CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Date: 9/30/2026

Location: Shelter 095, New York

"Do you know how crazy you sound right now?" I whispered, sharply, "I fought him, watched him kill my parents, and you're telling me that it wasn't Loki?"

"I know Artie, I know it sounds crazy, but you've just gotta listen to me. Please!" Fly begged.

I said nothing. To say I was angry was definitely an understatement. How dare she tell me that? I saw him with my own eyes, it was Loki, I knew it was him; he called Thor his brother right before he… killed them. It was Loki, I saw him, I did, I... I… I…

"Artemis?" Fly's voice cut through the fog of my mind. "Please let me explain, please."

I knew I should let her explain, this was Fly, the girl I saved, the one I trained and protected and treated as my own sister. She would never say something like that without a reason. She knew how bad that would hurt me, she knew, she wouldn't just say that, "explain fast." I say in a soft, harsh voice.

"The man on Earth isn't Loki because Loki is here on Asgard."

"What?"

"After New York, but before you were born Thor took Loki with him into battle to save Ms. Foster's life."

"Yeah, I know, there was a battle with the Dark Elves in London, Uncle Thor won, but Loki died in battle in the Dark World. Or at least Uncle Thor thought he did, but he obviously didn't. Asshole probably faked it and went into hiding."

"Well you're not wrong. He did go into hiding. Only not how you think. He killed Odin and changed himself to look like him. He's been Odin this whole time, since before you were born Artie. He's here, so that guy down on earth isn't him."

"How do you know…"

"He revealed himself to us. Came on board yesterday, asked Ms. Foster what exactly happened, she told him. He was shocked, looked pretty upset to when she told him Thor died. Then there was a magical flash and 'Odin' turned into Loki. Now at first I thought Odin turned to Loki, but Ms. Foster seemed to believe that he was Loki. Then I ran off to tell you."

"It couldn't be Odin… Odin doesn't have magic, or at least, not like that…Loki, Loki does…"

"Then that means…"

"Someone's trying to deceive us. Put us on the wrong path."

"What now?"

"I find out who. Keep me posted Fly, I gotta go."

"Artemis you … you don't have to do something now."

"Yes I do. This guy, girl, imposter has had the upper hand this whole time. They tricked us to think they were using magic, something we couldn't stop. But now that I know it's not Loki, I know that it probably isn't magic, its technology."

"That's why they took Avengers tower, they wanted the tech."

"But I have it; I took it before we left."

"And since they couldn't get it…"

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, "They blew up New York." I whispered.

"Oh my God… and the other cities?"

"I… I don't know. Maybe they saw how much the destruction of New York damaged the people, so they kept going."

"It's like they're destroying morale."

"That sounds like… like…"

"Like what?"

"Hydra."

"The whole thing, it's all been Hydra?" Fly whispered, shocked.

"I have to go. I have to talk to my team."

"It's like 2 AM Artemis…"

"I know. But I'm done keeping secrets. I need to tell them now."

"Well then, good luck."

"You too. Keep me posted."

"I will."

I hung up. My head spinning from the new information, I stood up, "Jarvis?"

"Yes Miss. Barton?"

"Wake everyone up. Have them meet me in the living room, it's an emergency."

"Right Away."

It took 5 minutes for the team to "assemble" all very grumpy, very pouty, and very angry at me.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Bucky groaned.

"I'm tired." Grace whined.

Sam just looked at me, gaze speaking volumes, 'I just fell asleep, what could have happened in the last half hour?'

Apollo rolled his eyes, "this better be good."

Sarah shook Jenna awake.

I just sighed, "Please everyone, just listen."

The complaining went on.

I lost my patients, "Shut up and listen for 10 seconds! I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of 2 year olds! Do you honestly think I would've woken you all up if it wasn't an emergency?!" I shouted as loud as I could.

The room became silent. All eyes on me. Staring, shocked that I had yelled at them.

