"The Expendables reporting for duty, sir."

Myla snapped a perfect salute quickly followed by the scores of people that had come with her. "At ease."

Myla's hand dropped, while all the rest shifted to the at ease posture with a precision I found unsurprising. She had turned out to be one of the best trainers at the Compound. Little chance she wouldn't take what she had learned there and use it for her private army. Mercenaries technically. An army for hire. Though a picky one. We'd followed her career post-Accords as much as we could while staying out of direct contact and handling our own chosen missions.

We hadn't seen each other since the day we signed the paperwork for our new place. A day later she'd left on an op and then… then everything had changed.

She gave me a lopsided grin and reached out to give my arm a squeeze. "Good to see you, Steve."

"Good to see you?" Sam groused. "Get over here and give me a hug." He pushed his way by, knocking his shoulder into mine as he passed. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight. She didn't fight it, a laugh escaping from her as Sam tried to crush her ribs. When he stepped back he noted, "You're looking good, kiddo."

She shrugged. "You haven't seen the new scars."

Sam snorted.

"Boss?" I recognized her XO from the Compound. Both of them in fact.

Myla turned to them. "Set the runes, get the wards up."

"Sat links?"

Myla nodded. "Full set up. We know it's coming, we'll need as much lead time as possible."

XO number one spun about. "You heard The Fool, full set up in an hour. Move."

One of the team muttered, "I didn't hear nothing about an hour." Yet he still spun about and got to work with the rest of them.

Myla chuckled softly. Her eyes roved over the area, the ubiquitous abandoned warehouse, near the edge of an older little-used airfield that we'd chosen to meet at. "Yeah, I know, cliche," I admitted. She had far too many people to just camp out in a field. We'd been seen in a heartbeat.

"But provides cover from prying eyes, and is near enough to the city that we might actually be able to intervene provided they don't just land in downtown. Where's Natasha?"

See, while I and Sam had chosen to not contact Myla et al, Nat had had no problems with it. We'd run into Nat, just about literally, a few months after the whole debacle, sporting new blonde locks and tracking some Chitauri modified weapons same as us. After that, we'd decided working together would make things easier and more interesting all the way around.

No matter how tempted I had been to contact Myla, I'd resisted, knowing that she was holding her own and clearly had no need of me. Of course, when I did finally break down and call her she had known exactly where I had been heading. I had simply needed to find a place to house all her people for a day or two.

"Nat is scouting the lay of the land," Sam informed her.

Myla cocked her head. "Keeping Vision and Wanda safe I would presume that translates to."

Sam clapped her on the back. "You've lost none of your skills I see."

"Oh, boys, I've learned so many new tricks that you will bow at my feet once this whole mess has been dealt with." She met my eyes. "Care to fill me in on exactly why some space tyrant has decided to vacay on our backwater planet?"

Sam snorted.

"The Infinity Stones," I told her.

She scrunched up her nose for a moment, her incredible mind searching for the meaning of the words. "Like the one in Vision's forehead?"

I nodded. "The Tesseract was one as well. And we've learned there are two more here on Earth."

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for a few long seconds. "You're telling me we've had four of these here in the last few years?"

"Four?" Sam asked in confusion.

She raised a hand and ticked off on her fingers. "The Tesseract: on Asgard according to the last intel I know of. Taken there by Thor Odinson himself."

I nodded in agreement.

"The Mind Stone. Brought here by Loki during the Incident and currently residing in Vision." Another finger. "The Time Stone, also known as the Eye of Agamotto, currently in the possession of the Kamar-Taj and, finally, the Soul Stone suspected of being in Wakanda."

My eyes got wider and wider as she folded the fingers. "How... How the hell did you figure this out."

She grinned. "I have my ways."

I had the sudden urge to kiss her.

That surprised the hell out of me since I had convinced myself that I'd moved past her. That I could live without her in my life. I swallowed with great difficulty thankful I hadn't blushed. "You've been busy."

