"Trip I.D.'d a number of Cybertek shipments that ping-ponged across the globe. Brazil, Cambodia, Syria. But they all ended up in Havana."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. used to have a base there."
Phil Coulson and Melinda May[src]

The Barbershop Headquarters was a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility located in Havana, Cuba, concealed under a barbershop named the "Habana Vieja Barbería"[1].

HYDRA took over the facility during the HYDRA Uprising and used it as the main headquarters for the Centipede Project.


The Clairvoyant

Barbershop 2

The upper part of the facility is a common barbershop

"This is where we're meeting the Clairvoyant?"
Raina to Grant Ward[src]

Grant Ward freed Raina from her imprisonment by S.H.I.E.L.D. under the Clairvoyant's orders, as Ward revealed his true allegiance as a HYDRA operative within S.H.I.E.L.D., and took her to Havana, Cuba, in order to finally meet the Clairvoyant in person.

Ward and Raina arrived at a barbershop, where the barber, Ernesto, greeted Ward and offered him a shave. Ward politely turned him down, and Ernesto left them as he already finished with his latest customer. Raina asked if that was the place where they would the Clairvoyant, and John Garrett, who had been there as Ernesto's customer, introduced himself to Raina, saying that there was no need to keep calling him the Clairvoyant anymore.

At first, Raina was amazed and honored to finally meet him, though Garrett asserted that the pleasure was his, given all the work she did in the Centipede Project. Raina acknowledged that Garrett's gift showed her the way, but Garrett looked at Ward, who smiled at Raina's answer, and then confessed he did not have the gift she believed in, only a very high level S.H.I.E.L.D. security clearance, and his own persuasive personality.

Chair lowering

Raina descending to the underground base.

Raina was shocked and saddened to learn that truth, but Garrett said she wasn't the only one who believed it, as he was able to fool many people with that, including S.H.I.E.L.D. Garrett was able to convince Raina to keep working in the Centipede Project to change the world, and took her to the secret underground headquarters beneath the barbershop, while welcoming her to HYDRA.[2]

Infiltration Assignment

Grant Ward received a call from Skye, worried as she hadn't heard from him since he departed to the Fridge with Victoria Hand. Relieved to hear him, Skye informed him that, under Phil Coulson's orders, she had to erase personal records and every other proof of the existence of every member of their team, including Ward's, as Glenn Talbot was on his way to the Hub in order to either arrest or attack remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives.

Ward justified his absence saying that Hand ordered to take a long route to the Fridge because they detected Navy jets in the vicinity. Skye wondered why he didn't even bother about her deleting his identity, and Ward said that it wasn't the first time his identity had been compromised. He asked where Coulson had ordered them to travel, but they didn't have a destination yet, so she would keep him updated.

Upon finishing the conversation, John Garrett joked about some details that Ward implemented to his undercover persona within S.H.I.E.L.D., but Ward again showed that he was upset from when Garrett ordered Skye to be shot. Garrett said that he should have followed the rule of avoiding personal contact with the members of the team, but recognized that Ward's tip about Coulson's cellist former girlfriend was useful, and Ward should have contacted him if he started feeling something for Skye, to consult him on the decision of shooting her.

However, Garrett's true reason was that Skye was already following the Centipede Project before she was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., and could be considered a threat to eliminate. Ward reminded him of the intentions of his undercover mission, to blend in and gather intel about Coulson's revival. Garrett assured that he didn't wanted any bloodshed during the mission, but those conditions had to change as Coulson was unaware of the procedures used to resurrect him, and they had to force him to figure it out. In order to finish the argument, Garrett told Ward to cheer up, as they were closer to their goals than they had ever been.[2]

Phase Three

John Garrett and Grant Ward went to meet Raina in the Barbershop Headquarters, where she was wondering what they wanted from her, being visibly upset by the reveal that Garrett was not an actual Clairvoyant. Garrett put Raina back in charge of the Centipede Project to finish its Phase Three.

Raina thought that Phase Three was not an option, as she could not get the information about Project T.A.H.I.T.I. from Phil Coulson, but Garrett how Coulson's kidnapping made him want to know how was he resurrected, locating the facility where he was operated and some of the drugs.

Garrett explained how they tested the drugs he managed to get in the Guest House, and as Raina asked to visit the facility, Garrett explained how the security team inside destroyed it using explosives a few minutes after their visit. Garrett noticed Raina's interest in the investigation and persuade her to attempt it, arguing that he couldn't succeed without her help, and that he already funded her bank accounts.

Ward handed Raina a hard drive containing all the research about the GH.325 made by Jemma Simmons, including Coulson's and Skye's blood analysis. Ward and Garrett left, revealing their intention to attack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most secure facility, the Fridge.[2]

Preparing a Raid

John Garrett gathered his men in order to prepare the plan for raiding the Fridge. Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Kaminsky told Garrett how they lost the Cube, one of the few facilities that S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to retake from HYDRA, as HYDRA operatives were outnumbered there, but Garrett was happy to hear that Kaminsky escaped seizing a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicopter, as once they use it to obtain the items stored in the Fridge, they could take any base they want. Garrett was embarrassed to see how Kaminsky performed the HYDRA salute, and went on to examine the weapons of his men.

