Chapter Text
It all felt like theater, getting into the costumes, getting his hair done, posing for photos. Waiting in the wings for his cue.
Valentina didn’t seem to be aware of just how well he could hear. That wasn’t the part of his powers that excited her, she had the full reach of the CIA to do that kind of spying for her. She knew he could hear her from a floor up, and that’s why his starting place for this scene was a flight up. But what she probably didn’t know, and what he didn’t warn her about:
He could hear someone saying, in a raised but calm voice, Brace! He could hear the truck smashing through the glass on the ground floor, then the echo of it on Valentina’s monitor, and her quiet ugh, shit, come on before she turned it off. He could hear the sounds of fighting, Yelena’s quiet war cry, the scrape of steel on steel.
And then, Valentina’s voice, doubled over the intercom, which was disconcerting. He tilted his head, zeroing in on the source, rather than the transmitted version, which took a little focus, but only just. The same amount it took to tune out the rest of the city, really. But he got the gist, that she was inviting them up to meet him.
“So this is a trap, yeah?” Ava said.
“Yeah,” Yelena said, huffing a breath. He could hear the brush of cloth as she straightened her clothes. “But she has Bob.”
Last they saw him, he was in hospital pajamas. Not very impressive. This was the chance to make a new first impression. A reintroduction. Valentina had known them well enough to predict that they would be back for him. So what else could she be right about?
Everyone’s going to love you, she’d said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He hoped she was right, she had to be right, because she picked him. But she hadn’t known. Now was the moment of truth.
He stood straighter as the team piled into the elevator and attuned his ear to listen closer.
There were two others with them, two he didn’t recognize. One of them must have been the man who’d told them to brace. Probably the driver. There was a quiet whir of machinery, beside his heartbeat. Was he someone like Iron Man? How did he get roped in with all this? The other, he wasn’t sure about. Was it someone he knew?
Valentina was rushing to her place at the bar, shoving away the monitor she’d been looking at, then slowing her breath. Her heartbeat followed.
“Be ready,” Walker said, voice bouncing slightly around the elevator before it came to Bob’s ears.
“No shit,” Yelena spat, but he could the nervousness in her voice. Was she as nervous, as excited, as he was?
The elevator shook slightly with the force of someone bouncing their leg, but it arrived at the penthouse, and opened. They took tentative steps out.
He had to resist the urge to show himself immediately, to rush out and reassure them that he was okay. Better than okay, better than ever. He wanted to see their faces when they took him in for the first time. But Valentina was still talking, and she was right. This needed, this deserved, a moment.
He was just waiting for his cue.
Theater.
Valentina was pouring herself a drink. Bourbon, he thought, from the smell.
“How crazy is it to think of all the monumental fights that happened exactly here where you’re standing?” She set the bottle down with a small thunk. “Eh. I don’t really care. I mean, the place wasn’t cheap, but- it’s got good optics.”
“Well, it’s over Valentina,” The mechanical man said. He sounded tired already. “This ends today.”
“Congressman Barnes, wow.”
Barnes? Like Bucky Barnes? Captain America’s friend. He didn’t normally keep up with the news but he remembered something about him going into government. What was he doing here?
“You know, I never really thought you’d have a promising political career, but- less than half a term? Yikes.”
“We’re taking you in, Val.” Walker said, clearly trying to mimic Bucky’s authority. It didn't work.
Valentina scoffed, took a sip of her drink.
“I don’t think so. Junior Varsity Captain America.”
He growled. Was he going to do something? Would Bob have to interfere already? He got to his feet-
“Walker.” Bucky Barnes snapped, and surprisingly enough, Walker listened to him.
“Oh, nice to see you, Ava.” Valentina continued. Her breath hadn't even hitched, that's how much she believed in him. “Yelena. You look awful.”
“Mhmm.”
“You sure you’re really ready for that public-facing role you asked me about?”
“Eat shit Valentina, where’s Bob?” He hadn’t ever heard Yelena’s voice so cold. She would be so relieved to see him. But Valentina remained undaunted.
“Look at you. You are all so adorable. Just think. I send you down there to kill each other, and instead, you make nice and you form a team.” She paused. “Who’s this old Santa?”
Perfect. The mystery man was about to introduce himself.
