Not entirely proud of this chapter but I do hope you guys enjoy it.
Jinero: Really not something I'm interested in doing.
TW: Ross will be a problem and that's all I'll say at the moment.
Sam: Thank you. Glad you're enjoying it.
Mr. Krabs: HA! Oh that is so him.
THWA: Nothing beyond Endgame is canon to this fic, so I won't be including Isaiah.
Guest 1: Well, that's sadly the state of the MCU at the moment; good ideas get ruined and thrown out the window for political agendas. Valkyrie becoming queen could have worked if she'd gotten more of a redemption arc but its Disney, what else can you expect?
Guest 2: Hank may be egotistical, but he's not without reason. Once Scott explains about Thanos and The Accords, Hank will be on board. Yeah, it's something Wanda really lacks in the MCU; the people she cares about either die or run out on her. Haven't really heard of this theory, so can't say. You'll see on Thor and Sif.
Avengers Compound
Late afternoon
Natasha found Steve outside, sitting on the bench near the landing zone. She wasn't surprised. There had been many times over the last year where Steve retreated out here to get away from everything else when he just needed to think, to be Steve instead of Captain America or an Avenger. Natasha was pretty sure only she and Sam knew that Steve came out here whenever he wanted to be alone.
"You doing okay?" Natasha asked as she stepped up beside him.
"Are you?" Steve asked as he looked up at her.
"He and I never had that kind of relationship. It was nice, and it gave me something to hold onto until I met Clint, reminded me I was human. But it was never anything like what you two had," Natasha said as she sat down next to him. "So, are you okay?"
"Not really. Just feels like I keep losing him. Every step I take towards helping him feels like two steps back," Steve said with a heavy sigh.
"You saw the recordings. You will get him back. Hopefully in time for the Sokovia Accords," Natasha pointed out. "But even if you don't, you still have us. Sam, Wanda, Clint, Thor, Tony…me. You still have me."
Steve looked at Natasha, hearing the slight waver in her voice, the vulnerability he hadn't heard in her voice since she asked him if he'd trust her to save his life. Vulnerability he saw reflected on her face.
"Nat," Steve started as he realized, at some point, her hand had found its way in his.
"In the Red Room where I was trained, where I was raised, there's a graduation exam. They sterilize you," Natasha revealed and Steve stared at her in horror. "It's efficient. They take away the one thing that might matter more than a mission. The one thing you might want for yourself."
"Nat…I'm so sorry," Steve said horror and compassion warring in him and she smiled weakly.
"Me to. It's taken me a long time to find a way out of that darkness. I'm still trying. But I think a big step would be for me to…allow myself to want something for myself," Natasha said as she looked deep into Steve's eyes.
"Nat…what are we doing?" Steve almost whispered, feeling the energy between them change.
"Letting ourselves want something for ourselves. If this isn't okay…just say the world and I'll never bring it again," Natasha said her voice no more than a whisper.
Natasha began to lean in and Steve honestly wasn't sure whether he was going to stop her or not when there was a loud sound. The Bifrost struck the ground several feet away. On instinct, Steve and Natasha jumped to their feet as the Bifrost faded, revealing Thor, Wanda, Bruce and Sif.
"Hello my friends. How was your day? Mine was most productive," Thor said happily.
"It was…something," Steve said uncomfortably, his heart hammering in his chest.
Wanda looked at Steve and Natasha oddly, her powers picking up all sorts of emotions from them. She tried not to pry on her friends emotions, but they seemed unusually strong at the moment. Had they just interrupted something Wanda wondered.
"This is Lady Sif of Asgard," Thor said as he gestured to Sif. "Sif, these are my friends, Captain Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff."
"The Captain with the unmoving morality and the mortal woman equal to any Asgardian," Sif said, remembering Thor's descriptions of them. "It is an honor to meet you both."
"The honor is ours," Natasha said, giving a look to Steve that he returned with a nod.
Their conversation was far from over, Steve knew. But they had a duty first, which hopefully would give Steve time to wrap his head around this new information Natasha had just given him.
"Banner," Steve greeted as he regarded their long lost friend.
"Hey Cap," Bruce waved awkwardly. "I hear I missed a lot."
"That's one way of putting it," Steve said with a tight smile. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," Bruce said before turning to Natasha. "Hey Nat."
"Hi Bruce," Natasha said blankly.
That would have to be something she would need to nip in the bud. Natasha honestly wasn't sure why she had decided to pursue a relationship with Bruce. Perhaps it was her Red Room conditioning, making her overcompensate as she attempted to get over her fear of Hulk, Natasha mused.
"Perhaps we should head inside. There is much we have to discuss," Thor said.
