A/N- A relatively short one. The chap was 8k words, and I was stuck on part of the ending, so I cut in half and am posting this now, and hope to have chapter 20 next week.

Avengers Arc starts *now*

Previously:

Taking a breath, he answered her truthfully. "You're correct, there is something going on." When she leaned up on her elbow, he sat himself up a bit against the headboard. "About ten days ago, a survey ship found an old WW2 plane - a German Valkyrie bomber - buried under the ice in the North Atlantic. In it, they found the frozen body of Captain America." Harry paused a moment, and then spoke with a hint of wonder in his voice. "He was still alive."

Bella's eyes opened wide at that, and she let out a little huff at the sheer improbability of such a thing. "Truly?" she finally asked. "He's been frozen since World War 2 and he's still alive? Was it magic, like that stasis charm you told me about?"

"No, it wasn't. At least, not as far as I can tell." Harry frowned for a moment, wondering if magic could freeze someone for that long. Something to ask Hermione, probably. Shaking his head, he repeated himself. "No, no magic. Just the secret soldier formula that made him so strong I think. It kept him alive somehow."

Bella lay her head back down on his chest, but her eyes were still on his face. "I guess that would explain them all going crazy down there." And then her lips twitched. "Phil in particular has been almost giddy."

Harry chuckled. "Not surprised. Have you seen the poster of the Captain in his office?" When Bella shook her head, Harry laughed. "Well, maybe he got embarrassed and hid it away, but I swear he was almost worshipping it last I was there."

Bella chuckled, and she traced more lazy patterns on his chest, twirling the dark curly hair there and kissing the warm skin over his heart. They lay quietly for a few minutes, Harry idly stroking her hair, but his smile slowly faded as he considered everything that had been happening lately. "I think there is more to the story." When Bella turned her head to look at him, he frowned down at her, not wanting to worry her but also wanting to keep her in the loop. She had told him several times that one of the things that really frustrated her about her old boyfriend was how he always kept things back from her, trying to 'shield' her from them.

Harry had vowed to try and never do that, and took a slow breath. "I overheard a few people talking about a new high-energy experiment being done by NASA and the JPL, with SHIELD backing. Somewhere out in the desert somewhere. They haven't told me anything though."

Bella absorbed that for a few moments, and raised an eyebrow. "Anything we should be worried about?"

Harry didn't answer, his fingers trailing slowly over the soft skin of her neck, just relishing in the feel of her. When her eyes eventually fluttered closed, Harry felt his heart warm: Merlin, he loved this girl.

As her breathing slowed, and she was almost asleep, he finally answered, whispering quietly. "I hope not."

Sanctuary - Deep Space Asteroid Field

Loki Laufeyson sat quietly as he contemplated the path he'd taken to arrive here on Sanctuary, where he'd just sworn fealty to the Mad Titan, the would-be courter of Death Herself.

Loki knew Thanos was half-mad, that no rational being would want to eliminate half the life in the galaxy just to impress Death. And yet, here Loki sat, ensnared in the scheme despite his very being shying away from the idea.

Hardening his heart, Loki pushed away all notions of regret and loss, and instead focused on the first feeble energies he felt coming through the rifts in space and time that the foolish mortals on Midgard were creating as they toyed with forces far beyond their knowledge and control. Oh yes, he'd show them what the Tesseract was truly capable of, and when he was finished, he would take his place as their conqueror - their King.

And only then - when their armies were smashed and their proudest city in ruins, when the foolish mortals were no better than slaves - then he would turn to his brother and laugh in his face as he showed him what his reckless disregard had cost him.

Unbeknownst to Loki, his green eyes flickered to a strange, icy blue as he continued his watch, waiting for the time when the Tesseract was ready for him to return and seize it, completely unaware that The Other was slowly warping his thoughts through the very weapon he had bestowed upon him to conquer the Earth : the Mind Stone itself.

Soon.

The Triskelion, Washington DC

Director Nick Fury called his top Agents and his deputy for a Level 10 briefing to discuss the latest meeting he had just attended with Director Pierce and the World Security Council. Bad news had been slowly piling on lately - difficult to spot unless you had your eyes as wide as SHIELD's upper brass did - and he wanted to make sure his top lieutenants and agents were all fully briefed and aligned when the proverbial shit hit the fan.

