Golden || Deke Shaw

12. a moment

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"It's our fears come to life," Fitz explained, standing in front of the large computer screen. Rose was huddled in the main section of the Lighthouse with Daisy, Coulson, Deke, May, and Fitz trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the disappearing Kree.

May blinked, not following Fitz's train of thoughts, honestly Rose didn't entirely understand it either. "What the hell are you talking about, Fitz?" May asked. "What fear?"

"I'm still trying to piece it all together," Fitz started. "But here. Watch this," he pressed a button on the keyboard and a blurry image appeared on the large screen in front of the six of them. Rose tilted her head at it, it was some sort of grey creature, with spikes growing out of its back. "It's low-res, but it's all I could salvage from one of the dwarfs."

"This can't be-" May started.

"Fitz?" Coulson asked, turning towards the scientist.

"I think that when the monoliths exploded, they tore open something that I can only describe as a fear dimension," Fitz explained. "And it's leaking out."

Rose blinked, "What the fuc-" she sounded.

"See these emissions here," Fitz continued, switching the camera to a small black rift in the middle of a room.

"What do you think that is?" Coulson asked, peering at the image.

"I don't know, uh, alien energy?" Fitz reasoned. "The Dwarf went offline before I could analyze it. But, whatever it is, it seems that it can reach inside our minds."

"Yeah, well, it can do more than that. That kree almost killed Deke," Daisy added.

Rose pursed her lips, "It probably should have," she said sourly.

"Ouch, Rosie, ouch," Deke responded.

"I don't understand how, but it seems that this dimension can take our deepest fears and manifest them, physically," Fitz said, ignoring the pair's banter.

"So, Kree warrior," Daisy said pointing to herself. "Check."

"And if that is Lash, double-check," May continued.

"What about that forest on Level 27?" Coulson asked.

Deke frowned from his spot in the corner of the room, "You mean an overwhelming collection of branchy things with birds and bugs and the floor all covered in worms. Are you kidding? That's- that's a horror show."

"Okay, triple check," Daisy said glancing over towards Rose.

Rose sighed, "If you guys are gonna ask if any of this applies to me, I'll spare you the time and the energy but saying I don't know what my deepest fear is, so, I guess I'll find out later."

Fitz nodded, beginning to type on the computer once more. "I'm gonna seal off the lower 2/3 of the Lighthouse. That's where the bulk of the phenomena is occurring, but it's flaring out," he informed them. "The fact that it's reached Level 27, as well as the supply pantry, tells me it's getting worse."

"So, how do we stop it?" May asked.

"Okay," Fitz said slowly, looking at the five of them in the room. "I have a potential fix, but- I don't know how to do it without one of us possibly sacrificing ourselves." He paused once more. "Okay, Deke-"

Deke shook his head vigorously as Rose's eyes widened. Sure, she was still very angry at him, but she didn't want to see him die, again. "Oh, no. Me?" Deke started. "No, no. Hell, no. No, I just got here. I just got to a world that's got ice cream and the sun and orange-scented stuff and Rosie is still here. So, no. No, no, no. And in case any of you forgot, I already did the heroic sacrifice thing to get you all here. So I'm- I'm done," he finished.