Chapter Eight
Writing's On the Wall – Sam Smith
A million shards of glass
That haunt me from my past
As the stars begin to gather
And the light begins to fade
When all hope begins to shatter
Know that I won't be afraid
Craig's Antique Books
The bookstore was quiet, as it always was when it was so near to closing time. The current employee, the only one still there, aside from the owner, was cleaning up and rearranging the books that had been left in the wrong place by some clients.
It was as she was picking up a children's book from the Charms section when it happened.
She was several shelves away, but still able to see, confused, as a blue glow started to illuminate the back of the store.
Cautiously, she took her wand out, walking slowly towards the glow.
Upstairs, her boss came out with the accounting book, his glasses perched low on his nose. "Vanessa? Did Wallace collect–" he stopped abruptly, also noticing the strange glow, she glanced up at him, their eyes connecting for a brief moment as he put the book down and gestured for her to stay where she was.
Vanessa nodded, her wand at the ready and held aloof in her hand. She was never the best in her Defense class, but she wasn't wholly awful and could hold her own just enough.
Her boss, Mr Emerson, came down the spiral staircase with his wand held up. She moved to the side, closer to the wall. Mr Emerson glanced at her and gestured towards the bookshelf that held the mysterious book of legends. He had the best view, because the foot of the staircase was right in front of it.
As he approached the book, mindful of all the times the book threw someone against the wall, the glow never changed. Vanessa came near, still cautious.
"What is it doing?" She asked in a mere whisper. Mr Emerson shot her a quick glance, then his ever went back towards the book.
"I have no idea... We have to call Yorker."
They both came to a stop a few feet away from the book. When before it had been closed, now it rested open. The glow was too bright to notice any details, but both could see what looked like a woman with a lion's mane-like hair holding something, a group of other people in strange clothes in the background.
Vanessa thought that hair looked familiar.
"I'll use the floo..." She said and climbed the stairs two and three at a time, leaving her boss downstairs to watch the book. Vanessa activated the floo and called the D.O.U.M.O office.
"Department of Unidentifiable Magical Objects." Came the voice of a young wizard. "State name, location and reason for calling."
"Vanessa Lynch, Craig's Antique Books, Diamond District. I wish to speak to Mr Yorker immediately."
There was the sound of pages turning, then the floo flared again and as she was connected to Mr Yorker's office.
"Vanessa! Such a nice surprise to see you..." She half smiled.
"Mr Yorker, we have a situation with the book." She went straight to the point, Mr Emerson was still downstairs, and even though the book wasn't doing anything at the moment, she didn't know if that could change.
"Straight to the point as always, I see..." He chuckled, "I'll gather a team and go through." Yorker said and stood. Vanessa smiled and stepped out of the floo.
"Yorker's coming through!" She yelled as she rushed to the top of the stairs. Mr Emerson looked up from his position over the book. He gave her a thumbs up and looked back down.
Just then the floo activated, and Yorker stepped out with two others.
A while later, Yorker was still regarding the book with a troubled look in his eyes. The glow of the book had subsided, and the image it displayed could be seen clearer.
What looked like an epic battle against strange, ugly as hell, bug-like creatures coming from a hole in the sky, fought by an eclectic group of people, amongst which was the very familiar form of one, Hermione Granger.
This book was becoming even more of a mystery.
Stark Residence, dining room.
"Are you ready to see the Tower?" Hermione lifted her head from her spaghetti plate, chewing and swallowing before answering Pepper.
Last night had been draining, but thankfully, Tony had been the same as he was since he came to her childhood home. Sarcastic, blunt, and annoying. He had asked a lot about her past, and she had the inkling that he knew she was keeping things from him still but was wise enough not to pressure her more than what she was ready to tell.
She omitted plenty, mostly the worst of the war, and the dangerous turns her schooling had taken over the years.
He had, thankfully, agreed to MACUSA's conditions, and she had gone early to the Diamond District to send the letter to Mr. Yorker. She thought, while out there, to get an owl.
Howl, a dark gray owl, had flown to her as she made her way through the menagerie. There was also a Thunderbird following her around, and she vowed to get him another time, telling as much to the seller.
Hermione had felt tempted to bring Tony along, but in truth, she considered that it was better she did that trip by herself, seeing as Tony was busy with the finishing stages of Stark Tower.
"I can't wait, I've seen it from the outside but he wanted to show it to me when it was powered up." She replied, rolling her eyes and pointing at Tony with her fork.
"Well, I do like to show off," Tony answered with a shrug, not at all bothered by his admission. "Besides, if I have to be honest, that Tower is as much Pepper's baby as it's mine."
Pepper, Hermione noticed, blushed prettily, and tried to hide a smile with another bite of her food.
"That's cute, Tony, I wouldn't have thought you could be cute." She teased, making Pepper choke a bit as she laughed. Tony glared at them both from his side of the table as he rubbed a hand on Pepper's back.
Once Pepper settled, she said with laughter still in her voice "If that Tower is my baby then I will give her the tour and we can both watch it light up like Christmas from the Family floors."
