One day, Director Nick Fury (AKA terror with an eye patch) called all the Avengers in for a meeting.
"This is classified information," he said, placing a single sheet of paper on the table. The Avengers looked at it. At first glance, it looked like just a bunch of random words to deal with the Avengers scribbled down on the page.
"If this is classified, I'd hate to see common knowledge," Tony mentioned.
"Figure it out," was the only hint they got out of Nick Fury.
"All I see are words of English written down," Thor informed with a frown. Natasha and Clint were studying it intently. Bruce was looking at it with a thoughtful look on his face. Tony took a glance and then shook his head. He already knew what Fury was trying to say, but he'd let the others figure it out for themselves.
"C'mon guys, let's go solve this over lunch. Amela says she'll be there today," Tony threw in.
The rest of the Avengers consented, eager to see their friend again. It had been almost a month since their first encounter with Amela, and the waitress grew on all of them quickly.
So they went to Amela's restaurant, opened the door, and sat down at their usual table. They came to this restaurant less than the schrawarma place, but they still came here pretty often, and Amela had set aside a table just for them. It was a booth in the corner, away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.
All the Avengers were dressed in civilian clothing. Stark was wearing a purple shit with trouser pants, which were part of the suit he was wearing earlier. Steve was dressed in a grey plaid shirt and khakis. Bruce was also wearing a purple shirt (Tony spent way too much time on the Internet. Apparently, purple shirts were very in. Something to do with the Purple shirt of Sex…?) and jeans. Clint thought Natasha looked stunning in her black desert pants* and black and red short-sleeved top. Clint wore a more civilized version of his SHIELD outfit. Instead of armor, he wore a black muscle top, stonewash jeans, and black combat boots. And Thor wore similar clothing to the set Jane gave him. He wore a red t-shirt that had a picture of a hammer that said "Stop. Hammer time!" written on it and dark wash jeans.
The paper was set down t the exact center of the table. All the Avengers stared at it, hoping the answer would come to them.
A few seconds later, Amela came by.
"How are my favorite people today?" she asked brightly.
"Okay," was the main response from the group. The rest kept silent.
"Can I start you off with something to drink?" Amela inquired, getting out her old notepad.
Tony ordered an alcoholic drink (surprise, surprise.)
Bruce, Natasha, and Clint ordered water.
Steve ordered Coke. Tony made a snide comment of "sugar, spice, everything nice, and FREEDOM."
Thor asked for "the juice of the red fruit that grows on trees". He meant apple juice. He had tried it once, loved it and now couldn't get enough. Amela always put a swirly straw** in Thor's drink and he loved that.
Steve kept looking at the paper. He could almost see the message Fury was trying to give him, but every time he came close it slipped away. He blamed it on lack of sleep from nightmares. Our patriotic captain had a lot on his mind and that often prevented him from sleeping. Amela seemed to notice something was up.
"Cap, everything alright?"
"Yeah, it's just… I can't figure out what this says."
"You are aware that this is classified information?" Bruce asked.
"You realize how much 'classified' information she has about us?" Tony retorted, "Let her look. I want to see if she figures it out."
"You mean you already have?" Clint asked. Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but I didn't tell you, Legolas, or anyone else because I wanted to see if you could figure it out."
Clint frowned but did not comment further. Amela turned the paper towards her. She looked at it for a few seconds then spoke up.
"Didn't you tell me about Coulson once?"
"Yes," Natasha confirmed.
"There's your answer. Look down the only solid column of words. Right here." Amela pointed to where she was referring.
The letters spelled out "COULSON LIVES."
Steve was flabbergasted. You could tell because his mouth was hanging open. Thor was shocked. Everyone else was neutral, but you could see the flash of green that came and passed in Bruce's eyes.
"That….." Steve began.
Alright, author here. I know that this next section will seem extremely out of character for Steve Rogers, but keep in mind, he is angry, upset, confused, and betrayed. This next line pretty much sums up what he's feeling.
This line has been deleted from this passage for major cussing. Zorua Illusion would like all to know NOT to curse in front of children, as nothing good comes from teaching kids how to curse.
That is all.
Even Tony was at a loss for words from all the curses Steve had just spewed.
Amela broke the silence. "I'll go get those drinks for you. By the way, next time you see Fury," she looked at Steve, "kick him in the balls for me." She left.
Punctual as ever, she returned two minutes later.
Steve spoke to her as soon as she was finished serving them.
"How would you like to do that in person?"
She grinned. "It would be a pleasure."
None of the Avengers had a problem with Amela coming along with them. The SHIELD agents might've, but one look from the Avengers and they remained silent. However, they did ask for Amela to wear a blindfold so as to not learn the location of the base. She agreed readily.
Fifteen minutes later, the Avengers were back in the meeting room. They had called in Fury about two minutes ago. It was now 2:15 p.m.
Fury arrived seconds later in the room. The Avengers were all standing around the table, as was Amela. The paper he had given them earlier was on the table where he could read it. The message was circled in red pen.
"Care to explain why you lied to us?" Steve asked.
To his everlasting credit, Nick Fury did not look intimidated by Steve.
"I will quote him to explain my reasoning. 'This would never had worked otherwise. We needed to give them something to…'"
The Avengers were still angry, but Fury was right. The Avengers never would've come together if it weren't for Phil's "death".
That didn't stop Steve from punching him in the face.
Or Amela going up to him, looking him in the eyes, and (without looking away) kicking him in the "family jewels", "where the sun don't shine", or any other term you want to use for kicking him in the balls.
Nick Fury was not having a good day.
The rest of the Avengers walked out, having Avenged themselves.
"Where's Phil?" Tony asked.
"In his room," Nick replied.
Tony nodded and walked out as well.
The Avengers were going to welcome back their amazing friend, and by God, Tony would throw a party for this. Pepper would love it.
A/N: And thus concludes my little story. I know I should be working on FiLiAL, but I am currently stuck at one point. So I wrote this to get rid of the Writer's Block. Sorry if the formation of paragraphs at the end annoys you. This side story was also inspired by a picture I saw.