Decisions

It was time to decide where all the wanted fugitives would go. Steve Rogers gathered his team along with the new, or, depending on their preferences, honorary Avengers — T'Challa, Scott Lang and Sharon Carter.

"You are all welcome to remain here in sanctuary," T'Challa assured them. "Or I will see you transported safely to wherever you want to go."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"Please, Steve," T'Challa chided. "We are all friends here."

"Thank you, T'Challa," Steve amended. "We appreciate your hospitality, but I know some of us have homes to go to."

Not him. He hadn't had a place of his own since the Winter Soldier shot it up. He hadn't had a real home since Bucky went into the army.

"Where does everyone want to go?" Steve asked his friends.

"Wherever you're going," Sam Wilson said with certainty. He'd hitched his wagon to Cap's star and he wasn't about to abandon his friend now, with Bucky back in the freezer and Tony Stark still, maybe, on the rampage. Steve needed a friend more than ever. But Sam didn't say that, he said, "You get into too much trouble without someone to look after you. Since Barnes can't do it, I will."

"What he said," Sharon said bravely, though she was afraid of what people would think. She wanted to stay with Steve, too. She didn't want to come across as a wannabe girlfriend, but she believed in Steve. Not just Cap, but Steve, that slightly geeky guy who didn't know how to ask a pretty neighbor out, the hero who called a strike on the helicarrier where he was already gravely wounded, the man who stood by his friend, even when Barnes tried to kill him twice. It wasn't that Steve was brave or handsome — though Sharon wasn't blind to those qualities — but he was a good man. As a spy, Sharon hadn't met many good men. It was very attractive.

Natasha patted Sharon's knee. "You'd better keep her, Steve. She's sneakier than you and Wilson put together."

"Better looking, too," Clint broke in with a wink.

"And she can go places you guys can't," Natasha finished. "You can use her, whatever you're planning to do."

Sharon was very relieved that Natasha had given her blessing and no one was leering at her with suggestive looks.

"Clint?" Steve asked.

"I'm going home. The farm still seems to be safe and I still need to take my kids waterskiing," Clint said. "I think Wanda should come with me."

Everyone knew Clint felt protective of Wanda, whose twin brother had died saving Clint's life.

"What? Why?" asked Wanda Maximoff, who had been about to volunteer to stay with Steve, too.

"You need time to recover from your mistreatment," Natasha said bluntly.

"And you could use a little normal, I think," Clint said. "My kids are dying to meet you. They don't think you're scary. They think you're cool. When you've recuperated, you and I can train together to keep in shape for when Steve calls us. Because the call always comes."

"Thor thought something was coming, something big," Steve confirmed. "We need to be ready, whether the world trusts us or not."

"And your family would welcome me?" Wanda said hesitantly. She'd lost a lot of confidence after Lagos and was hurt by Vision trying to keep her prisoner. She needed a rest, mentally and physically.

"With open arms," Clint assured her.

"Then I will go with Clint," she agreed.

"What about you?" Clint asked his longtime partner. "There's always room for Auntie Nat."

Natasha hesitated. "Maybe I'll start there," she agreed. "But I think I need to find Bruce. He needs to know what's happened and ... he and I have things to discuss."

"You might run into Stark," Sam warned.

Natasha shook her head. "Stark can be an ass, but not ass enough to lead Thaddeus Ross to Bruce Banner. Ross would lock Bruce in a cage so fast your head would spin. Well," she gave a knowing smirk, "He'd try to."

"Scott?" Steve turned to the new guy. "I know you want to go home. Think it's safe?"

"Not to go back to my apartment," Scott admitted. "But I think I know a place."

"Dr. Pym?" Natasha asked. "Someone might remember you said his name," she warned.

Scott shrugged. "We have that worked out. I'm just an ex-con he feels sorry for, so he uses me for some electronics projects. He won't be surprised I've been led astray again by unsavory companions," Scott said piously, drawing boos. "He'll just shake his head sadly when he finds out I couldn't stay out of jail."

"And what will he really think?" Sam asked with a smile.

"He'll be mad that I got caught. He'll be furious that the government got their hands on the suit." Scott shuddered. "But he respected Peggy Carter and hated Howard Stark, so he'll figure I picked the right side of this battle. He'll hide me. I'm pretty good at hiding," Ant-Man finished with a smirk. But he didn't really look happy.

"What about your daughter?" Clint asked perceptively.

"She'll understand." Scott chuckled. "She'll be over the moon about Giant-Man stomping all over the airport."

"You won't get much chance to see her," Natasha said quietly.

"Good at sneaking, remember?"

"Then what's wrong?" Sam asked.

"My ex's fiancé is a cop," Scott said. "He covered for me with the Pym Technologies business. That nut Cross threatened my daughter Cassie and, one thing I'll say about Paxton, he loves my daughter almost as much as I do."

"But now you're an internationally wanted fugitive. You think he might try to take you in?" Wanda asked, sensing turbulence in Scott's thoughts.

"I really don't know," Scott answered. "He's not a big fan of politics interfering with police work. I guess I'll just have to see."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Steve asked.

Scott brightened, "Since you asked, yeah …"

After Steve agreed to supply Scott's request, Sam said, "Now we know what everyone else is going to do, what about us, Steve?" His gesture took in himself, Sharon and Steve.

Steve sighed. "We're staying here awhile. T'Challa was kind enough to offer to train with me. I need to practice fighting without using my shield." He shook his head at himself. "One of the guards at the Raft got off a shot. I put my hand up to block, as if I still had the shield. It was just luck the bullet ricocheted off the crowbar."

Sam privately doubted it was luck. It was Super Soldier reflexes using the tool he had in hand.

"Maybe I should stick around for a few," Natasha said thoughtfully. "Always happy to use you as a punching bag, Rogers."

"Don't worry, Natasha," Sharon offered. "Sam and I will be glad to help beat on Steve until he breaks his bad habits."

"With friends like you guys, who needs enemies," Steve joked. "Then it's settled. As soon as we can arrange transportation, we will go our separate ways. We'll keep in training. We'll do good deeds in secret. But we'll keep in touch and when the world needs us, we'll be ready," he vowed.

"Aunt Peggy was right, you are awfully dramatic," Sharon said, making everyone laugh.

A/N: Apologies to those of you who don't like the movies' romantic pairings, but I'm all about the canon. Don't worry. There won't be a lot of romance. Not really my thing.