#stop not this guy summoning the Hulk just to get him to help him commit suicide

[daydreamerdrew]

The Rampaging Hulk (1977) #4

[juststeveandtonythings]

Silver Age Steve Rogers: A Summary

I wrote one for Tony Stark so now Steve gets one too. This covers Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #59-#99 (the Captain America part of it - Iron Man is in the Tony Stark summary I just linked) and Captain America Vol 1 #100-#120. I chose Captain America #120 as a stopping point, as that takes us up to December 1969.

Issue-by-Issue Synopsis

Significant events are in bold. Note that a lot of the earlier issues were kind of just silly fluff, so there isn't much to say about them.

[ToS #59] Captain America gets his own story in Tales of Suspense (note that this means Tales of Suspense contains two stories, one Iron Man and one Captain America, not that Captain America appears in the Iron Man story or vice versa).  First appearance of Edwin Jarvis.

[ToS #60] Steve fights a bad guy.

[ToS #61] Steve fights a bad guy in Vietnam and saves a man whose brother saved him during WWII.

[ToS #62] Steve fights a bad guy who wants his shield.

[ToS #63] Recap of Steve's origin story.

[ToS #64] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #65] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #66] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #67] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #68] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #69] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #70] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #71] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #72] Steve finds out that the Red Skull left behind three giant robots called Sleepers and goes after them.

[ToS #73] Steve fights the Sleepers.

[ToS #74] Steve fights the Sleepers.

[ToS #75] First appearance of Peggy Carter (in flashback), Sharon Carter, and Batroc the Leaper. Steve sees Sharon, is reminded of Peggy, and starts following her. He encounters Batroc along the way and fights him.

[ToS #76] Steve and Batroc work together to defeat a common enemy.

[ToS #77] Flashback issue about Steve and Peggy's relationship during WWII and how they parted. Peggy ends up getting amnesia, which is why they never found each other again.

[ToS #78] Steve and Nick Fury fight a bad guy.

[ToS #79] Red Skull is revealed to still be alive in the present day. First appearances of A.I.M. and the Cosmic Cube.

[ToS #80] Steve fights the Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube.

[ToS #81] Steve fights the Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube, until the land they're on crumbles and Red Skull and the Cube are both lost to the water.

[ToS #82] Steve gets drugged and captured by an adaptoid, who then takes his form.

[ToS #83] Steve frees himself and captures the adaptoid.

[ToS #84] The adaptoid adapts to all of the Avengers' powers and fights Steve.

[ToS #85] Steve goes to save Sharon, who has been captured by Batroc on behalf of Hydra under the condition that he be allowed to fight Steve. They fight, but when Hydra interferes Batroc gets annoyed and lets Steve save Sharon.

[ToS #86] Steve fights a bad guy in Asia and asks Fury to tell Sharon that they're going to go on a date, but Fury tells him she's on a mission.

[ToS #87] Steve fights the Planner, who is dressed in a Cap costume and committing crimes.

[ToS #88] Steve receives a video transmission from someone who looks and sounds like Bucky and goes after him.

[ToS #89] Steve finds out that the Bucky who sent the transmission was actually a robot created by Red Skull, who is still alive. They fight.

[ToS #90] Learning that Red Skull has some sort of plastic bubble weapon and fearing for NYC's safety, Steve promises to serve Red Skull for 24 hours in exchange for Red Skull not using the weapon on the city.

[ToS #91] Red Skull makes Steve reveal the location of a military submarine right before the 24 hours are up, then goes after it. Steve fights him. The sub blows up with Red Skull in it.

[ToS #92] Steve unknowingly interferes with a S.H.I.E.L.D. plot where an LMD Nick Fury is supposed to be assassinated, which puts Sharon in danger. Fury asks him to save her as a result.

[ToS #93] Steve and Sharon are both captured by A.I.M.

[ToS #94] First on-panel appearance of M.O.D.O.K. Steve and Sharon fight A.I.M.

[ToS #95] Steve goes on his first date with Sharon and proposes to her despite not knowing her real name. When Sharon declines, Steve decides to stop being Captain America and reveals his identity as Steve Rogers.

[ToS #96] Steve saves some random people dressed up as Cap who were filling the gap he left. He decides to continue being Captain America.

[ToS #97] Steve is summoned by T'Challa to Wakanda to help fight some bad guys who might be related to Steve's rogues' gallery.

