Chapter 7: What Comes Next

Sean was one of the last to arrive at the penthouse. Loki was already tied up and being watched by Barton, Rhodey, and T'Challa. Seeing Thor standing back and looking thoughtful Sean approached him and spoke quietly.

"We need to secure both the scepter and the cube. I don't trust leaving them lying around. Whoever sent Loki may come looking for them." Thor looked like he agreed, "I'll secure them in a special storage space until we can come up with something better back home."

The brothers approached the larger group of team members that were standing around the two items in question. They seemed to be discussing what to do with them. Thor as the older and Heir to Asgard was the one that spoke.

"My brother will hold them until Asgard can design containment for them. He is the only one my people trust to be in possession of this power." He used all of the authority he had learned growing up with their father.

Before anyone said anything Sean stepped up and dropped them into his Fortress, "These aren't weapons that Earth is ready for. It's best if they stay out of everyone's reach for now."

"Who are you to decide that? We could learn so much from them." Stark stepped forward as if to grab them from the table even though they were already gone.

Thor answered readily, "We are a people who have much more experience with these things. The use of these artifacts will only bring more attention to Earth."

"Not to mention, can you say definitively that these won't be used to create weapons that will be used on your own people? You of all people, Stark, should know what greedy people would do with this kind of thing," Sean added his thoughts.

The man looked like he wanted to argue but let it go. Just then the elevator opened and a group of Shield tactical agents swept in to take Loki into custody. Thor went with them to tell Fury that he would be taking Loki back to Asgard, Sif right behind him.

By this point Bruce had turned back and had crashed on the couch snoring softly. Seeing Ava making her way over to him reminded Sean of the missing element of his cure for her. He turned to where Steve was chatting with Sam and made his way over.

"Hey Cap, can I ask a huge favor?" He asked the stars and stripes hero.

Sam sensing that this was a serious conversation excused himself and went to talk to Rhodey. Cap looked at Sean and asked, "Sure, what do you need?"

"I appreciate the willingness to help, but hear me out first." Sean took a breath and then explained the basics, "A friend of mine was caught in a lab accident. They accidentally did what people have been trying to do intentionally for years. She was given powers, but they're unstable and slowly killing her. My hope is that your blood is the missing part of a cure I've been working on. Can I take some samples?"

Steve looked taken aback by the request, "You want my blood?"

"Yeah, I know it's a bit personal, but I really think that's all I need to help her." Sean tried to convey his honesty, "I swear I have no plans to use it for anything else." At least not yet, he might find a use for it later and would definitely try to figure out the serum itself.

After a moment of consideration Steve spoke up, "Okay, I trust you. When do you want to take it?"

Sean reached into his Fortress and grabbed a blood sample kit, "Now if you don't mind, should only take a second." With a nod from Cap, he took a couple vials of blood from him. "Thank you, really. I think this is exactly what she needs. Oh, give me a few days and I might have information for you. I just need to confirm some things." With a nod the two men separated.

Sean had only taken a step when Ava fell in next to him, "Do we need to stay here? I want to hear this explanation of yours."

"No, let me just make sure they know how to contact us. We'll probably have to deal with everything later, but I don't feel like it right now." Sean saw as Coulson arrived and began talking to Nat and Barton. He and Ava moved to the three.

The older man looked up as they approached and nodded, "Dragon, Ghost."

"Good to see you up and about Coulson, should you be moving this soon?" Sean offered a handshake that the man reciprocated.

"The wound wasn't as bad as it looked, or felt. Medical says I should be just fine in a week or so."

Sean nodded, knowing that without his interference Coulson would have died. He was glad he could prevent it, "Listen, Ghost and I are heading out. We have something to take care of."

Coulson nodded, "Keep your phone on. Once things calm down a little, we'll need to debrief all of you and decide what to do next. Expect a call later, we'll probably do it tomorrow." Sean agreed easily.

"We'll see you then," He waved at the other two as he passed, "See ya, Barton, Nat."

