Too Little Too Late

Sam Wilson

They were all sat at the back of the jet in different levels of excitement. Home. They were finally going home. It only took a year. It had felt like an eternity. People out there finally saw what was right, the Captain said. His team had followed him no question asked because they knew that it was the right thing to do. Steve had said that everything would work out for them in the end. It kinda did. Thanks to Wakanda. T'Challa really did a lot of work with the U.N. and the accords. It was not ideal of course. But what was? The restrictions were lessen. Thaddeus Ross was not in the panel anymore. The General was actually in jail now. Wasn't that ironic? Everything was as good as it could be. So why was he so uncomfortable right now? Why was he the only one to feel like that? Wanda and Clint were talking about Stark. Again. That was all they did while in Wakanda. Stark did this, Stark was responsible there. Money could buy everything and he had plenty of it. Even as the billionaire disappeared, they considered him the evil who was in the centre of everything bad happening all around the world. Even the natural catastrophes were without a doubt Stark's meddling in things he should not have touched. Just like he did with Ultron. The archer was gloating now about their victory against the futurist.

                "He didn't see that one coming right?" he told Wanda laughing.

Wanda was giggling like a little girl. But she was not a child. Even if Steve kept saying otherwise, the woman was twenty-six years old. She could never let go of her rage toward Tony Stark. She still blamed him for her parents and little brother deaths. That wasn't even logical. Sam had tried once to have a conversation with her about that. He had been a social worker before, helping veterans with PTSD, maybe he could have helped. When the red mist started to overflow, he realised that it was a lost cause. Natasha was smiling at the bad joke. If felt wrong somehow. She had signed the accords at first only to switch side halfway. Not that Sam had any love for Tony. Just that he did not have that much hatred either. Loyalty was important to him. A normal conversation with somebody outside the team that was what they all needed. A breather. They had been too close too long. Cooked up in Wakanda. Steve was always ready to point out that they were a family and that as family they had to stick together. After being stuck together for a year, a little vacation far away from each other's would do them wonders.

Steve was talking to Bucky about New York, about going back to the places from before. Before the war and the serum. Before the train and the fall. The Captain loved to talk about their past with Bucky. Really, Steve was doing the talking. He was explaining about the compound and how they would be "avenging" together, especially now that Tony would not be in their way. Barnes was not convinced at all and it seemed that he was barely listening anyway. He kept his eyes on Lang's sleeping form, just humming here and there when it was appropriate. Not that Steve did really care, so engrossed in his idyllic future. Barnes hadn't tell a word since Siberia. Shuri and the scientists from Wakanda said they managed to remove the trigger words from his mind. Sam didn't know him before the Winter Soldier so he couldn't compare. Still the guy was too quiet for his liking.

                The outlook did not look so good to Sam. Stark missing was not a good omen for them. No rainbows and butterflies. They were forgetting everything that Tony provided them. His team acted like they did not know or worse didn't care. If he was to be honest with himself, that scared him. They had been pardoned, meaning released from the legal consequences of what they have done. That didn't mean that the world thought they had been right in the first place. Steve refused to see or understand the distinction. Their problems wouldn't magically go away because Tony Stark was nowhere to be found. The Avengers had been called back because they were the only one left in case in an emergency bigger than what a country could handle. And if the U.N. would keep an eye on them, that was just a nice bonus. Vision was with them now. Thor was back in Asgard. Bruce had disappeared just after Ultron. Rhodey was... well... honourably discharged due to his injuries sustained during battle. Sam couldn't help the rush of guilt going through him just thinking about that fight. He never meant to hurt anyone. He forced his train of thoughts to go somewhere else.