Archive of Our Own

29 years ago. One of the less significant bases of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Please, be careful. You know what those things can do," the young man said to his colleague, who was looking at several blue crystals placed in a plexiglass box.

The man who spoke was dressed in a black t-shirt with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on its sleeve, black trousers and military-style leather boots, while his friend donned a white lab coat that was also marked with the logo, but this one was much smaller and situated on its front pocket. Somehow, the appearance of both spoke a lot about their relationship. The down-to earth agent in training, currently a data analyst in the agency, and his researcher friend, who sometimes needed his nudge not to do something stupid in the name of science.

"Yes, I know... I'm around 80% sure the ones we have here are counterfeits, though," the researcher said.

"Well, 20% chance is way too much in my book," the analyst opposed him, "so just treat them as if they were genuine, okay?"

"Alright... I took you here to make sure everything goes safely, so it would be foolish not to listen to your advice. So... let's get to it," the researcher raised the pipette, and stuck it into the side of the box. The tip of the pipette went through the silicone-insulated hole, and stopped right above one of the crystals. The researcher squished the balloon of the pipette, and after some colorless liquid dripped on the crystal, quickly pulled the instrument out.

Both men leaned forward in anticipation, and in a few moments, the plexiglass chamber started filling with blue-tinted mist that covered the crystals completely.

"Oh crap, so they are real..." the analyst whispered, and grabbed the researcher's sleeve, trying to pull him away, "Chris, move! I'm not staying in this room, and you shouldn't either!"

"You are overreacting. The mist is safely enclosed in the-"

And that very moment, the box cracked, and the room started filling with the strange bluish vapor.

"-box? Oh. It must have created a chain reaction among the rest of the crystals," the researcher pointed out, and his colleague gave him a startled look.

"RUN!" the analyst shouted and leaped towards the door. His friend followed him, but before he could reach the door, he tripped over a cable, and he face-planted on the concrete floor of the room. He tried to lift himself, but the mist was already spreading through the room, and he felt it on himself, entering his lungs.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was his friend, horror on his face, closing the door to save himself.

"Phil! Help me... help!" the researcher shouted, and then everything went black.

--

Today.

Phil Coulson was training.

It would seem that there was not much space to train in a small office full of cabinets stuffed with folders and peculiar collectibles, where even the potentially biggest free space - the center of the room - was occupied by a heavy wooden table and a leather chair. It wasn't possible to determine what kind of wood the table was made of, even though the structure of it was very distinctive.

That was mostly because the table wasn't made from an actual tree. It was Star, the Reality Stone bearer, who created almost everything in Phil's office, based on the old photos of various offices the former agent inhabited during the years.

In the display case on the side, there sat a nicely crafted slingshot with ebony handle next to a black pouch decorated with a small silver skull-shaped button. It was half-open and full of white, sharp-edged gravel.

On a shelf next to the display case, there was a big old school wooden radio. One could think it was a vintage piece, but the illusion was broken by the USB stick shaped like a silver key that was sticking out of its side. The radio was turned on, and played "Another Brick In The Wall" at the moment.

What would someone train in this place? Not combat, and not weapon handling, that for sure. Phil was training the ability he discovered he had, and not so long ago, which he felt was really, REALLY ironic considering what happened to him around two months ago.

Someone knocked on the door, and then opened it without hesitation before Phil managed to answer. It was Star, followed by Coleen, and the two stopped right in the door frame after they spotted Coulson.

"Err... are you glitching the reality or something?" Star asked, tilting her head in confusion, "that's my job."

The former agent was standing in the middle of the table, overlapping with the desktop computer that stood on top of it. He was slowly moving his left hand, letting it sink into the wood, and raising it right after. The moment these two entered the room, though, his hand got stuck inside the table.

"Star! I appreciate that you actually started to knock, but if you enter right after you do that, it kind of defies the whole purpose."

"Wait, I heard this song before..." Star looked at Phil, "is that... PINK FLOYD? Who are you, and what did you do to Coulson?"

"He's on vacation," Phil smirked at her.

He tried to move his left hand again, but it was firmly embedded in the wooden surface.

"Oh great. You startled me, and now I'm stuck."

The sole reason why Phil was training like this was the need to synchronize his left arm with the rest of his body. Once he became intangible, it was difficult to keep it in the same state, and it really drained his ability to focus.

He was painfully aware of the irony, even though that was far from the only pain he felt. His left hand was made from synthetic materials, steel bones enhanced with special alloy that Leo Fitz found out to be perfect for directing energy, artificial muscle of a LMD, all covered in skin that looked lifelike, but was far from that, as he couldn't feel anything with it... and using it still caused him pain, even two months after the beast from between the dimensions took his limb and left him like this. Keeping all that a secret from everyone he knew was proving more difficult than trying to pass his hand through solid objects.

If he knew how to become intangible back then, nothing of this would happen. He was now almost sure that his life, especially what became of it after his resurrection, was one big joke.

