I sat in a chair in front of Tony, his hands in mine. He stared into my eyes. He was looking at me but he wasn't. It was like he was looking at me just because he knew if he didn't he'll lose it. I was holding him here as he grieved for Phil. I ran my thumbs gently over his fingers to try to comfort him. It didn't seem to be working. Captain was behind Tony with Nick across the table. Bruce fell out of the plane in hulk form so we don't know where he is. Thor was tricked by Loki and got trapped in the container and that fell from the plane so we don't know where he is either. The only thing good that came out of this is that we got Hawkeye back. Nick began to speak but Tony didn't seem to pay attention. He just kept staring out me with those same depressed brown eyes.

"These were in Coulson's jacket." Nick said. I looked over to see Nick toss a pile of cards at Captain. They were cards of Captain America. "Guess he never did get you to sign them." Captain gingerly picked one up and looked at it in silence. "Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea. Stark knows this." Tony made no effort to acknowledge that his name was said. "Called the avengers initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together if we needed them to. To fight the battles that we never could." Nick walked around the table and stood behind Tony. Tony finally came to life. He looked over his shoulder at Nick then back at me and went back into his solitude mind but he still made the effort to run his hands over mine. "Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes." Tony stood up abruptly, his hands leaving mine. He turned and stormed off the hallway, disappearing. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Are you going to go with him?" Captain asked.

"Phil was a close friend to Tony. I'll give him an hour or so and I check on him." I muttered. It hurt to see Tony grieve like this.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I strolled through the plane, hands in my back pockets, my hair hanging down around my face. Tony wasn't in his room and his wasn't in the lab. I dragged myself to the last spot that I would think he would be. I stood in the doorway to the room where the container was. To the room where Phil died. Tony was on the platform looking down into the dark abyss with his back to me. It was quiet. No a sound. No voices, nothing. Just the sound of the engines humming a song.

"I was wondering when you were going to come." Tony said, his back still to me. "Thought you forgot about me." I slowly walked forward and ascended the steps to Tony. I pressed myself up against his back and slipped my hands into his front pockets. I pressed my cheek into his back and breathed in his scent. His smell was beyond words. Intoxicating, made me weak in the knees.

"How could I ever forget about you when you're always on my mind?" I murmured. "I just thought that you wanted to be alone for a while."

"From Capsicle and Nick, maybe. But I never want to be away from you." He turned around and faced me. "Amber, you are my life now. I can't stand being away from you. I-I love you, Amber." I gripped his hands and kissed them.

"I know, I know you do, Tony." I didn't know whether I should say I love you or not. Before I could say anything, Captain came in from the other side of the room. Tony and I both looked at him.

"Was he married?" Captain asked.

"No." Tony answered. "There was cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry. He was a good man." Tony scoffed and walked down the steps.

"He was an idiot." I followed after him as Captain and him met halfway around the room.

"Tony." I cooed.

"Why?" Captain asked. "For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone." Tony said.

"He was doing his job." Tony scoffed again.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have…" His voice trailed off and I gingerly touched his arm.

"You're upset." I mumbled. "Don't be mad at him." Tony looked down at me with hurtful eyes.

"Sometimes there's just isn't a way out." Captain said.

"Right." Tony huffed. "Covered that for him." He walked past Captain.

"This the first time you lost a soldier?" Tony stopped and rounded on Captain, eyes blazing. It was the first time I ever saw him angry.

"We are not soldiers. I'm not marching into Fury's fife."

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. But right now we got to put that past us and get this done." Tony looked down at the spot where Phil died.

"Tony," I said his name softly and he snapped back into reality. "Loki needs a power source."

"Now, if we can put together a list…"

"He made it personal." Tony said hastily.

"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." I said.

"And to divide conquers. Great but he knows that 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 in audience."

"Right, I caught his act in Central Park." Captain said.

"Right, right, that was just previews but this is opening night. Loki is a fulfill diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the sky with his name on it and…" He trailed off again. "Son of a bitch!" He raced out of the room.

"Did I miss something?"

"Well, I believe we did. Tony!" I raced out of the room after him with Captain behind me.