Not An Avenger

Missed Action

I went to check if I had got a bio-trace hit on my computer and immediately noticed a tiny glitch in the system. SHIELD didn't have system glitches. I remembered Tony messing with the computer.

I quickly went to Dr. Banner's lab and was surprised to find Steve there with them. They were analyzing Loki's scepter.

"What did you put on that computer, Tony?" I said trying to bring out my angry voice. Unfortunately, I only looked as intimidating as an angry squirrel when I did that.

Tony smirked. "I just wanted to find out some dirty secrets SHIELD has been hiding from us. Like, I don't know, what is SHIELD doing with the Tesserect in the first place?" he said, raising an eyebrow at me.

I was at a loss of words. It was obviously not my idea to weaponise the Tesserect. I had always tried to ignore the fact that my research would ultimately be used in Phase 2, but at this moment I could escape that sudden pang of guilt.

"It's going to be used for clean energy." I tried to lie.

"When did SHIELD enter the energy business?" asked Dr. Banner, sarcastically. I could feel Steve's eyes on me.

That was when I lost it. I had not slept in 48 hours, barely eaten anything, and was working like a mule when it was not even my job. "Why are you all looking at me?" I yelled, in a high pitched voice and pointed my finger at Tony, like kids do in front of their moms. "He is the one who hacked into the system of a secret government agency trying to find out secrets that don't even concern him and… and…suddenly I'm the villain…."

I would have gone on if hadn't come forward and slapped me on my face.

"What are you doing?" protested Steve. He looked like he was going to hit Tony.

"Thank you. I needed that." I told Tony, in my normal voice. Steve seemed to calm down a little hearing that.

"No, you need to eat something, sleep and seriously take a shower." Tony said, wrinkling his nose.

"You are right." I was barely able to stand up straight. "But please stop the hack. They'll find out soon enough." I said, walking out.

"Let me walk you to the lounge." Steve offered.

"No, it's all right. I'll manage." I mumbled out.

When I reached the lounge, I knew I couldn't keep myself awake long enough to eat something. I quickly hooked a banana bag to my arm and fell asleep like the dead.

…

I woke up with an i.v. needle pinching me. I quickly removed it. It was my pager that woke me up.

'911. From containment area.'

I was confused. Did Loki need medical assistance?

I knew something was wrong as soon as I got out of the lounge. There was smoke everywhere, bullet holes on the walls. We were clearly attacked. And I slept through all that!

I ran to the containment area. Nick Fury was there along with a medical team, huddled around someone.

"Time of death 13:11." They called it.

I went forward to see who it was and saw Phil Coulson's limp body with a gaping wound in his chest.

Everything else happened in slow motion. I started working on him, performing all the procedures I remembered learning. CPR, lung reflation, electrocution, cardiac massage. I could hear someone in the background telling me to stop, that he was already gone. I didn't listen. I knew he wasn't gone, not yet.

My belief was confirmed when I felt a tiny contraction against my hand which was giving him cardiac massage.

"I got a beat." I called out.

The medical team was already through the door, by the time I called out. They rushed back in and carried Phil to the ICU.

Fury filled me in with what happened. Loki had the plan to unleash the Hulk on the hellicarrier all along, in the hopes of disabling us. Thankfully a jet was used to lure the Hulk away, but his whereabouts were currently unknown. So, Dr. Banner was currently unavailable to track to Tesserect.

Loki had even tricked Thor into falling into his containment unit and dropped it 3000 feet to the ground. Phil tried to stop Loki from escaping nut he drove hid scepter through his chest. Agent Barton was caught and Natasha was currently trying to bring his out of Loki's mind compulsion. Tony and Steve had got injured trying to restart one of the hellicarrier's engines to stop it from falling into the abyss. So, in sort, things were not looking good.

I went to see Steve and Tony. Thanks to the super serum Steve looked fine, but Tony had multiple contusions all over his body. His suit also looked like it took a lot of beating.

"I heard you miraculously saved Coulson's life. Is he going to be all right?" he asked.

"I don't know. I was able to restart his heart but his brain had suffered hypoxia for a long time." I felt really angry. Phil was the only friend I had at SHIELD. "We have to find Loki." I said. My voice was determined.

"How?" Tony asked. Steve didn't say anything.

I got up and started running the bio-trace on my laptop again, manually. This was going to take a while.

Tony and Steve had started discussing the possibilities.

"Loki wants a performance, and audience. Remember his act in Stutgaurd?" asked Steve.

"You're right. Even this, the attack on the hellicarrier, it was completely unnecessary. Ams told me he could easily avoided capture." Now he believed me. I sighed.

It was the same people I was going through again, but I was double checking their details this time.

"Loki is a full tilt diva, right?" continued Tony. "He wants drama, he wants an audience, he wants monuments with his name plastered on the top."

My fingers froze in midair above the keyboard. I quickly moved the axis to Central Park, New York. There I could see on the top of Stark tower, two light green shadows. I could find an ID on one of them- Dr. Stuart Leinsher, quantum physicist.

"Looks like someone crashed your penthouse, Tony."

He came over to look at the screen, followed by Steve.

He looked at the laptop for a full minute before rising. "That son of a b****."