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After I shut the door, I slid down it rather pathetically. Staring at my hands, one thought raced through my head, ‘You should have saved him. It doesn't matter what his wishes were; they wouldn't have been his final ones if you weren't still so weak…’
Before my mind could go any further, I started wiping the blood on any dry patch on my pants. As soon as my hands were moderately free of the half-dried blood, I moved over to the bed, close enough to grab at my toiletries and a quick change of clothes before leaving the room and following Steve’s instructions to the bathrooms.
The water beat down on my body like hail as I scrubbed my arms. The images of what happened in the detention cell flooded my mind, leaving me drowning in the guilt of my inaction.
A sharp pain soared up my arm, pulling me out of my spiral, only to find my hand and forearm thoroughly rubbed raw.
I choked back the tears brimming in my eyes, everything from the day hitting like a freight train; the stress from preparation, take-off, the realization of…, and Coulson too? Everything, everywhere, all at once kind of day. A melancholic laugh forced its way out with a tightening in my chest.
I continued the cycle until the tightness gave way to that familiar, deep weight on my chest. Despite it all, a sense of calm washed over me like the beads of water drowning my soul. I started washing my body again, taking care to be gentle this time, softly washing away the remaining blood.
Well, after the water had run clear, I finally got out and got ready to sleep. Who cared if it was midday? I had another man’s blood on my hands; it may only be metaphorically now, but when has that ever mattered?
As I walked through the halls, likely looking stupid to any onlookers as I tried to remember where my room was. As I looked at another door’s room number, a woman’s voice called out to me, “Mx. Eirsson,” I looked up to see Agent, “I believe this is the room you’re looking for.”
“Oh. Thank you! I’m pretty lousy with directions, though I’m sure you already got that…” My voice petered out as I got closer to her, shame killing the sound within my throat.
“Director Fury asked for you.”
“Okay. Let me put this away.” My shower caddy, filled with my blood-stained clothes, hangs from my hand.
I punched in the security code and knelt by my duffel bag, quickly organising its slightly tousled contents while grabbing the laundry bag. Once I’d gotten everything sorted, I shoved it all under the bed.
As I’d expected, Agent Hill was still outside, waiting for me. “Follow me,” She said in a tone I couldn’t fight, not that I had the energy to anyway.
I followed Agent Hill as she led me into the bridge, and both Steve and Tony were sitting at the meeting table, facing away from me, behind the command station. Instead, they both faced the director who stood at the head of the table.
Agent Hill walked behind Fury before stopping at the command station. I moved to the table, sitting by Tony- and subsequently, Steve.
Fury pulled something from his pocket, looking at it for a brief moment before saying, “These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them.” He tossed the bloody cards across the table in front of Steve. A particularly bloody settling right in front of him.
“We’re dead in the air up here… Lost my one good eye… Maybe I had that coming.” Director Fury said, pausing, “Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract… There was an idea, Stark knows this… Phil Coulson died, still believing in that idea… in heroes.”
Tony stood up abruptly and walked away. I wasn’t quite sure where- understandably, honestly; this time last year, Tony was told he wasn’t “right” for the Avengers, and now Fury’s asking for his help?
“Well, it’s an old-fashioned notion,” Fury said, looking at Steve before walking off by himself.
I got up to follow Tony, grabbing the nearby attache case, “Apologies, I have work to get back to.” I quickened my pace, trying to catch up with Tony before I really lost him.
After rushing down the hallway, I found Tony again. “Trying not to blow a fuse.” He said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You didn’t. And even if you did, with the day we’ve had, I’d say it’d be pretty understandable.”
“Yeah… speaking of,” he turned to me, features softening and grabbing my shoulders, “You alright?”
I looked down at my hands, deeply massaging my thumb to keep my mind at bay. “It’s been a lot…” I say, keeping my voice low with the heightened Agent activity outside, “I just- I feel awful… I could have helped him, but he didn’t want me to. He’s dead because I’m a coward.”
A moment passed, “...Then why’d you do it?”
I choked down the tears that threatened to spill over, “He asked me not to.” I turned my head away from my hands and from the general direction of Tony, “I shouldn’t have listened.”
“You were an English teacher, right?”
I snapped my head back towards him, looking at him inquisitively, “Mhm?”
“For once I think Shakespeare said it best, ‘To be or not to be?’... or something like that,” He pulled away and ran a hand through his hair, “Look, the point is, you’d be damned if you did, damned if you didn’t. There’s no way you coul’ve “winned” in that situation. In fact, my dad used to say, “No amount of money ever bought a second,” and I highly doubt your anxiousness has done you any favors either.”
