The Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters; Steve and Alayna walk into Fury's office.
"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve says threateningly.
" I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours." Alayna's father said nonchalantly.
Alayna remained silent as she watched her lover and her father argue. She knew that her father could feel her stare. She could tell from his shadow. He knew that she hated when he lied, to her especially.
"Which you didn't feel obliged to share." Steve continued.
"I'm not obliged to do anything."
"Those hostages could've died, Nick." Steve said.
"I sent the greatest soldier in history, and the best shield agent I have to make sure that didn't happen."
"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around and shooting guns." Steve said staring at Nick.
"The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye. Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything." Nick said staring at Alayna as if he was trying to prove a point.
"I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own." Steve said.
"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all." Nick Fury smirked.
"Except you." Alayna spoke up.
That had everyone silent for a moment.
"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that."
"Steve wait outside, I need to talk to my father." Alayna said, angry.
Steve did as was told, to scared to do anything else.
Their was a eary silence between the father daughter duo for a moment
"Alayna-"
"No it's my turn to talk." Alayna said as she moved from leaning on the wall.
"Your a liar. You lied about phase 2 and now you lie about this, is there anything else you should tell me Dad? Or should I even call you that anymore? Is there some other secret I should know about? Or are you going to keep me in the dark like you do with everything else!" Alayna practically screamed at him. All he could do was sit and watch as his daughter's powers started pulling on the shadows of things all across the room.
"I hope your happy with how the mission went because people could have died because of your stupid Shield Intel." Alayna said as she slapped the hard drive on his desk.
She stepped back and sighed.
"You know I really wish you would tell me something, Dad. Even if it's just how your day was going, but every spy has his secrets, even ones he keeps from his own family."
"Ala I never meant to do anything to hurt you." Her father said. "Have some water, you'll calm down."
Somehow Alayna knew he was lying. She also knew that something was wrong and, he would never tell her. She took the water anyway downing it all.
They then call Steve in as Fury steps into an elevator with them following behind him.
"Insight bay." Nick Fury said.
"Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight." A computer said.
Suddenly Alayna was hit with something that made her stumble, Steve catching her before she hit the floor. Propping her back up and looking at her worriedly.
Alayna blinked rapidly, behind her blindfold, as her powers became muffled.
She couldn't feel the shadows around her anymore. She tried her hardest she just couldn't, her skin felt like fire, and she didn't know why.
"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J." Nick Fury said.
"Confirmed."
The elevator starts moving down.
"You know, they used to play music." Steve said trying to lighten the mood. All the while looking at Alayna worriedly, he knew something was wrong.
"Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building, he got good tips." Nick says as he looks up.
"He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say "hi", people would say hi back. Time went on, neighborhood got rougher. He'd say "Hi", they'd say, "Keep on steppin'. Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter." Nick said, Alayna smiled, she had heard this story from him before.
"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asked.
"Every week some punk would say, "What's in the bag?" Alayna said, knowing the story, as her father smiled at her.
"What did he do?"
"He'd show 'em. Bunch of crumpled ones and loaded .22 Magnum." Alayna continued.
"Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much." Nick said with a smile and a sigh.
As they continue to ride down the elevator Steve notices the giant Helicarriers. As Alayna still kept trying to use her powers she just couldn't. It's like they were muffled somehow, by something.
"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22." Nick Fury said.
"This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites." Nick continued as he showed them both around.
"Launched from the Lemurian Star." Steve said looking up in awe at the ships.
"Once we get them in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight courtesy of our new repulsor engines." Nick Fury said impressed with his own work.
"Stark?"
"Well, he had a few suggestions once he got an up close look at our old turbines. These new long range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen." Nick said looking at Alayna as she winced at the word threat.
"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime." Alayna muttered loud enough for them both to hear.
"We can't afford to wait that long." Nick said.
" Who's "we"?" Steve asked.
"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once we're way ahead of the curve."
"By holding a gun at everyone on Earth and calling it protection." Steve said nastily.
Alayna looked at the helicarriers with distaste as she tried to use her powers again.
"why aren't they working?" She whispered to herself.
The shadows around her felt muffled, she couldn't feel Steve nor could she feel her father.
"You know, I read those SSR files. Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff." Nick Fury said to get back at Steve.
"Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so the people could be free. This isn't freedom, this is fear." Steve said grabbing Alayna's hand surprising her.
"Shield takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. It's getting damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap."
"Don't hold your breath."
Steve turns and walks off.
Alayna stays with her father for a moment.
"You know if you would learn to trust people, you might learn that their aren't that many villains in the world. Just people who don't want to be judged for who they are."
With that she turns and walks off to find Steve, her powers still muffled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve and Alayna take off on Steve's motorcycle; in the Smithsonian Museum there is an exhibit dedicated to Captain America.
