Avengers 1. I

**Welcome. In this version of _The Avengers, _Tony Stark has a sister. **

**I hope you like my brain child. **

**Please Enjoy. **

* * *

**I**

* * *

**Stark Tower**

**Manhattan, New York**

**9:00 PM**

Her fists pummeled the punching bag before her, muscles tight, and eyes narrowed in concentration. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and snaked down her neck and spine and then proceeded to drip off her jawline. Her hands flew faster as she shredded the punching bag, the sand slowly spilling onto the concrete as the hole in the thick fabric grew.

She was running through the forest, dodging mortars, gunfire, and azure beams of light.

_ "There's not enough time! I gotta put her in the water!" _

A compass with an image of a pretty woman with brown hair.

_"This guy is still alive!" _

Iron Maiden's _Hallowed Be Thy Name _blared from the speakers strategically stationed around the room. Her jabbing increased rapidly with the beat as her emotions spilled from her knuckles and seeped into the ripping punching bag. The glowing glass wall on her right showed a blue silhouette of her body, each hit on the bag displaying on the replica of the outline of the bag in the screen. Her strikes pulsated on the screen as the force was measured by the numbers where her spiking heartbeat was revealed.

_"Trouble sleeping?" _

_ "I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill." _

A pile of papers.

_"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited, sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." _

_ "Who took it from you?"_

_ "He's called Loki." _

She pounded on the bag, forehead furrowed as the strange voices continued to float through her thoughts.

_"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" _

A pause.

_"You should have left it in the ocean."_

_"Miss Stark, your heart rate is accelerating above normal," _a voice from the heavens declared.

The woman's eyes closed as she swung and kicked, the bag completely flying off the rack and exploding on the far wall.

Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath, assessed the situation, and pried her black tank top off her sticky skin. She dragged the back of her hand across her forehead and flicked away the excess sweat that came with it. Around her were the debris of at least a dozen fallen punching bags in all tattered shapes and forms. The female tightened her padded fingerless gloves and peered at her form on the screen.

"Load another one, J."

* * *

**Atlantic Ocean**

**Stark Tower**

**Manhattan, New York**

**10:00 PM**

Deep in the dark waters of the Atlantic, Tony Stark aimed another laser at the pipeline transport he was laboring upon. He carefully lowered a Stark Energy Reactor into the section of the pipeline, applying a few more blast of his laser here and there before deeming his handiwork satisfactory. Inside of the suit Tony grinned to himself and rocketed up and out of the ocean. Rivulets of water ran down and off of his suit as he positioned his hands and feet.

"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you," Tony said as he flew back toward Stark Tower.

_"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"_ Pepper Potts inquired as her face popped up on the helm monitor within the suit.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining, clean energy," Tony confirmed.

_"Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?" _

"I assume. Light her up."

As Iron Man flew closer to the building, weaving merrily through traffic and above tour buses, Pepper happily complied by switching on the power. He watched as the current surged through the tower and the huge STARK sign on the tower was illuminated with radiant light.

_"How does it look?" _Pepper asked.

"Like Christmas, but with more...me."

_"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards." _

"Pepper," Tony complained, "You're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment."

_"Then get in here and I will." _

"Where's Lea? Is she seeing this?"

_"She's working out downstairs. I think she was having some anxiety issues again." _

Tony's smile fell as he arrived at his skyscraper penthouse and landed on the deck. Mechanical mechanisms whirled around him as they removed his suit in pieces and stored them away under the collapsible floor.

"Is she okay?"

_"Her vital signs are normal," _Jarvis informed. _"Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D is on the line." _

"I'm not in. I'm actually out."

_ "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting." _

Tony sighed. "Close the line, Jarvis. I've got a date. While your at it, call Lea up from the gym and tell her to get her behind up here."

* * *

Freshly showered and in clean clothes, Amelia Stark lazily pulled her wet hair up into a bun as she was summoned. Through the glass doors she could see Pepper and Tony examining the monitors set up at some of the tables that revealed the statistics of the reactor device that was currently powering the tower. Tony had been bragging for days how they were soon going to be using clean energy unlike the other fuel-guzzling bigwigs in the state. The youngest Stark rolled her eyes and entered the room, walking right into the middle of her brother and his girlfriend's conversation.

"Levels are holding steady...I think," Pepper said.

"You think?" Amelia remarked as they both spun to face her. The concern in Tony's eyes hidden beneath his smirk nearly caused the choking unease she had been feeling earlier to re-emerge.

"Of course they are, _I _was directly involved," Tony replied. He then faced Pepper and said, "Which brings me to my next questions: how does it feel to be a genius?"

"With you two around? Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now would I?" Pepper responded.

"What do you mean? All this came from you." Tony's eyebrows came together in confusion.

"No, all this came from that." Pepper pointed to the arc reactor that was shining through his shirt.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself...twelve percent of the credit."

Amelia snorted as the two females exchanged a glance.

"Twelve percent?" Pepper questioned.

"An argument can be made for fifteen." Tony nodded.

"Twelve percent? For _my_ baby?"

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things."

"Uh, I helped," Amelia piped in. Tony teasingly waved her away.

"And sorry," he went on, "but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Oooooh."

"My private elevator–"

"You mean _our _elevator?" Amelia interrupted in Pepper's defense.

"–was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

As Pepper poured the three of them a glass of champagne she raised her eyebrows.

"Not gonna be that subtle."

"I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower," Tony compromised.

"On the lease."

"Call your mom, can you bunk over?"

"Ewwww," Amelia broke in.

"Lea, you and your nonexistent sex life can sleep on the couch," Tony quipped.

_"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten,"_ Jarvis warned.

A new voice broke into the group as Pepper handed Amelia her glass.

_"Stark, we need to talk." _

Tony simpered slightly and picked up his phone. He looked into the screen at a man who was on the other side.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."

_"This is urgent." _

"Then leave it urgently."

At that moment the elevator door split open and a man dressed in a well tailored suit and a receding hairline appeared.

"Security breach!" Tony called as he moved to stand in front of his sister in an attempt to hide her (which wasn't easy considering she was a few inches taller than him). "Pep, that's on you."

"Mr. Stark," the man greeted.

"Phil!" Pepper exclaimed. "Come in!"

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent," Tony corrected.

"Come on in, we're celebrating." Pepper waved.

"Which is why he can't stay," Tony tried.

Phil, unfazed, held a file out in the eldest Stark's direction. "We need you to look this over. Soon as possible."

Tony threw his hands up as his glass of bubbly wobbled dangerously. Amelia attempted to move out of her sibling's way but he maneuvered from side to side to block her path.

"I don't like being handed things."

"That's alright 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper passed the glass to Coulson and took the file from him, handing the stack of papers to Tony and then retrieving her drink. "Thank you."

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," Tony said.

"This isn't a consultation," Coulson notified.

"Is this about The Avengers?" Pepper chimed in. Tony gave her a sharp look and she then hastily added, "Which I-I know nothing about."

Amelia tried once again to get out from around her brother without pushing him aside. Irritatingly, Tony knew her all too well and mirrored her movement.

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper guaranteed.

"Yeah, apparently you're volatile, self-obsessed, and don't play well with others," Lea vocalized as she finally slipped out from around her brother.

"That I did know." Pepper smiled.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore, which you _did _qualify for, Miss Stark." Phil stuck out his hand, eyes cast upward to stare at Amelia in awe. "It's and honor to meet you at last. Agent Phil Coulson. I work with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Amelia Stark," she introduced. "Call me Lea."

"If S.H.I.E.L.D has come here with needles in search for my sister's blood for some mystery project again I swear to God–" Tony started but he was swiftly cut off.

"I've only come here to deliver the file and bring Director Fury's condolences for the rash behavior of two scientists I personally fired after the ordeal," Phil explained.

"Condolences my ass," Tony uttered. "Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute? Whenever you're done fangirling over my sister, Coulson, I'd like to speak with her."

Amelia's eyes followed her brother as he placed the files into his own databases and a man in a star spangled uniform Lea oddly recognized was in action, the beast she knew as the Hulk destroying an army at Culver University, a male with blonde hair wielding a hammer and fighting against a metal man, and a dark haired male with a blue cube the Amelia and the voices in the back of her head immediately could name: the Tesseract.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment," Tony started.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment–" Pepper went on but Amelia tuned them out.

"It really is an honor to meet you," Phil said. "I've read a lot about you and I've seen you in all the media coverage. I find it especially interesting how you wear a suit like your brother but you don't exactly need it."

"I'm just happy S.H.I.E.L.D is keeping everything under wraps," Lea agreed. "My brother and I, although he's not going to show it anytime soon, really appreciate it."

"The Captain's been found," Phil muttered. "He's finally been dragged out of the ice. He's alive and well to boot. And the blood they drew from you, the DNA was a complete match–"

"What DNA–" Lea started but her voice was severed by Pepper's.

"I'm going to take a jet to D.C. tonight," Pepper acknowledge, breaking Lea and Phil out of their conversation.

