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Once Alex had shut the door, she had nearly shoved Steve Jr. into the wall.
"What are you talking about? Avengers? You're insane! You know that? Insane!"
"I am not! Mr. Fury told me that we, meaning us kids, are going to be Avengers just like mom and dad, and uncle Tony, and uncle Bruce, and uncle Clint, and-"
"Alright I get the point!" Alex snapped. "But you're still crazy to even think that we could do that. To start with, mom and dad won't let us do it. Second, none of us have been trained the least bit. Third, you wouldn't do it anyway. You're too young." She reasoned.
"I am not!" Steve Jr. argued. "First, they can't dictate to us what we want to do. Second, you trained with those guys. You trained James and then started training me a little bit. Third, you lie about your age all the time. You could make me a fake ID like you did." Steve argued still.
Alex nearly slapped the kid. "Watch your mouth Junior." She said, using the nickname for him that she usually used. "You are to NEVER mention those 'guys'. You know that. You shouldnt have even known about that. You walked in on a training session and saw. You wouldn't have known otherwise. That's why I bought you that Ipod. So you'd keep your mouth shut." Alex was angry now. "Don't mention my training what so ever. Understand?"
Suddenly frightened of his sister, he nodded. "I won't mention it again. But Alex, I want to be an Avenger. You know that. I always wanted to be like dad."
Her anger simmered as she looked at the ten year old. She knew he had always wanted to be like their father. He was the idol of nearly every boy in America, and even more so to his own son. Junior, as she called him, had never seemed to be able to live up to the famous Captain America profile. He had always tried, but he felt he couldn't. For starters, he was scrawny for a kid his age. Two, he wasn't strong. three, he always believed that James was their father's favorite son.
Alex pulled the boy into a hug as she saw the tears weld up in his eyes. She was naturally viewed as her mother's favorite, considering that she was what Nat called her "Mini-Me". And with Junior thinking James was their father's favorite, and Alex being their Mothers... She realized how much that had to hurt the child.
"Listen to me." She knelt in front of her brother. "I know you want to be an Avenger. I know you want to be like Dad. I know that. And he's so proud of you. We all are." In that moment she felt more like his mother than his sister. People had always said she'd make a great mother, but now she despised the idea. "But Junior, you need to understand something. And you need to be a big boy about it, alright?"
Steve Jr. nodded, sniffling as he fought back the tears.
"Dad and mom were Avengers. Everyone knows that. But you know why they retired?" She asked, but didn't wait for his reply.
"They retired to protect us. They've told us this thousands of times, but I'm reiterating it. They did it once they found out they were going to be parents. They were smart enough to quit because they wanted to keep their family safe. They never trained us because they wanted to keep us safe. If we knew how to fight, they thought we would go and use it and might become threats to ourselves."
"Like uncle Bruce?"
"Kinda. But we wouldn't turn into giant green monsters and try to kill people." She added the last part with a smile, making Junior smile. She had her hands on his shoulders, and now she tickled the boy. He squirmed and screamed for mercy, but she was relentless. A few seconds later, both were playfully fighting as both laughed.
The door opened and they both looked up to see James walk in. He shut the door behind him and sat on their parents huge, four poster bed.
"Is it true?" Was his simple question. Alex got up and helped her little brother up as well. She nodded as she sat next to James, and Junior next to her.
"It's true. We need to discuss this though."
James looked from Junior to Alex. "I hate to admit it, but I kinda like the idea of being an Avenger. I know we hate SHIELD, but maybe it's changed. Maybe we could be trained better than mom and dad were, and it wouldn't be as dangerous. Maybe Fury wouldn't lie to us like he did to them."
Alex nearly laughed. "Fury lies to this day. He'd do it MORE to us because of our age. And no one can be trained more than mom and dad. They're the Black Widow and Captain America. You've got to be kidding me."
Both boys nodded. "True. But why not try it? Then we could prove we're worth something." Junior said.
Alex didn't even bother correcting him. She was silent a moment, and then sighed. "Fine. We'll do it. But I'm having a talk with Torunn. See what she thinks." She said, referring to her best friend, Thor's daughter.
Both boys high-fived, which made Alex get up and walk to the window with a sigh.
This was going to be a long ordeal...