“Yeah, I know… Really screws up your health in the long run.” I wiped a tear that had run down my cheek.
“Follow me.”
A soft hum was all the confirmation Tony needed before walking off, leaving me trailing after him through the maze of an aircraft. Eventually, the vagueness in Tony’s request made sense as I walked into the detention cell.
“Don’t know if you need to talk… or maybe confront this, either way, shirking away from this is really going to fuck you up in the head. And, unfortunately, you’ve made yourself indispensable to me, so I need you at the top of your game. Might take a while, but I’mm willing to wait. So, take your time, it’s okay.”
I grazed the wall Coulson had died against, “Been a while since someone died in my arms…”
“I’d guessed this wasn’t a first.”
A moment passed before light footsteps entered the room. Steve leaned against the landing. His voice rang out, solemn, “Was he married?”
“No. There was a-uh… cellist, I think.” Tony responded, looking back at me for confirmation.
“Her name’s Audrey. She’s pretty well-known in the classical music scene. Former first chair for the New York City and Royal Ballet Companies, current for the Cleveland Orchestra.”
“I’m sorry. He seemed like a good man.” He looked down, his shoes suddenly very interesting.
Tony chuffed, “He was an idiot.” Tony said, turning towards Steve.
“Why? For believing?” Steve’s head snapped up.
“Tony, that’s enough.” My voice came out softer than I intended.
“For taking on Loki alone.” Tony started walking towards Steve, or maybe the exit
“He was doing his job,” Steve said as he pushed off from the bar and made his way over to Tony.
“He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have…” He moved his hands, trying to gesticulate his thoughts, but lost track of what to say.
“Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony.”
“Right. How did that work for him?” Tony passed Steve, uninterested.
“Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?”
Shit. Well, that certainly grabbed Tony’s attention.
Tony turned around suddenly, “WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS!” He said with a quiet rage in his voice, before he recoiled, ” ...I am not marching to Fury's fife.”
“Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now, we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list…”
“He made it personal.” Something in Tony’s demeanor shifted, and I could tell he was understanding Loki’s intentions.
“That's not the point.”
“That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?” And I can see that Steve is picking up the gravity of the situation.
“To tear us apart.”
“He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, and he wants to be seen doing it. “ He paused, “He wants an audience.” Tony started to pace back to his earlier spot.
“Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard.”
“ Yeah. That's just a preview; this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered…” I see the look in Tony’s eyes and know he’s having the same epiphany that the rest of us were, “Sonofabitch.”
“Cap, go get the widowmaker. We’ll need a pilot.”
“On it.”
As soon as Steve left the room, Tony turned to me again, “I’m sorry, but I need you on the ground.”
“What the fuck?!” The words left my mouth before I had a chance to think them through.
“Don’t worry, you know how well I plan-”
“You mean not at all?”
“That's for the unimportant stuff, for you to handle. I mean the important things. After Milan, I put a little extra work in and made you a suit. It’ll keep you safe, I mean, I know you don’t really need it, but it's better to reserve your magic healing thing.”
“You’re not going to give me room to pose a question, are you?”
“Nope. Now you’re gonna want to grab that suit from inside the briefcase there and catch up with Capsicle there, he is your ride after all.”
“WHAT??” I bent to the ground and got the ‘suit’ shaped thing out from Tony’s bag and booked it, praying I’d be able to find Steve again, “THERE BETTER BE A GOOD BONUS FOR THIS!!” I yelled from down the hall.
“TRY THE LAUNCH-PAD!” Tony’s voice echoed off the bare halls.
After putting on the ‘suit’ Tony had for me, which felt unshockingly thin, I bolted to the Lauch bay where I saw Steve, Natasha, and another man walk into a small aircraft. I ran in after them, stopping harshly behind Steve.
“Hey, you guys aren’t authorized to be in here…”
“Son... just don't,” Cap said, shaking his head disapprovingly.
“We’ve received authorization directly from Director Fury… that is, unless you want an insubordination hearing?” Agent Romanoff said.
As the three of them moved to let the man through, Steve noticed me standing behind him, “What are you doing? And what are you wearing?”
“Stark made a suit for me to wear, so here I am. And I’m on crowd control and evac. I’m pretty sure.”
Agent Romanoff put her hand on Steve’s arm, holding him back for a moment, “Look, we can use all the help we can get. We don’t know the conditions down there yet.”
“Okay,” Steve turned to me again, “Are you sure you can handle this?”
