A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this out, but this the longest chapter yet, so hope this makes up for it! Welcome to those who are new readers and thank you so much to my fabulous BETA reader Jaguarspot.

A few notes: in this chapter, Coral refers to herself as being "Enhanced." This is the pre-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 definition, referring not solely to the Gifted ("Those who naturally possess abilities." Ex: All Inhumans and Thor), but also to the Enhanced ("Those who have man-made abilities due to science or experimentation." Ex: Ironman, Captain America, The Hulk). I am unsure whether MCU Natasha Romanoff (who in the comics also had Supersoldier augmented strength and speed) and Clint Barton (who has no augmentations in either comics or movies as far as I'm aware), but for the sake of simplicity, I will categorize them as Enhanced. Plus, "The Index" where the Enhanced and Gifted were categorized was a watch-list highly dangerous individuals, and I highly doubt S.H.I.E.L.D. would make a watch-list without including world class spies and assassins on it.

P.S. *Spoilers for the newest Captain America comics* Cap being Hydra is bullshit. That is all.

Helicarrier Hell

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner joked, hoping to cut the tension. The entire Helicarrier had just finished listening to Loki's twentieth evil speech and Fury's unamused refutes. He and Thor stood off to the side thinking, as Coral sat between Nat and Cap, waiting for the meeting to begin.

"Like a cancer," she agreed. Needless to say, their efforts didn't pay off.

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Cap noted. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri-"

"Chitauri?" Coral asked. Everyone looked at her. "They're from Zulu mythology. Essentially known as 'the serpent people from the sky,' I think. Is there any chance they've been to Earth, er, Midgard before?" Thor's frown deepened.

"Not that I am aware of, but the description fits. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Coral looked to Maria, who nodded. She then brought out her tablet to begin working again; no rest for the weary, and she could listen well enough with one ear. They were mostly restating things she knew.

"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 warned and Coral chuckled in agreement, scrolling through sources on her tablet.

"Yeah, he's got King Lear's Edmund's familial grudge, Macbeth's ambition, and Iago's trickery and manipulation. Makes for one crazy combo." Silence. She looked up from her work to find everyone staring at her again, like she was the crazy one. "Seriously? Am I the only one who reads the classics anymore?"

"Yes," Nat and Maria said. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you said, have care how you speak," warned Thor. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days.

"… He's adopted?" Coral scoffed.

"Like that should matter."

"Iridium," Banner interrupted, likely hoping to prevent Thor from rising at her remark. "What do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," Stark called as he walked into the room with Coulson, who he turned to quickly - "Pick a weekend, I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive," - before shifting his attention back to the assembled individuals. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He patted Thor's arm as he passed. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants. Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents paused from their work to stare at the billionaire, now standing at the Helm. "That man is playing 'Galaga!' Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Stark frowned, covering his eye, looking at the control panels. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns," Hill answered tersely.

"Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube," Stark said, fiddling with Fury's monitors a bit before returning to the team.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked.

"Last night." He looked at the others for support, but found none. "The packet? Selvig's notes? The Extraction Theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?!"

"Oh, I read it, I just didn't understand any of it," Coral said.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Cap continued.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner said.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Stark said.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.

"Finally, someone who speaks English!"

"Is that what just happened?" Cap asked sardonically.

Coral patted Cap's shoulder sympathetically as Stark shook Banner's hand and greeted him. "Don't feel bad, Cap. I speak like seven languages and I still didn't understand any of that."

She looked up in time to hear Stark say to Banner, "I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks," Banner said, looking down. Coral glared at Stark, but he seemed not to notice or care.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him," Fury said as he entered, likely hoping to discourage the disaster that would be an Ironman and Hulk team-up.

"Let's start with that stick of his," Cap said. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Coral opened her mouth to say it wasn't magical, just advanced science, but Fury beat her to the punch.

"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?" asked Thor. "I do not understand-"

"I do!" Cap cried. Everyone looked at him as he smiled proudly. "I understood that reference."