"Tomorrow," Tony demanded lightly.

"You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony asked.

"If you didn't?"

"Yeah."

"You mean if you finished? Well, um...then..." Pepper whispered something in his ear that caused Tony to gasp. Lea gagged dramatically and Phil looked away in embarrassment.

"Square deal. It's the last date."

Pepper leaned forward to kiss her boyfriend, the kiss lingering for a few moments. Amelia became suddenly very interested in her wool socks while Phil's cheeks flushed.

"Work hard." Pepper beamed and sashayed her hips as she left the room, Phil dipping his head to Lea and pursuing Pepper. Lea set her untouched champagne down on the piano and plucked nervously at the keys as Tony grabbed the Tesseract in holograph form, worry etched across his features. Her stomach twisted in knots as she got up and approached him.

"Tony?"

Her brother peeked up from the footage. "Yeah, sis?"

"The Tesseract was stolen by Loki, which means they'll be getting a team together right? To get it back?"

He surveyed his sister and placed the hologram back where it belonged. "You don't have to help if you don't want to, Lea."

"No, I want to," Lea reassured. "It's just...I don't know. Dad's project and the whole thing with Obadiah and now this–"

"Amelia Maria Stark," Tony started. "If I told you once I've told you a thousand times, okay, you aren't a test tube baby, you're not a freak of nature, and you are certainly not going to be a plaything for S.H.I.E.L.D, you hear me?"

Lea dipped her head in acknowledgment.

"I wish I could have known them." Lea sat back down at the piano and her fingers traipsed over the keyboard. "I wish–"

"If wishes and buts were clusters of nuts we'd all have a bowl of granola."

Lea's eyebrows shot up at the speed of light.

"Don't give me that look. I read it in a philosophy magazine somewhere. My point is that you wouldn't have wanted to meet the man, Lea. Mom was fine when she was in the mood. At least you acquired some of her looks," Tony expounded in exasperation. "You got her pretty cheek bones and her sense of humor. Unfortunately, Dad passed on his stubbornness to the two of us and I've warped your sense of humor so far that you nearly peed your pants when you were anxious the other night and I said–"

"'At least you're not addicted to crack cocaine,'" Lea recalled with a giggle. Tony ruffled her hair and pointed to the piano.

"Play me something, will you? I always work better when you play me something."

Lea cracked her fingers and began to play, her slow movements working out an elaborate and gorgeous symphony. As she played Tony studied the holograms and shuffled through his stack of papers. When Amelia's tailbone tingled with symptoms of sleep she got up and stretched. It really irked her when a body part fell asleep and then it had the audacity to feel heavy and full of static like an old TV.

Amelia stopped to plant a kiss on top of her older sibling's head on her way to her room. She enjoyed the simplicity of her bedroom unlike Tony's modern man cave that was across the hall from hers. Because her room lacked a window with the dazzling landscape of the city, the whole north wall was made up of a Stark SmartScreen that could display anything from her work to the scenery of a gushing waterfall or an Amazon forest.

Against the south wall was her bed so she could roll over and glimpse at the SmartScreen and then on the west wall was her desk and dresser. To the east next to the door, the whole wall was one huge bookshelf stacked to the brim with different books from scientific readings like _The God Particle _all the way to a very battered, aged, and worn copy of _Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. _

"Jarvis, can I see a copy of those files Tony just loaded in the database?" Lea queried.

_"Of course." _

All at once the videos, mathematical graphs, and readings popped up on the SmartScreen.

"Pause."

Lea dug around in the drawers of her desk for a thick manila envelope. She retrieved it and opened it up, carefully shimmying out the dogeared papers for her to examine. As she browsed through them, she then said, "Play."

Jarvis resumed the videos but then shortly before they even really begun Lea narrowed down the one she truly wanted from the selection of an archer to her own brother.

"Can you clear the others and keep the one of the blond solider?" Lea requested.

The video she desired grew in size as the graphs were replaced with information about the solider. Lea scanned through it and then examined her papers. She watched as the man she strangely recognized all too well was running about, saluting officers, and was exchanging bullets with the enemies. Her gut churned and clenched as if she was having more anxiety issues but she separated them and focused on the task at hand.

"What do you know about him, J?"

_"Steven Rogers, although popularly known as Captain America, is the world's first superhero and Avenger. He was given the super solider serum which enhanced his strength, agility, speed, and other qualities to make him the world's first enhanced human. He saved America by crashing a plane full of explosives and missiles into the Arctic and was recently found and dug up in the ice. Status: Alive." _

"He's a super solider?" Lea breathed, her heart skipping a beat.

_"Yes, Miss. At this time I would like to remind you of your father's files and his scientific breakthrough with you." _

Lea pulled her blond hair down from her bun and skimmed through the paperwork until she found the files she was looking for. There, recorded on the yellowing paper in her father's handwriting that she had marveled over all of her childhood, was her legacy.

After Steve Rogers had crashed the plane, Howard Stark spent the rest of his life looking for the solider and attempting to replicate the super solider serum. He worked with the blood that had been drawn from the super solider, extracting the serum infused within it and replicating it into it's original form. When Tony was born, the serum wasn't ready. It wasn't until Anthony had grown up that it was, but by that time it was too late. So Howard looked to another bloodline; an additional heir.

Using the blood they had taken from Steve and some high-tech technology, Howard implanted the serum into a fertilized egg from his wife and placed it back inside his wife so she could carry the child.

Nine months later, Amelia Maria Stark was born healthy and well; a super baby. On their way back from the hospital Maria and Howard were in the fatal car crash that ended their lives when they were t-boned in the front by oncoming traffic. Miraculously (and with the help of the serum), Lea survived. She was dragged out of the wreckage and then when Tony arrived was given his sister and she was placed in his care. From that moment on Tony brought up his sister almost as if she was his own child.

Although the secret of the recreated super solider formula that was racing through Lea's veins was not spilled to the public, Tony did find out via his father's files, Jarvis, and video footage of the process Howard had originally left for Lea. There were many times during Lea's childhood that it almost slipped. For example, once Lea took down the entire wrestling team at her school because of a stupid bet. Another time she stopped a car from hitting a child by grabbing the bumper and dragging the whole car back toward her (luckily Tony managed to pass the incident off as purely an adrenaline rush to the media). What Tony could not stop was Lea growing up knowing she was different or the bouts of anxiety she sometimes fell into from a bad turn with press that had scarred her when she was eight. Tony couldn't control that she had grown up in the limelight when he was flocked to whenever they went out in public or how the nation would always know her as "The Stark Miracle Baby".

Lea smoothed back her hair from her face and continued to read he father's writing, but none of the words made sense when her thoughts were trapped in the reverie of memory.

She remembered Obadiah and how he had always been their in her life as an uncle figure. Lea had adored him until Tony went missing and he took his bitch fork and stuck it deep into her back, each threat, blood drawing, and lab rat procedure an extra twist and yank. Before him there had been other scientists and then the whole ordeal with S.H.I.E.L.D. Obadiah's betrayal had been the worst. It only started the panic attacks, no matter how rare they were.

The thought of the tribulation was making her shudder with nerves. Lea needed to focus on the positive: she wasn't alone in the world anymore.

Lea had never been _alone _alone. Not necessarily. But she could feel the icy barrier of her enhancements between her and her peers when she had gone to school and at college. The barrier brought fears of possible exposure or maybe her getting too rough in gym and potentially causing someone to be seriously injured. There was the normal girls like Josie Harland or Kelly Foster with average lives. Then there was _Amelia Maria Stark–_the secret super solider, a Stark with the family brains that had been passed down like a precious heirloom, who had a body guard named Happy, and Hollywood starlet who wanted nothing to do with the acting, singing, writing, or fashion business but lived on the red carpet with her older brother.

It didn't help that she had been dreaming her whole life about flashes of war, muffled voices, and frigid ice. At that moment it was like the childhood fog had lifted and she was hearing slices of clear conversation. Whatever it meant, she wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

Now there was the whole "world-at-war" thing.

"Jarvis, can you show me the plans for Mark V?" As she said this, she set the papers aside and got to her feet. As her armor for the Mark V materialized on the screen, she observed it for a moment before she got to work. Poking the screen, sliding parts about, and going through the list of weapons, she added the notifications she deemed necessary by simply tapping the SmartScreen with her pointer and middle finger. She spread her hand over one of the shoulders on the suit and paused.

"Jarvis, add the tracker missiles under the plates. While you're at it, let's stabilize the thrusters and reprogram and test the stealth cloak. Hopefully, we'll get it right this time. I'll have to peek and measure the quanta while considering the possible use of those ammonium nitrate darts–"

_"Or you could go make the modifications now," _Jarvis suggested rather briskly.

Lea gave him a faint nod, but her eyes were only on the video of a smiling man in his handsome military uniform.

"He's a super solider," she exhaled. Her stomach fluttered with nervous butterflies. She would finally get to meet him. She would no longer be unique. It was exhilarating.

