Avengers Unite

Alright! No Alexis this chapter, but a lot of the Avengers.
So lets get on with it!
I don't own anything that's owned by the MCU, please let me know how you liked the chapter.
Enjoy!

The avengers

Unwinding

The avengers had decided to return to Stark tower together after Thor left with the tesseract and Loki. They knew Alexis would come to find them sooner rather than later.
So after they had been looked after by SCHIELD's doctors, had gotten a chance to shower and changed into normal clothes (except for Natasha and Clint who chose to wear their all black spy gear) they (and Rhodey who'd found the team in the shawarma place after the battle) gathered in Tony's penthouse for a drink at the bar with the tv playing in the background.
Tony had just gotten off the phone with Pepper. It had been a strange mix of business and love as "I'm fine" was followed up with "is there room in the budget for" and such.
Pepper was on her way back from a meeting in DC, according to her she had been back in the air before the events in NY had hit the news. That was Pepper, she arrived and got things done.
It was clear to the team that when Pepper came home both she and Tony would need some time alone to comfort each other and catch up on some well-earned rest.
In fact they all felt like they could use a nap.
"There are a couple of guest rooms on lower floors you guys can use to catch some shut eye." Tony suggested when Bruce mentioned this.
"Afterwards how about we eat..." he looked at his watch. "early breakfast together? We know Alexis isn't going to yell at us if she thinks for even a second we might be too tired.
So we first sleep and then she can kick some sense into us while we eat. Pizza anyone?" Everyone nodded not really caring, though Steve frowned slightly. He knew he should be against eating junk food two times in a row, especially for breakfast, but he had to admit that he wasn't feeling up to something more balanced either.

Just as they all had gotten up to find a bed and sleep for the next eight to ten hours, Rhodes biding them goodnight and about to leave, Steve turned around, shocked at something. His enhanced hearing had picked up Alexis' name from the tv.
"Alexis is on the news!" he exclaimed. Everyone turned and jumped on the couch. All need for sleep forgotten. They hadn't heard word from their confidant yet and it had started to worry them.
They watched in shock as they saw her stand before an audience ready to, according to the headline at the bottom of the screen: shine light on the battle of New York
"Unbelievable." Tony breathed as he looked at her determined and battle ready face.
"That woman should get a medal. She spend 14 of the past 20 hours on a plane and the remaining six she was either helping someone out who was scared of his own body or preparing for this." Rhody send him a 'sounds familiar' look which he pointedly ignored.
"And look at her. Anyone who's said something that pissed her of better watch out, she's on fire," Tony ranted, feeling worried for the young woman. Had she slept or eaten?
He knew that he could sometimes forget these things, Rhodey wasn't being overbearing with that glare, but he was an insomniac and he had Pepper.
Had Alexis spend the flight back fretting, following the development of the fight and gathering the conference, preparing her speech and God knows what?

