Thompson Welding & Electric

"They're out at my place, Thompson Welding. It's right down the road."

- Hank Thompson

Thompson Welding & Electric is the welding business that Hank Thompson established in the garage of his house.

Welding Business
Hank Thompson established himself as a welder and electrician, managing his business inside the garage of his house. Thompson created a large scale model of a city for the trains that his son used to play, subconsciously shaping in it following a blueprint implanted in his mind.

Old Acquaintances
Hank Thompson played with his son using the scale model he constructed for him, conducting a train through the representation of a complex structure. Thompson advised his son to slow down the train or else they would crash, joking that the world would fear the day his son obtained his driver's license.

Thompson's wife Katie entered the garage to inform his husband that a man was waiting for him at the house, but he was not a customer, identifying himself as an old friend.

Thompson later went to the door, finding Phil Coulson, who introduced himself assuring Thompson that they met before despite he could not remember him. Thompson tried to dismiss Coulson, prompting him to leave, but Coulson insisted, claiming that Thompson's life was in danger.

Coulson then asked Thompson if his family was inside the house, and as he answered they were not, Coulson took his weapon and nervously pointed at Thompson, saying that he needed Thompson's brain.

Coulson tried to explain Thompson that he had been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and asked if he recognized the so-called Words of Creation, the symbols that the rest of former Project T.A.H.I.T.I. patients had been carving. Thompson, visibly afraid, said he did not recognize the symbols, and Coulson tried to made him remember, as Thompson probably had the last pieces that Coulson was missing in his own design.

Thompson explained that he already said that to the man that came before Coulson, that they had mistaken for another man. Coulson realized that Sebastian Derik had already arrived before him, but Derik attacked him from behind, knocking him unconscious and tying him in the garage.

Torture
Sebastian Derik tied both Phil Coulson and Hank Thompson inside the garage, imprisoning Thompson's wife and son inside a smaller room, warning them to be quiet. Derik then went to taunt Coulson, saying that now he was in charge despite having been at his mercy while being a patient of Project T.A.H.I.T.I.

Coulson tried to explain that all he did, including the memory replacement, was done to help Derik, as it was the only way to save him. Derik explained how he managed to overcome the memory replacement, using physical pain as a catalyst to make his memories return, something he discovered cutting himself.

Thompson started to cut the ropes used to tie his hands while Derik was busy making cuts in Coulson's arms. Derik explained that he remembered the rest of patients, and went on to find them, including Coulson himself, though he found out that Coulson died, guessing that Coulson should have become another T.A.H.I.T.I. patient.

However, Derik wondered the reason Coulson submitted himself to the treatment, knowing its side effects, thinking he wanted to know the meaning of the Words of Creation, showing his tattooed chest. Derik explained he only tried to help the rest of patients to remember, cutting deep so the pain would trigger their memories, but he was unable to find the answer.

Coulson said that he too was trying to find their meaning, and Derik put his knife down to know if Coulson experienced the same process as himself, starting to carve on walls, but driving him crazy as it was not deep enough, so the next step was to carve on bodies, to dig deeper.

Coulson suddenly realized that the train structure that Thompson had in his garage was a three-dimensional scale model of the symbols, which made Thompson subconsciously understand its meaning and therefore not he did not felt the need to carve.

Thompson liberated himself, and Coulson, in order to buy some time for him, offered Derik the chance to find the meaning of the symbols together, though Derik intended to torture him in order to obtain the pieces he was missing, making a cut in his chest to make him feel even more pain.

Thompson rescued his family, but Derik noticed the noise made by the door as it opened, and quickly threw his knife to Thompson. Thompson managed to catch the knife, and threw it back to cut Coulson's ties. Coulson prompted Thompson to escape with his family while he dealt with Derik, hitting him in the stomach and in the back to knock him out, and throwing a tool to the distribution panel to disable the lights.

Reinforcements
Meanwhile, Skye and Alphonso Mackenzie traveled to Hank Thompson's Welding & Electric business, in order to stop an erratic Phil Coulson. Mackenzie asked about the nature of Project T.A.H.I.T.I., with Skye simply answering that it was designed to revive a fallen Avenger, like Iron Man or Captain America.

Mackenzie wondered how Coulson could forget something so important, suddenly realizing that Coulson had been injected with extraterrestrial blood, being concerned that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was part-"alien". However, Skye, thinking she could be an extraterrestrial herself, did not pay much attention to Mackenzie's worries.

Mackenzie came across Thompson and his family in the road, having escaped from their house where they were retained, asking them to call the police. However, Skye and Mackenzie told them to stay there, as they would handle the situation.

Finding the Answer
Inside the garage, Phil Coulson taunted Sebastian Derik, who got up and went to the upstairs area to chase Coulson. Coulson was hiding in the darkness to ambush Derik. Coulson managed to catch Derik, grabbing him through the neck and prompting him to look in order to finally find the answer.

Alphonso Mackenzie arrived and pointed Coulson with his gun, ordering to release Derik. Coulson assured he had finally overcome his compulsion, though Skye, ambushing him behind, said that he had just imprisoned her in a cell.

Coulson acknowledged that Sky was right, but he was trying to save Derik. Mackenzie warned Coulson that he would count to three before shooting, and Coulson insisted that the meaning of the Words of Creation was there. Coulson told Derik to open his eyes to find his answer.

Coulson released Derik just as Mackenzie reached three, raising his hands and telling them that Derik would not hurt anyone else, as he finally found his answer, like they did. Skye approached the railing and saw the train scale model that Thompson had constructed, that displayed the Words of Creation on its surface, finally understanding they were the blueprints of a hidden city.