Author: I apologize for the tears the last chapter brought and any this chapter might bring. I seriously think the only thing harder than writing Phil's death was writing how Laura and the kids take it. So many damn feels! So much to cover so long chapter

"Do you need anything ma'am?"

Rain shook her head, glanced at the member of the maintence crew who had spoken and whispered, "No... I just need to make a phone call."

"You've got my condolences.. and the rest of my crew too." the woman told her.

"Thanks." Rain whispered, pulling out her phone and finding a quiet catwalk.

Laura ruffled Cooper's hair before answering her phone. "Hello?"

"Hey momma. Can you hear me okay?" Rain whispered.

"Yeah sweetheart I hear you fine. Where are you?" Laura asked as Lila looked up at her expectantly. "It's your sister." she mouthed to her youngest child.

"Can we talk?" Lila asked.

Rain smiled at her baby sister's voice and asked, "At home with the kids?"

Laura chuckled and said, "Yeah. Coop's studying for a spelling test and Lila's painting."

"I'm on the Helicarrier. Not sure how long my phone signal will hold out. But I had to call..." Rain whispered.

Laura caught the change in her daughter's tone and asked, "Rain honey? What's wrong?"

"You might want to sit down mom." Rain sighed.

Cooper and Lila watched as their mother sat down and whispered, "What is it?"

Rain leaned against the catwalk railing and whimpered, "Phil's dead."

"What... how?" Laura asked.

"I can't give you any details right now. I'm sorry mom. But I knew you'd want to know." Rain sighed.

Laura wiped tears from her eyes and whispered, "Okay... thank you honey. Will you be okay?"

Rain chuckled and muttered, "I gotta be mom. The mission isn't over yet."

"Okay... just be safe. Tell Nat and your father too." Laura sobbed.

"I will." Rain assured her before the signal cut out.

"Mommy?" Lila whispered, crawling into her mother's lap.

Laura hugged Lila, pulled Cooper close and whispered, "Your uncle Phil was hurt. And he didn't make it."

Lila whined before buring her face in her mother's shirt.

"Are daddy, Rain and Aunty Nat okay?" Cooper whispered.

"They're fine." Laura told him before he clung to her, crying quietly.

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Fury glanced up when the door the conference room opened and Rain walked in. "Heard you were holding court. Figured I should be here." she whispered.

"Take a seat then." he told her.

Rain pulled her phone from her pocket to glance at the text message that had just come in: "C and L say to bring daddy and Aunty Nat home. We all love you. -M."

Fury read the look on her face and cocked his head to silently ask, "Your mother?"

"She took it hard. But the kids just reminded me that I have to bring dad and Nat home safe." Rain told him silently with a nod and sad smile.

Tony glanced at her briefly, meeting her eyes for a second before he slid his foot off the support bar of her chair and pushed away from her.

Rain eyed Tony for a couple of minutes before pulling her knees to her chest.

Steve watched Tony and Rain before lowering his eyes to the table. Their encounter in Bruce's lab was pretty fresh in his mind.

Rain had been vicious... a far cry from the woman he had known at the Retreat.

And Tony... had been cocky but distant. Howard had been friendly despite his cockiness.

Loki's scepter had been messing with their heads but he wondered just how much of what he had seen out of them had been part of their true colors.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you sign them." Fury said, tossing bloodstained trading cards onto the table.

Rain flinched away but Steve picked one up and looked at it. He recongized the picture from World War II, before he started going after Hydra.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor... I got nothing for you." Fury told them, pausing to get his emotions under control. "I lost my one good eye... maybe I had that coming."

Rain glanced up at Fury but didn't say anything... none of them did. That was fine by him since he needed them to listen more than anything.

"Yes.. we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier." Fury admitted.

Tony looked up at Fury as the director went on, "There was an idea, Stark and Rain know this, 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 to, to fight battles that we never could."

"And how did that work out for you?" Tony thought.

"Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea... in heroes." Fury told him.

Tony got up suddenly, surprising Rain and Steve both. He looked like he was about to say something but instead just left the bridge.

"Well... it's a good old-fashioned notion." Fury whispered.

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"You fell out of the sky."

Bruce looked around from where he sat in a pile of rubble. There was a Hulk sized hole in the roof above him. "Did I hurt anybdy?" he whispered.

"There's nobody around to get hurt. You did scare the hell out of some pidgeons, though." the security guard told him.

"Lucky." he said.

"Or just good aim. You were awake when you fell."

"You saw?" Bruce asked, wanting to run but deciding against it since he had nothing to wear and that he liked his modesty.

The guard tossed him a pair of pants and said, "The whole thing.. right through the ceiling. Big, green and buck ass nude. Didn't think these would fit you until you shrank back down to a regular sized fellow."

"Thank you." Bruce whispered, pulling the pants on. They were a little big but better than nothing.

"You an alien?" the guard asked.

"What?" Bruce scoffed.

"From outer space... an alien." the guard repeated.

"No." Bruce muttered.

"Well then, son... you've got a condition." the guard told him.

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Clint thrashed as he tried to fight through the last of the mind control. He was disoriented and everything felt... wrong.

"Clint. You're going to be alright."

He knew that voice... Natasha.

Anger and hatred flashed through him... not his but Loki's.

"You know that? Is that what you know?" he chuckled bitterly.

He shoved the anger away and whispered, "I got... I gotta flush him out."

Natasha moved around him, stopping nearby and he heard water being poured. "You've got to level out. That's gonna take time."

"This isn't just some bad trip!" he wanted to scream at her.

Instead he collasped back on the bed and whispered, "You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Take you out and stuff something else in? You know what it's like to be unmade?"

Natasha looked at him and whispered, "You know that I do." She had been made and unmade more times that she could remember. She didn't really know what she was anymore, except that she was loyal to Nick Fury, SHIELD, Clint, Rain and the rest of their family.

"Why am I back? How'd you get him out?" Clint asked, looking over at her.

"Cognitive recalibration. I hit really hard in the head." she told him with a small smile as she sat on the bed.

Clint stared at her, not sure if she was joking or not. "Thanks." he muttered.

Natasha smiled and undid the restraints. Clint was back... things were gonna be okay.

Clint sat up and rubbed his wrists. "Tasha... how many agents did I?" he asked.

"Don't. Don't do that to yourself Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for." she told him. She knew better than anyone that you couldn't blame yourself for what you did while brainwashed. And if Clint knew the number of people who had been killed, it would torment him.

"Loki... he got away?" Clint asked as Natasha got up.

"Yeah. Don't supposed you know where?" she asked.

He shook his head and took a sip of water. "Didn't need to know. Didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon. Today." he told her.

"We have to stop him." Natasha said.

"Yeah... who's "we"?" he scoffed.

"I don't know. Whoever's left." she told him.

"Well. If I put an arrow through Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose." Clint muttered as Natasha sat down beside him.

"Now you sound like you." she smiled.

"But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. But you want to wade into a war... why? What did Loki to you?" he said, watching her.

"He didn't. I just..." Natasha began.

They both knew she couldn't deceive him, not just because of what he had been through. Not just because he knew how Loki worked. But because of all the people in the world, Clint could read her like almost nobody else could.

"Natasha." he whispered, trying to get her to talk.

"I've been compromised." she admitted.

Clint nodded understandingly... Loki had gotten into Nat's head too.

"I got red in my ledger... I'd like to wipe it out." she whispered.

Gently Clint slid an arm around her, pulling her close. "I wish we were home." he sighed.

"Me too... Rain's here. Probably with Fury. He called her in after you were taken by Loki." Natasha told him softly.

Clint considered borrowing her com for a second but then remembered that the virus he had created also knocked out the coms. "We'll catch up with her." he muttered.