While Natasha walked down memory lane with Rhodey, Steve found himself trying to gracefully lose to Sam at pool. It didn't matter how much his super soldier-ness helped with calculating and exerting the right amount of force needed to sink the ball into the pocket. Surprisingly, he was evenly matched with Sam. Just as he was with Q - which was even more surprising when he figured that out. But while she based all of her pool expertise on the math behind the game in order to sink the most balls at once, Sam was more focused on sinking one after the other so that the time between his and Steve's shots was great enough to rearrange all of Steve's previously planned shots.
"Alright, alright." he placed his hand on his hip and stepped back from the table as Sam not only sunk his striped ball into the pocket, but also knocked a few of Steve's out of the way and into positions that would be impossible to get out of.
"Come back, come back." Sam beckoned the cue ball to bounce off the wall of the table so he could line it up properly for another shot. Steve groaned in realization that not only did Sam get a chance to make a shot, he also only had a few balls left before he won the game.
Usually, he wouldn't care - hell he didn't really care that much, about losing to Sam. But there were a few World War Two veterans watching the game and he didn't need to let his fellow men down. That would be embarrassing and no doubt the story of the night.
Sam was a bigger sore winner than Steve ever thought. His proud grin was wide as he did a slight victory dance after successfully beating Steve in the game. They passed off their sticks to the next pair of people in order for Steve to get Sam the drink he was owed.
While waiting for his scotch, Sam asked him how the battle at the Hydra facility turned out, reminding Steve that they hadn't seen each other in person in a long time - only talking on the phone every once in a while. He was glad his friend could make it to the party. It had been a long time since he had seen a friendly face and someone who was outside of his Avengers team. Made him feel like he didn't have to put on a total Captain America front. He could just be himself.
"Sounds like a hell of a fight." Sam commented after Steve finished his highlight reel. They walked away from the bar, heading for one of the staircases on the floor that led to look out across the party, "Sorry I missed it."
"If I had known it was gonna be a firefight, I absolutely would have called." he assured him, slightly referencing to their last phone conversation where he was certain there wouldn't be any fights to be a part of. Oh how wrong he was.
"No, no. I'm not actually sorry." Sam quickly backtracked as the two split momentarily to let a blond woman pass, "I'm just trying to sound tough." he grinned slightly and motioned with his free hand, "I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our missing persons case." he teased a bit, reminding Steve that he had his own mission, one that was probably the most important mission of them all, "Avenging is your world." he amended as they got to a free spot on the raised platform from the stairs, looking down at the rather full party that was happening below, "Your world is crazy." he sighed out before taking a sip of his scotch.
"Be it ever so humble." Steve commented, leaving off the second part of the saying, there's no place like home. The home part wasn't what he was focusing on when referring to the Avengers. Being a part of the team again was humbling him a bit; knowing that this team was why he had gotten back into the real world in the first place. And some odd years later, being with them again reminded him of how far he had come since their first interactions and how much things - himself included, had changed.
"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam asked after a moment of surveying the party. Steve took in a deep breath and then shook his head,
"I don't think I'm ever going back to Brooklyn." he responded heavily.
"What? Can't afford it?" he teased slightly, and Steve let out a small chuckle. It wasn't that he couldn't afford to live in Brooklyn. Money-wise, he could. He had plenty of war bonds and SHIELD money stored up in bank accounts, not to mention the small amount of savings he had put into the bank before the war that had accumulated over time. He just couldn't bear to without Q. They had once talked about moving out of the Tower, getting a place together, and calling it home. She had even started looking at apartments for them together. Then it all fell apart.
"Something like that." he answered vaguely, but it was enough for Sam to understand it was much deeper than the blanket statement.
"Well, home is home, you know?" Sam reminded him before taking another sip of his scotch. He stared at Sam's profile for a long moment, thinking about how his definition of home had changed over the years.
It wasn't just a specific place anymore. Not a point on a map or an apartment building in the city. For a short while, Q was his home; wherever she was, whenever they were together - that was home for him. But then he lost her, lost his home. And now he was working to find it all over again.
