow. "Sorry, Life Model Decoy's." 

"I met something like that when I woke up," Mick said as Fitz nodded. "Some psycho Russian guy who made an army of himself." 

"Anton Ivanov," Fitz stated. "He was the ring leader of the Watchdogs." 

"Figures," Mick grunted.

"You must've been one of the first people Aida trapped in the Framework," Fitz seemed sympathetic.

"Probably," Mick groaned as Coulson walked in. "I'd bet she grabbed May and I at the same time." 

"Brace yourselves, Daisy is going to get Reyes," Coulson informed them as Mick frowned. 

"Look, I like Robbie, but that beast he carries, are you sure we can trust it?" Mick asked as Coulson shrugged. 

"It's good to have the real you back, and not that caution to the wind LMD," Coulson replied as Mick looked at him with deep concerns. 

"Caution to the wind? And you didn't realize that wasn't me?" Mick asked as Fitz and Coulson both chuckled. 

"After how many times you've tried to impress Daisy?" Fitz teased. 

"Honestly thought you were trying to be more like Reyes to get Daisy's attention," Coulson shrugged. "It seemed to work pretty well. It wasn't until your LMD tried to kiss her that we realized that it wasn't you." 

Mick stared blankly, unsure how to process this information. His LMD tried to kiss Daisy? Were her feelings for him because of that caution to the wind mentality? Could this moment get any worse? 

"If it makes you feel better, he was quite pushy, and she ended up quaking him," Fitz said sheepishly. 

"That doesn't make me feel better, at all," Mick shook his head and covered his face with his hands. Now he was anxious, was Daisy actually into him? He'd have to be brave and not squander it like he did before. Once they saved the Framework, got Mack and Yo-yo safe, and dealt with AIDA he'd work on that. He wasn't about to miss this chance again. 

Mick went along with Coulson, Daisy, May, and Reyes on a quinjet to seek out General Talbot who had not been answering his phone, despite several tries from Coulson. 

"Turns out our new LMD friend was calling himself, Sergei Mishkin. He's a senior Russian analyst that was invited to the SHIELD inquiry today," May sounded quite aggravated, like normal. 

"Great," Coulson hung up his phone, rolling his eyes in annoyance, then looked at his makeshift team. "Still no answer." 

"Why would AIDA want to ally herself with someone like that?" Mick asked looking at Coulson for answers. 

"She's crazy?" Daisy said wittily.

"Probably to drive the final nail in SHIELD's coffin. If this hearing goes south we'll all be disavowed permanently," Coulson sighed. 

"And that would leave us completely vulnerable to AIDA," May added.

"All that would do is open up so much chaos in the world, no one would know what to do," Mick whispered to himself, realizing perhaps that's exactly what the Russian was after. Perhaps it wasn't AIDA calling the shots, but him. 

"You just thought the Sokovia was a harsh reminder of how bad things can be, just wait until people find out just how helpless they are against the full array of dangers out there," Daisy said solemnly. 

"That's one reason why we have to stop this now," Coulson said as May returned to the pilots seat, landing the quinjet.

Everyone at the UN building was in an uproar, media personnel mixed with terrified employees. The guards were on high alert, only allowing Coulson and his team to pass after seeing his badge. Even then, they were being watched closely, as if there had been some kind of major attack.

"What's going on?" Mick asked as Coulson analyzed the situation quickly. 

"We may be too late," he said before taking off in a sprint, with everyone quick on his trail. 

There were numerous armed soldiers shot and killed with incredible precision. "This is real bad," Coulson remarked, checking on for a pulse. "We need to find out who did this ASAP, May, you're with me. You three know what to do." Coulson and May split off the group going down one hallway, leaving Mick, Daisy, and Reyes down the other. Gun fire continued to echo through the halls as they reached another branching path. 

"Go, I'll check this side," Reyes motioned leaving Mick and Daisy to go right. Without any arguments they split once again, more tension swelling as the blood on the walls and injured personnel continued to stack up. 

Mick and Daisy reached an open storage room with AIDA standing beside a girl looking exactly like Daisy, and beside her, a boy that resembled Mick. Two other heavily armed men stood back behind them, clearly awaiting orders. 

"Ophelia!" Mick snarled as he and Daisy stood side by side. 

"That's so sweet that you still call me by my real name. Too bad it's too late. You see, Daisy left me with so much extra time on my hands when she shattered my spine in the Framework, that I began plotting the perfect way to kill her," AIDA taunted as she smiled smugly. 