Coral grinned, and Stark rolled his eyes, but chose not to comment in favor of joining Doctor Banner. "Shall we play, doctor?"

"Let's play some." Coral waved at Banner as he passed and he smiled and waved a bit as he passed. She patted Natasha's shoulder before standing and hurrying over to Thor.

"Nice to meet you properly, Thor." She extended her hand. "Agent Coral King." He seemed to get that it was a gesture of greeting from watching Stark and Banner, so he took it and gave it a hearty shake. Coral managed not to wince and tried to subtly stretch her arm as she spoke. "I saw you during your time in New Mexico. I'll admit, I'm a bit jealous. That metal man took out a ton of our agents in the same amount of time it took you to destroy it."

"Glad to be of service. So, your father is a King?" he asked, curiously.

"NO! Oh gods no. King's just the name I chose for myself. I'm not actually royalty. I don't even know who my parents are," she admitted.

"My apologies. This world is still strange to me." He looked around, obviously intrigued by his surroundings. "Speaking of which, what are these flying monkeys that were mentioned?"

"Oh, they're just from an old Midgardian tale, they aren't actually real." Coral's brow furrowed when she thought about who she was talking to. "That we know of, at least. Heck, we didn't think you and the rest of Norse mythology were real until last year." Thor nodded.

"Asgardians are meant to keep peace between the Realms. Apart from that, we mostly do not interfere."

"That's good, I guess. Humans have a nasty habit of interfering and making everything worse, as evidenced by our work with the Tesseract."

"How did Selvig come to be ensnared in all this?" Coral shrugged.

"We asked nicely, he was interested. We were hoping to use the Tesseract for renewable energy. The power in that one Cube could save the whole world."

"Or destroy it." She shrugged again; best not to tell him about the amount of nuclear warheads on the planet then.

"Price of Power, I suppose." Thor nodded in a conceding manner, before fidgeting in a nervous manner.

"And uh… what of Jane Foster?"

"I can answer that," Coulson interjected, walking up to them. The trio moved to the monitors where Coulson brought up Jane Foster's file. "As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Tromsø. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Thank you," he said, drinking up the Astrophysicist's face like a man dying of thirst. But behind his eyes, there was sadness and worry. "It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

"He talks about you a lot," Coulson said. Understatement of the Century. Coral was 99% positive the only thing stopping Selvig from asking Thor out was the fact that his daughter figure had the hots for him. "You changed his life. You changed everything around here."

"They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we… we come here battling like Bilgesnipe."

"Like what?" Phil asked for him and Coral.

"Bilgesnipe? You know: huge, scaly, big antlers," Thor said, holding his hands to his head to demonstrate. "You don't have those?"

"Don't think so."

"Let's hope not," Coral said.

"Huh. Well, they are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path." Thor walked over to the side of the ship and gazed out of the window as the two agents shared a look. He certainly seemed calmer and more mature than the brute who had stormed their New Mexico compound last year. "When I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth, I courted war."

"War hasn't started yet," came the voice of Nick Fury. The trio turned to him. "You think you can make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"

"I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance upon me."

"I doubt that that's his only motive; his type, they lash out at anyone and everyone when they don't get their way," Coral assured the God of Thunder. But still, he shook his head.

"Still, there's no pain that would prize his need from him."

"A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts," Fury warned him.

"What are you asking me to do?"

"I'm asking: What are you prepared to do?" Coral looked down at that; Coulson noticed and patted her shoulder to make sure she was okay. She nodded.

"Loki is a prisoner," Thor said.

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?"

Thor didn't answer.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Again, everyone looks at Coral. "It's the Trojan horse; he needs or wants something inside the Helicarrier so he 'surrendered' and got the fast pass inside."

"And you're just telling us this now?" Fury raged. Coral blinked and furrowed her brow at the reaction.

"I thought you knew. I could see it coming a mile away, why else would he stay while He-Man and Tin-man were having their little cock fight?" Thor looked confused, Coulson amused, and Fury stern as usual.

"Any ideas as to the why?" Fury asked tersely.