The two of them mingled for a bit longer, using the party as a chance to catch up and talk like friends. He didn't ruin the mood by talking about Q or the footage he found, but did update Sam on the rest of his life. How he had taken Sam's advice and gone to actual therapy alongside the weekly Veterans Association meetings. Surprisingly, he liked therapy, finding it nice to talk to a third party who had no personal claim in his life other than to be there to talk through his problems. It reminded him of what he did with Q, except without all the heartbreak attached to it. The VA meetings were where he got his relatability fix and took solace in the fact that others were going through similar, base level things.
Sam told him stories about his travels through random Eastern European countries - always staying away from the several dead ends he found or the day he found Q. Keeping the mood light and easy; it was a party after all.
And it being so, a bit later in the night after Sam had left, Steve found himself entertaining a group of World War Two veterans alongside Thor. They reenacted their battle tricks they had come up with over the months and took suggestions from the others on how to really get the most out of their assigned weapons. It was fun and reminded him of a time he used to do a similar thing with the Howling Commandos - hell some of the men sitting around knew the Howling Commandos. Stories came up and memories were swapped, though they were no longer tinged with the same amount of guilt and sadness Steve once had attached to them before Q came along to help him.
"I gotta have some of that." one interupted when seeing Thor tip over the intricately designed silver flask into the glass he was holding. A clear liquid poured out of it, mixing with whatever was already in the glass.
"Oh, no no no," Thor deterred the man with a shake of his head, "See this...This was aged for a thousand years" he passed the glass over to Steve, who took it curiously, "in the barrels built from the wreck of Grunhel's fleet." he swirled the glass a bit so the liquor mixed together before bringing it up to take a sniff. It smelled like honey and bourbon, "It is not meant for mortal men." Steve's brows immediately furrowed as he looked over at Thor, unsure why he decided to give him some if it wasn't made for mortals. He was mortal...right? Not that it mattered, though, because he couldn't get drunk. The serum made sure of that. And he tried. Countless times: when Bucky died, when he woke up in 2012, when he found Bucky again, when Q left...nothing seemed to work. He was pretty sure Thor's Asgardian liquor wouldn't have any affect on him either.
"Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie." another one of the veterans sassed, clearly unamused with Thor trying to tell them they couldn't handle it, "Stop trying to scare us. Come on." he lifted his glass up with a sure hand. Thor glanced over to Steve, who did nothing but shrug; who was he to deny the man some Asgardian liquor? After all he had done, he deserved to try it.
Thor gave in and shook out a few droplets of the liquor into his glass, then the rest of the men's glasses as well. They all rose their glasses for a moment in cheers before taking a sip. It went down smooth, smoother than any alcohol Steve had ever had before. Sweet as it smelled, there was a bit of a kick to it that immediately made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. A second sip sent a thrum through his entire body and he suddenly felt light. No other alcohol had ever affected him like this before; it was like drinking a soda. But the Asgardian liquor...had somehow, surprisingly, managed to get him a little bit buzzed within three sips of it. A fucking miracle.
Needing a drink herself, Natasha was behind the bar, pouring herself a Cosmopolitan when Bruce stepped up with a small, warm smile. He settled at the bar while she grabbed another martini glass to pour out the rest of her drink for him.
"How'd a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?" he opened teasingly as he took off his glasses. She gave him a wry smile, setting the other martini glass in front of him,
"Fella done me wrong." she kept her voice airy, much like how she thought a woman from the 1920s talked - she'd have to ask Steve if she was historically accurate though.
"You got lousy taste in men, kid." he played along, folding his arms atop the bar while she poured out the rest of the Cosmopolitan into the glass for him.
"Don't I know it." she sighed before backtracking, "He's not so bad." she defended Dawson as she reached for a garnish to finish off Bruce's drink before sliding it over to him, "He pretends not to like people or care about them, but deep down, he's all fluff." she lifted her glass while Bruce took a sip out of his drink, remembering the times she had caught him in a caring moment, "Fact is, he's not like anybody I've ever known." she realized with a blink of her eyes. The corners of her lips twitched in a smile, a dead giveaway to her emotions which she tried to hide by ducking her head down. She paused, thinking about how Dawson compared to the rest of her friends. He certainly wasn't a fighter, not in the traditional sense at least, and definitely not a hero but how could she explain to Bruce how great he was without sounding like she was putting him down?
"Sounds amazing." Bruce filled in the silence with a quick smile, saving her from having to make the decision.
