Coulson felt that Fury was alive and sent the coordinates. Simmons questioned them, if Coulson and Fury had ever communicated this way. Coulson said he knew it had to be him, and he was certain the coordinates meant something.
The coordinates landed them in the freezing wilderness of Canada. Coulson told them all to get ready for a 7 mile hike to the coordinates. And they needed to hurry because a satellite would be passing over them.
And so they began their trek. Coulson walked ahead and Daisy walked with her mother behind him, with FitzSimmons and Tripp taking up the lead.
"You really think he's okay?" Daisy asked.
"Don't act like you know what's going on with him." May warned.
"Fury had you spy on him for a reason. What was it?" Skye asked.
May stopped.
"Fury didn't want him finding out the truth. The doctors felt it would have negative consequences." She explained.
"Like what? Like he'd go crazy or combust or something?" Daisy was nervous.
"I don't know. All I know is he seemed stable until today." May looked over at Coulson.
"His whole world fell apart." Daisy sympathized with her father.
"No. His whole world fell apart when we lost you. I'm concerned this may be what completely breaks him." And with that, May continued walking.
They stepped into a clearing and Coulson yelled "this is it! There's got to be something here!"
"How long should we look before thinking about heading back?" Daisy asked him.
"We're not going back. The bus used all its remaining fuel to get us here." Coulson said without looking at any of them.
"What?" May demanded.
"Did you know that before flying us out to the middle of nowhere?" Simmons asked.
"Fury sent us these coordinates for a reason. This was the right play." Coulson answered.
"And what reason is that?" May asked.
"I don't know, May! I don't know!" He said kind of erratically, "This means something! It has to mean something! The world needs us, Hydra is out there! We cannot let them win! We...we cannot let them define us!"
Everyone looked on sadly.
"We are not agents of nothing! We are agents of SHIELD! And that carries weight! After everything we've been through THAT CARRIES WEIGHT!" He yelled out the last part.
Then with a yell of frustration he threw his badge. And out of nowhere a gun popped out and fired at it.
Everyone took cover. May grabbed her daughter and dragged her behind a nearby rock.
"Well it seems like we found it." Fitz said.
Coulson realized what was going on and stood up.
"This is a SHIELD facility. This is Fury reaching out." Coulson was determined.
"There's no way to know that for sure." May said.
"There's one way." And he stood up.
May thought he had completely lost his mind and was going to be shot.
"Phil!" She said.
The gun aimed at him and asked him to identify himself.
"I'm Phil Coulson, agent of SHIELD." He stated.
"Welcome agent Coulson. We've been expecting you." The robot voice said as the gun put itself away.
A nearby rock opened up and everyone followed Coulson inside.
"What is this place?" Skye asked.
"One of Fury's secret bases." A voice answered.
A short man appeared and introduced himself as agent Koenig.
"I call it Providence, although it technically doesn't have a name since technically it doesn't exist." He said. "If everyone would follow me."
He began to walk away and they all followed to a sort of cafeteria. Here, the man confirmed that Fury was dead, to Phil's dismay.
He told them everyone would be getting a lanyard with a badge after something called orientation. Then he said the Fridge had fallen and Daisy felt her heart drop.
Ward had been taking Garrett to the Fridge.
"Who is she calling?" Koenig demanded.
"We had a man at the Fridge." Coulson explained.
"Can I talk to you in private?" Koenig asked and led Coulson to his office.
There, he told him that Fury was indeed alive but only a handful of people could no, and that didn't include the people there.
Coulson didn't like keeping secrets from his team, especially from May and Daisy, but it might be better for them right now.
He told Coulson to have May bring the plane into the hangar.
Later that day, Ward followed Daisy's instructions to the base and made it there safely. May wasn't too fond of him at the moment. She and Coulson could see there was something going on between the two of them.
And of course what felt like five minutes after they arrived on the secret base, things had to take a twist again. Hydra had released all the prisoners at the Fridge and they were running loose. Coulson's old girlfriend he had been seeing before he was killed was in danger, a man with powers who was obsessed with her would be going to hunt her down.
May felt weird about this, but she and Coulson weren't married anymore. And she couldn't just let this woman be hurt or worse.
Coulson wanted to take a team on the plane Ward flew in on to start taking out the people who escaped the Fridge. But Koenig wouldn't let them go without having them go through his orientation. Everyone would be evaluated and put through a lie detector test meant to not even let Romanoff beat.
The next to last person to go was Daisy, after her would be Ward.