Star crossed her arms, watching Coulson try to free himself with a half-amused look on her face.

"Coulson, wait. I'd try to empty my mind if I were you, that could help," Coleen pointed out as she stepped to the side, standing beside Star now. The advice of the woman who was trained to meditate three hours a day.

Phil made a pained expression.

"Well, thanks for the hint, but it's virtually impossible for me to do that. I'm at over a 100 places at once every moment, remember? And every one of my selves is experiencing things," he said as he finally managed to pull his hand out of the table. He moved towards the girls, making big steps and keeping balance with his hands as if he would be walking through deep water, while he was, in fact, just walking through a table.

"Anyway... what brings you two here?" he asked, rolling down his sleeves as he stood in front of Star and Coleen. Star laughed.

"Ward discovered the 'charms' of playing pretend, and would like to invite everyone to a session of Dungeons & Dragons in around... 3 hours?" Coleen said, "he's really fast in world-building, to be honest. Might be because he's a synthetic being, I don't actually know how much processing power his brain has..."

Ward?! Oh wait. Multitude's name is Ward, right... Phil banished the thought of his traitorous former friend of the same name back into the deepest corners of his brain.

"I'm not really sure if I want to join that. Even though..." Phil thought for a second. He was searching for new ways to enjoy himself ever since Fury told him to find a hobby, and maybe, just maybe, this would be a good way to release some steam and have fun with... well, not exactly friends, but at least... teammates. Phil was usually a bit detached from this unruly group. It was partially because he was Death, and after all those deaths he witnessed, feeling the lives lost with his own mind, body and soul, he was battling the feeling that nothing mattered anymore. That everyone will be gone and forgotten at some point.

Aside from this, he also made a promise to himself that he'd guard the Infinity Watch and do his best to shape them into true heroes. He wasn't the official leader by any means, but he was doing his best to operate behind the scenes, nudging the six stone bearers in the directions he wanted, and for that, he preferred to be on the outside. The view was better here. He maybe wasn't at his best in his skill of persuasion, considering that he was having trouble focusing and even thinking straight sometimes, but he was working on it, on them, anyway.

"Actually, I might join you after all. It has been a while since we did any activity together... that didn't involve us risking our lives."

At that moment, Phil's phone rang, making the most standard noise reminiscent of the corporate landlines.

He pulled it out of his pocket and tapped the receiving button on the touchscreen. It showed the name of Nick Fury. His former director hadn't called him since his Mount Everest adventure.

"Hey, Cheese," sounded Fury's voice from the speaker.

"Hey Nick! Long time... I have been trying to find new hobbies, as you advised me. I wrote some decent stories... Star made me a very nice slingshot... and recently, I have been playing around with code. I actually made this fun little calculator, even though that isn't anything inventive, there's a TON of calculator apps out there. Sill fun-"

"I'll have to stop you there. This isn't the 'how are you doing, my friend" type of call.

"Give me a second," Phil murmured and waved his hand at Coleen and Star, flapping his fingers, which was easily readable as an impatient "get out of here" gesture.

"I'll return to you after the call, but now I'd like some privacy," he whispered and closed the office door right in front of their faces.

"Is it the 'you can return to S.H.I.E.L.D. now, my friend' type of call?" he asked with fake naivety in his voice. There was something unsettling about the way Fury phrased his words, it was triggering Phil's inner alarm system, but he decided to play dumb for now.

"No, Phil. This is most certainly the 'you're in huge trouble, my friend' type of call."

"Me? I didn't do anything! I have been hanging out with the Infinity Watch, having fun, saving lives... normal things."

"So you didn't do anything that would break the protocol, huh?"

Well... he transported right in the middle of Fitz's workshop, endangered the British inventor AND himself, stole a piece of LMD tech, and basically made Fitz into his accomplice by forcing him to perform experimental surgery on his hand, which Fitz wasn't even equipped to do, so if was a miracle the whole thing worked as intended, but aside from that... He was all clean.

"No sir," Phil said, his eyes drifting as they sometimes did when he wasn't telling the truth. What to say, the sunglasses he often wore were more than a purely cosmetic item.

He was glad he didn't have to look Fury in his face.

"Well, I have someone here who suggests otherwise," Fury objected, and Phil could hear the frustration in his voice. Fury wanted him to confess. But Phil was just too defiant to acknowledge he'd do anything wrong, unless he'd absolutely have to.

"I know you can transport from place to place now and I know you paid us a 'visit', Cheese, so please, drop the act. I'll send you coordinates on your phone. Use them to get here, and then delete them. I'll be waiting."

After this, Fury hung up, leaving Phil disorganized and nervous until the message arrived on his phone.

It took a few minutes, and then a string of letters and numbers appeared on the screen. It wasn't even an actual message, it wasn't in the inbox at all. Phil felt slightly violated, now that he was the "civilian" on the receiving end of the S.H.I.E.L.D. shenanigans instead of being the one that delivered those to the others.

