Fitz had been looking for his best friend for months now but there was still no sign of Simmons. He had gotten sick of everyone on the remaining team telling him it was time to let go; none of them had known Jemma like he had and he wasn't giving up. He had gone rouge, tracking down any sign of the biochemist, a month ago.

He had taken some training from Daisy and May beforehand, making them wary of his plans but none had suspected he, a slightly co-dependent engineer, would leave the shield base on his own to find Simmons. His latest lead had lead him to a secure science base that was controlled by a handful of hydra agents that had managed to take over when shield fell.

For whatever reason they had eluded anyone trying to take them out and maybe Fitz should have told the team but he knew they would want to assess everything and it would take too long. Fitz wasn't wasting anytime, he needed to get Simmons back and he was doing it now.

The engineers shield communicator went off again and he angrily accepted the call as he crouched behind a wall as he watched the guards at the entrance of the base. Daisy's worried voice rang through his ear and he was pleased to hear her voice again after so long but knew he had to keep the call short so they couldn't track him.

"Fitz?! Thank god, I thought you were dead! Where are you?"

Not wanting to attract the attention of the nearby guards the Scotsman kept his voice low loading his I.C.E.R as he talked.

"I caught a few leads on where Jemma might me and since you lot had given up on finding her I decided to see them out myself. I'm fine Daisy, I'm just checking out a hydra controlled science base. One of my sources said they were keeping something similar to the Kree monolith here and there are only a few guards. I can handle it."

"Hydra? Fitz you know how dangerous they are please just wait before you do anything, tell me what's happening so I can help you." Leo shook his head even though he knew she wouldn't see it.

"I need to do this now, before they move the Monolith or Simmons. She's been gone for months Daisy and I'm going to bring her home." He knew she could sense the finality in his words and he could hear shuffling on her end of the call, knowing she was trying to get an accurate location on the call trace.

"Fitz just wait for us to come, give us your location we'll be your back up please don't go in alone."

Leo could hear the desperation in her voice but he felt that same desperate need to keep Simmons save, to get her back home, just to see her again.

Daisy managed to scream out one last plea for him to wait before he ended the call.

Taking out the front guards were easy with the I.C.E.R.s and once they were out of the picture it only took a few minutes to disable the doors and other security measures. Once inside though he had to find a way to search each room, including the enormous warehouse of artifacts, without alerting any other guards or scientists in their labs, which he should probably check too. Logically the best place to look would be in the security room, it would give access to visuals of each room and give him an idea of how many other hydra agents were in base and how to avoid them. But that still meant he had to get there without being detected.

He suddenly wished he had the rest of the team with him. Agent May would know how to get in undetected or Coulson would create a distraction and of course Daisy could just shake the whole building down. The scientist had spent the last month alone and ignoring the teams worried calls. He hadn't had time to miss anyone but hearing Daisy's voice, someone who cared about him and who he cared for in return, had brought on a feeling of overwhelming loneliness. He had been missing Simmons for months on end ever since her disappearance but he had been working so hard towards his goal of getting her back that he had hardly been eating or sleeping and with his goal of saving his friend ever present in his mind he had never felt alone until now.

Leo shook the gloomy thoughts from his head and pushed forward through the base. As long as he kept moving and kept quiet he would be able to make it to the security room and take out anyone inside. He hoped.

Fitz had gotten better at hand to hand combat and was able to handle himself pretty well in that area. As for guns he had an immediate advantage in having designed and built most of the ones he used and so only needed teaching and practice in the art of actually shooting them. It had been harder than he thought and had taken him a while to get used to the sound and the recoil but could handle himself well now and was confident in his ability to take out multiple assailants if needed.

Keeping his I.C.E.R at the ready the scientist crept down the hall to open the first visible door and found it empty. It was only a small office but creeping inside Leo looked though the papers on the desk for anything that could be linked to Simmons and the Monolith. Noises from outside the door startled the engineer and he froze his movements as the voices came closer.

"She still won't tell us anything but she's from shield no doubt." The first voice from the hall was relaxed in tone so Fitz could assume they didn't know about the break-in.

"Then why are the hell are we letting her poke around that rock? If she's shield we should just be killing her." Fitz' heart beat wildly in his chest and his chest stilled as he forgot to breathe. They could be talking about her. After months of searching he could finally find her. Reminding himself to breathe the man moved closer to the door to hear more of what the assumed guards were talking about.

"Orders are to keep her alive and besides she can tell us more about that thing. It's not like she's getting out of here anyway." Hearing the guards footsteps move farther down the hall Leo waited till they were gone to crack open the door and creep down the hall where they had come from.

It was harder for him to concentrate now that he knew he could finally see Simmons again. Sirens started to blare and lights started flashing as the guards from before found their comrades that Fitz had taken out and the Scotsman moved quicker down the hall. People started to rush about but he ignored everyone as a big metal door came into view.

It looked like the entrance to a storage garage or lab and Fitz knew that's where they must be keeping the other monolith and where Simmons would most likely be.

The agent finally made it to the door but found it required a key card and was losing patience. It would take too long to break in and there were already hydra scientists in the hall.

Thinking only of his partner on the other side of the door Leo raised his gun to the closest lab coat and demanded his key card.

The enemy scientist shook her head and glared at him, determined. "The guards will be here any minute, you won't make it into that lab." Everything flared red as the alarm lights spun red lights through the hall and Fitz didn't flinch as he pulled the trigger, watching the woman's veins run blue before she dropped to the ground.

Leo swung the gun to the next lab coated hydra agent and pointed to the door.

"Unlock it. Now." Keeping his I.C.E.R trained on the man he watched as the door was unlocked.

Fitz could hear more guards coming from behind him up the hall but ignored everything, even his gun raised arm dropping to his side as the door opened because there, in the brightly lit lab surrounded by light and closely watched by hydra agents, was his favorite person in the whole world.

All sound was muted as she turned around and saw him and he called out her name because nothing else mattered right now except that she was alive and okay and right in front of him.

"Jemma."

Her face contorted from happiness to fear and she pointed to something behind him. There were hands on his arms then and a loud bang snapped him into reality, all sound returning in a rush. Spinning around and twisting the arm of the guard trying to restrain him Fitz took the man down with a well-placed punch but there were still more of the men approaching.

Fitz was able to take out two of the guards with his I.C.E.R before the remaining three and the two with Simmons sprung to action. The S.H.I.E.L.D agent knew he should have worn his tactical vest but it had been ruined in his last mission, it was full of bullets and therefore useless to him. Still, the regret of not having another one sprang to mind at the same moment gunshots pierced the air.

He could hear Jemma's scream and the wet thud of bullets hitting flesh before everything went momentarily white. He didn't realize he was on the ground until warm wetness started spreading over his stomach and back, creeping through the material. There was pressure on his stomach making the pain flare stronger and he heard more shouting but everything was muted once again.

His thoughts scrambled as he tried to figure out what was happening. Someone was yelling his name and he thought it was Simmons. Fitz opened his slow eyes and saw her, leaning over him with tears running down her face and red on her hands. It was hard to breathe but he managed to mumble her name. She was being pulled away by men in black uniforms but he didn't want her to go.

"Please let me save him! I love him, please I'm a doctor, let me do this!" She was begging them but they pulled her away anyway and her hands dripped red, smearing it on the black clothing as they pulled her away from him. Fitz reached a hand towards her and said her name again as she called his in return.

He was co close to her, he had been close enough to hold her in his arms again after so long and now they were taking her away from him. Pain was seeping through his body and he dragged in labored lungful's of air as he coughed. There was red everywhere now and he could taste it on his lips but still he watched her. As the light faded from his world and his breathing became nothing more than shallow gasps Fitz thought only of his Jemma. He barely caught glimpses of the men in black dropping to the floor before his eyes slipped closed and head thumped to the floor.

And then there was nothing.