Despite the rough start with Robbie, Director Mace had let them go to the abandoned Roxxon Power Plant. But the technology there was ancient, so Daisy and Ana couldn't shut it down remotely by hacking into the system. Boots were needed on the ground.

After Daisy and Ana temporarily muted their comms, the former asked, "Am I going to regret helping you?" Coulson had ordered them to stay behind and guide them through the building. Fitz was going in this time, because they were going to need an engineer there. Ana's plan was to sneak in while the others were busy fighting Bauer, and read a few pages of the Darkhold. Hopefully, that would be enough.

"We've been through this. Let me just use the book. After that, if I start acting weird, if something feels off, just tell Coulson everything, and he'll send me on a trip to TAHITI."

"Robbie is going to kill us both…"

"Ana," Robbie's voice came through the comm. "Change of plans. You're coming with me."

Speak of the Devil… She unmuted her comm. "What?"

"Not my call." Even his human voice left no room for discussion. He must have decided not to leave her out of his sight while they were so close to the Darkhold. Damn, could the Rider read minds or something?

"On my way."

She shot Daisy a desperate look before leaving the room. In return, she got an "I'll see what I can do," look from her. They were going to have to improvise.

…

"…West and down another control room, and not that you care, but the power surges are growing more frequent and more intense."

"You're just full of good news today, aren't you?" Coulson joked. He was playing it cool, but they all could see he was happier than anyone else to have Daisy back on the team, even if it was a temporary arrangement.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'd rather be there with you than up here on injured reserve."

They separated. Mack and Fitz went to shut down the power, while Coulson, May, Robbie, and Ana headed down the stairs. The lights here were flickering, and there was static in Ana's ear. Even if Daisy was speaking, she couldn't hear her anymore.

"May, Ana your comms working?" Coulson asked. It looked like she wasn't the only one.

"Negative. Just static," May replied.

"Same here," Ana added.

"Daisy? Do you copy? Are you there?"

"No, but I am."

They all stopped and turned around. The incorporeal form of Lucy Bauer was standing right behind them.

"Find my uncle," Robbie said. "I've got this."

Ana was going to go with Coulson and May, but Robbie grabbed her wrist. "You're staying with me."

Bauer was now looking at Ana. "Hello, Ana. Never thought I'd see you here."

"Yeah, well… It's a long story. But I'm certainly not here to join your cause, so don't get any wrong ideas."

"Shame. I remember offering you a job after your graduation. I was going to give you a chance to be great, to escape your father's shadow. You didn't even bother to return to my e-mail."

"I'm perfectly happy with where I am, thank you very much."

"You arrogant bitch…"

"Careful now, you don't want to piss off my hot-headed baby-sitter here."

She looked at Robbie. "Am I supposed to be scared of him?"

"My uncle is Eli Morrow," he said.

"Of course. I've seen your picture. You're his nephew, Gabriel. Like the angel."

"No. I'm the other one." Indeed he was.

"It wasn't supposed to be you boys. Joe hired that gang to take out Eli."

Joseph Bauer had hired a gang to kill someone? Being obsessed with magic books was one thing, but hiring thugs to kill someone? Damn, Ana couldn't believe she had worked for these people once. And just to prove—to no one in particular—she wasn't a spoiled, sheltered little girl, of all reasons…

"You think that makes me feel better?" Robbie asked, pushing Ana behind him.

"I don't care how it makes you feel. I just want you to understand why I'm going to kill him. I had a husband I loved, work that challenged and thrilled me, and just as I had everything I'd dreamt of within my grasp, this happened. But I'm going to make it alright. Don't take this personally."

She passed through Robbie, and was coming for Ana, but then, Robbie stopped her.

"How?" Bauer cried.

"Maybe I wasn't clear about who I am." She pulled her closer and grabbed her by the shoulders. "How many innocent people died because of what you've done? I'm here to make you pay for your actions. There're consequences of playing God."

Ana tried to not to think much about the last part.

"Me?" Bauer cried. "Your uncle is the one who wants to play God. He's the one who started this whole nightmare… You're just like your uncle. You have the same fire in you."

"No. Mine's worse." And then, Robbie burned her to ashes. Again, Ana feared that he wouldn't hesitate to do the same to her if she read the book. And yet, the conversation had given her an idea.

"Come on," Robbie said. "Let's go find my uncle."

"Robbie?"

"Yeah?"

"The Devil… He does care about the innocent, right?"

