A/N GUYS IM BACK! IM READY TO UPDATE AGAIN! I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Steve's POV

Natasha took the book from Thor flipping through the pages her eyes landing on an image of the Dark Prince. It was a messy yet enchanting painting. It depicted a young looking man with his head lowered almost in grief or remorse his hair blocking his face.

"He looks sad." Natasha noted. "Like he's seen a lot he wishes he hadn't."

Her brow furrowed in an expression I knew. Understanding. Thor took the book back looking at the picture as well before easing the covers closed. "I must go before my Father realizes what I've done."

"Yeah we don't want Mr. Eyepatch coming down here and wreaking havoc." Tony joked. "Well I don't know about you but I'm going back to the lab. I gotta know how that shadow thing works."

"Tony it says in the book that it's magic!" I called after him. He shrugged.

"I don't believe in that kind of mumbo jumbo." Tony rolled his eyes.

"How can he not? I'm literally a witch." Scarrlet mused.

"I'm part spider." Peter shrugged. Everyone laughed that was Tony just being Tony stubborn no matter what. Scarrlet left to go to the library Vision following closely behind. The others dispersed leaving Nat and I alone.

"Steve? How do you feel about a library date?" She asked a curious twinkle to her eyes.

"I see detective Natasha is out and about." I teased. "But I wouldn't mind a library date."

"Good because this legend has me curious. If these people can use magic it makes me believe that we've got magic wielders among us. I want to know a little more about them." She smiled taking my hand and tugging me along behind her. We took the lift down to the lower archives. It was a place I had been to only a few times but Natasha loved the place. She had a constant thirst for knowledge.

The archives were dusty and the lights were dim not many people came down here with the amount of computers and tech at our disposal the use of paper knowledge seemed inadequate. But there was truth behind paper. The place was massive with shelves and shelves of artifacts and dusty old papers. Natasha seemed perfectly at home weaving down the aisle with ease.

"Here it is Norse Mythology." Nat gestured at a row of glowing scrolls.

"Why are they glowing? Glowing is bad." I noted. She laughed rolling her eyes.

"They're the original myths written by the All Father's record keeper and verified by truth seers. They're all truthful for the most part." She looked proudly at the mystical texts.

"And we just keep these here?" I asked incredulously.

"Yep. No one knows they're here only Thor obviously. Now let's see we need to go down this way towards the beginning of the time period." She jogged down the row of shelves a bounce to her step.

"Wait up!" I called after her following close behind.

"Please you know you like the view." She teased skidding to a halt. "Let's see it should be around here."

She pointed at a spot on the shelf her face falling into a frown. I drew closer not sure what the problem was. "What's wrong?"

"It should be here. Right here. The original. I didnt think much of the title before but it makes so much sense. Dusk and Dawn: The Origin Stories." She started shuffling papers around frantically.

"What?" I asked stepping up next to her and studying the shelves. Her eyes were full of worry.

"It's gone." She said nervously.

"I thought you said no one comes down here." I frowned.

"I stand by word on that. " Nat took a few scrolls off the shelves anyways. "Maybe it was Thor."

"We could ask him." I decided taking the stack of items from her as she walked to the wall and pressed the intercom button.

"Has Thor come back Mr. Mechanic?" She asked over the loud noises of Tony's workshop.

"Sure thing Carrot Top want me to put him on?" Tony asked albeit his words were muffled from something. "Hey Spark Plug the spider lady wants to talk to you."

"Hello?" Thor's voice thundered through the intercom.

"How many times have I told you that you don't need to yell?" I sighed. Thor chuckled loudly on the other side.

"Sorry!" Nat laughed lightly at his loud apology.

"Thor have you been to the archives lately?" She asked.

"Ooh! That's incredible Stark very bright and firey!" Thor shouted when an explosion followed closely behind and the panicked yell of Tony before the sound of sprinklers came on. "And no! I have not been to the archives!"

"Shit! Thor help!" Tony yelled.

"Tony what did you do?" Scarrlet's voice cut in. Nat sighed letting go of the button and ending the call. Her eyes were cast on the ground and her shoulders were tense.

"You're worried." I noted.

"No I'm fine." She shrugged smiling but it wasn't her natural smile.

"No you're not your shoulders are tense and you aren't looking at me you're looking over my shoulder not to mention your smile is forced." I raised an eyebrow. "Now what's on your mind."

"What if they took it? The Shadow Walkers?" She shifted nervously. Nat had been more nervous lately about the possibility of another national situation. I understood after our ordeal in Russia neither of us wanted that to happen again.

"I hate to say it but it makes sense. They could bypass security." I sighed knowing this wouldn't ease her anxiety but lying wasn't an option. "But maybe it just got misplaced."

