Hero (Loki & Avengers)

Forty

One Year Later:

"Peter, I swear to god, if you try and stop one more crime ring alone I am going to lose my mind." Tony says, spinning his fork violently in some spaghetti.

I snicker at him as Peter sinks into his chair a little bit, clearly not expecting he was about to be busted.

"Aw man, Cas did you tell him?" He asks me.

"Wasn't me, Pete. He's probably right though. Those guys are tough." I tell him.

"Well they weren't so tough when I had them webbed to a wall." Peter replies and I laugh. Aunt May, my mom, Pepper, and Tony do not look as pleased.

"Peter." Aunt May warns, raising an eyebrow.

"Geez, fine. I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I'll call for backup next time." He concedes.

"I'll help. I've been itching for a fight recently." I tell him and Tony rolls his eyes.

It's true though. After the final Thanos battle, things have been far too calm for my liking.

Out of pure boredom, I finished my degree online, though it honestly means little at this point. Mostly it was just so my mom could proudly hang my diploma on the wall.

She now lives in a very nice apartment, courtesy of Tony, right next to my own new apartment in upper Manhattan. Our windows both overlook Central Park. Tony lives with Pepper in the penthouse of the building next to us. He owns the whole building, though I don't think he does much with any of the other floors.

My mom and I spend a few nights per week eating dinner here at Tony's place. Peter and his aunt usually join us as well. Peter and I have grown incredibly close, and I feel like I'm somewhat of a mentor to him. I'm at least a tutor to him, because I help him with his homework more often than I would like to.

We've become our own little kind of family.

Which, as it happens, is about to grow by one member. Tony and Pepper are about to have a little girl. Pepper is hilariously pregnant, and Tony waits on her hand and foot. I could not be more excited to have a little sibling of my own.

"I think I'm good on the fighting thing for now." Tony replies.

"Yeah, you better be." Pepper answers playfully, patting her baby bump.

"Hun, could you pass me the butter?" My mom asks me.

"Or course." I reply. I raise a hand and the metal butter dish floats over to my mom.

I realized very quickly after I got rid of my powers that I felt an odd sort of emptiness without them. But I also knew it was out of the question to inject it back into my blood.

So, Tony came up with a brilliant solution. We infused the substance back into the scars on the palms of my hands and my forearms. I can use the powers of the substance, but it isn't floating around me and infecting my heart or my brain anymore.

Tony also gifted me with my old black suit, only this time along with the sturdy silver metal already woven into the fabric, Tony infused the rest of Substance X we had leftover into my suit. Wearing the suit makes me feel safe and powerful, just like when the substance was actually in my blood. I'm eternally grateful to Tony for yet another thing.

Cap returned to the compound with Sam and a quiet yet seemingly kind man named Bucky Barnes. They came back from Wakanda together a few months ago, and I've honestly never seen Cap smile as much as he does around "Buck." They're truly comfortable around one another, and it makes sense since apparently they are childhood best friends.