Stone. ~ S.Rogers

~6~

AURORA ODINSDOTTIR

I sat at the meeting table alongside of Steve and Tony, while Nick stood in front of us, looking unhappy.

Phil Coulson didn't make it.

"They called it." Nick said, taking some cards out of his jacket and tossing them carefully onto the table.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." He said, and I took a moment to look at them.

They were Captain America trading cards, covered in blood.

I watched Steve pick one up, looking upset, and I smiled sympathetically at him, but he didn't see it.

His eyes were focused on the cards.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor." Nick said, and my heart lurched at the thought of my brother.

Both Tony and Steve were staring at me, and I waved my hand to pardon them.

"I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Nick said, and when none of us said anything, he continued.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract." He admitted, and I heard Steve scoff lightly.

At least he admitted it.

"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." He continued, and I looked at him, confused.

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to 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." He explained, and I nodded in understanding.

That explains why they were all together, why they captured Loki.

"Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." Nick said, and I watched Tony get up and walks off.

I sat in silence, and Nick chuckled, licking up the cards.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

I got up to follow Tony, and Steve was right on my tail.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and I shrugged.

"Not really, how are you?" I asked, and Steve just chuckled.

"I've been better."

We found Tony looking at the empty cell that used to hold both of my brothers in it, and I held a hand to my heart at the sight of the container.

"I'm sorry." Steve said to me, and I just nodded in acceptance, the tears falling down my face as Steve turned to look at Tony.

"Was he married?"

"No." Tony responded, and Steve smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." I said, but Tony just scoffed.

"He was an idiot."

"Why?" Steve asked, and I looked at the floor sadly.

"For believing?"

"For taking on Loki." Tony responded, and my heart lurched in guilt.

I should have been able to save him.

"He was doing his job." Steve responded, but Tony shook his head.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-"