── CAPTAIN'S RETURN ──

── ☆ ──

Alessia stands in the shadows of the room as Rhodey deals with the red tape in the holographic person of Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. "Still no word from Vision?" Ross asks as he fiddles with an item in his hands. "Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh," Rhodey tells him with a sigh getting a look of disappointment from the older man.

"On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals," Ross states causing Alessia to quietly scoff as Rhodey raises his brows, "You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?"

Alessia tuned out of their conversation focused on recharging her energy from the Avengers Compounds electricity, she used some of the power to locate Tony, Strange and Peter but she could only feel the distant hum of Tony's suit.

The fugitive Avengers enter the room, Vision supported by Sam gaining Alessia's attention at the spark of the mind stone, her own powers preparing as though the stone was warning her of something she already knew. "Mr Secretary," Steve says as he stands tall.

"You got some nerve. I'll give you that," Ross states as he glares at the former Avengers. Nat shrugged it off, "You could use some of that right now." Ross scoffed as the others at the hologram board table watched intently, "The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?"

Alessia rolled her eyes as she stopped siphoning energy from the building, fixing her shirt before standing up straight. "I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight," Steve says as he takes a step forward, looking right at Ross, "And if you wanna stand in our way... we'll fight you, too."

Ross orders Rhodey to arrest them before Rhodey swipes off the hologram making him fade, "That's a court-martial. It's great to see you, Cap." Steve and Rhodey hugged one another before Nat stepped forward to pull him into her embrace.

"Well. You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years," Rhodey says making Steve smile as they conversed while Bruce and Alessia looked at each other before nodding and stepping out into the former Avengers view.

"Uh, I think you look great," Bruce says, Rhodes and Natasha turn around to see Bruce walking in from the opposite end of the room, "Uh... heh... Yeah. I'm back." Nat smiled and the two greeted each other as Alessia appeared behind him, "Hello family."

Steve smiled widely as he opened his arms for the powerful sorceress, she smiled before practically jumping into his arms letting out a content sigh. "Good to see you, sister," Steve says in a whisper before he places Alessia back on the ground, looking her over as she waved at the others.

"Shouldn't you be with your husband?" Sam asks with a smirk making her shrug, "Tony needed some help, clearly." The former Avengers nodded in agreement before they made their way into another room.

Alessia sat on top of a table with her legs crossed watching as they all planned their next move. "So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey asks with Wanda agreeing, "And they can clearly find us." Alessia's eyes began to glow zoning her out of the conversation.

The former Avengers discussed the plan to get everyone back together again leading to Bruce finding out just how torn The Avengers had become. "Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he... he gets... Vision's Stone," Bruce states looking around at everyone finally noticing Alessia's distant expression.

Nat spoke up next, "Well then, we have to protect it." Alessia snapped from her trance jumping off the table gaining everyone's attention, "No, we have to destroy it." Wanda glared at the woman, disgusted with the words that left her mouth.

Vision nodded in agreement, "I agree with Mrs Barnes. I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps... its molecular integrity could fail." Vision and Wanda face each other and talk it through as Steve notices the broken look on Alessia's face as she tried to relax.

Steve stepped up to Alessia, "Talk to me, Ales." She smiled lightly at Steve before sighing, "It's just... a feeling I have. Something big is gonna happen, something - someone will fall." Steve rested his hand on her shoulder with his usual smile, "We'll get through it... together." Alessia nodded before looking back at the small gathering of Avengers feeling like she should say something yet knowing - she shouldn't.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it," Vision stated to Wanda and the others within the room. "That's too high a price," Wanda replied with a concerned expression. "Only you have the power to pay it. Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him," Vision spoke before sparing a glance at Alessia, the two knew Wanda wasn't the only one who could do it and Alessia would be the one to do it if Wanda couldn't.

"But it should. We don't trade lives, Vision," Steve spoke up from next to Alessia. "Captain, seventy years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision asked as he walked towards the former soldier, who looked down taking in a deep breath only to look up again. "Because you might have a choice," Bruce spoke up before Steve could, everyone turned their attention to Banner.

"Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another," Bruce explained as Alessia slowly caught onto what Bruce was explaining. "You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked with a hopeful expression. "I'm saying that... if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts," Bruce finished up giving everyone hope.

"Can we do that?" Nat asked the scientist. "Not me. Not here," Bruce answered, everyone faltered for a moment. "You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly gonna let you guys have your old rooms back," Rhodey stated before Alessia and Steve smiled at one another. "We know just the place," Alessia said with a kind smile before leading everyone out of the room.

── ☆ ──

"What's going on with you?" Steve sat down next to Alessia as they all piled into the Quinjet, they knew where to go and that was to Wakanda. "Nothing... Besides a Mad Titan coming to our world to have a temper tantrum," Alessia answered before looking out the window. Steve sighed knowing that his sister had a habit of hiding things and dealing with them alone, he hated how similar they were sometimes.

"Come on," Steve pestered knowing she clearly needed to talk. Alessia turned to look at everyone on the Quinjet before focusing on Steve, she knew these were her potential last moments with these people, with her family. "I'm just focusing on the negative and positive outcomes, Stevie... We have no clue what could happen next," Alessia spoke vaguely but Steve knew that she knew more but he also knew better than to push for answers.

Alessia felt a sudden pounding within her head, she closed her eyes before opening them; flashing through her mind was millions of outcomes. She wandered further in to see Stephen Strange sitting crossed-legged, his hands poised in a mystic gesture with the Time Stone suspended between them. "It's time..." Strange's voice echoed through Alessia's head, "He's coming..." Alessia looked down before focusing more on where Strange was.

She looked to the side to see Tony and Peter, she looked down before turning to the other three beings standing there with them. She let out a breath before Strange woke up and Alessia opened her eyes to be back with Steve and the others as they spoke about Wakanda and how T'Challa would be able to help. "More like Shuri will, T'Challa isn't the genius like her," Alessia stated with a smile as they flew into Wakanda's borders. None of them realised what was coming their way.

── ☆ ──

Author Note
Writing these chapters have me in my feelings... I don't know how people will respond but... be ready everyone!

-Rose <3
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