"Family floors?" Asked Tony, amused, "When did we name it?"
Pepper turned to him like he was stupid, it was quite a funny face, "We are all living there, are we not? What else could you possibly name it?"
Hermione laughed, it was a combination of both their faces, staring at each other like that. It was obvious, from Hermione's point of view, that they loved one another truly.
"I can't wait." She repeated, a smile on her face.
Russia, location unknown.
The first thing Natasha Romanoff was going to get even about was the punch from the neanderthal before her.
They were inside a warehouse, next to some railroads tracks still under construction. She had company, of course, aside from the brute of a man, and information to collect. Natasha waited patiently, General Georgi Luchkov wasn't particularly bright, despite his position. The three men with her would give her everything she needed to know if she played them right.
They were all speaking in Russian amongst themselves, and Natasha lowered her head, letting it fall forward in a show of weakness after the punch. She smirked, as their talking gave away things they should be more careful about.
"This is not how I wanted the evening to go" Luchkov said in Russian still.
Natasha tilted her head to the side, staring at him through the gaps in her hair covering her face. "I know how you wanted this evening to go." She replied, her voice low and breathy, "Believe me, this is better."
He looks at her with a frown, walking towards her in a threatening manner that she was sure only intimidated his thugs.
He spoke to her face, spitting on her cheek as he did. "I'd like to know why they sent you to carry out a carrier, a stained glass, and other random items."
General Luchkov leans back, and the taller thug pushes her chair back, tilting it over the edge of a few-story drop. Her pulse quickened, adrenaline cursing through her veins at the possibility of the man releasing hold of the chair and letting her fall down.
Discretely, she starts to work on untying herself, "I thought General Solohob was in charge of the export business." She says, distracting them, leading the conversation to where she wanted it to.
Luchkov gives her a look of incredulity "Solohob? Your reputation is quite a progression. The famous Black Widow." He mocked, "Nothing but a pretty face."
Natasha smirked, looking up at him "You really think I'm pretty?"
The General arched a brow at her and turned, walking over to a table filled with torture and interrogation implements. He picked up a pair of pliers, gesturing to the tallest of the thugs towards her, the thug tried to force her jaw open, and Natasha struggled to keep it closed.
"We do not need Lermontov to transfer the tanks. Tell him, well..." Luchkov paused, seeming to think on it a bit. Then, in English, he said, "You may have to write it down."
As he began to walk back towards her, the only sound to one of his expensive shoes against the dirty floor, a phone started to ring. Luchkov paused, glaring at the thug pulling his phone out of his pocket in confusion.
"Ya?" The thug answers, confused, he looks up at the General and extends his arm, phone in hand, "It's for you."
Luchkov grabs the phone and the thug flinches, "Who the hell is..."
A man's voice comes from the speaker, his voice calm and amused, "You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby." He's completely serious, making Luchkov pale a little.
He places the cell phone against Natasha's ear seeing how she's tied to a chair with her hands tied behind her back.
She recognizes the voice immediately, "We need you to come in." Agent Coulson.
Natasha frowns at the floor, "Are you kidding? I'm working!" She angrily whispers.
"This takes precedence."
"I'm in the middle of an interrogation and this moron is giving me everything." She whispers loudly, glancing up at him with a tiny smile playing at the corner of her lips.
The aforementioned moron, Luchkov, glances back at his thugs with confusion "I don't give everything."
Natasha frows at Luchkov, her eyes telling him that, yes, he was, "Look, you can't pull me out of this right now.
Phil sighed, "Natasha. Barton's been compromised."
It seemed like time had frozen for a second as Coulson's words sunk in. Then, "Let me put you on hold."
Natasha nodded at Luchkov, seemingly unperturbed, but inside her head, a switch had been pushed.
When he took the phone away she kicked him with her leg, hard, and he leaned forward, allowing her to headbutt him and making him cry out in pain and stumble sideways, away from her. Natasha stood, still partially tied to the chair, and twisted her body to smack one of the thugs in the face with the chair. The chair breaks and she's free. The remaining thug goes after her, Natasha lockboxes him in the face, crouches, and twists her body again with a leg outstretched to trip him and make him fall. Luchkov is still moaning. The first thug screams, running after her, and tries to pin her to the wall, she punches him in the stomach and then kicks him with her knee on the face, knocking him out.
All the while Agent Coulson waits calmly, listening to her take out three men without issue. Just another day on the job.
She walks, breathing controlled, and grabs a hanging chain. She looks to the tall thug standing up. She kicks him and with the chain she chokes him out cold. She then wraps Luchkov's legs with the chain and pushes him down the hole he was threatening to drop her down. He hangs there in pain.
Without breaking stride she grabs her shoes and the phone.
"Where's Barton now?"
"We don't know." Coulson replies, looking down. Not that she can see him anyway.
Natasha needed more than that, "But he's alive."
"We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."
She buffed, "Coulson, you know that Stark only trusts me about as far as he can throw me." Why would they need Stark anyway? What's going on?
Coulson had other plans though, "No, I've got Stark. You get The Big Guy."