“I’m well prepared for the end of the world, I’m sure this’ll be nothing,” I reply reassuringly.
He let out a sigh, “Alright, buckle in. We’ve got work to do.”
I sat down, and despite my earlier consolation, when the ramp of the jet closed, a deep pit formed in my stomach, like something beyond any of us was about to begin.
Sensing my anxiety, Steve put his hand on mine soothingly, “Don’t worry, just stay safe, and don’t do anything risky. It’ll all be fine.”
Lapskaus – Norwegian Comfort Food Growing up in Norway we always made this from leftovers. It could be leftovers from sunday dinner on monda
A/N: Finally gotten the official acceptance to my dream school! Plus visiting my family and finally relaxing for the first time this summer. Btw this is MotS adjacent( at least for now lol)
I stood in the kitchen cutting the various vegetables for the soup as the mutton seared - Thor had specifically asked for labskaus, leading to the nearly 20 recipes now sprawled across the countertop. If there were at least one consolation,Tony let me use the main-floor’s ‘good’ speakers.
As the brash interlude decrescendoed into the angel motif, from the corner of my eye I saw Steve lean on the side of the counter.
"What's cookin’, good lookin’?"
"Some old Norwegian dish. Thor asked."
I felt his arms wrap around my middle as I searched back by the backsplash for a leek. I hummed the melody as I cut the leek into semi-circles.
Leaning his head on my shoulder he asked, "What’s playing?”
"Um... it’s newer, and probably not your speed. It’s called ‘The Phantom of the Opera’.”
His body went stiff against mine, “What did you just say?"
"The phantom of the opera. Oh- have you heard of it?"
"Yeah... yeah, I read it before... everything. Can’t believe they'd write… wait, this is one of those 'musicals', right?”
“Mhm. Why are you surprised they’d write one about this, though? I loved ‘the phantom’ as a kid, especially the one with Charles Dance.”
“I’m sorry, as a kid? Who let you watch that?”
“Um… Professor Xavier was in the room. He wasn’t watching the TV directly, he was grading papers at his desk. Why is that so shocking to you?”
I dumped the chopped vegetable into a bowl on my right.
He put a hand by the cutting board, turning his body to face me, “Let me get this straight,” he gestured as he spoke, brow furrowing , “Xavier let you watch a horror movie as a kid?”
“Horror?!” My grip on the knife loosened, the word no tumbling from my mouth in rapid succession as my speech rapidly descending into a fit of giggles, desperately grasping at his shirt as I began to tear up.
My laughter started to peter out, “‘The Phantom’ is a romance, silly.”
With that I received a look of confusion.
“‘The Phantom of the Opera’ is a new, or maybe old-ish now, style of horror. With mystery as a big sub-genre.”
I chortled at the thought before quickly covering my mouth, “‘The Phantom of the Opera’ has been considered a romance by all of pop culture since, like, 86. But it was kinda considered a romance before then, maybe as far back as the 40’s. Probably 43 if I remember correctly.”
“Really?” His face contorting in both shock and confusion, “I guess I was in the army by then.”
I slammed my hands down on the countertop, drawing Steve’s attention back to me, “We have to have you watch the Claude Rains movie!”
“Oh- finally!” He threw his hand against his chest, “A name I actually know.”
“Ooh~ From where? Also, stir the mutton. I don’t want it to burn.”
“On it. And it was the ‘Invisible Man’. I saw it in theatres when I was 14, I think.”
“…You wanna have a mini, movie marathon?”
“Course, Doll. Plus, I think we’ll be able to bribe everyone else fairly easily.”
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I was shocked at how awkwardly the conversation through the halls flowed. It was painful. Then it started going… and to learn they’d worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. before was honestly confounding.
“You’re not wrong. And don’t call Tony, ‘Mr. Stark’, please. He hates it, and I actually have to deal with him.”
A laugh broke free from my chest. I felt bad laughing for a moment, that was until I looked up to see them smile. It felt nice to take their mind off of what would likely become a major point of trauma. At least it’d be for most civilians, though, who knows how much that's changed since before.
As I looked around, I realized we were in the central barracks. I cleared my throat, “You’re room is right up here, the showers should be down the hall.”
“Thank you.” Their voice came out rather meekly.
“Don’t thank me, I haven’t done anything worthy of such praise yet.”
"Sure, whatever you say.” Then they glanced down, their face tightening. Their moment of peace faded like the clap of thunder. “I need to clean up now, but yeah, thank you.”