"Seriously? Therapy, you really need it," Daisy snapped as AIDA smiled grimly. 

"I think the best way to have you killed, would be to watch you kill yourself," AIDA motioned and the two doppelgängers looked up at Mick and Daisy, their eyes flashed red as they took a battle stance. 

"I don't think I was prepared for this, were you?" Mick asked. 

"Just break them," Daisy said attempting to quake her foe. The doppelgänger met her quake with a replicated version. The doppelgänger turned his wrist preparing to shoot webs at the real Daisy.

"Oh no you don't!" Mick quickly ripped his saber from it's hilt, flicked the blade, causing it to spark wildly with the electric current running through it. He then swung it into the doppelgängers face, ripping the flesh from it's face, singeing the remnant over it's eyes. 

"You don't think I'm just going to let you win do you?" AIDA warped behind Mick taunting him. She then kicked him in the back of the knee forcing him to the ground as the LMD shot webs at Daisy, who was now trying to block both the blast from her own and now the webbing from the Mick. AIDA started to reach for Mick, only to gasp as a fiery chain tore through the Mick LMD, dropping it instantly. 

"No one said stopping you is going to be easy!" Mick swung his saber, only to see the black mist left from AIDA teleporting. He then saw Daisy being choked by her LMD due to the webbing that hit her face. Without hesitation he lunged, stabbing the fake through the skull, watching as it backed away from Daisy, collapsing to the floor as it convulsed. 

"Thanks," Daisy exhaled in relief as Mick helped her get the webs off her face. They turned to see GhostRider ripping apart one of the guards, which also turned out to be an LMD. "I didn't expect her to replicate our powers too." 

"I did, only because Fitz told me the one that replaced me had web shooters," Mick said as Daisy looked a little bothered. 

"Yeah, about that," Daisy started only to be interrupted as Ivanov walked in with blood covering the his shirt and suit pants. 

"We can discuss it later," Mick said, bracing for another fight. 

Ivanov then picked up an iron pipe from one of the racks, the slowly eased toward the duo. "Seriously? That all you got?" Daisy taunted as the LMD smirked darkly. 

"I got this one," Mick pulled his blade from the fallen LMD of Daisy, clashing with Ivanov as he began backing up. 

"We've got company!" Daisy called out as more presumably robotic guards began to charge into the room. 

"Perfect!" Mick growled as sparks flew from the blade clashing with the iron rod. 

"You know you're all going to die," Ivanov growled in his think Russian accent, kicking at Mick while the two weapons clashed. 

"Eh, maybe one day, but this ain't my day!" Mick said, shooting webs in the man's face, then using the brief moment of shock to decapitate his foe. 

Mick turned around to see Ivanov flipping in the air, surrounded by the blazing chain of the Ghost Rider, then his body quaked apart mid air. 

"Dang, that was pretty cool," Mick said as Daisy smirked. 

"Don't tell me I missed it," Coulson grumbled as he walked in the door to see the dismembered LMD's. 

"Oh you missed it alright," Mick smirked. 

It was much easier to exit the building than it was to enter. The worst part of it, was learning that Daisy's LMD was seen opening fire on the council, including General Talbot. They returned to the Zephyr, all seeming to piece together the bits of information needed to stop AIDA. Once onboard, Fitz and Simmons joined everyone in the hold. "What do we know?" Coulson asked as Daisy groaned. 

"That AIDA has super charged LMD's that looks like me that she's going to use to assassinate anyone who tries to stop her," she was clearly frustrated.

"And that's all she'll need to put an end to SHIELD," May added solemnly.

"It runs deeper than that," Coulson said as he paced the floor. "Daisy is an Inhuman." 

"Which is going to not only rip apart SHIELD but cause distrust in Inhumans as well!" Jemma said in a panic. 

"She's trying to replicate the Inhuman distrust we had in the Framework," Mick gasped. "I bet she's going to try to bring Hydra back too!" 

"Not if we can stop her," Coulson said boldly. "That's what we need to focus on right now."

"Well, if it helps, she's clearly afraid of Reyes," Mick said looking at the man, leaning on his car's hood. 

"Yeah, she ran away like a dog with it's tail between it's legs as soon as she saw his blazing chain," Daisy said as she and Mick smirked. 

"Does that mean you can kill her?" Coulson asked as Reyes shrugged. 

"She's not going to let me get close enough to find out," Reyes admitted. 

"Then we make her come to us," Coulson said with a mischievous tone. 

"How do you intend on doing that?" May asked.

"We'll use the Darkhold as bait," Coulson said confidently, as Reyes looked like he wanted to object, not for bait but to destroy it. 