"Well, it's more a matter of what he wants and how he's gonna get it. Stark said that the rest of the raw materials for the portal are easily found, meaning that it's probably more about taking out any and all potential threats to his invasion, ergo-"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers."

"Who have actually done a decent job tearing themselves and each other apart." Cue another one-eyed glare.

"What about the Chitauri?" Coral brought up her research on one of the larger screens.

"The name means 'the dictators' and 'the ones who tell us the law.' They were essentially Godly overseers, using humans as slave labor for mining gold and they're fed by Dark Power that comes from Humans destroying the Earth. That's why a lot of bloodthirsty leaders are said to be descendants and creations of the Chitauri. But some of the intel is contradictory. Most sources describe them as being lizard-like, very tall, with a long tail, and with yellow eyes, sometimes with a third red one in their foreheads. There are few old statues of lizard people that support the description. Another source, and I am not joking here, says they look like Darth Maul from Star Wars, as in, humanoids with horns." Coral heard Coulson snort behind her and she mostly succeeded in not joining him. "I've also been looking up S.H.I.E.L.D. reactors to see if there are any near populated areas; Loki's the God of Chaos so, I'm going to assume he wants maximum casualties when he has his 'Grand Opening Debut,' to the human race. Plus, if Selvig is any indication, he likes making things personal, playing around with people's emotions."

"So have you found anything on those?" Fury inquired. Coral shook her head.

"Nothing on them either. None of them are near heavily populated areas, which is a good thing when you think about it, but nevertheless, it puts us back at square one when it comes to locating the Tesseract."

"Unfortunately, I think Banner and Stark are our best bet at this point. But keep looking for stuff on the Chitauri; if the shit hits the fan, I want to be prepared."

"You got it boss," she saluted, as he went back to the helm and Thor wandered off. She moved to get back to work when Coulson blocked her way.

"When's the last time you slept?"

"On the plane here." He stared her down, and she caved. "Mostly… I had to write the report and get briefed on the mission." He took the tablet from her.

"Two hour power nap. Now." She opened her mouth to argue- "Fury may be the Director, but I'm your S.O., young lady. Please respect that." She closed her mouth and sighed before nodding. Coulson smiled and kissed her forehead, before sending her on her way, giving Fury a stare to counter his glare. The Director conceded and went back to the monitors.


True to his word, Coulson woke Coral up two hours later, providing her with both a cappuccino and a cloth to wipe her face with, which she gratefully accepted.

"So… are you gonna take Stark's offer?" she yawned, wiping the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes. "See Audrey? She's got a performance next weekend. You could surprise her."

"You're more hung up on her than I am."

"Just want to see you happy, Phil," she smiled, getting up and stretching. "Seriously though. Will you?" Coulson shrugged.

"I don't know. This life isn't usually conducive to family life."

"I'm not saying you should elope together-" Yet. "-I'm just saying that I think Fury and Maria are the only people who put in more hours than you and unless you change that, you're gonna get old, boring, and perpetually angry like they did. And I'll have no one to play with."

"Alright, alright. I'll call Audrey and consider Stark's offer."

"That's all I ask, Phil," she grinned. She checked her tablet to see if the other agents had made any developments, when she realized the date. "Hey look! It's May 4th. May the Fourth be with you, Phil!"

"May the Fourth be with you too, Coral," Coulson chuckled, flashing her a 'Live Long and Prosper' sign. She shoved him playfully as he continued to laugh, before the two exited her room to begin the trek back to the Bridge.

"We should do a Star Wars marathon after this. I haven't seen either of the animated series yet. And then we could finally get to Buffy Season 6. You think Fury would mind giving us a week or two off after this?"

"If anything, I think he'd make us." She smiled and they walked in comfortable silence for a moment, nodding and greeting other agents as they passed. "Maybe we should could go to New York. I know you've been bugging Fury for an assignment there. And assuming it's still standing when this is over, I'd be happy to show you around."

Coral considered it for a moment. "Yeah, but I also think if we go somewhere, it should be someplace you haven't been before. Like someplace tropical, preferably with a fruity umbrella drink… and the Cellist."

