Decisions, Decisions…

Tell me, Clark, how would you like to join the Avengers?"

Clark was not expecting this. At all. The idea of actually being part of the Avengers had never occurred to him. And honestly, why would it? It wasn't like he planned to become "Superman" and stand in front of the whole world before. Using his gifts to help people was one thing, but actually revealing he was an alien and flying everywhere helping people in broad daylight was quite another.

After everything that happened, there wasn't a way for things to go back to the way they were. Clark was alright with that. Sure, he would prefer that the news would stop to talk about him 24/7, that the internet wasn't filled with people making up all sorts of weird stuff about him and, mostly, that governments all over the world would just stop to try tailing him, but after Black Zero Event he couldn't actually blame them.

So the question was: what would he do now?

Keep helping people as he was or join the Avengers? What would change? For one, he would have support. Of course, being a Kryptonian and having Kelex on his side made him pretty much self-sufficient, but you could never have enough people on your side. There were things he just wasn't suited to do or that he just didn't have the time to do. Information gathering, for example, was something he could more or less handle, but the time spent doing that could be better used somewhere else, like rescuing someone from an active volcano or stopping an avalanche.

Despite what some crazy people were saying out there, Clark was very aware he wasn't a god. He couldn't be everywhere at all times and he certainly wasn't all-knowing. The whole situation with Zod was enough proof; even being as powerful as he was, there was simply no way he could've done all that by himself. The Avengers helped him all the way and he couldn't imagine what he would do if they weren't there.

But that brought a whole list of cons too. The Avengers answered to SHIELD and SHIELD answered to the World Security Council. The same guys who had actually fired a nuke in New York, the same guys who had used the Tesseract to develop weapons and ended up drawing Loki and Zod to Earth, the same guys who did a lot of shady things everywhere at all times, things that Clark didn't agree with.

Everything the Avengers did had to pass through them first. Obviously, when the situation demanded, he knew the Avengers were more than willing to do things on their own and even disobey direct orders, but on a daily basis how would that work? It wasn't that he thought he was better than the Avengers, that he was always right or that he didn't feel the need to answer for the things he did. He knew they were great people, heroes in every sense of the word.

However, SHIELD, as an organization, wasn't, and the World Security Council even less.

Would they prevent him from helping people because of politics? Clark liked to always think the best of everyone, but that didn't make him naïve. He was well aware that there were people around the world comfortable in committing unspeakable acts as long as they gained something doing it. Governments everywhere had people like that inside them. SHIELD was no different.

That wasn't to say that everyone there was like that. He knew they weren't. He would even go as far as to say that most of them weren't. He was aware of SHIELD's history, he knew about all the good they did to the world. And he had personally met heroes working for SHIELD, and not only the ones in the room with him right now.

But what would that mean if the people in charge weren't like that? How much power did SHIELD, and more importantly, the World Security Council, have over the Avengers? If Clark joined the Avengers only to disobey them on a regular basis, in how much trouble his companions would find themselves? It wouldn't be just him in trouble anymore, it would be all of them, since he would be part of the team.

All those questions passed in a flash inside his mind as Clark just stared at Tony in silence, without really seeing him.

Shaking his head, Clark looked at Tony.

"Can I think about it?" he asked.

Tony opened his arms, full of energy.

"What is there to think about?! It's the Avengers!" he exclaimed.

"Tony!" said Pepper, slapping his ribs. "Let him think! It's not a simple question and you know it!"

"Ugh, fine! Think about it, then, but don't take too long. Who knows if someone else will appear in the meantime and take your spot?"

"Like who?" asked Clark, sitting on the couch by the small table. Everybody sat too, now that the tension of what Clark would answer passed.

"There are all sorts of talented people out there," Tony said. "Like, um, Maria Hill! She would be a really nice addition to the team, so there!"

"Maria wouldn't want to join the Avengers," Bruce answered, distracted as he opened the bags of Chinese food on the table and passed them around. "She is happy at SHIELD."

Bruce was the only one there who hasn't realized his mistake as Tony's smile widened to inhuman proportions.

"Is that so? And how would you know about that, Bruce?" he asked.

Dr. Banner looked up at Tony. Every single person there was staring at him with different degrees of interest, from Natasha's little grin and bright eyes to Thor's full-blown smile.

"I-I mean, that's what I gathered from the small conversations I had with her, that's all," answered Bruce, looking down again.

"When did you have those 'short conversations'?" asked Natasha with a mischievous expression. "After the Hulk saved her life in the Helicarrier? Or when she managed to calm you down enough for you to change back? I'm just trying to build a timeline here."

