Timeline: Wednesday 4th December 2013

A/N

Natasha's visit finds Clint feeling better and eager to come home. Ainsley's recovery continues and he turn to Bruce to help him solve the enigma of Wanda Maximoff.

Thor and Steve return from a tough mission and Steve discovers he has his own connection to Dr Kerr through a dark and troubling secret in the psychologist's family history.

"Try not to throw this one away" Natasha said, placing a bag down on the table in front of Clint. "You have no idea how hard it was to find."

Clint put his sketchbook to one side and pulled the hoodie out the bag

"Thanks" he looked down at the Superman logo on the front "I feel kinda stupid…"

She put a comforting hand on his arm

"You weren't yourself. It probably wasn't the best time."

It was a week and half since Clint had been admitted and this was her fourth visit. He was shedding the anger and paranoia; appearing more resigned and embarrassed. He'd not asked to seen any of the others yet, but on the last visit sheepishly admitted to throwing away a present Thor sent him and hadn't turned down her offer to find a replacement without the big warrior finding out.

"You think I'm myself now?" he looked at her questioningly "Dr Zabriski reckons they never really fixed what Loki did to me.

Natasha nodded, that had been Ainsley's opinion as well after reviewing Clint's medical file. He thought her 'cognitive recalibration' had probably done more good than the subsequent attempts at deconditioning. They still didn't understand exactly what the energy of the Sceptre had done to Clint's mind so trying to undo its effects had been hit and miss at best. For months afterwards he'd have nightmares of waking up and looking in the mirror to see that dead, icy, glow in his eyes.

"At least you don't think we're all in a conspiracy against you anymore," she picked up the sketchbook "and you're drawing again. May I?"

"Knock yourself out" For years, Natasha was the only one he allowed to see his drawings. She'd no idea where he'd learned, but the pages were filled with sensitive, skilfully executed still-lifes and portraits. Over the years, she'd come to understand it as a measure of his mental wellbeing; he only picked up the pencil when he felt steady enough to confront what was inside him. There were a lot of Phil, she noted, including one of him behind the wheel of Lola; the suggestion of the wind ruffling his hair caught with a few, masterful strokes. Natasha made a mental note to let Phil know that Clint was sketching once more. He'd be relieved to hear that.

She'd told Ainsley about Agent Coulson a couple of days after getting back to New York, taking him out for a drive to make sure they were well away from the penthouse. Despite Stark's assurances, Natasha was unconvinced that he couldn't over-ride Jarvis's privacy filters whenever he wanted. As she'd suspected, the young doctor wasn't too surprised. That hadn't stopped him being angry at the protracted deception but he'd agreed that telling Clint or the others would be a bad idea, seeing the advantage of working in tandem with Coulson's team to give them an edge on whatever was happening.

Natasha turned another couple of pages in the sketchbook, noticing a few studies of an elfin-faced girl with a twinkle in her eyes

"And who's this?" she asked. Clint smiled

"That's Wanda, she's a resident here. Kinda kooky but nice; I think she's taken me under her wing."

He saw the lift of the eyebrow and the slight smile twitching around his friend's mouth.

"Aw, for Christ's sake, Tasha! She's barely 18. I'm almost old enough to be her…"

He carded his fingers through his hair and sighed

"Does Abel know about this?"

Natasha put the sketchbook down on the table and placed a hand in his arm.

"He knows about the suicide attempt, and that you're getting treatment. I didn't want to go into the specifics without your permission.

Clint gave a short, humourless laugh

"What? That his dad's gone full Cuckoo's Nest? Bet he'll love that."

"Actually, he seemed pretty shaken up by it…"

It sounded warped, but Natasha had been glad the news hit Abel badly. It was the first real indication the boy might be able to empathise with his father's situation and gave her an opening to work with. She couldn't see any Father/Son sports days soon but if she could persuade Abel to at least give Clint a chance to prove himself it was a beginning.

"You might want to consider a visit sometime soon. I don't think he hates you as much as he pretends."