"Maybe." Nat agreed taking my free hand. "Guess we'll have some light bedtime reading."

"Honestly these will at least be interesting to read." I smiled. "I used to love hearing myths from my Dad."

"Were you more of a Mama's boy or were you Dad's little boy?" Nat asked curiously.

"Not sure I just loved them both in general. Although I did have a sweeter spot for my Mom but that was just cause my Dad wasn't around a lot." I shrugged as we reached the lift again.

"I don't remember much before Ivan but I was definitely Dad's little girl. We got into a lot of trouble together." Nat smiled her eyes twinkling. "Mom never knew what to do with us."

"Neither did Ivan." We both laughed. The lift carried us up to the main floor where we stepped out into the living room. The others were crowded around on the sofa the tv blasting.

"Folks this just in another has been discovered!" A reporter's voice sounded. Curious I walked over to the table resting the documents on the surface before joining the others. A series of images flashed across the screen all of them a copy of the symbol we had discovered. "Sightings have occurred all over the Us and some have mysteriously appeared in other areas such as Europe and Russia."

"Why is it always Russia?" Nat whined.

"No one knows what they mean or how they got there but one thing is for certain. Authorities have found them impossible to remove." The reporter said a note of distress to her voice. "A few security images have been taken of some of the vandalists."

Three images floated into the screen depicting the hazy faces of two men and a woman. Tony instructed Jarvis 2.0 to run facial recognition on them. We waited in an anxious silence till the newscast ended.

"Sir facial recognition complete." Jarvis 2.O informed.

"Perfect." Tony tapped the updated coffee table a series of holographic files popping up. The name of the first one read Erik Ashlow. The second man's read Nathan Burkovitch. The third one was familiar to all of them, Feline. She was a common thorn in their side a woman who could mimick large cat predators.

"Feline. I know her she's a nasty woman." Peter shivered.

"Burkovitch. I know that name." I frowned trying to remember. "Tony can you pull up a search of underground vigilante groups?"

"Sure thing Ice Cube." A list appeared in thin air as Tony scrolled down reading off different names until finally I recognized one.

"That's it." I smiled.

"What? The Administration of Balloon Bafoons?" Tony asks.

"What? No!" Nat laughed.

"The one that says Independent National Guard of Supernatural Occurrences and Casualties." I read.

"INGSOC?" Tony asked reading it aloud. I nodded.

"That is slightly terrifying." Nat mumbled.

"What is?" Scarrlet asked.

"If you've ever read the book 1984 you'll understand it." She replied.

"Wierd ass book. Im reading it in school. Its a government society some sort of term that means something to the citizens. It's never really explained but it's sort of a mysterious society thing." Peter explained he and Nat shared an uneasy look.

"That's the guy. Burkovitch leader of INGSOC a group of people specializing in unnatural occurrences. Ive seen them snooping around old war sights back in the old days and more recently during the Alien invasion." I noted.

"You think these men are Shadow Walkers?" Thor inquires

"Not entirely no but they could be associated with them. As for Ashlow the guy runs the opposing vigilante group. People who believe in covering up super natural activity." My mind was trying to piece the information together.

"Why would they work together and why is Feline a part of this?" Scarrlet frowned clearly confused.Vision had been sitting quietly minding his own business until now.

"Both concern the super natural. If anything that is somewhat of a clue as to what we are facing. Maybe this Uniter is using them as pawns. As for Feline she could simply be an insurance policy if they decide to flee." Vision explained in his calming tone. "Until more information is acquired it will be hard to understand entirely. Research should be conducted but the matter should not be over thought. Nothing threatening has yet to occur."

"Great now you've jinxed us." Tony waved his hand over the table closing the documents. There was an uneasy air about the room everyone wasn't exactly sure what to do.

"Come on." I whispered taking Nat's hand. The last thing I wanted was for her to get stressed out. Ever since our ordeal we all tended to jump to conclusions. Vision was right things were fine. Besides it made me sad to see her get upset, she had become a lot more sensitive since our time in the wilderness. In a way I had too, it's not everyday you die and come back to life.

"Okay." She walked beside me a thankful tone to her voice.

"Let's go somewhere." I smiled. "Where to?"

Her expression lifted a smile tugging at her lips and this time she began to drag me through the halls. I followed without a choice as she dragged me into our room and closed the door. Her lips met mine in a passionate kiss and just like the first time she kissed me my pulse sky rocketed and my brain melted. My hands instinctively rested gently on her, one cupping her cheek, the other wrapped around her waist. Her fingers fit into my hair tugging lightly on the ends. She pulled back a smile on her face that reached her eyes.

"Love you." She smirked.

