Receiving Another Chance (Book Ten of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Elephant in the Room

Because who doesn't want to see Startha attempt to explain last chapter to their coworkers? XD

Enjoy!

***

"You two look dead."

"Ever a charmer, Stark," Steve grumbled as he downed another glass of water, Martha still looking like she had a headache from by his side. "Up over twenty-four hours, what would you expect?"

"Uh, I know for a fact you were both sleeping last night," Sam eyed the two of them. "You were not up twenty-four hours."

Steve raised an eyebrow, then turned to Martha. "I just let something slip, didn't I?"

"Mmm," she nodded. "You're losing your touch."

"Come on," Tony smirked, leaning forward. Across the lounge, Natasha was doing her best to look uninterested - at least she was doing better than Clint and Rhodey and Sam, all of whom were leaning forward expectantly. "What did you do?"

Steve again looked at Martha, but she just smirked and casually went back to drinking her whiskey. Steve turned back, shrugged, then said casually, "Robbed a bank."

Sam dropped his water glass, and Tony choked on his scotch. Even Natasha's and Vision's eyes widened at that. "You did what?" Clint's face split in a grin.

"Captain America pulled a bank heist?" Rhodey's jaw dropped.

"Did we ever figure out what we're calling it?" Steve asked Martha with a frown. "Because it was definitely a bank heist."

"Pulled by time travelers," Martha pointed out.

"Which was also a rescue mission."

"In a bank."

"Where the Doctor set us all up."

"Yes, but from what I gathered, he put everything together, and then we all wiped our memories."

Together they nodded, then turned back to the Avengers and stated, "Bank heist."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Sam held up his hands. "The Time Lords were here?"

"Yeah, not long after Martha fixed you up," Steve nodded, rolling his eyes. "The Doctor decided to drop us off about thirty minutes later, after we put everything in place for the heist and then pulled the heist."

Pause. "I'm lost," Clint raised a hand.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I was, too."

"Nine of us were pulled together to rob the most secure bank in the universe," Martha explained. "Except we all had our memories wiped, so we had no idea why we were doing this or what we were trying to rob. It ended up being a rescue mission for the last two members of a telepathic species: one of which was being forced to feed on guilty minds, the other locked in Karabraxos's private vault."

"OK, that I understood," Rhodey pointed at Martha.

"And you said it was the Doctor that set it up?" Vision frowned.

"Before we left, the Doctor gave Karabraxos the number to the TARDIS," Steve nodded. "Told her to call him when she started having regrets."

"Thus, time heist," Martha held out her arms. "Oh, and the bank is gone now. Solar storm destroyed it."

"I like how the bank is an afterthought," Clint snickered.

"There's nothing left of it, according to the Doctor," Martha shrugged, earning another spit take from Tony. "Not much to think about anymore."

"And yes, you can call either of the Maximoffs if you want the details," Steve rolled his eyes, looking around the room. "Preferably not Pietro right now, as last we saw him, he was taking Clara out."

Clint nodded, taking out his cell phone to call someone, probably Wanda, but at the name of the twins, there was a sudden chill in the air. Martha slowly looked around - from Tony's suddenly expressionless face to Natasha's lips pressed tightly together to Rhodey taking a curious interest in his boots. "Did we miss something?"

"Nothing," Natasha said smoothly. "But I think it's getting to be a late night for all of us.

"Night," Tony stood up and left.

The other Avengers made their exit not long after. "Definitely not nothing," Steve finally said.

"It started with the Maximoffs being mentioned," Martha said in a quiet voice.

"You think something's gonna happen to them?" Personally, Steve thought that was a suicide mission. One: the Maximoffs could take care of themselves. Two: Clara would fight tooth and nail to protect them. Three: the Time Lords would probably butcher the attackers before they could so much as aim at the Maximoffs.

Martha pursed her lips, turning to see where Tony had gone. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I wouldn't want to be Tony Stark if something does and the Time Lords get wing of it. He was the elephant in the room when they first got mentioned."

"Something's going on around here," Steve frowned. "It's messing with everyone."

"Well, we just robbed the Bank of Karabraxos," Martha stood up, holding out her hand. "And we are getting out of here, and if someone so much as tries to wake us up before we're up, they can just shove it up their arse."

Steve raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Martha. Language."

"And what are you going to do about it?"

Steve just laughed, took her hand, and stood, wrapping his arm around her, kissing the top of her head as they headed back to their rooms, putting their glasses on the counter as they left.

***

And because I had to finish with Startha fluff. <3 Oh, I can't wait for "Civil War."

Which, by the way, I need your help with. Where do you guys think "Civil War" would best fit: following "Mummy on the Orient Express" or "Flatline?"

Let me know, guys! In the meantime, "The Caretaker" is in the works!