Sam was staring at Steve's door with the look of someone about to go to his execution.
Barnes fake coughed, but Sam still didn't move.
There was a pause before, "You know, he only killed/tried to kill the ones SHIELD sent over. You should be fine."
Sam's eye twitched, "Am I supposed to be reassured by that?"
James smiled slightly, "no, but he DID ask for you. So, there is that. And if he DOES murder you, I'll make sure it's a really nice funeral."
With that, Sam felt himself shoved into Steve's room before he could respond, the door shutting firmly behind him.
"Hey!" Sam was grumbling at the door, but didn't take his eyes off Steve, who was back to his original spot on the floor with his back to the wall. He was drawing another picture, which Sam was interested in, especially with the weight of HIS present tucked into his pants pocket.
Steve paused with one hand, to touch the StarkPad, eyes glancing up to Sam then back down to his drawing, "You'll be fine. I promise not to maim you on the first session, though I can't say the same for session two… or three."
Said Super Soldier was smiling, so Sam thought he meant it as a joke. "Scouts honor and all that jazz?," he said as he moved further into the room.
Steve furled his brow before typing out a quick, "never was a boy scout," with a shrug.
It was Sam's turn to shrug, as he figured out where he wanted to sit. James had told him which chair had housed the SHIELD agents, so he was going to avoid it at all costs. He finally decided to mirror Steve's position and sit on the floor with his back to a different chair. Not close enough to grab, and hopefully he could maneuver if needed. "So, I don't know how you know me. Or Riley, 'cause the man NEVER even HINTED at a connection to you, and believe me, I KNOW that would've been all he ever talked about. You must also know that I don't even have my counseling license yet, and I haven't even started classes for my degree."
Steve nodded along as Sam spoke, "I never met Riley when he was alive. I wasn't here to do so. And I only just met you yesterday, you are right."
Sam narrowed his eyes, "then how did you do THIS.?" He pulled the drawing out of his pocket but didn't unfold it.
Steve shrugged again and gently tapped his temple next to his bloodshot eye, but otherwise didn't respond.
There was a pause before Steve typed with the Starkpad again, "it's not your fault you know, what happened with your partner."
Sam narrowed his eyes at Steve, "Shouldn't I be the one counseling you here, not the other way around? Trying to make sure you're not bat-shit or gonna go off killing more people?"
Steve nodded with a slight smile, "yes. But I wanted to make sure you understood that. Besides, I only kill my enemies, it's a lesson hard learned over the years."
"The other therapists worked for SHIELD, and they aren't your enemy," said Sam in return, not acknowledging what Steve had said about Riley. He needed time to process that later, when he was alone and not trying to help/evaluate the crazy superhero.
"Not all of them." But Steve wouldn't elaborate nor specify what he meant. Sam hadn't been in the room long, but he wasn't sure where to go from here with the information he had gotten, nor did he feel completely safe yet- not sure the original Captain America had all his marbles in place enough to not stab him with a pencil.
"Well," said Sam as he started to stand, "I think this was a good getting to know you, intro session. Lots for both of us to think about, and no furniture's been thrown in my direction, so that's also a plus. Barnes get in here." The last bit was spoken a little louder towards the door, where both soldiers were sure James was lurking.
Not three seconds later, James was opening the door and looking over the pair, relief was evident for a moment before it was masked. "Oh, good. I'll let Fury know you're a keeper. Everything go okay? Sam? Stevie?"
"Wait Sam," Steve typed as he also stood up. He folded the drawing he was working on before slowly holding his hand out to Sam, so he could take it. His other hand was held in the surrender position, so the other two would know he wouldn't do anything.
Sam had an internal debate about whether to take the paper or not, but curiosity finally got the better of him. He reached over and grabbed the paper, before carefully backing up behind Barnes.
"Thanks man." He would look it over later when he was alone.
"You guys ready for lunch?" James asked, looking them both over. Steve nodded, but Sam declined, "I think I'm gonna head out for a little while actually, check in with the family and see how they're doing with everything that went down."
