NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Theories
It felt like a a few days passed before things started making any traction whatsoever. Davis had interrogated Mick several times, learning all Mick knew about the Framework, his previous relationship with Jeffery Mace, and anything else Hale could try to use against them. Davis came off record several other times, mentioning how furious Hale was with how well Fitz's story lined up with Mick's, and how she believed that they were somehow conversing to collaborate.
It was several more days of confinement before things finally started to change. Hale made it clear that she wanted Coulson and the others found, even if that meant she'd have to gather intel like puzzle pieces and feed it to Mick and Fitz for them to piece it together. She, however, refused to let Fitz and Mick work in the same cell. Fitz would write down all of his theories, the guards would then deliver them to Mick, and Mick would have to analyze everything and give his feedback. They were nice enough however to supply Mick a small Television, but the downside was he had to watch whatever Fitz watched, which was soccer.
A guard slipped their usual composition book into the cell, which made Mick smile. Clearly Fitz had been hard at work, for the notebook to already be sent. Fitz had come up with the idea to leave encoded messages for Mick, which unsurprisingly took Mick a while to figure out. He had written it in a theory about mental health, which several of the interviews Hale conducted ruled that out. It was so discrete, a couple jumbled letters, odd numbers here and there, probably something Jemma would've noticed right away. Mick was nothing like Jemma, he barely scraped by with the little scientific knowledge he picked up from watching the two geniuses work.
"I fully explained to them about Aida, guess they asked you more about the Framework? I'm gonna try to get some books to help us research what could've happened to the others. Do you remember a buzzing noise just before everyone vanished? Stay strong, working on a way out! Oh, what did you think about that last match?" Mick decoded the message, glancing at the TV, seeing a new pair of teams taking the field, or pitch as Fitz referred to it as.
"I don't see how you watch this," Mick shook his head. It's not that he hated it, it was very much a tactical game, but the lack of exciting moments that Football had really put him off. At least it wasn't as boring as watching baseball, which he had done with Ward on a few occasions both in the real world and in the Framework. One match however was quite entertaining when you could hear the crowd chanting about how terrible the goalie was. Poor guy just slipped, and just so happened to drop the ball into the goal, scoring for the other team, on top of clearly having a really bad game.
Mick looked back over the note, then looked at a theory Fitz had written. Some type of abduction, but by whom was the question posed for Mick.
Something about the buzzing Fitz asked about and the abduction theory seemed to line up. Mick couldn't shake that feeling at all. All the interviewed civilians each had a two minute memory loss, matching both Mick and Fitz. While Mick didn't remember the buzzing, he did remember hearing the odd voice of the man who questioned Coulson, although the memory of him was extremely fuzzy.
His head began to ache as he tried to focus on that moment. Everything went black, lights shining through the window, their shadows could be seen on the wall. The waitress had ducked behind counter. He could hear the footsteps of people behind him, but everything was grainy- like watching an old time movie. Pain shot through him, ending with a sudden thud. Mick sat up, seeing a few drops of blood on the notebook. He rubbed his face feeing the warm sticky liquid covering his lips and chin.
Thankfully there was a small semi restroom in his cell, so he quickly washed his face, drying off with his shirt. Maybe there was more to that theory then? He quickly began to write back to Fitz, explaining what just happened and how it seemed to line up with his abduction theory. The big question, who would abduct them? Hydra was in hiding, if not gone. The Ten Rings wouldn't have the tech to pull it off, if they were still operating with how well Tony Stark had handled them. Maybe alien, but that would open up way too many possibilities. Mick jotted down his thoughts outside of the code, not caring if Hale and her lackies read it or not. He then walked over to the door, knocking on it before sliding the notebook underneath. He then returned to his bed to watch the soccer game while trying to recall more about the strange blank space in his memory.