_"Miss, we were talking suits?" _Jarvis reminded.

"Right," Lea murmured. "There's work to do."

* * *

_~Illumini_


	2. II

**i-love-tea-and-coffee-** Leah is actually in her twenties. It was only her past thoughts on school and such. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

**ILove2Write13-** THANK YOU I'M GONNA CRY.

**Counting Sinful Stars-** _Maaaaayyyybeeee..._*winks*

* * *

**Oh my gosh I'm actually really excited for this story. **

**Please Enjoy. **

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**II**

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**S.H.I.E.L.D Quinjet**

**Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean**

**1:00 PM**

The rhythmic thrum of the quinjet's engines purred beneath Steve Rogers' feet as he sat, a strange modernistic tablet in his hands. As far as he could recognize, it was much like a small and portable TV but in color and high definition compared to the grainy screens or radios he was used to. Playing in the device was a video clip of the Hulk's attack on the Army at Culver University. The super solider watched with slightly wide eyes as he tried to keep his cool. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had awoken in a whole different century let alone there was a man that, when provoked, transformed into a raging green monster.

"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir," the pilot said as he passed Steve and Agent Phil Coulson, one of the other men on the quinjet. Just as the pilot returned to the cockpit, Coulson got up from his seat and walked over to where Steve was sitting. When he approached, Steve was ready with a question.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?"

"A lot of people where," Phil confirmed. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought that gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

Steve watched as the Hulk gave a mighty roar and ripped a jeep apart.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve tried to joke.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking."

Steve's forehead creased in confusion.

"He's like a smart person," Coulson translated. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you officially."

Steve gave him a kind smile, modest as always.

"I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."

The Captain glanced down in slight embarrassment for not only himself but for Coulson's stumbling tongue. He clicked the button on the tablet to shut it off and stood up to put it away.

"I-I mean, I was...I was _present _while you were unconscious from the ice."

Steve nodded. Phil was still struggling to find the right words. He almost looked as if he was about to hyperventilate.

"You know, it's really...it's just a...just a huge honor to have you on board."

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job."

"Oh, you are. Absolutely." Coulson nodded fervently as he fought to keep his cool. "You and Lea and the others."

"Lea?" Steve inquired. "Who's Lea?"

"Fury didn't tell you?" Coulson was shocked. He reached over and grabbed the tablet from its case, punching in his code, and scrolling through it.

"Amelia Maria Stark," Coulson started as he handed the tablet to Steve. The last name immediately rung a bell.

_'No...she can't be...not only does Howard have a _daughter _but is she...?' _Steve thought. There on the screen was a picture of a pretty girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. On the opposite side of the picture was video footage of her in a silver and red iron suit as the mask slid down over her face. She then blasted a huge pipe apart, throwing it aside as if it weighed nothing.

"You know how I said there were many attempts to recreate the serum used on you? Well there was one serum that actually worked and it was made by Howard Stark."

_'She is?!' _

"She's a super solider?"

Coulson inclined his head. "The second to you and the first ever female super solider."

Steve tried to take a deep breath as his brain kicked into overdrive. For some reason he couldn't figure out, he suddenly found it very hard to breathe properly.

"I've got pieces of her file on here that Tony's allowing us to share," Coulson told him. "You can keep my tablet with you for a bit if you would like. Do you remember how to run it?"

"I've got the gist of it," Steve managed to get out. "Thank you. I-I'll...I'll look these over."

They were quiet for a moment, the Captain watching the footage with rapt attention. Then Phil broke the silence.

"Oh! Uh...we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" That caught Steve's attention. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little old fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."

Just as Steve was tucking the tablet away into his jacket for later study, the quinjet rumbled as it switched gears and touched down on a massive battleship that Coulson had called the Helicarrier. Steve peered out the window to see that they were traveling on one of the two runways upon the one with direct access to a hangar that was at the rear and it was aligned along the spin of the vessel.

As the quinjet came to a stop and the ramp slid out, Steve followed Coulson down the ramp and out into the startlingly bright daylight, rays of sun bouncing off the glittering ocean and into his eyes. It was so blinding at first that he barely noticed the red head that met them at the bottom of the ramp.

"Agent Romanoff," Coulson greeted. He then gestured to his companion and said, "Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am?" Steve noted while his eyes finally adjusted.

"Hi," Natasha acknowledge. She then turned to Coulson and went on. "They need you on the bridge. Face time."

Coulson dipped his head. "See you there."

"There was quite the buzz around here when we found you in the ice," Natasha explained as she lead Steve away from where they had been to the railing of the ship. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

Steve's cheeks flushed slightly. "Trading cards?"

"They're vintage. He's proud."

Rogers opened his mouth to reply when a familiar face caught his eye. Dr. Banner, come to life from his tablet, was walking around as if he was nervous as hell. He was trying to figure out his way around but people kept milling about, cutting off his pathway in front of him. Steve felt a pang of sympathy for the poor guy. He knew the sensation of being completely and utterly lost all to well.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called. He strode up to him and stuck his hand out.

"Oh, yeah. Hi." They shook hands and Bruce swiftly returned his hand to his side. "They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube," Steve prompted.

"Is that the only word about me?"

Rogers gave him an assuring glance. "Only word I care about."

Dr. Banner was dumb with surprise at the super solider's response.

"Must be strange for you, all of this," he replied after a beat.

"Well," Steve's eyes found the soldiers running about in lines, marching, training, and loading guns with the tiniest of beams. "This...this is actually kind of familiar."

"Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe," Romanoff broke in.

Steve's heart leaped when the Helicarrier begun to shake. He quickly realized that it must have been normal and peered over the railing and down into the water where the engines were emerging out of the water.

"Is this a submarine?" he asked.

"Really? They want _me _in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Dr. Banner declared, vocalizing his disbelief.

What Steve thought to be engines were actually four huge fans mounted on the four corners of the ship. He viewed in amazement as the fans spun and the ship began to rise in vtol flight. In awe he spun to see Dr. Banner smiling in even more incredulity.

"Oh, no," he chuckled. "This is _much _worse."

Inside of the Helicarrier upon the bridge of the ship, Director Nick Fury was sitting at the command chair and working on the different computers before him. The bridge was a flurry of activity as agents sat at their stations and were working at their viewscreens. Agent Maria Hill was shouting orders from her position as the Helicarrier took to the air.

"We're at a lock, sir," she informed.

Director Fury nodded in response.

"Good. Let's dance."

The Helicarrier continued to ascend high to the heavens. Director Fury watched as one of his main agents at near the top of the bridge was muttering directions into her earpiece. She then flipped on the camouflage, the ship becoming covered in reflecting mirrors so the enormous ship could not be seen in the sky.

At that moment, Steve and Bruce walked onto the gleaming bridge and separated; Steve moved to hand Fury ten bucks which the director stuffed into his pocket with a smirk and Dr. Banner stood at the science console.

"Gentlemen," Fury said as the two had entered. He then held his hand out to Bruce who reluctantly shook it. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce responded. "So, uh...how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?"

Fury glanced over to Agent Coulson who was waiting with Agent Romanoff.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it is eyes and ears for us," Coulson explained.

"That's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha piped up as she studied a picture of the missing Clint Barton on the computer screen.

"You have to narrow the field," Bruce instructed. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

"Call every lab you know and tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Whatever that meant, Steve had no idea. It was all Greek to him.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory please?"

Natasha dipped her head at the director's request.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys."

When they were gone, Steve scanned the room in awe. He recognized what some of the stuff might have possibly been, but otherwise he had no idea. He smoothed out his leather jacket a bit self-consciously and directed his next question at Fury.

"When is everyone getting here exactly?"

Fury blinked. "The Starks? Soon enough. The eldest runs on his own time. I'm pretty sure he's in different timezones half the time."

"I see."

Apparently Steve's disappointment was evident on his face because Fury tsked with a simper.

"Don't worry, Captain. You'll be getting plenty of R&R with his sister."

* * *

**Stark Private Jet**

**American Air **

**2:00 PM **

"You know, we were supposed to head out this morning," Lea chided from her position on the couch. She was sprawled out on the luxury leather and still in baggy sweatpants and a Judas Priest t-shirt, her hair messily braided down her back. Tucked between her shoulder and ear was her StarkPhone and in her lap was a miniature and portable SmartScreen (which was about the size of the better known and more famous iPad. Then again, the SmartScreen had yet to leave the private lives of the Stark household and be released to the public.).

"We're in the air, aren't we?" Tony replied snootily.

"Yeah, only because I got tired of you not getting up and I dragged you out of bed."

"Can you blame me? I was exhausted! Can you imagine staying up all night running through tedious paperwork and clips of our supposed new allies while my sister got to have fun and play with her new armor and then sleep blissfully? Can you even imagine filing paperwork and cramming hundreds of pages of information into your brain?"

"I sometimes have to do it on a daily basis. Remind me to care another time. Now, Jarvis, where were we?"

