A/N: Just a brief note, this story will include my OC: Elena, please see my bio for more information on her. In this chapter she is only mentioned briefly, but she will be appearing in later chapters. This story was just an idea that insisted on being worked out, a little slow to start but things will become more interesting as more familiar faces-and frames-show up. Happy reading...

Please R & R! Disclaimer: Hasbro / Marvel own the rights to their respective franchises and corresponding characters.

Now, on with the plot...

# # #

Really it was frightening.

Surprisingly frightening at how easy it would be to stay hidden in this lush and yet sterile paradise. True, T'Challa's fastidiously maintained facility was comfortable, but spending even the last few hours walking the well-polished hallways was a painful reminder this respite the Black Panther offered was merely that: a respite. Just borrowed time, a temporary lull until…until what? Stark and the United Nations sniffed them out and tossed them into a prison cell to be forgotten? Forgotten, of course, until the next world catastrophe.

The weight of their predicament, the one that he had forced them into, pulled at Steve Rogers, bit, and gnawed at his conscious to fix it, to find a solution. T'Challa was generous, but Rogers was unwilling to count on that generosity to last indefinitely. So, it was mere hours after he had watched Bucky succumb to the long and slow sleep, that Rogers found himself wandering the halls in search of quiet solitude. The problem was that now that he had found it, he was stranded once more in a mire of doubt.

Beyond the vast array of windows, the lush environment lay silently beneath a shroud of mist and water vapor tossed up from the waterfalls. But Rogers saw none of it, took no solace from the distant thrum of the nearby falls. Rather, his entire focus lay upon a single object trapped within his well-worn palm: his phone. Calloused fingers turned the device over and over, reluctant to summon it to wakefulness, reluctant to make the call.

Why? Because Steve Rogers didn't like to ask for favors he knew he had no hope of ever repaying.

"Well, don't you certainly look like you're in the middle of a hearty guilt-trip."

As her voice reached out to him, Rogers couldn't help but smirk. His impossibly blue eyes lifted to gaze at her reflection mirrored in the windowpane before him, "Got anything better to do than spy on me?"

Natasha Romanoff's answering grin was wolfish, her reflection offering him a small shrug, "Not really."

A quiet and pained chuckle was the only answer he could manage for her.

"So…who are you trying to avoid calling?"

"No one you'd know."

"Really? You sure about that?"

"You're good Nat, but even you wouldn't have been able to stumble over this one."

"You certainly know how to flatter a girl, Cap."

"Don't I always." Feigning calm and ease, Rogers began to amble down the corridor, gaze restlessly drifting over the scenery beyond the wide windowpanes flecked with glimmering water droplets.

"Let me in, Cap. This isn't just your burden…we're all grownups here. We all made our choice, so stop thinking you made it for us."

"And you really believe that you weren't forced into this? That you weren't backed into this corner?"

She shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not…maybe all of this was going to hit the fan anyway. Either way…here we are."

"Here…right." The weight of the present pushed down upon him again, and once more his cell phone became a dead weight in his palm. Unbidden, his fingers began their restless movements of turning the small device end over end in his hand.

"So…" she let the word drag out, "Who are we avoiding calling?"

He gave her a hollow chuckle in answer. "Whom," He corrected.

She grinned wolfishly again, "Screw you Rogers." But never the one to back down she nudged his wide shoulder with her slender one. "C'mon Cap…"

He blew out another breath, why was this so difficult?

"Nat…you know we can't stay here, not with Bucky…it's too dangerous…"

"Okay, so what's the play? We all split for the four corners of the world, make for deep cover?" Nat didn't fear going solo; then again, Rogers found the list of things that did rattle her to be far from long.

"And risk being caught or unable to reestablish contact again? No…no, for once I think it's best we stay together…just not here. It's too dangerous…and if we were somehow tracked back here…" No need to elucidate the threat they all knew so well.

"Ok…so, where Rogers? I'm always up for an island getaway. You know it's never too late to work on a tan."

Her presence at last decided him and Roger's drew out his cell phone. Her eyes followed his movements as he scrolled through his contact's list; it didn't take long.

"Who is General Pax?" She asked, "High friends in high places?"

"Something like that…" He mumbled, wavering again.

"Rogers…" Her voice softened as she reached forward, her hand gently lifting to rest upon his forearm, "You always have a choice…we always land on our feet one way or another…"

"Yeah…one way or another…"

Her grip tightened, drawing his gaze to hers again, "If this is something you can't live with, then don't."

"I backed us into this corner, I should be the one to get us out."

"Over achiever…" She mumbled, shifting half a pace back and crossing her arms over her chest as she watched him select the contact name. Just before he hit 'send' his eyes lifted questioningly to hers.

