Steve and Tony sat at the conference table in the silent control room. They sat quiet and solemn as Fury stood in front of them.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury flicked a few bloody Captain American trading cards on the table.

Steve reached over slowly and grabbed them.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." They all took a moment to process that. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier."

This caught Tony's attention. He looked up from fiddling with his hands.

"There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could." Fury looked pointedly at Tony who was refusing eye contact. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes.

Tony stood up abruptly before leaving the room.

"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion." Fury finished.

[Scene Change]

Thor walked across the field to find his hammer. He found it, but instead of grabbing it he balled his fist.

[Scene Change]

"You fell out of the sky." A voice called out to Bruce, who was naked in a pile of crushed concrete.

Bruce looked up and around him in confusion. He groaned in frustration and facepalmed. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

His head snapped up. "Did I hurt anybody?"

An older man in a security uniform stood up on top of the rubble. "There's nobody around here to get hurt." he said.

"Except you." Neville said.

The only reason Audrey didn't glare at him is because he said it more like an observation and less of a judgment. She chose to let the comment slide.

"You did scare the hell out of some pigeons, though." The old man added as a forethought.

"Lucky." Bruce informed him.

"Or just good aim. You were awake when you fell." The old man said back.

"You saw?" Bruce asked, slightly embarrassed.

"The whole thing. Right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck-ass nude." The old man said.

This got a few laughs out of the room.

"Here." The man tossed some clothes down to Bruce. "Didn't think those would fit until you shrunk down into a regular-sized feller."

Bruce began putting the pants on. "Thank you."

"Are you an alien?" The man asked skeptically.

"What?" Bruce asked once he got the pants on.

"From outer space, an alien." The man asked again.

"No." Bruce answered.

The older man looked slightly concerned. "Well, then, son, you've got a condition."

Bruce just nodded in agreement.

[Scene Change]

Nikita was leant against the wall in front of Clint's infirmary cot, while Natasha sat in a chair to the right of him. They were watching him aggressively shake his head. He was groaning and breathing heavily, while yanking at his restraints.

"My Poor little hawk." Rose pouted.

Natasha rolled her eyes playfully with a smile. She loved Rose and Clint dearly. She was glad that they found each other.

"Clint. You're going to be alright." Natasha said to him softly.

His eyes snapped open. "You know that?" He chuckled bitterly. "Is that what you know?"

Nikita walked over to a small table behind him and Natasha went over towards him.

"I've got no window. I have to flush him out." Clint said as he huffed and puffed, desperate for air.

"You got to level out. It's gonna take time." Natasha sat down beside him on the cot. Nikita hummed in agreement as she poured him a cup of water.

"You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and stuff something else in?" Clint asked as he stared at the ceiling. He took a deep breath before asking, "Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"

"You know that we do." Natasha said to him softly.

A few people flinch. They were scared to know the extent of what the sisters had been through.

His breathing slowed to normal. "Why am I back? How did you guys get him out?"

"Cognitive recalibration." Natasha answered. She reached down and began undoing his restraints.

"I hit you. You passed out. I tied you up." Nikita passed him the cup of water. "What can I say? I'm kinky like that."

"What the-"

"Really?"

"Honestly Rose."

"Now, look here young lady-"

"It was a joke!" Rose exclaimed with wide eyes as she threw her hands up in surrender. "It was a very intense environment."

Natasha snorted. "Not from some of the stories you told me." Natasha said only loud enough for Rose to hear.

"Shut up. That stays between me, you, Clint and whoever was lucky enough to experience it before I was married." Rose whispered harshly to Natasha.

He paused before the cup could reach his lips. He blinked a few times before continuing to drink from the cup. Natasha looked at her with an expression that could be read as 'really?'.

"Thanks." Clint said after he finished his water. He passed Nikki the cup and she put it on the table before taking Natasha's old seat. He looked between the two sisters before settling his eyes on Natasha since she was closest. "How many agents did I-"

Nikita shook her head. "Don't. Its not worth torturing yourself."

Natasha jumped in. "This was all Loki. This is monsters and magic. Nothing we were ever trained for." She looked at an amused Kitty. "Except Prue, over there." Kitty just playfully rolled her eyes.

"I prefer Piper or Phoebe. Prue was just as annoying as Paige." Nikita joked.

"Confused." Marlene.

"Charmed!" The avengers group called out.

"Its a tv show about these three-"

"Technically four." Rose interrupted Natasha.

"Sisters who discover they're witches."

"Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwell." Audrey added.

"She forced us all to watch it," Bruce grumbled.

"She even forced me, and I've only visited her house twice." Wanda said.

"I thought it was actually pretty good." Peter said.

"I agree with the boy of spiders." Thor boomed

"It's actually Spider-"

"Give up, sweetheart. Just give up." Rose said to him.

Peter just sighed and turned around.

Clint gave a small smile at the two before his face became serious again. "Loki, did he get away?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Kitty said remorsefully.

"I don't suppose you know where?" Natasha asked lightly.