[ToS #98] Steve and T'Challa fight Baron Zemo.

[ToS #99] Steve and T'Challa are caught by Baron Zemo. Sharon shows up while disguised as a spy and is asked by Zemo to shoot them.

[CA #100] Steve, Sharon, and T'Challa defeat Baron Zemo, who is revealed to be a fake. Steve asks T'Challa to join the Avengers.

[CA #101] Steve finds out about a fourth Sleeper and goes after it, but it gets away.

[CA #102] Steve and Sharon again go after the fourth Sleeper and defeat it with the power of love. Red Skull decides to use Sharon against Steve going forward.

[CA #103] Sharon's name is finally revealed (she was previously only known as Agent 13). They go on a date, but the Red Skull's minions kidnap her and force Steve to come after them. They escape, but unknown to Steve, the Red Skull has attached "nuclear tape" to the back of his neck.

[CA #104] Steve goes to fight the Red Skull while Sharon, Fury, and Tony Stark disarm a bomb connected to Steve's nuclear tape.

[CA #105] Steve tries to distance himself from Sharon, fearing his proximity puts her in danger, and goes off on a random mission to disarm a separate, unrelated bomb.

[CA #106] Steve fights some bad guys trying to steal LMD tech from S.H.I.E.L.D., including an LMD that looks like himself.

[CA #107] First appearance of Doctor Faustus, a psychiatrist Steve has recently started seeing. Faustus gives Steve some pills to supposedly help with nightmares, but it's a trap. Faustus gets arrested after a fight.

[CA #108] Steve and Sharon fight the Trapster, who they find out is working for the Red Skull.

[CA #109] Recap of Steve's origin story.

[CA #110] Steve saves Rick Jones from the Hulk. Rick then puts on Bucky's costume and asks to be his sidekick. Steve agrees, and they fight Madame Hydra/Viper (in her first appearance) and her Hydra goons together.

[CA #111] Steve and Rick fight Hydra again. Steve jumps into a river as they're shooting at him. A bullet-riddled costume and a Steve Rogers face mask are found afterward, but no body.

[CA #112] Recap of Steve's adventures from the original Cap comics, Avengers, Tales of Suspense, and this current run, narrated by Tony Stark in the wake of Cap's apparent death.

[CA #113] Captain America is given a funeral that Madame Hydra then crashes. Rick goes after her, and so does Steve, who is unsurprisingly alive after all. After Hydra is defeated, Steve explains how the Cap that was gunned down was a fake. Steve now has a secret identity again.

[CA #114] After Steve and Sharon fight A.I.M., Steve asks Sharon to resign from S.H.I.E.L.D. Sharon refuses to quit her job, and they break up. Steve then tries to assume a different civilian identity but is found by Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube again.

[CA #115] After spending some time toying with Steve, Red Skull transforms Steve into himself, and himself into Captain America.

[CA #116] Red Skull continues to toy with Steve, who is being attacked non-stop due to looking like the Skull. Eventually, Red Skull teleports Steve to the isle where the Exiles are, as he recently betrayed the Exiles and know that they will want to kill the Red Skull on sight.

[CA #117] First appearance of Sam Wilson and Redwing, who save Steve as he's being attacked by the Exiles. Steve realizes he can take off the Red Skull mask and look like a normal man. He convinces Sam to adopt a superhero identity and names him the Falcon so that he can serve as a symbol when fighting the Exiles.

[CA #118] Steve trains Sam in hand-to-hand combat and together, they fight the Exiles. Red Skull is annoyed that Steve is thriving and decides it's time to end it himself.

[CA #119] Red Skull restores himself and Steve to their true bodies. They fight (along with Sam and Redwing). However, Red Skull loses his advantage when the Cosmic Cube gets deactivated as part of an unrelated plot by A.I.M. and uses the last vestiges of its power to teleport away.

[CA #120] Steve and Sam return to the States and part ways. Steve takes on a job at a local college and saves a professor from being kidnapped by A.I.M., then quits the job.

Characterization

We all know Steve as the guy who will fight for freedom any day of the week and prone to giving rousing speeches, both during and after battle. He encourages others to do the same, and is responsible for Sam becoming the Falcon. He even trains both Sam and Rick Jones in hand-to-hand combat.

