Chapter 18
Toni Stark had been left speechless over the news of the recovery of Steve Rogers. But that had been nothing, nothing, compared to how she felt when her family was about to tell Peggy Carter that her wartime sweetheart was still alive. And that apparently, he had not aged even a day.
Her Uncle had gone first, to check if it was a good or a bad day for Aunt Peggy, trying to find out if today would be a good day to tell her. They had all come for support, not sure how her aunt would take the news that after seventy odd years or so, Captain America, apparently, was alive.
"Why do you all look so grim?" Aunt Peggy asked after Uncle Daniel had told them that it was as good of a day as any, and they all filled into the room and sat sullenly, none of them knowing how to start.
"Peggy," Uncle Daniel said after a moment, "There's been a development. Something you should know. They found Steve Rogers. His body was kept frozen and the serum kept him alive. He's alive, and just as young as he was all those years ago."
She let out a shaky breath, and Toni took her hand in hers tenderly.
"Howard often hypothesized about if such a thing was possible," Peggy said after a moment. "He said the serum had healing capabilities and believed that there was a chance Steve might have survived. Jarvis and I often tried to talk him out of it, neither of us believing to be possible. However, he was determined to bring Steve back one way or another, even at the detriment of his own family."
She winced slightly at that, knowing her Aunt and Uncle had their own opinions on her father and the way he raised her, or rather, didn't raise her.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Ava asked her carefully, knowing all too well that it must have been rough on her.
"Darlings, I'm fine," Peggy smiled at them all. "I might have loved Steve once, yes, but that was many years ago. I moved on after the war. I've had a wonderful life. I worked my way through the ranks of the SSR and started SHIELD. I met Daniel and fell in love with him. He's respected me and always let me be myself, never asking for me to fall into the role the rest of the world wanted me to fill. He's always known that I could never be that kind of woman and he's loved me despite that. Despite the pain I'm sure I've caused him over the last few years. I gave birth to beautiful children that I love with all my heart, and I've raised the three of you and watch you grow into incredible people. There's no point getting lost in the what-ifs because it erases the good life I had, and there is not a moment I regret out of it."
She smiled bittersweetly at her aunt, knowing that she spoke the truth.
Peggy and Daniel had all but raised her in her later years, after Jarvis and her mother had passed. They had been there for her when she was trying to come into her own, inheriting a company and suddenly thrown into a life where she had no idea how to survive.
Her family had been there for her, through all the high and low points, and she would be there for them too, through this as well.
"You must take care of him," Peggy said, turning to Toni suddenly.
She took a step back, unsure of what Peggy was asking for her, why she was asking it of her.
"Aunt Peggy," Toni said softly, "I don't even know the man. I've never even met him. And I have a feeling that I'm everything that he would hate."
"He's had a hard life," Peggy told her gently, "He lost his mother at a young age, and was thrown into a war he had no business fighting in. He lost his only remaining family shorty after gaining powers that he's never fully had the chance to test out. But through all of that, he's held his head up high and taken everything that life has thrown his way, without even the slightest complaint."
She remained silent; she knew the stories all too well. She'd listened to her father preach time and time again of just how good of a man Steve Rogers was to compare her own failures in comparison.
"This current time will be trying for him, Toni. So much has changed since the forties. The world has changed to be unrecognizable. It's going to take everything for him to be able to maneuver it, Toni," Peggy told her gently. "He needs someone like you, someone who is more than well versed with this future world and all it entails to help him get accustomed to it. Promise me that you'll at least consider it."
She shook slightly, before nodding, "Okay, Aunt Peggy. If it's what you what, I'll try and help him. If SHIELD will even let me get close enough to talk to him."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Harry remarked, "They're considering giving him membership to the Avengers Initiative."
Of course they were.
It seemed like the Avengers Initiative and SHIELD was the gift that just kept on giving. First, they infiltrate her company, show her some goddamn reel where her father claimed to love her in an attempt to get her to save herself, guilt her into joining their boyband, and now they wanted to throw her onto the same team with the man her father had cared for more than her through her entire life?"
Dear Darwin, please give her enough strength to be able to deal with this, she didn't think she'd be able to handle such a thing on her own.
