A Wake up Call

A/N: Reminder that I've stopped writing new chapters, and will only upload the old ones. The story is officially dropped!!

So join my Pat-reon ONLY IF you want to donate. I'll be shutting the Pat-reon account down in a month at most.

Read on!

—

The Elevator door opens, and our group walks out. Most of the X-Men had taken one Elevator, which Tony was a bit reluctant about seeing that Colossus was still in his metal form. He was terribly relieved when he became a normal skinned human again.

The non-mutants of the team were joined by Logan, Hank, and I, in the second Elevator, while the SHIELD agents had taken a third one. 

Hulk.. unfortunately, had to go separately, seeing that he hadn't turned back into Bruce yet. But no one was stupid enough to suggest stairs to the big green giant who can destroy the building, so Hulk had decided to just.. jump down from the top floor before either Blink or I could even offer to portal him down. Or all of us.

Hopefully, he didn't scare too many people when he crashed into the ground.

During the elevator ride, I had spoken with Logan and Hank, promising Logan some answers. He remembers me, thanks to my own actions, and so, he remembers that I didn't have my Healing powers back then. 

Eh, I wasn't worried.

Even if I wasn't able to completely control how my body smells, if it smells at all, there was no way for anyone to know that my Healing mutation was stolen. It was why that particular Ritual was so much better than the one that Grindelwald used.

Sure, there was a cool down period, and I couldn't just.. steal one mutation after another. But at least this mutation was mine, and not someone else's. It had been assimilated perfectly into my body.

But still, there's conversations to be had. Not just with Logan, but with Steve too.

As we start walking towards the exit, with the Strike team and Agent Sitwell right there in front of us, we are stopped by a group of around two dozen agents in black suits, and another SWAT team, with assault rifles in their hands.

The guns weren't pointed at us, but we could tell that they don't see us as friends.

I share a look with Logan, and know that we both were thinking the same thing. They were here, in the city. Just like the Strike team, these people were somewhere very close to the city, and they didn't help out.

Their thoughts prove the same; they were ordered by the higher-ups, the Hydra part of Shield, to not interfere. They were instead asked to man the bridges, to stop the incoming traffic, and to only help if the aliens break perimeter.

We could have used the help, so many more people could have been saved.

An old man at the forefront of that group steps forward, and says, "Gentlemen, ladies. May I ask where you're going?"

Thor looks to Tony in confusion, and says, "We are going to taste this Shawarma that Stark spoke about. And then, it's right back here until we figure out a way back home to Asgard."

Tony looks between Thor and the man, as Thor keeps looking at him, and startling a bit he says, "Oh, right. This is Alexander Pierce. He's.. Fury's boss. Or the boss of Fury's bosses, I don't exactly know how things work."

And knowing Tony as I do, he knew exactly how things work.

"People call me Mr Secretary. I'm going to have to ask you to turn the prisoner over to me." The man named Alexander Pierce says, waving his hand over to a bound and muzzled Loki, who just looks offended at being called 'the prisoner'.

The X-Men were.. apprehensive, to say the least. They hadn't had good experiences with Government agents, not since the 90s at the latest. Steve was pretty much relaxed, his trust in the Government not yet gone, while the Agents were.. agents. They trust Shield, but I could see that Barton was not appreciative of the guns that could point at them at any moment.

Thor frowns in confusion, and says, "Loki will answer for his crimes to Odin, in Asgard."

Pierce immediately returns with, "No, he's going to be answering to us. Odin can have what's left of him."

I can just see the moment Loki understands what the man means, with the tightening of his muscles and the rage filling his eyes. Pierce either wanted to torture Loki, or experiment on him, and judging by what I know of Hydra, probably both.

"I'm also going to have to ask for the case, it's been SHIELD property for over seventy years." Pierce adds, as he makes the move to take the Case from Tony's hands.

