A/N: I know we're kind of stuck in the cycle of training chapters, and I promise I'll move the story along...after one more chapter of messing with Warrior Coulson :-). Sorry, I can't resist...but first, one more piece of business. In the comments, htbuzz suggested that I needed a suitably epic storyline for a Beckett-Castle "Guardian" wedding. Well, I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm kicking around what I think will be a fun (although I have no idea exactly how epic yet) idea for that story. Just need to get this one done first. The tentative title for that story will give you a little hint as to what I'm planning: "Viva Las Vegas". ;-)

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Fallon smiled with the kind of pride that can only come as a teacher watches the success of his student. "Let's take a break." He looked over at a nearby clock. "We've been going nonstop for almost an hour."

"Okay," agreed Coulson. He took the bottle of water that Fallon offered him and collapsed, leaning against a mat on the back wall. "That was an hour, huh?"

"Yeah."

Coulson leaned his head back. "Didn't feel that long...tiger thing?"

Fallon nodded. "You'll get used to it."

Coulson shook his head and smiled, marveling at how quickly he was regaining his energy. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to this..."

"I know the feeling."

The two men looked up at the sound of the female voice joining the conversation. "Miss Castle..." Coulson greeted Alexis.

Alexis cut Coulson off. "It's Crusher down here, Agent Coulson," Alexis explained.

Coulson nodded, accepting the correction. "It's good to see you again...Crusher." Out of the corner of his eye, Coulson caught the odd expression on his new mentor's face. "What?"

Alexis produced two fencing sabres from behind her back. "Phoenix asked me to come down."

Coulson jumped up and crossed the room, taking the offered sabre. He tossed the weapon lightly in the air and caught it quickly by the handle, appreciating the weapon's weight and balance. "You fence?"

"Since I was a kid," Alexis replied. "The Princess Bride was one of my favorite movies when I was little. Westley was my first crush."

Coulson saluted Alexis with the sabre. "So we're going to cross blades, then?"

"Not yet," Fallon chimed in. He jumped up from where he had been resting. "Crusher?"

Alexis held up her free hand. A long, rectangular piece of black fabric appeared, dangling from her thumb and forefinger. "As you requested, boss," Alexis replied with a smile.

Fallon took the cloth and positioned himself behind Coulson. "After your session with Kat, I figured you could use some more time against an opponent who has advantages that you don't."

"Fair enough," agreed Coulson. "What's the blindfold for?"

"You rely too much on the evidence your senses provide you and not enough on your instincts," Fallon replied.

"But doesn't the tiger spirit make up for that?" asked Coulson.

Fallon shook his head. "Normally, it would. The army just gets outright possessed because that's what tends to be best for the greater good at the time. You and I, however, are the exceptions to that rule."

"How so?"

"My relationship with the tiger spirit is more of a...partnership," explained Fallon. "I'm assuming his relationship with you is similar..."

It is, the voice of the tiger spirit echoed through the room in agreement.

"Then he'll only help you as much as you *let* him help you," Fallon continued. "You could just be normal, average, everyday SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson..."

Coulson hung on Fallon's voice as his thought trailed off. "Or?"

"Or you could have every ability that my boyfriend has and more," Alexis replied.

"The choice will *always* be yours," agreed Fallon.

Coulson took a second to let Fallon and Alexis' words sink in. "What do I need to do?" he asked quietly.

The blindfold wrapped around Coulson's eyes a split second later. "The same thing Katya was telling you earlier," Fallon instructed. "Don't think. Just fight."

Coulson used the sabre to salute the room in response, then pointed the blade out in the best defensive posture he could assume without knowing the location of his opponent. Don't think, he thought, repeating Fallon's last words to him, just fight. He heard the opening swish of Alexis' sabre, dodging her attack quickly. He felt her disappear; the sensation threw him off, and he started to turn to his right and left, worrying that Alexis' next attack could come from anywhere. *Then* he started worrying about how much he was worrying. Don't think, Coulson thought, repeating the words in his head like a mantra. Don't think don't think don't think don't think don't think...

The shift in Coulson's perceptions caught him completely by surprise. His hands and feet seemed to be moving of their own accord. Block. Dodge. Thrust. Parry. Turn. Step. Duck. Spin. Attack. The whole thing felt surreal, like he was no longer in his body, but instead was watching the fight from a position outside of himself. It felt...

Coulson ripped the blindfold off his eyes as his breath caught in his throat. His eyes darted around the room, desperately trying to find somewhere, anywhere to escape. His only way out, though, was blocked by the concerned face of his mentor. "Phil?" asked Fallon. "What is it?"

"I..." Coulson gasped out, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. "I don't know..."

Alexis recognized the symptoms immediately. "Just breathe, Phil," she cooed, dropping her sabre and rubbing Coulson's back in an attempt to be reassuring. "In and out, in and out. Don't focus wherever your head is right now. Just focus on your breathing."

"Do I need to get the Mùshī?" Fallon asked Alexis.

Coulson shook his head. "I'll be fine," he told Fallon, his words showing more confidence than the man seemed to be feeling. "Just...just give me a minute."

"What just happened?" Fallon asked. "You were doing really well for a minute..."

"I felt it, too," Coulson agreed. He swallowed hard as a knot instantly formed in the pit of his stomach. "What you were talking about. Letting the tiger take over. But then I felt like I was *outside* of my body. Watching myself drill with Alexis from a spot up on the ceiling."

Fallon nodded in understanding. "That's a good sign," he told Coulson, trying to be supportive.

Coulson shook his head, sensing a disconnect between what he was feeling and Fallon's perspective. "No, you don't understand," he argued insistently. "It felt like I was dying. *Again.*"

Alexis' eyes flew wide. "Again?" she exclaimed. "You mean you're...?"

Fallon subtly shook his head, trying to stop Alexis before she said something they would later regret. He then turned his attention back to his student...and recognized what the problem was. "You've never dealt with it, have you? How you died?"

Coulson shook his head. "There were memories...implanted in my head. Fake ones. I don't really remember my death. Just..."

"What?" asked Alexis.

"Just waking up on the table in the middle of the 'process' that was used to resurrect me. And I only remembered *that* just recently."

Alexis let out a low whistle as a horrified chill ran down her spine. "Wow," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, tell me about it," agreed Coulson.

"What has your life been like since then?" asked Alexis.

Coulson paused, thinking carefully before answering Alexis' question. "Really weird," he finally admitted. "Most of the time everything feels completely normal. Well, as normal as SHIELD gets, at any rate...I knew that I had had a 'near' death experience, or so I thought..."

"What changed?" asked Fallon.

"Centipede," Coulson replied. "Quinn's organization. They kidnapped me. Forced me to go through a procedure to get my memories back. They...they told me that the Clairvoyant wanted to find out what happened to me. Said it was the only thing he couldn't see..."

"That's not the only thing the Clairvoyant couldn't see."

The urgency in Esposito's voice caught the group's attention immediately. "What is it, Master Xiānzhī?"

"I learned how to see into the Clairvoyant's future," Esposito declared. He turned first to Coulson. "Quinn is after *both* you and Skye. He believes that if he can replicate what SHIELD did to resurrect you, that he will be able to use it to make his super-soldiers immortal." Esposito then adjusted his gaze to address his 'boss'. "Quinn then believes he can force Skye to program them to be completely loyal to him. And unless we can change how this whole thing goes down, he *and* his army are going to be here in two days."