Glorious Purpose

A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07

—

October 1962-

CIA Holding facility, Langley:

Emma Grace Frost had had a harsh life. A privileged one, but harsh just the same. The third of four children, Emma was born to a rich white couple, and that alone had given her opportunities that most others don't have.

On the other hand, her father was an abusive bastard that expected far too much from his children, which caused her older brother to turn to drug abuse, which eventually led to him dying in a mental institution, which their father had put him in for liking men. 

While she didn't agree with his choices, no one deserves to be treated as such by their own parents.

And her mother was worse, she embraced the rich lifestyle by getting addicted to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, bus boys, and a lot of other things. Not that her husband knew about the last, of course. Emma only knew of it because of the then newly developing telepathy. 

Last Emma had heard, she was still alive, and still doing all this.

As for her sisters, the eldest Adrienne became the Heir to her father's business empire, while the youngest, Cordelia, had become somewhat of a rebel the last they had met.

Emma had run away then, when her father had tried to make her run the company, and worked a few odd jobs, stealing money whenever necessary.

And then, after a lot of struggles in the streets, she found herself being the mistress to a Crime Boss. He used her Telepathy to his advantage- used her to his advantage. He abused her, both physically and mentally. And Emma couldn't do anything, not without losing what little comfort she had gotten, being with him.

And then Sebastian Shaw showed up, he rescued her from the Crime Boss's clutches, and inducted her into the Hellfire Club.

He used her too, she could tell. But this time, he was open with it from the start. She used her Telepathy against anyone he directs her to, and she got to live an abuse-free life lavishly. 

She still enjoyed being a stripper in the Hellfire club, but that was her own preference.

Did she know that Shaw wasn't a good man? Yes, she knew and she didn't care. She wasn't pure either, despite her inclination towards the colour white.

But never in her life did she even suspect that he was a Nazi. An actual, jew hating, Aryan Supremacist, Nazi.

It was a shock for her when the CIA revealed that to her, while she was being convinced to share Shaw's knowledge with them.

But in hindsight, the clues were there. 

The first clear clue she had gotten was when she first met Erik Lehnsherr on that boat. His memories told her that Erik was traumatized by the man as a child. She saw him standing in front of Erik, killing his mother in cold blood just so Erik could awaken his mutation fully.

But then Shaw stopped her from harming Erik more through her Telepathy, and spoke with him. In German. That should have been another clue, but not a very good one.

She had been in Shaw's mind a few times. She knew he was older than he looked, at least by 50 years. But she had never seen anything in his mind that even hinted at his Nazi past. Most likely, the man had kept it that way, so he could still manipulate her.

And so it was that Emma agreed to give all the knowledge she had on Shaw, and on his associates. Namely herself, Azazel, Riptide, and the newest recruit, Angel.

Emma was a criminal, but she was an American criminal.

And here she sat, or slept, waiting for her fate to be decided upon by the American Government. 

Suddenly, the prison cell she is in shakes, as a loud boom sounds out somewhere in the building. Emma sits up, trying to send her Telepathy out of the cell, but like it had happened before, it fails. 

This cell was designed especially for her, using the same metal that the Russians had used to make Shaw's helmet. The walls were also thick enough that even with her diamond form it would take her hours to get out if she wanted to. By which time they would have already subdued her once again.

The cell shakes once more, without a boom following it, only this time a lot closer than before. She turns towards the Cell door, to find it moving still. Slowly, the movements quicken, and then, like a bandaid, the door is ripped off its hinges, pulled outward.

Emma stands up, and seeing the man who captured her, and tried to kill her, walk in, she instinctively turns into her diamond for. She sees the helmet on Erik Lehnsherr's head, and her former compatriots, Riptide, Azazel, and Angel standing behind him, joined by a blue mutant that she didn't remember seeing before, and she realizes that it had happened.

Sebastian Shaw was dead.

"I know we've had our differences." Erik says, as he starts walking in, as the odd new clothes catch her eyes. 

"Where's your telepath friend?" Emma asks, staring at Erik warily.

While she was in her diamond form she couldn't be hurt by many things. But Erik could control metals, and right now, her entire room was made out of metal.

"Gone." Erik calmly says with a soft smile. "Left a bit of a gap in my life, to be honest. I was rather hoping you would fill it."

Corny, but Emma had heard such drivel all her life.

"Join us." Erik says, turning his head towards the four other people, who had remained outside the cell.

