Some Promises are Meant to be Broken
Chapter 1—Too late for gods
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. They belong to Marvel/Disney. The Doctor belongs to the BBC.
From a prompt on avengerkink: "Canton and Husband adopt baby Phil Coulson and raise him. After Phil is killed by Loki in the Avengers movie
Canton and Husband ask the Doctor to save his life, a la Lake Silencio. Up to you whether there's a pairing involved, or fixed points, or aliens. It's just a springboard, really."
Dusk was falling, giving way to a beautiful fall night, but Canton Everett Delaware III didn't notice. He sat on the deck of his empty house, staring at the cell phone in his hand, thinking. Should he or shouldn't he? He'd made many promises, and he'd kept most of them, including the one he was considering breaking, but circumstances were forcing his hand. He knew he shouldn't even be thinking about it, but losing one's only son tended to do that to a person. Canton and his partner, Michael, had buried their son, Phillip Coulson, only a few days before.
Michael was still reeling from the loss, and their daughter, Sharon, Phillip's older sister, had finally left after spending a few extra days with her parents. She needed to return home to her own family, and Michael had gone back to Seattle with her to see the grandkids. So now, with time alone, too much scotch and memories, Canton was thinking about asking the impossible. So, mustering his courage and throwing his dignity to the wind, he dialed the number he'd sworn never to call again, holding the phone up to his ear, praying for a miracle. And he wasn't disappointed when the voice on the other end of the line answered.
"What is it and who is this? Kind of busy at the moment, so make it quick."
"Doctor, it's me, Canton. We need to talk."
The line went dead, and five minutes later, the TARDIS materialized in his backyard. Fortunately, the nearest neighbor was a mile away, and likely not up as it was so late.
Canton watched from his seat on the deck as the TARDIS' door opened, and the Doctor's lanky form stepped out into the darkness.
"Canton, what do you want?" the Doctor asked.
"I know I promised, but this is too important," Canton said.
"What is?"
"The favor I have to ask," Canton replied.
The doctor frowned, taking a good look at his friend. It had only been a year since he'd seen this version of Canton, but something was off. Canton looked broken; no, he was broken. Shattered. Whatever word he could think of to describe the man sitting in front of him, Canton looked it. Old beyond his years.
"What's happened?" the Doctor said.
"My son died," Canton said.
"I'm sorry, but what has that got to do with me?" the Doctor asked.
"Everything," Canton said, standing. "You're going to rewrite time itself and keep him from dying."
The Doctor sighed. "Canton, I can't do that," he said. "You know. . ."
"I know I helped you when you needed it most, and the least you can do is hear me out," Canton said. "You haven't been here, you don't know what's happening."
"The Chitauri invasion was stopped without my intervention," the Doctor said. "I do keep tabs on what's going on, you know."
"But you don't know everything," Canton said.
"All right, I'll hear you out," the Doctor said, taking a seat across from Canton. "What happened?"
Canton started talking, giving the Doctor all the details he knew, all that SHIELD Director Nick Fury had told him—that Phillip had been part of a program to bring together exceptional individuals to fight threats no one else could. How he'd died facing down the leader of the alien forces, and how his death was used as a focal point to bring together the people Phillip had recruited. And that was the problem, the Doctor reflected. A focal point—Canton's son's death was now a fixed point in time, and he could not change it.
"Canton, I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do," the Doctor said. "Your son's death is a fixed point in time, and. . ."
"You haven't heard everything yet," Canton said. "Do you know anything about a race called the Asgard?"
"Asgard is one of the realms cut off from this universe," the Doctor said. "It has been since Gallifrey fell. I saw to that."
"An Asgardian named Loki was responsible for the Chitauri invasion," Canton said. "He's the one who killed my son."
"Wait. . .what?"
"You heard me correctly," Canton said. "The Asgardians have found a way to breach the wall between universes."
"That can't be right," the Doctor said. "Asgard is one of the nine realms connected to this planet. . .different realms of existence, but how. . .it should not be possible."
"We humans have bee playing around again with something we shouldn't have," Canton said. "It attracted the Chitauri, and here we are."
"Loki, one of the sons of the Asgardian royal family?" the Doctor asked. "Canton, where are you getting your information?"
"I still have friends and I'm owed a few favors," he said. "Not to mention my son was highly placed in the organization that fended off the Chitauri."