Clark's own smile got a little bigger when his Kryptonian's eyes managed to see a little blush on Bruce's cheeks.

"Bruce and Maria sitting in a tree, K-I-S–"began Tony.

"Do you want to ask what happened to the Big Guy, Tony?" Bruce asked. "Because that can be arranged."

"–what I mean is, I'm happy for you, my friend!"

Everybody started to laugh together and even Bruce was smiling.

"Jokes aside, I'm really happy you found someone, Bruce," said Steve.

"Who said I did?!" asked Bruce, exasperated. "I just talked to her a little, that's all! She is a friend!"

"Speaking of friends, what about the love of your life, Jane, Thor?" Natasha said, giving a last smile to Bruce as he rolled his eyes. "How is she?"

The Asgardian seemed very happy that she'd asked.

"Jane is doing great! I really missed her and Darcy and Selvig!" He stopped. "Well, Selvig is not so well, but he is getting better."

"Didn't you want to stay with her for a while?" asked Clint with his mouth full of food.

"Oh, I asked her if she didn't mind if I came here to spend some time with you," Thor answered, looking a little puzzled as he tried to eat using the chopsticks. "She said I could do whatever I wanted."

He looked at them with his big smile, only to be faced by shocked expressions; the men there winced, as Natasha and Pepper stared at Thor with their jaws agape.

"What?" he asked.

Pepper sighed as Natasha answered:

"Oh, Thor… You're lucky you're pretty."

The poor Asgardian was clueless, so Clark took pity on him.

"When 'midgardian' women say you should do what you want, it doesn't actually mean that you should do what you want," Clark explained.

"I do not understand," Thor said, confused.

"You don't do what you want," Clint continued Clark's explanation, "you try to do what she wants you to do."

Thor looked around as everyone nodded wisely.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Thor argued, baffled. "If she wanted me to do something, why didn't she say so?"

"Who knows, buddy?" Tony said. "If you, a god, doesn't have all the answers, what can we, mere mortals, do? Women are complicated beings." Natasha and Pepper gazed at him. "Complex, wonderful beings, I mean!"

"Asgardian women don't do this," Thor said, as if remembering something. "I remember once when Sif–" He stopped for a second in stillness and then widened his eyes. "Oh!"

"Finally caught on, huh?" Clint asked, laughing, as Thor took his hands to the face.

"Forget what I said, I think Asgardian women do that as well," he corrected himself, groaning. He looked around. "What should I do?"

"Say you're sorry," Tony answered immediately.

"But what do I say I'm sorry for?" Thor asked.

"It doesn't matter, just say you're sorry," Tony said and Pepper looked at him with threatening glare. He looked down. "I'm sorry, Pepper, I was inconsiderate."

Natasha rolled her eyes as Pepper smacked Tony on the head again.

"Don't worry, Thor, I'll order some chocolates and flowers and you can apologize tomorrow," Pepper said, to Thor's relief.

"I am grateful!"

"You're welcome," she said, smiling. "But you have to be careful, Thor. Pay attention to her feelings, not her words. Well, her words too, but not only them. Oh! And her body language is extremely important as well."

Thor just stared with a blank expression.

"I do not understand."

There was a ripple of laughs around the small table.

"I don't know why you men think this is funny," Natasha said while eating. "At least he has a girlfriend."

That shut most of them up.

"I have a girlfriend!" Tony bragged.

"Keep doing that and we'll see how long that last," Pepper threatened.

"What about you, Cap?" Tony asked hastily. "How are things going for you with the 'future girls'?"

Steve just sighed.

"They are not going at all," he said. "I don't think I'm ready for dating."

"Nonsense," Natasha said, immediately. "What about your neighbor, the nurse? She likes you."

"How do you know about that?!"

"You should ask her out," she suggested, completely ignoring his question.

"I-I don't think so," he mumbled, his ears red.

Natasha's smiled widened.

"I'll find you a date, I'm good at that."

"Please, don't–"

"And what about you, Clark?" asked Natasha, turning to him.

And there it was, what he was dreading since the beginning of that conversation. Maybe he should just answer if he would join the Avengers, that would be an easier answer.

Two Weeks Later

Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde was not having a good day. Rogue and Jubilee had bought a bottle of cheap vodka last night so they could drink a bit, have some fun, dance and talk about boys. It was a nice plan and Kitty was 100% onboard with it, but after a few doses what promised to be a fun night turned into a sobbing nightmare.