Clint shook his head. "I didn't need to know. I didn't ask." Natasha stood up and walked over to the door and looked out the window This allowed Clint to sit up. "He's going to make his play soon, though. Today."

Natasha whipped around. "We gotta stop him."

"Yeah? Who's 'we'?" Clint asked her curiously.

"I don't know. Whoever's left." Natasha shrugged.

"Us, Tony, Cap, maybe a few minorly injured agents. Speaking of injuries, go get your ankle checked out." Kitty said.

"Aww." Lily cooed. "You two are adorable with the way you look out for each other."

Rose and Nat smiled at her.

"Well, if I put an arrow through Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better, I suppose." Clint said tiredly.

"A little dark, but understandable." Dorcas shrugged.

"I like it." Regulus smiled.

The smile made James who was on his right scoot away along with Sirius who was on Regulus's left. That smile promised nightmares.

Nikita looked at her hands and smiled softly.

Natasha walked back over to him and sat down beside him. "Now you sound like you." Natasha smiled at him.

Clint smiled back before stating, "But you don't. Neither of you." Nikita and Natasha were silent as they waited for him to continue. "You're both spies, not soldiers. Now you two want to wade into a war. Why?" He paused to look at them both. "What did Loki do to you?"

"He didn't. I just..." Natasha paused and took a deep breath.

"Natasha." Clint said so softly that Nikita could only hear because of the silence.

Her face hardened. "I've been compromised. I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out." The room was silent for another moment before Natasha stood up. "I'll let you two talk. If you need me I'm-"

"Getting your ankle checked out." Nikita looked at her sternly.

"Such a mom." Ginny snorted.

"Please. I met you when you had kids. You're worse." Rose smirked.

Ginny's eyes widened at the thought of becoming her mom.

Natasha held her hands up in surrender and left the room.

They took a moment, just to stare at one another. Clint finally decided to make the first move by patting the spot next to him. Nikita laughed nervously and sat down. Clint raised an eyebrow and lifted his arm. She smiled and tucked herself underneath his arm and hugged him tightly.

"Aww. Look how cute and shy you became." Hermione smiled.

"I have a feeling you guys are gonna be my favorite ship." Marlene said.

"Your turn. What did Loki do to you?" Clint asked as he held her just as tightly.

"He said some things. Nothing that wasn't true." Nikita said with a shrug.

"Like?" Clint released her so he could get a good look at her.

"I feel like we're intruding on a very private moment." Petunia whispered to Lily.

Lily looked at her sister blankly and blinked repeatedly. "You spy on our neighbors all the time."

"Yeah, but I don't really know them. This is your daughter and my niece. Its different. Besides I'm not the only one that feels this way." Petunia pointed to James.

James looked like he wanted to fight, scream, hide, and cry all at the same time.

"Yeah, that has less to do with seeing the moment and more to do with it happening in the first place." Lily laughed.

She sat up but remained close to Clint. "He called me a..." She looked at Clint tilted his head slightly to the side. Nikita huffed before spitting it out. "A glorified babysitter."

Clint shook his head. "Now that's not true."

"It is, though. Audrey is your sister, Diana was your best friend, and Wren is your god daughter. When you decide to settle down-"

"They will love you and you will still be there for them. You were the one who encouraged me to take Drea in. You were the one who helped me put Wren to sleep when she needed a woman's touch. You were there for them when I couldn't be. They love you. You're family, you and Nat, and that's not gonna change." Clint placed his hand over hers. "Okay?"

Nikita looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Okay."

"Good." A teasing smirk came across his face. "Now, is that the only thing he did to make you mad."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes. Why?"

He shrugged with the smirk still on his face. "I just figured, maybe it had something to do with the mind control of a certain someone."

She caught on and shook her head. "No, not ringing any bells."

"None?"

"Nope. Nobody special." She smirked back at him.

"Oh ok. To think, I was gonna take you to dinner." Clint laughed.

"Okay, fine there was this one guy..."

Clint laughed at her and shook his head. "No. Too little, too late."

"Fine. I was gonna wear the purple dress." Nikita shrugged.

"What's the purple dress?" Marlene asked her.

Rose smiled and turned towards her. "It's a lace off-the-shoulder lavender dress. It fits me like a..." She saw her dads eye twitch. "Nevermind."

She didn't want him to try and kill Clint later. Not that Clint couldn't handle himself. She'd just rather keep the peace.

"The lace one with the slit?" Clint groaned when she nodded with a smirk. "Alright, if we make it out of this alive, I will take you to that fancy Italian place."

"Can we get ice cream afterwards?" Nikita gave an innocent smile.

"And we get ice cream." Clint chuckled.

"It's a date." Nikita said sweetly.

"That was kinda the whole point." Clint nodded.

Nikita rolled her eyes and hit him in the arm before sliding off the cot. "You get on my nerves."

Clint laughed. "I was joking."

She waved him off and sat back in the chair she had before.

*****

Tony stood over staring at the spot that Phil died in. Steve walked into the room and leaned against the entryway.

