"We've got a couple of questions for you, too" Mack began before Daniel Sousa could go on.
"Oh" he looked surprised. This wasn't usually how investigations, let alone interrogations, went.
"It's really important" Piper put in, "Is Peggy Carter alright?"
"Well, yeah, sure she is" Daniel nodded and smiled. "You know-" be went on
"You're married to her, congratulations" Yo Yo gave a deadpan interruption, "We need to make sure she stays safe. There are these machines that look like people that want to kill her"
"That's one way to put it" Daisy sighed, "but yes, it's vitally important that we secure Peggy Carter's safety, and honestly, you're the one person who can probably guarantee that"
"I wouldn't put it that way" Daniel looked embarrassed
"This is no time for modesty" Mack was firm, "You have to let us out of here and make sure that she's in no harm whatsoever"
"Damn it" Daniel sighed, "Thompson sent me down here with some wild story about space aliens, but you all look fine to me" he chuckled. "Tell you what, let me take care of some paperwork, and I'll get you taken care of" he smiled and walked out of the door.
Deke rushed forward and tried the door handle, "It's locked" he lamented, "Now what?"
"Now, we wait" Mack mused aloud
"That seems not to be the most timely course of action" Enoch noted. Nobody wanted to say what they were thinking, that he was right. Choronicom Coulson stayed uncharacteristically quiet.
Daisy pushed her way through the group to stand by Deke, "It'll be alright" she gazed outside the door's small window. They could see Jemma in her hospital bed. Daniel loped across the hallway to talk to her again.
"I don't know" Deke shook his head, "I mean, how can we trust that guy?"
"Because he's going to be- he probably already is Peggy Carter's husband. If you can't trust your own spouse, who can you trust?"
Unfortunately, when Daisy looked out the window, Daniel was gone, and in his place stood SSR agents, armed to the teeth with high powered, for the time that is, weaponry. Jemma was just as much a prisoner as they all were.
"New plan" Daisy turned around and addressed the group, "Daniel Sousa's probably been killed, and whatever that thing is, it's probably a Chronicom wearing his face. I say we break out of here and get Jemma and Peggy Carter safe"
"Sure, let's bust out of here and drag the Virgin Mary with us" Piper sniped, meaning Jemma
"She's not in her third trimester" Yo Yo shot back, "she'll be fine"
"Stop" Mack frowned, "We don't know if Agent Sousa has been compromised, let alone killed. Admittedly, I don't like what I'm seeing here. I'd like to say there's a reason for all this, but if there's not, we'll have to figure out something- some way to both get out of here, get Jemma and Director Carter to safety. The future depends on it"
"How?" Deke questioned, "you said that the Chronicoms know everything we do about SHIELD, how it began, all the protocol. They'll be one step ahead of us"
"What if SHIELD never formed?" Daisy thought aloud, "What if – something else came about, something that had different protocol, something that the Chronicoms hadn't thought about?"
"Like what?" Deke pouted
"Like SWORD" May put in, "Originally, in our timeline, it was an offshoot of SHIELD, back when Fury was missing"
"Right" Yo Yo nodded and smiled, "What if we cut out the middle man and went straight to dessert?"
"Now I'm hungry, all this talk about food" Deke sighed
"Do you think you could break down the door?" Piper asked Mack
"I could quake it down" Daisy volunteered
"That might send shrapnel shards out across the hallway and hurt Jemma" Mack frowned, "the same thing could happen if I used brute force to smash the door"
"Done" Yo Yo waved the double sided door handle at the group. Where it had been, a fist sized hole had been gouged out of the door.
"That's one way to handle things" Deke beamed.
Everyone walked out into the hallway
"Halt" the armed agents stopped the SHIELD team
"Sorry boys" Yo Yo shot forward and suddenly stood next to the team again, this time with the high powered rifles in her hands, "Little boys shouldn't play with such dangerous toys" she quipped, "you might shoot your eye out"
"Can you walk?" Mack was beside Jemma's bed
"Good lord, of course I can" she scowled, "How far along do you think I am?"
Daisy quaked the guards against the wall, and the team ran down the hallway towards the elevator.
"Let's take the stairs" Deke suggested
"They'll be waiting for us in the elevator" Daisy agreed. The team headed for the stairwell.
Behind them, the elevator chime sounded.
Deke was halfway up the flight of stairs, Daisy on his tail, with Jemma, Mack, Piper and the rest behind them.
The elevator doors began to open. Enoch, Choronicom Coulson, and May were near the end of the group. They turned around and faced the elevator doors, ready to fight.
The elevator doors opened fully. A figure stepped out.
"I see that if I want something done, I'll have to take care of it myself" Director Peggy Carter addressed the group.