Disclaimer: Stan Lee owns the Avengers, and unfortunately, I don't.
Author's note: This is my first fic! Hope you enjoy! :)
Their faces stared back at him, some full of shock, others of disbelief. Tony dropped his cup of coffee, which landed with a crash on the floor. Clint looked as if he hadn't heard correctly, his eyebrows scrunched in misunderstanding. Pepper had tears streaming down her cheeks, happy or sad, he didn't know. Natasha had a far away look in her eyes that he couldn't place. Thor had seemingly gone into a stupor, a ghost of a smile on his face. Steve's fists were clenched and his mouth hung open, disbelieving. Bruce was clearly thinking, inventing possible scenarios in his head. Hill had eyes full of hatred, a hatred he had expected.
The room was silent, something he had also expected. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard, as everyone had held their breath. Nick had chosen to focus his eye past their heads and out the window of Stark Tower while delivering the news. He couldn't bear to look them in the eyes.
The buildings beyond that always reflected elegance and shine now seemed dull. The world became a shade darker as a cloud passed over the sun, keeping pace with the bad, or rather, what should've been good, news.
"What?" Bruce was the only one who had the courage to speak. "What do you mean he's not dead... Anymore?"
Fury sighed and rubbed his temples. "I mean, Dr. Banner-"
"How long?" Steve's voice wavered, so full of anger and sadness it silenced the room once again.
The silence brought a burden upon the room that could not be lifted. They had all been carrying baggage since the war, but Phil was the heaviest of their baggage. The weight was crushing them, sometimes changing who they were. Flashes of emotion flickered across each of their faces as they pondered if this were true.
"Not long after New York," Nick finally answered.
Natasha's unsure tone caused her to stumble over her words. "Wh-Where is he?"
Nick sighed again, the headache he developed growing worse as the meeting wore on. "He's just arrived in the hellicarrier upstairs. He has no idea you're here."
Hill stood up, her face livid. She had already processed the information, and was lashing at Fury out of pure hatred. "What the hellwere you thinking? You go and you tell us that he's dead, and that there was nothing we could've done, and then, and then..." She shook her head. "Fury, you lying bastard. It's been months since his death, and you decide to tell us now? This is a person we're talking about here- It's Phil." She angrily began to storm out of the room.
"Hill-"
"Maria, wait," Pepper grabbed her arm. "We have to give Fury at least a chance to explain. Don't you at least want to talk to Phil-"
"No." The power of Tony's voice shook everyone in the room. "You can't talk to him. Phil's dead. He always was. No one comes back from the dead. No one."
Bruce jumped in. "I've been going through possibilities in my head, but there are none. It isn't scientifically possible to bring someone back like that. From what I assume, he had been dead for days, maybe even a week. There's no man-made machine capable of those things."
"I have seen stranger things on this realm. It does not seem impossible," Thor remarked. "I would not put it past us to believe Son of Coul is among the living."
"Well, yeah, stranger things have happened, but nothing associated with death. His organs would be decayed, and even if they could be revived, his brain..." Tony paused. "This doesn't pan out."
"But if what you say is true," Clint whispered, "who is upstairs?"
The silence returned as if it had never left. Some looked to him for an answer, while others looked anywhere but. Pepper had stopped crying, but Thor seemed about to. Nick figured they would not believe him, which was why he had brought Phil to Stark Tower.
"There is no one upstairs. Fury's lying. The son of a bitch is lying." Tony's confidence and determined stare convinced no one but himself.
"He's not lying." Natasha stood up. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, Nick, talking this way about Phil. It's taken forever to even try to forget, to accept what happened. Right when we have, you tell us differently. Do you think we're going to drop everything and jump for joy?" Her icy glare spoke volumes as it drove into Nick's eye. He looked away, couldn't take it. This was too hard.
Clint spoke so rationally and from his heart that it was hard not to agree with him. "I want to see him." Before anyone could protest, he went on, "If what Fury says is true, then he's here. He's alive. What's so wrong about that?"
