"Did you think of anything for me?" Cisco asked as he handed Mack a timer. They were doing a little check-up on the treadmill, making sure it still sped up and, more importantly, slowed down fast enough. Barry had put a lot of miles on it since it was built, so Cisco thought it was time to make sure everything was working well.

"What do you mean?" Mack asked.

"You're the nickname guy, right? You know me better, so what's my nickname?"

"Blockbuster doesn't work?"

Cisco grinned for a second. "I actually really like that. But I mean a hero name. 'Blockbuster' isn't suited for the battlefield."

"As if you are," Mack said immediately.

"Haha, laugh it up Giant Man."

Cisco started the treadmill, and held up a hand to signal when Mack should stop the timer. A quick look told him it was speeding up fine.

"What do you want? Vision?"

Cisco shook his head. "That one doesn't sit right. I'll keep working on it."

"You realize Daisy doesn't have a hero name, right? She's fine with the one."

Cisco hadn't realized that, actually. He would have to fix that. Daisy had been a hero much longer than him… he would think of a name that would do her justice. "I'm trying to think of something for Caitlin and Barry too."

Cisco pressed the stop button and looked at Mack when the treadmill stopped spinning. The man gave him an affirmative nod. At least their hard work was holding up.

"Barry's a speedster. I haven't thought of anything besides that for him, so I'll leave that one up to you. I've been trying to think of a nickname for Caitlin, though," Mack said. "Cold powers make 'snow' a go to, but that's already her name. More than a coincidence, in my opinion," he said with a pointed look. "But anyway, it has to have something to do with cold. Seems like she's a bit harsher when she uses her powers. Like -."

"Frost," Cisco said. He knew right when he said it that it had to be her hero name. It was perfect.

Mack half-smiled. "Exactly."

Cisco started to frown, thinking about his and May's concerns about Caitlin, but was pulled from the thought by the arrival of Hunter. "You two done?"

"What's up?" Mack asked.

"Thought maybe we could have a chat."

"Yeah, sure. What's on your mind?"

Hunter's eyes flicked to Cisco and back at Mack. "Just us. Let's go grab a beer."

Mack handed Cisco the timer and followed Hunter, casting a shrug at Cisco before he walked out of sight. Cisco didn't mind. Hunter and Mack were old friends. Cisco wanted to check in with Daisy anyway. She'd been spending a lot of time on her computer lately, per Coulson's request. Cisco took it upon himself to make sure she wasn't working alone. After all, he was a computer nerd too. He was slightly surprised Coulson hadn't asked him to help Daisy with the web search.

He slipped the timer into his pocket, his thoughts drifting back to the last conversation he'd had with Coulson, in Coulson's office.

"'Boy, I've got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals,'" Cisco quoted.

"Okay, Cisco, what do you see?" Coulson asked.

Cisco faltered for a second. He hadn't expected Coulson to call on him or anything. He pointed at a spot on the monitor. "That's the castle we blew up, right?"

"Yes."

"Did someone check for survivors after we left?"

There was something like approval in Coulson's expression. "You're wondering if Gideon Malick is alive." He waited for Cisco to nod. "I think we can assume he bolted once he knew we were there."

"So you never thought this was over." He must have thought Cisco was an idiot for asking.

"No. But my job makes it hard to trust sometimes."

Now they definitely knew that Malick was alive, and that he was mostly untouchable. Coulson had been watching Malick's financial assets since he'd gotten back from Maveth, and a recent transfer of funds confirmed that Malick was alive and well, and up to something. Unfortunately, the President of the United States had blatantly told Coulson there was nothing to use against Malick, so they were supposed to leave him alone. They didn't even know exactly where Malick was, but Cisco still found it frustrating that they couldn't do anything to him. He was a head of HYDRA, for frack's sake.

Coulson was busy working with some guy named Talbot, the new director of the ATCU. He was relying on the others to keep searching for Malick, and try to determine what Malick's next plan was. That was where Daisy being on her computer so much came in. She'd grabbed it immediately, and in the two days following Cisco had barely seen her. He knew there wouldn't be a lot of activity at once. Maybe he could convince her to spar, while they waited for an alert about more activity in Malick's accounts.

He hoped seeing her in action would kick start his brain, so he could think of a good hero name quickly.

0-0

Caitlin didn't know what was wrong with her.

