A bit more quotes from the movie than in the precedent chapters, especially since only one of the characters with an altered *cough* timeline is present.

Chapter 4: It's up to us

The monitors kind of looked like they were glaring at him as Fury tried to make the WSC see reason – that is, that while the Avengers were not the most reliable solution ever, they were also the only one they had.

Besides, Stark at least would get involved the moment he learned about Loki and his more-than-probably nefarious plans. The man always acted like he didn't care, like the world could burn as long as he didn't burn with it, but whenever things actually happened, he stepped in.

Perhaps because he was more than aware that the world burning would happen without exception – him, the ones he cared for, everything would burn. And waiting until things actually affected him instead of reacting right away was always the best way to lose at least one thing. Stark was arrogant because he knew what he was worth – and he was worth a lot – not because he thought he was worth more than he actually was.

Also, he had a guilt complex a mile long – an intelligent, rather accurate guilt complex, but a guilt complex nonetheless – even if he wouldn't ever admit it.

Peggy Carter wouldn't let innocent people die either, and she already knew about the threat.

Rogers' martyr act wouldn't allow him to stand by.

Clint was a SHIELD agent, which meant he would be there anyway.

Those four, at least, would be here no matter what. It would be more effective to get them to work together, with SHIELD's support, than to deal with them working on their own and sneaking around SHIELD procedures.

Now if only the idiots could see that before Loki started a war...

"This is out of line, Director. You're dealing with forces you can't control."

Because they could, perhaps?

"You've ever been in a war, Councilman? In a firefight? Did you feel an overabundance of control?"

He'd tell them to try and do his job, just to see them fail spectacularly, if the consequences weren't of such importance. A good "I told you so" would feel great, though.

"You're saying that this Asgard has declared war on our planet?"

These people couldn't even listen and understand what he had said correctly, could they?

"Not Asgard. Loki."

Unless an ordinary citizen of the US could stand and declare war on another country – and in that case they were screwed, because the USA had a few very stupid, very belligerent people in its population, despite all the others – then no.

"He can't be working alone. What about the other one? His brother."

"Thor is certainly not on Loki's side, if you would be so kind as to consider the fact that his brother was the reason he was stranded on Earth for the last three centuries."

Was that sarcasm in his tone? Yes, that was sarcasm in his tone.

"Anyway, he's worlds away, we can't depend on him to help. It's up to us."

Which Fury didn't think would last long, but it didn't change the fact that they had to be ready to defend themselves without Thor's help. Just because, you know, Thor might not get there in time.

And it's not like the WSC would trust Thor enough to let him handle it all on his own. The bastards were all as untrusting as Fury was... except they lacked his aptitude to actually get shit done.

"Which is why you should be focusing on phase 2, it was designed for exactly..."

"Phase 2 isn't ready, our enemy is. We need a response team."

" The Avengers Initiative was shut down."

Something about the potential members being slightly controversial, he hadn't forgotten, thank you very much. He might even have been the one putting the initiative on hold, but it's not like he's going to remind the WSC of that little fact right now.

"This isn't about The Avengers."

Why did it feel like they're accusing him of wanting to form a superpowered boy band, instead of wanting to prevent the world from burning? Why did everything turn into a freaking popularity contest with those people?

Oh, wait. He knew the answer to that one.

Because they were freaking useless.

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks."

First of all, not all of them were freaks. Stark wasn't, Hill wasn't – and, okay, she had also disappeared after being brainwashed by Loki, but that wasn't his point – and the three who were were also either WWII heroes or a SHIELD agent – sure, one of them had also spent a few decades working for the enemy, but no one's perfect, especially people with no choice on the matter. But Fury doubted the councilmen wanted to hear that, so point n°2.

"I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

Meaning, with him in charge. He had no intention of letting them run around as they wished, and wasn't that the exact point of putting them into a SHIELD-approved team?

"You believe? Do I need to remind you what Anthony Stark used to be called, before he went back to his birth name? Do I need to remind you of the hundreds of lives Steve Rogers took before Stark found him, and, by his own words, 'un-brainwashed' him? What assurance do we have, for the matter, that Stark hasn't just switched over the control to himself? And we're only talking about two of them here, not even the whole lot of them."

A door opened, and closed again, and Fury had to turn around to see Howard strolling in – Howard freaking Stark, right now, of all people. Which was, admittedly, a good thing, even if the older man could hardly be called impartial on the matter of his son.

"What is Stark doing here, Director?"

The anger in the councilman's voice was laced with a bit of panic, and Fury had to refrain from rolling his eyes, because 1) Howard Stark was ninety-five years old, and hardly going to kick anyone's ass, especially when said asses weren't even in the room – 2) as a founding member of SHIELD, Stark could do basically whatever he wanted inside their facilities, especially considering who had first wrote their security protocol – 3) Starks just didn't care whether or not you were someone important, they just told you whatever they had to say if they thought you were stupid.

Which was clearly what was going to happen here, and the reason why Fury and Howard were such good friends.

Howard blinked at the monitors with a "are you stupid?" look.

"Well I was minding my own business when I just sort of accidentally caught hold of this SHIELD signal frequency on which some people were saying very stupid things. So, out of worry for SHIELD's future, I followed the frequency back to its source, and here I am."

"Wha...!"

Before the councilman could say more / argue / demand an apology / be a general pain in the ass, Howard took a seat in a corner of the room, and made a point to look at his cellphone rather than at the people – or actually, their monitor – he had just successfully insulted.

"The thing dear old Fury..."

Nick Fury wasn't the one who was five years shy of one hundred, so he squinted at the very older man, a scowl on his face.

"... was trying to make you understand, while staying moderately diplomatic, is very simple. Luckily for me, I'm retired, which means I don't have to deal with your bullshit anymore, and I can say whatever the hell I want to. Loki's here, and he's not leaving until he gets what he wants, which is probably not a good thing for us. Us, as in, the whole planet, not just your little secret council. You need heavy hitters. You need people who know how to handle the unusual. You have these people, and yeah, sure, they're not perfect, but they live in this world too, and they're willing to defend it. So use them, and figure the rest out once the world has been saved. Because if you don't, there won't be anything left to be figured out."

"Wars aren't won with a bunch of freaks, Mr. Stark."

Howard's upper lip twitched in discontent, but he didn't comment on what his best friend and his son had just been called to his face.

"That's what they said about the supersoldiers too. And while I can't say that Peggy and Steve did all the work, because that's not true, they still did enough for it to matter."