Sam made his way to the door then the elevator, without turning around to check his back. He was pretty proud of himself for that and excited to see his family for the afternoon. It'd only been a day, but the weird meter was already through the roof and he could tell it was only going to get worse. He faintly heard James and Steve calling each other names, "jerk," and "punk" as the elevator door was closing, and he gave Jarvis directions to go to the ground floor.
In the relative privacy of the elevator, Sam unfolded the picture and nearly fainted. It was him at the Harlem VA he first visited when he got back stateside. It was the first group session he had gone to, and he was a wreck. Riley was standing at his side- wingless this time, and his grandfather was next to him, both of them had an arm wrapped around his shoulders in support and looked to be talking like they'd known each other forever. Sitting around him were the other soldiers in the session and some faces he remembered from his unit that hadn't made it back to the states.
Sam couldn't believe what he was seeing. "What the-?!"
The elevator dinged on the ground floor, and Jarvis interrupted him mid exclamation, "Sir, we've reached the ground floor, shall I have a car brought around?"
"…Nah…" Sam refolded the picture and gently added it to his pocket with the other one, "nah, thanks Jarvis. I'm gonna… I need to take the subway. Gotta think for a bit."
8888888888888888888
By the time Sam got back to the Tower it was dinner. He made his way to the common floor where Clint, Barnes, and Rogers were sitting around a table. Bruce was in the kitchen, with the smells of Indian food starting to invade Sam's senses before he even cleared the couch.
Sam felt much better than when he left the Tower this afternoon. Getting to check in on his family in Harlem and make sure they were doing alright was a huge relief off his shoulders He even took the time to speak with them about D.C., and his work on getting his degree started. On a whim, he asked to look through the old family albums, and sure enough his grandfather looked exactly the same as the new picture from the Super Soldier, only younger than Sam remembered him being.
Sam had a theory about Steve and even though the food Bruce was cooking smelled delicious, he was a man on a mission as he walked into the kitchen. Keeping the picture folded, he ignored Barnes, Barton, and Banner, as he leaned forward towards Steve, making eye contact as he placed his hands on the table for support.
"You see dead people," was all he said, which was enough to bring the room to a screeching halt. Steve, still not speaking much, just raised an eyebrow and tapped his temple again, near his bloodshot eye, like he had done before. He glanced around the room, gaining an amused tint to his face, and tapped out a quick pattern that was too fast for Clint or James to catch, before turning back to Sam with a shrug.
The archer made a mental note to have Jarvis show him the feed later and slow the pattern down.
Sam was pretty sure that Steve wasn't denying the claim, but it was still a lot to process- even with the head start of thinking about the theory that afternoon.
"What happened Steve," asked Barnes, voice pretty flat, but eyes flashing darkly.
Steve shrugged again and pulled the StarPad close to type something out. His fingers were flying across the keyboard- something the others weren't quite prepared for.
"In the mid-90's there was a period where I was mostly dead. My body was frozen in space outside the ship Thanos was using, while my soul started to move on. I caught the attention of the Queen of the Underworld, Thor's niece Hela. We made a deal and when my body was brought back into the ship, my soul rejoined it and I was left with this," he tapped his temple near his bloodshot eye again, "and a new perspective on the world."
"The tapping," Steve continued, as he tapped out a quick sequence that Clint recognized as "SAFE," "was a way for me to communicate with the souls helping me. Some of the old team, and a few new faces that have tagged along. When I've completed what I need to, Hela will take back the extra sight."
James narrowed his eyes in a sudden realization, "When I was on ice…"
Steve smirked and quickly typed out, "I was able to try to communicate with you, yes. It took a few tries, but finally the message penetrated through your stick skull."
James cursed in Russian, and got up from the table. He ignored all attempts to get his attention and in the elevator asked Jarvis to send him to the gym. He needed to think.
"Well," said Bruce, "that all sounds pretty… horrible." The quip got the expected response of snorts, and eye rolls from the others, "and dinner is ready."
