The noonday sun beat down on the concrete slab where Coulson paced, waiting for the group with whom he was meeting. He only hoped that the Guardians would show up, as promised.

The Sìfāng-Núèr is a woman of her word, the tiger-spirit's voice reassured him. The honored ones will be here.

"I hope you're right," he told the tiger, squinting up at the sun and praying to any and all gods and Asgardians who might be listening. "I hope you're right...hey, can I ask you a question?"

Ask away, the tiger replied.

I can't believe I'm asking a question to a hallucination, Coulson thought. Out loud, though, he asked, "how could Alexis Castle see you?"

All will be revealed in time, Warrior Coulson, the tiger replied.

Coulson chuckled and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose to clear the brightness and tension away from behind his eyes. "Cryptic," he muttered, "I probably shouldn't be surprised that you're being cryptic..."

"Who's being cryptic?"

The woman's resonant voice was not the one that Coulson was expecting. Still, the pale face framed by dark hair matched one of the photographs he had seen in the very sparse file. "Agent Beckett, I presume?"

Kate Beckett nodded. "Agent Coulson?" Coulson nodded. "Are you alone?"

Coulson knew better than to lie to the woman in front of him. "To the best of my knowle..."

"He's alone."

A second voice called across to him from the opposite direction. Two men approached Coulson, matching each other stride for stride. "You're sure?" asked Beckett.

Ryan nodded. "I've checked a half-mile on land and as far in the air as I could get. No one in the area is paying any attention to us unless they're looking with a satellite..."

"Which they won't be."

A third man came up to stand at Beckett's side. "Agent Castle?" asked Coulson.

Castle nodded. "This area is protected. No one from SHIELD or anywhere else will be able to detect anyone in this area until we're done here."

Coulson nodded, anticipating and expecting the protective measures. His attention was drawn to the fourth member of the group - the only one who hadn't spoken to him. In fact, the fourth member of the group was the only one who hadn't yet looked him in the eye. On the contrary, the one he suspected to be Agent Javier Esposito seemed to be completely focused on Coulson's knees...

Or rather, the spirit animal who was sitting at attention next to Coulson's knees. "Whoa," Esposito exclaimed, his expression showing his complete amazement at what he was seeing. "Alexis was right..."

Coulson's eyes went wide. "You can see him, too?"

Esposito ignored him, getting down on one knee to look the spirit animal in the eye. "Raja, what are you doing here?"

I have always supported honorable warriors in need, Raja explained. The warrior Coulson is honorable and right now is in great need.

"Because of his injured friend?"

Among many things, yes, Raja replied.

Coulson, for his part, seemed stuck on the fact that his 'hallucination' was, apparently, visible to yet another person. "You can *see* him?" he asked Esposito a second time.

"We all can," Ryan replied for his fellow Guardian.

Coulson staggered back, a bit stunned by Ryan's explanation. "How...why..."

Ryan could only shrug. "This is the first time we've ever met someone who's been adopted by the tiger. It's kind of a surprise to us, too."

"Who *is* he?" asked Coulson in amazement.

"First things first," Esposito declared, standing up as the tiger spirit disappeared. "You seemed pretty desperate to help your friend when you talked to Alexis earlier."

Coulson nodded. His mind referencing what little he had found in the file, he offered a hand to Esposito. "I could explain the situation to you, but from what I understand, it'll be faster if you see for yourself?"

Esposito nodded, clasping Coulson's hand into his own to shake it...then both men collapsed to their knees as the confusing mix of memories momentarily overwhelmed Esposito.

Ryan raced to his friend's side, opening a connection to Esposito's mind to give him the strength and focus to complete the process of organizing Coulson's memories...but only barely. "Whoa," Esposito exclaimed between gulping down large breaths of air. "You've been through some twisted kind of hell, man..."

"So they tell me," Coulson added.

Ryan stared at Coulson in disbelief. "You can't remember?"

"Bits and pieces..." replied Coulson with a shrug.

"That's what gave me so much trouble," Esposito chimed in. "Some sick, twisted SOB superimposed a second set of memories over your own. I'm still having trouble telling the difference between your real experiences and how they messed with your head. I'm surprised you haven't gone nuts, to be honest."

Coulson chuckled bitterly. "Gee, thanks."

"You're sure that SHIELD is who did this to you?" asked Esposito.

"99 percent," Coulson replied.

Castle let out a low whistle. "Jesus..." he exclaimed, "no wonder Steve's so wary to let us get involved with SHIELD."

"He's not wrong," Coulson agreed. He then turned his attention back to Esposito. "You saw what happened to Skye?" Esposito nodded. "So you know how bad her situation is?"

Esposito nodded. "So does the Yīzhì," he told Coulson. "She's ready to leave for the bus when we give her the go."

Coulson nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

Castle, for his part, was not quite so ready. "Are you guys sure about this?" he asked.

Ryan and Esposito both nodded. Skye's on full life support, Ryan told the Guardians through their group mind-link, and according to Lanie, Skye will never come out of it if she doesn't intervene. Her body's far too damaged.