He scrolled through the short string of characters he received. It was one of the simpler S.H.I.E.L.D. encryptions, yet it was still highly effective. It was built to be deciphered without the need for any additional hardware or software, well, on one condition - the recipient had to be capable of memorizing and using the encryption key by themselves.

Fury had the thing designed specifically for the emergency communication with Phil Coulson, and it was quite flattering at the time.

There was nobody else who'd be capable of memorizing as much superhero related data as Coulson did, and it wasn't too problematic for him to drill a few lines of numbers and keep them in his brain for this purpose.

Phil dissected the string in his head, piece by piece, and wrote the coordinates on  a sticky note using a very blunt pencil, tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he did so.

If he wasn't in trouble, it would actually be a very refreshing mind exercise. It reminded him of his former life, made him feel as if he would still be an agent.

He deleted the string from his phone, and headed to one of the cabinets, pulling out an old book of maps from between the folders. If Fury felt the need to encrypt the coordinates, it must have been one of S.H.I.E.L.D. bases, and feeding the coordinates back into his phone to see the map would be especially idiotic.

He also knew about the existence and position of most S.H.I.E.L.D. bases, so after he pinpointed the approximate location in the atlas, he was almost sure he knew in which one Fury was waiting for him.

It was a small building in California, most of which was situated underground, appearing as a regular family house from the outside. It didn't even have a code-name, and was categorized under the code "G-428".

Now that he knew the location, he remembered that he visited it a few times when he was still in his twenties, living the simple, careless life of a S.H.I.E.L.D. data analyst. Of course, he learned that his life used to be simple and careless only AFTER he left it behind and became a field agent.

Phil grabbed the sticky note with the coordinates and crumpled it into a tight ball, which he then put in his pocket. He tore off a sticky note No.2, and wrote a message on it in generous, wide capitals.

"I had to go visit my former boss. Sorry for not staying for the D&D. Coulson."

He put it in the middle of his desk, and put the pencil under it to make it stick out for whoever would enter the room to check on him. After that, he sent one if his selves to the spot right in front of the G-428.

He didn't move into that body just yet. He focused, and walked into the house through the closed door, stepped down the stairs and passed through the massive sealed hatch that led into the underground part of the base. He vaguely remembered the setup here, but instead of the omnipresent weaponry and various resources, the corridors were empty now. Phil wondered if the base went out of commission at some point, and he wondered why Fury wanted him here. If the former director didn't use the cipher, Phil would already be very suspicious as he walked through the base. But since he did use it, Coulson was only... moderately suspicious.

He let his invisible form pass through several rooms, until he found what he was searching for. Several worn metal chairs, and on one of them, there sat Nick Fury. But he wasn't the only one here... Leo Fitz sat next to him, and near to the wall of the empty room, there stood LMD Coulson. Phil hadn't seen the android since he visited him in the storage two months ago, but it seemed that Fitz remade his arm and attached it back as he promised, because the LMD was whole and seemingly intact. He was also turned off, and strangely enough, that alarmed Phil more than the unlikely setting of this meeting.

Fitz was here, he knew how terrified the LMD was of losing consciousness. Though Nick probably didn't care. That would be it. Nick treated LMDs like tools. Phil used to do that too, even shooting one with a gun to prevent it from carrying information to the enemy, but ever since he interacted with his own LMD close and personal, he realized just how real the illusion of life really was, and he wasn't even capable to forcefully turn him off when his copy asked him to keep it on.

Phil stood in front of Fury and Fitz, still invisible to the human eye. Thin strands of black energy flowed around his body. He wanted to make sure it's safe to materialize before he'd show himself.

"How long do you think it will take for him to arrive?" Fitz spoke. He looked nervous, but if he was there, and if the LMD was there, then Nick Fury already knew not only that Phil visited the base, but also about what Fitz and Phil did in the workshop, and it was perfectly normal for the Brit to be freaking out.

"He should be here any minute, unless he's delaying it," Fury frowned, "If your information is correct and he can instantaneously transport wherever he wants."

At that moment, a black shadow appeared in front of the two men, and soon it turned into Phil Coulson, standing there in his black suit and sunglasses, with the little skull pin on his jacket. He took off the sunglasses and folded them, putting them in his jacket's front pocket.

"Alright... let's get this over with," he said and looked straight into Fury's eye, "but for the record, this is entirely my fault. I dragged Fitz down with me, and he couldn't say no, because he still looks up to me."

Fury frowned, and Fitz looked at his director nervously.

"It sometimes baffles me how you keep thinking that everything revolves around you, Cheese," Fury said, "this isn't about you. It's about the protocols, safety measures, which you seem to be ignoring lately. Do you think you are above those?"

"No sir. I simply assessed the situation and acted in a way that had the best chance of success. There's a lot in play, Nick, and you don't have all the information. There's something horrible approaching Earth. I see it every time I close my eyes, and every time, it is closer."