Natasha pauses, processing what Coulson has just commanded, and hangs up the phone without saying goodbye. "Bozhe moi." My God.
Inside a SHIELD analytical room, filled with monitors of partially silhouetted people.
If there was one thing Fury hated about his job was dealing with politics.
People behind desks signing papers would never, could never know what really happened in the field. On-spot decisions that cost or saved lives.
Right now, he really hates those people. Like the ones before him, comfortably sitting behind said desks, safely away from the fight, questioning his decisions.
He stood in the middle of the dark room, frowning. These people made up the World Security Council. People whose identity is hidden, shadowed, to increase their safety.
"This is out of line, Director. You're dealing with forces you can't control." Says one of them. Fury's frown deepens.
"Have you ever been in a war, Councilman? In a firefight? Did you feel an overabundance of control?" He replies, if only a little mockingly.
The man on the screen bristles, Fury can tell, "You saying that this Asgard has declared war on our planet?"
Idiot. "Not Asgard, Loki." Patience was a virtue, he supposed, but idiocy from these people was frustrating.
Before the Council could reply to his tone, another one spoke, "He can't be working alone. What about the other one? His brother."
"Our intelligence says Thor is not hostile." Fury explained, he needed to end this quickly, for God's sake, "But he's worlds away, we can't depend on him to help. It's up to us."
The first one to speak took the chance to go at him again, using that tone of I know better that was grating on Fury's nerves, "Which is why you should be focusing on phase 2, it was designed for exactly..."
Fury cut him off. "PHASE 2 isn't ready, our enemy is. We need a response team."
"The Avengers Initiative was shut down." The man said.
"This isn't about The Avengers."
"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks."
Why all the other members were letting this asshole speak was beyond him.
"I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team." He repeated, turning to look up at every member as he spoke, "These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need." He really thought they could anyway.
The other member spoke, her tone skeptical, "You believe?"
"War isn't won by sentiment, Director." Said the first one, a superior, grave tone that only made the Director inwardly roll his eyes.
"No," he conceded, in that, he agreed, "it's won by soldiers."
Somewhere in India, nighttime.
Sickness was everywhere in the makeshift hospital of someone's home. A little girl runs into the middle of it, pushing through the crowd frantically. There's only one doctor for all these people, and the little girl runs up the steps of the house to find him.
The doctor is leaning over a patient, his face calm and kind. When the girl finds him, both him and a woman turn to her, speaking in Hindu.
The woman, angry and worried, shouts, "What are you doing here?! Get out! You shouldn't be here." And tries to push the girl away from the patient.
The girl has none of it though, and struggles out of the woman's grasp "I have to see the doctor. It's my father." She says, staring at the doctor's eyes pleadingly.
"Calm down. What's wrong?"* He asks, he can't help it.
The little girl gets away from the woman's hands and walks a step towards him, "My father..." she looks at the other sick people, laying down and moaning in pain, like she can't say the words and tries to show him.
He picks it up, his mind wondering about this girl's life at home that she was the one being sent to a place like this. "Is he like them?"
She can only look at him, and holds out money, crumpled and looking desperate for him to come. "Please."
The Doctor and the little girl ran quickly to the edge of town, the girl going too fast for the doc to easily follow her. She leads him quickly through narrow passageways, through people and around corners. He spots a nice car, and looks around, worried. He runs into the girl's house, just when she leaves through a window, disappearing into the night.
"Should have gotten paid up front, Banner..." He muttered to himself, looking around with a frown.
"You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle." Said a feminine voice at his back.
He turned sharply, guarded, although he kept his calm face.
He opened his hands, "Avoiding stress isn't the secret."
The woman smiled, but the doc could tell she was trained for it, "Then, what is it? Yoga?"
"You brought me to the edge of the city, smart. I uh... assume the whole place is surrounded?" He wasn't a fool, of course they were surrounded, not that it would do much if The Other Guy decided to make an appearance.
"Just you and me." Right.
"And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?" He hoped not, but looking at this woman, Agent more like, she probably did.
The woman shrugged, "I did."
He kept quiet after that for a moment, weighing his options, "Who are you?"
"Natasha Romanoff." The name ringed a bell, a ghost of a memory from whispered conversations a lifetime ago. One thing he was sure of, this woman was dangerous.
But not more than he was.
"Are you here to kill me, Miss Romanoff? Because that's not gonna work out for everyone."
She took a step to the side and smiled again, "No. No. Of course not." She denied, all smiles and friendly disposition, "I'm here on behalf of SHIELD."
He tensed. He didn't want anything to do with SHIELD. "SHIELD..." Even the name tasted like ashes in his mouth, "How did they find me?"
"We never lost you, doctor." Romanoff stated casually, making him narrow his eyes at her, "We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent." Suspicion crawled up his senses, why would they do that? He asked her. "Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now I need you to come in."
Like Hell he was.
"What if I say no?"
"I'll persuade you."
"And what if the... other guy says no?" He asked, he felt him under his skin, beggin to come out so he could smash her head and decorate the walls with her blood for her audacity.