She wasn't blacking out or anything, but she felt a lack of control that was similar to it, from what she'd read in medical books. For most of the day she was fine, but at certain times… it was hard to be her normal self, sometimes. She was scared at how easily she seemed to act out, being so impulsive and angry. Because even if she was scared, it was anger she mostly expressed. Hot and sudden anger that completely transformed her, stealing away her control.

She tried training by herself, so she didn't have another incident like when she'd attacked Barry. If no one was around, no one could be hurt. No one could question her either. She was free to use her powers as she wished. The knowledge that May was watching her was both stifling and comforting, and since Caitlin couldn't make up her mind over which, she didn't confront the woman. She avoided her.

She was in one of the many rooms on the base, staring at the results of her most recent training exercise, when she sank to the floor, her energy abruptly spent. The pipe she had been blasting with ice lay shattered on the floor. She hadn't even checked to see if it was important before blasting it. Just the challenge that it had been burning to the touch had been enough for her to blast it. Thankfully it wasn't an overly important piece of infrastructure. She looked at the frozen remnants and felt guilt work its way through her. What would the others say when they saw the wanton destruction?

Her guilt faded swiftly as she recovered her breath and leaned against the door. Obviously the pipe hadn't been integral, because it had been minutes and she'd heard no response from the team, no alarms saying something was wrong. Things broke sometimes.

She closed her eyes as she set her head back and breathed out slowly. The breath seemed to take her emotions with it.

0-0

Jemma looked at the gel matrix and simultaneously felt her stomach twist into knots and her body calm. Logically, she knew that Dr. Garner being in stasis was the best thing for the moment, since Lash was a problem they didn't know how to deal with. Emotionally, it was difficult to see him in suspended animation like this, so helpless. She and Fitz had been looking into the ATCU's research on a cure for Inhumans, or at least for Dr. Garner, but so far they hadn't had any luck. Jemma felt she had to figure out some way to help Dr. Garner, if only in an effort to make May feel better.

May probably didn't think anyone knew, but Jemma had seen her walking out of the room Dr. Garner was being kept in one night. It was before Fitz and Coulson went to Maveth, and from the speed May had been walking, the woman had clearly been upset. Yet she hadn't said anything, because she seemed to keep her troubles to herself.

So Jemma was trying to ease those troubles, to lighten the weight on May's shoulders. She walked out of the room and back to the lab, disappointed that her trip to the room hadn't jogged any ideas. She wasn't getting anything from the records the ATCU had. Honestly, no one knew enough about Inhumans to know if it was even possible to stop their powers from emerging. No one who was only human, she realized, and increased her speed.

Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? Lincoln might know how to help Dr. Garner. He'd been in Afterlife with the other Inhumans for years, and he was a doctor. He had to know something. Of course there was the problem of convincing him to come in and talk to her. Jemma had only seen him a few times, and doubted he remembered her name.

She was positive he remembered Daisy. She sat at her desk and pulled up the Index file they'd made for Lincoln. All she had to do was craft a strong enough argument for Daisy to give him, and hopefully he would come in with some sort of answer.

Jemma analyzed the limited information they had on Lincoln and sent Daisy an email with her request. She didn't quite have the courage to ask her for this favor in person, since she didn't know how Daisy would react to the idea. She'd just sent it when she saw movement in her peripheral vision, and turned her head slightly to see Bobbi walking in.

"Lab's pretty quiet right now," Bobbi noted.

Jemma chuckled. "It's either silent or bustling." She took in Bobbi's tense posture and closed the file she'd been looking at. "Something on your mind?"

Bobbi walked a few steps closer. "You know how I said my relationship with Hunter has always been a rollercoaster?"

She did remember this conversation: back when she and Fitz had barely been speaking to each other, just before Puerto Rico. "Fast through the gate, twists and turns, hard stops, and back in line again," she recited with a slight upturn of her lips. "You two seem to be doing well. Are you worried you're approaching a hard stop again?"

Bobbi's eyebrows pressed closer together. "That's the thing. It's always been this wild, uncontrollable ride, but lately… everything that happened with Ward changed us. The big drop disappeared, so we're just calm."

"And you're not sure what to make of it?"

Bobbi took a slow breath. "I'm not sure us being calm and being in S.H.I.E.L.D. can go together." She met Jemma's eyes. "And I think I'd rather leave S.H.I.E.L.D. than go back to the uncontrollable rollercoaster with Hunter. We might be able to build something permanent, if things stay calm long enough."

