"Hold Still"

"What do you mean, they just disappeared?"

"Just that, sir," Simmons said. "Their life signs have disappeared."

"They're not… they're not…" Phil was mentally counting to ten, clutching the railing he was nearly bent over.

"Dead," Fitz said.

"No!"

"I mean they're not, sir. They just aren't… aren't…"

"There," Simmons supplied.

"That's right. They've gone."

Phil wondered just how impractical it would be to dent a brick wall with his head. In the grand scheme of things, probably not practical.

"How many have vanished?" he asked.

"Barton, Romanov, Rogers, Barnes, Stark, Wilson, and Banner," May said. She must have gotten back to the van after staking out the area. Phil was with Hunter while they checked Loki's last known location. "Looks like Thor is off-world."

"So where are the rest of them?"

"We're searching, sir," Simmons said.

"And does anybody know where Skye is?"

"Right behind you," she said dryly. Phil spun around. "Sorry, but I've been busy."

"Where the hell were you? We've been looking for you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," she said, walking up to him. He pulled her into a hug. "Kinda had to escape Bobbi somehow, didn't I? Look, I'm back now. I'll tell you all about it later."

"Speaking of, can we get back to finding the evil alien who's probably kidnapped the Avengers?" Hunter said.

"Here, use my head-set to stay in touch," Phil said, clipping his comm. unit onto Skye.

"DC—"

"I'll grab another one when we rendezvous with the others."

"Hello, Skye!" he heard. Skye winced.

"Hey, Jemma," she said.

"Are you armed?" Phil asked. She shook her head.

"Not unless you count making the ground shake."

"Take this. I've got another one."

"Sir—"

"Please? We won't be splitting up, and I'd feel better if you had a gun as well."

Skye rolled her eyes, but she accepted the firearm, and they went back to searching the area. Until…

"Hold up!" Simmons said. "I've locked onto six of the seven readings identical to members of the Avengers Initiative."

"Only six?" Hunter said.

"Where?" Phil asked.

"Three blocks west of where you are. I'm pinpointing the location now…"

Phil was already running. Whoever was missing, they'd find them later.

"Sir, get back here!" Skye shouted. Phil didn't hear any other voices objecting, and then he remembered; he'd given his comm. set to Skye. Oh well. Where he was going, he might not need it.

"Son of Coul."

He skidded to a stop and saw a familiar face. Lorelei. He stuck his fingers in his ears and glanced back over his shoulder. Good. Skye had seen her, and was obviously reporting it. He used the brief distraction of Lorelei's amused expression to shoot her in the throat with an ICER. It wouldn't hold her for long, but she needed to be rendered mute somehow. As soon as she hit the ground, he ran forward, tore off bits of her clothing, and used it to gag and restrain her. Skye nearly reached him before he was running again.

"I don't know how she got out, but warn the others that there might be more!" he said. Then he ran through what he could remember. Heimdall. He was the one Sif had called on last time. But if Thor was off-world, he needed to be able to return. What if Phil disrupted that? Would Heimdall even see or hear him? He grabbed out his phone and called his team.

"Okay, I'm three blocks west," he said, chest heaving with uneven breaths. "Where to next, Simmons?"

"Uh, you're very close, sir," she replied. "Two buildings south…"

"Yeah?" Not an abandoned warehouse, thank God; an old theatre, actually, which would make sense considering Loki's flair for the dramatic. "Got schematics? How many floors underground? It's a theatre, so there has to be at least one basement." He lowered his voice, checking the sides for possible secret entrances. If the building was being watched, he'd have to be careful about how he got in.

"A large space below the stage, considerable backstage area, the stage itself, the stalls, the balconies—"

"You can't pin a more precise location for the Avengers?" he asked.

"…Not without hacking into the CCTV, and there's nothing Fitz can find in the building, although we're sending the DWARFs in."

"Power's off in there," Fitz said.

"Get it back on. I'm not a cat; I can't see in the dark." Then he hung up, put the phone on silent, and stuck it back in his pocket. ICER still at the ready, he crept in through a door which was just about hanging off its hinges. It didn't squeak, but then he was very good at opening squeaky doors without making a sound. He allowed time for his eyes to adjust, the gloom somewhat relieved by windows which hadn't been boarded up well enough. He stuck to the shadows, and something in him – alien blood, perhaps? – led him in the direction he needed to go. He ducked back around a corner when he saw… not Vin-Tak, but someone like him. Another Kree?

There was no way he was going to risk taking an alien, not with a single weapon and no back-up. He had an extra round of ICERs, and no idea what he might be facing.