Grant Ward approached Raina to talk about her disappointment for Garrett's revelation of not being an actual Clairvoyant, and Raina said she lamented not being able to ask a question she wanted the Clairvoyant to answer. Raina started to ask question about Ward and Garrett's relationship, that dated back to Ward's teenager years, when, in Ward's own words, Garrett saved him from himself.

Ward, recognizing Raina's pattern, asked if now she knew who to work him and persuade him, but Raina said it was just curiosity, as if she wanted to work him, he would have asked about Phil Coulson and his team, how he gained their trust. Ward answered that it was easy for him, he jumped out of a plane to save Jemma Simmons' life, simply performing an action recommended in their manual: "Deep-cover tactics 1.01: Perform selfless acts of bravery early on."

Intrigued, Raina continued to ask, this time about Melinda May, if she ever suspected of him, but Ward revealed how she was considered the primary threat, and solved it letting things get intimate, saying he was everyone's type. Ward continued revealing how Skye was an unknown variable, but he used his position as her Supervising Officer to become a figure of advice, letting him know what was she thinking.

She continued asking about his relationship with Coulson, as she guessed he could have been skeptical when Ward pressured him to join him, but Ward revealed it was the other way, it was Coulson who pressured him, with Ward even performing the quote he said to Coulson in order to show his discomfort with teamwork, giving Coulson a person he thought he could help, gaining his trust. Raina pressed the right button when asking if he didn't felt anything for the team, as her experience with Coulson showed her he was a good man. Ward acknowledged he owed something to Coulson, but he owed everything to Garrett.

Meanwhile, Garrett had been planning the incursion to the Fridge, and was excited with his men chatting about things would be afterwards.[2]


John Garrett and Grant Ward returned to the Barbershop Headquarters, celebrating the success of the Raid of the Fridge, having even obtained a cluster of Gravitonium. However, as they arrived, Raina informed there had been a complication with the hard drive that contained the research about the GH.325 drug.

Raina's teams of hackers detected a program installed by Skye that would erase all data contained in the hard drive if anyone other than her attempted to access it. Ward recognized it as a move that Skye would have surely made, in case the hard drive fell into the wrong hands, and Garrett told that Ward that he already knew what that meant, he had to convince or force Skye to decrypt the hard drive.

Skye called Ward as she had news of the Fridge had fallen to HYDRA, in order to check his status, and she revealed their current location, a secret base in Canada, and that Nick Fury had died in Washington, D.C.

Garrett and Ward devised a plan to make Skye decrypt the hard drive, with Ward assuring that his feelings would not interfere with his mission, knowing how much Skye meant to Garrett's goals. Garrett told him to try the easy path, without blowing his cover as a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, as Ward assured he only needed some time alone with her to get the information, something he would get as Garrett was sure that Phil Coulson would be busy trying to capture the prisoners from the Fridge, but he also told Ward that he would only have 24 hours to get decrypt the drive, ordering him to kill the rest of the team and bring Skye to him in that timeframe.

In order to make believable the story he would tell to explain how he escaped from the Fridge, Ward was beaten up by Garrett, provoking him by saying he was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., before leaving in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jet they obtained from Victoria Hand.[2]

Special Gift


Ian Quinn, having been liberated from the Fridge when HYDRA raided it, was taken to the Barbershop Headquarters in Cuba, where Raina explained to him the truth about the Clairvoyant's true identity.

Quinn blamed John Garrett for all the miseries he had to endure since he began working for him as the Clairvoyant; some of them inflicted by Garrett himself while he still posed as a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Quinn refused to continue working for him. However, Raina didn't tell Quinn the true reason of taking him to Garrett's presence again, as she wanted it to be a surprise, and Garrett revealed that he had a special gift from him, revealing the cluster of Gravitonium that he thought it was destroyed.[2]

Return to Work

Ian Quinn received a shave from Ernesto at the Barbershop Headquarters, being impressed by its price, especially comparing it to how much the same thing cost him in Rome.

John Garrett and Grant Ward returned to the barbershop, where Garrett greeted Quinn and explained to Ward that Quinn would be the representative of their new enterprise with Cybertek; Ward was unsure as Quinn was also an international criminal with a long list of crimes.

However, Quinn said that as he was accused by S.H.I.E.L.D., and he had been a vocal critic of the organization for years, the charges were dismissed following the fall of the agency. Garrett asked Quinn if everything was going according to schedule, and Quinn assured that with Deathlok's demonstration in Bogotá, there was a lot of attention drawn to their product, and he would travel to Washington, D.C. to capitalize on it.[3]

Discovery about Skye

Raina called Grant Ward from the laboratory below the barbershop to update him about a discovery she made. Ward descended to the laboratory, and as he thought the update had something to do with the attempts to replicate GH.325, but she revealed that it was not about the drug.

