Things We’d Never Do Again (They’ve Always Seemed Right)
Tahiti
“We’re here.” confirmed Natasha.
She made no move to get out of the Quinjet.
”But?” prompted Steve.
Natasha had taken over Nakia’s tablet and had been studying the information about this new SHIELD since they had left Wakanda. A couple of hours from their destination, she had become very still, hadn’t said anything further, just staring at the screen.
”Are we heading out, or what?” demanded Rocket.
“You’re staying with the jet.” Steve shot back.
”With that sand and surf? Oh, hell no....”
“A walking, talking raccoon? In Tahiti? We’re trying for under the radar here....”
”Boys...”
Natasha sounded strained.
“What is it, Nat?”
”I’ve been reading over what Shuri and Nakia were able to pull. It’s not a lot. If Pepper survived, then her AI might be able to fill in some more of the blanks. But that list of associates, they combined the lists from the FBI and Interpol. The ones I know, they’re good Agents. Melinda May and I were friends. But...this last one...Steve....”
Natasha passed the tablet over. Steve’s eyes passed over the names and photos. Then he stopped, stared, went pale.
Natasha nodded.
”What the hell?”
Rocket glanced between the two. Steve gave a shaky laugh.
”Ironic, isn’t it Nat? With all the dusting, we’re looking for someone who’s already dead.”
”What is THAT supposed to mean?”
”We’ll explain later.” Steve pulled Natasha to her feet. “Let’s go find them.”
“And me?”
Steve considered Rocket. Natasha snorted.
”If he’s still the same man we knew...you’ll be like catnip. Let’s go.”
Rocket watched the two depart. He shook his head as he followed them.
”You know, Groot was easier to understand than you two....”
They weren’t that hard to find in the end. The two of them, a striking Asian woman with an middle aged Caucasian male had arrived out of nowhere several days ago, taken a quiet cabin on the beach. Kept to themselves mostly, although he had made a stir with some of his parasailing moves.
When the dusting occurred, they had tried to help where they could, locals had told Steve. But a couple of them saw the man fall to his knees in the street, his hand on his chest, and had to be helped up by his...girlfriend? Wife? No one was sure.
They hadn’t been seen since.
The three stood outside the cabin door. It was an indicator of how much the world was still reeling that Rocket hadn’t garnered more than a couple of double takes.
“You ready?” Steve asked.
Natasha huffed. “No.”
Rocket merely shifted, covering them and the door.
As Natasha took her place at the side of the door, Steve swallowed nervously.
Then he knocked.
There was silence. Rocket’s ears twitched, listening in on a conversation only he could hear. He shifted uneasily, but brought his weapon down a bit.
Steve could hear a bolt being drawn back, then the door opened.
Melinda May stepped out into the bright Tahitian sunlight. She looked tired, worn. Defeated. The last time Natasha had seen her look like that was after what had happened in Bahrain. When Agent May became The Calvary.
May shut the door behind her, and stood firmly in front of it. She gave them a quick once over, then dropped her eyes.
“All right.” she said quietly. “You have us. I give you my word I will turn myself in after this is all over, but please. Give him these last few days, the world owes him that much. Let me stay with him, then you can throw me in the Raft for the rest of my life. I won’t fight you, please...”
”Melinda.” Natasha interrupted.
May’s head turned towards her.
”Romanoff? Nat?”
She looked closer at the man, then gave a small smile.
”Captain Rogers. The beard suits you. I never would have picked you out of a crowd.”
”That was the point, Mel.” Natasha commented. “Is he here?”
May nodded.
Steve frowned.
”We have a lot of questions, Agent May...” he started.
”And he doesn’t have time to answer them, Rogers. I will, but afterwards. You walk through that door, you don’t upset him, he doesn’t have the strength for that.”
She looked at Natasha.
”I think he’d be grateful to have a chance to say goodbye this time.”
”Goodbye?” asked Steve.
”She’s not wrong.” said Rocket. “It’s close.”
May considered him, lifting an eyebrow.
”Oh, you have to come in. He would never forgive me if he missed out on an actual talking rodent.”
She opened the door and gestured for them to enter.