Emma thinks of her choices. Either stay here and be killed for her crimes, or made use of as a telepath by the completely mundane CIA, or.. go with her fellow mutants where she at least won't be a slave.

Slowly turning her diamond form off, she says, "Erik, I believe."

Erik smiles, and says, "I prefer… Magneto!"

And then.. reality shatters, making her jump in fright. Wherever she turns her head, she sees reality itself crack like glass, that then turns to dust, leaving her surrounded by a void of pure black. A panicked Emma turned around, but no matter where she looked, there was only black.

She couldn't even feel the ground underneath her feet, as if she was floating in this black void.

For a second, Emma tries to expand her telepathy, hoping to find some thought at least, but then, suddenly she finds herself dropping down. It was as if she had been floating high up into the air, and suddenly gravity claimed her, pulling her back to the ground.

Emma sees a white ball of light speeding towards her falling body, and as soon as it hits her, she finds herself standing somewhere else. Somewhere not her cell.

The place was either a hospital, or a lab, or both. She couldn't tell, not really. There were a few doctors working on a patient, which might tell her that it was a hospital, but there was also another set of lab coat wearing scientists in another corner, looking through the microscopes, or working with chemicals in one case.

"How is it?" She hears a voice, making her turn around. 

A short man, barely as tall as her legs, walks towards her, not even looking at her, and Emma moves a step backwards, letting him pass. 

One of the doctors turns towards the short man, nodding, and says, "The subject is losing life, Sir. We won't be able to save her, which is why I'm having as many of her live organs saved as possible. Who knows what her death could do to her organs?"

The short man nods, and much to Emma's horror, he says, "Don't forget her eggs. We might be able to use them later on."

And then, as Emma stands frozen in her spot, somehow realizing that they couldn't see her, that she might not actually be there, the short man leaves towards another bed, with another patient. She keeps staring at the bed the doctors were operating on, and suddenly, the doctor that was blocking the view of the patient's face leans away to keep the liver he had just extracted into some liquid.

"GAH!" Emma yells, taking a few steps back, as she sees her own face on the patient.

Emma hyperventilates, not knowing what's happening. She sits down, not seeing her body pass through the table, and just closes her eyes, hoping that this is a dream.

And then, she opens her eyes, back on her bed in her prison cell. The door to the cell was restored, with no signs of it having been pulled out before.

Reality was restored.

Emma gets up, looks around, and after a few seconds, lets out a breath. No one was around her, that was just a dream.

"It was just a dream." She whispers, reassuring herself.

Her hands were shaking, and she could feel sweat covering her arms and her head.

"It wasn't a dream, not really." Someone suddenly says, making her jump back once more.

Emma turns back into her Diamond form, as she takes a step back. The back of her knees hit the metal bed she had occupied just a minute ago, and Emma drops down, sitting on her bed. In front of her, Emma could see a woman sitting calmly on a chair that didn't exist before.

Dark black hair, fair skin, blue eyes, even Emma, a straight woman as far as she knows, could tell that this 50-55 year old woman was attractive as hell despite her age. But something within her, her own telepathy mayhaps, could tell that the woman was dangerous.

"Who are you?" Emma asks, preparing to jump the woman to physically subdue her.

The old woman smiles, and says, "My name is Cassiopeia Black, Miss Frost. And I come here with a proposition."

She was British, Emma now notices.

"What kind?" Emma asks, getting into her old business mode without turning her diamond form off. As an afterthought, she asks, "How did you get here?"

The woman, Cassiopeia Black smiles and asks, "You can shapeshift your skin into diamond, and you can enter the minds of the weak. Don't tell me, Ms Frost, that you find it hard to believe that there are those that can infiltrate into a secret Government prison cell without them knowing?"

Emma nods, accepting that sure, it's possible. Azazel could do it too, so she might just be a teleporter.

Smiling in amusement, Black asks, "How was it, then? Your peek into a possible future?"

"That was the future?!" Emma asks, standing up with a start.

Black shakes her head, and says, "That was A future. One of the infinite possible ones out there."

"What does that mean?" Emma asks, as she starts pacing around.

Black waves her hand, and suddenly, Emma finds herself seated on her bed once again. The older woman glares at her, and says, "Please be calm, Ms Frost. I am here to help you, but not if you keep panicking. You have a Mind superior to almost 70% of the Minds on this planet, use it to control yourself."

Right. She's right, Emma thinks.