I snort loudly, making the old man stop in his movements and turn towards me. Seeing the attention on me, I say, "Judging by that logic the Tesseract does actually belong to Asgard, Mr Secretary. It was with Asgard for thousands of years before they ALLOWED Earth to safeguard it."

Pierce looks at me, as I leisurely stand with my hands in my pockets, Logan and Steve on my sides. Looking me up and down, he says, "You're already in a lot of trouble Mr Aves, what with your desertion during the deadliest conflict in human history. I would appreciate it if you don't interfere here."

Smiling at him in amusement, I say, "There's an issue with that, Alex. I am not actually a Fugitive as you believe me to be. My desertion was sanctioned by the King, didn't you know?"

He might not remember it, and he might not have informed anyone of it, but there was a letter written by King George signing off on my retirement, and my disappearance. Reasons being to keep world peace, by the death of Super Soldiers as a product of War.

Pierce stares at me, and I could just see him wondering if that was actually true. Instead he says, "We will be checking up on this. Even still, this is a matter of US National security. You, Mr Aves, are not a US citizen, let alone an authority figure." Turning towards the Agents behind and around him, Pierce orders, "Relieve Mr Stark of the Case, and arrest Loki Odinson."

As one, the Agents and SWAT team raise their guns to point at all of us, and not just Loki and I, as two people start walking towards Stark to take the Case which contains the Tesseract, while some of the SWAT approach the Odinsons to arrest Loki.

Thor immediately lifts his hammer up to defend his brother, Colossus turns back into metal, Psylocke has her Katana in one hand, and her pink energy sword in another, and Wolverine and Hank spread their arms in an attacking pose, with Wolverine's Adamantium claws making another appearance. The others also stand close to one another, ready to defend themselves from the agents, but I know that they don't want to do this.

The only ones not too alarmed were the two SHIELD agents amongst us, who do look a bit worried about how things were going, while Steve was frowning at the breach of trust SHIELD was carrying out right now.

"Uh.. guys?" Hawkeye calls out from the middle, as he has his bow in his hands, ready to defend himself and Natasha in the least. "Fighting against the US government was not really our plan, you know."

"Don't call it fighting then, call it defending ourselves." Storm says, as her eyes turn white and a wind starts blowing all around. Some of the agents focus their guns on her, but I wasn't worried.

I stare at Pierce, as the agents stop approaching at the defending poses put on by the Avengers, and ask, "Do you really want to do this, Mr Pierce? Because it won't be pretty."

Pierce smiles, and asks, "Is that a threat, Mr Aves? Because I have one too. I could arrest you all for interfering with Government affairs."

Welp, I tried being nice.

Sighing, I step forward, and as the guns move to point towards me, I say, "It seems SHIELD is not happy with the one free gift it was given. Loki's scepter was yours to do with as you please, study it to your heart's content, make weapons out of it like we all know you would have, but no. You wanted more." 

The Agents stare at me, worried about the lack of fear I have for the guns pointed right at my vitals. The Avengers were staring, Wolverine would attack the Agents as soon as one makes a move, I know that, and Steve wouldn't hesitate to defend me if he saw I was being attacked. Doesn't matter if the one to do it was his own government.

He trusts his government, but his love for his friends knows no bounds, Bucky could attest to that.

Thor.. he would battle all of us if it meant saving his brother from torture and experimentations, which was something I could appreciate.

Staring right at Pierce's eyes, I slowly raise my hand, causing the agents to ready their weapons, and then.. I snap my fingers.

With a soft pop, the large case which contains Loki's scepter disappears from the Strike team member's hands, making its appearance known inside Nowhere. 

"What the fuck?!" The surprised agent yells, his hands suddenly empty.

The sound of the yell, however, startles one twitchy Agent into firing his gun just once. I prepare to take the bullet straight to my head, to show them how useless it is, but before the bullet even reaches me, a large metal hand speeds forward and catches the 22 caliber bullet in his hand.

"Thanks Colossus." I say, nodding at the man.

