Chapter Four: The Planet

As Ivanov had suggested, the shuttle journey was brief; they were indeed close to their destination. In Fitz's eyes, only one other notable incident had occurred during the shuttle trip. One of the Watchdogs approached the spot where Fitz remained sitting on the floor with the other agents, and just started talking.

"Your wife's the one in the blue dress, right?" the Watchdog began.

Fitz used his training and just met the man's gaze. He didn't react at all, didn't flinch at the reference to the person who meant everything to him.

"She's pretty," the Watchdog continued. His tone and expression were matter-of-fact and casual. "But don't worry. We didn't touch her – or any of the others. Some of the other guys wanted to, but I helped make sure we didn't. We were perfect gentlemen."

The Watchdog continued to look only at Fitz as he spoke. "My name's John."

Fitz tried to keep his emotions in check. Was John telling the truth about the Watchdogs having kept their hands off of Jemma and the others, or did he just want a reaction? Why was he addressing Fitz and not the other agents? Why was he introducing himself, for that matter? Fitz remembered that not long ago, he had observed John speaking quietly with Ivanov.

Coulson apparently decided to try to get some information from John. "I'm surprised that Daisy didn't quake her way out of the cell," he said.

John turned his head towards Coulson, but then returned his gaze to Fitz as he replied. "We had a way to prevent that. We're not stupid enough to capture two inhumans without a way to contain them."

But apparently, Fitz said silently, you were stupid enough to completely lose control of your ship.

John then added, "We're just trying to make Earth safe for humans again, that's all."

"And you somehow want our help to do that," Coulson added. "This must be some elaborate plan you have, taking us all the way out here. Earlier it seemed like you planned to use Daisy and the others as leverage to get us to do something. That's going to be hard if they were on the ship." He paused and added, "The ship that has now disappeared."

John shrugged. "We still have our methods. Anyway, the boss doesn't like us chatting up the prisoners, so we should stop. I just wanted to talk to Fitz and tell him that his wife is pretty – and that we didn't touch her. That's all."

With that, John walked back to his seat.

The shuttle soon approached a planet and landed. Fitz looked out the window. A large dome covered a central building and several surrounding structures that looked like army barracks. Although his mental state was filled with misery and worry, his curiosity couldn't help but to wish he knew more about the planet. SHIELD had long since suspected that powerful foes had been establishing bases on hunks of rock, and that some of these planetoids had valuable raw materials. It was something SHIELD had always wanted to explore but had not had the resources or the time given the chaos on Earth they had been dealing with. If – no when, he corrected himself – the agents took control of the situation, Fitz looked forward to seeing what they could learn about this place. He knew Jemma would've loved learning more about it.

The Watchdogs deduced, correctly, that if they wanted to keep any of their prisoners from escaping, they had to shackle their ankles as well. So Fitz and the others watched as the shackles were locked in place, which allowed them only the smallest of steps at a time. The Watchdogs escorted each prisoner, one at a time, out of the shuttle. They grabbed Deke first; he had looked the least steady since they had all been deposited into the shuttle. Deke stumbled and nearly fell as the Watchdogs pulled him to his feet. His guards ended up almost dragging him away.

"We're nice captors," John said, as he pulled Fitz to his feet next. "First thing we're going to do at the base is feed you."

John actually proved true to his word, leading Fitz to think that John and Ivanov must have agreed to play a game of "good cop/bad cop." Fitz and the others were brought to a mess hall. Their wrists and ankles remained chained, but they were seated at a table and given a hot meal. Five guards with guns stood over them the entire time. No utensils were provided, but the food was decent.

Fitz tried to give some of his portion to Mack. "You're a lot bigger than I am; you need more food," Fitz said. But Mack shook his head, and a guard barked "No talking!" at them. Fitz and the others silently took stock of their surroundings, but there was little of note. It was a poorly-lit mess hall with six tables, five armed guards, and an array of kitchen equipment behind a swinging door. One large window showed that the outside was pitch-black. The entire place reeked of despair and ugliness, but of course that wasn't a surprise. Fitz's lips almost curled upwards when he silently asked himself 'Were you expecting a resort in the Seychelles?'