Tony's "he's not alive" was muffled out by Hill's harsh tone. "He didn't tell us! He's been alive this whole damn time and he never said a word!"
Ignoring Hill's outburst, Bruce agreed, "I would like to see him as well. I don't know if this is real, but God knows we've all missed him. Isn't is worth a try?" He gestured around the room. Conflicted expressions returned his suggestion. Getting no response, he pressed on, "But first, I believe we all have some questions on our minds." Looking to Fury, he continued, "Why tell us now? And how the hell is he alive?"
"Yes. I'm tired of all the secrets." Steve's jab directed at Fury seemed to go deeper than just this situation.
Tony launched in. "I don't care what the man says. Phil is dead. You might as well believe it now. No-"
"Shut the hell up," Steve snapped. "Fury says he's not dead. Let the man talk."
"The hell he is!" Tony snapped back. "Fury's lied to us all before, and he's not gonna stop now. There is no explanation for how Phil's alive. How could he be? This is another one of Fury's cracked up stories to help us come together as a team. The man is a manipulative, conniving, backstabbing little-"
"Tony…" Pepper interrupted. Her tears had reemerged and were falling as hard as ever.
"We sure look like a team now, don't we, Stark?" Clint's wisecrack caused Tony's fists to clench. "That must be why Fury told us."
"YOU KNOW WHAT, KATNISS-"
"Goddamnit, Stark," Natasha shook her head as her irritated voice echoed off the walls. "We all want to know what the hell is going on. Now, I don't believe one word of what this man says right now, but we have to hear him out. We owe it to Phil."
No objection from Stark or anyone else could be heard. No one dared say anything, and the noiseless room had become extremely loud to everyone waiting. No ticking of a clock, no tapping of fingers, just soundless, wordless, silence. In that moment, silence was the loudest noise.
Nick cleared his throat, a shattering cry in the quiet. Gruffly, he asked, "Are we ready?" The taciturnity that met his inquiry was enough of a response. "Alright then.
"There was a drug -GH-325- that we used on him. Days after his death, we repaired his brain and internal organs using it to bring him back to life. This drug, it was our last resort- in case one of you died." Fury paused, taking in the room. He had their undivided attention, accompanied with mostly confused looks. He continued on, "We couldn't risk having the best defenders of our world die and leave us helpless. When none of you did, we-or mainly I-realized that Phil had become just that- one of our best defenders. He meant too much to us, and we couldn't lose him. So we used the drug.
"We didn't know what would happen because the drug had never been used before. We've been closely monitoring him for months to see if there would be any… side affects."
"Side affects?" Pepper queried through her tears, a concerned tint to her voice.
"Characteristic abnormalities. Difference in behavior, thoughts, or actions," Tony clarified. "In other words, they wanted to check if Phil would still be Phil."
Audible gasps could be heard throughout the room. "Well?" Hill inquired.
"He's fine. At least for now," Fury assured. "This has affected him, and he is different, but he's still Phil. He hasn't changed so much to where you wouldn't know him."
Slightly relieved faces stared back at him. At least they had received some comfort out of the whole thing. It was stressful enough telling them he was alive, but explaining how was even worse. The explanations he had given seemed to lift their spirits. Unfortunately, their relief was short-lived.
"And where did you get this drug- GH-325 was it? If this drug could do what you said it could, why isn't everyone across the globe using it?" Bruce's words were precise and didn't miss a beat.
"This drug is obviously in short supply," Fury revealed, "or else it would be used frequently. Since it's in such short supply, it is considered dangerous to use, and no one has really used it in this condition before."
"I certainly haven't heard of it," Tony accused.
"Well, that might be because it hasn't existed on earth until recently," Fury sighed, regretting immediately the words that had come out his mouth.
Aghast expressions took the faces of all who heard him. "Are you implying that this drug is not from your realm?" Thor gasped.
"That it's alien?" Steve added.
