"This is out of line, Director." One of the World Security Council members sighed, "You're dealing with forces you can't control"

Director Nick Fury was currently in his office. On the wall in front of him were large screens each depicting a member of the council. They were currently discussing the situation revolving around the Tesseract and Loki.

"You ever been in a war, Councilman?" Fury questioned, "In a firefight? Did you ever feel an over abundance of control?"

"You're saying that this Asgard, has declared war on our planet?" the same councilman scoffed.

"Not Asgard." Fury corrected, "Loki."

"He can't be working alone." The councilwoman replied, "What about the other one? His brother."

"Our intelligence says, Thor is not a hostile." The Director defended, "But he's worlds away, we can't depend on him to help either. It's up to us."

"Which is why you should be focusing on Phase Two." A different council man persisted, "It was designed for exactly…"

"Phase Two isn't ready," Fury interrupted, "our enemy is. We need a response team."

The first councilman responded cuttingly, "The Avengers Initiative was shut down."

Fury shook his head, "This isn't about the Avengers…"

"We have seen the list." The third councilman commented.

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're going to leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks." The second man belittled.

"I'm not leaving anything to anyone." Fury insisted, "We need a response team." The council was stubborn, but he continued, "These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

"You believe?" the councilwoman questioned scathingly.

The first man agreed, "War isn't won by sentiment, Director."

"No," Fury relented, "it's won by soldiers."

-sublimation-

There were days that hit Steve harder than others, days that, no matter what Lucy did he was surrounded by his own personal cloud. She found it best to leave him alone on those days; everyone needed some time to themselves once in a while. So he went for a late night gym session by himself to the nearby boxing ring whist she made a long over due phone call. So she sat at the small dining table, laptop on, curled up in large fluffy blanket, waiting for her godson and his girlfriend to pick up the phone.

"Nice of you to finally check in." Tony greeted his aunt sarcastically.

"Tony!" Pepper admonished him, "It's lovely to hear from you, Arie. You have terrific timing, we're in the middle of a historical moment, Tony's just putting the finishing touches on it."

A large broke out upon Lucy's face the moment she heard their voices; it had been months since she had had any contact with the little rascals, "I've missed you guys too. How's the tower coming along?" she took a sip from the mug of tea she held in her hands.

"You're good to go on this end." Tony notified Pepper. "The rest is up to you."

Pepper checked her computer, "You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self sustaining clean energy." Tony stated with a self satisfied smile.

"Well assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works?" Pepper replied sarcastically.

"It'll work." Lucy piped up.

Tony agreed, "I assume. Light her up."

Pepper adjusted the controls to turn on the tower.

"How does it look?" Lucy inquired picturing the building with all its shining lights.

"Like Christmas," Tony admired the sight, as he flew toward his newest creation, "but with more… me."

Lucy grinned, "Always so humble, Eddie. Then again what did I expect after you named it 'Stark Tower'. I'll need to come by to see it soon."

Pepper laughed, "You really do, Arie. Tony we've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in D.C. tomorrow, I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings..."

"Pepper, you're killing me." he cut her off, "Enjoy the moment. Remember?"

"Get in here and I will." she replied flirtatiously.

"And that's my cue." Lucy scrunched her nose; "I'll leave you two crazy kids to it, shall I? Congratulations on the tower, we'll talk soon, good night."

"Night." Tony and Pepper said at the same time.

As Tony landed on the edge of the tower JARVIS notified him, "Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line."

"I'm not in." Tony dismissed as the robotics arms came out to remove his Iron Man suit, "I'm actually out."

JARVIS tried again, "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Grow a spine JARVIS." Tony commanded walking into the Tower, "I got a date."

"Levels are holding steady…" Pepper remarked, "I think."

"Of course they are, I was directly involved." Tony scoffed removing his earpiece and throwing it haphazardly onto the desk, "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 turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" he gestured to the new building, "All this, came from you."

"No. All this," she pointed to the arc reactor in his chest, "came from that."

-sublimation-

As Lucy hung up, her phone rang again.

"Phil!" she greeted, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I need you to get my call through to Stark." Coulson spoke through the speaker.

"Can I ask why?" she replied confused.

Coulson sighed, "You'll know soon enough. Expect a visit from Fury within the hour."

Lucy sat up straighter setting down her cup, "It's that serious?"

"Marie, the phone call?" he reminded her.

"Of course." She pulled her laptop closer to her, gaining the Agent access to Tony's personal cell phone.

