Different View, Different Time
By: M14Mouse
Summary: It was different four years ago. Sam didn't know these guys. It was just a group of superheroes running around in spandex. Flash forward, he stared at the screen. It was different now. He knew these guys.
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
Much like 9/11, Sam could tell where he was during the alien invasion happened. He was in a group session when someone burst into the room. The dude screamed that aliens are invading. The first thought that popped into his head was maybe the guy should sit down and talk about it.
Until someone turned on the tv….
He could only watch as the aliens came out from a hole in the sky.
There was a sense of terror but also the feeling of you can't look away from the screen. His group sat and watched…then the next group…then the next.
It was awe-inspiring to watch to the Hulk tear up a building or Thor's hammer fry aliens out of the sky. There was Iron Man taking out alien ships and Captain America and some super spies taking them out on the ground. Okay, he didn't know that it was Nat and Clint until later. Cut him a little slack on that one.
They were just superheroes to him back then.
Sure, he watched the news and read the paper. He talked over the whole superhero thing with a few people. He and co-worker even joke about it a few times. Okay, he did have Captain America poster when he was seven. Of course, Steve knew about that now…thanks mom telling him that one. In his defense, everyone had one of those.
In all honesty, he didn't have time for superheroes or their world back then.
He had enough to deal with…He had to deal with the after.
That attack brought out a lot of bad in his group. The memories…the flashes…the nightmares…the panic attacks…the anxiety attacks…the relapses….it was a nightmare.
It took time to get back to the balance. For the good days to out number the bad days.
He gone back to reading about or watching them on youtube until some jerk shout on your left for a millionth time on his morning run.
All of his comic books lied and he wanted his money back.
Captain America was a smug little jerk. Nat did say that he was terrible at making friends. Honestly, he had no regrets on what came after.
No regrets about following Cap around on the "road trip of justice." Clint's words…not his. Nat called the road trip of running around in circles and blowing up stuff. He could see her point but he did use the chance to Cap to every tourist trap from here to the west coast. Steve's expression alone made it worth it. It was awesome. Or Tony made him a new set of wings which he called his old ones a piece of crap. He was vaguely insulted by that one. He liked Thor. He will never be allowed near his grill or coffee maker without supervision. He wasn't about to buy another one of those for awhile. Still like the guy.
He got to know them behind their spandex.
He liked them.
Just didn't like them enough to deal with their insanity.
So, when Steve had to go after some wonder stick, he nodded his head.
When he said that a crazy ass robot attacked them after the party, he just said a lead in Jersey City and he would get back to him later on it.
He never got a chance to when he saw the live action footage of Iron Man and Hulk's match of the century.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to see something was very wrong.
He called the only person that he knew would know.
"Hill."
"What happened out there? The big guy look spooked," He said as he continued to stare at the footage.
He heard a sigh over the phone.
"There was an incident on the ship with Ultron. It didn't end well," Maria said.
"How bad is it?"
"It's bad enough for them to go underground for awhile."
"Damn…"
That did sound bad.
"Keep your head down, Sam. We don't know who Ultron will target."
He didn't think that he was a target but he learned never argue with her.
"Gotcha."
"And Sam?"
"Yes?"
"I think that they are going to need your skills later."
What in the hell happened there?
He was worried but he had a job to do here.
He couldn't really help Steve or anyone without his wings. He had to focus on the now. Now was going back to work and looking under rocks for the boogie man.
Then came the battle against Ultron.
He was in the same place and it was his last group of the day. It was much like the battle of New York with its grainy images from cellphones and local television stream live around the world. But instead of aliens, it was robots.
Instead of strangers fighting them, these were people that he called friends. He watched as Steve took a painful fall. He watched as Tony darted from one place to another.
He could only stay in the room for 15 minutes before he left.
He sat in a chair outside of the room with his head in his hands.
He should go back in there. He still had a job to do.
Then it hit him like a bucket of cold water.
His heart wasn't here anymore. It was out there. He couldn't do this job anymore.
Right now, he did the only thing that he could think of. He lifted his head from his hands and folded them together.
He prayed.
God help them all.
End
A.N: I was always curious on what sam was doing during the Age of Ultron (Still wish that he was there to give them a good kick in the butt…still might write a AU fic on that idea) Anyway, read and review if you wish.