SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson," the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Fitz is in more trouble than he realized. In "Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson," the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was kidnapped by a Chronicom hunter. His crime? Tampering with the universe.
The episode introduced this Chronicom hunter as he scrolled through a galactic wanted list. When he landed on an entry for Fitz, he leapt into action. Using a disc-like device, he teleported away, only to turn up in the space outside Naro-Atzia. He surprised Daisy, Simmons, Piper and Davis after a customs agent boarded them to "inspect" the ship. Though he initially got the jump on them, Davis was able to subdue him.
After the S.H.I.E.L.D. team secured him, the Chronicom hunter answered a few questions. "You and your friends are out of time," he informed them curtly. "Leopold Fitz is a wanted man." When Simmons demanded to know what Fitz was wanted for, he replied, "Tampering with the universe."
"I could not speak to his purpose, only that Leopold Fitz was scheduled to arrive in the next incoming vessel," he explained. "Leopold Fitz should not be here... Earth is where he died. Over a year ago, if I'm not mistaken."
Naturally, Simmons was startled to realize he knew so much about their lives. She demanded to know what he was, only for him to say, "A hunter. As I said previously, you and your friends are out of time."
By "out of time," the hunter isn't issuing a vague threat. Instead, he appears to mean that literally. When Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team went to the future in Season 5, they created a time loop that they ultimately broke by defeating Graviton and saving the planet from destruction. Though Simmons and the other traveled to 2091 through a monolith, Fitz went the long way using a cryosleep chamber. Because of this, two versions of him existed simultaneously: the past version that waited in cryosleep and the future version that helped bring Graviton down. However, this future version of Fitz was killed in the battle with Graviton, leaving only the past version -- who is now headed to a future that no longer exists.
As CBR speculated earlier this month, then, the Chronicom hunter seems to be on a mission to destroy "time aberrations," or remnants of the timeline that no longer exists. This means Deke is likely threatened as well, since he is Fitz and Simmons' grandson from the future they prevented. Though Coulson's doppelganger Sarge has not yet revealed his mission, Deke's eradication or the restoration of the original timeline may be part of it, as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. tends to connect all of its storylines by the end of the season.
Enoch, Fitz's Chronicom sidekick, provided a little more information about hunters later on in the episode after he was remotely shut down. "That noise you refer to as an air raid alarm, it is in fact a remote override of my system," he explained, revealing that another Chronicom had done it. "I fear we are in grave danger... You are unaware of the varietals of Chronicoms. I, for instance, am an anthropologist. My primary functions are intended for research and sensual gratification... Those would be hunters."
However, Enoch failed to elaborate on the hunters' primary function, leaving us to speculate. Between Enoch's ominous warning and the context clues provided by the hunter himself, though, it isn't looking good for Fitz and his friends. Hopefully, S.H.I.E.L.D. can find Fitz and the Chronicom hunter before it's too late.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Fridays at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC. The series stars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Iain De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Elizabeth Henstridge and Clark Gregg.