I knew the bubble would break sometime; it was bound to happen. I just hadn’t expected the shift to be so sudden, leaving a strange pang in my chest. "Anytime.” I tried to find the right words, “As soon as someone tells me, I’ll let you know when we land.”
They looked up to meet my eyes for a moment before swiftly ducking back down, suddenly rifling through their pockets, "That would be nice,” Their hands stilled, and pulled out the keycard for the door. Tapping the card against the raised metal box on the door, “Thank you, again." I gave a slight nod- not that the motion was large enough to be seen- as they slipped through the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
What was I doing? They were in a vulnerable position and here I was- NOTHING! I spun around, my hand over my mouth. I was doing nothing! I led them to their bunk because they get lost easily. Nothing more, nothing less…
A moment later the paramedics rush in and I let go, standing up and backing away in some ineffectual hope that they’ll be able to do something I didn’t.
I see Fury move from the corner of my eye, “Agent Coulson is down.” I turn to look at him. He’s touching his earpiece.
A moment passes before he responds, “They’re here.”
The Director lets go of the earpiece as one of the paramedics turns to Fury and shakes his head. Fury opens the line again, “They called it.”
Why now? We are in the midst of an intergalactic sibling rivalry turned colonization and now we’ve lost the best person we’ve got.
I noticed a parametric handing something to the Director. After receiving the parcel Fury started walking away and called for Tony, the Captain, and Natasha to join him when they were done. I followed a few paces behind him.
When I walked onto the bridge, I saw how far into disarray it had fallen. Passing figures assessed damage, some agents worked on fixing their respective computers while others were still being attended to, the only one I knew standing out to me - Hill.
She sat on one of the sidebars of the Director’s command station, her head hung low. She looked up, and our eyes locked. I expected her to be sad or mournful, perhaps, but all I saw was rage.
I don’t know what I expected to see. She probably knows what I am, what I can do. She probably knows what I didn’t do.
It’s pathetic. In that moment all I could do was sit down and wait for the others to come back. Only two return.
When Tony and Steve walk in, the strain in their shoulders evident, they both look stunned. I wonder why for a moment before realizing they’re looking at me, I look at my hands and see Coulson’s drying blood cling to my skin and clothes. I should have washed up and found a change of clothes; although, I suppose there’s no time for that now.
I hear them both sit down, the table remains still, “Hey-“ I turn to the Captain as the Director walks in. Fury saunters over to where Steve sits, “These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them.” The Director tosses what seems to be some bloody cards in front of Steve.
It takes all of my remaining energy to hold a straight face as I see the same fresh blood that covers my torso ebb onto the pristine glass table. I silently prayed that the pit forming in my stomach wasn’t noticeable.
“We’re dead in the air up here.” My attention swung to the Director, his voice sounding genuine, resourceful even, “Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one god eye. Maybe I had it coming.” a moment of silence passes before he continues, “Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though,” what? “because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this,” I turn to my boss, wholly shocked by this development, “it was called “The Avengers Initiative’. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea… in heroes.” I watch Tony get up and walk out of the bridge.
“Well, it's an old-fashioned notion” Fury says as he walks towards the command station.
“Hey, are you okay?” Steve asks, “You’re um-“
“Covered in blood?” My voice sounded more… stale than I had expected, “Yeah, I didn’t remember where my room was and I didn’t feel like getting lost again, so…”
He stood up, “Well, your room is on my way,” he extended a hand, “why don’t I show you there?”
"That sounds great, thank you. I’ll have to pass on your hand though, don’t want to get all this,” motioning to my torso with hands, “on you. I hear blood is rather difficult to wash out of white leather.”
“Okay.” He tilted his head to the main exit before walking that way. I got up from the chair, half sprinting to meet his pace.
The long walk through the halls was met with a painful silence. Both of us obviously wanted to fill the silence but instead backed out at the last moment.
“Um- D-did you know him long?” The Captain barely choked out.
"Hm…?”
"Phil, that is.”
"OH, um… a little over a year. I was brought in to S.H.I.E.L.D. for a… commission, of sorts. I guess it was important enough to have him as my supervising agent.”
He stopped, “Wait, you’ve worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. before?”
“Yeah, just once. I’m not entirely sure I can talk about it though.”
"No worries. I was just shocked to find out they’d managed to strong-arm you into working for them.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing. Just that you manage to out-speak a supposed ‘once in a
generation’ type of genius hourly, and seem to hate S.H.I.E.L.D. as much as Mr.Stark.”
