Selene Aetos

A/N: Reminder that I've stopped writing new chapters, and will only upload the old ones. The story is officially dropped!!

Read on!

—

Selene keeps her head down, the tea going cold in front of her. Her husband, the love of her life, and her sole companion for the last 2000 years and more, sat beside her, her hand held in his own hand.

She could feel the emotions going through his mind, feel his love for her, feel how much he had missed her. But she could also feel how much she had hurt him.

He hadn't said a thing, did not question her over where she has been all this time, why she wasn't with him. But she could feel those questions in his mind. And she will answer, even if he doesn't speak those words out loud, she will answer.

He deserves the explanation, deserves to know why she abandoned him for almost three decades.

As Athreos rubs his thumb on the back of her hand, Selene takes a deep breath, and says, "My situation.. my curse.. it was getting worse. Year by year, month by month."

Athreos listens calmly, but his finger movements on her hands stop, he was afraid for her she could tell. She continues after a second's pause, and says, "So worse that I needed to take in one soul every month, or risk dying.. permanently. But even when I was taking in those Souls.. I could feel my sanity slipping."

"Wh.. what do you mean?" Athreos asks, his voice trembling.

And Selene could understand that. When it first began, she was afraid for herself too. Afraid for him as well, more than herself.

—Flashback—

It had been a sudden development, and not at all something she had seen coming. First, it was intrusive thoughts, prompting her to take in more souls. A voice in the back of her mind, telling her to take just one more soul in, it won't hurt.

She knew it was part of her curse, but she could ignore it, just like she had done for the last few centuries that her curse had been getting worse for.

But one day, this day, she couldn't hold it back as easily as before.

Athreos was on Earth, visiting Emma Frost and to check on the organisation he had set up for the safety of Muggleborns and Mutants alike. She had been visiting Euphemia Potter, to check up on her slowly declining health on Athreos's behalf.

James and Lily were with her, along with little two month old Harry. James was worried about Euphemia, who was now almost a hundred years old. And it was understandable. Mia was his sole parent, and while Selene and Athreos had helped her in raising him, she was the one who gave birth to him, she was the one who retired from her job just to focus on raising him.

She was his mother.

After having ensured that her body and her soul were all okay, the family had retreated to the dining room for a spot of tea. While drinking tea, however, as Selene was watching little Harry play with Lily's red hair, something.. happened.

'So.. funny.. so pure… you should take him.. take the mother too.. so pure..' the voice which had mostly remained at the back of her head had said, and for a split second, Selene had considered it.

She had considered just reaching forward, touching Lily's cheek with her palm, taking her soul for her own. She had considered taking little Harry's soul too, the purity of the baby's soul being oh so tempting.

James and Lily wouldn't have been able to stop her of course, they were weak, mortals, and not at all someone that can fight someone on her level. She would have won in seconds, at most.

"Selene? Are you okay?" Lily had asked, bringing Selene out of her thoughts.

And it was only when Lily had distracted her, that Selene had realized something. She had been frozen in place, with her hand trembling in the air, frozen in place as it was reaching for little Harry. 

Her mind was divided in two, for a split moment.

The evil, ugly, part of her wanted to take the two pure souls, of the mother, and the child, for herself.. for the Darkforce.

And the other part, the one that loved James as if her own child, the one that loved Harry and Lily, was fighting against it. Fighting against the corrupting influence of the Darkforce. But for that split second, the fight was not as one sided as it had been before.

Selene had brought her full Magic to force then, pushing the corrupting influence back, and changed the memories of the Potter's to forget what just happened. Saying her goodbyes, Selene had then left.

And then, she had fallen down, fearful of what she had almost done just now.

She knew then that she couldn't delay at all. She couldn't live like this, hungry for souls, afraid That one day, one day she might just give in to her hunger, and eat a Pure soul, an innocent soul. And that was after having just eaten another soul a few days ago.

And so, she had left her house, after writing just a letter telling Athreos that she was unharmed, that she was leaving for something personal. He wouldn't be back for a few days, she knew that, so she had time enough to erase her traces.

