Always Mine (An MCU Fanfiction)

11. Covert Minds

Peyton's P.O.V

The Helicarrier was stabilized once Tony, Steve, and Nicole had the damaged turbine repaired and brought back into operation, rather than relying too heavily on Vince's technokinetics. I kept trying to get in touch with Casey, but there was no reply from her. It was making me worried that something had happened to her during the assault.

I made my way back to the bridge to see how the others were while Natasha stuck by Clint's side. However, I picked up some info that Craig had been injured and was in the medical bay getting stitches. Next, Loki escaped and retook Casey, which explained why I hadn't heard back from her. However, I knew she was capable of handling herself, but it concerned me since Loki had the scepter in his hands again and may end up placing her under his control.

"Agent Coulson is down," Fury's voice spoke into my earpiece.

I was hit with a wave of shock and disbelief.

"No!" I gasped, and my eyes started watering.

Phil was the one who helped Vince and me feel at ease around SHIELD. Just hearing that he was gone brought me back to the day I was informed of my parents' deaths.

Soon, I found Vince back on the bridge with the others. Well, whoever was present! Fury pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it at Steve. I noticed they were Phil's Captain America trading cards, but covered in blood.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them," Fury explained. "We're dead in the air up here—our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor, and Armstrong. I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming."

None of us said anything, preferring to let the boss have his say.

"Yes," he continued. "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, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."

The first explanation surprised me. I knew SHIELD invented a variety of weaponry. Using an object of unknown origin was extremely dangerous.

"Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea," Fury added, "In heroes."

Tony stood up and left the bridge. 

"Well, it's a good old-fashioned notion, " Fury interjected.

The rest of us left the bridge as if we had just come out of a funeral.

"Hey, sis," Vince glanced at me as he and I entered the break room. "You alright?"

"Barely," I replied as Sean and Nicole followed us in with somber facial expressions, making me guess the obvious.

"Sucks about Phil huh? And not to mention, Case getting swiped again. What's up with the thunder dude's brother by the way? Is he love-struck by Case or what?"

"There's a reason why Loki took Casey. I know why that is," Nicole answered as she folded her arms together.

"What is it?" Sean asked, turning to her.

"Before he cut me completely off, I picked up that he was married to a woman who looked exactly like Casey."

"That explains a lot!" I remarked.

"Yeah. It turns out Loki isn't the only one attacking Earth."

"We know that. The fraking alien army backing him up," Vince nodded.

"It's more than that, you guys. It's the one person or whoever is behind the whole plot of getting his hands on the Tesseract," Nicole stated.

"So it's a he?" I asked.

"Most likely."

"We should inform everyone," Sean suggested as he turned to the exit.

"Think they'll believe it?" Vince asked.

"Is that so obvious? I'd be uncovering everybody's dark secret, and they wouldn't realize that I knew it all," Nicole glared at him.

As the four of us stepped out into the hallway, Steve passed by.

"Suit up," he turned to us.

We nodded and headed for the weaponry room, where we armed ourselves. I grabbed two Rugers and a few magazines while Vince got his hands on a blaster gun that shot a deadly laser, which resulted in an explosion.

"I'm so using Vera here!" my brother grinned as he stroked the weapon like it was a pet cat, while Sean and Nicole grabbed whatever weapons they might need.

"I got that reference, bro," I rolled my eyes, knowing Vince was a huge fan of Firefly despite it lasting for just one season. He even got his hands on the orange hat Jayne Cobb wore when the five of us cosplayed as a few of the Serenity crew for a Cosplay event when neither of us had assignments.

We met up with Steve, Clint, and Natasha at the hangar and walked along with them like the main heroes from action movies.

The seven of us boarded one of the Quinjets, startling the tech maintenance guy. "Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here-"

Steve cut him off. "Son, just don't."

You tell 'im, dude! I thought.

Clint and Natasha sat in the pilot's and co-pilot's chairs, while Steve, Sean, Vince, Nicole, and I sat in the seats, like soldiers ready for battle. All my friends and I could think about was Casey and her current situation, but we knew that she could take care of herself. Another thought was having to deal with Thor's crazy brother who's about to take over our world, along with a freaking alien army.