The catastrophic collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters didn't just shake the world—it also sent shockwaves through a very special team founded by Phil Coulson: the Bus Team.
The so-called Bus Team was a mobile task force that used a massive airborne jet as its base of operations, traveling across the globe to investigate strange, supernatural, and unexplained phenomena—and to clean up the aftermath of battles left behind by superheroes.
That aircraft was a gift.
A gift from Nick Fury to Phil Coulson, after Coulson returned from Tahiti—back from the dead. Along with the plane, Fury granted Coulson the authority to form an independent action unit.
Coulson went on to recruit some of the most exceptional talents S.H.I.E.L.D. had ever seen:
Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, the youngest and most brilliant scientific minds in the organization's history
Melinda May, once known as The Cavalry, now semi-retired and serving as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dispatcher
Grant Ward, an elite field operative whose overall performance ranked second only to Agent Natasha Romanoff
And Skye, a hacker from the Rising Tide who broke into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems in mere minutes
They argued. They clashed. They stumbled.
But they trusted one another. Protected one another.
To Coulson, they were like his children.
Then everything changed.
-----
It all began with GH-325—the mysterious compound that had dragged Coulson back from the brink of death.
GH-325 was extracted from the body of a blue-skinned alien. It could rapidly regenerate tissue and restore life to those on the verge of death.
Coulson's resurrection wasn't just the result of electrical stimulation to the brain—GH-325 was the true reason he lived.
Later, when Coulson was placed inside a machine that stimulated his brain, fragments of memories from his own death began to surface—memories that had been erased and replaced through hypnosis.
Then Skye, while investigating Cybertek, was gravely injured.
Using the faint clues buried in his recovered memories, Coulson traced GH-325 back to Tahiti—which turned out to be an underground medical facility. Its greatest secret was GH-325 itself.
With the very last dose of GH-325, Coulson saved Skye's life.
-----
The Clairvoyant had long existed only as a legend.
Or perhaps—a god.
His eyes and ears were everywhere. The one thing he wanted above all else was GH-325.
Coulson began to suspect that the Clairvoyant was actually a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent—someone without sufficient clearance to access GH-325, and therefore manipulating others into restoring Coulson's memories.
Then Fitz discovered May using a highly encrypted single-line communication channel.
Doubt crept in.
Could May be working for the Clairvoyant?
Before that question could be answered, Coulson's old comrade John Garrett was attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. drones and forced to take refuge aboard the Bus.
From the drone attack and the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters had seized control of the Bus's flight path, Coulson concluded that Victoria Hand was the Clairvoyant—and that HYDRA had taken over Headquarters.
May later revealed that her encrypted line was connected to Director Fury.
When Coulson asked her to reconnect, the response they received was devastating:
Nick Fury was dead.
Soon after, when the Bus landed at Headquarters, it came under attack. Coulson and his team were forced to abandon the aircraft and retreat into the facility.
Coulson believed Hand was the Clairvoyant—
Until a careless remark from Garrett made him realize the truth.
Victoria Hand wasn't the Clairvoyant.
John Garrett was.
There was only one person who knew that Coulson had willingly entered the memory-rewriting machine after being persuaded by Raina.
Only the Clairvoyant.
After Skye was injured, it was Garrett who had accompanied Coulson to search for GH-325—the very secret the Clairvoyant was desperate to uncover.
Garrett was arrested.
Along with him, many high-clearance agents were detained—people Coulson had once called friends, colleagues, brothers-in-arms.
-----
Grant Ward volunteered to escort Garrett to the Fridge.
During the transport flight, Ward killed Victoria Hand.
The truth came crashing down.
Ward had always been Garrett's man.
Inside the Fridge—where S.H.I.E.L.D. had stored countless alien weapons collected from every corner of the Earth—Garrett released imprisoned HYDRA operatives and stole every last weapon.
-----
Using an encrypted message left behind by Fury, Coulson located one of Fury's secret bases. There, the base commander confirmed the truth:
Nick Fury was alive.
Ward exploited the fact that his identity hadn't yet been exposed. He infiltrated the base, murdered the commander, seized Skye, and stole the Bus.
Ward was a liar.
A complete fraud.
He had hidden his true nature, exploiting the trust of everyone around him to serve Garrett.
But what Coulson could never forgive—
Was what Ward did to Fitz.
Even after Ward's betrayal was exposed, Fitz still believed he was innocent.
And Ward repaid that trust by sealing Fitz and Simmons inside an airtight pod and sinking it into the ocean.
They survived.
But the prolonged oxygen deprivation caused severe brain damage to Fitz.
He never woke up.
-----
"Stupid. Cruel. Incredibly stupid!"
Aboard the Bus, after Garrett was dealt with, Coulson finally erupted at his superior.
"Why bring me back?! I told you this experiment would destroy the subject's sanity! I warned you!"
During the Tahiti project, Coulson had made it clear: GH-325 drove subjects insane. The experiment was meant for mortally wounded Avengers—
Not for him.
"I'm glad I did it," Fury replied calmly.
"When you build something, you need a solid foundation. You know that, Coulson. There are very few people I trust—count them on one hand."
"I'm not afraid of losing fingers. S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded for one simple purpose: protection. Protecting a person. Protecting a planet."
"What's happening now isn't the end. It's a return to the foundation."
"From this moment on—you will rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury left Coulson a small black box.
And with it—
The position of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
-----
The Bus carried Fury to a remote location, where a private car waited.
Before leaving, Fury suddenly turned back.
"Come on, Coulson. Walk me out. Who knows when we'll meet again."
Coulson knew Fury had something important to say—something meant only for him.
"Coulson," Fury said quietly, "do you remember the little girl who sold flowers?"
"You mean the one from the Stark household?" Coulson nodded. "Of course."
"She was involved in the Triskelion incident. She was just here on vacation—and got dragged into all of it."
"Oh. Was she frightened?"
"Not at all. She was brave."
Fury stopped walking.
"Let me ask you something. Based on what you know about me—would I bring a child with no combat ability into a battlefield?"
"No."
"Exactly. I wouldn't."
"But I did."
Fury's expression grew grave.
"That girl—Clara—is dangerous."
"What?" Coulson stared at him. "That's impossible."
She was just a girl who'd lost her parents, kept in the dark about the truth. What danger could she pose?
"She can change people's minds," Fury said slowly.
"Subtly. Without them realizing it."
"She's gifted—and she doesn't even know it."
"You're saying she can control minds?" Coulson asked sharply.
"If that's true, it's terrifying."
"I'm not certain," Fury admitted.
"But one thing is reassuring—she'll grow into someone useful to the world."
"Because she's on Arnim Zola's purge list."
"At the very least—she will always be HYDRA's enemy."
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