Avengers: Peace in our Time

9-Everybody's Afraid of Something

Dean found sleep to be elusive that night, though he wasn't surprised. Even with Thor at his side he felt uneasy. The scepter was out in the world somewhere. Ultron was out in the world somewhere. And he knew everything there was to know about all of them. Or everything that had ever been recorded about them.

"What if he tries to hurt my family?" Dean murmured to himself as he lay on his side and looked out the window. Before Thor could say anything, Dean jumped out of bed and grabbed his cell phone. As he waited for one of his parents to pick up, Thor embraced him from behind.

"Hey mom...yes, I know what time it is. I was just worried...no, I'm okay. Really. I was just thinking about you and dad...yes...I will, promise...I'll tell him you said so...I love you."

"They're well?" Thor asked.

"Yeah. They were asleep. I think I scared them."

"Fair One, Ultron wants to destroy us in particular. I do not think your family is in danger."

"You didn't think Tony was going to misuse the scepter either," Dean retorted. He shut his eyes and sighed.

"Perhaps I should be giving you some space tonight," Thor said in a soft, somber voice.

"I'm sorry. I'm just...I'm scared. Ultron was right when he said we don't want the world to change. I don't want the world to change. I don't want to lose anyone."

"I will do whatever is within my power to make sure that doesn't happen. But we can't allow this to divide us. I am sorry and regretful that the scepter remained on Midgard. But we can't change what has been."

Dean nodded slowly and looked down as Thor continued to hold him. He turned Dean so that he was facing him and looked down into his eyes. "I know you're afraid of what will happen to all of us. Because of Samantha."

The word still stung a little when he heard it. Samantha.

"You don't want to lose anyone else because you don't want that hurt again."

Dean immediately recalled that old conflict within their relationship about mortality and opted to change the subject. "When we fix all of this we need to get away again. To the mountains, like we talked about."

Thor smiled. "Yes, I agree completely."

Dean leaned into him and began to kiss his chest. "Help me forget," he murmured against the firm skin. "Help me let go for a little while."

Thor gently began removing Dean's clothes.

The following morning, Dean ambled down from the apartment dressed in uniform. He knew that Ultron could be spotted at any moment and he wanted to be ready. Sleep had finally come after he and Thor had finished and he felt rested despite only sleeping a few hours. Anticipation fueled him. As he walked into the central hub, Maria followed and caught up with him.

"Any luck yet?" he asked.

Maria nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes. I was just coming to report it to everyone." She cleared her throat and addressed the entire team. "So we've got reports coming in from all over the globe. Various robotics labs, weapons facilities. He's even gotten into jet propulsion labs. All of the reports say multiple metal men are responsible for raiding the places of resources."

"Any deaths?" Steve asked.

"Only when people attempt to stop them," Maria explained. "There's mostly just a large amount of men complaining of nightmares and old fears paralyzing them. And something that moved so quickly they couldn't see it."

Steve shook his head. "He got to the Maximoffs."

"It makes sense," Dean said. "They have something in common."