"Oh no…I'm not going anywhere. You corrected my grammar, I get to eavesdrop."

Rogers knew better than to protest, not that he would have anyway. After all, this was her future as well as his that he was trying to salvage. Moreover, all too soon, Nat and the others would realize just how many secrets he had kept from them. Impulsively, Rogers extended the phone so it was between them and put the call on speakerphone.

For a few suspended moments, only the hollow ringing echoed between them, and briefly Rogers wondered if he would answer…after all, it wasn't as though he called all the time to chat. And then…

"Captain Rogers."

That voice. Rogers would never forget it for as long as he lived. Rolling and rich, plush velveteen thunder—a timeless timber strong enough to move mountains. Rogers risked a glimpse at Nat, who lifted her eyebrows at the mighty voice, unearthly deep and steady.

"General." Rogers returned the solemn greeting, "I am sorry to bother you, but I am afraid I need your help."

"Captain, I am surprised it took you this long to contact me."

Rogers shouldn't have been surprised but he was, and he needed a moment to remind himself that no doubt the other would have kept a close watch over recent events.

"Look, I know that there are more pressing matters that demand your attention, and you may not even be in a position to offer anything—"

"What is it that you need, Captain?" The question was evenly and easily stated, no bite of impatience colored the other's words.

"My friends and I…we need to go off the grid…and being in a similar circumstance, I thought of you…and your kind."

There was a long and considerate pause in which Rogers breathlessly counted his heartbeats. And just when he began to believe that he had over reached himself…

"Captain, you were right to contact me. I will make arrangements and will contact you again shortly with details."

Equal parts relief and apprehension coursed through Steve in that moment, "General I appreciate this, but you should know that the odds of my being able to repay your generosity—"

"Such would be unnecessary. You, I believe Captain, would do the same for us. However…" the other's mighty timber became deep and bone rattling, "you understand the implications of your request?"

Rogers blew out a breath, feeling another weight being placed upon him, "Yes, sir."

"Are you able to accept it?"

A slower, but no less firm, "Yes, sir."

"And your team? Are they able to accept it?"

Rogers glanced over to Nat who lifted a brow, and gave him a curt nod. "I cannot speak for all of the team…but I can tell you that at the very least they will be willing to listen."

There was a long considering pause, but at last: "Very well, Captain Rogers."

Rogers bowed his head and released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "General?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you…"

"You may thank me by remembering this in darker days, when the rest of humanity forgets itself…" And with that, the other cut the communication.

"Hard to forget a voice like that…" Nat watched as Rogers once more pocketed his cell phone, "Who was that?"

Feeling both exhilarated and daunted at what lay ahead, Rogers bit back a sigh, "What do you know of extra-terrestrials?"

Nat lifted a fine shaped eyebrow, "Rogers, are you cavorting with aliens?"

"What would you say…if I said yes?" Allowing himself a chuckled at her confused expression, Rogers motioned for her to follow as he walked back down the hallway. "C'mon, we need to pack and let the others know we're moving out."

###

Far, far from where Rogers and Nat stood, on the other side of the world, Captain William Lennox watched his companion closely. Though the other hadn't uttered a word, hadn't shifted an inch, the seasoned veteran could tell something was up by the sudden stillness that had descended upon the other. After many long moments, the other at last lifted his gaze—an unearthly, electric blue—to meet Lennox's.

"Major." That deep voice reached into Lennox's very bones, capturing his attention.

"Having a chat were we?" Lennox smirked, he had worked too long with his companion to not recognize when that vast intelligence's attention was elsewhere.

"Major, I will require a favor."

No hesitation: "Name it."

"I wish for the base to accommodate guests."

Surprised, Lennox cocked an eyebrow at the other, trying to read the other's inscrutable blue gaze, "Guests?"

"Six human adults."

"…o-okay." He regarded his companion's countenance carefully, "Friendlies?"

"That remains to be seen."

"So, not Hostiles?"

This time it was his companion who paused, "I do not wish it to be so. But, that too, remains to be seen."

"O-okay…how long are they staying?"

"That remains to be seen."

Lennox shook his head, and scrawled a note to himself on his clipboard, "I'll give Elena a heads up so she can work on accommodations."

"Thank you, Major."

"When are your…guests…arriving?"

There was a calculating pause, "Seventy-two hours."

"Oh…okay then." Putting the clipboard to the side, Lennox crossed his arms over his chest and gave into his curiosity, throwing caution to the wind, he asked: "Who are these guests of yours?"

"Major, what do you know of the individual named Steve Rogers?"

Lennox couldn't figure out a way to answer that, so he didn't.