But she still didn't have a solution. Kamar Taj didn't have it, Tilda didn't have it. Neither did the Flamels, or the largest Library in the entire World. Her husband's Repository.

She had even tried visiting the Lost Library of Cagliostro before, but the solutions that she found there were temporary. Absorb a Magical being of immense power to satiate her hunger, the books there said.

But she didn't want a treatment. She needed a cure. 

And so, the first person she had gone to, was the only being in this entire Dimension with more Magical knowledge than her. 

The Goddess Gaea.

But even that was a bust.

"What do you mean you can't help me?" Selene asked with a lot of surprise audible in her voice.

Which said something, since Selene could hide her emotions pretty well.

Gaea had smiled at her, and said, "I understand your anger, child. And your problem. But it is not something I can help with. I am a Goddess of the Earth, Motherhood, and a lot of other domains. But Souls is not one of them."

"Do not lie!" Selene yelled, a dark part of her wanting to try and take Gaea's soul too. "I know you have the ability to turn any mortal into a God! Do it to me. Give me Godhood!"

Gaea smiled still, and said, "Godhood is not the solution to your troubles, child. Even if I give you Godhood, which I won't, you will be a Mad Goddess of Souls, filled with the Divine Need to eat more and more souls. Your condition, instead of getting better, will just keep getting worse."

Selene had tried attacking Gaea then, out of anger, out of fear, but the Elder Goddess had defeated her with her superior control of Magic. Bound her with chains that even the Darkforce couldn't fight.

Gaea had touched her cheek then, sending a bit of her Divine Energy to her mind to clear the resurgence of the Darkforce's Magic, and said, "I am truly sorry, my child. For the curse your father placed upon you, and for the life that's in fate for you. But there is no solution to your curse. Who knows though, maybe your plan to have a mortal kill you, might actually help. It is worth a try, is it not?"

But it wouldn't work, she knew that. Even without trying she knew that manipulating or forcing a mortal to kill her will still be a Death by her own hands. Death by the hands of an External. And there is a very low chance that she would return to life like an external should.

And even if she returns to life, she cannot say for sure despite the many methods of Soothsaying she has in her hands, that it will cure her.

But Gaea's words had given her something.. a ray of hope, an idea.

Rebirth.

It might just hold the solution to her curse like she had believed. But in all her centuries of musing over that particular idea, she had never considered the one Being that can realistically do it.

The Phoenix Force.

Until recently, she had thought that the Phoenix Force could only destroy, not create. Even Kamar Taj had believed the Phoenix Force to be a Force of destruction, a force of calamity. Since the very few times Earth had seen it, it had led to the destruction of at least one city.

Atlantis, Çatalhöyük, Thonis, and Palenque, which was burned by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, were just some of them. 

There was no stopping the Phoenix once it decided to destroy something, that was what the Sorcerers had learned thousands of years ago. Kamar Taj was only saved from the fate with the timely interruption of Agamotto, who revealed himself to the Being, only to get into an agreement.

The Sorcerers won't interfere with the decisions of the Phoenix Force, or else they will be Destroyed.

And so it was decided that no Sorcerer would try to stop it unless the entire planet was in danger of its rage. Which had never happened, as far as Kamar Taj knows.

But when she saw what Athreos did, how he asked the Phoenix to not destroy, but to create, she was astonished. She was amazed. And it was only through Athreos that she learned something.

The Phoenix was not a Creature of Destruction, she was the Personification of Rebirth. And to have something be reborn, it has to be destroyed first. It takes time, a very long time in some cases, but the places are healed once destroyed.

Of all the cities Phoenix had destroyed, most had recovered, with a lot of people moving there. Atlantis and Thonis were the exceptions, both having been drowned before they could recover from the damage the Phoenix brought upon them.

But even Atlantis, just like the other cities destroyed by the Phoenix, was filled with Life of all kinds. People, animals, plants. All the places the Phoenix had destroyed had gone on to become something filled with life.

How Athreos knew about it, about the Phoenix's inclination towards Rebirth, she did not know, nor did she care at this point.