Apparently Rogue was a sad drunk. Who would've thought?

So the "drink a bit" part became the "drain the bottle part," having some fun turned into crying, the dancing was suddenly replaced by she and Jubilee trying to comfort her and the talk about boys turned into a huge, drunken monologue of how she would die alone because she couldn't touch people without killing them and the mutants would probably become extinct.

Riveting stuff, really.

So not only the night was terrible, but there was also a painful hangover and, maybe worst of all, they woke up late to their flight. The three of them had to run across the city, their heads throbbing with pain, the sun blinding them, so they could get in the airport and board the plane to New York in time.

And now the plane was falling.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" chanted Kitty, as she held the armrest so strongly that her fingers became white.

"Logan was right about planes all along!" exclaimed Jubilee, her face pale.

"I don't want to die a virgin!" yelled Rogue, closing her eyes.

Damn New York! This city was definitely cursed! If two alien invasions less than 5 years apart didn't prove that much, there was this. Just when she thought things were quiet enough for her to come back to the mansion, the plane she got on began to malfunction and drop down. It was unbelievable.

Kitty, Rogue and Jubilee were out of town during the Black Zero Event, first doing some X-Men business and then visiting her parents. In fact, as she understood, most of the team was out of New York the day the whole thing happened and before the Professor could even assemble everyone to try to figure out what was going on and what they should do, Superman and the Avengers won the day.

Not without heavy losses to the city where it all happened, of course, but at least they had saved the world.

But apparently they did not break the damn curse on the city! Looking around, Kitty could see every single person in the plane fearing for their lives. Rogue, the part gothic part southern belle mutant with the power to absorb people's essences, had her eyes closed; Jubilee, the Asian descent mutant who had the power to shoot pyrotechnic energy plasmoids – fireworks as she called them – from her body, was as pale as snow; the rest of the passengers were no different, some praying, some paralyzed with fear.

And then there was her, the brunette mutant who had the convenient power to phase through solid objects.

Kitty was scared, of course, there was no way not to be in a situation like that. But her emotions were a tiny bit more complex at the moment, because, out of every person in that plane, she was the only one with the ability to maybe survive its crash. She had, after all, the ability to walk through walls; meaning, if she phased at the right moment, she wouldn't die when the whole thing collided against the ground.

The problem was: what about everybody else in the plane? Could she really just take her friends and disappear, leaving everybody else to die?

Before she could even start to get to a conclusion, however, Rogue snapped her out of her thoughts with a yelp.

"What do you think you are doing?!" she yelled looking at Jubilee, the smoke and fire of the malfunctioning turbines making her voice hard to hear.

"I-I thought y-you said–" Jubilee started, her face now redder than anything Kitty had ever seen.

"I said I don't want to die a virgin! Preferably doing it with a guy I love!" Rogue snarled at her. "I kissed guys before, you know?! Some of them were in a coma! What were you thinking, trying to kiss me?!"

What?! Kitty looked at Jubilee, seeing her face getting even redder now.

"I'm s-sorry! I was just trying to help, I panicked!"

"Everybody shut up!" Kitty screamed at them, trying to make her voice heard over the sound of the broken turbines. She approached her friends and talked in a lower voice: "Look, I can take us out of here, but–"

Rogue's eyes widened.

"That's true! Oh my god, I can't believe I forgot!"

"That's awesome!" agreed Jubilee, just as happy. But then the same thought that occurred to Kitty passed on to her. "But… What about everyone else?"

In unison, they all looked around, seeing all the people in the plane. Normal, ordinary people who had no chance at surviving a plane crash: men, women, elderly, children. Kitty thought she had even seen a baby somewhere. She could save their lives if she used her gift and took some of them out of the plane safe and sound.

But everyone else there would die.

"So?" asked Rogue, looking at Jubilee and her now. "What about them?"

"Rogue!" exclaimed Jubilee.

"Look, Kitty can't phase everyone," Rogue said. "I don't even know if she can phase us three in time! There isn't anything we can do for them."

"But shouldn't I… shouldn't I at least try?" asked Kitty, her voice almost a whisper.

"Why? Why would you?!" snapped Rogue. "Do you think any of them would do the same for us? Risk their lives for a bunch of mutants?"

No, Kitty didn't think so. She would like to believe they would, that the simple fact that they were born different wouldn't change how they were perceived by others, but she had already seen too much to know that being a mutant changed everything. Since joining the X-Men, how many horrible things done to mutants had she witnessed?

