3rd Person's POV

Steve walks down the street of New York from his apartment to the gym. As he gets settled, he decides to work on the punching bag. After a good thirty minutes, there are already 5 broken bags laying on the ground. But he keeps working at the same one on the hook angrily. With every swing, it's like a memory he's trying to fight off and repress.

HYDRA BASE ­ DAY FLASHBACK: Captain America is running through the forest, dodging mortars, gunfire and the Tesseract's energy firearms.

"There's not enough time! I gotta put her in the water!"

Steve's rage keeps building as he punches the bag. It gets harder...

RED SKULL'S SHIP ­ DAY FLASHBACK: Steve places his compass with an image of Sammie Todd. The time is here for him to crash the plane.

Steve closes his eyes. Goes at the bag harder.

"Steve... I love you, Please come back..."

RED SKULL'S SHIP ­ DAY FLASHBACK: The RED SKULL picks up the Tessaract.

Steve opens his eyes and tears the bag as the last memory kicks in. I don't think he can physically stop...

"Oh my god!"

PROJECT P.E.G.A.S.U.S, ANTARCTICA ­ DAY FLASHBACK: A half frozen Steve Roger is lying down on a medical slab. Two SHIELD scientists run over hi-tech devices to see if his vitals are up. And it seems...

"This guy is still alive!"

Steve tears the bag open, off its chain into the wall, spilling out the sand. He stands, breathing hard, letting out 70 years of over repressed feeling. After taking a few breathers, Steve picks up another punching bag, which is laying next another dozen bags. He hooks the bag up and starts punching again. Fury walks in.

"Trouble sleeping?"

Steve glances over for a second but continues hitting the bag, "I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world."

Steve stops punching and walks over to the bench, unraveling the tape off his hands. He sits down.

"I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

Nick walks closer to Steve holding a folder, "We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently."

Steve frowns, "You here with a mission, sir?"

"I am."

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve scoffs.

"Trying to save it."

Fury hands Steve a file on the Tesseract, along with other files on HYDRA'S projects.

Steve shakes his head, "Hydra's secret weapon."

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

Steve starts to pack up his stuff, "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

Steve shakes his head, "At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."

Nick smirks, "Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment."

Steve turns and picks up a punching bag. Starts walking out of the gym.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"

Steve shakes his head as he keeps walking, "You should have left it in the ocean."

========================================================================

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

"Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?" Dylann says through an intercom.

Tony nods even though she can't see him, "I assume. Light her up."

As IRON MAN flies to the Stark tower building, the power is switched on and the Stark sign lights up.

"How does it look?" Pepper asks.

Tony smirks looking at the tower, "Like Christmas, but with more... me."

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards."

"Pepper, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Then get in here and I will." Pepper teases.

"Um ew guys I can hear too." Dylann says gagging.

Tony laughs as he arrives at his skyscraper penthouse and is in the process of taking off his Iron Man suit through a hi-tech gauntlet of gadgets.

Jarvis speaks as Tony walks, "Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line."

"I'm not in. I'm actually out."

Jarvis continues, "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Close the line Jarvis. I got a date."

Pepper and Dylann stare up at the monitors of the reactor device.

"Levels are holding steady... I think." Dylann says looking at Tony who enters the room.

"Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"

"Aw thanks big bro. It actually feels pretty amazing if I do say so myself." Dylann says with a bright smile on her face.

"I was talking to Pepper... don't you have a cartoon to watch or something." Tony teases as he sticks out his tongue at his younger sister.

"Well that was mad rude. I'll just be over here." Dylann says as she sits on the couch far away pouting.

Pepper hits Tony on the arm glaring at him, "Don't be mean."

"Oh she's fine. Back to you... answer the question Ms. Potts..."

"Well, I really wouldn't know now, would I?"

Tony frowns, "What do you mean? All this came from you."

A throat clears.

Tony smiles, "And Dylann."

"No. All this came from that." Pepper frowns as she points to the energy in his chest plate.

Again a throat clears.

Pepper laughs, "And Dylann!"

They both look over at Dylann who is smiling while drinking wine, "Oh thank you. I just love being appreciated."

They both shake their heads. Tony rolls his eyes then grabs Pepper's hand, "Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit."