"Got my backstage pass." She joked as she stepped out.
"How is it?" Ward asked.
"You have to talk about yourself. So you'll hate it." Skye grinned and stepped closer. "Have fun."
Ward smiled as he watched her walk away, then noticed the glare from both of her parents and high tailed it into the room, suddenly eager to do his lie detector test.
"What?" Daisy said as she walked over to them. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ward disappearing into the room.
"Guys, he's harmless." She assured them.
"Not to us." Coulson said, looking at her.
"I can take care of myself. I promise." She laid a hand on both of their arms.
Coulson was taking everyone but Ward and Skye with him to hunt down the escapees from the Fridge. But May wasn't willing to go.
"I'm not leaving her here alone." May said. "Not with Hydra out in the open."
"Ward's here. He'll keep an eye on her. We're going to need you out there. And besides, this is a top secret base with an automatic machine gun outside. She'll be fine." Coulson assured her.
"I'll keep an eye on her." Ward chimed in as he walked up.
"See?" Coulson grinned.
May clenched her fists and closed her eyes, reigning her temper in. He was high on her shit list right now, given that he evidently had something going with her daughter that no one bothered to tell her and Coulson about, just letting them find out by watching.
She turned on him and he took a step back. For the first time, he thought Melinda May might actually kill him.
"So help me, if anything happens to her, I won't hesitate." She said with a finger pointing up at his considerably taller frame.
He just nodded silently and leaned back, the better to get away from her.
She stormed off to get the plane ready. And Coulson watched her go with a pleased smile.
"You've got to love her when she gets this way." He shrugged and went to retrieve his team.
Ward shuddered and went to find Daisy, wondering if this was really worth it.
May wasn't happy about leaving her daughter here at the base but Coulson needed her. And Ward was here, he was a specialist and could take care of her. If he didn't, she just might make it her life's mission to make him suffer.
As they left, Coulson looked back and Ward standing next to Daisy. The other man nodded and he nodded back. With that, they left.
They hunted Marcus Daniels down and stopped him from hurting Audrey. May found it astonishingly hard to watch Coulson rush in and stand over the woman, assuring her that he was still there. Then he made himself scarce and when she finally did wake up, they made sure she still thought he was dead.
Her heart stopped when they returned and saw the bus gone.
"Where's our bus?" Simmons asked.
There was no communication from Daisy or Ward, no one told them where they would be going or why.
They watched the security tape and realize all the footage from inside the base had been erased. But the footage from the hangar showed Daisy and Ward walking home the cargo ramp, hand in hand. And then the plane took off. That's all they saw, and Koenig was nowhere to be found.
Both entrances and exits to the base were updamaged so there was no attack. They discussed theories but the only conclusion was that someone got orders or left in a hurry.
FitzSimmons decided everyone could do with some comfort food and went off to make something to eat. All the while, May, Tripp, and Coulson discusses whether Ward could be trusted or not.
They suddenly heard a blood curdling scream. Everyone ran straight to the source and found Simmons stumbling out of the pantry.
"What is it?" Coulson asked.
"Koenig! He-" Simmons tried to say.
May charged into the pantry to find what looked like Koenig's body sitting in the corner of the pantry. She bent down and realized something wasn't right. When she checked him for a pulse, it was there.
"He's alive." She said. She could see how Simmons thought he was dead. There was blood running down his face from an obvious blow, but he was just unconscious. She looked down at his ankles and they were bound, and his hands must have been tied behind his back.
"Guys." Fitz said from behind them.
He led them all to the nearest bathroom where there was a message written on the rotating picture on the wall, soemthing Daisy left for them to find.
Ward is Hydra.
"I'm going to kill him." May said in a frighteningly dark tone.
"Get in line." Coulson growled.
"But why leave Koenig alive? He obviously thinks Daisy doesn't know. When Koenig wakes up he'll tell us." Tripp said.
"I don't know. Maybe to give us a message." Coulson said.
They went back to the pantry and dragged Koenig to his office and untied him, laying him on the couch.
"Let's let him wake up on his-" Simmons tried to say but May threw a glass of water on him without hesitation.
"We don't have time." She stated.
Koenig woke with a gasp.
"Where is my daughter?!" May demanded.
"Your...? Daisy? She's your-" Koenig didn't know about them being her parents.
"Where is she?" May asked again.
"I don't know. Someone hit me hard. Was it her?" Koenig asked.
"Was it-? No it wasn't Daisy!" Coulson said.
