As Steve walked in the door, he heard a worried, "Oh, God, I think he just walked in the door. Thank you for your time anyway."
"...Uncle Coulson?" Steve asked cautiously, putting his jacket on the hook by the front door.
Coulson ran through the front entryway, not far from Steve, and wrapped his arms around the huge teenager. "Thank God you're safe," he murmured into Steve's shoulder.
"You knew I was at Tony's," Steve said holding Coulson out by his shoulders and smiling. "But I'm actually touched that you were that worried about me. Who was that on the phone?"
"It was Direc-erm, it was principal Fury. I was calling to see if he had any background as to where you would be, because the Starks didn't answer their phone."
"Oh, yeah..." Steve replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "We had a bit of a holdup at the Stark mansion. More so than a grenade going off and blowing Tony halfway across the room."
Only one of Coulson's eyebrows shot upward. "Oh?"
Steve tried his hardest to be as solemn as possible. "We had a sort of... intruder, if you will... And he attacked Clint..."
"Clint Barton?" Coulson asked, shocked, but lowered the interest in his voice. "I've heard incredible things about his athletic skill with a bow and arrow."
"Yeah. He had his stuff there. But Clint had the first run in with this intruder guy, and then How-erm, Mr. Stark came up to see what was going on, and apparently the intruder was after him."
Coulson donned a face of severe worry. "How do you mean, the intruder was after Howard Stark?"
"He stabbed him, Uncle. Howard Stark is dead. I got up there just in time to hear his dying breaths... and he passed before Tony could even get upstairs."
Coulson's reaction was much like Bruce's. Aside from the fact that he picked up his phone that he had only recently picked up, and redialed the same number he had been speaking to before.
"Director," he muttered into the phone, getting a confused look from Steve, "we have an issue here."
What is it, Agent? Steve thought he heard the other end of the receiver answer.
"I've just received some rather disconcerting news by way of Rogers about the Stark Mansion."
There was a long pause.
Coulson took a deep breath, "Sir, Howard Stark is dead."
Another long pause.
Are you meaning to tell me, Fury's voice had taken a different tone all of a sudden, that we just lost one of the most important pieces in our project?
Coulson simply nodded, as though Fury could see him directly. After glancing up at Steve, he took a deep breath and muttered into the phone. "Yes, sir."
There was a click. No more of Fury's voice, just a dead phone line.
Coulson took a moment to compose himself, and then stared Steve in the eye. "I'm pretty sure your friend needs you right now."
Steve nodded. "Right, but you have to realize... There's no one there but us now. An unstable science nerd ready to hulk out at any moment, a guy with a new electromagnetic heart assist and daddy issues, and me."
Coulson nodded slowly. "I see. You want me to...?" The question did not need finishing.
"Yes, you should come with me," Steve responded, a somber grin on his face.
"I'll meet you over there," Coulson replied, putting his stuff together. "Having that many irresponsible teenagers around sounds like a bad idea."
"Yeah, you're telling me," Steve forced a chuckle.
"That, and Howard Stark and I were very good friends. He would have done the same for me, so I'm going to give him one last favor now..." he faded off, reminiscing about his lost friend.
Steve figured that now would be the best time to go. "So, I'll see you over there, Uncle."
Coulson simply waved a hand good-bye.
