Epilogue: Steve

He didn't knock as he stepped into the hospital room. Pietro Maximoff looked up at him as he finished lacing his shoes up. The younger man stood up, stretching and bouncing on his toes, an excited look on his face.

"Good as new. Thanks of course, to Dr. Cho and SHIELD." The boy grinned, clearly thrilled to finally be allowed back into the outside world on his own two feet. Steve could sympathize with the feeling, having only been released himself a couple days ago. Pietro's grin faded quickly as he took in the serious look on Steve's face.

"What happened?" The boy demanded, tensing. Steve shook his head.

"Nothing. Yet. I just wanted to tell you something." Pietro relaxed instantly and sat back down on the bed. Even though he knows that Sy is more than capable of making her own decisions, and trusts her to be responsible and careful and smart about choosing who she involves herself with; what she doesn't know won't hurt her. And will make Steve feel better.

"Oh." Pietro sits back down on the bed, looking at at Steve expectantly.

"Son, if you ever, and I mean ever, hurt Sy, not even one of her gods could bring you back to life." Steve said shortly, crossing his arms and glaring down at Pietro. The blood drained from the boy's face. The Maximoffs had been briefed on the Avengers and SHIELD. It had also included some other information that very few people outside of the team itself was aware of; things like Coulson's resurrection and Sy's family history. That had been an interesting day.

Threat delivered, Steve smiled.

"It's good to see you on your feet again." Steve left before Pietro could find his words. He met up with Thor and Tony walking down the hall. The thunder god was getting ready to leave, Loki having already gone back to Asgard the day before.

"The rules have changed." Steve commented casually. Tony picked up on the topic immediately. Everyone had been giving Thor crap about Vision lifting the hammer. Steve almost felt bad for him, but he was just relieved that the team had forgotten about his slip up about Tony's language. Back in the day, any kind of language would have gotten a man put on latrine duty for a week if they'd been overheard by a superior officer.

He'd served in the frozen European theater in the thick of a World War. Steve's heard swearing so creative even the great Tony Stark would blush. He and his men just had the sense to do it when their radios were firmly turned in the off position. Phillips hadn't cared that he was America's golden boy of propaganda; Steve had been reprimanded with enough unpleasant chores for cussing over open radio channels, that it was practically a reflex to call out warnings for swearing.

"We're dealing with something new." The genius added. Steve smirked.

"Well, the Vision is artificial intelligence."

"It's a machine."

"So it doesn't count." Steve shot at Tony, secure in the knowledge that if he ever needed to, he could lift Thor's hammer.

Sy's dire warnings about divine weapons rang in his ears.

Well, he could probably do it without Thor reflexively vaporizing him for touching the weapon. So he'd leave off any hammer lifting unless he had no other choice.

"No, it's not like a person lifted the hammer." Tony continued.

"Right." Steve said, gesturing at Tony. He internally apologized to Sy, who had grown oddly protective over the android. She would have been upset to hear them dismiss Vision's person-hood so casually.

"Nice guy, but artificial." Tony continued, having moved on from teasing Thor to defending his ego from the brutal asskicking it had undergone at his own party just over a week ago.

"He can wield the hammer, he can keep the stone. It's safe with the Vision. Just as the Mind Stone is safe on Olympus. Is that not why Sy has returned to New York already? To ensure it's protections are made even more secure?" The god sighed, looking away for a moment. Steve pushed away the empty echo her presence used to fill. It was time for Sy to step down, and they'd all known it. She'd jumped back into the fight head first in a shallow pool and paid the price.

She hadn't been ready for Ultron so soon after escaping HYDRA, and now Steve worried that even with the magic therapy she was getting from her camp director, that she would never fully recover.

"These days, safety is in short supply." Steve felt a sense of foreboding sweep over him. Something big was coming, and he knew that they were going to have to be ready for it. Steve glanced up, repressing his shit eating grin. He didn't want to think about the next world ending Avengers assembling event that was coming next.

"But if you put it in the elevator…"

"It still goes up. Elevator's not worthy." Tony finished his statement. Thor groaned good naturedly, clapping them both on the shoulder. They both jumped at the warning shock of electricity that surged through them. That was Steve's signal to reel Tony in, that the ribbing had gone far enough.

"I'm going to miss these little talks of ours." Thor pronounced.

"Not if you don't leave." Tony offered. Thor sighed, walking off, forcing the two of them to keep pace with him.

"I have no choice. Even though the Mind Stone remained on Olympus, it is still the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence. The Norns are never so careless." They exited the building, the hustle and bustle of Stark Industry staffers setting up the New Avengers facility washing over them. They walked a little ways away from the people, standing around an innocuous section of grass.

"Someone who's playing an intricate game has made pawns of us. Once all these pieces are in position…" Thor trailed off.

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony guessed. Steve repressed a sigh. Somehow the mess Ultron left behind had somewhat patched things between him and Tony, opening a path to move forward on, instead of the stalled stalemate they'd been in for the last few months. They'll probably never be the same again, but now they could move forward on the same page. Or, at least in the same book; considering how quickly the other man's mind worked. Besides, as annoying as they were, Steve had gotten used to the man's little jabs and quips.

