Fitz-Simmons see Melinda on the monitor, stabbed by Sarge. The other agents stare in shock, and Jemma breaks into tears. Daisy calls and says that the zombies have pinned them down, and Fitz tells her that Melinda is down. The comms go offline, and Fitz-Simmons discover that they've been locked out of the system.
Malachi and his hunters teleport into the Lighthouse.
All of SHIELDs satellites go offline, and Jemma figures that it's an attack. Malachi and the others come in shooting and the agents run for cover.
On the Zephyr, Daisy admits to Mack that she should never have trusted Sarge and Melinda's death is on her. Yo-Yo tells her to make it mean something. They hear Deke in the next room, calling for Fitz, and they contact him by radio. There's no way they can get to him in the Quinjet, and the zombies start to break in. Mack tells Deke to fly over to them and he'll walk him through the procedure. Deke goes to the cockpit and Mack walks him through the lift-off. The engine doesn't start.
Once they've secured the Lighthouse, Malachi sends his hunters to flush out the remaining SHIELD agents. He tells Isaiah to go find them the key to unlocking human secrets and examines a cube.
Fitz-Simmons and the surviving agents lock themselves into a bunker, and Fitz calls Enoch for backup. He gets Enoch's voice mail, and Fitz wonders if the Chronicoms got to him first. They realize that they're facing an extermination rather than an ambush.
Izel asks Sarge how it feels to be his true self, and he says that it's long overdue. They both look forward to claiming a new home, and they turn to face the portal. At the other end of the gateway, Melinda lies in a pool of her own blood as the Three look on her and then step forward.
Deke tries to fix the engines and figures that he's missing something. A zombie jumps onto the windshield in front of him. Deke figures that the problem is the actuator... in the zombie's hand. The zombie tosses it away and ducks out of sight, and Deke says that they'll have to find another work-around. Mack directs him to a hatch with the controls to the engine input.
Yo-Yo reports that the zombies have cut the hydraulic line on the door, and Mack tells them to reinforce the door to the control room while he gets Deke into the air.
Fitz-Simmons and the others go to where Trevor and his team are supposed to be taking refuge. The bodies of the agents are on the ground, lined up and shot dead. Fitz realizes that the Chronicoms know the system because she did, and they're accessing her memories. Diaz and another agent arrive, and Fitz figures that the Chronicoms are guarding the hangar. He suggests that they go to Deke's development lab because the room was empty until a few days ago. Jemma tells Diaz to get the remaining agents there.
Izel tells Sarge that she's seen the look in his eyes many times before. She strokes Sarge's body and says that there's a strength about it that she finds enticing. Izel reminds Sarge that she freed him from his prison, and he points out that she was the one responsibility for his captivity and slams her into the wall. Sarge reminds her that he sent her to find the monoliths, and says that he should have struck her down when he had the chance. Izel tells him that his words are petty, and Sarge releases her. Sarge orders her to call the Shrike back to the temple so they can give them new life, and Izel says that they'll return once the rest of SHIELD has been stricken down.
A zombie grabs Deke's hand from below, and he bites it so that it releases him, then slams the hatch shut. he goes to the cockpit and starts the engine.
The zombies at the Zephyr stop pounding on the door, and the women realize that they've accessed the zombies. The zombies blast their way in, and Yo-Yo uses her superspeed to shoot them down before they can react. She explains that she doesn't have to run fast to make things slow down, and a Shrike flies in and goes down her throat.
As Deke lifts the Quinjet off and flies to the Zephyr, and Mack warns him that landing is a lot more difficult than lifting off. Daisy brings Yo-Yo to the bridge and tells him what happened to Yo-Yo. Yo-Yo warns that there's no way to remove it, while Deke roughly lands the Quinjet on the Zephyr. Mack says that he can't lose Yo-Yo.
Fitz-Simmons go to the development lab and figure that the Chronicoms can use what's left of the Framework to access Coulson's memories. As Jemma plants explosive charges, Fitz says that he'll be sad to see the Framework go. He then tells Jemma that he was joking. They look out in the hallway and see more Hunters on their way to gather the Framework mind tech. Fitz-Simmons finish planting the explosives.
The Three approach the portal and remove their amulets. Meanwhile, Melinda crawls away and pulls the sword out of her chest to discover that she's unharmed. The Three place their amulets in the altar, and Melinda looks through an outside peephole and sees hundreds of others approaching. She uses the sword to kill the Three.
At the other end, the portal opens and the Three's amulets come through. Izel stares at them in shock.
Jemma warns that it doesn't look good for them. To survive they need to trigger the explosives remotely or set a time, and they realize that they don't have a timer. Fitz and Jemma figure that they have no choice but to sacrifice themselves and pull the trigger on the grenade. As the Hunters start breaking in, Jemma pulls the pin and Fitz-Simmons hide. The Hunters come in and find them, but before Fitz-Simmons can trigger the grenade, "Isaiah" shoots the two Hunters with him. He picks up the pin and puts it in the grenade, and then addresses them in Enoch's face and says that he had to take bold measures. He has a way to save them and the other agents, but they have to act now. Enoch tells them that it will be the hardest thing that they've ever done, and explains that they have to change the natural course of their lives forever.