“You’re not wrong. And don’t call Tony, ‘Mr. Stark’, please. He hates it, and I actually have to deal with him.” At that, he laughed, a real, hearty laugh that had his face lighting up in a way that made me understand Achilles’ reaction to Penthesiliea.
When his bout of laughter cleared he looked me in the eye for a moment before looking away, a hint of blush brushed across his cheek and neck. He cleared his throat, “You’re room is right up here, the showers should be down the hall.”
I shuffled through my pocket for the key to the room as I walked to the door, unlocking the door I turned back to Steve, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, I haven’t done anything worthy of such praise yet.”
"Sure, whatever you say.” Remembering the blood on my hands cut deep into our warming conversation, “I need to clean up now, but yeah, thank you.”
"Anytime. As soon as someone tells me, I’ll let you know when we land.”
"That would be nice, thank you, again." I opened the door and walked into the room, flicking the lights on as I closed myself off from the rest of the ship.
"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury came in yelling.
"Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony replied.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."
"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce said, barely batting an eye.
"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss. What is PHASE 2?" Tony prodded.
Steve dropped an old-looking assault rifle, "PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons.
Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."
Am I mistaken or is the Nick Fury backed into a corner, "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..."
The blue crystal looked too familiar. I got up and pulled it out of the gun.
"I'm sorry, Nick." I looked up to see Tony turning his monitor, filled with weapons of all kinds.
"Why were you lying?"
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve and Bruce looked pissed, while Tony seemed to be as calm as one can be. Fair enough, he's always held the cards.
Natasha and Thor entered the lab. Poor timing, really. Bruce looked at Natasha before asking, "Did you know about this?"
I phased out Bruce and Natasha's conversation to look at the Director. "The same thing you used to rain hellfire on us." I held up the crystal, "Blue fire and brimstone."
The director shifted his focus from me, "Because of him."
"Me?" Thor was stunned.
"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Fury defended.
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor appeared, understandably, offended.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled.
" Like mutants, Fury?”
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve contested.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor explained.
"A higher form?" Steve asked.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." The director still played diplomat, always coming up with excuses.
"Nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony laughed.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury pushed.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep..." Steve criticized.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?" Tony asked.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve said sneeringly.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this."
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Nick asked the god.
"Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" The god responds.
The room was in utter chaos, yelling surrounding me.
"Are you all really that naïve? Captain America is on S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats." Natasha states bluntly.
"Potential threats? Watch list?" Steve asks, obliviously.
"You're on that list?"
"I swear to God, Stark"
More and more of these people's conversations blur together until I can't distinguish what's being said.
"Where? You rented my room." Bruce raised his voice, pulling me out of whatever trance I was in.
"The cell was just in case..."
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" A moment of collective silence passed, "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!"
Bruce grabbed the scepter, "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Fury and Natasha grabbed their guns.
"Doctor Banner... put down the scepter." Steve said softly.
"Got it," Tony assured.
Banner put the scepter down and walked over to the computer, "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." Holy shit, Doc.
"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.
"I can get there faster."
"Look, all of us..."
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it," Thor argued.
Tony starts walking out, "You're not going alone!" Steve grabbed him.
"You gonna stop me?" Tony slapped him away.
"Put on the suit, let's find out."Steve said.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony said coolly.
"Put on the suit." Steve affirmed.
Bruce leaned closer to the monitor, "Oh, my God..."
An explosion sparked through the air vents, shoving everything, and everyone, into the walls. The sound of glass shattering took a backseat to a structural beam, throwing me into the wall.
I could hear my head ringing. My vision felt blurry as the world spun around me.
"Put on the suit!" The Captain gasped.
"Yep!" Stark groaned.
The two men got up and ran out of the room.
I tried to stand up, my vision going black for a moment before I fell back down. I heard
Fury yelling, a few words remaining intelligible, "Coulson... detention section... armory..." Before he too left the room.
I looked through the room before shoving the beam off of my abdomen. The dull, yet sharp pain towards the base of my ribcage was already subsiding. I stood up, my vision going dark around the edges. After a moment of leaning on the walls, I moved to the behind workbench.
Everything on the table was broken in one way or another. I saw the scepter lying on the ground by my feet. I leaned through the window frame, careful not to cut myself on the pieces of glass still in the frame. I looked down to see Natasha lodged under some debris, streaks of green flowed around Bruce’s neck and arms.
“We’re okay, right?” Natasha asked him softly.