"Agent Coulson?"

"Director Coulson," he said through clenched teeth. He looked over his shoulder and cleared his throat. "Long time, no see, Loki. Lucky me."

"Fortunate indeed. I could have sworn I killed you."

"I'm not that hard to keep down."

Loki loomed over him. "There is something different about you."

"Being resurrected can mess with someone. You'd know all about that."

"You will not be needing thi—"

Okay, that bit about not fighting aliens? Phil at least had to try. He struck out, hitting Loki in the throat – that was a popular one, all May's fault – then kicked Loki just below the belt. Before the god could recover from that, Phil hit him with an ICER. He didn't have time to mourn not having his comm. unit, because the Kree had come running. Phil got a lucky shot. It clipped the alien, but a few more physical hits and he was able to restrain the Kree using his belt, then knocked him out against the floor.

It'd been guarding a door. Phil kicked it open, and found stairs. Below the stage? He sent a message, knowing it was quieter, to let the others know where he was and who was there. Then he crept down the stairs.

Damn. Two more Kree. At least it wasn't three, he told himself, mentally shrugging. He got one with an ICER immediately, leaving him with only one super-strong alien to bring down.

"Yay!" he cheered softly, sarcastically. It snapped the Kree into action. It charged at him, knocked the gun from his hand, aimed a punch at his head. Phil ducked, roundhouse kicked, rolled out of the way and did a quick inventory of his surroundings. There were people on the floor nearby – please, God, let them be okay – and noticed old carpentry tools only a few feet away.

"The mortal is mine!" Loki bellowed from the top of the stairs.

"Ah, shit," Phil said. He rolled to his feet, leapt for the nearest toolbox and grabbed a crowbar. A hit from it would kill a human; what would it do to an alien?

"Sir," the conscious Kree said, edging closer to Phil, who watched it all, baffled. "There is something strange about the mortal."

"He carries the blood of your people," Loki said, a demented grin forming on his face. "That is what healed you, is it not, Agent Coulson?"

"Director Coulson," he said, scowling as he stalked forward. He swung the crowbar casually, felling the Kree in one go and stopping as Loki climbed down the stairs. "Of SHIELD. Appointed by Nicholas Fury himself."

"Do you intend to slay me with a hunk of metal?" Loki inquired. "When your Avengers couldn't fight my magic?"

"Magic is just an advanced form of technology, albeit one we don't understand," Phil said, dropping the crowbar to the side. "Yet."

"You cannot possibly believe that you hold all the answers, or ever could. Especially once the Kree right behind you—"

"Do you really expect me to look around and check?"

"I only needed you sufficiently distra—"

Phil feinted one way, then leapt the other while Loki tried to blast him. Of course Phil knew there was an alien behind him, and Loki had just taken it out. Phil, meanwhile, had got his hands back on his gun. He shot to throw Loki off-balance, grabbed out his spare ICER cartridges, then threw them at the god. With a well-aimed shot – of course – he hit Loki in the chest with one bullet and a magazine full of cartridges. Loki fell down the stairs, unconscious, and his head hit the floor with a sickening crack.

"Distracted," he finished. "That's right, you son of a bitch."

Then Phil looked up, and saw – to his relief – that the Avengers were there and awake. Natasha was closest, so he ran to her first and removed the handcuffs.

"What did he do to you?" he asked urgently. "What did Loki do, Romanov?"

"Who are you?" she said. He met her eyes, his heart sinking.

"Shit," he said. "Do you know your name?"

"I'm not telling you my name until I know who you really are." She glared as he released her legs. "Phil Coulson is dead."

"…Ah." He moved on to Stark, who was propped against the wall next to her. "You missed that part of the conversation where I was injected with alien blood.?"

"Phil!"

He looked back over his shoulder. "I'm down here, May." He looked around. "Tell the others to look for Dr. Banner. He's missing."

"He isn't with you?" Stark said. Phil noted the worry in his eyes.

"We'll find him," Phil said. "We're good at that. Hell, we found you." He released Wilson next, and moved on to the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, who was studying him.

"You're supposed to be dead," Barnes said. Phil snorted delicately.

"Can't seem to make it stick," he said, and he half-grinned at the soldier. There was a sharp intake of breath, and he glanced at Rogers, who was next to them. Phil continued to work on the bindings, using the diamond-edged blade FitzSimmons had knocked up for him. Proving very handy right now. "I'm sorry, captain."

"Sorry for what?" Rogers asked. Phil shrugged, and moved on to Barton.