“I’m Alexei Shostakov.” He didn’t recognize the name, but it, and he, sounded Russian. “The Red Guardian.”
“What?” So Valentina didn’t either.
“Where’s Mel?” Bucky Barnes spoke up, clearly losing patience. Valentina might have been playing it cool, but she could be in danger now. Bob headed down the stairs, looking through the translucent orange glass to get a look at the bar. The distortion from the glass was no obstacle to his enhanced senses. Now he could see them all, forcing a semicircle around her.
“Mel? Oh, Mel. Yeah. Uh, Mel is having a little loyalty issue. But I’m just so grateful that she stayed long enough-” Bucky took her glass and set it down. Too close too close too close- “to lure you all in.”
Barnes reached for Valentina again, and Bob squinted slightly, stopping it in place. Just as much effort as stopping a rolling pencil with his finger. But Barnes was struggling against this simple grip. A super soldier, struggling against him!
She tutted, marking them for fools.
“I’m not alone. Robert?”
His cue!
His stomach twisted in knots as he took his first step down into their line of sight. His grand entrance. A hero, like Valentina had on the posters. He wanted so badly to be impressive. Enough to stun them into silence.
And for a moment, they were.
“Oh my God.” Yelena said first, which was…ambivalent. But he knew he looked different. And that was a bit of a shock. He couldn’t blame her.
“That’s Bob?” Barnes said, turning to look at him appraisingly. And he wasn’t impressed. A stab of doubt, aimed at his gut.
“Yeah, he’s changed a little.” Ava said, similarly unawed. But that was to be expected. She didn’t take anything seriously. Walker was measuring him.
There was a guy in a red suit walking around, circling the back. He hadn’t said anything yet, but this must be the Old Santa. Alexei Shostakov.
Okay, maybe not admiration, but at least consideration. Could he settle for that? He examined their faces, but mainly their jaws, because he couldn’t handle it if he met their eyes, and saw confusion and vague pity there.
Yelena remained in stunned silence. He wished she would say something. Wasn’t she happy to see him? Wasn’t she proud of him? Didn’t he look like a hero?
He looked to Valentina for reassurance. She was supposed to explain things. She was supposed to take care of his reintroduction. She said everyone was going to love him. Valentina smiled, knowing that everything was alright, that he had it handled, despite the underwhelming moment. Because she believed in him.
“It is my great honor to introduce you to the Sentry.”
He turned to them, eyes finally flicking up to meet theirs, nodding along.
“Hey guys.”
Not as cool as he hoped, but this was just a trial run between friends, right? And they were used to this kind of superhero stuff. He could still have hope. The public would love him.
“Wow.” Alexei said, looking at his suit in envy. “That’s cool name.”
Ava and Yelena look at him in reproach, but Bob appreciated it. At least someone was excited about this. Someone who hadn’t known him as Bob. That boded well.
“All-powerful. Invincible.” Val continued in her cool voice. Listing attributes, as she’d once listed off his horrible history, not too long ago. “Stronger than all of the Avengers rolled into one.”
As she spoke, he turned to look at them all again, hoping they’d see how cool this was now. When he looked at Walker, the man actually straightened, standing taller. Before, in the Vault, he couldn’t tell, probably because of his posture, but now he could see they were about the same height.
“And soon to be known as Earth’s mightiest hero.”
Well. Maybe. He looked down, averting his eyes. Bashful. He hadn’t even done anything yet. Was this what it was like when your parents held you up and bragged about all your dumb little accomplishments to all the other parents? Because he’d never done anything worth that before.
Ava looked, squinting, tilting her head. What was she seeing? Was she reevaluating-
“Have you dyed your hair?” She asked finally.
His ears burned. Out of all the things-
Caught off guard, he began to stutter.
“Yeah, well it was-” He looked to Valentina in a panic, and she bailed him out.
“Yeah, it was my idea.” She nodded, so he nodded with her. “People love a classic hero.”
Yelena’s eyes were glued on Bob. But instead of awe and admiration, like he’d hoped for and expected, there was just horror, and a little bit of disgust. Didn’t she want him to be strong?
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Bucky said, still unimpressed. “What’s the plan?”
Valentina laughed lightly.
“You haven’t figured it out yet Bucky? Geez.” Her eyes widened, and she rolled them a little. He didn’t know what to do now. He was just waiting for someone to tell him what to do. This wasn’t going how it was supposed to go. “Well at least you’re kinda cute.”
