New chapter! Special thanks to Kit-cat99, OneWhoCharms and Nena for the reviews! The feedback means a lot to me and helped me to write faster! Haha.

[STARK TOWER]

At first, Steve feared Summer couldn't handle her father's dead; but then a voice in his head reminded him the girl had just admitted she couldn't feel anything. Anything at all –not just love, friendship, but the pain of losing someone important. That scared him. A person who cannot feel was, without a doubt, a time bomb. Nowadays her "trust" was by their side, but it could change in a blink of an eye.

"I'll tell her." Winifred said when they went in. Sully was actually there, in the hall, waiting for the news. When he saw the young daughter of Lynette and Aaron, immediately stepped the distance between them and hugged her. "Hey, blondie." The teenage girl clapped his shoulders to warn him she wasn't in the mood for hugs. They draw apart instantly. "Aaron is dead." She said with a serious face and Sully flew his eyes open, horrified.

"What…?" He whispered. He barely had the strength to stand. "How…?" But no one explained to him because Sully's face reported he didn't want to know. He paused, and then added as an afterthought. "I'll tell Summer."

After discussing it, it fell to Sully to break the bad news to his friend. Summer was in one of the living rooms the Stark Tower had –lying down the coach reading a book, The snow queen by Hans Christian Andersen. "You're back." She said as stood up from the couch instantly noticing the sadness is everyone's eyes. "What's up…?" She asked, confused. Mentally she counted all the members of the group –it didn't miss anyone, so why they had that expression in their faces? It took ages for her, realizing there was a new addiction to the group. "Winifred…" The whispered sounded worried –far from the relieved her sister expected; and she had her mouth drawn in a thin line.

"I missed you too, sis'." She said, not bothering to hide she felt a little bit disappointed about her sister reaction. "It's been two years, more or less… Don't you have to say to me?" Sully cut in their conversation before the things could possibly go worse. He found it really hard to put his ideas across, but finally recollected the enough bravery to stark talking.

"Summer… Aaron is dead." The girl glanced out at him, completely caught off guard –almost panicked; her eyes flew horrified as Sully had done before. "Your father—He—He is dead." Summer took a step back processing what Sully had just told her –found herself staring at Steve, looking for an explanation.

"He died saving your sister… Aaron went shot, there's nothing we could do." The captain said, feeling the pain of losing again one of his soldiers. "I'm sorry." When he saw her, Summer was holding her head up and he believed she was trying to force back her tears. Suddenly, and without expecting it, she broke down and burst into tears. Before Steve, or any of them, could react, she rushed off the room.

No one went after her; the sadness was replaced by the tension of what will happen after. With the dead of Aaron, Tony believed Jacquelin –Number Five would give up on his boss plans but they didn't found out any proof of her surrender –Ben was in SHIELD's jails. He feared someone had already taken the control of the situation –someone more dangerous than Aaron, someone with really bad intentions. Someone that needed Phoebe for some kind of experiment –Two hadn't said a word of what happened over there and Tony wouldn't force her to speak, yet. Summer's sister was, without a doubt, another source of information but the girl had something he didn't like it. He couldn't say what it was, but he didn't trust her. Maybe because she didn't seem sad even her father already died? She seemed… relieved.

Sully didn't try to hold back his tears, at all. He crying like there wasn't a tomorrow. Even Aaron had used them for his plans –using him as his guinea pig without wanting it, the scientist used to be a member of his family. When he was a kid, he used to bring to Summer and he homemade sandwiches and cold lemonade. When he was a teen, Aaron gave to him the best Christmas present he ever wished for: a camera, a real one –his mother bought one a year ago, it was made of plastic with candies on the inside. Five years ago, before Judith was diagnosed, Aaron helped him to find his first job –a pizza maker wasn't a dream job, but enough to let him save money for better studies.

Steve paced up and down trying to calm down, he was worried about Summer and even he tried to convince himself she was okay, it didn't work. "I made tones of hot chocolate, anyone want a cup of it?" Pepper asked, nervous. Phoebe was next to her and Tony couldn't appreciate the sadness in her eyes, she was devastated for her ex-boss's dead too. "It's not the best of the city but… whatever, chocolate always help, right?" Sully nodded –agreed with her, and raised one of his hands to say he already wanted one. "Nice. One for you, mister Bomer. Who else? Tony?"

"Eh… No, thanks." Tony smiled a little, chancing humor. "As far as I know, cooking is not one of your… skills. I don't want to die young." Pepper gave him a withering look –he feared she was going to force him to drink it until the last straw. "Yeah, I want hot chocolate, honey." He said blinking his eyes with innocence. "Give one to Cap too, don't forget him. Right, Cap? Steve? Capsicle?" Or the blondie was ignoring him or he was too concentrated in his own thoughts –both options irritated him. "Cap! Hey! Are you in there?"

