↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

Diana always hated her cousin's lab. It reminded her too much of her old life. Just like the one back then, Tony's was cold and smelly. He may have tried to rid the scent with candles and other fragrances but the young girl could still always smell them with ease. And now with the metal corpse of a thing by the name of Ultron on the table, her body shifted uncomfortable with the situation.

"All our work is gone," Doctor Bruce Banner shook his head in a controlled frustration. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron," Steve tried not to scoff at the name.

"He's been in everything," Natasha slammed her keyboard "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other," she proceeded to lean against the computer, crossing her arms.

Diana pressed her lips together as she stared down at her iPhone, "He could be anywhere in the internet right now. The same internet he blocked us out on."

"What if he decides to access something a little more exciting than changing our Netflix password?" Rhodey rubbed his throbbing arm.

"Nuclear codes," Maria suggests.

"Nuclear codes," Rhodey pointed to her. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

Natasha raised her brow, "Nukes? He said he wanted us dead."

Diana could only scoff at the statement. At this point in time, who didn't want her and her family take out?

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct," Steve reminded her.

"He also said he killed somebody."

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria told him.

"Yes there was," Tony flicked his phone forward, causing a hologram of a strange broken and glitching sphere.

Diana moved slightly forward from her seat to try and get a better look, "What... is that?" She tilted her head as she stared at the messed up projection.

"That was Jarvis," Tony sighed.

"Was?" Diana turned to him, shocked. "You're telling me that, that Ultron murdered Jarvis? Can AI's even be murdered?"

Bruce stalked closer towards the hologram, "This is insane."

"Jarvis was the first line of defence," Steve sighed. "He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense."

Bruce shook his head, "No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is... rage."

The sound of loud footsteps made the members inside the lab collectively turn. Watching as the enraged God stomped towards the Iron Man. Gripping Tony by the throat and holding him high in the air.

His younger cousin quickly stood up, ready to take on the god, but her father grabbed her by the shoulder and held Diana back.

"Come on. Use your words, buddy," Tony gasped as Thor lifted him even higher.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."

Steve step forward and tried to ease the situation and save his nephew. Asking the God if he could locate Tony's Legionnaire, which Ultron stole. Thor then let go of eldest Stark with a scoff, "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again."

Diana waisted not a second and ran towards Tony. Helping the man back to his feet, "The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron," Natasha then said.

"I don't understand," Dr. Cho studied one of Ultron's corpses. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony proceeded to let out a small chuckle before full on laughing at the group before him. Bruce tried to whisper for him to stop but that only made him laugh more, "You think this is funny?" Thor snarked.

Tony pulled himself out of Diana's grip and shook his head, "No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so... is it so... it is. It's so terrible," he continued to chuckle.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor blamed him.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," Tony walked straight up to the man who strangled him just moments ago.

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to-"

"Really?!" Tony shot his head over to Bruce, "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

The Doctor's eyes widened, "Only when I've created a murder bot."

Tony shook his head, trying to cover his and Bruce's ass, "We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

"Well, you did something right," Steve snarked. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony spread his arms and addressed the crowd.

Rhodey shrugged, "No, it's never come up."

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that." The tension in the room only grew as the group all groaned at the billionaires antics, "Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there?" He pointed to the sky, "That's... that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve told him.

"We'll lose," Tony looked him in the eye, as Steve didn't break eye contact. "Then we'll do that together, too."

The room went silent as the words sunk in. Diana watched their standstill quietly from a distance. In the moment she never really understood the grace of that final line her father had said. But she would. As one day she would say it too.

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

8:30 am

Diana's lips squished against one another as she saw the time. Guilt and fear mixed in her stomach like a stew as she feared being late to practice. Originally she was supposed to be at the theatre an hour ago, as she was to be dressed and ready for mic checks. Yet instead she was standing in her room.

After the events of the night prior Steve said he'd contact the school and mention she would be late, as her reasoning was understandable. Though Diana wouldn't admit it, she was a little upset her family wouldn't be able to make it to her performance, not that she would say anything as there were greater problems at the moment.

