Choices || CAPTAIN AMERICA (Book 3)

Chapter 6

The sounds of battle had now faded away, replaced by an eerie stillness. I blinked, disoriented, and found myself standing in the middle of a grand, silent chamber. It was familiar, painfully familiar—the Stark family mansion, a place that should've been filled with warmth and memories of my childhood, but it felt cold now, empty.I took a step forward, my footsteps echoing off the marble floor. Everything was too quiet. The house was perfectly preserved, as if frozen in time, but there was no sign of life. No sound of laughter, no voices—nothing but the heavy silence.

As I moved deeper into the mansion, I noticed the portraits on the walls, the ones I had always seen growing up. But the faces in them had changed. There was Tony, staring out at me with eyes that looked hollow, drained of the vibrance that always defined him. He wasn't smiling. Then there was Steve, his expression distant, cold, as if the man I knew—the one who fought for what was right—had been replaced by someone else. Thor, Clint, Natasha—all of them were there, but their faces were unfamiliar, devoid of any warmth or recognition. They were statues, cold and uncaring.

I walked further, my breath catching in my throat. The room stretched before me, its walls lined with glass cases, each one housing objects I recognized all too well. Steve's shield, shattered into pieces. Tony's helmet, burnt and cracked. Thor's hammer, broken and rusted. These weren't just relics—they were symbols of failure, reminders of everything we had fought for, now destroyed.I tried to reach out, to touch one of the broken objects, but my hand stopped short. A barrier separated me from them, an invisible wall that kept me apart. I pressed my palms against it, trying to push through, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get closer.

Suddenly, a voice echoed from behind me. "You don't belong here."I spun around, and there, standing in the middle of the room, was my father. Howard Stark. His face was stern, eyes filled with disappointment. He was dressed as he always had been—sharp, composed, the picture of a man in control. But there was no warmth in his gaze, no pride in his daughter.

"Dad?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "What is this?"He didn't respond, just stared at me, his expression hardening.

"You've always tried to live up to the Stark name. But this?" He gestured to the shattered remnants of my friends' legacies around us. "This is what you've done. You've failed."His words hit me like a blow.

I shook my head, stepping back. "No, I didn't... I've been fighting to protect them. To save everyone."

"You've always been too emotional," he continued, his voice cold, cutting. "Too reckless. You thought you could control the elements, control power, but all you've done is bring destruction. Look around you, Alice. Look at what your actions have caused."I glanced around the room again. The broken pieces of Steve's shield, the damaged remnants of Tony's suit... the weight of my father's words sank in, a heavy, suffocating feeling of guilt. I had tried to protect them, to stand by their side, but now all I could see was failure. Their trust, their faith in me—it was gone, shattered like the relics in the cases.

"You were never meant to be one of them," Howard continued, his voice growing harsher. "They're heroes. Legends. And you? You're just... lost."The ground beneath me shifted, the floor cracking and splitting apart. I staggered, trying to regain my balance, but the mansion was crumbling around me. The walls collapsed, the ceiling caved in, and the objects in the cases shattered into dust.

"No!" I screamed, but it was too late. The ground gave way, and I fell, tumbling into a dark abyss. As I fell, I heard another voice, softer this time. "Alice..."It was Steve. But his voice wasn't filled with warmth or care. It was distant, resigned. "You're not like us. You never were."I tried to call out to him, tried to reach for something to hold onto, but there was nothing but darkness. I was falling, deeper and deeper, the weight of their disappointment crushing me.