Fitz lies in a cyrogenesis chamber, and Enoch watches over him. The vessel shakes and the alarms go off, and Enoch apologizes to the unconscious Fitz, saying that he has to computer Fitz's chance of survival. He looks out the window at the fleet of ships closing in on them, and an energy beam tears the ship apart.
One Year Later
Davis flies the Zephyr down to a planet, and Piper confirms that they've escaped their pursuers. They land on a port at the D'Rillian planet and the controller tells them to prepare to be boarded. Daisy greets them and the controller, Trok, tells her to present their authorization. She explains that they're low on fuel and had no choice but to land there, and Trok asks Daisy how she plans to make payment. Daisy tells him that he's going to give her the fuel, and the controller refuses. They identify Daisy as Quake, and she disarms them with her powers. The soldiers run off and Trok attacks Daisy. Daisy knocks him down, and Jemma steps out. Trok says that they can take the fuel, and Jemma says that they want to find someone and bring him home.
At the lighthouse base on Earth, Mac and his team pick up readings. They wonder what it means, and Mac tells his spread teams to spread out. Melinda is with one of the teams, and there are three others moving into position. An alarm goes off reporting something in Indiana, and Melinda and Agent Keller head there.
At a park in Castleton, Indiana, the ground shakes and a basketball turns brittle and shatters when the players dribble it. The pieces turn into birds and fly off, and a man emerges from the wall behind them. He walks to one of the basketball players and stares at him, and the player runs off. Another man calls to the first man, Jaco, and Jaco tries to pull him out of the wall. The wall turns solid and the man is killed. The Quinjet arrives and Melinda orders Jaco to surrender or they'll fire. Jaco opens fire on them with a blaster rifle and walks away.
The Quinjet crashes and afterward, they report to Mac what happened. He tells them that they should have engaged Jaco on the ground, and Elena notes that she was in another jet. Elena says that they have to move faster to catch the reality distortions, and Mac confirms that everyone is okay. They wonder who Jaco is, and Mac tells his agents that they need workable theories. Elena points out that their two brightest minds are still MIA, and Keller suggests that all of the locations sit on ley lines. Mac tells Keller and Fox to work on it, and says that Elena should be ready if she needs to handle Jaco.
Mac goes to check in with his "boss": a hologram AI of Coulson. Melinda comes in and Mac admits that he's still watching Coulson's video logs. He admits that he'll never be the director that Coulson was, and Melinda assures him that isn't a bad thing. He wants to commemorate the anniversary the next day by appoint a department head, and Melinda says that she's working on it. As she leaves, Melinda sass that she and Coulson had more time together than they thought they would. Mac tells her that they need brains as well as muscle.
Daisy and Jemma take Trok aboard their ship and hang him upside down, and Jemma explains that she plans to torture him. They ask him about Fitz's ship, figuring someone tracked the ship and gave it to whoever destroyed it. They want to know if Trok sold trackable fuel to the ship. Trok explains that he bought the broken half of the ship for parts and didn't know anything about a trap, and they realize the other half is there.
The team flies out to where the other half of the Zephyr is and go inside.
Melinda is sparring in the gym with Elena, and Melinda points out that Keller is obviously attracted to Elena and Elena is attracted to him. She suggests that Elena should pursue the relationship with Keller and doesn't have to protect Mac's feelings. Elena notes that Mac closed the doors on her, but Melinda tells her that she's learned in the last year that live isn't meant to be lived alone.
Daisy and Jemma check the broken half, and Davis and Piper find the cyrochamber. The port is frosted over, and Jemma opens it to discover that there's no one inside.
As Elena walks down the hallway, Keller approaches her and says that they need approval from a unit commander to check the computer. She agrees and tells Keller that Melinda is onto them. Keller asks if Elena wants to put the brakes on their relationship, and Elena agrees. She says that she needs to take some time, and Keller figures that they should tell Mac rather than hide their relationship from him. He leaves it up to Elena and leaves.