Jemma feared some of her sadness at the idea of Bobbi leaving showed through, but she tried to express only her understanding as she gave her a small smile. "No matter what you decide, I support you."

Bobbi seemed slightly sad herself, as she reached over and hugged her, which confirmed that she was seriously considering leaving. "Thank you Jemma."

Jemma looked down, giving a small nod. It was hard to imagine S.H.I.E.L.D. without Bobbi (or Hunter, for that matter), but she told herself not to despair. After all, they were only considering leaving. And if they did, it was to be together, happy and safe. Jemma couldn't blame Bobbi for thinking of a different kind of life. She'd wondered what her future with Fitz would be like, if they ever left S.H.I.E.L.D. Safer, definitely, but beyond that… She'd just never gotten very far in those ponderings. S.H.I.E.L.D. was what had brought them together, after all. It was too strange to consider leaving it behind.

Bobbi leaned forward. "Alright. I've caught you up on me and Hunter. What's going on with you and Fitz?"

Jemma smiled.

0-0

It was evening when Fitz got the text from Daisy.

"She got a location on Malick," he said aloud.

The others in the lab looked up, Caitlin energetically. "So what's the plan?"

Fitz read the text over again, and felt his mouth curve downwards. "There is no plan. Nothing new, anyway. She informed Coulson, and he told her to keep monitoring his financial activity, but we can't go after him just yet." He pocketed his phone. "Apparently we need to catch him with the gun in his hand, so to speak."

Caitlin stood, sending the chair rolling back.

Cisco straightened, pressing his eyebrows together. "So this update isn't much of an update."

"We at least know where he is now," Jemma said. "At the first sign of increased activity on Malick's end we can go to his location and put a stop to whatever he's doing."

"If we get there in time."

Fitz turned at the harshness in Caitlin's tone, to see her facing them in the entryway of the lab. She sounded so angry.

"What's wrong?" Cisco asked her.

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "Maybe the fact that no matter how many HYDRA heads we cut off, we don't seem to be making any difference!"

A chill crept across the back of Fitz's neck. The whole room became colder, actually, and Fitz thought he saw a shimmer in the air near Caitlin's hands.

"There aren't many parts of HYDRA left," Cisco said. "Once we get Malick -."

"What would you know about it?" Caitlin asked, turning on him. Her tone wasn't just angry now. It sounded like ice fracturing, altering her usual timbre, and Fitz knew what was happening. He saw something like fear in Cisco's eyes but didn't have time to think about it as his mind prioritized something that was always on his list: keep Jemma safe.

Fitz reached out for Jemma, trying to make her step behind him. Jemma let him draw her back, but didn't duck down as much as he would have liked. She looked at Caitlin carefully. "Caitlin, try to take a deep breath -."

"Don't tell me what to do," she said, and her words were sharp and pointed, all traces of warmth gone. The hairs on Fitz's arms seemed to stand up, and he started to turn, actively guiding Jemma behind a desk. He ducked down himself, and heard something impact the computer they'd just been standing in front of.

"Her powers are overwhelming her," Jemma said quickly.

Fitz could hear Cisco saying something to Caitlin, and tried to think quickly. "I think there's an ICER at my desk. If I can just get to it…"

"Go," Jemma said, and jumped up.

Fitz almost pulled her right back down, but realized she was giving him a few seconds to reach the ICER. He stood and ran over towards the desk, glancing back as he did. Jemma was looking at Caitlin with her hands raised, but as she started to step forward, Caitlin sent a wave of ice at her.

"Caitlin, stop," Cisco said, sending a wave of energy to divert the cold blast that would have hit Jemma.

Fitz reached the desk and scrambled for the ICER, turning to face Caitlin. He had it aimed and was about to pull the trigger when Caitlin shot it out of his hand. "You can't just knock me out and ignore me," she spat, walking closer.

"We don't want to ignore you," Fitz promised, backing up slightly. He saw Jemma start edging closer to Cisco, trying to move slowly enough for Caitlin not to notice. When Fitz's eyes darted to Cisco, the fellow engineer seemed to get an idea. Something he needed Fitz to do, presumably.