_"The thrusters and flight stabilizers, Miss," _Jarvis's voice informed in her ear. _"By the way, the coding for the camouflage has been completed. Would you like me to install it into the armor?" _

"_Muy bien_," Lea praised. "Okay, sweet. Do you have Mark III ready for use? S.H.I.E.L.D is coming by to pick that up as backup and I've got Mark IV on the jet. I'll use it in the meantime until Mark V is ready. What's the time estimation on that?"

_"Two days at the least." _

"Thanks, J, you're a doll."

Lea groaned when her phone beeped to signify there was another caller on the line.

"Pepper's on the phone. I've got to head out. Send the files to Mini, will you?"

_"I'm uploading the files to your portable SmartScreen now." _

"How's your Mark V coming along?" Tony asked from his perch on the table.

"Good," Lea assured as she clicked the button to put Pepper on the line. "I'm adding a camo coat under layer for use incase I need to become invisible to the naked eye and why _hello _to you too, Pepper!"

Tony winced at his sibling's sudden shift in tone. He could hear the undertones of a pissed Pepper on the other end of the line.

"Oh, you want to talk to my darling brother?" Lea grinned which then caused Tony to wave his hands and mouth the word "no" in frantic repetition.

"I'm not here, I'm not-Hi, Pep." Tony forced cheerfulness into his voice and shot several nasty glares at his sister who had shoved the phone to his ear. "I'm a little busy can I...how do you know that-okay, so I'm not really busy, but-"

Lea grinned and tuned out their conversation as she focused back on Mini.

"Lea, tell Pep that we're not late, Lea tell her," Tony begged. It was obvious Pepper was giving him a hard time.

"I'm busy now, can I ignore you another time?" Lea said offhandedly.

"Out of 10,000 sperm, you had to be the quickest," Tony grumbled. "Wait-no! Pepper, I wasn't talking to you, my sister was being annoying."

"Not everyone is annoying, Tony, some are dead," Lea reminded as she flicked through the new paperwork on Mini.

"The point is, Pepper, I'm on my way now-"

Tony's voice suddenly disappeared and another was woven into the indistinct drone of conversation that had emerged from nowhere. She could hear orders being yelled, fingers flying over keyboards, and the overall bafflement that came with it.

_"This is your room for now, Captain Rogers. Your locker is down the hall from the bridge-" _

There were certain flashes of metal halls and gleaming screens, a small bed, couch, and TV.

Lea bat her eyes as hard as she could as she tried to wash away the images.

"Earth to Lea Bea." A hand waved in front of her face. Amelia grabbed her brother's hand and she composed a smile on her face. He must have been genuinely concerned if Tony was using her childhood nickname.

"I'm fine," she reassured, but the uneasiness and nerve agitation kept coming. "Sorry, I just zonked out. I was thinking."

Tony clicked off her phone and he slipped it into her hand. He could see clearly that she was having another round of nervousness. In turn, he moved out of her grip and wrapped his hand over hers to caress her knuckles with his thumb.

"You suck at fibbing, kiddo."

"Tell me something I don't know," Lea yawned. Sleep was usually her body's defense against the petrifying fear.

"That would be hard to do. I did teach you all you know."

Lea threw a pillow at him and collapsed face down on the couch.

"Your ego is the universe," she mumbled out of the side of her mouth and into the leather as her eyes grew heavy with fatigue.

Tony tossed the pillow back to his sister and she tugged in under her head. Lea adjusted herself and shifted her weight around for a few heartbeats to get comfortable. As exhaustion set and she drew her limbs close, she could hear the familiar and warm whisper of the voice that had been uttered in her dreams so many times.

_"Golly, they recovered my shield too?" _

_ "__Is that okay, Captain?" _

_ "__Yes, it's perfect. There's just...there's a lot of memories in this shield." _

The unexpected raw power of depression and weariness only ground down her bones more, only set the sleepiness deeper in her skin as Lea drifted off to sleep.

Unlike the emptiness of the void that recently came with the voice she had always known, Lea's dreams were pleasant. She dreamed of her childhood, of tattered sheet capes tied around her neck and fluttering in the breeze and reached for the summits of the clouds, circlets of flowers in her hair, a little hand tucked into big one, and tumbling through the grasses on the Malibu cliffside. She dreamed of the pitter patter of feet and rain splatters, little fingers drawing shapes on foggy glass and chasing drops as they rolled down the windows. The hum of her brother's voice resounding through her end of a paper cup, the vibrations of speech in the string, breathy laughter, and silly secrets. Dancing to rock and roll, air strumming to AC/DC, and her brother's baritone rendition to _Hey Jude _when she was sick and trapped in bed with a spiking fever. Tony guiding her hands to the placement of different machinery, quizzing her on science and engineering facts, and how to properly defuse a hard drive while hacking into a system. A city of skyscrapers, the great oaks of a concrete forest that were so high they seemed to break through the heavens, waves crashing and lapping at the shore, the smell of brine and the cackle of sea birds, and her reflection in the ocean of turquoise.

Then there was her in pictures that the press managed to snap at conferences she was forced to be dragged to because Pepper was busy or the agents thought it would make Tony look good. Him with a snarky smile and oozing confidence, his chocolate eyes sharp while Lea was balanced on his knee with bright eyes like shards of ice or pieces of the sky.

Lea could still remember her first time meeting the paparazzi and how they had practically chased them down the street.

_"Tony? How come people want to take so many pictures of us?" _

_ "__Because I'm insanely hot and all the chicks dig me." _

_ "__Really?" _

_ "__You being gorgeous certainly helps." _

_ The five year old wound her fingers tighter around Tony's pointer and middle finger._

_"Will they always be taking photos of us?"_

_ "__Yup. It's one of the downsides to being incredibly photogenic. You want ice cream before we meet the board?" _

There were other times, like when she was eight, that the strange photographers and press grew black-hearted.

_"Tony!" she wailed as the herd of cameras and microphones grew tighter around her, suffocating her, compressing her down onto the sidewalk. Lea had gotten separated from her brother when they were exiting a huge board meeting and the vultures had taken advantage of it. _

_ "__Amelia-hey! Get away from her!" Tony shouted, cussing and shoving through the paparazzi. Lea's arms shot up and her brother hauled her up to his chest as his little sister hung onto him like a monkey. She buried her face in his suit and began to sob as he kept one arm under her and the other hand in her hair as he sprinted away and leaped into the limo. _

That was when the anxiety had started and the late nights up with her brother when she felt like puking but nothing would come up and when she felt as if her throat was constricting and she was dying but air didn't stop rushing to her lungs.

When Lea's eyes fluttered open for a few brief moments, she noticed that her brother was sitting on the floor and leaning against her legs. A thick quilt was covering her from the neck down and the edges were folded under her tightly in a swaddle.

Too many assumptions had been made by the public about her brother. Once you got past his humor, barbed tongue, sarcasm, and selective hearing, in the recesses of his heart existed the coolest big brother in the whole wide world and the big teddy bear that had raised his sister.

* * *

_~Illumini_


	3. III

**Chocoegg333:** askjfkasdfkadsfkjadsnkfnlakdjsfljndsjkfdsfjadsfdsk jf;iasdfjknsdkjfn kloomgmomomomgomgomgomogmogogmog okay sorry I can't breathe that is insanely nice and it is my dream to be a writer and I don't have an offical career yet but I want one osjdflkthankyouthankyouthahnkyoyiu.

**Counting Sinful Stars:** I know, right?!

**Iloveteaandcoffee:** That really means the world to me omg thank you so so so much thank you seriously.

**Jayna:** Oh my gosh thank you so much! Seriously, thank you! I think I'm gonna cry :')

**ILove2Write13:** THANKS CUTIE :3

* * *

**I forgot to put in the last two chapters a shout out and my eternal thanks to my beta, ILove2Write13 (or as I call her my precious Sarah). Thank you for being absolutely amazing and putting up with my crap. I don't know what I'd do without you, tbh. **

**omg so i got a job**

**Please Enjoy. **

* * *

**III **

* * *

**Underground Lab**

**Undisclosed Location**

**8:00 PM**

"The Chitauri grow restless."

Loki looked up as he materialized in the throne room of The Other, fully armed in his horned helmet and armor. He smiled to himself, laughing slightly.

"Let them go at themselves. I will lead them into glorious battle."

The Other growled.

"Battle? Against the meager might of Earth?" he demanded.

"Glorious, not lengthy," Loki assured. "_If _your force is as formidable as you claim."

The Other let out another growl, his voice a dangerous hiss. "You question us? You question _him? _He, who put the scepter in your hand, who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out defeated?"

"I was king! The rightful king of Asgard! Betrayed!"

The Other scoffed, "Your ambition is little, born of childish need. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil."

"You don't have it yet," the dark haired God pointed out. The Other moved to attack him but Loki swiftly stopped him, his scepter aimed at his heart.

"I don't threaten, but until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."

"You will have your war, Asgardian," The Other chuckled darkly. "If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no _crevice _where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."