Mac is drinking at a bar in town, and Melinda joins him. She gives him a file and says that she's close on a department head. However, she needs Mac to approve it right away, and he's at the end of the bar. They go over to the man and Mac introduces himself. The man ignores Mac's hand, and Melinda says that the man is Dr. Marcus Benson, Director of National Science. Marcus says that he's not going to chase bogeymen with them, and Mac points out that he drove two hours. The doctor notes that the college he works with is reducing his workload, and Melinda notes that his drinking has gotten worse. Marcus says that when the love of his life died, he started to either drink or commemorate him. Mac hopes that he'll still get the best of Marcus' knowledge, and says that they lost someone as well. They're trying to rebuild and need brains, and want Marcus to build up SHIELD academy in the next couple of years. Mac figures that it's a second chance for Marcus and for them. Marcus says that he's too old and fogged up for it, and Mac tells him that he's their best chance or innocent people will die. He mentions Fitz and Jemma in deep space, and Marcus's interest is piqued.
The Zephyr leaves the planet, and Daisy tells Piper that she feels gut-punched. Piper is worries about Jemma, and they both agree that Jemma will lose it completely if she loses hope.
Jemma checks the chamber.
Davis joins Daisy and Piper, and Daisy figures it's time to head home and regroup. She thanks Davis and Piper for staying with them and when the others left, but figures that they'll all benefit by getting back to loved ones.
Jemma gets into the chamber and closes the lid.
Jaco sits in the woods, and two more of his people arrive. He explains that the other man, Tinker, materialized in something they created there. They ask about Sarge, and Jaco says that he'll appear at a museum. The group heads there to destroy the museum before Sarge arrives and manifests inside of something created.
Jemma imagines what Fitz went through in the chamber, and sees a plate on the inside. She goes to the bridge and tells the others that the chamber was made on the planet Naro-Atzia, and figures that Fitz would go there. Naro-Atzia is in deep space, and Daisy warns that it's a long shot. Jemma insists that she's right, and Daisy suggests that they go home. Davis refuses to set the coordinates and Piper agrees with him. Daisy sides with them and tells Jemma that the Zephyr is banged up and they need to go back. The proximity warning goes off and the crew take their positions.
After powering down the Zephyr, Jemma goes to the cockpit with the others. An alien Confederate destroyer is flying past but doesn't detect them.
In the lab, Marcus examines the wall that Tinker came through, and notes that Tinker has cybernetic enhancements. Tinker grabs Marcus and says that they can't stop it and "Packatuqic" is coming and then dies. A device with an apparent countdown falls out of Tinker's pocket, and Marcus confirms that it's displaying a time and a place. Mac takes the device to the control room and has Fox put in the coordinates, and he notes that it's another ley lines. Melinda and Elena head to the coordinates in Muncie, Indiana.
A young girl comes up to the museum, and Jaco tells her to leave. His teammates arrive and go inside.
The Confederate destroyer turns toward the Zephyr and opens fire on them. The crew activate the Zephyr and Davis takes evasive action. The front shielding does down and Piper goes to jump drive and primes it. Davis locks in the coordinates for Earth, but Jemma alters them and activates the jump drive just before the missiles hit.
Melinda and the others pull up to the museum and secure the outside. Inside, the trio plant bombs and the woman, Butterfly, goes out to buy them time. Butterfly draws a knife and cuts off a hank of her hair. She orders the SHIELD agents to stay back, claiming that she's a hostage. Fox escorts her away, and she tells Fox that he'll be a butterfly. The museum explodes, and Mac loses contact with his team.
The agents recover from the explosion, and Fox grabs Butterfly. Elena tells Melinda to go, and the time counts down.. An armored truck drives out of the blast cloud and slams into a SHIELD vehicle, knocking Melinda down. The truck stops and the driver gets out and walks to where Butterfly and Fox are. Sarge—who looks just like Coulson--tells Fox to let Butterfly go. Fox says that he's from SHIELD, and Coulson tells him that he's never heard of it and shoots Fox dead. Melinda sees Coulson as he and Butterfly get into the truck and drive off.
In a ship's cargo bay, Fitz works on a makeshift tool. Someone bangs on the door and Fitz yells at them to tell the Controller to calm down. He then injects himself with a drug and says that they should do it.
Written by Gadfly on May 11, 2019