The man in question nods, and clenching his fist, crushes the bullet into a misshapen lump of metal, only to drop it down on the ground.

As the guns keep pointing at me, the Avengers now all ready to fight SHIELD and Logan just itching to be given one reason to jump, I look at Pierce with a smile, and say, "You've already lost the one Spoil of War you'd been allowed to keep, Alex. If you keep going, you'll not only lose this fight and the other spoils of war you want to keep, which you aren't getting anyway, but you'll also lose what little respect your agency has in the eyes of the public."

Already, people were coming out of hiding, and many of them were crowded around Stark Tower, since SHIELD agents were based here right now to give aid. And unfortunately for Pierce, the walls to Stark Tower were made of glass, and fully transparent on the ground floor.

I smile when realization strikes him, and say, "So let me ask once again. Are you sure you want to do this? Do you really want to go and have a very embarrassing defeat against the people that defended the planet against an Alien invasion?"

By that point, I was right in Pierce's face, ignoring all the guns pointed at my head, with my hands once again in my pocket. Thor was by Loki's side still, not willing to let Loki go anywhere either, while Tony was just watching, but I could just sense his amusement from here.

Pierce glares at me, his hate showing, and says, "Return the Scepter, Mr Aves."

"No. You had your chance, you lost it." I say, with a grin.

"You do not want SHIELD as your enemy." Pierce says, in a threatening tone.

"Mason?" Steve calls out, a bit worried.

I ignore him, and say, "SHIELD is not my enemy, but if it wants to make me into one, feel free to do so." With a pause, I add, "I doubt you'd like it though."

Pierce keeps glaring and says, "You will regret this, Mr Aves."

I smile, and say, "Then you better come at me with everything you have, Pierce. It won't be half as much fun if you don't. Now, if that's all, we've just been through a Battle while the Government was late, as usual, and we want to go have lunch. So.. get.. out.. of.. our.. way."

Pierce gives me one last glare, and says, "Let's go."

The Agents keep their guns pointed at me, as they walk backwards, covering Pierce's back. Grinning, I wave goodbye, and watch as the SHIELD agents walk out, empty handed just like they had appeared. They will have enough Chitauri tech and bodies to study anyway, but not really my problem.

I'm just worried about the consequences of me taking the Scepter from SHIELD, from Hydra. Will the Maximoff Twins not have their powers? Or will they awaken their mutations naturally?

As the last agent walks out of the door, Bruce Banner stumbles in after them, with no shirt and only half a pant barely fitting on his hip. Looking at the retreating agent's backs, the man turns towards us, and asks, "What did I miss?"

Tony snorts, and says, "Just the Poster boy of England threatening Shield with a one man war. Nothing serious."

Smiling, I turn around towards them, and say, "That man just really pissed me off."

"You ain't alone in that, bub. He reminds me of Stryker." Wolverine says, finally putting the claws back into his hands, as Colossus turns back to flesh.

Thor catches my eyes, and says, "Thank you, friend Mason, for defending my brother."

I smile, as Bruce leaves to change into something comfortable, and say, "Your brother is a Prisoner of War. If I had allowed SHIELD to take him, they would have most definitely broken a lot of their own Laws of War, committing most heinous crimes against him. And while I have no doubt that a lot of the Avengers here hate Loki for what he's done, no one deserves to be the victim of War crimes."

Hawkeye snorts, but we all politely ignore it. He deserves to have some extra hate against Loki for what he did.

The excitement over with my acquisition of the Scepter, and nothing else of note, we leave for the Shawarma place that Tony had spotted while flying. We could see the public coming out of hiding, and many of them see us. I could already see people recognising me and Steve immediately, although the X-Men were not that far behind.

The X-Men were the most favorably seen now, since half of their team had focused on rescue and evacuation. And they deserve it, deserve to be seen as heroes.

Let's just hope the government doesn't mess it up by giving into their need for Vendetta against me.

