AN: This is the first chapter of a new story which takes place in the same universe as my other three stories. Chronologically, the first two sections of this chapter take place before "Avengers Plan B," and the rest of the story takes place after "Avengers Plan B" and roughly concurrently with "Stark's Security Situation." I will put in chapter references to "Stark's Security Situation" to give readers an idea of what's already happened in that story before the events of this story. If you haven't read my other stories yet, I highly recommend reading at least "Avengers Plan B" and "Stark's Security Situation" before reading this story.

I would like to thank all those who have read, followed, favorite, and reviewed my stories since I last wrote, and especially capt-rodgers, who's sent me two private messages wondering when I'm going to start writing again. I would have replied, but I thought writing this would be a much better response.

I already have this story complete now (8 chapters; my shortest yet), so there's won't be any delays in publishing. To let you know, I have ideas for at least four more longer stories, as well as a couple of possible one-shots, which I will work on writing, though I make no guarantees of when they will be published. I want to explore the origins for Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird, and Ant-Man from the Avengers Team B, as well as build on a loose end I left in "Team B to the Rescue." Beyond those four longer stories, I will see what I come up with, and what room the new Iron Man movie leaves to work it into my universe.

As usual, recognizable characters (and most of the unrecognizable ones) belong to Marvel; only the plot is original.

Phil leaned his head back against the cold, hard metal wall of the detention center. The searing pain in his abdomen was starting to fade. He almost couldn't feel where the alien scepter had torn through his heart and left lung. His vision was starting to cloud, so he started closing his eyes. Maybe Tasha got to him, he thought. They need him.

His eyelids were almost shut when he heard the familiar thudding of a pair of combat boots. He didn't have to look to know who it was.

"Sorry, boss," Phil wheezed, opening his eyes, looking up at the man in front of him, and blinking. "The god rabbited."

Nick Fury crouched directly in front of his fallen friend. "Just stay awake," he told the dying agent. "Eyes on me."

Phil looked the Director in the eye. The Director stared back at him unblinkingly. Phil put in the effort to force his eyelids back open all the way. "No, I'm clocking out here."

Nick held Phil's eyes in his steely gaze as he shook his head. "Not an option."

Phil suddenly felt peace wash over him: His death could have a meaning, a purpose. He drew in another shaky breath, looked Fury in the eye and tried to explain his revelation, "It's okay, boss… This was never gonna work… if they didn't have… something to… to…" The world faded away as his vision went dark before he could finish the thought. to avenge…

Director Fury let the radio click silent.

Medics clustered around the fallen agent's body. One forced a tube down his throat to keep it from closing. Another slipped an IV needle into place at the right elbow. A woman clasped a bracelet around the left wrist and hooked a pair of leads up to a heart rate monitor. The screen stayed blank.

Director Fury turned away from the scene. He was the leader; he needed to remain in control, and that started with himself. I've lost men in combat before. I'll lose them again. Later will be time to mourn; not now, not when the world is still in jeopardy. He took a step toward the door.

"We've got a pulse!" a medic shouted. Fury turned back to look at the cluster of medics. One was holding a defibrillator, and looking exultant. A pair of medics rolled Coulson's body to the side while a third man slid a backboard under him.

"What's going on?" Nick Fury demanded of the medical team leader.

"We've got him back," she replied tersely. "But he won't stay back if we don't get him to the medical wing now!"

"There's a lab two doors down already set up for medical testing. It's got everything you need. Take him there!" Fury ordered.

The woman turned back to her team. "Lift him on my mark," she directed. "Mark!"

Four medics lifted the limp body between them, while the team leader held up a bag of fluids along with the monitor and trailed behind. Without another glance at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, the medical team hustled out of the chamber. Fury gave the bloodstain on the wall a calculating look before following them out.

"Welcome back, Agent," Nick Fury said.

Phil opened his eyes further and tried to turn his head to look at his boss.

"Don't try to move," Nick advised, putting a hand on the wounded man's shoulder.

"What… what happened?" Phil finally managed to wheeze out around his oxygen mask. He closed his eyes and sighed with the exertion.

"You died," Nick replied nonchalantly. "We thought you were gone, until Jones managed to get you back. Doc barely managed to get you put back together—it took him about 23 hours and 5 different surgeries to stabilize you, replace your heart, repair your lung, and put your chest cavity back together."

"How—?"

"Don't ask me." Nick shook his head. He reached for the water glass on the tray next to the bed, pulled Phil's oxygen mask down slightly, and held the glass to the agent's lips, saying, "You were damn lucky one of the agents who'd already died matched your blood type."

Coulson took a couple hesitant sips of water. When he was done, the glass was taken away and he felt the mask replaced over his nose and mouth. He opened his eyes and whispered, "Thanks. But I meant, how did we do?"

Nick looked him in the eye, grinned, and said, "They did it."

"Seriously? What happened?"

"Stark figured out where Loki was," Nick replied. "The damn god was on the roof of his tower. He, Cap, Romanoff, and Barton flew off to New York City to confront Loki."