"A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery and sacrifice." A narrator said.
Steve, keeping his face hidden under a baseball cap, walks over to the exhibition, holding Alayna's hand as he looks at his past.
Alayna rubbed his arm and smiled a small smile at him at he looked his old life, she knew he loved her, but that shouldn't stop him from longing for the simpler days. She didn't want him to forget them anyway. Her powers were still acting up and she couldn't see what he was feeling but she observed and his body language and took it from there.
"Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier."
A boy recognizes them as two superheroes, Steve then smiles puts his finger against his mouth to indicate for the boy to keep quiet and the boy nods, Steve then watches some old footage of himself.
"In this rare footage, everyone's favorite war hero, Captain America..."
Steve and Alayna then go to the display where there are mannequins with costumes of Steve's old commando squad.
"Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down Hydra, the Nazi rogue science division."
Alayna winced at the name.
Steve then walks over to the a display of his friend Bucky Barnes, Alayna following close behind him.
"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."
They then watch an older looking Peggy Carter being interviewed.
"That was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve... Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would...who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life. That man was my friend, and he is still being the hero I know him to be today but in different ways."
At the end of the document, they both sat for a moment until Alayna said.
"Go visit her, Steve."
Steve looked up surprised.
"Really?"
"She's the only link to your past that you still have, I can't keep you from that." Alayna smiled, putting her hand up to his face.
I just hope you don't love her anymore. Alayna thought.
As if reading her worries. Steve said.
"You know that I love you now right? Not Peggy. Yes she was my first love, but I love you now." Steve said with a blush on his face. "It's only you."
That made a light blush show up on Alayna's face show up.
"Just go visit her, Stevie."
That made him go bright red.
It was true though he had moved on with Alayna, he would always remember Peggy yes, but now he only saw her as a friend. Alayna is his everything now, and he thinks she always will be with how kind the girl is despite her circumstances. He was like her, and she was like him. They completed each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Steve goes to visit with Peggy, they both go to visit a PTSD group meeting where Sam is counseling other veterans.
"The thing is I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED." A female veteran said.
Alayna sighed. Her powers were still off the wake and she couldn't tell which Shadow was Sam's. She didn't know what was wrong and it was making her head hurt trying to find when they had stopped working.
"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man-purse? It's up to you." Sam said.
After the meeting ends they wait for Sam as he finishes saying goodbye to the veterans.
"Look who it is. The running people." Sam said jokingly after he had said goodbye to the last few.
"Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense." Steve said looking at the ground.
"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret." Sam said.
"You lost someone didn't you?" Alayna said as she looked at him through her blindfold.
"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till RPG knock Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."
"I'm sorry." Steve said.
Suddenly another feeling hit Alayna like a bag of bricks, like shadows were trying to reach her and yet they couldn't. Thats when Alayna knew something was really wrong. One feeling she had gotten with only one other person. Phil Coulson. That's when she knew it was her father. Despite the fire that was fighting with the shadows in her body.
"After that, I had really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?" Sam continued.
"But you're happy now, back in the world?" Steve asked.
"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell, yeah. You thinking about getting out?" Sam asked Steve specfically.
"No. I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."
"Ultimate fighting?" Alayna said as they both laugh.
"That's just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?" Sam continued.
"I don't know, only one thing really does." Steve said looking at Alayna as she looked at him with a small smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve and Alayna are now walking to Steve's apartment, the one that Alayna had stayed in with him, when he had just come from the ice.
Alayna was still shaky. She had felt something happen to her father when they were with Sam. Yes, she was still mad at him for lying, both times, but he is still her father after all. Her powers had been off the whack sense she had visited him and she didn't know why. It's almost like they were muffled she couldn't use them at all, and she had no idea why.
"Hey, you okay?" Steve asked looking at her questioningly.
"I'm good, I promise maybe I just need to sit down. My powers just feel like they are going haywire." Alayna spoke slowly.
Steve managed a small smile.
"Maybe I can make us some tea and we can finally start watching those Harry Potter movies?" He said as he put a hand around her back.
"That would be nice." Alayna said as she smiled as well.
As they made their way down the final hall to Steve's apartment, they both heard something.
Music.
"Did you leave your stereo on?" Alayna asked him.
Steve shook his head.
Steve then turned in suspicion to his door, he motions for Alayna to follow him as he moves around the corner. They were going to go through the window and she knew this instantly.
They both hear the music again as they cautiously enter the apartment through the window, Steve grabs his shield for protection as Alayna finds her knife in her pocket, they both come around the corner and see Fury sitting on his couch in the dark.
"Dad?" Alayna said as she lessened her fighting stance.
"I don't remember giving you a key." Steve said.
"You really think I'd need one? My wife kicked me out."
Alayna and Steve then both stared at each other for a moment, both of them knew indeed that Nick Fury did not have a wife.
