Not a very long chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway.
TW: Glad to hear it. Yep.
Guest 1: Glad to hear it. I consider Rhodey not being at Tony's funeral a small price to pay for doing right by Rhodey, because Civil War did him dirty. His reasons for supporting The Accords don't make sense, logically or personally for Rhodey.
Traveling Guest: Yep, it's a lot harder. The Accords have already been in the works for months, but without Lagos, it does give Ross less ammunition. Zemo has no way of knowing that Bucky is in New York, so he'll probably still do the same thig if the Avengers don't stop him before then. Thor has a plan for the Skrulls and that's all I'll say right now. Tell me about it on Captain Marvel.
Ellie Bishop: True. Yeah, he doesn't have the same ammunition with The Accords, so he'll have to try other methods to make his case. It's a win, for now. Sure was. Yep.
Gallifrey 22.3: They've done the easy parts so far. But the rest is going to be a lot harder.
Guest 2: Thank you. Lagos will be easy by comparison; we'll start to see time fight back little by little over the next few chapters. I'd say Rhodey definitely outwitted the Skrull by taking advantage of the fact he knew it aimed to replace and capture him. Do not get me started on the abomination that Love and Thunder.
Guest 3: she kept the fact that Coulson was alive from hm.
Stark Mansion
Late afternoon
"Thanks for all the help Pep," Tony said gratefully as he walked Pepper to the door.
"I've done all I can, but you'll be the one who has to sell this to the board. And you don't exactly have a good reputation among them," Pepper pointed and Tony grimaced.
"Yeah, not gonna be easy. But I've fought Loki and Ultron, should be able to handle a few board members," Tony joked and she shot him a look. "What?"
"Has something happened? You just…seem different," Pepper noted.
Tony wanted to tell her everything then and there, but resisted the urge. It was hard enough for him seeing everything that happened, she didn't need that. She had a hard enough time dealing with him after all.
"An old friend of mine paid me a visit recently, helped me see things clearly," Tony said vaguely and Pepper shot him an odd look. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you what actually happened Pep. But I know what I was put here to do now. I know I've messed things up between us, and I'm not asking you to take me back. I'm just asking you to trust me."
"The person you've been lately isn't someone I want to share a life with," Pepper said after a moment as she eyed Tony with a cautious look. "But the Tony Stark I see now…he reminds me of the man I fell in love with. I'm not making any promises but…maybe we just see where things go from here."
"Yeah. Yeah, sure," Tony said, trying not to sound too hopeful.
Pepper nodded before leaving. As the door closed behind her, Tony's watch went off with a beep. Pressing the button, a holographic news article with the headline 'Avengers stop terrorist plot' appeared.
"Nice job Cap," Tony muttered.
Nigeria
Same time
"Thank you Mr. Captain America," the Nigerian Official said in heavily accented English as the Avengers stood in a high security prison. "If you had not been here, who knows what these terrorists might have done."
The Avengers didn't say a word for a moment, each knowing what had happened when they'd been caught off guard. Something they'd thankfully prevented in this new timeline.
"Rumlow was our mess; we needed to clean it up. You shouldn't have to suffer because of it," Steve said instead. "We'll be extraditing Rumlow back to the United States."
"I'm afraid that's not possible," the Nigerian Official said, taking them off guard.
"And why not?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Your Secretary of Defense, the Mr. Ross, has made deal with leaders of our government. Mr. Rumlow and men will be extradited back to America in two days," the Nigerian Official said apologetically.
Steve exchanged alarmed glances with the rest of his team at this news. It was one thing to know Ross was going to bring The Accords down on them, but it appeared Ross was already making moves.
Washington DC
Same time
In his office, Ross was watching a news report on Lagos smugly after making a call when his phone rang. Picking it up, he answered.
"This is Secretary Ross."
"Sir, there's been a development with Marko. You need to get down here."
New York
Same time
A few hours later, the Quinjet landed in the hanger. Steve let Natasha, Sam and Wanda down the ramp, meeting Rhodey in the hanger.
"Nice work in Lagos guys," Rhodey said.
"Thanks. And you said the Skrull was captured?" Steve inquired and Rhodey nodded.
"Vision's standing guard, Sif is getting ready to take it back to Asgard. Any idea what Thor wants with it?" Rhodey inquired and Steve shook his head.
"Contact with Thor hasn't been easy since he became king. But if he wants the Skrull brought to him, he must have a good reason," Natasha noted.
"What about Rumlow? Where is he?" Rhodey asked, realizing they got here a lot quicker than if they had stopped to drop Rumlow and his men off at some prison.
"Ross got his hands on him. He already cut a deal with the Nigerian feds, he's being extradited in a few days," Sam said unhappily and Rhodey seemed taken aback by this news.
"By extradited, you don't think…" Rhodey trailed off but they all understood what he was saying.
"That he's taking Rumlow to the Raft?" Wanda asked dryly, the thought having already occurred to them.
"It's Ross, there's nothing I would put passed him," Natasha said grimly.
"I've got no love for Rumlow, but if Ross is locking people up on the Raft, it worries me," Steve said with a frown.
"We need to do something about Ross, hopefully before he does something that puts people at risk," Sam voiced his opinion.
Unspecified location
Same time
Ross stood in front of an observation room, a dark look on his face. Looking down from the room, he saw the observation glass was shattered and a bunch of machinery was knocked over. On the ground were a few dead scientists, some trails of sand next to them.
"What happened?" Ross demanded, turning around to face the woman behind him.
"Our attempts to give Marko powers worked, he can now turn any part of his body into sand. We thought we had him sedated but his metabolism, its different now. He burned through the sedative and attacked the lab, killing three of our workers, injuring several others before escaping," the woman explained and Ross almost glowered at her.
"I want him found. He's the only test subject that the procedure has worked on; we need to find out why and how. Find him, before he hurts someone," Ross ordered.
"Yes Sir. In the future, perhaps you shouldn't bring us serial killers as our test subjects," the woman said blankly before walking out of the room as Ross glared after her.
New York
Same time
At her home, Gwen was in room, going through pictures of boys at her school and comparing them to the drawing of the boy who had saved her life. None of them were a match.
"Come on," Gwen muttered as she looked down at the picture. "You've got to be around my age, in high school or at least almost out of middle school. Who are you?"
She received no answer. Gwen sighed, leaning back in her desk chair, the mystery of her unknown savior plaguing her as it had since the day Flint Marko almost attacked her.
Standing outside her window, hidden from view, Marko watched her with a dark gaze, a wicked smile flashing across his lips before he fled in a flurry of sand.
Not a very long chapter, but it really sets up Ross starting to become a problem for the Avengers and their allies, so it was a necessary chapter to do.