"That's comforting" said Clint with a dry smile "Define 'soon'"

Natasha sat back and crossed her legs

"Dr Zabriski seems to think that if you keep making progress you might be able to come home next week" she paused "If you want to come home, that is."

"Rented out my room already, huh?"

"We tried" she laughed "but your socks have gone feral and started hunting in packs. If you feel comfortable here there's no reason why you can't stay on, although we miss not having you around."

Clint looked out of the big picture window, across the winter-frosted garden. He shook his head

"I don't wanna stay. It's nice enough but you know what I think about places like this" He glanced up at the ceiling with a grin "Plus I don't feel safe anywhere the ventilation ducts are too small for me to crawl around in."

He rested his head on her shoulder

"And I miss you guys too. I was kinda rough on Doc when he was here, how's he doing?"

Natasha smiled and put her arm around him, giving her friend a gentle hug

"He's doing fine. He seems to have taken an interest in your friend Wanda as well, thinks she's a fascinating case. Thor's unhappy Ainsley's still working but so long as it's just reading files he's not making a fuss about it"

She laughed

"He's talking about taking him to Tony's cabin in Aspen for a few days to relax. 'There he will have nothing to do but Thor!'"

It was Clint's turn to laugh, Natasha's attempts to imitate Thor were as bad as his impressions of Ainsley. A few days with nothing but the Big Blond did sound like a good way to convalesce though.

"Could you say hi to him for me, next time you speak to him? Tell him I'm sorry for being such a douche."

"You weren't being a douche, for once!" Natasha leaned her head against his. "You didn't know what was happening and you were scared out your wits. I think we all were. I haven't seen Tony that freaked out since the time you and Bruce hid Furbies all around the lab."

###

The living room was dark and quiet when Bruce came in to make a cup of tea. Tony, Steve and Thor were away in Italy on a mission, something involving artificially enhanced mercenaries which Fury deemed of sufficient importance to merit the 'big guns'. He was glad the biggest wasn't required. The Other Guy had felt restless and irritable the last few days, probably missing Clint, and he wasn't sure how much control there would be if he had to come out and 'play'. As he poured the boiling water into the pot he cocked his head at a faint noise; there were hints of music coming from the quiet lounge, Chopin.

Ever since Tony had joked that you could tell the doctor's mood simply by his playlist Bruce had been taking note, more for his own amusement than anything else. Chopin usually indicated 'Sad and thoughtful'. He tapped gently on the glass door and looked in, Ainsley was asleep on the couch with an open file lying on his chest. Bruce gently shook him awake

"Hey, I'm making tea, would you like a cup?"

"Thank you, that would be great" said Ainsley, hauling himself upright "I just closed my eyes for 5 minutes, what time is it?"

"Past 1am" smiled Bruce, picking up the file which had slid onto the floor "Wanda Maximoff? You're interested in Clint's new friend as well?"

"It's an intriguing case" admitted Ainsley, "I think you might like to take a look at it as well, I've got a suspicion her supposed abilities may not be entirely natural."

Bruce raised his eyebrows. The psychologist was rarely suspicious without good reason, this might prove an interesting distraction

"Pieces missing from the puzzle?" he asked. Ainsley nodded

"Yes. I'm no scientist but I thought there would be more technical data; comparative DNA studies and that kind of thing." He handed the file back across to Bruce "Would you mind having a read and letting me know what you think?"

Bruce leafed through the file, even on first glance he could see what Ainsley was talking about. There were a lot of psychological and psychiatric studies but much of the medical information he would have expected was absent. The name of a Dr Liszt kept cropping up and that rang a bell somewhere deep in his mind.

"Sure" he said, closing the file "but only on condition you have your tea and go to bed. We don't want to have to deal with Grumpy Thor again."

Ainsley laughed as he got to his feet

"Yes, I know Tony thinks his insurance premiums are high enough as it is. He's all right with me reading, it's all the running about and phone calls he wants me to cut down on"

The doctor wriggled his shoulders to get the kinks out, feeling a bit stiff from sleeping so long on the couch

"I see his point. I did rather over-stretch myself with Clint." He paused "Any word from Natasha?"