Taking a few deep breaths, Emma calms herself, and nods, listening as Cassiopeia Black tells her a tale. A tale of a life not possible anymore.

A future, one of the infinite possibilities out there in which Cassiopeia Black never came to Emma Frost. Emma learns what had been in store for her. How Erik Lehnsherr, or Magneto, would recruit her in his Brotherhood of Mutants, so mutants could take over the world, he would say.

She learns how the Emma Frost from the Hospital bed followed Magneto around, saving other mutants, recruiting children in his army, until one day, they got lured into a trap. The United States of America, her country, would have not just caught her, but handed her off to a mad scientist to be experimented on.

So they could replicate her mutation, and that of many others like her.

Something she had never even wondered over was thought of by the Scientists. They cut her up, using a device to suppress her mutations, and when she finally began giving up, began dying, they took her eggs out of her dying body.

"They would have succeeded, you know." Black says, as Emma recoils in horror. "You would have had two daughters, or clones I should say. Both with the same powers as yours. One they would have raised in captivity, as a perfect soldier and spy for their own use. The other they would have given up for adoption, so they could see how different the two behave. How different their Powers scale, compared to each other, and to you."

Emma didn't know what to think. That she would join a terrorist organisation, she could believe. She had her own reasons to go against the mundane, to advocate for mutant rights, and mutant superiority. To fight against the discrimination faced by them at the hands of the common man.

She had done so for Sebastian Shaw too, so it wasn't like it was out of character for her.

But then, the Government itself would capture her? Experiment on her? Kill her through cruelty reminiscent of the Nazis and the Hydra? 

How would the American Government still call themselves the good guys when they do the same thing to her, that Hydra did to the first British Superhero? Only judging by what she had seen, the Americans did it worse.

Wiping the tears in her eyes, Emma looks at the woman in front of her with a stony face, and asks, "What do you want from me?"

Because that's what it came down to. This Cassiopeia Black came to her not to save her, but because she wanted something from her. Why save someone fated to die, and then tell them that she was saved only because of her good will? Because she wanted something, that's why.

And it wasn't like she could even use her Telepathy on the woman, her diamond form- which was what had allowed her the sense of security in front of this strange mutant- was stopping her Telepathy from going further than her own mind. It was a limitation she was always troubled by.

The woman grins, and says, "I want you to work for me, of course, in the Mission Intelligence Services. It is a British Government organization, that is completely autonomous, by the way, that works on safeguarding our.. not so normal population."

"Mutants? There's a government organization that actually protects mutants? Why do I find that hard to believe?" Emma says, scoffing. Even before seeing this vision of the future, Emma knew that the Government was not on their side.

They might not have known about Mutants in large, but she knows how Government stooges think. Anything more than ordinary and they will try to lord their superiority over it. The Black folks could certainly vouch for that, and so would others like her brother. Homosexuals.

Cassiopeia just chuckles, and says, "You don't have to believe me, Ms Frost, but it is the truth. The MIS first used to be like any Government organization, that would rather kill anything abnormal than allow them rights." Emma snorts. "They even enslaved some of the abnormal ones into their organization, forced them to work for them, forced them to betray their own kind. Sure, the pay was good, but it wasn't about money for us. It was about the principle of things. No one likes being enslaved."

"But then, in 1945, a person with powers liberated the organization, replaced the leaders with his own people. Made me the Leader of our Organization. And then, he went on to change the memories of everyone that knew about the organization to reflect that it was always like that. Made them believe that the MIS was always geared towards protecting and regulating the people with powers. Since then, I've hired more and more of the people with powers, who all have one goal. Making sure the British Government doesn't sanction any actions against the Powered people without just cause." 

At every word, Emma's eyebrows keep rising, the fact that an organization such as this existed is not surprising to her in the least. That someone not only took over it, but replaced the memories of people going as high up in the chain of command as the Royal Family to reflect his deeds was what surprised her the most.

But one thing catches her attention, and she says, "You keep saying that. People with powers, abnormal ones, you don't say mutants. Why is that?"

Grinning, Cassiopeia asks, "Did you really think you mutants were the only ones with Powers the normal man didn't have, Ms Frost?"

And then she learns of others like her, other people with powers that aren't mutations. Mages, Witches, Sorcerers, Changelings. And all of them were different from the normal man, and so, in danger from them.

It doesn't take Emma long to make her decision, and she says, "I would like to get out of here, I will read through any documents you give me to sign, and then I'll work for you if all is agreeable. If not, I will be fighting my way out as brutally as possible."

