Captive
When Coulson comes around again he's in a small room,tied to a bed.
He groans.
He remembers Mr. Peterson and Raina and getting drugged,in exchange for Ace's life. He doesn't regret it,nor does he blame Mr. Peterson for being played. He'd do it again. His life for Ace's.
(He regrets one thing;not telling Skye how much she means to him,not showing her. Skye needed to know he was in her corner.)
Taking stock of his surroundings,he sees the doll and the tray and the door opposite of the bed he's on. His hands are cuffed. A small bedroom,no room to hide but for under the bed.
Edison Po is the one in charge of his torture.
They need something from him,something he isn't sure he wants to remember,because it has to do with Tahiti and 'It's a magical place.' and Phil is not a man that gets easily scared,but this scares him.
"You mentioned that before." Skye's voice rings in his mind,as he goes under the machine again.
He doesn't know how long he can manage this,but he knows it's been only a few hours since the bridge and the hostage exchange.
He trusts SHIELD will come and find him,they won't leave him.
And if HQ is slow,then his team will for sure go off-book and come and get him.
Under the machine he sees Tahiti,he feels unease about it and then manages to slip a little later and hears Skye's voice through his headphones calling him – not directly – a tool and a faceless drone,aiding in cover-ups and secrets and other conspiracy theories.
He had found it exhilarating,trying to get an insight to this woman through her words. This woman he knew nothing about,couldn't find anything,anywhere.
After a day in and out and electroshock persuation,Coulson doesn't know if he can wait for SHIELD or his team.
He has to plan his own escape and then contact them.
Po is Centipede and he's working for the Clairvoyant and Raina and SHIELD needs to know that.
He keeps relieving Tahiti,mostly,even though there is the odd past painful scene,his father's sudden death,his mother's,a scepter through his heart.
He shots snarky remarks everytime Po asks,memorises the path from his room to the machine and decides on what he can use to escape.
(A tray with medical equipment,a pair of tweezers to pick the lock on his handcuffs.)
It's been a couple of days,he has to act.
If SHIELD hadn't acted aready,he had to start finding a way out. And if they did send a search party for him,they wouldn't know where to start looking. He needed to get away,to lead them to him.
He closes his eyes and thinks of the last time he was in his own bed,of the surprising calmness he felt seeing Skye's face next to his.
(Don't get him wrong,he thinks of the rest of the team,of how May is quietly worrying,of how Fitz and Simmons must be working extra hard in the lab,obsessing over one thing or other,of how Ward must be angry-punching the bag at the hangar,of Skye herself quietly working on her laptop. But right now he needs that comforting,companionable moment with her.)
He decides,the next time they bring him back to the bedroom,he sets his escape plan in motion.
(Because he has a plan. That's what he's always been,'the man with the plan'.)
His team is waiting for his signal.