But sacrifices had to be made. What transpired the previous night was rather usual for them. At least once a year a member or the group as a whole, would go up against the villain of the week and then go out for shawarma afterwards. So as it was becoming cliché, Diana didn't Ultron.

Grabbing her suitcase she walked out of my room and made her way to the penthouse to see the others off. Until this all blew over it was decided Diana be staying in a small safe house with Pepper until they came home.

So with a smile she walked towards the group as they were gently arguing with one another, "She'll hate us," Natasha whispered.

"I'd rather her hate us and be alive," Tony huffed as they continued to bicker, only stopping once she was in view.

"How's the search going?" She asked as she stared at the messy room. Boxes lined the floors, with piles of stray files covering every possible surface.

Diana could immediately tell something was off. The way they all were rather stiff. Similar to how they acted at ceremonies they would be forced to attend. Though the strange and almost guilty glint in their eyes what what she focused on, "Not well I assume...?" She tried to keep the positive energy up, considering whatever they were talking about seemed to be a rather heavy topic.

Instead of simply replying Steve glanced over to Natasha and gave a sharp nod, making her hand the teen a screen displaying something she was not expecting. The man they had just arrested last week, Baron Von Struker, was slumped over his bedroom cell. Diana would've thought he was just simply sleeping if it wasn't for the concrete wall behind him dripping with his own blood, spelling out the word PEACE.

Her multicoloured eyes widened at the sight of it, "Ultron did... this?"

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," Tony added.

Her face contorted as she tried to find a reason Ultron would even bother going after him of all people, "Why?"

Steve let out a sigh, "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss."

"Ultron is all bark and no bite. If he truly wanted us dead he would've done it yesterday," she tried to tell them, having Steve back the iPad.

"That or he simply wants to play with his food," Natasha suggested from her seat.

She rolled her eyes, "Got any leads?"

Steve changed the slides on the iPad and revealed a man covered in a variety of brandings and tattoos, "He's called Ulysses Klaue."

"And what would The Night of the Living Robot want with this sleazeball?" She casually pointed to the photo.

"See that brand he's got right there?" Steve pointed to the one on his lower neck.

"Yeah?" She raised her left brow at the strange marking burned into the white man's skin.

"It means thief, in Wakanda," that made her suddenly stand up straight. "You're kidding?"

Her father shook his head.

"I thought you got the last of it?"

"Apparently not," Steve shrugged as Diana groaned. Her hands trailing her scarred hands down her pale face, "So if Ultron gets his hands on actual Vibranium..."

"Exactly," Steve nodded.

Diana was starting to understand that this Ultron was becoming the villain of the month instead, "So you've got a location on the smuggler?"

"Uh, yeah. A salvage yard off the African Coast," Bruce said.

"Ah," she glanced over to the doctor, seeing the coordinates. Seeing as the group looked rather stressed, and knowing her jokes were a lot more appropriate than her cousin's, Diana couldn't help but try and make the situation lighter, "Pretty far away. Looks like the lot of you are gonna miss more than just one of my shows, huh?" Diana gave a lighthearted smirk.

But the atmosphere drastically changed when she muttered those words. Her smile slowly disappeared, noticing how quickly the group began to disassociate themselves from the young teen. Natasha seemed to fully stiffen in her chair, while Bruce turned back to type away on the computer, but Diana noticed he wasn't actually typing anything.

Her brow rose a little higher as Clint began to move around, starting to clean up some of the files and Thor seemed to be more than eager to help.

Diana's eyes shifted to her cousin but he wouldn't look at the only living blood he had left. Instead he huffed, looking anywhere that wasn't at the girl, "Dad?" She turned to the only other person. "Is everything okay?"

Steve's face slowly twitched as the others all tried their best to keep busy. He looked to be on the verge of tears as the realisation hit Diana like a truck, "No," is all she could say.

He gave the child a look of pity, "My Songbird-"

"Don't you My Songbird me," she pointed at him. "You don't get to do that to me now."