So once Gaea's words inspired her to think of the Phoenix Force as an option once again, Selene decided to contact the Being. To make a Bargain with her.

She went to the Chamber of Secrets, to borrow the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw from Athreos's hidden rooms inside the Chamber.

Helena was there when Selene walked out of the shadows, having returned from her own visit to her mother. And unfortunately, she had been seen. 

Why would she hide herself from a Chamber which no one save for her husband knew of?

They had spoken, and after listening to her problem, Helena had promised not to tell Athreos about seeing Selene here, unless he comes asking.

"I will not lie to Uncle Eideard, Selene. Even if he wasn't the closest thing to a father I had, he is still the descendant of my sister that I decided to help when he was younger. If he asks me, I will not lie to him." Helena had said, and Selene had understood.

She accepted it, and then, she took the Diadem from its spot on Athreos's Shelf. The Spells he had used to protect the items kept here did not stop her, she was his wife after all, and hence, allowed to take anything she wanted. But she did have to disable a spell that would register the Diadem's movement and warn Athreos of it.

She did not want Mason to know about this, not unless this actually works.

As soon as Selene had worn the Diadem, she had been sucked into the Psionic Realm, in the presence of the Phoenix Force who was in the mortal form of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Selene?" Rowena had asked, confused as to why she was here. "Did something happen to Athreos?"

Selene shook her head, and said, "Nothing untowards has happened to my husband, Lady Phoenix. I needed to meet with you, to ask a favour of you."

Phoenix looked at her, looked through her, and said, "Your soul.. I did not notice this when I was inside Rowena, but you have really done your Soul a lot of harm, Selene. So many tears unhealed, so many patches wrongly fixed."

Selene nodded, admitting it, and said, "I have done a lot of Crimes against my Soul, Lady Phoenix. Sometimes it was because I actually was Evil, but others, it was out of desperation. I just wanted to live."

Phoenix scoffed, and said, "Death is a natural part of a mortal's life, Selene. Even Externals are fated to die. Even you, even Athreos."

Selene calmly replied, "I agree, Lady Phoenix. I will be ready to die when my time comes, but not like this. Not when my husband still needs me. Not out of a fate granted to me by my father's curse."

"You want me to Heal your soul. Grant you a Rebirth like I did to your Avalon on Athreos's behest." Phoenix had stated, using an undetectable tendril of her power to enter Selene's mind.

Selene was surprised by it, by her incapability to detect the Presence of the Phoenix inside her mind, but she put her surprise to the side, and said, "Yes, Lady Phoenix."

"Why should I? The condition of your Soul is a consequence of your own making. The Curse may have begun it, but your actions after your ascendance as a Mutant, and as an External, only served to help the Curse." The Phoenix said, waving her hand in dismissal.

Selene kept her head down, and said, "I accept the consequences of my actions, Lady Phoenix. But by the time I could understand what exactly my Curse was, it was already too late. And even still, I've changed! In the last 3000 years, I have not absorbed a single soul that wasn't completely evil."

Which was coincidentally what sped up her Curse's corruption. The Darkforce revelled in the Bad souls she kept on feeding it, but the millions of Bad souls she fed it only sped the corruption. Maybe, if she had taken in a few Pure souls, her curse would have taken a step back for a while.

Like it had happened after Rome. A lot of good souls were absorbed by her then, under the influence of the Darkforce. And when Athreos defeated her and brought her sanity back, she did not feel the need to Eat souls for a very long time.

"Please, Lady Phoenix. I am willing to bargain for it. A favour for a favour, like you did with Athreos."

Phoenix scoffed, and said, "Nothing you have interests me, Selene, and as a Cosmic Entity, I do not do such favours for free."

Selene was not surprised that the Being dismissed her request so soon. She knew that Athreos had a connection to the Being, either thanks to his identity as a descendant of Rowena, or because of his past as Helena's guide through life, or maybe it was something else. 

Selene, while a close friend to Helena, was not someone Rowena had seen as a friend, let alone someone who Phoenix might feel close with.

