Chapter 11
Dear June.
In the ten minute session you gave me, in the short time I let you talk to me, you said that my sort of 'problem' was that I closed off all my emotions to those I care about. You said that one of your 'solutions' or exercises was to write a letter to someone. Anyone at all.
So here I am.
Steve. The First Avenger, the first hero, who saved Earth from the power of the Tesseract. He lost Bucky and then lost Peggy. He fought his friends and family for Bucky when he came back. That was love, to care so much and then to lose him again.
Then he keeps smiling. For so long I had thought I was the only one who properly cared for this team, who accidentally built a killing robot for them, to protect them. For so long I had been angry at them for not stopping me, angry at them for not letting me trust them enough to tell them about my worries.
But now I realized, Steve always had my back, that he cared about the team as well. The only difference was that Steve had Bucky, and that was his first priority. I don't have a 'Bucky'.
I guess Steve is my first concern because we had that fight. I think. I don't know.
So I'll write this to him.
Steve. Ever since I could remember, I was not the son of Howard Stark. I was not the invention he created and worked. I wasn't the revolutionary creation he was so very proud of. No, that was you.
You were the super-soldier that my father was so proud of. Always talked about you. And it wasn't just the fact that you had the serum in you, it was the fact you were such a good person. Apparently.
Every time I did something wrong, I was compared to you. Captain America wouldn't do that! Captain America would apologize.
So when I met you on that heli-carrier, I didn't know what to expect. But you were everything my father said. So maybe that was why I was subconsciously snarky towards you.
I was probably my fault we had a small rivalry between us.
You were my friend. Who was annoyed at S.H.I.E.L.D. for keeping secrets and then you go find your friend who turns out to have murdered my family and then you keep that secret from me.
We both did things wrong and I sorry for my part. June says apologizing is always good, even if you aren't sorry, it seems to please the others.
But I am truly sorry for being a jerk at the times I was actually being a jerk.
I guess we both are leaders and there is only one team of Avengers.
I don't really know, you'll never really ever read this I hope. More to make June happy and I guess myself.
-Tony Stark.
...SceneChange...
To Tony Stark,
So June made me do this. Didn't really say why. I guess its supposed to let out your feelings to someone. Not as in romantic, as in grudges or something like that.
My only grudge against you is that you weren't wrong. I now understand that you were doing what you thought was right, back in our 'little fight'. You realized the consequences our careless actions were doing and that people were dying.
Maybe it wasn't the best options, to go to the same people who decided to nuke the city. But you wanted to make things right and it didn't work out.
We could've talked about it I guess, but that wasn't really our thing.
I realize now you do care about this team, and that's all you've been doing all those years ago.
You never deserved this, to be targeted by the team, by the fans back in the day. The weary looks after each conference, how could I not have seen?
I always thought that all you were, was a smart-arse person who never took anything seriously. I thought you couldn't see the consequences of your actions as a spoilt billionaire, that you built a killer robot without telling us.
I see in your eyes that your brain had built some new walls to block the other side. I wish you would give me one more chance to take them down brick by brick and start to feel together what it means to be a real friend.
-Steve Rogers
...SceneChange...
June smiled at the crumpled pieces of paper that she had made the both write what seemed so long ago. She neatly folded both and placed each into their on file. She glanced around her room. Each file for each Avenger was quite full.
Except for Buckys. She opened the empty file. There was nothing in there except for a single paper, which was the one Fury gave her at the start of her time here. She fiddled with it for a while before putting it back in and placing the file on her bedside table.
She grabbed the pile of files and walked out of her room towards Nick Fury's office. The empty facility caused an eerie silence in the big open space. June's combat boots clicked every time she stepped.
She entered Fury's office. Empty too. She placed the files onto the desk and sat in his chair. She turned on the tv.
The lady on the screen was chatting loudly. "The Avengers are alive? Tony Stark isn't available for questioning at the moment to ask him, 'Why did he keep this a secret?'
"The Avengers were spotted 14 hours ago, heading to goodness knows where. Many are asking if we are in danger and the officials are still to confirm. Why else would the Avengers come out of hiding? Why in the first place?
"It seemed that their deaths were so real!" The lady was talking to some witnesses and such, as the screen showed some old clips of the fake death of the Avengers.
June turned the tv off and walked out of Fury's office. She quietly walked down into the facility's big lounge room. After a small smile she gave from the fun memories she had experiences with the Avengers on these couches, she gave an angry yell as she threw her switchblade at the wall.
Still angry, she flipped the coffee table and throw some mug at the wall too. She jumped over the couch and took out her blade and stabbed it into the wall again as she collapsed onto the ground.
She buried her face into her hands as she leaned against the wall.
"There's no need to cry little one."
June glanced up. The tall figure looked over her. "Go away." She grumbled, glancing up to her blade which was stuck into the wall above her.