"Diana," he grabbed his daughter's hands. "Do you really think I want to do this? Do you really think any of us want to do this to you?"

She looked away, shaking her head as she struggled to keep herself calm, "Oh my god," Diana pulled herself out of his grip.

"He has already made multiple threats against us last night," Natasha sighed. "He killed Struker with ease only a few hours later."

Tony rubbed his temples, "He knows about every safe house, thanks to his access on our private files. Splitting up now will only give Ultron the upper hand."

"If things go south in Africa, if I let you out of my sight, he could easily attack the theatre. He could kill you, everyone. I can't put everyone at risk. He could even t-" he quickly stopped himself.

But it was too late. Diana caught on to what he was stressing about.

The girl's expression darkened as the silence covered the room like a cold and uncomfortable blanket m. Breaking the pause with a click of her tongue, "... say it."

He shook his head, "I didn't mean to insinuate anything. I'm just thinking about the possibilities. We all are. We all agreed this is what's best for you," he gestured to the others.

"Say it." She said again.

"Diana, I can't have it happen again," he finally told me.

"Is that all I am to you?" She asked, hurt dripping from her tone, "Just some poor damsel in distress that gets kidnapped yearly?"

"It's happened three times already," he defended himself. "You were taken three times. Once just right in front of me. I'm sorry if it scares me to think that an AI who wants to kill us would want to use you to get to us!"

"Oh my god," the girl's face began to turn red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "I'm so sorry that little nine year-old Diana Rogers-Stark got into a police car that she was told to. I'm sorry that eleven year-old Diana Rogers-Stark couldn't fight off a thousand year old God with a mind control stick!" She gave very sarcastic jazz hands. "I'm also sorry that teenage Diana couldn't fight off a fully armed government by herself!"

He sighed, pinching his nose, "All of those times they wanted to use you. Vanko and Loki wanted you as bait. Pierce wanted you as a soldier. They all had a reason to keep you alive, but him? Ultron doesn't. He wants all of us, and that includes you, dead!"

The two of them became face to face. Diana held a glare as both their chests raised in a similar fashion. Diana had been angry before, sure, but this? The way her palms became sweaty. Her face hurting from the way she scrunched it and how her teeth slightly stung from her clenching. This was a rage she never had experienced before.

"I can't lose you again. I just can't," he said.

Diana shook her head, "I thought I had a choice in this. You promised me a choice," she felt the tears beginning to breach.

"You won't have to fight. You don't need to. All you need to do is stay with Bruce in the ship," he explained. "If things go south we can call Code Green. You just need to-"

"Sit still and don't get kidnapped?"

He frowned, "Diana..." his daughter moved away as he tried to reach out for her. She took another step back and crossed her arms, standing as tall as she possibly could. Acting stronger than she was, "I'm guessing you already called the academy?"

The group all now watching the two as Steve gave a meak nod. Diana then clenched her eyes shut and let out a broken sigh, "Okay." She simply turned her emotions off and glanced to Tony, "My suit you designed still in the lab?"

"Yeah," he looked away.

"Okay," the teen wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I'll be ready in ten minutes." Without saying goodbye Diana Rogers-Stark turned around, grabbing the suitcase and walked towards the elevator.

Her fingers lingering over the button as Steve called out to her, "Diana."

She didn't face him, for she knew she would cry if she did, "There will be other performances. The academy understands, they do. That's why you have an understudy. For reasons like this," he explained.

A small chuckle bubble in the girl's throat. They casted Colette as an understudy for this? Incase the villain of the week chose Diana as it's next target? Incase Earth's Mightiest Heroes needed to fight? Incase poor little Lady Liberty got kidnapped again?

"You still have more performances," he reassured me. "We stop him today and you'll be back for tomorrow-"

"Don't," she whispered. "Just... just don't," she pressed the button and stepped inside the elevator. Once they closed Diana took in a deep breath as she pushed everything down.

Her chest convulsed as the need to cry became more apparent by the millisecond. But still she pushed it down. This was not the time to cry. This wasn't the time to scream about not getting what she had wanted.