Pepper's mouth goes down in shock, "Twelve percent?"

Tony shrugs, "An argument can be made for fifteen."

Pepper scoffs, "Twelve percent? For my baby?"

Dylann pipes in frowning, "Hey! What about me? How much percent do I get?"

Tony smirks, "Five."

Dylann glares as hard as she can at her stupid older brother.

Tony laughs as the two women glare at him, "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things."

Dylann shrugs as if agreeing with him.

Tony shakes his head then looks over at Pepper, "And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Oooooh."

"My private elevator..."

"You mean OUR elevator?!" Dylann yells from the couch.

Tony ignores her and continues talking, "...was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

Pepper pours herself and Tony a glass of champagne.

"Not gonna be that subtle."

"I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower." Tony tries to compromise.

"On the lease."

"...Call your mom, can you bunk over?"

Jarvis interrupts, "Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."

Agent Phil Coulson speaks over the telephone intercom, "Stark, we need to talk."

Tony picks up his phone and looks into it at Coulson, "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message."

Dylann bursts out laughing making Tony laugh also.

"This is urgent."

Tony shrugs, "Then leave it urgently."

At that moment the elevator door opens and Coulson appears.

Tony frowns. "Uhhh security breach." He looks over to Pepper, "That's on you."

"Mr. Stark."

Pepper walks over to Phil, "Phil! Come in."

Tony's head snaps to the side quickly, "Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent."

Pepper ignores her whining boyfriend and talks to the agent, "Come on in, we're celebrating."

Tony frowns, "Which is why he can't stay."

Coulson looks at Tony with a blank stare, "We need you to look this over."

He holds out a file, "Soon as possible."

Tony just stands and stares down at the file. An awkward silence passes as Dylann finally breaks it.

"He doesn't like being handed things Coulson." She laughs making Tony smile at her.

"What she said."

Pepper sighs at the two immature siblings, "That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade."

She passes her glass of champagne to Coulson and takes the file from him, then takes the champagne glass back from Tony and passes the file over to him.

"Thank you." She says smiling.

Tony frowns upset he had been duped, "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."

Coulson glares, "This isn't a consultation."

Pepper gets excited, "Is this about The Avengers?"

Coulson looks at her in confusion, "Which I...I know nothing about."

"Real smooth Pepper." Dylann laughs as she walks over to the three.

Tony glances through the file, "The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either." Pepper says drinking her champagne.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self- obsessed, don't play well with others."

"We all knew that." Dylann laughs.

Tony glares at her as Pepper and Coulson try to hold in a chuckle.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore."

"Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?"

Pepper walks over to Tony who places the files into his own databases.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment."

Pepper crosses her arms, "I was having twelve percent of a moment-"

"I was having five!"

The two look over at Dylann who frowns, "Tough crowd."

Pepper smiles shaking her head then looks serious, "This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

"How did you notice? Why is he Phil?"

"What is all of this?" She looks at the folder.

"This is, uh..."

Tony expands his arms and different profiles appear in holographic form floating in the air in front of Tony and Pepper.

"This."

Screens appear of Captain America in action, the Hulk roaring as he attacks the army at Culver University, Thor fighting the Destroyer and another is of Loki and the Tesseract, to which Stark and Pepper look on in awe.

"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

Tony pouts, "Tomorrow."

Pepper smiles, "You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?"

"If you didn't?" Pepper smirks. "You mean if you finished?"

Stark nods his head.

"Well, um... then..." She whispers something in his ear.

Tony gasps. Coulson looks away in embarrassment. Dylann sticks her tongue out in disgust.

Tony smirks as he claps his hands together, "Square deal. It's the last date."

Pepper kisses him.

"Ugh you two make me sick."

Pepper slaps Dylann's arm lightly then looks over to Tony, "Work hard."

As Pepper leaves with Agent Coulson she stops and looks back at Dylann, "Are you going with me again this time?"

Dylann glances over at Tony who grabs the Tesseract in holograph form, looking worried. She shakes her head making Pepper nod in reply. As the elevator door closes Dylann walks over to Tony.

"Are we gonna be okay?" Dylann asks as she frowns at all the images in holograph form.

Tony turns around then smiles and pulls Dylann into a hug, "We'll be fine... just fine."