—

Around an hour later, once we'd had our fill of the wonderful treat that is Shawarma, the Avengers.. separate. 

Tony, Bruce, Thor, and Loki were going back to the Stark Tower, where Tony and Bruce were going to build a device capable of using the Tesseract's energy to allow the Asgardians to go back. SHIELD (Fury's Shield, not Pierce's) was coming too, to help keep Loki in check, and to make sure he didn't flee.

The two Agents had left for whatever hideyhole they came out of, or to rest before they could continue their duties once again.

And as for the X-Men, they were leaving too, going back home. Logan had a lot more questions with the return of his memories, and so, he was going to start travelling once again. Which was really understandable.

Logan not only remembered that he had a wife that had died at Stryker's hands, but he also remembers now that his sworn enemy Sabertooth was none other than his brother, Victor Creed.

"I always knew we had some history, just didn't expect him to have been my brother, you know. He's probably forgotten about me too, or else he would have said something." Logan had said, when we spoke before he left.

Like the good friend I am, I had given him, and the X-Men, a way to contact me if need be. An enchanted locket for Logan, and another one for Storm.

And now, once all of them had separated, with an agreement to meet once the Device to take Thor and Loki back home was completed, I and Steve were left alone, ready to finally have the talk we had promised one another with.

Sitting on top of Stark's tower, with a bottle of Firewhiskey between us, Steve and I stared at the destruction Loki had wrought upon New York City. Two buildings had fallen down, multiple houses and smaller buildings blown in, and the fires were still burning bright, with the Fire Department working hard to bring that under control.

How many lives were lost, we don't yet know, but the number was definitely close to a thousand.

"Was it necessary? Taking Loki's scepter away from Shield and making them into an enemy?" Steve asks, after a while of silently drinking.

I hum, and taking a sip of the Firewhiskey, I say, "I was hesitant about letting them take it in the beginning itself, Steve. It can completely dominate anyone's mind, and I mean anyone. I don't think there's a single person on this entire planet that can resist the Scepter's powers, save for Tony. And that's only because of that thing inside his chest."

"Even you?" Steve asks, skeptical.

I pause, and shrugging, answer, "Forty years ago, I would have said no. My mind was stable enough that nothing could have been usable by the Scepter to control me. But now.. I'm afraid I'm not as mentally healthy as I once was."

The Mind Stone.. even dampened by the Scepter's metal, which is what allowed people to control it, I could still feel its enormous Power. 

The Infinity within the Stone.

No matter what Mental barriers anyone puts up, the Stone will break through all of them to completely dominate them, take over their minds, turn them allies to itself, or its wielder. 

Selene, I, or maybe even the other Externals might be resistant to it. Might be. But as I am now, my mind is not the impenetrable castle it used to be. Sure, it's still better than what any human has, but in front of the Infinity Stones, it's nothing.

Maybe Jean might prove to be a match for it, due to her Phoenix Host identity. But other than that, the chances are low.

Tony's circumstances were a bit funny. The Arc Reactor was made to mimic the Tesseract's energy, and it does that beautifully. Even the miniature arc reactor in Tony's chest is like a tiny replica of the Tesseract, with barely a fraction of a fraction of its energy.

But that fraction of a fraction was enough to protect Tony from being controlled by the Stone's Power.

Sighing, I say, "Was it smart? No. But after seeing how he was behaving, I just couldn't allow them to keep the Scepter. It was necessary."

Steve takes the bottle from my hand, and after taking a sip, he says, "I can't believe SHIELD tried to do it. What were they thinking, trying to take a Prince of a Foreign State prisoner?"

"They weren't thinking." I say, and lean back. "Our enemy he may be, but unless Earth wants a War with Asgard, we wouldn't have been allowed to keep him here."

And judging by how the Bifrost was capable of destroying Jotunheim, Asgard won't even have to set a single foot on Earth to win that War.