“You’re not going to hurt people.” Alexei declared seriously.
“Oh no. No, I’m not gonna hurt people,” she said, and something in her voice made him shift his weight, like she was about to tell him what to do and he should be ready. “I’m gonna hurt you. You see, the press is on their way here now.”
Ava, Walker, and Yelena were looking at Bob now, as he tried and failed to meet their eyes. He didn’t know where this was going. He couldn't answer the question that was surely on their faces.
“And they’re gonna witness the awesome power of Sentry as he takes down this ruthless group of rogue agents. Thus beginning a new era in which I decide how to keep the American people safe, answering to no one.”
They all turned to look at her, incredulous. But Valentina continued, exultant, eyes shimmering with satisfaction.
“I’ll be unimpeachable.”
Barnes spoke first.
“That’s…never gonna happen.” He pressed his lips together, like he was breaking bad news. But Valentina wasn’t the pessimistic sort.
“Sentry,” she said, calling to him, very pleasantly. No more Robert. This was his reintroduction.
He turned to her, unsure, waiting for her to explain. He could feel his eyelashes fluttering at his cheek; he still blinked a lot when he was nervous. A physiological response even the serum couldn’t take from him. “Your first mission is to take out these criminals.”
They immediately got battle ready. Ava, masking up, Walker hefting his shield, Barnes shifting into a ready stance, hand on his guns. Alexei, who’d clearly been raring for a fight the moment they’d arrived, barely moved.
Quick on the draw, these folks, but that was probably the biggest factor in their survival to this very moment. He didn’t know whether to be flattered by their threat assessment or hurt that they really thought he was just about to attack them without hesitation. They didn’t even know what he was really capable of.
Yelena, of all people, despite her readiness, didn’t reach for anything. Just stepped back, pain twisting her face.
That tipped the balance over to hurt.
He looked around at all of them, pleading. This wasn’t going the way he hoped.
This was just for his introduction to the world. They could figure out how to get them out later. Valentina had tried to kill them before, but Bob could stop her, if he asked, because he was her guy. He could save them, if they just went along with this now.
“I don’t wanna hurt you guys. Why don’t you just turn yourselves in?” He laughed nervously, trying to diffuse the tension.
“No, you don’t wanna do this, Bobby.” Walker said warningly, the nickname, the tone, all too familiar. Looking down at him, rejecting the mercy he was offering.
I think I do, paternalistic fuck, what do you know about me? Try shoving me against the wall now. You have all that serum through your veins? I’ve got a better one.
But that wasn’t something a hero said.
He clenched his jaw. He’d tried to be friendly, because of what they’d all been through together in the Vault. But what did he owe Walker, really? Nothing. He hadn’t saved his life. At the time, he hadn’t known it, but he’d never been in danger in the Vault.
He’d been an asshole to him from the moment they’d met. And Bob- Sentry- deserved some respect.
“You can call me The Sentry.”
Calling himself that seemed to snap Yelena out of it, because she stepped forward, shaking her head.
“Please, don’t do this. You do not need to listen to her.” She said, eyes wide.
He hesitated. He just wanted to explain things to her, because yes, he knew he didn’t need to listen to Valentina. But he wanted to. Because she was someone who handled heroes, and that was what he was trying to be.
“Robert,” Valentina spoke up, “They don’t think you’re good enough.”
Yelena’s face fell.
“That’s not true,” she stepped forward again, shaking her head, stubborn. If he didn’t know better, he would think she was begging. But she was above all that. She shoved it all down.
“Remember?” Valentina reminded him.
“You can trust me.” Yelena said earnestly. “I know you.”
Absurdly, he was reminded of Airbud. The golden retriever coaxed between two owners, whistling and slapping their legs to try and get him on their side.
Valentina wanted him to be Sentry for her. Prove her right to all those horrible bureaucrats in Congress, replace the Avengers and protect the Earth.
Yelena…he wasn’t sure what she wanted from him.
She was a spy, an assassin. And she was strong, powerful, but not the way he was now. And still she wanted to protect him. She didn’t see that he was the one who should be saving them. That he could protect her now.
He took a breath to brace himself. He shook his head.
