"You can relax" Peggy smiled, "We're the good guys"
"You're – you're one of the good guys?" Deke stared, not at her, but at Daniel Sousa, "We thought you were going to kill us. You sent those guards all around Nana, and you never came back for us"
"Nana?" Daniel looked confused
"You left without saying anything, no explanation, nothing" Mack explained
"Hey, it takes time to get around with this" Daniel motioned toward his crutch, still on his arm, and tapped at his prosthetic leg with his crutch. "and this"
"After he spoke with you, Agent Sousa brought me up to speed on what had happened with your group, about one member's pregnancy and how the rest of the – team as it were seemed quite concerned about my safety"
"Director Carter" May stepped forward, "It's imperative that we speak with you, alone" she glanced at Sousa, "Your life' in grave danger, from nearly any man you encounter"
"And I can handle anything those adolescents throw at me" she seemed self confident
"Maybe" Mack nodded, "but they're not going to just try to hurt you with insults"
"Awhile back" Jemma began, "Fitz -" her voice momentarily broke under the emotion, "and I had worked on a device for detecting LMDS, back when Aida had replaced men like Director Mace, and even Fitz himself, with machines" she continued, "I could, in theory, modify it to detect Chronicoms"
"How is that even possible?" Deke looked at her incredulously
"Chronicoms are mostly made of plastic alloy. We are powered by batteries and possess other cybernetic components." Enoch supplied.
"I can work with that" Jemma smiled, "We'll need access to our ship" she told Director Carter.
"You may have to get our resident team of scientists out of there first" Peggy grinned
In the Zephyr, Jason Wilkes and Aloysius Samberly led a team of scientists as they noted the various devices on the ship. Samberly tapped at a tablet screen, "Amazing"
"Go easy with that" Wilkes suggested, "It's not a Whiskers toy" he referred to the magnetic children's game of moving metal filings onto an illustrated face.
Samberly set the tablet down and moved on to the ship's control panels.
"Dr. Samberly, Dr. Wilkes" Peggy's voice could be heard from outside the open loading door/
The men turned toward her in unison
"I'd like you to – take a break, as it were. The team needs to do work on their ship" she informed them
"But how can we trust them?" Samberly looked suspicious
"I can trust them as much as I can trust you" Peggy steeled her gaze on the round scientist.
"Come on" Wilkes guided Samberly out of the ship, "There's a great little diner that I know about; they serve excellent pie"
"Pie?" Samberly grinned
"Yeah" Wilkes nodded, "They'll even let me sit there, too" the African American scientist gave a wry joke about the very real issue of racial discrimination.
"Actually" Jemma stopped the men, "We'll need some help"
"Ok" Samberly blushed, "for you, anything"
"She's married" Peggy informed them.
"Got it!" Samberly turned back to the ship's controls.
"Uh uh" Jemma warned, "Please don't touch that"
Enoch and Chronicom Coulson stood by for further instructions. May watched them, for safety. She wasn't sure what Chrono Coulson might do next, and he had already been acting far too human for her liking.
Peggy turned to the others, Deke, Daisy, Mack, Yo Yo, and Piper. "You'll have to fill me in more about this whole- what did you call them?"
"Hunter Chronicoms" Daisy explained, "They're like our friend, Enoch" she pointed to the bald man shaped machine, "except they want to destroy everything associated with SHIELD"
"And you all know how to stop them?" Peggy tilted her head ever so slightly in question
"Not exactly" Daisy sighed, "but, if Simmons over there can get things ready, we'll be able to figure it out" she went on, "Right now, we know that these things are stealing faces off people, and impersonating them"
"It's regular science fiction horror come to life" Yo Yo quipped
"So, instead of green men from mars, its robots from outer space?" Daniel grinned
Deke laughed at the joke.
"Please, let's not make light of this" Peggy glared at her husband.
"Sorry" Deke and Daniel replied in unison
"So, she's your wife?" Deke glanced from Peggy over to Daniel
"Yeah" Daniel grinned
"How- I mean, why-" he faltered over his words
"Why did she marry me?" Daniel's smile fell, "You know, I used to ask myself the same question" he looked hard at Deke, "you like her, don't you"
"Who?" Deke glanced around hesitantly
"The girl with the color in her hair" he meant Daisy
"Oh yeah- I uh-" Deke grinned and blushed
"Hey, if she's the right one for you, she'll like you just the way you are"
"How did you know?" Deke looked confused
"Let's just say that I know what it's like to try to change yourself, to hope that maybe if you do something different, or try to be somebody else, she'll like that" he chuckled quietly
"I went into the world" Deke looked over to where the women and Mack were talking among themselves, "to - to try and be what everybody wants me to be" he sighed, "and she still thinks that I'm nothing"
"There was a guy I used to work with who told me once that no girl would ever trade a red white and blue shield, for an aluminum crutch" Daniel gave a wry smile, "but you know what?"
"No" Deke shook his head
"Sometimes, she does." he waggled his fingers and Deke saw the shiny ring. "Just be yourself. If it'll happen, it'll happen. At least be her friend. Isn't that what she needs right now?"
"I guess"
"Look, being her friend won't get you into her-"
"Direct Messages?" Deke looked eager
"Uh-" Daniel looked confused, "ok, that too, I guess" he faltered, "what I mean is, being her friend shouldn't be something ulterior, or a means to an end. Just be there. Didn't you have a friend earlier?"
"I did" Deke sighed, "but then he turned out to be a spy, and my other friend got killed" he meant Virgil, "and my girlfriend was a sociopath, and my -"
"Ok" Daniel sighed, "just – be her friend, Ok?"
"Ok" Deke nodded and smiled. He understood, sort of.
"So, it's settled then?" Peggy walked over to Daniel and Deke
"Uh, sure" Daniel looked warily at his wife
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" she shook her head and smiled
"Not the slightest" he admitted sheepishly
"Apparently, your team" she spoke to Deke, "thinks that keeping me under twenty four hour surveillance would be the best way to keep me safe from these – err- robot men"
"We can split up the time into shifts" Mack explained to Deke, "there's about enough of us to get around four or five hours each"
Daniel nodded in acknowledgment, "So, even at night? We're a married couple, you know"
"And while we can trust you" Mack nodded, "how can we be sure that anyone from the paperboy to the milkman and anyone you come across during the day or night isn't one of the Chronicoms in disguise?"
"Ok, point taken" Daniel conceded
"Shifts start with Daisy tonight" Mack went on, "then I'll come over in the morning, and Deke in the afternoon"
"Hey" Deke balked
"It'll be ok" Mack reassured him, "then Piper the following night, and so on"
"Wouldn't it be better to have another man stay over during the night?" Daniel thought aloud
"You obviously don't know our women" Daisy interjected
Peggy gave her a knowing nod.