Underneath that patriotic exterior, though, is a conflicted man warring with a lot of dissonant feelings. Sometimes he seems to resent being Captain America: he's Cap because he feels a duty to be Cap, but he also blames that devotion to duty for Bucky's death as well as the fact that he can't just settle down with Sharon, who feels duty toward her own job. At the same time, he feels like outside of Captain America, the man under the mask - Steve Rogers - has no identity or life of his own. His resentment leads him to quitting being Captain America, but his sense of duty leads him to pick it back up almost immediately afterward. However, there is no resolution at this time to his lack of identity as Steve Rogers. He tries to fill in the gap with Sharon by pursuing a romance with her, but it fails when she won't fit in the exact way he wants her to.

On top of all that, Steve actively blames himself for Bucky's death (in addition to the bit about duty mentioned above). He thinks he shouldn't have brought Bucky with him on that fatal mission near the end of the war and that he should have been able to save him. As a result, his enemies frequently use Bucky's ghost to either lure him into traps or mess with his mind. Despite his guilt, though, Rick Jones is able to successfully convince Steve to allow him to pick up Bucky's mantle.

And of course, Steve still feels disconnected from his current present, twenty years into the future. The disconnect is bad enough that he sought therapy for it, though unfortunately for him said therapist was Doctor Faustus.

When it comes to his love life, he falls hard and fast - probably too hard and too fast. While Silver Age comics in general completely fail at "show, don't tell" when it comes to romance, Steve takes it to another level, and it's explicitly confirmed that his intense feelings for Sharon are literally because she looks like someone he loved during the war. This leads to him proposing to her on their first date, before he even knows her as anything other than Agent 13. When she declines, he's so upset that he briefly quits being Captain America. He also repeatedly tries to make her quit her job as a top agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he fears for her safety, and they break up after her multiple refusals to do so.

He's also so open about his feelings for Sharon that Fury is essentially left to be the middleman for them at times, arranging their schedules so they can go on dates. Random unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are also shown to be aware of Steve and Sharon's romance.

Relationships

Bucky Barnes is Steve's teenage sidekick from WWII, though he perished as part of the same event that left Steve frozen in the ice for twenty years. Though he's dead, his spectre continues to haunt Steve, both in the form of Steve's guilt as well as enemies like the Red Skull using Bucky's likeness to draw him into battle.

Red Skull is Steve's greatest enemy, and continues to come back time and time again. His major flaw regarding Steve is that he enjoys seeing Steve suffer so much that he ends up drawing out his plots for long enough that Steve is able to escape and live another day.

Batroc the Leaper is on paper one of Steve's enemies, though they have worked together multiple times to fight a common foe. Batroc is shown to have a strong desire to defeat Captain America, but at the same time, he has an equally strong sense of honor that demands that any such defeat must take place under fair conditions. He will not hesitate to turn on others if they interfere with his sense of fair play.

Peggy Carter is Steve's first love from the war, though it's unclear if he ever knew her name. However, they were separated after Peggy got amnesia from an exploding cell, causing her to forget him and therefore never see him again.

Sharon Carter is Steve's singular love interest in the present day. He starts following her as soon as he sees her due to her resemblance to Peggy and learns she's a top agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. When he finally goes on a date with her, he proposes, and when he's turned down he briefly quits being Captain America. While she loves him back, she feels that her duty to S.H.I.E.L.D. prevents her from having a married life, and her refusal to quit despite his repeated requests lead to them breaking up.

Nick Fury is one of Steve's friends from the war, and is also the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. They talk a lot, and at least on one instance Steve has invited him to his place just so he can vent about his life (Fury usually mentions crying towels on these occasions). He also acts as a somewhat reluctant but also amused middleman when it comes to Steve and Sharon's relationship.

Rick Jones is a young man who briefly takes up the role of being a replacement Bucky. Steve trains him in combat gymnastics and though he fears for Rick's life, he ultimately allows him to be his sidekick.

T'Challa is King of Wakanda and the Black Panther. After they work together on a mission, Steve asks him to join the Avengers, which T'Challa agrees to.

Sam Wilson is a man Steve encounters while in the Red Skull's body (though his mask is removed so he looks like a normal person). Due to their shared goal of defeating a common enemy, Steve encourages Sam to take up a superhero identity and dubs him the Falcon, training him in hand-to-hand combat. Once the enemy is defeated, and after Sam learns Steve was actually Captain America, Sam returns to Harlem to be a superhero there.