"Have you slept?" Ethan said, standing up and putting a hand on my shoulder, "Maybe this should wait till tomorrow…"

I shook his hand off my shoulder, "No." I said defiantly, stomping my foot on the ground for emphasis. "This is important Ethan, and we need to talk about it now."

He nodded, and then intertwining his fingers with my own, he sat down on the arm of the couch, never letting my hand go.

"I know haven't been entirely honest about everything all the time, and though I kept secrets for your own good, I just received some new information about a half hour ago that changes everything." I took a deep breath, and felt Ethan squeeze my hand tightly, "Fly called, said there was a revelation in Asgard, apparently Odin was really Loki."

Grace and Sarah gasped.

"After Loki was supposedly killed, he went back to Asgard and killed Odin, then shaped-shifted into him and took his place. He's been in Asgard this whole time, so the guy down here, isn't Loki."

"Then who the hell killed our parents!" Apollo screamed.

I felt Ethan's grip on my hand tighten even more.

"Hydra." I continued, "I believe Hydra killed them with some kind of poison-gas cloud. They took the tower to get to the Stark tech, and when they found out it wasn't there, because we have it, but I don't know if they know that… anyway, that's when I think they blew up New York."

"What about the other cities?" Bucky asked shock prevalent on his face.

"When Hydra found out how much it affected the people…"

"They wanted control." Jenna whispered.

"Yeah…"

"So we're not facing magic?" Brian asked.

"No." I responded.

"We're just facing technology…" Ethan said, looking up at me. His eyes were too sad; they didn't fit his normally upbeat demeanor, almost like they weren't his. So I did all I could do, squeezing his hand.

"But we can handle it." I say, as gently as I can, "It's just technology, once we figure it out, we can stop it. We have the Stark tech, we can beat them. We can win."

They all look up at me, glassy eyed, but hopeful… I just instilled hope in my team. That means I did something right… took me long enough.

Then I realized I had to tell them about the search, because there was hope now, and I didn't tell them earlier, because I couldn't do that to them. I couldn't make a promise I couldn't deliver on.

"One more thing." I say, they all look at me again, no arguments, no whining, just waiting for me to speak. It felt nice, "I've been conducting a search for Bucky Barnes."

"Since when?" Jenna asked, her foot was tapping, I knew what she was thinking 'My brother was dying and you were doing this?'

I blushed, and responded "Since Ethan's been stable."

He blushed too, and I flashed him a shy grin.

"Mm…" Jenna hummed.

"After he was stable I started conducting a search," I continued, "Since I… witnessed the deaths of the Avengers, I knew he wasn't with them, and he was unaccounted for him on the Helicarrier, so I knew he was still on Earth. I got a hit on the search earlier today, he was in Boston two days ago, so the Fantastic four is gonna keep an eye out. Now I can't promise anything, but…"

Jessie ran up to me and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, knocking my hand out of Ethan's.

"Thank you" she whispered, "I couldn't lose him too."

I hugged her too, squeezing her tightly, "Neither could I…"

It took an hour to get them all back to bed. Most of them went willingly, some of them, not so much. I tucked in all three Rogers kids and Brian. With them all settled, I was finally able to go back to my room, where my boyfriend was fast asleep on my bed. I smiled and gently pushed him over so I could lie down next to him. Then I maneuvered my blanket to cover us, grabbing his hand, squeezing it tightly. I glanced at the clock, 4:00 in the morning. I was exhausted. I closed my eyes, and finally entered the world of sleep.

"Miss. Barton." Jarvis' voice sounded.

I just groaned, "Not now Jarvis."

"I'm afraid it's urgent Miss."

I sat up, "What's urgent?" I ask, glancing down at Ethan, still asleep.

"A phone call from Reed Richards on line 2."

"Who's on line 1?"

"Miss. Grace is speaking with Ms. Foster."

"Ah. Ok, I'll take it on my cell." I grabbed my phone, wondering just how long Grace had been up. I glanced at the clock, 9:00, well; at least I'd slept some.

"Mr. Richards, what can I do for you?"

