Agents of SHIELD: Nexus

It was hard watching Enoch cryo-freeze Davis, even harder to watch them fly off. Mick struggled to keep his mind in check as Patten and Hunter put an arm around him. "It should be me," Mick sighed. 

"He knows what he's doing," Patten reassured Mick. "He's been at this just as long as you have. He knows the risk." 

"Doesn't make it easier," Mick huffed as they returned to the Quinjet. 

"If I can handle when my wife goes off in her crazy vigilante ventures, you can handle this," Lance chuckled. 

"Yeah," Mick shook his head. "I don't think that applies here. Davis and I are brotherly rivals, but we don't hate each other." 

"I don't hate Bobbi!" Lance barked as he stepped onto the Quinjet. 

"But she hates you," Patten teased. 

"Only when we're together," Lance turned back from the cockpit. "Any other time it's great!" 

"Whatever makes you two work," Mick teased as the radio began to chirp. "What's up?" 

"Looks like acting-General Hale is raiding SHIELD bases trying to locate us," Fitz's voice came over the radio. "There's been several alarms triggered ranging from Providence to Playground, even the Hub!"

"Good thing we cleared out the Hub then," Mick frowned. 

"That's not the concern here," Jerren's voice came over the radio. "If they raid too many bases, they'll break through our encryption and pinpoint the Lighthouse."

"We don't want that," Lance said as Mick nodded. 

"So you want us to try to intercept them?" Patten asked. 

"Ey," Fitz replied. "We want them to think we're scrambling but not set up yet." 

"So basically set them up with the truth?" Mick asked as Lance chuckled. 

"Head to the Treehouse, no one has used that since Hydra took over it, that should draw their attention," Jerren said firmly. "I mean, it's been cleaned out, but Mr. Stark took over the place and uses it as storage for his outdated tech."

"Alright," Lance said as he started the engines, and with a heavy jolt, the quinjet was in the air. 

"We're going to trigger the security system in hopes that it draws them there," Fitz said as Mick and Patten nodded. "So be prepared for a fight." 

"Thanks for the heads up!" Mick said popping his wrists. "We'll let you know how things go afterwards!" 

It was surprising just how eerie Treehouse felt in its empty state. The glass office walls coated in dust, the stale smell that filled the air, and the anxiety inducing silence. Mick's hair stood on edge as they walked through the empty corridors. Flashbacks of the Hub ran through his mind as he saw the aged bullet holes in in the walls as well as the blood stains on the carpet. "Must've been terrible, eh?" Lance said as Mick nodded. 

"Never saw it coming," Mick grimaced as they passed by several of the old offices. 

"Glad that was before my time," Lance nodded. "Don't know if I'd have handled friends turning on me in person." 

"Oh it wasn't pleasant. Places like this fell so fast due to the high volume of sleepers," Patten said solemnly. "Davis and I were at the Triskelion, and that was quite the show." 

"So you saw Captain America?" Lance seemed quite interested. 

"Yeah," Patten seemed even more distraught. "Strike combined with the Helicarriers assault made that day one I'd prefer to forget." 

"How about you?" Lance asked as Mick shook his head. 

"A good friend of mine betrayed us, tried to kill most of our team, and then proceeded to make our lives miserable for the next year until Coulson killed him," Mick groaned. "Not a fun time at all." 

"Let's not dwell on that," Patten suggested. "We've got a job to do. First we need to get to Mission Control and see if we can power this place on." 

"Right," Lance nodded. "Sorry, the silence was killing me." 

Mission control was just as eerie as everywhere else, except it had signs of where the computers were, but had now all been removed. Patten walked over to the breaker, flipping it a few times until the lights finally blinked. They flickered a few times before finally staying on. "That should set off some alarms." 

No sooner than he said that, the sirens screamed. "What's the chances that's a glitch?" Lance asked as Patten shrugged.

"Doubt they left any toys," Mick sighed. 