"I maybe don't have all information... but neither do YOU," Fury objected, "but for you, that's necessary, because you aren't part of S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. For example, you don't know how your 'visit' caused a security breach, and we had to call a specialist to address that. If I had known you entered the base, we wouldn't have to battle this problem now."

Phil realized that his words about the scary entity left Fury unfazed, and he was wondering why. But he was even more concerned about the security breach.

"Wait... how? I didn't touch the security system," Phil objected, trying to defend himself.

"The energy you use to move around apparently disrupted the network and caused a lot of false positives around the base, and we had to address that. Unfortunately, after our technicians finally fixed the system, nobody realized we got an infiltrator already inside, and that infiltrator wasn't you, to make it clear."

Phil knew that many of the major S.H.I.E.L.D. bases were equipped with the very early prototypes of the Teleporter Indication System, which had been developed for a while now in response of all the attempts of Hydra and other baddies to infiltrate the secret places using devices and people able to teleport themselves, but he didn't believe it would actually pick up his own signature, considering the fact that he wasn't really teleporting anywhere... he was simply omnipresent.

Fury stood up.

"Give me your left hand, okay?" he ordered Coulson and after he man obeyed, he grabbed it, examined it closely in a way that was far from gentle, and ultimately, he twisted and detached it.

He seemed slightly surprised when it came off. He raised his eyebrow, and his gaze moved to the stump covered by a metal plate with circular grooves that were designed to hold the hand in place. Then he gave Phil his hand back, well, he shoved it into his chest, barely waiting for him to grab it with his uninjured right hand.

"I am sure this was a lot to go through, but you aren't supposed to keep things like this secret. It's not yours to decide, not to mention that you endangered Fitz, the base, and ultimately the ENTIRETY of S.H.I.E.L.D. with your behavior."

Phil gave Fury a concerned look, and screwed the hand back on, adjusting the "chameleon tape" that was hiding the seam between his hand and the LMD tech. If it wasn't his to decide, who's was it, then? As Fury noted before, he wasn't an agent anymore. Fury wasn't his superior. He was a part of the Infinity Watch now, and in their team, no one had any right to control anyone else like that. But Phil decided not to point that out, as it wouldn't do any good in improving his current situation. He looked at Fitz, and Fury followed his eyes.

"Oh no, Fitz wasn't the one who told me," Fury said as if he'd read his mind, "and neither your LMD. Even though telling a LMD to keep a secret is the same as telling a book to not allow anyone to read it."

"Who, then? And why are we here? Is it because of the security breach?"

"Why are we here..." Nick Fury repeated, his voice unusually quiet. He grabbed his forehead.

"I'm actually... Not entirely sure," he added. Confusion took over Phil's former director's face, and to see him like this was terrifying to Phil.

The door behind Coulson opened, which caused him to turn around as fast as he could to see who was entering the room. The gray-skinned man with yellow eyes grinned, showing off his sharp canines. He was wearing the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. field agent uniform with the eagle logos on his shoulders and white utility belt.

"It was me," he said, "and the reason we are here... is to make you remember."

He reached out his hand, which was darker in color than his face, and on the tip of each of his fingers, there was a shiny black claw. In a moment, the heads of Fury and Fitz fell down.

"You destroyed my life in this room. So I think it's only fitting if this is the place where I destroy yours."

 Memories hit Phil like a heavily armored bus.

"Chris?"

--

Two days ago, Fury's office.

"So you are the specialist?" Fury asked the man in front of him. Despite his monstrous appearance, the man had a genuine, kind expression on his face.

"Agent Chris Lewis, at your service," he said and handed Fury a black file with a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the front side, "Maria Hill requested a telepath who's able to take care of themselves on a solo mission, so I was one of the best candidates."

Fury opened the file, and browsed through the pages.

"An inhuman, huh. Telepathic abilities coupled with increased durability and improved reflexes. Plus claws... You really are an all-in-one package, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," agent Lewis smiled.

"I don't think my unit worked with you in the past. What brings you to S.H.I.E.L.D.? It's not that usual for your kind to join forces with us."

"Well, it's not that unusual either," Chris corrected him, "but well, I wasn't changed by the Royal Family, as they call themselves, nor by the T-Bomb. It happened when S.H.I.E.L.D. got its hand on several Terrigen crystals and I was tasked with examining their authenticity. I have been working with S.H.I.E.L.D. for more than 30 years by now, but I did everything to keep my job as a researcher, despite of what happened. That might be the reason you haven't encountered me yet."

Fury nodded and closed the file.

"Does that mean you have no experience in the field?" he asked the gray-skinned man, but Chris shook his head.

"I have been on a few missions, mostly similar to this one. Infiltrate, neutralize, cover the tracks... Erase minds... Solo missions. I'm quite capable of handling this," he said.

"Good. We need to have this taken care of asap."

"And sir?" agent Lewis stood up, holding the file in his hand.

"Yes, agent?"

