Date: 7/15/2039
Location: Shelter 095, New York

"Artie." My sleep had been disrupted by my idiot brother.
"mmhm.."
"Artemis, Artemis wake up!" he whispered.
"Wha?"
"Go to bed stupid."
"But…"
"I'll stay, you go to bed, that doesn't look comfortable."
" 's not, don't matter though. I'm fine here Apollo."
"No you're not. Go to bed."
"Apollo, I'm fine, really."
"Go to bed Artemis!"
I put a hand over his mouth, "Easy there, don't wake anyone up!"
"Just go to bed all ready." He mumbled, looking away from me.
"Why do you care so much? Last week you challenged me to a "who can stay awake the longest" competition."
"Last week was different."
"Different, I'm the same person…"
"But it's different now."
"Apollo…"
"You're all I have Atremis," he looked up at me, tears welling up in his eyes, "I can't let anything happen to you."
I looked at him, and pulled him into a hug, desperately trying to calm him down.
"I… I thought…I… I" he whimpered.
"Shhh, calm down, it's all right."
He pushed me away, "No, no it's not!"
"Apollo!"
"When you were on that building Artemis, I saw the explosion, I thought that… that you…"
"Oh, oh God Apollo, I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault Atremis, you couldn't help it."
"Not that Apollo, I didn't notice how much that could've hurt you. I've been so focused on everything else that I forgot my own brother."
"No, I didn't say anything because Jessie, Sam, Bucky, Jenna, Ethan, they all need you more."
I looked at him, then grabbed his shoulders, "No one, not my best friends or my teammates will ever, ever be more important to me than my own twin brother. If you need me, you can talk to me. It's your birth right for God's sake!"
He rested his head on the top of mine, "Ok. You know that goes the same for you too right?"
I smiled, "Of course I do."
He smiled back, his tears finally subsiding, "Now go to bed Artemis."
I looked back at Ethan, he was still sleeping, chest rising and falling.
"I promise to tell you if anything happens." my brother whispered.
"Deal."
So I walked to my room, leaving my brother in charge of my best friend. I didn't know if I could possibly fall asleep now. The only reason I did before is because I was so tired, and I could see that Ethan was breathing, he had been right there in front of me.
Now I was alone with nothing but my thoughts. I thought of my parents, I missed them and my Uncles so much. I thought of Fly and the others up in Asgard. And I thought of my team, so broken and destroyed. There was nothing I could say or do that can make this even remotely alright. I sighed. This was going to be a long night.

The next morning I got up and got dressed, then I checked on Ethan, Brian was in there now and he told me Apollo had went into Grace's room about an hour ago. I figured I'd just let him be. I sat down at the technical desk in the living room, 28 missed messages, all from Fury, figures.
"JARVIS, remind me to call Fury tomorrow."
"I would advise you call him today Miss."
"Yeah, I know, but I'm not really in the mood."
"As you wish Miss. Barton."
"Thanks, JARVIS."
I pulled up the superhero database, curious as to who was still out there.
Fantastic 4 - New York City, USA
Spiderman - New York City, USA
Wolverine - Montreal, Canada
Ant Man - Las Angeles, USA
Wasp - Las Angeles, USA
Falcon - Washington DC, USA
Winter Soldier - Location Unknown
"Dang it" I muttered, softly.
"What'cha you looking at?" Jessie asked from behind me.
"Just some heroes that are fighting Loki."
"Are we going to contact them or something?"
"Maybe, I… well… I really don't know right now Jess."
"What about SHIELD? Are you going to call them?"
"Yes. Tomorrow."
"Why not now?"
"I just can't deal with it right now."
"Why not?"
"Jessie…"
"What?"
"I just can't ok?"
"All right…" She looked upset, I sighed, that's not what I wanted.
"I'm sorry Jess, I just… you know what, how about we play a game?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, sure, anything you'd like."
"I wanna play… ummm…. Monopoly!"
"All right, I'll grab it; you go ask the others if they want to play, don't go in Ethan's room though."
"All righty!"
And then we started a game of Monopoly. The whole team was playing, minus Brian and Ethan that is. Then the phone rang.
"Miss. Barton, Nicholas J. Fury is calling."
"Thanks JARVIS." I looked at my team, "I'll… uh, take it in my room."
I smiled at my team, "Jessie, play for me till I get back."