"He's also a huge dork." Natasha added immediately from behind her glass, then made a face and shrugged as Bruce laughed, "Chicks dig that." she should know; she did. Bruce gave her a slight smile as she took a long sip from her drink before continuing, "So what do you think? Should I fight this, or run with it?"
"Run with it, right?" Bruce stuttered out, suddenly, not really understanding what was going on, "Or did he... Was he...What did he do that was so wrong to you?" he asked. She took in a breath before answering. The list wasn't that long if she was being honest, but the items on it were big.
"Made me feel things I never thought I was capable of." she admitted. He raised his eyebrows and leaned forward a bit to pick up his glass.
"I don't think that's such a bad thing, Nat." he gave her a reassuring smile before lifting his drink up and turning to return to the party.
"He's right, you know." Steve's voice got her to turn away from where Bruce was rejoining Dr. Cho on the couch, "About it not being such a bad thing to feel something." he repeated himself as he reached for a beer from the ice bucket.
"What? You're suddenly an expert now?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrows. He made a face, twisting off the cap of his beer- even though it wasn't a twist off cap.
"Maybe." he shrugged, "I am Captain America after all…" he trailed off with a smirk. She let out a scoff and shook her head before letting her gaze return to him. Taking a second look at her friend, she noticed the easy way he was holding himself and the sly grin on his face.
"Holy shit, are you buzzed right now?" she couldn't believe she was asking him that question, but he seemed quite tipsy for a man who couldn't get drunk. He closed one eye and raised his hand up, pinching his fingers together a bit to explain his state of tipsiness.
"Just a little." he laughed for the first time in a long time. Impressed, she pulled the corners of her mouth down and nodded a bit.
"And how, pray tell, did that happen?" she asked with a sip of her Cosmo to hide the smirk tugging at her lips. A wide, but almost bashful grin spread out across his face, like he was embarrassed to be caught a little tipsy.
"Thor had some magic whatever-" he waved his hand in the air as he tried to explain what it was that Thor had given him, "Something about barrels and aging...all I know is that the world's a bit tilted." he motioned with his hands, showing her what he meant. Oh, this just kept getting better and better.
"Tipsy is an interesting look for you, Rogers." she teased, but he just continued to grin and took a long gulp of his beer. God how she wished Suit was here to witness this. She'd have a field day. Or even Dawson - he'd never let Steve live it down.
"I can't even remember the last time I was drunk." he sighed, looking out across the rest of the party, "'35?" he guessed while closing one eye again as if that would help him remember. He paused for a moment then shook his head, like it was too hard to remember over seventy years ago, "All I know is that I feel a lot better than I have in a long time. Lighter." he smiled at her and motioned to himself. She returned the smile and lifted up her drink at him,
"Cheers to that then." she leaned over the bar to clink her glass against his beer bottle and he let out a little chuckle before taking a sip.
As the night grew later, more and more people started to take their leave. Then it was just a small group of them. Dr. Cho had fallen asleep on one of the lounge chairs while the Avengers ended up sitting around one of the tables. There were various boxes of takeout scattered around the glass table, mingling with empty beer bottles and glasses. Thor and Steve were sitting on one couch together, sharing from the flask of Asgardian liquor. Across from them, Clint and Maria had taken spots on the floor instead of sitting on the empty couch behind them. Though Bruce settled himself on the end of the couch so he could talk quietly to Natasha who was lounging on a loveseat with a beer instead of her previous Cosmopolitan. Rhodey and Tony had taken another smaller couch next to Steve and Thor, both listening to Clint complain about how anyone could lift Thor's hammer and playing cards with Maria.
"Please, be my guest." Thor gestured to the hammer which was resting on the table. An invitation for Clint to try and lift the hammer he was going on about. Suddenly stopping the twirling of his drumsticks, Clint paused and looked at the god of thunder with raised eyebrows. Again, Thor gestured as if answering the unasked question Clint had. Not needing to be told again, Clint got to his feet and stepped over to where the hammer was sitting, handle up.
"This is gonna be beautiful." Rhodey muttered, attention drawn away from the card game to watch Clint spectacularly fail.
"Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony teased, equally curious to see how it played out. No one noticed Steve's small snort of amusement at the innuendo except for Natasha, who gave him a wondrous look before her eyes flicked to where her best friend was currently wrapping his hand around the handle of the hammer.