"I feel the need to inform you that one of your subordinates is keeping a big and potentially harmful secret from you and the agency. I think that should be taken care of as well."

Fury raised an eyebrow, and gestured him to sit down again.

"Okay, tell me the details," Fury said, leaning backwards in his chair.

"I bumped into one of the guys from the scientific division on my way here. I don't usually invade people's privacy, but he was so scattered that bits of his mind leaked to me, and what they contained was quite concerning. The breach this base experienced was caused by Phil Coulson, and this guy was covering for him. I'd question him, if I were you. Also it seems the situation is somehow connected to some LMD they encountered."

"Fitz..." Fury growled, "give me a moment, I need to talk to him."

--

Agent Lewis nodded, but he was already lost in his thoughts. Phil Coulson was somehow alive. He spent years imagining what everything he would do to Coulson if he ever met him again. He imagined how he'd fry his brain and turn him into a vegetable. He imagined scratching him so badly that he'd look on the outside exactly how he was on the inside. Phil Coulson, the coward who abandoned his friend and closed the door just to save his skin. Phil moved on to become a field agent, later he was promoted to the Field Director, still in the center, appreciated, admired. He got the career he wanted.

While he, Chris, was used as a tool, and they would be using him much more if he would let them.

When the news of Deadpool killing Coulson got to him, he thought he'd never get the satisfaction of payback. Yet the man had risen from the dead, and Chris would get another chance as well... a chance to send him right back where he came from.

He touched the mind of Nick Fury. He knew he wasn't supposed to do that, but he decided to do it anyway. He dived in, and immediately noticed a layer of psi-shields hiding his mind from the telepathic attacks, attacks like the one he was doing right now.

Chris Lewis smirked. During the years, he never disclosed just how strong his mind really was. It was an asset to work with, this information, an asset that made people underestimate him, until it was too late. He was perfectly capable of creating such shields himself, maybe even stronger ones than Nick Fury had in his mind right now... and he was able to break them into pieces.

He implanted several directives into Fury's brain, all disguised as his own thoughts. To call Phil Coulson into the abandoned G-428. To head there himself. And to take Chris with him, while convinced that this mission was more important than chasing the infiltrator. As he finished, he repaired Fury's psi-shields, and let his subconscious do the job.

--

Maria Hill was questioning Fury's decision the moment he set on a mission with the man who had his own task to do. And he was calling Phil Coulson?

Phil wasn't the only one who had the decryption key, even though the Head Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. did use a piece of software to decipher the coordinates her technicians sweeped from Coulson's civilian phone.

They let a telepath into the base, and suddenly, Fury behaves strange?

To be sure everything would go well, and to be ready for any situation, Maria Hill made a phone call with a guy who knew a guy, who knew another guy, and finally got her hand on the one person that had the best chance in fighting someone like agent Lewis.

"Hey. I know you don't owe me anything, but I was thinking you'd consider this fun. You do like having fun, don't you? Think about it as a family reunion, and a way to make amends. I need you at certain coordinates as soon as possible. Oh and yes... it's about Phil Coulson. He's alive."

"Oh yes, that will be fun for sure," sounded an amused and slightly manic voice from her phone speaker.

"Do your best," Maria Hill said and hung up. She really hoped her gut feeling was wrong...

--

"Chris... What have you done to them?" Phil asked, staring at his former friend who just stood there, smirk on his face.

"Nothing... just triggered the REM sleep phase in them, so they won't bother us as we talk. But you, on the other hand... I have some plans for you," he said.

Phil could feel sudden pressure in his mind, and the Death Stone, deep in his chest, released a powerful surge of energy that almost caused his whole body to spasm.

He knew Chris had became a telepath when his inhuman genes activated. He visited him a few times before his friend told the personnel not to let him come into his cell anymore. He just wanted to help, and he felt guilty, but he also saw Chris distance himself from Phil, becoming resentful, and so their paths split at the end.

He never realized how powerful the guy was. When he interrogated several telepaths a bit ago, he could feel their effort to manipulate him as a little tingle in the back of his brain. But Chris went much further than that. He wanted to harm him, hurt him using only his mind. And it caused the Death Stone to kick in to preserve his sanity. Phil's eyes turned completely black, as if there was nothing inside, and his hands blackened as well, black particles surrounding his fists like some sort of inverse fireflies.

"How are you resisting this? Nobody can do that!" Chris shrieked, and swung his arm to punch Phil in the stomach.

"As I'd tell you," Phil said and stepped to the side, causing Chris to lose balance and fall forward. He swiftly turned around and gave him a little push. The inhuman crashed into the wall, but he was back on his feet almost immediately. He was used to count on his mind-control abilities and his superior reflexes, but he seemed to have never learned how to fight without looking into the mind of his opponent.

He rushed against Phil, who deflected his second attack in a very similar manner to the first. Chris' nose was bleeding now.

"You have changed, Chris, but so did I. Did you ever wonder how I came back from the dead? Because... I do have a few aces up my sleeve."