Jarvis spoke up before anyone could say anything, "I've already let Captain Barnes know about dinner. He will be up later when he has had time to process everything."
Steve was still a bit hesitant around the group, and eating solid food, so dinner was a pretty subdued affair.
After dinner Clint came to his own realization, "So wait, when you froze us before freeing Loki- was Phil one of the Souls you were able to communicate with?"
Steve gave a partial shrug before typing out, "Yes, and no. He wasn't actually dead, so while his soul was able to leave his body- he couldn't go too far away from it. When you were in the med bay after Natasha knocked you out, he was with you in the room, but couldn't really go further than that. He was able to share the knowledge for your drawing with the others, and I was able to give it to you."
"What do you mean he wasn't actually dead?" Said Clint slowly with a dark tone.
"Loki cast a stasis spell on his body keeping it alive before leaving the Helicarrier. He wasn't able to do much to circumvent the Scepter's control, but what he could do- he did."
Having a hunch that Loki wasn't as bad as they all originally thought, and knowing more concrete information was a lot for them all to take in at once. Steve sensed the sombre mood and excused himself to go back to his room. He knew Bucky would be back from the gym soon, and after he showered/ate, his friend would seek him out.
Steve was patient enough to wait for him. He had given them a lot of information that they had to digest and work through. It would give him more time to formulate his own plans and continue his drawing.
It was pretty late before Bucky came into Steve's room and sat next to him on the wall. Steve put aside his sketchbook and grabbed the Starkpad, not sure how much talking he would need or be able to do.
"You saved me," was all Bucky said as he slid down the wall.
"Had to make up for not saving you on the train," was Steve's response. Even typed, Bucky could hear the guilt, sadness, and other negative emotions in that one sentence.
"Stevie," Bucky pulled his friend into a careful side hug with his flesh arm, "that wasn't your fault."
Steve just shook his head and put his own arm around Bucky. The pair sat in silence for a while, just enjoying being close again.
88888888888888
In his own room, Clint was watching the footage from dinner, when Steve was tapping out the pattern and Sam made the 90's movie reference at him. Jarvis had slowed it down enough for Clint to figure out the pattern.
"Riley was correct that Sam would be the one to figure it out. I can't believe he even called the movie reference. Looks like Gabe owes him one."
"Huh," said the archer sitting back in his desk chair, a little surprised that Steve knew that movie, or at least someone from his spirit team did. /I wonder if he means Gabe Jones from his original team./
Clint knew Gabe's grandson was working with Shield as well. He didn't know what he was doing, just that he was recruited a few years back. Clint made a mental note to check on Trip, Antoine Triplett, to be exact.
"What's the status Jarvis?" Asked Clint to the A.I.
"Dr. Banner is currently meditating in his room, Captains Rogers and Barnes are in Captain Roger's room talking, and Mr. Wilson is in the gym. Sir has also checked in from his Malibu house finally. It appears Ms. Potts is safe and unharmed." Said the A.I.
Clint nodded and started to make his way to the gym. He could use some hand to hand practice, and it would be a good way to assess the new guy's skills. He also made a mental note to check on Natasha. She hadn't checked in since leaving and, while that wasn't unusual, Clint had a bad feeling about what she was looking into.
Shield Headquarters
Phil was excited. He was going to be leading a team of recruits that he could hand pick. As far as most of Shield knew, he was dead. And, technically he was dead. Mostly.
Getting to work with the souls of the Howling Commandos though. That was worth every mostly dead second. The memories faded, but the feeling and emotions were engraved into his very being. He knew they were working with the original Captain America, even though he hadn't gotten to meet him. And he knew their mission had to do with Shield- but what exactly that was, was the most hazy. His team would play a part in whatever it was. But until he could remember, it was up to him to get them ready.
Starting with his first recruit, Melinda May. /Focus. You have a job to do./
He knocked on the door to the gym as a courtesy, a smile on his face. He was pretty sure May already knew he was there, but manners were still important. She would love this job- if he could convince her that is.
