Disclaimer: I do not own Arrowverse or Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Outer space
The spaceship was approaching Earth's orbit as Nebula observed from the cockpit, with Enoch piloting the ship.
"We have arrived. You may want to wake up our passengers." Enoch said as Nebula observed the blue planet in front of her, seeing Earth for the first time.
"This is Terra?" Nebula asked.
"Yes." Enoch confirmed.
"I expected it to be bigger." Nebula said before she turned to sleeping Tony and shook him. "Stark. Stark, wake up. We're here."
Tony blinked and stirred as he came to and then turned to the window to realize he was almost home.
Avengers Compound, New York
"You can't blame yourself, Steve." Sharon said as they drank coffee.
"I'm not, I just…" Steve sighed.
"You wish you'd done more." Sharon said and Steve nodded, while she held his hand. "Dwelling on what might have been is not gonna help. Trust me." She assured. "When I started as an agent in S.H.I.E.L.D., I was assigned to protect a highly ranked governmental official. Just a routine mission. Things got messy from time to time, there were hitmen and mercenaries trying to kill us but we got through it.
At first, I thought, 'Nothing can go wrong.' Then, when we were supposed to accompany the official to a meeting, it turned out that one of the guards there was a planted suicide bomber. Killed himself and took with him the official and half my men and a lot of officials and I was knocked out in the blast. Eleven people died that day. Some of them were good friends of mine." She looked down at the mug in her hand and Steve could see in her eyes reliving the pain and loss.
"I'm sorry." Steve said, holding her by her hand.
"I blamed myself at first for what happened. I thought I'd checked every person in the office and that I'd searched every nook and cranny but it doesn't matter how hard you prepare and how meticulous you are, something is bound to go wrong one way or another. And you know what Fury told me?" Sharon asked and Steve looked at her curiously. "'No matter how much you think things through and how much you prepare, fate's got a nasty trick of throwing a wrench in the works. In that case, you gotta keep going and it ain't over, until you say it's over.' You can't beat yourself over what's gone wrong. You have to keep going on and keep fighting. Never give up."
Steve chuckled. "Fury and I may disagree on a lot of things but I have to admit, he has a point there. I just… I know I'm telling everyone that we're gonna fight back, but… honestly, I don't see how we can."
"Me either. But I'm sure that as long as we stand together, we can figure it out." Sharon assured.
Suddenly, they heard rumbling as the whole place began to shake and ripples were forming in their mugs of coffee.
"What the hell?" Sharon asked.
"Unknown aircraft approaching." The compound's AI announced.
"Enemy or friendly?" Steve asked.
"It's Tony." Kara said as everyone rushed out.
Steve pulled out his phone and called Natasha, while turning to Barry. "As soon as Nat calls you, bring her and Oliver here."
Barry nodded as Steve filled her in and when Natasha called Barry, he nodded and sped off.
The spaceship towing Benatar landed on the ground as the door opened and a ramp lowered, while everyone went out and Barry returned with Oliver and Natasha a moment later.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked, when they saw Tony, carried by Nebula and delirious due to the lack of oxygen, walk down the ramp out, panting.
"I couldn't stop him." Tony said as he leaned onto Steve's shoulder.
"Neither could I." Steve nodded.
Tony then turned to Steve, looking completely devastated. "I lost against him."
"Tony, we lost." Steve corrected and Tony felt fearful, hoping that Pepper did not turn into dust too.
"Is…" Tony stopped as Pepper rushed towards him. "Oh, good."
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God!" Pepper sobbed, hugging Tony and kissing him on his cheek as Rocket sat next to Nebula on the stairwell of Benatar, both of them mourning their friends.
A moment later, John Constantine and Diana Prince neared the compound as everyone sighed in relief, approaching them, while Clint drove in in his car, while Logan arrived on his bike.
"We got here as soon as we had the chance." Constantine said as they hugged each other.
"We're sorry we couldn't help." Diana said.
"If we'd been here, this wouldn't have happened." Kara said, feeling just as guilty.
"You had your reasons. There's no point in kicking ourselves over what happened, what matters is that you're here now." Steve assured before he smiled at Logan.
"Cap." Logan nodded.
"Logan." Steve nodded back.