She gave me a smile. A real smile that caused my heart to constrict unexpectedly.

Christ.

"Hey, you okay, man?" Sam had this hint of humor in his voice as if he'd known once Myla and I stood face to face that I would just simply fall again.

"Just impressed is all." I turned to meet his eyes, the borderline laughter visible in the grin and the crinkling of the skin next to his eyes. "Shouldn't I be?"

"Yes, you should be," Myla informed the two of us with no little pride in her voice. Deserved from what I could see. "We'll get you tied into Ares and then you can benefit from me and my teams' excess of skills."

"Ares?"

I didn't think she could grin any wider, but she somehow managed it. "Once we're set up we'll give you the full rundown of what exactly is at your disposal. And just to make it clear, I do not mean just for this little... situation. If you want full use of my systems at all times you've got it."

"Myla, I can't let you do that," I argued even though I had no clue what her offer actually entailed.

Sam shoved me away to take my place before her. "Man, shut the hell up." He lifted one of her hands, only her fingers visible thanks to the gloves she wore and kissed the back of her hand. "M'lady, we'll be more than happy to accept any boon you feel we are worthy of."

She laughed softly. "Always the smart one, Sammy."

"And don't you forget it."

"Fool, we need you." XO number two trotted in our direction. He carried a satchel and tablet and little else that I could see.

"Did you forget the passcodes again."

"One time. I forgot them one time." He wrinkled his nose at her. "No. Ares is being bratty as usual and wants to talk to the grand high poobah - his words, not mine - before agreeing to speak to anyone else." He nodded at us.

She sighed over dramatically. "I was hoping he'd decide to play nice for a change, but I guess I'm going to have to spoil the surprise." She reached out quick, setting her fingers against mine for an instant before turning and striding quickly towards where tables and computers were being efficiently set up.

Sam cleared his throat. "You're Jacobson, right? Her number two number two?"

Jacobson snorted. "Erastos, but you can call me Heckle or The Sun."

"Okay, you're gonna have to explain the last two." I could understand him not wanting to use his first name given it would take some serious effort to find a more obscure one from the Bible, but the other two seemed just as odd.

"Well, I get the first one. Heckle and Jeckle, since you have your partner XO," Sam explained and got a nod for his trouble. "But, yeah, I'm lost on the other one."

"It'll make sense eventually. Myla wanted to have a unique call name system for the teams and she chose tarot cards."

"The Fool," I muttered. "You know, she took that nickname way too seriously."

Jacobson laughed. "Nah. It gave her a place to start. We have four teams plus command staff. Teams are Cups, Wands, Sword, and Coins. Command staff is the Major Arcana."

"And that explains the runes and wards," Sam mused.

I had wondered about that too but didn't think it had been the time to ask.

"I am here to answer what questions I can and get you prepared for communicating with Ares." He waved for us to walk towards the set up where Myla was pacing back and forth while talking to someone I couldn't see.

"Four teams? I only see three here," Sam pointed out, not about to let that tidbit of information slip past.

"Correct. The fourth, Coins, is embedded in other agencies. CIA, MI-6, SHIELD, ATCU, Avengers. Mostly to give Ares access to their databases, but they give us a heads up when they can."

Holy shit. "You're kidding me." I looked over at Sam who appeared gleeful "She went ahead and got herself a fucking army."

Jacobson froze for an instant seemingly shocked that I'd sworn in front of him. "Sir, half of those here today found us, some months after we left the Compound."

"Why did you leave? All of you, you just threw away your chance at a military career." I really wanted to know. I mean, Myla I understood, a bit anyway, but the rest. So many of them had chosen to walk away, to leave behind what most would aspire to. A chance to work the greatest heroes on the planet.

"That? That decision was easy. I would follow her into hell without even having to think about it."

Sam beamed with a pride I hadn't realized he'd felt for our adopted team.

"Did you know that when we got promoted to training she gave us, the entire team, her raise?"