As much as I'm confident in my abilities as well as the abilities of the Avengers and other Powered defenders of Earth, we might not be able to stop Asgard if that happens.

After a moment's pause, Steve says, "So.. Magic. Is it something new.. or did you always have it?"

I stay silent for a few seconds, deciding what to tell him and what not to. But a single glance at his face makes me not want to lie at all.

Sighing, I say, "Magic.. is something I learned about very early on in my life. Even before I began learning Magic properly, I had knowledge of it. So yes, when we fought the War, I had my Magic. I didn't use it much, but I had it."

Steve looks at me, a thoughtful look on his face, and says, "You.. can't tell me much, can you? Are there Laws or something?"

Smiling, I say, "You're a smart man, Steve."

Steve takes that for what it is, and nods. 

I turn back to look at the city once again, and say, "During the War, there were others like me. Other Wizards. Both on our side, and on theirs. Not too many, but we were there. It was our duty as those on the frontlines to take care of the Wizards from the opposite side. Those were the only times, except for the day I escaped from Hydra's hands, when I used my Magic to fight the War."

Steve widens his eyes, and asks, "There were Wizards in Hydra?"

I shake my head, and correct him, "There were Wizards with the Axis forces. Wizards were generally very arrogant, and didn't like subverting themselves to anyone. Hydra and the rest of the Axis Powers had Wizard allies, but no Wizard underlings."

"Were? Are they.. all dead?" Steve asks, frowning.

"Gone. Not dead, don't worry. Just.. hidden." I answer, reassuring him.

Steve lets out a breath, and says, "I wonder when things got so weird. Aliens, Gods, Wizards. Remember when I was the weirdest thing in the entirety of humanity?"

"Technically, that was the Red Skull." I say, smiling in amusement when he chuckles.

We stay silent once more, for a while, after which Steve turns to me and asks, "So, Magic. Teleportation, fast healing, flight, and whatever the hell you did with the Scepter. What else can you do with it?"

I smile at his curiosity, and say, "My Healing is not part of my Magic, Steve. It is a mutation, just like Logan's. As for my Magic, imagine any superpower, anything really, and I might have a way to replicate it within a very short amount of time."

"Really?" Steve asks, understandably skeptical.

Smiling in amusement, I say, "Really. Even without preparation, I can do a lot of things. Cast spells to do a lot of things like fly, teleport, move things, control elements, turn myself into an animal. Hell, given enough time, I can even look into the future, or possible futures to be more exact. And I've personally had experience in actually travelling to the past."

Steve raises his eyebrows, and says, "Bullshit."

Chuckling, I say, "Hey, I'm only answering your questions, believing or not is your problem."

"Really? You can look into the future? So did you see the battle happening even before it happened? I guess that does explain why you came out of hiding." Steve says, becoming less and less disbelieving with every word.

"I'd seen this battle coming 50 years ago. But it was not the same. The fight I saw happening involved just you, Natasha, Barton, Stark, Thor, and Hulk. I wasn't even present in the Vision."

"But, I knew you would return, as I had seen you fight against Loki. I was actually planning on letting it happen like that, leaving you lot to battle and defeat Loki on your own. But when I saw you that day, back in Germany.. I just couldn't let you face this battle alone." I say, smiling softly.

"You were going to let us fight Loki and his forces alone? Without you or the X-Men?" Steve asks, frowning in disappointment at me.

I frown back, offended at his look, and say, "I have more important things to worry about than a battle I know Earth would win. My wife is still missing if you don't remember, Steve."

Steve stops whatever refute he had on the tip of his tongue, not completely understanding, but he doesn't argue. Instead he nods looking down, and says, "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." I say, smiling at him.

"So, what can you tell me about the future? What happens now that the battle is over?" Steve asks, purposefully changing the subject.

I don't call him out on it, and instead just shrug. I say, "I don't know. The last time I tried seeing into the future was a few years ago, when I was trying to find Selene. And sorry to say, but I wasn't focused on anything other than her."