"Guys… what the hell happened?" Clint asked, worried like they had never seen before.
"It's been 11 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey explained, while showing them holographic profiles of everyone that had been affected by the Snap.
"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did…" Natasha swallowed as everyone looked devastated, knowing that she was taking this harder than she had been letting on, worrying everyone, mostly Oliver. "He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out…" She took a breath. "50% of all living creatures."
"With the Infinity Stones." Zor-El said as everyone looked to him.
"Sorry, who are you?" Steve asked.
"You're obviously a Kryptonian but you haven't introduced yourself." Barry said.
Clark and Kara and Zor-El looked awkward, when Clark and Kara cleared their throats.
"Everyone, this is Zor-El." Clark said.
"My father." Kara said.
Everyone looked in stunned disbelief. Kara had mentioned that she had found a message from her father that he had been trapped in the Phantom Zone but none of them had any valid reason to believe he was alive before they looked at him with respect and greeted him.
"Well… I wish we'd met under better circumstances." Steve said as he offered his hand. "Steve Rogers."
Zor-El nodded. "It is a privilege to meet you." He shook his hand. "I studied Earth's history and Kal and Kara have told me about most of you." He then looked at everyone. "I wish I'd arrived here under more pleasant circumstances."
"Took the words right out of my mouth."
The majority of the people recognized the voice as they turned and widened their eyes upon seeing…
"Phil?" Tony whispered.
"Son of Coul… you're alive!" Thor hugged Coulson tightly, not believing his own eyes. "What… how… I watched Loki kill you."
"Let me go or you just might do that." Coulson groaned, choking out.
"Sorry." Thor said as he pulled away, looking sheepish.
"We all thought you were dead." Natasha said, not understanding.
"Actually, he was. Until Project TAHITI." Fitz said as he entered with Mack, Hunter and Daisy.
"Mack. Hunter." Oliver greeted.
"Where's Bobbi?" Clint asked but upon noticing the pained look they had upon hearing her name, it hit them.
"I'm sorry." Steve said.
Natasha then turned to Fitz. "Wait, you said Project TAHITI. I thought we'd shut it down."
"I'm sorry, what exactly is this Project TAHITI you're talking about?" Barry asked.
"A project ordered by Fury to bring a fallen Avenger back from death. I was one of the test subjects and I oversaw the program. It worked on me, while the others suffered mental breakdowns and started carving alien writing everywhere and their memories had to be wiped and rewritten in order for them to return to their lives." Coulson explained.
"So you were alive all those years and Fury never told us?" Steve demanded with restrained anger and Coulson nodded, infuriating the original Avengers and Oliver as they clenched their fists and felt their blood boil.
"He's so lucky he got snapped too." Tony snarled.
"Oh, he really is." Pepper added with clenched fists and the tone in her voice and the fierce glare in her eyes made everyone dread what would happen if Pepper ever got her hands on Fury.
"Both of you lied to us!" Oliver exploded.
"How could you keep this a secret from us for six years? We trusted you!" Clint snarled and Coulson sighed, knowing that they were right and had every right to be angry at him.
"You're right." Coulson admitted as he looked at Oliver, Steve, Tony, Thor, Natasha, Clint and Pepper with guilt and sadness on his face. "I'm sorry. You deserved to know. But… coming back to life wasn't easy for me either. When I recovered… more and more threats kept coming that I had to deal with, then there was Hydra uprising, the Inhuman outbreak and Hive among others. At first, I'd convinced myself that you were better off believing I was dead, so that I wouldn't hold you back and could focus on these threats with S.H.I.E.L.D. But when I look at all of you…" He eyed everyone present. "Now I realize that I was being too much of a coward to face you and the more I dragged this out, the more I kept avoiding this. I know it won't make up for much but all I can say is that I'm sorry for everything."
Everyone listened and after some consideration nodded at his explanation, even though they weren't fully convinced. It would hardly even begin to make up for everything but they decided to take this much, when suddenly, Coulson groaned as he leaned onto Mack, while clutching his chest.
"Phil? Are you OK?" Tony asked as Coulson passed out.
"He doesn't have much time left." Mack said.
"What's happening to him?" Oliver asked.