"While you at it," Coulson added, "maybe just let me up the tower. I think that'd be the only way he's listen."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "That's Eddie." Typing a few more commands into her computer she muttered, "Sorry JARVIS... There you go. You're in Phil. Now what should I be expecting tonight?" she finished taking another sip of the cooling liquid.

"The Director will have the details, but I'll see you soon." He answered.

"All right," she relented, "see you soon." And the phone disconnected.

-sublimation-

"Give yourself some credit, please." Tony smiled rubbing her shoulders, "Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself, twelve percent of the credit."

The happy look on Pepper's face melted off the second he said that, "Twelve percent?" she repeated.

"An argument can be made for fifteen." He backtracked.

"Twelve percent for my baby?" she replied incredulously walking away.

"Well, I mean… I did did do all the heavy lifting." Tony spoke at the same time following her, "Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Oh…" Pepper said sarcastically as she poured the champagne.

"My private elevator." He continued.

"You mean our elevator?" she corrected.

"It was teeming with sweaty workmen." He sat down taking a glass, "I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later on, aren't I?"

Pepper frowned, "It's not going to be subtle."

"I'll tell you what," he attempted to placate her, "next building its going to say 'Potts' on the tower."

"On the lease." She restated, going to clink their glasses.

Tony pulled back pretending to grimace, "Can you call your mom, can you bunk over?"

"Sir, the telephone" JARVIS warned, "I'm afraid my protocol's are being over written."

"Dammit, Arie." Tony muttered as he picked up his phone.

"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Coulson's voice was sounding from the speaker.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message…" Tony greeted the Agent as Pepper laughed.

"This is urgent." Coulson responded, not amused.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Then leave it urgently."

The elevator door to the penthouse opened revealing the Agent.

"Security breach." Tony noted sardonically.

"Mr. Stark." Coulson tried again walking from the elevator.

"Phil!" Pepper stood up to greet him, "Come in."

Tony looked at her, "Phil?"

Coulson nodded at the salutation, "I can't stay."

"Uh…his first name is Agent." Tony pointed toward the unwanted intrusion.

"Come on in," Pepper ignored his comment, "we're celebrating."

"Which is why he can't stay." Tony gritted through a fake smile.

Coulson held up a device, "We need you to look this over, as soon as possible."

"I don't like being handed things." Tony's eyes widened at the black rectangular object.

'That's all right, cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." She gave her glass to the Agent, took the equipment and handed it to Tony whilst taking his glass for herself. "Thank you."

Tony huffed, "Official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday."

"This isn't a consultation." Coulson replied seriously.

"Is that about The Avengers? Which I…I know nothing about." Pepper recanted.

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped," Tony called over his shoulder as he went to view look at what the Agent brought him, "I thought. And I didn't even qualify."

Pepper shrugged, "I didn't know that either."

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self obsessed, don't play well with others." He continued bitterly.

"That I did know." Pepper smiled at the agent.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Coulson countered.

"Whatever." Tony said brusquely as he turned on the little computer, "Miss Potts, got a sec?"

Pepper sighed, "Back in a moment." She told Coulson.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment." Tony whispered to her.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment." She replied snidely.

He turned to give her a look.

She continued, "This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken, and if he got Arie to hack him in it's got to be big."

Tony groaned, "How would you know this? Why is he Phil?"

"What is all this?" Pepper turned to look at the new information.

"This is uh… " Tony took the data from the pad and enlarged it across his wall of screens. There was video footage and profiles on all of the Avengers. Including information on the missing Tesseract. "This." He stared in disbelief at what SHIELD had just given him.

Pepper's jaw dropped, "I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

"Tomorrow." He insisted.

"You have homework." She shook her head finally understanding the gravity of the situation, "You have a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony persisted.

"If you didn't? You mean when you've finished? Well… um… then…" and she whispered in his ear.

Coulson looked away from the couple awkwardly, still holding his glass of champagne.

"Square deal." Tony grinned at her nodding.

Pepper beamed at him and leaned in for a quick kiss, "Work hard." She pulled away and walked over to the Agent, "So any chance you're driving past the airport?"

Coulson nodded, "I can drop you."

"Oh, fantastic." Pepper continued as the two stepped into the elevator, leaving Tony to his work, "Oh I want to hear about the uh cellist, is that still a thing?"

"She moved back to Portland." Coulson replied.

"What?" Pepper asked astonished, "Boo."

-sublimation-

As promised, within the hour, a knock came on their apartment door. Standing up, Lucy pulled open the entrance to reveal Director Fury.