"Why would one of Odin's sons go off on such a tangent?" the Doctor said.
"I don't know," Canton said. "He killed my son. That's all I need to know."
"Canton, you've given me a lot to think about," the Doctor said. "Give me a few days, and I'll see what I can do. . ."
"Then you'll save my son?"
"No promises," the Doctor said, heading toward the TARDIS. "I'll be in touch."
Canton watched the TARDIS close, then disappear into the night, feeling just a little bit more hopeful than he had before.
88888
Finding the of the person the Doctor wanted to question was easy enough, and pinpointing the location of SHIELD's flying boat was nothing, also, he thought as the TARDIS landed in what he hoped was an empty storage room or something similar. Sticking his head out the door, he saw he was in a storage room, and it wasn't empty—it was full of guns. He'd landed in an armory. Lovely. What was it with Americans and guns? The Doctor sighed, getting out his sonic screwdriver, using it on the lock on the door, letting himself out into an empty corridor. Now all he had to do was find one Nicholas Fury without incident.
He'd memorized the layout of the boat, so locating the man's quarters was easy. The Doctor hoped, considering the time of night, he'd be there, and he'd make his interrogation quick. Except as he was trying to sonic open the door to Fury's quarters, he heard the distinct click of a gun's hammer being cocked.
"You've got until I count to three to convince me not to shoot you."
The Doctor turned around, sonic still in hand.
"Hello, you must be Nicholas Fury. Or do you prefer Nick, or Fury, or Director Fury? Nice eye patch, by the way. Canton didn't tell me about that. . .hmm. . .Loki. . .Odin's missing an eye, you're missing an eye, is there something you'd like to tell me?" the Doctor said, walking over, knocking on Fury's head like he would a door. "You're not really an avatar of Odin, are you, that would explain a lot, repressed daddy issues and all. . ."
Fury blinked, putting down the gun.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked.
"A friend of Canton Everett Delaware III," the Doctor said. "You can call me the Doctor."
Fury blinked again, frowning. "What?"
"The Doctor, I'm a friend of Canton's," he said, smiling, offering a hand.
Oh hell no, Fury thought. Not now. He'd heard about this guy from Canton, and his old friend Harkness, and SHIELD had a file on him, but their info was sketchy at best, and UNIT did not play well with others. He was going to have to change that, maybe send Hill to deal with it. Hell, he'd do it first thing in the morning. She was getting on his nerves. Damn, he missed Coulson, Fury thought, putting away his gun.
"What are you doing on my boat?" Fury asked.
"Looking for you actually," the Doctor said.
"Why?" Fury asked, crossing his arms.
"Can we not talk about this in the hall?" the Doctor asked.
"My office will do," Fury said. "I can't sleep anyway. Follow me."
The Doctor let the other man lead the way, following him down several corridors, up more levels on the lift until they were on the bridge. Fury noticed how the other man's face lit up when they hit the bridge. Not a good sign.
"Touch anything and I will shoot you," Fury said.
"Trigger happy, aren't you?" the Doctor said.
"I have reason to be lately," Fury said. "I assume Canton told you about what happened?"
"Chitauri, Loki, New York, Avengers, and Canton's son died by Loki's hand," the Doctor said. "I think that about sums it up."
"Have you met Loki?"
"Once, when he was a boy," the Doctor said. "He reminded me of someone I knew when I was young. . ."
He shuddered. A child of Asgard following in the Master's path, not a pleasant thought.
"May I ask what you're doing here?" Fury said, letting himself into his office.
"As a favor to Canton," the Doctor said.
"What could you possibly do for Canton?" Fury said.
"I can't tell you that right now," the Doctor said. "You're going to have to trust me."
"I trusted Phil Coulson, Canton's son. I trust Canton," Fury said.
"Canton's son gave his life for something bigger than himself," the Doctor said. "But that isn't enough for Canton, he's asked me to do something for him, something I don't if I'll be able to do, but I owe it to him to try. Tell me how Phillip Coulson died."
Fury started talking. He owed it to Coulson and his family, maybe, if nothing, the Doctor would take the truth back to Coulson's family. Why the hell was he spilling to someone he just met? He didn't care. The council and Hill could kiss his ass; the past few days had been hard enough, and what could it hurt, to use it as a chance to clear his conscience. A part of Fury blamed himself for Coulson's death, but he'd made his choice, one that couldn't be taken back. His right hand, his friend, was gone, and nothing could change that.