It was an empty threat, they both knew, since Black had shown capable of coming here without her even knowing, and showed her things she didn't detect as lies or illusions with her mind. But stil, Emma Frost would be damned if she just went with her, agreeing to all demands.

"Please, Ms Frost. I would be disappointed if you just signed any documents without reading them carefully. It would mean that you aren't the person I thought you to be. Now, let's get to your new home, shall we."

And then, before Emma knows what's happened, Black takes her diamond covered hand in her own, and the two women disappear from the prison cell, a Portkey taking them from America to England within just a few seconds.

—

Time Skip: May 3rd, 2012:

Stuttgart, Germany:

"I said.. KNEEEEL!!" A tall man yells, as multiple duplicates of his form surround a crowd of panicking people.

Loki Odinson, or as he would say right now, Laufeyson. The runt of Frost Giants, taken by the King of Asgard into his own home, raised as his own son. And now, here he stood, a powerful weapon in hand, staring gleefully at the fearful populace that was slowly starting to drop down.

He could feel their fear, feel how terrified they were of him, after having seen him not just kill a man in cold blood, but take out a Police car too, with barely a flick of his Scepter. 

Loki walks forward, entering the crowd, and smiles when he feels the people tremble whenever he passes them. None dared to look up, none dared to even try to subdue him. 

"Is this not simpler?" He asks, circling around himself with his arms spread. His gold, green and black armour shone with the light of his magic, making him look a bit ethereal, adding on to their fear. "Is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The Bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for Power. Identity."

Loki enjoys it, enjoys being someone they are afraid of. And why should he not? When it is his rightful place, his glorious purpose, to rule the World.

But then, he sees something that surprises him. Not shocks, the God of Mischief is never shocked, but it was an odd sight, and it did make Loki stop in his marvelous speech.

A woman. A simple woman, wearing an expensive dress, was sitting on top of a car just a few dozen steps away from him, which also looked expensive to Loki, although he doesn't know about that topic too much, calmly sipping the wine from her glass, as she watched the spectacle without a single worry.

"Are you not afraid of me, mortal? Will you not kneel?" Loki asks, pointing his Scepter at the woman, the blue gem glowing threateningly.

The woman takes another sip, and raising an eyebrow, she says, "People far more dangerous than you have tried to make me kneel, darling. But go on, carry on with whatever you're doing. Don't mind me, I'm just waiting for a friend."

Loki steps forward, the people shifting around at his feet to make way for him, and he asks, "Is that bravery I hear, or stupidity? Or did you just not hear me? I told you.. to kneel."

The woman scowls, and still sitting calmly, completely unbothered by the approaching God, she says, "No thanks. Kneeling is not really my style. Don't want to mess this dress up, you understand, being a fellow connoisseur of fine clothes."

Loki smiles, hearing the insult in her words. He raises his Scepter, and says, "Arrogance does not suit your weak mortal self, woman. In the end, you will kneel, or you will be an example."

A ruffle of clothes sounds behind him, making Loki turn his head, and he sees an old man stand up, with his head raised high. The old man looks at Loki, and although Loki notices some fear, the man says, "If a young girl can do it, I can too. We won't kneel. Not to men like you."

Loki turns around, his back now to the woman, and says, "There are no men like me."

He is unique, he is a God, a being that has lived more than almost everyone here combined. And even amongst Gods, he is the sole Jotnar. 

"There are always men like you." The old man counters, his fear decreasing every moment. 

And Loki could see that it was working, not just on the old man, but also on the others around him. The mortals were standing up to him.

As he sees a third mortal make the decision to stand up to him, Loki raises his Scepter at the old man, and says, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."

And then, focusing barely a moment, Loki shoots out a blast of Cosmic Energy from the Scepter. The blast shoots towards the old man, who widens his eyes but stays frozen in place, unable to do anything.

But right before it can hit the man, someone else drops down in the way, using his red and blue Shield to defend the old man. The blast hits the shield, and reflects off of it, shooting straight at Loki. The God has barely enough time to raise his own hand in defense, before the blast sends him sprawling backwards.

His fall pushes many people out of the way, and seeing him fall down, they start running away, not one of them trying to help their Savior take down the God, even by overwhelming him.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing everyone else, we ended up disagreeing." A voice familiar to him says.

Loki gets off the ground, and smiles internally, seeing the icon from the mortal past show up. "The Soldier. The man out of time." Loki says, chuckling to taunt the man he now knew so much about.