There was a loud grunt as Clint tried to lift the hammer from it's spot. Steve could see his muscles flex and knew he was using all of his strength to get the hammer to move, but it wouldn't even budge. Letting out a laugh, Clint relaxed and shook his head,
"I still don't know how you do it!"
"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony asked with a motion around the room. Clint gestured to him immediately, already challenging him to try to lift the hammer.
From there, it was like all were trying to pull Excalibur from the stone. To become the ruler of Asgard and posses the power of Thor. Tony tried: once on his own, again with the blasters from the glove of his suit helping him, and again with Rhodey and both of the gloves from the Iron Man and War Machine suits. The hammer didn't move an inch. Bruce, ever dramatic, got up on the table to try and lift it with a loud scream of exertion. Only to gain slight amusement from his fellow Avengers, but not the powers of Thor.
Then it was Steve's turn. The slight buzz of the Asgardian liquor had been giving him throughout the night made him a lot more confident in himself than he would've been had he been completely sober. Rolling his sleeves up as he stepped up to the hammer, he wrapped both hands around the handle and positioned himself to lift with his knees, not his back. He gritted his teeth together and focused all of his super-human strength to lifting the hammer, ignoring the encouragement from the peanut gallery.
And the hammer shifted.
Just slightly, but enough to get Thor's attention. The slight creak it made when it did move was deafening. It was almost like the entire room was holding its breath while Steve readjusted his position to try and fully lift it. Though this time, it didn't move at all.
With a disappointed sigh, he let go of the handle and lifted his hands up in defeat. He'd take solace in the fact that he at least moved it slightly which had to count for something right? Thor looked obviously relieved that Steve hadn't been able to fully lift the hammer and let out a light chuckle.
The only one who had yet to try to lift the hammer was Natasha. But when offered, she immediately declined, citing that she didn't need an answer to that question. Briefly, both Steve and Natasha wondered if their significant exes would have been able to lift it - or even would have tried in the first place.
"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged." Tony summed up, feeling a bit burned by not being able to lift the hammer. Clint walked past him to grab another beer, agreeing with him,
"You bet your ass." he slapped Tony's shoulder with one hand, the other reaching for a beer.
"Steve, he said a bad language word." Maria didn't miss a second to poke fun at Steve, motioning with her beer bottle, "He owes a dollar to the jar, right?" she asked with an amused grin. Steve shook his head, glancing to Tony,
"Did you tell everyone about that?" he groaned, slightly embarrassed about everyone knowing about his slip-up but also a little perturbed that his inside joke with Q was now being made public. But Tony didn't even acknowledge him, continuing to try and figure out why no one could lift Thor's hammer except Thor himself.
"It's a very, very interesting theory." Thor got up from his spot on the couch after Tony had finished theorizing, "I have a simpler one." he reached for the hammer and lifted it with ease, even flipping it to show off a bit, "You're all not worthy." he said matter of factly, causing everyone to start laughing and semi-complaining groans.
The lightheartedness of the night was interrupted by a loud ringing noise. Steve clenched his fist and turned his head to the side to try and deal with the terrible sound, only for it to stop a second later. As everyone tried to figure out what the noise was and where it came from, a slow screeching took over - like some was dragging something metal across the floor.
All turning to look, they were greeted by some sort of disassembled robotic figure. Like one of Tony's suits that had yet to be completed or even one that was completed but destroyed. The head was tilted on its side, there were wires spewing out from the body itself and it limped and gestured awkwardly. But it spoke to them, in a deep voice that sounded nothing like JARVIS or any of the other AIs Tony had.
"How could you be worthy?" it asked, referencing back to Thor's comment regarding their inability to lift his hammer, "You're all killers." it gestured to the entire group.
"Stark." Steve immediately sobered up at the sight of a potential threat. He kept his eyes trained on the robot skeleton, but tried to force Tony to take action rather quickly; who knew who was controlling that thing.
"JARVIS." he called out in response, but JARVIS was quiet.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep." the robot continued to talk, "Or I was a - dream." it didn't sound sure of itself.
"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit." Tony actively tried to get JARVIS to shut down whatever was happening, but the robot continued over him.
"There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in...in...strings." it lifted its arms to show the wires dangling off of itself, stumbling around like a drunk toddler. "I had to kill the other guy." it suddenly admitted, "He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve asked, getting the robot's attention.
