Prologue
Agent Phil Coulson walked forward, weapon pointed at Loki.
"Move away, please." Coulson gestured towards the control panel, and Loki backed away, eyeing the weapon.
"You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Wanna find out?" Phil steadied himself, ready to fire.
The spear drove straight through his chest. Where had that come from? Loki had been standing right in front of him, and now...Coulson slumped to the ground as Loki removed the spear-headed scepter.
"NO!" cried Thor, banging on the thick panes of glass. Another human had died due to his fight, his burden.
Loki walked back to the control panel and pressed the release button that Fury had enjoyed telling him so much about. The cage, containing Thor, plummeted out of sight.
Loki smirked.
"You're gonna lose," Coulson sputtered. He was still sitting up, but barely. The blood seeped quickly through his suit.
"Am I?" Loki sneered, coming a little closer to mock the pathetic human.
"It's in your nature. You lack conviction." Coulson fired, Loki having moved perfectly in range. The Norse god was shot through the wall, and out of sight.
"So that's what it does..." Coulson murmured.
Time seemed to slow, til eventually things began to fade out. Coulson became aware of Fury standing over him, saying something, telling him to hold on.
"It's okay boss. This was never going to work if they didn't have something to..." Coulson trailed off, finishing his last breath.
Fury pulled back, letting the medical team take over. Where was the Doc? Why wasn't Doc here?
"Agent Coulson is down," he muttered into the com-link.
"A medical team is on its way to your location," came the answer.
"They're here. They called it." Fury shook his head. His best agent. His best...
"Let me through!" a woman in a white coat cried out as she pushed through the medics surrounding Phil Coulson's body. She took one look and turned to Fury.
"I'd be out of commission for days, maybe weeks. It's your call." The woman glanced at him, pleading with her eyes.
The second stretched into five. Nick Fury weighed the options. He needed her if this was going to turn out anything like he thought. The world couldn't afford to have her incapacitated in this moment. But Phil...would understand. Fury sighed.
"Do it." The words left his mouth without him understanding. That wasn't what he was supposed to say.
The woman nodded, before grabbing a defibrillator and shoving it at one of the medics.
"Come on. We got one chance, and if we fuck it up, we'll lose him. He'll need a blood transfusion as soon as we're done." The medic stared at her.
"Get moving!" Doc barked. She rolled up the sleeves on her white coat, and unbuttoned Coulson's jacket.
"Clear!"
She had a split second. The heart started. One beat. She placed both hands on his bloodied chest and went for it, her energy flowing into Coulson.
Another beat.
Another.
Fury watched as the gaping hole in Coulson's chest closed up.
The woman dressed in white slouched to the ground, passing out.
The medics continued to stare, flabbergasted. Absentmindedly, Fury noted that he should get medics with stronger sensibility. He took over.
"You two, get the Doc to the infirmary. You four, Coulson needs a transfusion yesterday. What are you standing around for?" He growled the last part, scaring the medical team back into action. They scurried off with their two patients on stretchers.
Coulson would survive. He'd never seen anyone the Doc healed die...though this was the most extensive healing he'd ever seen her do.
Nick Fury assessed the thought that played over and over in his head. This was never going to work if they didn't have something to...
Coulson was going to kill him when he woke up for what he was about to do.