"Let me get this straight. Fitz had a worm in his brain for a week, and now it's in Ward, who is dead, but also sorta superhuman because of the centipede serum? And you helped him become that?" Mack looked like he was asking himself how he'd let his life get to the point where he was uttering sentences like that. Coulson looked like he was going to vomit.

It had been a tense debriefing. The stuffy conference room was unnaturally still for the number of people huddled inside. Mack, Jemma, Fitz, and Bobbi claimed seats at the round table, May and Coulson stood behind Mack on either side. Lincoln was leaning against a wall in a corner, mindlessly creating sparks as he was lost in thought, and Joey was standing not far from him giving him an intense, unwavering glare that made Jemma wonder if he was trying to find out if his metal-morphic abilities could possibly work on bone too. Daisy and Hunter both had their arms crossed, Daisy looking uncharacteristically stern standing near the table between Fitz and Bobbi, Hunter leaning against the only window in the room. All were thoroughly shaken by the reemergence of the fact that their minds could be so easily coopted by another force, a threat they'd experienced before but never quite so intimately. Jemma thought she could almost hear the question no one had asked yet for fear there was no answer, "How do we protect ourselves from something that can take not just our faces and voices, but our minds?"

One other thing hung in the air, unaddressed. Most in the room were at least partly culpable for all that had transpired in the past week, and whatever damage it would soon yield. But while everyone knew that they were to blame, Jemma was acutely aware of the role she played. She'd already tacked this onto her private list of sins she was desperately trying to atone for. But for once, her guilt in this matter did not add to the sandpit she felt she trudged through every day, or the burden she bore every time she woke. And unlike the other things for which she blamed herself that made her feel like a useless weight on the backs of her teammates, this incident did not add to the distance she'd been sensing between them. On the contrary, not since before the "real SHIELD" debacle did she feel so connected to her colleagues. Yes, she shared in the fault for all of this. But they did too, and they were going to work together to make it right.

That was why, when Mack questioned her actions in support of Hive's cause and Fitz opened his mouth to answer for her- probably about to take to take the blame, she was able to beat him to it and answer confidently and unapologetically, "It made me." Out of the corner of her vision she could see Fitz' mouth snap closed and his head swing to look at her. She couldn't see his expression, but she had a feeling his eyes were wide and his eyebrows were high. Never breaking her eye contact with Mack, she mentally willed him to follow her lead. He got the message and looked back at Mack without elaborating on what she meant by her statement.

Mack required no further explanation. May, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. "What gave it away that it wasn't Fitz?"

"Like Coulson said with Agent 33, it was the little things. He didn't react like he normally would. I didn't know for sure though until he suggested doing dangerous experiments on Daisy's team and I found blueprints for weapons he was working on using our most lethal confiscated items." Jemma explained.

"We should be trying to come up with ways to check each other, make sure we aren't compromised again." May lectured the team.

Jemma agreed, but wasn't sure how they should go about doing that. "Anything factual or historical will not be reliable tests since it can read memories. Even-"

"-mannerisms or basic preferences. As far as I could tell, it relied mostly on muscle memory, and that includes things like, erm, word choice and such." Fitz finished for her. "But I think we should be more concerned about-"

"-allowing it to turn us against each other." Jemma looked pointedly at Lincoln and Joey while Fitz nodded. As soon as she said that, Joey broke his stare down and Lincoln instantly stopped throwing arcs. "I think it almost succeeded while it was here." Daisy was looking at them too, and they both glanced at each other, ashamed. "The good news is once you have identified that feeling that it gives you when it changes your mind, it's a lot easier to fight or ignore it later on." Jemma added.

"But what we really need to know is, how do we stop it?" Coulson chimed in.

"I didn't use the serum that was built to be immune to the dendrotoxin, so there's that." Jemma offered. "But I'm not sure how effective it will be since he's mostly dead already."

"We do have our own Inhumans with some hella awesome powers." Bobbi pointed out.

"Yeah, our team can take point on tracking him down if you want." Agreed Daisy.

"Yeah, do that." Mack instructed.

"I just want to point out that my burly demeanor has finally come in handy as Fitz' magic worm had no noticeable effect on my personality. You're welcome." Hunter joked. Bobbi rolled her eyes.

"Hunter, I think that's because it only messed with people it wanted on its side." Bobbi jabbed, falling as she always did for his attempt to lighten the mood.

"No matter, love. Maybe I should be on Daisy's team, is all I'm saying. It either doesn't want me or can't turn me, and either way that makes me someone you can trust."

"No, Hunter, we need you and Bobbi keeping an eye on Hydra as a whole. They've got their precious leader back, we need to find out their next move." Mack directed.

"Um, I'm not sure if you remember boss, but both our covers have been burned. How are we going to get in?" Bobbi asked.

"You both know your way around Hydra now. You'll get some of our other agents hooked up with cover stories and backgrounds, and act as their liasons and advisors." Mack detailed for her.

"We need to get to Andrew before It does." May murmured, barely loud enough to be heard.

"Do you think he'd work with us? His whole thing is against Inhumans he deems evil. I'd say this qualifies." Coulson asked May, who only shrugged.

"You can't be seriously talking about working with Lash!" Lincoln exclaimed, suddenly panicked.

Mack held up his hand. "Calm down Sparky. May's right. Lash might want to go after It, he might not. But if this… Hive… finds him and messes with his head, they're both going to be even harder to stop. We either need to lock him up or get him on our side for this purpose only. We're not going to let him get to any of you." Mack assured Daisy's team. "May and Coulson will be working on finding and stopping him."

"Great. One thing, don't call me Sparky."