"Wouldn't have been my first call." there was a lilt to its voice that made it sound like he had emotions rather than just being a monotone AI system, "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices." the tone was almost knowing, as if the rest of the Avengers should know exactly what he was talking about.
"Who sent you?" Thor spoke up. There was a whirring sound from the robot before Tony's voice came out of it.
"I see a suit of armor around the world."
"Ultron." Bruce breathed out, both amazed and fearing what he and Tony had created. He looked over to his friend to see that Tony's face had paled slightly.
"In the flesh." the head lifted before back tracking, "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on mission." the tone in the room shifted with that statement. Thor's grip on his hammer tightened while Maria had carefully pulled her gun out from where she had stashed it under her dress.
"What mission?" someone asked, Steve wasn't sure, but the robot answered immediately as if expecting it,
"Peace in our time."
And then the room exploded. Three Iron Legion robots came busting out through the walls, head straight for the group. Steve was fast enough to kick the table up in front of him and whoever was near him to use as a shield. The robots hurtled themselves into it and Steve went flying back down the small flight of stairs while the others scattered elsewhere.
Gunshots and blasts echoed throughout the room, chiming in with the shattering of glass and the low thumps of people being tossed into things. To avoid being shot, Natasha quickly jumped over the bar while Bruce scrambled behind her. She grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him down with her, only to have him land with his face directly in her chest.
"Sorry." he immediately apologized, moving off of her, but staying low to avoid fire.
"Don't turn green." she advised and he nodded,
"I won't." he agreed. She gave him a quick smile before reaching under the bar for the handgun that was hidden. Keeping her position low, she shot at the Iron Legion robot that had been firing blasts at the bar area. She wasn't sure if bullets would do anything, but at least she was doing something.
Getting up from where he had fallen, Steve took a running leap and jumped onto the back of the Iron Legion robot that was firing off shots at where Natasha and Bruce were hidden. With one hand on its chest, he used his other hand to punch the head of the robot repeatedly - all while trying to stay on the robot as it flailed about wildly like a bucking bull.
In an effort to get Steve off itself, it used its rocket blasters to send itself flying backwards into the tiled wall above the bar. The tile exploded around them and Steve groaned in pain, feeling some of the shards lodge themselves into his backside, but still managed to hold on. Until the robot twisted around to grab him and toss him to the ground like he weighed nothing at all. Steve hit the bar top, then rolled off to bounce off the stools before finally landing on the ground with a thump.
Taking advantage of the scene above them, Natasha quickly got to her feet and instructed Bruce to follow her. As they hurried up the staircase, she blindly shot in the direction of the the Iron Legion robot that had gotten rid of Steve, narrowly avoiding the blasts of energy that were being returned.
Steve recovered from being thrown off the robot just in time to see the upper half of one hovering near a defenseless Dr. Cho. Before it could reboot its blaster, Steve grabbed it by the shoulders and tossed it back, calling out to Thor so he could finish the job with his hammer.
"Cap!" he heard Clint shout and glanced over to see him hurl his shield toward him like a frisbee. Jumping up to meet the throw, Steve easily caught it and then used the force behind the throw to spin himself around and then relaunch the shield at the last remaining Iron Legion robot, effectively slicing it in half.
"That was dramatic." the familiar voice of the main robot broke the tense silence that had come over the room after all of the other robots had fallen. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through." it started to monologue while walking around in a small circle, "You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to... evolve?" it picked up one of the dismembered Iron Legion robots, "With these? These puppets." it sounded disgusted by the metal and crushed the head of the body in its fist, "There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction." it growled out. But before it got the chance to do anything about it, Thor launched his hammer at it. The robot crashed into the wall and burst into pieces as the hammer returned to Thor's hand.
For a moment, all was quiet. Until a slow, almost creepy song began to drift from the robot's flickering head. A familiar one to all of them - but especially Steve, who didn't usually get every reference right then and there. It was the song from Pinocchio. The one the puppet sang when he became a real boy:
I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me...There are no strings on me.
A/N: A chapter chock full of some AoU action! I hope you liked it! I don't love writing action scenes so hopefully this was okay! Please let me know any of your thoughts, comments or concerns! And thank you all who have reviewed previously and those who favorite and follow. I love you!