The voice that answered was not Reed Richards; "Artemis?" the voice contained shock.

"Uh, depends who's asking."

"Artemis, it's really you."

I knew that voice, a second father to Buck, Sam, and Jessie, he trained me, he was Bucky Barnes… "Uncle Bucky?"

"Oh my God, Artemis…" was he crying? He sounded like it, "You're alive…"

"Yeah… yeah, I am, we all are."

"All of you?"

"All us kids anyway, Me, Bucky, Sam, Jessie, Apollo, Ethan, Grace, Sarah, Jenna, and Brian, we're all ok. Only a few scrapes, but we're fine."

He was crying. I could hear him; he wasn't trying to hide it.

"I'm so glad you're alive…" I whispered.

"I'm glad you kids are all right."

"Well I would have told you sooner, if you're phone wasn't on the Helicarrier."

He chuckled, "so that's where it is?"

"Yeah, Fly found it when she was looking for you."

"She's ok too?"

"Yeah, the whole Helicarrier actually, it's… uh… in Asgard."

"Asgard?"

"Yeah, I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it…"

"What?"

"I wanted to protect them, so I kinda ordered Fly to send the thing up to Asgard."

"But Loki…"

"It's not Loki."

"What?!"

"Yeah… Loki is apparently in Asgard… has been since that London Dark Elves thing. So I'm pretty sure that the guy masquerading as him is actually Hydra… Ethan says that S.H.I.E.L.D once had the technology to mask someone's appearance. He thinks that's what they're using."

"Steve told me once of your mother using something like that."

"I've heard that story too…"

"So S.H.I.E.L.D is in Asgard, where are you kids?"

"The shelter…"

"Under New York! Are you ok?"

"Perfectly fine, the shields held perfectly"

He let out a sigh, "good."

"So I think I've dropped enough bomb shells on you, hang on, I'm gonna get Buck, Sam, and Jessie."

I slipped out of bed, gently tucking Ethan back in, readjusting his arm that had somehow found its way around me during the night.

I came out of my room and crept through the living room as silently as I could. I went noticed the light seeping under Jessie's door, and knocked as quietly as I could before opening the door.

"Jess?"

"Hi Artie." she yawned, obviously just waking up.

I smiled, "I got someone who wants to talk to you."

She tilted her head to the side, confused as I held the phone out to her, but she took it anyway.

"Hello?" she asked.

She looked up at me, giving me her signature hundred watt smile, "Uncle Bucky!" she squealed.

I grinned, realizing just how long it had been since I saw that smile.

I let her talk to him as I stepped out of her room, going to Sam, then Bucky and sending them to Jessie's room.

Walking back into my room, I noticed Ethan sitting up on my bed. I smiled, "Hey."

He jumped a little and looked at me; I saw his face was a little sweaty. Weird, he wasn't like that 15 minutes ago.

"You ok?"

He looked at me, shaking his head no.

I walked over to him, putting a hand on his back. "You sick?"

He shrugged his shoulders, looking at me desperately, as if he wanted me to help him.

It hit me, "Nightmare?"

He hesitated, before nodding yes.

I sat down next to him, hugging him close, his forehead pressed up against my shoulder. He didn't feel warm.

"You weren't here…" he whispered, softly.

"My Uncle Bucky called, had to bring the phone to Buck, Sam, and Jess."

"Really?" when he looked up at me I saw tears in his eye.

"Yeah. He's in Boston…"

"Good…"

"So that Nightmare."

He turned away, "I don't wanna talk about it…"

"Ethan…" I sighed.

"I… I thought..."

"Thought what?"

"Well you weren't here… and I thought… you…you were gone and…"

"I'm not gonna leave."

"Really?" he looked at me, hope in his eyes."

"My Uncle Steve told me something once, when I was a little girl. My parents were on a mission, and they were off the grid, S.H.I.E.L.D had feared the worst, and he promised me something then that I will promise to you now, "I'm with you till the end of the line.""