Author's Note: This is my first Agents of SHIELD fanfiction/drabble. All of my previous stories have been for The Tomorrow People. (It's all Luke Mitchell's fault. I don't know why his characters continue to inspire me, but they do.) I was trying to make this a full story, but was stuck so decided to go the ficlet/drabble route.

"She'll do whatever's needed to protect our people. You know that better than most.
Are you forgetting your life before we found you?" - Gordon

"Of course I haven't forgotten." - Lincoln

"Then you'll remember how far she went to save you
and know how far she will go to save all of us." - Gordon

xxx SHIELD xxx

Ten Years Ago

"Let's move swiftly. It shouldn't take much to take care of this situation. I've seen this before and know how to handle the greedy."

Jiaying and Gordon gathered a couple of crystals and teleported back outside of the warehouse.

"Wait here, Gordon, it won't take very long."

Jiaying entered the building and was soon met with a gun pointed at her head.

"You seem to be lost, this is private property. Leave ... now!" The thug used the gun to force her back to the door.

Jiaying put up her hands and faced the thug. "You are going to turn away someone bearing gifts?"

"What gifts?"

"These," Jiaying said as she slowly lowered one hand and pulled the crystals from her pocket.

The thug's eyes instantly focused on the colorful rods. "What are those? Jade?"

Jiaying shook her head. "I think you mean sapphires, but no. It's something even more rare than any gem known to mankind."

The thug called out, "hey, Ricky, you need to see this!"

Ricky showed up, took one look at the crystals in Jiaying's hands and immediately brought her to the main meeting room.

As they entered she noticed a group of men with guns strapped to their legs and in shoulder holsters on one side of the room. On the other side were a couple of kids who sat with their backs against the wall and arms wrapped around their knees. Neither moved and kept their eyes trained on the other group. Fear keeping them silent and unmoving. She wondered which one was Lincoln, but didn't linger on the thought. She'd find out soon enough.

When the group turned to look at the newcomer, a few let their hands hover near the sidearms. The bigger, well built of the group, just crossed their arms to make themselves as intimidating as possible.

Jiaying just smiled at them and showed no signs of fear. In fact, she wasn't afraid. Truthfully, there was very little that could frighten her. She has lived long enough to know hubris when she sees it.

"Ricky, what's going on here?" The one guy who everybody else had been gathered around stepped forward.

"Have you ever seen gems like this?" Ricky pointed to the rods in Jiaying's hands.

"No, I haven't," the man walked over and tried to take one.

Jiaying pulled it away. "Be careful, they are very fragile."

They guy scoffed at her and grabbed one. As he examined it, his hand gradually turned to stone. The change crept up his arm and soon the man was nothing but stone.

Some of the group stared in shock. Others grabbed their guns and trained them on Jiaying. As they did, she threw the other crystal on the ground releasing the mist and ran over toward the boys. A couple thugs were able to get a few shots off before turning into stone. She took a couple of hits and fell in front of the boys. Just before she passed out, she saw the one boy turn to stone just as the gang had and saw the other enveloped in the cocoon. Her last thought was "hello, Lincoln, you're safe now".

Outside, Gordon heard the commotion. He waited until it was quiet again before teleporting into the building. He landed right beside Jiaying. He took a moment to assess the room. The only ones he needed to take care of were Jiaying and Lincoln. Since Jiaying had been shot, he took her back to Afterlife to their medical personnel then returned for the boy.

When he arrived back to take Lincoln, he was just breaking out of the cocoon. Gordon waited for the boy to emerge then said, "Lincoln, do you remember me?"

The teenager started hyperventilating and shaking.

"Lincoln, it's okay. You'll be fine. I'm here to take you to a safe place," Gordon said soothingly.

"What ... what's going on? Am I on fire? I feel like I'm burning up."

"No, you're not. I'm going to take you to get help. Okay?"

The teenager nodded his approval. Gordon wrapped his arm around him and teleported both of them out of there.

"When I came out of the mist every cell in my body had a different electrical charge.
I felt like I was burning from the inside out." - Lincoln