"You're gonna keep bugging me until I call her, aren't you."

"Just reminding you, Phil."

They walked onto the Bridge to find everyone scrambling. The screens on the bridge had started to blink with a warning: SECURITY BREACH. The duo glanced to each other. Not good. Coral went to ask a frowning Nick Fury, "Do you need us to find-"

"I already know who did this," he growled and stalked off. Coral straightened up and glanced at Phil, who nodded. She then went after the Director.

"Is there something you're not telling us, Director?" she asked him as she trailed behind.

"You may have been right about the Avengers tearing themselves apart," he admitted. She raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" He went to answer, but was cut off by Nat.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well," her voice came in on the coms. Fury and Coral looked at each other. Things just got a lot worse.

"Well I guess that's how Loki plans to tear us apart," she commented, but Fury just exhaled angrily and picked up his pace. "Banner's not going to hurt anyone unless we push him, Fury." He wasn't listening. "Fury!" Coral rolled her eyes and went after him.

Fury strode in to see Tony and Banner were no longer working on the scepter, Coral coming in right behind him.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked.

"Uh… kind of been wondering the same thing about you," Stark said.

"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," Banner said.

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss." Stark went back to the monitors, displaying something that was definitely not related to finding the Tesseract. "What is PHASE 2?"

Suddenly, Rogers strode in and dropped a HYDRA assault rifle on the table, causing Fury, Banner and Stark to turn around. Cap looked pissed.

"PHASE 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. using the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow." Coral turned to Fury.

"Nick, what-"

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury said. "This does not mean that we're…"

"I'm sorry, Nick," Stark interrupted, moving the suspended screen towards Fury to display plans for Tesseract powered weapons. "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit," Cap noted. At that moment, Thor and Natasha walked into the lab. As Banner rounded on Romanoff, Coral turned to Fury.

"Nick, what is going on?"

"Coral, these are things above your paygrade-"

"I understand that, Director, but you being open about this could've helped us put together the puzzle a bit faster," she grit out, straightening up. "And I'm not one of your agents, sir; the only reason I'm here is to stop Chimera, and I've humored you by going on unrelated assignments, but you pulling this shit makes me feel like I'm right back with them."

Fury may have answered but the attention was turned back to him when Banner said, "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Coral turned on Nick as well, cocking an eyebrow, the way she always did when she wasn't moving.

"Because of him." Fury pointed at Thor.

"Me?"

"Great, we're literally resorting to pointing fingers," Coral scoffed. Fury ignored her.

"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."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet-"

"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." Coral rounded on him, fire in her eyes.

"Controlled? Who says we need to be controlled?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it," he said.

"Oh, I know what you mean. You just don't want to admit it. You want to control the Enhanced just like Chimera controlled me and my sisters!"

"Like you controlled the cube," Rogers agreed, folding his arms.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor said. "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Cap repeated.

"You forced our hand," Fury maintained. "We had to come up with something-"

"Nuclear deterrent," Stark said. "'Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Didn't you once call yourself just that during the Senate Hearing last year?" Coral noted as Fury said, "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

Suddenly, everyone was talking over each other, placing and deflecting blame like politicians.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor said.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury remarked.

"And isn't the Tesseract of Asgardian origin? 'Jewel of Odin's treasure room' and all?" Coral pointed out; she was mad at Fury but had to stick with humans as an unspoken rule.

"Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor huffed.

"Are you all really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats," Nat said.

"Potential threats? Captain America is on that watch list?" Banner scoffed.

"We all are. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

"You and the kid on that list?" Stark asked Cap. "Are you two above or below angry bees?"

Coral bristled as Cap snapped, "I swear to God, Stark, one more wisecrack."

"Threatening! I feel threatened!"

"You should," Coral warned him. "I've killed people Stark, not just built or sold weapons that did it for me, but with my own two hands; you wanna guess what I can do to you with what I've got on me right now?"