The most privileged girl in the world would not cry about not being in her opening night performance. But damn she wanted to.

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

The black hooked boots of Lady Liberty repeatedly kicked the quinjet as she boredly waited for the death of a robot from the inside of a ship a few miles away. A screen was propped up in front of her and Bruce as they watched the feed coming from Tony's suit's pov, allowing the pair to see everything.

Diana hadn't spoken since she went into the elevator hours ago, for she had no reason to. Of course the others obviously tried their hardest to involve the pissed off teen in their plans or small talk, but the silent rage of a teen was not to be trifled with.

Her gloved fingers ran over the leather of her new suit. Feeling the designs while the feed showed the group entering the converted factory resting in a beached ship. Even though Diana didn't plan on wearing her suit for a long time, the girl couldn't help but agree over how pretty it was.

A red long sleeved shirt under a pair of leggings and a black leather skirt. The leather was sleek and form fitting, allowing Diana to fight from a distance, or even remove the skirt if need be.

It also contained many small and intricate designs of golden birds and music notes. As well as it was paired with a set of black gloves, a belt for her guns and matching boots.

Though the suit wasn't supposed to be used on the field. It was for show. Originally designed for Diana to wear for the occasional photo shoot or child event where they all needed to be dressed up. It was a costume. It was supposed to be just a costume.

"Here we go," Bruce sighed as the view of a very shiny Ultron conversing with Ulysses Klaue.

Diana leaned forward and watched the bot that had ruined her morning, "Well he's compensating for something," she gestured to the large and somehow muscular robot.

'Finance is so weird. But I always say, "Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which",' Ultron stated.

Ulysses Klaue pointed to him, 'Stark.'

'What?' The bot was offended.

'Tony Stark used to say that... to me. You're one of his!'

'What?! I'm not!' Ultron grabbed Klaue by upper arm, 'I'm not. You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!' Diana slightly jumped as Klaue began to scream.

The robot had just chopped the man's arm off like he was cutting a cake. Though even Ultron himself looked surprised by his actions, 'I'm sorry. I am sor- Ooh, I'm sure that's going to be okay...' he explained rather confidently. 'I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark! It's a thing with me. Stark is, he's a sickness!'

'Ahh, Junior,' Tony dramatically landed across from him as Thor and Steve stood behind him. 'You're gonna break your old man's heart.'

Ultron sighed, giving the trio a half glance as a pair of twins joined his side, 'If I have to.'

'We don't have to break anything.'

'Clearly you've never made an omelette,' he shot back at Thor, making Tony scoff. 'He beat me by one second.'

The first twin, Pietro Maximoff, took a step forward, 'Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?'

'This was never my life.'

'You two can still walk away from this,' Steve told the two Maximoffs.

Wanda Maximoff shrugged, 'Oh, we will.'

'I know you've suffered-'

'Uuughh!' Ultron gagged. 'Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but...'

Thor stepped forward, 'If you believe in peace, then let us keep it.'

'I think you're confusing peace with quiet,' he shot back at the Avengers.

'Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?' Tony asked.

Even though Ultron was only a robot he gave himself a great amount of expressions to add to his physical form, 'I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan-' he pushed his hand backwards activating a magnetic field, causing Tony to be pulled forward before thrown back.

Bruce and Diana jumped back as the screen began to shift, showing bits and pieces of the battle. As the fight started to get a little heated Bruce opened the back door, allowing the two both to see the battle from a distance.

"Dear god," Diana cringed as a small swarm of bots flew around the rusted out ship. Staying put while gunshots filled their surroundings.

"Guys, is this a Code Green?" Bruce asked to an ignoring crowd.

The two of inside the jet glanced at one another as the intercoms kept us updated, 'Thor! Status?'

'The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty...' Thor trailed off.

Diana's eyes widened as she quickly turned her intercom on and tried to communicate, "Dad, what's going on down there?"

"..."