"That we couldn't protect the work of the SSR," he said quietly. He backed off once they were all free and beginning to stand. He paused by the crowbar, seeing the blood dripping from it, and wondered whether Simmons would be interested in a sample. But then there was another Kree upstairs; she could take samples from that.

He answered his phone as he ran up the steps. "What is it?"

"We found Dr. Banner, sir."

"Where is he, Fitz?"

"Skye's on her way to his location. He's… the Hulk."

"What happened?" he asked sharply, passing Simmons who was, indeed, taking a blood sample from the unconscious Kree.

"Some kind of monster. He was dealing with it. He's trapped now."

"Skye's going to face the Hulk?"

There was a huge roaring sound. Two, actually. Skye continued to run, listening to the others' conversation over the comms. It wasn't long until she found one of the scariest scenes she'd ever seen. The Hulk's leg was partway under the cracked ground, while some large white monster pranced around, batting, taunting him.

"Okay, so there's, like, a giant polar bear here, guys," she said.

"Skye, keep back," Coulson said. "I'm on my way to your location."

The Hulk roared, nearly falling over when he twisted to try hitting the monster. Skye narrowed her eyes. She hated bullies just as much as Captain America did. Well, Gordon had been helping her; she was gonna put that to good use.

"I'm going in," she said.

She switched off the comms, cutting off several people mid-curse, and ran towards the two giant combatants. She held out her hands, feeling for the vibrations, and began collecting bits of debris and torn-up road.

"Hey!" she shouted. No response. "HEY!"

The monster stopped prancing. Skye noticed that the Hulk was bleeding.

"Oh, that does it," she said. She waved her arms forward, pelting the white monster with everything she could picked up, until it was lying, unmoving, on the ground. Then she ran forward, despite the Hulk roaring again as she came to a skidding stop. "Hold still, buddy."

She dropped to the tarmac, finding anything she could to widen the gap in the road and make enough room for the Hulk to get his foot out. Cracks formed, and she looked up to smile reassuringly at the doctor…

Who was shrinking down. At an alarming rate.

"No!" she cried. Suddenly, he was human again, and the break was deep. She summoned another large rock and sent it into the hole. "Grab hold, Dr. Banner!"

She saw pale hands latch onto the rock, and Skye brought it back up, closer to her, and held out her hand.

"I've got you," she said. He gingerly reached out, and caught on.

It took a bit of manoeuvring, but soon they were both on solid ground, and Skye was checking him over. There didn't seem to be much in the way of scratches on him – she guessed that was thanks to Hulk super-healing – and he was staring at her, so she quickly took her hands back.

"I'm sorry, that was bad of me. I mean, it'd be just as bad if the genders were reversed, only people would kick up more of a fuss—"

He kissed her.

…That was unexpected. And weird, because he was naked. And kinda hot, because oh my God gorgeous scientist-superhero. Skye was perfectly happy to climb into his lap and let him embrace her, lower her to the ground…

"You usually this horny after a transformation?" she mumbled into his mouth. Good thing her comm. was off, or Coulson probably would've fainted.

"Only when I find my soulmate," he said, and he kissed her again.

O… kay. Really good reason.

Oo-ooh… really good.

"Who bonds in the middle of the battlefield?" Phil said. (Bruce figured he should call the guy by his first name.)

"Apparently… we did?" Skye said. She and Bruce were still holding hands. He couldn't bring himself to let go, not now that they were bonded. The Hulk had approved, probably led the whole thing subconsciously, and Bruce had never felt so content in his life, not even before becoming the Other Guy. The soulbond did what even yoga couldn't do for him, and it meant he could feel his soulmate's emotions. Her destructive power, which she tried to use for good and had to exercise huge control over, just like him. He felt everything about her humming just beneath the surface, and he wanted to know more.

"How is this my life?" Phil muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "'Join SHIELD,' Nick said. 'Do your country proud,' Nick said. 'Make Captain America proud,' Nick said. Manipulative asshole."

"On the other hand, I… never would've met you?" Skye said. "By the way, if we get married I want you to walk me down the aisle, okay? And… I don't know, we'll get the Avengers to keep Ward and HYDRA and my dad away. Or something."

"Thinking ahead, aren't you?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow. Skye grinned up at him.

"Life's too short to waste time, dontcha think?" she said.

"Um…"

"Look, I'll propose properly later, after I get a ring, but we're bonded and it's clearly not gonna be a platonic relationship, so I wanna grab onto you while I can. `Kay?" Bruce blinked, and he nodded. "Great! Now c'mon, I want you to meet my friends."

"Good to see you, sir," Bruce said to Phil. "I look forward to working with you in the future. Officially."