”Should’ve taken him to Disneyland.” muttered Natasha as they entered the room.
”Trust me,” May replied, locking the door behind them. “We’re done with Tomorrowland.”
Phil Coulson looked pretty good for a man dead for six years. However, he looked like hell for a living one.
Phil lay in bed, eyes closed, unmoving, except for uneven breathing. He was stripped to the waist, an abandoned wash bowl on the bedside table. His skin was mottled with angry black veins, snaking out from the scar from Loki’s spear. Steve imagined he could see the deadly patches spread across into unclaimed territory, sending Phil back to the grave.
Both he and Natasha were surprised at the empty space where an arm should be. Natasha threw a look at May who shook her head.
Rocket had made himself comfortable on the couch, and Steve and Natasha took their places at Phil’s side.
Phil opened his eyes, and took the newcomers in.
”Mel?” he called hoarsely. “Either you found the last of the good drugs Jemma left, or the hallucinations have started.”
Phil tried to swallow.
“I told you what you should do now, Mel. It’s time...”
”The hell it is, Phil” snapped May. “I’ve told you once I’d never put you down. My answer hasn’t changed.”
Phil smiled weakly.
“Not sure...Australian outback...is in the cards, love.”
”We’re real, Phil.” said Natasha softly, laying a hand on his shoulder.
”Hello, Agent Coulson.” Steve continued.
Phil stilled.
“Nat? Captain Rogers?”
They stared at each other.
”I never expected this. After all this time, especially after the disappearances. I don’t know where to start.” confessed Phil weakly.
”How about a sit-rep, boss?” suggested Natasha.
”A sit-rep.” repeated Phil. “Okay. Five years ago, Director Fury used alien blood in the GH-325 serum to bring me back to life. When SHIELD fell...”
Natasha winced.
”...Fury tasked me to rebuild it the right way. Which I mishandled. Badly.”
“That’s not on you, Phil” said May softly.
”Last year, we got into another world-ending situation, and in order to take down a murderous super powered robot, I made a deal. With a demon. He gave me the powers to stop it. In return, he burned out all of my GH-325. My body has been reverting back to where it should have been ever since.”
“Dead.” breathed Natasha.
Phil nodded, and May bowed her head.
”When I was last examined, about 50% of my tissues had reverted. I would assume some progression since then.”
”And where are your doctors?” demanded Steve. “Why aren’t you...”
”In hospital?” Phil gave a weak laugh. “Aside from the fact that my actual existence was highly classified...”
”And don’t think we won’t be discussing that.” Natasha said as an aside.
May glared at her, but Phil just nodded, tiredly.
”Captain....Steve. I’m dying. These are my last wishes, to die here in Tahiti. My team...has been quite stubborn about respecting my wishes about my life. But, in the end, they were forced to agree. There’s no other way. I’m tired of heroics. I don’t want any more unnatural measures. I’m ready to let go.”
Natasha bowed her head. Tears coursed down May’s face. Even Rocket seemed moved in the other room.
”No.”
Natasha stared at Steve in shock.
Phil closed his eyes. “And...here we go again.”
May took two steps forward, her hands clenched in fists.
”I warned you, Rogers...”
”Let me give you our sit-rep, Agent Coulson. We lost to Thanos. And the result of that losing was the obliteration of half the universe. Indiscriminately.”
Phil’s eyes grew wide.
“Daisy...” he whispered.
May nodded, her face pale.
“I’m on it.”
May left the room, and began setting up the communication system they had seen on the table.
They could hear Rocket offer, “If you have some tin foil and something metal, I could boost the signal for you. Of course, I’m going to need that arm.”
Steve stood up.
”Half the universe, Phil. I had to sit and watch as good men and women disappeared. For no reason at all. Actually, there was a reason. We lost. And I could do nothing, nothing to save them.
And now you, Coulson. You’re still here, still breathing. I couldn’t save Bucky, Sam, Wanda...half the world. But I might be able to save you. I have to try.”
Phil shook his heard, “It’s too late for me, Captain...”
”Fuck that.” interrupted Natasha.
Phil’s eyes widened.
