Nick had led Serephina back to the bridge, neither of them had even tried to start a conversation, the frustration was too great. And they both knew better, this situation was not made for talking. On the back part of the bridge at a long table they had stopped. The elder had pushed her down on one of the soft chairs, she had not resisted. Why should she? She felt paralyzed and numb, yet she knew she had to calm down, that was her job after all. People died all the time, everywhere. It was no different here. She too would die one day, perhaps not as protracted as Phil, but she would die.
She hadn't noticed that Tony, now without his armor again, and Steve had sat down at the table. Only when Tony muttered something to himself did the girl look up. Coulson's blood was still on her hands, she had rubbed it off on her black jacket, but the remains under her nails would not disappear.
Nick had spoken to one of the agents before turning back to the three of them. He had Phil's trading cards in his hand. The agent had shown her his collection after she had begged for hours. Only she was not allowed to touch the cards. He had neatly sorted them into a folder, hidden deep in his locker. "Phil Coulson had these in his jacket," Nick spoke into the silence at one point. It was hard to hear those words.
Serephina looked up as she saw someone gently put a hand on her shoulder. Maria looked no less beat up than anyone else. Above the eyebrow of the black-haired one a wound had formed and also otherwise, she did not look really well. Only for a few seconds Maria gave her a smile, before she turned away again and took a few steps back.
"You should have signed those for him.", in Nick's voice you would only hear the pain if you knew him long enough. Unfortunately, this too, was true of the young girl. Carelessly, Nick threw the Captain America trading cards on the table, slowly they fluttered, like brown leaves in autumn. Some of them were smeared with blood, others still looked pristine. All three sitting at the table looked at the cards with a depressed expression on their faces. Even Stark was silent at that moment. Serephina swallowed quietly as Captain America leaned forward and picked up one of the cards.
"We're completely up in the air here. No communication systems, the Cube is gone, Banner and Thor too. I can't tell you anything positive. Maybe I deserve this." at that Nick leaned slightly against the head of the table. Steve dropped the card back on the table while Serephina took the few unharmed ones. She carefully put the cards in her pocket.
Nick took a few steps around the table, toward Steve. "We were going to build weapons with the Tesseract, but I never put all my eggs in that basket. I played for much higher stakes. There was an idea once. Stark and Serephina know about it. The so-called Avengers Initiative. We wanted to unite a group of extraordinary people. To see if they could become something bigger. To see if they could work together when we needed them. To fight the battles that we, alone, can't win. Phil Coulson believed in that idea when he died. In heroes.", Nick had leaned on one of the black chairs and folded his hands on it. Stark and Rogers just looked glumly at the, blood smeared stickers. And Serephina had looked closely at the drops of blood on her nails. When Nick had finished his speech, Tony had gotten up and left the hall without a word. The director looked after him, but did not stop him.
"Well, it's an old-fashioned idea," Nick merely remarked, then turned away from the group as well. The captain sighed softly and eventually stood up. "I'm looking for Stark.", he only remarked. "Rogers.", more out of reflex and habit, Serephina stood up to follow the two men. "Serephina, you-", Nick put in, but the girl didn't let him finish. "I'll take care of myself, Nick.", with that she followed the captain through the metal door.