"Okay," she said finally, as her family watched her carefully, "If it's what you want, Aunt Peggy, I promise I'll try."
Peggy smiled at her, as Daniel slowly ushered them out of the room, wanting his wife to get some rest.
She swam through the water with her armour fitted for the task, as she arrived at the pipeline feeding energy straight to her tower. Carefully, she turned on the repulsor in her arms and cut through the pipe as she took the Stark Energy Reactor she'd designed for the task and placed it over the pipe instead.
She watched, smiling through her suit as it lit up the same colour as the reactor in her chest.
"Readings are stable," JARVIS said in her ear, as she jetted out of the water and back towards her home.
"Good to go on this," she said through her comms, "The rest is up to you."
"You disconnected the transition lines?" Pepper asked, appearing on her screen, "Are we off the grid?"
"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," she beamed proudly.
"Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?" Pepper asked her curiously.
"Hopefully," she said, feeling optimistic. But really, she'd gone over the numbers several times with both Ava and with Peter. It was going to work. "Light it up."
She flew through the streets of Manhattan, grinning brightly as she saw her tower light up from the ground, as the Stark name light the sky.
"How does it look?" Pepper asked, excited.
"Like Christmas, but with more," she said, pausing for the right word, "Me."
"You've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press," Pepper told him, already rolling with the next things on their list. "I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards."
"Pepper, you're killing me," she groaned, flying to the landing pad of the tower on her floor, "Remember? Enjoy the moment."
"Then get in here and I will," Pepper said, amused, "You have two very excited scientists waiting to see you."
She laughed, as she landed on the tower landing pad, as a ring rose up and began to remove her armour.
"Miss, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line," JARVIS said in her ear, and she brushed it off.
"I'm not in. I'm actually out," she said firmly.
"Miss, I'm afraid he's insisting," JARVIS said, again.
"Close the line, JARVIS, I have some family to attend to," she said again, as she stepped into her penthouse.
"Levels are holding steady," Ava said, as she grinned at the screen.
"I can't wait to see it," Peter said, enthusiastically, "It's gonna be so cool to see it every night in the skyline."
"It's the coolest," Toni agreed. "Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"
"Brilliant," Peter smiled at her, as his fingers rotated the hologram of the tower around slightly.
"Incredible," Ava said solemnly, nodding back at her.
Pepper laughed, "I supposed I am the odd one out, then aren't I? But really, the three of you did brilliantly. You should all be very proud of getting the tower up and running. This is going to do great things for the company."
"What do you mean?" Toni frowned, "All of this came from you. If it weren't for you, half the things that needed to be done to get this tower up and running never would have happened."
"No," Pepper told her gently, "All of this came from that."
She gestured to her reactor, nestled firmly in her chest.
"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself-" Toni said, quickly calculating some math in her head, "-twelve percent of the credit."
"Twelve percent?" Pepper let out an amused laugh.
"An argument can be made for fifteen," she said in mock seriousness.
"Twelve percent? For my baby?" Pepper question, as Peter giggled.
"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. Ava and Peter helped coming up with the specs to get it to thrive under water. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you," Toni said with a smirk.
"Ooooh," Pepper said in mock understanding.
"My private elevator-" she said before Pepper cut her off.
"You mean our elevator?" Pepper said, pouring the three of them a glass of champagne, as she handed Peter a cup of ginger ale in a fancy glass.
"-was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" she said, giving Pepper a pouty look.
"Not going to be that subtle." Pepper told her, as she clinked their glasses together.
"Tell you what, Pepper Pot, love of my life. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower," she said, winking at her friend.
"On the lease," Pepper corrected him with a smirk.
"You two are adorable," Ava said, "But we both know any future towers are going to say 'Parker' on the side for our little baby genius here."
"Can it please say my name?" Peter asked her earnestly, "I promise I'll help design it and everything. I already have ideas of what it can look like and everything. It's gonna be huge!"
"Of course, Darling," she said, grinning at the boy.
In the past year of working with Peter, she'd come to care for the boy. He was absolutely brilliant, and she loved working with him day after day, seeing what ingenious thing he'd come up with next. Ava had taken an especial liking to him, as the three of them 'scienced' on weekends when Peter was free and didn't have any other obligations.
