"And then he stabbed me," Thor said with fond smile. "We were ten at the time."
Steve, Clint, and Natasha looked at him with varying expressions of incredulity.
"I thought you said Loki didn't go off the deep end until recently," Clint finally said. He shook his head. "Sounds like he was always evil."
"It was a childish prank."
"That was the third prank that ended the exact same way," Natasha said. "On Earth, generally we don't stab people as a prank."
"Yes, but you die a lot more easily than we. A stab wound is nothing, not even at such a young age. And the blade was not long. It was a mere scratch."
"If you say so." Steve picked up her chopsticks and scooped up some more rice. "I'll just put it down to a cultural thing. I mean, Bucky and I used to prank each other, but there was no stabbing. More, salt in the sugar bowl type of thing."
"Salt in the sugar bowl?" Now Thor looked puzzled.
Steve swallowed. "You put salt in the sugar bowl, and then when they got to add sugar to their coffee, it tastes bad."
"What's the point?"
"What's the point of stabbing you?"
"Annoyance."
She shrugged and nodded.
"Hey, there you are. Scoot over."
"Tony?" Steve moved as Tony squeezed himself into the already cramped booth.
Banner was standing at the end of the table. "Hey, guys. Mind if we join you?" He looked around and found a chair, then pulled it up to the table.
"This is delicious." Tony was picking pieces of chicken off Steve's plate and chewing enthusiastically. "Whose choice was this place? Nice job. Good food."
"Forgive him, he hasn't eaten anything in two days." Banner looked somewhere between exasperated and embarrassed.
"I've been working."
"Overworking."
Tony waved his hand. "Point is, we're done with the containment unit. Exactly to specifications, because I don't know enough about the Tesseract to make any improvements. Neither SHIELD nor Selvig would let me play with it."
"With good reason," Thor said. "The Tesseract is a dangerous force and should not be meddled with."
"So you're not going to meddle with it on Asgard?" He pulled Steve's plate away from her, grabbed some chopsticks, and dug in.
Steve rolled her eyes and let him. "How did you find us?"
"I called Fury to let him know we were done, and then asked where the rest of the team was. He said you'd come here, so here we came. Can we get more of this rice?"
She waved to the waiter. "We'll another order of everything," she said when he came over.
"Don't know if we need that much."
"I'm still hungry," she said.
"Oh, right, fast metabolism. I read that in your file. Can you really not get drunk?"
She grabbed a half-eaten eggroll from the plate and took a bite. "Nope."
"Tragedy. Maybe I could…"
"So, it's done," Clint interrupted. "Meaning Loki is leaving? When?"
"Fury said tomorrow morning," said Banner.
"Is there somewhere with space we can go?" Thor asked. "The energy from the Tesseract will be large. I don't want to be inside or near something that may get damaged."
"Central Park should do it," Tony suggested. "Wide open spaces. SHIELD can hold back civilians. And you can go off planet."
"I, for one, will sleep easier when Loki is gone." Banner smiled as the waiter placed more dishes of food on the table and handed him and Tony plates. "The last week, I've been on edge. I can feel the other guy under my skin, ready to break out if something goes wrong."
"Loki is well contained," Thor said. "And subdued. Losing has caused the fight to go out of him."
"More likely, not having an entire army at his command has caused the fight to go out of him," said Clint.
"It's probably a combination of things." Natasha swirled the tea around in her cup. "Without the army, he has no way of winning. Why bother fighting?"
"He sleeps much, too." Thor took some more food, loading his plate. "I think Clint was right when he said that Loki had a hard time of it with the Chitauri. My brother was never one to sleep very much, perhaps a few hours at most. Now, every time I check in on him, he's asleep."
"That could be boredom," Natasha said. "Not having anything to do…" She shrugged. "Sleep is a good way to pass the time."
"Sleep sounds wonderful." Tony rubbed at his eye and then shoveled some chow mein into his mouth. "Can't remember the last time I did that, either."
"When Tony works, he stops everything else. I think he's mostly caffeine at this point. Erik and I have been trying to get him to take a break, but he was a man obsessed." Bruce threw a warm little smile at Tony.
"So. What's the plan for tomorrow?" Steve asked. "We go to Central Park and…"
"And I will use the Tesseract to take Loki and me back to Asgard. And all this will be over."
Steve nodded and pushed the food around on her plate with her chopsticks. "Just like that."
"Well, except for the city needing to be rebuilt," Clint pointed out.
"And the possibility of any surviving Chitauri coming here at some point," Steve added.
"As I told you, friend, should that happen, you will not be facing them alone."
"How will you know? Or, what if the Avenger assemble and need you again? How will we get in touch with you?"
"I will instruct Heimdall to keep watch over you all. Should you need me, he will let me know."
"And Heimdall is?" Tony asked.
Thor looked surprised, but said, "He's the guardian of the Bifrost. Since it's broken, he is repairing right now. But he keeps watch over the nine realms, and is all-seeing and all-hearing. He will know if you are in need of assistance, and he will inform me."
"Great, just what we need, another set of eyes always watching us," Tony said, voice flat and sarcastic.
"Tony," Steve chided.
Tony rolled his eyes. "Between SHIELD watching our every move and now this Heimdall guy, I'm feeling a little violated, all right?"
"Heimdall means no harm."
"I know. Still creepy, though."
"Fury said that SHIELD isn't going to be monitoring us after this," Natasha said.
