A/N: Please read and review!
There came one night when Steve had been walking back to his building following one mission that had been on an island. That mission had really opened his eyes even more to what could only be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s true motives, and he was not liking what he saw. Before he went into the building, he noticed Alice sitting by herself as she was reading, and he stopped walking to look up at her. That was enough for her to stop what she was doing to look down at him.
She had given him a small smile. "Hey there, Stranger."
"Hey," Steve said to her, returning her easy smile. "What are you doing?"
"Doing some reading," she said to him. "Emma's here, and this is both a quiet and relaxing place."
"Really?" Steve had asked her.
"I sometimes like to people watch," she had actually admitted. to him of all people, but she did not seem to be upset about it. She had quirked up an eyebrow at him. "You wanna come join? It's never a dull moment."
She had gestured to the closest fire escape if Steve had wanted to come join her. He thought for a moment, but he did end up climbing that fire escape to join her. Already he was not going to pass on spending that more time with her.
Steve went to sit next to her. She had given him some of the space next to her, and she gave him a close look after he had made himself to be comfortable in the space next to her. Her icy blue eyes narrowed behind her black rimmed glasses.
"Bad day?" She asked him.
"Somewhat. . ." Steve admitted to her.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. work getting to you?" Alice asked him. She gave him a look full of understanding.
"That obvious?" Steve asked her.
"Nanna wore that same expression towards the end," Alice had explained to him. "Before she retired."
Steve looked down at the street below them, trying to decide what he could say to her. It was mostly a secret, so she could not have been told anything, anyway. She knew Peggy. . .probably better than he ever did, and it was pretty difficult for him to understand and see that she had clearly moved on. He quickly shook his head as if to clear it.
"A rescue mission. . .that wasn't as it had seemed. . ." Steve had said to her.
"It must have been pretty bad. . ." Alice said.
"There was someone who had been trapped on that island for who knows how long. . ." He shook his head. "That wasn't their main concern, though. . ."
Alice went to reach out to him, and she held his hand, gently squeezing it. "It was enough that you were there. . ."
They were looking at the streets around them, and if Steve was able to strain his eyesight, he would have been able to see a hooded figure using a bow and arrow, and for a moment, he had wondered if he was watching Barton.
Alice looked at him, wearing a small smile for him. "Told you it was never dull. . ."
There was a lone, hooded figure dressed in all green who carefully moved through the city. It had only been a few weeks since he came off that island, he did not waste any time in dealing with the people his father had to admit to him who had ruined his city. He killed them because he was not going to show them the mercy they had denied their city and all of the citizens who were their victims. They had abused their power, and they would only do it again.
He left one building, and he was going to deal with the next man on his father's list that he had given to him before he killed himself to make sure he would survive to fix his mistakes and to help the city that had needed their help. He could hear some struggling and yelling down by the alley closest to him. He actually hesitated for a moment, unsure if he would be able to deal with it and that man on his list. Something very quick ran past him, and he was able to see a young woman wearing a red and blue sweatshirt with a hood up to cover her face as she went to help the people in that alleyway.
Before she had disappeared, she looked up at him, practically making eye contact with him. For a brief moment, he had felt like he had needed to reconsider his mission, but when he had closed his eyes for a moment, that kind of feeling was long gone when he had opened them.
"I've been reading up on your exploits," she yelled up at him. She spoke in a way that would not allow him to recognize her voice.
He landed on the ground in front of her. "I'm not doing it to impress you."
"No. . ." She said, taking a step back to make sure her face would still be hidden by the shadows around her. "Looks like you're only here to kill them."
"I'm helping my city," he snapped at her.
She had tipped her head to the side as she had looked at him. "You look more like a glorified serial killer." She did not flinch at the glare he had been giving to her at what she had said to him. "If you want to help the people of your city, then you should switch your focus away from killing those men you believe had ruined the city." Before she had disappeared, she had seemed to know he was not going to listen to that kind of advice from her. At least not right away. "That was when you become something bigger than herself. That was how you can change things."
It was clear she had hoped it was the start.
The woman had left behind the symbol of an "S" inside of a shield burned into the ground after she had suddenly disappeared.
There was commotion within STAR Labs as two individuals walked into the building. They were well known, especially for that lab, and all of the scientists in the lab stopped what they had been working on to hear what those two men were saying to their bass. it was going to be interest, that much they could see.
They were Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner. Both were well known for their work beyond what had happened in New York City.
"So you must be Harrison Wells," Banner had said to the man after Stark had given the scientist a firm handshake.