"Was he married?" Steve asked.

"No. Nikita mentioned something about him and a cellist. They weren't serious, but..." Tony answered.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Steve said sympathetically.

"He was an idiot." Tony said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Tony shifted at the looks of confusion he got.

"Why? For believing?" Steve asked defensively.

"For taking on Loki alone." Tony said as he walked closer to Steve.

"He was doing his job." Steve defended.

Tony scoffed. "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..." Tony huffed.

Steve started walking closer. "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."

"Right, I've heard that before." Tony walked past Steve.

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?" Steve asked.

Tony whipped around in anger. "We are not soldiers." Steve looked at him intensely. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we got to put that behind us and get this done." Steve stated. Tony looked at the blood stained wall. "Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list-"

Tony snapped his head to Steve and stopped him "He made this personal."

"I don't think now is the time." Severus rolled his eyes.

"Just watch." Tony rolled his eyes in return.

"Thats not the point." Steve said with a stale face.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?" Tony started connecting dots.

"To tear us apart." Steve answered, not completely sure where Tony was going.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it." Tony explained. Steve looked as though he was catching on. "He wants an audience." Tony said in realization. He paced past Steve again.

"Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart." Steve turned to Tony.

"Look at our children, getting along." Rose said to Natasha.

The room laughed as Tony and Steve glared at her.

"Yeah, thats just previews. This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right?" Tony stopped walking and turned to face Steve. "He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." Tony stopped as it hit him. Steve looked at him impatiently.

"Oh, he didn't?" Lily said in realization.

"I think he did." Hermione smiled at Lily.

"He did." Tony nodded.

"Did what?" Harry asked with furrowed brows.

"No clue." Ginny whispered to him.

"Son of a bitch." Tony sped out of the room.

"Tony. You know better." Rose chided.

"Steve doesn't do that kind of language." Natasha smirked at Steve.

"One time. I did it one time and you two won't let it die." Stteve rolled his eyes.

[Scene Change]

Dr. Selvig was on a roof setting up an intricate machine with the Tesseract glowing in the middle.

That roof is the newly built Stark Tower.

"Oh. I get it now." Harry said.

"We all do, Love" Ginny shook her head with a fond smile on her face.

[Scene Change]

Steve stepped into the doorway once the door slid open. "Time to go."

Natasha and Kitty stood up from their seats on the infirmary bed. "Go where?" Natasha asked him.

"I'll tell you guys on the way. Can either of you fly one of those jets?" he responded. Steve looked over to the sound of a door opening.

Clint stepped out of the bathroom while wiping his hands on a towel. "I can."

Steve looked at the two red heads to see if Clint could be trusted. Natasha nodded her head and Kitty held a thumbs up.

"Got a suit?" Steve asked him.

"Yeah." Clint answered.

"Then suit up." He looked at Clint but he was speaking to them all. He walked out of the room at a quick pace.

[Scene Change]

Thor grasped his hammer and yanked it up.

[Scene Change]

Steve picked up his shield.

Clint snapped his quiver into place.

Natasha turned her widow bites on.

Natasha glared at Tony.

"I said sorry a million times."

Nikita slid her retractable Katana on her belt.

Tony touched up his helmet.

[Scene Change]

Thor lifted Mjolnir to the sky and lightning shot from it.

A series of woah's went through the room.

The sky darkened and a mini storm whirled around him.

[Scene Change]

Tony was inside his suit as it powered up.

Steve was leading Clint, Natasha, Nikita and Clint.

Clint was in a sleeveless purple and black vest with black cargo pants and boots. The SHIELD logo resting in front of his left shoulder.

Nikita wore a black and red suit that was similar to Natasha's, but hers had a hood. The SHIELD logo was on both her right shoulder.

The whole group walked onto a jet that held a young worker. The young man stood up in confusion. He tried to protest their arrival.

"Son, just don't." Steve stopped him.

"Son?" Sirius asked.

Him and multiple others were snickering.

"Hey, stop that!" Rose said seriously.

The room went hushed.

"You're supposed to respect your elders." She was barely able to finish her sentence before she burst into giggles.

The rest of the room joined her except Steve who was sulking.

Fury was standing near the large window as he shuffled Coulson's trading cards.

Hill walked over to him."Sir."

"Agent Hill." Fury said without looking up.

"Those cards, they were in Coulson's locker, not in his jacket." she said.

"What!"

"But, why?"

"Of course they were." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Does he ever, not lie?" Steve asked no one in particular.

He sighed before answering her unspoken question, "They needed the push."

Hill looked at him in confusion until an announcement on the PA came on.

"We have an unauthorized departure from Bay 6."

The sound of Tony's suit flying by followed by the jet made both Hill and Fury look up out the window.

"They found him. Get our communications back up, whatever you have to do. I want eyes on everything." Fury said to her before walking away.

"Yes, sir." 

Author's Note:

Thank you to those who stick around, despite my late updates.

No excuses. I promised once a week and I've been slacking.

I give you guys my sincerest apologies.

I give love to all my readers!