Tony Stark is the weapons director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and Iron Man, though Steve doesn't know this). Steve and Sharon constantly use gadgets he designed and have a huge amount of respect for him. The fact that Iron Man tricked out Steve's shield at one point is known by everyone, enough that there is not one, but two plots that involve enemies trying to steal said shield (though Steve removes the enhancements later).

Trivia

[ToS #60] Steve briefly wields a shield that is enhanced with transistors, courtesy of Iron Man (he later removes them due to balance issues, though).

[ToS #63] During the war, Steve acted like a bumbling private to deflect suspicions that he was actually Captain America.

[CA #105] Steve makes an explicit enough reference to Christ that it seems to confirm him as a Christian.

[CA #108] Everyone is constantly using stuff designed by Tony Stark, who is referred to as the weapons director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[CA #110] Steve smokes a pipe.

[CA #111] A description of Steve's fighting style, which is referred to as combat gymnastics.

[CA #117] Steve is capable of using clay to form makeshift facial prosthetics for himself as a disguise.

[CA #117] Steve is normally camera-shy.

Noteworthy Panels

These are mostly panels that are noteworthy for meme reasons, since actual noteworthy events are highlighted in the synopsis.

[ToS #59] The heels of Steve's boots are razor-sharp.

[ToS #65] With true Nazi efficiency, the Red Skull has a hit list of four whole people that he wrote out in a notepad.

[ToS #74] All Steve needs is a flamethrower!

[ToS #79] Steve's A on his cowl peels off to reveal a circuit that blocks hypnotic waves.

[ToS #95] Steve tells Tony that he helped the Avengers the only way he could - with his money!

[CA #101] Steve rocks a Stark-designed transparent inflato-suit.

[CA #106] Steve hangs around shirtless in front of a random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is trying to talk to him about work stuff.

[CA #118] Steve apparently gave Rick an autographed photo of himself.

[CA #120] "Roger Stevens" is the best undercover name Steve can come up with.

[imjustthemechanic]

Our Own Demons

Part 1/? - A Bolt from the Blue Part 2/? - A Different World Part 3/? - Stark At Home Part 4/? - Pot Roast Night Part 5/? - Space-Pie Continuum Part 6/? - Energy Signature Part 7/? - Miss Potts Part 8/? - Bot from Beyond Part 9/? - Even the Odds Part 10/? - Miss Potts Arrives Part 11/? - Truth Hurts Part 12/? - The Third Reality Part 13/? - Thor and Odinson Part 14/? - The Tesseract Platform

What if Tony Stark really were the villain of the Marvel universe?  How would that work?  Tony himself is about to find out, as he battles his inner demons (and some outer ones, too) across a multiverse of infinite possibilities.

The Thor Tony knew had an annoying habit of summoning Bifrosts willy-nilly, with no regard for things like whether the lawn had just been mowed – so he was pleased to see this Thor do it from the top level of a parking garage, where the only thing the touchdown would scorch was the asphalt.  With the Odinson thus on his way, the rest of them boarded a chartered jet to Washington, where Hill said SHIELD had something that could help them. Tony just hoped that wouldn’t be when this reality’s HYDRA infestation decided to make itself known because that would just be ridiculously inconvenient.

Dr. Ross stayed in New York, apparently having some kind of prior commitment there, but Miss Potts came with them, and so did Jane Foster. She sat across from Tony and his double, chattering happily with the hammer resting on the seat beside her.

“The prevailing theory,” she said, “is that a new reality is created every time a decision is made.  Not a human decision, of course, we’re not that important on a quantum level.  But every time a particle has to choose a spin state, for example, one universe branches off where it goes left and one where it goes right.  The vast majority are nearly identical to their neighbours, because they’re separated by only one particle.”

“I think we’re a few particles apart,” said Tony.

“He comes from a world where Stark Industries is still a thing,” his double said.

“That’s gotta take several particles at least,” Tony agreed.  “There’s other differences, too.  Dr. Ross’ old boyfriend is still alive, and she doesn’t do the Hulk thing.”  He paused. “And Thor and Odinson are the same person.  How did that happen, by the way?”  Tony nodded at Mjolnir.

