"Phil Coulson is down." We are divided. Not long after I awoke, I found out who had died, and who was missing. Banner, jumping onto an aircraft and taking it down, falling back to the earth with it. Coulson, according to Fury, was taken down by Loki, who managed to escape his cell. And Thor, who was with Loki at the time, is gone too. The cell had a kind of ejection function, so he possibly had the same fate as Banner. At least he wasn't stuck in a indestructible cell, though.

Myself, Tony, and Steve were sitting at a table above the tech room of S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha was with Barton in the Infirmary. Maria was leaning against the wall, a deep cut on the side of her forehead covered in dried up blood. Fury pulled something out of his pocket. They were blood-stained cards. "He had these in his pocket, Captain," he spoke to Steve, a grim expression set on his face. "I guess you never got around to signing them for him, did you?"

He threw the cards to Steve. He picked up the one with the most blood on it and gazed at it. A sad gleam shimmered in his eyes. I picked up one of them as well. Now I could see what they were - trading cards. Coulson's Captain America mint condition trading cards, weren't so much in mint condition anymore.

Everyone in the room was silent, staring at the cards. Steve stared at them with more regret - probably thinking he should have signed them for Phil. Poor man.

"Yes, we were planning to build an arsenal with the Tesseract," Fury continued. "I never put all my chips on the number though, because, I was playing something even riskier. We had a plan, which Stark knows about."

Steve I spun around and looked at Tony, surprised. "What sort of plan are we talking about here?" I asked.

Tony bowed his head slightly. I wish he would had said something about whatever it is Fury was talking about. From what I could see, so did Tony. Even though he is cocky and thinks for himself before anything else, he is a good man. He just didn't like to show it. Well, that's my opinion, anyway. One thing's certain - being here is changing the playboy philanthropist just a bit.

Fury continued his speech. "It was called, the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them too." He gave Steve and Tony accusing glares at this. "To fight battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."

Abruptly, Tony jumped out of his chair and walking out the room. I guess he had heard enough. "Well.," Fury looked to Steve and I, a resigned look on his tired face, "it's an old-fashioned notion."

Steve was gazing out the window, not taking notice of anything or anyone. I figured he would have wanted to be alone for a bit, but despite the small amount of time I've spent here, I've gotten to know him. His personality. Steve would be beating himself up with regret, and I wasn't going to sit around and let him.

I walked towards him, stopping when I was standing beside him. I didn't look him - I just gazed out the window too, at the sky. "What are you thinking about, Solider?" I asked quietly, my voice little more than a low murmur.

He didn't say a word. I waited, knowing that he'd tell me when he was ready. "I should have done something," he stuttered out, voice thick with emotion. "Signed those damn cards, for one. But I blew it off like it was nothing."

I nodded, more to myself than to him. "Yeah, maybe... But Steve, Phil's death, there was nothing you could do."

I could feel his blue eyes on me now, burning into the side of my face. "Really now? C'mon Sophrose, we both know that can't be true."

Turning my head towards him, I gazed into his eyes, my own blazing with emotion. "You were nowhere near Loki and Phil. You had to watch Tony's back while he repaired the blown jet, or we would have all died. Truly, there was nothing you could have done!"

He shrugged, looking defeated. "Maybe you're right... Hey, where did Stark go?"

"I have no idea."

"Come on," he said, grabbing my hand. "Let's go find him."

We stumbled upon Tony after twenty minutes of failed searching. He was where Phil died, staring blankly at where the cage was previously. Steve leaned again the railing, watching Tony. "Was he married?"

"No," Tony replied on a monotone. "There was a, cellist, I think."

Steve nodded, seeming reassured. "He was a good man, Phil."

Tony snorted. "He was an idiot."

"Why?" I asked. "For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone," he retorted, walking away from the railing.

"He was doing his job," Steve said sternly.

Tony's eyes blazed with fury. Faint grief, as well. "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..." He sighed, not knowing how to finish his sentence.

Steve walked down to meet him. "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony. Sometimes we all have to fight."

Tony walked straight past him. "Right. I've heard that before."

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"

"We are not soldiers!" The two exchanged a glare for a moment, everything silent. I didn't dare intervene - this had to be sorted between the two of them. "Look," Tony began, "I'm not marching on Fury's command."

"Neither am I," Steve countered, "He's got as much blood on his hands as Loki does on his, but right now, we need to focus, put that behind us, and get this done. Right, Soph?"

"He's right," I agreed, giving them a small encouraging smile. "Now, where do we start, boys?"

Steve was the first to say something, immediately going into his soldier persona. "Loki needs a power source, now, if we can put together a list..."

"He made it personal," Tony suddenly said, looking at the bloodstained wall.

"That's not the point."

"That is the point! That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart? Make us weaker than we were from the start?" Steve wondered.

"Divide and conquer. He knows he has to take us all out to win, right? That's what he wants." I thought about it.

"If he wants to beat us, he would want to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

Tony clapped, looking at me. "Exactly, Kitty Cat!"

Steve took a moment to think about this too. "Right, right. I caught his act at Stuttgart!"

Tony began pacing, thinking rapidly. "That was just previews, this is about opening night! And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right?" Steve and I both nodded, and he continued. "He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." A look of realization and horror crossed his face.

Steve gestured for him to continue. "What is it?"

He thought on it for a second. "Son of a bitch."

"Tony, what the hell are you going on about?" I demanded, confused as hell now.

"Stark Tower," was his reply.