"Depends on if anyone that cleaned out the place knew of all the secrets," Patten smirked. "Follow me." 

Down the halls they went, staying low just in case, and moving with the utmost urgency. Patten reached a large dead end wall, which was oddly blank, then walked over toward the center, carefully placing his feet apart. He leaned down, lifting a piece of carpet which revealed a small keypad. He then quickly typed in a code, then the door slid open revealing a small fairly well equip armory. Both Mick and Lance stared at Patten curiously as they walked inside amazed at the side arms and ammunition tucked away in this room. 

"How did you even know about this?" Mick asked bewildered. 

"I spent some time here with Agent Regalde. She called this her personal safe room," Patten seemed a bit lost in a memory as Lance and Mick both raised a brow. 

"She showed you her safe room?" Lance smirked coyly. 

"It was before I met Millie," Patten kept his grin, but now it was more witty than lost in memory.

"I never would've guessed," Mick shook his head and laughed. 

"I didn't judge you based on Sam, Jemma, or Daisy, so you shut your mouth too," Patten snarked. 

"Wait, you and Jemma?" Lance questioned as Mick glared at Patten. 

"We're not going there," Mick growled as footsteps echoed in the hallway. His eyes narrowed as he glanced down the hall grabbing a sidearm. "We have bigger fish to fry." 

"If it's Hale's team, they probably have us completely outgunned," Patten said as Mick nodded. "But, they don't know this place like I do." Patten then smirked pressing a red button by the door as the wall slid closed. He then grabbed a small tablet that was sitting under the door. "Hopefully the camera's still work." 

The tablet, like everything else, flickered to life, revealing several different camera's. There were several soldiers prowling the halls, and three people standing in Mission control, Jake Carson his gothic long black hair and black leather outfit showing off his mechanical left arm, Bree Lane with her half silver and half blue hair and black leather outfit, as well as another clad in black leather wearing a hood. "He has friends?" Lance asked as Mick shook his head. 

"That's Bree, Sam's sister, but who's the other one?" Mick pondered as Patten shrugged. 

"Doesn't matter. They just needed to think we're here. Now we've got to get out with as little bloodshed as possible," Patten said firmly. 

"Got any ideas?" Mick asked looking between Lance and Patten.

"There's a few tunnels, but none really lead out. Just to other area's of the Treehouse," Patten said as he walked toward the back of the room, reaching down opening a hatch. 

"Sounds better than going out with guns blazing," Lance shrugged. 

"Yeah," Mick frowned following them down into the tunnel. 

The dust in the tunnels was much thicker than the hallway. Every movement sent dust into Mick's nose, causing him to sneeze repeatedly. "Where are we going?" Mick barked.

"Mess hall," Patten replied. "It's not much farther."

"Good, don't think sneezy is gonna keep our cover long!" Lance teased as Mick rolled his eyes.

Patten eased open the door with a loud creak, crawling out then pointing his pistol toward the door. "It won't be long before they head this way."

"How far from the entrance are we?" Mick asked drawing his weapon as he emerged.

Shots began to ring out as soldiers filed into the room. Screams from the soldiers calling for the SHIELD team to stand down fell on deaf ears. Mick, Lance, and Patten began opening fire, taking down several from the first wave, narrowly avoiding the return fire. Mick and Patten flipped a table as Lance joined them under the make shift cover. Bullets hitting the table jarred them as they looked amongst themselves hoping someone had a plan of escape. 

"This won't be pleasant," Lance frowned. 

"We need a distraction," Mick sighed. 

"What kind of suicide nonsense have you thought of this time?" Patten snapped. 

"Nonsense? I'm not a kid anymore," Mick shook his head. "I picked a few of these up while in the armory." Mick pulled a few smoke grenades from his pockets as Patten shook his head and Lance seemed quite amused. 

"Looks like we'll be gun's blazing then," Lance said as Patten nodded with a frown. 

