Agent Coulson was having a good day. The world wasn't on fire and he'd finally been able to replace his vintage Captain America trading cards via an auction on Ebay. His old ones had been ruined when Fury smeared blood all over them. Such a waste. Coulson figured he'd get Fury to have Captain America sign his new ones, it was only fair.
He walked through the halls of his secret base. He was starting to feel as secret base savvy as Fury himself. Maybe it was a Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. thing, he'd have to warn his successor.
Things had settled down since Simmons had returned from the monolith six months ago. With his connections Coulson had caught whiff of another monolith and soon had it safely stored in the base where no one could reach it. As a secret project Coulson had had Fitz send a safe house with provisions through the portal, track the openings, and send the equipment back to Earth just in case they needed a quick escape. All in all Coulson felt good about the direction S.H.I.E.L.D. was heading in. He did not feel good, however, that Ward was still a free man walking around. Of course, if he wasn't so damn hard to find Ward would be behind as many walls as Coulson could provide.
The team would never be the same again. He knew the pain, he felt it too. The loss of a friend and the guilt for not seeing it earlier. Coulson cursed himself, how could he have not known that Ward was Hydra?
He shook himself back to the present. As he walked by Fitz and Simmons were deep in conversation in the lab and Mack and Hunter were playing video games animatedly in the lounge room. He continued on, passing the gym where Daisy and May were sparing, Bobbi sweaty from her rehab workout cheering them on. He walked into his office, reflecting on how much he loved his team.
Two hours later they assembled, the new S.H.I.E.L.D. with the same values. He looked out at the faces. His team was dressed in casual clothes, their trusting eyes stared up at him. He began recapping the day and laying out the next couple of days when the rumbling began. It started slow and barely noticeable, then began to intensify, until every head turned to look at Daisy.
"What did we do to offend you?" Hunter asked.
"This isn't me," Daisy said, looking questioningly at Coulson,
Hunter looked too. "Don't suppose this is the time of the meeting when you were going to inform us you found another Daisy," he said.
"I don't know what this is," Coulson said. "Get armed, Daisy. May, come with me."
He turned and started walking toward the entrance of the base. Daisy and May followed him, pulling weapons just to be safe. When they reached the entrance hall they found it full of people clad like black ninjas, maybe 30 of them all with weapons raised. Their whole heads were covered except for slits for their eyes.
"Hello," Coulson started, before a weapon fired and he looked down to see a needle sticking out of his right arm. He glanced back to see Daisy and May both had needles too. The room began to swim.
A ninja stepped forward.
"Agent Coulson," he said, his voice like sandpaper. "Thank you for your cooperation, I understand you have a very important story to tell."
The world went black. Coulson fell to the floor unconscious. May and Daisy fell behind him, also knocked out.
The man with the gruff voice looked back at his men. "Take the base."