June 5, 2014

Steve Rogers/Captain America

In a hallway, in South Korea, Steve and a young woman walked side-by-side. He was wearing his casual clothes (a t-shirt and jeans) but even in such clothing, he walked with the confident stride of a man who had punched wanna-be gods and dictators and came out the winner.

The young woman, on the other hand, kept glancing at him nervously. She was a tall Korean woman with black hair, a large portion of the bangs on the left side of her face a pale silver. She wore a blue bodysuit with silver armored portions on her hands, shoulders, and across her chest.

The pair came to a pair of doors, but before entering, Steve gently tapped her shoulder, bringing her to a stop. Despite her height, she still had to look up at the super-soldier.

“I need to admit something before we go in, okay?” Steve said with a bit of red in his cheeks.

Luna stared at him, then nodded slowly. “Okay? What is it, Mr. Rogers?”

“Steve, Luna,” he couldn’t help his warm smile when she blushed at the reminder. “I told you to call me Steve. And what I want to say is… well, I was unsure if I was going to accept you as a candidate.”

Luna stared at him nervously, with some trepidation added. “You were?”

“I always am. But in your case, I made some mistakes. When you were described to me, it was as a pop idol. As a young woman who wasn’t trying to be a hero, but was trying to advance her celebrity career.”

“But I-” Luna was about to say, hesitating. When she spoke next, her accent was a bit stronger. “I-I understand why you thought that, but that’s not why I do this,” Steve didn’t speak. He liked listening to her speak. She pressed a hand to her chest and closed her eyes. For a moment, the air around them became chilled. Steve took in the feeling. It wasn’t the harsh and biting cold of Big Chill. Instead, it reminded him of the comforting cold of ice cream in summer, of the chill of the morning right when the sun was rising up.

“When my parents died, my grandmother was the only who cared for me. She is everything to me. The reason I became an idol was to support her. But when I gained these powers,” she took her hand from her chest. A bright trail of snowflakes floated from her palm. “I tried to do the right thing with them. To protect the people of Korea.”

“...” Steve placed a hand on Luna’s shoulder, smiling down at her. “You remind me a lot of myself.”

Her determined face shifted into an embarrassed blush. The ice above her hand fell apart. For a moment, Steve was reminded of how young she was. As much flack as the Avengers gave members like Dial for his youth, he was actually a grown man. Luna was only 18 years old.

“It’ll be good to have you helping us,” Steve said, patting Luna on the shoulder. “I’m a little sad that we can’t have you join us full time yet.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Rogers,” Luna said, apparently forgetting again to call him Steve. She looked sad, but also focused. “But you know the problems my country is facing. I must stay to defend everyone.”

“I know. Just know that when you need help, if you need help, you can call us. And when you’re ready, I’d love to support you joining full time.”

“Thank you, Mr. Rog-Steve!” Luna said quickly. She clenched a fist and smiled. “And don’t worry. When you go on your mission, I promise I can join you for that.”

“I’m glad. Because we’ll need all the help we can get,” Steve said seriously.

The doors they’d stopped in front of opened. A teenage girl, wearing a mask made of some sort of red ceramic material on top of her head, looked at them. She had black hair pulled into a high ponytail, and an annoyed look on her face. “Lunaaa! They’re being weird again!”

Steve couldn’t help but find it amusing when the teenager wrapped her arms around Luna’s right arm and pulled her in, following the pair. Luna sighed.

“What is it?” she said with a fond tone of voice.

“They keep making moon eyes at each other,” the young teenager complained. “Seriously, I thought this would be over when they finally screwed, but they’re even worse.”

“Dan Bi!” Luna and Steve said in unison, shocked.

“What? Seriously, he’s too old for her,” Dan Bi, the hero known as Crescent, kept pulling Luna along. “You’d think banging would have made them calm down.”

“He’s too old?” Steve asked, blinking. After all, he was pretty aged as well, if you counted his time in the ice.

“Don’t worry, obba, we still like you,” Dan said impishly.