"That's all well and good, Sir. But the Zephyr is running low on power," Jemma said catching everyone's attention. 

"Then we need to head back to base," Coulson said firmly. 

"They'll have the whole army there waiting for us!" Mick snapped. "They all think Daisy was involved with shooting Talbot!" 

"It'll be the army, or AIDA and her LMD buddies," Daisy added. 

"Don't care. I'm tired of playing defense," Coulson sounded annoyed. "May, bring us home." 

"This is a stupid plan," May groaned as she walked off. 

"Reyes, does that thing inside you want to kill AIDA as bad as we do?" Coulson asked as Reyes shrugged once more.

"I guess so, why?" Robbie asked curiously.

"Then I may have more than just one plan. Come on, let's talk," Coulson led Reyes up into the Zephyr leaving everyone else behind. 

"I'm going check on Mack and Yo-to. We're running out of time fast," Daisy said as Mick watched her leave. "I'm doing everything I can, but it seems like the lower those servers sink, the worse our connection to the Framework gets." 

"Maybe we could build up a make shift server using Mack's pod and add a new backdoor?" Fitz suggested. 

"That may just work!" Daisy cheered. 

"Think you two can help me with the makeshift server?" Fitz asked as Mick and Jemma both nodded. 

"Great! I'll be upstairs!" Daisy ran off leaving Mick, Jemma, and Fitz alone. 

"Hold on, I've got one thing to do before we can head to the servers," Jemma smiled as Mick stared curiously, but was given no answers. 

After a few moments, Jemma and Fitz returned, then lead Mick into the storage compartment where they built the backdoor server for the Framework. "Make sure you bolt the door," Fitz said as Mick glanced skeptically. 

"Uh, okay?" Mick seems quite confused. "Care to explain why we're taking all these precautions?" 

"Just being safe," Fitz said as he began pulling wires from the back of the large computer.

"You know how he get's," Jemma said with a smile, leaving Mick a little more confused.

"We need to reroute a few of these circuits, hopefully that'll buy Yo-yo some time to convince Mack to leave," Fitz said disconnecting a few of the oversized wires and shuffling them around. 

"I'm glad you know what you're taking about. What I don't understand is why we're locking doors behind ourselves as if Ophelia doesn't teleport," Mick stated as Jemma shook her head, while Fitz concentrated on his rewiring. 

"This was all Fitz's idea," Jemma said as she began to shuffle around the wires. A black mist appeared, followed by AIDA herself with a devilish smile. 

"Then it must've been a killer one," AIDA snarled as everyone gasped in horror. 

"Okay, this isn't how I saw this going," Fitz admitted as he set the wires down, turning to AIDA nervously. "Remember what we said before?" 

"What, how there isn't room in your heart for me?" Her voice was much darker, more intimidating now. 

"No!" Fitz stammered. "No, that being human sometimes."

"Means I'd feel pain?" AIDA interrupted. "That I'll suffer?" She began walking towards Fitz like a lioness to her prey, only for him to ease toward the door locked door. "I'm catching onto that quite quickly. It's no wonder humans have written so many sad songs." 

"That's a perfect example!" Fitz stammered once more. "We use emotions like sadness to enrich our music, or art!"

"How about smashing our enemies heads on the floor?" AIDA growled as she turned toward Jemma. "I prefer that." 

"Ophelia, I'm sure it's overwhelming feeing everything all at once!" Fitz reached out as if to stop AIDA, who turned to him for a moment. 

"Oh it is," AIDA admitted coldly. "That's why I chose to only focus on one. Right now, my favorite is vengeance." 

"Jemma move!" Mick drew his blade as it crackled to life. AIDA turned to him with a viscous smile, then warped, slamming her fist into Mick's stomach, then snatching his blade as if fell from his hand. She then moved at blinding speed, placing the blade near Jemma's throat. 

"My vengeance is going to make you suffer, just like you made me!" AIDA sneered, then impaled Jemma through the center of her chest. 

"No!" Fitz screamed as he dropped to his knees. 

"Jemma!" Mick cried out reaching for Jemma. 

"I will do whatever you want! Please just stop!" Fitz cried as AIDA smirked. 

"Why does it feel so good to make someone else suffer?" AIDA asked callously. 

"Because you're a psycho," Jemma struggled to speak through her pain, only for Aida to press the blade farther into her chest, causing her immense amounts of pain judging by her groans. 