Foster glanced at it.  “I… I don’t know.  I just picked it up,” she said.  “When the hammer fell in New Mexico, Odinson went into the SHIELD compound to get it, and I went with him because they’d impounded my research and I wanted it back. He tried to lift it and couldn’t, and I really don’t know what made me think it would be a good idea to try, but I did, and I just picked it up.”  She lifted it in one hand.  “It feels feather-light to me, but it actually weighs nineteen point one-eight kilograms.  I weighed it.”

“I see.”  Tony smiled.  He wondered how Thor back home would have taken it.  Probably very well, really – he adored Dr. Foster.  “Any theories how that works?”

“None,” she sighed, setting it down again.  “I mean, I understand that on some level the hammer itself is intelligent and able to judge who is worthy, but I don’t know how you qualify worthiness.  Odinson says it’s because I’m completely unselfish – all I want is to gain knowledge and share it with others.  But does that affect my brain waves or something?  What does that psychological quality confer on me as a physical quantity that Mjolnir can read?  What’s so funny?” she asked, as she noticed Tony doing his best not to giggle.

“Sorry,” he said.  “I just… for all you’re totally different, you’re also exactly the same as the Jane Foster in my reality.  It’s great.”  Tony looked at his counterpart, but found the other man staring out the window, drumming his fingers impatiently on the arm of his seat.

“Well, maybe we are just a few particles different, then,” Foster said.

A bit later, she got up to use the washroom and left Mjolnir lying in the aisle seat.  Tony reached over and grabbed the leather strap on the handle, but when he gave it an experimental tug, it wouldn’t move.  It was as if it were part of the structure of the plane.

“The airplane seems to lift it okay,” Tony observed, settling back in his seat.  “You think the plane’s worthy?”

His double did not answer.

“I’m leaving,” Tony reminded him.  “Soon I’ll be gone and will never darken the door of your reality again.”  Was the other still annoyed about what he’d said that morning, or the simple fact that Tony had slept in closer proximity to Miss Potts than he had?

“Beth texted me,” said the other.  “She wanted to know if I was okay, and then she asked if you were going to be okay and how long you’d be in town for.”

“She and I had a couple of dates in my universe,” said Tony.  “Didn’t work out for us, but maybe you’ll have better…”

“Just stop,” the other told him.  “You’ve done enough!  If you say one more word I’m gonna get up and slug you.”

When it came to social interactions, Tony could be just a bit denser than a self-proclaimed genius really ought to, but that got through.  He shut up.

They landed at Dulles, and from there drove to a warehouse in Alexandria, where SHIELD kept what Hill described as ‘odds and ends’. She let them in with a keypad, and consulted a directory before escorting them into an elevator to go down.

“What are we looking for?” Tony asked.

Hill hesitated.  “So Loki came to Earth in your reality, too?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Tony.  “So he must have had a gateway to enter.  I got that when I had JARVIS take a look at SHIELD’s computers – they’d built this platform to try opening a wormhole, but could never get it to work until Loki can through, because there was nobody at the other end.”

His counterpart brightened.  “But we’ve got a platform here, and they’ll have one in his reality, so as long as we can find a third one we can transfer him home!”

“Every so often I remember why Ginny keeps you,” said Hill with a nod.  “Do you know what they did with it?” she asked Tony.

“No, but SHIELD never gets rid of anything,” Tony said.

“Even when we should,” Hill sighed.  “Once we got rid of Loki we cleaned it up, put it in storage, and never touched it again.  It’s still here, just waiting for something useful to do with it.”

“Then I hope the one in my world is, too,” said Tony. He wondered if that were what had given his double in the unknown third universe the idea for all of this… had he been allowed to do more playing with SHIELD’s toys, and stumbled across the secret to interdimensional travel?  And having done that… what had he decided to do with it?

What would Tony do if he discovered an alternate reality on his own?  Besides the scientific equivalent of poking it with a stick to see if it twitched, he couldn’t imagine.  He certainly couldn’t think of anything he would go looking for there – he might go investigate his alternate self, just to see what the guy was u p to, but why would he kick that other Tony out of his reality?  Had that really been an accident?

The only idea he could come back to was that the third guy’s universe had somehow gone all wrong and he’d hoped to make a new start somewhere else.  Even then, it didn’t seem like a Ton thing to do.  When Tony found himself having to rebuild his life after Afghanistan, he’d done so on a foundation of fixing his mistakes.  Surely any hypothetical other would feel he owed it to his own reality to do the same, rather than just jumping ship.  Unless there were so little left that it didn’t matter… but what could possibly cause something like that?

