Age Of Miracles | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Thirty-Five: What It Was To Feel Human

Music is "Moving On" by Michael Giacchino from the Lost OST.

Picture is Glory and Vlad.

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"A long time ago, Natalia Romanova made me remember what it was to feel human. They punished us both for that, in different ways."

- Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier

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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

I take the remaining badges into my hand. I think of my bedroom at Stark Tower and open a portal to my nightstand. Reaching through, I place them in the draw beside my bed, closing the small portal after my arm is back through. "I'll show Elaine and Pietro when I get back," I tell Bucky. "Again, thank you."

Bucky grins at my response. "Anything for you, Glory."

"I'm curious," I say, changing the conversation, "who is on the team these days? I mean, you hear about Captain America and Black Widow in the news, but I know that there's more going on behind the scenes."

Bucky leans back against his desk as he replies, "It's kinda ridiculous at this point. We've got me, Nat, Stephen, Carol, and Sam from the old team. The ones you might not know about are Scott Lang, Jessica Drew, Kamala Khan, Peter Parker--"

"--What about Wade Wilson? Deadpool? I remember recruiting him for our Civil War thing a few years back. Is he an Avenger?"

Bucky scoffs, "Absolutely not. We call in Deadpool when we're out of every other option. Never before."

"What about Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil?"

"I hear he's made his own little team of Defenders in Hell's Kitchen and Harlem. They're a little unbalanced, but they clean up all right so we let them continue under the radar."

I nod. "Wow. The team really has grown."

"And we have lots that might be joining sooner or later," Bucky adds. "Kamala is our youngest Avenger. She's twenty-one now. We have our eye on several young heroes who have sprouted up around the country over the past few years. We keep any big baddies off their scent, and when the time comes, we'll ask them to join a new project we're working on: the Young Avengers."

I grin to myself. "I like the sound of that."

We hear the door open again, and standing on the other side is Natasha Romanoff. She grins and pulls me in for an embrace. "About damn time you came back as an Avenger."

"It's good to see you, too," I laugh, separating myself from her. "Bucky was just telling me about the Young Avengers?"

"Ah," Natasha nods, "Kamala's project."

"Ms. Marvel founded the Young Avengers?"

"Yep. She's picked them out, kept an eye on them, and is willing to train them herself in a year or so." Natasha turns her attention towards Bucky. "Have you shown her the list of names?"

"Killbane's mutates? He hasn't. That's why I'm here. I need to know what our next step is."

"Well," Natasha replies, walking over behind the desk to use the holoscreen, "We got the list from Madame President this morning. She's also given us access to their records, both civil and criminal, so we can see which ones will be more likely to help us."

I lean over Natasha's shoulder as she pulls up the long list. "I don't think we have the luxury of being picky."

"I agree," Bucky adds. "But the President is being helpful. That's more than we can ask for."