Changes | Marvel

TWENTY FIVE. Insanity

Furious knocking on my lab door had me running and peeking out. Mack was nervously playing around with his hand, looking at me.

"Look, we need you to come with me right now. Coulson is an absolute mad-man and isn't listening to any of us." I come out and lock the door behind me, following a jogging Mack.

"What's he doing now?" I ask him, gasping. Mack was a fast walker and I had small legs.

"To summarise it all up, we have a machine in storage that can bring out our memories, but apparently it's like torture. It almost killed him last time." I speed up faster, knowing that there was something mentally wrong with Phil. It must've been all of this carving stuff, making him think that there was something missing. I opened up the door to the lab and saw Phil getting hooked up to monitors.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask him, making him look over and glare at Mack.

"Mack, I ordered you not to tell her." Phil almost growled, but Mack stood up strong.

"You're risking your mental health, Director. It was all done in concern." He told Phil, going over and sitting next to Fitz.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask him, stepping closer.

"We need answers. This is the only way." He says. Skye slams the folder she was holding shut.

"In the history of bad ideas, this is light-years ahead of everything." She argues, frustrated.

"No, trying to bring dead agents back to life using alien blood blows everything else away." He retorts.

"Phil, Fury was only trying to help us. We were murdered, that isn't the right way to die." I tell him softly, nervous about how he was getting himself ready to hurt himself.

"Fury is a liar. Your brother and the rest of the Avengers knew this, and I was too stubborn to realise he would do something like this." He raises his voice. The heart monitor hooked up to him started to speed up, so I tried to calm him down.

"My brother literally calls everyone a liar. He's like a younger and healthier version of House. Trust me Phil, don't do this. Just contact Fury or Maria and ask them to-"

"No, Avery. You're too young and naïve to understand that things aren't this easy in real life. Let me do this." I back away, slightly offended by what he said, and I turn around.

"I tried." I murmur to Hunter, whilst walking out of the lab and staying near the back of the room.

"She has a point. They buried those memories for a reason, Coulson. They were driving people insane. And now you want to uncover it when you've been getting worse. May would never –" Phil cuts of Skye, angrily.

"May's not the director. This is my call. I was put in charge of the Tahiti project, so those people are my responsibility. If going back in this machine saves even one life, then it's worth the risk." He lays down and Jemma sighs, strapping him in and finalising stuff.

"Stealing bodies, talking about aliens and bringing the dead back to life. What kind of creature feature did I sign up for?" Mack asks Fitz.

"Coulson lost his –"

"Marbles? Mind?" He offers Fitz, watching the two girls fix everything up for the machine.

"No, memories. The machine helps him find them." Fitz says confused, looking at the both of us. Skye comes in and starts talking quietly.

"Mack, I need you close... just in case." She asks him. He looks at her, wondering why.

"In case?..." He trails off.