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 T.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 after 2010, possibly in coordination with the Avengers Initiative. The goal of the project was to create 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 that was guarded by Alpha and Beta. Inside the Guest House was a room labelled T.A.H.I.T.I. that contained a decaying alien corpse that was being drained of its bodily fluids into multiple vials; each vial was labelled with different numbers but all with GH as the prefix. GH.325 had the capability of completely regenerating cellular tissue.

The End
"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".

Uncovered Secrets
When 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.

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.

Meanwhile, 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 an Avenger.

Known Test Subjects

 * 1) Rebecca Stevens
 * 2) Lewis Seaver
 * 3) Cameron Klein
 * 4) Unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent
 * 5) Unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent
 * 6) Sebastian Derek
 * 7) Phil Coulson

Appearances

 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Season One
 * Pilot (mentioned)
 * The Magical Place
 * T.A.H.I.T.I.
 * Turn, Turn, Turn (mentioned)
 * Providence (mentioned)
 * The Only Light in the Darkness (mentioned)
 * Nothing Personal (mentioned)
 * Beginning of the End (mentioned)
 * Season 2
 * The Writing on the Wall (flashbacks)