"Miss," JARVIS cut in, "The telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."
"Stark, we need to talk," Coulson's voice came through her phone.
"You have reached the life model decoy of Toni Stark, please leave a message," she said, knowing all too well he wouldn't be pleased with her.
"This is urgent," Coulson called out.
"Your brother is supposed to be bringing me any new SHIELD information," Toni grumbled to Ava. "Where is he?"
"Let him in," Ava sighed, "Maybe something's happened."
"Fine," Toni said, gesturing for JARVIS to let the man in at the exact moment the elevator chimed to announce him.
"Ms Stark," Coulson said, walking quickly into the tower.
"Phil!" Pepper greeted the man cheerfully. "Come in."
"Phil?" Toni and Ava turned to Pepper in confusion.
"His name is Agent," Toni teased the girl.
"Come on in, we're celebrating," Pepper said, as Peter looked at the man curiously.
"Which is why he can't stay," Toni said, glancing at Peter. Whatever was happening, she refused to let him intercede on her family time.
"We need you to look this over," Coulson said, and Ava took the tablet from him, knowing all too well Toni hated being handed things.
Pepper handed the man a glass of champagne, but Coulson simply shook, looking more distressed than usual.
"Official hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," she told him, and the man shook.
"We need to talk, Toni," Coulson said, looking at her and Ava. "Ms Potts, can you give us a few moments?"
"Pepper, take Peter into the other room," Toni said, recognizing the look which meaning whatever was happening couldn't be good.
"I want to stay," Peter said quickly, and Toni shook her head.
"We'll go back to celebrating after, Darling," she told the boy, "But for now, please go with Pepper. She'll show you some of the cool projects I was hoping we could work on in the future."
Peter nodded sullenly as the two went into the other room, giving the three of them the room.
"What happened?" Ava asked suddenly, "Is Harry okay?"
"There's been an incident," Coulson told them. "A few years ago, we were visited by an Asgardian by the name of Thor. I'm sure you are more than aware of the event. His brother, Loki, landed in a facility in New Mexico earlier, and took possession of the Tesseract. Additionally, he used a staff to turn several of our agents into his own men, as they appear to be in some sort of trance, bound to follow his orders."
"Harry," Toni breathed out. "That's why you're here, isn't it? He turned Harry."
"He did," Phil said with a nod. "Alongside Clint Barton. We need you to come in, Toni. We need to come in as Iron Woman. The Avengers are going to be brought in. On that tablet we have detailed information of all the recruits who will be fighting alongside you."
She sighed carefully, as she threw up the information Phil had given her, as she saw Captain America fighting, the Hulk roaring as he attacked a university, Thor fighting in Mexico, and most recently, Loki with the Tesseract, as Harry ad Clint stood behind them, with possessed blue eyes.
"When do we start?" Ava asked, looking back at Coulson with determined eyes.
"We?" Toni asked her, startled.
"That's my brother who's been taken," Ava told her firmly, "I will not sit back and watch. Besides, I'm just as good as, if not better, than any of the engineers SHIELD has, you need me. My mother would not sit back and watch her family be torn apart. You expect me to watch from the sidelines?"
"Coulson?" she asked the man, wondering what his opinion on the matter was.
"It's going to be up to Fury in the end," he warned her. "But between the two of us? We could use all the help we could get."
"Okay," she nodded, as she looked back at the screens. "Ava, grab your things and meet me at the jet. We'll stop off and visit with your father and let him know what's happened, then we'll meet at the SHIELD base. Coulson, send us your coordinates once you're in the air."
The man nodded at her, as he turned to leave, answering a phone call, as Pepper came back into the room.
"Is everything okay, Toni?" Pepper asked her a bit concerned.
"No," she sighed. "Can you take Peter home before you head to DC? I'm going to have a long night ahead of me."
"Be careful," Peter told her softly, and she bent down to hug the boy gently.
"I will, Peter," she said, smiling at him. "I'll see you really soon, okay?"
Peter nodded, as Pepper grabbed his things and headed to the elevator.
Toni turned to the screens, picking up the model of the Tesseract and wondered just what was going on.
