Psych - HIATUS

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In a moment, Tony flies over to you and Steve. He looks at the bodies and bullet holes in the walls. "So that's why you took so long. We all good?"

You nod, still full to the brim with adrenaline. "All known hostiles have left the carrier. Loki has escaped," an agent announces over the PA. "Please report any unknown hostiles and bring all injured to the medical bay if they can be transferred. If not, medics are on their way."

"Well, this was a disaster," you say, a little shaky, as you, Steve, and Tony walk back inside the helicarrier.

"Did you know any of this was going to happen?" Steve asks.

"Kind of. I sometimes get flashes of a bunch of random things. None of them are related, and they're from all sorts of timelines. Those are what some of my dreams are. But I also get dreams that look like those but aren't events that actually happen, and I can't tell those apart. I think the fake future dreams are just what happens now that I get the real ones, my subconscious imitates them sometimes. So I don't rely on those because I don't know what's real and what's not," you make up on the spot. "Like, I saw you dangling off the cord, but I had no way of knowing if that was real or not. And they're hard to remember, since we don't always remember our dreams, and it's...weird. Next to the image of you dangling off the side of the helicarrier was something to do with a raccoon? I guess that's gonna be real, though I really had no idea what was happening."

The two men beside you nod. You're all too tired to really do anything else. Suddenly, you remember what had happened on the other side of the helicarrier. Something you weren't thinking about, being too focused on your problems. Coulson.

"Agent Coulson is down," Fury says in the earpiece. The three of you pause.

"A medical team is on their way to your location," an agent responds.

"They're here." Fury pauses. "They called it."

You will not remember all of the next few events after today. Everything was already a blur after the adrenaline rush and you killing someone. You knew Coulson would die, you've known for years. But, that doesn't mean it's any better. The initial shock is gone, and has been since you first watched the movie. But, even still, Coulson's death is always sad to watch. Even while knowing that he is resurrected in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it is sad.

Between everything, you were in a state of shock. A medic looks you over at some point. You will not remember what happened there, just that she tells you that you are in shock and makes you lie down for a while, legs elevated. You will faintly remember some things. Fury coming into the room and seeing you. Steve checking up on you. Someone saying Thor and Bruce being M.I.A. All of it will blend together.

After some time, reality settles in you. You get up once a medic clears you and go to the table where you and the others were when Loki was taken into custody. Steve and Tony are there, not suited up. Fury and Hill are standing not too far away. You slowly sit down next to Steve, still a little disoriented.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury starts. "I guess he never did get you to sign 'em." Fury tosses the bloodied trading cards onto the table. Steve grabs one solemnly. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the Cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." An awkward pause fills the room, the only sounds being breathing and Steve fiddling with the trading cards. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier." Another pause. You take a deep breath. "There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."