He knew he wouldn’t like finding out.

They found the wormhole platform in a back corner of the warehouse with boxes piled on top of it.  It didn’t look particularly secure to Tony, but Hill went and checked a panel in the wall, then nodded and turned to talk to the group.

“This is normally guarded by an infra-red laser grid,” she explained, and pointed at a bank of windows overhead.  “It’ll fire stun wires at you and then summon a dozen or so agents from the guard houses upstairs and on both sides.  Are you absolutely confident they’ll know who you are?”

“Yes,” said Tony.  “And based on what was happening in my reality when I left, I don’t even know if they’ll still be at their posts.”

His double pulled one of the boxes off the pile and peeked into it – it was, for whatever reason, full of blue and white 80’s kitchenware – then set it aside on the floor and looked the platform over.  “That’s it?” he asked.

He had a point.  It wasn’t a terribly impressive-looking thing.  The device was quite literally a platform, with steps up to it and conduits around the edge. The only high-tech bit was the set of connectors designed to draw on the tesseract.  Rather than a physical Faraday cage like the mesh in the suits, the activated platform would surround itself in an electromagnetic field that behaved the same way, distributing the energy to create a contained wormhole. It didn’t help that the equipment was scorched and slightly melted from the sheer quantity of power that had been forced through it by Loki.  The demigod’s shadow was literally burned into the platform, and Tony wasn’t sure he liked the idea of standing in those footsteps.

“We’ll have to apply the tesseract in two bursts with different resonant frequencies,” Foster said.  “That’ll put you in Reality D, then send you on to A, without disturbing the robot-builders in C.  Theoretically.”

“Theoretically.”  Miss Potts folded her arms over her chest and frowned, clearly not liking the word much. “What happens practically if it doesn’t work?  Does Arno end up in Reality C with his enemies?  Are more of those robots going to come through?”

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted, then had to add, “I already told you, my name’s not Arno.”

“Yeah, but we already have a Tony,” she pointed out.

Foster hefted Mjolnir, and her clothes transformed back into Asgardian armor, lightning briefly crackling over her.  “I’ll get the robot,” she promised, voice echoing.

“What about you?” Miss Potts asked Tony.

“I’ll improvise,” he said.  “I’m good at it.”

She was still unhappy.  “I don’t want you to have come all this way just to get hurt on your own doorstep,” she said.  “After all, somewhere out there is another one of me who’s depending on you.”  She smiled fondly, and Tony returned the expression without even thinking about it.  He’d heard that note in Pepper’s voice before.  That was the way she sometimes talked about him when she didn’t know he was listening.

“She’ll be glad to have me back safe and sound,” Tony assured her.  “And if I’m not, I’m sure she can come to my rescue.”  She’d done it before, after all – Pepper had saved him from Stane, she’d gotten Hammer locked up, she’d kicked Killian’s ass… no wonder Rescue was the name of her superhero alter-ego.  It was perfect for her.

“Good to know she’s on top of things,” said Miss Potts with a nod.

Tony’s instincts told him to kiss her, but he didn’t – she wasn’t his Pepper, and her Tony was standing just a few yards away, moving boxes with a sullen expression on his face.  Tony had to shake his head a little when he saw the guy.  Hopefully someday he’d grow a spine and just kiss her on a rooftop as was meant to be.

They cleared the platform, and then Foster, still in her guise as Thor, stood on top of it and summoned the Bifrost.  It touched down in a roar of psychedelic colours, overlaying Loki’s scorched footprints with its own intricate patterns.  There was the Odinson, holding an object that looked like a smaller version of the crystal tube Thor and Loki had taken the tesseract home in.  This had a small crystal in the middle, pulsing with blue light.

“Oh, good,” said Foster.  “I’ll have to thank him next time I drop in.”

“I’ve already done so myself,” Odinson replied, “but you know he likes to see you.”

Tony and his counterpart took the container and carefully connected it to the wormhole platform, with a bare minimum of speaking to each other.  It was obvious that the other was still jealous, and Tony found himself very troubled by that idea.  He was used to people telling him they were jealous of his lifestyle, of his money, his brains, and his superhero hobby – but they didn’t know any better.  They didn’t know what each of those things had cost him.  The idea that another one of him would feel the same way seemed all wrong.