The man chuckled. "No no no, here," he shoved a piece of metal onto her wrists. They stuck onto her. "No memory tricks now." He smirked.
June shook her head. She was still slightly drowsy from the dose they gave her earlier. "They'll come back." She muttered.
"No, they'll die before they realize its a trap." The man smiled, showing his yellow teeth.
"You'll kill your daughter, you bastard." June stared at him straight in the eye.
Dan laughed. "It's her fault she when with them. Now she'll die with them."
June struggled to stand up again. "They'll come back."
Dan shook his head. "No, they won't." Something ejected from June's metal wrist bands, needles into her wrist, injecting some liquid. "They'll die for real this time." June collapsed onto the ground.
Chapter 12
The quin-jet landed softly onto the grassy plain. Some caves were up ahead, where Shuri had located the weapons immense energy. The door opened and the Avengers walked out.
Tony Stark turned around and faced them all. "Okay team. We need to take them down. Stop them. We may be a bit rust, but these guys are amateurs without those weapons. So take out the weapons. I'll hand it over to the most experienced pep talker." He stepped aside and Steve stood tall next to him.
Peter's POV:
I leaned against the wall of the quin-jet as I listen intently to Steve. I hadn't been in battle since the Snap. Well, officially. Tony didn't let me participate in the Battle of the Downfall of Thanos. Except I managed to escape my room and helped defeat him. Since then, I haven't fought a proper battle.
Steve called the attention of the Avengers. "Okay guys, this is the first battle since our 'deaths' and since the traumatizing Battle of the Downfall of Thanos. As Tony said, all we need to do is take down the weapons, and then it'll be easy to stop Kylie's father."
I glanced behind me. Kylie was sitting on a chair, listening too. It was her father that did this. But it's not her fault. She must be so scared, of filled with guilt. These things do that to people. I put my full attention back to Steve.
"Now, there are many of us, and Vision said it'll be a good idea to have us all here, in case something goes wrong, we're all here to help. These weapons are nasty, but Tony's created a gadget, that can suck away all the energy from it. All we need to do is attach one to the weapon and it'll do the rest."
Tony jumped in, "If I had more time, I would've made them a bit more efficient." he mentioned.
Steve smiled and continued. "So, the people who will come in first." He looked at a folder he held. "Tony, Wanda, Clint, Thor and myself will go in first, try to take out the weapons. Natasha and Bucky will go in a bit after, to disable any of the weapons that are in storage or aren't in use.
"Vision and Bruce will stay here, to protect the quin-jet and for back-up, if we need it. And Peter," Steve looked at me. "Do you think you're ready?"
I nodded. "Yes Mr. Rogers." I smiled. I was gonna go in!
Steve nodded. "Okay, so Peter and Kylie will scout on a high place in the cave. You guys will not engage the enemy, you are there to make sure nothing slips past and to help, if we need it. We don't want you guys to get any unwanted attention."
I nodded excitedly. I looked back at Kylie, who had a small smile on.
"Do you really think we're ready?" Natasha asked.
Tony nodded. "June quickly examined us before, she said we should be fine with this mission. But if there are any triggers or any pressuring situations, we should leave. And everyone should look out for the other okay? Check your buddy." Tony suited up with his Nano-Tech. Let's go."
I walked up to Kylie. "So, ready to go?" I held my thin mask in my hands.
She smiled at me. "Yeah. Let's go." She grabbed a quiver filled with some unusual arrows. Instead of a sharp head it was flat. Kylie obviously saw me looking at the arrows. "They've got Tony's little machine on the end, so I can shoot the weapons and disable them. As they said, once the weapons are gone, the dude is easy to deal with." She picked up a bow and walked out over the grass.
I quickly put on my mask and ran after her.
...SceneChange...
Third Person View:
June sat against the wall. Her wrists were tied together and to a table. She wasn't gagged, there was no point in it, since Kylie's father had hacked and disabled Friday's connection to the facility and no one outside could hear her.
She leaned head against the leg of the table and pursed her lips. Her switch-blade was on the coffee table a few metres away.
Switchblade.
June tried to pull her hands through the rope.
Blood.
Purple mist was released from June's fingers and bled into the rope.
Glass.
The rope snapped and June bolted for the coffee table, and grabbed her blade. She glanced around and rushed to a control panel and began contacting the Iron Man suit.
No luck. June's breathing increased. She looked around franticly and began looking everywhere. She took out couch pillows and looking through cabinets and cupboards.
Then she pulled out a random unused drawer. At least she thought it was unused. Inside was a framed photo. It was a picture Friday took in the aftermath of the Battle of the Downfall of Thanos. A few of the Avengers were there, smiling.
It was taken moments after they found Sam Wilsons body. It was taken moments before they realised what had happened. Moments before the emotions and consciousness came in.
June smiled for a moment before she spotted someone in the back. She looked closer.
Doctor Strange.