“I don’t think that you do.”
She looked like he’d slapped her, and he immediately wished he hadn’t said it.
“Enough talking!” Alexei roared, seething. No one turned to look back at him. They were too busy looking at Bob with dread. “No one messes with the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts!”
He pumped his fist and charged Valentina.
“Thunderbolts?” Valentina muttered, confused, but Bob watched his charge as if in slow motion, considering. Could he take a super soldier? Valentina wasn’t getting out of the way, still lost in confusion.
At the last second, he stepped between them. He met the charge with a punch, just a tap, really, experimental, and even that sent Alexei to the far wall with a cry.
That was enough for them to think him a real threat. Barnes reached for his back holster, and Walker lifted his shield.
“Hey.” Yelena got between them, her voice no longer pleading but commanding. “No, no, no! No!”
No one heeded her. Walker’s shield bounced right off Bob’s raised forearm, back to his grip.
Valentina walked. She had faith in his ability to deal with this.
“Wait!” Yelena shouted again.
John and Ava rushed Bob, Yelena not far behind: John on his left, with a leaping blow with his shield, Ava on his right, flickering in and out of reality.
“Bob, no!”
He dodged Ava’s blow easily, slapped John’s shield away, and his arms flew wide. His mind instinctually followed the motion with telekinesis, sending Ava, John, and Yelena flying to the floor.
Barnes, having seen enough, had drawn both of his guns, and without his comrades in the line of fire, shot a hail of bullets.
It is human nature, when faced with danger to raise your hands to defend yourself. Maybe to spare vital parts by sacrificing less important ones. But mostly because the mind thinks that their hands, with which they exert their will over the world, might actually stop it.
Usually, this line of thinking does not fare well against a machine gun.
This time, the bullets didn’t even touch him. They were caught in the air, like the golf balls.
This man tried to kill me, he thought, with no small amount of indignation. Sure, he was invincible, but had he really done anything worth killing him for?
If you can dish it, you better be able to take it.
He flung them back with a bare flexing of his fingers. He didn't need to worry about whether he could do it. He just did it.
Walker leapt in front of Barnes, catching the bullets on his shield- what a time to be self-sacrificial-, but like the man, the shield was not the genuine article. Instead of ricocheting, as it would off of Captain America’s shield, the bullets pushed both men to the floor.
Alexei pushed himself to his feet and drew a knife.
“Alexei, wait!” Yelena shouted. The composure, the cold command she’d started out with, all of it was gone.
Alexei charged him again.
He didn’t bother to move. Bullets hadn’t worked, why would this do anything?
He met the tip of the blade with an outstretched palm, freezing it in place an inch from his skin, just as he had done to Barnes. The man’s eyes went wide. He even gasped.
That was a lot more satisfying than the golf balls. Because that was practice. This was real, and if he failed, he’d die. Except he couldn’t. The ultimate safety net.
He raised his other hand, reaching up to push him away, but Alexei knocked that away with his offhand- he was so surprised at the attempt, hadn’t he seen what he’d just done?- that he let it happen, his arm flying away loosely.
Alexei wrapped around him, hand on his side, pressing him against him- he was nimble, for such a large man- and Bob let the rest of him go limp in this parody of an embrace. The knife stabbed once, twice, at his thigh, at his chest, and it didn’t even feel like pain, really, just a touch. To his delight, not even the suit was damaged. Not even a crease. Was that the suit’s work, or his own?
For his old self, on his good days, he’d think he was invincible. Now it was true. The Sentry didn’t need drugs, he was high.
Either way, there was a knife going towards his face now.
Was his eye vulnerable? The thought took him suddenly, that his eyes were a weak spot, an Achilles heel. That’s how it was in video games.
Before the knife hit his face, he took control of it, and told it break, and it shattered, a handspan away. He made sure the shards went towards the other guy, too, though none were sharp enough to cut.
But the guy still wasn’t getting it. He went for another punch.
Bob was out of patience.
He caught the whole man and flung him away. Alexei went crashing through the window- he hadn’t been paying attention, so he’d thought he was going to hit the wall again. He held him, just for a second, just to figure out what he was going to do with him.
He couldn’t kill him, of course. But if he just set him down on his feet he’d just keep trying to fight, which was pointless. Hastily, he pulled him back in, swiped him headfirst into the bar with a low grumble of cracking stone. The best solution he could think of, in the heat of the moment.
