Chapter Twelve

Mortal doctors were completely inept.

Loki's back still hurt him. He could feel the footprint of power and magic left on him by whatever weapon he had been shot down with. The doctors had insisted that he let them give him a painkiller. As if someone puny mortal pill could do anything for him. Loki had snorted, waved them away (quite literally), and left the then unconscious healers.

The small encounter with the annoying one had been but a brief set-back. Now, Loki was sweeping through the halls of SHIELD's headquarters in search of the one "family" member he truly needed to speak to: Thor.

However, another relative arrived first.

"You - you selfish bastard, you!"

Loki felt his eyes widen. No, no it couldn't be -

A small hand wrapped around his shoulder and turned him around with more force than he was expecting. Loki looked down at his absolutely furious wife, mouth hanging open as he blinked rapidly.. "I thought you were asleep," he told her, simply because he could think of nothing better to say.

"Well, I woke up from the coma you put me in! How could you? How could you do something like that to me?" Lily's face was twisted with anger, but there were tears in her eyes.

"I did it to protect you," he snarled, matching her ton. "You could not possibly understand. No of the mortals can. Your entire race is on the brink of destruction, and you refuse to admit it! I knew that you would not approve of my methods, and that you would try to intervene. By doing so, you would hurt yourself."

Lily frowned, tears falling down her face. "I don't understand because you won't explain it to me - unless I'm in a freaking coma and you think I can't hear you."

Loki felt his face grow a bit more heated than usual. She had heard his council?

"And I do understand why you did it." She put both hands on her hips. "Believe me, I understand. I was that pale and sickly kid who had no mother and a dad everyone thought was crazy. People made fun of me my whole life. But world domination isn't the answer!" Her voice rose as she continued her rant. "You can't change the world that quickly, even if you rule it! You have to do it one act of random kindness at a time. You have to be the one to make the change - on a personal level! If you become king and just tell everyone to be nice or you'll kill them, nothing will really change!"

He stepped towards her, perfectly aware that with his height and her small stature, he loomed almost menacingly over her. "You are blinded by your belief that there is good in everyone."

"There is good in everyone! Sometimes it's not apparent, and you have to work to find it!"

Loki scoffed at that. Just look at his fathers: First there was Laufey, who had abandoned him and left him to die. And even worse was Odin, who had raised him under the pretense that he was loved and one day might become king. "Lies."

"Ugh!" Lily, on the verge of tears once again, threw her hands up in the air, signaling that she had given up. She pushed past Loki and ran off through the tunnels.

Hissing, Loki's hand immediately flew to where she had made contact with him.

His skin burned where Lily had touched him.

"What ails you, Son of Rogers?"

Steve turned around to see Thor coming into the room. The god of thunder's eyes flickered to the TV, where Steve was currently watching the Atlanta Braves play the San Francisco Giants. Even baseball had changed - the Braves were a Boston team, and the Giants were from New York. At least, that's what Steve had thought. Plus, they'd gone through at least five pitchers this game; you were only supposed to use two, max.

And who was this "Kung Fu Panda" everyone kept talking about? "The Freak"? "Georgie"? "Huddy"? The "Dancing Bobcat"? Steve was so confused.

But that wasn't really what was bothering him. Steve had turned on baseball to get his mind off of the Red Skull. How had that man survived? Steve had seen him... well, he didn't know what happened, but it hadn't looked good.

"It's just... I thought the Red Skull was dead," Steve admitted.

"You know of him?" Thor asked, crossing the room in two large strides and sitting down next to him.

Steve nodded. "I fought him, back in the war..." his voice trailed off and he found himself lost in memories.

"Aye," Thor agreed solemnly, "that would explain why he mentioned you."

"He what?" Steve choked on air as he gaped at the other god. "What? What did he say?"

Thor, staring in confusion at the screen, answer with an absent minded, "Only that if you were to surrender yourself to him, he would spare Earth. If not, he would attack within four hours. I say, what manner of sport is this? It's not very fast-paced."

...

"Steve Rogers? Are you alright? What is that strangled noise escaping your throat?"

"Please don't," Bruce whispered in her ear. Even though his words pushed her away, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Carter leaned further into him, happy to stay there forever.

"Please," he repeated, desperation seeping into his voice. "Please don't make promises you can't keep. You don't know what you're saying... What that entails... You'd be giving up more than you can imagine."

She didn't want to, but Carter felt herself pulling away so that she could look him in the eyes. "Promises I can't keep?" A scowl formed. "What do you mean by that?"

"You could never... have a life with me," he murmured, trying to avoid her gaze. "Never have a family."

"I can't remember the last time I had any of those things," Carter told him. "I've been on the run since I was eight. I never went to school, never had any friends, never even saw my family. Last week was the first time I saw Lily in seventeen years! I have no idea where my dad is - or how he's doing or anything. I wouldn't be giving anything up. I'd be gaining something: you."

Bruce looked away, a pained expression on his face. He ran one hand through his hair, and put his head in the other.

That was when Carter realized something. "This is about your last girlfriend."

"I - I..." With wide eyes, he turned to face her.

Carter reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, sinking back down to be nearer to him. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"I don't... I can't... I'm not... sure," he stuttered, voice still faint. "I had to run. When it happened, I left. And then five years later, I came back. Betty was with someone else, but when she saw me, she came back to me. And then, I had to leave again. But I thought... well, I thought she'd wait. A year ago, I went back to her but she'd... moved on. She was married. And had a kid. She told me that she wanted to wait but what she wanted more than anything else was a family. She wanted stability. Wanted to know that her husband, and not some monster, would always be waiting for her when she got home." He'd grown almost bitter.

"I couldn't give her any of that."

Silence covered them again. With a sigh, Carter put her head back on his shoulder. Then, winding her arms around him and pressing her face into his shirt, she let out a little laugh. "You know what? I think stability is boring. I don't think you're a monster. And I know that you'd always be waiting."

Bruce let out a shudder that racked his whole body. He pressed his lips to her forehead and let out a long breath.

Of course, Coulson just had to ruin the moment. Carter was just going to have to kill the SHIELD agent the next time she saw him.

"All Avengers, please assemble in the meeting room. All Avengers, please assemble."

"We should go," Bruce muttered.

Carter stood up, looked down at him, and smiled. She held her hand out. He placed his warm one in his.

Together, they headed up to the meeting.