The Other placed his hand on Loki's head and he was transported back to Earth. Loki winced, glancing around menacingly as if daring for someone to take him on. His brainwashed soldiers continued running their routes and assisting Selvig as he worked around the CMS device. Loki stood up from his meditation position and swept across the lab toward him. At that moment, Clint Barton walked in with a tablet in his grasp.

"Put it over there!" Selvig called. He then looked to Barton and said, "Where did you find all these people?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D has no shortage of enemies, Doctor," Clint responded as he held up the tablet with a picture of Iridium on the screen. "Is this the stuff you need?"

"Yeah, Iridium. It's found in meteorites and it forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get hold of."

"Especially is S.H.I.E.L.D knows you need it," Barton noted.

"Well, I didn't know!" Selvig then spotted Loki and cried, "Hey! The Tesseract is showing me so much. It's more than just knowledge, it's...truth."

"I know." Loki smirked. "What did it show you, Agent Barton?"

The S.H.I.E.L.D agent inclined his head and answered, "My next target."

Loki's grin widened. "Tell me what you need."

"I'll need a distraction." Clint grabbed his bow and with the swish of his arm it flicked out to full size. "And an eyeball."

* * *

**S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier**

**Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean**

**8:30 PM**

Steve slid his hands in his pocket and leaned against the railing on the bridge. He watched as the agents worked on their search using the satellites for facial recognition of Loki so they could bring him in. Beside him, Agent Coulson had his hands firmly clasped behind his back.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no. It's fine," Steve reassured with a smile. Just like Natasha had said, Coulson had chosen the key moment to ask the super solider to sign his trading cards.

"It's a vintage set," Coulson informed merrily, unable to contain his excitement. "It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but–"

"We got a hit!" an agent announced from his seat. Steve's stomach clenched in anticipation as the agent read off the information.

"Sixty severn percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson questioned.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain," Fury notified. "You're up."

Steve nodded and pivoted, heading to his locker to suit up. His heart flittered with the anticipation of battle as he approached the steel cabinet where his updated Captain America uniform was waiting, famous shield and all. He stood in silence, taken aback. He was back in action.

* * *

**Stark Private Jet **

**German Airport **

**8:40 PM**

"They got a hit!" Tony hooted.

Lea set aside her laptop with a grin.

"Really? Where is he at?" Lea replied, getting to her feet as her nimble fingers quickly braided her hair down her back. During her nap, it had fallen out and become a disheveled mess.

"Stuttgart, Germany," Tony informed. "Let's suit up."

They had spent most of the day in the plane doing research, playing rummy, and getting ready when S.H.I.E.L.D had called.

"I'm actually excited," Lea remarked. "Do you think the Captain will be there?"

Tony turned around so his sister couldn't see the bitter look on his face. He managed to keep his tone even as he said, "I don't know."

Lea followed Tony to the two glass cases on either side of the hallway where their suits were stored. Together they punched in their codes and the glass flicked open. Lea backed into the compartment as the suit formed around her, enveloping the blond in its protective embrace and sheltering her in the warm armor. It thrummed happily when it closed and sealed around her torso, the helmet clicking into place. The helm came to life when her face disappeared behind the iron mask.

_"Welcome, Miss Stark." _

"Hello, Jarvis. Set a course to Stuttgart."

Lea stepped out of the chamber to find Tony ready to go.

_"Let's hit the road," _Tony's said over the comm between the two suits.

"This is gonna be a blast," Lea cheered once they were out of the jet and off into the sky, their thrusters propelling them over Germany. Her eyes flickered to the small square in the left corner of the screen. It expanded to reveal a playlist and she smirked when she shared it to her brother's hud. _Freewheel Burning _blasted in their speakers and Tony gave a hoot.

"Judas Priest! Perfect for the occasion, little sis."

Lea only grinned to herself, her excitement building up and up until she was sure it would cause her to asphyxiate.

* * *

**Stuttgart Museum **

**Stuttgart, Germany**

**9:00 PM**

Loki descended the glistening marble staircase down to the lavish gala below, enthralled by the orchestra. Below his target, a head doctor in Stuttgart, was giving a speech on something Loki absolutely had not desire to pay attention to. His scarf swayed as he flipped his scepter that was disguised as a cane, elegantly swinging it to clobber the head of a guard who neared him with his gun at the ready. At once the crowd erupted into screams and the many guests fled the museum in fear. Before the doctor could even set his microphone down, Loki yanked the doctors off his feet by his collar and flipped him onto a table with a satanic grin.

Loki reached into his coat and pulled out what looked to be an optical torture device. The doctor began to release a scream when Loki plunged it into his eye. The dark haired god smirked even more as the doctor twisted and writhed in agony, a holographic image of the eye appearing on Barton's end so he could gain access to the facility and the glass thermos of iridium.

Loki left the doctor to rot on the table for all he cared, striding out of the museum to the scrambling guests as his armor and gold helmet materialized upon him. A police car became rubble when Loki blasted it apart without hesitation.

"Kneel before me," Loki demanded.

The mob ignored him, still trying to run. Loki closed his eyes and summoned his magic, clones of him appearing and surrounding the crowd. They all grinned and laughed, their spears raised in challenge for someone to dare to try to sprint away.

"I said _KNEEL!" _Loki screamed. At once, everyone was quiet and the mass fell to their knees before him in petrifying fear.

Loki chuckled and threw his arms out with a wide beam.

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state?" Loki inquired to the horde. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

As the words resonated with the crowd one heroic elder German man refused to kneel and struggled to his feet.

"Not to men like you," he declared in a heavily accented voice.

"There are no men like me," Loki explained simply.

"There are _always _men like you."

Loki sniggered and held out his scepter ostentatiously. "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."

Just as the light within the scepter glowed bright as Loki prepared to execute the older human, a shield dropped down between the blast, held by a man in uniform. The shockwave of the ricochet of power caused Loki to topple backward and be knocked down on his backside.

Steve's heart raced as he stood erect, shield proudly held before him.

"You know," he said, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

Loki rose to his feet with a simper. "Ah, the solider. A man out of time."

Steve shook his head. "I'm not the one who's out of time."

Above the Captain was a quinjet with its enormous machine gun was pointed a Loki. Over the speakers Natasha's voice rang out.

_"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." _

Like greased lightning Loki sent a blast of blue at the quinjet. Thankfully, Natasha maneuvered the aircraft out of the way jut in time which gave Steve the chance he needed. Steve seized the opportunity, throwing his shield at Loki. Before Steve knew it, Loki had flung him to the ground.

With his breath knocked out of him, Steve struggled to sling his shield at the deity. Loki merely swatted it away as if it was a pesky bug. Steve leaped back to his feet and ducked and swung like a boxer only to be shoved to the ground again. Loki stood over him with his scepter tip at Steve's helmet. His stomach flip flopped as his brain raced to think of what to do next.

"Kneel," Loki commanded.

"Not today!"

Steve swung his body around, kicking Loki's legs out from underneath him. Loki stumbled but seized Steve's arm and flipped him over effortlessly. As Steve's body hit the concrete, a bullet of pain rocketed up his spine and he fought to recover, Loki moving in to make the killing slash with his scepter.

In the quinjet, Natasha watched in fear.

"The guy's all over the place," she grumbled as she became a bit worried for the Captain's life.

Suddenly, AC/DC's _Shoot to Thrill _blared over the quinjet's speakers as they were overridden.

_"Agent Romanoff," _Tony greeted, his voice accompanying the music. "_Did you miss us?_"

* * *

**Outside Stuttgart Museum **

**9:05 PM**

Lea banked around the quinjet as her music wailed through and Jarvis countermanded the speaker's control. Her heart was sprinting at the speed of light in her chest, her inner organs clenched in an iron fist when she shot a hand out and hurled Loki clean off his feet with a shot from her repulsor.

_"Nice one," _Tony praised.

The thrill was nearly causing her body to detonate within her suit. When she and Tony touched down and pulled out every piece of weaponry their suits had, she kept her eyes on Loki even though she was longing to look at the man who's eyes were solely focused on the two suits. Her pulse picked up even more so if possible when she spotted his shape out of the corner of her eye.

_"Make your move, Reindeer Games,"_ Tony ordered.

Lea watched as Loki put up his hands and surrendered, his armor evaporating off his body.

_"Good move," _Tony noted.

Blood pounded through Lea's ears as the quinjet landed behind her. She was having trouble standing, her knees suddenly weak at the thought of meeting him. She was so close and yet she felt so far away. She yearned to turn her head but her eyes were still stuck on Loki as her weaponry sunk back into her silver and red suit. His pale blue gaze was shifting between the two iron people as if unsure of what they really were.

Lea kept her hand extended before her and aimed at Loki incase he got any smart ideas. She moved behind him and kept her palm on his back, ready to fire. Her heart was a violent hurricane in her chest, hammering wildly and battering her ribcage senseless.