"Love you too." I kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Sorry to bug you but there's a situation down town in sector three!" Maria's voice came over the intercom.

"Seriously?" Natasha frowned.

"Vision really did jinx us." I sighed. Nat groaned practically kicking the door down in anger.

"Stupid criminals." She sighed as Scarrlet met us in the hallway wearing a similar expression to Natasha's. We all crowded into Maria's office for the briefing. A television was turned on behind her but she blocked our view from the footage that was playing.

"There's some strange activity occurring down town." Maria stepped aside exposing the screen. A bright beam of purple swirling auras travelled up in the sky in a funnel. A massive black obsidian structure was in the center of a major junction. It was sleek and black emanating a black aura that pulsated .

"That doesn't look good." Peter winced.

"Fury wants the area cleared that's it. Do not touch whatever this thing is. Do not interact with it understood?" Maria asked looking pointedly at Tony.

"Okay it's not my fault shiny things attract me." He said holding his hands up defensively. Maria rolled her eyes before dismissing us.

"Im riding with Steve!" Peter says excitedly sprinting to the garage and pulling on his mask.

"What? You can swing on buildings." Natasha argued.

"Just cause he's your husband doesn't mean you get special privileges." Peter yelled over his shoulder.

"I'm gonna kill him." Natasha joked. I met Peter at my motorcycle allowing him one ride and one ride only his response was that he nearly wet his pants he was so excited. Nat was forced to get a lift from Tony. Revving the engine we tore out of the garage, tires screeching.

The trip downtown was quick and it wasn't hard to locate the mayhem. All you had to do was look at the menacing purple cloud gathering over the city. We arrived not much later to the site. People were fleeing in a panic, cars were on fire, basically pure chaos. Peter slipped off the bike and immediately set to work.

"Next time I'm taking a ride with Scarrlet." Nat growls as she and Tony landed along with the others.

"Oh come on you're over exaggerating you did not nearly hit a light pole." Tony sighed.

"She nearly hit what?" I asked crossing my arms.

"Nothing." Tony said quickly.

"Mission guys!" Scarrlet called escorting an elderly couple away from the mayhem. Peter was setting up web blockades to keep people out of the general vicinity. Thor was using his loud voice to direct people. Tony flew just above the object monitoring it. Vision helped me unblock the road for incoming cars. Nat was busy searching the area for clues.

"Guys this thing has insane readings!" Tony said worriedly.

"What do you mean?" Vision asked.

"The radiation levels are pretty bad, this material is almost as dense as vibranium, but this purple stuff is making my senors funny." Tony explained.

"Scar put a forcefield up help contain the radiation." I instructed. Vision joined her efforts until a sufficient barricade kept the energy inside.

"Any idea what it is?" Peter asked joining us in the center. Nat was studying the massive object carefully.

"Guys." Tony's tone of voice didn't sound good at all. "Energy levels are spiking. Drop the force field!"

Vision and Scarrlet began to lower the force field but it wasn't quick enough the massive object began to vibrate it's outer surface heating up to look like molten lava. "Get down!"

Peter ducked behind Scar who held up a shield and Thor did the same with Vision. Tony was encased in blue glowing shields he had installed in his suit to help repel foreign objects. I grabbed Nat by the arm tucking her safely behind me and raising my shield. An explosion echoed like the sound of hundreds of tank ballistics. It rang painfully in my ears causing the world to seemingly vibrate.

A purple light shot up into the sky igniting it into a ferocious wine color. After what felt like forever it subsided. I hesitantly lowered my shield expecting to see large amounts of property damage but there was none.

"What the hell was that?" Scarrlet asked her eyes wide.

"It didn't do...anything." Vision seemed more confused than ever before. I shook my head the ringing in my ears subsiding. Tony announced that the energy levels were stabilizing and how it had absorbed the energy from the force fields.

"You good?" I asked giving Nat a once over.

"Guys." She called trying to get their attention completely ignoring me. The others turned to look at her one by one. "It's not a weapon."

"Then what is it?" Thor asked.

"It's a beacon." She said without a hint of doubt to her voice. He others wore different expressions of realization. They all looked at the roiling clouds above and the bright purple beam penetrating the sun's realm.

"For who?" Peter asked incredulously.

"You're gonna want to look at this." Tony projected a hologram. It was a perfect colored image of the atmosphere. Slowly but surely bright purple specks began to appear across the continent. They spread wide across the globe glowing with a vivacious power. But that wasn't the terrifying thing. As more and more appeared a picture began to form. Moments later we were all staring at global image of the symbol we had found. It was unmistakable.

"Why do I get the feeling you're right?" Peter squeaked nervously.

"Its a beacon." I agreed. "And I think we know exactly who they're contacting."