Selene bowed her head to the cosmic entity, her heart beating fast with the fear of rejection, and said, "Please, Lady Phoenix! I have no other choice but to beg you. Every avenue I've tried has returned failure, even Lady Gaea could not help me. You're my only option, Lady Phoenix. Please, I will do anything if you help me with this, sacrifice anything you ask. Please!"

For a long time, Selene kept begging in front of the Phoenix, arguing back and forth, giving excuses, and thankfully, Gaea's actions from before had kept her mind sane enough to do so.

Until finally, Phoenix snapped at her, and said, "ENOUGH!"

The yell by the Cosmic Entity startles Selene, and without prompting, the Darkforce takes over her body. Black shadows rise out of the ground underneath her, as her body starts growing old, the shadows poised to attack the threat to her. 

Thankfully, this time, her mind was still sane thanks to Gaea's healing Magic, and Selene expelled the corruptive Magic out of her body with some effort before the shadows could actually attack the Phoenix Force.

Panting with the effort, Selene looks up at the Phoenix, who had stared at her with wide eyes, and says, "See what I will have to deal with? I will be in the presence of your descendant, my husband. I will be in the constant presence of at least two children. And the only cure is what? To absorb Pure souls to return balance? I refuse to do it, Lady Phoenix, not while I know another cure exists right in front of me. And so, I will die. I will die of my curse, make sure I can't hurt anything. And you know what? Athreos will learn of this conversation some day. Not through me, but he will. And he will know that you refused to help heal his wife even after seeing what the consequences of not helping are."

And Mason.. if anyone has the capacity to do damage to the Cosmic Entity that is the Phoenix Force, it was Mason. Maybe not now, but soon in the future.

Was it wrong of her to threaten the Phoenix like this? Yes, Selene could see that in hindsight. But firstly, the fight against the Darkforce was making her angry at a lot of things, and Phoenix's refusal to help was not making things any easier. Secondly, Selene did not care about hurting the emotions of a Cosmic Entity. Not if it helps her cure herself.

As the Phoenix stares at her, anger clouding Rowena's face, Selene sighs, and says, "My life has been full of bad decisions, Lady Phoenix. I've done a lot of bad things for my survival, and some just for the hell of it. But I have changed, you can see it in my mind. Right now, I just want to live, I just want to enjoy my life as Athreos's wife. I want to be a good mother to Sylvie whenever she returns. I want to be a good mother to any children that Athreos eventually decides he wants to have with me. I just want to live a life without having to hide from my husband just how many people I've killed for my survival. I.. just.. want.. to.. live."

Phoenix stared at her, anger still showing on her face, and said, "I refuse to help you. Not just because of the words you used just now, but because of my identity as a Cosmic Entity. I was not lying before when I said you have nothing to offer me, in exchange for your Rebirth."

Selene's heart fell, but she nodded. Already crying, Selene took another bow, and was about to say her goodbyes to the being in front of her, when the Cosmic Entity said something else.

"However.. I am not the only one with the Gift of Rebirth. I know someone who might be willing to help, but it is up to you to convince them. Are you willing?" The Phoenix's words brought a smile to Selene's face, and Selene nodded.

Phoenix nodded back, and said, "Very well. During my first visit to this Planet almost a Billion years ago, I left something behind. A child. My first Child. You have visited the home he has created for himself, and his children. Find him, and he just might help you."

And then, Rowena threw her out of the Psionic Realm. 

She did not tell Selene where the Home was, or who the child of Phoenix was, but Selene did not take more than a minute to deduce what she spoke about. A Child of the Phoenix, a Phoenix.

And so it was, that barely four hours after she had left the Potter Home, Selene found herself flying up towards the Fenghuang Peak on top of the Ho-Lo Shan Mountain.

As soon as she dropped down on the terrace of the mountain, a single bird out of the dozens of Phoenix's flying in the skies, or sitting in the trees, appeared in front of her in a burst of flames.

'You have met my Mother.' the orange and red bird in front of her said directly in her mind, with a soft musical voice.