Something felt off. Diana didn't feel right about the situation and with Steve eerily not responding created a pit of dread beginning to set root in her stomach as she called out to him once more, "Dad?"

'Whoever's standing, we gotta move!' Clint yelled.

Her teeth ran over her own lips as she knew what needed to be done. Without thinking twice Diana walked to the back of the ship front of the ship and grabbed a few more weapons, "I'll be right back," she tried to walk past Bruce.

"Woah, woah, woah!" He grabbed the teen by the arm, "Diana, you sure about this?"

"Nope," she shook my head and quickly responded to Clint, "I'm on my way."

She was only about to make it a few feet towards the ship before feeling a rush of wind cover her face. Diana skidded to a halt as a flash of blue ran past her vision. Cocking her gun she prepared to attack as a splash of red hit her in the face, like sand.

Diana let out a gasp, stumbling back a few paces as her hands went up. Removing her glasses aside to rub her burning eyes. She groaned in annoyance as she eventually started to repeatably blink to ease the pain. Which revealed a smiling Wanda Maximoff standing directly over her.

Still clutching her own head, Damian glared at the girl who tried to play one of her mind games on her. Slapping her in the face without warning. And as one would not expect the action, Wanda stumbled backwards, falling on the dirt.

"How," she panted, clutching her face. "How did you...?"

"Mind games don't work on me, Miss," she glared at the woman. "I mastered Mind Control at eleven."

Her confusion turned quickly to smugness, "But your father didn't."

Then another flash of blue came. Diana only had time to gasp when something slammed straight into her body. She whimpered in pain on the ground, watching Wanda vanish from view. Though pain became anger as she got back up to her feet. Running to help her family.

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

The one thing most history books have wrong is about the first time Steve Rogers and Morgan Stark saw each other. The schools and films say the star crossed couple met the night of their first performance, which may have technically been true for Morgan, but not Steve.

A few weeks prior to his war bond tour a pre-super serum Steve Rogers was dragged on a double date with his best friend. Bucky Barnes practically had to guilt the scrawny Rogers to the festival, proclaiming how he wanted to have some "fun before his deployment."

With a slump in his step Steve allowed his friend to pull him to something called the "World Exposition of Tomorrow", even though he would rather be back in his small apartment, sulking over the latest failed attempt to enrol into the army.

"I don't see what the problem is," Bucky chuckled. "You're about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know there's three and a half million women here?"

The smaller man only rolled his eyes, "Well, I'd settle for just one."

"Good thing I took care of that," the stronger one elbowed his friend as he pointed to a pair of girls in the distance. It wasn't that rare that Bucky would try and set his friend up, it was impossible getting them to like his friend.

The two girls smiled at the men heading their way as the smaller one eagerly jumped at the sight of the Sargent, "Hey, Bucky!"

The brunette smirked at his latest of many women he had dated, while the blonde sighed, "What'd you tell her about me?"

"Only the good stuff."

"So nothing?" Steve deadpanned as the awkward double date began. Going from place to place, exhibit to exhibit.

Steve did try his best to make conversation with the girl, but his date seemed to be interested in literally anything else. So after she denied his offer to buy her some food he just let her be as their respective friends who set them up continuously sucked faces in between exhibits.

At first he simply thought the night was going to be nothing but a bust, or that was until a loud trumpet began by another stage. The girl Bucky was inhaling let out a gasp, "Oh my gosh! It's starting!" She pulled Bucky towards the attraction as both Steve and his 'date' dragged their feet.

"Is it hot out here?" A person on the rather decorative stage shouted to the crowd. "'Cause we're planning on heating it up a bit more! You know her, you love her and if you don't her brother will come and find you... it's our Lady Liberty, Morgan Stark!"

Steve watched as a brunette skipped onto stage in a modest cream dress with a black velvet jacket overtop of it. The girl, Morgan, laughed as she went centre stage, giving a light curtsy to the crowd, "Well good evening New York!" Morgan Stark proudly greeted the crowd as she fixed her midnight black guitar.

