Back at the Avengers compound, Sam stormed into the mission room—still dirt-smeared, scuffed, and trying not to limp. His Falcon gear was reattaching itself piece by piece with manual override. J.A.R.V.I.S. was still rebooting systems that had glitched out.
"FRIDAY. Emergency debrief. Get whoever's available."
"Understood, Captain Wilson. Connecting…"
Within minutes, holograms flickered to life. Banner appeared first, eyebrows already furrowed. Rhodey popped in second, followed by Carol Danvers and a lagging Wong sipping coffee from a "Karma is Real" mug.
"You look like hell," Rhodey said.
"I played a game." Sam dropped the golden coin onto the center table.
It spun. Gently. Once. Twice. Then stopped—perfectly balanced. Everyone stared.
"A game?" Banner asked. "Like… a metaphor?"
"No. Literal. Pocket dimension. Rules. Traps. Clones. Talking chessboard coat guy with dice for eyes."
"You hit your head?" Carol muttered, squinting.
Sam tapped his temple. "FRIDAY, run diagnostics. Internal telemetry log from thirty minutes ago."
"Running…" FRIDAY paused. "Captain Wilson's suit recorded a full collapse of sensory input, loss of external GPS, internal environment shifted to an unregistered dimensional parameter. Visual data corrupted. Audio file recovered."
The room went quiet as a snippet played:
"Step wrong, fall, or break a rule, and I get to pick a punishment. Win... and I'll grant you a wish."
"Who the hell was that?" Rhodey asked, now dead serious.
"He called himself the Fieldmaster."
Wong tensed. "That name has appeared once in Kamar-Taj records. A margin note. Scribbled in the back of an ancient scroll. Not a being… an event."
Sam picked up the coin. "He said I earned a wish. But not power. Potential."
Carol folded her arms. "You gonna use it?"
Sam hesitated. "I don't know. I don't even know how."
The coin pulsed once, dimly.
"Think about what you want," Banner said softly. "Not what you wish you had. What you're missing."
Sam looked at the coin. His mind flicked through images—Carly Morgenthau. Isaiah Bradley. The weight of Steve's legacy. The speech he gave. The things he still hadn't done.
"I want to lead right."
The coin gleamed.
"I want to be more than a symbol. I want to understand what people need—what they feel. I want to connect with everyone I protect, like Steve did... but better. No guessing. No politics. No filters. Just… clarity."
The coin flashed.
Then disappeared.
For a moment, nothing.
Then Sam's eyes dilated. Light shimmered around his head for an instant—then vanished.
"FRIDAY?" he asked.
"Analyzing… strange. Neural sensitivity has increased. Empathy synapses are… denser. That's not natural evolution. It's designed."
Banner stepped forward. "He gave you something mental. Emotional. You didn't get a powerup—you got potential to understand people in a way nobody else can."
Wong whispered, "Social intuition as a gift... That's terrifying."
"So what, I got super empathy?" Sam asked.
"No," Banner replied. "You got the potential to become the greatest leader the world's ever seen. If you choose to grow into it."
Somewhere in the Field, the Fieldmaster chuckled.
He turned a page in his floating book.
Sam's face shimmered on a card. Stats appeared underneath:
Class: Captain
Progression Path: Empathic Strategist
Status: Wish Claimed – Growth Pending
Verdict: Entertaining. Will Watch Again.
Then he flipped another card.
Loki.
The Fieldmaster grinned wide. "Yes... next game shall be delightful."
End of Chapter Two