Jemma was as in sync with him as ever, because she tossed a book towards Caitlin, momentarily drawing her attention away from Fitz. Fitz looked at Cisco carefully. Cisco was mouthing the words "get her phone." Fitz watched him mouth it twice, unsure, before Cisco sighed and sent an energy blast at Caitlin, making her stagger forward. Cisco ran over to Fitz, saying "there's a message on her phone, top of the list. Play it!"

Cisco whipped around and countered another wave of ice, and Fitz moved as fast as he could towards Caitlin's desk. He ducked an icicle as he retrieved her phone, then knelt behind the desk as he searched for the message. Top of the list, thirty seconds. Fitz turned the speaker all the way up and pressed play.

"Hey Cait, it's me."

The sound of energy blasts and ice forming stopped abruptly. Fitz peeked over the desk to see Caitlin standing rigid.

"I'm sorry I was late for our date yesterday. I wanted to make it up to you with a surprise dinner, tonight."

Caitlin was staring in Fitz's direction with distant eyes, her mouth parted.

"I know it's gonna be hard, being away from each other so long, but I'll always make it up to you, just like tonight. I love you, Cait."

The message ended, and Fitz stood cautiously. Caitlin was still looking in his direction, but as the message ended her eyes became less distant, and she crumpled to the floor with a sharp intake of breath. The room returned to its normal temperature.

Jemma ran to her side, as did Cisco. Fitz approached more carefully, with the phone in his hand, but he could see that the danger was past. Caitlin was crying soundlessly, her knuckles whitened as she gripped her sides tightly, her eyes closed.

"Hey, it's okay," Cisco said soothingly.

"I miss him so much!" Caitlin cried, looking at Cisco.

"I know. We all do." He rubbed her shoulder for a second before looking at Fitz and Jemma, as if saying 'I'll explain in a minute.' "Let's get you to your room," he said to Caitlin.

Caitlin let him guide her to a standing position, wiping at her eyes. "I didn't mean to do -."

"Shh, don't worry," Cisco soothed. "Let's just get to your room."

Caitlin cast Fitz a look filled with pain and remorse before she and Cisco walked out of sight, and Fitz stared at the empty doorway for a few seconds.

"Poor thing," Jemma said, coming to stand next to him.

Fitz looked around, assessing the damage Caitlin had done to the lab. It certainly wasn't the worst it had been damaged, but several monitors and shelves were partially destroyed. There was a large icicle stuck in the monitor he and Jemma had been standing by before this started – right behind where they'd been standing. "What do you think happened?" he asked.

Jemma hesitated. "She seems to have had the most emotional response to adjusting to her powers. Maybe her ice heightens her emotions, so she can't fully control them yet?"

Cisco walked back in and sighed. "She's lying down in a containment module. I don't even think she realized it wasn't her room."

"It's probably best she stays there for now," Jemma said.

Fitz studied Cisco. "So what was that message?"

Cisco half-smiled. "Ronnie Raymond. Caitlin's fiancé. He's working on nuclear fusion technology for the government."

"Why did the message make her so upset?" Fitz asked.

"Ronnie got a contract just after they got engaged. They haven't seen each other in almost a year, and only get to talk every few weeks. She misses him."

Fitz looked at Jemma. He'd nearly gone mad without her for six months. Caitlin hadn't seen Ronnie in almost a year. Granted, Caitlin was able to talk to Ronnie where Fitz hadn't even known if Jemma was alive, but still… he understood perfectly how desolate it could feel, to be without the one you loved.

"We should tell Coulson what happened," Cisco said.

"I'd like to look at Caitlin's test results again first," Jemma said. "I have a theory about what's happening to her, but I'd like to be sure. Do you think I could see her now, or…?"

"It's probably best if we leave her alone, but now's the best time to collect data," Fitz said gently, looking at Cisco. He wanted to make sure the engineer knew Fitz wasn't being insensitive.

Cisco seemed to get it. "Okay. I'll go with you."

"Let me do it," Fitz said, grabbing up Caitlin's phone again. He thought she might like to listen to any other messages she might have, or try calling Ronnie. Cisco nodded at him, and Fitz watched Jemma grab a syringe for a quick blood draw, and a scanner. Then they walked out of the lab.

They walked to the containment modules silently, and Fitz knocked on the door when they reached it. He waited a few seconds and eased it open a crack. "Caitlin? Can we come in?"

She sat up and nodded, and they entered the room. "We just wanted to run a few quick tests, to see if we can help you feel more in control," Jemma said, in one of her sincerest tones. "I can be done in a minute, if you're up for it."