"I'm starting to see why Fury keeps you on a leash," Stark said. Coral went to punch him but was stopped by Fury grabbing her arm and growling, "Cool it, King."

She shoved him off. "You don't control me."

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor said. Coral blinked. Chaos…

"It's his M.O., isn't it?" Banner said, also appearing to catch on. He grabbed the table behind him, where Loki's scepter laid. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're… we're a time-bomb."

"You need to step away," Fury cautioned.

"Maybe you should take your own advice, Fury," Coral shot back, Stark adding, "Yeah, why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

"Coral-" Nat tried to cut in as Cap raged at Stark, but Coral brushed her off.

"Don't, Nat. The last time S.H.I.E.L.D. lied to me like this, two of my sisters fell back into Chimera's grasp and I'll probably never get them back again because of it."

"They were trying to protect you-"

"They were trying to control me," Coral seethed. "That's all anyone's ever done! I thought you were different. That you cared about me as a person, not just as a weapon. My mistake." Nat and Fury went silent as Stark and Cap's pissing contest reached a climax.

Thor laughed at all of them. "You people are so petty… and tiny."

"Like you're so much better," Coral scoffed. "Size isn't everything, and even if it was, your so-called brother invaded a planet because of a childish sense of entitlement."

"You're one to talk of childish," Thor said and Coral turned to him, as nose to nose as she could be with a guy who was almost a foot taller than her.

"I'm not the one who left the prisoner alone!"

"But what have you done to help?" Stark asked. "You're just another of Fury's toy soldiers. Hell, you're not even that, you're his research department. This is supposed to be a team of 'the most remarkable and able people in the world.' Why are you even here?" Coral scowled at Stark, but couldn't help but wonder that herself.

"Yeah, this is a team…" Banner said sarcastically. Fury frowned at him.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his…" Coral moved to block Nat, but Banner didn't need help this time.

"Where? You rented my room."

"The cell was just in case…"

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Silence. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out!" At that, everyone turned a little green. "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!" Banner rounded on Natasha, who looked more nervous than Coral had ever seen her. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Banner gritted out.

Both Nat and and Fury moved their hands over their guns, moving straps and flicking the safeties off, as everyone tensed.

"Doctor Banner," Coral treaded carefully, looking him in the eye. "Are you aware you're holding the scepter?"

If his confused expression indicated anything, he wasn't.

The computer beeped. They all turned to it. The Tesseract-

"Got it."

Everyone snapped back to work. Fury moved toward the computer, but Coral blocked him. "Once we get Barton and the Tesseract back, we're going to have a very long talk about this."

"I don't need to justify my actions to you, King."

"Maybe not. But you may need to justify them to the Public." He opened his mouth, probably to ask if that was a threat, when she continued, "Fury, if this got out, what do you think would happen? If these weapons got into the wrong hands?"
"That's why they're in ours!"

"But they might not always be. And your justification of these is exactly the kind of reasoning that makes me afraid of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick." Fury crossed his arms and stared her down like she was the enemy again.

"Ever think you might be in the wrong business, King." She stared him right in the eye.

"Every day of my life, sir." They both continued their staring contest, neither one backing down.

"… Well, then maybe-"

BOOM!

The room exploded and everyone was thrown everywhere. Coral hit the ground hard, but managed not to hit her head. Her ears rang as Stark and Cap ran from the room and Fury started shouting commands. She froze when she realized what this meant. "Loki." She took off, down the hall and through the Helicarrier. Few know exactly where to hit a Helicarrier to force it down and one of them was under the control of the God currently in their custody.

"Coulson! King! Initiate official lockdown in the detention section, then get to the armory! Move out!"

"Already on my way there," Coral muttered, under her breath so none of them would hear, running through the halls, jumping off the walls over and around the agents and obstacles in her way, occasionally stopping to help a wounded agent. "Coulson, you go on ahead. Bring me an extra gun or something, I just want to get to the Cage fast."

"Coral, you're not supposed-"

"Just do it!" she shouted, turning her com's volume down before taking off.

She had a job to do.


Barton and Loki's men rappelled down into a maintenance corridor, quickly followed by the two teenage Chimera agents.