"It's a long story but the serum that was keeping him alive, it's been burned out of his body. He's dying." Fitz explained.
"Get him to the infirmary." Tony ordered, while he leaned onto Oliver, beginning to pass out, not even realizing how exhausted he had been before losing consciousness.
"I guess we should prepare two beds." Oliver said as he carried unconscious Tony.
"Can we—" Barry began but Fitz shook his head.
"No, there's nothing anyone can do to help him." Fitz said.
"And Coulson's not asking for you to save him. He's made his peace with death long ago." Daisy explained as everyone looked saddened, while she looked at them in sympathy. "I'm sorry, but the best thing we can do is make peace with it too."
Later, they carried Tony and Coulson to the infirmary, with both of them on beds, hooked up to monitors and IVs.
"You're going to be alright, sir." Fitz said as he and Daisy were at Coulson's bedside, their eyes getting wet.
"There's no helping me anymore, Fitz." Coulson said, smiling at Daisy and Fitz. "For what it's worth… I'm proud of all of you. Even those who aren't here with us." He said as Mack, Daisy, Fitz and Hunter mourned for May, Bobbi, Davis, Piper, Jemma and other people they had lost. "In many ways… you've shown me what it's like to have children. A family. I was the one, who'd always look out for you."
"Yeah. You're the one who brought us all together." Daisy said, sniffing.
"We all know I won't be around for long now… so promise me that you'll look out for each other from now on." Coulson said.
"We'll do our best, A.C." Daisy promised.
"Promise." Fitz nodded.
"I never thought this day would ever come… my last moments with the people I love… my friends… my family." Coulson looked around and eyed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the remaining Avengers and Pepper. "I guess we'll never have that beer again, will we?"
"Save one for us all up there." Hunter quipped, looking up at the ceiling.
"I will." Coulson smiled as Hunter chuckled. Coulson then pointed at Mack to lean towards him as Coulson neared Mack's ear. "I know that S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what it used to be anymore now but… you're the director now, Mack."
Mack raised his brows in shock. "Sir, I—"
"You're a good man. And I know you can make the hard calls. Do better than I ever could, Mack. Do better…" Coulson whispered lowly.
"I… I promise, sir. I'll do my best." Mack nodded as he got up.
Coulson then turned to Oliver, Natasha, Thor, Steve and Pepper. "It's been a wild ride, hasn't it?"
"It sure has." Steve nodded, putting the signed Captain America trading cards on a table next to Coulson.
"For what it's worth… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I never told anyone one of you I was alive. I had convinced myself that you would do better if you believed I was dead but… the truth is that I was a coward. Too big of a coward to… face you again." Coulson said weakly, while Oliver, Pepper, Steve, Bruce, Natasha and Thor felt touched. None of them were happy about it but they understood.
"We get it." Oliver said.
"It's OK, Phil." Pepper said as she held Coulson's hand before he turned to Thor.
"It… it wasn't your fault." Coulson said weakly as Thor's brows raised. "You… you couldn't have known that Loki would trick us again."
"I should've learned from my mistakes." Thor said regretfully. "If I had—"
"Dwelling on what you could've done… it will only cause you more pain than my death already has." Coulson said weakly and they knew he was not going to last long.
When Tony came to, his friends, Daisy, Hunter, Fitz and Mack were in the room with him as he lied on the stretcher, wires attached to him and the medical monitors before he turned his head to see next to him Coulson dying.
"Hey, Tony." Coulson smiled weakly.
"Phil…" Tony turned to him.
"Don't… ever… let your ego… get the better of you…" Coulson said and then, the heart monitor flatlined as Coulson closed his eyes and everyone felt their eyes get wet, mourning for Coulson.
The conversation between Steve and Sharon is from my one-shot 'Seeing things through' and the other conversations regarding Coulson are again from my story 'All for one' and Stand with Ward and Queen's 'Crisis on two earths' and Aragorn II Elessar's 'Avengers, Slayer, Devil and Stones' and 'Heroes stand united'.
And do not get me started on Tony's Hydra-like rant. In this fic, the mess with the Accords and Civil War wasn't as ugly as in canon, so Tony and Steve are not gonna bust heads unlike in Endgame.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this so far.