Ambush at the Pasadena Momentum Laboratory

"I won't go back. I'll kill you all first." "I don't know what you mean." "It was Hell in there!"

- Frederick and Leo Fitz

The Ambush at the Pasadena Momentum Laboratory was an attempt by Frederick to destroy the Pasadena Momentum Laboratory while S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Alphonso Mackenzie and Leo Fitz tried to stop him.

Background
"You don't control me anymore, Lucy. Take the boxes. But I'm destroying this place."

- Frederick to Lucy Bauer

In an attempt to gain superpowers, Eli Morrow murdered most of his colleagues and used them to power Quantum Batteries, where they remained trapped for years. However, Lucy Bauer was eventually released when the Battery she was contained in was opened by the Chinatown Crew. She went to the Pasadena Momentum Laboratory and released her other colleagues. She tried to convince them to help her find the Darkhold so they could get rid of their transdimensional condition, but Frederick refused and resolved to destroy the whole facility.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was alerted of the existence of Bauer. Leo Fitz also analyzed the Battery reclaimed from the Chinatown Crew and found out that the alloy had been manufactured by Momentum Labs. Knowing that Momentum Labs had a laboratory in Pasadena and that it was in the same city that sighting of Bauer had been reported, Fitz and Alphonso Mackenzie decided to go to the lab to investigate.

Meanwhile, Quake went to see Robbie Reyes, secretly the Ghost Rider, despite having been defeated by the vigilante the night before. Quake and the Ghost Rider fought again and Quake ended up strapped to a chair. Upon learning that Quake's investigations regarding the Watchdogs had brought up the name of Momentum Labs, where Reyes' uncle Morrow used to work, Reyes decided to go there himself, quickly followed by Quake.

Ambush
"What are you?" "Yeah, what are you?"

- Frederick and Leo Fitz to the Ghost Rider

Leo Fitz and Alphonso Mackenzie infiltrated the Pasadena Momentum Laboratory and entered the room where the Quantum Particle Generator designed by Eli Morrow was. They quickly discovered the presence of Frederick, who disappeared when Mackenzie shot him with his Shotgun-Axe. While Mackenzie did his best to keep Frederick at bay, Fitz realized that Frederick had programmed the reactor so that the facility would explode, destroying everything nearby. Frederick appeared once again and locked Mackenzie in the Quantum Particle Generator. Fitz told Frederick that they could help him but Frederick stated that it was impossible and approached Fitz with the intent of killing him with simple touch. However, he was stopped by the Ghost Rider, whose powers enabled him to cancel Frederick's intangibility. Quake joined the laboratory as well and used her powers to unlock the generator, releasing Mackenzie. While Fitz successfully turned the reactor off, Mackenzie and Quake watched as the Ghost Rider burnt Frederick down. The Ghost Rider then took a picture of the former Momentum Labs team and Quake told Mackenzie not to follow him.

Aftermath
"You want to know what's connecting these things?" "Yeah." "I think it might be me."

- Robbie Reyes and Quake

Alphonso Mackenzie and Leo Fitz took Quake to their Quinjet where Mackenzie helped her with her wounds. They tried to convince Quake to return into S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of working with a flame-headed vigilante, but to no avail. Mackenzie also figured out that Yo-Yo Rodriguez had been secretly providing Quake with Rapid Bone-Healing Pills. Quake left her former colleagues and was found by Robbie Reyes, who told her that he thought he had found the connection between the Watchdogs and their associates, Eli Morrow and Momentum Labs: himself. As a result, Quake and the Ghost Rider agreed to collaborate to figure out what was going on.