I ran out of the Lab, across the hall- the flood of agents swarming the halls, shoving me around and stopping me in my tracks-, and down the stairs before being stopped in my tracks by what I can only assume is the “Hulk” running through the wall to my left.
After a moment I turned around and went back up the stairs, pulling some agent aside to ask for directions to the detention sector, thanking them, and running over there.
Of course the detention center was in the opposite direction of foot traffic.
I shoved my way through the flood of agents until I found the stairwell the agent mentioned, luckily for me, empty. I ran down the stairs, occasionally tripping over my feet. When the stairs ended I cautiously peered around the corner, eager to avoid being run over by the Hulk. Finding that the lower levels were empty, I ran through the hallways- occasionally hitting my feet against the bottom of the bulkheads.
Then I heard it. The sound of the cage’s mechanisms dropping, though stalled for a moment, released. I knew I couldn’t have been far from the detention center.
I found my way to the second to last bulkhead when I heard the screeching of tearing metal.
I did my best to find where the sound of the blast came from and head there. I knew I’d found it when looking through the first open door; I saw the side of the room with a gaping hole in the far wall.
I ran into the room, barely given a moment to glance around before hearing Coulson’s weak voice calling out to me. I turned around to see him leaning up against the wall across from the gouged wall with a weapon that seemed vaguely familiar and a gaping hole in his chest.
“PHIL!?” I darted over to his weak form, kneeling by his side as I examined the perforation in his thoracic cavity.
“Hey, kid.” Phil rasped out with his regular soft, kind voice.
“It’ll be okay, I can fix this… I think?”
I saw the cavity filling with blood. Whatever had stabbed Coulson had pierced his chest and cut straight through, severing the left pulmonary artery.
He pulled my hand off of his chest, “Don’t. It’s okay.”
“What do you mean? Of course it’s not! I can help you.” I grabbed his hand, pleading with him.
I felt my tears pricking my eyes. I looked down, closing my eyes. I felt a hand tilt my face up. I opened my eyes, knowing it’d would be the last time I’d see Coulson’s kind, soulful eyes.
I heard the sound of footsteps, and while Coulson turned to see who it was, I couldn’t tear my eyes off of him.
I hadn’t known him for a year, and yet, he had become such an important figure in my life. I wanted to remember the details, how he’d gone out of his way to make me feel comfortable when healing Capsicle. How he’d covered for me when I’d accidentally spilled about Xaviers and my time there. How he’d comforted me when he learned about Logan. The way his eyes creased when he smiled. How every time I was uncomfortable in a conversation, he’d give me an entry point in his. How he’d made me feel safe in this otherwise terrifying situation.
How do you encapsulate what someone means to you? The depth at which they have changed your life, and the lasting impact they will never get to see? When the time comes, and you lose the words to tell them how much you care? The realization that they will never know how you treasured them.
“I’m sorry, Boss. They got rabbited.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fury kneel on the other side of Coulson.
Taking Coulson’s hand in his own, he said, “Just stay awake. Eyes on me.” It was the first time I’d seen the director genuinely desperate.
“No. I’m clocked out here.”
“Not an option.” Fury fired back.
“It’s okay, Boss. This was never going to work… if they didn’t have something… to…” Coulson struggled with the last words, turning to me, he smiled and wheezed out his last breath.
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"Eir? So you are a healer, no?" The tall blonde said expectantly.
"No, not really." I'm starting this off with a lie, lovely.
"Ledan Eirsson, I am Thor, son of Odin, Prince of Asgard." He extended his hand, a warm smile on his face.
"Prince...?" I worriedly glanced at Steve.
I looked back when Prince Sunshine over there started laughing, "Yes, although I would prefer if you called me Thor, just Thor."
"Pleasure to meet you, Thor."
Steve placed a hand on my shoulder, "That's Natasha," he gestured to the redhead which she promptly responded to with a curt smile, "she doesn't talk much."
And then there was one. He didn't notice until Natasha nudged him in the side.
"Oh, um. I'm Dr. Banner."
"Pleasure to meet'cha, Doc." A sound came from under the table, Steve quickly found a tablet with what seemed to be live footage from Loki's cage.
By the time I heard the first comprehendible piece of what Fury was saying my attention was grabbed by the hatch underneath Loki's cage being opened.
"Thirty-thousand feet down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" Fury closes the hatch with a press of a button on the control panel.
Fury outstretched his arm, gesturing to Loki, "Ant," then pointing to the control panel, "boot."
Loki smirked, "It's an impressive cage." he looked into the camera, "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you."
"Oh, I've heard."
The doctor seemed very tense, for what reason- I didn't know.
