19 Coulson is alive

"So Rhodey tells me you cheated on him with a giant woman," Tony said a grin as soon as he saw me on the catwalk, staring down at the ocean. He walked up and sat next to me. "I mean what, you two join bodies one second, then you're hitting on someone else the next? You promiscuous bastard."

"First off," I said with a scowl. "You, of all people, calling me promiscuous-"

"He's devastated," Tony said, still grinning. "I mean, you two were once one body, one soul, then a red-eyed tart comes along-

"-I've read the tabloids, I'm pretty sure not a single supermodel on Earth hasn't at least heard a crappy pickup line from you-"

"-I know you're young, but love like the one Rhodey and you share only comes-wait did you call my pickup lines crappy? Kid, I've been with more woman than you've ever stared longingly at-"

We were arguing in the room that had now become the hang out on the ship, someplace that had once been the clear dome on the bottom of the helicarrier. We stood on the catwalk that led to the tower in the center of the room. After a moment, we both ran out of insults, simply staring at the ocean below.

"Rhodey said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Tony asked. "I mean, I generally ignore requests, but if you put one in with Happy..."

I snorted. "It's about you replicating Upgrade. It's about X. It's about a million things."

"Hmf," Tony moved to sit on the catwalk, letting his legs dangle in the air. "Well, that's a lot. You want to start with how X is an AI?" When I gave him a surprised look, he smirked. "Come on, who're you talking to? Of course, I knew. I figured out he'd evolved almost immediately."

"Is that possible?" I asked. "For an AI to develop in a single day?"

"Eh, depends on the AI," Tony said. "I've been trying to make something like that myself, to run certain projects..." Tony waved for me to sit down. Once I'd done so, he spoke again. "Okay, so here's the thing. I want to bring you in on some projects me and a friend have been working on. Usually, you would be too dumb for me to even mention it-"

"I do my best," I said offended.

"Losers whine about their best," Tony said without skipping a beat. "Anyways, where was I? Oh right. Your watch is the most advanced thing I've seen. Hands down. And Jury Rigg can make some unbelievable things out of literal junk. But if we work together..." He removed one of the communications devices we'd made from his ear and held it out. "This thing is going to revolutionize how we talk to people, kid. I mean, quantum entanglement? The ability to talk to someone who is across the universe instantly, no worrying about lag or things like light speed? Once we figure out how to make these without Jury Rigg, and mass produce it... It'll change the world."

I leaned against the metal railing, swinging my legs as I watched him put it away. "You use that watch to turn into mad geniuses, I help you make cool toys, you help me do the same, and I'll pay you. How's that sound?"

"...What about SHIELD?" I asked.

"What, you want to work for them too?" Tony asked. "Sure, we'll throw it in the contract. Just no sharing anything you make for me with them, not without them paying us a shit-ton. Deal?"

I thought about that for a moment. Working with whatever SHIELD was going to become, making money by creating things with Tony 'freaking' Stark. That sounded awesome!

"I'm in," I said. "But one thing. We do everything, and I mean everything, to make sure not to create some sort of Skynet machine, okay? If some robot similar to Upgrade got out, we'd all be in some shit."

Tony rolled his eyes. "All right, fine."

"I'm serious," I said. "I know making robots is cool, but if we do make them, let's make sure they're run by an AI we know isn't crazy. And that any we develop are on a non-networked computer. On the moon. While making sure it knows 'humans are friends, not fuel.'"

He chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, all right kid. Welcome to the Stark Industries R&D department. Bruce is going to love your paranoia."

Later we'd arrived at the rendezvous. Sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with no land in sight for hundreds of miles, was the Iliad. It was kinda funny seeing her in the middle of the water with two Insight helicarriers flying over to join her. Sort of a mesh of the old and new. Quinjets and helicopters flew came from across the world, carrying SHIELD agents and personnel from bases everywhere.

Our helicarrier was where the proceedings would take place, so I watched from on top of the command tower as people began to arrive. Tony, Steve, and Clint were with me, all dressed in casual clothes now. I'd chosen to wear a SHIELD t-shirt and sweatpants as we watched the people come onto the ship in droves. Iron Man's good mood had evaporated by now as we watched a plane with rocket engines slowly hover to land on the flight deck. The black plane, called 'the Bus', was big enough that a parking space had to be set aside for it.

"I can't believe he was alive all this time," Tony said.

"He wasn't," I replied. "You saw the same files we did."

"Whatever, temporarily dead!" Tony spat out. "Damn it, I... I mourned for that guy! I went to his funeral, I sent his girlfriend flowers and... shit."

Steveplacede a hand on Tony's shoulder, and didn't look offended when Tony shrugged it off. "He has a lot to answer for, but he did sacrifice everything for the world to try and stop Loki. For that, we should give him a moment to try to explain."

