A/N: I'm back! Sorry this is gonna be a short one but a good place to end it. Two more chapters to go I hope you all are ready.

I apologies for any and all errors.

And Without any further ado, on with the show!

Chapter Forty-Eight: When Triumph Bleeds into Bliss

"What Deal!?"

Before Steve could even answer, Captain America's shield clattered suddenly on the ground next to them. It was covered in blood, gore and ooze. It reeked of a dank putrid odor.

Both suppressed a gag.

"Salutations my beautiful Midgardians!" Calamity exclaimed joyously as she floated down with serenity. "I thought you would lament to leave that in the pseudo realm." She nodded at the shield.

She landed with grace and elegance that made Tony want to vomit more than the shields hideous smell did.

"That was a real close one, was it not?" She smiled.

Tony and the others stared at her warily. Most of his team, he realized with a start, had begun to congregate into the crater.

Steve shifted next to him making Tony flinch. The Captain turned to her, "Took you long enough." He groused.

"The Rögvava had to be fully consumed before I got near."

"Why is that?" Barton groaned out. He was lying sprawled out spread eagle on the ground unmoving.

"Because, my dear Archer, though it looked dead it was not all dead. If it sensed my presence it would have latched on to me and revived. Then where would we all be?" She replied.

"Couldn't you have just snapped your fingers and killed it?" Sam asked warily.

"I do not have that kind of power."

"Well you could have fucking fooled me!" Clint roared.

Tony groaned internally at Clint's responses. He was tempting fate, talking to a celestial God like that. Then again Tony has absolutely no room to talk.

This was getting nowhere.

"Can we get back on topic please!" Tony snapped. He turned back to Steve who was resolutely avoiding eye contact. "What deal?"

Steve continued to look away, contrite.

"God dammit! Rogers! Look at me!"

Steve snapped his attention to Tony.

"Don't tell me all of this was for nothing! You didn't bargain… us?"

Though he meant 'us' as in all of humanity, the whispered emphasis he put into that single word spoke volumes more of what he really felt deep in his heart.

Steve's eyes widened in shock. "No! It's not like that, not really."

"Then what?!"

But before Steve could answer an alarming squeal sounded off.

"WAH! Where did the rift go!" The Rhododendron bellowed as he shakingly picked himself off of the ground.

He coughed hoarsely as blood poured out of his nose and mouth. He spat the blood out viciously as if by doing so he could banish them all to a hell dimension.

Tony swore then and there that he was gonna kill the guy. He was going to rip that man apart!

'And I'm going to fucking enjoy it!' He thought with extreme malice.

Tony startled when Calamity flicked him on the nose.

"None of that, Anthony." She smiled.

Now his malice was solely focused on her.

She laughed, "What am I going to do with you?"

She began to make her way steadily to the Rhododendron who was now spewing incoherent filth.

"Graham, stop this nonsense." She commanded as if reprimanding a child.

He stopped abruptly and stared up at her in shock.

"It's you! You've come to help me. Please, those fools over there-" he pointed an accusing finger at our group of heroes. "They spoiled our plans! You must smite them!" He raged.

Now this Revelation had truly taken Tony aback.

"They were working together!?" He raged. The resounding murmurs from his own team mirrored his own dark astonishment.

This was how the Rhododendron was able to accomplish all these fantastical, horrible and seemingly impossible things. She was helping him…

But why?!

"Oh, my dear child, you are mistaken. I have not come to aid you." She sighed. "I have come to collect that which you owe me."

Tony watched as the blood drained from that foul bunny's face.

"But- but my Lady! I'm so close! If you could just open the rift again, we could win!" He pleaded hysterically.

"My dear Graham," she began as she caressed his cheek. "You have not learned the lesson I have left for you to learn." She gently removed his shattered pink aviators and tossed them aside.

"M-my Lady?" He breathed out stricken.

"A deal is a deal." She ran a single finger starting in the middle of his forehead down his face.

She gently slid the tip of her finger down is sharp nose and over his chapped lips. She continued down until she reached the middle of his chest. She braced her palm flat over his heart. She paused there for a moment as if feeling his heartbeat then jerked her hand back suddenly.

Tony knew he was going to have nightmares for months perhaps even years about the scream that ripped from the Rhododendron's throat. The genius's body flinched involuntarily, and Steve rested a hand on his shoulder to steady him. Tony couldn't look away from the terrifying scene in front of him.

Besides the God-awful scream, the whole scene seemed rather innocuous, as Calamity pulled a bright white light from his body. Yet Tony knew on a deep fundamental level that what he was witnessing was by far the most horrific and detestable thing he could ever possibly witness. Even more so than even the most gruesome, bloody genocide ever committed. This thing he had just witnessed he knew would leave a lasting scar on his very soul.