"Ward! He almost didn't pass his lie detector test! He took her." Koenig stood up and swayed.
Simmons put a hand on his arm to steady him.
"Sir he needs to be examined. He probably has a head injury." She said.
"Then lead the way." Coulson said.
Simmons understood and led them all to the lab on the bus where she had all her medical supplies. They questioned him as he had his injuries looked over.
He had been close to seeing what the NATO satellite had picked up when he felt the blow to his head. Daisy had suggested hacking the satellites to see what had happened at the Fridge and then had successfully done so.
"So Ward didn't say anything to you when he knocked you out?" Coulson asked.
"No. I had no idea he was Hydra until you guys woke me up and told me. What do we do?" Koenig was confused. Why was he left alive to tell the team?
"You stay here." Coulson said.
"Oh, no way. What if he comes back?" Koenig was nervous.
"Lock down the base. Don't let anyone in." Coulson told him. "Fitz, track the plane. Daisy's playing him, she knows what he is."
Fitz nodded and got to work, Simmons continued to examine Koenig and Coulson turned to May.
"She has a plan. We need to figure out what it is." He said.
"She's smart. She'll leave a sign." May confirmed. "Why did he come back here?"
"I don't know. He had all our data on the drive. All he had to was make a co-" he stopped. "Daisy. He came back for her. He needs her to crack it."
"So they need her alive." May was relieved.
"And she can stall for time." At that moment the computer pinged. "The bus is in Los Angeles! Finally some good news!"
But then a proximity alert went off.
"Multiple contacts on the ground." May pointed out.
"Should've knocked on wood before I said that." Coulson grumbled.
Everyone prepared for Hydra to try to storm them. But then the hangar door was deactivated.
"How?! That's impossible." Simmons gasped.
"Take cover! Coulson told her and Fitz.
Several soldiers walked in.
"It's not Hydra, it's special forces." Coulson said.
Then Talbot marched in announcing for them to surrender.
"Colonel Talbot? There have to be better things for you to do than chase four SHIELD agents." Coulson said irritably.
"I wasn't a huge fan before chasing you to the damn tundra Coulson." Talbot replied. "I wouldn't push it."
Talbot told his men to hold their fire and Coulson asked how they found one of the most secure bases in the world.
"I told them." Said Maria Hill as she marched in.
Talbot proceeded to grill all of them like criminals while Ward was still out and Daisy's time was running out.
Coulson was pissed.
"You're wasting time, while Hydra is still out there and still a threat!" Coulson yelled at Maria.
"Look, after DC they don't stand a chance." She spat back.
"Garrett does!"
"Garrett? I heard Ward took care of him."
"Ward's his secret weapon!"
Shock dawned on her face. "I vetted Ward myself."
"You want to make this right? Stop wasting time!" Coulson said.
At that moment Talbot walked back in.
"Can we move this along? I'd like to tear this room apart." Talbot said.
"Sure, knock yourself out." She gave Coulson a look and they both struck. Coulson iced Talbot.
"Get your people, let's move." Maria told him.
They caught up with Ward at an airfield and blocked his way of taking off while everyone else hunkered down at a motel.
Coulson snuck on the plane while Hill distracted Ward by blocking his way in the jet they flew in on. So far so good, he even made it to the cage to get Skye.
"Are you okay? Did Ward hurt you?" He asked as she got up and hugged him tightly.
"No, no I'm okay." She said. "But I unlocked the hard dive for them."
"It's okay. Come on, we need to take the cock pit." Coulson led her out.
"How did you get past Deathlock?" Skye asked.
"He's here?" Coulson asked.
That was when Mike appeared.
"Get to the cargo hold!" Coulson told her. "I'll hold him off."
When both of them were down there, Daisy grabbed a chute.
"I've never done this before!" She yelled at him.
"Forget that get in the car!" Coulso yelled.
Daisy climbed in Lola and Coulson quickly followed.
"Buckle up!" He yelled as Mike began to fire on them.
The cargo ramp lowered and the car fell out, with Ward watching in horror as Mike almost killed the both of them.
As soon as they were in the air Daisy flew out of the car, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Coulson made a mad grab for his daughter, terrified at the thought of her dying.
When she was in and buckled down he tried to get the car flying.
"He must have hit the thrusters!" He screamed.
He eventually got the car to steady enough to land, right next to a clueless valet who asked them for 20. Daisy and Coulson looked at each other, relieved. They were safe.