Chapter Text
For three hundred years, Ashura had slept. For a few short years, they had traveled with Yasha, Ryuu, Souma, and Kujaku. Then, it had ended in a blaze of fire and blood and death, all rained down by Ashura’s own hands, and unable to kill the person more important to them than anything, they once again fell into a deep slumber. Yasha, the king of a people long dead, stayed by their side, until the day when they would wake and return to the world. No matter how many thousands of years it might take, no matter if their names were forgotten, and no matter if their race of gods slowly perished and their world was slowly absorbed into the world of man.
-/-/-
Avengers Tower was quiet these days. Tony Stark, of course, was in his workshop, and most likely had been for the past ten hours or so, by Steve’s guess. He made a mental note to go drag the other man out for dinner later. Peter Parker, only being an interim member as Spider-man and a teenager to boot, was at school and would likely only drop in during emergencies (so not anytime soon, Steve hoped). Scott Lang was on extended leave to spend time with his daughter, while Wanda, Vision, Buckey, and Rhodey were all on an indefinite mission for Shield in Wakanda. Clint and Natasha were… probably around, probably in the air ducts, if Steve had learned anything from living with the two of them. Finally, Sam Wilson and he were in the gym, which was Steve’s go-to passtime and the other man more than happy to join him.
“Earth to Steve!”
Steve blinked and focused on his friend again. “I’m sorry, what?”
Sam shook his head, setting down the barbell he’d been lifting with. Steve glanced at his own weights, but didn’t set them aside even as he listened to his friend’s words. “I was asking about Shield. It’s strange for us to have so much down time.”
“I think,” Steve started, frowning, “That they’ve been busy tracking down artifacts of power. They’d like to get to things like the Tesseract before they get a chance to cause to trouble, so they’ve had agents searching for energy signatures.”
“With some of the tech that Tony came up with, right?” Sam remembered.
Steve nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Since they’ve been busy with that, and with Hydra currently laying low, we don’t have much to do.”
Sam sighed, rubbing at his arms and stretching. “Hey, I’m not complaining. The less we have to do, the more peaceful the world is. Also, I’m beat and starving, so I think that’s it for me.”
Steve nodded and finally set his weights on their proper wrack. “I’ll join you after I shower.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sam laughed, “Good idea. I don’t think the rest of the guys would appreciate gym smells in the kitchen.”
-/-/-
Excluding the two waiting within the earth, it was just Kujaku and Tenou left of the god race. The later had received a final enchanted gift from his father, the former God King Kaishankuten, that would allow him to live as long as he desired past the normal life span of a god. (Kujaku had survived because he was just odd and long-lived by nature.)
Tenou often would say, “My brother said I would serve as a witness for events to come, so I would like to watch over him and Lord Yasha. Besides, Ashura and I never got the chance to speak properly, so I will wait for him to wake with the both of you.”
The former prince of the heavens was a salaryman of all things, and was currently earning his keep as a lawyer, to try and help people. He had to, of course, change identities and professions every few decades, as humans would grow suspicious of a person who never aged, but he did well for himself. He even managed to visit Yasha and Ashura every century or so, despite the difficulties the journey presented for him. Tenou possessed few of his former powers besides longevity, them having waned away with time.
Kujaku, on the other hand, had no desire to truly conform to human society as Tenou had and did his best to maintain his abilities. He was content to remain disjointed from society, just as Ashura and Yasha were, and simply watch over them as time passed him by. Of course, in the event that Ashura did miraculously wake, he wanted to be prepared for the child’s return. It wouldn’t do for them to wake, only for both Yasha and Kujaku to be completely ignorant of the current era. So yes, Kujaku had managed to stay mostly up to date with human culture, as fast as it moved in present times, although technology was a rather new and difficult thing for him.
Kujaku ended his flight on a rocky slope framed with trees, his wings curling back and disappearing from sight. He frowned at the humans buzzing around the entrance to the cave. How odd. In all his time watching over this place, humans had never bothered themselves with it. From what Kujaku could tell, they were some kind of scientists with a few odd soldiers scattered around, and they had various equipment set up at the edge of the cave. It appeared that they had yet to actually start attempting to explore it.
Deciding to disregard them, as it was unlikely they’d ever find Ashura’s resting place in the maze of caves, Kujaku slipped into the magical recesses of the world and passed by the humans unseen. He went deeper, until he was in the forgotten depths of the earth, and metallic roots of an enormous tree lined the passages and cracked the rock.