The crowd of people started to clap as the beauty with a heavy Brooklyn accent hyped them up, "Well it is good to see all of you! I don't know about all of you all but this sciencey-smiencey stuff is hurting my brain, anyone else?" Morgan raised her hand, making many others, including Bucky's date do the same.

The musician put on a breathtaking stage laugh as she strummed her guitar a few times, "Well then I guess y'all wouldn't mind if I take the opportunity to freshen your minds with a song, huh?"

Steve watched in awe as the girl started to sing moments later. Live music really wasn't his thing. He always found a way to decline his friend who invited him out to the bar. Considering women were never lining up to dance with him, he found no reason to go. Then when the war started most entertainers either left to join the fight or entertain them, he lost his chance.

But as he watched the girl completely dance around the stage as she sang from the heart he realised that live music might not be as bad. The song she sang, "Our Song," he believed it was called, had never left his mind after that night. It was actually one of the first things he remembered after their more than awkward introduction.

Inside the dressing room Steve shifted uncomfortably as the bright blue cotton practically hugged his new physique he gained from the experimentation. Captain America is what they were calling him now. Not the way he envisioned himself gaining a title.

When he dreamed of joining the army his fantasies never involved leading his own platoon to the doors of Hitler or becoming decorated in medals. No, he dreamed of helping people. The exact reason he signed up for Project Rebirth. Doing so would allow him to help the little guy as well as serve his country.

He just never expected to serve his country in tights.

Steve cringed looking himself over. Like he was some dancing monkey instead of a soldier, but it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. It was either this or trapped in a lab the rest of his life. So he picked the option with less needles involved.

Being so busy with his own appearance the super soldier was completely oblivious to the other person in the room. The young woman watched in a mixture of amusement and astonishment as he tried to get comfortable in his spandex.

Leaning against the wall, with arms crossed, she called out to him, "Well I must say they really know how to dress us up for a show, eh?"

Steve completely jolted at the sound of another voice. Accidentally bumping into the floor length mirror, causing it to shatter on the floor below. The woman stood there in shock, watching a shard bounce around before eventually laying flat on the ground.

The pair remained silent as they stared down at the mess before them. Steve cringed as the woman in a patriotic blue Kitty Foyle dress with a red collar and white lining on the edges smacked her lips apart, "Well if the country didn't have bad luck already..."

"Um... I... uh are you allowed to be in here? I thought- I thought this was private," he started to stumble over his own words at the sight of the smirking woman. "Don't the dancers have a group dressing room...?"

The woman gave a small chuckle and shook her head, as if he said something humorous, "Oh sweetheart you are adorable," her voice then went very serious. "I don't do ensemble."

Steve only blinked as he watched the women walk forward. Her red, while and blue chunky heels stepped over the mirror shards to reach him, "Stark. Morgan Stark," she held her hand out.

His confused expression dropped as he stared at the girl, finally realising exactly who he was staring at. Quickly trying to fix the awkward situation he shook his head and grabbed her hand, giving it an equally awkward squeeze, "Steve Rogers."

"I'm aware," she pulled back.

"So you're my damsel- I mean my co-star," he tried to start simple small talk, something he was obviously never good at.

Though either out of pity or enjoyment Morgan chuckled, "I guess both do titles work. Though I prefer the term 'Leading Lady', Dear."

He gave only a small nod as she looked him up and down. A small smirk crossed her face, one he would one day simply call 'The Stark Smile', "You're looking good in the suit, Captain. You ready for your first performance?"

Steve gave an awkward smile, "Oh... yeah. Yeah, I'm ready to sell some bonds and save you from Hitler."

Morgan laughed, "There we go. That's the spirit," she lightly punched his very muscular arm. "So you looked over your lines a little bit, correct? I know you just got them this morning."

The Captain nodded, "Yeah, yeah, no I read them over. The prop guy said he's putting them on the back of my shield just in case."

"Perfect."

"Though it shouldn't be that hard," he chuckled. "I mean the script is..."

Her smile started to fall, "What's wrong with the script?"