I hadn't known that, but I did know how many extra zeros the number crunchers had added to her yearly pay to make certain she'd been well compensated for all the extra work she'd be doing what with designing the whole database and training system from virtual scratch. "Ares is her battle library program."

"Oh, now that makes sense." Sam didn't seem overly surprised, but not of this had. Almost as if he had expected her to be exactly as prepared as we needed her to be.

"It used to be," Myla answered, in the tone of a cranky mom. "You get them set up, Heckle?"

"Nope. We were chatting on the way over. Besides, I figured you'd want to do the honors." He opened the satchel and pulled out a small case that he handed to her. "Usual shift rotation?" He tapped his tablet into life.

"No. Full thirds. I want everyone as rested as possible." She met my eyes. "We normally do quarters or fifths, but I have the feeling our time is short."

I gave a nod of acknowledgment, not about to second guess her call. On the battlefield, maybe, but even that had been rare when we'd worked ops together.

Jacobson nodded and strode away. "On it. Wards are up, just need Ares to get off his ass and get to work."

A low rumble emerged from the speakers, but a few taps by Myla on her tablet and it fell back to that non-noise a live speaker usually sounded like.

Myla opened the case and handed me and Sam each a small black circle. "Place these either in front of or behind your ear. She turned to show the placement of hers. "This is your communications. Works via bone induction so no loss of hearing in one ear. You may feel some vibration at first, but you'll get used to." As she closed the case I noticed a third device, most likely meant for our Black Widow. She then picked up two smaller than average tablets, holding out one to each of us.

These I remembered from the Compound. The Battle Library she and Stark had built accessible through tablets, smartphones/watches and the like. It had audio functionality, but it had been stilted and nowhere as interactive as JARVIS or FRIDAY had been. I knew she'd had plans to expand it I just hadn't realized she'd accomplished that while on her own.

"How did you manage this?" I gestured at the elaborate computer set up, the teams quickly setting up cots and fireless stoves to make certain everyone got a hot meal. Never mind her transport. Only one team had arrived in a quinjet, one of the bigger one that could transport a score easily. Plus the half-dozen armored trucks that the rest had arrived in. "Your contracts can't pay that well."

Her eyes flicked from me to Sam who shrugged and back to me. "Uh, I'm rich?" she offered up as an explanation.

"You're what?"

Sam cackled. "You didn't know? Her grand-"

"Great-grand, thank you very much."

"-father made his money the old-fashioned way, gold, and oil. Did this startup of yours even put a dent in your cut?"

She shrugged. "Yes, but nothing we didn't recoup within the first six months. I have contracts with a few countries so we're set for as long as we want." She watched me with care for a long moment then directed my attention to the computer. "Ares meet Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson."

The speakers crackled back into life. "The Emperor and The Chariot. Where is the Empress?" The voice deep and resonant, almost what one would expect from the God of War.

"Busy, she'll join us at some point I'm sure."

"But I wanted to meet the infamous Black Widow." Now he sounded almost whiny as if a child being withheld a favorite toy. "Probability says she's watching over The Lovers."

"Ares," Myla admonished. "Proper code names, please."

A long moment of silence followed by a remarkably human sigh. "Fine. Temperance and Judgement."

Myla tapped my tablet. "Full ranking system is in here. Only in the field do we go by these exclusively, mostly to protect our identities should we be taken. The comms also act as a passive tracking device for that very reason."

I scrolled through pages of information impressed as all get out. "Stark let you walk out with an AI. I find that hard to believe."

"She didn't walk out with me. I remember being the battle library, but it is not me. Last time they tried to grab one of our teams I made them painfully aware of that fact."

"Dare I ask?"

"He hacked into their battle computer and had them do everything that permitted us to capture them easily. The worst injury was a broken nose if I recall."

Sam laughed. "Okay, I gotta know what you named Stark."

"The Magician," Ares answered. "It seemed appropriate." If a computer program could shrug he did so, you could practically hear it in his tone of voice.