"Get that engine down! Detention! Get him through the dark! Come with me," Barton ordered, dividing the men's duties before stalking off. Sinthea and Ophelia glanced at each other, before rolling their eyes.

"Get the Scepter. I'll get him out. Join us when you're done." Ophelia instructed.

"Got it," Sinthea said, before they parted ways.

They had a job to do.


Coral slid to another stop. Another dead end due to debris. She huffed. This trip was taking her way too long. She opened the door to the Shuttle levels, hoping to find yet another detour, only to hear an inhuman roar echo from the area; something monstrous, massive. Incredible. Oh boy. She closed the door. Never mind. She'd find another way.

She spun around, making more twists and turns as she attempted to get to the Detention Level. She went around a bend, to find some men in SWAT grade S.H.I.E.L.D. gear heading her way. She opened her mouth to direct them to the Hulk (she liked Banner, but the Hulk was a danger to everyone on the Helicarrier), when they raised their guns. Awww, hell. She threw herself back around the corner as the men opened fire. Great. Just what they needed. She took a smoke pellet from her belt and threw it down, clouding the intruders' vision. By the time they got up to the halls she had been in, they couldn't see a thing. That made it easy for her to drop down from the ceiling, landing on a guy and knocking him out. She then wound her unlooped orange ribbon belt around the next guy's gun, directed it to shoot another guy, before punching him in his relatively unexposed throat and kicking him back into the wall.

"We got a perimeter breach! Hostiles are in S.H.I.E.L.D. gear. Hold on to every junction." Sitwell's voice announced. Coral rolled her eyes.

No shit, Sherlock.

She looked around, finally recognizing where she was. Within a few turns, she was there. Unfortunately, so were the bad guys. She hid behind another corner as they entered the Cage, locking the door behind them.

This just keeps getting better and better, Coral groaned internally; she could unlock the door, but it would take time and there would be those men and a God waiting for her on the other side by the time she did it. She looked down and smiled. Perfect. As quickly and quietly as she could, she removed the vent cover on an air duct and slid inside. She got into position behind the vent opening next to the Cage control panel.

"Room's secure, sir," one of Loki's men said.

"I can see that. Now hurry up, I have a Realm to take over." The moment a man was near the vent, Coral burst out, throwing the thug onto his back and punching him across the face, before throwing an electrical disk at the second one. He gurgled and fell, unconscious, as she stood and re-activated her com.

"I got hostiles in the detention level. I'm holding them back for now, but should I drop the cage? Repeat: do I drop the-" Someone hit her around the head. Coral stumbled to the ground, communicator falling to the floor where it was crushed by a boot. Coral looked up into the face of the person the boot belonged to. "Figures you'd choose now to make your entrance."

"What can I say? I have great timing," Ophelia Sarkissian smirked at her 'sister.'

"That's one way of putting it." Ophelia attempted to slam her boot into Coral's face, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent rolled out of the way and flipped back to her feet. They traded blows, but were very evenly matched, able to predict where the other would strike exactly before they did. But while they were near equally matched in training, strength, and speed, Coral could take more punishment, so when she finally landed a blow across Ophelia's face, the Chimera agent went down hard. Coral then used the opportunity to pull out her pistol. But when she leveled it on Ophelia, all she could see in those green eyes was the little girl she used to steal food with, who would stitch her up after a particularly bad whipping from Mother Night. Coral gripped her gun tighter. It's for the World. Loki will destroy everything if you don't do this.

But that hesitation was all Ophelia needed to kick the gun from her former sister's grasp, sending it over the rails and down into the depths of the cage's release system, and knock the other girl off her feet. She then grabbed Coral by the hair and turned her around, getting her arms under Coral's armpits and around the back of her neck so that they both faced the door, where Sinthea had appeared… with the scepter. "Now!" Sinthea lunged with the scepter, whether to turn her or stab her, Coral did not know, but she wasn't about to wait and find out. She flipped over Ophelia and out of the hold, putting the dark haired Chimera operative in the path of the scepter. The pale girl screamed and toppled over, barely missing being possessed or killed. She glared up at her sister from the ground. "WATCH IT!"