Something he moved in the corner of his eye. It was Ava, but not as he had previously seen her. It was like her whole body was made of vibrating fractals, barely holding together, like reality was having trouble coloring in between the lines with her. She was darting around him.
She dove for him, phasing into reality for a blow. He flung himself backwards, and he flew, watching in fascination as she reappeared, the strange chaotic quality of her form solidifying into shape at the exact moment she would’ve hit him, if he were there. So precise!
She turned back to look back at him, just in time for him to speed back into her. A flying punch, no follow-through, just to knock her to the ground.
His hair flopped his face, but he tossed his head, flicking it out of the way, turning just in time to get smashed in the cheek by the edge of a shield.
To his satisfaction, he stood unmoved by the blow. It didn’t transfer any momentum to him, didn’t rock his head back. He almost laughed as the man wound up for another blow, but he caught the rim of the shield when it came for him this time. It wasn’t a struggle to turn the shield around like a lazy Susan, twisting against Walker’s grip.
He thought of something then-
Instead of turning it further, he bent it back, wrapping the shield the man was so proud of around Walker’s wrist. Then he tossed the ruined shield- and the arm, and the man with it- aside. Just for good measure, he took a body shot into his side, sending him flying.
Bucky came in with knife- why did these people think a knife was any good for this?- for a downward stab.
Bob caught his wrist, and the knife fell. Barned caught it with his other hand and stabbed at his belly, and when that didn’t worked, slashed at his face. Bob leaned out of the way of that blow, still conscious of his eyes, and walked around behind him. By the time Barnes tried to shoot him with the hand that originally held the knife, he wasn’t even there to get shot at.
Barnes turned, and Bob punched him, straight in the jaw. It sent him flying towards the ceiling. Bob followed him there, beat him to the apex of the fall, and caught him by the throat. He held them there, so they were face to face, and punched him again- sending him straight down to the floor.
Right, he was flying. He let himself float back down.
He twisted his right gauntlet. It was tight, he felt it cling to his skin and it was grounding, the feel of the friction against his skin-
This wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They could’ve just turned themselves in. They could’ve let him be a hero.
Yelena was running towards him, and his ears pricked up, straining to sense some unseen enemy she aimed to intercede between. But there was no one. She was heading straight for him, leaping-
She jumped on his back and wrapped her legs around his waist.
He sagged, accepting the weight.
What was she doing?
“Stop, Bob.” She said, straining with the effort of holding onto him, when he could’ve held her up, but she was fighting him. Pleading. The buzz of her Widow’s Bite was pressed to his neck, tickling, like the sensation of an electric toothbrush. After everything she’d seen, she still went for the non-lethal option. Electricity crackled.
He pressed his lips together, turning towards her voice. He wanted to say something, but what? Why was she telling him to stop? They were the ones fighting him. She just wasn’t going to get it.
Why wouldn’t she get it?
He turned back and flew straight up. He half expected her to let go, but she clung to him, and he didn’t stop. He crushed her to the ceiling, arm outstretched to try and shake her off, and felt her grip loosen and leave him. He fell straight back down, faster than she’d fall, and held out a hand. She was still only human, for all she had wanted to protect him.
He caught her by the baton harness, about six feet above the ground. It wasn’t as far as a fall as it could’ve been, but it was still a substantial one. She sounded almost like she was weeping when she cried out in pain. But she wasn’t like that. This was just a mission to her, and she was stuffing it down.
He tossed her towards the door. She’d curled up, rolled to absorb impact. She knew how to fall. She’d stay down.
Something prismatic caught the corner of his eye.
It was Ava, shifting through forms like shuffling through a flipbook, her movements like stop-motion. He watched curiously, searching. Did she understand that he could see her? He watched for a pattern as she scoped around him, passing through him- that felt strange, like a sheer cloth brushing against his skin.
He lost patience again.
He held out a hand and let Ava walk into it.
STAY.
It took a little focus to pull her out of phase, but he only needed to command part to get the rest to follow. Ava appeared, her neck in his grip, pain cutting off her breath even before he squeezed.
Walker shot again- now there he was, shooting so surely even with his comrade in Bob’s hands, though maybe he didn’t realize that Ava was full corporeal at the moment- closing the distance.