"The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man." Loki sauntered towards the camera, "How desperate are you that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"
“How desperate am I?” Fury set a hand on his hip, agitation growing in his voice, “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill ‘cause it’s fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”
“Ooh. It burns you to come so close.” Loki began taunting Fury, “To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power.” Loki smirked into the camera, “And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is.”
Fury forced a smile, “Well, let me know if ‘Real Power’ wants a magazine or something.”
Our room falls into an uncomfortable silence.
Fury walked away saying, “Well, let me know if ‘Real Power’ wants a magazine or something.”
“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?”
"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what’s his play?”
Thor seemed distant as he responded, “He has an army called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard or of any world known.” The Prince walked back to the table, “He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect for the Tesseract.”
“An army? From outer space?” Steve seemed to question what the fuck he’d been dragged into.
“He’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”
Erik who?
“Selvig?” Why does Thor recognize this guy's name?
“He’s an astrophysicist.” The doctor explained.
“He’s a friend.” Thor asserted.
“Loki has him under some kind of spell, ”Natasha looked away, “along with one of ours.”
She really does speak. More importantly, she’s familiar with the agent Loki brainwashed.
“I wanna know why Loki let us take him.”
“I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.” Banner was pushing it.
“Have care how you speak.” Thor said, anger rising in his voice, “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.”
So the Prince is a himbo with a temper, good to know.
“He killed eighty people in two days.” Oh.
“...He's adopted.” Ah, yes. That changes everything.
“Does he pose any threat? Just because he’s in a cage doesn’t mean he’s harmless.” I didn’t know if I’d just asked a dumbass question but it’s better to ask than have that as an unknown variable.
“No. There’s no way out from the inside, besides that, it’s built to withstand more than he can throw at it.” Natasha answered, seemingly knowing more than the rest.
“Iridium, what did they need Iridium for?”
Tony walked in, “It’s a stabilizing agent. Oh, Kyrie, been lookin’ for ‘ya.”
“Hey, Tony. Coulson?!” I got up and walked over to them, a beaming smile plastered on my face, “I had no idea you’d be here!”
Phil placed a hand on my shoulder, “I would have let you know if I had a way to contact you.”
“Guess I’m chopped liver.” Tony feigned hurt, before whispering the next bit, “Anyways, I’ll fly you there. Keep the love alive.” He spoke at full volume again, “Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.”
Tony walked over to what I can assume is Fury’s position on the Bridge, “Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the topsails.” The crew looked at Tony like he’d grown a second head, “That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.” Tony covered one eye and looked around, “How does Fury do this?”
“He turns.” A female agent responded.
I looked at Phil, a light whisper escaping my lips, “Who is she?”
He leaned in, “That’s Agent Hill, sh’s Fury’s right hand.”
“Mhm… thank you.” I gave him a small smile.
Coulson grinned in response, “Never a problem.”
“Well, that sounds exhausting,” Tony said in the most annoying voice he could get away with. “Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty much easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”
Agent Hill spoke again, “When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?”
“Last night.” That I could attest to, “The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers.” It’s always funny when Tony speaks seriously, most of the time I forget he’s a genius, “Am I the only one who did the reading?”
“No, you made me read them too.” I said with a pointed tone.
“Anyone else?” Tony said practically ignoring my comment.
“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?”
“He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.“
Ah, yes, words.
“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.”
“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.”
Wow, those two were made for each other.
“Finally, someone who speaks English.”
Steve looked around, “Is that what happened?”
Tony and the doctor shook hands, “It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”
Banner looked down, “Thanks.”
“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.” Fury says as he walks in.
“Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.” Steve had an obvious bias and curiosity.
“I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”
“Monkeys? I do not understand-”
“-I do. I understood that reference.” Thor was cut off by Steve, obviously excited by the fact he understood some of our jargon.
“Shall we play, Doctor?” Tony asked.
“Let’s play some.” Banner responded.
After I waved to Phil I followed Tony and the doctor out of the bridge, hoping to not get lost again.
I had been sitting in a spare chair in the “Science Bro’s” lab for what felt like an eternity. Man, I regret not taking advanced science courses in uni.
“The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process.” Bruce, as I had learned, said.
“If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops.” Tony replied.
The two of them had gotten into a groove. The sounds of the machines whirring in the background made great background noise, so I couldn’t really complain.
“All I packed was a toothbrush.”
“You know, you should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land.”
“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem.”
“Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension. No surprises.” Tony said as he poked Bruce with a mini-taser.