Apparently either Ivanov or someone else on the base was a stickler for personal hygiene, because after dinner, each man was separately taken for a shower. Fitz would later learn that Mack and Davis had each – apparently now with their hunger almost sated and feeling stronger – attempted to take down their guards when they had been alone. But defeating an armed guard when your own wrists and ankles are shackled is a losing proposition. Deke, Coulson, and Fitz weren't in any condition to attempt an escape even if the odds had been better.

When it was Fitz's turn, he was marched into what looked – and smelled - like a locker room. It was an eyesore just like the bathroom in the black ops prison he'd been in, except larger. As a Watchdog kept a gun trained on Fitz, two other men stripped him. Anything they couldn't remove because of the cuffs, they simply cut off. One of the men was careless and nicked Fitz with the knife a couple of times.

"We're throwing your skirt away," the Watchdog guffawed when Fitz's kilt was removed.

Fitz again did not react. He rather liked the kilt, but he knew by now not to get attached to possessions. People, not possessions, he knew. He did hope they wouldn't take his wedding ring.

At one point during the bathing, the Watchdog appeared to look away. Fitz took a moment to observe the other two men. He didn't think they were Watchdogs. Although they looked as unkempt and angry as Watchdogs, something was different. They didn't wear the usual pseudo-military garb of the Watchdogs, for one thing. And their body language towards the Watchdog was almost deferential.

"Are you a Watchdog?" Fitz asked the man closest to him.

The man replied, "No English." With those two words, Fitz guessed that the man was perhaps Russian or from another Eastern-European country.

"Shut up, both of you!" the Watchdog commanded. He then smiled and took a step towards Fitz. "Pretty boy," he added, and slapped Fitz's rear end.

Fitz felt bile rise in his throat, and decided to be quiet in the hopes that the Watchdog would go back to ignoring him. He forced himself to take a breath. He knew his mind was about to start spiraling, thinking of Jemma. Where was she? What had happened to the ship? That Watchdog John had better have been right when he'd said that no one touched her, because if anyone did to her what that guard had just done to him, Fitz knew he would fly into a rage. John had no reason to have been telling the truth, especially if his end game was just to play good cop/bad cop.

Fitz squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on the present. Worrying about Jemma was only going to kill him, he knew. He thought of his six months in the black ops prison. One second at a time, one minute at a time, and keep the end goal in mind. That was how he had survived being locked up then, and that's how he would survive it now. At least this time he had half of the team with him.

"Well now. Let's talk business," Ivanov said, a slight smile on his face.

With meals and showers completed, Fitz was now seated inside a small room with Coulson and Deke. Ivanov stood over them, as did three armed Watchdogs, including John. The agents had been dressed in orange prisoner grab, and shackles had again been placed on their wrists and ankles. Ivanov was clearly not taking any chances.

"Where are Mack and Davis?" Coulson asked.

"They made foolish mistakes," Ivanov said simply. He tilted his head. "Trying to take down an armed guard when you have cuffs on wrists and ankles is not a great strategy. We knew feeding you was a risk. We had to beat them. Each is now inside a cell, alone. But otherwise unharmed."

"Unharmed other than a beating," Deke said bitterly.

Coulson shot Deke a look, but Fitz recognized that his grandson was likely at wit's end. As much as Deke irritated him, Fitz tried to feel empathy for him. Deke had spent his whole life in Kree hell in space, then spent a few months enjoying fresh air and the outdoors on Earth, and now apparently had come full circle again.

"So, let's get down to business and talk about why we brought you here," Ivanov began.

"Sure," Coulson said. "But we don't talk until you tell us everything you know about the rest of our team. What happened to that ship and where are they?"

Ivanov was quiet only for a moment. He clearly had foreseen Coulson's demand. "I will tell you what I know," he said. And with that he explained that the engines blew, and unfortunately the ship had been near a wormhole when it happened. They knew that the ship hadn't been new or in the best condition, but they hadn't foreseen the engines collapsing at a pivotal moment. "Good engineers are hard to find," he said looking at Fitz.

"Especially in hate groups I'd guess," Deke said.

Ivanov let Deke's comment go, as Coulson and Fitz tried to digest the news.

"So, the ship got pulled into a wormhole?" Fitz screeched. "With its engines shot." He shook his head. "Jemma and I really are cursed." Only Fitz's training and willpower kept him from erupting further.