Parents abandoning their children after finding out what they were, mobs literally hunting and beating mutants in the streets, governments making experiments on them that would make the conditions in some torture dungeons look kind… To most, mutants just weren't seen as people at all.

Not too long ago, there was even a mutant factory operating inside New York! And how many government people were involved on covering that up? She remembered the day that news went on air, everybody in the mansion together watching the horror on TV, Jean and Scott telling them to take the children back to their rooms so they wouldn't see that.

And she wanted to risk her life, most likely condemning her and her friends to a horrible death, to save them?

In silence Kitty looked through the window, right at the moment they passed through the parts of the city destroyed during the Black Zero Event, and, suddenly, her thoughts turned to Superman. She and pretty much every single person in the whole world had seen the battle passing on TV, the several images pieced together by the TV stations in an almost infinite loop since that day.

She had seen the brutal fight, Superman giving his best to protect everybody, the unbelievable effort Kal-El did to stop General Zod, almost giving his life in the attempt. She had seen Superman fly around the city after that, rescuing people, saving lives nonstop. And she had seen him continuing to do that ever since, helping people, fighting crime, stopping accidents. Even then, there were still people calling him a monster, telling him to get out of Earth, asking for the government to kill him.

That wasn't the impressive stuff, Kitty knew by now how evil humans could be. No, the impressive stuff was that Superman never stopped saving people, even after being treated like that by many, even when the same people he was saving were the ones doing that. No matter what they said, no matter what they did, Superman never lost his will to stand up for what was right.

Kitty wanted to be like that too.

"I'm helping them," she announced, her eyes full of certainty.

She expected Rogue and Jubilee to argue with her, but both of them just looked at her and nodded in certainty; Kitty smiled. Rogue talked a lot, but she was an X-Men for a reason.

"I'll need everybody to touch each other," she explained, opening her seatbelt. "And then, right when the plane is about to crash, I'll try phasing us."

"Do you think you can do it?" asked Rogue, worried.

Kitty didn't answer immediately.

"I don't know. But I know I have to try."

And then she got up; right at the moment something blue flew by her window with incredible speed. She opened an enormous smile; Kitty couldn't believe her eyes.

"IT'S SUPERMAN!" she yelled.

Every person turned to the windows, their fear forgotten for the moment; Kitty heard someone laughing and cheering. Just like that, all the horror passed, and hope filled them all.

They felt the plunging plane reduce its speed and stabilize, as Superman probably lifted the whole thing on his back. Kitty, Rogue and Jubilee couldn't stop smiling.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have excellent news! Superman is carrying us to the airport safe and sound!" the pilot said.

Somehow, excellent news didn't quite describe how good Kitty was feeling right now.

"I LOVE YOU, SUPERMAN!" yelled Rogue, punching the air in happiness.

Well, that probably worked, Kitty thought, as she glued herself to the window yelling cheerful nonsense just like Rogue and Jubilee.

"We need back up!" yelled officer Brett Mahoney in his radio, as he hid behind the police car.

BANG BANG BANG! The sounds of bullets penetrating through the car rang loudly in his ears as the criminals shot continuously against him and his partner. What a stupid thing they did following those guys alone! Brett wanted to kick himself. Every police officer he knew would have waited for back up before trying to go after the robbers, but Brett had seen them shooting all around and endangering civilians, and if they went after them, at least they would be shooting at someone who could shoot back.

That was his thought at the time, at least; now he wasn't so sure about it anymore. They managed to crash the police car against the van and force it to stop, all according to the plan.

The robbers getting out of the van carrying military grade weapons, however, wasn't something he had considered.

He was lucky as hell that the first bomb had only tossed the police car away instead of blowing everything up, but now they were pinned down by gunfire, while trying to protect themselves behind the upside down car.

And soon, they would be out of ammunition and the only thing keeping the assailants away would be gone.

Brett ejected his last magazine and sighed. So this was how it ended, he thought. At least… At least he would die like a true cop. An honest one, incorruptible until the very end. That was something.

He closed his eyes to pray for one last time, and that was when there was a thundering sound above as if the sky split open.

The shooting stopped as everybody looked to the sky, looking for what was making that noise; in that moment a blue blur descended fast, crashing against the top of the van with incredible force. The van bended like scrap and all the windows broke.

Shocked, Brett risked himself and looked at what was happening, only to see Superman standing on top of the robber's van, looking down at them.

The surprising thing? None of them fired. There wasn't a single bullet fired against Superman. Maybe they already knew it was pointless – it wasn't like it was the first time Superman intervened against armed thugs in the last days – or maybe they were just too afraid, but not a single one of them dared to shoot.