"So you're on board with the grenades?" Mick asked as Patten nodded. "Alright, heads down, you two get out, I'll tangle up the pursuers, hopefully they don't have thermal scopes. We'll up meet at the Quinjet." 

The grenades flew into the crowd, seeming to cause panic at first glance, then smoke poured into the room. Mick, Patten, and Lance all jumped at the soldiers moment of confusion. Mick separated from the other two following the voices of the soldiers, using his webbing to jerk them toward him, then a quick pistol whip rendering them unconscious. The smoke began to clear faster than Mick anticipated, leaving him to bull rush one soldier before webbing him to the wall, before shooting the knee of another, and webbing them down. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he saw all the soldiers in the room coated in webs. He then noticed the camera pointed directly at him and cursed under his breath. He sprinted into the hallway hoping to God that Jake nor Bree was on their way to face him, or worse, Patten and Lance. He reached the entrance only to see Bree standing there with a furious scowl. She held her arms down as wind began to rip around her, flipping her hair wildly as snarled. 

"Payback time!" She growled launching a focused vortex at Mick. It came so fast, he couldn't dodge it, slamming him into the wall, knocking the breath out of him as he slumped down. 

"Bree," Mick shook his head as he climbed back to his feet. "It doesn't have to be this way." 

"Hydra motto, a life for a life," Bree spat.

Mick's heart broke as he saw just how much Bree still resembled her sister. "Fine," he huffed. "Don't blame me for what happens next then." 

"Don't worry," Bree smirked darkly. "You won't be around to cause anymore pain!" Several blasts of wind slammed into the wall, cracking it, flying just overhead of Mick as he dropped to the ground. He retaliated by shooting several webs at her. With her focus on dodging, he quickly sprinted toward a door on the left as he fired more before slipping into the door, webbing the one across the hall closed to draw her attention. 

"You can't hide forever!" Bree screamed as the wind howled through the hallway. 

"I don't need to hide forever," Mick muttered to himself easing over to see her walking into the room across from him. He quickly webbed the door as she moved out of the entryway, slamming it shut and used his webs to seal it. "Maybe we can talk peaceably in a few more years!" Mick yelled as he sprinted out the front door, only to freeze as a chakra whizzed in front of his face, slamming into the tree beside him. He looked around baffled as there was nothing in sight. He rolled forward as his ears rang with the whizzing of another one, shattering the glass door behind him.

"I'm a little surprised you missed that last one," Jake's voice called out as he and the hooded figure walked out of the tree line into sight. 

"I thought you said the girl could handle him?" a sharp female voice came from the figure. 

"I said she wanted first dibs, not that she would win," Jake smirked as Mick shook his head. 

"I don't have time for your stupidity. We need him back," the figure moved at incredible speed, full of grace, precision, intention. 

Mick was back on his feet, struggling to fend off the girl's attacks. Jake's laughter didn't help matters at all. She quickly evaded a punch from Mick, returning a hard kick that slammed him into the wall with incredible force. Mick snarled as he stared at the shimmering black mask the girl wore, wishing to smash it and reveal her identity. He clenched his fist swinging fervently, she dodged effortlessly. This time, Mick planned for it however. They quickly switch back, Mick defensive, this time, he used his webs catching her foot, the slamming his knee into her stomach, followed up by a swift kick across the face. The girl staggered backwards as Mick stared at her, seeing a crack in the black visor-like mask. 

"How dare you," the girl snarled. 

"You started it," Mick teased, greatly relieved when he saw the quinjet rising over the tree's. 

"No!" Jake screamed as the quinjet opened fire. The girl quickly ran to his side as his arm reformed and shielded them.

"Sorry to run, but I've got places to be," Mick saluted them with one hand as he shot a web up to the lowered quinjet. "See you around." With that he was lifted up as Jake cursed furiously. Mick then climbed the web, relieved when Patten helped him inside.