And how could he not. His new servant, Clint Barton, had given him all the information on the so-called Heroes of this world. The people that the mortals would call to defeat him. And this was one of them, Steven Grant Rogers. Or as the mortals know him, Captain America.

"I'm not the one out of time." Rogers says, and it is then that Loki sees the Jet hovering over them.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." A feminine voice from the Jet speaker calls out that Loki recognises as belonging to the Spy, as a single large gun extends out, below the jet, to point at him.

But Loki knew she wouldn't shoot, not yet. There were still dozens of people around Loki that could get harmed if she shot her guns now.

So Loki lifts his scepter and without a warning, shoots another blast at the jet. The spy is fast, however, and manages to dodge the blast in time. His distraction also costs him when the Shield belonging to Captain America hits him on the chest with a force not suitable to mortals, sending him backwards.

As the shield returns to an approaching Rogers's hand, Loki looks down and takes a punch straight to his face. Unfortunately for Rogers, while he is strong for a mortal, he is still just that. A mortal. The punch just makes Loki turn his head to the side, hurting but not that much, and Loki smirks.

—

Seeing his punch have no actual effect whatsoever, Steve is momentarily surprised. 

Sure, they told him that Loki was strong, they showed him how Loki could ignore the bullets hitting his skin as if they were flies, but he didn't expect the strength difference to be this much.

But he was still not surprised enough that he didn't see the next attack coming. Steve raises his shield, blocking the scepter from hitting his head, and lifts his right hand to punch Loki once again.

This time, however, Loki is faster than him and manages to swipe his shield away with the Scepter, creating sparks, which cause Steve to not see the next hit coming. The blunt end of the scepter hits Steve in the stomach, throwing him backwards.

He stands up and immediately throws the Shield to Loki, but Loki just uses his Scepter to slap the shield to a side, leaving Steve weaponless, and defenseless. Steve, however, is anything but useless when it comes to fighting without his shield, and approaches Loki to fight hand to hand.

Despite his weaker strength, and the lack of weapons in his hands, Steve gives a few good punches in the next few seconds, but a single overextend by Steve is seen by Loki, and taken advantage of. Loki hits Steve on his back, with his Scepter, the force of which throws Steve forward, towards the stairs.

As he starts to stand up, Steve feels Loki's scepter pointed at his head, although weirdly enough, it was the blunt end, as Loki calmly orders, "Kneel."

Steve takes a few breaths, feeling as if he had Asthma once again, tired from fighting such a superior enemy for the first time. Even Red Skull and Mason weren't so far above him, he knew. But Loki, God or no, he could tell that Loki was stronger than all of them.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the Vibranium shield of his(which had remained discarded when Loki had slapped it away) hits the stairs behind Steve, and bounces off of it, hitting Loki right on his face. 

A surprised Steve brings his head up as Loki is thrown backwards, and hears, "Bloody hell, Steve. You lost your touch after coming back to life, didn't ya?"

Before he even knows it, Steve is smiling, and turning towards the voice, he says, "The enemy is just too strong this time, Captain."

"That's never stopped you from picking fights though, did it?" The man says, smiling in amusement.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Loki asks, now once again standing, as he stares at the newcomer.

There was a man standing to a side, to Steve's left, wearing an expensive three piece suit, complete with a bow tie, and a wine glass in hand. Despite it, however, Steve had no doubts that it was this man that just threw that shield.

The man raises his finger, in a universal signal to say 'Wait just a minute' and putting the wine glass to his lips, downs it completely.

"Gah! That was not worth the price at all." He says, throwing the glass to the side. As he starts loosening his bowtie, and takes the expensive blazer off, the man says, "As for who I am. The name's Mason Lucas Aves. Or as Steve over there called me. Captain Avalon."

Mason Aves. Captain Avalon. His old friend. He looked just as young as the day they had last seen one another, almost 70 years ago, although this man did look a bit on the thinner side. But Steve had no doubts at all that this was him. 

If he, an American experiment, can survive for 66 years in ice, why can't the Hydra experiment named Mason survive? Although it probably didn't happen the same. But Steve was just glad to see one familiar face in this unfamiliar time.

Seeing movement from the corner of his eyes, Steve turns his head to see a gorgeous woman drop down from the bonnet of a car. 

'Was she always there?' he asks himself, wondering why a sane person would even stay when such a fight was happening.