Getting Ava settled in at the SHIELD Helicarrier had been surprisingly easier than she'd thought. They'd landed once the ship was already in air, but it hadn't been hard for the two of them to get aboard with SHIELD's permission to land.
Fury, of course, was in no way impressed that she was bringing in a civilian, but with almost every single Carter-Sousa a part of SHIELD and with her own track record, he really had no reason to say no.
She could see from the discontent in his eyes that he very much did not want to let the woman with no spy training into their ranks, but Ava had a point earlier when she'd told SHIELD that they needed them. The entire organization was in a state of disarray that she'd never seen before, in a real All Hands situation.
Maria Hill had informed Ava she'd be working in the laboratory where Bruce Banner had already set up, and Ava gave her a nod, letting her know that she would be fine.
Her Uncle had been less than happy with the news of her cousin's abduction and had wanted to come in, but the truth was she wasn't sure what any of them could do; not until they knew what it was that they were facing and had some sort of way to bring Loki down. So she'd asked him to stay put and make sure Aunt Peggy would be okay, especially given that none of them knew what it was exactly that this Loki wanted.
"We need you in Germany," Fury said, coming up from behind her as he interrupted her train of thought. "There's a situation unfolding. Rogers has already stepped in, but he might need all the help he can get with this."
"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath, as she suited up. She supposed it was about time she met her Godmother's former lover and her father's legacy.
The Stuttgard Gala. Whoever this Loki was had style; out of all the events to crash and try and take over, he had chosen one of the classier ones. Her own invitation, despite going unanswered, was one of honour, to celebrate the rich and wealthy and whichever charity they chose to donate to on that occasion.
Well, guess she was going to be attending in the end.
She watched the footage SHIELD was feeding in through her helmet via JARVIS, of Loki, dressed in a nice suit, as he threw a man onto a table, pulling out some sort of torture device and stabbing it into the man's eye, as the guests began screaming and running out of the room.
Loki began to glow gold, as he transformed into some sort of fairy tale like costume and she nearly sighed. What was it with these men and getting dressed up like it would give them some sort of authority?
She saw a cop car round the corner as Loki sent a blue blast at it, leveling it backwards.
The god appeared in front of the screaming crowd, surrounding them as he stood somehow around them in a circle, as he slammed his scepter and demanded their obedience.
"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel," Loki monologued, and she nearly burst out laughing.
"Is this man for real?" she asked as JARVIS gave her the readings he was collecting on the scepter.
A man stood then, old enough to remember the last time a man in Germany demanded power and control, and her heart clenched as he spoke, "Not to men like you."
Loki laughed then, "There are no men like me."
"There are always men like you," The man said solemnly, and Loki looked amused.
"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example," Loki raised his scepter, as it glowed brightly, and she cursed, trying to get her thrusters to go faster.
A shot of blue light emerged, and she held her breath, and watched in surprise as a man jumped in front of it, blocking it with his shield.
She gasped, as she realized that Captain America knocked Loki down to the ground with his own blast, relieved that at least for a few more moments the man would live.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing," Captain Rogers said, standing bravely as he walked towards the man. She watched as one by one, members of the crowd stood in support.
Loki stood then, looking slightly frazzled, "The soldier. A man out of time," he laughed.
"I'm not the one who's out of time," Rogers said, firmly, as the quinjet drew closer to the crowd, guns aimed at the foreign god.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," one of the SHIELD agents called out, as Toni drew closer to the fight.
Loki sent a blast of light at the jet as the crowd ran screaming in every direction, eager to get away from the fight. Rogers took that as an opportunity, and she watched as he threw his shield at the man, engaging him in a fight.
She held her breath as Loki threw Captain America backwards, as he crashed near the base of the statue. He tried to throw his shield again, only for Loki to knock it away and fling Rogers to the grown once more.
"Kneel!" Loki demanded, as he pointed the scepter at Roger's head.
"Not today," Rogers said, knocking it away, as he stood, and jump kicked the man. Where did he even learn to fight like this?
"JARVIS?" Toni said, as she was seconds away from the fight. "I think I might need a little distraction from the fight. Something that will throw Loki off guard long enough for me to make an appearance."
