[1] Taeyong Lee-Stark and the League of Heroes

30 - You killed Phil, and I took that personally

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Coulson had managed to blow up one of the engines and with some teamwork between Tony and Stark, they managed to get the helicarrier back into the air. What they weren't accounting for is coming back from the fight to find Coulson dead. The Hulk and Thor are missing. Loki has made his getaway quite easily.

Not to mention, has anyone heard from Taeyong lately?

***

Tony and Steve were both in the general meeting room, within the damaged bridge space. None of the other 'Avengers' were present. Nick Fury stood by the windows, overlooking the terrain the helicarrier was flying over, with Agent Maria Hill at his side. Waiting.

Tony and Steve had just been given the news of Phil Coulson's death. A weight settled heavily in Tony's chest as he looked down at the meeting room's table. Eyeing the SHIELD logo and waiting for someone to say something. Just then Fury pulled out something from his pocket, garnering the attention of both the men.

"They were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them," Fury muttered. Tony watched as the man scattered a bunch of playing cards on the table. They were a vintage set of Captain America and the Howling Commandos playing cards. Blood was splattered over the cards.

Tony felt his jaw fix.

"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. Think I had that coming." Fury started to make his way around the table. "Yes," he confessed. "We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract."

Tony's eyes glanced up from the cards, staring hard at Fury. The man returned the look, "I never put my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative." Fury reached out for a chair between Tony and Steve. He sat down slowly, almost weighing his options. Tony was familiar with the sentiment.

"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 stood up quickly, feeling sick. Before he left the bridge, he faintly heard Fury say; "Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

***

Taeyong and Rhodey were both cautious when walking around the Stark Tower. Now that Rhodey was here clad in his entire War Machine suit, Taeyong felt at ease. Even though he knew his uncle had the ability to take out any of the mind-warped men that followed Loki, it would be safer to just not get caught at all.

"Where do we go first?" Rhodey asked.

"The Labs... or what should be the Labs. We haven't installed all the equipment yet," Taeyong explained. They decided to not take the elevator and instead went via the emergency staircase. Taeyong was behind Rhodey as the Colonel took tentative steps down to the Laboratory. There were many different floors completely empty because the building itself was only just made.

When they continued down each step, Taeyong felt himself start to relax. Jarvis not being on was jarring in itself. Being unable to talk to the only person that Taeyong knew, but he would have to. When they were getting to the next floor, the doors opened to reveal a surprise soldier.

"Shit-" Rhodey blasted the man with his repulsor rays before taking Taeyong's hand and running down the steps. The sound of the repulsor must have warned others because the next thing Taeyong knew, there was shouting and fasst footsteps behind him.