Her eyes fixated on his, narrowed and alert. It was the only thing showing she wasn't as calm as she appeared. "You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you wanna break that streak." Her tone was composed, soothing, but carried the sharp edge of a warning.
He smiled incredulously, and walked the couple of steps towards a cradle, idly pushing it back and forth. His next words were whispered, but carried on to her loud enough, "I don't always get what I want..."
Agent Romanoff took an all business stance, with her feet at shoulder length and her hands clasped before her. "Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe."
He chuckled, "Well, those I actively try to avoid." He walked away from the cradle and towards a table, leaning on it with his hands clasped over his lap.
"This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet." She said as she pulled her phone, a photo of the Tesseract displayed on the screen.
So, they were messing with something, a pretty powerful something, but he couldn't see why they wanted him. "What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" He thought he saw the corner of her mouth twitch, but it could be a trick of the light.
"Well, he wants you to find it. It's been taken." He looked up from the picture, unable to help the strike of worry that shot down his spine. "It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace." He looked down at the picture again, curiosity, and a good amount of caution and respect, flared to life in his mind, "There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."
He considered her words, glancing back at her, "So Fury isn't after the monster?"
"Not that he's told me."
He sighed, a tired smile stretching his lips, "And he tells you everything?" He asked sarcastically.
She ignored him. "Talk to Fury, he needs you on this."
"He needs me in a cage."
"No one's gonna put you in a—"
"STOP LYING TO ME!" He cut her off, slamming his fists onto the table. She was quick to respond, grabbing a gun hidden under the table and pointing it at him.
He grins at her, staying perfectly still. "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay, Natasha...?"
Wearily, she refuses to lower her gun, her gaze so intense searching his that he felt a bit nervous, thinking he might have taken it too far. She might have found something, even though it took her a minute, but she lowers her gun and speaks into her earpiece.
"Stand down. We're good here."
Outside, dozens of soldiers armed to the teeth had surrounded the small house, but at her signal they back off a bit.
He chuckles, "Just you and me?"
Stark Tower.
"Wow..." Hermione was impressed and, having lived in a magical castle, that was something.
"Yeah, right?" Asked Pepper, gazing out a wall made of glass looking over New York City.
"This is amazing!" She exclaimed, smiling widely.
They where at the highest floor of Stark Tower, there was no energy yet, but there was enough light still outside for them to see inside. Tony was in the lab, preparing the last minute details to finally light up the Tower.
Pepper gazed at Hermione fondly, her mind going back to the conversation she had had with Tony regarding the young woman, and then the cute scene she had came upon yesterday night.
If she was being honest, she should feel at least a little jealous, but she wasn't. She saw the way Tony looked at Hermione, and was always surprised when, day after day, Tony became more and more like a father to her. She didn't see Hermione as a daughter like Tony was beginning to do, but supposed it would come with time, she was already very fond of her, and wasn't uncomfortable with her at all. The thought didn't scare her as much as she thought it would.
Hermione turned towards the door as Happy entered, Tony following behind talking to his earpiece. Jarvis, more than likely.
"Everything is ready, in a few hours this Tower will light up like a Christmas tree" he said as soon as he ended the call, smiling widely at Hermione as he walked past towards Pepper, kissing her lips and hugging her by the waist.
"I can't wait!" Hermione exclaimed, running towards the window to look out.
"Can we order pizza? It is about time to get lunch" Pepper asked gazing down at her wristwatch, more to know if one of them wanted anything else instead, but everyone agreed, so she took out her phone and ordered three pizzas for the lot of them.
"You're the best Peps" Tony said, kissing her cheek.
"Oh, shush" she playfully pushed him away, she looked back at Hermione, "Hermione?" The brunette turned, smiling, "Your room okay? Is there anything you would like changed?"
"Nope, the room's perfect, thank you." She smiled at Pepper, and for a second she thought her eyes shinned. "When are you going to connect the Tower?" She asked Tony.
"I think tonight before dinner, that way we can eat here to celebrate."
Hermione's smile grew larger as she turned back to the amazing view, "I can't wait." She said again, whispering the words.
Later, she found Tony at the lab preparing his suit to go connect the Tower, she had something to tell him since that morning, but hadn't had the time with everything else going on.
"I got mail this morning, from Mr Yorker, he asks when we can start our project." Hermione told Tony when he went back towards the lab.
Tony left his phone down to look at her, his shoulders hunched forward and a sigh leaving his mouth slightly open, "Well, I wouldn't know where to start with that. We need research material, and a way to analyse whatever prototype we can create." He stated.
Hermione nodded along, walking further into the room and taking a seat at a stool in front of him. "Magic interacts badly with anything technological." She explained, gesturing with her hands as she stared at a gadget currently being held with tweezers on the table. "It makes them either fry of explode, but I'm not really sure why."
Tony seemed to ponder about it for a minute. "When Jarvis made a scan of your magic wand, he picked up a sort of energy, maybe it works like an electromagnetic field." He mused.