"I wouldn't think about it Bellouve," AIDA turned so Mick could see the blood creeping out of Jemma's chest, which caused him hastily to rethink trying to attacks her. 

"Please, Ophellia, spare Jemma, please," Fitz begged. 

"Oh Fitz, I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that," AIDA turned back to Fitz, twisting the blade as Jemma whimpered in pain. 

"The Darkhold!" Fitz exclaimed as AIDA raised a brow. "That's the only way we can beat you. If you spare her, I'll go get if for you!" AIDA glowered, seeming to contemplate the offer.

"No! We can't!" Mick cried out, only for AIDA to growled. 

"Fitz," Jemma said weakly. "You did this." 

Fitz hung his head, face full of remorse. "I know," he admitted. "I'm so sorry Jemma." 

"Enough!" AIDA screamed. She then released the blade, holding her arm out, blasting Jemma with a fierce electric blast. Jemma's body contorted as she collapsed to the ground, lifeless. 

Fitz then fell to his knees, crawling over to Jemma and pulling her onto his lap as Mick watched in absolute horror. Mick then instinctively lunged at AIDA, only for her to warp behind him, slamming him headfirst into the server with incredible force. She then tossed him to the floor, his mind reeling from the impact. He could feel the blood dripping down from his forehead, but couldn't move. 

"I am going to kill everyone you love, right in front of you," AIDA growled. "And there is nothing you can do about it." 

Everything was silent for a moment, then Mick felt Fitz's hand on his back which surprised him. "You okay?" 

Mick moaned as his body unwillingly responded with a nod. "What about Jemma?" 

"Oh? Yeah that's not Jemma," Fitz said as Mick stared at him. 

"What?" Mick asked as Fitz helped him up, handing him a small handkerchief to wipe his forehead. 

"That was an LMD. We just needed to make AIDA think that was the real Jemma," Fitz smiled as Mick held the cloth on his aching head. 

"And you couldn't let me in on that?" 

"You're not a very good actor," Fitz teased as Mick frowned. "Come on! We've got to get to the others!" 

"Can I at least get some light pain relievers first?" Mick asked as Fitz smiled. 

"Make it quick," Fitz jested. "We need to be down there just in case things go wrong." 

Mick and Fitz reached the teleporter room just in time to see Ghost Rider toss Aida's now lifeless charred body aside, which then crumbled into a cloud of dust as it hit the ground. The power of the Rider faded, only for Mick to gasp at the sight of Coulson. "What the heck?" Mick asked in dismay.

"We needed a way to end her, she would've run from Reyes, so I made a deal with the Rider," Coulson explained as Mick shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around all the trickery. 

"So let me guess, Mack isn't really trapped in the Framework still?" Mick snapped.

"No, that's very much real. Speaking of, we should check on that," Coulson said walking away before Mick could object.

"I need to sit down for a minute," Mick rubbed his head before slumping against the wall. 

"I'll go get the others, think you can prep the gate for Robbie?" Fitz asked Jemma, who responded with a nod. 

"Sorry about all of the tricks, but we needed a fail proof plan," Jemma said as Mick watched her work with his mind still struggling to accept everything. 

"Just wish you guys would've clued me in on it," Mick groaned. "Maybe it would've saved me a concussion." 

"At least you made it more realistic," Jemma turned to him with a sheepish smile. "I was honestly worried Fitz wouldn't be able to sell it alone." 

"Thanks, I guess," Mick smiled. "What else needs to be done?" 

"Not much, the gateway just needs to charge now," Jemma walked over to Mick, brushing his hair away from the now bruising cut. 

The others began to trickle in as Mick and Jemma stood beside the gateway. Daisy smiled at Mick, seeing the swole cut and bruise above his right eye. Coulson walked in, with May and Reyes behind them. Coulson then grabbed the Darkhold from the small table beside the gate then walked over towards Reyes. 

"Do you really have to go so soon?" Daisy asked with a frown. Mick's emotions were probably a little on edge due to the head injury, but he was slightly concerned that he could lose her to Robbie. It was something he was afraid of when he first met the Ghost after all. 

"Yeah, that book needs to be somewhere safe," Reyes said, looking over the whole team with a half smile before looking solely at Daisy. "Keep an eye out for my brother?" Daisy simply smiled and nodded. 

"The gateway should almost be ready," Jemma said as Reyes looked at her. 

"Don't need it," he said unwrapping the chain around his shoulder. "Learned a few tricks since I saw you guys last." He began spinning his chain around as it burst into flames. After a few circles a portal to a very bleak looking world appeared before him. Everyone was quite impressed with this new found ability, as Coulson stepped forward. He then handed the book off to Reyes. "I don't envy you," Reyes said eyes fixed on Coulson. 