Raina first thought that John Garrett shared an interest in special people and evolution, but she realized all his efforts were simply to save his own life, so probably he would not be interested in a particular discovery she made about Skye.

Raina persuaded Ward into inquiring more without alerting Garrett using reverse psychology, and began to explain that she found Skye's medical records, hospital files, adoption-agency searches and other related documents that did not impressed Ward, as Skye was an orphan and had been looking for her parents for many years.

However, Raina was intrigued by that fact, that together with her DNA make Skye to be a match for a story she heard about a baby girl whose village in the Hunan Province in China was torn apart by monsters trying to find her, killing every man, woman and child in it. When Ward asked if the monsters killed the baby's parents, Raina confessed that the baby's parents were the monsters.[3]

Dismantling the Laboratory

Grant Ward and John Garrett oversaw the process of dismantling the whole laboratory under the barbershop, while commenting how both saw something in Raina that unnerved them, describing it as what was seen behind her eyes.

Garrett asked what she wanted when she called Ward earlier, but Ward, instead of revealing the truth about the discovery of Skye's past, lied to him, saying she had questions about the decision to move the laboratory to the United States, a decision that was already taken, but quickened by the theft of Project Deathlok files in the Cybertek Corporate Headquarters.

Raina approached Garrett, handing him the vial of the recreated GH.325 drug, explaining that it was not an exact match, but as it contained the distilled genetic components of all previous samples, it should regenerate and heal cells, like it did with Phil Coulson and Skye, but warned him that it was the only vial in the world.[3]

Reconnaissance Mission


Phil Coulson and his team traveled to Havana in order to confront John Garrett, having tracked a series of Cybertek shipments to the city, and realizing he may be used an old S.H.I.E.L.D. facility as his headquarters.

The team split up, with Antoine Triplett, Melinda May and Skye accompanying Coulson to the Barbershop Headquarters while Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons were assigned to track the Bus.

Triplett shared his Howling Commando Gear with Fitz, finally getting over Fitz's distrust, and offered him to carry a Quarter Walkie-Talkie for contact, as it also had homing beacon, keeping one for himself to maintain contact.

Coulson warned Fitz and Simmons to not engage under any circumstances, calling them if they managed to find the Bus, or returning to the hangar where they left the S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jet to wait for them.[3]

Infiltration at the Barbershop Headquarters

Havana, Cuba

Coulson's Team outside the barbershop

"If there's a computer system in that barbershop, we don't have to chase him anymore. We just plug it in, we wake up the Trojan horse and we're off to the races."

Phil Coulson, Antoine Triplett, Melinda May and Skye located the Barbershop Headquarters that John Garrett had been using, and though they found the place empty, Skye was able to detect a massive electricity consumption coming from inside.

Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons were successful in their mission to locate the Bus, and contacted Coulson to update him with the news. The plane was located in an airfield near the Abel Santamaria airport and was being prepared to leave Cuba; Coulson was about three hours away from them and by the time he and the rest of the team could arrive, the Bus would be long gone. Therefore, Coulson ordered them to return to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jet to wait for their back-up.

May suggested to at least try to get to the airfield; however, Skye proposed to search for a computer system inside the barbershop and upload the last component of her Trojan horse, which would made them able to locate the position of every other computer system where the information coming from hard drive containing their research was uploaded. They all agreed.

The four agents entered the now emptied headquarters, and Triplett used a Portable X-Ray Scanner to help them locate the computer systems, and located a secret door that Coulson managed to open.[3]

Ambush at the Barbershop Headquarters

Berserker Kaminsky

Kaminsky with the Berserker Staff

"So, who do we talk to about getting a haircut?"
Phil Coulson to the Centipede Soldiers[src]

However, just as Skye saw a computer to upload the Trojan horse, the lights went out, and the agents were ambushed by a group of Centipede Soldiers led by Kaminsky, who was carrying the Berserker Staff. Phil Coulson taunted the Centipede Soldiers surrounding his team before he and Antoine Triplett opened fire to stop the soldiers and cover Skye, who ran to upload the final piece of the Trojan horse to infect all systems related to John Garrett, Cybertek and the Centipede Project.

Triplett got hit by one of the soldiers, and while Coulson continued to fire, Melinda May went to confront Kaminsky, knocking him down with a single punch despite the strength he acquired with the Berserker Staff, and obtaining the weapon for herself. As Skye was hacking the computer, May used the Staff to destroy the pillars of the base. Skye succeeded and the four escaped the collapsing base.[4]

Known Visitors


  • In the comics, the Barbershop was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret headquarters. The base was disguised as a regular neighborhood barbershop, with trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents handling the haircut and shave, and gaining access to the actual base by sitting in one of the barber's chair. They would sit on the chair and the "barber" would press a button that lowered the chair down through the floor into a secret underground facility.[5]


External Links