Instead, all of them just tossed their guns to the ground and raised their hands in the air, already resigned to their fate.

Brett had seen a lot of things in his time as cop, but a flying alien coming down from the sky to save his life was a first.

But it wasn't all bad, he had to admit that much.

"She looked at him with her blue eyes and for the first time there was emotion in them. 'Kal-El, it is our duty to save Krypton,' Faora said, getting closer. 'And we will have to do it the old fashioned way,' she added, leaning for a kiss. The kiss was forceful, but tender, and Superman felt in it all the unspoken love the sub-commander, once his enemy, had for him–"

Jessica just couldn't keep reading anymore, as she started laughing so hard her voice simply wouldn't come out. Clark, however, wasn't laughing; he was horrified.

"What the hell is this thing?!" he exclaimed, getting up from the couch of his apartment and walking closer to Jessica's notebook.

She tried to answer, but she was laughing so much that all she could do was flap around and make noises like a retarded seal. So Clark took matters into his own hand, leaning and looking at the screen.

"Faora: The Path to Atonement," Clark read, too shocked to say anything else; Jessica was laughing even harder now. "A love story between Faora and Superman. Can love mend a broken planet?"

Jesus Christ. Clark knew bad things came with fame. People telling him he should go back to his planet was bad enough – not only because he didn't have a planet to go back to but because it was just rude – the government trying to track him down and control him was also bad, but this? This was the worst thing he could've possibly imagined.

They were writing about him. They were writing love stories of him and that crazy psychopath, Faora. They were writing… Yep, they were also writing love stories of him and Zod too. Him and Steve, him and Tony, him and Thor…

"Who the hell is DL166?!" he asked, almost using Kelex to track whoever this was and do something about it. "This-this can't be legal!"

"And what are you going to do?" asked Jessica, finally calming down enough to say some words, her eyes full of tears. "Find a lawyer and sue? Superman is an alien, there is no law against this sort of thing."

"Where did you find this?" Clark asked.

"Trish showed me. Apparently, she has a few listeners that are into that kind of shit. But this is…" she started to laugh again.

Clark sighed and turned, trying to forget about this while he was getting ready to leave. He had a dinner with Natasha tonight, to ask her a few questions about their offer for him to join; it had been two weeks already, after all.

"You know, Faora would be very jealous if she knew you were getting all handsome for a date with another woman," Jessica said as Clark rolled his eyes with a groan.

"First, Faora was a textbook psychopath, she had no emotions whatsoever. And second, it's not a date."

"Riiight," Jessica said, sarcastically, giving him a thumbs up. "No date with Miss Black Widow at all, no sir! Just a tip, don't bring her here after your non-date. She seems to be a classy woman and your apartment is a dump, you'll never be able to convince her to sleep with you here."

"It's not a date!" he repeated and then looked around. "And is my apartment really that bad?"

"It's falling apart, Clark! Last time I closed the door, a piece of the ceiling fell off."

"You were the one who did that?!"

"No… Like I said, the apartment is falling apart. It wasn't my fault," Jessica answered, diverting her eyes in a suspicious manner.

"I caught someone looking through it the other day, you know? I had to close that thing with a piece of duct tape."

"You can see through walls, 'Mr. I Want Privacy But I Can Hear And See Everything Everybody Does At All Times'!" said Jessica. Well, she had a point there.

Deciding to ignore her, Clark looked in the mirror to see how he looked. Not bad at all, he thought, seeing his black suit. It wasn't an expansive one, since he had no money for that kind of thing, but it was nice.

"How did you get a date with Black Widow, anyway?" Jessica asked, typing something.

Clark sighed. She wouldn't let that go, would she? He decided to turn the tables.

"Why? Are you jealous? I know she is your favorite Avenger, but maybe you wanted something… more?"

She snapped her head up to look at him; there was a small blush on her cheeks.

"Fuck off!" she said, as Clark laughed. "I don't have a favorite Avenger and I'm not into chicks!"

"Hey, there is no need to be ashamed! I won't think any less of you because of this, what do you think I am?"

Jessica's answer was to give him the finger. He laughed and turned to leave.

"Lock the door when you leave," he asked her.

When he was almost in the elevator, she yelled: "Put a sock on the doorknob if you're lucky!"

Well, since he had super-hearing and she didn't, apparently she would have the last word today.

Natasha looked around the fancy restaurant as she waited for Clark to arrive. He wasn't late – it would be hard to be late with that speed of his –, but she liked to arrive early to assess the environment; she blamed her upbringing for this. Maybe it was unnecessary today, but her paranoia had kept her alive during all those years of spying.

