Crossroads

Chapter 3

As the small Stark Industries jet set down on the landing pad on the redesigned tower roof, Thor, Jane and Darcy stepped out of the elevator to meet their friends. When the door opened on the jet they were surprised at the sight of a wheelchair bound Tony Stark being pushed down the ramp by Pepper Potts being followed by a slightly stiff moving Steve Rogers, a yawning Bruce Banner and an unknown black man.

Thor quickly stepped forward asking "My friends, what injuries have befallen you? Are there enemies to watch for?" He was mere moments from summoning his armor and hammer ready to protect his friends and lady.

"There are no enemies at the moment, so you can relax for the time being. Its actually a long story that I would prefer to tell somewhere a little more comfortable then the roof." replied Steve as he walked toward Thor and the women.

"I second that. I also would like to do that where I can have some coffee at the same time." said Tony as he wheeled by toward the elevator.

"Well there is a fresh pot in the common floor kitchen. Also a huge spread of food that J.A.R.V.I.S. had delivered just before we came up here." supplied Darcy as they all headed into the elevator.

"I knew there was a reason I created you, J." Tony said thinking of the glorious coffee waiting downstairs.

"It is always a pleasure to be appreciated, Sir" replied the AI as he took them to the common area floor.

When the elevator stopped the group all headed toward the kitchen area and started seating themselves around the large dining room table.

"So who wants to go first? We can fill each other in as we eat. Because it looks like we all have a story to tell." said Pepper automatically falling into meeting mode to smooth the flow of info between everyone in the most efficient way possible.

"I'll go first while everyone else eats, if that's OK?" Tony volunteered as he nursed a large mug of black coffee. Everyone nodded as they dug into the food while Tony started telling them at about the Mandarin, the destruction of his Malibu house, Pepper's poisoning by Extremis, destroying his suits and the removal of his arc reactor. Next Thor and Jane supplied their story of Jane's accidental finding of the Aether, Thor rushing her to Asgard to help her, the dark elves attack leading to Thor's mother Frigga's death, breaking Loki out of the dungeons with promise of revenge to lure the dark elves to Svartalfheim to destroy their leader, the plan backfiring, Loki's death while saving Thor, them returning to Earth where through Thor's strength and Jane's science they were able to defeat the dark elves. Finally Steve introduced them to Sam Wilson and filled them on the events that lead to the two of them and Black Widow to taking down SHIELD. From when he learned about Project Insight, discovering that HYDRA has been within SHIELD since its start, Fury's death by the Winter Soldier, Steve's recognizing the Winter Soldier as Bucky, to confronting Alexander Pierce and the destruction of the three Helicarriers that lead to Steve's fall into the Potomac.

As everyone sat there absorbing what each of them had been through, Darcy broke the tension by stating "Holy ever living Shit! Your lives are fucking awesome! I hope I get to see a little bit of it before Jane drags us off to another remote corner of the planet."

They all laughed at the outspoken brunette's statement. "Actually I was going to see if Jane wanted to set up shop for Stark Industries here in New York, right here in the tower. I have a feeling that we're going to be needed as the Avengers with SHIELD gone to take care of trouble that pops up. For that we're going to need Point Break over there around and I think he'd be more likely to hang around if you guys are here. What do you say doc? Ready to sell your soul and go private sector with all the funding to do whatever you want?" responded Tony.