"She is remarkable." Bruce sighed. "Too bad that she was in Europe for all this. I bet things wouldn't have gotten that heated if she'd been there." The rest of the team, who had seen her more and longer than just one time in passing, chuckled.
"You have no idea. She would've smacked us over the head and given us a lecture as if we were six year old misbehaving children." Natasha smiled, allowing her face to soften for a brief moment before closing of again. She liked this team, despite the rocky start, but she had to be prepared to turn on them if they became a threat. No friends. Except for Clint, and even he had turned…
Not voluntarily, but still, if she hadn't been able to knock him back to normal she would've been forced to kill him. She knew that Clint knew this, just as she knew that Clint would kill her if she went rogue. It would be hard and it would eat away at the both of them.
She couldn't allow herself any more soft spots.
It didn't matter that the doctor's pained, regretful gaze before he had lost control had struck her with not only fear, but sympathy she thought she was no longer capable of.
She'd have to do whatever it took to take him out if he got too out of hand.
And though she found herself enjoying Stark's humor and charm. If he got out of line, if his perspective got so screwed that he endangered others. She'd have to put him down.
And no matter how disarming the boyish grin of Thor could be and how much she respected him as a warrior. If he or any of his friends turned against earth she would have to act.
And even if the captain's calm voice, gentle but sure guidance and caring nature brought her a type of comfort she had desperately needed in her childhood, if he for whatever reason turned against SHIELD she needed to quickly and effectively eliminate him.
Natasha knew she'd have to work on earning each of the men's favor in time, but none would be fooled if she was their best friend from the start. She had a reputation and the men around her weren't stupid. She had to forge a bond with each of them and choose the type connection she would make them think they had carefully. She had to be just what they needed.
Her eye drifted back to the television. Alexis would be heartbroken if it ever came to that.
But that didn't matter. A friendship with Alexis was not useful, could only become a liability to them both. She had tried to explain this to the girl over and over again for the past four years.
Alexis shouldn't try to befriend any of them, it put her and the team in danger.
But the confidant was a child at heart, and love is for children after all.
She snapped out of her thoughts. Right now she was too tired to think about it.
She had to focus on the screen. Alexis was going to fight for them, the least Natasha could do was watch.

The team chuckled as the confidant spoke to the gathered press.
"She's really out of patience for today…" Tony observed. "Which is saying something. She deals with you on a regular basis," Rhodes joked.
"Wonder who she'll take it out on?" Clint smirked looking around for possible victims.
"Fury," Steve said decidedly. "Even though things have been done and said by us that might get her worked up, she doesn't know about them." He had a point. She didn't know the first thing about what happened before the battle got broadcasted on the news.
"She'll need to be brought up to speed though. Ugh, I'm going to regret this.
JARVIS, can you assemble the video footage from recent events?" Tony ordered. Steve was looking around for the man Tony had been talking to, but saw none and jumped when an answer came.
"As you wish sir." Bruce smiled impressed by the tech, Rhodes was used to it, Natasha remembered the AI from when she worked undercover and Clint had heard all about it, but Steve was absolutely shocked. "Where is Mr. Jarvis?" He asked. Tony chuckled.
"There's no Mr. Jarvis. It's is the name I gave my computer system. He's intelligent. Runs the entire house, and part of my company. Look. Jarvis dim the lights, give us some music, something to relax."
"Certainly sir." And immediately the light's dimmed and jazz music drifted from the background.
"Amazing." Steve breathed causing Tony to smile proudly.
"I suppose Mr. Jarvis has passed away then?" Steve asked -in a clearly disappointed tone- to the astonishment of everyone in the room.
"You knew Mr. Jarvis?" Tony asked. Steve shook his head.
"Howard mentioned him on New year's eve after our first mission, we were in France just over the Belgian border and we had managed to get a few bottles of sparkling wine from a local brewer. Me and the commando's watched ourselves, we were still on duty after all and needed to be in the field the next morning, but Howard would return to base- I'll tell you the story later," Steve said when he noticed that Alexis was about to speak again.

Tony forced himself to pay attention, not an easy task. He had just realized that the captain had stories about his father that no one else could share with him. Tony had heard all about captain America from his dad. Now after meeting the real deal he found that the stories didn't match the man completely. Sure he lived up to the legend in skills and courage and all that, but his dad had by example never even hinted at how awkward the captain felt in social situations. Something Tony had very quickly picked up on. Not surprising since for his dad there had been decades between events and retelling. But for the living legend it had been weeks. He wondered how different his father was when seen through the eyes of Captain America. But he had to keep these questions for later.
After this, sleep and food. And possibly a scolding.