The bird did not look any different from the other Phoenixes there, except for the shades and pattern of coloured feathers, of which every Phoenix has a different one. But even still, the sense of Magic its voice gave her was enough to tell Selene who this bird was.

"Yes. And you're her child. How?" Selene asked calmly, staring at the ordinary Phoenix with an extraordinary parentage with fascination.

The bird tilts his head, and says, 'My Mother had a host when she came to Earth for the first time, an Avian of an unknown species from an unknown planet. She gave an egg, a single egg, right before dousing this entire planet in her Flames. Very few beings survived, the Elder Gods being few of them, and I fell into the Volcano that this place used to be. I was embraced by Mother Gaea's magic, as she protected me from my mother's Flames thinking I would die. And while the other creatures of Gaea did not survive, I did. I was born as a child of Gaea and of Phoenix, a bird of flames, of rebirth, and of Magic. A Phoenix.'

Selene was confused and had questions about a lot of things. Why did the Phoenix Force feel the need to burn a planet that barely had any life? There weren't any animals on Earth a Billion years ago, the planet wasn't stable yet. There weren't even fishes in the oceans, then, and no trees either. So what was it that prompted the Phoenix to burn a lifeless planet? The Elder Gods? A Demon? Did a God offend her then? 

Selene ignored the questions in her mind, and nodded, and after a moment's pause, she told the Phoenix about the conversation she had had with the Phoenix Force, and about her request.

'You need your entire self to be cleansed.' the bird mused, after the explanation. 'A complete Rebirth, from your body, to your Soul. A new beginning to your self. It is possible, and I might be able to help you, but I have to ask, External. What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve this new beginning?'

Selene immediately answered, "Everything."

The bird chortled, and asked, 'Everything? Are you sure, child? What about your Mutantur gifts? Your Magic?'

"Yes." Selene answered, not even needing to think. What was her mutation or her Magic in front of her love for Athreos?

'Your immortality? Your identity as an External?' the bird asked.

Selene nodded once again, not minding the fact that she won't be an immortal external anymore. She might figure immortality out once again, but she would treasure her short life with Athreos even more if that failed.

'And what about your love for your husband, my mother's descendant?' the Phoenix asked.

And it was then that Selene stopped herself before she could instinctively agree. "No," she said. "Everything I'm doing, I am doing it so I can live a happy life with my husband. I am ready to sacrifice everything so I can achieve that, but I will not sacrifice my love for Athreos just so I could cure my Soul."

The bird stared at her for a few minutes, stared through her, and then, he nodded. He said, 'Very well. I accept your bargain, Selene Aetos. You will sacrifice all you agreed to sacrifice, and begin life anew. I will take you with myself through a complete rebirth, burn your body and soul to cleanse it, and then, turn you into a hatchling.'

Selene found herself falling down, disbelieving that the Phoenix actually agreed. She tears up, and listens as the Phoenix continues speaking.

He says, 'You will not remember anything, you will not have your Magic, your Mutantur gifts, or your Immortality. I will remain with you every step of the way, to ensure you do not circumvent our agreement. And in the end, when I deem our agreement completed, I will allow you the freedom to remember your memories.'

Selene accepted it, what choice did she have? And besides, this was the best she could have hoped for. She knew that Mason would be hurt by her disappearance, that he would try looking for her, and so she wanted to inform him about this first. Alas, the Phoenix did not give her the opportunity to even put the question forward before he had burst into flames, and jumped into her form, making both bird and woman disappear from the Ho-Lo Shan Mountain.

And so it was that Selene Aetos was reborn as an orphan child, raised by a Children's home in Brazil. She did not remember the seventeen thousand years of her life, nor did she show any signs of Magic, or of her Mutantur gifts. She was perfectly normal, perfectly.. mundane.

She lived her life on Earth, away from her husband, away from the Darkforce, away from any chances of being found.

Seline Kyle did not know about her past as a wife to her favourite hero, Mason Aves, nor did she have any abnormal gifts. She was just a good, smart girl, who wanted to become a Doctor, just like her hero Mason Aves had wanted to be before the war.