As usual, Agent Hill was the first to arrive. In her almost two years now as his Deputy Director, she had an annoying habit of always arriving to a meeting about two minutes early. Despite the jokes he made, Nick was secretly impressed with her ability to do this consistently, and he once had a bet with Coulson that he could trick her into being late. Accepting the challenge, Coulson had changed the location of a meeting only ten minutes before it was scheduled to start, moving it to a different floor at the far end of the compound; he estimated it would take her an extra fifteen minutes to get there, even at a steady jog, and he was fully convinced she'd never make it and he would win the bet.

Somehow, she still managed to arrive on time, and what was even more baffling was she didn't seem out of breath or even unruffled.

If he didn't know better, he would suspect she had one of Potter's portkeys tucked away.

Fury nodded his head to her as she took her seat, and it wasn't long before Coulson walked in with Romanoff and Barton right behind. He greeted them gruffly, and waited patiently while Coulson activated the room's security systems.

When the console lit up with a green light - indicating the room was secure - he pushed a set of red folders across the table towards his team. Nick leaned forward, folding his hands on the shiny black surface in front of him, making sure he had their full attention. "I just came back from a rather trying WSC meeting, where we reviewed the latest SITREP, and then had a fairly intense discussion about our progress with Phase 2."

Coulson and Hill both tensed slightly at the mention of Phase 2. Neither of them were particularly comfortable with the research going on at the joint NASA / SHIELD Dark Energy Research facility way out in the New Mexican desert, but after the incident with Loki at Puente Antiguo, they grudgingly admitted that something needed to be done to even the playing field against potential future enemies. They'd been ridiculously outgunned that day, and they all knew that without Potter and Thor's help, Loki's robot could have obliterated the entire town with ease.

Perhaps the air force could have blasted it with enough bombs, but the collateral damage to the town might have been deadly to the people there. Even worse, later forensic analysis by Army engineers and SHIELD's own scientists of the ray beam it used doubted that even an Abrams tank could have withstood the beam's energy for more than a few seconds. It was just too powerful, and they had nothing like it short of heavy bombs. Certainly nothing that could be carried by a single soldier.

Hence Phase 2 being rushed.

Fury's voice was grave. "Director Pierce today made it very clear to me that Phase 2 development is currently this Agency's highest priority. Any and all resources that this project needs will be allocated, even if it means other operations need to be postponed or cancelled."

This news didn't really surprise the Agents; they all knew how tense things had been since the Destroyer and Thor had their little spat. After all, watching Aliens battle it out in some sleepy mining town was not something you see every day, and a lot of the higher-ups were running scared. It was humbling to learn that your potential enemies carried a much bigger stick than you did.

They all agreed it could have turned out much worse: the Destroyer might have shown up in a city. The panic that might have ensued after that...

Fury spoke on. "The first developmental prototype molds are complete, and the first samples have been machined. They are all based on the Hydra weapons we got from the crashed Valkyrie Bomber we pulled Captain Rogers out of. We currently have about forty units at the Facility, and a fifty more are coming off the production lines this week." He paused for a moment, looking them all in the eye. "Once we have confirmed that Dr. Selvig says the Tesseract is fully under our control, we will shift to full production, with a goal of having two thousand operational weapons within three months of start-up. Our final goal is a hundred thousand handheld weapons and a hundred larger, chassis mounted weapons."

Fury took a moment to look at his underlings carefully, knowing that they shared his concern about the pace and inherent danger in the project. An offhand remark made by Selvig had chilled them all to the bone, when he had commented that initial power readings - captured during a short spike when they first started their experiments on it - showed that the Tesseract potentially had enough power to 'crack the earth's crust for a thousand miles, as easily as you and I could break an egg.'

Nick's expression darkened further. "I expressed my reservations about some of the work they want to try on the cube: some of the experiments came with warnings from almost every scientist on the project, but I was the only dissenter at SHIELD." Nick sighed and rubbed his face. "The Council is spooked, and I'm afraid they are not listening to anyone who is recommending caution."

Director Hill looked at him with a frown. "Are they aware that Dr. Selvig himself reported that the fluctuations might be dangerous? That he recommended waiting until his calculations are complete before proceeding further?"