Hermione looked at him with narrowed eyes, her mind slow to catch the undercurrent of thought that was the mind of Tony Stark.
"I got a book about Technomancy, but it doesn't explain much in terms of scientific research," she said after a moment, frustration colouring her tone as she rolled her eyes and buffed, leaving her cheek to rest on her fist, her elbow hitting the top of the table.
"Well, every project starts with research, and every research starts somewhere, even in the wrong places." Tony said, smiling at her with a glint on his eyes, "Trust me, you can learn a lot about things going pear shaped."
She smiled, pulling off of the table and clasping her hands between her jean-clad knees.
"I can look for more books on the subject, I only got one when I went to the bookstore."
"Do that, in the mean time I can read the one you already have." He turned to the gadget on the table, the one she had been gazing at, and spoke again, his tone getting this kind of excited energy she often heard on the boys back at school when discussing Quidditch, "What does your government wants us to experiment on first anyway? Smartphones?"
Hermione shrugged, not really sure herself, "It would be a good start, I suppose. We mostly communicate via owl."
Tony stared at her incredulously, "You mean... What? You give an owl a message they just... Fly off to deliver it?" Hermione shrugged, nodding her head in amusement. "You're kidding."
"I'm not."
Tony whistled.
"That's cool, but ancient. Doesn't look practical." Tony retorted, staring at her like she was nuts. "How the hell do the owls know where to go?"
She grinned at him, "Magic." Tony scowled and Hermione giggled at his expression, taking pity on him, she continued, "The magical world *is* pretty ancient, in a way. At least Britain was, you got this really old feeling, like you were about to walk into Camelot." She mused, and wondered if the lack of progress was due to the technological barrier of magic reacting badly to it and not only the society. "I don't know how the owls know, but they do. You just have to tell them where and who to deliver to the letter to, you can even tell them to wait for a response, and they will do so."
"That's... Okay"
"Not everything in this world can be explained with logic." She had learnt that first thing when she entered her first class at Hogwarts.
Even though magic had a lot of theory and rules, plenty of it just... Was. There was no way to scientifically prove anything with magic. It was one of those things that were better left be.
"I'll go bring you the book," Hermione stood, glancing at Tony with a small smile, "Please, remember to keep this to yourself?" Flashes of memories, of her erasing her existence from her parents minds, played before her eyes, making her throat constrict and her hands clench involuntarily.
She wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Tony pretended he didn't notice her behaviour and reassured her that he wouldn't divulge anything. He, however, was left alone to ponder on her distress. He wanted to help her, and he was certain her reaction had everything to do with her past, but she hadn't told him all there was to it.
"Jarvis?" He called to the empty space.
"Yes, sir?" Tony stared at the gauntlet he was working on, thinking about his childhood friend, about Hermione, and about what his friend would want him to do.
"Open a new file, under extra security codes, and archive all you have on Magic."
"The wand and Miss Hermione's profile?" Tony frowned, wondering if having that information about Hermione was pertinent to anything, but truth be told, there was a lot he didn't know about freaking magic, so anything could help. He sighed, rubbing his face tiredly.
"Yes, Jarvis, just make the file so protected that no one can access it."
"Very well, sir."
He would have to wait her out, let her go over all her trauma herself at her pace. He prayed, once again, that he was doing enough and not fucking things up like he often did.
It was all he could do for now.
Brooklyn.
It was that time at night, when you were either trying to get to sleep, but couldn't, or in your way to a party somewhere. But there was a gym, occupied by a single man, beating the crap out of a punching bag under poor ligh of the small, pretty old space.
He was lost in it. The repetitive motions blurring before his eyes, he is trying to forget, but the past wasn't that should be years away was literally weeks ago. Memories of a war, of death. Of Hydra.
The gym is old, the oldest in this side of Brooklyn, and as old as the man inside. He wished he could forget all about Captain America, but the reality of his situation was that, even though he was Steve Rogers, he also was the famous man with the shield.
He beats the bag harder, if only he could transfer his hurting into the bag, push the memories inside of it so he wouldn't see them anymore.
But the flashbacks keep coming, a painful juxtaposition of memories, bits and parts scrambling together to form a collage that is not quite right, but it doesn't matter because they all describe the same.
FLASHBACK
He's in the middle of a forest, deep into Hydra territory, running like the hounds of Hell are at his feet, dodging mortar shells, gunfire and Tesseract energy blasts that make the trees explode.
The flashes blur his vision, the images dancing in and out before his eyes.
He's yelling, desperation tinting his voice, and the sinking feeling he won't come out of this alive. "There's not enough time! I gotta put her in the water!"
The sound flashes out, and in front of him is the punching bag again. His punches become harder and more violent, trying to get the frustration, anger and lingering fear out of his system.
But more flashbacks keep assaulting him, torturing his mind.
He places his compass on the dashboard, on the corner of his eyes he can see the ice coming closer and closer, but he only wants to see her face. Peggy's face. Her face was the last thing he wanted to see before...
He punches the bag so violently that he knows, in some tiny, dark corner of his mind, that it won't take long for it to tear. But he couldn't care less about it.