Steve shrugged, "Well I mean it's not that complex of a story. It's a little childish. I mean I single handedly take down Hitler?"

The Stark gave a small nod, "Almost as if it's written for children," her smile started to become much more forced.

It took exactly eight seconds for Steve to realise who he was talking to, "You wrote the script... didn't you?"

"Yes. Yes, I did." Her nod was slow. Calm and terrifying. "I also wrote the songs and choreographed the dances for your backup girls."

Steve quickly tried to apologise, though she held up her hand to silence him, "Captain Rogers," he felt himself start to freeze as she calmly chewed him out. "I am going to be very honest with you because I personally do not care how strong and powerful you are, and I have no interest in getting into your star spangled tights. This is war."

She moved closer, "This is war and we are still soldiers. It may be a different type of battlefield but a battlefield none the less. Unlike you I can't fight on the front lines because I wasn't born with a dick, so this is my way of contributing. I put a smile on my face and I brighten the day of the sad families suffering from this horrible tragedy. And this is now your way."

Morgan sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, "I understand this isn't what you wanted. You wanted to get your fancy-smancy body and fight for your country. You think I wanted you here either?" She crossed her arms, "I was supposed to go solo until the press got word of a no-named man saving a little boy from a Nazi spy. I had to rework the entire show in under a week."

"Look Ms. Stark, I'm sorry-"

"Save it," she cut him off. "It's childish, yes, but that's the point. You are a hero and I respect that. I like those who show kindness who don't expect anything back."

Steve stayed silent as Morgan pointed to the door, "Out there are people. Families. Every single person out there is missing someone. A father, son, brother. Family," she listed. "So for half-an-hour they get to watch a man who they consider a hero smile, wave and kick our enemy's ass. Giving them the hope that their loved ones will come back safely sounds fair to me."

The Stark's heels crunched against the shattered mirror shards as she focused on the super soldier, "You may not take this seriously. Selling bonds and singing... but I do. I take it like an oath," she grabbed him by the star and brought him closer.

Even if Steve was obviously stronger, the way she spoke to him terrified him to the point he forgot about his new abilities. Staying quiet as she glared into his eyes, "I may be fighting for my country with a guitar, but my guitar is making smiles and paying for the bullets that will end the fighting. I take my job very seriously and I expect you to as well."

She brought him even closer, giving the Rogers a taste of the Stark fury, "So you will learn your lines. You will smile. You will make them kids happy. And if you don't... the next papers gonna read about the Captain America somehow turning up in the river."

Morgan let go and left the soldier completely stunned. Yet before she left she lifted her head and smiled at him, "This is your battlefield, Captain. Get used to it," she sneered before slamming the door shut behind her.

He never expected he'd ever propose to that same girl that almost made him pee his pants.

And he definitely never expected that same girl would be the last voice he ever heard. Barreling towards the ice somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Placing his compass on the dashboard of the ship he stared at Morgan's face one final time before closing his eyes. Listening to her singing to him over the intercom as everything went black.

So that's why when he opened his eyes he knew something was wrong. Instead of being in the beached ship battling any possible threat he stood in a very old operation control centre.

He cautiously looked around the strange room seeing multiple blank screens filled with too many knobs and levers than you could ever imagine. Steve ran his hand over one of the chairs, creating a small cloud of dust.

The man was about to call out to see if anyone else was around, but the sight of a red blinking light caught his attention, keeping his mouth shut.

Swivelling the chair Steve sat down and saw some sort of signal. The Captain's blue eyes widened significantly when he saw what was being sent.

It was an SOS.

Grabbing the abandoned headphones he found on the floor, he plugged them in, hearing a person on the other end of the line, 'Hello? Hello?! Does anyone read me?'

"Come in, this is Captain Steve Rogers," he grabbed the microphone and repeated himself, until he heard a voice he was not expecting.

'Dad?' Diana responded on the other end.

His lungs burned from the force of his inhale, "Diana?! Wha- what's going on?!"

'Dad, Ultron's dead!' She replied.

