The party was supposed to be small. Just a few old friends getting together to celebrate the end of one of the most legendary careers in the Cascade PD.

Well...technically two of the most legendary careers...

Jim Ellison leaned on the railing of his balcony, his super-sensitive hearing attuned to every sound in the overcrowded loft even as he looked out at the sights of his city. His city...Jim chuckled quietly as the realization hit him once again. Technically, Cascade was no longer 'his' city. He was a retired police officer. The oath he had taken to 'protect and serve' the people of Cascade no longer applied to him.

And yet it did. He was never just a police officer. Jim was a Sentinel: a genetic throwback to a time where every tribe had a protector whose genetically hyper-enhanced senses were the tribe's first line of defense. And that protector never 'retired' from the job. Of course, Jim thought idly, the ancient Sentinels rarely lived long enough to get to retirement age...

"Man," a booming, familiar voice commented behind him, "it's been a long time since I had to go through that kind of a gauntlet just to light up a cigar..."

Jim smiled, not needing the comments to know the identity of the man standing behind him. He turned around to embrace one of his oldest friends. "Simon," he greeted the older man with a smile. "It's been too long. How's DC treating you?"

"Same old, same old," Simon grumbled. "I can't wait until it's over."

"I hear ya," Jim agreed sympathetically. "Hey, how's Diane?"

"Ask her yourself," Simon replied. He tilted his head back toward the bustling loft behind them.

Jim immediately spotted the woman in question, listening to his guide talk with animated enthusiasm about his beloved students. "I was surprised when you two RSVP'd for this," he admitted to Simon. "What with everything going on in Washington and all. We were planning on coming out to visit next week..."

"This was totally Diane's idea," Simon insisted, holding up his hands in a gesture of pseudo-innocence. "She told me she needed the change of scenery..."

"But you don't sound like you're buying it," Jim countered.

Simon took a swig from his beer bottle, then rested his hands on the railing, dangling his beer and cigar over the edge as he stared out at the skyline. His expression fell into a grim mask of concern. "I think she's starting to suspect, Jim. About you and Blair." Jim mouthed a silent 'oh' as he turned to stare out at the cityscape with his former boss. "She knows about everything else, Jim," Simon insisted. "Why not this? It's not like you can't trust her."

"I don't know," Jim shrugged. "At first I had such a hard time getting used to the idea. Then after I watched Blair die and come back those first couple of times...I guess all those old fears came back."

"About becoming somebody's lab rat?" Jim nodded.

"I would never let that happen to you two," Diane insisted. "You know that."

Jim turned around to find that Blair and Diane were now standing behind them. He motioned to the nearby patio furniture, encouraging everyone to sit for the long-overdue discussion. "I know that," said Jim. "To be honest, the main reason we haven't brought it up is because before now it wasn't necessary. You two were over there and we were here. It didn't seem important."

"So what's changed?" asked Simon.

"New York," Blair quietly declared. "And DC. SHIELD, HYDRA, all of it."

"Blair and I both agreed that we couldn't just focus solely on protecting Cascade when it felt like the world was starting to fall to pieces all around it." added Jim.

Diane's mind started to make the necessary connections. "That's why you guys are taking your 20, isn't it?" she asked them.

Jim nodded. "We want to join the bigger fight."

"And we can't do that here," agreed Blair.

Simon was starting to pick up on his friends' intentions. "You guys are going to New York."

Blair and Jim both nodded. "At this point," said Blair, "they may be the only government organization left that we know we can completely trust..."

Jim noticed Diane's hesitant reaction to his guide's statement. "Wait," he asked Diane, "has that changed? Is there some reason we can't trust the Guardians anymore?"

Diane leaned back into the chair and sighed wearily. "Honestly? I don't know," she replied. "They're working with a former SHIELD team now..."

That got Jim and Blair's attention immediately. "And you're not sure you can trust them?" asked Blair.

"Not completely," Diane admitted. "Their leader is reportedly beyond reproach..."

"But so was Alexander Pierce," Jim added, catching on to the source of his old commissioner's hesitation.

Diane nodded. "And this Agent Coulson's already discovered that one of his team is HYDRA. Combine that with the way Director Fallon's been acting lately..."

Jim and Blair both leaned forward, surprised by Diane's last comment. "How has he been acting?" asked Jim.

"I think he's keeping secrets from me," Diane declared. "Again." Jim and Blair shared a split-second glance of unspoken communication...which Diane caught on to immediately. "You know this secret of his, don't you?"

"We do," Blair replied.

A lightbulb went off in Diane's mind. "You guys all share this secret, don't you?" Jim and Blair both nodded. "Well?"

Jim and Blair sighed, knowing that the moment of truth had finally arrived. "You know that Katya came back...different after the battle of Central Park, right?" asked Blair. When Diane nodded, Blair began his explanation. "She wasn't the only one..."

#

It took the group a minute to regain their balance after the abrupt change of scenery. "What the hell happened back there?" Trip exclaimed. "What was the big rush? We could have taken them..."

"Master Xiānzhī is clairvoyant," Coulson explained. "He tells you to get out of the way...get out of the way."

"The Guest House was rigged to explode if someone tried to raid the place," Esposito explained. "Your friend Garrett tripped the switch, then killed the guards so that no one could turn the switch back off again."

"So he's dead?" asked May.

Esposito shrugged. "As far as I know."

"And we probably would have been, too, if Master Xiānzhī hadn't gotten us out of there," Coulson explained, his eyes never leaving Trip's. Trip quietly nodded.

Fitz and Simmons ran up to the landing area, their breathlessness seemingly coming as much from excitement as exertion. "Oh, good!" Simmons exclaimed. "You're back!"