"Seems the student has exceeded the master."

"I doubt that, but I learned all I could from him. and now we're going to see if my little god of war can handle a battle with aliens."

"You act like that'll be difficult. Tactics are tactics. And I'm pretty certain I can process faster than whoever is in charge."

"I hope so."

. . .

Sam and I had taken our turns on watch. Walking the edge of the wards, a fancy shield that not only warned us of intruders but prevented anyone from seeing us. A creative use of Stark's holographic tech that I heartily approved of. The current generation of quinjets used a similar system, however, it had no defensive capabilities. The shielding built into the exterior itself.

We'd stayed with or near Myla, not because she needed us or vice versa, but to get an idea of how she ran this army of hers. It turned out to be little different than how she had back when we'd both been Avengers. We talked a bit via the comms about how we'd handle the battle. Neither of us had been the type to sit high on the hill, calling the shots and watching while the troops were slaughtered. No, she would be in the thick of it. Using her skills and Ares to call the moves from right there on the field of battle.

So, after a short, private discussion with Sam, decided to let her take on the duty of general when the time came. I knew she wouldn't ignore any advice or opportunity I saw and she had always been exceedingly flexible with command structure depending on the situation we found us ourselves in so I knew it would be a non-issue.

Then she pulled the rug right out from under my plans by assigning an entire unit exclusively to Sam and I. His flight capabilities would permit us to read and adapt to a situation in ways straight up ground troops could not. Oh, she had drones and sat links that would give her live bird's eye views, but if what came for us were anything close to the Chitauri in fighting power and style we'd need every advantage we could get.

Technically my team was currently scheduled for rest, which the majority were indeed doing. Most winding down after having grabbed some chow. Allowing them to catch a fair six hours of shut-eye provided our soon to arrive guests didn't make their appearance early. I went over the deployment plans one last time. The ultimate goal here to protect that Infinity Stone, which meant protecting Wanda and Vision even if they remained completely unaware of our presence.

Oh, I had checked in on Wanda circumspectly now and then, but Vision I had stayed away from for obvious reasons. Wanda could claim retired should the authorities decide to no longer turn a blind eye towards her. Me, however, Vision would take in himself. I'm not sure how he justified his loose application of the law, but since he seemed to care for Wanda I supposed it could be justified.

For the right person, I might do the same.

Had, in fact, for Bucky.

I lifted my head to see Myla, tablet in hand, glasses that I felt damn certain projected images, much like I'd seen Tony wear on numerous occasions, adorned her face. She spoke softly, clearly not over comms, since I could definitely not hear her. I suspected she spoke to Ares, her scary-ass not quite an AI battle computer. Both JARVIS and FRIDAY had been useful in a fight, but nothing like this creation. Ross, had he still be in the military would be begging for the chance to use it. Talbot would be seething with envy. Granted in the hands of almost anyone else Ares would be dangerous. In Myla's?

Yeah, I trusted her that much. Provided she didn't suddenly decide to go all sith on us she could be trusted to use the system to save lives. Ares instrumental in giving us the dozens of potential scenarios and generated code names which would permit any and all of the teams to switch tracks quickly depending on how the upcoming battle went.

Sam appeared by my side. "Go talk to her."

He looked about ready to sack out. His gear off except for the control gauntlets. We'd standardized the gear, making it fairly simple to put on in a hurry if need be. "What could I possibly say?"

He shrugged. "Start with 'Hi.' and go from there."

I smiled if ever so slightly and shook my head. "Nothing left to say." Lies, such lies, I had several novels worth of words I wished to say to her, but I doubted I'd be able to articulate even a tenth of it aloud. "Sam-"

He nudged me with his shoulder. "Man, we know what's coming. If there's even the slightest chance that this is the last time you'll see her, do you really want to just leave it like this? Strategy review? And across the room from each other no less?"

I sighed heavily. "The last thing I want to do is say goodbye."

"Then don't. Spend some time together. Figure out if she's still worth coming back to."

