52 | the good die young

Hope

The entire S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier was clamoring the moment the explosion happened. Every one of the agents on board was working to confirm what caused the explosion (which is most likely done by Loki's minions) and how many exactly are the people attacking us.

"Hill?" Fury called onto Agent Hill through the comms to check for what the fuck just happened.

"External detonation." Agent Hill replied. I could hear not just Agent Hill, but everyone shouting orders and running. The beeping of multiple computer monitors were also screaming at my ears, making it slightly hard to focus on one thing. "Number three engine is down!"

While listening to Agent Hill, I looked down at my leg to see the thick metal rod still using it as barbecue meat. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Just because I'm unkillable doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. I wrapped my fingers around the rod and took a deep breath before pulling it out. A hiss left my lips as I felt every shift of the metal rod scratching the inside of my leg.

The wave of relief washed over me once the metal rod was completely out of my leg and I tossed it, my blood staining both the rod and the floor it fell upon.

"Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine." Agent Hill said.

"Stark, you copy?" I heard Fury say through my comms and from a couple of feet away.

"I'm on it." Tony answered.

While Fury talked to Coulson through the comms, I watched my wound slowly close up and heal before standing up and shaking that uncomfortable feeling of having my leg impaled. My mouth was open as I took as much breath as I could, I think I even inhaled smoke in the process.

"Mikaelson!" Fury shouted at me to get my attention. We were both still in the laboratory and the minute that Fury saw me when I stood up, he immediately called for me. "Go to the runway. Make sure this thing stays in the air while Stark repairs the engine."

My eyebrows pushed towards each other as confusion took over my face, and he could see it. "You don't want me fighting the flying monkeys?"

"There will be no fighting if we fall out of the sky." Fury said when he finally regained his balance before turning his back on me and walking out of the room while calling out to Nat through the comms.

"Son of a bitch." I muttered under my breath before walking out of the laboratory as well, finding the entire hallway as disoriented. I walked a little faster with the low heel of my boots muted from all the commotion that resulted from the explosion, or should I say, attack.

"Move!" I shouted to the people blocking my way before I pushed through the crowd of agents whom I knew were internally panicking with the thought of how we might fall out of the sky.

I mean, things always fall out of the sky.

I pushed the door open so hard that it collided with the wall it was connected to before I stepped outside. I immediately felt the warm welcome of whatever city's climate as it contrasted with the wind that blew harshly from the still operating engines. Just as I was about to reach the dead center of the runway, the helicarrier tips sideward as it loses another engine, causing the entire thing to look like it's hanging dangerously on a thread.

I slipped on the steep cemented ground of the runway from the helicarrier being in its diagonal state, causing me to gasp before sliding down the concrete; some of the jets that were supposed to be held in place slid down with me.

"Mikaelson!" I heard Fury through the comms.

I held out my right hand and successfully grabbed a pole embedded in the concrete, causing me to stop sliding and reach for my comms to reply to Fury's very noticeable frustration.

"Give me a sec!" I shouted. It was almost impossible to hear my own voice from all the noise out here.

I heard a bunch of screams from below me and I whipped my head to that direction to see other agents sliding down and on their way out of the helicarrier itself. Acting swiftly, I muttered an incantation under my breath and used my left hand to guide them towards a safer.

Once everyone outside was accounted for, I took a sharp breath before swinging my left hand to grab the same pole and pull me up until I was practically hugging it. With that, I planted both my feet on the concrete in a crouching position. With my right arm still embracing the pole and holding on for dear life, I placed my left hand against the ground, feeling the dirt from underneath my palm immediately cling on to me before I began chanting.

"Alta volare avicula. Alta volare avicula." I muttered the incantation over and over again but the first few ones didn't work as the incantation reminded me of its origin. It was a spell that I created myself. One of the many spells I made that proved to be useful during my missions. It was a spell that I dedicated, weirdly enough, to Aurora De Martel.

Alta volare avicula meaning...Fly high, little bird.

I shook the thought out of my head. I needed to focus or else this entire helicarrier would fall out of the sky and possibly crush a city below. I took a quick second to regain my concentration when Fury yelled at me again.

"Mikaelson, anytime now!" Fury shouted through the comms.

My anger for this man was still fresh and I was sure that if I wasn't occupied right now, I would run up to him and slap his dramatic eyepatch off of his face.

"You yapping in my ear is not helping!" I yelled back just as loud, hopefully even louder.

I closed my eyes and calmed my mind and body as I once again repeated the same incantation, but now with as much concentration as I can muster up.

"Alta volare avicula." I chanted.

