Trip squinted against the bright sunlight, barely keeping his balance as he adjusted to the contrast between the smooth floor of the warehouse and the rocky terrain of the mountainside. "You guys sure this is the place?"
"Yeah," Esposito replied. "The entrance is right over there."
Castle looked out at the endless stretch of coastline. "Nice view," he commented. "With scenery like this you'd think they would have wanted a few windows..."
"You don't normally have windows in super top-secret facilities," countered Coulson. "Especially ones that aren't even supposed to exist."
"This isn't a SHIELD facility?" asked Simmons.
Coulson shook his head. "Technically, it's a 'private think tank'. But its biggest client is...was...Director Fury."
"So how do we get their attention?" asked Castle.
Beckett looked at the venn diagram symbol adorning the only metal plate anywhere in sight. "I suppose we just ring the bell," she suggested.
A voice came over the intercom after Beckett pushed the button. "How was the drive from Istanbul?" a male voice asked the group.
"They're looking for a countersign," Coulson informed them.
On it, Ryan projected into the minds of the group. He opened his mind, stretching to make a connection with one of the guards on the other side of the door. "The coast is beautiful," he announced, "as long as you don't have to deal with the traffic in Marrakesh."
"Welcome," an automated voice replied.
The door opened with a soft click. Ryan pushed the door open fully, allowing Coulson and Beckett to lead the team through the darkened corridor. They stopped at a security desk, where two guards sat next to the strongest source of light in the room. "You folks don't have an appointment," the guard who answered the door told them. "But I let you in because you know the protocol." He chambered and unchambered the round in his pistol in an attempt to look intimidating. "So how can we help you?"
"Agent Kate Beckett," she told the men, flashing her badge. "Homeland Security. Director McPherson ordered my team to come here and take a tour of your facilities. You mean to tell me you didn't get the memo?"
The guard shook his head. "No, sorry."
Castle pulled a piece of paper out of his coat pocket and handed it to the guard. "I'm old school," he told the guard. "I assume that tech is going to fail first and succeed second. Which is why I always carry a paper backup."
The guard warily took the paper from Castle, reading it thoroughly. "This...looks in order," he agreed. "Let me just make a call to clear this up..."
You don't need to make a call, Ryan projected into the guard's mind.
The guard put down the receiver. "You know what," he said, "I don't need to make that call."
The paperwork looks in order, projected Ryan.
"The paperwork looks in order," the guard repeated.
Turn on the lights and let them just get on with it already.
The guard turned on the lights. "You folks have a nice day now. Just call up if you need us."
Beckett smiled, knowing that the guard's quick change of heart could only have come from one source. "We'll do that," she agreed. "Thanks."
Don't talk out loud for a while, Ryan projected to the group. At least until we're out of earshot of the guards. Unlike Skye, I can't make permanent changes to their minds. If they hear something suspicious they're likely to come back shooting at us.
So can we all talk this way? thought Trip.
Yep, the Guardians replied in unison.
Trip chuckled as silently as he dared. Okay then, he replied into the mind-link, guess I gotta watch what I'm thinking.
The Guardians all chuckled into the mind-link in sympathy. Your first lesson in how to live around the Guardians, Ryan agreed. He then turned to his partner. Where to now, man?
This way, Esposito announced to the group as he made a right turn into a nearby corridor. Not that much further.
The group passed through a set of swinging doors into what looked to be a surgical observation area. Coulson looked down into the operating room below them...and the entire group shuddered. "Is that...?" asked Fitz.
"Yeah," Coulson replied. No more words were needed to explain the memory that all of them were now experiencing through their linked minds.
"Wow," Esposito exclaimed. "I had no idea..."
"Neither did I," agreed Coulson, his voice catching in his throat.
The silence was tense and uncomfortable. Ryan was the first one to recover from their shared experience. He centered his emotions around the core of his gift, drawing in energy and radiating it out as peace before turning back to Esposito. "Which way?" he asked his partner.
"Through these doors," said Esposito. The team followed his lead as they moved through several research labs until, buried behind several boxes and storage crates, they found a yellow door with the word "T.A.H.I.T.I." stenciled across the front. Esposito's eyes widened as he recognized the acronym. "This is the magical place?"