He tilted his head, power flaring in the metal of the gun, and Walker dropped it, shouting in pain.
A clatter behind him.
Alexei had actually gotten back up, picking up a table as he rose.
He turned around to see it, still choking Ava, too annoyed to really be impressed. Why wasn’t this over yet? Hadn’t they realized by now that they’d been beaten? It reminded him too much of himself as a kid, thinking that getting up again was the admirable thing.
Back then, he’d been proven wrong. But he’d never have to get up again, because no one would ever knock him down again.
He swung his free arm, flipping the heavy granite bar counter over and onto the man, sending him sliding across the floor like a shuffleboard cue. Continuing the moment, he summoned John to his open hand, wrapping his fingers around his throat.
This is over now. We’re done here.
He was still flying, his toes barely scraping against the floor. Just a simple twist, and he could easily throw both people towards the elevator, adding to the pile of- still living!- bodies.
Yelena, panting, looked up at him, and it was the strangest thing, holding her gaze now. There was none of the familiarity they’d shared in the Vault. She was just another person who hadn’t believed in him. And he was proving her wrong.
He counted the bodies: one, two, three, four-
One missing. He sighed as he turned, fiddling with his gauntlet again. Should this fit so tightly? He thought he might find creases on his skin after this.
The Winter Soldier was standing tall.
As the man took off jacket, revealing a whirring metal arm- ah, that was what was making that noise- he was no longer as annoyed by his persistence as he was by the others'. Bob had to at least admire the pedigree. This was a man who’d fought Thanos.
He didn’t win, of course. And he wasn’t going to now.
Barnes went for a leaping blow- typical, Bob was finding, for a super soldier- with his metal arm. Bob, out of a little bit of respect for the elderly, let the blows hit. His jaw (he let his head turn), his belly, his ribs, his chin.
He double-dipped, went for the chest again, and that Bob caught, first with telekinesis, then with his bare hand. He squeezed, and curiously, the machinery whirred under the pressure, rather than crumpling under his strength as expected. He tried another tack, and focused on the metal, all the things that made it up, and it burned, glowing under his gaze, but still it did not break.
Finally, he broke free and just yanked the arm away, tearing it down to the left, swinging it smoothly back up to the right, backhanding Barnes square in the jaw. The blow sent him flying towards the others. Bob had to admire his own aim. Only a few moments and already much better from accidentally throwing someone out a window.
He tossed the arm after him- he had no use for it, after all. Let him have it.
Yelena was the first to get up again- he braced to repel her again, but she backed away, running to the elevator. The others followed suit, but Ava scrambled forward, grabbing the arm before scampering back to the elevator. Walker heaved Barnes onto Alexei’s back.
Val stepped back in from her hiding place, completely unruffled. Unlike him, she had expected this.
“Ah. I’m so glad you were able to catch a glimpse before your, uh, retirement.”
Bob sauntered forwards, brushing off his hands. He’d done well, he thought.
Val strode to Bob’s side as they crammed themselves in the elevator, their last feeble refuge.
“Camera crews are assembling.” She placed a hand on her hip, jutted out her chin to look down her nose at them. “Finish the job, Robert.”
Hadn’t he? He’d beaten them.
“Finish the job?”
He looked at them, trapped like sardines in that tiny metal box that was their only salvation. They looked back at him. Tired, scared. Beaten.
The doors closed.
If he wanted, he could attack through them. Tear the metal apart like tissue paper, pulverize them where they stood. Heat up the metal elevator car and cook them alive. Just cut the cable with a thought, send them plummeting sixty stories.
If he wanted.
“No.”
“What?”
He’d got what he wanted. He’d proved himself, to himself. They weren’t going to hurt anyone, and they weren’t going to prevent him from saving anyone- not for lack of trying. Finishing the job was something a bully did. Not a hero. Certainly not Sentry.
“They’re not a threat to me, so why do I need to kill them?”
Valentina was looking at him like he was stupid. That look he recognized, the half disappointed, half incredulous look of a mother-who-knows-best.
“You need to do what I say, Robert.”
Except he knew, better than most, that Mother had no idea what was going on.
It was a distinctly pleasant sort of enlightenment, to turn to her and ask:
“Why?”