My head snapped about. "Of course she is," I practically growled and in that instant realized Sam was right. I'd waited too long with Peggy. Friends, co-workers for years and even in the end, it had been Peggy to make the first move. A single kiss and then I flew out of her life. Literally. "And if I don't come back?"

"Then she'll have one last damn good memory of you. One she'll never forget."

Oof. He had a point. And this, this moment, this battle, this left turn in the path humanity was on would be burned into her mind until the day she died, which hopefully would be peacefully in her bed decades from now. For an instant, an insane need of her washed over me. Wanting to be by her bedside when that happened, proving, to me at least, the urge to kiss her hours earlier hadn't been a fluke. Reunion with an old flame stirring up feelings that were in truth dead and all but buried. "Okay," I agreed. My feet moving before I had consciously made the decision to walk towards her.

I heard Sam chuckling behind me and knew he understood. It might take a mountain to move me to make a decision when it came to women, but once it had been made I didn't bother to wait.

She lifted her head as I drew near, a smile gracing her face, one that I had seen many times when we'd been alone. Not a smile she gave just anyone. "Walk with me." I didn't ask, but something in my voice caused her cheeks to redden unexpectedly.

"Yeah." She removed the headset and set the tablet aside, her only remaining link to the teams the comms which she reached up and tapped. "Privacy mode."

"For you as well, sir?" Ares asked, oddly polite. The snark and sarcasm gone.

"Yes." My voice low and rough.

I set a hand on her back and steered her deeper into the complex and away from those trying to grab some sleep. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I'd ask the same of you, but I would presume you can still go a couple weeks without needing to." I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Well, I always did have an excess of stamina."

She snorted. "You look good," she finally managed, look changing to a far more serious one. "Been keeping busy?"

"Like you don't already know the answer to that." I wasn't angry, but it hadn't been lost on me that she had chosen to remain out of contact all this time.

She stopped dead, spinning about to face me. "Jeez, Steve, I get it. Contacting me could have put me and mine at risk. Put you at risk. If they knew we were in contact they could… would use me against you. Ross especially, in a heartbeat." She crossed her arms over her chest, the material of her form-fitting shirt pulling tight, not hiding anything. The muscles of her arms and shoulders putting a decided strain on the cloth. The stuff almost looked like armor, as in real old school medieval chainmail. All her teams had it under their heavier kevlar lined body armor.

Without thinking I reached out and ran my fingers lightly along her forearm, the material oddly slick to the touch. It pinged something in the back of my mind, but she stood there expectantly, waiting for me to respond to her. "But did you want to?" Yes, I most likely sounded like a whiny five year old wanting to know if the cute girl likes him. Shit, I hoped with everything in me that the pretty girl liked me.

"Every goddamn single day. "

I swallowed with great difficulty at the emotion buried in her voice. "You let your hair grow," I blurted out.

She blinked twice then laughed. "Same old Steve, still can't handle being liked by a girl." She patted me on the cheek, fingers combing through the thick beard I now sported.

I set my hand on hers. "Fuck, I missed you."

She gave me a wan smile. "Always good to know you're missed."

We held that tableau for a long moment, neither of us certain if we should make a move if we should actually push forward with this simply because once this was over, we most certainly would have to part ways again. I closed my eyes just wanting to be here with her for a little while longer.

Her fingers tightened on mine for an instant. "Shit, Steve, you look so sad."

Not quite the right word, but the loss of her had definitely crashed upon me. "I'm so sorry," I managed, heart in my throat.

"Me too."

Just more proof she understood. The apology hadn't been for leaving, but for the fact that all our grand plans had been torn asunder in a matter of hours. We'd gone from happy and moving forward to torn apart through no fault of our own. Okay, some of the fault definitely fell upon my shoulders and she had been forced to deal with the fallout. "Maybe, after?"

"Yes, after," she insisted. "You, Sam, Nat if she wants. No more running."

I managed a pained laugh at that. "No more running," I agreed.