"Well, you know what it's like when you peek behind the curtain," Coulson cracked, trying to defuse the situation with humor. "It takes all the fun out of it."
Ryan pushed aside the obstacles between the group and the door, then pulled the locked door off its hinges with one powerful pull. The door floated in mid-air for several seconds before floating quietly to the ground.
Trip shook his head in amazement, deeply impressed by the display. "Am I glad you're on our side..."
Castle smiled as he stepped through the debris to reach the lab...but then his face quickly fell as he recognized the design of the room in front of him. "This is a morgue," he declared.
Coulson nodded. "I was probably kept here, when I..."
No one wanted Coulson to finish that particular sentence. "Open the drawers," Beckett ordered the group. "Let's see what we have here now."
Coulson pulled open a drawer labeled "G.H." in the center of the room's back wall. He gasped when the contents of the drawer revealed themselves. "I think we might have found your guy," he exclaimed.
May and Esposito were the first to join Coulson, surrounding the enclosed, transparent coffin case as the rest of the group crowded around behind them. "That's him," they declared in unison.
"More like half of him," Trip agreed.
Fitz and Simmons traced the tubes that were coming out of the body as far as they could reach. "The blood has been drained to another part of the building," said Simmons. "I can't tell where from here, though."
"I don't think we're going to get the chance to find out," Beckett declared. Her worried expression sent the Guardians on high alert. "We got company."
The report of automatic weapons fire confirmed Beckett's announcement. "Can you send Fitz and Simmons back to the warehouse with the body?" Coulson asked Castle.
"What about the rest of us?" asked May as the two scientists disappeared.
Coulson chambered a round in his pistol. "I have a feeling I know who this is," he declared, "and I just want to make sure that he and I aren't on the same page."
May followed the lead of her 'former' S.O., then frowned when she realized that Trip was the only other person carrying a weapon. "What," she exclaimed, rolling her eyes at the Guardians, "you guys don't believe in guns or something?"
"Don't really need them that much," Ryan replied with a shrug.
May tried to ignore the nervous knot that comment formed in her stomach as the group filed out into the hallway. John Garrett was smiling at the other end of the corridor, surrounded by a dozen armed men in full body armor. Each and every one carrying a machine gun. "Well, well, 'Agent' Coulson," taunted Garrett, "I wouldn't have expected to see you here..."
"Can't say the same," Coulson countered. "After all, don't cockroaches usually hide under rocks?"
Garrett seemed unfazed by the insult. "So who are your friends?" he asked, his eyes leering at Beckett even while he was still talking to Coulson.
Coulson had to resist the urge to smile. "A safe port in a storm," he shrugged.
Garrett looked past Coulson; his focus was almost entirely on Beckett. "Sure I can't convince you to switch over to the winning team?" He practically licked his lips as he examined Beckett from head to toe.
"Sorry," Beckett drolled, "but I prefer to be with a man who carries a big gun and knows how to use it."
"Shame," said Garrett, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Ah well, I guess we don't need you alive to figure out how you came back from the dead, Coulson." He turned to the man who was kneeling next to Garrett's left side. "Fire."
Bullets went flying in every conceivable direction as they ricocheted off of Castle's energy shields. When the guns went silent and the dust settled, Garrett was expecting to see Agent Coulson and his cohorts lying dead in a bloody heap.
Garrett was disappointed...but Trip was impressed. Particularly when he saw how many of those bullets were now lodged in some of Garrett's own shooters. "Effective," he commented to the Guardians.
Esposito smiled briefly, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Portable, too..." he hinted, tilting his head in the Garrett's direction. The Guardian sprinted across the corridor, finally tackling Garrett and barreling through his waist before sending both men to the ground. But before Esposito could get off a punch, he staggered backwards, struggling as a vision hit him full force.
Garrett struggled to his feet, shaking his head to clear his disorientation and wrap his head around what he had just witnessed. He took out his pistol and pointed it at Esposito, emptying his clip at point-blank range only to find that not a single shot found its target. Again. "Who the hell are you guys?"
His question was never answered. "CASTLE!" Esposito screamed at the top of his lungs. "GET US OUT OF HERE, NOW!"