“You took an oath, Agent. The same one you and Barton administered to me. To serve when everything else fails. To be humanity’s last line of defence. To be...”
”The Shield. I have more than fulfilled my oaths, Agent Romanoff.” snapped Phil.
”I know, Phil.” responded Natasha. “But now...the world is in ruins. Thanos took as many good people as bad. The world needs every single protector that it has. From all enemies, foreign, domestic...”
”And apparently interstellar...” Phil sighed. He limply ran his hand through his hair.
“SHIELD is still needed, Agent Coulson.”
”Fury can...”
”Fury. Is. Dead.” Natasha paused. “He and Maria were among the dusted. That leaves you and your team from Chicago left.”
Shaken, Phil shook his head.
“They are unavailable. Off planet. We knew about Thanos, the alien Confederacy warned us, but we didn’t know what he was going to do.”
”So, it’s down to you and May.”
Phil was silent.
“Do you want to leave me, Phil?”
May had quietly entered the room, Rocket on her heels.
”Never.” whispered Phil.
”Then don’t. Listen to them. Let them try.”
”May...be reasonable. How are you going to revive my years’ long dead tissue? There is no one that we know of that could do that. That was the last of the Centipede serum, and I don’t want to know what Daisy did with Jaiying’s body.”
Natasha smirked, getting up.
“We’ve made some new friends in the last five years. Let me make some calls.”
Natasha and May left, leaving Phil alone with Steve and Rocket.
Phil carefully poked Steve.
”Captain Rogers...is that an abnormally large raccoon at the foot of my bed? Or do I need to call Mel back?”
”No, he’s a friend of Thor’s.”
”Ah.”
Rocket glanced over.
”Say, if this doesn’t work and you die...can I have your arm?”
Phil’s eyebrows rose.
”What would a raccoon want with my...No...”
Rocket shrugged.
”Never hurts to ask...”
Wakanda
Queen Shuri thought for a moment, then looked over at her most senior scientist, who shrugged. She shook her head.
”Natasha, I’m sorry. But the method we used for Agent Ross would not work in this case. Replacing necrosis tissue with healthy living tissue? That’s Walking Dead territory. We haven’t even begun to study it.”
“But I know who might help.” Bruce Banner interjected. “Sorry, Majesty. Nat, just looking at the photos, Coulson doesn’t have much time left. Get him and Agent May on the Quinjet now and into the air. We’ll make some calls here, see if any of their team were left.”
”Our destination, Bruce?”
”South Korea.”
Seoul, South Korea
Dr. Helen Cho didn’t mince words.
”I need him into the Cradle, NOW!”
Phil Coulson had become non-responsive over the Sea of Japan, closing his eyes for the last time in Melinda May’s arms.
May watched as Steve Rogers quickly placed his body into the device.
Dr. Cho shoved him out of the way, and began tapping frantically at the tablet.
Natasha, Steve and May huddled together in the corner, watching Dr. Cho and her team work.
Finally, they heard it.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
”Thank God.” said Steve quietly.
May sagged into a chair.
”It’s over.” she whispered.
”Not by a long shot,” commented Dr. Cho. “But it’s the start of the process.”
She cocked her head.
”I would love to know how a man with 85% dead tissue was still upright, let alone brought into our labs.”
”Classified.” replied May.
Cho shook her head.
”I’m going to need all the information on what was done to him to have a better success rate at bringing him back. I would wager an 80% chance right now?”
”How long?” Steve asked.
Cho shrugged.
“Weeks, maybe months. Maybe once he’s more stable we can use some new techniques from my Wakandan colleagues. Of course, the more I know...”
”Then you’ll have it.” May sighed. “It’s a very long story to tell.”
”I have time.”
”So do I.” added Steve.
“With whatever alcohol you have access to.” sighed Natasha.
May walked over to the Cradle. Phil lay there, unconscious. A slight smile tugged at his lips, and she gently rested her hand against the window in the container.
Did the smile widen, just for a moment....or was that a trick of the light?
May turned back towards the others.
”Then let’s go, and I’ll tell you the story of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
”Here’s to us.
Who’s like us?
Damn few.”
~ Phil Coulson, Agents of SHIELD 5 x 22 “The End”