Siege of the Playground

The Siege of the Playground was an attempt made by Aida to take control of S.H.I.E.L.D. by abducting and replacing all key agents with Life-Model Decoys. 

Background

Inspired by Leo Fitz's work on Phil Coulson's Prosthetic Hand, Holden Radcliffe reactivated the Life-Model Decoy Program and created Aida, his android assistant.^[5] While trying to save Fitz and Phil Coulson from Hell, Radcliffe had a glimpse of the infinite knowledge contained in the Darkhold and became obsessed with the idea of getting the book for himself since that moment.^[1] To that end, after kidnapping Melinda May and connected her to the Framework, he and Aida successfully used a LMD of May, which was later deactivated by S.H.I.E.L.D..^[6] Radcliffe and Aida did not stop there and planned on taking over S.H.I.E.L.D. by kidnapping and replacing its most prominent members. During a battle at Krasnoyarsk Krai, Coulson, Fitz, Jeffrey Mace, and Alphonso Mackenzie were trapped inside the Framework while their android counterparts returned to the Playground, leaving only Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons unharmed.^[7]

Attack

Fitz's LMD Discovered

Jemma Simmons was the first to discover that Life-Model Decoys had infiltrated the Playground. However, due to a misinterpretation, she believed that Daisy Johnson had also been replaced along with Phil Coulson, Alphonso Mackenzie and Jeffrey Mace, unaware that Leo Fitz had also been replaced and it was Fitz's LMD whom she shared her discovery with. While she was struggling to find a way to react, the other LMDs came to her and Fitz's LMD and informed them that they were gathering Inhumans to the Playground for their protection, while they actually intended to kill them. Simmons chose to remain with Fitz's LMD but after they found themselves in a storage room, Simmons received another alarm indicating that her boyfriend had been kidnapped and replaced as well.

Panicking, Simmons ordered Fitz's LMD to stay away from her. The android faked a complete astonishment, telling Simmons that he was human and that she could be an android as well. When Simmons told the LMD to cut his wrist to prove that he was human, Fitz's LMD did so, but seemingly fainted due to blood loss. When Simmons came near him, he overpowered her and revealed his true nature. The android started to prepare the equipment in order to map Simmons' brain and upload the data into a LMD, but Simmons managed to play for time by discussing the perspective of marrying Fitz that the android mentioned, before knocking Fitz's LMD and stabbing him multiple times, destroying him. After that, Simmons ran away and hid in another storage room.^[7]

The Daisy Fleet

Meanwhile, Daisy Johnson, ignorant of the fact that she was surrounded by LMDs, organized the arrival of the Inhumans at the Playground. Before departing, she decided to check the Containment Chambers and, in one of them, she discovered a whole fleet of LMDs of herself. Shocked but quickly reacting upon hearing someone coming to her, she took her clothes off and hid amongst her android clones. When Alphonso Mackenzie's LMD came to the Containment Chamber to capture her, she managed to knock him out and escaped after taking his Shotgun-Axe.

Johnson went into hiding in the Playground and accessed security footage, in which she saw agents discovering Leo Fitz's LMD, including Phil Coulson's and Jeffrey Mace's LMDs. Coulson and Mace told the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that they suspected Jemma Simmons to have been replaced by an LMD, but agent Fisher realized that Fitz was actually an android. Before he could react, he was killed by the LMDs as well as two other agents, much to Johnson's shock.

Johnson then discovered that she was not alone in her hiding place: Simmons was present as well. However, the two had a hard time trusting each other as they mutually suspected of being a LMD. Fortunately, by using her Inhuman powers, Johnson managed to prove that she was not a LMD and to check that Simmons was not either. Considerably relieved, the two friends hugged and started to design a plan to escape the danger.^[7]

Two Agents against S.H.I.E.L.D.

Phil Coulson's and Jeffrey Mace's LMDs locked the Playground down and gathered all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents present at the Playground, ordering them to capture and kill Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons and telling them that they had been replaced by Life-Model Decoys while their real counterparts had been kidnapped.

Meanwhile, Johnson and Simmons struggled to find a way out of the Playground. Simmons was especially distressed, not believing they had any chance of surviving. Johnson, on the other hand, figured out that their friends had been kidnapped by Holden Radcliffe and were probably still alive, though trapped in the Framework, meaning they had to enter the alternate reality as well. When Simmons stated that they could not defeat the LMDs, Johnson replied that she would, because she wanted Simmons and her boyfriend to be reunited. They spread sleeping gas through the Playground, only leaving the LMDs awake, before getting out of the storage room.

While Johnson went to fight the LMDs, Simmons found agents Piper, Davis and Prince and woke them up, telling them that she and Johnson were not LMDs. Although they did not believe her, Simmons forced them to come with her to the Zephyr One. Meanwhile, Johnson encountered the LMDs. She fiercely fought and destroyed Mace's LMD before having to deal with Coulson and Alphonso Mackenzie. Though she was wounded, Johnson managed to knock Coulson's LMD out and destroy Mackenzie's LMD, whose body crossed the window and landed right in front of Simmons, who was on the verge of being attacked by Piper. When they saw the android's remnants, the other agents finally believed Simmons' story.

Johnson and Simmons made their way to the exit while Fitz's LMD, who had been repaired, went to activate the Daisy Fleet. They encountered Melinda may's LMD, who had been reactivated and was ready to blow the whole base up to prevent their escape. Fortunately, Johnson and Simmons managed to convince May's LMD to let them go by telling her that the real Phil Coulson, who May had feelings for, would never want to kill them. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents escaped and boarded the Zephyr One right on time. Shortly after, May's LMD triggered the explosives, destroying herself as well as the other LMDs to ensure Johnson's and Simmons's escape.^[7]

Aftermath

Following the destruction of the Playground, the United States Air Force sent a team led by General Glenn Talbot to investigate the base. They discovered a facility in flames, the bodies of the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents killed by the Life-Model Decoys, twelve other agents heavily wounded as well as the remnants of several LMDs revealing their android nature. This, combined with the absence of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s highest ranking officers, brought suspicion onto S.H.I.E.L.D. activities. The suspicion was increased when Jeffrey Mace's body was found on a beach with the bones damaged in a way that made it appear to have been desecrated by Quake, obscuring the true circumstances behind Mace's death. Therefore, S.H.I.E.L.D. was once again labeled as an illegal and dangerous organization whose members had to be arrested.^[8]

The "Daisy Fleet" survived the massive explosion, allowing Aida to retaliate for events within the Framework by using one to frame Quake for the attempted murder of Talbot.^[9]

References