Steve's Diary

April 27, 2018

Dear Diary,

It took us all night to get to Upstate New York to the new Avengers facility.

Once we were there, though, it was full of confrontation, awkward conversations and people I hadn't seen in a while.

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We walked in and the first people I saw were Colonel Rhodes and Secretary Ross.

"Mr. Secretary," I addressed him, the rest of the crew behind me.

"You got some nerve," he approached us. "I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now," Natasha commented.

"The world's on fire," he walked over to me. "And you think all is forgiven?"

"I'm not looking for forgiveness," I said. "And I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So, we're here to fight." I stepped down the stairs so I was eye level with him. "And, if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you, too."

Ross turned around and looked at Colonel Rhodes. "Arrest them."

He nodded. "All over it," he replied, turning off the hologram, making Ross and everyone else disappear. "That's a court-marshal," he told us, regarding the arrest he was to make. "Great to see you, Cap," he shook my hand.

"You too, Rhodey," I answered as Nat hugged him.

"Wow," he started. "You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple years."

"Yea, well, the hotels weren't exactly five-star," Sam pointed out. 

"Uh, I think you look great," Banner walked into the room. "Uh," he chuckled. "Yea, I'm back."

"Hi, Bruce," Natasha regarded him.

He waited a minute. "Nat," he nodded.

Did I forget to mention her throwing me aside for him and kissing him during the Ultron mission? Yea, that happened. I'm over it, but it looks like they're still on rocky ground. Yikes.

"This is awkward," Sam whispered.

We, eventually, made our way into an office where we'd talk further about the issues presented by Thanos and his children.

"So, we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodes started the discussion.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda pointed out.

"We need all hands on deck," Banner went on. "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal," Natasha explained. "It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?" Banner questioned.

"Ant-Man," I told him.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" he asked. "Okay... look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he is not gonna stop until he gets... Vision's stone."

"Well, then we have to protect it," Natasha announced.

"No, we have to destroy it," Vision came in. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature. But, also, its composition," he began to approach Wanda. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to it's own signature, perhaps its molecular integrity would fail."

"Yea, and you with it," she retaliated. "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it," he replied, so sure of himself and his decision.