The Rhododendron's body fell to the ground in a disgusting heap. He was gray and utterly devoid of life. Calamity turned to the group with her hand held out still holding on to the beautiful white light. The entire group all remained completely still in petrified silence. All except Steve. He stood and steadily and approached her.

"Anuk." He spoke with gentle severity in his tone.

She looked up at him, her face was full of remorse.

"Was that truly necessary?" He asked gravely.

Tony looked between them, fear growing in his heart for Steve.

"It was the deal we made." She answered. "It is much like that idiom you spoke of. He made his bed, now he must lie upon it."

"But he was conscious."

She sighed, "I am sorry that each of you had to witness this. It is not an easy thing to bear witness to." She spoke of louder so all could hear her. "But it was in fact very necessary. You needed to bear witness to exactly what I am capable of."

Tony felt sick. Sure, he wanted to strangle the guy for all the grief and chaos he caused. But Tony didn't 'actually' want to kill him. He didn't want him to die, at least… not like this…

"I sense your apprehension and incredulity. It radiates off of you in splendid waves. Know that the remorse and compassion you feel for your enemy now is exactly why none of you will share his fate." She began to stock straight towards Tony.

Everybody seemed to stiffen in fear. The genius could swear he saw his life flash before his eyes. She was about to reach for him, but Steve caught her wrist in a vice, his expression was severe and he growled in warning.

"Anuk…"

She merely chuckled, "My dear Steven, I give you my word that I mean him no harm. Truly, our deal still stands."

He let go of her wrist reluctantly. She reached for Tony again. Tony stiffened, his posture as hard as iron.

"You can relax, Anthony. I only mean to reclaim this…" She gently tucked her fingers into the collar of his shirt.

Everyone, Tony included, watched with bated breath as she hooked her fingers around a concealed chain and tugged it out of his shirt. She tentatively slipped it over his head then held it up to inspect it. It was the flash drive she had given him all those weeks ago. The one that held the nearly impossible code.

"You most certainly will not be needing this any longer." She stated simply.

Tony flinched when the drive began to deconstruct itself. The plastic popped off to reveal the black crystal within. The wires and circuits then began to unbind themselves off of the small black iridescent mass.

She gestured for Tony to hold out his hand.

Tony still stuck in a somewhat state of shock did not know quite what to do, he looked up at Steve for guidance and he gave Tony a subtle encouraging nod.

He trusted Steve.

Tony shakingly, and quite reluctantly held out his hand and the small crystal landed in the middle of his palm. If any were to later ask he most certainly did not squeak when the crystal began to move and change shape. It seemed to unfold and come apart in a way that was not unlike old transformers figures. It didn't stop until the end result resembled… A fairy?

It was a tiny humanoid-esk crystal-like figure with wings. Some of his team members that had managed to shake off their initial shock had tentatively moved closer to get a look at what Tony was now holding.

The tiny figure bowed at him.

"Tony, that…" Steve pointed at the tiny creature, "Is Calamity, her name is Anuk."

Wait…

What?

WHAT!?

Tony rapidly glanced between the "human" woman and a little crystal figure in his hand.

"You and you..."

"Are one in the same." The little crystal finished. Her voice was small yet vast at the same time.

It gave Tony chills. It sounded just like the way her overwhelming presence felt.

"So, this you, the real you, had been with me the entire time!?" Tony exclaimed incredulous.

"That is indeed correct. I have been with you this entire time. I must admit I have taken great joy in learning your mind and reading your thoughts. I enjoy your mind more than I care to admit, however."

In that moment Tony felt utterly violated.

The human figure moved and handed the bright orb of light to the tiny crystal.

Tony was sure he knew exactly what the orb of light was. However, he needed to be sure.

"What is that exactly?" He indicated the light.

From the corner of his eye he could see Steve cross his arms around himself uncomfortably.

"Graham's human soul and life essence." She answered.

Sometimes, he hated being right.

"That was you tearing his soul out?" Natasha spoke this time.

"Indeed." The crystal figure answered as she absorbed the light into her tiny body.

Tony heard a few gasps of shock and horror emitted from his team.

Tony's response was a bit more intense, "So, what? Is that what you want the souls for? Power and life?"

"Oh, no, dear Anthony. The souls remain perfectly intact and unharmed within me."

"Within you?" He demanded harshly with an expected amount of skepticism.

"Yes, I will show you." She fluttered up and touched Tony's forehead.

His vision instantly changed from his reality into a black and colorful cosmic nebula that was littered with countless stars. Only, he realized, they weren't actually stars.

They were the souls.

Each one vastly unique from the rest. Each one radiating colors he never even dreamed of. Even more shocking was the overall vibe he got from them. Somehow, it was entirely peaceful and content. Not a lick of anger or resentment.