The thing enveloping Ashura, when it first appeared, looked more like giant heart than a tree, in the place of the former palace of the God King. As time passed, however, and the landscape changed, it sunk into the earth and slowly shifted into the shape it took now. What, exactly, it was, not even Kujaki knew, but it was some kind of manifestation of Ashura’s connection with the Shura Palace, most likely. Or, perhaps, it was just the palace itself, protecting its master while they slept.
Kujaku entered Ashura’s resting place, his eyes immediately drifting to the serene face of the little one, black hair freely flowing around their form. The metallic tree sprouted from their arms and body, pinning them in place for what should be the rest of time. Despite the confines, Ashura was as beautiful as ever, even more so now that their face was free of the twisted sneers that warped their features when their true nature had reared its ugly head and was just as free of the many tears that Ashura had shed during their time of freedom.
“Kujaku?”
Said man shifted his focus to the speaker, Lord Yasha himself. The former king had seated himself, like normal, at the base of the tree, as close to Ashura as he could be without having drill a platform into the not-tree. His clothes were worn, his face tired and lonely, and his voice cracked with disuse.
Kujaku smiled and held up a pack. “I brought you food, clothes, and some reading material, not that you actually read anything I bring. It wouldn’t do for sleeping beauty over there to wake up, only to find you starved, naked, and mad, am I right?”
Yasha, true to form, barely responded to Kujaku’s proddling. Even during the adventures of old, the guardian king was quiet and unreadable. “There are humans gathering outside,” Yasha observed.
The other man nodded, setting the pack against one of the roots sprawling up the wall. “Yes, I noticed. Have they been there long?”
“No, they haven’t,” Yasha answered. “A day or so at the most.”
Kujaku grinned. “Well, good. I doubt we have anything to worry about from them. They’re all weak enough that they shouldn’t be any trouble for the strongest warrior in Tenkai, and besides, the chances they’ll find this place are slim. Right, Yasha?”
The former king studied Kujaku for a moment before nodding in agreement. “You’re probably right.”
They continued to exchange pleasantries for a bit, which was closer to Kujaku rambling and Yasha listening than an actual conversation, before Kujaku left. He checked on the humans once again, using magic to remain unseen, and frowned at their equipment. It wasn’t anything he recognized, but then again, he was never truly up to date with all the advances in human technology. Sure, he could work a cell phone or a computer if he needed to, but anything more than that was beyond him.
Once again dismissing his worries, Kujaku took to the sky.
-/-/-
With half the team gone, dinner was just Steve, Tony, Clint, Natasha, and Sam. It was Sam’s turn to cook, so dinner was actually very good, with him trying out a new recipe for Salmon. They ate with the sound of friendly chatter floating around, the atmosphere relaxed and easy without the tension of an impending mission or some villainous plot to worry about. For the time being, they weren’t superheroes, they were just friends.
Of course, it was too much to ask of the universe to allow that to last.
When they finished eating and were debating what title to watch for movie night (Tony had picked last time, but before that they had lost count and Clint was insisting it was his turn), Nick Fury elected to stroll into the tower.
“Really, just walk right in?” Tony complained upon noticing the leader of Shield. “FRIDAY, you’re supposed to warn us of uninvited guests.”
“Sorry, boss,” the AI replied, “Nick Fury has clearance to enter, so I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“Well, I do mind, so just warn us next time,” Tony grumbled.
Meanwhile, Steve stood to greet the man. “Fury, good to see you. I assume this isn’t a social call?”
Clint, Natasha, and Sam had all stood, as well, leaving Tony the only one seated. The inventor showed no signs of leaving his seat, content to lounge at the dinner table. Steve might have solded him, but by now, he was used to and expected this kind of nonchalant behavior of Tony. The man was, after all, not really a soldier and shouldn’t be made to act like one.
“Unfortunately not,” Fury replied. “We have a problem.”
“You mean Shield has a problem,” Tony commented, ever quick to separate their team from Fury’s organization. “Please tell me Reindeer Games isn’t back or anything.”
“Does it have anything to do with the searches you have your agents doing?” Sam asked. Steve guessed he was remembering their conversation from earlier.
Fury raised an eyebrow at Tony and looked about ready to snap at the man until Sam spoke up. “Yes. Our research team tracked an odd energy signature to South America, and they sent out a team to explore it a few days ago.”
“Let me guess, they messed with something they shouldn’t have and got cursed or something?” Tony asked unseriously.
“If you would let me finish,” Fury said sternly, then continued, “They found what they found the source by tracking the signature into a cave system, but they ran into trouble. Whatever’s down there has some kind of guard that won’t let anyone come close to it.”