Fury nodded. "Yes. But again, they stressed to me that they are willing to take risks. It made me wonder if they were privy to some piece of intelligence about a clear and present threat that has yet to be shared with me."

Phil shook his head quietly at that. "Director, with all due respect to the Council, I highly doubt that is the case. We've increased our surveillance on all known high threat targets over the past 6 months, and there hasn't been any real increase in activity we have seen."

Fury drummed his fingers on the table for a few seconds, considering their words. "Okay, Deputy Hill, I'd like you to travel out to The Facility and take command over operational security. The WSC wants those weapons charged and ready, and I don't want any surprises."

Hill just nodded, knowing this could be a long term assignment. "When do you want me to leave?"

"Pass your open case files to Coulson, and be prepared to leave by the end of the week."

"Yes sir," she said.

Fury nodded and turned to Phil. "Coulson, tell me about my Avengers candidates."

Phil pulled out a small folder from his briefcase. "Agent Romanoff," - and here he nodded at Natasha - "leaves for a long term deep cover mission to Moscow tomorrow. She will be infiltrating the arms smuggling ring of General Gusharov, who has been selling hi-tech weaponry to some very dangerous groups."

Barton looked over at Natasha, and smirked. "Might be fun to visit your old stomping grounds, hey Nat?"

A small quiver of her lips was her only reaction.

Coulson kept reading. "Agent Barton will be splitting his focus between DC and the Facility. While in DC, he's keeping a quiet eye on Little Bird and the Marshall. Of course, he can't quite keep up with the Marshall, as he and Little Bird seem to be popping around quite a lot."

Barton gave Phil a sour look, as if almost daring him to do better. Following Potter as he bopped around the world with his magical stick, dragging his girlfriend - who they'd taken to calling 'Little Swan' or 'Little Bird' - with him was an impossible task.

Phil smiled at Barton, and winked in commiseration. They'd had reports of Potter and Swan being spotted in Paris, Casablanca, and Rio; no telling where else they might have gotten to. Thank goodness Potter was on their side, he'd be quite the headache otherwise.

Fury gave Barton a small smirk. "And how goes their training?"

Natasha leaned forward. "Agent Swan has not let up on her training schedule, and has actually increased her schedule since her school semester just ended. We've had her on the weapons range a fair bit, and her instructors report her shooting and her hand to hand has started to improve quickly." She let out a breath. "Considering the abysmal level she was starting from, she's made pretty good progress. Her shooting is good, she's got a steady hand and she's already better than a typical policeman would be. As for hand to hand, I don't think she'll ever be a particularly dangerous fighter - at least against someone trained - but over the next six months she should get to the point that she can get herself out of a sticky situation and hold her own or escape without having to use her gun or her wand."

Fury tilted his head. "And with her wand and her extra abilities?"

Natasha smirked. "She could be very effective, both on offense and defense."

Fury nodded, satisfied. "And Potter?"

Agent Hill answered this time. "We've had reports that he has begun training as well. Not nearly as much as Agent Swan, but he was also in pretty good form to begin with. Mostly he's been working on destructive and offensive magic, particularly against armor."

Fury nodded thoughtfully. "And what about our good friend Mr. Stark?"

Phil answered with a sigh. "He's been working pretty diligently on his clean energy project for Stark Tower. There was some noise recently about some other activity, but that has been his focus."

"And our last two?" Fury asked.

"We still have Banner in India at the moment. He's been traveling between a few villages in the north, offering medical care where he can. And the Captain is training hard, and is eager for a mission."

Fury nodded, satisfied for the moment, and the meeting turned to other matters; but the Avengers Initiative was never far from his mind.

He had a feeling they'd be needed sooner than anyone expected.

Not far away, Bella wiped the sweat from her brow as she toweled off after her latest judo lesson. She frequented the small gym on the northern end of the Triskelion, which was small and often relatively quiet which suited her.

Since school had let out for summer break, she'd started coming here three times a week, and would continue this schedule as she didn't plan to work this summer. Her small SHIELD salary was more than she'd make working at at a retail job, and she was actually looking forward to having some downtime. Also, she and Harry were taking a trip to see her Mom next month, and then Harry wanted to take her to Greece for a week. A friend of his had a small bungalow on one of the islands, and he made it sound like it was a paradise of beaches and sun and private coves.