Mack moved on to the next front. "FitzSimmons, you had the closest interaction with this thing. Think you can find a weakness to exploit?" Fitz and Jemma both indicated they would try, and then Mack added another assignment. "You'll be responsible for briefing the teams too with any pertinent information. And see if you can figure out what damage he did while he was here too, and undo it." He turned back to address the rest of the room. "I'll work up a briefing for the rest of the crew. Everybody got it?" At their murmurs of agreement, he ended the meeting. "Let's go get 'em."

May, Bobbi, and Daisy followed Jemma from the room, Bobbi and Daisy going back and forth with questions that neither gave her time to answer.

"How does it feel exactly when it messes with your brain?"

"Can it read your mind too?"

"Do you think we need metal buckets on our heads?"

"Would that work?"

Jemma mostly ignored them, musing on exactly what information she had to give them. They probably needed to know that she was able to fight it, but if she told them exactly how everything transpired they could rightfully become angry at her.

Once she stopped at her work station in the lab, May put an end to Daisy and Bobbi's barrage of inquiries. "Let's start with how you managed to escape when it was controlling you." She said.

Jemma's throat tightened and her brain scrambled to come up with a plausible explanation. Failing to do so, she stalled, "A very astute idea Agent May. I assure you it is possible to do so, and we will have more information on how it's telepathic abilities operate very soon I'm sure-" The looks on the three women's faces informed Jemma that she didn't stand a chance. For possibly the millionth time she cursed her lack of improvisation skills and the fact that all the people she worked with were expert interrogators. Giving up, she told them, "Just a moment," and locked the door to the lab and activated the privacy screen. Certain they now were guaranteed privacy, she spoke up. "I have something to confess. There is a way to fight it. I was able to stop it from controlling me, very early on actually."

The others stared at her in confusion, trying to sort out what that meant. "So it didn't make you help?" Daisy asked cautiously.

"It did… just not in the way I may have lead you all to believe."

"Jemma… what did you do?" May demanded suspiciously.

Jemma took a breath to quell her nerves. "It used Fitz, okay?" She admitted. Then it was all falling out. "If it stayed in Fitz much longer Fitz wasn't going to be there anymore. It was holding him hostage, basically, when it realized it couldn't control me. The only way to get him out was to fix up Ward's body. But I used the dendrotoxin as leverage to get us both out. It almost didn't work and we almost blew up, and now that I think about it I don't know who was in the area that could have gotten hurt and I feel bad about that but I don't regret it. Not really." She thought for a moment and another realization dawned on her, "I don't really regret any of it." It was a different feeling than she'd had in a long time, and she wasn't sure if it was right, but after having so much that she did regret, it felt good to be able to say that truthfully.

Daisy and Bobbi blinked at her, looking shocked. May just looked at her sadly. Her sensation of relief faded quickly when she took their reactions as disapproval. "Oh, like any of you wouldn't have done the exact same thing for Hunter or Lincoln or Coulson!" Jemma cried indignantly and turned away to reorganize papers on her desk that were very uncooperatively perfectly organized already.

Daisy shook herself out of it. "No, you're right, we get it it's just… you're usually the voice of reason, reminding us all of the bigger picture."

'Well, my reason was stolen.' Jemma thought to herself. Aloud she just said, "Fitz has saved my life countless times at great cost. It was about time I returned the favour."

"Is that all it was? Some red in your ledger?" Daisy asked sceptically. Jemma slammed the papers down abruptly in irritation. She suspected Daisy was trying to get her to declare her undying love for Fitz, but if she was going to do that, she was going to do it when Fitz was there to hear it. He deserved that much. And honestly there was much more to it than that. It might not have been realistic, but Jemma did feel a bit lighter, as though she'd paid a debt.

May understood her silence, and spoke up on her behalf. "No, it was redemption. Feels like you didn't deserve it, right? Why should your life come before anyone else's unless you make their sacrifice mean something? Otherwise you feel like you cheated them, fooled them into thinking you were worth it." Jemma turned back around to look at May only, eyes springing with tears. The older woman's face was uncharacteristically soft as she continued. "Here's where you're wrong: Both Fitz and Will made their choices because they loved you. You have to respect that decision, whether or not you agree with it. You are not guilty of anything, all you have to do to deserve your life is to do your best with it. And you did. You infiltrated Hydra. You worked tirelessly to bring Will back to Earth. So be grateful, yes. And as long as they're alive, always have their back. But never, for one second feel guilty about their choice or feel like you're not worth it. Because they sure as hell wouldn't agree with you."

"Easier said than done." Jemma's voice warbled.

"You got that right. I've spent the last 5 years trying to sort that out. Gave up everything I really loved because of it. And now it's too late. I'm hoping I can spare you the same." May said with a sad smile. The weight of her words was not lost on Jemma- she was talking about Andrew, how she regretted leaving him and now he was not the same man. This rare glimpse into May's mind was exactly what Jemma needed to hear and she spontaneously forced a hug on the senior agent. But to her surprise, she felt May's arms embrace her in return and Jemma promised, "I'll try."

"Your best will be good enough." May comforted her.

Bobbi gave Jemma a warm smile. "Well, I think you are amazing. You were able to keep the ancient Inhuman out of your head, outsmart him AND save Fitz. You've got to tell us how you did it, I'm definitely going to want to use this in the field."

Jemma gave a half smile and dried her eyes as quickly as possible so that she could finish their briefing, telling them in detail what the hallucinations were like, the things that irked or bothered him, and how to tell if It was influencing your mind. She answered their questions too – no, she didn't know if a metal bucket would help. Yes, he was stronger and faster than they were. And no, he couldn't read your thoughts but he could sense your emotions, so be careful that they aren't too telling if you can. At last the three thanked Jemma and filed out, off to get started on their respective missions.

Jemma had a mission of her own, but it wasn't one Mack assigned.