"My father has abdicated the throne," Thor said as they all stood in the conference room, joined by Sam, Rhodey and Vision. "I will soon be named king of Asgard."
"I want to say congratulations but I'm not sure that's appropriate," Rhodey said and Thor smiled.
"Thank you Rhodes. But once I am king, it shall be more difficult for me to travel between here and Asgard. So I am appointing Sif my personal liaison between myself and the Avengers," Thor said as he glanced to his right at Sif. "She is a noble warrior and a good friend. There is no one else I would trust with this."
"Welcome to the team then," Natasha said and Sif nodded.
"Thank you, Lady Romanoff," Sif said politely.
"It's just Natasha actually," Natasha said.
"Natasha," Sif repeated, the words feeling strange on her tongue.
Steve and Thor locked eyes for a long moment, seeming to have a silent conversation that lasted for several moments. The others eyed them in confusion before Thor nodded.
"Sif, if you're going to work us, you need to know what we're working towards," Steve said as he turned to the dark haired Asgardian. "What we say here cannot leave this room. Do you understand?"
"I understand. I swear on my honor as an Asgardian that you can trust me," Sif said firmly and the others all exchanged looks.
"Well, hopefully you still feel that way in a few minutes," Sam muttered, confusing her.
As the others began to explain to Sif about the future, Wanda put a hand to one side of her head, hearing a strong noise. It sounded like whispers, although Wanda wasn't able to make out what they were saying. Then Wanda heard a wild, animalistic scream.
"Wanda?" Wanda opened her eyes to see Sam staring at her with concern. "You alright?"
"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine," Wanda lied, wondering what that was.
Sif was, for the most part, was silent as Steve and Thor explained everything about their trip to the future, including Hela and Thanos. She took it better than most.
"After the Dark Elves, I did not imagine there could be more that would surprise me. I was wrong," Sif mused, processing it all before turning to Thor. "This is why you have returned to Asgard and retaken the throne?"
"In part. I would have done so either way once I discovered Loki's trickery. But Thanos did speed up the process," Thor explained.
"You command Asgard's armies. Can you not find this Thanos and defeat him before it gets to this point?" Sif wondered and Thor winced.
"Even if I could defeat Thanos –and I am not certain that I could yet – many Asgardians would die in the battle. I wish to preserve life this time around, not waste it," Thor said and Sif nodded in understanding.
"Very well. You may count on me," Sif promised.
"I should hope so. Now then, it's time to collect my brother," Thor declared.
Stark Mansion
Not after
Tony was going over some things on a tablet when his phone rang. Pulling it out, Tony saw it was Steve and answered it.
"Hey Cap. How goes the day?" Tony quipped.
"Thor and Wanda are back. They brought Banner to," Steve said and Tony perked up.
"So Bruce is back? Nice, I'll stop by to see him in a few days," Tony promised.
"And how are you doing Tony?" Steve inquired.
"Well, Coulson stopped by earlier. I guess Hill spilled the beans that we knew about their little secret," Tony said a hint of bitterness entering his voice.
"And how'd that go?" Steve asked curiously.
"Oh, about how we expected. He gave me the 'I'm sorry, can all try to get along' speech," Tony said, sounding torn between annoyance and amusement. "Said we need to learn to trust Fury and Hill."
"With what's coming, he's not wrong," Steve noted.
"Can we really trust them after this though?" Tony wondered.
"We might not have a choice. It's not always about trust, it's about doing what we have to," Steve pointed out and Tony sighed.
"I hate it when you make sense," Tony grumbled.
"You know I'm right through," Steve pointed out.
"Yeah," Tony admitted begrudgingly. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."
"So how's that secret project of yours coming?" Steve inquired, changing the subject.
"It's going. Won't know anything for a day or two. I'll keep you posted," Tony promised.
"Likewise. Take care Tony," Steve said before hanging up.
Tony put his phone down before going back to his tablet, looking over all the Intel that FRIDAY had put together on Toomes.
Avengers Compound
Not long after
"Sif shall return in a few days' time, after the coronation," Thor was saying to Steve and Natasha as they all walked out onto the front lawn. "She will do well here I think. She is a great warrior, and an even better friend."
"And we'll be happy to have her," Steve assured him. "Although we will miss you around here Thor."
"And I you my friends. But this is not Farwell, as we will see each other again," Thor vowed.
"Hopefully when we're not trying to save the world," Natasha quipped and Thor chuckled.
"If only."
The trio made their way over to Sif and Loki were waiting. While Sif was eying Loki wearily, waiting for an attack or trick, Loki seemed deep in thought. The same as he had since they learned of their father's fate, Thor mused. He would have to talk to Loki about that sooner or later.