"But it isn't as if Future is fixed. Some events, sure. I can tell you for sure what major events might happen in the next 20 years, not that I will, but I can. But I can't tell you exactly how those major events will end up happening. Like, there's a 10 year old girl down there, somewhere, whom our bow wielding friend will train to be the next Hawkeye once she's grown up. But do I know exactly what her life will be like? No.

Looking at Steve, who looks down to look for the girl, I explain, "Time.. isn't fixed. There are a billion ways the next minute could go, and a billion more variations of each for the next next minute. It's.. complicated."

Turning towards his stupefied face, I say, "I've seen a lot of things happening in the future, Steve. Some Absolute, some not. And there will come a time, when you will hate me for it. You will absolutely loathe me for hiding some things from you for the sake of not changing the absolute points in our future, but then, some other day, you'll understand why I did what I did."

Steve sighs, not taking my warning seriously, and says, "Why can't things ever be easy."

But I could feel that his thoughts were not exactly favourable towards me. His thoughts were still focused on my decision to only interfere because I saw him. And now this. The fact that I'm hiding something very important from him. And let's not forget my wife.

He understands that I put the disappearance of my wife above the planet, but he doesn't understand why I can do it. Or how.

'That's not what a Hero should do.' his thoughts ring out loud to me.

Sighing, I take a deep breath, and say, "I'm not a hero, Steve." When he looks up, alarmed, I say, "I'm a telepath, unless you've forgotten that too. You're practically screaming your thoughts out loud. And I agree, I'm not a hero."

"Mason.. I didn't mean it that way." Steve begins, but stops when I wave my hand.

"I'm agreeing with you, mate. I'm not a Hero, and I know that. It took me a long time to accept that. I'm a selfish man with Power."

"You're one of the best men I know, Mason." Steve says, looking at me with conflicting emotions.

He wanted to hold on to the image of the Team Leader he had of me, but he's now seeing proof that I'm not it. Poor guy.

I look away from him, back towards the city and say, "I am not the man you think I am, Steve. I'm not some selfless hero, not like you, not like Thor even. I'm.. "

I pause, gathering my thoughts, and then say, "Did you know why I joined the war? I could have sat the war out, I was a medical student, and I could have cleared it all up with the brass when I was drafted."

"But you didn't." Steve counters immediately.

I shake my head, and say, "Not because I wanted to serve my country, or save innocent people from Nazis. Hell, defeating Nazis was like fifth on my priority list at the time." And wasn't that something I'm ashamed of even now.

"I did it because I wanted to feel like a Hero, Steve. It was purely selfish on my end. I wanted to be a guy that people could look up to, I wanted to be a guy my mum could be proud of. Even my dream of becoming a doctor was because of that. But I wasn't a guy my mum could rightly be proud of, not before, and not now either."

Chuckling, as Steve lets me rant with a stony face, I shrug and say, "It's stupid, I wanted to be famous, and I knew that you would be a force to be reckoned with given the chance. So, I approached you that day, when Phillips gave me that mission to rescue them all. I didn't need to, I could have done it by myself, but I did, because I could see it in you, what I couldn't see in myself. I wanted to become a Hero, but you already were one, you just.. didn't have the chance."

Smiling sardonically, I reminisce about my life and say, "But then.. while being a vengeful dick who just wanted to kill Schmidt for what he had done to me, I.. I came to see you all as actual friends and not just ladders to climb on the way to fame. Howling Commandos became my family, and I was ready to die for them. I would have died for any one of them. Hell, I'd have died for Stark.

"But then we lost Tim and Bucky, you lost the little innocence you had about you, I lost the patience I had in me. Both of us became focused on vengeance, and that day.. both of us lost our way. You disappeared when you dropped that plane, I disappeared when my Government needed me to disappear.".