Caitlin scooted closer to the edge of the bed, and held out her arm. As Jemma took a bit of blood, Fitz stood on Caitlin's other side. He suddenly understood what Mack had been saying, about Caitlin being like both he and Jemma. As he looked at her, he could suddenly see it clearly. He held out her phone to her. "Thought you might like this," he said, setting it on the bed.

"Thanks."

Jemma gave her a little gauze patch as she finished drawing blood, and handed the sample to Fitz as she took the scanner from him. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Like I lost control." She met their eyes, still full of guilt. "I couldn't stop myself."

"Daisy didn't have control of her abilities at first."

"Did she ever attack you for no reason?"

"Well, no… but every Inhuman's abilities affect them differently. Yours may just be putting you more in touch with your emotions. That's what I'm trying to figure out now."

Jemma looked at Fitz when the scan was finished, and he could see she wanted to say something but had no idea what would help. He wasn't nearly as good at comforting people as she was, but he cleared his throat and gave it a try.

"You know, I'm not very good with people."

Jemma looked at him with widened eyes, asking what he was doing. He silently asked her to let him keep going. Caitlin was looking at him, slightly curiously.

"I'm a private person, so they don't think I feel much. I feel everything just fine, even if I don't show everyone all the time. I think you're like that too. Or at least, you were, before terrigenesis. Now that your biochemistry's changed, your emotions probably feel a lot more powerful, and a lot more real."

She was staring at him, but her expression was unguarded, so he could see the fear and hope in it.

"If that's the case, you don't have anything to worry about," he continued. "Trying to come off as reserved as before, hiding what you're feeling, will only make it build up more inside you. That's why you feel like you can't control it. You don't have to hide here. Learn what things feel like now, with your emotions springing to the surface more easily, and start to find a new balance."

He could see her processing his words, and was about to apologize (thinking he'd made things worse instead of better) when she stood and hugged him. He glanced at Jemma with widened eyes. Caitlin only hugged him for a second, and then sat back down on the bed. "I know I'm gonna be stuck in here for a while," she said, looking down again. "Can you tell me what you find out from those tests, though?"

Though she seemed much more alert than she'd been when they first walked into the containment module, her voice was still off, so Fitz knew she wasn't fully feeling everything.

"You won't be stuck in here," Jemma said. "This is just a precaution. We'll reassess tomorrow, and have you talk to Daisy." She touched Caitlin on the shoulder. "Just get some rest."

They walked out. Once the door was closed, Jemma spun around and pushed Fitz against the wall, kissing him. He was surprised, but didn't protest. He just smiled at her when she leaned back. "What was that for?" he asked.

Her hand found the back of his neck, and he leaned closer instinctively. "For being a good man."

He pressed his lips to hers, letting himself enjoy it for a few seconds before refocusing. "As much as I want to continue this, we have some work to do," he said.

He hoped she could hear the regret in his voice – he really did want to just forget the world for a while with her – but Caitlin was relying on them. Of course Jemma understood immediately, but he saw that she was tempted to ignore the world too. "We'll just have to pick it up later, then, won't we?"

Fitz didn't think he'd ever found it as hard to focus on lab work as he did waiting for it to be 'later.'

A/N: Sorry this is a day late! I had to study for a long test... I took it this morning though, so it's done! Another section of this story is basically done, too. I wanted to include an arc about Caitlin's powers. It was such a big part of The Flash, and she was the only one to struggle with the change. There's a bit more, dealing with the aftermath of this and getting Caitlin feeling normal, but otherwise the power struggle is done. I know not everyone likes it, so I want to be very up front and let you know that there is definitely a larger plot to this story. For those who do like it: hopefully you liked how I depicted it. I thought coming from an emotional standpoint would be neat.

I wanted to put in little arcs for everyone, within the overarching story. I've got one for Cisco coming up, starting in the next chapter (I really hope you like that one). It explores a different side of Cisco than we typically see. Barry's arc will be a bit further along. Fitz and Jemma's arcs have kind of been happening the whole time, as they grow and finally come together as a couple. There are a few more arcs in there, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Fitz, Simmons, and Caitlin are my favorite characters in both shows, and I really wanted to do a section with the three of them, having one of them finally notice how similar they are. That's largely why I included the final section of this chapter. I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it. Until next time!