"Mmhmm?" Steve looked at him like he didn't talk before, Tony blinked and made a face, disgusted. "There's something—I don't know." The CEO of Stark Industries knew perfectly the meaning of that words, he didn't believe the mission had been over by Aaron's dead. There was something more. "I'm tired, better will be if I go home."

"Do whatever you want, Cap." Tony whispered but his eyes moved to Winifred, the teenage was ready the book her sister had left in the couch like nothing had happened –any questions of the funeral of his father, no more tears, no worried question about Summer… Yeah, something was really wrong with her. "Hey, don't forget to say goodbye to Summer."

Steve gave him a withering look and then walked out of the place. He had no intention of visiting the Strauss girl but Tony's words made him feeling guilty for not saying even a goodbye. After what happened at Aaron's hideout, SHIELD had told them the mission was over and they didn't need their help anymore –maybe it was just an excuse to have free way to investigate Strauss's experiments, Steve didn't care too much. There was nothing important in that clandestine lab; Aaron's words were the key of everything. Hydra is everywhere, Red Skull is alive.

Sully absolutely wolfed the chocolate down and already asked for another one, Pepper smiled to him –happy to have someone who really appreciated her skills for cooking, she wasn't the type of woman who spent her whole time in the kitchen but she couldn't stand doing nothing at that moment. "You're not dying." Tony whispered, surprised, looking at the pizza maker. Sullivan shrugged his shoulders –the chocolate was actually really good. "Tell me something, Barbie." Tony leaned forward to make sure Winifred couldn't hear a word about. "Is it normal?" He asked moving his head to her. "She's not even crying."

"Well, I think she's not that type of—person." Sully frowned, thinking about. "But yeah… It's weird even for her." Winifred wasn't exactly that type of person that would cry at the cinema or showing any emotion while reading a book or watching a tv show –she hadn't shown empathy for all those years. Despite the fact that she wasn't the most empathic person in the world, Sully remembered a few situations where Winifred had cried a river: for example, when Judith had diagnosed by Leukemia. Anyway, Aaron was her father –no matter how bad at parenting he was, he had given everything to her –everything she asked for. "Why do you ask?" No answer. However, Sully could read the respond in Tony's eyes. "Do you think she's with the bad guys? Winnie? Why? There's no reason she would do that, right?"

"People change, Bomer." Tony said in a low voice. "One day you think you know the people who cared about you, and the other they betray you in a ways you wouldn't expected." Pepper was listening the conversation even she didn't want it. Tony was thinking –without doubt, in Obadiah Stane –the man who supported him after Howard's death. Thinking twice, maybe Tony had the name of his father in his thoughts too.

"What about now?" Sully interrupted his deep thoughts. Tony glanced out at him, expecting he restarted the conversation. "Aaron is dead. So what's going to happen with us? With Phoebe, with me… with Summer."

"Phoebe stills working for me." Tony shrugged his shoulders without thinking it too much; Sully looked at him expecting something more than that. "And you'll return to your life, I guess."

"And Summer?" He insisted, worried about her. They had to keep together, no matter what. No one would tear them apart. No one –not even Aaron, not Winifred, not the experiment number five, not Ben. Not even Steve. Not even Tony. "What about her?"

"We'll see, blondie, we'll see..."

She was wasting away with grief. Her chest hurt too much to care about anything else –her heart was burning with pain. The tears rolled through her cheeks, uncontrolled. She barely had the strength to stand, her keens shivered begging for getting some sit. Both hands were grabbing her own shirt; at that moment, she wanted to rip her heart out –not caring about the consequences at all, she already had died once.

Then someone knocked the door. "Leave me alone!" She cried out, sobbing. "Leave me!" There wasn't an answer, but the no-sounding steps confirmed he/she wasn't gone at all. Before Summer got the time to check who knocked, Steve opened the door, showing himself. "You, it's always you." She said, clearly disgusted.

"I'm just checking." Steve responded –trying to not seem offended by her words. "Do you need something?"

"No, I don't need anything fro—" The way she shut up alarmed him –warning him something pretty bad was going to happen. "Yeah, you can help me." He noticed she was coming closer with her hands extended in his direction. It was easy for him to stop her, Summer was moving without thinking and her movements were too reckless to be effective.

"I though you didn't want my memories back in your head." He said, confused but ready to stop her again if it was needed. "Summer, what's going on?" She shook her head, crossing her arms and taking a step back –her eyes avoided his, looking at nowhere. "Summer, trust me." Her expression changed, she seemed surprised. Then she sighed, tired, exhausted, there was too much pain to pretend nothing was happening.