"I don't know how much interaction I'll have with the Avengers, but—"

"It'll probably be a lot, since you said Stucky's soul-words," Tony said. He hadn't even bothered to get back into his armour, since Thor was back and destroying whatever the creature was that Skye had saved Bruce from.

Tony's words probably registered for Bruce around the same time they did for Phil.

"Stucky?" he said. "That's…"

"Ship name for Barnes and Rogers," Tony said.

Phil visibly swallowed, and Bruce cleared his throat as Bucky and Steve walked over to them.

"Phil?" Steve said.

"Age… Director Coulson," Phil said, which seemed a bit harsh to Bruce. Or maybe he was getting what Skye was feeling? This was going to be an interesting experience; he'd already been planning to make notes.

"Sorry," Steve said. "Uh… can we talk to you?"

"What about?"

"Gee, I dunno," Bucky muttered. "Maybe the fact that we're soulmates?"

"Yeah." Phil gulped again. "Just got that. Sorry I didn't notice at the time, but 'You're supposed to be dead' is something I've heard a few times since I… got back. Loses its effect after awhile."

Bucky held out his hand. "Haven't been introduced. I'm Bucky Barnes. You can… you can call me Bucky. Helps with the memories, sometimes."

"It's an honour to meet you, Sergeant Barnes." Bucky flinched noticeably. "I'm sorry, but it's more professional—"

"Screw professional!" Bucky said heatedly. Then he dragged the director into his arms, and Bruce ushered Skye away after it became clear that Phil didn't mind being surprise-kissed. If he was like a father to Skye, then she really didn't need to see that.

"Show me to your friends," he said, trying to distract her.

"Okay, they're uh… they're over here…" She kept glancing back over her shoulder at the triad. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"Absolutely fine. Couldn't be in better hands."

"I'd like to be in your hands again," Skye said, eyeing him salaciously and making him glad he had clothes on again. Bruce wasn't used to feeling anything other than bone-deep tiredness after transforming back from the Other Guy; it was weird to feel this energised.

"Speaking of that, are you on contraception?"

"…Uh…"

"You need to get to a pharmacy."

"Simmons will have something. She's a fan of yours; c'mon."

"You're taking this awfully calmly," he remarked.

"Should I be terrified?"

He cocked his head. "I'm the Hulk."

"Only part of the time, and I saved him – you – so it's cool."

"Skye—"

"Hey." She pulled him up short and held his face so he was focussing on her. As if he could focus on anything else when she was looking at him so seriously. "You know what I've been afraid of? That my soulmate would be intimidated by my abilities. That they'd hate me because they couldn't understand it, the feeling of losing control and hurting people, maybe people you care about, because you're scared or angry or upset. My heart-rate goes through the roof when I lose control, and that's when the bad things happen."

"That's what happens to me, too," he murmured.

"I've had to learn how to control myself… that thing inside of me that makes me hurt people when I don't mean to. I've had to learn to channel it. That's where I've been since SHIELD – the other SHIELD – came after me. A man named Gordon, he helped me. Suddenly I wasn't just breaking glass or making water all… spirally. Or blowing forests down like some ubër Big Bad Wolf. The granddaddy of all Big Bad Wolves." He chuckled. "Maybe I could help you, if you ever need it?"

Bruce cupped her cheeks. "I was concerned that my soulmate would be scared of… me, and the Other Guy."

"He's not so bad. Didn't get much of a conversation with him – it was kinda one-sided – but then I didn't have much of a conversation with you before we bonded."

"I guess not."

"So…" She trailed off. He met her brown-eyed gaze, and her cheeks reddened. "I'd better introduce you to the others."

"I want to meet everyone important to you," he blurted out.

"Which is… my team. Basically."

Bruce hugged her close on impulse, held her trembling body, and let her sadness and love and hope wash over him.

He would do everything he could to make sure she never felt that sadness again.

Daw. Sappy way to end it, but whatever.

So! Sorry I haven't updated this in a few days, and it's probably karma because of that stupid prank, but whatever. I've also started three other chapters and sort of become stuck partway through them. But! I've got a job, so yay! It'll still leave me with plenty of time for writing, and it's next to an equestrian club, so I can see horses outside, and it's all very exciting. Went along for what I thought was a second interview – and was consequently nervous – but it turned out to be so that they could offer me the job. Yay!

Um… so I wanted to do the pairing of Bruce and Skye? And then threw in background Bucky/Phil/Steve, because I do that occasionally. When in doubt, add shades of Capsicoul or Phucky (seriously need a better name than that).

Please review!