Archive of Our Own

They're not the good guys anymore. He doesn't know why he thinks it, really. It's a fight, a messy one yeah, but just a fight. Mutants and the Avengers slugging it out in the lobby of an abandoned building. A base according to intel. Mutant terrorists ready to launch a strike against downtown.

Still, as lightning smashes to the ground in front of Steve, lighting up the room with its power, he has a sickening feeling that he's not on the side of the angels this time.

"I don't like bullies."

Steve's own words swim back to him as brilliant ruby light flares past his side and Thor's hammer spins out of his hand, disappearing beneath the waves of the East River. He spares a second to wince before he recognizes a familiar face among the mutants.

Jimmy's got Tony pinned, his hand raised and claws extended. There's metal sheathing them now and Steve's pretty sure it'll cut right through the Iron Man suit. He yells out before he can stop himself and gets finds his old friend staring at him like he's a stranger.

"I don't know you, bub," Jimmy says, raising his hand, "but you and your friends might want to clear out. Your kind's not welcome around here." He grins as he says the words and Steve has a feeling he's parroting back a familiar insult. There's something in the way Jimmy's teammates shift, uncomfortable, that rings that way.

Steve bites his cheek. He's missed a lot, still has more to catch up on, and he's had this feeling that something's been left out, edited, and when he looks at his team they all have the same look. All but Thor, who's standing with his hand raised to the water to summon Mjölnir back to him.

"Stand down," he tells the team and then steps forward, the hand not holding his shield raised in supplication. He doesn't look at Jimmy for this. Instead, he looks at the man who'd shot Mjölnir from Thor's hand. "I don't know what's going on here, but I promise I'll find out, but first--please?"

He can't see the man's eyes, covered as they are by his visor, but he can see the man's jaw work as he thinks.

"Cyclops," says Jimmy, warning, death, and something else in the name. Something familiar. Not tender, exactly, but Steve still feels like he's trespassing to hear it.

Cyclops, apparently, looks at his team and then at Jimmy still menacing Tony. "Let him up, Wolverine."

Jimmy scowls. "Cyke."

"We're not going to do this their way," Cyclops says, calm and measured. "Let. Him. Up."

Jimmy's claws retract with a metallic sound, sliding back beneath his flesh, and he slams Tony to the ground before retreating to stand at Cyclops' shoulder. "This is a bad idea, Scott," he says, quiet and soft, not meant for anyone's ears and Steve blushes to hear it.

"Maybe," Cyclops says, "but you don't know who he is. They're lying to him."

"Yeah," Steve says, quiet, but angry and getting angrier, "I think they are."