"How long does it take to forget someone had died?" The words took him by surprise and hit him, painfully. How long? Yeah, that was a good question to ask. He would give anything to know the answer. "It hurts, it hurts too much. Here." She pointed her chest, grabbing her shirt again. "Why does it hurt? Why?" Tears filled her eyes again and couldn't hold them back even she tried really hard. "Take it away." She begged leaving her shirt and covering her face with both hands. "Take it away! I don't want to feel anything!" Her body shivered and got down to her knees, Steve took a step forward but realized he couldn't touch her –Summer would regret it later to have his memories instead of her owns. "It's not worth it…" Steve's eyes reached for something –he found it.

"Can I take your blanket for one moment?" He asked and Summer looked at him –putting her hands down, confused and a little bit angry –she was having a crisis, why he was asking for a fucking and useless blanket? "Please?"

"Yeah… It's just—It's just a blanket, Steve." She whispered with a perplexed expression. And it wasn't hers anyway; Pepper had given it to her the first day they met. The Captain took it quickly –it was big enough, he said it to himself, and threw it on Summer –making sure he was covering all her skin with the fabric. "I'm not cold…" She said, confused.

"Well, yeah, it's just a blanket but…" He smiled; Summer thought he was going mad. There wasn't any funny thing in the situation. Then he pulled her into a hug that she didn't expect, wrapping his arms around her in a warm touch. Steve noticed she was holding her breath back, surprised or maybe perplexed. He couldn't say. "The pain—they say the time heals everything, but don't believe a word... Nothing repairs a heart that had suffered too much."

[DEE'S APARTMENT]

Wearing the SHIELD's uniform again gave her an unexpected feeling: she was relieved. It didn't feel strange at all. It felt meant to be. D.D. was afraid of her memories turning back –those related with the incident of New York: the shot that almost killed her and Loki leaving his plans of vengeance, for a moment, to come to save her. She could still feel his hands upon her belly –using his magic to heal her, to stop the hemorrhage.

But that was the past. Loki was gone –she had to feel okay with that but stilled missing him, he was a villain after all and must to pay for his crimes –but sometimes she found herself wondering about what happened to him, he stilled alive? Secretly, she hoped for it.

She looked at the mirror again before going. The woman she saw smiled to her, proudly. "It's time to move on." She said to her image and sighed, tired.

Suddenly someone pushed the buzzer. She didn't expect any visits, her inner alarm sounded loudly in her mind. Maybe she was a little bit paranoid. Dee pressed the button to activate the intercom. "Can I help you?" She asked, trying to sound calmly. "Hello? Is someone there?" No answer. She clicked her tongue. Maybe a couple of kids were joking at her… It could be nothing –anyway, she putted her gun in the pocket of her jacket.

The agent went downstairs and walked out to the street. The she saw him –naked. "Oh… Hum… Dr. Selvig?" Deanna asked and the man turned around to see her. The scientist was only wearing his underwear –at least he wasn't fully naked, and carried some kind of strange sticks with himself. "Do you want to come in and have a cup of tea?" It was obvious that the people of the street were too shocked to see that man with mad eyes walking only in underwear –adding the fact he was murmuring something about the end of the world. "Dr. Selvig…"

"Deanna!" He said, finally knowing who she was. Erik smiled to her and before doing anything else, he hugged her. Dee couldn't feel more uncomfortable about the situation. "Nice to see you again, Dee Dee." She nodded in respond and tried to pull him inside the hall of the building, Erik walked in without resisting too much. "You look really lovely… I guess you didn't die."

"Yeah, I guess not." She smiled to him, tenderly. "What are you doing here, Dr. Selvig?"

"Mmhmm?" He was fascinated looking around her apartment, touching every book with his fingertips and putted his all attention to see all the details of some photos Dee had. "What do you mean here?"

"In the streets, half naked." For the first time, Erik looked at himself –his confused expression turned to one of surprised. "Is everything okay…?" Obviously, it was not. His brain maybe had suffered consequences after the incident with Loki, at least which would explain his odd behavior. "Is everything okay, Dr. Selvig?" She asked, again.

"I needed to find you…" He responded in a whisper. "But I don't remember why." Erik shrugged his shoulders without caring at all and turned back to see the photos again. Dee sighed, putting her hands in her hips.

"Cool."

[LYNETTE'S ROOM]

Alex was tired after the hours she had been at the road –driving all night to come to the Asylum as soon as possible. She needed coffee, urgently. Fortunately, Bruce Banner was more considerate than the archer was. "Thanks, Dr. Banner." She said taking the plastic cup, it smelled delicious even it was from a machine. "What do you have until now?"

