An engine exploded. Everyone was thrown across the room. Loki's small army had stormed the ship — including Agent Barton. Tony and Cap went over to fix it. Dr. Banner transformed into the Hulk, and Thor fought him.

Surprisingly, Cap and Tony worked together to fix a broken turbine. Hulk ended up falling off the Helicarrier, while Natasha fought Agent Barton and managed to snap him out of Loki's mind control. Loki was sent off the ship in the fight. Thor followed.

And then the worst happened.

"Agent Coulson is down," Fury says after the fight. Everyone looks down. Tony fights back tears, already wondering how he's gonna tell Grace. Fury pulls collectible Captain America cards out of his pocket. They're half-covered in blood. "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." He tosses them to Steve. "Guess he never did get you to sign them." Steve picks them up as Fury continues. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, and Thor — I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." He sighs. "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.

"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." Tony gets up, walking away. He can't stand to listen to it anymore. Fury smiles a little, sadly. "Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

~~~~

They've opened Coulson's locker. Tony and Cap are standing there, looking in it.

"Was he married?" Cap asks.

Tony shakes his head. "No. There was a, uh...cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry," Cap says. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot." He doesn't believe it, not really.

Steve's brows furrow. "Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job."

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-"

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."

Tony looks at him for a moment, then walks away. "Right. How did that work for him?"

Steve follows him. "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"

Tony stops, turning around. "We are not soldiers! I am not marching to Fury's fife!"

"Neither am I!" Cap shouts back. "He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list-"

Tony looks at the blood on the wall. Coulson's. "He made it personal."

"That's not the point," Cap replies.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart."

"He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

Steve nods. "Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard."

"Yeah. That's just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered..." It's then that he realizes what power source Loki is going to use to open the portal. "Crap."

~~~~

Everyone suits up, including Agent Barton. No one's told Fury anything.

His shield in hand, Cap goes to find Tony, and he finds him alone, in the Iron Man suit, talking to somebody through a phone of some sort. He can't hear the person on the other end. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you?" He's talking in a gentle voice, and it sounds as if he might be smiling. There's a pause. "Good, that's good. Listen, I..." Another pause. "Yeah. They did. Coulson, he, uh..." A sigh. "Coulson is gone, sweetheart." A longer pause. "I don't know. But I love you, okay?" He chuckles a little. "Come on, at least tell your old man you love him..." Another pause as Steve reflects on the phrase "old man." "I'm gonna do everything I can to get back to you, but... sometimes that's not enough..." Another pause, another sigh. "I know. I'm sorry... I love you, sweetheart... Bye."

Cap steps into the room softly, causing Tony to look at him. "...I didn't know you had a kid."

The helmet on Tony's suit pops up. "Yeah, well, I try to make sure next to no one does."

"Why?"

Tony looks at him as if it's obvious. "Her safety."

Steve nods in understanding, that answer giving him a whole new view of Tony. "What's her name?" he asks.

Tony hesitates, then says, "Grace."

Cap smiles a little. "So, not after her grandmother, then?" He never actually knew the woman, but he'd certainly heard of her, and he didn't know what to else to say.

Tony nods. "Yeah, actually. It's-It's her middle name."

"Oh."

Tony steps toward him. "You're one of the very few people in this world that know that."

Steve nods once. "And I'll keep it that way."

"I know," Tony replies. "That's why I told you."

~~~~

Loki, standing in Stark Tower, watches Tony make a drink behind a bar. He says, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

Tony grimaces. "Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you."

Loki raises a brow. "You should have left your armor on for that."

Tony sucks in air through his teeth. "Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage." He gestures to the scepter in Loki's hand. "You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"

Loki rolls his eyes. "Stalling me won't change anything."

"Oh, no, no, no! Threatening," Tony corrects. "So, no drink? You sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony replies. Loki's brows furrow, so Tony continues. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes,' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

Tony smiles. "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here: Your brother, the demi-God, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to tick off every single one of them."

Loki smiles. "That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come — and they will — they'll come for you." Discreetly, he pulls bracelets out from under the bar, putting them on.

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

Loki's brows furrow. "I thought the beast had wandered off."

Tony walks around the bar. "You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be absolutely sure we'll avenge it."

Loki walks toward him, raising the scepter. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" He touches the arc reactor with the scepter. Nothing happens. He tries again. Still nothing. "It should work."

Tony shrugs. "Well, you know the saying: The best way to a man's heart is his stomach." He grimaces. "Wait, no, forget I said that. Don't wanna give you any ideas-" Angered, Loki grabs Tony's throat and throws him across the room. Tony coughs. "Jarvis, any time now."

Loki grabs Tony's throat again. "You will all fall before me." He throws him out the window. Behind Loki, the elevator opens, and a red pod flies out, pointing lasers at the bracelets Tony put on. The pod turns into the Iron Man suit, going onto Tony. Tony flies up, facing Loki. "And there's one other person you ticked off! His name was Phil."

With that, he blasts Loki, sending him flying backwards.