"You think you can find out what's coming? Sy is already going to consult the Oracle of Delphi." Steve asked. Thor shrugged.

"Sy may ask her Oracle, but as accurate as she is, we don't have time for her riddles. Loki remembers little of his time between his banishment from Asgard and his invasion of New York, but there are enough clues that I do believe I will discover who is playing this game. Besides this one," Thor clapped a hand against Tony's chest, sending the inventor stumbling back a few steps, "anything can be explained." The norseman stepped away from the two of them, pacing forward a couple feet while Steve and Tony looked on. With one final nod at the two of them, Thor lifted his hammer to the sky. Clouds gathered and thunder roared overhead. With a bright flash of rainbow light, the god was gone. The only trace left of his presence, is a blackened, smoking symbol burned into the grass.

Tony sighed resignedly.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance." He commented blandly. Steve just huffed out a laugh. He turned and escorted his friend to his orange sports car.

"I'm going to miss him though. And you're gonna miss me, there's going to be a lot of manful tears." Tony snarked, the car chirping as he hit the car key.

"I'm going to miss Sy more than the two of you combined." Steve meant it to come off as a joke, but it came out as a heavy confession. He'd just gotten used to her being around all the time again, had finally stopped compulsively checking on her every ten minutes, didn't need to hug her tightly at least once a day to remind him she was safe, and now she was leaving too. After she'd told him she was quitting the Avengers team, they'd talked about her options for what came next.

Sy decided that she was going to return to her ambassadorial position between SHIELD and Olympus. She would also be a consultant of sorts with the Avengers, just incase they ever run across a godly problem. And under the improbable circumstances of a godly problem becoming too big for the demigods to handle, Steve privately promised that nothing would stop him from dragging everyone back together and come running.

Beyond that, she decided she wanted to return to music. He'd been looking at colleges with her, even if she was applying later than most other students. Either way she was planning on staying near the city. Stick around camp, help train the next generation of heroes. See that they got raised by someone other than, as she put it, "a drunk god, and his horseman babysitter/sidekick."

Sy was done with battling mortals, especially after the events of the Triskelion and her imprisonment at HYDRA's hands. Sy was done with death. Or as done with death as a demigod could ever be. And Steve couldn't be more relieved.

Tony snorted loudly, breaking Steve's train of thought.

"The Maximoff kid, the brother, he's sticking around right? Trust me, you'll see her plenty." Steve groaned, shaking his head. That was something he'd been trying very hard not to think about. They're both adults and based on the looks to two of them had been sending each other when they thought nobody was looking only served to remind Steve of that fact.

"I don't know how people have kids. I got Sy after she was basically an adult and the stress is going to kill me." Tony just laughed at him. Steve looked at Tony as his car rolled up.

"SHIELD, Fury's SHIELD, couldn't control you. But they could control what I learned when I woke up. I relied on Fury not to lie to me about this team and he did. A little before she was taken, Sy showed me the real story Tony. About what happened. I don't agree with many of your choices; but Iron Man was a good one Tony. You are Iron Man, with or without the suit. I don't think I ever apologized for that on the carrier." Steve said quietly, making sure he looked Tony directly in the face while he spoke. It was still hard to see the younger man be older than him; to see Howard reflected out of his face. But it's 2015, not 1945 anymore. It's time for him to face the present, to face Tony, rather than allowing the ghosts of his past to continue to haunt him.

"Thanks, Cap." He nodded once, and Steve just smiled at the other man. He knew Tony was uncomfortable with vulnerability, but plowed forward anyways. They were a team, maybe even friends. But more importantly Steve had wronged the other man, and it was more than time for him to suck up his own pride, and start making it right.

"I will miss you Tony." Steve asserted firmly. After the year they'd had, it was important to Steve to make sure Tony knew that. And not just know it, but to hear it. Tony looked at him, surprise written across his face.

"Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book and build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up." The other man shrugged. Steve looped his thumbs through his belt, looking out over the expansive lawn around the new facility Tony had built for them. He looked back at his friend.

"The simple life huh?"

"You'll get there one day." Tony assured him. Steve just shrugged, looking away again.

"I dunno. Family, stability. The guy who wanted that went into the ice seventy five years ago. I think someone else came out." He admitted.

"Besides, I already have the more important half of that equation in Sy and Bucky. In the team. In you." Tony opened the door of his car, but didn't get in. Concern crossed the older man's face.

"You alright?" He asked uncomfortably. Steve looked around him and answered honestly.

"I'm home."

AN:

And that's a wrap of Age of Miracles (AKA AoU)! I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, or favorited this story/series!

I never thought I'd go past the Olympian Avenger, but here we are at the end of part four in the series! I do have plans to continue Sy's story through the rest of the phase three arcs until Endgame, so keep your eyes peeled for the next installment in Sy's adventures!

Cheers,

Hartley