"I was going to say the same thing," Coulson responded.

Reyes took the book, then faced the portal. He seemed to hesitate briefly before looking over his shoulder at Daisy, then toward the others, stopping at Mick. He nodded for a moment, then stepped through, the portal fading almost immediately. 

"What did he mean by that?" May asked as Coulson spun around. He clearly wanted to respond, only to be cut off by Mack walking in with Yo-up at his side. 

"We got some chatter on the comms," Mack glanced around the room, seeing the warm smiles from his SHIELD family. "Seems like Talbot survived, he's just in a coma."

"Bad news is, they know we're here, and they're coming for us," Yo-yo said grimly. 

"Then you should all go," Fitz said with a sigh, everyone turning to him shaking their heads. 

"Not a chance bud," Mick said as Coulson nodded in agreement. 

"If one of us goes, we're all going," Coulson said as Fitz shook his head. 

"No, this is all my fault," he started. "AIDA, the LMD's, all of it. I can explain it all and give you the chance to keep on. I can even explain the Framework."

"No," Daisy said firmly. "We all went through this together."

"You're not carrying this on your own just because of who you were in the Framework," Mick interjected. 

"That place messed us all up," Coulson said with a smile.

"But not even that could tear us apart," Mick said smiling. 

"One thing I know, better than anything else," Daisy smiled. "We're always in this together." She paused. "I tried running away, thinking I could protect you guys, but you never quit on me. You kept chasing me until I finally realized how much I needed all of you. You don't get to run away to protect us now."

"You also don't get to carry this burden on your own," Mick said as he stepped up to his friend, everyone nodding in agreement as Fitz seemed quite surprised by this. 

"If there's a price to pay, then we'll pay it together," May said firmly.

"I'm in," Jemma said with a smile, while the others nodded as well. 

"Not to ruin the moment, but is anyone else hungry?" Coulson smiled. 

It didn't take long for everyone to load up in one of the few remaining functional vehicles, and head off to a small nearby diner that the team would frequently visit. Rae's Restaurant was surprisingly empty for this time of night. Mick sat beside Daisy, who seemed quite pleased by this. 

"This is the first time we've all sat down together in quite a while," Coulson acknowledged as everyone nodded with a smile. "Don't be shy, they're going to find us right after I swipe the card, so you should make this meal a good one." 

"No problem there, Boss," Mick said carelessly as everyone chuckled. 

"You up for that drink you asked about?" Daisy asked as Mick nodded. He was well over ready to drink away some of the stress of the last few days. "Let me start by saying, I'm sorry I couldn't save them."

"You tried, I know you did," Mick said as Daisy looked glum. "At least they're not suffering under Hydra anymore. They'll live on in our memories, and that's good enough, I think." 

"I guess that's one way to look at it," Daisy shook her head and smiled. "On a brighter note, did you know your LMD tried to kiss me?" 

"I may have heard about that," Mick laughed as Daisy seemed amused as his reaction. 

"From my understanding, those LMD's were based on the real personalities of the person they imitated," Daisy raised her brow as Mick started to blush. 

"That's what I understand as well," Mick couldn't help but smile at her. 

"Does that mean," Daisy paused as she tilted her head and smiled. "You actually have feelings for me? And maybe even wanted to kiss me yourself at some point?" 

"That's a pretty loaded question there," Mick smirked, his heart fluttering wildly. "I'll answer your question with a question. Did you kiss me as we left the Framework?" 

Daisy seemed to blush as her smile widened. "Maybe." 

Before their little game could continue, the lights went out. Bright lights then shot through the windows behind them. "Here we go," Coulson sighed as everyone nodded. 

They had discussed how to handle this moment on the ride over, simply surrender. No fighting, no powers, just lay down and let whatever happen happen. Coulson was sure he could get them out of it by explaining it all. So Mick grabbed Daisy's hand and they both lifted them up. He couldn't help but smile as Daisy didn't pull away, instead the two laced their fingers together. 

"Phillip J. Coulson?" A strange distorted voice came from behind them, as heavily armed soldiers could be heard lining up outside. 

"Yup," Coulson said in amusement. "Cutting the power, nice touch. Makes everything seem so ominous." 

Mick took in a deep breath, knowing that despite their changing relationship, he'd be pulled away from Daisy for a while. "I will be right beside you until the end," Mick said softly, only to hear a loud buzzing sound, come from behind him, followed by silence.