They listened as Alexis spoke of the victims and bowed their heads in silent respect for the fallen.
"She has a way with words," Bruce said softly as Alexis talked about the damage, cringing at the numbers appearing on screen. "and images," he added.
"Colateral damage is one of the worst things a soldier has to deal with," Rhodes muttered. Steve nodded profoundly bowing his head as he recalled those he wasn't able to save. Seeing this, and suddenly remembering that he wasn't the only soldier in the room, Rhodes reached over and patted the captain on the back. A gesture that was much appreciated.
The team nodded in agreement with him, allowing themselves soft smiles as Alexis spoke of the suits and defended the team.
"There she goes again. Multitasking. Press conference and comforting us at the same time," Clint smiled affectionately.
"She isn't implying that there is a meeting with the UN planned already is she?" Steve asked turning to Natasha and Clint who knew her the longest. The assassins couldn't say for certain.
"She might," Natasha muttered, causing everyone to groan exasperatedly.
"Okay, that's it. I'm sending Happy to pick her up after she leaves Fury with the footage and then she'll be brought straight here and she'll get some damn rest before anything else!" Tony exclaimed.
Steve nodded his approval, "Make sure she eats first though. She can't stomach food when she's worried which means she most likely hasn't eaten in a while either." Clint and Natasha nodded in agreement with that statement.
"Her proposals are pretty good though. It would certainly have helped today if such procedures had existed," Steve continued with a proud smile on his lips.
"That's Robbins, always finds ways to fix things," Natasha declared.
Tony let out a whistle as she spoke of the council's plans.
"Her eyes are set from stun to disintegrate. Those guys better hope she never gets anywhere near them." This made the team chuckle. None of them doubted that Alexis wouldn't back down one bit if she ever came face to face with the council.

They all felt their heart sink to their laps when they saw the sacrifice afore mentioned council had been willing to make. "I didn't realize what a disaster it would've been… This is horrible." Steve muttered. Everyone was shocked by the impact, but Steve was the only one who was yet to be introduced, trough experience or education on historical events to the horror that was an atomic bomb. "Irony is, my dad helped on the development of the first," Tony muttered. It was ironic, but since the scrapple that was still determined to settle in his heart was his own design, it wasn't the most shocking reality he'd ever been confronted with.
"Howard? Are you sure?" Steve sounded astonished and repelled.
"The idea was that our enemies would be so afraid of it that they wouldn't attack. He knew the theoretical destruction, and saw it during 'harmless' tests, but he doubted that it would happen." Tony was surprised by his own words, but since they were true he didn't question the fact that he had just defended his father's actions. Rhodey however smiled, happy to hear Tony say something good about his father without it being part of a sales talk.
Attention was returned to Alexis as she introduced the senator.
"She's enjoying this isn't she?" Bruce chuckled.
"I know I am," Tony grinned.
"Hey, I remember her. I was about to jump in but she jammed something in his neck. As far as I could tell it died a nasty death," Steve said, he was nervous. Had the brave woman died anyway? Why was she brought up? When the picture was exchanged for a video call he relaxed. She was fine.
"I like this lady. Can we hire her? I'm hiring her," Tony decided as the woman displayed her courage and intellect. And when she stated that every New Yorker was an avenger they all smiled in appreciation. "I believe we donated to her facility already…" Tony checked the pad in his hand on which he had been doing god knows what. But before he found what he was looking for the woman had confirmed his statement herself.

