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May 29, 1987
"Hey, Tony! You're such a grown man now." Diana smiled brightly at the young Stark. "I can just remember like it was yesterday when I used to change your diaper." They both chuckled.
"It's nice to see you, Diana." Tony smiled as he took the birthday bag out of her hand. "You didn't need to get me anything. I mean, I could literally get anything." He smirked as she nudged his arm to stop.
"Where's your father?" Diana asked, looking around the large living room.
"Not sure, probably off doing something and not caring about me. Like usual." He looked down, sadly.
"Tony, don't say that about your father. You know he's a busy man, and you should appreciate what he's given to you." Diana replied, defending her old friend.
"He's never told me that he loved me. Not once, Diana. He's never even told me that he even liked me."
"Hey, hey. He loves you, he just-"
"Doesn't know how to show it?" Tony finished her sentence. Diana realized out of all the time spent with the Stark family, she never heard Howard say those three words to his only son.
"I wasn't going for that." Diana said.
"Yeah, but you know it's true." Tony said, sadly. "But it's okay, I've already gotten used to it."
"Tony-" Diana began but he soon walked past her and to opened the front door.
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Diana fluttered her eyes open to see the brightness of the sun shining into her room. She lived in a nice apartment in Soho, New York City. The woman contemplated about getting a place in Brooklyn, but thought it would be best not to. Instead, she decided to live in an area where she never really went to often but to shop and eat once in awhile.
The warrior had a feeling in her stomach, a strange one. It was telling her gut to move back to the United States. She didn't know why, and she was still trying to figure it out. Diana was hoping she would find out soon.
The goddess had an old soul, holding onto the culture of the early 1900's. She loved how there wasn't that much technology everywhere, people actually talked face to face with one another, and took time to see the world. But she understood everything evolves and changes, and she couldn't do anything about it.
She grabbed the circular vinyl placed near the vintage record player on her dresser. She placed the large disc in the center and put the arm of the record player on top of it. This was her routine everyday.
The music filled her ears, smoothly. Diana did her regular routine normally as she hummed to the music softly.
"Kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again..." she softly hummed along.
She remembered vividly, buying the vinyl after the war in 1945 when the song became a hit. Diana quickly fell in love with the song because it reminded her of Steve. The princess would sometimes fantasize about her and Steve dancing to this song for their dance that she's still waiting for, but knows she'll never get in a long time.
"It's been a long, long time."
Just as she was putting her shoes on, when her phone rang over the music.
"Hey, Diana." Tony cheerfully said.
"Good morning, Tony. Why did you call me? I'm getting ready." Diana replied.
"Okay, okay, just wanted to make sure. I was thinking about getting shawarma. I'm not sure."
"Whatever you want, Tony. Text me the address and I'll be there." Diana held the phone between her ear and shoulder as she put on her shoes.
"Gotcha. Sent it right now. See you later."
"Bye, Tony."
Diana made it to the restaurant and saw Tony sitting patiently at the table. His hands were folded together and his leg was shaking.
"Wow. Diana, you haven't changed one bit since the last time I saw you." Tony smiled with his sunglasses on. The two shared a tight hug.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" He sighed, looking up and seeing the new Stark Tower towering over the city.
"Sure is." Diana smiled, cherishing this moment they haven't had in a very long time.
Their conversations were filled with laughter, joy, and filling each other on what's happening in their lives.
"Diana, I just wanted to reconnect with you. When I heard you were moving back here, I thought it would've been a good idea for me to dial you up. All I'm saying is that, I wanna be like how we used to be. If I die tomorrow, I want to let you know how much you mean to me." Tony paused. "You're the only family I've got since my parents died."
Diana was very happy to hear this from Tony. They had lost connection with each other back around the late 90's and early 2000's. She was devastated, but never took the chance to ever call him. She figured he was too busy helping the city out and business things. Tony Stark had a few soft spots for some people, including Diana. Diana Prince was like a second mother to him. He was happy to have her in his life, she even knew him the day he was born.
"I would love that, Tony." She gave him a heartfelt smile. "I really appreciate what you're doing. I've been wanting to talk to you for a very long time, just never got the chance to." She put her hand on his.
"Oh yeah. Being Wonder Woman and all. I haven't seen that side of you in a very long time. What happened?" Tony asked, curiously.
"Just taking a break I guess. I don't know. I love and have a deep passion for helping people, but I've been doing it for almost one hundred years. Maybe if something comes u-"
Diana was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She had a puzzled look on her face as she didn't expect to see his contact name.
"Fury?"
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"I wish we had more time."
Punch.
"Diana..."
"I'm here, Steve."
Another punch.
"Listen... before I go, I love you. I really do lo-"
The last punch sent the bag across the room with sand spilling out onto the wooden floor. The last moments of hearing the love of his life's voice haunted him.
What if she's not alive? If she is alive, she has probably found someone else Steve thought, while breathing out heavily. He walked to grab a new punching bag from the pile behind him.
"Trouble sleeping?" The man with the eye patch, Fury, entered the room. Steve looked at him briefly before continuing to punch the bag.
"Slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."
"Then you should go out, celebrating. Seeing the world." Fury replied. Steve imagined what Diana and him would've done, maybe travel the world would've been one of the things they did together.
"When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we've won." The super-soldier unwrapped the bandages covering his knuckles. "They didn't say what we've lost."
"If you're thinking that Diana Prince is gone, then" Fury paused, a little hesitant. "you're wrong, Cap. She's alive and well."
This was the first moment since Steve has awoken where he felt happy and excited. He felt chills on his body as he heard the news that she was alive.
"Does she know I'm alive? Where is she?" Steve asked as calmly as he could.
"Last time I heard from her, she was in Europe. Never even told me where. But that was a few years ago. I'm not sure she wants to be found, Cap. Nobody has seen Wonder Woman in years. She told me to only contact her, with someone else, if there was ever an emergency and we couldn't handle it. We seemed to handle everything without her, so." He replied. "And no, she doesn't know you're alive."
"Why not?"
"I don't think it's a good idea, Rogers." This made Steve to believe that she had found someone else and she wanted to be left alone at peace. He felt his heart crumble to pieces.
"You here with a mission, sir?"
"I am." Fury stated.
"Trying to get me back into the world?"
"Trying to save it." Fury handed him a folder.
Steve skimmed through the page with a familiar object in the picture, the tesseract.
"HYDRA's secret weapon." Steve mumbled.
"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 solely needs."
"Who took it from you?" Steve asked handing back the folder.
"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."
"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."
"Ten bucks says you're wrong."
"There's a debriefing packet waiting for you at your apartment. Is there anything you could tell us about the tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury questioned as he watched Steve walking to the exit.
"You should've left it in the ocean." Steve walked on as he carried his duffel bag and punching bag over his shoulder.
"Wait, Captain. Are you in or not?"
"Only on one condition." He breathed out.
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Author's note:
I'm back! I had to rewrite the last half of this chapter because it didn't save and that really killed my mood. But since school is out I'll have more time to do this! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!
June 25, 2019