Ava followed him into the elevator as he punched the button for the lobby. It was probably little more than luck that the machine still worked. Once they reached the ground floor Sean led her out into the streets.

"I have a place for us to talk securely, but I want to get a little distance first. If you see any interesting pieces of tech or stuff let me know, I'd like to grab a few more samples." She agreed and they made their way down the street, stopping every now and then for Sean to drop something into his Fortress. They also made sure to lend a hand to the rescue efforts where they could.

Thanks to Fury's early warning, emergency services and the National Guard were already swarming the area looking for survivors. They were joined by Shield agents that were splitting their focus between rescue and clean-up of the alien tech. Ava's phasing and Sean's strength let them get to people that would otherwise be trapped for hours.

At one point, on a whim, Sean tried to open a portal under a Leviathan to see if he could grab it. While the portal couldn't open quite big enough to get the whole thing, the head fit in and some shifting led to the rest of the body falling in after it. The wings gave him a little trouble, but they folded back so Sean just had to move the portal around a little to get past them.

Once they had moved by most of the destruction Sean led Ava into an alley. He opened a portal to the front hall of the Fortress and gestured Ava in. As soon as she entered she looked surprised, having expected the medbay from the last time she had been here. Sean followed after her and closed the portal. He was glad that his Fortress didn't have the normal Warehouse need to keep the door open while he was inside. It was a lot more secure this way.

"Welcome to the Fortress of Jumper. I have quite the story to tell you. First though, let's get cleaned up." He pointed her to the guest shower and quickly went to his own.

LINE BREAK

"So, you travel to different universes picking up new powers as you go?" Ava was seated in the medbay. Sean had explained everything about the Jump Chain to her as he worked on Cap's blood.

Fortunately he was right, the component of Steve's super serum that optimized everything about him would finish the fix for Ava. He was in the process of working out the specific ratios and synthesizing it while they talked.

It looked like he could also give her the Extremis virus and potentially give himself her mutation, but that would take more time to work out exactly how to balance things out. Sean might do it as a fun side project, but it wasn't a priority. With this cure she was already going to get a small boost in her physical stats because of Cap and Banner's blood.

"Pretty much. I have no control of where I go at the moment, and I'm stuck there for ten years unless my choices change that. If at any point I die I get shipped home with all my powers and anything I've collected, but I can't keep Jumping. I can also settle down anywhere along the way, but I can't see myself doing that anytime soon. There's just so much to see and do."

She had taken most of the explanation well, though considering the things she's seen and been through it probably wasn't a big leap. The part that seemed to confuse her most was that she was a fictional character in his world.

"So you knew my story before we met?" At his nod she continued, "What happened to me?"

Sean sighed, "Honestly I'm not sure. In a couple years your instability would cause you to go after Hank Pym and his daughter when they create a quantum tunnel. You would be stabilised by his wife who has lived down there for 30ish years, but not long after that was the 'Snap' I told you about. We never saw you after that."

Ava seemed to drop into thought and Sean kept working on the cure. It was another few minutes until he finally finished. He gestured for her to get on the bed and she complied, still thinking.

"This shouldn't hurt, but take a deep breath." Once she followed his instruction he injected the new serum into her arm and watched the monitor. Almost immediately Ava began to grimace and grind her teeth, this increased for a long moment until with a long exhale she visibly relaxed more than he had ever seen her.

With bright, watery eyes she turned to him, "I-It doesn't hurt anymore. It's like I was starving and finally had a full meal. Thank you!" She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him, tears of joy and relief pouring from her.

Sean patted her back lightly and smiled, the monitor showed that the changes in her mutation were stable. Eventually she calmed down and lay back on the bed, the smile on her face was a mile wide. It reminded him again that she was an extremely gorgeous woman.

Her smile faltered slightly and was replaced with confusion, "So why tell me all of this? You could've fixed me without saying anything about it."

Sean took a seat across from the bed, "When I go to a new world I can take people with me, the system refers to them as Companions. They're able to insert into worlds the same way I do and gain powers alongside me."

After a moment she seemed to realize where he was going, "You want me to come with you?" Her voice was tinged with surprise and a touch of happiness.