“Why?” All that violence, and this is what shocked her.
“Why?” He repeated. “I’ve done everything you asked. Put on your clothes, changed my hair, your training. Can’t I just ask a couple questions before I kill someone?”
“You just started training a day ago. You handled yourself well against a couple of super soldiers, but when a real threat comes? You’ll still need me to guide you.”
“I mean, I didn’t really need that much experience to beat them, though-”
“What, is this guilt, or something? Crisis of conscience? If a real threat comes, you need to be able to finish the job, Robert. Even if the alien has big watery eyes that plead for its life.”
“That’s not really a reason to kill them,” he said. “I already knew they weren’t a threat. Worst they managed to do was make fun of my hair.”
“They would’ve disappointed you eventually,” she said soothingly. “You’ve known this. They could accept you when you were Bob, needing help and bumbling behind them. But now you’re Robert, the Sentry. They can’t wrap their minds around it.”
What had been comforting when he had just woken up, was now souring into condescending. What, did she think he was a child, to need platitudes like this? Was she going to offer him a cookie?
“No. Nononono, I don’t think you get what I’m getting at here,” he said, interrupting her before she could interrupt him (again). He had to talk to her like he was in a boardroom, to get his point across. She'd listen to that. “Because I’m forming a new identity here, and I’ve got one shot at a first impression, don’t I? You saw what I did, and they still didn’t respect me. They didn’t see Sentry, they saw Bob, with blond hair.”
“So what?” Valentina asked, incredulous. “They saw what you’re capable of. Isn’t that the important thing?”
“Well, I hardly want to do that-” he gestured at, well, everything around them- “Every time I meet someone, to try and get them to respect me. That’s a little pathetic, isn’t it? Like holding someone’s head down instead of having them bow to me.”
“If you can do it, then what’s the problem?”
“Well, it’s not the can, it’s the how, isn’t it?”
She opened her mouth, shut it again, and crossed her arms, smiling indulgently.
“Elaborate.”
He began to pace.
“Like, I should command respect when I walk into the room, not get some snide question about my hair.”
“Of course they won’t respect you, but that’s not what they’re for,” Valentina said. She was getting impatient, he could sense it. She wanted to roll her eyes, but she wasn’t going to, because she was a professional. She just wasn’t getting it. “They’re villains.”
There was that word again.
“I really don’t think that’s the right word.”
“Well, that’s what the camera crews and reporters know. And if we don’t give it to them, it’ll only make it that much more difficult to believe in you.”
“You told them. Can’t you just explain to them that things have changed?”
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way, Robert.” Again with that soothing tone. It was grating. She couldn’t give him a straight answer. If he was so powerful, why was he suddenly at the mercy of a camera crew?
“Okay, but what do they know about me, really? Just that you have a powerful hero to introduce, I assume, you couldn’t spoil the surprise early.”
“They expect a hero who has the ability and the stomach to finish the job, Robert.”
“Okay, but if I remember right, most people didn’t like when the Avengers did that kind of stuff.”
“That didn’t exactly work out for them,” she said.
“And you think you could’ve done better?” he said, laughing nervously.
She shrugged.
“Maybe.”
“So that’s what you want, then. Isn’t it?”
He saw the future stretch out beyond this moment, having these arguments for the rest of his life, waiting for her outfits, her commands, her decisions. Hadn’t he just broken free?
Bob was gone. Robert was gone. Here was the Sentry, and couldn’t he be the one to say who that was?
He paced, his mind racing.
“It- it needs to be more of a collaboration. The- the hair, for example. Y’know, maybe- maybe I should’ve had more of a say.”
Val sighed, now openly exasperated.
“Don’t let those idiots get in your head,” she said.. “The blond is great.”
“Y’sure?” He wrung his hands. “Cause, I dunno, I thought I liked it, now I’m not so sure.”
“It’s enough about the hair.” Like this was the end of the conversation. Sit down and eat your dinner.
He tilted his head, and he hated the way his hair felt, flopping like that, and laughed nervously. He didn’t like that tone. That tone he recognized. Like he was stupid. Like he was making a deal over nothing. His mom had the same tone for when he’d cried over a dropped ice cream and when he’d ask her why his dad hit them.
“Well, it’s not just about the hair.”