So she did what she always did. Planned her escape routes, checked the customers and the staff to see if there wasn't any threat, strapped a gun under the table for rapid access and prepared her anti-poison SHIELD kit; she was immune to most common poisons, perks of growing up in the Red Room, but one could never know when a tasty bite could be your last.

A few minutes later, she saw Clark coming in, following the directions he was given; he probably spotted her first, which was a novelty. How did she know this? He widened his eyes and looked very surprised.

Smiling, Natasha got up and kissed his cheek.

"Hi," he said, still looking at her. "You are–"

"Beautiful?" she completed.

He nodded, a little embarrassed.

"That too, but I was going to say 'blond'."

She knew that, of course, but it was fun to play.

"Special dye, for a quick appearance change," she explained. "It will go back to normal later, but I didn't think Clark Kent would like his date with the Avenger Natasha Romanoff to be on the news tomorrow."

"Wow, that was very thoughtful of you. Did you say date?"

Natasha grinned.

"We'll see how it goes, handsome," she answered, enjoying his awkwardness more than she should.

The waiter approached the table and gave each of them a menu, so they stopped talking for a moment. Instead of reading hers, she already knew what she wanted, she decided to observe Clark. His reaction was exactly as she imagined.

"Jesus… Natasha, did you see those prices?!" he whispered, alarmed.

She almost laughed; when was the last time her "date" had the courage do even imply he couldn't give her anything she would desire? Clark, however, wasn't a corrupt politician or a rich business man that she would usually approach as an agent, he was a starting freelance journalist, hardly someone with the money to eat where they were.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," she reassured him.

"I-I can't ask you to pay for everything!"

"Oh, I won't," Natasha answered, showing him a credit card, a credit card that had the name Stark Industries printed on it. "Stark will."

His eyebrows rose as he tried to understand what was happening.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I worked for Stark?" she asked, knowing very well she didn't. "Well, actually I was assessing him for the Avengers Initiative, but anyway, I was given a company credit card for expenses and, when I left, I guess he forgot to take it back."

"And you've been using it?!" he asked startled.

Natasha smiled at his shock. She knew Tony hadn't forgotten anything, well, maybe he did, but something like this would never pass through Jarvis or Pepper unnoticed. If the credit card still worked, it was a deliberate act. Probably an apology for being a terribly annoying boss.

But her story sounded cooler.

"It'll be our little secret," she whispered, placing her finger on her lips.

Clark looked at the prices again.

"I'll pay him back later," he said in a low voice, knowing very well he couldn't pay for anything there. She just laughed.

Natasha called the waiter and they ordered, getting a very expansive bottle of wine too; Clark looked terribly worried, she would have to tell him the truth later.

"So, how are you doing, Clark? Well, I hope."

"Oh, I'm good. Had some busy days, fixed my mom's house…"

"How is she?" Natasha asked with genuine interest. She liked Martha.

"Ma is doing great, thanks for asking. And what about you? And everyone else?" he asked.

"I'm doing very well too and so is everyone. Tony and Bruce are doing some science related stuff in the Tower, Thor is with Jane, Clint is busy healing his leg and I'm packing my bags to go to Washington, DC. Steve too."

"You live there?"

"I don't actually live anywhere, really, but I'm overseeing Steve's training, so I should be where he is."

"You are training Captain America?!" he said.

"Well, he is a little rusty," she joked, smiling. "Steve is the best soldier in the world, but technology changes and so do military tactics. I'm just giving him a crash course. He learns fast, so soon enough I won't be needed there anymore."

"That's good. He really is working for SHIELD then?"

"He is, at least for now. My guess is that Steve doesn't really know what to do right now, so working in an organization created by two of his best friends is his way of keeping himself occupied until he decides what he really wants to do."

Clark looked down.

"I can't even imagine how it must be to wake up to see your whole life gone. Maybe I should visit him, he seems like a nice guy."

"I'm sure he would like that. And, maybe, when you have a little time you could visit another friend you know in Washington too…"

His head snapped up.

"Of course I'll visit you!" he said immediately and she smiled. "I mean, Ma would be very mad at me if I didn't deliver some of her pies to her biggest fan."

Natasha laughed openly; she had to agree, it was a delicious pie and she had ate a lot that day.

"So, Clark, I heard you have questions?" she asked, sipping her wine. "About our offer. Stark has been climbing the walls waiting for your answer."