She lived her life with a Phoenix constantly inside her mind, making sure her Memories did not leak before he could be sure of the completion of the agreement. Until May 2012, when Mason Aves fought a War against Aliens in New York, and Selene Aetos's memories were finally allowed by the child of Phoenix to come forward.

And Selene Aetos woke up once again. She was cured of her Curse, the connection to the Darkforce was removed, and her hunger satiated forever.

—Flashback End---

Selene stared at her husband after finishing her tale, tears in both their eyes at the good news she had finally shared with him.

She was cured. She did not need to take in souls to survive anymore, she did not need to be afraid of the Darkforce anymore. 

"I can't control shadows anymore either, as a consequence of my loss of the Darkforce, but I think.. I think that the Cure to my Curse is a good replacement." Selene says, when Athreos says nothing, and keeps crying silently.

As a response to her words, Selene finds herself pulled out of her chair, and towards her husband, who summarily lifts her on top of his lap. She hugs him back, and rests her cheek on top of his head, as he hugs her tightly.

Sniffing his nose, Athreos says, "You should have told me, Selene. You should have told me. Hell, I could have convinced Rowena to cure you herself, without needing to ask a Phoenix to do it. Maybe then you'd have been done within a few years and not almost three decades. Hell, I could have kept an eye on your mortal self to make sure nothing happened to you!"

Selene runs her fingers through his hair, and says, "Shh.. Athreos. We have no guarantee that the Phoenix would have agreed. And besides, the bird was with me all through my mortal life. He took care of me, even without me asking him to."

Athreos keeps hugging her, and says, "Still.. you should have come to me, Selene. You're my wife, I'm your husband. I come to you with my problems, I tell you everything that troubles me, you should have given me the same courtesy."

"Are you angry at me, my love?" Selene asks, worried. 

She wouldn't blame him if he was, she knew she deserves his anger, and more. What she did was basically say she did not trust Athreos to help her reliably. Though her actions were more because she did not want to hurt Athreos in case they failed, in case she died, she knew she had hurt Athreos just the same.

Athreos pulls back from the hug, stares in her eyes intensely, and says, "I am. I am so mad at you, so mad.. We will be talking about this, love. But.. I have missed you, I have missed talking to you, missed the feel of your Magic. I have missed you dearly."

"I missed you too, Husband." Selene whispered back, leaning down to kiss him on his forehead.

As Athreos closes his eyes, and returns to hugging her, Selene keeps patting his head, and says, "I.. I thought the bird would have removed my Mutations. Removed my Magic. The agreement said that I will have to sacrifice it all for the cure, but.. for some reason, he didn't. I know he could have kept me from regaining my magic, or my mutation, but he didn't. And I don't know why "

Athreos hums in content, and says, "I don't care. I wouldn't have cared if you didn't have your Magic, or your Mutation. I wouldn't have cared if you were a mortal once again. I.. I'm just glad you're back in my life, Selene."

Selene smiles through the tears, and says, "I am glad to be back, Athreos."

"Just.. promise me, Selene. Promise me that you won't leave me. That if you feel the need to disappear for a long time, you'll personally tell me why you're going." Athreos says, and this time, there was steel in his voice, making Selene know that she didn't have an option of not giving the promise.

Nodding her head, Selene whispers, "I promise." And she meant it.

She will not be leaving Athreos anytime soon. She had stayed away from him for 27 years, and kept him sad for that long. She had no intentions of doing it any longer.

She was really glad to have her memories back, glad that she was back.

—

On Earth, Tony Stark leaned back after a lot of work, the result of the research right in front of his eyes.

For the last few days, Tony had gone through everything he had gotten from his previous hacking of SHIELD. Jarvis had taken a backup of everything they got on the Helicarrier, of course, and Tony and Jarvis had taken great care these last few days, going through the data.

Alas, nothing in these files proved the words that the X-Men had told him. That SHIELD was infiltrated by Hydra, an organization supposed to have been destroyed 67 years ago, when the War ended. Not just that, but the highest authority figure in SHIELD, right underneath the President of the USA of course, was one of the Leaders of Hydra.