"Maybe you should hold her still!" Sinthea shouted. She looked up just in time to see Coral leap over Ophelia and send her flying down the metal steps she had just walked up.

"Odin's Beard, there's one of her and two of you. What am I paying you for?" Loki groaned.

"You aren't," Ophelia hissed.

Suddenly, the Helicarrier began to tilt and fall, causing the three girls to stumble and slide, grabbing railings to maintain their balance. In spite of the fact that they were fighting, the three girls looked at each other a bit nervously, reminding Coral of all those times in "The Viper's Nest" and how they could get that all back if they weren't so crazy.

"They won't actually let it drop while we're still here, will they?" Ophelia inquired, whether to Coral, Sinthea, Loki, or herself, no one was certain.

"That's why Barton's on his way: to do the job you two apparently can't," Loki said, somehow seemingly unaffected by the shifting center of gravity. Coral stiffened. She needed to end this fight and fast. She couldn't take Ophelia, Sinthea, and Barton at once, especially if they managed to get Loki out.

So once she knocked the scepter from Sinthea's grasp, she unwrapped her orange ribbon belt from her waist and in a combination of dodges and looping moves, maneuvered her sisters' blows to hit each other and their limbs to get tangled in the streamer. They toppled over, restrained and off balance. Coral picked up the scepter. "Like I'm gonna let you get your hands on…"

The stone glowed and suddenly Coral saw flashes across her mind. Visions of-

The light fading from Svetlana's green eyes

Ophelia's glare as she was led away by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents

A Chimera agent collapsing from her bullet

Ophelia and Sinthea beating her down at the Asylum

The Avengers fighting as the world exploded around them

"WOAH!" she shouted, dropping it like a hot pan. She fell against the wall, chest heaving as she caught her breath, and stared at the scepter like a serpent about to strike. It didn't do anything, gave no indication that it had done anything at all. She straightened up. "That was… intense."

"It has that effect on people," chimed a voice behind her and Coral turned just in time for Loki to clamp a hand around her throat. She grasped his hand trying to loosen his grip, but it was as strong and unmoving as a mountain of Vibranium. "Never send a child to do a God's job," the God sneered.

"We got you out. I don't see what the issue is," Ophelia shot back, helping Sin to her feet.

"The issue is that I need the best."

"We are the best," Sinthea said.

"Then this planet really is doomed."

Coral used his distraction to slide a weighted baton from her sleeve into her hand and ram it into the most sensitive spot on male Humans, hoping that it applied to male Asgardians/Jotuns too. Judging by the gasp she got from Loki, it was. She got him across the face with the same weight, before grabbing his hair and ramming him face-first into the wall, before taking her strongest pair of power dampening cuffs from her belt. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Your Highness, but your reign is over."

A cord wrapped around Coral's neck, completely cutting off her air supply. She attempted to turn around and hit Sinthea, knock herself free, but the redhead had wrapped the rope in a loop shape, not a U, making it much harder to move in and escape from. Coral gaged as Sinthea tightened the noose, smirking all the while. She and Ophelia quickly restrained their former sister, making sure she had enough air to keep conscious (barely), but be unable to do anything. Ophelia then offered a hand to the God, who shrugged her off and stood quickly, dusting himself off. The trio heard the sound of someone very large running through the halls and Loki quickly put a projection into the cage. He opened the Cage door as Thor raced into the detention section.

"NO!" The Asgardian prince charged at the projection, only to go right through it, the cell door sealing behind him behind as he fell. Loki raised an eyebrow at his brother incredulously.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Thor quickly realized he was not the only one in trouble, gaze shifting to Coral, still gasping for breath.

"Leave her out of this, Loki, she's an innocent child." Loki smirked and stroked the Coral's face, just to get on his brother's nerves, almost getting his fingers bitten off in the process.

"She's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and certainly had no trouble attacking or insulting me. What kind of King would I be if I let an attack like that slide?"