He looked up from his glass, still looking at the red wine, probably wondering why anyone would ever pay so much for it.

"Yes, I have," Clark finally answered. He stopped to think for a second. "I thought about it during these two weeks, very hard. But, the truth is, I really don't know what I'll be required to do if I join."

Natasha stared at him.

"To be honest, Clark, there isn't a rule book," she admitted. "The Avengers were created by Fury so SHIELD could protect the world against threats that our usual forces couldn't handle. Or at least, that was the idea behind the Avengers Initiative."

"What changed?"

"Well, before we could even set the rules of the game, decide how things would work out, Loki invaded. So Fury assembled the Avengers as a last resort to fight him. Pretty much everything we planned went through the window and we did what we could with what we had. And it worked."

And Natasha still couldn't believe it had worked, to be honest. Stark was a complete narcissistic and uncontrollable man, Steve was a soldier out of his time, Thor was an unknown and wasn't even there when it began, she and Clint were just a couple of spies and the Hulk… Well, the Hulk was the very embodiment of rage and destruction.

Nothing about that team seemed like it work, but it did and they had saved the world because of it.

"The Avengers were supposed to be an elite group inside of SHIELD," Natasha continued, "but we all know it doesn't work like that. Tony, Bruce and Thor couldn't care less about what SHIELD and the World Security Council wants. Steve, even though he is working for SHIELD now, probably doesn't either."

"And what about you and Clint?" he asked.

"We… We believe in what SHIELD represents," she answered, looking at him. "But we also know that sometimes, sometimes their orders have to be disobeyed. Even Fury knows that."

Clark nodded, digesting what she had said to him.

"The nuke thing," he guessed.

She smiled.

"That was an extreme example, but yes."

"But even so, SHIELD does have the power to order the Avengers, doesn't it?" Clark asked.

"Well, sure, but Nick knows exactly with who he is dealing with. The Avengers are not agents, Clark, we are not a team he can command like any other. It exists only to be used in extreme circumstances, like, you know, when aliens invade or something like that. For anything else SHIELD uses its agents. Or do you think Bruce, Stark and Thor would ever be okay with being sent to steal terrorist plans somewhere or try to prevent a coup in some country? Fury knows that if he asks for something that they are not willing to do, they simply won't do it."

Clark nodded again, his eyes unfocused as he pondered on her answer. The waiter approached the table again, bringing their food, and for a moment none of them spoke; she just observed him eating with a smile, taking very small bites from the very small plate.

"You can ask another one if you want, Clark," she said.

He flushed.

"No, that's quite alright. God knows when I'll have the money to pay Tony back for this one…"

She rolled her eyes.

"It was a joke, Clark. Stark knows very well I have this card. Go wild."

"Really? Oh, thank god! Waiter!"

Natasha had to control herself not to laugh at how happy he looked now; he probably was very hungry. She waited for him to order his food and then, when the waiter left, she said: "Clark, tell me what you want to know, I won't be offended. You're worried about joining and I'm not sure why."

He turned to her and sighed.

"Alright. Okay, look, I help people, Natasha, that's what I do. And I'll keep doing it for as long as there are people needing help. Here, yes, but also around the world."

That was an understatement. The things Clark had been doing during these two weeks were, well, unbelievable was not quite the word, but it was close. Amazing. Sometimes frightening. He had stopped a plane from crashing in New York, saved who knows how many people from natural disasters all over the world, channeled rivers so thirsty tribes in South America and Africa could drink and grow crops, basically scared every single gang in New York and the rest of the country to the point that a lot of them just stopped their operations…

It was incredible and it was no wonder that some would call him a god. How could they not, when he could actually hear most of them calling for help and answered?

But at the same time, a lot of people were wary. Clark showed the world what he could do and that kind of power wasn't something people just ignored. There would be those who would try to control him, to use his powers for their gain. Others would try to fight him and Natasha couldn't imagine that would end well.

"So you help people," she said, finally. "So do we."

"I know. What I meant was there may not be written rules for being an Avenger, but there are rules. The fact that SHIELD and the World Security Council haven't said anything yet shows that you've been following them. Or at least not disobeying too much," Clark said. "I'm afraid that if I join and keep doing what I do, that might change."

Natasha sat up.

"What do you mean?"

Clark looked in her eyes.

"If someone needs help, I'll help. I don't care if it isn't convenient with their laws or international rules. I won't close my eyes if a dictator starts to oppress his people or if someone sends troops against innocents. I'm not going to kill anyone, you know I won't, but I have other means to stop them and bring them to justice. And I will do so. The thing is: how would SHIELD and the World Security Council feel about this?"