Phil tried to focus. He grabbed Chris by the neck with his robotic left hand and attempted to hold him, but even though his prosthetic hand was much stronger than the one made from flesh and blood, Chris managed to slip out of his grip and swung his claws straight at his face.

The moment the first claw touched Coulson's face and dug into his cheek, leaving a bloody mark behind, Phil collected himself and became intangible, causing his former friend to lose balance once again as his hand passed straight through his head.

"The hell? What even are you?" Chris asked, staring Phil right in the face, "were you turned too? Never mind... Time to change the game."

He turned to Fitz and Fury, and the two raised their heads immediately. Phil froze in place.

"Leave them out of this, Chris! This is between you and me," he said as the two stood up, empty expressions on their faces.

Coulson had to think fast. He could just leave, disappear completely, but since Chris knew that he cared about Fury and Fitz, he could hurt them instead of him. He couldn't risk that. The fact that the true strength of Chris' mental power, and his psychical instability, stayed hidden from S.H.I.E.L.D. for this long, truly baffled him. The only reason he could think of was his former friend manipulating the minds of the researchers as they were studying him, and that was a scary thought.

He needed someone to take care of the two agents while he would work on defeating the telepath. His gaze turned to the LMD Coulson.

--

Two seconds later, they were all standing in that almost empty room. Phil and LMD Coulson stood back to back surrounded by Chris, Fitz and Fury, preparing for the hell that was about to break loose.

"Don't forget, the gray guy is controlling our friends, so please, try just to take them out of his range, and don't harm them, alright?" Phil murmured.

"Understood. I'm happy to see you again, Phil, I just wish we met under some other circumstances." LMD Coulson answered.

"We can have a chat when this is over. Now, go!" Phil ordered, and sprung forward. LMD Coulson blocked Fitz's first hit with ease. He was mind-controlled, but his fighting skills were exactly like they were before, which in this case meant almost nonexistent. Fury was a tougher nut to crack. He came at the LMD and hit him in the back of his head, causing him to freeze for a moment before he could react and deflect the next hit. LMD Coulson was stronger than a human would be, but his combat skills were derived from the mind of his original, and Nick Fury was simply a better fighter. The LMD set his priorities and grabbed Fitz, who tried to hit him again, and rendered him unconscious with a precisely calculated punch that hit the Brit's head. Now he could fully focus on the bigger threat.

"They'll be safe, don't worry," he shouted at Phil, who was still fighting Chris.

"I'll just tear your robo buddy apart, limb by limb," Chris cackled and Phil grabbed him from behind to prevent him from interfering with LMD Coulson's fight.

"You're staying here," he said, and he realized that he'd need to use all his tricks to defeat this guy. And so he pulled another ace from his sleeve.

Oh, how he hated doing this.

Phil released the black beam from his hand.

Chris screamed. His body twisted in agony, yet he still kept his hold on Nick Fury's mind. The one-eyed man abandoned the LMD Coulson, who was now laying on the ground and trying to get up again, and moved towards Phil.

Coulson pushed harder. He went straight through the limit he imposed on himself, and there was nobody to tell him to stop. The black energy kept flowing into Chris, his face wrinkled with pain and his mouth open, but nothing stopped Fury from approaching the two... Until he was almost next to Phil. The empty expression on his face suddenly disappeared, and confusion took its place.

"Wait... what happened?" Fury looked at his hands, bruised from punching the LMD, and then at Phil, who was hovering just a bit above the ground, his eyes and hands completely black. The man he was attacking was not moving anymore.

"PHIL, STOP!" Fury shouted, grabbed Coulson's shoulders and shook him with all his strength. But the former agent wasn't responding.

--

One of Phil's selves appeared in the room, and looked at himself, hanging in the air. He was confused. It was the first time his primary self was this close to someone he had to lead to the afterlife.

A black file appeared in his hand, and he opened it. It was the file of Chris Lewis. The field titled "Cause of death:" contained one sentence. Killed by Phil Coulson. Chris stood up.

He looked back at his body, and then looked Phil in the eyes.

"I get it now," he said, "why I couldn't control your mind, and why my hand passed right through you when we fought. Why you are actually here even though you were killed years ago.Well, I hope you are satisfied now."

Phil wanted to object, to tell his former friend that he never wanted to hurt him, he never wanted him to suffer, and that it was Chris who tried to hurt him, and what was worse, he tried to hurt the people around him, and if there was anything that would make him go berserk, it was his friends getting hurt. But he didn't tell this to Chris.

"To be honest.. I missed you for a very long time, and I will miss you no matter what happened between us," he said instead, and watched the inhuman's form slowly disappear.

--

Phil's primary body finally came to its senses. His hands became their normal, pale color, and his feet finally hit the floor. He didn't even look at Chris' body, he turned his head to look at Fury and LMD Coulson, and then collapsed on the floor.