Asgard
Loki stumbled when the tesseract's power finally subsided. He could feed the eyes of the guards staring at him and Thor at his side, while Lady Sif tightened her hold on his arm.
Thor moved to his other side, and the guards looked ready to stop him, but the look he threw their way had them stepping back instead. Loki didn't speak as he was led towards the main throne room, where his judgement would be passed. He knew there was nothing he could say that would help his situation, and while he had spoken to Thor some at the Tower, he was still hesitant to believe his brother would continue to stick up for him here.
Thor was comfortable here, and sometimes that was a bad thing. It enabled him to fall into old habits. And, as the Earth saying went, Old Habits Die Hard.
So no. Loki was not hopeful right now. He knew better.
The throne room doors were pushed open by the guards stationed there and Loki could see his "parents" sitting on their high chairs. While Loki held no judgement on his mother, he knew she loved him unconditionally, it was Odin he had to worry about.
Loki was prepared for the worst, his pictures from Steven carefully hidden away on his person. He knew his friend would be okay. And at the very least, he was glad he was able to be the hero for someone.
Even if that would never be recognized here.
"Father," bellowed Thor in a very forceful tone, "we must speak at once about what has happened on Earth. Please remove everyone from the room, including the council. What I have to say is for you and mother's ears alone."
Odin must've realized the seriousness behind Thor's words, or he had knowledge from Heimdall that no one else did. With a nod from the King, the council members and guards started murmuring in discontent as they left the room. Lady Sif looked like she was going to stay, but a firm hand from Thor had her also leaving the room.
Loki kept his eyes centered right above Odin's forehead. While he wasn't muzzled, he had nothing to say in either his defense or otherwise as he knew it would fall on deaf ears. He was tempted to look towards his mother, but knew it would break him if he saw the disappointment on her features he knew was there.
As the throne room's doors closed, the silence became deafening for Loki. Thor must've also felt it because he spoke up before Odin could even breathe in air to speak.
"Father, it has come to my attention that Loki was not working for Thanos of his own free will. I do not believe he needs to be punished for the actions he took on Midgard, and any crimes he's committed here have been paid for in full with his imprisonment at Thanos' hand." Thor stood tall and shoulder to shoulder with his brother. Loki kept quiet, knowing what Odin would say before he said it.
"Loki chose to let go of your hand on the BiFrost, instead of facing his punishment here. Whatever happened after that was his own doing and doesn't affect the ruling that I give on his transgressions here." Odin's tone left no room for argument, as he was probably assuming Thor would just follow his rule like he had in the past.
It was too bad Thor felt differently and wasn't afraid to voice that opinion, "And yet, you let Loki be tortured at the hands of Thanos for years. Never once telling myself or mother of what was happening to him so we might provide a rescue."
Frigga's eyes narrowed and she spoke before Odin could confirm or deny the claim, "You knew our son was being tortured and did nothing to help him?"
The anger directed at her husband had Loki flicking his eyes briefly towards his mother. He was not ready to see her defending him like that, and couldn't quite process what he was hearing.
"Asgard was not in a position to be able to fight Thanos. Anyone sent would've been killed- including our other son and Heir." Odin was attempting to defend his actions, but Frigga looked like she was ready to skin her husband alive and make Thor king right there.
Loki flinched back at Odin's words, which enraged Frigga even more. "If Loki is to be imprisoned, then he will be on house arrest and confined to his room until further notice. Loki, I will put a shield around your room so you can't leave, and won't be forced to be in the magic dampening cuffs. Thor, please escort your brother to his room, and both of you wait for me there. There is much we need to speak about, but I must deal with your father first."
Thor and Loki both blinked, neither had ever seen Frigga so angry at their father, and overruling him like that. The pair didn't want to waste this blessing, so they began edging towards the door, with only a small nod of acknowledgement.
When the throne room door closed behind them, the only thing they heard was a very loud, "How Dare You-" before a silencing ward went up around the room.