Stark had given the scientist a close look like he was trying to get a read off of him.
"I am," Dr. Harrison Wells said, actually being good natured about it all. He did seem to be pretty pleased about meeting two of the world's greatest minds. "And, I'm also wondering what brings the two of you all the way here."
"We heard about the particle accelerator," the nervous-looking Banner had said. "We wanted to take a look."
"Mostly my idea," Stark said.
Wells looked between the two of them, trying to decide if he could believe him or not. "If you talk to me about how you're able to have that Arc Reaktor in your chest without being slowly poisoned."
It was Stark's turn to study Wells. "To a point of course."
"Of course," Wells agreed with him.
One of the employees to STAR Labs had watched that exchange, and for that moment, he could barely concentrate on some of his work. Another of the employees had noticed that, and she had walked over to him.
"What's going on?" She had asked him. "You can barely seem to focus."
"Tony Stark's here," was all he could really say to her. "He made the Iron Man suit in a cave in Afghanistan. I want to be like him. . ."
She smiled, seeing how starstruck he had seemed to be. "I think Wells would lead him to what you are working on."
It was no secret that Harrison Wells took him, Ramone Cisco, under his wing from the moment he had started working at STAR Labs. What she, Caitlin Snow, had said to him would be something Wells would do.
Dr. Harrison Wells had led the two men to a room where they could look at the plans for the accelerator.
"For obvious reasons," Wells had said to them, proudly gesturing to the plans all around them. "I can't show you the actual accelerator, but these plans should be enough for the two of you."
"More than enough," Stark had said as he started to look through those plans.
It was only so Banner would know what to look for. Ever since what had happened to him with the gamma radiation, he knew, practically innately, where to see the potentially deadly flaws in any kind of plan. Banner had been wearing a slight frown of concentration as he had carefully studied those plans. He pointed to one part that had clearly troubled him, and he had looked back at Wells.
"This troubles me," he had said to him.
"I can assure you," Wells quickly said to him. "It's not an issue."
It was not the right thing to say to him. His hand had started to really shake as he had looked back at Wells. It was enough to make the two of them uneasy.
"Hey, Big Guy. . ." Stark carefully warned him.
"Don't worry," Banner said, and it was clear he could be able to show great control over his emotions. He had still been looking back at Wells, expecting some kind of an explanation.
"The problem had been shown to me in good enough time to fix it before the construction had started," he said. "I want this to succeed in any way possible."
That was all he said as a way to alleviate their worries. Stark did explain, to a point, about the Arc Reaktor and how he was able to get it to work. It was all as a way to possibly create more of an opportunity for it to be used in more homes across the world. Before they left, Stark was willing to follow the suggestion by Wells to speak with Cisco about some of the projects he had been working on over his short tenure in the STAR Labs.
When Banner and Stark left the labs, they looked at each other.
"Why do I get the feelings something bad was going to happen?" Banner had asked. "He didn't really do a good job reassuring us about the plans."
"I thought he changed," Stark had said. "Since we were in school."
"So did you. . ." Banner had remarked.
Stark shook his head. "You could make an argument this was me all along. He had changed. I know it. Ever since that car accident almost fifteen years ago. . ." Stark paused to allow himself to think. "It's like he's pretending to be Harrison Wells."
Alice and Emma had been speaking together when Steve walked passed their apartment. They were standing in front of the door, and even Steve would not have been able to hear what they were saying to each other. But, he could tell they were almost arguing over something pretty important.
"It's who you are, Allie," Emma had said. "You can't ignore that."
Alice had closed her eyes and shook her head, refusing to even believe whatever Emma was trying to tell her. She opened her eyes, and she could see Steve was watching and listening to them, making her decide to choose her words very carefully.
"You and I both know it could not be possible," Alice said. "Nothing proves that."
"But," Emma had said to her. "There is a big reason."
It was clear Emma could see she had needed to choose her words carefully as well.
Alice carefully raised a hand to keep Emma from saying anything else, and she shook her head another time. That was not reason enough for her. Never enough for her.
"That's not. . .enough. . .you know that. . ." She said, trying to get her to understand.
Emma actually rolled her eyes. "That's what I meant. I can't believe you don't see that."
Emma went into the apartment, barely acknowledging Steve. Alice lightly and hesitantly waved to Steve before she had followed her friend.
"I take it that's an argument that always seem to be happening," Steve remarked to her.
"Practically all of the time," Alice said, but it was clear she was not going to go into any more of the details. "Apparently the day isn't complete unless we argue about that."