Slowly, I felt the left side of the helicarrier move upward, causing it to be finally as leveled as it normally was. Gravity wasn't dragging me down any longer and once I regained my balance, I remained crouched on the ground and let go of the pole, placing my right hand on the ground as well, feeling the rough surface of the concrete against my reddish palm.

"Thanks for the help, Spunky. I'll take it from here." Tony said through the comms and I merely smiled to myself before I spotted Loki and his minions about to hop onto a jet.

I quickly wiped the smile off my face before standing up, my palms moving away from the ground. Before Loki could take a single step into the jet, I muttered an incantation under my breath matching it with the wave of my fingers towards the vehicle.

"Bruciare supe terram, faciendo ignis ga praemium." I said, resulting in the whole jet combusting into pieces, including Loki's minions inside.

The god of mischief himself got thrown back from the impact of the explosion, sending him flying several feet away from it before he quickly scanned the whole area, his maniacal gaze meeting mine. And when his eyes landed on me, I saw the flash of his grin—the god looking almost too excited to see me.

"I'm going to enjoy this." Loki said as he stood up,brushing off his ridiculous costume while I was rapidly approaching him.

"Finally, something we have in common." I replied before taking a sharp breath and throwing the first punch as soon as he was within my reach.

As expected, Loki easily avoided my punch, grabbing a hold of my arm in the process before spinning me around and pinning my hand behind me. I felt his body against my back as he whispered in my ear.

"We both know we have a lot in common." He said, hinting at something.

For him to think that he and I share some things is utterly insulting. The last thing that I want is to be compared to his gold-horned freak show. I elbowed him on the side, letting a grunt escape his lips as he loosened up his grip on me. I had to elbow him really hard considering that he is a lot stronger than me with him being an alien god and all.

When I was free from his grasps, I moved away from him and whipped around, facing him once again. "That might be the most insulting thing I've ever heard." I responded just before I muttered "motus" under my breath, pushing Loki harshly against another jet behind him. I pushed him so hard, it made a huge dent on the jet, but he, on the other hand, was far from wounded.

When Loki emerged from the thin smoke that surrounded him after crashing onto a jet, there was not a scratch on him—not even on his cheesy cape. What fabric and material is that made of?

"Do you not remember?" He said with a smug look on his face as he took one step after another. Our fight went on for several seconds longer, both of us throwing punches and kicks towards one another–occasionally using our own powers for advantages. But not one of us has succeeded again in landing a blow.

"I'm not a mass murderer like you." I said with gritted teeth. My hands balled into fists once more as I ran up to him, spinning as I lifted my left leg up–aiming to kick him in the face only for him to catch my leg and push it away from him, spinning me once more. I held out my right arm, bending it as my elbow flew towards his face, his nose specifically. Once again, he avoided that by moving his head to the side, causing my elbow to hit the air near his ear.

He wrapped his fingers tightly around my arm before yanking me towards him harshly. "I beg to differ." He said, the tone of his voice implying something. "Let me refresh your memory."

His free hand went to my head. As soon as his palm touched my forehead, it seemed like my eyesight had been stolen. Loki disappeared before me, in fact, I couldn't see anything at all. I whipped around, searching for anything in the darkness that Loki had put me in. And that's when I saw it.

My alter-ego that I have kept locked away for years now. Though it wasn't happening in real time. It was the past. A memory. I know because I used to watch behind my non-humanity self as I ripped apart and killed innocent people. I remember every moment of it as if I was actually in control of what I was doing, as if I was actually in control of my hands as it pierced through people's chests, as it snapped their necks, as it was covered in blood that was never mine.

By the time I was finally released from that cycle of violent memories, Loki was nowhere to be found. I was sitting on the rough concrete of the helicarrier's runway, my back against the undercarriage of the jet behind me, and my heart heavy with guilt.

"Andrea? Hello?!" Tony's voice came through my comms, sounding as if he had been calling for me for a while now. With a shaky hand and my chest rising and falling rather quickly, I reached for my comms and answered.

"I'm here. I'm fine." I answered.

I took a deep breath before trying to push myself up from the ground. But as soon as I heard Fury's voice through the comms, I felt my knees become weak once more.

"Agent Coulson is down." Fury said.

"A medical team is on its way to your location." An agent replied.

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

It was like my whole body gave up as I closed my eyes and let myself drop to the ground, sitting against the undercarriage once more. I just lost another person I considered family.

–

This has been the most quiet everyone has been while we're all gathered together. There were no bickering, no ego competition, no pride being stepped on, no secrets being revealed–just...silence. Maybe because we're not complete. Nat is tending to Clint. Thor and Banner are missing. Silence. And it was a heavy one.