"Yes, I am implying that this drug is from alien origin," Fury interpreted.
Hill's voice rose above the others. "No wonder you didn't want to tell anyone about this. You didn't want secret getting out that Phil was revived from death by the use of alien blood."
"I never said it was blood," Fury's excuse angered everyone around him.
Natasha fumed, "That's the reason you didn't tell us? Over some dumbass secret you needed to keep from the government?"
"No, not completely," Fury was infuriated at all these questions. The man was alive, why did they have to be so damn critical? "As for why we didn't tell any of you, well, we didn't want to risk it. His condition being so unpredictable, we didn't want their to be an excessive amount of highly emotional or risky situations, because we knew you'd want to see him if you found out."
Bruce dared to speak up. "Then how come he's been sent out on various missions with your number one team?" Before Fury could respond, he admitted, "I hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mainframe when we got here. Care to explain why Phil's participating in combat when he's supposed to be avoiding those types of situations?"
"Must he always lie?" Thor muttered while Tony whispered, "Hacking the mainframe? He's learning."
Bruce's embarrassed smile was hard not to notice as he nodded in response to Thor. "I have come to accept that Fury will always conceal some of the truth."
The splitting headache Fury had accumulated at the beginning of the meeting had still not gone away, and rolling his eye seemed to make it worse. Pressing his hand to his forehead as if to alleviate the pain, he sighed. "The truth is not what you want to hear."
When no one said anything, he moved on, "The real reason we didn't tell you right away was because all of you needed a common reason to fight the war against Loki. Phil was it. And why we didn't tell you in the months after was because Phil didn't want you to know."
"Why didn't he want us to know?" Hill seethed.
"He wanted to tell you in person, together," Fury answered. "And when he found out that you had all gone your separate ways, he knew he could never get you back in the same room. That, and he realized he couldn't tell you, because if you all saw him before he could explain, well, you know."
"Hell would break loose," Pepper smiled.
Fury chuckled. "It would've been worse than that." He then turned serious. "So since he couldn't be the one to tell you, he wanted us to wait until he was ready for someone else to. You can see how long that took."
Clint asked, "I thought you said he didn't know we were here?"
"He doesn't," Nick deadpanned. "We got tired of waiting."
"So you told us without his permission?" Natasha whispered.
"Damn it, Fury," Steve barked, slamming his fist down.
"No," Fury quickly reassured. "Well, not exactly. He mentioned how much he missed all of you and wished he could tell you. We took that as ready enough."
"He's going to be so mad when he realizes we're here," Pepper commented.
"I still don't know why all of you are buying this! Phil isn't upstairs, he's dead!" Tony had a crazed look in his eyes, mixed with great sadness.
"I hate to agree with Stark, but I'm not buying this either," Steve exclaimed. "I'm not believing anything until I see Phil in person."
Fury nodded. "Then I'll bring him down."
! #$%^&*! #$%^&*! #$%^&*
Fury's coat billowed behind him as he took the steps up to the tower's top level. It was only a few flights up to walk, but he wanted to delay this for as long as he could. Looking out the few windows as he trudged upward, he imagined the millions of people walking about New York, staring at Stark Tower, not knowing the Avengers were resting inside it. He envied them.
Finally coming to the top, he spotted Phil among friends, laughing at something May had said. Those damn lovebirds. He approached them cautiously, not wanting to interrupt their good time. Realizing it was futile, he tapped Phil on the shoulder.
"Sir?" Phil whisked around, ready to take part in anything Fury required of him.
"Sorry to interrupt your…ahem, social gathering, but we need to go downstairs. It's time."
! #$%^&*! #$%^&*! #$%^&*
Phil had known what Fury meant immediately. He paled, and solemnly agreed, cursing the fact he had mentioned his sadness in not being able to tell them. They were just outside the door now, and heard muffled voices from within.
"I can't believe this!" Tony yelled. "I can't believe this!"