"Didn't know you were married." Steve said.
"A lot of things you don't about me." Nick said in response.
"I know, Dad. That's the problem." Alayna said looking away from her father for a moment, even with her blindfold, Nick Fury could tell that he had hurt his daughter and the thought made him sigh.
As Steve turns on the light they both notice Fury's injuries for the first time, Alayna's eyes widened about to say something, but Fury indicates for them to be silent, he turns off the light and writes something on his phone and shows it to them;
ears everywhere
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." Her father says as he writes another text and shows it to them;
Shield compromised
"Who else knows about your wife?" Steve asks trying to play along. As Alayna was stuck in her thoughts, the place she loved was compromised, yeah they had there rough patches, but Shield is where she grew up, her escape from Hydra.
Fury shows them another text;
You and me
"Just...my friends and my family." Nick Fury looked at Alayna when he said that.
"Is that what we are? Friends?" Steve asked incredulously.
"That's up to you."
Time slowed down as Nick Fury is shot three times from through the wall and collapses, Alayna runs to him as she starts to drag him into the next room. Steve quickly looks out the window for the shooter.
"Dad? Dad? Your gonna be okay." Alayna said to him with tears in her eyes she ripped off her sweatshirt, and wrapped it around his torso.
He nodded his head silently.
"Why can't I feel you dad? Why can't I feel you?!?!?!?" Alayna whisper yelled, she couldn't feel her father nor could she feel Steve. It was like their shadows were out of reach. Before she could get up to help Steve, she was handed the flash drive that she gave him.
"Don't...trust anyone." Fury says to both of them as he passes out.
They both then hear someone breaking into Steve's apartment and hears his neighbor calling out to him.
"Captain Rogers?"
Steve sees her walking in with her gun pointed. Alayna recognizes her and she knew Steve didn't, he had only met her a few times anyways.
"Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Service." Katie Stark said.
"Katie?" Alayna asks.
"I'm assigned to protect him." She said to her.
"On whose order?" Steve asks as Katie notices Fury lying injured on the ground.
"His." Katie says as she goes to Fury then contacts Shield through her radio "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."
"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?"
Steve notices the shooter though the window.
"Tell him I'm in pursuit." Steve says as he turns to Alayna. "Stay here with him, he needs you."
Steve then smashes through his window and runs after the assassin, who is the same mysterious man that had exploded Fury's car earlier, not that they knew that. Steve chases him through an office building smashing through the walls, when he finally catches up with him on the roof he throws his shield at the assassin, but he catches it with one swift move, then throws it back to Steve and then jumps down the building and disappears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha goes to the hospital and meets up with Steve and Alayna, they watch doctors operating on Fury. Alayna felt more sick and pain by the minute, she could barely tell what her surroundings was anymore, much less all the shadows seemed to attack her. She stayed deathly silent sitting in a chair as Steve and Natasha talked.
"Is he gonna make it?" Natasha asked wearily, side glancing at Alayna.
"I don't know." Steve says.
"Tell me about the shooter." Alayna spoke up.
"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm." Steve says as Agent Maria Hill also joins them.
"Ballistics?"
"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." Maria Hill continued.
"Soviet-made." Natasha continues.
Alayna's ears suddenly go silent as the beating of her fathers heart is all she hears.
beat.... beat
"He's in V-tach."
beat... beat
"Crash cart coming in."
beat... beat...
"Nurse, help me with the drape."
beat...
"No." Alayna muttered.
"BP is dropping."
beat..
"Defibrillator!"
Silence. Just silence, Alayna felt a single tear go down her face.
Steve, Natasha and Hill watch in shock as Fury is flatlining.
"I want you to charge him at one hundred."
"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha said.
"Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The doctor said as Fury is given a shock with the defibrillator. "Pulse?"
Alayna suddenly felt her self go further into herself. Shadows still licking at her skin trying to get to her.
"No pulse."
Alayna felt like she couldn't breathe.
"No pulse."
The one person that had taken care of her this whole time.
"Okay. 200, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear! Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"
"Negative."
Her father, was dead to the world.
"Don't do this to me, Dad. Please don't do this to me." She muttered to herself.
The three watch the doctors as they continue to revive Fury but Fury is still showing as flatlining, Steve turns away as they finally call his time of death.
"What's the time?"
"1:03, Doctor."
"Time of death, 1:03 a.m."
1:03 am. 1:03 am. That time. When Alayna knew her father was dead.
The man that was there for her through everything was gone.
And yet she couldn't feel his shadow.
She couldn't feel anyone's.
Not even her own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha, Steve and Alayna are in a room where Fury's dead body has been laid out, Natasha is looking at Fury's body with tears running down her face, Hill joins them.
"I need to take him." Maria said.
Steve goes over to Natasha.
"Natasha."