“OW!!”
Tony studied Bruce for a reaction, “Nothing?”
Steve walked in, “Hey! Are you nuts?”
Tony ignored Steve,” You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”
“Is everything a joke to you?”
“Funny things are.”
“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny.” OH, HE DID NOT, “No offense, doctor.”
“No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things.” God bless Dr. Bruce Banner.
“You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.”
“As someone who used to work with far more dangerous people, and teach them too. I concur.”
“Kyrie?” Steve sounded surprised, “And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.”
“You think I'm not?” Tony pulled out a bag of blueberries from god knows where. “Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.”
“You think Fury's hiding something?”
“He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?”
“Can’t argue with Tony this time.”
“Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and…” Bruce fell silent.
“Doctor?”
“‘A warm light for all mankind’ Loki’s jab at Fury about the cube.”
“I heard it.”
“Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news.”
“The Stark Tower? That big ugly,” Tony shoots Steve a glare, “...building in New York?”
“It's powered by Stark Reactors, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?” Bruce turned to Tony.
“That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now.”
Bruce looked back at Steve while pointing to Tony, “So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”
“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files,” Tony mentions offhandedly.
Steve looked shocked, “I'm sorry, did you say...?”
I let out a breathy laugh, “Yup, it’s at least a weekly occurrence.”
“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?”
“Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?”
“Oh, no. He’s fully aware, he just finds it funny.”
“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome.”
“I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.”
“Following is not really my style.” Tony ate a mouthful of blueberries.
“And you're all about style, aren't you?” Steve said, smiling.
“Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?” Tony retorted.
“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?” Banner tried to push Steve to think.
“Just find the cube.” Steve said before he walked out.
“Well, that went splendidly.” I laughed from my seat. The benefits of being a third party.
“That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice.” Tony looked over at me only to be met with a glare.
“The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us.”
“What he’s got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does.”
“And I’ll read all about it.”
“Uh-uh. You’ll be suiting up like the rest of us.”
“Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare.”
“You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart.”
“And I knew a kid who could turn himself into a nuke.” Both of the men in the room looked at me, confusion written all over their faces.
“O-kay? Moving on. But you can control it.”
“Because I learned how.”
“It's different.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Not forever at least.” I tried to add, though they seemed to be stuck in their own world again.
“Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you.”
“So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”
A moment passed, “I guess we’ll find out.”
“You might not like that.” Banner sounded scared, scared of himself and scared of whoever the ‘other guy’ was.
The Original Avengers (+ Loki) play Kirby’s Return to Dreamland
Clint-
Has most definitely been dragged into playing on the Wii before by his kids
He’s probably the best player on the team
That is until he starts talking shit in which everyone gangs up on him
“C’mon guys, it’s just a joke!”
Tony-
He thought it would be easy, I mean, he works on much more intricate and difficult things on a day-to-day basis. Why should this be different? It’s a children's game.
He is, quite literally, the worst.
That is until Clint eggs him on, then he becomes a try-hard (and is actually pretty good).
“Damn Clint, maybe if you’re this bad you should just pass on the controller, I’d be happy to trade you.”
He’s an ass
Natasha-
She chooses not to participate
Grabs popcorn and watches as the chaos unfolds
Grabs Clint after he gets mad at Tony
Sees where the gears are but doesn’t tell, leaving everyone looking around like idiots trying to find the gears
Bruce-
This man does not care
He’s okay but hands the remote to Loki when he’s done
Sits by Natasha & talks with her while the others are arguing
“It’s not exactly my kind of game.”
Loki-
I think he visits Earth every couple of years- or gets banished lol- just to see what’s going on
Has played the prequel(?) game ‘Kirby’s Dream Land’
Gets a little excited when he sees there are powers now
When he gets the controller he’s so “randomly” good at it, it pisses Tony and Clint off
“Why are you all so, pissy, it’s a game intended for children. Of course it’s easy.”
(Edit: Whenever he plays as Pink Kirby he plays well until the very end of a difficult stage where he kills off his character before they kill the boss… this man lives on chaos)
Thor-
All fine and good until he panicked and accidentally broke the controller
He was banned from playing after that
Eats some pop-tarts while laughing at his friends’ reactions (and fighting)
Steve-
Has no idea what’s going on
Accidentally killed the pink Kirby like, eight times, before they took away his controller
He really has no idea what’s going on, he’s just enjoying the team getting a little lively
“Hey, let’s calm down now. It’s just a game.” he says before getting pointed in the face with a pillow (Natasha threw it)
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