The officer appeared on screen and once again Steve recognized the face.
"You zooming by is normal huh?" Steve teased carefully. Not sure if he had already earned the right to make such a gesture of comradery. To his relieve Tony grinned back at him.
"Of course, need to keep the suit oiled and can't have the fans thirst for me for too long," Tony said patting Steve's back before receiving a playful push from Rhodes.
"Hearing about it from this angel is… strange. We knew all the ins and outs, and for us it was still a bit chaotic. But the police, army and civilians must've been beyond confused," Bruce observed.
"I can't even begin to imagine how that was like," Natasha muttered- it's true she was usually the cause or at least part of the chaos never a bystander, this of course was true for most of the team.
"I can," Steve sighed, remembering when he had heard about the war. The news had pretty much turned his world upside down in the middle of a normal day.
Sure he'd known things were bad overseas and longed to help somehow, but until then it didn't really affect his life at home.
He noticed the others staring. "What? My life was ordinary once. I wasn't born captain America," he informed them. He saw the flicker of realization in their eyes. Had they really not thought of him as anything other than…
But Bruce had called him Steve. He had been addressed as Rogers.
Was all they saw when they looked at him his shield?
Natasha and Clint felt a bit dumb for their slip up. Of course they knew that the captain had been a normal person most of his life, but… they hadn't thought much about it before and they really should've done a better job of hiding that.
But he'd been dead most of their lives. He still felt a bit like a legend.
Bruce was the least surprised. Because he too, was identified by something that hadn't been part of him until recent years. That was why he hadn't called Steve by his title if he could help it.
Rhodes felt ashamed. His best friend was Iron man he should know better.
Tony felt like an idiot. He should've realized this. He was so busy with making everyone think of him as Iron Man and nothing else that he hadn't thought that the captain- that Steve was a man behind the symbol and wished to be acknowledged as such.

"Of course, sorry, it's just that whole captain attitude that makes it easy to forget. I mean can you imagine Fury in his jammies with hot cocoa?" the mental image forced everyone's expression to lighten up and a chuckle to come out. "Get what I mean? But speaking of which… How did you hear about it? I never thought to ask that question of veterans. Stupid of me actually." Steve allowed himself a grin. Tony's rant was quite humorous.
"I was in an art class. Bucky was complaining about the model fidgeting, but he was really just not good at drawing life models. He was best when he could make something up.
I remember that I was adding some shadow to bring out a fold in her robe when this guy bursts through the door. Yelling to turn on the radio. We had been attacked, our hand had been forced.
It was confusing. We didn't live anywhere near pearl harbor so there were no explosions only a voice on the radio that told us about the planes and the people stuck on slowly sinking ships… I remember how deadly silent it was in the room. It was like the world had stopped.
I had followed the events in Europe and as it was I had been wishing that I could do something to help the brave men that fought the Nazis. But suddenly the war had come to us…" He cut himself off. The memory had started dragging him to earlier and later events, none of which he wanted to visit right now. "The rest is history." He summarized and returned his eyes to the screen.
The others got the hint and tried to figure out where the officer was in his story.

As Tony heard how Steve's encounter with the police was described he snorted. "Show off," he teased.
"Hypocrite," Steve countered effortlessly.
All were relieved that the police seemed to be on their side. Or at least this man's unit was.
When the bomb was mentioned again they frowned, what was that council thinking?
"That's one way to sum it up," Tony joked weakly as the officer tried to describe the worst minutes of Tony's life, and that includes being abducted, tortured, watching his new friend die in his arms and coming to terms with the fact that he was sick and dying with no way out.
He noticed that Steve gave him a subtle nudge, indicating that the team was there for him if he needed it. He smiled in appreciation. This team thing might not be so bad after all.
He also noticed when Steve started to fidget at the mention of the cleanup that needed to be done.
"No, we are not going to do anything before we've slept and eaten and we are not going to leave before Alexis is done with us either. We owe her that," Tony insisted. Steve relaxed a little nodding in agreement. They could see how they could help after they had looked after themselves. War had taught him that neglecting your injuries, or needs was like neglecting those of the team.
The call with the officer was finished and the senator got put in his place.
"I'm almost sad that's over. His face was very entertaining to watch," Clint said with a grin.
During both conversations the 'suit' had tried to hide his annoyance at being put aside and put in his place by a girl that looked like she was fresh out of college.
"She does not like that man," Tony added having noticed how she dismissed the man and made him basically promise to never again say something against the team.