"How sure are you that the rest of our team was still on the ship and not taken away in a shuttle?" Coulson asked Ivanov.

"Very sure," Ivanov replied. "All of this started to go wrong in just the span of minutes. My only thought was to get Fitz since he's the main reason we took you. I'm the only one who can open the shuttle bay anyway."

"So, Daisy and the others are on a ship with a busted engine, a ship which just went through a wormhole. And how many Watchdogs are with them?" Coulson asked.

"A dozen or so."

"If they're smart," Fitz began, "they'll get Simmons out of the cell and into the engine room. Engineering isn't her specialty, but she's undoubtedly a better engineer than whoever your engineer is."

Fitz tried to keep his voice steady and avoid displaying the rage and despair he felt, but Coulson saw the slight shake in his hands. Coulson also silently added that May could certainly fly the ship, once it got operational again. They just had to hope that the ship remained in one piece as it got through the wormhole. And that the wormhole was open on both ends, so they could get right back. And that the Watchdogs still on the ship were desperate enough to let May and the others do what they needed to get the ship under control, and didn't try to harm them any further. Yeah, Coulson said to himself, that was a lot of hoping.

Ivanov only shrugged at Fitz's comment. Coulson then spoke, "Can we talk about how you're still alive? Because last we saw you, Aida had put your brain in a jar and you were an LMD. Or multiple LMDs."

"That is something you don't need to know," Ivanov stated.

"Okay," Coulson said. "So, let's talk about Fitz then. You said he's the main reason you brought us here?"

"Yes," Ivanov said. He leaned forward and seemed to be perking up. He looked at Fitz. "There are two projects that we need you to finish. One of them you've already encountered: our new weapon. It's a thing of beauty, how it knocked all of you out. But to make Earth safe again, we need it to be fixed so that it only harms inhumans – and that it leaves regular humans alone. This planet is filled with the raw materials we use to construct the weapon – and we brought cheap labor here too. We have a full lab. We just need someone to fix the weapon so that it doesn't harm regular humans."

Ivanov paused and continued. "We also have a prototype for blocking inhuman powers. But the device weighs 90 kilograms and is this big," he said, gesturing with his arms. "We need you to make it portable and easy."

Fitz was silent for a moment or two. He tilted his head down to rest on his fingertips before looking up at Ivanov again. How could Ivanov and the Watchdogs not have realized that both Fitz and Simmons would be needed for both of these projects? What Ivanov said they needed had as much to do with biochemistry as it did with engineering. Fitz wondered if it was plain, simple sexism that had led their enemies to completely discount the crucial role Simmons would need to play. Fitz let out an exasperated chuckle.

"Too bad we don't have our biochemist here then!" Fitz exclaimed. "What you're talking about involves not just engineering but also biochemistry," he said passionately and angrily. "All you had to do was bring Simmons and the others here too!"

Ivanov openly scoffed. "Simmons. She's beautiful, yes, but I've never met a woman who knew the first thing about designing weapons."

"Unbelievable!" Deke exclaimed. "God, Ivanov, you're so stupid! And sexist. You should've grabbed Simmons and all the others before you just ran."

Ivanov shook his head. "We had to get off that ship! I thought it might blow up. And we had limited room inside the shuttle. Fitz was our first priority. It would have been nice to grab the others but –" he paused and spoke slowly "- there are other ways to make you cooperate. Your female team members aren't the only leverage we have over you. Though it is quite adorable how much you love them, and it would have been far more fun if they were here," he added with a sick grin on his face.

And then he walked up to Deke and said, "And you need to just shut your mouth." Ivanov nodded at a Watchdog, and the grinning Watchdog then cut off a piece of duct tape and placed it over Deke's mouth.

Fitz glanced at his grandson. He shared his rage. Deke's eyes bulged but he seemed to be making an effort to calm himself as the duct tape was placed over his mouth. Fitz watched to make sure the clumsy Watchdog left Deke's nose uncovered.

"Now then," Ivanov said. "Let's talk about getting you to work. We don't have your lovely ladies here, but we do have five of you. And I know that you are all close enough that you won't enjoy seeing the others tortured. So, let's get started on fixing the weapon and the inhibitor."

Coulson and Fitz exchanged a look.

"Never," Fitz said. "We are never helping you."

TO BE CONTINUED