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Coulson's eyes were filled with confusion, and beneath that, a layer of caution.
He glanced down at his body. Aside from a faint golden glow encasing him, there was nothing visibly strange.
"Close encounter of the third kind? Are you… aliens?"
Unable to make sense of his current condition, even the usually composed Phil Coulson couldn't help but grow suspicious.
"Well… sort of."
A voice sounded in his ear just then, and the crowd around him parted to reveal a familiar young man.
Coulson's pupils contracted sharply. "Instructor? Why are you here?"
"Technically speaking, I'm the one who brought you here," Arthur shrugged. "You were practically dead, just a single breath left. I froze your time, sealed your injuries, and brought you here to find a way to heal you."
Coulson finally exhaled slowly. "What happened to New York? And everything after? I was honestly worried you'd say Earth was destroyed and this was humanity's last rebel base."
Arthur smirked. "You know… I'm beginning to think your hair loss might come from that wildly exaggerated imagination of yours."
"New York's fine. Earth's fine. Humanity's greatest strength might be its short memory. Thanks to SHIELD's efforts, most civilians have already forgotten that little 'grand entertainment event' from a year ago."
"…That's a relief, wait, did you say a year ago?"
Coulson's instincts kicked in instantly. His gaze locked onto Arthur like a radar. "Did you just say… one year?"
"Very clearly. I didn't misspeak, and you didn't mishear."
Arthur waved his hand, prompting the Asgardian doctors nearby to respectfully exit the room. He pulled over a chair and sat down.
"You've been gone for a full year since I brought you here."
Coulson's face turned somewhat somber. He sighed.
"That means, as far as SHIELD's concerned, I'm a dead man."
"Looks like… I lost my job."
Arthur blinked. "Why would you think that?"
"I've got no way to explain what happened this past year. Hell, I don't even understand it."
Coulson shook his head in resignation. "A field agent who loses trust? He's basically useless. If I can't be trusted, I can't operate."
Arthur hadn't thought of that.
He was, after all, a latecomer to this game. When it came to these kinds of details, Coulson's experience far outpaced his own.
But… maybe that was a good thing.
If Coulson had lost his old job, Arthur could just reassign him. A "field deployment," a change of scenery, and a change of pace. That could work out nicely, right?
He tucked the idea away for now. No need to bring it up too soon.
After sitting with Coulson in quiet thought for a while, Arthur finally said, "Anyway, don't worry too much. Just focus on resting. And for the record, this is Asgard, you probably know of it."
"Thor's homeworld?" Coulson blinked. "Also Loki's?"
"Bingo," Arthur nodded. "Loki's dead now. Thor's constantly off-world on missions. So you probably won't see too many familiar faces around here."
"Some faces… I don't mind not seeing." Coulson rubbed his chest gently, then marveled aloud, "Incredible technology. I'm amazed I'm even alive under these circumstances."
"To be honest, it took quite a bit out of me to bring you back," Arthur admitted. "But let's talk more once you've fully recovered."
Coulson paused, then gave Arthur a knowing look, followed by a slight smile.
"You… brought me back because you need my help with something, didn't you?"
Arthur scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly. "Caught red-handed, huh?"
"…" Coulson had no idea what to say. "You know… it's written all over your face, man."
Arthur: "We'll talk more after you've recovered. Even though I'm in a hurry, honestly, this isn't the kind of thing that needs rushing. Just focus on resting here for now. I…"
He hadn't even finished his sentence when his wristband suddenly began to blink.
The display showed an incoming transmission, from Tony.
Arthur nodded toward Coulson and stepped outside to answer.
"How'd you pull it off?"
Tony's voice came through, trying to sound nonchalant, though the smugness was barely concealed.
"Just a preliminary result. Banner just finished this prototype. It doesn't have most of the core functions yet, but we've integrated remote communication. It's practically black-tech-level stuff, especially the part where we adapted teleportation array theory to transmit data. We're basically breaking dimensional laws here!"
Arthur deadpanned. "…Is that really something you should be bragging about right now?"
"You didn't call just to show off your new toy, did you?"
"Of course not!" Tony replied quickly. "Okay, maybe partly. But actually, Natasha insisted I contact you. She thinks you should come back and check something out. Personally, I don't think it's that urgent, but… well, better safe than sorry."
Arthur leaned against the railing, gazing out over Asgard's shimmering skyline.
"What is it?"
"You ever heard of an organization called the Life Foundation?"
Arthur frowned. "Huh?"
That name… it sounded familiar. But he couldn't quite place where he'd heard it.
"Guess not," Tony said. "According to Natasha, she's been working on reorganizing the central info network. She's also begun laying groundwork for communication channels with a few other intelligence groups. SHIELD's been smoothing things over, so everyone's been getting along pretty well… and during one of those info exchanges, she got her hands on something about the Life Foundation."
"And?"
"Apparently, they launched a rocket about six months ago. Nothing unusual, until it came back down. The return mission had some kind of accident, and that's what triggered Natasha's suspicions."
Arthur squinted.
"Are you reading this off a script?"
There was something strangely… rehearsed about Tony's delivery.
"…Would you stop pointing out the weirdest things?"
Tony sighed. "You know me, my genius brain's overloaded with brilliant ideas. I've got no spare capacity for memorizing half-baked conspiracy leads that might go nowhere."
"Fair enough." Arthur thought it over. Most of what Tony had mentioned was new to him.
"Anything else?"
"A bit. The follow-up investigation didn't turn up much. Honestly, I think the info source just googled some stuff and tacked it on for filler," Tony said. "But they did dig up one thing: about six months ago, the Life Foundation had a minor scandal. Apparently, Eddie Brock, host of the Brock Report, did a special interview with their chairman, Carlton Drake."
"Get this, he accused them of performing inhumane experiments on vagrants."