_'There he is,' _she thought when they were finally loaded in the quinjet, Loki cuffed and in a seat, and the jet back in the air. _'Oh my god that's him. Oh my freaking god that's him, that's the other super solider.' _

Lea's usually slick tongue was knotting at the thought of speaking with him, her skin oddly itching the closer together they got. She watched him through her helmet, waiting for Tony to give the okay that they could relax.

"That's him, J," she whispered to the A.I. "What do I do?"

_"May I suggest talking to him?" _

She was too nervous to comment on his sassiness.

Tony took off his helmet first and set it on one of the seats. Lea could see the Captain's eyes trained on her which only made her heart flutter faster. She reached up and removed her helmet, her braid flopping out and down her back.

Lea saw his breathing stop as her own breath hitched. A jolt of electricity whizzed up her spine when her eyes finally found his, blue locking on blue. Lea gaped at him in astonishment, unable to inhale let alone _move _toward him. Lea couldn't figure out how his jaw looked so familiar, that shape of his eyes and color, his easy smile, stance, the slope of his shoulders, straight back, and nose. She watched as he slowly smiled and she followed suit, unable to contain her excitement any longer.

"Amelia Stark?"

Amelia's skin crawled with gooseflesh as she finally had a body to connect the voice to that had haunted her dreams for so long.

_'It really is him.' _

"Yes," she replied, much more calmly than the thoughts that were shrieking in her brain. She couldn't comprehend that he was actually standing in front of her, that the man that was the reason she was graced with existence and whom she had been waiting all her life to meet.

He was holding his hand out to her and for a second she had to struggle to remember what the gesture actually meant. Lea's armored hand sunk into his and her whole body felt warm when his grip closed around hers.

"Call me Lea."

"Steve Rogers," Captain America replied.

"I know," Lea blurted. "I mean–" Her cheeks grew hot in embarrassment as she grappled to get the right words out. "Sorry, uhm, I'm just..._damn _I'm an idiot."

Steve's eyebrows flew up and he blushed slightly at her curse, but he didn't release her hand. Lea didn't want him to.

"She's a big fan," Tony butted in. "She even has a whole box of collector items dedicated to you in your–"

"He's lying!" Lea gasped, appalled at her brother's fib in order to mortify her further. When she was little Tony wouldn't even let her talk about him. She could only imagine his fury if she had had action figures or something considered nerdy and lame.

"I really don't," Lea promised. "He's jut trying to embarrass me. I'm just...I'm just I'm really excited to finally meet you."

Steve, who had cleared his throat awkwardly at the comment, grinned as Lea tried to compose herself.

"Ma'am, the feeling is defiantly mutual," the super solider guaranteed.

Lea finally inhaled properly and took her eyes off of Steve. Tony seemed to be grimacing, moving closer to his sister. The blonde female turned to study their prisoner at last. His eyes were on the ground but at that moment his gaze met hers and she was captivated by his stare, the way his dark hair was slicked back and fell on his shoulders, the gold glimmering in pieces of his armor, and his cold yet calculating stare. He smirked after a moment, scoffing lightly to himself and returning to scrutinizing is boots.

"I don't like it."

Lea spun back at Steve's whispered comment just as her brother replied as he kept his voice low.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"Rock of Ages?" she mouthed to herself, slightly confused by the oddly placed nickname.

"I don't remember it being ever that easy," the Captain said. "This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's you thing? Pilates?"

"Tony," Lea groaned, half abashed and half amused.

"What?" Rogers' eyebrows flew up in bewilderment.

"It's like calisthenics," Lea answered.

"Oh."

"You might have missed a couple things," Tony noted, "you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

Steve stepped up, clutching his belt and puffing out his chest. He looked down at Tony in irritation.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in for this mission."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

Lea opened her mouth to pry the two egos apart when a crack of thunder and lightning caused the jet to shake violently. Out of instinct, Amelia reached over and grabbed her helmet.

"Where's this coming from?" Romanoff asked from the cockpit.

Lea paid no attention, her awareness instead choosing to focus on Loki who was staring intently out the window.

"What the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve inquired.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki informed.

As soon as the last syllable had left his lips a blinding jet of light hit their transportation causing it to quiver ever more brutally. The ramp dropped open with a crash and there stood a tall man with golden locks and a red cape, a hammer clenched in his hand.

"Thor," Lea uttered, recognizing him from the S.H.I.E.L.D videos. Anxiety snaked down her spine, her stomach churning at the furious expression on his face. He leaped in, grabbed Loki by the throat, and dove back out of the quinjet. Tony then grabbed his helmet and put it on.

"Now there's that guy," he grumbled.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha questioned.

"Think the guy's friendly?" Rogers asked.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost. Lea, stay here," Tony ordered.

"What? Hell no!" Amelia exclaimed. "This guy's a god, Tony, you need my help."

"Too bad, so sad. You're staying here, kiddo." Tony turned, his faceplate flicking down.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" the Captain cried.

"I have a plan," Tony responded. "Attack."

Tony jumped out of the jet to chase after Thor. Muttering under her breath, Lea clicked her helmet into place and got ready to leap as Rogers grabbed a parachute in order to follow.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha called from the front. "And Lea, your brother said for you to stay."

"No can do," Lea said just as Steve remarked, "I don't see how I can."

"Lea, don't," Natasha tried.

Amelia rolled her eyes as her faceplate flicked down and her hull came to life.

"You're not my babysitter anymore," Lea reminded her.

"These guys come from legends. They're basically Gods."

Steve cast a smile at Lea as she gave a salute and backflipped off the ramp.

"There's only one God, ma'am," Steve told Natasha. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

* * *

_~Illumini_


	4. IV

**Scribbler95:** Thank you so much! Here you are :)

**morganclaire1:** Aww thank you :D

**Chocoegg333:** It's really cool too. I've been thinking about the slight differences about it too and guhgkhgj I love the suits so much.

**ILove2Write13:** You are seriously so sweet omg omg omg i love you so much.

**Counting Sinful Stars:** He will eventually ;)

* * *

**I would like to thank ILove2Write13 (my dearest Sarah) for everything and for being perfect and pretty much like my other half.**

**School?!**

**REVERIE will be updated soon, this weekend at the earliest. **

**Please Enjoy. **

* * *

**IV**

* * *

**Mountain Ledge**

**Somewhere in the European Mountains**

**9:23 PM **

Loki hit the ground hard as Thor threw him into the mountain ledge, Mjolnir raised and eyes glaring angrily at his brother. Loki fought back a groan, somewhat fazed by Thor's strength.

"Where is the Tesseract?" Thor demanded.

Loki laughed, his ribs aching at the action. "I missed you too."

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?!"

The dark haired god stood up and brushed himself off, his lip curling upwards with loathing for the man he once called family.

"Oh, you should thank me," Loki sneered. "With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here?" He took a breath and then spat, "Your precious Earth."

Thor dropped Mjolnir, the mountain quaking as the mighty hammer landed. The blonde then seized Loki by the collar and hoisted him into the air, his gaze softening.

"I thought you dead."

"Did you mourn?" Loki questioned, trying not to show his tentativeness.

"We all did!" Thor exclaimed. "Our father–"

"_Your _father," Loki corrected haughtily. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

Thor released Loki who walked away from him and to the ledge to cause an even bigger wedge between them. Loki looked down, shoulders hunched and stomach queasy. Thor always had to complicate things with his blundering movements, impulsive behavior, and lurching actions. He felt only disgust for Thor and even deeper repugnance at himself. How he longed to purify himself of the Frost Giant poison racing through his veins.

"We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"

Loki spun around, his pale face livid. "I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss, I who was and should be king!"

"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights," Thor proclaimed. "No, the Earth is under my protection, Loki."

The younger male chuckled. "And you're doing a _marvelous _job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves, while you ideally threat. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them."

"Well, yes," Loki stated.

Thor smiled in spite of himself, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill."

Loki gritted his teeth and indignantly shoving Thor aside. He stalked back to the ledge, his vexation building up and up into an irate rage.

"I've seen worlds you've never known about!" Loki shouted as he turned to face the other Asgardian. "I have grown, _Odinson_, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it–"

"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?"

"I am a king!"

"Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!" Thor's yell quieted into a plea as he then went on. "You come home."

"I don't have it," Loki taunted. "You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off, I know not where."

Thor's hand shot out and Mjolnir flew back into his grasp.

"You listen well, brother. I–"

A bolt of red and gold instantaneously tackled Thor in mid-flight, knocking him off the mountain.

Loki, who still remained, said to the air, "I'm listening."

Another spot of red shone above him, this time glistening with silver. Like a falling star, in the shape of a metal suit it descended further until it landed beside the god. Loki smirked, recognizing her from the S.H.I.E.L.D files Barton had dug up.

"Iron Woman," Loki greeted, crossing his arms. "We meet at last."

"Let's cut the chitchat 'cuz I've got an idiot brother to save and ass to kick," she snapped. "Do you plan on moving or do I have to personally escort you back to the jet?"