"She called earlier" Bruce told him "She'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Clint's doing a lot better apparently; much less stressed."

The two men talked a bit more while they drank their tea. Ainsley appreciated that Bruce had become a little more sociable since Clint had his breakdown, not exactly gregarious but hiding himself away less. Like all of them, he felt the void caused by the archer's absence from the Penthouse and was trying in his own way to compensate for it by emerging from his shell a little. Having the Maximoff case to discuss helped; it gave them a point of mutual interest without the doctor treading in any territory that made Bruce feel uncomfortable. Eventually the doctor could feel his head nodding and he stood up.

"I'm off to bed, Bruce" he patted the scientist on the arm "Thank you so much for everything you've done."

"De nada! Sleep well." Murmured Bruce with a smile as Ainsley wandered towards the elevators. He turned his attention back to the file, biting his bottom lip nervously as he looked through the reports. The missing information bothered him deeply. It was the kind of thing Nat had spoken about, the strange loose ends that suggested to her that another, darker, game was being played beneath the surface of SHIELD's usual machinations.

###

Ainsley didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but it was still dark when he was woken by Thor trying to be quiet as he stripped off his battle armour. He lay there for a moment, enjoying the sight of his lover silhouetted against the light from the bathroom. He looked tired, his broad shoulders slumped and his movements weary.

"Hey, Snuggie Bear!" Ainsley murmured "Tough mission?"

Thor threw his breastplate down on the couch and peeled off his undershirt

"I am sorry, Little Bug. I did not mean to wake you." His voice was as slow and heavy as his movements. He sat down on the bed and kissed Ainsley, the doctor could see the strain in the big warrior's face.

"It was a hard fight. The enemy had some sort of…" he gestured at his forearm "…enhancement that made their strength and endurance beyond human. We lost men."

"Steve…?" Ainsley asked nervously

"He has bruises, but is well" Thor assured him "as am I"

The loss of brother warriors was inevitable in battle, and he would remember them with honour, but it did not make it any easier to deal with.

"Have you been resting properly?" he asked, stroking Ainsley's face. It had been a hard three days but he was back with the man he loved. Tonight, he could rest easily.

"Just reading, I promise!" smiled Ainsley "No phone calls or meetings; and plenty of early nights."

"I am sorry I became angry with you" Thor said, leaning in and kissing him "I worry that you will make yourself ill and I do not wish for that to happen."

"What would I do without my big Snuggie Bear to worry about me?" murmured Ainsley, running his fingers through Thor's hair. It was still damp with sweat and matted with grime "Want me to scrub your back for you?"

Thor grinned, feeling his heart lighten a little.

"Please, I would enjoy that very much."

###

Steve pulled a clean T Shirt on and sat down at his worktable. He'd grabbed a couple of hours' fitful sleep and couldn't see any point in laying his head back down. He was still too pumped and needed to unwind. Continuing work on his latest project might help. It was the most ambitious to date, a three-foot-long scale model of the airship USS Akron. He'd seen it in the window of a hobby shop downtown last week and had been spending most of his spare time on it since. His brows furrowed with concentration as he assembled the delicate parts of the engine nacelles. The knock at the door surprised him. It was almost five in the morning and normally no-one was up around this time. Bruce's lab had been dark when they came in. Both Tony and Thor had headed straight to their respective beds, exhausted by the hard fight.

He was surprised to find it was Dr Kerr. He would have thought the psychologist would have been comfortably tucked up in bed with Thor.

"Everything okay, Dr Kerr?"

"Yes, I'm fine" he answered "Just having problems sleeping and thought if anyone was likely to be up it would be you. Thor's in full Deep Sleep mode so he's going to be out for at least a day."

Ainsley saw the model parts laid out on Steve's desk.

"If I'm interrupting anything I can just go up to the library and read for a bit."

"No, not all" replied Steve "Come on in and I'll make us some tea. Could do with giving my eyes a break."

There was something odd about Dr Kerr's manner, like he was waking up from a dream but still half in it. Steve wondered if it might be the effects of whatever medication the doctor was still on, or if he hadn't fully adjusted to being back home after his time in hospital. Steve started fixing tea, peppermint for himself and regular for the doctor, while Dr Kerr examined the model he was working on.