Then suddenly he was back.

He took a shuttering breath, "This was why it was so difficult to figure out your code. Why there were large quantities of code I could not hope to read."

"Indeed, it is as I stated before. You will only see what I allow you to see." Tony nodded mutely still vastly overwhelmed from that transcendent experience.

Then, she fluttered away from Tony and landed on Steve's shoulder.

"Love," she spoke softly. "It is now time to complete our bargain."

He nodded in resignation.

Tony's consciousness snapped from awe to terrified.

"The deal!"

With as much effort as he could muster, he got to his feet.

"Wait! I don't know what kind of deal you two got going on but I'm going to be damned if I let you take Steve away from me again." He could feel his team rally behind him. "And I am sure as hell not going to let you tear his soul out in front of me!"

"Tony." Steve warned.

"Anthony, love, a deal has been made. I swore an oath and I shall not break it."

"Like I'm gonna let that happen either!" Barnes groaned as he shakingly got to his knees.

"Yeah, it's a total losing battle against a celestial God, but I'll fight it anyway." Barton added with a grunt as he attempted to roll over.

"Where in this together." Nat smirked.

"Count me in." Peter said.

"Me too! Not gonna let all the others have the fun, right Sam?"

"Took the words right in my mouth, Rhodey."

"What do you think brother? Together?"

"Wherever you go, I go, sister."

"A celestial God, eh. I'm in. Can't give Asgard a bad name, can I?"

This was followed by a chorus of 'count me in's' and 'me too's' from various honorary Avengers and X-Men alike.

All of the heroes stood on shaky legs. Many were battle weary and severely wounded but regardless each and every one of them stood and declared their will to fight for their Captain's soul. Tony could not have been more proud of his team, his family. He watched as Steve looked at each one of them in turn and did a poor job holding back his emotions.

"Steven, my love, this is a real fine family you have here, you know that do you not?" She admitted with reverence.

"Yeah I do." He agreed as he futilely wiped tears from his face.

"Take good care of them, love, cherish every second with them."

"I will." He whispered wetly.

Before Tony could even comprehend what all that meant the little crystal creature fluttered off of Steve's shoulder and swooped up to lightly tap his forehead.

"A deal is a deal." She murmured.

And with that the little fairy and her human avatar coalesced into a black orb of iridescent light then shot up into the sky and exploded into trillions of stars that cascaded over the evening sky and rained down upon them.

When the last of Anuk's black twinkling light faded from the sky, it irrevocably and resoundingly marked the end of the Calamity case.

While most of the Avengers were in awe over the absolutely spectacular light show, Tony's attention was honed in on a very much still alive Steve who was standing a good ten feet away. Tony tried to take a step towards him but had completely forgotten that he was still bound in a dead suit of armor. He met with resistance and began to topple over.

"Crap."

He squeezed his eyes shut bracing for impact.

After realizing that his face had not yet met the dirt, he looked up to find himself safe in Steve's arms. He looked up into the warm gray eyes of his Captain. Hope threatened to ignite in his heart.

"You're…" He breathed, "Still here." He desperately tried to douse the now burning flame of hope.

Maybe, just maybe…

When Steve's face broke out into a wide grin Tony was happy to lose that battle.

"I'm here to stay if you'll have me." The same burning hope emanated from Steve's own expression.

"Oh, God yes!"

Tony laced his fingers into Steve's Golden hair and pulled him down to capture his lips into a passionate kiss. Tony nearly swooned when Steve not only kissed him back but almost instantaneously deepened the kiss into fiery bliss.

The cheers and wolf whistles from his team didn't bother him in the least.

Only when Tony's chest began to burn from lack of oxygen did they part. The moment they were no longer caught in love's embrace they were swarmed by their teammates. Their cheers of celebration and congratulations and triumph could be heard from miles around.

The Avengers won.

The Calamity case was solved, the Rhododendron dead and the black hole closed.

As Tony looked up into Steve's laughing eyes, he knew things weren't going to be anywhere near perfect. They had a lot of things they needed to work on, to fix. But for the first time in perhaps his whole life, he could see the possibility of a truly bright and happy future. And when Steve pulled him close again and to kiss him so tenderly and with such reverence, Tony realized with disdain and mortification that he had completely forgotten that he was supposed to design his armor with more crotch room… again.

End Chapter 48

A/N: Just Two more chapters left. I can hardly believe it. I've been working on this for 7 years now. Just the last of the Story and an Epilogue. I've got chills.

Next chapter will reveal all. Everything you ever wanted to know about Anuk's plan and then some. (hopefully) Which means we will finally find out what exactly is the kind of deal Steve made with Anuk. Well until the Next time.

All questions, comments and theories welcome.

(Seriously, if you have a question, now is the time to ask.)