Loki grinned. "Oh, don't mind me. I currently have no plans on moving."

"Good." He could hear the grimace in her voice when there was exceptionally loud crash from below. He watched in rapt attention as she flexed her fingers and arms, rolling her shoulders, and twisting her head.

"Don't get too comfortable, I'll be back in a sec."

Her hands seemed to light on fire, propelling her into the air, and off the ledge to the forest below.

* * *

Thor and Iron Man crashed into the forest, Thor rolling himself back to his feet in shock. Tony, who had still been standing, kept his distance as his helmet opened up.

"Do not touch me again!" Thor ordered.

"Then don't touch my stuff," Tony replied simply.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Uh..." Tony peered around the trees. "Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"

"This is beyond you, metal man," Thor barked. "Loki will face Asgardian justice!"

Tony held his hands up, internally rolling his eyes. "He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of my way."

His helmet clamped up as he walked away, muttering under his breath, "Tourist."

In one quick move, Thor pulled Mjolnir, chucked it, and flattened Iron Man clear across the darkness of the woods into a tree. Inside the suit Tony bared his teeth and checked his settings.

"Okay."

Thor recalled his hammer back into his hand. He then swung his weapon, summoning a blinding ray of electricity in preparation of the fight that was about to begin.

Stark stood up and blasted a beam of energy that sent Thor flat on his hind. Tony then flew up and knocked Thor into a tree in revenge. In turn, Thor extended Mjolnir to the skies, thunder and lightning booming above. He then pointed the hammer at Tony and a huge jet of electricity electrified the suit, the outpouring bolts of lightning zapping the metal and increasing in intensity so much Iron Man soared backwards.

_"Power at 400% capacity,_" Jarvis alerted.

Inside the suit, Tony smiled, "How about that?"

Tony fired from his hand boosters, pushing Thor to his knees. The blonde leaped up, only to fall back again when a pair of feet collided with his shoulders, hands wrapped his hair, and another iron suit flipping over him and shoving him to the ground.

Lea landed on her feet and jumped over his fallen body to face her brother. She took in his smoking suit and battered armor with a slight jolt of fear.

_"Lea? What do you think you are doing?!" _

"Helping you out, of course."

"_Dammit, who taught you to rebel?_"

"Well, I learned from the–"

_"Lea!"_

The female super solider was cut off by Tony's yell as Thor grabbed her from behind, whipping her across the clearing. Before she could crash she flipped her boosters on, turned through the air with the poise of a dancer, and rocketed like a bullet back at the man who tried to harm her. Thor ducked and sprung, grabbing Tony. Tony wriggled out of his grasp by elbowing Thor in the face and then smashed him into the side of the mountain.

_"I said don't touch my stuff!" _Tony snarled.

Thor and Iron Man crashed down, smashing into nearly every tree in range as they grappled. Tony yanked Thor up into the air, Thor crushing Tony's hand boosters. In retaliation, Tony quickly charged as much energy as he could and shot it right into Thor's face.

Thor fell back right into Lea's arms. When he turned she roundhouse kicked him right in the face, using her momentum to then head-butt him with her helmet. Thor gnashed his teeth together and head-butted her back, actually sending her airborne.

Tony punched Thor in the face, Thor grabbing his fist and twisting him through the air. Lea grabbed him by the cape and swung him around into another tree. At that moment, Thor glared at the both of them, his patients utterly and completely lost.

Thor called Mjolnir into his hand, using the butt of the handle to thrust Lea down to the ground. He swung and just as the hammer was about to crush her, she used her boosters to skid away across the foliage.

"Now, Tony," Lea told him in the suit.

Thor, his eyes glued to Lea, didn't notice Iron Man barreling toward him.

_"On it." _

Tony rammed square into the god's back with all the power he had. Thor tumbled but caught himself, flipping onto his feet and ready to pounce.

_'C'mon,' _Lea thought, her jaw locking. Her viewscreen zoomed in to where Loki was standing on the cliff to check and make sure he was still there.

It was suddenly if she was being transported and seeing out of the eyes of another.

She saw two metal suits standing below, a god poised to attack, and the glimmer of a red, white, and blue shield ricocheting off of her brother and Thor's armor. She felt the shield flying back and the holder slipping back over her forearm.

Lea was then back, her out of body experience over and leaving her woozy. There on top of one of the many fallen trees was Captain America himself.

"Hey! That's enough!" he commanded. Rogers hopped down, his blue eyes scrutinizing the god of thunder. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here–"

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor bellowed.

"Then prove it! Put the hammer down!"

_'Dammit.' _

"Um, yeah, no!" Tony warned. "Bad call! He loves his hammer!"

Thor backhanded Tony like a pimp with Mjolnir so hard he disappeared in the debris of the demolition they had caused.

Thor fiercely glowered at the Captain. "You want me to put the hammer down?"

The thunderer vaulted high into the air, his hammer held high. Lea's heart plummeted into her stomach at the sign of Steve in danger without an armor suit to protect him. Rogers crouched down and ducked under his shield, the hammer hitting the shield so hard there was a massive implosion of light, a ringing pulse that nearly caused her eardrums to explode, and an immense shockwave that blew Lea off her feet. When the vibrations finally stopped, Tony pulled his little sister up and they both stood up, eyes flitting around.

Cap let out a breath. "Are we done here?"

* * *

**S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier**

**Hovering over the Atlantic Ocean**

**Avengers Locker Room**

**9:56 PM**

"You heading out, Tony?" Lea asked, her brother's face up on the corner of her helm.

_"I've gotta talk with Coulson real quick. I'll take my armor off in our separate locker and meet you in the briefing room." _

Lea nodded. "Got it. See you in a bit."

Her viewscreen dwindled into darkness as she stepped back into the compartment that had been transferred onto the ship, the machines within removing her suit piece by piece. Steve and Thor, who had accompanied her to the locker room so Steve could show the two of them where it was located on the colossal Helicarrier, watched in fascination as it whirred around her, the metal on her arms and legs being quickly pried off and folded away. When her helmet came off and she stepped out of the compartment, the glass sliding up and the suit stored, Thor looked petrified, as if he had suddenly been slapped on the face by a ghost.

"I...I must apologize," he stammered. "I did not realize that you were in fact a woman."

"No big deal." Lea waved it away.

"No, it is," Thor informed her. "On Asgard it is immoral to fight a woman as I did, especially without me knowing your true identity and gender. I feel abominable for harming you."

"Honestly, don't worry about it. You barely even scratched me. Now, my armor is going to need some touch ups, but you didn't hurt me." When the sorrowful expression upon his face did not fade, Lea took his hand. "Seriously, Goldilocks, I'm fine. I'm Amelia."

To her surprise, Thor leaned down and brought her hand to his lips.

"Lady Amelia, I am Thor, son of Odin, and prince of Asgard."

Lea smiled broadly and then peeked over her shoulder at Steve.

"I should get myself an Asgardian," she joked.

The three of them walked through the hallway, Thor's cape and full armor evaporating off of his body. The female super solider kept sneaking glances over at Steve only to find him doing the same thing. Without her even realizing it, she always found her eyes wandering over his legs, his arms, chest, and shoulder blades, watched the flex and ripple of his muscles, and his straight back as she studied his every movement. Her heart picked up at the sight of him, a trillions questions pirouetting in her brain that she longed to ask.

_'Later,' _she promised herself. _'After debriefing.' _

In the debriefing room she slid her hands into her sweatpants' pockets and plopped down on a stool. Natasha Romanoff (a woman she was very familiar with and still not at the same time) and another man with curls of dark hair were waiting. Steve sat down beside her, Thor choosing to stand off to the side somewhat by the sitting Romanoff and the standing stranger. She then directed her attention on the screen before them as Director Nick Fury and their new prisoner, Loki, were in the detention section of the Helicarrier.

In a large glass cell held by hydraulic rigs was where Loki was held captive. Fury was standing at the control panel of the cell with a very severe look upon his face.

_"In case it's unclear. You try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass..._"

Fury pressed a button on the control panel that caused the huge hatch underneath Loki's cell to open up. She couldn't see the drop but she could certainly hear the gusting, howling wind below. It was enough to make her fear for her own life in the safety of the debriefing room.

_"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?"_

Fury closed the hatch. He then pointed at the dark haired god and said, "_Ant._" After that, he gestured to the button that would drop Loki into the supposed steel trap.

"_Boot_," Fury informed.

_"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me,"_ Loki said with a simper.

_"Built for something a lot stronger than you." _

_"Oh, I've heard." _

To be even more infuriating, Loki stared straight into the camera with a gaze that caused shakes to slither up her spine.

_"The mindless beast makes play he's still a man," _Loki went on. _"How desperate are you that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" _

_"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cuz it's fun. You have made me _very _desperate. You might not be glad that you did." _

_"Ooh. It _burns _you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is." _

Fury smiled. _"Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." _

The screen cut out. All was silent until the stranger Lea hadn't met (but guessed he was the Hulk from the footage she had seen), broke the hush.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve insisted. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not afraid of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract," Thor explained.