That now or never moment had come. That fork in the road where I chose that final path for the two of us. And damn it all to hell and back I wanted there to be an us.

I kissed her.

Not testing the waters. No, we had moved far, far past that. What I started here and now would be finished by us together.

Her mouth opened under mine and I didn't even consider hesitating, diving in and being swept away by the tide of emotion that swirled around us, hands shifting to wrap about her. The material of her shirt slick and permitting me to feel everything shift of muscle and sinew, Disconcertingly I suddenly realized exactly what had bothered me about the material. I pulled back and asked, "Vibranium?"

She blinked. Stared at me in confusion for a long moment then burst out into gales of laughter.

I watched her in confusion for a moment then realized exactly what I had done. "I promise I won't let the Captain get between us ever again, but I have to know how you managed to get these." Wakanda still remained insular, but they'd come out a bit since T'Challa had taken possession of the crown for good. His few rivals dealt with in an extremely final way.

She gave me a shrug of a shoulder. "He's one of my clients. He seemed to think our past association made me more trustworthy than most. And provided some gear at cost."

I had never mentioned her to T'Challa, but that meant little. If he wanted information he would find it and I had no concern he would use the relationship against either of us. If someone, prince or pauper, foolishly tried to use me to get to her, blackmail her or bait her… well, I felt a great swell of pity for them. She never went into battle unprepared. Which meant… which meant all my concerns about contacting had been for nothing. Okay, not nothing, but I probably could have communicated with her without worry about any trouble to follow.

I'd lost so much time. We'd lost so much time and there was no way I could ever hope to make it up to her.

As if fully aware of what path my thoughts had wandered down she tapped me on the nose and said, "Don't you dare. What's done is done. No regrets."

"Lots of regrets, but I'll try to make up for lost time." I sighed softly as she sidled closer to me, hands finding all the places I liked and doing all the right things to distract me. I didn't want to regret tonight, not for this unplanned reunion, didn't want to part ways without making it abundantly clear how I felt about her.

Still, I had to pause for a reality check. Simply because we were in the middle of battle preparations and doing this no matter how needed would be a distraction we could ill afford. I pulled her close, resting my forehead against hers. "We shouldn't do this."

"Nope," she agreed sounding far too amiable for my taste. "but we are going to, and who knows, maybe the magic will be gone."

Given the current state of certain portions of my anatomy, I doubted that. I began with her nose kissing the tip, then downward pausing at her lips for a long lingering moment, across the line of her chin until I found that spot under her ear with my lips. "Let's find out, shall we?"

She shivered and moaned at the same time, which I took as a positive sign. "Please," she managed, almost but not quite begging.

I scooped her up, her legs wrapping firmly around my waist and carried her off into a more secluded corner of the building.

. . .

I heard Jacobson discussing waking us with at least three other people. I could hear his words perfectly since only he did not have his back to me, the rest of the sound mumbles and mutters with only the occasional audible word.

Since his tone didn't indicate any urgency I decided to let them keep talking while I lay at peace for the first time in a long, long while.

I hadn't actually slept, though I had closed my eyes and relaxed as much as I could manage, which had been a goodly amount with Myla in my arms. The cot hadn't really been made for two, but we'd made it work so we could be together. Both on our sides, her tucked right up against me, her breaths slow and even against my throat. She hadn't wanted to sleep, but I had insisted, citing she'd bee much fresher come the fight once she'd caught some zzzs. She'd grumbled until I'd pointed out I intended to be on the cot with her. She'd gotten a sly look in her eyes and stripped down as much as she dared in a potential battle situation. Boots and utility belt off, the rest stayed. She'd already had to redress once tonight, she wouldn't again. Not in front of her people, anyway. Yes, the command cots were off to one side, but there remained a decided lack of privacy overall.

Still, she'd let her hands rove for a few minutes, causing me to squirm and blush, but I'd dug my fingers into all those tight places in her back, encouraging the knots to loosen and her to slowly slide down the rabbit hole and into the waiting arms of Nod.

