LIFE WAS BETTER OFF THE GRID || 1

Agent Twin Telepathy

Ok so I highly recommend that you watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because it will help you understand what T.A.H.I.T.I. is and will benefit in future chapters. Time for your irregular scheduled update

Fury gathers Tony, Steve,and I back into the briefing room everyone there has a look as if in a daze. A look of numb shock is shown on their devastated faces. Mine was tear stained. "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury throws Coulson's Captain America Trading Cards on the table towards Steve. Steve picks them up, stained with blood. "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. Maybe I had that coming." He pauses.

"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, Romanova helped build 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 and walks off, not wanting to hear it anymore. I Can't even move. "Well, it's an old fashioned notion." Steve also leaves.

"You're not using T.A.H.I.T.I. on Phil." I say. "What?" Fury asks. "You heard me, Nick. Coulson was like a dad to me. He deserves a proper burial. T.A.H.I.T.I. is a miracle, yes. But not a blessing, it's a curse. He doesn't deserve the nightmares, the carving, the constant feeling that somethings missing." I plead. "We gave you your memories." Nick said.

"Yes but at what cost? You watched the reports that Coulson gave. How many T.A.H.I.T.I. patients went mental? If you use T.A.H.I.T.I. on Phil and he goes insane, what happens then? You're gonna put him in the nut house? Solitude? Put him down? You and I both know that it would end up with me putting a bullet in his head. And I don't think that I could survive that trauma. None of these outcomes are safe!"I yell.

"You turned out ok."

I scoff. "You and I have very different definitions of 'ok'."

~

Barton is strapped down. I watch over him as He tries to shake off Loki's mind control. "Clint, you're gonna be alright." I tell him. "You know that? Is that what you know? I got...I gotta go in though. I gotta flush him out." He says. "We don't have that long, but it's gonna take time. It took me five years."

"I don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?" He asks."You know that I do." I reply. "Why am I back? How did you get him out?" I give him a small smile. "Cognitive recalibration. I hit you really hard in the head."

"Thanks." I take off the restraints. "Ave, how many agents?" He asks when I step away. "Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for." I plead. "Loki, he got away?" He asks. "Yeah. I don't suppose you know where?" I answer. "I didn't need to know. I didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon though. Today." He says. "We gotta stop him." I tells him. "Yeah? Who's we?" He asks. "I don't know. Whoever's left. You, me, Natasha." I answer. "Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eyesocket, I'd sleep better I suppose." I smile.

"Now you sound like you." I sit next to him. "But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. You go missing for five years. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?" Clint asks. "He didn't, I just..." I trail. "Avianne." I take a deep breath. "He killed Phil, Clint. I've been compromised. I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out."

~

I look at Coulson's bloodstain on the floor. Steve walks in. "God, can't someone find solitude on this Godsforsaken ship?" I mutter. "Was he married?" Steve asks. "No. There was a uh...cellist, I met her. She's nice." I answer. "I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." He says. "He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone." I reply. "He was doing his job." Steve tells me. "Phil was like the father I never had. He should have waited. He should have..." My voice cracks. "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Ava."Right. How did that work for him?" "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" He asks. I turn around sharply. "WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS! I am not Fury's damn lapdog!" I yell.

"Neither am I! 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..." Steve trails. "He made it personal." I say. "That's not the point." Steve replies. "That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart." Steve answers. "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." I tell him. "Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard." He says. "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..." Steve gives me a knowing look. "Son of a bitch."

~

I start walking down the corridor that had my uniform. It was in a window with lights all around.The Blue Renegade. Was in big letters underneath it. It was a navy and black catsuit with the S.H.I.E.L.D. Insignia on the back. They had washed the blood away from the suit.

When I put it on, it fit just like it did five years ago. Which was odd because I had grown a least an inch since I was twenty, which was odd but I've always been short. I guess they had adjusted it. I out on my fingerless gloves before tracing the hilt on one of my baton blades. I had two. When I out the hilts together they would become a double sided blade.

My brown hair was in a tight braid. Some of my original red hair was growing back and showed in my roots. Guess I'd have to color my hair again soon.

~

Steve and I walk into Barton's room in full uniform. Natasha looks at is, unprepared. "Time to go." I say. "Go where?" She asks. "I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" Steve asks. Barton walks out of the restroom and Looks at Cap. "I can." He says. Steve looks at Natasha and she nods her head to confirm Barton's on our side. "You got a suit?" "Yeah."

"Then suit up." I tell him.

"I'm having major deja vu." I say as I walk with Clint. "Agent Pigeonfart and Agent Found back at it again. Sneaking onto a quinjet without Agent Windu's permission." He rolls his eyes. "You still have Agent names for everyone?" He asks annoyed. "Yep." I say popping the 'p'. "And I remember you getting shot last time we went on a mission." He points out. "Hey! What happened to Agent Pigeonfart while I was gone? Did Windu drive you mad?"

He sends me a playful glare before touching his finder to his ear. "Did you just turn your hearing aid off on me? Jerk." I say. Steve and Natasha join us a minute latter and he turns his hearing aid back on.

"Nice tights, Cap. Nice suit, Romanoff." Cap rolled his eyes and Clint raised a brow. "You too, Romanova." Clint's jaw was open. "When did you two make up? Hold on when did you two even, like, reunited? Was there a girl fight?" He ask. Nat and I share a glance and I smirk. "We didn't make up. We just put on a sarcastic little smile and pretend everything's ok." We say in sync.

"Wha? How?"

"Twin telepathy." We say.

Clint's eyes widen.

"Just kidding. We rehearsed this for hours just to make you uncomfortable." Then we burst out laughing. "Let's go." Cap says and we start walking. "You are not authorized to be here." A young S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot says. Yay! I get to scare the shit out of a trainee.

"Of course I am. Don't you know who I am?" I snap. Clint's trying to hold back his laughter. He shakes his head furiously. "N-n-no ma'am." He stutters. "You seem like a nice guy. You seem like a guy who wants to live. So if I were you, I'd get out of the way." His eyes widen and he runs out. I grin in accomplishment.

"That was uncalled for." Cap says. My grin falls. "It worked, did it not?" I ask innocently.