"Done," JARVIS said in her ear, "You now have full control over the quinjet."
"Agent Romanoff," Toni said as she took over the controls of the jet, "Nice to formally meet you. I must say, I enjoyed working with your partner a few years back, so hopefully the experience with you is just as….enthralling."
JARVIS began playing 'Shoot to Thrill' on the speakers and she grinned from her suit, "Baby, you know me so well."
"I aim to please, Miss Stark," JARVIS said sardonically back at her.
She saw Loki look up in confusion as she flew in and shot him backwards with her repulsors. She landed, and kept her arms raised, with all guns blazing, pointed at the god in case he so much as thought to try anything else.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games," she said, in a cold voice. Rogers stood, slightly out of breath as he raised his shield and moved beside her.
Loki raised his hands as his armour materialized away with gold magic. She lowered her defences slightly, knowing if he tried anything, she still could knock him out cold.
"Good move," she said, pleased.
"Ms Stark," Captain America said, acknowledging her for the first time since she appeared.
"Captain," she nodded back, keeping her voice as steady as she could. She didn't say anything else to the man, not when it was neither the time nor the place. And where did she even begin?
'Sorry you woke up seventy years in the future and the world went on without you? Sorry your wartime love moved on and had a family and that almost everyone you knew died?'
Was there anything she could even say to make it right?
The quinjet landed as Steve loaded the man into the jet, her following behind to make sure he didn't try anything
They took off, heading back towards the helicarrier, with Natasha flying the jet.
"Is he saying anything?" Fury's voice came over their comms.
"Not a word," Natasha said, as Toni glanced back at the man.
"Just get him here. We're low on time," Fury responded.
"I don't like it," the good Captain said, turning to her.
"What?" she questioned, as she saw Loki tied up and cuffed. "Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
"I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop," Captain said, sounding worried.
She'd be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit worried either. The man had somehow taken down an entire SHIELD base, taken her cousin as a hostage. Of course the man was up to something. But he had let himself be taken in, and she needed to find out why.
"Still," she said, not wanting to discuss it in front of the prisoner, "You seemed pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your secret? Pilates?"
"What?" he turned to her in confusion.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle," she said simply, wondering if now was as good of a time as any to bring up that Peggy had asked her to help him.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Rogers said finally, looking at her appraisingly.
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," she said, "Besides, I had a few stops to make on the way first."
He looked confused, as if he didn't understand what could be more important than bringing the God in first, but before he could say anything, a crack of thunder sounded loudly, as lighting nearly hit the jet.
"Where's this coming from?" Romanoff asked, trying to stabilize the jet.
She looked back at Loki to see him stare out the window, looking less than pleased.
She knew about the incident in Mexico a few years back, with Thor, and well, she always did her research. God of Lighting and all. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
"What's the matter?" Rogers said, looking incredulously at the man, "Scared of a little lightning?"
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki said, looking back up.
She had a feeling she wouldn't be either.
The jet shook then, as if someone had landed on top of it, and she knew her suspicions to be correct. She grabbed her helmet then, putting it on, as she opened the ramp, ready to fight whoever had come for Loki.
Thor landed on the lowered ramp, pulling his hammer back and punching her with full force straight in the reactor. She groaned as she crashed back on the floor and watched as Thor grabbed Loki by the throat and all but flew out of the jet.
"Now there's that guy," she sighed, looking less than pleased.
"Another Asgardian?" Romanoff asked, and she wondered then if SHIELD shared secrets of their missions with each other. She was either a really good spy, or the spy organization kept their hand close.
"Think the guy's a friendly?" Rogers asked and she nearly laughed. He just took their prisoner.
"Doesn't matter," she told him intently. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost. And we have no way of releasing those under his control."
She moved towards the ramp, ready to chase after them as Rogers called after her.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" he tried to stop her.
"I have a plan," she told him firmly, "Attack."
She jumped out of the jet then, flying down as she followed their path. Toni heard Romanoff and Rogers on the comms, as she tried to stop the captain from following.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap," she tried, and Toni already knew the man would do no such thing.
"I don't see how I can," he said predictably, and Toni nearly laughed as she navigated through the storm.