"Oh COME ON!" someone shouted and slammed the door. Phil knew that voice, and it immediately caused him to relive one of his worst memories, the pain, his life leaving his body, and the fire, which consumed what was left of him... He flinched and tried to move away as the masked guy stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Like... seriously? I went ALL THE WAY here, just to be what, twenty minutes late for the grand finale? You gotta be kidding me. I'd think the readers would go WILD to see the epic fight of Deadpool and.... whoever that was."

"What the hell are you babbling about?" Fury asked.

Deadpool scratched his head and made a few steps towards Phil, who tried to wiggle his way out of the mercenary's reach. The mercenary let out a massive cough of awkwardness.

"Anyway. I'm glad all of you... I mean, most of you... are okay. Nick Fury? Phil Coulson? The OTHER Phil Coulson? The unconscious and not that important guy here on the side? Nice to see you!"

"That's Leo Fitz," LMD Coulson murmured.

"Why are you here?" Nick Fury frowned, staring at Deadpool.

"Hey, hey! I know I'm a kind of an unlikely ally, but my intentions are pure like Alaskan snow! I got a call from Maria Hill to follow you guys here and save the day, because of my charming personality, good fashion sense and because I'm immune to mind control. Like really, my brain is like radioactive waste for any telepath who would be dumb enough and try anything funny with me. AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET A CHANCE TO FIGHT!"

"Seriously? Do you think we are morons? Why would a guy like you jump when Maria Hill whistles at you? I know well how you relish your freedom," Fury noted.

"Honestly? She told me that Phil would be here. And I see it's even better, because I have TWO Phils to choose from! I wanted to.." Deadpool's masked eyes lowered, "I honestly just wanted to apologize."

LMD Coulson crouched next to his original.

"Hey... Phil, are you okay?" he asked, his voice soft and caring.

"Do I look okay to you, Phil? I killed the person that used to be my friend, had to lead him into the afterlife, and now there's the clown who murdered me and got me into all that mess with being the new Death in the first place... I'm supposed to help people to go to the other side, not to choose who dies and who lives... He was misguided and salty, but he wasn't a bad person."

Phil leaned on LMD Coulson's shoulder.

"I seriously hate my life sometimes," he confessed, and closed his eyes.

"Oh no no no, I'm many things, but a clown, not a chance. Clowns are VILE, I'm friendly! Wait. Did you say you were the new Death? I knew the old Lady Death! She was a beautiful lady, and we had a thing going on... are you trying to tell me now that this grim bean here on the floor is the Death now??"

Phil nodded.

"Oh, so that explains the skull trinket you are wearing. Damn it! Well, I won't try to kiss you, if that concerns you, but damn... What a twist. I'm actually kinda disappointed."

"That's a good choice. I would put your healing factor into good use if you tried that," Phil said and stood up, looking Deadpool in his masked face. He was still a bit shaken, but he kept telling himself that it was just an irrational reaction based on things that happened long ago. He was a different person now, and while he was absolutely defenseless against the Merc with a Mouth when he killed Coulson in the woods, the former agent had to wonder what would the outcome be now. He shivered at the thought. What was happening to him? He had just killed a man, and now he's thinking about a fight with Deadpool?

"Oho, you got pretty snappy since I last met you!" Deadpool giggled, and then went silent for a second, "anyway.. I owe you an apology. I wanted so much to be a hero in the eyes of Captain America, that I didn't use my brain! Cap would never send me to kill a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

Phil's corners twisted in a semblance of a smile.

"Apology accepted. I wouldn't think I'd say this, but I'm... glad that you are here," he said, and shook the hand Deadpool offered him.

"Uh... do I need to apologize to the other Phil too?"

"I'm a LMD," the other Phil said.

"Okay, that makes a lot of sense," Deadpool said, but shook his hand anyway, "oh, nice, you feel exactly like him."

A pained groan sounded from behind them, and Fitz sat up, holding his forehead. He looked at the people in the room, and at the body of Chris Lewis.

"I think I missed a lot, didn't I," he said, and Fury, both Coulsons and Deadpool nodded in unison.

--

Two days later, the office of Maria Hill.

Coulson and Fury sat in chairs in front of Hill's desk, with the Director herself sitting behind it. Phil had an expression of nervous anticipation on his face, and he was tapping his fingers together, observing how his left hand couldn't feel anything while his right hand could, just to distract himself from what was about to come.

Maria Hill was writing something down into a form, and once she finished, she put down the pen and raised her eyes to look Coulson in the face.

"Coulson. You caused us a lot of issues after your retirement, thinking that S.H.I.E.L.D. rules didn't apply to you anymore..." Maria Hil started, and Phil looked down, trying to prepare himself for what would come next.

"But ultimately, even though you initially made a mess, you also saved Fury and Fitz from an agent gone rogue, and eliminated the threat. I believe that you are perfectly capable of working in the agency... and maybe it's actually a good idea to have you here to keep an eye on you... you need to realize once again, that S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols exist for a reason."