She nodded and I walked into my room and hit the "talk" button.
"Hello Fury."
"Barton. I want an explanation. Now!"
"Explanation for what sir?"
"Why you had the whole d**med Helicarrier sent up to f**king Asgard!"
"Easy there sir, there may be children listening."
"Barton!"
"What? I am just protecting what "Family" I have left."
"Artemis, you tell that vampire friend of yours to get us out of here right now or so help me I'll…"
"You'll what? Magically appear down here and slap me? You'll ground me? I have nothing left Fury, what else can you take!"
"When this is all over I'll take that team from you."
"For doing what? Saving you life and the lives of all those on board the God darned ship?"
"Artemis, I will make you just a regular SHIELD agent, nothing special, no team, no recognition."
"Fine! Do what you want. But I am not risking your lives Fury and that's final!"
"Artemis Rose Barton I sware, you will get us down there or…"
I hung up, I couldn't take it anymore. There was no way I was risking their lives, I couldn't. Those stupid people were my family. Then my door opened and revealed my team standing out there.
I smiled, "Just an average conversation." there were tears in my eyes, I knew it.
Grace ran over to me and threw her arms around me, "We won't let him take the team away from you."
"Thanks Gracie." I was crying, stupid emotions.
My brother had his hand on my shoulder and Bucky, Sam, and Jessie were hugging me in some way. Sarah and Jenna were still in the doorway, but they had sympathetic looks on their faces.
Bucky looked at me, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Protecting my mom."
Now I remembered why I needed them up there, because the only comfort I could offer my team is protecting their families, I may have lost both my parents, but they didn't have to.
I smiled, "You're welcome."
We ended up group hugging, Grace even pulled Sarah and Jenna in, but it wasn't the same, not without Brian… and Ethan…
All of a sudden I heard footsteps coming across the living room, fast, as if he was running, and then Brian was in the doorway, "Jenna, Artemis," he was out of breath, "He's waking up."
Jenna and I exchanged glances, and then got up and ran as fast as we could to Ethan's room, the rest of the team following behind.
Sure enough, there was Ethan sitting up, propped up on pillows provided by Brian, eyes barely open, and he was looking at us all, standing in the doorway like idiots.
Jenna ran to him, hugging him, carefully avoiding his injuries. I could hear her whispering to him, "Oh my God, you're ok; I thought you were dead, don't you ever scare me like that again!"
He chuckled, and in a soft voice he said, "I'm sorry Jenna, but it's ok, I'm all right now."
Soon we were all around him, telling him that we were so happy he was awake. He was very groggy, but didn't mind the attention one bit, same old Ethan. But then he asked, "Where are we?" and when replied that we were in the shelter, he asked another question one that shattered my heart into tiny pieces, "Where are the Avengers?"
Everyone stopped talking and looked at him, Jenna had tears running down her face, and so did Jessie, Sarah, and Sam. None of us could believe it, did he really not know?
"Ethan," I whispered, "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Well I was trying to get away from this dude and he shot me in the chest, the last thing I heard was You asking Jenna where the Avengers were."
"Oh my God." Jenna whispered. We were all thinking the same thing, he didn't know.
"Guys, give us a minute." I whispered to my team, they cleared the room except Jenna, who looked at me.
"I'll tell him, it's ok." I whispered, only loud enough for her to hear, she was only 15, she shouldn't have to tell him. Not like being 16 made you more qualified, but still.
She nodded, tears streaming down her face as she walked out of the room.
"Artemis, what's going on?"
I almost didn't have the heart to tell him.
"Where's my dad?"
I sat down on the bed, there were those darn tears again.
"What's wrong, you're starting to scare me."
"Ethan, this isn't easy to say."
"What are you talking about?"
"They… didn't make it… I'm… I'm so sorry Ethan."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, there was nothing, I mean, I was there, but Gracie said that there was nothing I could've done."
"How?" he was crying now.
"I… I don't know… there was a flash of light, and I ducked, and when I got back up, Loki was gone and they were…"
"You saw?" he whispered.
"Yeah but…"
He wrapped his arms around me, "I'm so sorry Artemis."
"What?"
"You shouldn't have had to see that."
He was the first person that had said that. I couldn't believe it, he was injured, almost died even, and he was trying to comfort me. I hugged him closer, and I knew, It was going to be ok, I don't know how I knew, but I did, and it felt good.