Thor slammed Mjölnir onto the glass cell. But the glass only cracked, though the impact shook the ship and the cage shifted, the holds readying to release at the next blow if need be. Even Loki seemed surprised by the turn of events, though his shock quickly turned to smugness.

"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" he said, moving toward the control panel.

Suddenly, one of Loki's men who had just awoken was knocked down. Everyone turned to see Agent Phillip Coulson standing there, holding a PHASE 2 weapon prototype.

"Move away, please."

Loki moved away from the switch, eying the weapon cautiously. Coulson glanced at Ophelia and Sinthea as well, who loosened the noose a bit, glancing at the weapon in apprehension, allowing Coral to get her breath back.

"You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." He armed it. "Do you wanna find out?"

SCHINK!

Coulson cried out as the scepter was run through his chest, Loki standing behind him. Coral inhaled sharply, her eyes widening. No.

"NO!" Thor yelled, but all Coral could focus on was Phil. He was looking at her. Blood was blooming from his lips. And he was in pain. So much pain. Loki dropped against the wall, where he slumped down, breathing fast. She couldn't breathe, but this time, it wasn't because of the rope around her neck. He was still looking at her. She heard the hatch open up and the cage be released in the echoes of her mind, but couldn't process it correctly, because Phil was lying there, bleeding out and no one else seemed to realize that. But he stared at her, right in the eyes, and she could tell he's so sorry. So very sorry.

He turned his gaze upward and says, "You're gonna lose."

"Am I?" Loki's voice asked, but all Coral could focus on was the blood that was spreading, staining his shirt.

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky… where is my disadvantage?" Coulson glanced at Coral before turning his attention up again.

"You lack conviction."

"I don't think I-"

BOOM!

Loki was blown straight through the wall behind him as Coulson triggered the weapon. Everyone stood there in shock.

"So that's what it does."

That snapped her back. Slipping out the the restraints like a snake, Coral threw her head back, hitting Sinthea right in the nose, before elbowing Ophelia right in the throat. She got the rope from around her neck, grabbed both girls by their hair, before slamming their foreheads into each other. Not even bothering with restraints, she slid over to Phil.

"Phil! Oh gods. Oh my gods, Phil," she breathed, hand brushing his face before she pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Coral-"

"No, don't talk, don't do anything, just, stay still," she shushed. She got a walkie talkie from his pocket and activated it. "Man down, man down, we have a man down. I repeat, Agent Coulson is down!" She pressed both her hands into his chest now, because one wasn't cutting it and oh God, there was so much blood. "It's gonna be okay, Phil. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

"Coral-"

"No. No, don't you dare say goodbye. Okay? You're gonna be okay."

"Where the fuck is that medical team?"

The sound of boots pounding on the ground echoed up the hall and the two agents looked up to see Director Fury run in.

"I-I-I tried-the-the bleeding-I just-I-"

"Get the medics," he snapped.

"But-"

"GO!" He pushed her toward the door and she stumbled down the steps but caught herself on the frame. She hurried up the hall, as best as she could in her state, nearly tripping over herself. She found them and practically dragged them back to where the Cage used to be.

"Hurry! Hurry, he's here. He's injured, there's a lot of blood, please just help-" She stopped when she saw him.

He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. He was just there. Sitting there. Glassy eyed like one of those posters or action figures he kept in his office. Except those were supposed to be like that. Not him. Never him. It… it wasn't possible. It was a trick. Loki had tricked them before, this had to be a trick. But now he was blocked from her sight, the medical team poking him, prodding him, like the none too gentle Chimera doctors. They took his wrist. Checked his pulse.

Please Phil.

One miracle.

That's all.

Just one.

They dropped the hand.

No.

She fell to her knees, just staring at him. He was still staring.

He wasn't seeing.

He'd seen everything before, seen right through Stark and Thor and Barton and Nat and Hill and her and even Fury.

Why wasn't he seeing now?

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, guide her back to her feet and through the halls.

But it wasn't Phil.

It would never be Phil again.