"It appears this is goodbye my friends," Thor said as he joined his brother and Sif. "Until we meet again."
"Good luck Thor," Steve said and Thor smiled.
"And good luck to you as well Cap," Thor said.
Thor then raised Mjolnir up into air and a beam of Bifrost came down, striking the Asgardian trio. When the beam faded, the now familiar scorched symbol was left at the spot where the trio had been standing.
"He keeps this up, there won't be any untouched grass left on the property," Natasha said dryly and Steve smiled slightly.
"Nat…about what you said earlier," Steve started as he looked over at her.
"It's okay if you don't feel the same way Steve. I just needed to let you know how I felt, I couldn't lie to you or myself anymore," Natasha said, not expecting anything from him.
"I'm not saying I doubt or I do. I just…I need some time," Steve said lamely, not knowing how else to say it.
"I get it Steve, I understand. Take as much time as you need," Natasha said with a slight smile.
Natasha then walked back into the Compound, leaving Steve feeling like he'd just kicked a puppy.
Inside, Wanda was heading to her room, planning on turning in early when she again heard the whispers she'd heard during the meeting. Wanda looked around in bewilderment, wondering if she was finally losing her mind when she saw she was near the lab. And the whispers were coming from inside.
After a moment of considering just heading to bed, Wanda entered the lab. Walking inside, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary until she looked over at the far corner of the lap. There stood a cryo chamber, with Bucky frozen inside.
Wanda stared at the cryo chamber, hearing the whispers and realized that they weren't whispers at all. They were Bucky's half formed thoughts as he slept. He was dreaming.
Wanda should go. There was nothing anyone could do for Bucky until he was deprogramed, and Helen Cho still needed to figure out how to do that. Wanda knew all this. She should head for the door.
Instead, she found herself walking over to the cryo chamber. She didn't know why she placed her hand on the chamber but then there was a jolt and she was no longer in the lab.
She heard screams before she found herself in a dark room. Wanda looked around in bewilderment before she heard a noise behind her. She turned around to see Bucky, in his Winter Soldier uniform. He was breathing heavily as he stared at her and Wanda immediately realized this was not the Winter Soldier. This was Bucky.
"Wanda. What are you doing here?" Bucky asked in an unreadable voice.
"I'm-I'm not really sure. I heard voices, then I saw you. Then I was just…I was here," Wanda said lamely. "I think I accidentally projected myself into your dream. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even gone into the lab. I should go."
"Wait," Bucky called out before Wanda could pull herself out. "You can stay…if you want."
Wanda paused, thrown by his request. Since she had joined the Avengers, Wanda had done her best not to read or inject herself into the minds of her teammates. Wanda knew Steve and Natasha had been wary about her at first so she had needed to earn their trust. So Bucky's request she stay in his mind was a pretty strange one, to say the least.
"Are-are you sure? I didn't mean to invade your mind like this," Wanda said uncertainly.
"The alternative is to be forced to relive my murderous past, not really something I fancy doing," Bucky said sarcastically.
"I know how that feels," Wanda said, thinking of Ultron.
"Yeah, I bet you do," Bucky said, having heard enough from while on some missions. "You can make this…whatever, right?"
"Yeah. Is there somewhere you want to be?" Wanda asked curiously.
"You ever been to the Empire State building?" Bucky inquired.
"Once," Wanda said, remembering.
It had been one of the first places in New York she had ever visited. Everyone else had been out, Sam was who knows where, Vision was with Tony helping him with some tech thing, Rhodey had been at a meeting with some military figure, and Natasha had been visiting the Bartons. So Steve had taken her to the Empire State Building to get her out of the Compound. It had been a good day.
Wanda waved her hands around and the dark room faded away, replaced by the Empire State Building. Bucky looked around, feeling a bit lighter now.
"Thank you Wanda," Bucky said lowly.
"You've been here before?" Wanda inquired.
"Once, with Steve. Feels like a lifetime ago," Bucky said wistfully.
"Steve took me here to, not long after I'd moved to America," Wanda said and Bucky chuckled.
"Guess we got that in common to," Bucky noted.
"Guess so," Wanda said with a slight smile.
And, as Bucky looked out over New York, Wanda felt that maybe there had been a reason she'd kept hearing Bucky's thoughts after all.
I think Sif would be surprised by learning about time travel, but given she's an Asgardian, it really wouldn't phase her.
As much as I'd like to just throw Steve and Natasha together, Steve is, to be blunt, a romantic idiot. So he'd need to take a day or two to process this before he did anything.