I looked down on my phone, seeing the photo of Coulson holding Royal, being the best godfather and all. The minutes I took processing the news while sitting on the runway as well as I was walking towards where I am right now, I showed no emotion at all. I know I still have my humanity on because I could feel my heart being crushed at the moment. But not a shed of tears left my eyes.

I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I just know that I don't have the energy to cry anymore. I feel like I've done that too many times over the course of my life.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury said as he held onto Phil's limited edition Captain America cards. "I guess he never did get you to sign them."

Fury threw the cards on top of the table. When I saw the blood stain on it, some transferring onto the glass table, I didn't even look away. It wasn't alluring like most human blood was to me. Maybe because it belonged to someone I care about. And I never had any intention of hurting the people I care about.

"We're dead in the air up here." Fury said. Steve reached forward, taking one of the bloodied cards into his hands as Fury spoke. "Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor...I got nothing for you."

At this point, what do we do? We don't have anything to continue with, most of us are mourning, most of us have lost hope. I mean, what do we do at this point?

"I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Fury said. I turned off my phone and placed it face down on my lap, the photo of Coulson and Royal now tattooed in my brain.

Fury, being his usual self, began a speech as he walked around the table. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips in that number, though. Because I was playing something easier."

"There was an idea, Stark and Mikaelson know this, called the Avengers Initiative." Fury walked around the table until he already reached the empty chair between me and Steve. He placed his hands on the back of the chair and with his one good eye, he looked over all of us. "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they can become something more."

I felt Steve's eyes on me at the exact moment Fury said that. I still remember the look of betrayal in Steve's face when we were in that laboratory the second he heard about Lizzie. Just when I thought my heart couldn't get any heavier.

"To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could." He added. I took a brief glance at Tony, seeing him with his hands clasped together, caressing them as if he was in deep thought. I mean, I think all of us were. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

Tony stood up and left. I can tell he's upset. He's not one to show his emotions to anyone other than me. Especially when it's about people whom he pretended he never cared about.

"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion." Fury added after Tony left.

–

I still remember the day I met Phil. It was the day Tony returned after being held captive for three months. I still remember how ridiculous he sounded while reciting the entire meaning of S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of its acronym. I remember how persistent he was in finding out the circumstances of Tony's escape from his captors.

I also remember the times he helped me when I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent. How he would impart wisdom from the years that he had been working in this organization. I remember how important this job was to him. I remember him trying hard not to fanboy when he heard that he'll be in the same jet with Captain America himself, and awake that time.

He was a good soul. So caring and genuine. But like they said. The good die young.

"Lay down with me?" Tony said as soon as I entered our chambers in the helicarrier. He was sitting on a very stiff mattress that we have in this so-called fortress. I gave him a small smile before walking towards him. He moved a little to give me enough space before we laid down at the same time. We were facing each other, my hands together in between my head and the pillow. Tony then held out his hand and reached for me, tucking strands of my auburn hair behind my ear.

"What do we do when Royal starts looking for his idiot godfather?" Tony asked, his eyes not meeting mine as he kept it staring at my hair while he brushed it with his fingers.

"We'll deal with it when it happens." I answered. I gently grabbed his hand, stopping him from brushing my hair so he could meet my gaze. And once he did, that's when I saw that he was mourning. Of course he wouldn't admit that. But he knows I see it.

"I'm sorry." Tony muttered, almost inaudible. But for someone with senses as heightened as mine, it's almost impossible to miss anything.

"Why?" I asked.

"For letting you go through this again."

"It's not your fault. None of it is ours."

"You're right. It's Loki's...Who won't stop flirting with you, by the way. It's infuriating." Tony responded. I simply let out a soft laugh, closing my eyes in the process. This day has been so tiring. I felt Tony's lips touch my forehead along with the shift of weight on the stiff bed. "Get some rest. I'll be back."

I hummed in response before Tony left. With my eyes closed, I remembered the memories that Loki had dug up from my past, ones that took over my mind earlier which led him to escape. I remembered what their blood tasted like. I remember the sound of their screams and pleas. I remember the feeling of the bones in their neck snapping against my palms. I remember everything, even if it has been years since it happened.

In conclusion, I never did get some rest.

—

I hate writing fight scenes. I suck at it so much.

I just want y'all to take note that for the four Avengers movies, I will be focusing more on their group dynamic rather than the main couple's relationship. Because I want the main characters to explore their friendship with their teammates. The main couples will have plenty of time to develop their relationship in their partner's own movies: Hope and Tony in Iron Man 1, 2, and 3. Josie and Peter in Homecoming, Far from Home, and NWH. Lizzie and Steve in CA First Avenger, CA The Winter Soldier, & CA Civil War.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter!