Chapter One (A New Beginning)

Coulson, Skye, May, and Triplett watched as Simmons came out of Fitz's medical room in the SHIELD base Playground.

"How is he?" Skye asked, longing for an answer.

"He's still sleeping." Simmons responded. "But according to the doctors he will wake up soon. That's when they see if any brain damage from the oxygen deprivation has occurred. They don't want to mess with him a lot now."

Fury had Fitz transferred to the Playground so the team could be closer to him and had the doctors follow him. They didn't know yet what the extent of his injuries due to the fact that he had been asleep for awhile.

"Good." Coulson replied. "We don't need anything to happen to him, we'll need him." He thought back to what had happened between him and Fury. "We'll really need him."

"I know I sound stupid for asking," Skye said. "Are you planning something? It seems like you're planning something big because you keep saying that we need everybody we can and so on and so forth."

Coulson sighed and looked briefly at May, "I should probably tell you guys this since you will be involved. I had a talk with Fury after we got back on the Bus. He gave me a job."

"What kind of job?" Triplett asked.

"He, um, wants me to rebuild SHIELD."

"What?" Simmons asked, dumbfounded. "He did? How are you going to do that?"

"I don't know." Coulson replied. "It's a big job, rebuilding an entire organization from the ground up. And there's even more. I'm to be the Director."

"What?!" Skye exclaimed. "That's amazing! Director Coulson!"

"I guess. But it will be a long road to rebuild SHIELD. I just have to figure out how."

"You know that we will be behind you, right?" Triplett asked. "Cause we will no matter what you say."

"I know that." Coulson replied. "And I will need all the help that we can get."

The five agents looked at each other until a low, voice croaked through the silence, "Jemma? Jemma, are you there?"

Fitz was awake.

"Fitz?" Simmons went running into Fitz's room followed by the others.

Fitz was sitting up in his bed, weakly smiling at them, "Where am I?" he asked. "And is there any food around? I'm starving."

He sounded like the same old Fitz, but they weren't quite sure what to think quite yet.


Two prison guards led Ward into a small jail cell and went out and locked the door behind him. He looked around slowly and then proceeded to sit down on the small, gray bed.

He had been taken to a federal penitentiary soon after soldiers had taken him into custody after the showdown at Cybertek. Charged with being a terrorist against the American government, murder, and some other various crimes. He had no clue how long he was going to be in here, he thought that he would probably never even get out.

He looked down at the pale, gray jumpsuit he was wearing. He knew that he deserved this. For years he was blindly following a narcissistic maniac, doing whatever he was told to do.

There was no one for him to follow now. No one to give him orders, except for the prison guards watching his every more. He never wanted it to be like this. He just wished that there was some way to make it all right again. He wished for the times when the team was actually friend with him, and he wasn't trying to hurt them.


Coulson talked with the doctor in charge of Fitz while May, Skye, Simmons, and Triplett talked with Fitz. "Will he be okay?" he asked.

"After while we're going to check for possible brain damage that we couldn't check for while he was asleep." The doctor replied. "We're expecting it to go either way since his brain was without oxygen for a good amount of time. His arm is fine, it will heal. It's his brain and his mental functions we have to worry about."

Coulson talked a little longer with the doctor before returning to Fitz's room.

"So, where are we anyway?" Fitz asked.

"A secret SHIELD base called the Playground." Coulson replied.

"The Playground? That's a strange name for a base." Fitz stated.

"That's what it is." Skye said.

"And when am I going to get my food?" Fitz asked. "I'm starving."

"You'll get it." May said.

Skye and Triplett got up, "We'll go find something." Triplett said as they went out of the room.

As the three agents continued talking with Fitz, Coulson felt that something was wrong. He thought that Fitz wasn't quite acting right. He seemed a little off. Could something have really happened to his brain? Had the engineer's life been changed?


Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. New story! This story is gonna mainly follow Coulson, Fitz, Skye, and Ward after the events of 1x22. I hope this goes well and that y'all will enjoy this. Keep reading and PLEASE REVIEW! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.