"The only thing he cares about is vengeance."

"Still, vengeance requires incentive."

"Why do you ask?" he questioned, but he looked like he knew the answer.

"Because something is coming… for the innocent. Would he still want me dead if I read the Darkhold to stop that thing?"

"Ana, just don't…"

"Robbie, listen to me! I'm saying something is coming for all of us! That includes your brother, too! Don't you care at all?"

"What's coming? And how do you know about it?"

"Give me your secret, and I'll give you mine. How does the Devil know me?"

He smiled angrily. "You're bold, I'll give you that. But you don't want to play games with him, trust me."

"I don't know. Despite everything, he sounds like a reasonable guy. If only I could say the same about you."

"I told you, I don't know how he's connected to you. He won't tell me."

"So, he tells you what to do with me, but not why?"

"Damn right. Look, I know you're not like Bauer. Your reasons are… different. But the Rider won't care. So, give up. Come on, let's just go find my uncle. I want to see if Bauer was right about him."

They were going to set off again, but suddenly, they saw a transparent white cloud approaching them, like a wave. And it was spreading fast. Ana grabbed Robbie, intending to fly away from it, but she had been too late.

"I'm so sorry, Dad," was her last thought.

Then the blast hit them, sending them flying off to the pipes at the far end of the hallway, but other than that, they were unscathed. The white cloud was gone. They both scrambled to their feet.

"What happened?" Robbie asked.

"I don't know, but maybe Bauer wasn't lying. I think this was your uncle. You're right, we need to find him."

Her suit was still functional, but it had no satellite, or internet connection. Like it was isolated from the world. That blast had done something. They just didn't know what it was yet. It was best not to start a fight among themselves until they figured this out. The Darkhold was going to have to wait.

They turned a corner, and found Eli walking down the hallway.

"I heard some troubling things from Lucy," Robbie started. "That you tried to kill them. You were behind this the whole time!"

Eli ignored them. Robbie charged at his uncle, but he just walked through him. Robbie looked at his own hands first, then Ana, probably for an explanation. She had none.

"Mr. Morrow, we're here to escort you out of here," a SHIELD agent said. It looked like these agents couldn't see Ana and Robbie either.

Eli turned to the agents, holding what looked like a stake in his hand. It was weird, because Ana was pretty sure he had no such thing when they had first encountered him.

"He's armed!" the same agent warned the others.

Robbie rushed to his side. "Tío, keep your head, man! Don't do anything stupid!"

"Beautiful, no?" Eli asked the agents. "Pure carbon."

"Sir, you have to put down the weapon."

"Tío, don't hurt them."

Eli dropped the stake made out of carbon. It shattered into hundreds of shards. But Eli didn't look like he was going to surrender. Ana recognized the look on his face. It was a look of madness, a hunger for power, respect, and domination. For her, it was like looking into a mirror. A mirror of shame.

"Get away from him!" Robbie tried to warn the agents, but he had been too late. The one who had been talking to Eli was impaled by another, bigger carbon stake that had, again, come out of nowhere. Eli just walked away, blocking the way with a wall of carbon with a flick of his hand.

A second later, Mack and May walked in. "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him," Robbie apologized.

For Ana, the truth had already sunk in. "I don't think they can hear us, Robbie. We're outside their perceptible spectrum."

"Why? What happened? Are we like those scientists now?"

Ana took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. They were going to fix this. One way, or the other, they were going to fix this. She just needed to do what she did best, and think. Yeah, she was an excellent problem solver. "I doubt it," she started. "For one thing, they could control their molecular density. Ours seems to be fixed."

She tried to touch to the nearest wall, but no matter how hard she tried, her armored hand just phased through it. "Of course, they had years to get familiar with their new nature, but the circumstances were different. They were sucked into Quantum Batteries, while we were exposed to a residual energy surge from a similar device. Depending on the—"

"Ana, you know I'm a high school dropout, yeah? Just tell me if this is better, or worse."

"I don't know. How does the Devil feel about it?"

"He's… not happy."

"Then it's probably worse."

"What's my uncle doing?"

"I think he's flexing his new muscles."

"What?"

"Carbon is like the foundation of all life on this planet, okay? And it's the simplest element. Just one simple atom. If I gained the ability to create things out of thin air, I'd start practicing with carbon, too."

"Are you saying he can create life?"