So we get in, let Lanie heal this Skye woman, and get out? asked Castle.

Coulson's not going to let anything happen to us if he can help it, Esposito insisted. And I'd really like to figure out why Raja's taken this guy under his wing...

Castle couldn't resist. So to speak, he teased.

Esposito ignored him. But you're probably right. Getting on and off the bus as quickly as possible is probably the best course of action.

"Then let's go, then," announced Castle.

Coulson tried to ignore the feeling that he had missed something. "All right, then," he agreed. "My car's just over here..."

Castle stopped Coulson with a hand on the man's shoulder and an enigmatic smile. "That's now how we travel," insisted Castle. "We'll come back for your car."

"Really?" asked Coulson, frowning. "Then how..."

Coulson's question was cut off when the group disappeared.

#

The group reappeared in the plane's loading bay. It only took Coulson a second to realize that they had crossed several boroughs and launched tens of thousands of feet into the air in the blink of an eye. "Yeah, that definitely beats flying," he agreed in amazement. Out of the corner of his eye, Coulson then realized that a fifth member of the Guardians had joined the group. "Phil Coulson," he introduced himself.

"Dr. Lanie Parrish-Esposito," Lanie greeted Coulson back as she shook his hand. "Can you point me in the direction of my patient?" Coulson nodded in agreement, then turned toward the labs...

Where Ward and Fitz were pointing guns at the group while Simmons cowered nervously behind them. "Identify yourselves," Ward insisted forcefully, ignoring the fact that his boss was standing right in front of him. "How did you get on this plane?"

Ryan had to resist the urge to chuckle. "Give me those things before you hurt yourselves with them," he casually told the two agents as he walked past them.

The weapons floated out of Ward and Fitz' hands and flew across the loading bay before the two agents had a chance to do anything about it. Coulson, for his part, fell in lock step with the Guardians. "Gentlemen," he ordered his team with a smile, "stop pointing weapons at our guests. And Simmons, please join us. I have a feeling you're gonna want to see this."

The group crossed quickly through the lab until they stopped in front of the life support containment unit that was holding Skye. The sight was horribly familiar to Esposito. "That's her?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Coulson nodded, then turned to the head of his technical team. "Simmons, open the door."

Simmons went wide-eyed. "Sir," she argued, "that unit is hermetically sealed to keep Skye in..."

Coulson's tone broached no argument. "Open. It. That's an order."

Simmons opened her mouth to argue, then closed it when she realized that Coulson was not going to allow her to argue. "Yes, sir," she finally relented, punching in the code to open the door.

The door slid open with a near-silent whooshing sound. Lanie pushed through the crowd of people, approaching her patient with a quiet reverence for the scene in front of her. "Hello, Skye," she whispered. "I'm Lanie. I'm here to help."

Lanie took Skye's hand in her own, slipping easily into a healing trance when their hand made contact. She closed her eyes so she could focus on taking care of her patient, then frowned moments later. Ryan noticed the change in Lanie's expression and opened a connection between them. Lanie? he asked. Everything ok?

Something's...odd, Lanie replied. Help me finish up.

Sure, agreed Ryan.

Lanie and Ryan squeezed Skye's hands for a few more tense, quiet moments before Lanie came out of her trance. Skye soon followed, yawning and stretching her arms up over her head like she had just awakened from a restful night's sleep. it was only when her eyes adjusted to the light that Skye realized how many people where surrounding her...and where she was. "Guys, why am I waking up in the infirmary? What..." Skye's voice trailed off as her last memories returned to her. "Did I," she gasped, "did I get shot?"

Coulson was the first one to find his voice. "Yeah," he replied, choking back a small sob, "but you're going to be just fine."

Lanie, for her part, just squeezed Skye's hand. It was clear to her fellow Guardians that her mind was not on her present task. "Your doctor...your doctor's just going to come in and take a look at you now..."

Skye looked up, confused as to why the strange doctor who had just spoken to her felt so oddly familiar. "All..all right," she agreed.

Lanie slipped out of the room as Simmons moved to take her place, and the Guardians followed suit. Ryan immediately began the conversation. Lanie, he asked, opening up the floor to a group mind-link conversation, what's going on?

We can't leave that girl here, Lanie declared to the group.

Her announcement surprised and confused her fellow Guardians. What are you talking about, babe? asked Esposito. She's SHIELD, she *belongs* here.

Lanie shook her head. That's just it. She *doesn't* belong here. She belongs with us. When four pairs of eyes stared at Lanie in complete confusion, she explained, As I was healing Skye I noticed something strange so I drilled down to her DNA.

That's why you needed my help, Ryan added, recognizing the difficulty immediately.

Yeah, Lanie agreed. And that's when I found it.

She has the gene? asked Beckett.

Lanie shook her head. Not just the gene, she insisted. I think Skye might have been *born* flipped. Her gene is the most dominant I've ever seen. Even more than in any of us.

Four voices went off in Lanie's mind in near-unison. What?! How could she possibly...

I don't know, Lanie replied, silencing the thoughts of her team all at once. But I do know one thing: until we know who this girl is and what she's capable of, we just can't leave her here.