It’s all connected in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just days after “Captain America: Civil War” hit theaters, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” dealt with the aftermath. The Sokovia Accords are in full effect after Captain America lost his battle with Tony Stark. In Season 3, episode 20, Gen. Talbot stopped by Coulson’s base to register the Inhumans, but Coulson did his best to avoid the law.

Episode 20 kicks off in a bar. Coulson (Clark Gregg) watches as TV news reports that Captain America (Chris Evans) is missing. Meanwhile, a newspaper article announces Peggy Carter’s (Hayley Atwell) death. Peggy and Steve were Phil’s heroes, and he’s disheartened that they’re gone.

Still, the director has work to do. Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) confronts Coulson about the Sokovia Accords. The president believes Coulson has some unregistered Inhumans working for him, but Coulson is firmly on Team Cap. He doesn’t want to register his secret agents, and he has to win Talbot’s trust. The general wants to know what’s going on behind closed doors, so Coulson agrees to show him.

His agents are busy dealing with the Inhumans working against them. Daisy (Chloe Bennet) hacks into Fitz’s (Iain De Caestecker) computer and sees Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) locked up. She tells Hive (Brett Dalton) that she feels sorry for her boyfriend, but then she gets kicked out of the system. She says she’ll get back into it soon.

Daisy isn’t looking good. Dr. Radcliffe is slowly draining her blood, and he says he’ll need some volunteers soon to try out the experiment with Daisy’s blood.

May (Ming-Na Wen) tells Fitz and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) to start working on figuring out Hive’s plans. Daisy is going to get into their computers eventually, so they might as well just work on staying one step ahead of the villain.

May has a different message for Lincoln. She tells him to get himself together if he wants to help. He may have figured out how to do that. He quietly asks Daisy to contact him if she is listening in. A message on his television appears, confirming her presence.

“You know you’re the only reason I was ever here,” Lincoln says. He says that he wants to be with her, but Coulson and Talbot are coming. Daisy has to cut off their conversation.

Coulson asks Talbot to ignore the Sokovia Accords. “Don’t report our Inhumans,” Coulson says. “Some battles need to be fought with Secret Warriors.” So he introduces a few of those stealthy fighters.

Talbot first meets Elena (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), who believes the list will be leaked eventually. The Sokovia Accords can’t be protected forever.

Then, the general is reunited with Lincoln. Talbot explains to Lincoln that the Sokovia Accords are there to protect him. Lincoln decides to register. He tells Talbot he is ready to go, but there is someone else that Coulson has to introduce Talbot to first.

Finally, Coulson reveals Lash (Matthew Willig). Talbot is livid that Coulson is keeping a monster locked up.

He asks about Daisy’s whereabouts, and Coulson and May claim she is on assignment. That’s when Talbot reveals that he knows Daisy is working for Hive, even though he doesn’t know much about the villain. He can assume that Daisy walking around with a dead Hydra agent is bad news.

Fitz and Simmons explain how Hive works. The revelation makes Talbot even more firm in his belief that the Sokovia Accords are necessary. Coulson says they stopped his plans last week when the two Kree were destroyed. Simmons points out that Daisy’s blood could be used for the experiment.

They’re right. Radcliffe is testing that experiment as they speak. Hive even found “volunteers.” Though he seems to have confused the words “volunteers” with “hostages.”

The Watchdogs, an Inhuman hate group, prefer killing to registration. They go after James (Axle Whitehead), but that’s a big mistake. Hellfire uses a chain (just like in the comics) to fight back against them. Hive appears and tells the hate group that they’ll become the thing they despise. Hive says he is freeing the men of their hatred, and it’s a gift for Daisy.

While they wait to see if the experiment works, Daisy calls Lincoln to help him break out. He knocks out an agent and grabs the guy’s key card. It doesn’t take long for the team to realize he is gone, and unfortunately, Talbot is still there when they find his empty cell. That certainly doesn’t help Coulson’s argument.

Fitz locks down the base’s computers before Lincoln can get out, but he doesn’t work fast enough to protect the quinjet. Mack (Henry Simmons) attacks Lincoln right before he gets to the plane, but Lincoln uses his electrical powers to send Mack to the ground.

While the quinjet flies away, Radcliffe discovers that his experiment worked ... sort of. The hostages are still alive, but they’re incredibly ugly. They’re also primitive. They simply follow orders, but that’s all Hive needs. He wants more of them, and they’ll need all of Daisy’s blood to do it.

With his plan going well, Hive is ready to greet his new visitor. He watches the quinjet land and is ready to greet Lincoln. However, it isn’t Daisy’s boyfriend who comes out of the plane. It’s Lash. He pushes Hive off a story-high ledge.

Back at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Lincoln reveals that he was communicating with May through messages on his food tray. He didn’t plan on Mack being there, and he’s sorry about that confrontation. They knew that no matter what Daisy said, Hive would be greeting the plane.

Lincoln was taught that every Inhuman serves a purpose. He believes that Lash might be meant to kill Hive. At Hive’s base, Lash projects a blue light that blocks Hive’s powers. He easily takes out the new minions, but he doesn’t fight Daisy when she tries to come after him.

He knocks her to the ground and uses his blue light to pull something out of Daisy. “Now you’re free,” he says and carries her away. He lifted Hive’s mind control.

Lash gently places Daisy on the quinjet, but Hellfire throws his fire chain through Lash’s chest and kills him. Daisy uses her powers to send Hellfire back and closes the door. She finally goes home.

“Welcome back, Agent Johnson,” Coulson says as she is brought back in handcuffs.

They realize Lash wasn’t meant to kill Hive. He was destined to save Daisy. Simmons says the agent is in withdrawal from the effects of the mind control, but she’ll make a full recovery.

Fitz comes in with the bad news. They believe Hive wants to create a shock wave that would affect a huge number of people. He’d need a way to move it through the world, though. Talbot reveals that Hive already has a method. The villain stole a warhead from the ATCU.

Finally, Elena visits Mack. Earlier in the episode, Elena comforted him during a conversation about having faith. He is in bad shape, and he doesn’t think they can win this fight. “Evil preys on the weak because it fears the strong,” she tells him. Their conversation gives him a little hope.

At the end of the episode, she gives him her cross necklace and tells him to keep the faith. It’s the same cross necklace that Daisy saw in her vision of the future where an agent died.

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC.

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