Project T.A.H.I.T.I.

"Good Morning Director Fury, I regret to inform you that I’m handing in my resignation. I know you brought me on to Project T.A.H.I.T.I. because you trusted my judgment, and it’s that judgment that’s telling me I can no longer, in my good conscience, let the testing continue."

- Phil Coulson to Nick Fury

Project T.A.H.I.T.I. (Terrestrialized Alien Host Integrative Tissue I.) was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 9 project ordered by Director Nick Fury and overseen by Agent Phil Coulson. It involved the harvesting of an alien corpse for medicinal purposes. It was only to be used if an Avenger had died. Since Nick Fury considered Agent Coulson just as important, he put the project in action when Coulson was killed by Loki after the Attack on the Helicarrier.

The Beginning
"I understand you started the program to potentially save a mortally wounded Avenger, but the side effects are too extreme. We had initial success with the regenerative properties of the guest-host tissue, but after the initial physical recovery, the subject began to deteriorate mentally, displaying,, , or just complete."

- Phil Coulson

Project T.A.H.I.T.I. started in 2009, with the goal of creating a medicine that could save a mortally wounded Avenger. The head of the project was Agent Phil Coulson.

Project T.A.H.I.T.I. was located within the Guest House, guarded by Alpha and Beta. Inside the Guest House was a room labelled T.A.H.I.T.I. that contained a decaying Kree corpse being drained of its bodily fluids into multiple vials; each vial was labelled with different numbers for several serums but all with GH as the prefix. The only ones seen so far have been GH.211, GH.289, GH.317, GH.319, GH.324 and GH.325, the latter of which has been the only one whose effects have been mentioned, the effect of completely regenerating cellular tissue and implanting fragments of cellular memory of the host to the receiver.

T.A.H.I.T.I. Patients
Six S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with terminal illnesses were chosen by Phil Coulson to be participants in the project. After each was injected with GH.325, their ailments ceased. However, before Coulson could sign-off their release, the patients began showing signs of insanity which included writing in symbols.

Coulson conferred with Dr. Goodman, suggesting ending the program and destroying the alien specimen. Goodman adamantly disagreed; she suggested that the genetic memory of the alien was implanting itself onto the patients, so the Memory Overwriting Machine could be used to scrub the brains and give the patients new lives. Coulson reluctantly agreed. The sixth patient, Sebastian Derik, feigned health and told Coulson that he did not want his memories erased. Coulson knew that he was carving the symbols into himself and gave him the procedure anyway. Phil Coulson regretted using the machine when he heard the screams that each person gave as they were kept conscious, with their skull caps removed, as their memories were changed.

Each person was released with no memory of the previous life as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their personal backgrounds were documented with the deaths of their pasts; Rebecca Stevens became Janice Robbins and had the history to match. The name of "Rebecca Stevens" was written to have died of cancer.

Phil Coulson
"To be clear, I’m recommending the termination of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. Under no circumstances should these procedures or drugs be administered to anyone ever. The cost is far too great."

- Phil Coulson

However, the side effects on test subjects were too extreme, and Coulson resigned from his position and recommended the project's shutdown. However, that didn't stop the project.

When Nick Fury decided to resurrect Coulson after the Battle of New York, he allowed Project T.A.H.I.T.I. to do it. As part of the recommended process, Coulson's memory of his resurrection was wiped; in addition, his memories of leading Project T.A.H.I.T.I. were also wiped. Fury then had Coulson's recommendation tape buried inside his "grave".

The End
Two years later Agent Coulson came to the Guest House in order to heal Skye after she was fatally shot by Ian Quinn, he unwittingly brought the Clairvoyant there who was interested in how Coulson was alive after being fatally stabbed by Loki in the Attack on the Helicarrier. Agent Fitz grabbed the vial labelled GH.325, because of research into Level 10 files he had conducted earlier. While Coulson was stunned at discovering that his life was owed to an alien,  John Garrett took other vials from the room. The Guest House was destroyed by a self-destruct bomb that was planted in case of infiltration.

Coulson learned from Melinda May, who was ordered by Director Fury to watch Coulson for signs of deterioration or corruption, that Fury was not the head of Project T.A.H.I.T.I., as Coulson had assumed. Soon after, Melinda May found out that Agent Coulson himself was the head of Project T.A.H.I.T.I., and showed him a video of himself recommending its shutdown. Coulson finally got to talk to Fury after the defeat of the Centipede Project. Fury, May, and he talked and Fury said that he resurrected him because he needed him and considered him as important as an Avenger.

The Clairvoyant
Garrett did experiments on corpses with the other GH vials hoping to use it in what was dubbed "Phase 3" of the Centipede Project. The results did not duplicate the results of GH.325, so he freed Raina for that effort. After Agent Grant Ward, with the help of Deathlok, decrypted Skye's Hard Drive, Raina was able to recreate GH.325, which was used to save Garrett after Fitz shorted out Garrett's biomechanics with an EMP.

Words of Creation
Phil Coulson chose to use the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine to recall Project T.A.H.I.T.I. when the body of Janice Robbins was found with the carving on it. Coulson knew she was involved but could not remember how.

T.A.H.I.T.I. Protocol
Director Coulson used the knowledge of the project to implant false memories on people, calling it the T.A.H.I.T.I. Protocol. T.A.H.I.T.I. Protocol is the mind erasing part of the project, so the patients didn't go as insane.

During the War on HYDRA, Coulson wanted to make a deal with former agent Grant Ward. A meeting takes place in Tijuana, Mexico after Coulson captures Agent 33 in order to bait Ward. After Ward is removed of his weapons by agent Mike Peterson Coulson offers Ward the opportunity for the T.A.H.I.T.I. Protocol if he can get him inside HYDRA. Ward agrees to the offer, and brings Agent 33 with him. However, he disappears after the mission.

After the War against the Inhumans, the father of Skye went through the protocol, becoming Doctor Winslow.

Staff

 * Phil Coulson - Former Director
 * Dr. Goodman - Researcher

Known Test Subjects
Project T.A.H.I.T.I. T.A.H.I.T.I. Protocol
 * 1) Rebecca Stevens - 2009
 * 2) Lewis Seaver - 2009
 * 3) Cameron Klein - 2009
 * 4) Male S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent - 2009
 * 5) Female S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent - 2009
 * 6) Sebastian Derik - 2009
 * 7) Phil Coulson - 2012
 * 1) Calvin Zabo - 2015

Trivia

 * When Skye told Alphonso Mackenzie about Project T.A.H.I.T.I., he was disgusted that Director Coulson might have alien blood in him. She looked at him, ironically.