I take a pause, letting Steve absorb it all, and say, "And Dugan.. he managed wonderfully, Steve, better than either of us ever did. It was only when I saw Dugan leading the Howling Commandos, that I realised I was not the man I believed myself to be. Underneath it all, I was still a selfish man who wanted to become someone famous, which I wouldn't have gotten the chance to do as a Doctor."

For a minute, Steve stays silent, his eyes downcast, the bottle of Firewhiskey still in his hands. Taking a large gulp of the drink, Steve says, "I.. I didn't know all this."

Grinning, I say, "I am pretty amazing at pretending to be a hero, Steve."

"I also didn't know you were such a moron." Steve adds, making me stop grinning immediately.

"Excuse me?" I ask, fairly offended.

Steve turns towards me, his eyes now showing rage, and says, "You think all of us Howling Commandos were selfless morons? Dernier wanted to just explode stuff, Bucky actually liked being a sniper. Exploding people's brains distracted him from whatever torture he suffered at Hydra. Dugan enjoyed watching people's chests explode when he shot them with his shotgun, Gabe just wanted to learn more languages. Morita wanted to prove that the Japanese people are not the Japanese government. Almost every one of us came not because of our selflessness, but because we were drafted. And every one of us had their quirks."

I open my mouth, to say not everyone, Steve wasn't, but he just shakes his head, and barrels on, saying, "And before you ask, even me. I was 80 pounds wet and I believed myself good enough to go to war. I was an absolute idiot, Mason. Completely selfish, completely self-centered. If it wasn't for Erskine, I would have been some factory worker somewhere, manufacturing weapons I would never have gotten the chance to use. And you know what? I should have accepted that and gone to work in the factory like a good little boy."

I stare at him, open-mouthed, as he stands up, pokes his finger in my chest, and says, "You should have become a doctor, Bucky should never have tried to defend me. Tim should never have gone with you, when he wasn't used to infiltration.

"But the thing is, you fucking idiot, we all still did it. You still joined the army, rescued hundreds of people single-handedly, and then with our help even more. Bucky still tried to defend me against superior weapons and lost his life. Tim still accepted going with you and lost his life. We still chose to do what we did. You.. still chose to interfere, despite knowing that the future didn't have you fighting this fight.

"Despite our initial faults, we still did it. We chose to do it. You understand what I'm saying? It's not about what you thought first, it's what you chose to do after."

"You're a good man, Mason Aves. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself."

At that, I just pull Steve towards me into a hug, and start crying. Steve holds me, as I silently cry, letting the tears finally loose.

It hurts, it hurts oh so much. I've been holding back my tears since Selene disappeared, not even letting my friends see how distraught I actually am. Not letting James, Harry, Luca, Darla, or anyone see how much her disappearance hurt me.

We've been together for two thousand years. Two fucking thousand years. And she just.. left? Just like that? I love her, I know she loves me me, but does our love not deserve at least a reason for why she left?

I still don't agree with Steve's words, I'm not a hero and I have already accepted it. But.. to see how much he cares about me, to see how he's not afraid to put me in my place like this.. it makes me miss Selene even more.

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll find her. We'll find your wife, and then you'll be back to living a happy life once again." Steve says, and I smile through the tears.

'No, you won't', I want to say. But I hold my tongue and just enjoy the comfort of his presence.

—

A/N: Well, how was it? Steve's rant was something I'd actually planned like 30 chapters ago. So I hope it came out good.

Hydra doesn't have the Scepter anymore, Mason's taken it. Consequences? There will be. Legal consequences? Hell nah. What's Shield going to do? Vilify the Avengers this soon after they've defended Earth? Let alone one of the two War heroes from WW2?

Mason's depression.. Selene's disappearance has hit him hard. He's been suppressing it, but he's still depressed. Steve, being one of his closest and nicest friends, brought those suppressed tears out. Don't curse me for making him soft, he's just missing his wife.

Thank you for your support! Tata!