"And you believe him?" Banner asked.
"I have no reason not to."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Tony said. "Like I said, they're an intelligence organization. The whole point is to have fingers in as many pies as possible, including ours."
Despite the food she was eating, her stomach growled again. "Pie sounds really good right now."
Tony laughed and shoved the chicken at her. "Eat, you're too skinny. So, what's everyone going to do? You just defeated an alien army. What are you going to do now?" He said it in a strange voice, like a salesman or something. When no one said anything, he pouted a little bit and said, "Disneyland? Anyone?"
Steve smiled, because she did want to eventually go to Disneyland. She'd loved all the animated features they'd put out before the war, and had been excited to see that they were still being made. She hadn't watched any of them, yet, but would. She wanted to go both to the Disney studios and Disneyland, some day.
But not now. Now, she had something more important to do. "I'm going to DC," she said. "I'm going to see Peggy. And, after that, I don't know. I'll probably hang around SHIELD, see if there's anything for me to do."
"Yeah, I'm sure they'll really turn you down," Tony said. "What on Earth would they want with the only living super soldier?"
"What about you?"
"I've got stuff to build, things to design. And Bruce is going to help me, aren't you Bruce?"
Banner shifted uncomfortably and shrugged. "Sure, I'll stick around."
"What about you, Clint?"
"Oh. SHIELD is giving me some time off, so I'm going to take it. Relax, regroup. I'm leaving right from the park, just… going." He smiled. "And I'm not thinking about SHIELD the whole time I'm off."
"If you want, I've got the names of some very eligible and very pretty models."
Clint laughed. "Thanks, Stark, but I don't need help I that department."
"So. That's it, then. Avengers disassembled." Tony almost looked put out.
Steve punched him lightly on the shoulder. "The world can't seem to keep itself out of trouble. We'll be needed soon enough."
"Yeah. I guess." He frowned and chewed his lip a moment, then said, "Well, this got dark. Whose got a story to tell?"
There was a beat of silence, then Thor said, "Did I ever tell you about the time my hammer was stolen by a giant?"
"Does it end with Loki stabbing you?" Natasha asked.
"Not this particular tale."
"Then, no. You didn't tell it."
Thor grinned and launched into his story. They were there long into the night, swapping stories, laughing, and eating.
It felt… normal. Good. It felt like she belonged here, and Steve liked it.
The next morning, Steve showed up at SHIELD headquarters early. She looked around for Clint and Natasha, but couldn't find them anywhere. Unfazed, she headed up to security to check that Loki was where they'd left him last night.
Fury was standing over the monitors, arms crossed, gazing at them seriously. "Morning, Cap," he said, not looking up.
"Morning. Prisoner still accounted for?"
"He's sleeping. Barely moved all night." He turned away from the monitors and looked at Steve. "So. You leaving for DC when this is done?"
She couldn't suppress the grin. "Yes, sir. I'm going to call before I actually go. Make sure it's okay to see her. But I'm heading out today."
Fury pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and held it out. "This is her daughter's number. I told her to expect your call. She's eager to meet you."
Steve took the paper and tucked it into her wallet. "Thanks, sir."
"Call me Nick." He studied her for a moment, then said, "What are your plans after? Road trip? Sightseeing?"
"I'm not… I'm not sure what I want to do, actually." She scratched the back of her head. "I don't think I'm ready to head out and explore the country. Still trying to figure out the everyday stuff. I guess I'll come back to New York after I see Peggy. I don't…"
"You know there's always a place for you at SHIELD, right? You're welcome to stay on."
She nodded. "That might be okay. I mean, I want to."
Fury actually smiled. "Good to hear. Now, I was thinking the best way to go about it is to transfer you to the Triskelion, which is DC. You'd have to relocate. I understand if you don't want to…"
"No," she said in a rush. "No, moving would be good. I think…" She floundered for words, trying to find the right one. Because, right now, she ran down streets that were ghosts of the one she knew. She saw herself down alleyways, and Bucky standing on the street corner. She saw her mom in the windows of old apartment buildings, and old friends in the parks and the stores.
"I think I need to get out of the city," she finally said. "Start somewhere new."
Fury seemed to hear the words she wasn't saying. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Good. We'll help you get settled, of course. You're welcome to take anything from the apartment you're in. And, when you're ready, we'll start training."
"Training?"
"You're good at what you do, but you could be better. I watched the footage of your fight with Thor yesterday. You've got holes in your defense and gaps in your attack strategy. We'll fill them in before we send you out again. Providing nothing else happens, of course."
"Of course." She bit her lip, then said, "But I can still go today, right?"
"I've got a motorcycle gassed and ready for you."
Her heart leapt. "Really?"
Fury laughed. "Really. Now, you have your phone, so if anything goes wrong…"
"Yeah, yeah, of course." Her heart was pounding again, but this time it didn't feel like a panic attack. It was pure joy rushing through her.
In a few hours, she'd be on the open road traveling where she wanted to so she could do something she wanted to. There was no one in danger. There was no one hurt. There was plenty of food and water and there'd be a real bed at the end of the journey. And tomorrow, she didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, didn't have to worry about SHIELD, didn't have to report to anyone.
She was free.
"Thank you," she finally said. "For everything."
"Believe me, soldier. It's the least I could do after all you've done."
The door opened, and Natasha stuck her head inside. "We're all here. It's time."
Fury clapped Steve on the shoulder again. "Let's go say good-bye."