She doesn't respond, instead she tenderly touches Fury's head then turns and walks out, Steve follows her.
"Natasha!"
He follows her out, as Alayna sits by her father.
She stood kissed his head.
"I love you, Dad."
She stopped by the door, and whispered one thing like he could hear her.
"I still need you."
Almost falling out the door, the feeling comes back.
She sees Steve as Natasha is walking away from him
"Steve."
He looks up at her and as soon as he is in closest enough reach to him she collapses into his arms.
"Alayna, oh my god... Alayna I'm so sorry." He said.
"Cap, they want you back at Shield." Brock Rumlow stated.
"Steve something's wrong." Alayna muttered only for him to hear. His eyes widened.
"Yeah, give me a second."
"They want you now."
"Okay." Steve said looking back to Alayna.
"Steve-"
Suddenly all Alayna saw was black.
She woke up in a cell.
The walls were gold, the floor was white.
Yet everything else looked old timey. Medieval almost.
She reached out for the gold only to be stopped by a voice.
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you."
She turned straight around only to be met by a man in all black.
She would know that face anywhere though.
"What am I doing here Loki?"
Alayna tensed as he smirked at her, and turned away realizing she was in Asgard.
How she was here she had no idea.
"I for one have no idea, I thought you would be the one to answer that oh so powerful Lunar."
"This has to be one of your tricks." Alayna muttered.
"I guarantee, that is not the case." Loki answered again quite obnoxiously.
"Would you shut up!" Alayna said as she turned to him again looking at him in the face.
She stepped back as she had a moment of realization.
It was easy to miss yes but, for a observant super soldier it was clear as day.
"Your eyes... Why are they brown?" Alayna asked.
"My eyes have always been brown you midgardian fool."
"No they haven't and you know it, they were blue when you took over New York." Alayna told him like it was obvious, this means what Alayna thought way back when she had talked to Loki, was true very true actually.
He almost flinched when she said that, and hated how she could read him so easily, only like one other person he knew.
"So what?!?!?!" He yelled "It's not like it changes anything anyway."
Alayna went silent for a moment, this man was supposed to be the villain, in many stories she could tell, and yet he was lost, he was scared, he was controlled. Just like she was.
"It changes everything Loki." Alayna says.
The sat in silence for a moment.
"You know you remind me of someone." Loki mutters so quiet that Alayna could barely hear him, he sat on his bed, and Alayna sat on the other side with her back to him.
"Who?" Alayna asks, she could sense a change in the mood.
"A goddess her name was Hlín, she saw right through me too." Loki said solemnly as if he was remembering things.
"You make it sound like shes dead."
"It's because she is. Thor killed her because she didn't want to go to war with Vanaheim, because she protected them with her powers."
They both were silent for a moment, and Alayna suddenly felt like a dam finally burst and her powers flowed back to her. She could see shadows, the shadows of everyone again.
And for a moment just a moment she saw Hlín's in the room with them.
She also thought she felt her father's but she dismissed it immediately.
"We should start over Loki." Alayna finally said "If these appearances are going to become a regular thing."
"Why are you doing this?" Loki asked sincerely.
"Because everyone deserves a second chance." Alayna said.
She stood up and introduced herself.
"Hello, my name is... Lunar, whats yours?"
"Loki." The god of mischief said still worse for ware, as Alayna could feel.
"Well Loki, if it makes you feel any better Hlín's shadow is here."
He perked up instantly.
"It is?"
"It is."
They were in silence for another moment, though this one was not like the last.
"I'm sorry."
Alayna then knew what this was about and nodded at him to continue.
"For destroying New York, and for killing that man, you held so dearly."
"Well if you didn't do it out of you free will then it wasn't your fault Loki." Alayna said back to him.
She sat back down on the bed with him.
"You know my father literally just died, and yet I still feel his shadow is alive and well." Alayna opened up to him.
"Well maybe they just want you to think he's dead." Loki said after thinking for a moment. "I have faked my death before."
"Maybe."
Suddenly felt herself getting pulled back to Earth.
"I think it's my time to go now." Alayna said looking up at the god of mischief.
She stood up from his bed.
"If these things are going to become routine, I would like you to figure out why. I mean I would on Earth but, I don't think they've ever heard if magic like this."
Loki nodded his head enthusiastically.
At the end of that conversation, they both knew they would become friends, even after everything they've been through they would open up to each other.
"And Loki"
He looked up at her for a second before she disappeared.
"I forgive you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THERE IT IS FOLKS
SO SO SORRY FOR THE MAJORLY LATE UPDATE, I'VE LITERALLY BEEN SO BUSY.
ALSO EXPECT A LOT MORE LOKI IN FUTURE CHAPTERS
I HAVE SUCH BIG PLANS
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR 8.8K READS IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME.
I LOVE YOU ALL.
SEE YOU SOON <3
~MAYA