He frantically looked around, trying to find something he could use to figure out what on earth was going on. He felt for his phone, only to be met with an empty pocket, "Where... W-Where are you? What happened?"

'You were right,' she chuckled. 'Ultron grabbed me when you guys were fighting the twins. I can't believe you were right.'

The man's breath increased, "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

The girl reassured him, 'I'm fine, dad. I'm fine. He took control of the Quinjet, I'm not hurt.'

Though it didn't calm him down for a second, "Where are you now? Give me your coordinates. I'll find you a safe landing site," he quickly tried to turn on any of the computers, only they stayed blank. He began to pound on one of them, hoping it would turn on like they did at home, but everything seemed to be completely dead.

'There's not gonna be a safe landing,' she told him. '... there's something on the ship with me.'

The man stop working and after a small pause asked, "What?"

'There's nukes. Many nukes,' her words caused her father to freeze. 'But I can try and force it down.'

"No!" He ran back to the intercom and frantically searched for his phone, "I'll get Tony on the line. He'll know what to do!"

'There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York,' she told him. 'I got to put her in the water.'

The speed of his breathing could rival a cheetah, "Songbird please, don't do this. We have time. We can work it out!"

'Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are gonna die,' she told him.

"Please. Please don't do this..." he begged. Steve continued to search for his phone as his only child sniffled, 'Dad, this is my choice,' she said with no more hesitation in her voice.

Steve stopped searching and looked down at the speaker. This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. He was supposed to be at her first musical today. Steve was supposed to watch her sing her heart out. He was supposed to threaten her first boyfriend, to take embarrassing prom pictures together, to watch her graduation, to see her on Broadway, to give her away on her wedding.

But then again... this wasn't the life she was supposed to have. She was supposed to have already had it years ago with her mother. The three of them should have grown up in the late forties and early fifties. They were supposed to grow up together. Not whatever hell this was.

He was supposed to watch her grow up. He wasn't supposed to lose her yet.

'Dad?'

He clenched his teeth together, keeping himself from losing it, "I'm here, my Songbird. I'm here."

'You better be at my performance tomorrow night,' she chuckled.

Steve blinked a few tears away, understanding what the girl was doing, and played along, "All right."

'Tomorrow night, at the Morgan Theatre.'

"You got it."

'8:00 on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?'

The man wiped away another tear, "Yes Ma'am."

'And you better be ready to watch me hit that note we've been working on!'

He chuckled, "Yeah, I know you will."

'We can go dancing afterwards if you'd like,' she added.

Her father smiled, "Sweetheart you know, I still don't know how to dance."

'I'll show you how. Just be there.'

"We'll have the band play something slow," he leaned forward. "So you can teach me better."

'Perfect. I'd hate for you to step on m̵̨̙̙̜̟͖̖͕͔̅̇́̄y̶̨̗͛̎̐͊̍͊͌̎͘-̶̡̨̹͖͙̦͉̺͈͑̈́̑́́̿͂̏́ͅ'

The sounds of static made the father's heart shatter. With a quivering lip the man tried to get a response, "Diana?

'...'

"Diana...?"

He sniffled as the Captain broke down, "...songbird?"

He shook his head, "No. No. Please no!"

The grieving father let everything out as he slept against the dirty computers. He threw the headphones down and slammed his hand through the screen. The man continued to scream, cursing at the gods for taking away his child.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Suddenly the man's entire world shifted as the feeling of being pulled from a nightmare occurred. The next time he opened his eyes he was no longer in the control centre, but back in the abandoned ship.

The real Diana Rogers-Stark was leaning over his body that slumped against a random sheet of metal, checking his over as he cried. She tried to calm him down and ask questions, but they all fell on deaf ears as the man looked at his daughter.

When she tried to check his temperature he gripped her wrist, pulling her close. He cried into her hair as he relieved the moment over and over and over again.

Historians would one day look back at this moment and call it the turning point in Captain Steve Rogers behaviour towards his daughter. Since at this moment in history he would promise to never let her out of his sights again.

And boy was he wrong.

•••