Plot-bunny: The Avengers

[marbleglove]

So I've been reading a lot of fix-it fics for the Avengers. If you haven't watched the movie, don't know what so many of us want fixed, and don't want spoilers, then go out and watch the movie right now.

However, there's one fix-it story that I haven't been able to find, that I would really like to read, so if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

Anyway:

So there's Coulson, stabbed through the back and dying. But all we have is Fury's word that the medics actually called his death and Fury is a spy master so if he doesn't lie as easy as breathing, he wouldn't be very good at his job. Which is really all the rationalization that we need to bring Coulson back to life.

And many people have done so in multiple wonderful ways, as linked above. However, one thing that I have realized over the course of reading so many of these is that when writers bring him back from the dead, they go full out and give him a 100% recovery. Maybe a bit of scarring, and some addition aches and pains, but he remains the same level of BAMF as he's always been. Although actually, that's not entirely true. Most of them just don't deal with the long-term issues at all.

But what about if he doesn't? What if he comes back with serious long-term damage? Did the stab cut his spinal cord leaving him paralyzed? Did it miss the spine but still get his lung and/or heart in such a way that they'll always be weak and prone to failure?

What happens then?

Can SHIELD have a disabled agent? I rather imagine that they have some serious physical qualifications, and for good reasons. But what does Coulson do then?

So I have this idea that SHIELD agents don't retire: they all die in the harness. Not for real, but for paperwork purposes. Nobody wants enemies able to track down retired agents. So they are all listed as KIA, there's a nice little cemetery that contains no bodies, and retired agents are given new identities to live under.

But what then? I kind of want Tony or some other civilian Avenger to be horrified that Fury lied to them about Coulson's death, but all the SHIELD agents know that that's what happens. Nobody gets a retirement party, everyone gets a memorial service.

And Coulson goes on to do... what exactly? 

Has he planned for his retirement? Does he have something he wants to do? Maybe take over the world or at least the local school board? Does anyone come to realize that while he is disabled and can't perform most of the moves himself anymore, he's a fantastic fighting coach or something? (He could be Mr. Miyagi in an Avengers AU!) 

Or does he not know what to do with himself? Had he intended to actually die in harness and he's not quite sure what to do with himself having survived? Maybe he feels like the time and money spent on his medical treatment was wasted because he can't do anything anymore and Fury has to glare at him and say that it wasn't wasted because it meant that he was still alive. (In my head, Fury and Coulson are long-time buddies and they regularly spar together. And all the agents who know this are terrified to be anywhere near the gym when they do.) 

Or does he still work for SHIELD somehow, except that now he is no longer allowed in the field and he must have a bodyguard with him at all times because no one with as much insider SHIELD knowledge as he has is allowed out without a bodyguard unless they are suitably capable of guarding themselves.

I haven't seen the new Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon (and I've heard mixed reviews regarding it), but does Principle Coulson do anything physically demanding in it? 

Anyway, what I kind of want is to show this extremely capable and competent man having to deal with being physically incapable while still being mentally amazing (maybe he and Charles Xavier bond) and to show that he remains absolutely BAMF as a person if not as a fighter, as he deals with his new limitations.        

Comments

[bookchan]

That sounds like it would be an awesome fic. I really hope someone picks up this idea and runs with it.

[marbleglove]

Thanks. If you happen to find a story like this, please let me know.

[bluemeridian]

Nothing more relevant to say other than I second Bookchan.

[casspeach]

gaah, so tempting. Do not need another plot bunny. Really really hoping someone else beats me to this, but yeah, I would love to see this.

I'd love to see something that dealt in detail with the recovery from such a serious wound.

eta: here via bluemeridian, just in case you were wondering!

[marbleglove]

Same here. The fics I write are pretty much always because I wanted to read something that didn't exist yet and I couldn't wait for someone else to do it. But I really hope that someone writes something like this soon.

[elistaire]

Yes. A bonding fic with Charles. Yes, yes.

[marbleglove]

Maybe they had met before this, or maybe they just knew of each other. Do you think Phil would seek out Charles or Charles would seek out Phil?

I can imagine Phil sitting somewhere out in NYC, a cafe maybe, drinking decaffeinated coffee because caffeine is bad for his heart and he's wondering if he's worth anything anymore now that he's been invalided out of all field assignments, if he needs to start his whole life over like he's eighteen again except that now he's fifty with a bad heart and he's not sure if he can do it.

And then the most powerful mutant telepath in the world rolls up to his table. And it's a bit terrifying because Phil has secrets, and Prof. X can read minds and leads a force that equals the Avengers and...

"Do you mind sharing your table for a bit?"

"Ah, no, of course not." And Phil wonders if he's supposed to pretend that he doesn't recognize the other man.

Prof. X merely gets the waiter to bring him a cup of tea and they sit quietly for a bit just casually watching the people pass by. Or at least, Prof. X appears to be casually watching the people. Phil is doing his best to appear as if he is too, rather than showing exactly how hyper aware he is of everything going around him and he's spotted at least two other mutants who appear to be keeping an outer perimeter for their leader. He's not sure if this makes it more or less likely that the Professor is sharing a table with him by pure chance.

Phil is working on his third refill when Prof X finishes his cup of tea. He puts the cup down on the table along with a bill to cover payment and a tip, and then turns to Phil.

"You know," the Professor spoke as if they were in the middle of a conversation, "I was shot in the back when I was thirty."

"Yes. I've read the reports" Phil just does calm and steady when confronted with potential danger.

"It was not the end of my productive life," Prof. X pointed out dryly.

That was a rather pointed wake-up call.

The most powerful mutant leader, both in mutant power and in political power, rolled his wheelchair away from the table and set off down the sidewalk before Phil thought of what to say in response.

Well, okay then.

Time to stop with the self-pity and get on with saving the world.

[elistaire]

Ooooooh. *squishes you* THIS IS AWESOME.

Please post this where others can see it. It is fabulous. I love and adore it. :)

That's right, Phil. You and me, babe. We're gonna get on with the world saving.

How is he so awesome?

[marbleglove]

Thanks! Phil really is just that awesome.

Also, thanks for poking me to just go ahead and post some of my more recent comment fics on to ff.net. This and five others are now up.

[petra]

Oh yes, this. To use a phrase from the wrong universe, I would love to see Phil take the Barbara Gordon route back to superhero-dom.

[marbleglove]

Exactly. The damage is permanent, but what makes him (or her, in Barbara's case) a hero was not his body.

[marbleglove]

Found one!

Here's a fic where Coulson survives but does not come back in perfect health. He moves on and is still awesome. The focus is on Barton's relationship with him.

doesn't matter if I bleed
by t_fic (topaz), topaz, topaz119 (topaz)