"Nicholas." She greeted moving aside to allow him passage, "It's a bit late for a visit don't you think?"

"Agent Zero." He nodded at her, "This isn't a social visit."

Lucy sighed, "I thought as much. Does this mean you don't want any tea?"

A moment later they were sitting at the table, each with their own mug warming their hands.

Fury handed two black pads to her, "All the information you'll need is on there. I'll send some one to pick you two up tomorrow morning."

Lucy's head snapped up at that, "You need both of us? Steve too?"

The Director grimaced, "I'm afraid we're calling everyone in for this one."

"You mean the Avengers?" she clarified, opening up one of the tablets. Pulling up some of the documents she huffed, "This is going to be a long night." Taking another sip of the calming tea she motioned with her arm, "He isn't here by the way. He went to the old boxing gym."

Fury nodded finishing his drink and standing, "I'll stop by and tell him."

"Be nice." She caught the Director's arm as he passed, "He's having one of his darker days."

"Noted." Fury walked to the door, "I'll see you soon, Marie." He paused just as he was about to leave, "There is one more thing..."

"Is it worse than losing the Tesserct to Loki." She hummed in response downloading the information to her computer.

There was a beat of strained silence, before Fury continued, "Barton's been compromised." He admitted.

Lucy's face hardened as she turned back to the tablet now deadly serious, she waved good bye with a grim smile, "Good night, Nicholas."

The door shut softly behind him as she clicked the lock into place. Standing quietly for a moment she sighed and walked into her room. From underneath the bed she pulled out a large flat rectangular box. After typing in a code a fingerprint scanner was revealed. After her biometrics were confirmed, the lid clicked open. From inside Lucy pulled out an unmarked black protective uniform. Underneath that she took out two of her new creations.

When SHILED had called her down to Antarctica, there was something else they had discovered besides the frozen Captain. They found tiny deposits of an unknown metal. Studying it for weeks in-between the defrosting process, Lucy had dubbed it Anti-Metal, a variation of the Vibranium found in Steve's shield. The isotope produced a sort of vibration that broke down molecular bonds in other metals, causing them to weaken. In essence, with enough force it could cut through just about anything.

With a bit of tinkering, Lucy had fashioned the metal into two retractable forearm blades, which attached to her suit arms so she wouldn't lose them. When activated, they shot out of their specialized sheaths. The scabbard shielded their affects from other materials, containing the harmful effects. The knives also had handles where she could grip them as to better stabilize the blades, when opened they acted like a deadly extension of her arm.

Setting the matching weapons on her bed Lucy grabbed her regular personalized pistol and leg holster with extra bullets. Lastly, she considered taking out one more item. It was the tiny handgun Zola had given her all those years ago. She had never fired the weapon; she knew the destruction it could cause. But she had kept it for reasons she didn't really understand. Shaking her head, she left the firearm in the trunk and secured it, pushing it back into its hiding place. The Tesseract had created enough problems as it was.

Delicately running her fingers over the sharp blades she sighed, "This is not going to be pretty."

-sublimation-

Just as Lucy told him, Fury found Steve in the antiquated boxing gym. The super soldier was currently taking his frustrations out on a punching bag. Each strike grew more and more powerful until with one final swing, the bag of sand was launched across the room, spilling its contents everywhere.

Steve breathed deeply, finding himself back in the present day. Glancing at the mess, he simply walked over and picked up another bag, continuing on with his relentless training.

But he was interrupted by a voice from the corner, "Trouble sleeping?"

Steve looked up to acknowledge the Director, "I slept for seventy years, Sir. I think I've had my fill."

Fury approached the soldier, "Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world."

"When I went under, the world was at war." Steve unwrapped his protective bandages, "I wake up, they say we won. They didn't' say what we lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way." Fury admitted, "Some very recently."

"You here with a mission, sir?" Steve noticed the file in the Director's hands.

"I am." Fury nodded, standing in front of him.

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve remarked.

Fury handed him the folder, "Trying to save it."

Steve recognized the cube, "Hydra's secret weapons."

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you." Fury explained, "He though what we think the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

Steve handed back the manila folder, "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki." The Director sighed, "He's not from around here. 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."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve scoffed thinking of the various months of lessons Lucy had already put him through.

Fury grinned, "How about a friendly wager then, ten bucks says you're wrong. A little habit I've picked up from our mutual friend." He nodded referring to Lucy. "There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment, I already gave it to Agent Zero. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"

Steve grabbed his bag ready to go home, muttering as he turned to leave, "You should have left it in the ocean."