"But I won't let you blame my team." This declaration, this slip of the tongue was received with gasps of surprise. Sure they knew that she was going to work with them. But to call them her team… not implying ownership, but including herself as part of the unit they were starting to form.
And they couldn't deny that she was a part of them. Even though she hadn't met them as a team yet, they all had noticed her absence and it had bothered them. A friendly, familiar face would've been appreciated during their introduction to one another.
"Okay, Alexis we get the message. 'Take it easy and give yourself time to relax.' I'm sure you'll tell us this in person as well. You're over doing it!" Tony joked as Alexis gave the New Yorkers advice on how to deal with recent events. Meanwhile he finished what he had been doing on the tablet. Looking at the screen in anticipation. When Alexis's face lit up he felt like a king.
"So Capsicle. You happy now? Feeling better for taking a day of?" Steve smiled.
"Actually I do. You really shouldn't have Tony." But he was waved away.
"I own that hotel. Little known fact. Things like alien invasions aren't great for the hotel business. Here'll be some disaster tourism, but that's not exactly the kind of people I want to attract.
So instead of waiting for the hotel to empty I'm relocating current guests to a hotel that's farther away. I keep the employees on. I promise I won't go hungry in the next few months. My company is build up in such a way that one market plummeting doesn't kill me. And the aid in rebuilding gives me the chance to weasel my clean energy into the buildings.
Everything under control." Steve was now fully relaxed for the first time since Tony met him. And seeing him slumped back in the couch with relief on his face made him look less like a legend and more like the man underneath the surface.
The man who's existence Tony had tried to ignore most of his life.

"But a wise man told me once: When you live to mourn, you live to laugh and love again.
This was something that pulled him through many tough situations.
So let it be something that pulls us through the hardships we face today.
And let's not turn against our own." The avengers felt their spirits being lifted by Alexis's words.
"You sure she doesn't have any of your genes? She's got a look in her eyes that reminds me an awful lot of you during your little 'rally the troops even if the commander is an ass' pep talk," Tony grinned. "What?" Natasha, Clint, Rhodes and Bruce asked.
"We got this big monologue from Fury. I was pissed because he was a lying, deceiving asshole and grieving because of Coulson. I wanted to shout and be angry but cap made it clear that even though neither of us were Fury's biggest fan, we had to do what we could to stop Loki." Tony grinned.
That grin vanished when he saw the sadness in Alexis's eyes as she admitted that she didn't know how to take away the pain of those who had lost that what could not be replaced.
She looked like she needed a minute, but instead of giving herself time she pushed onward to the questions. Which were luckily not many in numbers.

They all smiled at how she described their next destinations very accurately. And how she acknowledged the personal troubles each of them was sorting through in an almost playful way.
"Avengers tower? There is talk about that?" Steve looked at Tony with surprise.
"Well, I filed it away as an idea I had. I joked about it with her back when the initiative wasn't put down. It could be our headquarters and SHIELD would have to come to us next time. I'm sure Alexis will have a design ready, she has this fascination with décor and I don't think I would be able to deny her a chance to go all out. So when she gets here you'll most likely see what the fuss is all about," Tony explained.
She got called out on her slip of the tongue but it didn't faze her. She made clear what her job contained and in doing so took the chance to make it clear that they were normal people with extraordinary talents.
"Okay, last thing, I want to direct this to my team. I know you guys are watching. Once I've finished talking with the UN and sorted everything out you'll have to assemble." This made them laugh.
"Good thing we already did," Tony snorted.
He called Happy and told him to pick her up at SHIELD headquarters, JARVIS would let him know when she'd arrive there, with food, a card and a tablet with the footage because lord knows that Alexis wouldn't sleep before being at least somewhat caught up.
The team then spread out for their naps, Tony asked JARVIS to wake them when Alexis got in the car with Happy. That way they had time to freshen up and order the pizza before she got there.
Rhodes said goodbye and went home. Just as Tony had let his friend out and started to make his way to a bedroom the elevator announced the arrival of someone. "Tony!" Next thing he knew he was enveloped in the embrace of a sobbing Pepper Pots. He embraced her and listened to her voice, scolding him and whispering 'I love you's' in his ear. After a while he guided her to their bedroom, he held her close until the both of them fell into a dreamless slumber.