One of them. Not The Leader, but one of them. Which means Hydra is vaster, and more dangerous than it was during the War.

But of course, if all this was in fact true, they wouldn't be stupid enough to let the rest of SHIELD know. And so, the files they had stolen from the Helicarrier didn't tell them anything.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Tony whispers, resting his head in his hands.

Jarvis, the ever helpful AI, sounds a bit worried, and says, "Could it be possible, sir, that the X-Men simply lied to you? Or that they are mistaken?"

Tony groans, and says, "They have no reason to lie to me, J. And Xavier is a bloody telepath, so is that woman, Braddock. If anyone can sniff out infiltrating spies, it's them."

"Not always, sir." Jarvis points out, bringing up the folder concerning the past relationship between the man that Tony wanted to meet, Wolverine, and the resident Spy within the Avengers, Natasha Romanoff.

Apparently, Fury had sent Natasha to get close to any of the X-Men, so he could know what they're up to.

Natasha had played Wolverine like a fiddle, led him on in a wonderful relationship, and met Xavier too. Whatever allowed her to lie to a man who can smell lies as per his own words, and keep her thoughts private without raising suspicion from the telepaths must not be easy, or cheap, to make. Or the HYDRA leader would have used it too.

Tony sighs and says, "Even still, I can't make a move on Pierce without undeniable proof that he's HYDRA. Not only will I be committing treason against the United States, I'll be proved mentally unstable or an idiot. Which.. would be a bigger travesty than letting HYDRA live in peace."

Tony didn't know why he was even trying to find proof against these supposed HYDRA agents. Sure, his dad fought against them, and they were Nazis, but Tony doubted that people could still be genuine Jew hating, Aryan supremacist Nazis. He didn't even know what Hydra's goal was anymore. Is it still HYDRA supremacy? Or are they content with being a hidden Organization?

But.. they're still Nazis, still Hydra. He and Howard might not have seen eye to eye on a lot of things, but one thing they could agree on is that Hydra is bad, and letting them access to high Government positions was even worse.

"Well, if Telepathy can bring out the secrets of Hydra agents, why not contact a Telepath of your own?" Jarvis asks, bringing up another image on his screen.

"Huh." Tony says, staring at the face staring right at him through the screen. Tapping his fingers on the table, thinking this through, Tony asks, "Do we have a way to contact the Wizard, though? I don't think he left a cell number when he disappeared again."

Jarvis brings out another face on his screen, and says, "No, sir. But he did say he's been in contact with Ms Emma Frost, the Director of MIS. Should I try calling her?"

Tony grins, and says, "You know what J. Do it. Let's see if she knows where our Wizard Aves is."

He didn't know yet what he could do about Hydra, but he knew one thing. He can't do it alone. He needed to get the team back together, right after the Battle they had won. Maybe not Thor, or Hulk. Thor is who knows where, and Hulk.. Brucy wouldn't agree to it. 

But the rest, they will most definitely be needed.

And the first on the list.. was Captain Mason Aves.

—

A/N: Here's Selene's past, and her reason for disappearing. She did not remember him, at all, but some feelings bled through and she thought he was her favourite Superhero between Captain America and Avalon.

Phoenixes being descendants of Phoenix Force was something we all thought would happen in a crossover Universe, and I wrote the same. I was a bit conflicted about what exactly to write.

One edition had the bird being Phoenix's first Earthen host, who gave the egg that became the first Phoenix. One had the bird Phoenix being the child of Gaea and Phoenix, like an actual child of them, which is why he's considered a magical bird. But I went with this.

Any other story for the race of phoenixes you'd like to hypothesize, or share your Headcanon on?

HYDRA, I've thought about how I wanted to take this, but I haven't made up my mind yet. I want to have the Avengers fight Hydra without copying any other authors. And I don't want to copy Canon either. 

Let's see, I'll write a summary of the Future first, for myself. Because the summary I'd written before was with the canon staying canon, and Selene staying hidden. And that's changed now.

(The A/N was written when I posted the chapter on Pat-reon.)

Welp, anyway.

Thank you for your support! Thank you for waiting!

Tata!