The Avengers (Cap Story) Marvel Story Book 5

Chapter 5- Carried, Tears and War.

Steve P.O.V

I pick Joy up from the ground after the news came over the ear piece and her knees gave out. I pick her up from the floor and carry her bridal style. She buries her head into my chest as if she is trying to hide from the truth. I know how it feels, wishing everything had happened differently.

I feel her tears soak through my uniform and I look down at her. I pull her close to my body to give her comfort and to let her know that she's not alone. She wraps her arms around me and pulls me closer.

"It's going to be all right. Now don't cry." I whisper in her ears and she goes silent.

"Thank you." She croaks her voice hoarse from crying.

"You're okay. You don't have to thank me, it's something people should do. If you ever need anyone, I'm here for you." I whisper and she nods. I carry her down the hall to the bridge where Tony is. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. I sit down in a chair with Joy still in my arms.

She leans her head against my shoulder and lets out a sigh. I look down at her and she has her eyes closed. She takes deep breaths and I'm pretty sure she's trying to calm herself so she doesn't freak out. She nuzzles her head into my chest and pulls me close to her.

Bucky and Bee walk in. They notice us and smile at the sight. Bee sends me a wink and Bucky has a smirk on his face. I roll my eyes at them and they sit down across from me. Joy opens her eyes for a second and closes them when she sees Bucky and Bee. Director Fury begins talking.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Joy opens her eyes to see Captain America cards tosses onto the table. They have specks of blood on them and if reminds me of the jay when he asked me to sign them and then Joy jumped on his back. They acted like a family. "Guess he never did get you to sign them. We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, locations of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye, maybe I had that coming. We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier." He walks around the room and I look at Joy. Here face has tears streaming down it as she leans back against my shoulder.

"There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." The Director says. Tony stands up out of his chair and walks out of the room.

Joy and I sit there for a while and the Director doesn't speak. I look over at Bucky and Bee and they look downtrodden and sad. I am down too. He was one of the best men to work with, he had heart. I look straight ahead thinking of the times. Joy moves in my arms and stands up. I stand up after her and walk out of the room. I go off and look for Tony.

I hear footsteps behind me, I look back to see Joy following me and I slow down for her to catch up to me. We walk together in a comfortable silence. I walk down to the lab and then to Loki's cell with Joy at my side. We walk in and I see Tony standing at one of the platforms. I walk up and lean against the wall and Joy leans against me.

"Was he married?" I ask out of nowhere.

"No." Tony says.

"There was a cellist, I think." Joy says next to me.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." I say and I feel Joy let out a sigh.

"He was an idiot." Tony says and I notice Joy tense almost immediately.