"Tony, be quiet, they'll be here any minute," Natasha scolded as Steve rolled his eyes. Did Stark ever shut up?
Thor exclaimed, "It takes so long for you petty humans to finish tasks. We could be here all night."
Bruce chuckled lightly at the team's banter. "Just like old times…" he said under his breath.
"Thor's right, Phil could've refused to come," Clint complied. "Fury did say he didn't know."
"Great," Hill's sarcasm was as clear as day. "More time to spend with all of you."
"Hey!" They all responded at once.
Fury decided he'd better interlude before things got rough. These people couldn't even stand to stay in the same room alone together for five minutes. Reluctantly, he knocked on the door, and everyone immediately fell silent.
Nick ushered Phil inside the room first. Taking a deep breath, he followed close behind.
Practically everyone in the room was crying. He could tell they didn't know whether to believe it was Phil. He looked older, his hair line slightly receding and the wrinkles on his face somewhat deeper. But he was Phil all the same.
"Hello, everyone. It's, uh, it's been a while," Phil tried for conversation, but failed miserably.
Some of the tension in everyone's face eased at the sound of his voice, their anger dissipating. The realization of it all began to hit them one by one, happiness replacing their doubtful thoughts. Pepper soon launched herself into Phil's arms, and Hill was right behind.
"I can't believe this is real," Pepper was crying into Phil's suit.
"Neither could I," Phil empathized.
"You were dead," Hill's voice was muffled from her tears.
"I know," Phil smiled sadly.
Thor gripped Phil so hard he was beginning to crush the man. "Son of Coul, we've missed you."
Thor's smile was so contagious Phil couldn't help but returning it. "I've missed you guys too."
"All right, all right, give the man some space," Nick remarked, but he was smiling.
Steve cautiously approached Phil, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Coulson."
Phil nodded. "It's good to be back."
Shaking her head, Natasha exclaimed, "Never thought I'd see the day."
Natasha, Clint, and Bruce had also embraced Phil, and the room was filled with kind of happiness they hadn't experienced before.
Tony, however, hung back, still wary of the whole situation. "It's not him. He's not real."
"Stark, have a little faith," Clint commented.
"Would you still like me to sign those trading cards?" Steve reluctantly asked.
Phil glared at Fury. "Well, Fury ruined them by smearing blood on my vintage set. Never will forgive you for that, Sir."
"Oh my God," Tony exclaimed. "It is you." He ran over to Phil and picked him up, swinging him around. After he had finished, he proposed, "I think it's time for a group hug."
Groans were audible throughout the room as Tony pulled everyone into a somewhat crushing embrace.
"Okay, I've had enough mushiness for one day," Nick grimaced, brushing off his coat.
Everyone grumbled in agreement while awkwardly fixing their clothes.
"I think we should revisit that shawarma joint," Bruce suggested. "Phil wasn't there for our last… celebratory lunch, I suppose you could call it."
Nick laughed, knowing the ecstasy everyone was feeling would soon end, only to be replaced by tormenting memories. But for now, they could enjoy a good meal. "Shawarma it is."
! #$%^&*! #$%^&*! #$%^&*
Back On Asgard…
"I didn't kill him?" Loki mused to the guard.
"No, it appears that the Midgardians brought him back to life," the guard smirked, taking joy in Loki's obvious irritation.
"Shit."
The guard guffawed loudly, thankful he was outside Loki's cell.
"How did the bastards do it?" Loki inquired, mainly to himself.
Through bouts of laughter, the guard managed to get out, "Some alien drug from another realm."
"Oh, naturally," Loki rolled his eyes. "And I went to so much trouble to kill the little nuisance. It's a shame, really."
"He seems rather nice from what I've heard," the guard remarked.
"No. A prat really."
"Mmm," the guard commented, not convinced.
"Maybe I'll pay him a visit," Loki expressed.
"Not while you're in here for an eternity."
"It won't be that long," Loki stated, an evil smile creeping on his face.