"They got Clint back?" Phil asked hopefully, jerking up in the bed. He winced as pain tore through his chest and fell back against the pillows.

"Don't move," Nick said, repositioning the covers on the bed. "You don't want to reopen any of those stitches. Yes, they got Barton back. Romanoff fought him and knocked him out. He hit his head, and that broke Loki's control."

"I knew she could do it," Phil smiled, forcing himself to breath normally into the mask.

"She did it all right," Nick replied. "Thor and Banner met them all at Stark's tower. They arrived just in time for Loki to open his portal from its roof. His army arrived, and your team fought them off for a full 45 minutes on their own."

"They won? On their own?"

"Sort of," Nick grimaced. "The Council ordered a nuclear strike against the city to try and end the invasion, and I attacked with everything we had to stop them from ordering another one."

"Weren't you already attacking with everything we had?" Phil asked, raising his eyebrow. "Or did you—"

"Of course I had a Plan B," Nick said, giving his old friend a funny look. "How long have we known each other?"

"I'd ask why you didn't tell me, but I already know the answer," Phil observed wryly. "Spill it."

"Lt. Col. Rhodes," Nick said simply. "He, Danvers, Morse, and Lang met up with the Heroes for Hire in Battery Park. For never having worked as a team before, they didn't do too badly. Aside from nearly mutinying when I wouldn't let them fight sooner…"

"And…"

"And Marc Spector," Nick sighed. "I had him put together a backup team, and he took Doctor Strange, Agent Maximoff, and Bill Foster with him."

"And…" Phil prodded again.

"And what?"

Phil smirked.

"Fine," Nick groaned. "You know me too well. I had also called in the Black Panther, Prince Namor, and King Blackagar for a council of war right after Loki arrived. They showed up at the helicarrier right when the attack happened. Once I placated Namor and convinced Black Bolt of the necessity of helping us, all three kings agreed to help us out. They marshaled their forces on Governor's Island to wait until they were needed—did you know that Namor has four divisions in Long Island Sound at all times? I may need to seriously rethink our alliance with Atlantis…"

"And…"

"And nothing," Nick replied, annoyed. "We managed to get a couple squadrons in the air after the battle was over, but that was it."

"Anything else?" Phil asked.

"Well, if worst came to worst, I considered plugging that portal with the boat and hoping for the best," Nick joked.

Phil grinned and closed his eyes for a moment. Finally opening them again, he asked, "Hang on, you said the Council tried to nuke Manhattan?"

"Is it so hard for you to believe after all these years working with them?"

"No. What's hard to believe is that you would even consider doing it," Phil said accusingly.

"I didn't. They overrode my order and launched the strike, anyways." Nick put his hand up to his forehead, shook his head, and said, "They even pulled the two planes on different decks trick to do it."

"What happened?"

"Stark grabbed the missile and personally escorted it through the portal to the other end of space. Blew the alien mothership to hell. Nearly didn't make it back for his trouble," Fury shook his head. "I honestly didn't think he had it in him."

"He didn't," Phil replied with a smile. "His assistant Ms. Potts, however, she can inspire that kind of sacrifice from him." He fell silent for a moment. Finally he asked, "Where are they now?"

"They were here to debrief yesterday morning, but they all left right after the memorial service for our dead—which included you, by the way. Thor took Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard, Cap's off touring the world, Banner's in the wind, and I expect Stark and Ms. Potts are trying to fix up that tower. Barton and Romanoff are off the grid, though I suspect you know where they are," Fury noted with a look at his friend.

Phil closed his eyes and thought about warm sand and cool surf. He pictured a quaint little brown bungalow on the beach with a reinforced concrete foundation and armored panic room. The safe house in Florida was the first that his two agents had set up together, and easily Clint's favorite, especially after a particularly difficult mission. He nodded.

"I don't want to know," Nick said, reading Phil's face. "I ordered Barton to keep a low profile, and not to set foot on S.H.I.E.L.D. property for the foreseeable future. The Council must be even stupider than I thought—they ordered me to have his brain dissected as soon as Romanoff subdued him, on the off chance that it would reveal how Loki's mind control worked! Plus there's the threats. One of Maria's guard detail passed the information on to her that some of the agents were talking about it at dinner the day of the battle—and after the man saved the world, too. I saw the looks some of them were giving him at the memorial service. He's better off away from us for now. I ordered Romanoff to go straight to Stark's tower—or what's left of it, anyway—when they finish their mandatory vacation."

Phil gave him a look of surprise.

"Did you honestly think they could keep their relationship a secret from me?"

Phil leaned back into the surprisingly-soft bed and closed his eyes.

Nick stood up from his chair and nodded to the nurse standing by the door. She walked over to the bed, adjusted the IV drip, nodded to the Director, and left the room. As Phil fell into unconsciousness, he looked up at Fury, who said, "Get some rest. You've got a long road ahead of you."