Phil blinked. Did Maria Hill just offered him to return to S.H.I.E.L.D? After all that?

"With all due respect, Director Hill, I didn't mean to 'eliminate' agent Lewis, and it pains me to know what I did. I'm not supposed to take lives by myself, not with my function, and I'm well aware that if I'd returned, I wouldn't be here for my expertise, like I used to be. You would make me an asset, put my powers to use, to do harm, and that means that I have to decline."

"You never had any trouble harming the ones that deserved it, Coulson. I know that as well as you do," Maria Hill objected and clicked the pen.

"I was given a responsibility after my resurrection," he answered, looking in her eyes, "and I believe that killing agent Lewis was a big mistake on my side caused by a simple conflict of interests. I can't let such mistakes happen again. Also, I have my place with the Infinity Watch now."

"Very well, then. But be aware that I can't let you promenade around our facilities anytime you choose. So the next time you'll need that hand of yours tweaked, tell agent Fitz to meet with you on neutral grounds."

"Understood, Director Hill," Phil nodded, and Fury looked at him.

"Don't you want to think this through, Cheese? I know how much you wanted to return. If you refuse now, that door is closed," Nick said, his voice quiet.

"I'm sure about it. But I have a request. I'd like to take my LMD with me."

Maria Hill raised an eyebrow.

"Do you expect that someone would want to hurt you, Coulson?" she asked, dropping the pen again.

"No, Director Hill. But the guy finally deserves to have some fun, you know? Adventures, rest... I'd like him to experience retirement the same way I do."

"Hmm... You really did change. It's actually quite interesting... I can fulfill that request. Since you won't be working here anymore, we have no use for your LMD either. Let me just prepare the forms so I can remove it from the inventory. Anything else?"

"The infiltrator."

"Oh, that's being taken care of. Agent Lewis wasn't the only one suitable for the job. I sent someone after her right after Fury left the base."

Phil closed his eyes for a moment. The fiery beast appeared in his mind's eye like it always did. He was actually getting used to seeing it. Once it arrives, he'll take care of it.

"That's a relief," he told Maria Hill.

--

The Infinity Watch's secret base.

"Hey, Overtime, could you check on Coulson with me? He didn't leave his room since he came back from his meeting, and I think he's... talking to himself?"

Star stood in the room of the Time Stone bearer, and she seemed to actually care about the state of her teammate, which was kind of refreshing to see. The two stopped in front of Coulson's office, and stayed silent, trying to pick any sounds from behind the closed door.

"I tell you, you forgot an indentation in the line number 23. Look here..."

"It would seem so. Let me try to run it again to see if that helps."

"Oh yeah, good job figuring that out, Phil. I would just be blindly flapping around trying to figure out where I made a mistake."

"You're welcome, Phil. And you were right, this is a very nice activity to keep one's braincells in shape."

Star looked at Overtime. The conversation was all done in one voice, the voice of Phil Coulson.

"I think he finally lost it. I'm surprised it took this long. Never mind, I'm going in," she whispered and knocked loudly, just to open the door without warning and step inside. Phil, standing near the computer screen, turned towards her.

"Star, what did I tell you about waiting after you knock? Oh, hey Overtime," he said and smiled at both of them.

On the leather chair, there sat second Phil, who now stood up and moved to the side of the first Phil. They both looked at Star and Overtime with the same slight smile and a spark of mischief in their eyes, and they were dressed in the same black suit, black tie, white shirt and the skull pin on the suit jacket.

"Err... Did you do anything I wouldn't know of, Overtime?" Star asked as she looked at the time manipulator.

"This isn't his doing, don't worry," Phil on the right said.

"We are just having a bit of fun," added the left Phil.

"Ok, so which of you is our Phil?" Overtime asked.

"That question is actually very on point," the right Phil noted.

"He is," they said in unison and pointed at each other. Then both of them bursted into laughter.

"Oh god, you should have seen your faces!" said the left Phil, and the right Phil raised his hands as if he was giving up.

"Okay, okay... Phil here, he's an LMD built in my image. A Life Model Decoy. Umm... a robot created to sacrifice himself to save me, okay? But I saved him from getting scrapped by S.H.I.E.L.D. when I left the agency," one of the Coulsons explained, tapping the other Coulson on the shoulder. The other Coulson smiled.

"Okay... does that mean you are definitely retired? Like, without any hope of return?" Overtime asked, his eyes drifting from one face to the other. They both nodded.

"Oh... I'm so sorry, Coulson..." he started, but the right Phil raised his hand to shush him.

"They wanted me back, but I chose our team before S.H.I.E.L.D. Because you were right, Star, I really was more loyal to them than to the Infinity Watch, and that was hindering me," he said, and the moment he finished, Star squeezed him in a hug.

"Welcome to the Infinity Watch, then," she whispered in his ear, "but I still think giving your robot copy the exact same clothes as you was a terrible idea."

 "You're just jealous," Phil grinned.

It was nice to be home.

END