"If he keeps going like that, yes. Eventually. He wants to be a god. The problem is, where does he get the energy? It doesn't make any sense. It goes against all the laws of physics. No, the energy has to come from somewhere…"

"Can you fix us?"

"How can an engineer work if she can't use her hands?"

"I don't have an answer for that, but two engineers are better than one," Coulson broke in. Fitz was standing beside him.

"You guys can see us?"

"Yeah, we've been exposed, too," Fitz said. "But other than that, I'm as clueless as you are. Hey, at least your suit still works."

"It would help to know what exactly Eli did."

"Agreed."

"Then let's head back to Zephyr One," Coulson suggested. "The team thinks we're MIA. They'll figure this out."

Yeah, SHIELD thought they were MIA. And unless they were found soon, families would be called by the Director to inform them of their deaths. It was the standard SHIELD protocol… She couldn't let that happen.

…

Coulson, Fitz, Robbie, and Ana watched the footage of Eli's experiment along with the rest of the team. Of course, the rest of the team didn't know they were on board.

"I hate watching my own demise," Coulson joked.

"I don't think we're dead," Robbie said. "I feel sick. My stomach hurts." He grimaced.

"Guys… Is it just me, or are the lights really fading?" Ana asked.

"The lights," Fitz mumbled. "Yeah, the voices are harder to hear. Can't penetrate wherever we are."

Coulson asked, "What do you mean, 'wherever we are'? Do you understand what this is?"

"I think I understand why Lucy and her friends are like ghosts now… They were out of phase with our reality. It's like the invisible quantum mechanics inside the boxes, moving in and out of our dimension. Lucy and her friends were stuck in between and now we are, too!"

"Trapped between dimensions?"

"Yeah, that shock wave wasn't a turbulence, that was… friction between two dimensions."

"Dude… what?" Robbie asked.

"We're being sucked into another dimension," Ana realized. Fitz's theory was solid. "And we've been sucked even deeper. That's why we can't control our density like Bauer and her friends did. It's not about our molecules, it's the quantum mechanics at play here!"

Fitz nodded. "Yeah. Imagine the world is a raft floating on the water. And Eli punches a hole right at our feet. We get sucked down into… who knows what."

In the meantime, those who were still 100% on the Earth dimension were now discussing the option of calling families.

"Sooner or later someone's going to have to call Stark," Mack was saying. "The man deserves to know."

"Mack, no!" Ana cried, but of course, Mack didn't hear it.

Much to her horror, Mace nodded. "Of course. Ana Stark died on my watch, and I'll take full responsibility for it. But not yet. I should be able to give him an answer when Stark asks me what happened here. That's why I want to talk to Simmons first."

It was Fitz's turn to freak out. "They're going to tell her I'm dead!" He took out her phone to call Simmons, but then realized it was a stupid idea.

Thankfully, May was of the opinion that they should do more before starting to make phone calls. She suggested questioning the Chinatown Crew.

"The Chinatown Crew," Robbie said. "They might be right about that. I can help find them."

"That means they have to know you're alive first. You got any hell-demon tricks up your sleeve?"

"No. He's fighting me right now."

"Then we'll stick together. And we'll find a way to make them hear us. All of us," Coulson said, determined.

Ana was thinking about how lucky she was to be stuck in this mess at least with a reliable group of friends when she suddenly felt something cold behind her head. Like, icy cold fingers had brushed her hair, and then disappeared. She let out an involuntary scream.

"What?" the other three asked.

"S—something touched me," she said. She didn't know why, but she was really scared now. She hadn't put on the helmet when she had donned the suit, but maybe she should have. "Did you guys see anything?"

They shook their heads.

"I swear I felt something behind me, I'm not making it up!"

"Ana, calm down," Coulson said. "We believe you. Tell us what it was like."

"It was… cold. Really cold. It was like a hand… Coulson, I don't know where we are going, but I'm pretty certain there are things on the other side."

Mace was going to call Simmons, so Fitz and Robbie went after him. Coulson followed May. Ana stayed with Daisy, who seemed devastated. She went to sit in a corner by herself. Mack didn't leave her alone, though.

"Hey… You okay?"

"Look, I know you want to do the right thing, but I don't think Ana would want us to call Tony right away."

"Yes!" Ana exclaimed with relief. "Thank you!"

"If May is right…" Daisy paused and sucked in a shaky breath. "I have to believe May is right. I can't lose anyone else."

"You won't. I was being hasty earlier. Let the Director talk to Simmons first. Maybe she'll figure this out."