Looking at the floor Sean replied, "Yeah, I mean, you're my best friend here and the only person other than my family that I would miss when I left. Part of that is my own fault, I tend to be a loner, but it doesn't change the fact." He felt like a teenager confessing a crush all over again.

He heard when she got up from the bed and walked over to him, but he didn't look up. When she stopped, a gentle hand lifted his chin as she bent down so they were eye level. For a long moment they held eye contact, Sean could tell she was looking for something but didn't know what.

Finally she must have found it because she smirked, "I will go with you on one condition." Sean couldn't help but smile, it was very rare for her to be playful like this.

"What's that?"

With a quick movement she chastely kissed him, "You take me on a proper date."

His brain stopped for a moment. Sure he was attracted to her, and whenever they spent time together he could just feel that interest grow. He never thought it would be reciprocated in any way though.

Once his brain rebooted itself, he put on a thoughtful face, "Hmm. I don't know, that might be really difficult."

Her face morphed to one of shock before she realized he was messing with her and slapped his shoulder with a playful glare.

"Ow! Ok, Ok. I would love to take you on a date, Ava." There was that smile again.

The moment was broken when Sean's phone rang. Fury was calling to let him know that the whole team was meeting back in Stark's penthouse first thing tomorrow morning. He confirmed that they would be there.

Seeing that it was starting to get late, they decided to get some rest for the night and separated to bed.

LINE BREAK

Sean and Ava were the last two to arrive, most of the team staying in the tower or with Shield for the previous night. They found everyone situated around a lounge that Jarvis directed them to. That reminded Sean that he wanted to get his hands on an AI, or at least an advanced VI.

Maybe he could get Friday from Tony? She wasn't as advanced as Jarvis, but shared a lot of the same base coding if she held true to her comic book origins. It wasn't pressing, he could get an AI in any of a hundred worlds, he just really liked the accent and attitude Tony gave her.

They exchanged greetings with everyone as they took their seats. When everyone was in place Fury asked them to go through the events from their own perspective. As they went around the room Fury would occasionally ask questions, but eventually he was satisfied. That taken care of, Fury moved to the next topic.

"Some of you know this already, but there was an idea. To bring together extraordinary individuals in order to protect the world from threats beyond the capability of normal methods. Originally I only had seven of you on my recruitment list, but Dragon was right that we needed all the help we could get.

"The question we have now is: What's next? Let me begin by saying, as far as I'm concerned you have done your part. You are all free to go and Shield will not follow you. The World Security Council wants me to keep you all on hand, and various powers have already tried to spin things in such a way as to bring you under their control."

Fury met eyes with each of them before continuing, "I would like you all to stay available in case something like this happens again, but that's your choice. Ideally the Avengers would stay independent, free to take care of problems but not limited by bureaucracy. Thoughts?"

Glances were exchanged until Tony spoke up first, "I'm in. We could do a lot of good."

Sean decided to jump in before people got carried away and didn't think things all the way through, "I have a couple things." All eyes turned to him, "What about people that already have oaths and obligations to other powers? Rhodey can be ordered by the Air Force to do things and people would associate that with us, and he's not the only one in that situation." He glanced meaningfully at the two Shield agents on the team.

"Beyond that," He continued, "As things stand we are a political and legal nightmare. We represent at least three countries and two realms. The only reason they can't really try any legal action against us for yesterday is because there aren't laws to cover it. Even the ones that could stretch to cover it have extenuating circumstance clauses. It's only a matter of time until some idiot politician passes a law that forces anyone with extra abilities to register."

"Is that such a bad thing? For people like us to have some accountability?" Tony was the one that brought this up, something Sean had expected.

"What about our families? Our Privacy? What's to stop people going after innocents to get to us? And not just us; what about someone who has powers but just wants to live a normal life? You would put them on a list that dirty politicians and hackers of all stripes have access to? Let me put it this way: Fury, how many people on the Index were used by Hydra one way or another?" Sean was more than willing to have the 'why the Civil War shouldn't have happened' argument in a preventative stance.