Deke gets the Zephyr into the air and Mack tells him to get the Zephyr close to t6he temple. He then tells Yo-Yo that they need her and they're not losing her. Mack goes up front and Daisy tells Yo-Yo that they'll crush Izel and when she's gone, hopefully Yo-Yo's possession will be freed. Yo-Yo doesn't believe it and tells Daisy to put one of the knives in her chest to kill the Shrike. Daisy agrees but insists that it won't come to that, and says that she has to focus on revenge.
Izel accuses Sarge of sending Melinda to their world and suggests that he did it deliberately. She draws a knife and says that she'll handle the problem herself, and goes through the portal to deal with Melinda. She sees Melinda's blood on the floor, and says that Melinda must have realized that life and death is meaningless in their world. Izel explains that she connected their worlds and will open the door so her kind can pass through. Melinda steps out and says that humans will fight back, and points out that the Three died when she killed them with the sword. She figures that she can kill Izel and tells her to get ready to be reborn. The two women fight and Izel manages to slash Melinda in the side.
Mack and the others enter the temple and Deke directs them to the main room. Yo-Yo coughs, and Mack tells Deke to stay there and deal with any zombies while they deal with Sarge. Deke assures them that he's got it and the others continue on.
Sarge watches the portal, and Mack and the others come in. Daisy quakes him, and Sarge reverts to his normal alien form. He walks through Daisy's bombardment and says that he's more powerful than they could imagine. He knocks Daisy out and reverts to his human form, and Mack shoots at him without effect until he runs out of bullets. Yo-Yo screams in pain while Mack beats Sarge.
Yo-Yo tells Daisy to kill her, and Sarge shrugs off Mack's attacks and grabs him by the throat.
Melinda and Izel fight and Izel finally manages to knock Melinda out. She place the amulets in the altar, opening the portal, and the outside door starts to open. Melinda renews her attack and kicks Izel to the floor below. Izel gets up and says that she's done what she needed to do. She jumps through the portal, and behind Melinda the Three come at the agent.
Deke opens fire on the zombies as they head for the main room, and warns the others by radio that he can't hold them back forever.
Yo-Yo begs Daisy to kill her before it gets worse. Sarge tells Mack that he put up a good fight, and Mack says that he knows they always come out on top. He sees Yo-Yo convulsing and begs her to stay with him, and Daisy says that she can't. Daisy gives the knife to Mack and goes after Sarge, and Yo-Yo grabs Mack by the throat.
Sarge asks Daisy why she should keep fighting.
Mack says that he won't hurt Yo-Yo.
Sarge tells Daisy that he'll make sure she suffers, and Izel comes through the portal behind Daisy. As she prepares to stab her, Melinda comes through and stabs Izel in the back. Izel dissolves into nothing, and Yo-Yo coughs up the dead Shrike. Melinda tosses the sword to Mack, and Daisy blasts Sarge. He resists and advances on Daisy, Mack cuts him in half at the waist. The portal closes, and Daisy goes to Melinda who is dying in their world. Daisy says that they destroyed the thing inside of Coulson, and Melinda asks if there was anything of Coulson left. Her friend says that there wasn't, and Melinda admits that she was hoping to see Coulson again. Daisy agrees, and Melinda figures that she'll see Coulson soon enough before dying.
An older Jemma and a team of suited techs arrive, and Jemma says that Melinda will be fine. She injects Melinda with a hypo, while the techs take samples from the monolith. Jemma tells Mack that they'll be gone soon enough.
The team board the Zephyr and are astonished at the futuristic equipment. Jemma says that they had help and time, and admits that she doesn't know where Fitz is and can't know. She leads the team past a version of Deke's ShawDrive, and Jemma explains that the Chronicoms want to rebuild their homeworld on Earth. They sent Hunters to destroy SHIELD and they lost the Lighthouse. She tells Fitz on the radio that they're ready to launch, and he says to tell the others that he's sorry.
Everyone straps in and Jemma says that the Hunters targeted another point of interest. The Zephyr fires on the temple, destroying it, and teleports away, and Jemma scans the terrain. Daisy and Mack go to the cockpit and discover that the Zephyr is on autopilot. Jemma reports that they're above NYC and it's fogged over. The Empire State Building is the only building above the clouds, and Mack realizes that she enhanced the ShawDrive. Jemma says that they had time, as the Zephyr comes down over a NYC where is still being built..
Jemma tells Mack and Daisy that they have a problem that he and Fitz couldn't work. The Chronicoms have Fury's black box and their team needs an expert on SHIELD history to determine what the Hunter might target. Melinda is out of commission, and the decision should be left up to him and he has already voiced his opposition. "He" has Chronoicom technology, making him their most advanced LMD. Jemma says that she was initially against it, but realized that eventually even he would accept it was the best thing to do.
The trio go to where Enoch is waiting. Enoch nods to Jemma and walks out, and Jemma asks Mack and Daisy what they think. Mack figures that he would want them to consider the ramifications, and Jemma abruptly activates the LMD... of Coulson.
Written by Gadfly on Aug 3, 2019