"You know.." The woman murmured, her blue eyes soft for once as she watched the soldier before her, "They will use the things, the ones, you love against you." Her black hair hung raggedly, long ago, at the start of the war it had been cropped, but it had started growing back since her General had died. Steve knows this, he remembers the first day he saw Thana, what a shock she had been, he'd always imagined his leader to be a charmer, charismatic and empathetic, not this woman in front of him. The only one who had even hinted at a day when Thana hadn't been like this had been Thana's General, Wren. Wren had been the only thing from Thana's past Steve knew of.
Then Wren died, and Than became even more... Harsh with Wren no longer there to remind her that not everyone could fight forever. Not everyone was Thana.
Steve nods, blinks a few times, he is going to remain level headed, he knows why Thana leads, even as.. Heartless as she is, people admire her, she is never afraid, never flustered, never sad, she just keeps going. Steve admires her too, and he knows his part in this civil war as she knows her own and he is going to accept his. Just like she has. "When we first met, you offered to fix that, but Wren wouldn't let you."
For a brief part of a second her mouth twists painfully before settling into that cold smile Thana gives him at meetings when he finally agrees that her way is the right way, that smile of knowing, even though Steve thinks sometimes she dreams of being wrong, she will always be right, and all come to admit it in the end. "Wren isn't here anymore Steve, so I take that as a yes to my offer?"
Steve hesitates, does he really want this? No, but he's pretty sure Thana doesn't want to lead, but she does it because if she doesn't, who will? Who can? Steve is the same. "I'm one of the most powerful guys you have, and I can't afford to keep being so... Distracted, I've caused deaths because of it Thana." And for a moment his voice trembles, then he whispers it. "Wipe me." Only Thana will ever know he was afraid.
Thana a bottle, blue-green glazed thing out of her always present backpack, she walks over to Steve, bottle and cap in one hand and rests the other against Steve's neck so her fingers splay from his shoulder to just below his ear. "I'm not going to wipe you, just remove the problem." She smiles at him. "Be happy, you're still going to be yourself."
-(0)-
Tony wasn't quite sure he was sober, maybe he was really drunk because he watched in slow horror as Steve charged across the street, more rebels behind him. It was like one of those movies really, Tony stood in his suit, grim faced soldiers and supporters of the Superhero Registration Act behind him, and Steve and that bitch Thana with theirs.
Just looking at Steve made Tony's everything ache, things had been so good before Stamford, great, god, fricking amazing. And then things blow up, and goverment gets pushy, and Steve didn't want to accept it. Tony did, maybe that was Tony's problem, he was okay with going with the flow as long as he was moving forward. Steve wasn't. Then their relationship blew up.
But watching Steve charge at him, watching Steve scream that battle cry, just the sound of all those people screaming. It hurts, and it makes Tony want to run but he doesn't, he just blasts right into Steve, and they go at it for a bit, until someone hits Tony from behind, and he's on the ground and Steve jumps him. Shield raised, Tony blinks, his Steve would never.. His Steve wouldn't look at him like Tony was scum either. Steve freezes at something Tony didn't hear.
And suddenly the fights over and they leave, that always scares Tony. Thana's like that, she rarely attacks for a win. She attacks to test defense, steal, ravage, flex her muscles. But Tony can never be sure what Thana wants, but he knows when she leaves she has it, and it's only a matter of time before he finds out exactly what she came for.
Turns out, today she wanted to end this and the government accepted. They're will be no Act.
-(0)-
Thana has long since learned how to ignore her feelings, even the pain of losing her last General was barely perturbing, but now Thana wondered, was it that she ignored her feelings or that she had become numb to them? None the less, she wanders back and forth, checking each container for some sort of hole, leak, or crack. How troublesome it would be should a single emotion, a single memory, dream, desire, or pain escaped. She glances at the newest mason jar, stubborn goverment officials quickly lost steam when their fear left them.
Steve cleared his throat from behind her. "Did you..?"
She sighs. "I took no memories, only their illogical fears so that they may think clearly. I told you I may, would you like to test it? I took no memories." She offers him the jar.
"Oh," He scratches his neck, "What now?"
Thana cradles the jar in her arms, "We remain until the new act, to protect us from this goes through and that all in the resistance are not punished for... Resisting. Only deaths and such, same goes for the other side. I want justice for everyone, not taking blame." She grins at Steve. "So you're clean I guess."
"I'll stick around until everything settles." He promises.
Thana runs a hand over the glass, watching the fear swirl in it, "Good. Dismissed, I have a guest from the other side."
Steve frowns, crossing his arms. "Then I should stay and make sure he doesn't do anything funny."
"I think I can handle my own guests," She whisper coldly, "Dismissed, just because we won doesn't suddenly make me not your superior, you want that you go file the paperwork."
Steve blinks. "Fine." And walks out of her room.
Thana sighs before sitting down on the folding chair next to her containers. She pulls out her phone and speed dials, "Send him in please."
"Well do."
-(0)-
Tony fidgets, god, why was he here again, right, he wanted to talk to Steve. Steve... Tony stared blankly at the wall for a bit, god, he missed that spangly assed idiot. The shrimp gets off the phone. "Come on," The little red head pulls on his arm, "Time to go."