After washing up, Bella dressed slowly, hearing the last of the agents from her judo class leave the locker room. Unlike the bathrooms throughout the various buildings on the campus, the training rooms were all co-ed; and Bella always felt self-conscious when there were guys walking around in towels after their showers, which at least thankfully had curtains. As many of the agents were ex-army, they often teased her about her modesty.

Finally in her street clothes, she walked out of the locker room only to slow to a stop when she spotted a well-muscled man setting up a punching bag with practiced ease on the other side of the mats. Blond haired and blue eyed, he was wearing a pair of grey sweat pants and a tank-tee, and Bella could admit he was quite fit.

"Hello, miss." A warm voice interrupted her staring, and Bella blushed as she realized the man had caught her ogling him. "I don't think we've met before. I'm Steve."

Bella smiled at the man, and walked towards him. She told herself the exit was on the far end of the room, so she had to go that way anyway. She stopped a few feet from him and introduced herself with a shy smile. "I'm Bella. It's nice to meet you, Steve."

He smiled again, his face handsome and friendly. "Do you work out here a lot, Bella?" He glanced down at the plastic id card that was hanging around her neck.

"Err, yes. I'm a Trainee, so I'm here several days a week," she stammered, blushing again. "I'm off from school for the summer, so I've been coming in much more."

"Do you go to school here in Washington?"

"Yes. I just finished my 2nd year at Georgetown."

He gave her a surprised look. "I thought you were older, no offense." Then he gave her a lopsided grin. "SHIELD is certainly recruiting them young these days."

Bella laughed. "No offense taken. And yes, I'm the youngest trainee in my group."

Steve smiled again, and Bella felt very comfortable for having just met him. He had a very reassuring vibe to him. "How about you? Are you an Agent here?" And then she blushed. "I mean, if you can say...I know some people aren't allowed to discuss their status."

Steve looked at her with a quizzical look. He knew that there had been a lot of buzz at SHIELD since he'd come out of the ice, and most of the agents he'd met had recognized him at once. Apparently, he found out that his picture hung in a lot of offices, and there had been a lot of curious people who had watched him over the past couple of weeks.

However, apparently this young woman didn't have a clue who he was.

Interesting.

"Well," he said with his lips quirking, "I'm sort of deciding my status at the moment. My life has been pretty topsy- turvey lately."

Bella chuckled, amused by the phrase 'topsy-turvey.' She'd not heard that in a long time. "I know just what you mean, Steve. My life's been like that for quite a while now. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I ended up here."

Steve laughed, a warm and inviting sound that invited reciprocation. Smiling at each other, Bella was amused that he blushed as brightly as she did.

Just then, Bella's phone beeped with an incoming text. When she saw Steve making no move to start his workout and was looking at her expectantly, she reached into her bag to check her phone.

It was from Sophie. They had just signed a lease agreement for a bigger apartment for next term, and they were supposed to meet over there to take measurements for some new furniture. Bella was already running late.

She looked up at Steve with an apology in her eyes. "I've got to go, my roommate is waiting, and she can get very testy if I'm late. But it was nice to meet you, Steve."

Still surprised she had no clue who he was, he extended his hand. "Likewise, Bella. I hope to see you again."

Bella shook his taped hand - it was taped up like a boxer would do - and gave him another smile. "Me too. I'm usually here a few times a week." She took her hand back, nodded, and walked out of the building, texting Sophie as she walked quickly across the campus. Steve watched her go, amusement on his face, before his smile slowly faded and he hung the bag up, his muscles loose and ready to pound on the bag, taking his frustration out by bashing it to smithereens.

Steve was lost, literally ripped from his time, his mind stuck on and endless loop, repeating that last day of his life.

His happiness, his excitement about his date with Peggy, hoping to hold her warm body close and roll her soft brown hair through his fingers...

And then, the bomber heading for New York, crashing into cold waters, diving down into the dark...

Then he woke and ran out into a very different Times Square than he remembered. He was, quite literally, one of those time capsules they used to bury back when he was in grade school.

Steve threw a hard punch at the bag, sweat flying from his brow. Hit, hit, hit, he let himself get lost in the rhythm, as he thought what he would do next.

A/N - okay! Stark should be introduced next chapter, and off we go!