"She's in coma." Clint responded, raising his eyebrows with obviousness. Alex wanted to throw her coffee down on him, but it would be disrespectful for the coffee. "And the doctors don't know why." He explained with his arms crossed. "That's why I called you."

"Because you thought I'm a better doctor?" She knew that was the reason but wanted to hear it from his lips, Clint avoided her eyes and sat down next to his sister's bed. "I'll take that as a yes." Alex clicked her tongue, clearly offended.

Lynette Strauss –or as the name of her identification said: Rosemarie Barton- was found unconscious at her room at the Asylum by one of the nurses, the doctors couldn't find an explanation for her unexpected coma but she hadn't woken up since then. The CAT said there wasn't any brain damage and the rest of her organs were pretty sane. The blood tests showed an unidentifiable substance in her system and, by process of elimination, it had to be the reason of her sleep. But the doctors weren't sure.

"Poisoned?" Alex was reading the medical report –to know exactly the results of the tests they had done to the patient. "Poisoned by whom?" She wanted to know but didn't get any answer. "Okay, I'll do my work without questioning the reasons."

Judith Strauss –Aaron's little sister, was waiting outside of the room while taking her fifth cup of coffee. Her name was the one Lynette had given to the asylum to call if something happens to her. The first time they called her, she couldn't believe her ears. First because the woman didn't have any mental issues –so what was she doing there? After hours of thinking, Judith came to an answer: for security, she thought no one would look after her in a place like this. Lynette was smart but also introverted; she had kept everything for herself and never told anyone about her improvements in science. She was better than Aaron –and Judith knew her brother took advantage of it; he had published some of her works with his name in the past. If Lynette had had the idea of someone spying her, she would take the proper steps.

Judith feared she had poisoned herself in purpose –but she didn't tell anyone about her theories.

And the second reason of her surprising was the fact Lynette trusted her. Not Aaron. Not her daughters. Only her. Why? She couldn't say.

"I'm sorry about your brother." She glanced out at Bruce when he walked out of the room and stepped in front of her. Judith nodded without saying anything and lowered her eyes. "I met him once… He had an insane obsession about the Stark family, do you know why?"

"Yep, I know why." Judy crossed her arms, leaving the plastic cup in the little table the waiting room had. "Is that important for the investigation?" She asked, on the defensive. "Let his demons rest in peace with him."

"We're trying to help here, Judith." The woman laughed with sarcasm and stood up from her sit, facing Banner. "What are you keeping back from us?" He asked, without beating around the blush. "I know you're hiding something."

"We all have our secrets, haven't we?" She knew it too, Bruce clicked his tongue, she knew about The Hulk. He could say just with a look in her eyes. "Yeah, I get you're the good guys, the heroes of the stories." She said in words lanced with sarcasms, Judith couldn't bit back her temper anymore. "But where were you when I was dying? Ah? Where were you?" He didn't answer, anything he could say wouldn't make the things better. "Aaron helped me. My brother gave me a second chance… That's more than you will do for me in your entire life. And yeah, I won't help your team of heroes to screw his memory."

After doing the tests Alex thought it would be appropriate to the situation, she found out an important thing. It didn't say why she was in coma but it gave them a new perspective of the woman who was lying in the bed. "See, here." She pointed one of the x rays –it was from Lynette's head and they could appreciate her whole set of teeth. "Look at the molar." Bruce blinked, confused. There was something there… a little capsule.

"What is it?" Clint asked, impatient. Alex hesitated, knowing that the truth would hurt him. "Say it, Alex, I'm not ten years old. I can handle it."

"Cyanide." She said, in a whisper. "The capsule is in perfect way, so it's not the reason of the coma but… I thought you needed to know it." Bruce lowered his eyes and sighed. "It's now something new… I think it is, at least, thirty years old or maybe more, I don't know… It's hard to tell."

"And why she would have that?" Clint wanted to know, confused because of the news. "The Nazis used to have one, right? To kill themselves in case it was needed… But Lynette—she's not even from Germany, she wasn't a Nazi."

"Hydra copied the method, right?" Bruce interrupted him with his eyes flew open, perplexed.

"But Hydra died with Johann Schmidt." Clint added looking at his half-sister, he couldn't believe it. The girl he remembered from his childhood –who gave him his first x-mas present after his parents' dead, had belonged –or actually belonged, to Hydra? "It has to be a mistake…"

"What if Aaron worked for Hydra too?"

Dudududu, I know this chapter hasn't a lot of action but I enjoyed writing something about Lynette and Judith! Yay! Don't expect Lynette being a good girl because she's half-Barton, because she's not ;P

By the way, the first scene I wrote (before starting Dance on our graves) was the blanket one :) So it's really special to me :3 Hope you love it as much as I do.

Feedback is welcome!