She approaches Mason, much to his surprise, and hugs him. Mason, further to Steve's surprise, hugs the woman back.

"Where were you? You missed all the excitement, you know." The woman says, as the two separate.

Still with his eyes on Loki, Mason says, "It always happens. I go to the loo for two minutes and that's when something like this happens."

'Yep, that's Mason.' Steve thinks, seeing the annoyed look on his face.

Mason then gently pushes the woman back, and says, "Now, if you don't mind, Candra, Steve's fighting an enemy, and I want to help him. So go ahead, and go on without me. I'll meet you whenever we're done with this moron."

Loki makes a face, as he had remained watching, for some reason letting the two talk, as the woman, Candra, walks back to her car after laying a short kiss on Mason's cheek, and drives off.

Loki sees it all happen, his face going through different colours, and he says, "Did.. you just.. call me.. a moron? You're a mortal, you're beneath me! And you too, will kneel, Mason Aves, or you will die just like her!"

And then, he points his Sceptre at the retreating car, his intentions clear to everyone watching.

Right as Steve starts running towards Loki, Mason does a snapping motion, and a dagger hits Loki's head, hard. The dagger pierces his skin just a little, but doesn't manage to go past the skull bones. But it proves enough to make Loki miss, and the attack from his scepter just hits a random parked car, which blows up, a hole ripped through its driver's side seat.

Loki turns around with a snarl, only for the two Soldiers to pounce on him in unison. Steve goes for Loki's legs, while Mason kicks at his head. The double attack from two sides makes Loki spin into the air, and land on his stomach.

Steve and Mason stand a few feet away, watching Loki start standing up once again, but just then, something vaguely resembling bad music to Steve's ears starts playing from the Jet. Steve looks up, only to see a red blur slam into a now standing Loki, throwing him on the ground once again.

Iron Man.

He raises his arms, pointing the palms towards the God, and as weapons extend out of places that Steve doesn't know how they fit, Iron Man says, "Make your move, reindeer games."

Loki raises his hands, in a surrendering motion, and as if by Magic, his armour and helmet disappear from his body.

"Good move." Iron Man, or Tony Stark, says, still keeping his arms raised.

All the while, the harsh to the ears music keeps playing on almost all the speakers around them.

"AC/DC. Well, at least you have better taste in music than your dad." Mason says, as he turns back to walk towards the discarded jacket.

It makes Steve wonder. If this was considered good music taste by Mason, what kind of music did Howard listen to?

"Mr Stark." Steve says, nodding at Stark while watching Loki get rid of his armour, the scepter laying on the side.

Stark nods back, and says, "Captain. Who's that guy?"

Steve stares at Mason's back, and says, "An old friend. You got this right?"

And without waiting for an answer, Steve walks towards Mason.

He didn't know what to say. He wasn't surprised, not in the least. He was just worried about the implications of Mason still being alive, and not dead as the public believed. As SHIELD believed.

As Mason turns back, once again wearing his jacket, Steve opens his mouth to start a tirade of questions, but Mason just comes closer and pulls Steve into a hug. Steve hugs back, after a moment of thought, and says, "It is good to see you, Mason."

"Fucking hell, Steve, you have no idea how glad I am to see you." Mason says, patting Steve on the back. And as a whisper, he adds, "Keep your questions inside for now, we'll talk later, once we're in a secure place. I promise."

Steve nods, trusting in his Captain for now. And he did have questions. But for now, the priority is taking Loki to the Helicarrier. And Mason too, he hoped.

"I missed you, buddy. I missed you to hell." Mason says, as they separate out of the hug.

Steve sighs, smiling, and says, "I missed you too, Aves."

He was glad his old friend was back to the living.

—

A/N: And the MCU begins!

Why Mason is holding back will not be mentioned in the story, but here. Basically, Mason wants as few questions as possible from anyone. His survival is bound to bring questions, he didn't want his full strength to do so too.

Mason won't show his full strength, not yet.

Why Emma Frost? Why did Mason select her to join a British organization?

Mason didn't. Cassiopeia did. Let's just assume she has some spell that allows her to see alternate futures like TAO but only for a limited time. She did it, and used it to see Emma's future. Why Emma, because she's a telepath on Charles Xavier's level, and she had a bad future ahead of her.

If anyone was wondering lol, her clone is the one that showed in X-men origins Wolverine. Not canon, but a funny easter egg from me in my efforts of making the Timeline make sense.

Thank you for your support! Tata!