The trio entered a room to see Bucky sitting on a table as a young woman stood between his legs, the two whispering to each other. The room had windowed glass facing where their Quinjet was parked and ready for flight.

For just a moment, Steve was transported back 70 plus years. To a younger Bucky, smirking playfully, flirting with a woman.

The woman in question was quite stunning. She was almost six feet tall, with long pale white hair, the image of Korean beauty, her eyes glittering as she laid a clawed finger against Bucky’s chest, whispering something to him that made him chuckle.

Bucky and the young woman looked up as they entered, sharing twin looks of disappointment.

“Heya Buck,” Steve said with a grin. “Ready to leave?”

Bucky sighed sadly. “Yeah. Yeah,” he took the white-haired woman’s hand in his, kissing the top of it with a smirk. “Guess I have to say goodbye.”

“Ah, Mr. Barnes, I knew you were the love ‘em and leave ‘em type,” the woman said with a little smirk. “I suppose I’ve had worse break-ups.”

“You know, they’ve invented this thing called the internet,” Bucky said confidently. “We can talk through this ‘email’ thing the kids are using.”

“Why would I do that? I might go looking for some other pretty young thing while you’re gone.”

“I guess I’ll have to find some way to keep you around,” Bucky teased.

“God, you guys are so annoying,” Dan whispered nearby. “Ami, just say goodbye already!”

Ami Han, the White Fox, gave her younger friend a withering stare. “One day, you’ll end up flirting with some young superhero, and I’m going to ruin it for you.”

“That will never happen,” Dan said with the voice of wisdom only teenagers had.

Ami and Bucky separated, joining their friends. Steve gave Bucky a little smile, his friend smirking in turn.

“I’m sad we’ll be leaving so soon,” Steve said honestly. “But it was an honor to meet you all.”

“Hear that?” Dan pressed an elbow into Luna’s side, grinning. “The Avenger said it was an honor to meet us.”

“You are terrible,” Luna sighed. She looked into Steve’s eyes and smiled. “I hope you are successful on your next journey.”

“I do too. But hey. My last one ended up being my favorite.”

Luna blushed, while Dan and Ami grinned.

With a final goodbye, Bucky and Steve headed out to their quinjet. As they entered the quinjet, neither said anything. When they sat down and started up the plane, neither said anything. It was only as they were lifting off that Steve finally spoke.

“So-”

“Don’t even start,” Bucky said immediately.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. You used protection, right?”

“Just because you haven’t gotten a date since the war-”

“I didn’t get a date during the war,” Steve said, unashamed.

“Wait, seriously?” Bucky stared at him. “What about after?”

“...”

“Steve.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Oh good lord,” Bucky said, shocked and appalled.

“It’s not like you did any better,” Steve grumbled.

“I was brainwashed for seventy years, and I still got a couple of dates. Okay, we are getting you out there as soon as possible. I’m calling Nat right now.”

“Please don’t.”

“Even Dial has a girlfriend now! As your best friend, we are getting you some.”

“Some what?”

“Good god.”

Steve watched as a shocked Bucky pulled out a phone and started texting while teasing Steve. He didn’t mind the ribbing from his oldest friend. He’d missed it. Bucky had been very different after coming back. The person he’d once been had been buried under a deep rage and sadness.

The recent trips had been good for him. Steve didn’t think this recent romance with Ami was anything Bucky and Ami took seriously, but they both seemed to enjoy spending time together and had fun.

Bucky may not have been fine, not entirely. But he was getting there.

With that last thought, Steve made a heading. Time for London, and the next recruit.

------

Tony Stark/Iron Man

Tony pretended to be listening as an old guy on stage talked proudly about some award or another that was being presented. He couldn’t really bring himself to care about it.

If he’d had it his way, he’d be back at the tower, working on his latest armor. He’d been working on something special. After all, they’d be needing it soon.

But Tony Stark had to make appearances. That’s what Pepper said at least. Oh, but she didn’t need to show up, no. Sometimes he wondered why he listened to her. Then she’d do this little lip-bite, give him an angry look, or just sigh in that annoyed way of hers, and suddenly he was sitting at a boring party while an old guy congratulated another old guy for getting another million dollars.

Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t enjoying themselves there.

“I’m so boooooooored,” Tony smirked, looking over at his +1.

Ruby Hale twirled a steak knife in her hands, sighing dramatically. The now fifteen-year-old assassin-in-training was wearing a black dress Pepper had given her, a modest one that Ruby had disapproved heavily of for not being armor or workout clothes.

“Aren’t you supposed to be training your, I don’t know, spy eyes or something?” Tony teased quietly.

“My observational skills and ability to mingle with the crowd,” Ruby said with another long sigh. “Hydra was always more into me learning how to use sniper rifles and slit throats. How to fight. I don’t think they were planning on me actually talking to people.”

“I don’t blame them, you’re an annoying brat,” Tony said.

“Eat me, Rust Man.”

Tony chuckled. “Well, this shouldn’t take too long. Just another forty minutes.”

Ruby sighed for a third time, slowly lowering her blonde head to press her forehead to the table. Tony grinned, about to tease her a bit more.

Then she looked at him. The boredom on her face was gone. She kept the look she was sporting from the rest of the party by keeping it against the table, but she had a hard gaze in her eyes. The steak knife in her hand was clenched tight.

“Call for help,” Ruby said quietly.

Tony kept the little smirk on his face, but panned his eyes across the room, trying to look without looking. The party was full of people. Mark Wahlberg was sitting across the room. Some Roxxon guys were trying to look like they hadn’t sold their souls. A waiter was sneaking some gold forks into his jacket.

“It’s her,” Ruby whispered.

Tony met eyes with the woman in question. And suddenly he realized what sort of danger they were in.

------

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

Ares was a taskmaster. In some ways, he was harder as a teacher than Natasha was, in some ways easier.

I’d spent the whole last hour training one thing. Surviving while shifting constantly between forms. It didn’t matter what alien forms, just as long I didn’t stay in that form for more than six seconds. All while Ares went after me with every weapon he could.

I tell ya, there are few things as intimidating as Ares using an anti-air gun as a sidearm.

Still, I’d learned a lot from him. Hard not to, when I was getting trained by, well, fucking Ares.

It had been useful against the Leader and his robots.

I was glad to get a couple of hours to myself though. It had been rough. I flew across the ocean in Astrodactyl form, enjoying myself like always. I had some time off before the big mission. Maybe I’d watch a movie? It was weird, being in 2014 and knowing all the pop culture that was showing up for the next four years. That My Hero Academia show was yet to show up, and I hadn’t had a chance to watch it before my little trip. Maybe I could check it out while it was still a manga?

There was something nostalgic about thinking about nerd stuff. Now that I sort of was the nerd stuff.

I came in towards New York City, waving at a crowd of people who were waiting for me. I tried to change up my routine for how and when I entered the city after my training, but crowds of a few people still managed to get to the docks on New York when I was on my way in. Sometimes they ended up seeing me.

I dived into the city itself, soon shooting between the skyscrapers and above the busy streets. I’d come to love New York. Granted, I had an elevated view of the city, in both a literal and figurative fashion, but I don’t think anyone can live there without feeling at least fond of the place. Trash bags on the sidewalk and all.

Maybe I should patrol? Since Daredevil and the Avengers had become constant presences in the city, crime had become very illusive. It was a real job to try and root out what we could. Natasha had stopped a serial killer recently, but most of our patrols nowadays ended with nothing but stopping some desperate muggers and thieves. The gangs were going underground.

It might be time to go all in on them.

I was still considering what to do with the rest of my day when the laser hit me in the chest.

------

Steve Rogers/Captain America

A few hours after leaving South Korea, Captain America and Nomad were walking through the halls of the SIS Building in Vauxhall, a south western part of London.

“How long has it been since we’ve been in London?” Steve asked Bucky as they walked through the halls of the building.

“Long time,” Bucky mumbled to himself. “I think I killed Princess Diana, last time I was here.”

“What?” Steve spun, staring at Bucky in shock.

Bucky gave him a small sad smile. “No… I did kill someone named Georgi Markov.”