"You know what would be nice?" Ana asked Daisy, or rather, herself. "An Inhuman who can sense all types of wavelengths… Which gives me an idea. If I hit you with a supersonic blast right now, it wouldn't hurt you, but you might feel the frequency. Yeah, you can sense frequencies other people can't! It's worth a try."

She hit Daisy with a series of ultrasonic waves. Normally, they were powerful enough to knock most people out, but right now, they passed through Daisy, without causing any harm.

"I hurt both Coulson and Ana so much… And Fitz might never forgive me. You heard what he said on the…" She paused, and looked around.

"What?" Mack asked.

"I'm feeling something."

"Like what?"

"Ana had a suit with her when they disappeared, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Mack, I think she's here! Ana, if it's you, stop."

Ana stopped.

"Okay, if Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie are with you, do it again!"

Ana hit her with the ultrasonic waves again.

"Oh my gosh, Mack, they're not gone!"

Well, at least that would stop SHIELD from calling her dad… But she still needed a more effective form of communication. A way to make her voice heard. Daisy might be able to sense a wider range of frequencies, but her visual perception was still human.

Human… That was the problem! They were trying to contact humans! Of course that wouldn't work! Humans couldn't see them, but an android could! And there was only one in the world: Vision.

They weren't too far from New York. She could go to the Compound before it was too late. "Coulson, Fitz, Robbie… I got an idea, I'm going to the Compound! I'll come back with help!" she shouted. The helmet engaged, and she took off without waiting for an answer. There was no time to lose.

Once she was high enough, she went supersonic. Because the suit was offline, she couldn't tap into the ATC data, but it was okay. Even if she accidentally ran into a plane, she would just phase through it.

Going supersonic was something Ana had done only once, during a training session with her dad. It felt insanely empowering, though, traveling faster than sound. And this suit—her version of Mark L was modified for her needs, but it was more or less the same with her dad's—was designed for their greatest fear: The otherworldly. If being trapped between two dimensions wasn't the ultimate trial for it, Ana didn't know what was. So, she tried to stay hopeful.

The lights had become so dim that it looked like nighttime by the time she entered the Compound, but she knew it was still only mid-day. She was just being pulled deeper into this other dimension, which meant she needed to hurry.

"Vision?" she called out. "Where are you? Vision? I need your help!"

Damn… Where was Vision when she needed him? She checked out the communal kitchen, his room, even the labs, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"FRIDAY? Maybe you can hear me?"

No reply from FRIDAY either. Yeah, the sensors and cameras she used around the Compound weren't as advanced as Vision's hardware. Nothing was as advanced as Vision's hardware.

What she found was her dad in his workshop. Of course, he couldn't know she was here. He was working on something, and when she got closer, she realized it was a new suit for Peter. He really liked that kid.

"Hey, Dad. I'm home. Finally. If you must know, I got myself trapped between two dimensions while chasing a magic book. I'm sorry… Please tell me you didn't send Vision to pick up groceries. I don't have much time left."

"Any sign from our Romeo?" he asked.

"This time I was able to track him to Rotterdam, boss," FRIDAY replied.

He nodded thoughtfully. "Either he's taking a detour, or they have more than one love nest."

Ana felt like she had just been hit by a truck. "Wait… Are you talking about Vision and Maximoff? Shit…"

"He promised to return in two days," FRIDAY stated.

"Well, I don't have two days! I don't even know if I have two hours!" She collapsed on the floor, and broke into tears. Vision was her last hope. "Dad, help me…"

Of course, he couldn't help her. No matter how much he loved her, no matter how strong their bond was, he couldn't know she was right before him, begging for help.

"I guess this is how karma gets me…" Vision was only away because Wanda was away. And Wanda was away because she was a fugitive, like Ana had wanted.

The smart thing to do right now was to get back to Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie, but she couldn't bring herself to leave here. If these were her final moments, this was exactly where she wanted to be. AC/DC, DUM-E, U, random clusters of machinery and blueprints… Those were the things that made her feel home. That was the world the two had built together over the years. Of course, there was a huge void in that world now, with JARVIS gone, but Ana had never lost the hope that her dad would pull another miracle one day. Not that it mattered anymore…

She looked at the pictures he kept on his desk. A picture of him with his dad, building an engine together, another picture of him and Pepper—this one was new, Ana noticed, probably taken during the press conference where he had proposed her— and finally, a picture of him and a 17-year-old Ana in her graduation robes, taken shortly after her valedictory speech at MIT. She had never understood why he had chosen this particular picture, but she did now. Even when she was a stupid hormonal teenager trying to punish him by pretending like she didn't care about him, their love for each other was obvious. Then she looked at her own desk, which had been untouched ever since she had left the Compound.