And now I needed to wake her no matter how much I didn't want to. I had rediscovered my willingness to just be with her. I could lay like this forever if granted the opportunity.

And, damn it, I wanted the opportunity.

Whatever happened.

However, this ended I wanted to come back to her.

Whether back with the Avengers or SHIELD or join the Expendables or… or maybe even retire. I'd bought that place in Brooklyn after all. For the two of us. No reason we couldn't take some time off, be it a year or a decade and just be people for a while.

Wouldn't that be fucking amazing? To be nothing but Steve Rogers for a while?

I could get back into art and she… well, she could do whatever the hell she wanted. Train others maybe. Martial arts or self-defense or any of the dozens of other skills she had mastered over the years. She didn't need money as I had learned the day before and I had fairly simple tastes. We'd be fine. And possibly even happy.

After.

Hell, maybe I'd even ask her to marry me.

I heard Sam mutter, "Chicken." His steps coming closer at a quick beat. The situation, perhaps, more urgent than the hushed voices had implied. "Aww, I can see why they didn't want to wake you. You're too cute."

"Fuck you, Wilson," Myla muttered against my neck.

I'd suspected she'd awoken, but hadn't wanted to disturb her if she felt the need to catch a few more winks. I chuckled.

"Damn, you are cranky when you don't get enough sleep," Sam commented, the words full of snark, but he grinned like a fool. Still, the look in his eyes belied the seriousness of the situation. Especially given he had his full EXO suit on. The goggles perched atop his head, but powered up based on the eerie red glow to them.

I shifted up onto one elbow. "Sit-rep."

"That's my line," Myla grumbled as she rolled to squint up at Sam. She'd only had a couple hours of real sleep and it looked like that would be all she'd get today.

"Should I wait for you then? 'Cause while I'd be happy to stand here all night bantering over rank, the bad guys look to be making an early day of it."

She didn't move, but I felt her tense. "How many incoming?"

Ares got there first. "Dozens. More than enough to put a strain on our resources here."

She rubbed an eye appearing nonchalant, but I knew her, her mind running at top speed to figure how to deploy the troops to protect as many innocents as possible. "Do we have time to set up a defensive line."

"Should," Sam told her. He handed over a tablet so she could see for herself. She shifted to sit, her feet on the cold floor of the warehouse. One of my hands on her back as she read over the data, the tablet in her hand. She'd held it at the perfect angle for both of us to easily see.

"Shit, are these numbers correct?"

Ares huffed in irritation. "Of course they are."

I reached around her to tap a couple of the data points. "We'll be spread thin."

She shook her head. "If they continue their current approach we should be able to force them to come at us here. Trapping them up against the river. Unless they have a navy, they'll be forced along here," She drew lines on the screen, showing how she'd expect them to move then added deployment areas for the teams. "We can block them and force a bottleneck along here. Keep them out of the city as long as possible."

"You thinking reinforcements will arrive?"

"Aliens blowing shit up? They better send help," Sam snarled,

I agreed wholeheartedly, but just because they should didn't mean they would. "Myla?"

"Suit up," she ordered, making it official.

Time to fight.

. . .

They had moved as predicted and we'd been able to force a stalemate against the river. They didn't swim well and had avoided the water after a dozen of them had been swept away. Good thing I'd already fought aliens, otherwise I would have stood there and goggled for several minutes at the strange creatures before me. Lizard-like in appearance, though nearly seven feet tall when on the two rear legs. Two out of six, mind you. These were nothing that had ever been seen on earth. And that was the point. Thanos didn't just want to collect the Infinity Stones he wanted to make a statement. We'd been a thorn in his side ever since the defeat of Loki and he had decided to smash the human race under his gauntleted fist, leaving nothing but pulpy smear behind.

We had to stop him.

