LIFE WAS BETTER OFF THE GRID || 1

Agent Who Died And Made Her Queen Of Depression Town

"Today we celebrate the life and mourn the death of Phillip Coulson." That's all it takes and my eyes start to water. There weren't a lot of people here. Fury, Hill, Victoria, May, and Audrey Nathan, attended the funeral. Along with Natali- Natasha. I'll have to get used to calling her Natasha. Along with Natasha and Clint, who were most likely here for my sake. Fury was on my left and Clint was on my right. And on the right of Clint was Nat.

I don't listen to much. But I look up when the guy calls my name. His words are a blur in my ears. But with the help of Clint, I get up to the podium.

"Phil Coulson was like the father I never had. Which is nice because my biological dad was jackass." Nat cracks a small smile. "Phil could be two different people. Agent Phil Coulson, or Agent Philadelphia. Agent Coulson was professional and Agent Philadelphia would let me, Clint, and Maria go to his apartment, eat all his cereal while discussing work."

"Before New York, I had been off the grid for the past five years. I had come back in because Nick told me that Clint was compromised. He was under mind control. I had literally, knocked some sense into him and my best friend was back. And why I'm telling you all this, is because, not even two minutes later, I was told that Phil was down." I blink tears away and Audrey let's out a choked sob.

"And then they called it." My voice cracks and a single tear rolls down Nick's face. That's the most emotion I had ever seen him give. I take a deep breath, composing myself. Maria gives me a nod of encouragement. Well, she tried.

"If I had five minutes. Just five. To talk to Phil again, I'd say that I love him, and I'm sorry. And to not worry about me. That I have a small army of friends that will watch over me. But that there would always be a spot in my army that no friend could fill." My voice cracks again. "Thank you." I turn to Phil's casket.

"If you're not dead, I'll kill fury." I murmur to him.

I touch his cold hands, and it takes everything in me not to cry out. I place a photo of him and I, years ago in his hands. It was taken in 2004 I believe. We were at the Triskelion and Fury had just made me a Level 7 agent. I'm now a Level 10.

I also put my first ever S.H.I.E.L.D. badge in with him. I press my lips on his forehead and a tear slides of my cheek and onto his head. I step away from the casket.

Clint puts a hand on my shoulder and walk back to my seat.

~

After the ceremony it rained. Not a hard rain. More of a misty drizzle type. I didn't mind that my hair and simple black dress was soaked. I stood behind the chair that was in front of his grave. I couldn't sit. My face was wet. I couldn't tell if it was from the rain, or from crying. Maybe both.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. It was a females hand. That meant it was either Nat or Audrey. Victoria and Maria knew not to mess with me while I was in this state.

"It was a nice ceremony." I look up at the sky and let out a dry laugh.

"The Calvary. I would say it's good to see you, but, considering the circumstances..." I trail. "I heard that you saved New York." I roll my eyes. I turn to face her. "And I heard that you divorced Andrew and were parked behind a desk making red tape."

She sent me a cool glare. "Oh, don't give me that look, Melinda. Did you really think I'd believe Coulson's lie about you at the Hub?" She's silent. "Your mom called me the other day. Said it was good to see me alive. I told her that you hadn't talked to me yet." I say. "And what did she reply?"

"She said that you were unbelievable." She rolls her eyes. "Of course she did."

"She's not wrong."

"I know."

~

"Woah. What happened to you?" Stark asks when we get to the tower. I glare at him. My dress was sticking to my skin and my hair was still damp. I was holding my heels in my hands.

Behind me, Clint makes a face and shakes his hand near his neck as a gesture to not ask.

I turn in a different direction, towards the kitchen. I stark walking and Stark is a five feet behind me. And Stark being Stark, couldn't keep to himself.

"Who died and made her queen of Depression Town?"

I stop. Everyone goes quiet. So quiet you could hear a pen drop. Instead, I drop my heels and clench my fists. "Ave." Clint warns. I ignore him. "Ave, there are witnesses." I roll my eyes. In a flash I spin around and grab Stark by the collar and raise my fist to punch. Before I can, though, Clint comes up from behind me and restrains me from doing so. The elevator dings.

"Stark!" Nat yells entering the room and seeing the scene. "What did you do!"

"Nothing! I'm innocent! All I did was ask why Miss Girl From the Dead here is depressed."

"Oh I'll show you depressed." I mutter as I kick Clint's shin and he lets me go. I take out one of my blades and I put the tip at Stark's neck. "I would kill you right now for insulting Agent Philadelphia, but death would be mercy. So I'm just going to terrorize you until you die of old age and my hands will be clean. But you make one more jab at me or my life I will have you arrested for first degree murder."

"But I didn't kill any-"

"Give me three hours, your DNA, and a knife, everyone will think you did." After a second I put my blade away. "Good day." I walk to the elevator.

Then I realize that I didn't even know where my room was.

"Hello, Miss Romanova." I jerk in surprise at the voice. "Forgive me for startling you, Miss. I am JARVIS. Mr. Stark's personal AI." I sigh. "Ok, JARVIS, right?"

"Yes, Miss."

"Ok JARVIS. Let's get two things straight. One, don't call me miss Romanova. If you're gonna use my last name, call me Agent Romanova. But don't use my last name. Call me Avia-" I pause. "Nope. Call me Found. Agent Found. Cause Stark is gonna be confused and the only one that will know what's going on is Pigeonfart. Ooh! Call Clint Agent Pigeonfart as well."

"Yes, Agent Found."

"And second, Stark is a jerk!"

"Yes, Agent Found. Indeed he is."

~

JARVIS directed me to my room. He said that it was only a guest room, and that Stark would have room made for the rest of the Avengers once the Tower's reconstruction was complete.

But I didn't mind.

It was easily one of the nicest places I've stayed. Much better than my room in Rose Hill. Speaking of Rose Hill, I'd have to go back. Not to stay. But to make sure Harley hasn't ransacked my place yet looking for me. He probably already figured out that I was the Blue Renegade and that my name was Avianne Romanova, not Ava Found.

I would also have to check on Mrs. Davis. Make sure she was ok. After what happened with Chad, she wasn't in the best of places.

My bag had already been brought up. I shut and locked the door that led to the hallway and I open the door to where I assumed was the bathroom. It was. And damn. The bathroom was bigger than my kitchen.

I strip from my soaked dress and fling my shoes across the room. They make a crashing noise as they hit the wall and fall to the floor. I turn on the shower water and undo the knot my hair was in. I step in to the hot shower. I stayed in there for a long time. As if, the hot water would melt all the pain away. But I knew.Better than anyone, that it would not.