He can't, because his mind had zeroed on the sound of her voice telling him he won't be alone.
He can't, for the life of him, believe she would lie to him. But right now, 70 years before, punching the life out of the old punching bag and disconnected from this brand new world, he bitterly whispered to himself that he was, in fact, pretty much alone.
He hates it.
The memories. The voices. The bitter cold seeping into his bones, making him shiver at night no matter how warm the bed was.
Red Skull picks up the Tesseract, and vanishes. A smirk on his face.
In the present, he's dead bent on punching the bag with everything he has. The chains strain under the pressure of keeping the bag from falling.
He remembers the ice, the cold, and then he is lying on a table, still cold and still partially trapped in a slab of ice. With two SHIELD scientists running equipment over him, checking for his vitals. Yelling he was still very much alive.
He wished they had let him there. Frozen in time, never to wake up again. This "future" he found himself in, were his friends, his love, his whole life, was a thing of the past. There was no place for him in this world.
And then, the inevitable happened. He punched the bag, easily a hundred pounds, across the room with one swing, snapping the metal chain and pummeling it back a dozen feet.
He watches, breathing hard as the haze in his mind swirls before his eyes, how the sand comes spilling out from where he cracked the fabric of the bag, leaving a mess on the shinny floors of the gym. He stands up, the angry frown on his face softening, but the hardness stays there, in the set of his brows, the cold of his eyes.
He still needs to get things out. He needs to deal with it. But he wasn't fully ashamed to admit he wasn't prepared to do so just yet. So he sighs, and goes to the side where a whole line of punching bags rest to be sacrificed, and resumes a more normal routine.
That's when he decided to make his presence known.
Nick Fury. Director of SHIELD. Steve had met him, however briefly, after waking up inside one of their recovery rooms.
The experience wasn't one he wanted to repeat.
"Trouble sleeping?" The dark skinned man asked, his tone nonchalant as he calmly walked towards him and stopped a few feet away from his punching range.
It took a moment for him to process what the other man said, and he tried to hide the sneer, but his frown intensified, "I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."
He simply couldn't. He would lie there on the bed, under the thick covers, with his eyes wide open staring at nothing in particular, as memories played endlessly before his eyes.
Fury regarded him calculatingly, although he kept his voice level. "Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world."
Steve froze, the words feeling like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. He recovered quickly though, and pretended to be done with all the punching and training, walking over to the bench, unraveling the tape off his hands as he sits down.
"I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." But I know what I lost.
He doesn't what to think about it anymore.
Fury nods, his face taking up a pensive look as he shrugs, "We've made some mistakes along the way." He conceded, and then his tone changed just the tiniest bit, but it was enough to make Steve look up from under his lashes, not lifting his face from the slow work on the tape covering his hands. "Some very recently."
Ah... I see...
"You here with a mission, sir?" He asked, looking up and already knowing the answer but not daring to hope. Hope that there was still a place for him. A place where he understood, where he knew what was expected of him. He wanted to feel like he was at home again.
But home was way back in time.
Fury stared straight at him with his one eye, making him feel like the man was staring right into his soul, reading him like an open book. "I am."
"Trying to get me back in the world?" He asked, his previous thoughts making him realise that even though he could go back to military life, it would still be confusing. New weapons, new technologies, would make it hard for him to follow anyone.
"Trying to save it." That simple phrase made Steve look up, and Fury comes to him, brandishing a file folder he most have kept at his back. He frowns, paging through it. Names jump off the page as he recognises them, pictures of objects he would rather forget they existed making his blood run cold.
"Hydra's secret weapon." He murmurs to himself, but loud enough for Fury to pick.
"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you." He stated. The name of his old friend made his heart clench, knowing he was dead, and had been for quite a while leaving a son behind was a hard puch to take. Knowing Howard had looked for him was even worse. "He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."
Shaking away the new wave of memories from his mind, Steve focused of the words the Director was saying. And with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he asked "Who took it from you?"
The Director frowned, it was clear he was displeased at the turn of events, but Steve got the impression that it wasn't directed at him. "He's called Loki. He's not from around here." He said, the name not ringing a bell, but it was still enough to put him on high alert. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."
Steve shrugged, up to this point, he thought nothing could surprise him anymore. He had seen a man pull out his face like a mask to reveal his red-boned skull, had seen a glowing cube form a portal and close behind that same man, had been the subject to an experimental serum that transformed his sick, skinny ass into an enhanced super soldier, and survived seventy years frozen in ice. "At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."
Fury smirked, amusement dancing in his eye, "Ten bucks says you're wrong." He challenged, and continued before he could reply, "There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment."
Steve turns and picks up a punching bag from the long row of bags on the floor, annoyed that this man had known he would agree to this mission, wondering if he was that predictable, or if Fury was playing him.
Fury turns around, intent on walking away, but then he pauses, as if something had just occured to him, and asks, "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" The question is made lowly, curiosity mixed with caution, and Steve thought, given the circumstances, that caution wouldn't be enough.