"Go?" Tony frowns, he didn't wait this long to just leave.
Red head frowns, like she wishes Tony'd do as told. "To see."
"Okay." Tony lets her pull him down the hallways, up an elevator and a few more hallways before shoving him in a door.
"Hello." Crap, that is not Steve sitting all creepy like by the ceramic genie bottles with a giant mason jar in her lap.
"Thana." He hisses. "If you think you can off me without consequences you have another thing coming."
"I don't plan on killing you." She sighs, pushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "I... Steve doesn't remember you."
Tony snorts. "Oh, of course, do you know how many times we almost died together?"
"Yes, very, very well." She sets the mason jar down, stands and selects a blue-green glazed genie looking bottle from the shelves. "I'm... A mind surgeon, in simple terms, Steve knew this, he also knew his fonder memories of you and the Avengers made it much more difficult for him to fight." She sighs. "A mission went very badly because of those.. Distractions and he blamed himself for several deaths. He had me remove the distraction."
Tony snarls, "You brainwashed Steve?"
Thana frowns. "Were you listening, he asked me to. Why would I stop a soldier from improving?"
"You're a monster." He barks. Her eyes flash as she stalks up to and pokes one sharp finger right into the top of his sternum.
"You killed my General." Thana hisses.
Tony pales, he remembers that, "I meant to kill you, she just... Jumped in the way." He says it slowly, remembering the numb terror he had felt watching the girl fall, and Thana had screamed, and Tony's pretty sure everyone felt it, the pure pain and rage.
"Wren was quite the martyr." She sighs, pulling away, "But that was the past, we're talking about the future."
"It wasn't even a year ago." Tony says, and he immediately feels like an idiot, Thana has Steve's memories, and is the only way Tony'll see Steve, "And I am so-"
"We are not here to talk about Wren." The anger makes her voice a little gravelly. She sighs. "We're here to talk about Steve, now, believe it or not, I have policies. I will let you see Steve, I'll let you tell him about his memories, and ask him to take them back and come home with you." She speaks with a tone of disgust, "It's up to him if he wants to try love on for size again or not."
Tony blinks, "You're.. Really reasonable."
"For a villain?" She grins, "I'm not a villain, or a hero, I do want one thing in return however. Wren's body." She says it so stiffly Tony's fairly certain her ironed out clothes feels ashamed. "I could not find it after the battle."
"Um... We don't have it?" Tony would know, he checked through the dead after every fight, looking for Steve, for Peter, anyone he knew.
Thana bites her lip, "Then could you simply help this all settle down justly? Make sure my people are not accused of crimes they did not commit?"
Tony stares at her for a bit. "Yeah." He says softly. "I'll do that."
"Good." She passes him the genie bottle. "If he says yes, open the bottle, what is of him will return to him, and you can take him with you. He is free to leave. If he says yes."
-(0)-
Steve paced his room, he didn't like leaving Thana alone, unguarded, now would be a prime time for assassination, and besides, Thana seemed... Frazzled, like Wren's death, all the strain, it was finally taking it's toll. Steve was fairly certain she was only as she was from pure determination.
She wouldn't let herself fail. He should know, how many times had she gone right into enemy lines to break out comrades, how many times had she done the most suicidal things to win? Too many, and more of them now that Wren wasn't there to stop her.
Someone knocks at the door. "Come in."
"Steve?" A dark haired man with some interesting facial hair walks in with one of Thana's bottles. Steve recognizes him, Iron Man.
"Iron Man, so your Thana's guest?" Steve glares at him. "Why do you have that?" Thana protects her bottles fiercely, and probably to the death.
Iron Man looks sad, all frowny with his slumped shoulders. "Could you just let me talk?"
Steve sits on his bed, crossing his arms. "I can do that." Thana apparently did, so could he.
Iron man sighs. "Okay, um, so Thana said you had your memories of me removed and... God, I've never done this before, okay? This is how serious about us I am, I trying to get you to freaking just remember me again!" He plays with the bottle. "Um, we're, we were, in a relationship big guy and this whole Superhero Registration Act deal, we ended up on separate sides and I just... Would you please take your memories back? Then you'll know, you can decide from there, okay?"
Steve blinks. "My memories?" Iron Man nods. Steve frowns, Thana is more than capable of taking memories but wouldn't do it with out consent, Steve doesn't understand why he'd have her remove anything from his head. He narrows his eyes, he'd know if he had the memories back. "Give me the bottle."
Iron man hands it over. "Is that a yes?"
"Not sure." He grunts, wrenching the cap off, he might have superstrength but Thana's a whole new level of muscle. And he watches along with Iron Man as the content of the bottle rise up like smoke, swirling crazily, before going right into Steve's face.
-(0)-
Tony watches as Steve sort of shudder, the creepy mist sinking into him. "Steve?" He whispers. "You okay?"
Steve blinks a few times. And then he lunges forward, grabbing Tony by the collar. "You idiot." And than he kisses Tony. Really hard. "That's a yes."
R and R! (Cause you secretly love me)
Oh, and I never read Civil War, I just knew basic outline stuff and read up on wikiapedia.