“With all due respect, Sir,” Steve started, “If whatever is down there is guarded, is there any need for us to interfere with it? Our goal is to make sure powerful artifacts like the Tesseract don’t fall into the wrong hands, not to collect them. If no one can get to it, then shouldn’t we leave it alone?”
Tony spoke before Fury got a chance to answer. “Wow, capsicle said something kind of intelligent. Except, eyepatch here is going to argue that it isn’t secure enough, whatever it is, and we need to know what it is and if we need to secure it. Because you can’t trust anyone but yourself to handle shit, right?”
Fury sighed a rubbed his temple with one figure. “However condescending you’re trying to be, Shield’s job is to protect the Earth. When we’re constantly dealing with aliens and magic and other things we can’t possible understand, we can’t leave anything to chance. Try to settle things with that guardian peacefully, if you want, or not, but you will go and you will make it possible for Shield agents to examine that energy signature. You’ll report tomorrow.”
Nick Fury wasn’t one to take ‘no’ for an answer, so he turned and walked out the door before any of them had a chance to answer.
Steve sighed. “Alright, Clint, Natasha--you two stay here and hold down the fort. Sam, Tony--I hope you two don’t mind spending the night on the Quinjet tonight. The two of you are going to South America with me.”
“Aye, aye, Capsicle,” Tony responded lazily, the others simply nodding their assent like normal people.
-/-/-
From previous experience, Steve knew that the Quinjet was fairly comfortable compared to some of the conditions he had to sleep in during his service in the military. Neither he nor Sam seemed to have trouble sleeping during the flight, and Tony was enough of an insomniac that he get by with two hours of sleep and a few cups of coffee. When Steve occasionally woke up during the night, Tony was often messing with his armor or checking the autopilot on the Quinjet. Even with Tony not sleeping much, when he did, either Steve or Sam was awake to make sure they didn’t fly into the side of a mountain. Tony assured them they wouldn’t, but neither of them were too comfortable trusting technology to that degree.
They touched down the next morning in what looked to be a valley in a mountain range. From checking the maps, Steve knew they were in Chile, but where, exactly, in the country he was unsure of. They disembarked, only to be treated to a short twenty minute hike from the valley to the site that was no problem for Steve or Sam, but Tony complained loudly until Steve agreed to carry his Iron Man suit, still disguised as a suitcase, for him.
The research site was buzzing with Shield agents, scientists and soldiers alike, though it was relatively sparsely populated compared to headquarters, which Steve had spent a not insignificant amount of time in.
“Ah, Captain America!” A man holding an ice pack to a black eye greeted them from across the encampment, then started striding towards them with his white lab coat fanning out behind him. “Iron Man, Falcon! Good to see you three. Oh, should I be calling you by your actual names? I just wanted to use your aliases because, I mean, how often is it that you get to say ‘hi’ to superheros?”
Noting that Tony looked pleased with the attention, Steve smiled and shook the man’s hand. “Either is fine, though our aliases would be better for radio communication.”
“Nice shiner you got, there,” Tony commented, “That from our mysterious guard?”
The man smiled. “I’m Dr. Mackworth, by the way. And yes, unfortunately. He’s quite strong, most of the preliminary search team that went down came back with broken bones. I got off lucky. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to intent on killing. We had to send a few agents home, but no fatalities.”
“Do you think he’s enhanced?” Sam asked.
“Oh, almost certainly,” Dr. Mackworth replied. “He wore strange clothing, some kind of ancient Asian fusion, maybe Chinese. He had a sword, but I don’t recall him using it. He took a few bullets like they were nothing. Since our group was mostly non-combatants, we withdrew and reported to HQ, then were told to stand by. I think it’s a good idea, leaving it to you three, since you’re all much more experienced with handling meta-humans, if that’s what that man was.”
Steve nodded, refraining from cutting the doctor off while he was rambling. “You can leave it to us.”
Dr. Mackworth nodded, and seemingly losing interest in them, went to examine a few of the machines that had been set up at the cave’s entrance, simultaneously shoeing away agents that had gathered to gawk at the Avengers that had arrived.
“Strange man,” Tony remarked. “I like him. So, capsicle, how are we handling this? Go in guns blazing?”
Sam frowned, obviously disliking the idea, but looked to Steve for orders. The Captain wasn’t surprised that Sam would look to him for a plan, but the fact that Tony was, as well, pleased him.
Steve shook his head. “No. We’ll talk before we engage in combat. Stay on the defense, though, and if he attacks then we’ll try and take him into into custody. Sam, be careful down there. The Falcon suite isn’t meant for tight quarters like caves. Are we understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Sam responded, Tony giving a lazy salute to say the same.
“Alright, then,” Steve breathed. “Suit up and head out.”
---to be continued