Author: Why are all of these scene so emotional?! Damn Joss Whedon for all the feels. I know I'm probably not helping much but still... Enjoy and as always, much love for the reviews. They are massively helpful for keeping my ass in gear.
Tony stood in the detention room where Loki had been held... and where Phil Coulson had died.
It hurt a bit more than he realized it would... losing him.
Pepper had responded to his message that Coulson had died and while he had tried to comfort her, he didn't think he had done a good job.
Emotions were not something he understood... they weren't something he could hold in his hands, take apart and put back together.
Machines... now those he understood. They were predictable and simple.
People and emotions... not so much.
A small sound drew his attention to the side, where Steve stood.
"I don't have the stomach for another fight old man." Tony thought.
"Was he married?" Steve asked.
No. There was a, uh... cellist. I think." Tony admitted.
That was the only thing he knew about Coulson's personal life... unless he wanted to include the wisecrack about watching Supernanny. The cellist he only knew about because he overheard Coulson and Pepper talking in the penthouse. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to believe that the agent had actually watched Supernanny.
Coulson had always been an irritation... now he was starting to regret that.
"I'm sorry... he seemed like a good man." Steve whispered.
"Save the apologizes for someone who cares... like that little assassin girl." Tony thought. "He was an idiot." he said aloud.
Steve glared at Tony and asked, "Why? For believing?"
"For taking on Loki alone." Tony quipped.
"He was doing his job." Steve insisted.
Steve's stubborness was beginning to annoy Tony. "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..." Tony said, trailing off when he realized that Loki would have gotten away regardless of what Coulson had done or not done.
"Sometimes there isn't a way out Tony." Steve told him.
Tony sighed as the argument over heroism started all over again. "Right... I've heard that before." he muttered.
Steve took a few steps towards him, not quite aggressive but definitely pressing his point. "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" he asked.
Tony's temper flared at that. He was a genius billionare! He was Iron Man! He was nobody's cannon fodder! "We are not soldiers! I am not marching to Fury's fife!" he snapped.
"Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we've got to put this behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source..." Steve told him, stopped when he saw Tony's attitude change.
Tony's thought process began to rapid fire, tiny details suddenly starting to merge together like puzzle pieces. "He made it personal." he whispered, staring at the blood stain on the wall.
"That's not the point." Steve said.
"That is the point. That's Loki's point! He hit us all right where we live. Why?!" Tony insisted. The puzzle pieces weren't falling into place fast enough.
Steve cocked his head and said, "To tear us apart." That was painfully obvious.
Tony's eyes lit up. He was on a roll and had Loki figured out. "Yeah, divide and conquer is great but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us... he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Tony chuckled.
"Yeah I caught his act at Stuttgart." Steve said, struggling to follow.
"That was just the previews. This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." Tony rambled.
Steve and Tony's eyes widened as they both realized where Loki would strike next. Tony saw Stark Tower lit up, his name blazing in the night. Steve saw it from the ground level, a massive tower... a momument.
"Son of a bitch." Tony whispered.
"I'll find the girls." Steve told him, rushing off.
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Erik Selvig smirked at the greatest scientific work of his life.
The machine holding the Tesseract was complete and ready for activation. It resembled the containment structure from the New Mexico facility except this one was meant to amplify and channel the Tesseract's energy.
When the portal generator powered up, it would superheat the plasma in the chamber around the Tesseract. The the lenses around the chamber would focus that energy into a beam that would tear open a hole in the universe to let the Chitauri through. Loki's triumph would be assured and no force on Earth could stop him.
Erik open his laptop, the same one he had used while working with Jane Foster and ran through a series of software checks. Soon, very soon, they would do something no human had ever dreamed of being able to do. Not even the Red Skull had understood the true potential of the Tesseract.
And best of all, they would begin their conquest using Tony Stark's Arc Reactor in his magnificent new tower in New York City.
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"Agent Rain?!"
Rain opened the door to her temporary quarters and leaned out as Steve turned around. "Whatcha need Cap?" she asked.
"I need you to suit up." he told her.
She noted his full uniform and asked, "We going somewhere?"
"We know where Loki's going to strike next." he said.
Rain nodded and said, "Natasha's still in the medical wing, room 12-A. Take the elevator down two floors and take the first left you come to."
"Thanks." Steve said, rushing off.
Closing the door, Rain pulled out her phone and texted: "Going to war. Just in case we don't make it home..."
A few minutes later her phone buzzed with a response: "You're going to make it home. Your father and Natasha too."
Rain smiled as she grabbed her duffle bag to head to the armory.
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Natasha turned as the door opened, glad she had gotten cleaned up first. It wouldn't look very good for her to have tear streaks on her face, regardless of who walked in.
She had told Clint about what had happened with Loki, the Hulk, Coulson. He had held her tightly while she cried softly against him. Their handler and friend was dead... their world had gone to hell... all because of Loki.
"Time to go." Steve told her.
"Go where?" Natasha asked.
"Tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" he asked, remembering a second later that she had flown one in Stuttgart. At the same time he noticed that the bed behind her was empty.
"I can." Clint whispered, stepping out of the bathroom.
At any other time, when he wasn't starving and exhausted, he would be estatic to meet Captain America. But right now he was too drained to even try to be excited.
Steve glanced at Natasha, who nodded slowly. "Okay so he's back with us. Later, I've got a lot to ask. Especially about him and Rain." Steve thought.
"You got a suit?" Steve asked, looking the other man over. He definitely looked like he had been through hell.
Clint nodded as Natasha glanced his way and forced herslef to relax a little. It was her silent way of assuring him that Captain America was a good man.
"Then suit up," Steve told him. "We leave in an hour."
Natasha turned as Clint's stomach growled loudly. "We'll get you something before we leave." she told him.
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Natasha watched as Rain laced up her boots. The black leather pants and vest she wore fit her body like she had poured into them. Her boots came to her mid calfs and her gloves matched the pants and vest. There was a gun holster strapped to one thigh but her escrima sticks were hiding in her boots. "Even ready to go to war, you're beautiful Milaya." she finally said.
Rain spun and laughed softly, shaking her head. "You're one to talk. You look gorgeous all the time." she smirked as she hugged Natasha tightly.
"Are you going to be okay?" Nat asked.
"Gotta be. The mission's not over." Rain sighed.
Nat nodded against her shoulder and said, "Your dad's okay. He's back down the hall."
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Clint tossed the protein bar wrapper in the trash can nearby and took another sip of water. The bar normally tasted like sawdust but after having nothing to eat for several days, he had barely been able to not wolf it down.
The door slid open behind him and he turned, expecting to see a tech or another agent glaring at him.
Who he saw made him feel considerably better than he had in days.
"Daddy." Rain whispered, throwing her arms around his neck tightly.
Clint held her close and whispered, "It's okay little bird. I'm here... I'm safe. Exhausted and starved but safe."
Rain sobbed softly against his neck as he held onto her and stroked her hair to soothe her. "Phil's dead." she whimpered.
"I know. And believe me, that son of a bitch is gonna pay for it." Clint growled.