88888
At the same time, in a lab overlooking the bridge, the two lone Avengers on the boat talked. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, couldn't sleep, and Bruce Banner welcomed the company. Banner was finishing up a preliminary report on Loki's pointy stick of destiny, as Stark called it. Banner had custody of Loki's scepter, but honestly, he wanted nothing to do with it. His final recommendation in his report was to get rid of the damn thing. He put that exact phrase in the report. It was his personal and professional opinion, and Banner hoped Fury agreed. They needed to get rid of anything tainted by Loki's touch, maybe they could contact Thor and he could do something with the spear?
He'd have to add that to the report, Banner thought, looking over at Rogers, who was absentmindedly thumbing through a stack of cards. Agent Coulson's Captain America cards. Banner had barely met the man, but Coulson had impacted all of the Avengers in the short time they'd been a team. He appreciated that, and understood the grief the others were feeling. The team had had a small memorial service before SHIELD had arranged to ship Coulson's body home for burial. From what he'd heard, the funeral had been a couple of days before. Hell, it had only been eight days since Coulson died, a week since the fight in New York.
"Steve, you should get some rest," Banner said.
"Can't sleep," Rogers said, looking up from the blood-stained cards in his hand.
"You should, I don't know, give those back to Fury," Banner said.
"I tried, he told me to keep them," Rogers said. "As a reminder."
"As a reminder of what, that you're beating yourself up over something you couldn't prevent?" Banner asked. "I'll tell Fury where he can stick. . ."
"Bruce, calm down," Rogers said. "It's all right."
Banner frowned, looking out on the bridge. Fury was walking with someone unfamiliar.
"Speak of the damn devil, and he appears," Banner said, pointing.
"It's been a rough week," Rogers said.
"I don't think Fury sleeps," Banner said. "I bet he sold his soul to the devil or something."
"Bruce,, who needs sleep now?" Rogers said, a faint smile ghosting across his lips.
"Tony would agree with me," Banner said. "You should take him up on his offer. I am."
Rogers snorted. Stark had offered all the Avengers a condo in his new building if they wanted it, mainly for the sake of solidarity. He was considering it, but he needed time.
"I wonder who that is with Fury?" Banner said. "We should go check it out."
"Bruce, let it go," Rogers said.
"You're not the least bit curious?" Banner said, standing, heading out of the lab. Rogers rolled his eyes, pocketing the cards, following the doctor out.
It didn't take them long to catch up with Fury, because he was trying to pry his companion away from a console.
"Hey Nick, who's your friend?" Banner asked, arms crossed, feigning a smile.
"Nobody Banner, go back to the lab and leave me the hell alone," Fury said through gritted teeth. He had the Doctor's arm in a vice-like grip, trying to force him away from the computer he was not supposed to be touching.
"Nicholas, you've been a very naughty boy," the Doctor said, turning around. "You used the Tesseract to make weapons? The Shadow Proclamation is not going to be happy. You're just lucky I'm here to help you clean up the mess you've made."
Then he noticed they weren't alone. "Oh, hello," he said, smiling at the man with the dark hair and purple shirt. "I'm the Doctor, and you are?"
"Doctor Bruce Banner," he said, shaking the Doctor's hand. "This is Steve Rogers."
Rogers flicked his fingers in mock salute.
"Nice to meet you both," the Doctor said. "Let me guess. . .Hulk and Captain America?"
Banner raised an eyebrow in surprise, Rogers' jaw hit the floor, and Fury looked like he was going to panic. Hard to read with only one eye, but Banner figured he was spot on with the way Fury was trying to drag the strange British man away from them.
"Pleased to meet you both, I'm a big fan, although where's Stark? I'd like to talk science with the two of you, Dr. Banner," the Doctor said.
"Call me Bruce," Banner said. "It'll help cut down on the confusion. Is the 'Doctor' like your secret code name?"
"Yes," the Doctor answered.
"Fury, how much weirder is it going to get?" Rogers asked.
"I honestly don't know," Fury replied.
"If you're lucky, much much stranger," the Doctor said. "So, where's this glowy blue stuck Loki used to command his alien army?"
"Up in my lab," Banner said.
"Really?" the Doctor said, grinning.
"Follow me," Banner said. The Doctor followed, leaving Fury and Rogers alone.