Beside the River of Truth: G1E2

"Partners into the Future"

"Two Heads are Better than One"

"Stark and Osborn: Out to Change the World"

"The Alliance of the Century"

Everywhere Steve clicked there was a headline about it. The world was ablaze with the news. And in every article there he was. The traitor. Tony. Tony, who had been drunk when Ultron had attacked. Tony, for whom Peter had to die to give Tony time to hack NORAD. Tony, who couldn't tell through his blurred vision which keyboard was real. "Anything to desecrate his memory. Isn't that right?" muttered Steve as he reached for a phone in the kitchen drawer, still looking at the headline. Next to the phone was the hotspot. Steve turned it on first, turned the phone on, and waited for the two to connect. Once the settings were loaded he dialed.

"Steve. Hi" growled a familiar charcoal voice.

"Nick, how the hell did you let Osborn buy out Stark? Why am I looking at headlines of how Stark and Osborn are practically brothers?"

"We're working-"

Steve had to stop himself  from cracking the phone. "That's. Not. Good enough. Nick. Osborn is dangerous and-"

Nick's growl was dangerously low. "Don't you give me that shit! I've a whole facility on lock down because Osborn had reversed our hack, stealing hundreds of billions of files from our servers! I'm in damage control right now. So why don't you shut your pretty fucking mouth and go run a sharp stick up Osborn's ass yourself? Or are you still crying about how you'll never have abs again, like all the other soccer moms???"

Steve healed faster than "normal" people, but he had his limits. A few weeks ago he had encountered MODOK in Obsorn's office, along with some sham Green Goblin Osborn had set up. MODOK had torn into Steve's stomach, forcing him to retreat while holding his guts together. Steve was hardly fully recovered, but he was better. it was time to go out and try again. "Alright Nick, I'll go and distract Osborn. Hang tight."

"You stupid-"

Click

Osborn sat at his desk, tablet in hand. The yield from the reverse hack was more than Osborn could have ever imagined. "SHIELD... SHIELD... oh SHIELD! I'll have to make sure the UN knows about this delicious tech!" Osborn chuckled. For the first time in a while he felt actually happy.

And there it was.

The Pull.

The Cellar Door had opened.

It had been a long time since Norman had felt it; Parker had still been alive. "Oh, Peter" Norman found himself whispering. "You always brought out the very. Very. VERY. Best in me." The Mask giggled. It always found something funny. The world was always a serious and dark place, but the mask? Everything was funny.

Like the crash of the window; The Mask giggled a bit more at the sound of the tinkling glass in Osborn's office. The giggle had turned to a laugh when he saw that ridiculous red, white, and blue suit. "Round... Two... FIGHT!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" in his best take on a basso profundo. The figure in the flag was less than amused. He didn't move as fast as many said he did.

"CATCH!!!"

A bomb came out of his bag, flying away from his fingers. "Oops!"

BOOM

Shrapnel ripped into The Mask's armor as Cap hid behind his shield. "Ooh, someone is frisky" chuckled The Mask.

For a second The Mask saw stars.

And then darkness.

Captain America stood over the Green Goblin, hands to his earpiece. "Goblin's down for a minute. Start the hack."

"Steve, this mission was not authorized-"

"Look, you wanted an opening? Here it is. Goblin's-"

Sparks hit Captain America right in his eyes. But Captain America knew what was coming next; Goblin whiffed the next punch. Steve blinked his vision back into existence. And of course another pumpkin bomb was incoming. Cap ducked behind his shield. He felt the PUNG of the shield bouncing the pumpkin bomb back.

BOOM

Captain America wondered if they were going to bring the whole building down. For a second he didn't care.

MODOK came floating down the hall. MODOK's eyes were glazed over; he floating a bit lazily from side to side. The Goblin grinned "Courtesy of Nicky boy's hack. Turns out they know how to hack AI, but were scared to unleash it on the world! Well, I'm not a scaredy cat. Thanks for the MODOK!!" MODOK charged. WHUUUUUUNG went the shield. Captain America winced; the stitches had torn.

"Steve, goddammit, break off!"

"Did you get the hack established??"

"Steve, we got it, get the hell out of there!!!" It was Sharon. She sounded like she meant business.

So Steve scooted.

Sharon was waiting for Steve as he stumbled through his apartment window, stitches torn. No matter how hard Steve tried to get back into the field Nick and Sharon demanded that he heal. SHIELD was working around the clock, disassembling Osborn's infrastructure as fast as they could. Steve wanted to sneak off and run another raid; he felt better after a few days. But Sharon never seemed to leave his apartment, fussing about and keeping things clean and watching TV in his living room. Steve didn't have to guess if Sharon had been given orders to keep him in the apartment, regardless of circumstance; Sharon told him so. There were times Steve was glad for the company.

And it was just as well. Steve kept seeing the same van outside his window the entire time he healed.Any damage he could have done was already done; Osborn was wasting his time. So each time Steve saw the van he snorted in amusement.

And then winced.

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