So, without missing a beat and without looking at the Director, he said, "You should have left it in the ocean."
The Atlantic Ocean, underwater.
There were things Tony loved about his Iron Man suit, even though he kept upgrading it. Right now, the thing he loved the most was the ability to be underwater and not feel the pressure of the water crushing his lungs. It wasn't quite like a diving suit, and yet, it was. And with a lot of gadgets built in it.
He was currently cutting a pipeline transport with a laser coming from his hand, so he could place the Stark Energy Reactor to power up the Tower, and also to make it wholly independent from any other energy source and trace. The Tower would soon be self-powered and off the grid.
It lights up immediately and he smiles, watching his handiwork in action. Just like the Iron Man suit, it fills him with pride, knowing he could make other things aside form weapons of mass destruction.
A few more seconds, and then he's rocketing out of the water and flying towards Stark Tower.
"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you." He speaks, having Pepper on the line.
Her response comes quickly, and Tony can't help but smile at her, "You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"
His smile grows wider, "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." He says, his voice so filled with pride that it comes out of him in waves.
"Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over, and it actually works?" She asks, wonder in her voice as her face suddenly appears on the inside of his hud, she looks at him smiling.
"I assume." He replies, "Is Hermione in position? It's time to light the Tower up!" He barely finished making the question when Jarvis connected Happy's phone on the line, and both his friend and Hermione appear on the other side of his hud, smiling like crazy people.
"Tony!" Hermione greets, behind them he can see the sky darkening. Tony had asked Happy to take Hermione to the best possible spot to see the Tower when all the lights turned on, and it seemed like he had taken her to the rooftop of a building. "We're ready!" Happy switched the camera, and now he can see the Tower from their view, although he can already see it as he flies towards it.
"Alright, Pepper! Light her up!" Iron Man flew towards Hermione and Happy's location, waving at them as the Tower came to life floor by floor and the huge letters in front of it signalled his ownership to the world.
"How does it look?" Pepper asked, while Hermione and Happy yelled happily on the other line.
"It looks amazing!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling widely.
Tony smirked, and, more subdued, replied, "Like Christmas, but with more... me."
"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign." Pepper said, chucking at Hermione's enthusiasm. "You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings."
Hermione, listening to Pepper, pouted, "Are you leaving so soon?"
Tony groaned, mimicking Hermione's pout, "Pepper, you're killing us. Remember the moment? Enjoy the moment."
"Then get in here, all of you, and I will." She laughs and ends the call.
"I think we should let them alone, don't you think Happy?" Hermione teased, a grin on her face as she glances behind her at Happy, Tony grins and winks at her, making her laugh. "We'll see you guys later!" She exclaims, and just before she ends the call he can hear her asking Happy if they can get some pizza.
Tony is shaking his head in amusement, a smile on his face as he arrives at his skyscraper penthouse. He can't wait to see Pepper, her proud smile and gleam in her eyes at their success in bringing Stark Tower to life. He is in the process of taking off his Iron Man suit through a high-tech gauntlet of gadgets when Jarvis bursts his happy bubble with a message.
"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line."
Tony groans, are these people serious? Come on! "I'm not in. I'm actually out." He quickens his pace, he can see Pepper leaning over a set of screens picturing the status of the Tower's energy flow.
"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."
He frowns, "Grow a spine, Jarvis. I got a date." He says, just before reaching his girl.
Pepper stares up at the monitors of the reactor device and smiles at him, and is just like he imagined, but better. She seems to glow in his eyes.
"Levels are holding steady... I think." Pepper murmurs, and it's obvious she only half understands what she's seeing and is a little embarrassed about it.
Tony kissed her, smiling at her and passing an arm around her waist, "Of course they are, I was directly involved." Pepper bites her lower lip, trying to suppress a laugh, and punches him on the side of his chest, avoiding his reactor. "Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"
"Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now, would I?" She replies sarcastically.
"What do you mean? All this came from you." He hugs her closer, smiling down at her and gesturing with his hand in a swiping motion.
Pepper shook her head, smiling fondly, "No. All this came from that." And points to his arch reactor, making him groan in mock frustration.
"Give yourself some credit, please." He says, acting offended, "Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself..." Tony paused, as if thinking it over, his hand going up to brush his goatee and everything, "twelve percent of the credit."
Pepper bursts out laughing, exclaiming "Twelve percent!?"
Tony, completely serious, "An argument can be made for fifteen."
She looks at him incredulously, "Twelve percent? For my baby?"
Holding onto his laughter, Tony replies, "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you." He points at her, then his hands fall on her waist to move her to his front. He loves the way she blushes, and even then, she has that mischievous look in her eyes. "My private elevator–"
"You mean our elevator?"
"Was steaming with sweaty workmen." He continued over her question. She gives him the look and he grins sheepishly, "I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" He knows he is, there's no way Pepper won't come up with something.
She grins, then steps out of his embrace to pour them a glass of champagne.
"Not gonna be that subtle."
"I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower." He negotiates, following her.
"On the lease." She hands him his glass, clinking it with his.