How would they feel if Clark started to involve himself into government's internal matters all around the world? Not well, she imagined. On this world, every act was a political act, or so they would say. She knew Clark was there only to help those who needed help, but a lot of people wouldn't see it like that at all. To have Clark engaging in these kinds of state-level interventions… That would scare the hell out of SHIELD, the World Security Council and every single government in the world.

For the first time in the history of the world, there would be someone there with power to just say: no, you won't do that, I won't let you.

What she was thinking probably showed on her face, because Clark smiled sadly at her.

"You see what I'm talking about? Do you really want me to involve the Avengers in this?"

Before she could answer, the waiter approached bringing Clark's additional order. They were in silence as he ate, both thinking about what that would mean for Clark, the Avengers and the world. That was not a decision to be made lightly, she realized now.

Natasha grabbed her phone; she needed the team.

Clark looked around the room in the Avengers Tower, seeing the faces of every single member of the Avengers. He had just explained his fears to them and now they were thinking about it a little harder than when they made the offer. It wasn't really their fault, he supposed.

How do you predict something like a Superman in the world? Not even he had predicted that.

"Okay, okay, I see your points," said Tony, looking at him. "And I get it, I really do."

"You do?" asked Bruce, surprised.

Tony turned to him.

"What do you think the U.S army thought when I went around the Middle East destroying every single weapon Stark Industries sold? How do you think they reacted to my Iron Man suit?"

"That's true," Bruce agreed, and then looked at Clark. "And I understand too, at least a little bit. I mean, I was hunted because of the Big Guy all over the world. Ross really didn't want the Hulk around."

"I do not understand this," Thor said, frowning. "Why would they stop you from helping people? That's absurd!"

Clark wasn't surprised Thor didn't understand. He wasn't, in any way, stupid, even though he was brash and quick to act; his culture was just completely different from Earth's. In Asgard, warriors had honor and respect and they stopped wrongdoings wherever they could find them. While Clark was sure there were politics all around the Realms, they didn't let that affect their actions.

It helped that they had a good ruler in Odin, of course, one powerful enough to do what was required, but noble enough to not abuse his power. The day a tyrant sat at Asgard's throne would be the day the whole thing would fall apart.

"Your father banished you that time for something similar," Clark explained. "You saw something wrong happening and you went to Jotunheim to solve it, didn't you? Except, since you are Prince of Asgard your actions involved Asgard and by doing that you almost started a war."

Thor looked down.

"I see. And you are afraid of doing the same thing with the Avengers," he said.

Clark nodded.

"I don't want that to happen, but I won't ignore someone asking for help because it's inconvenient for me to help them."

He couldn't even if he wanted to, those were the downsides of his gifts.

"If you see a situation pointing south, you can't ignore it," Steve said, suddenly.

That summarized pretty well what he thought about the whole thing.

"Yeah, I won't," Clark agreed. "And I don't want to make you guys suffer for it."

He looked around the room, seeing Steve, Tony, Bruce, Thor, Natasha and Clint.

"So maybe it would be better to say no," Clark concluded.

Nobody said anything in what seemed to be minutes; until Clint slapped the table.

"I say fuck it!" he said. They all turned to him. "We saved the world. Twice! And both times because some people just thought they knew better than everybody and played with stuff they didn't understand without a care in the world. I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of closing my eyes and allowing all this shit to hit the fan just because some people up there say it should. We… I almost did that with the mutant factory and it was only because of you that I didn't. In my opinion, you're free to join if you want and damn the consequences."

Clark honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Clint thanking him for tricking him back then?

"What if we play it smart?" asked Natasha. "A middle ground."

Tony smiled.

"Something like a consultant?" he suggested.

"With all the perks and none of the backlash?" Bruce said.

Steve was also smiling.

"That seems like the perfect alternative," Captain America said.

"So you are part of the team," Thor began, "but, if they ask, not really?"

"That's exactly what it means, Point Break!" Tony announced.

Steve got up from the couch and went to him, touching his shoulder.

"Well, then," he said, as everyone looked at him, "have we reached a decision?"

Clark couldn't help but smiling. His father had told him, once, that the world was not ready for him, for what he could do. And maybe that was true, maybe the world really wasn't ready for Superman. Clark didn't know. He didn't even know if he was ready for Superman. But if it meant helping all those people who needed help, then he would try.

And with friends by his side, well, things would definitely be easier.

"Welcome to the Avengers!"