"These guys come from legends, they're basically gods," Natasha warned him.
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that," he told her in his authoritative voice, and she all but groaned.
"JARVIS, add sensitivity training and religious freedom to the list of things we'll need to bring Capsicle up to date on," she told her AI on their private channel.
She flew closer, where she saw Thor all but raising his hammer to the man, and she flew straight into him, knocking him aside. Brothers or not, she could not have the man commit fratricide or take him away before they knew how to save everyone.
They crashed straight into the forest, and she stood then, lifting her face plate.
"Do not touch me again!" Thor commanded her, and she all but laughed. Here he stood, telling her what to do?
"Then don't take my stuff," she said in her best spoiled brat tone. If he wanted to play all high and mighty then two could play at that game.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with," Thor warned her, and she nearly laughed. And he did?
"Shakespeare in the park?" she mocked him, "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"
"This is beyond you, metal woman. Loki face Asgardian justice!" Thor demanded.
"If he gives up the Cube and frees the people he has under his control, he's all yours," She stated her terms, as she lowered her face plate. "Until then, stay out of my way, tourist."
But of course, men like him never did care too much for talking when they could simply fight instead.
She turned to walk back to where Loki was when she heard a grunt. She turned quickly as the Mjölnir came her way, slamming her back through a tree.
Her screens flickered, and she frowned, "Okay."
She rolled over, as Thor tried to swing his hammer and fly off, and she shot him with a blast from her repulsors, knocking him backwards. She flew forward then, kicking him straight in the chest, as his hammer fell to the side.
She watched in shock, as he raised his hammer, summoning lighting, and pointed it straight at her.
She looked at her screen, trying to detect the damage.
"Power at 400% capacity," JARVIS told her and she all but smiled.
"How about that?" she asked, pleased.
She raised her arms and shot the full force back at him, and he fell again, before looking ready to charge at her.
She flew at him as he came at her, and the two of them flew through the forest, trying to get punches in. As they approached a cliff, she held him against it, hoping to slow him down, but he used the momentum to throw them off it and back into the forest.
As they crash landed, Thor punched her in the face, and when she tried to return the favour, he grabbed her glove, squeezing it tightly, trying to damage her suit.
She winced, as she fired out as much power as she could and hit it at him, as she headbutted him away.
Oh what would he father say if he saw her now fighting like a barbarian?
Thor looked unimpressed as he returned the headbutt, and she fell backwards, before racing to charge back at him, throwing him into a fallen tree.
She fought back with as much strength as the suit could muster, but she could tell it was beginning to fail, she held her breath as she swung to him, as he ducked, and threw her down onto the ground.
She looked up at him, as he held Mjölnir in his hands, ready to bring it down on her and she wondered if this was how she would die. Hammer to the chest, crushing her arc reactor.
What a way to go.
She raised her hands, powering up her repulsors as she flew backwards against the ground and away from where the hammer had left a sizable dent in the ground.
She flew back down, punching him, as a shield ricocheted off of her and Thor, causing her to pause in her tracks.
"Hey," Captain Rogers said, drawing his shield back to him. "That's enough!"
She held her breath as the Captain turned to the man in question.
"Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here," Rogers started.
"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor roared at him.
"Then prove it! Put the hammer down," Rogers said, and she groaned.
"Um, yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his hammer!" she tried to warn him, and he backhanded her with it causing her to fly backwards.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's bad manners to hit a lady?" Captain America all but tutted at him.
"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor asked, as he leaped into the air, raising his hammer and tried to bring it down on him. She watched in shock as Captain raised his shield and the resonance of the blow knocked down every single thing within a mile radius of them.
"Holy shit," she swore under her breath.
"Are we done here?" Captain America asked, looking utterly unfazed, and she didn't know if she should laugh or cry.
Hamilton, she was going to have bruises for days to come.
What on earth did she get herself into?
A/N: I just wanted to start off by asking you all not to post any spoilers for Endgame in the comments. I haven't seen the movie yet and I'm sure there are others who haven't either. But with that said, I'm excited to see it!
Hope you guys liked this chapter, things with Steve are definitely going to be interesting, and Toni will handle it in true Toni Stark fashion.
