- "We're being pulled in towards the vortex like we're circling a drain."
"And if we go down that drain?"
"We'll cease to exist."
"No, we'll cease to have ever existed, or be reduced to the size of an atom." - ―Deke Shaw, Alphonso Mackenzie and Melinda May[src]
The Escape from the Time Storm was an emergency operation conducted by S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to pull out the Zephyr One from a series of time loops it was trapped into due to an overload of the Time Drive.
Background[]
- "We've lost control of the time drive. At this rate, the Zephyr will collapse into a space-time singularity in two days. Or, relatively speaking, twenty minutes."
- ―Jemma Simmons[src]
In the framework of their conflict against the Chronicoms, in an attempt to stop a premature activation of Project Insight, S.H.I.E.L.D. fired a missile from the Zephyr One to destroy the rocket meant to deploy the satellites. This caused their plane to be spotted by the Chronicoms, who fired a missile at it. Although the plane sustained the damage long enough for Jemma Simmons and Deke Shaw to repair it, it continued to jump through time since its Time Drive had been damaged in the process.[2]
The Zephyr One is trapped in a time storm
S.H.I.E.L.D. attempted to stop the Time Drive from overloading by resorting to Yo-Yo Rodriguez's superhuman speed, which she was able to recover after a brief stay in Afterlife. However, the operation did not work, causing the Zephyr One to continue jumping.[3] As a result of this overload of the Time Drive, the Zephyr One became trapped in a time storm, with its crew reliving in loops the same events as the plane neared a time singularity which would bring them to their elimination from reality. Of all the people in the plane, only two kept their memories from the previous loops: Daisy Johnson and Phil Coulson.[1]
Escape[]
- "Each loop resets us, but it also brings the Zephyr a little closer to the vortex and destruction."
- ―Phil Coulson to Daisy Johnson[src]
At least eighty-seven time loops occurred without Daisy Johnson and Phil Coulson being able to devise a solution to escape from the time storm. Over these loops, Johnson actually died fourteen times before the loop was reset, with her death being canceled and all her memories of the previous loops erased. During a dozen of these loops, Johnson and Coulson tried to find a way to get more time before each reset, but to no avail, leaving only one option: fixing the time drive causing the problem.
Beginning a new series of loops after she died again, Johnson once again had the idea to consult Coulson, who filled her in about the situation and how the number of remaining loops before the collapse was constantly decreasing. In order to isolate the problem and fix the time drive, Johnson gathered her S.H.I.E.L.D. teammates, and used her knowledge provided by the previous loops to convince them of the reality of the problem.
Jemma Simmons suffocates to death
Since they lacked knowledge about the time drive, Deke Shaw suggested to Jemma Simmons that they should remove her D.I.A.N.A. implant blocking her memories. Having overheard their conversation and learned about the implant, Johnson and Coulson convinced Simmons to carry out the procedure. However, before she could do it, Simmons seemed to suffocate to death in the operation room. Once the loop was reset, Johnson joined Simmons in the operation room to make sure she would be all right, but both women suffered the same fate.
Daniel Sousa is killed
Since Johnson had died in the previous loop, Coulson had to update her on what they had learned so far: someone was willing to kill to prevent D.I.A.N.A. from being extracted from Simmons' brain. As a result, they came up with the idea of using Yo-Yo Rodriguez's superhuman speed to perform the operation before the killer could strike Simmons. Johnson also changed the loop by going with Daniel Sousa to pick up the scanner they needed, but Sousa was killed shortly thereafter.
Discussing this unfortunate outcome with Johnson in the next loop, Coulson figured out who the killer was: Enoch, who had been programmed to protect the implant at all cost, even if it meant killing. Coulson and Johnson were able to prove the theory by brandishing the scanning device to Simmons in front of Enoch, prompting Enoch to attack Johnson and attempt to choke her. In the next loops, they tried to perform the operation without Enoch knowing, for example by sending Sousa to distract him, but it did not work.
S.H.I.E.L.D. confronts Enoch
Coulson and Johnson thus decided to resort to a more direct approach, with one being slightly more successful than the others: Alphonso Mackenzie, Melinda May, Rodriguez and Sousa confronted Enoch and fought him, giving the rest of the team enough time to extract the D.I.A.N.A. implant and get the solution from Simmons. As it happened, the key to the problem was Enoch himself as well, since his Electrochron Displacement Mechanism could be used to stabilize the time drive.
Enoch hands over his Electrochron Displacement Mechanism
With the answer being known, and the Zephyr One being closer to collapse than ever before in the new loop, Coulson and Johnson gathered Enoch, Shaw, and Simmons to explain the solution. However, it also meant Enoch would die since the mechanism was essential to his survival. Although Simmons refused the idea, Enoch willingly chose to sacrifice himself and extracted the mechanism which he gave to Shaw so he could connect it to the time drive. The process proved to be successful, and the time drive was fixed, and Johnson and Coulson remained at Enoch's side in his final moments.[1]
Aftermath[]
- "The Electrochron Displacement Mechanism did stabilize it, but it is possible the cumulative damage severed our operative transmission receiver's ability to penetrate space-time."
- ―Jemma Simmons[src]
Although the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device was stabilized enough to cause the Zephyr One to stop jumping through time loops, it appeared to be too damaged to perform other time travel operations. As a result, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team remained trapped in the 1980s. They thus decided to return to the Lighthouse to prepare their plan against Nathaniel Malick.
Having noticed how incredibly shaken Jemma Simmons seemed to be after they removed her D.I.A.N.A. implant in one of the loops, Daisy Johnson asked her about what had happened before she was separated from Leo Fitz, but Simmons could not provide her with any satisfying answer since the implant was back in its place.[4]
Having shared a kiss with Daniel Sousa during one of the loops, something he did not remember, Johnson began considering building a relationship with him.[5] This actually occurred shortly afterwards before the final confrontation against Malick and the Chronicoms.[6]