Seeing the questioning looks and knowing Sean wouldn't let it go Fury explained, "The Index was Shield's version of exactly that. A registry of enhanced people. It had their full files in it. When Shield cleaned Hydra out we found that at least 40% of the people we could locate had been blackmailed, tortured, brainwashed, or otherwise used by Hydra. Those are just the ones we found, there are still a dozen or so missing."

Sean saw the reality set in for the gathered heroes, "More than that: Where does it end? We would be the group that it's based on and initially created for, they would require us to register first. But what's Tony's power? Money? So rich people register. Genius? So smart people register. What about Rhodey? Being friends with Tony? And if you want to say it's ownership of the suits then allow me to remind you that buying a soviet ICBM is in fact easier than getting their armor and potentially as dangerous.

"Then there's Clint and Nat. They're both incredibly talented but not actually enhanced. Falcon's the same way, except he was trained and equipped by the Army. So now all of our spies and special forces have to register? It goes on and on. Let me make my stance clear. I'm all for the Avengers sticking around, but I will not be on a team that can't make its own decisions. And the second that I hear of a registry, especially a non-voluntary forced registry, that exposes people's identities I will do everything in my power to find every single enhanced person on this planet and take them away to where they can be safe."

Sean sat back down after his rant and saw everyone watching him with wide eyes. He really hated the whole Sokovia Accords bullshit and it's comic book equivalent of the SRA. It was nothing but a power grab masquerading as responsibility. It wasn't about people's fear, it was that the people who fancy themselves powerful weren't in control.

It took a few minutes before someone spoke up, "What do you suggest then?" Steve was the one who asked. He seemed troubled by what Sean had said, but like he knew it was all true. The revelation that Hydra was still around hadn't gotten a reaction from him, but he had been awake for a couple of months now. Fury must have told him at least some of what had happened.

Looking around the room Sean saw similar looks from everyone else. "Well there's a couple options. The main one is like Fury says, we remain independent. But we can't do it half-assed. We would need to base ourselves somewhere that the government wouldn't try to sanction us unless we actually went bad. If we stayed here then the government will try to control us through taxes, new laws, our connection to Stark Industries, and anything else they can think of. They won't stop until we're under someone's control or have to go underground."

Sparing a glance at T'Challa he continued, "I can think of at least one place but it's not my decision to make. If that doesn't work then setting up on an unclaimed island would be the best bet. This option would mean though, that no one other than us has access to our full systems and information like identities or addresses. None of us can be attached to a job that would give people leverage over us, like Rhodey. Sorry I keep calling you out, but you are in likely the worst position." Sean gave an apologetic smile. Rhodey didn't look happy, but he nodded his understanding that Sean had a point.

"The same would go for Nat, Clint, and myself though. We would need to leave Shield. It's not so much about letting Shield have authority over us, because I truly do believe Fury has his heart in the right place, but it's proving to others that we don't fall under the sway of any one organisation. This includes the UN, I think we ally with them and do our best to work alongside them, but not submit ourselves to them."

Sean took a breath before he continued, "The only other option I see as viable to keep a single group together would be to join Shield. Now that he's cleaned out Hydra Fury can run Shield the way it should have been run. The problem with this is that Shield is overseen by the World Security Council and the UN. This would open us up to their restrictions and requirements, which increases the risks of the things I mentioned earlier."

Again people fell into thought as they digested what he said. Finally Clint was the one to ask, "Where's this place you think would host us that would lend us these protections?"

"I am not at liberty to say. I gave my word that I would keep their secrets. They are known to the Asgardians and we have recently begun talks with them, be assured they will know what we decide here and then make their decision." Sean kept it vague, though he could see that Thor and Sif had caught on. Fury looked suspiciously at Panther since he was the only real unknown in the room but seemed content to let it go for now.

"I agree with Dragon. I think we do this, and we do it right." Was Ava's input, not surprising given her treatment by Shield.

Slowly everyone in the room, save Fury, agreed. Some slightly more reluctantly than others, but they all knew that what Sean said had merit. Into the silence that followed came Jarvis' voice.

"Mister Stark, Miss Potts needs to talk to you." The AI butler's voice came from all around the room.

"I think we're good here," he waited to receive nods from everyone, "Send her in."

The red-head walked in with a tablet in her hands that had her attention, "Tony, I really think we need to do a press release. The media is having a field day with all the interviews they're getting. One asshole politician is even suggesting that all of this is somehow your guys'...fault…" Her voice trailed off as she finally looked up and saw all the eyes on her.

Sean didn't let the awkwardness set in, "She's right. Fury said earlier that people are starting to spin the story and we need to get on top of it. I recommend Cap and Tony be the faces. All-American Boy Scout and Everyone's Favorite Playboy telling them what happened should help give our story more weight."

"What about the rest of us?" Sam was curious.

Eyes turned to Fury, who stood and dusted himself off. "Like I told Banner, you're in the wind. Shield won't be tracking any of you and as far as the Council is concerned both the scepter and the cube were destroyed in the fight. We can hold on to Loki for a few days."

Thor and Sif exchanged glances with T'Challa, and three stood as well. "Actually Fury," Thor started, "We have arranged for another location to hold Loki if you don't mind."

As the four left the rest could hear Fury say, "As long as he's not my problem anymore, I don't care."

It sounded to Sean like Loki was going to be held at Wakanda for a time, at least until they could find a way to get him back to Asgard. Now that the conversation was over people started to make their way out.

Pepper had already pulled Tony and Steve aside to talk about the press conference. Rhodey and Sam made their way out together, and seemed like they were hitting it off. Nat and Clint weren't far behind them, probably off to see Clint's family. Poor Bruce looked a little lost so Sean made his way over.

"Headed back to Nepal, Doc?"

The mild-mannered scientist jumped a little but answered, "Er, yeah. Like I said, there's still work to be done, but it's coming along. Are you going that way too?"

Sean shook his head, "Not yet, I have a couple of things I need to do but it should be only a couple of weeks."

Bruce extended his hand, "I'll see you then, I have a stop to make on my way." The smile on his face gave him away and made Sean chuckle as he shook the hand.

"Tell Betty I said 'Hi'." Nodding in assent the man left.

Since it was just Ava and him left Sean moved back to her, "So I want to pick up a little more of the tech that's out there before Shield takes it all or some idiot gets a hold of it. You want to come?"

She nodded and followed him out of the lounge. Now that Avengers movie was done and the team was together, Sean was pretty sure he could work to eliminate most of the issues coming up. Thor 2 was still going to happen, but that would give him the opportunity to grab the Reality Stone.

Other than that, Age of Ultron shouldn't happen. Neither should Winter Soldier or Civil War, though Sean had forgotten about Bucky. 'Wonder where he is?' He was probably underground with whatever elements of Hydra survived. Fury would root them out eventually, and Steve would no doubt be eager to help.

Guardians of the Galaxy would run through both movies without them. Ant-Man would come to pass, but without studio budgets in the way the Avengers could get involved so it should be simple. Same thing with Black Panther, though Sean was considering tracking down Killmonger ffirst. Iron Man 3 had already been derailed. Ant-Man and the Wasp was also already mostly dealt with, without Civil War happening or Ava to interfere everything should work out.

So the only potential problems were Ragnorak and Thanos. Sean wasn't really sure how to handle those, but maybe his chat with the Ancient One would shed some light on the issue. Only time will tell. For now he's looking forward to grabbing some stuff and hanging out with Ava.

AN: There we go, Chapter 7. Like I hinted at the end we're pretty much on a straight shot to the finale from here. It's just a talk with the Ancient One, solving a couple movies, playing with Agents of Shield, and the big throw down. Unless I remember some other stuff or get distracted I'm thinking this will be another 4 or 5 chapters and then we're off to the next Jump.

Feel free to let me know what jumps you think I should do. I have a vague plan for the next one or two but all those plans are pretty flexible, I'm curious what you guys want to see.

Let me know what you think!