chapter thirty-three
welcome to the avengers

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄'𝐒 apartment, reading through the journals she had given him. They certainly helped more than any file could have ever done. Somehow she had written a page for every day of the year for nearly sixty years. Any little thought she had on her mind, every major event — a new president, a new war that the United States participated in — she wrote everything down.

Steve looked up from his reading and glanced toward Grace's bedroom. Ever since he had woken up, things between the two had been awkward. It was nobody's fault; they had been separated for so long. Grace had continued living her life and Steve was still struggling with his new reality. To him, everything had happened so quickly. He crashed the Valkyrie and woke up. But for Grace, sixty-six years had passed.

As much as the two of them wished they could immediately go back to the way they were during the war, they couldn't. Neither of them was the same.

A ringing rang through the apartment making Steve jump at the sudden noise. He looked around for the source of the sound and found Grace's phone ringing on the kitchen table.

Nick Fury.

It must be important, he thought to himself, picking up the device. He knocked softly on Grace's bedroom door but didn't hear a response. Steve thought about declining the call, but he knew that Nick only called Grace if it was important. She was important. He knocked once again and when he didn't hear a sound, he opened the door.

Grace was sound asleep. He quietly walked toward her bed and gently shook her awake. She stirred and groaned. "I just went to bed..." she whined, rubbing her eyes. "Who in their right mind calls at..." She glanced at the alarm clock on her side table. "2:28?!"

"It's Nick," Steve said and she looked back at him. She took the phone from him and let out a breath, leaning back on the bed.

"Nick, are you aware how—" She paused and furrowed her brows. "I'm sorry... it what?" she asked, sitting up in the bed and Steve raised his eyebrows. "Well, did everyone get out?" She got off the bed and walked over to her closet, letting out a breath. "Okay, that's good at least. And where are you now?" She nodded, pulling out a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt. "Okay. I'll meet you there. I'll be right there."

"What happened?" Steve asked as soon as she hung up the phone.

Grace looked back at him after changing her clothes. "One of our SHIELD buildings collapsed," she said.

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𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 destroyed building in front of her with her arms crossed. "I have so many questions..." she said, tilting her head. "But I'm going to start with the obvious one. What the hell happened to my building?"

She looked over at Nick and raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Well..." He cleared his throat and she pursed her lips. "Do you remember the event a few months ago when a God from another world appeared in New Mexico?" he asked and she nodded. "Well—"

"It's his brother," Adelaide piped up and Grace glanced at her. "The God of Mistakes or something."

"I think Selvig said he was the God of Mischief," Nick told her and the blonde shrugged, handing Grace the tablet with the footage of the building collapsing.

"Mistakes seem fitting to me," she quipped.

Nick let out a breath. "Snow, get Romanoff on the phone," he said and she pouted. "Tell her to get Banner."

"But she always puts me on hold," Adelaide whined and Grace chuckled to herself. "Why can't Coulson call her? He has more patience than I do."

"Snow."

Grace held up her hand. "Okay, you two, stop bickering like children," she said, laying a hand on Adelaide's shoulder. "Have Coulson call Agent Romanoff. Addy can stay with us. She seems to know a bit of what's happened here. Why exactly is another God on Earth?"

"Well—"

"So you know the Tesseract?" Adelaide asked, interrupting Nick once again and he sighed. Grace glanced at him. "Well, when Howard Stark was searching for Steve Rogers, he came across the Tesseract and apparently this Loka guy wants it."

"Loki," Nick corrected.

"Yeah, him, too," Adelaide said with a nod. She looked at Grace who was taking in the information. "Oh, has anyone told you about Barton?"

Grace raised her eyebrows. "What about Barton?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"He's sort of..."

"Loki has him under his control," Nick told Grace and she stared at him. "Same with Erik Selvig."

Grace blinked. "I think I have even more questions than before..." she said before looking at Nick. "There's more to you wanting me to come here, isn't there?"

Nick let out a breath and nodded. "This is the level of threat that I meant for the Avengers to be formed," he replied and she crossed her arms. "And I was hoping that you would talk to Captain Rogers for me."

"Ah." Grace nodded to herself. "I'm the messenger. Nick... Steve woke up three weeks ago. To him, he crashed the plane not that long ago. You want him to go back into combat?"

"Yes."

Grace bit her bottom lip and sighed. "I'll talk to him about it. But it's up to him if he wants to do this. I can't force him."

"Meet us on the Helicarrier," Nick said. Before she could reply, Nick left and Grace let out a breath.

"Go with Coulson," she told Adelaide, pulling out her phone. "I don't know what we're getting ourselves into, but I have a feeling this is not gonna go well."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐓 door of the apartment and leaned against the door once she was inside, letting out a breath. "How did it go?" Grace opened her eyes to find Steve setting aside the journal.

She shrugged, sitting next to him on the couch. "It could have gone better," she said with a sigh. "Which... brings me to a favor."

"A favor?"

Grace nodded and looked over at the soldier next to her. "Do you remember the Tesseract?" she asked and Steve nodded. "Well..." She pulled out the file Nick had given her. "A not-so-good someone has gotten their hands on it. It's part of the reason why the building collapsed. One of our agents is under their control as well as a well-known scientist."

"Well, what can I do?"

Grace pursed her lips. "Fury had this idea... to bring together a group of people and call them the Avengers. He wants you, Steve. He wants you to join this team and help get the Tesseract and our agent back."

Steve paused and nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

"You don't have to do this," she said, shaking her head. "I told Nick that he'd have to understand if you weren't ready to see action again."

"I'll do it," he told her and she raised her eyebrows. "These people seem like they mean a lot to you. Besides, it's not like I have anything else to do these days."

"Are you sure?"

Steve nodded. "So what's next?"

Grace let out a breath. "I think it's time I officially introduce you to SHIELD."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

an: the actual events
of avengers will begin
in the next chapter

though I love that
Addy just has no
respect whatsoever
for loki. She's
amazing