Through the Cosmos

Prologue

January 8, 1993

A young Phil Coulson is a nearly ten-year veteran agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He and his partner, Agent May, were currently working on case outside the neighborhood of Saint Agnes Orphanage. Phil had left their safehouse to retrieve supplies - takeout- for himself and Agent May when he came across a young girl without a jacket to brace the harsh winters of New York. He had notified Agent May of what he had witnessed and informed her that he would be engaging with the child. As he neared the girl he hear her soft yells,

 "Mary-Sue! Mary-Sue! Please I came back" 

he could hear the young girl yell out. In an attempt to not scare the child he came closer and laid a hand on her should. The young girl slightly startled had jumped at the soft touch, her wide brown eyes looked up to the young agent with tears freezing at the corners. 

"What are you doing out here? You're gonna get sick." Coulson had inquired from the girl. 

"The evil nuns separated me and my sister. Said nobody wanted to take in one stubborn child let alone two." 

The young girl had superior language skills that he had anticipated for a child who couldn't be older than four. 

"But why are you outside?" Phil pushed a little further. 

"We promised that we would run away and be back together, never separated. She's all I have!" the young girl explained, even more tears ran down her face. 

Phil was faced with a dilemma. He couldn't leave her here, she'd freeze to death for a sister that may not ever come, who might have actually stayed in the family she had been placed with. There was no way he was taking her back to whatever nuns were speaking to her in this manner. "Why don't you come back with me, my friend Melinda and I can get you warmed up and we'll keep an eye out for your sister. You said her name was Mary-Sue right?" 

The girl pondered on it for a moment. Unsure of what to do. 

"But you're a stranger, aren't you dangerous?" The young girl was smart, Phil had put that together and she wasn't wrong. She didn't know him, he could've been dangerous. Phil bent down while reaching into his pocket grabbing his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge. 

"You see this? Do you know what it is?" 

"It kinda looks like a police badge but says 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' not 'police'. " 

"You're right, we work keeping the whole world safe, not just the city." 

"You're a good guy?" Phil smile and nodded. 

"You promise you'll help and try to find my sister?" 

"It'll be my number one priority." Phil held out his pinky to promise her. She took his pinky and wrapper her own around it. 

"Her name isn't really 'Mary-Sue' but that's the name the nuns gave her. They named me 'Audrey-Kae', but it's kind of a dumb name." The girl responded, her tears finally drying up on her face. 

"Well, I'm sure we can figure something out when we get back to my partner. You ready?" Phil laughed out. Audrey-Kae nodded her head and her wide eyes stared in his own. Phil shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her small frame. 

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Audrey-Kae asked, worried about her new friend. 

"Ehh, it's not too far and you've been out here on a mission way longer than I have." Phil reassured the girl. Phil held out his hand for the girl that had wondered into his life, knowing Fury would probably be furious and May would just shake her head at him, but understanding his heart and intentions.