Lady Sif was waiting outside the throne room with the guards, all of them looking ready to grab Loki and throw him in a cell. Thor spoke before any of them could even think of moving forward, "Loki is on house arrest, confined to his room for his punishment, for the foreseeable future. If you have an issue with this decree- I suggest you take it up with the Queen, but perhaps wait until she calms down or you might not like what she does."
With that Thor began escorting Loki down the hall towards his room. Loki was still in shock, so he just let his brother take him wherever he wanted to go.
Much later, when Frigga had calmed down, and could speak with her children she went to Loki's room. Dinner was ordered and a healer called as well. She wouldn't let Loki suffer in silence, and was glad Thor was finally being the older brother he should've been from the beginning.
After the trio ate, and Frigga spoke with Thor and Loki together, she excused her flesh and blood son so she could speak with Loki alone. Thor nodded to the pair and made his way out of the room. He was also still mad at Odin, so instead of speaking with his father, went to his room. He needed to think, and while he could do that sparring, he wasn't ready to speak with others either. They had limited knowledge of what had happened and he wasn't ready to lose Loki's trust so soon after trying to earn it by speaking of what happened with his friends.
When the Healer was finished checking over Loki, Frigga excused her. As the door closed with a click, Frigga put up a silencing charm around the room and turned to Loki, waiting patiently for the outburst.
She wasn't disappointed, but it was more subdued than she thought it would be.
"Why did you fight him about this? I'm a monster to them. Not one of you, and not welcome anywhere." Loki sounded so defeated it broke Frigga's heart.
"You are my son, from the moment I held you in my arms as a small baby, and cast the glamour over you to help keep you safe." Frigga's reply was prompt and heartfelt, even if Loki wasn't ready to hear it just yet. He shook his head in denial, but refused to speak further.
"Loki, my child," Frigga moved closer to Loki and gently held his chin so he was looking at her directly, "had I known what was happening to you when you dropped from the BiFrost, nothing would've kept me from rescuing you. Not Odin, not Thanos, no one. Your life is just as important as any citizen of Asgard, and I am extremely angry and disappointed in Odin's blatant disregard for your safety. Heimdall as well, and believe me- he will be very sorry for keeping this from myself and your brother."
Loki pulled away from Frigga's hand on his chin. He heard what his mother was saying, but wasn't ready to believe it yet.
"Please leave me be," was all he said. He wanted to look at his drawings, and try to think through everything running through his mind. First Thor and now Frigga, he couldn't handle the curve balls being thrown in his direction.
Frigga nodded and left Loki to his thoughts, as the door closed softly behind her, Loki's thoughts turned to Steven. He hoped his friend was alright from whatever Thor had done to him with the cube. He knew hope was a bad thing, but maybe…. just maybe… he could start to hope again.
The young God sat tiredly on his bed, carefully pulling out his drawings. He would hide them away before sleeping. He knew better than to leave them out around here.
Stark Tower 3 Months later
SHIELD deemed Steve well enough to not be a threat after three months of working with Sam. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but that was as good as it was going to get. Fury knew better than to get Barnes and his old friend on his bad side- it would be suicide.
Well, homicide, covered up to look like a suicide.
Natashsa had missed her last two check-ins from her mission, so Barton, Wilson, and the two super soldiers were planning a search and rescue mission. The director knew in his gut that the original Captain America knew more than he was letting on about everything, so when the group started to head out on their mission, Fury would start his own investigation to try to figure out the missing pieces to this weird puzzle.
He would be discreet and use channels outside of SHIELD for his investigation. But he had time. There would be no need to rush. Not for this.
"Sir," said Hill walking up behind him, "there is a problem with Stark." She handed him the tablet and Fury turned his attention away from his thoughts.
"There's always a problem with Stark, Hill. You're going to need to be a little more specific than that." Replied Fury while looking over the report.
Of course. Stark was antagonizing terrorists. Just what he needed today. He held in a sigh, "Get my jet ready and an agent to help keep an eye on Stark."
Another day, another disaster to deal with. Fury loved his job. Just not dealing with Stark.
-End Book 1-