"Call your mom, can you bunk over?"
From the speakers, Jarvis' voice announces, breaking the moment, "Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."
"Stark, we need to talk." Coulson says, his voice echoing as Tony groans in exasperation.
Tony picks up his phone and looks into it at Coulson, his face a mask of unperturbed indifference as he replies, "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message."
Coulson rolls his eyes, although Tony can't see him really, "This is urgent."
Tony, face impassive, "Then leave it urgently." just as he's finishing the doors to the private elevator open and out comes Agent Coulson, hanging up his phone, "Security breach!", He turns towards Pepper and points at her, "That's on you."
Pepper rolls her eyes as Coulson says, "Mr. Stark"
"Phil! Come in." Pepper exclaims, smile on her face and amusement dancing in her eyes, although deep down, she had the feeling that something serious was coming up.
Incredulous, Tony stares at Pepper with big eyes "Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." He cocks his head to the side and takes a step toward her, looking confused.
Pepper ignores him and gestures at Coulson to come closer, "Come on in, we're celebrating."
Coulson smiles apologetically, "I can't stay."
"Which is why he can't stay." Tony says, pointing at Coulson with his palms up and looking pleadingly at Pepper.
"We need you to look this over." Coulson says, handing a file towards him, Tony turns his head towards him and eyes him suspiciously, "Soon as possible."
"I don't like being handed things." He replies, crossing his arms over his chest petulantly.
Pepper rolls her eyes, children... "That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." she passes her glass of champagne to Coulson, taking the file from him, then takes Tony's glass of champagne while passing the file over to him, grinning at him, "Thank you." And just because she could, she kissed him on the cheek.
Flustered, Tony stares at her with big eyes before clearing his throat, "Right..." turning to Coulson, who was pointedly staring away, clearly uncomfortable, "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."
Coulson turns to him, narrowing his eyes slightly, there's a slight sharpness to his otherwise calm tone, "This isn't a consultation."
Before she can stop herself, Pepper blurts out, "Is this about The Avengers?" She blushes as Coulson, brow raised, stares at her pointedly, "Which I...I know nothing about."
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." Tony says quickly, making Coulson look at him instead.
"I didn't know that either." Said Pepper, shaking her head.
Tony, glaring down at the file in his hand, replies absently, although there's a trace of anger in his voice, "Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."
"That I did know." Now it's time for Tony to roll his eyes at Pepper, who pats his back in mock sympathy.
Coulson clears his throat, getting back the couple's attention, "This isn't about personality profiles anymore."
Tony, still annoyed, answers, "Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?" The both of them walk over to the set of computers Pepper had been looking at when Tony plugged in the Tower. Tony placed the file down, letting Jarvis pull out the info and load it into his own database.
As he pretends to follow Jarvis progress, Tony says, annoyance still tainting his voice, "You know, I thought we were having a moment."
Pepper glances at him, smiling softly, more genuinely, and leans closer to him, letting her head fall on his shoulder, "I was having twelve percent of a moment." She says softly, not at all affronted about the statement. However, her brows furrowed as she contemplated the screens, "This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."
Tony bristled, although he had calmed down quite a bit thanks to her closeness, "How did you notice? Why is he Phil?"
She decided to ignore his questions as Jarvis finished downloading the file, she frowned "What is all of this?"
Tony's own brows furrowed, "This is, uh..." Expanding his arms and making Pepper straighten, Tony makes several different profiles, videos and pictures hover in holographic form float in front of them. Stupidly, he says, "This."
In front of them there are old films of Captain America in action, the Hulk roaring as he attacks the army at Culver University, and Thor fighting the Destroyer in New Mexico. There's another, the date stating it happened not too long ago, of Loki and the Tesseract to which Tony and Pepper look at in awe and trepidation.
"I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight, I'll take Hermione with me..." Pepper says, her eyes glued to the screen showing Spear Man turning agent after agent into his personal zombies.
Tony, his eyes narrowing at Loki, states, "Tomorrow."
Pepper shakes her head, tearing her eyes from the hologram to glance at his face, "You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework."
He closed his eyes, then glanced back at her, "Well, what if I didn't?"
Incredulously, Pepper asks, "If you didn't?"
"Yeah."
Shaking her head and smiling, knowing full well that Tony would not, could not, let this pass if he could help, she replied, "You mean if you finished?" Tony nods, staring into her eyes with conflict, she decided to take pity on him, "Well, um...then." She whispered something in his ear, making him gasp and Coulson to look away in embarrassment.
Excitedly renewed the promise of his girl, Tony exclaimed, "Square deal. It's the last date."
Pepper kissed him, smile on her face as she tried to hide her fear and apprehension.
Ending the kiss, "Work hard." She speared one last look at the screens before leaving with Agent Coulson, leaving Tony alone with the screens.
Tony, meanwhile, grabbed the hologram he was quite familiar with. The Tesseract. Worry and thoughts of a certain God and witch circling his mind.
So... how was it?
Thanks to all of you wonderful readers following this story, you guys are incredible, and patient, I love you!