- Phil Coulson: Right now we have more important problems. A five-alarm fire otherwise known as Lance Hunter.
- Skye: Is he...
- Phil Coulson: Captured. But, if he talks, our entire operation is compromised. We'll have to burn the base and evacuate.
- [pause]
- Phil Coulson: I know. And we just retiled the bathrooms.
- Raina: Let me be clear. Mr. Creel is working for Hydra. I am not.
- Phil Coulson: Why the breakup? Bad dental plan?
- Raina: Hydra only has one thing on their mind: World domination. Which is so 1945.
- Skye: You remember that encrypted Hydra frequency we shut down? Well, it's back up.
- Phil Coulson: Someone sent a message.
- Skye: A message for us with a phone number to call.
- Melinda May: Yeah, could be Creel.
- Antoine Triplett: Creel? A phone number? What, is he lonely?
- Skye: I doubt it. The guy is jacked. And he can turn any body part into any material.
- Phil Coulson: Okay. Thank you for that.
- Phil Coulson: Glenn. Can I... call you Glenn?
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: No. Where's Hunter?
- Phil Coulson: Watching Cake Boss, I believe.
- Phil Coulson: I felt bad for kidnapping you. So, I brought you a peace offering. Carl Creel.
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: I thought Creel was dead.
- Phil Coulson: He's turned to stone, but he could always do that, so I'm not sure how long it'll hold. I've got him in a cryo-stasis chamber in the back of the van for
- [checks his watch]
- Phil Coulson: 58 more minutes. Before the juice runs out. I'd... get him some place secure pretty quick. Maybe a little more secure than last time? Just sayin'.
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: Very generous of you.
- Phil Coulson: Like I told you before, General, we're the good guys. So, how about we make a deal? S.H.I.E.L.D. will keep dropping off presents like this. You keep getting promoted. All we ask for in return is a little breathing room. Sound good?
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: [laughing, pointing his finger at Coulson] You... you must have some big brass ones, Coulson. Coming out here by yourself to meet me. Face to face. No backup.
- [Makes a macho sound in his throat. Coulson just smiles]
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: Let's face facts. You and your little band of misfits are hardly S.H.I.E.L.D. Our intel says you don't have enough man power or artillery to take down a convenience store. So, I'm sorry, I'm gonna hafta to say no to that deal.
- Phil Coulson: I don't know. I think we're good on artillery.
- [Looks up. The Quinn jet decloaks just above them]
- Phil Coulson: In case you get any ideas, General. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
- [Walking towards another jet decloaking on the ground, under his breath]
- Phil Coulson: Let's get out of here before the iceberg runs out of fuel.
- Lance Hunter: Icers? Great. How did we get stuck with a nonlethal option?
- Melinda May: Coin flip. Trip called tails.
- Skye: The item that messed up Hartley's arm, it had those weird symbols on it, the ones you've had me researching.
- Phil Coulson: The same symbols? You sure?
- Skye: Yes.
- [In Coulson's office]
- Skye: They came up out of the object. It reminded me of Braille. It was like Hartley triggered something by touching it. What the hell is that thing?
- Phil Coulson: I have no idea. But good work.
- Skye: "Good work"? How about, "holy crap, Skye. We got to get on that"?
- Phil Coulson: May, you're approaching a civilian area without backup. If you see him, do not engage. You copy?
- [No response]
- Phil Coulson: Do you copy?
- [Tires screech and horns blare]
- Phil Coulson: May, that does *not* sound covert.
- Antoine Triplett: No need to think the worst til it shakes your hand and says hello.
- Skye: Is that another one of your grandma things?
- Antoine Triplett: [laughs] Fortune cookie. I had some kung pao chicken the other night.
- Skye: I know you're the boss. And you have to compartmentalize everything, but it's not healthy. You need to loosen up. Try... yoga... or something.
- [She turns to leave]
- Phil Coulson: [softly] I tried it. But, I'm... really not flexible.
- [She closes the door behind her]
- Phil Coulson: But thanks.
- Lance Hunter: You need warm bodies. Is that it?
- Phil Coulson: I need skilled assets in the field who are willing to step over the line, to do the wrong thing but for the right reason. I need you because I can't be you. Not anymore.
- Melinda May: May: What is wrong with you? You're director now, not some level 1 field agent.
- Phil Coulson: There are no levels anymore. I got rid of those.
- Alphonso 'Mack' Mackenzie: You like talking to yourself. That's cool. A lot of people do. You know, I like singing in the shower. Yeah, I know it's not really the same thing, but I wouldn't want anyone to hear it.
- Calvin Zabo: [Regarding the obelisk] Pick it up.
- Raina: You... You want me...
- Calvin Zabo: I need to know. So do you. Pick it up.
- Raina: [Raina tentatively reaches for the obelisk and lifts it. It glows, showing various inscriptions] It worked.
- Calvin Zabo: No. It let you live. There's a difference.
- Raina: Show me. Please.
- Calvin Zabo: Bring me my daughter, and I'll show the both of you.
- Lance Hunter: Where do you want me?
- Phil Coulson: That depends. Can you follow an order?
- Lance Hunter: Absolutely, sir
- Phil Coulson: Because part of me wants you here running back-end. The other part knows we need boots on the ground, and I've only got a few good pairs.
- Lance Hunter: I'll be good. Scout's honor.
- Phil Coulson: [Later, After Hunter breaks orders] Scout's honor? You were never a boy scout, were you?
- [Hunter gives him a small smile and a shrug]
- Phil Coulson: The reality is I don't have a fleet of helicarriers or Quinn jets or thousands of agents at my disposal anymore. We're lucky we still have our George Forman grill.
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: Sierra Leone, three years ago. Ring a bell? How about Basra, '08? Operation Panther's claw? Come on, lieutenant. Tell me the stories are true.
- Lance Hunter: I'm not a lieutenant anymore, sir.
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: Merits for basket weaving, pottery. Don't forget those.
- Brigadier General Glenn Talbot: I'm just trying to figure out how a guy like you, one of the SAS's finest, winds up running with a bunch of mouth-breathing mercs.
- Lance Hunter: Why does any man do anything, general? I met a girl.
- Phil Coulson: What do you want, Raina?
- Raina: It's what I don't want, which is the Obelisk falling into the hands of people who don't understand it. I'm thinking you might.
- Phil Coulson: And I'm thinking you're gonna tell me why.
- Raina: John Garrett understood it. The moment he was injected with the same drug that saved you, he had visions. He started carving those visions on the walls.
- Phil Coulson: Garrett was a madman.
- Raina: Garrett was enlightened. He witnessed our fate... what we'd become. Have you?
- Raina: My name is Raina, and I'm a huge admirer of yours... and your gifts.
- Carl Creel: Beat it, lady. I'm not into groupies.
- Raina: You misunderstand. I know you recently acquired something extremely precious and rare... something I'm very interested in.
- Carl Creel: Whatever you're offering... it ain't enough.
- Raina: Maybe not. But aren't you the least bit curious as to what it might be?