"Did I ever tell you my maternal grandmother flew on the Hindenburg when she was young? Not the last flight, fortunately, but in the day it was quite the way to travel if you were part of the smart set."

"No, you didn't" Steve handed Dr Kerr his tea "Must have been an incredible experience."

Ainsley nodded

"She told me a bit about it when I was a child, unfortunately all her photograph albums were destroyed in the bombing of Munich."

Steve was perplexed and a bit troubled. Dr Kerr had become less reticent about speaking of his sister but beyond mentioning his mother was German that part of the family history had never been referred to. The soldier had never pushed the subject, assuming it was one that Dr Kerr didn't feel right discussing around someone whose memories of fighting the Nazis were just under four years old or maybe touched on things the doctor felt uncomfortable having in his background.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could think to say. Going by the age of Dr Kerr's mother in the photograph he'd seen, his grandmother must have been in her late 20s or early 30s towards the end of the war. If her grandson was anything to go by, he could imagine her as a cultured, aristocratic, woman struggling to cope with the collapse of her world into madness and fire. "Are you sure you're all right? You don't seem yourself. Would you like me to call Dr Palmer?"

Ainsley shook his head

"No, honestly I'm fine. I've just been dreaming about her a lot recently, or rather remembering a dream that I had when I was in hospital."

He turned to Steve and smiled but there was a forced quality to it, as if he was trying to figure out a way of telling him something but didn't know how to begin.

"She used to tell me these awful old Bavarian fairy stories, the ones where wicked stepmothers got shoved into ovens or forced to dance in red hot iron shoes. Definitely not Disney material!"

He laughed and took a drink of tea

"I was quite a gruesome little child and always loved hearing them. Whenever she came to visit I would burrow in beside her and listen all evening. She'd call me 'Kleiner Käfer'"

"Little Bug!" Steve grinned, he could remember most of the German he'd picked up in his time with the Howling Commandos. "Isn't that what Thor calls you?"

"Yes" replied Ainsley with a curious expression "and I don't recall ever mentioning that to anyone."

Steve's concern was growing. Dr Kerr's distracted and almost trance-like manner and the strange randomness of the conversation gave him the feeling that something very out of the ordinary, even for life in the Penthouse, was happening.

"There was another set of stories she told me, or more like one story with lots of episodes. I was never able to find it in any of the anthologies and always assumed it was some local tradition from her part of Bavaria or something she made up herself."

He paused, and Steve could see his hands were shaking

"She called it "Der Rote Schädel und der Mutige Kapitän"

The Red Skull and the Brave Captain

Steve's stomach felt like it was dropping 60 stories in a high-speed elevator. Ainsley looked at him and he could see that the doctor was frightened

"Steve, did you ever meet Sophia von Leibeskreuz?"

Steve couldn't remember feeling this cold since the frigid waters of the Arctic ocean closed around him. He'd never met Dr Sophia von Leibeskreuz, but he'd seen her. He'd seen her in Kreischberg, fleeing with Arnim Zola as Johann Schmidt activated the self-destruct sequences. SSR had code-named her 'The Witch'; Zola's protégé, a brilliant scientist with a depth and breadth of insight that to many seemed supernatural. Rumour had it she was the one person who could look the Red Skull in the eye without flinching.

He looked at her grandson sitting across from her, the same light brown hair and bright grey eyes. Why hadn't he noticed the resemblance before? Bucky had always warned him he should never play poker, he could tell from Dr Kerr's expression that his own look of shock and horror must be plain to see.

"Oh God! Steve…" Dr Kerr gasped, his own eyes full of dread "Please… Tell me she wasn't…"

###

Clint felt someone shaking him awake and his eyes blinked open. Wanda stood over him, she was saying something, looking frightened. He held up a hand to stop her and reached for his hearing aids.

"Wanda…? What..?"

"The Good Doctor is starting to remember" she said, her voice trembling "The Monsters will be waking soon."