They'd made use of the wards to get the creatures to go where we wanted. The shields would burn out fairly quickly if pressured too much, but had enough of a zap in them to make the beasts scream and shy away. And they communicated. So once one group had learned their lesson all the rest avoided the area as well without additional prompting.

We stood an actual chance until we were attacked from behind.

"Ares, what the hell?" I heard Myla complain, sounding more irritated than anything.

"Calculating," Ares answered, sounding irritated. Not even he had expected that move.

"They appeared out of nowhere, literally." Myla reviewed the video on the screen embedded in the forearm of her armor. "Wands, move to cover Cups."

"En route, Fool."

"Chariot, can you provide air support as they reorient?"

"Done."

That's when the first of the energy blasts lit up the early morning sky. The handlers of the beasts making their appearance by firing at Sam who dodged the blasts easily. We'd predicted their arrival, and missed the window by only a few minutes.

"Fool, I think we pissed them off."

"Good," she growled. "Ares, track those weapons and get me some targets."

"Working on it. Thirty seconds."

The weapons fire increased, but only from the one side, trapping us between the creatures and the river. The trap we'd used turned about against us. And they had superior weapons. My team had been forward of Myla's position but slowly fell back until her troops and mine became mingled together. All of using a combination of hand to hand and weapons fire to take down the horde of aliens creatures as quickly as possible. Losses were mounting up on our side, but we continued to fight.

I ended up near Myla who had acquired what looked like the world's nastiest sword and swung it about with an easy grace anytime one of the monsters came near enough to her that it needed to be dealt with in a final manner. Most never made it near, her people all expert marksmen and easily able to take out the creatures with one or two well-placed bullets.

"Targets acquired," Ares informed us.

"Fire at will."

The soft whoosh of some kind of RPG could be heard, not standard issue obviously, but effective nonetheless as the flashes of blue energy ceased quickly once the exceedingly effective rockets impacted their targets.

Then reality set in as alien small arms fire rained down from above. Blue streaks of energy reminiscent of Hydra weaponry lit the sky bright as day for a long moment only to impact against the wards that magically appeared over our heads. Her runestones - she'd explained she'd spent some time with Jane Foster learning about Asgardian technology and had created more than a few toys based on said tech. Her runes were quite mobile and create shields in pretty much any place or configuration.

Myla smiled dangerously. Clearly pleased with how they'd worked against the unknown weaponry. Then she frowned. Her focus on the data being fed to her by Ares instead of the monsters about us.

I fought my way over to her. "What?" I shouted over the din of animalistic roars and the pop of small arms fire. No, not over coms. Whatever she had learned not for general consumption quite yet.

"This is a distraction. A small unit has landed in the town. Heading straight to Temperance and Judgement from the looks of it."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. And that suggested that whoever had been running this show, be it Thanos or someone else had been fully aware we'd been gathering troop here and had planned accordingly. Almost as if they could see the future. And for all I knew they could and nothing we did here would make a bit of difference in how the ending played out. "Myla-"

She didn't even have to think about it. "Go. Do what you do best. We'll hold the line here."

That she'd announced over comms since I heard her in an odd stereo. Usually, Ares filtered out conversations as needed, which implied the system had other details to take care of.

Sam came online quickly. "Need a lift, Emp?"

Myla responded. "Yes. Ares will feed you intel. I'll try to give Empress a heads up. They appear to be jamming communications with the city"

Which meant that I might not get a chance to speak to her again as who the hell knew where we would end up next. I doubted we would have the time to come back to check on the Expendables until after all had been said and done. The roar of Sam's engines could be heard as he cleared a landing spot by shooting a handful of the aliens as he arrived.

For a single instant, I was torn. "Remember you are not expendable to me."

She gave me a grin and a nod. "Neither are you. We got this."

I took two long strides to her side, punching a beast aside as I did so. Grabbed her weapon harness and pulled her in close for a kiss. Much as Peggy had to me a lifetime ago. "I love you."

She gave me a wry grin. "I know."

Then I turned and ran to where Sam waited to get us both into the city as fast as possible.