"You guys weren't that far ahead of us," Coulson countered, confused. "Have you found something?"

Simmons blew off Coulson's question. "No, nothing yet. But you won't believe who we found working in this place!"

Coulson chuckled lightly, strongly suspecting the identity of the person to whom Fitz and Simmons were most likely referring. "Lead on," he told his eager science team.

The group followed Fitz and Simmons through the maze of corridors until they came to the door of what looked to be a well-equipped medical and technical lab. Inside the lab Coulson found the man and woman whose presence he was expecting...and the one man he had hoped he would never have to speak to again. Both men were now looking at him like they were seeing a ghost. "Doctor Banner. Stark."

"Coulson," Stark responded with barely controlled anger. "I though you were dead. We all thought you were dead."

"I was," Coulson answered matter-of-factly.

Stark's eyes went wide. He opened his mouth to respond...and was interrupted before he could speak. "SHIELD brought you back?" asked Banner. Coulson nodded. "How?"

Coulson pointed in the direction of the Kree half-corpse on the slab between Stark and Banner. "Our new friend over there."

Banner pointed to the body, stunned by Coulson's explanation. "Him?"

Coulson nodded. "Apparently I was injected with a serum derived from his blood."

Suddenly inspired, Banner went over to a nearby computer and called up a file. "Was this you, AC?"

Coulson looked over Banner's shoulder and read what he saw on the monitor screen. "I think it might be, yeah," he declared.

Fitz and Simmons quickly crossed the room, flanking Banner as they read the file for themselves. "Sir," Simmons exclaimed in amazement, "this drug...what it did..."

Stark's curiosity was piqued by Simmons' reaction. "What did it do?"

"Cell regeneration and restoration on a massive scale," replied Simmons. She turned her attention to the Kree corpse. A million thoughts seemed to be racing through her mind. "If we could figure out how to replicate what was done to you...if we could somehow manufacture this drug...it could cure spinal cord injuries...regenerate amputated limbs...sir, it could cure cancer..."

"I...wouldn't jump on the 'salvation of the world' bandwagon too quickly," Banner warned, cutting Simmons off. His eyes never left the screen as he continued to read to the group. "Subjects suffered from severe mental and emotional side effects, including hypergraphia, aphasia, catatonia, dementia and outright psychosis. These effects could only be counteracted by completely erasing the subject's memories of the procedure..."

"So you would be completely physically healed, only to end up going bat-crap crazy because of how you were healed?" asked Trip.

Banner nodded. "Looks like it."

Esposito looked up at Coulson, his eyes filled with concern for his friend. "This is what they did to you, AC?" Coulson nodded.

Trip was not liking what he was hearing about his 'boss'. "Should we be worried?" he asked.

"I doubt it," Lanie replied. "Only one way I know to be completely sure, though..." She turned to Ryan and Esposito. "I have an idea, but I'm going to need both of you to help me with it."

"What are you thinking, babe?" asked Esposito.

Lanie focused on Coulson as she described her plan to Ryan and Esposito. "A full 'physical'," she explained. "We work together to evaluate AC here mentally, emotionally and physically. If we find anything suspicious..."

"With the three of us working together we should be able to fix anything that might possibly need to be fixed," Ryan agreed. "Sounds good to me."

When Esposito nodded in agreement, the three Guardians formed a circle around the former SHIELD agent. Coulson's gaze never left Lanie. "You need me to do anything?" he asked.

Lanie shook her head. "Just relax. This should only take a minute."

Coulson nodded, holding his hands together to keep from fidgeting nervously. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly to continue to try and calm himself down. "Ready when you are, Doc."

Lanie smiled reassuringly before taking her own deep breath and closing her eyes. Once she felt centered, she placed her hand on Coulson's shoulder. Ryan and Esposito quickly followed.

Trip watched the scene unfold before him with a wary, curious confusion. "I thought they were going to give him a physical..." he whispered to Castle, who shushed him quiet.

The three Guardians came out of their collective trance a moment later. Lanie looked to her friends for confirmation of her findings. "I found nothing wrong," she declared definitively. "You guys?" Esposito and Ryan nodded in agreement.

"You mean you guys don't see it?" asked Beckett.

The three Guardians turned to hear out their friend. "See what?" asked Ryan.

Beckett stepped up to join the circle that surrounded Coulson. "Link me in."

"Why do they need to 'link her in'..." asked Trip.

Castle shushed him a second time. "Guys," he asked his fellow Guardians, "what are you seeing?"

The group were collectively smiling when they opened their eyes. "And I thought my aura was intense," exclaimed Ryan.

"My aura?" asked Coulson.

"Our abilities are fueled by chi," Ryan explained. "The overflow of that chi shows up as an aura that a person with heightened senses can sometimes see."

"And your aura explains everything," agreed Lanie.

Coulson frowned. "It does?"

Ryan nodded. "Wanna see for yourself?"

"Okay..." replied Coulson. He gasped as his eyes slammed shut so that his eyes didn't distract from what his mind's eye was seeing. "That...that's my aura?!"

Ryan nodded again. "The combination of orange and white are the colors of the tiger spirit."

"I've seen the spirit in Phoenix's aura a few times," Beckett added, "but only in flashes. Your aura, on the other hand, seems to have merged with it."

"I think the tiger's stuck around to keep those side effects at bay," Lanie declared.

Coulson's eyes went wide. "The tiger spirit's keeping me sane?!"

"And probably has been since you were brought back," agreed Ryan.

Esposito found himself smiling at the thought. "You must be one hella important to the good guys, AC."

Stark's memories of the battle on the helicarrier floated to the front of his mind...along with every thought, feeling and action that followed as a result of that battle. "You have no idea," he declared. "No idea..."