This chapter is for BellePaigeMay099! Thank you so much for the review, it really encouraged me to write this next chapter and keep the story going! I hope you enjoy, this is a long one! I also have finally started to healing process.

ALSO! Guys, I don't even know how it happened because it definitely wasn't planned, but some special guests appear in this chapter and I guess they're going to follow us throughout the rest of the story. I have updated the description to include them as characters, I hope you enjoy!

PLEASE please please leave reviews, they are awesome! ALSO HEY READ THIS if you guys like Criminal Minds, I have written a story kind of similar to this one for those characters. It's a little different but still similar, you know? It's called Caught in a Trap and I'm 3 chapters in! Check it out!

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They didn't rush the flight home. Everyone was exhausted. The time they had spent there, which they discovered was only four days, had taken a massive toll on everyone. Skye had been unconscious for a while now and medics said she would likely stay that way for the time being. Fitz and Simmons fell asleep next to each other, both resigning themselves to the medics who gently worked around them, careful not to wake them up. Ward was no where near asleep; he was too worried about everyone. A group of biochemists worked around him, taking blood samples and checking his vitals to try to find a counter to the paralysis drugs that were stuck in his system. May sat next to Coulson, letting herself get patched up but staying dead quiet. Coulson himself was conversing with Fury, his eyes never leaving Skye.

"What else can you remember, Coulson?"

"I don't.." he trailed off, his senses taking in the scene around him. Despite Coulson's strong exterior, he was broken down on the inside. The medics said he was in shock and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, trying to provide some comfort. As he pulled his eyes off Skye's form, he re-adjusted his head to try to get a better view of the BUS around him.

"Anything, Coulson, anything. How were you taken? What exactly did they do to your team?"

"I'm sorry, director, I can't-" his sentence stopped sharply and his eyes glazed over. Coulson felt a small prick in the back of his neck, slowly reaching his hand up and rubbing the regulator that was still embedded in his skin.

"What the hell.." Fury murmured, putting his hands on Coulson's shoulders. He shook him, trying to pull his agent out of the daze. Coulson slumped to the floor, knocked out, causing a panic amongst the passengers of the BUS. Skye was finally awoken by the ruckus and joined in a frenzy by May, Fitz, and Simmons to rush over in aide of Coulson. Ward had been given a sedative earlier to reduce his anxiety, so he was the only one that stayed unconscious. None of the agents made it very far, though, as all four felt a similar pricking sensation in their neck, simultaneously falling to the floor.

"What the hell!" Fury yelled this time, panic washing over his features. Hill joined his side, abandoning her position piloting the BUS and turning autopilot on.

"What is going on, sir? What's wrong with them?" she asked. She too, was panicking, the fear of loosing her favorite (though she'd deny it) field team dreading on her again. The biochemists, medics, strike teams, Fury, and Hill stood dumbfounded and in shock, surrounded by five unconscious team members, unsure of what to do.

"Ok, uhm, what the-" one of the medics started. There was a moment of silence before everyone jumped into action.

"Brace their necks!"

Fury dropped down to Coulson.

"What's wrong with them?!"

Micheals, the agent who saved Skye, ran to and aided her.

"Scan for exterior injuries!"

Two biochemists moved to stabilize Ward.

"Someone get me an ultrasound! Check for internal bleeding!"

Hill went to Fitz.

"I have a pulse!"

The head medic was closest to Simmons, assuming her as a patient.

"What do I do?"

A strike team, all who May had trained, ran to help her. They were joined by a medic.

"Wait!" Fury yelled, his voice booming above the chaos of all others. Everyone went quiet, but their hands kept probing the patients for injuries. "What the hell am I touching right now?!" His hand was on the back of Coulson's neck, trying to brace it manually and keep him from moving around in the turbulence. His fingers traced the outline of the regulator, the cold metal stood out from his warm skin. The medic working of Simmons released her from his grip and dashed over to Fury, gently lifting Coulson's neck to see what Fury was describing.

"Shit," he whispered. Whirling around, he ran over to Micheals. He was holding Skye's head in his lap, trying to keep her injuries from worsening or aggravating her. He took her head from him, gently lifting her skull to identify the same piece of technology embedded in her neck too. Looking around, he watched everyone check Coulson's team for the terrifying metallic object. Everyone solidified his prediction- the team all had regulators embedded into their neck, likely connected to the spinal cord to keep it from being removed.

"What the hell are these things?!" Fury bellowed. He had just gotten this team back, he wasn't about to lose them.

"They're regulators, sir. Very similar to the monitor you gave Coulson a while back. These seem much more advanced and appear to not only be able to monitor vitals but control them. It looks like a signal was sent to the devices, causing them to release a sedative into their bloodstream. I've never seen such advanced technology in such a small form before," the head medic explained. His voice was thick with worry but also laced with awe.

"Well how do we get them out?!"

"I'm not sure, sir. Once we get back to HQ we can do scans and form plans to surgically remove them without risk of paralysis. Until then, it seems like whatever sedative is being injected into them will continue to be so periodically, rendering them unconscious until we can remove them. I personally think this could be to keep something hidden. Maybe some of the people who took them survived, and needed time to get away without being ratted out by the team?"

"There's nothing we can do?" Micheals asked. He resumed his spot of the floor, keeping Skye's head steady in his lap. He obviously cared about her, though only as a friend. He had developed a want to protect the girl during their short time together as hostages.

"No, we can't. Not until we get back to HQ."

"That's enough, agents. Thank you," Fury snipped. His anger was evident in his voice as his panic continued to rise. The agents carefully worked together to move the team onto stretchers, bracing their necks and backs and strapping them to the tables to keep them stable. The medics wrapped Simmons's burns and treated her now severely-infected bullet wound. They worked on Fitz, many medics swarming him and trying to identify the extent of his injuries. One worked exclusively on Skye, focusing on treating her severe malnutrition and dehydration. She also treated Skye's cuts, burns, bruises, and ribs. Some of them had been cracked and broken. May was treated by Hill and Fury themselves, but only after Coulson had been cleared. The two highest agents in SHIELD were both shocked that Coulson and his specialist were left unharmed.

Once the BUS arrived back at the Triskelion, Hill had to be the one to tell Fury that the BUS wouldn't fit in the med wing's landing bay. They were forced to land in the main hanger, meaning that the team would have to be transported through the entire base to reach to med wing. Fury knew that they would be humiliated if they were awake, but he frankly didn't give a damn. Wheeling the six agents out of the BUS on their stretchers drew many sets of eyes itself. Fury didn't have the patience to tell them to piss off, instead just ignoring them. Everyone stared as they passed, their eyes glued to Skye's, Coulson's, FitzSimmons's, May's, and Ward's damaged bodies. As the medics, strike teams (who now refused to leave the teams' side), the biochemists, Fury, and Hill pushed the agents through the crowds, they came across a group who instantly became interested in what was happening.

"Is that Coulson?"

"What the hell am I looking at, Fury?!"

"What-"

The Avengers stared on in absolute bewilderment. They thought Coulson was dead, so how was he here? Bruce immediately ran to catch up with the team, checking on Skye. The duo had met before when Skye had visited the Triskelion before, so he had grown quite fond of the girl. The rest of the team caught up, shooting their questions at Fury who simply let them slide down and off his back. Everyone gathered together in the medical wing, everyone with even a little bit of medical training (Natasha, Clint, Tony and Bruce) trying to help as the team began their long healing process.

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Sorry about typos/errors, I really only proofread once. I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review for another chapter!