"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket...guess he never did get you to sign them,"
Audelia Motter swallowed the lump in her throat, looking up just in time to see Nick Fury throw the blood stained Captain America training cards onto the table before them. She quickly averted her eyes and wiped her tears.
It was only her, Tony, and Steve sat around the table. Natasha was tending to Agent Barton, while Thor and Dr. Banner were no where to be found. Loki was gone, as well, the scepter along with him.
"We're dead in the air. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor...I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye...maybe I had that coming,"
Tony Stark reached his hand over, taking Audelia's hand in his own as she squeezed onto him for dear life. Steve and Tony watched as Director Fury walked around the table, but Audelia never took her eyes from the trading cards.
"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal using the tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark and Motter know of this. It was called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, so they could fight the battles that we never could."
Nick Fury placed his hands on the back of Audelia's chair, staring down at her head.
"Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea...in heroes,"
Audelia ripped her hand from Tony's, throwing her chair back as Fury took a step back. Him, Tony, Steve, and Maria Hill watched as she hastily stalked out of the room, wiping at her under eyes and disappearing down a hallway.
Tony let out a sigh, rising from his own seat and walking toward the other hallway until Steve turned in his chair to speak to him.
"You're not going to go after her? You're just going to leave her like that?"
"Trust me, Cap, what she needs is space," Tony shot back, turning back to the hallway before him.
"No, what she needs is you,"
The comment stopped Tony for just another second before he shook his head, disappearing down the hallway. Steve Rogers' clenched his jaw, shooting up out of his chair and stalking off down the hallway Audelia had disappeared down.
It was an empty hallway, all of the SHIELD agents currently working on repairs and trying to track down Loki and the tesseract once again. Steve was on a mission, though, as he turned into one of the empty bedrooms.
Audelia set on the bed, toying with her fingers as she stared down at the ground. The soldier could hear the little sniffles leaving the woman.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay,"
Deli looked up at Steve, managing a small smile through her tears.
"Thanks...I'm okay. At least, as okay as one can be at the moment,"
"Is this the first time you've lost someone?"
A short laugh left the woman's lips as she shook her head, patting the spot beside her. Steve complied, placing himself down beside the woman as she looked up to him with the smallest of smiles.
"You don't have to play coy, Steve. I'm sure Director Fury gave you all of our files, I'm sure you know all about my mother..."
"I do, just didn't feel appropriate to bring up,"
Deli let another small laugh escape her lips as she wiped another tear from under her eye.
"He was so proud of those trading cards," she told Steve, the pair sharing a little smile. "Always wanted to show them to me since we were both such big Captain America fans. He never got the chance to. Phil was a good man, he didn't deserve this."
"It's always the ones who don't deserve it," Steve told her, looking down to his feet. "I knew that the second I lost Bucky. But they both had jobs to do, and they both knew what the had to do. Phil died a hero, we can't waste his life."
"I know,"
Steve took the chance to watch her for just a moment, trying to formulate what he wanted to say next.
"What I said, in the lab...I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of it,"
"Neither did I. You don't have to apologize, Steve," she told him, sending him a comforting smile as she rose to her feet. "Loki was toying with all of us. It just got out of hand. Come on, we should probably find Tony. We've still got an angry god on the loose."
Audelia knew exactly where Tony was going to be as she led Steve into the chamber that used to house Loki, the area where Phil Coulson had died. There Tony was, staring down at the hatch below. Steve stayed back, leaning against the railing as Audelia slowly walked toward her best friend.
"Was he married?" Steve questioned from across the room as Audelia finally made it to her best friend's side, placing her hand in his own. Tony shook his head.
"No, there was a cellist...I think,"
"I'm sorry, he seemed like a good man-"
"He was an idiot,"
"Tony," Deli cut in, shooting him a warning look as he shook his hand out of her's, walking toward Steve who was walking in the same direction.
"Why? For believing?"
"For taking on Loki alone. He was out of his league, he should've waited," Tony shot back as Audelia quickly followed behind him.
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," Tony walked straight past Steve and Audelia came to a stop beside the soldier, knowing her best friend was just grieving in his own way. "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"
"We are not soldiers," Tony sneered, turning around to glare as Steve. Audelia took a step forward, placing her hand overtop of his arc reactor as he looked down, calming slightly before turning to face Steve again. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
"Tony, none of us are," Deli told him, keeping her voice soft. "Nick has the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we need to put that all behind us and get the job done. We have to find Loki, the scepter, the tesseract...we have to stop this before it gets out of hand."
"She's right, you know," Steve interjected, gaining a scoff from Tony.
"Yeah, she always is," Tony looked away for a moment until his head shot back to the pair before him, something clicking in his head. "Loki made it personal."
"Tony, that's not the point-"
"Steve, what if it is?" Audelia told the soldier, the gears turning in her head as well as she looked back at Tony. "He hit us all right where we live."
"But why?"
"To tear us apart," Steve suggested as Tony shook his head.
"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us all out to win," Audelia took a step back as Tony continued to look between the pair.
"If he's shown anything over his time with us, it's that he's dramatic," Audelia added on. "He doesn't just want to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."
"Yeah, I caught his act in Stuttgart," Steve said to the woman as they turned to Tony, who was now pacing around as snapping his fingers.
"Yeah, but that was previously. This is opening night and Loki is a full tailed diva. He was flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered on..."
"Stark Tower," Audelia said, her wide eyes locking with Tony's as they both realized the plan at the same time, Steve's eyes widening as well.
It only took the trio another second before they were rushing out the door.
◼ ◼ ◼
OH HERE WE GO BABY!