Escape from the Dystopian Future

The Escape from the Dystopian Future was a successful mission in the future Lighthouse undertaken by S.H.I.E.L.D., aided by Deke Shaw, with the double objective of liberating Humanity from the harsh rule of Kasius and having the S.H.I.E.L.D. team return into their time.

Background

Despite having to overcome many ordeals since they had been sent into the future Lighthouse thanks to the White Monolith, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Phil Coulson managed to resist to the Kree Watch chasing them and was reunited with Leo Fitz. Together, they realized that they had to reach the surface of whatever what was left of Earth. They succeeded and found the remnants of the Zephyr One, where they were welcomed by the True Believers.^[1]

However, the True Believers turned on them and tried to kill them. In the ensuing fight, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s friend Robin Hinton was killed, but before dying, she revealed to Melinda May how they could return into their time: thanks to the young Inhuman Flint, an inhabitant of the Lighthouse who could rebuild a White Monolith thanks to his geokinesis powers and a shard of the Monolith found by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Zephyr One. Therefore, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team decided to return into the Lighthouse.^[2] To that end, and despite Sinara infiltrating the plane in an attempt to kill them, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were able to use the upgrades of the Zephyr One, which was able to fly into outer space.^[3]

Escape

Using the Zephyr One's Containment Module, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team infiltrated the Lighthouse, leaving the plane to arrive in the docking area for Kasius and the Kree Watch to find it along with the deceased Sinara. The Kree Watch searched the plane without finding any sign of life, unaware that the Chronicom Enoch was there to guard the machine to be used with the White Monolith.

In the Lighthouse, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents went in search for Flint, who was still with Alphonso Mackenzie, Yo-Yo Rodriguez and Tess. The two teams decided to split up to pursue different objectives: Flint and Mackenzie were to find Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons to build the White Monolith; Rodriguez decided to find another Inhuman mentioned by Tess and who was supposed to be being held captive by the Kree Watch and the rest of the agents had to help the Human population to get to safety in the Trawler.

Fitz and Simmons found Mackenzie and Flint. While Fitz rigged the room where they were with a trap, Simmons explained to Flint how he should use his powers to build the White Monolith, using the shard they had reclaimed from the True Believers. As Flint gained more control over his powers, several Kree guards arrived, forcing them to retreat. Before they left, Fitz activated his trap, beheading their enemies much to Simmons' discomfort.

Meanwhile, Phil Coulson, Daisy Johnson, Melinda May and Deke Shaw took down several other guards and released a group of Inhumans. As May and Shaw took them to the Trawler, Johnson and Coulson were forced to remain behind to fight an Odium-empowered Tye, who fiercely dueled against both of them. Despite managing to slightly wound Coulson and Johnson, Johnson was able to stab him with his own knife, killing him.

Coulson, Johnson, May and Shaw were reunited with Tess and left her in charge of the Lighthouse residents gathered in the Trawler. They were then contacted by Enoch, who informed them that the Kree Watch had located him. As Enoch could not hold his own alone against the Kree Watch, Shaw offered to go and help him. Johnson refused to let him go and his own and expressed her intent to go, which led to an argument, but in the end Shaw convinced Johnson to remain with her friends and wait for the activation of the White Monolith. Shaw arrived in time in the Zephyr One to save Enoch, although Enoch's systems were heavily damaged.

In another part of the Lighthouse, Rodriguez found the Inhuman she was looking for, and who turned out to be none other than another version of herself, who had been repeatedly killed and revived by Kasius and the Kree Watch. This future Rodriguez warned her past counterpart that the Destruction of Earth had been caused by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s desperate efforts to save the life of Coulson. However, before she could further elaborate, Rodriguez was forced to leave upon hearing Kree guards arriving.

In order to reach Kasius' Suites in the Lighthouse, Flint was given Deke Shaw's Helmet so he could go into outer space and attack the place from outside. Using his powers, Flint hurled asteroids onto the suites' window, causing a group of guards gathered by Hek-Sel to be sucked into space. Flint then entered the suites and the breach was sealed, enabling Fitz, Simmons and Mackenzie to join him. They were then joined by May and Coulson, as well as an unconscious Johnson who had been incapacitated by Coulson as she refused to return into the past out of fear of destroying Earth.

While Simmons looked after Kasius' human servant Ava and removed her deafening implant, Mackenzie noticed that Rodriguez had not returned and left to find her. Meanwhile, Flint used his powers to successfully build the White Monolith the team needed to get back into their time.

Mackenzie arrived in the Crater, where he was confronted by an unhinged Kasius, who had already executed his Kree Doctor and who held the future Rodriguez hostage and threatened to kill her. Mackenzie, mistaking her for the Rodriguez he knew, watched in horror as Kasius drank a vial of Odium and slit the future Rodriguez's throat. Mackenzie was then forced to fight against the enhanced Kasius and two other Kree guards.

Mackenzie managed to shoot the two guards with his Shotgun-Axe, but Kasius proved to be to much of an opponent to him. Kasius violently beat up Mackenzie and nearly killed him until Simmons intervened, injecting Kasius with a deafening implant he used to use on his servants. Disoriented, Kasius moved forward to Simmons, only to be stabbed by Mackenzie from behind with the Shotgun-Axe. Immediately after, the past Rodriguez arrived, much to Mackenzie's relief. The three of them then ran back to Kasius' Suites.

In the Zephyr One, Enoch and Shaw figured out that the equipment they intended to use was too damaged, leaving them with only one option: using Enoch's systems to power it, which would cause an explosion killing both Enoch and Shaw. As Enoch's systems were failing, meaning that they were running out of time, Shaw informed his friends that he had to activate the machine, despite Mackenzie, Rodriguez and Simmons having still not returned. Nevertheless, Shaw decided to activate the machine, which turned the White Monolith in its liquid shape and sent back the team into their time, including Mackenzie, Simmons and Rodriguez, who had come back in time.

As expected, the activation of the White Monolith caused a massive explosion which destroyed the Lighthouse. The explosion was witnessed from afar by the Human survivors gathered in the Trawler.^[4]

Aftermath

Thanks to the use of the White Monolith, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was successfully sent back into their time, arriving in the present version of the Lighthouse, an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility occupied by the Chronicom Noah which they turned into their primary base of operations. Since they knew what fate befell Earth, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents made their objective to avert the complete destruction of the planet and its takeover by the Kree, so that the future they had witnessed would never become true.

Much to his own surprise, Deke Shaw was also transported into a past he never knew. Overwhelmed by what he discovered, Shaw had a hard time dealing with the rules and codes of present Earth, causing him to be arrested by the River's End Police Department. However, Shaw was eventually released thanks to Daisy Johnson and joined the S.H.I.E.L.D. team in their mission of saving Earth.

Yo-Yo Rodriguez was highly affected by the fact of having met her future self during the battle in the Lighthouse. Because of this, she believed that she could not be killed, which caused her to display some reckless behavior, much to Alphonso Mackenzie's concern.^[5] Rodriguez kept for herself the fact was Phil Coulson was dying and that the only way of saving Earth was to let him go, even when her teammates discovered about Coulson's condition.^[6] She ultimately revealed that they had to let Coulson die, first to Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons^[7], then to the rest of her team.^[8]

Having managed to evacuate the Lighthouse thanks to the Trawler, the small part of Humanity who had stayed in the future was left with an immense challenge to overcome in order to rebuild their civilization, with Flint intending to use his geokinesis powers to restore the planet to its initial shape.^[4]

References