So as they finished up, Tony brushed off his hands on his pants and told his double, “you’re a lucky guy, you know.”

The other glared at him.  “Now you’re patronizing me.”

“No, I’m not,” Tony said.  “You might not have some of the stuff I do, but you also don’t have to live with some of the things I’ve done.”

“And you don’t know a damned thing about what I’ve done,” the other said.

[forever-more-never-again]

Burning (Scene 2/?)

Prologue / Scene One  

*I do not own marvel or any MCU characters**Gif not mine*

Slow burn Natasha X (enhanced!Mutant!) Reader

Word Count ~2K

Warnings: Battle, Fighting, Death mentioned

I couldn’t wait! I had to post the next part. I’m so excited about this series you have no idea! Please feel free to pop into my ask box for anything. Should I start a tag list? Anyways, Enjoy this next part!

Prologue / Scene One / Scene Two / Scene Three / Scene Four / Scene Five /Scene Six / Scene Seven / Scene Eight / Scene Nine / Scene Ten

Masterlist

*Reader’s POV*

After the initial shock of seeing Aliens pour from a hole in the sky, I kept myself tucked to the side of the alley. I debated with myself about what to do.

If I helped protect the city, I was bringing the spotlight I’ve been trying to avoid right to me. But if I didn’t help, my conscious and guilt would never let me forget all the lives I could’ve saved.

I peered once more around the alley, surprised to see a group of people who appeared to be fighting the aliens while in costumes. I gasped, I recognized Captain America in the group.

My eyes wandered and landed on emerald green eyes looking directly at me. The woman was in all black with bright red hair. I raised my hands and took off my sunglass to get a better look at her as we continued to stare at each other.

I saw her take a step towards me before being brought back into the battle. I quickly walked towards the middle of the alley and shrugged off my coat and shirt, shaking my wings as they savored the freedom, no longer being restricted.

Now clad in just a sports bra and sweats, I jumped out of the alley right as one of the alien creatures attacked the woman I had seen earlier. Before I knew fully what I was doing, I felt the warmth of the fire as it burned out from my hands, charring the alien.

Now, even with withholding my name from the heroes, just a few minutes later, I was in the thick of the battle. For that was the only thing I could think to call it. When I was given orders to help and protect, my chest swelled with a strange emotion...pride.

I was keeping steady right under the portal, my wings slowly using the air currents and their power to keep me up. I looked around and realized I had to let my enhancement come into play.

I hated using it because, unlike my wings, I wasn’t born with them. They were given to me through experiments and torture when I was trapped in the base.

Searching within myself I found that foreign warmth and let it spread through me. I let it take control and without looking I knew that my once black wings would now be ignited by flames. My hair also held flames as it blew around my face and my hands glowed orange with barely contained fire. I knew that if anyone looked at my eyes they would see a swirling mess of reds and oranges.

I spotted an Alien fly towards the man called Thor, who was distracted trying to keep the portal from expanding.

I flung my hand out towards it and a stream of fire shot it out of the sky.

I saw the man I just helped look towards the source of the fire and seeing me, he nodded. I swore I could see a smile on the man’s face.

Shrugging it off, I went back to scouting from above. Without a way to communicate with the rest of the group, I was left to my own instincts and sight.

I looked back towards the man wielding lightning and saw that he was gone from the building. Looking around I saw him battling a couple Aliens on the ground.

I heard low growls and glancing up saw the Aliens pouring out of the portal now that there was no blocking them. Summoning up my inner fire, I blasted out a screen of flames across the sky. The area around me filled with the screams of Aliens catching fire and falling to the ground.

Suddenly I was overtaken by a memory of thirteen year old me tied down to an operating table, screaming as red liquid was pumped through my body, surrounding by people in lab coats who just stood around watching.

My fire started flickering as the images continued to flash across my vision. Without realizing it, the fire went out,my wings returned to their normal black color and stopped supporting me.

I started plummeting to the ground, screaming in agony, holding my skull as if it would explode if I let go.

I was brought back to reality by something large catching me out of the sky. My body jerked at the sudden stop of free falling.

Looking up, all I saw was green. I was being held by a giant green...person?

The thing looked down at me and I swore I could see emotions in its eyes. It gently brought me to the ground and let go of me so that I was standing on my own.