She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. She was going to go missing, and he was going to find out. She didn't know what was going to happen to her, but she knew what he was going to do. He was going to put the pieces together, connect the dots, trace her steps back, and conclude she had been here. He was going to review all the surveillance footage at the Compound, manipulate the data until he found the spot she was on on the electromagnetic spectrum.

"I know one day you're going to see this, so I'm going to choose my words carefully… I'm so sorry, Dad. I'm so sorry I couldn't be the daughter you deserved. You deserve a much better kid. Like… Peter. He's a good kid. Much more decent than I can ever be. I mean, look what I got myself into… All because I wanted more power. Because everything you taught me, everything you gave me wasn't enough. It was never enough. I kept wanting more. I tell everyone I'm not a power-hungry bitch, but that's a big, fat lie. And I'm also sorry I didn't tell you about the stupid book. There are probably a thousand more things I should apologize for. Looking back, all I ever wanted was to protect you, but somehow, I ended up hurting you more than any enemy could."

He leaned back in the swivel chair, stretched his muscles, and looked at her desk thoughtfully, like he was having some sort of inner struggle. A few seconds passed, and he seemingly gave in. "What was she looking for in the SSR archives?"

"The Isodyne Energy and Whitney Frost files, boss. They are associated with an unearthly substance called the Darkforce, something your father had to deal with as well."

"Darkforce, huh? Yeah, because that doesn't sound ominous at all… Am I making a mistake, FRIDAY? Should I just be a total asshole and force the Director to send her home?"

"Your call, boss."

"You're not an asshole, Dad. That's me. I'd tell you to let me go, not to waste your life trying to get me back, that I'm not worth it, but I know nothing can change your mind. So, I want you to know I'll never stop trying to get back to you. I'll never give up. There has to be a way out if there's—"

Ana jumped when she felt those cold, invisible fingers again. This time, she had felt them on her face, like they were trying to wipe away the tears.

"Stay away from me!" she cried, crawling backwards frantically.

One of the hands covered her mouth. The other was pulling her by the arm. For a moment, everything was dark, then she found herself in the middle of a cold, twilit desolation. There was a blue haze over everything. The sky was dark gray, and starless, and there was no source of light in sight, but she could still see her surroundings somehow. Ana's helmet formed around her head, and she pushed her captor away with all the strength she had. It was a tall, slender figure in long, black, worn robes. Their face was obscured by a hood. When Ana's blow sent them flying, they made a deliberate effort to keep the hood in place, and still managed to land several feet away from her gracefully.

Ana got back on her feet, every weapon on the suit ready to shoot. Now that she could see the enemy, she was less scared. "Send me back! Now!"

The figure was crouching, one knee touching the ground, head bowed. "I wish I could, child." It was a man. His voice was muffled, but there was something familiar about it.

"Then why did you drag me here?"

"I had to."

"Who are you?"

He remained silent.

"Answer me, or I'll blow you to hell."

"This is Hell."

"What?" she asked, confused. She didn't think he was messing with her. "Am I dead?"

"No. And I'll do whatever it takes to keep it that way." He stood up. "It's not safe here. Follow me."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who you are."

With a sigh, he lowered his hood, and looked up.

Involuntarily, Ana took a few steps back. She didn't know what she had expected to see, but she certainly hadn't expected to see the face of Howard Stark.

A/N: This chapter was particularly fun to write. Because I'm a sucker for angst... and plot twists and cliff hangers. I don't know how you feel about Howard Stark, but I hope you liked the twist in the end. Well, it's probably not much of a plot twist if you've been following me since The Heiress, but I doubt anyone would be THAT invested in my stories, haha. Anyway, a family reunion in Hell... If that doesn't quench your thirst for badass Stark family moments, I don't know what will :) I normally don't want to press for reviews, but lately I haven't got much, especially from the old readers, and I'm scared that you guys are getting bored of me. Hope that's not the case? I'm also worried that I'm updating too fast and you have trouble keeping up, but I'll be busy with grad school this fall, so I just want to finish this story before that. There are only 15 chapters left!