“Well, you keep talking about the hair.” She said, like it was obvious, but he hadn’t really meant just the hair, had he? It was just the easiest to talk about, but surely she could extrapolate.
Apparently not.
“No, it’s everything.” He stared her in the eye, and couldn’t tell whether the confusion he saw there was fake or not. Then he paced, staring off nowhere in particular. With his new senses, he could probably see out into space if he wanted. But he was here. Ready to save the world. “My suit. My name. My missions.”
If only she had the power to save the world, like the Avengers. But she’d never risk her precious life on a serum. She wasn’t meant for it. So she needed a proxy, an extension of herself. Everything she’d insisted on, the hair and the costume and the name, was to maintain her vision of the Sentry on the corkboards. Valentina thought he was someone to fill in that blank.
But it wasn’t her that had chosen him. It was fate.
“I mean-” He was caught up in racing thought, but as he paced, his steps become more and more deliberate. “W-why would a god take orders from anyone at all?”
She scoffed. Finally, some open contempt from her. That at least he could respect.
“I think you’re throwing around the word “god” a little loosely there.”
“No, no.” Like a child who finally caught an adult in a lie, he pointed at her in triumph, eyes wide in realization but trained on the floor. “Because you said I was all-powerful, invincible, stronger than a whole- team of Avengers, which includes at least one god, so…”
What else was he to conclude from that? Didn’t she want him to believe her? It was the logical conclusion.
His fingers itched for something to fidget with, all that energy flowing through him, he couldn’t even call it nervous energy, because he’d never known himself to be better, to be stronger. Valentina looked at him, considering, like she was weighing options. He could see the gears turning, the calculation.
Well, he could cut the Gordion knot of her schemes, right now. Because now he was the confident one, and she was the one on the back foot.
“But I’m starting to think maybe,” he said, approaching her with slow and easy steps, “You don’t know what I am.”
“Oh goddammit.” She muttered. She was still pretending like she was in control here.
“Or what I’m capable of.” He could start to enjoy this, he thought. He shouldn’t, really, because a hero shouldn’t intimidate people who are helpless, defenseless. But for as long as she was pretending not to be either of those things…
He stopped just in front of her. “Maybe I need to show you.”
“This is so irritating.” She looked up at him, still confident, and for a second he finally actually considered that it wasn’t entirely for show. She was considering something, considering cutting her losses. He saw the decision made.
He didn’t even know if whatever that button she was trying was going to work. But, like with the knife towards his eyes, he didn’t want to risk it.
His hand came up around her neck and he flew in the same movement, slamming her into the nearest wall.
He was choking her, squeezing until her face turned red, purple, but not enough to kill.
He couldn’t kill her. He was still weak, that way. She was right. His heart was too soft. He couldn’t finish the job, even to free himself. Even to defend himself, as he’d always dreamed. All his newfound power, and there was still something wrong with him. No wonder it had been so easy for the team to betray him.
“You were gonna turn on me, just like the rest of them.” His voice betrayed him, quivering in anger, watery, as tears welled up in his eyes.
Val gave him a pitying oh honey look, but she still blinked. She was still mortal.
“I’m not afraid of you Robert.”
He scoffed, squeezing tighter. She gave him a new name, and she wasn’t even going to use it.
“It’s not Robert you need to be afraid of.” He said, a little mocking, because he needed her to know that. He began to squeeze harder. With his new strength, it should’ve taken no effort at all. But he still had to muster up the willpower, and that strength hadn’t been boosted by the serum.
She choked, the veins standing out in her face.
A small electric snap was the only sign he got that he was going to die.
With his new senses, he got to experience it all in slow motion, the signal received, the explosion that turned his brain to mush, the damage spreading, millimeter by millimeter. He hadn’t even noticed the bomb there, when had it even been implanted? It must have been in the dark, before he’d woken up inside the Vault. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to cut him. All that power she’d wanted him to have, of course she’d have a way to take it away. No one ever just gave him anything.
He saw the relief flood Valentina’s face, against her ironclad will, as blood flooded his sight, as his grip slackened, as the very force that had held him up, that had made him fly, was cut at the root. Something was going through him, turning out the lights. Muscle by muscle. Nothing holding him together. Not his body, not his mind, not a single friendly hand.
He was alone. As he always was.
Then all that was left was darkness.
The Void beckoned.