“Hulk!” A shout from the man everyone called Captain made the giant thing stand upright and turn around.

Hulk. Huh. Odd name.

I glanced around, trying to shake the memory from my mind. There was still an Alien Invasion to stop.

The woman from before came up to me. “Think I could get a lift to one of those?” She pointed up to one of the chariot type things the aliens were using to fly with.

I grinned at her, my wings already preparing for another takeoff, “Sure thing. Hold on.”

The woman wrapped her arms around my neck, sparking a strange sensation to spread through my stomach. I shook it off, jumping off the ground to one of the chariots. The woman let go, falling and landing on the back of one of the creatures. I watched in amazement as she took two knives and stabbed them through it to take control of its nervous system.

Shaking my head I flew up towards where the man in Iron was fighting off the creatures.

“You got some major power there, girl.” I could hear his smirk through his mask.

Shaking my head, I blasted a creature out of the sky, “Not by choice, Iron dude.”

“It’s Iron man sweetcheeks.”

I laughed and flew up and over him, taking his back.

I was close enough I could hear the team speaking to the man through their communications system.

I recognized the woman’s voice, “I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!”

The captain shouted, “Do it!”

Right then, both me and the man in Iron turned towards a strange sound. “Damn.” We looked at each other and then took off, “No, wait!”

“Stark, these things are still coming!”

The man looked at me when he responded, “I got a nuke coming in, its gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it.”

He spoke to me, “You gonna cover me?”

I nodded, “I’ll keep them off you. You sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Not a clue.”

We reach the missile as it jets through the air. Stark catches it and wrenches it up towards the portal. I fly beside him, frying any aliens who try to come at him.

“Stark, you know that’s a one way trip.”

The man replied to the Captain as I looked sideways at him. I barely knew the man, but I respected him for the sacrifice that he was going to do to save his city.

Pretty soon we reached the portal, I hung back as the man flew straight into it.

It seemed that the whole world was holding its breath. I slowly drifted to the ground to stand with the rest of the fighters. My eyes grew wide as the remaining alien creatures spasmed and seemed to die on their feet.

Looking back up to the portal, I was terrified to see what looked to be an explosion headed right towards Earth.

The Captain spoke beside me, “Close it.”

I swung my horrified look to him. The Iron man was still inside that portal!

I crouched down to leap up, planning on finding him in that explosion. But before I could, there was a bang, and the portal disappeared.

I looked on in horrified amazement as I saw a lone figure fall out of the sky. “Look! It’s the Iron man!”

The rest of the team looked up at my exclamation. The lightning man frowned, “He’s not slowing down!” He swung his hammer in a move I knew would mean he was planning on flying up to catch him. My wings spread and I leapt into the air.

But before I or the man with lightning could catch him, the creature who they called the Hulk slammed into him and a building, bringing the Iron man down to the ground.

We all raced over to him. The lightning man ripping off the Iron Man’s mask, letting me have my first look at the man.

I hung near the back of the heroes as they all looked on in sorrow. It appeared that the man in Iron was dead.

The Hulk let loose a rage filled scream at the man’s face, and a grin found its way onto my face as the Iron man gasped and opened his eyes. “What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?” He glanced at me and smirked, “Except for her. I’d let her kiss me anytime.”

I scoffed, surprised to notice tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

The captain leaned back and sighed, “We won.”

I looked back over the block of New York. It truly looked like a war zone. Debri and destruction everywhere with alien bodies scattered between. I was barely listening as Iron Man talked about getting some sort of food.

I looked over when the Captain clasped a hand on my shoulder, “Hey. You really helped us out. If you want to come, we would love to have you on our team. What do you say? Want to become an Avenger?”

I looked at each face. Did I want to? I thought back over my years being a plaything for the men who held me captive, being made into a weapon.

I looked into the blue eyes who asked the question, “I’ll follow you guys.”

He nodded, looking pleased. The team headed towards the tower to finish up some loose ends and I hung back. I wanted to belong. To be a beacon of good and hope. But I also knew I had my own loose ends to deal with before I could truly commit to the heroes of New York.

So before they realized that I wasn’t following them, I took off down an alleyway. I quickly found another giant coat, apologizing to the people I stole it from, and covered up my wings.

I tried to wipe as much dust and grime as I could from my face before I disappeared through the chaos.