"Explain why he lied to us?" Tony shook his head. "I'm not wired like that, Steve."

"It wasn't anything personal," Clint noted.

"Of course you'd say that," Tony scoffed.

I sat down and watched as the Bus landed. Soon, the hatch in the back opened, and it's occupants came out. In the center stood Phillip J. Coulson, the target of Tony's ire. A man who had died, but was brought back to life in a project called TAHITI, one so secret I couldn't find out any specifics about it. With him were five other people.

Leopold Fitz, a young man with curly brown hair and a mind so brilliant it left me in awe. Standing next to Jemma Simmons, a young woman with long brown hair and a mind for biology that left me just as amazed as Fitz. The two geniuses stood close to each other. Apparently they were together so often people would simply call them Fitz-Simmons.

Melinda May, an older Asian woman with long black hair, and someone so famous in SHIELD that the personnel were constantly whispering about the legend of 'the Cavalry.' A lot of people were trying to find a way to get her with the other famous fighters of our little fleet to start a some sort of tournament between them.

Then there was Skye, last name not chosen. Jarvis had found information that she was actually named Mary Sue Poots, which... goddamn, no wonder she changed it. Mary Sue was bad enough to my writers sensibilities, considering the hatred connected with that name, Poots was freaking ridiculous. She was a skilled hacker, enough for Jarvis to acknowledge her, and was a recent addition to SHIELD.

Last was Antoine "Trip" Triplett, a skilled operative in his own right, and, interestingly, a descendant of a Howling Commando. He was a tall and extremely fit man, with a well groomed mustache.

The group seemed devastated, a sort of heavy sadness shared between them all, even the stoic looking May. As they walked forward, I saw Sharon Carter call out to Trip, who smiled. He walked up to her and the two hugged in greeting.

"Peggy Carter's great niece and Gabe Jones' grandson," I noted as I watched them speak. "Guess it makes sense they know each other."

"Huh," Tony watched them meet with a complicated look on his face. So did Steve.

"I say its just what we need," Clint said. "We're rebuilding SHIELD. It only makes sense for the descendants of the people who made it to be there for it."

Tony didn't seem to know what to think of that, possibly thinking of his father as he watched his fellow members of the 'Descendants of Steve's friends' club. We watched Coulson and his team enter the ship. Next came the crew of the Iliad, flying up on a Quinjet.

Robert Gonzales, the captain of the Iliad, was in the center of his team. He'd only brought three people, none of whom I recognized, since I'd only checked Coulson team on Tony's behalf. One of them, a tall woman with long black hair, looked like Lucy Lawless from Xena: Warrior Princess though, and the blonde had the same looks as the First Officer from the show The Orville, one of my favorite TV shows in my world. They must have been fairly important in this universe.

"Jarvis," I asked, knowing he was listening over comms. "Tell me about the three people with Gonzales."

"Of course sir," Jarvis said. After a second, he spoke once more. "The blonde woman is-"

"Bobbi Morse," Clint said fondly.

I kept from flinching as I realized I was looking at Mockingbird. Then I realized something. "Ex-Girlfriend?"

Clint looked up at me, startled. I grinned at him, as did Tony. "Uh..."

"Oh my god," Tony said with delight in his voice. "Two super-spies dating? Scandalous."

"Glass houses, Tony," Steve noted.

"Yeah, like I'd live in one again, but the last one is still rubble in Malibu," Tony said, still grinning at Clint. "So what, you guys met while stabbing someone at the same time?"

Clint sighed in annoyance. "Can't you keep bothering Dial about his weird love triangle with Rhodey and a supervillainess?"

"Oh come on!" I yelled, annoyed. "I'm terrible enough with women without you guys spreading rumors."

"Nah," Tony said. "Girls like guys with a weird sexual history, makes them curious. Plus, can you imagine how useful some of your aliens would be for-"

"Okay!" Steve interrupted. He spun around to walk away. "Not going to be part of this conversation... Hey Natasha, hey Sam."

We all spun to see an amused Black Widow staring at us with a very amused smirk on her face, Sam grinning madly.

"Catch you ladies at a bad time?" Natasha teased.

"Can you teach me how to flirt?" I asked, frustrated. "So I can somehow expunge the damage Tony is doing to my romantic reputation?"

"If anything, I'm helping," Tony smiled innocently when I glared at him. "Hey, I'm just saying. Some ladies might be into a guy who can turn into aliens like Upgra-"

"Please no!" I plugged my ears in horror. "For the love of God!"

Natasha rolled her eyes at our antics. Then she looked at me. "Dial," I unplugged my ears when I saw how serious she was. "We need to talk. About everything."

"Fury sent us," Sam added. "Said it was time you told us where you came from," he said apologetically.

"...Okay. But I'm going to need some stuff for that."