“So that’s what happened,” a strongly accented voice said. the two looked up. A man was striding towards them with quick steps, a manic energy about him. He had short black hair swept to his right, was thin as a razor, and had a bit of five o’clock shadow about his face. He wore a grey suit under a brown trench coat that was just slightly too small for him. He came up and held out a hand. “We always knew the KGB arranged the murder, but we only suspected your involvement, Mr. Barnes. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Makes the files neat and tidy. Pete Wisdom, MI13, at yer service gents.”

Bucky stared at him, then at the hand thrust out at his chest. Pete, undaunted, reached out with deceptive speed, grabbed Bucky’s hand, pumped it a couple of times, then reached out for Steve while Bucky was still surprised.

“I’ll be your liaison for this little venture. Not as pretty as your last hosts, I know, but I’ll do my best to be accommodating.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wisdom,” Steve said politely.

“Same for me,” Pete turned and waved for the pair to follow. “Fair warning mates, I’m probably one of maybe ten people who actually feel that way in this building.”

“Only ten,” Steve asked, worried.

“Mate, you gotta understand. Avengers have a rep for being kinda overpowered,” Pete chuckled. “Even with all we’ve got, people keep thinking about the damage you two can do on your own.”

“We aren’t here to start fights,” Steve said firmly. “The opposite. We’re here to ask for help, and to make an alliance with you all.”

“Hey, maybe it’s the British anger over you colonials kicking us out,” Pete chuckled. “We’re spies, Mr. Rogers. We think everyone is out to get us. They usually are. Personally, I blame the second world war. It’s made us downright inhospitable around here.”

Steve and Bucky shared a look. One that said something simple.

Never let this man meet Tony.

“So, I understand this recruit we are meeting is somewhat unusual?” Steve asked carefully.

“That’s putting it lightly,” Pete sighed. “I imagine you lot had issues like this though. Having to deal with magical bullshite. We’re talking a bunch of scientists trying to understand why Bruce fookin Banner is giving them advice on building a device that can sense magic.”

“Did it work?”

“Hell if I know. Just ended up making me confused while I watched excited brainy-types squawk about numbers,” Pete led them to a door, opening it up. They found themselves in a room right out of a magical fantasy.

Grass grew from the floor, sprouting up to about ankle height, before stopping at a pond on the other side of the room, where a small waterfall crashed into it. A tree rose up in one corner of the room. A rabbit hopped past, Bucky staring at it like he’d never seen one in his life.

In the center of the tranquil forest somehow sat in the center of the headquarters of England’s Intelligence organizations, was a tree stump. There he sat, reading a book with a small smile on his face, a pair of wireless headphones on his head as he turned a page.

He was as large as Ares or Thor, with the same sort of presence to him. And like them, he was dressed in archaic clothes, though in his case he looked like a nobleman from the industrial era of England, with a closely cut suit colored a warm shade of gray that had a hint of green to it. His skin was covered in deep red scales, with a set of horns along the top of his bald head.

“Sir Benedict, of Otherworld,” Pete said grandly. “Meet Captain America and Nomad.”

“...”

“Uh, Sir Benedict?” Pete said, blinking. Then he sighed. “I swear- OY! BENNIE! GUESTS!”

“Hm?” the red-scaled man looked up. When he noticed the trio who had joined him, he started in surprise, removing his headphones. “Oh, my apologies, guv’nor. Got caught up in the music.”

Pete sighed sadly. “Give headphones to the thousand year old dragon, huh? Damnit, Queen Liz. This is as bad as the Netflix subscription.”

Steve and Bucky shared another awkward look as the dragon-man saved his page, placed his book down, and rose up to join them. He held out a large hand. “Well met, gents. Like Pete must have mentioned. I’m Bennie. A knight of the round table.”

“...Cool,” Bucky said, grabbing Benedict’s hand and shaking it.

-------

As they met their newest possible recruit, across the street from the SIS Building, weapons were aimed at the building. Across the world, Dial fell from the skies. And Tony Stark looked into the eyes of a killer. It was going to be a hell of a day.