Love Me (Steve Rogers Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

AMERICA'S POV

Time seems to stop altogether as I stare at him. I make no move, and neither does he. We just stare, perfectly still. I can't believe it. The little boy in my dreams, my flashbacks - I'm sure this is him. The enhanced. Maybe twenty years old. Better than me, faster than me. The one I've spent months trying to track down. Here. Now.

"Valeria," he repeats, taking a step forward. I take one step back, and he stops. "Is that really you?"

"You're enhanced," I mumble. That adds a new complexity to my situation.

"So are you."

"America? We need to evacuate. Get back to the jet. Where are you?" Instead of responding to Nat like I should, I rip the earpiece out and stomp it into the snow-covered ground. There. Whatever happens next, no one needs to know about it. He watches me do this with confusion in his constantly-shifting eyes.

"We thought you were dead," he says quietly, ducking his head. "It's been so long."

"Who are you?" I whisper, terrified to hear his answer. Terrified to be right.

"Val, it's me. Pietro. Your brother." My brother. Pietro Maximoff. I don't say anything to this, just mull it over in my mind.

"You thought I was dead?" My tone is hushed, harried as he pulls me behind a tree to talk. Our conversation doesn't feel safe. The frigid winds whips around us, covering any words we share.

He nods. "You were taken years ago by terrorists, and you never came back. We assumed the worst."

"My memories were tampered with. I don't have them all," I tell him. I don't have time to explain it all. "You're really my brother?" The fact that I'm even talking to him like this feels dangerous, but I need to know. I don't have much time until the team finds me, and I might never see him again.

"Don't you remember?" Pietro whispers in Russian, in my native tongue. Just hearing the dialect of my village brings back memories. It sounds familiar, like home.

Slowly, I nod. "I think I do."

"You're an Avenger. Come back with me. Whatever's happened to you, I am sorry. We can be a family again."

Saying no to my newfound younger brother is harder than I thought it would be. I wrap my arms around him, and he does the same thing. It feels so familiar yet so foreign. Then I do the same thing I always do when I'm uncertain. Ignoring the hurt betrayal in his blue eyes, I run.

------

"Hey, you need anything?" Steve asks me quietly a little while after we've taken off. I shake my head, refusing to look up. Too much is racing through my head. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's nothing, Steve. Don't worry." He knows me well enough to recognize my lie, but chooses not to argue. I give him a brief smile and go to stand by Thor, who is too busy conversing with Natasha and Bruce to notice me. And I'm completely fine with that.

"Thor, report on the Hulk?" She asks.

He grins widely. "Screams!" He announces, pounding his fist triumphantly in the air. Bruce immediately puts his head in his hands, groaning. Under Nat's stern glare, Thor backtracks and tries to fix the situation. "Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course. No no, uh...wounded screams, mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and, and uh... and gout."

Tony saunters in from the cockpit. "Hey Banner, Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul, is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"

"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around."

My eyes fall on the scepter, and I approach it warily. Something similar to this stupid stick changed my cells. Mutated them. Created the Night Wind. It's the reason I still go mainly by America. Because even though that's not my given name, Valeria was the one who was taken. She was the one who murdered and stole. America was the one who escaped and started a new life for herself. The soft blue glow reflects on my skin as I run my chilled fingers down the scepter's golden edges, careful not to actually touch the gem itself. I know the power it yields.

"It feels good, yeah?" Tony points to the scepter. "I mean, we've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but-"

"No, but this... this brings it to a close," Thor finishes, nodding.

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for," Steve points out. "I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?" The three of them turn to me, embarrassed expressions on their faces. I roll my eyes. "My bad, sorry."

"Banner and I'll give it the once before it goes back to Asgard. America, assuming you read the books I gave you a few weeks ago, you can help us out. Is that cool with you?" Tony asks Thor, which I find weird. He never asks for permission to do anything. Thor and I both nod. "I mean, just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels." A slight smirk finds its way onto my face, but my hair covers it.

"Yeah. Who doesn't love revels." Tony claps his hands together. "Captain?"

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA, so. Yes, revels."

I find a spot next to Bruce and sit in silence until we land. Natasha and Bruce immediately take Clint to the lab, while I hang back with Tony and Steve. Maria Hill greets us, tablet in hand.

"Lab's all set up, boss," she informs Tony, who shrugs.

"Uh, actually, he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler." After passing the responsibility from himself to Steve, he smirks and nods at me. "America, want to come play with Loki's magic wand for a while?"

"Sure." I hop out of my chair, grateful for an escape. Soon the team will be informed of who the enhanced really are, and I don't want to be there when it happens.

New book! Yay! Make sure to check out the bonus scene I included in the first book!