"An army? From outer space?" Steve questioned seriously as if he did not believe Thor.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Dr. Banner said.

"Selvig?" Thor inquired.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha clarified.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him," Steve chimed in. "He's not leading an army from here."

Dr. Banner cleaned his glasses on his shirt, put them back on, and crossed his arms. "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him–"

"I don't care how to speak," Thor interjected gruffly. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "He killed eighty people in two days."

Thor swallowed self consciously. "He's adopted."

"Iridium," Bruce went on, ignoring the two. "What did they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent."

Lea, who had been quiet and doing calculations she had deemed more important than jumping in the conversation, turned her head when her brother walked in with Agent Coulson.

"I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive," Tony assured Phil before acknowledging the rest of the crowd. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D."

Tony gave his sibling a wink and patted Thor on the arm. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing."

Amelia stifled a laugh at the god's immediate bewilderment. Tony strode up onto the bridge and rambled on. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."

_'True. But if you were to reverse the polarity and withhold the voltage...' _

"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails!" the eldest Stark called to the crew working below. "That man is playing _Galaga! _Thought we wouldn't notice...but we did." He then threw his hand over one of his eyes and rotated to face each of the four screens. "How does Fury do this?"

Agent Maria Hill gazed at him soberly. "He turns."

Tony shrugged, examining Fury's desk. She knew what was coming all too well. Tony had ranted and raved to her about his suspicious with Fury and she knew that Tony wouldn't rest until the true came forth and they were either confirmed or denied. He wouldn't rest with plausible. So when his hand brushed under the desk, so fast, light, and mostly concealed by his body positioning, Lea knew that he had planted one of the tiny, button sized hacking devices she had invented onto Fury's hard drive without anyone noticing.

"Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source."

Thor, Natasha, Steve, and Agent Hill were bemused.

"A high energy density, something to kick start the cube," Lea apprised.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill lobed at the Starks.

"Last night," they answered in sync.

"The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers…are we the only ones who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve queried.

"He has to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," answered Bruce.

"Unless, Selvig had figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony countered.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"But what about ionizing radiation?" Lea reminded, testing Bruce's knowledge. "That would mean that dealing with the Tesseract would be potentially dangerous. What about his scepter? If a piece of the Tesseract's energy is lodged within the weapon for him to wield, it's something that's potentially dangerous to have on the ship. Which would mean that...?" Lea trailed off, prompting him. She could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"That the radiation would have to be the key," Bruce speculated. "The radiation can be used to our advantage. By tracing the gamma energy and the ionization, we can match that to locate the Tesseract, which was what I was called here for. But I didn't even think about using ionizing radiation. It would potentially be a more reliable source unless there are other factors around like factories using nuclear power."

Tony, who had smiled and chuckled at Lea's hidden motive, grinned even wider when Bruce's knowledge matched their own.

"Finally," he gasped. "Someone who speaks English."

"Is that was just happened?" Steve jested.

Tony sauntered back over the bridge and to the group, his hand extended to Bruce. The two shook hands, mutual respect glimmering in their eyes.

Lea got up and introduced herself as well, nearly unwilling to leave the Captain's side for reasons she couldn't place.

"Amelia, but I prefer Lea," Lea introduced.

"Lea." Bruce smiled, shaking her hand. "Great."

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-election collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Tony praised.

Bruce looked down and squirmed slightly. "Thanks."

Lea returned to her seat just as Fury arrived, butting into the conversation.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you two might join him," Fury convinced.

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve suggested. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

_'HYDRA,' _Lea pondered. _'He fought against them in World War II. There weapons worked with the Tesseract's energy and–' _

Her thoughts were cut off by Fury.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor asked. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Cap blurted, his hand shooting up. "I understood that reference."

Tony rolled his eyes while the Captain looked proud of himself. At his beam Lea felt a terrible sickness in her stomach, one of loneliness, of the world she once called her home becoming bizarre and foreign, and depression. She could only imagine how alone Rogers really felt trapped in a place that he did not recognize and how truly delighted he must have been to finally find something he knew and was a piece of his time.

Instead of someone giving him the encouragement he probably desperately needed, Tony put all attention upon himself.

"Shall we play, doctor?"

Dr. Banner smirked. "Let's play some."

Lea's brother waved for her to follow, to return and become once again conjoined at the hip as they always had been. She looked to Steve and shook her head.

"I'm gonna hang out with Cap, if that's okay," Lea told him.

The Captain let out a faint sigh of relief. Tony examined his sister with steady eyes and dipped his head, keeping his face neutral.

"I'd really like it if you came to the lab."

"C'mon, Tony, please?"

Her brother huffed and maneuvered around the awkwardness of the situation and the tension in the air with a joke "Fine. Just don't stay up too late, kiddo. You won't be getting your Cheerios if you stay up past your bedtime."

It was the blond's turn to roll her eyes. "Gotcha."

When they were gone, Lea faced Steve. "You coming?"

* * *

**Training Room**

**10:30 PM**

After Steve had shown Lea around the sections of the Helicarrier he knew, they stopped in the training room so the female could scope it out but in the end, Lea had ended up collapsing on the training mats face first claiming that she was exhausted of waiting to talk to him and they just needed to get it out there or something along those lines. Her voice had been muffled to near incoherence by the thickness of the mat.

Steve sat down and crossed his legs, Lea sitting up and doing the same. A billion questions were zooming around in his cranium like motorized freckles, his thoughts personified by insects crawling out of his mouth in the form of a question.

"What is it like?"

Lea's forehead creased, her eyes shining with excitement and amusement. "What's what like?"

"Being a super solider," Steve prompted. "Is it different for you?"

"Is it different for you?" Lea mused. "I've got a larger lung capacity, a faster, stronger, and bigger heart, brain activity that's off the charts, and I can parkour like there is no tomorrow. I'm guessing it's the same for you, Steve, seeing as I was based off of you."

The male had been ready to ask what parkour was when the last of his sentence tied his tongue in a huge knot. "Based off me?"

"Well, yeah." Lea was suddenly abashed. "Good old Dad brought me into this world not because he wanted me, but because he wanted another you. According to Tony, he was pretty peeved when they found out I was a girl."

Steve found it hard to breath, his inhale ensnared within his throat.

"I mean, he got over it, eventually. At least, I think he did. The third time he called Tony, Tony said he sounded a lot happier about it. So, I think he did. My mom and dad got in a car crash when they were bringing me home, so I never got to know if he was still mad at mother nature for giving me a vagina."

His face grew unnaturally hot. Lea cackled as he turned five different shades of red.

"D-D-Do all gals talk like you?"

"No," Lea promised between giggles. "You can blame my brother for my mouth. Sorry, Steve, I'll keep it minimal."

It took them a few minutes to both recover, but somehow, they managed.

"What's it like for you?"

"A lot like it is for you," Steve noted. "I thought we would be different some how but...we're not. When I was injected with the serum, after it was over, everything was so much clearer. It was like my whole life...my whole life I was trying to see the world through a foggy window and when the injection was over, everything was as clear as crystal. Sounds, sights, smells, thoughts, movements...did you notice that?"

Lea shook her head.

"How long have you been a super solider?"

The corner of Lea's lip quirked up in a grin. "My whole life, so that's why. This..." she gestured to her body, "this is all I've ever known. I was never a scrawny boy from Brooklyn, I came out screaming and as strong as an ox. I was born like this, you were made like this."

"So you grew up a super solider? Didn't your schoolmates or friends notice anything?"

"Absolutely." When she nodded, her blond braid bobbed about on her shoulder. "It certainly didn't help that I was a _Stark, _that's for sure. But I was always afraid in gym class or just walking through the hallways that someone would notice my muscles if I crossed arms and I was wearing a short sleeved shirt. I was so _freaking _afraid that I spent my short high school and college career in _sweatpants _because I was so terrified that if I ran or walked too fast or moved the wrong way, someone would notice the muscles in my legs. It was something I finally learned how to control, just stay loose, don't tighten your legs, blah blah blah. Pepper taught me how to walk in high heels or in a dress or in skinny jeans so I could spend time on the red carpet or out in public with Tony."

He couldn't help but notice that at moment she was in sweatpants. Old habits die hard, he guessed.

But when she moved, Steve couldn't see what she was talking about. She only looked healthy and toned like a born athlete, not like the freaky body builder she was making herself sound to be.

"God." She flopped down, her head resting in his lap. "You don't know how happy I am to meet you. I've kinda been waiting my whole life, so thanks for finally showing up."

Steve smiled, strangely completely at ease with her sprawled across his legs. He was unsure of what to say. Thank you for existing? God bless Howard for bringing you into this world because I would be kinda sorta maybe lost right now without you?

"Thank you," he finally murmured, staring into her hair. "Thank you."

* * *

_~Illumini_


End file.

Avengers, Adventure, Supernatural