Chapter Text
Stepping into the control room and looking toward the big obnoxiously shaped table, Ed sees that Rogers, Stark, and Bruce are already there.
Once Bruce notices that Ed entered the room, he's on Ed like a snake. Bruce immediately grabs Ed's shoulders to turn him around. Ed is super confused until gentle hands prod at where he assumes is his head wound.
Ah, Bruce is worrying over him. Man… this makes Bruce really resemble Al right now. Al was really the only one who worried over him.
“I knew something was up when I felt the back of the hoodie wet with blood.” Bruce grumbles. “Why didn't you tell me you split your head open?”
At this point, they gathered the attention of Rogers and Stark, but Fury, who came in behind Ed, doesn't seem to care about whatever is going on. “I didn't split my head open.” Ed tries to defend himself, “It's just a little scratch.”
Stark had gotten up from his chair while Ed was talking and rounded Bruce to get a better look at Ed's injury. Ed can tell his qi is concerned but he's doing a really good job hiding it.
“Yeah, well, that ‘little scratch’ is still leaking like a faucet. I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet, Goldie.” Stark comments.
Ed huffs. “As much as I would love to go back to sleep, I don't think now’s a great time.” He looks back at Stark and Bruce. “I'm fine, seriously.”
Both of them look doubtful so Ed decides to lessen their worries at least a little bit. He turns to Nick and reluctantly asks, “Do you have a med kit around here somewhere?”
Nick doesn't bat an eye when he points at a door off to the side. Ed sighs and goes through it to see a plethora of medical equipment on multiple tables. It doesn't look like a medical station, it looks like people moved medical equipment here because too many people were injured for them to go to the actual medical station. Either way, Ed's not complaining, so he grabs what he will need to stitch up his head and goes back to the control room.
When he gets back, Nick is in the middle of what looks like a speech about the Avengers Initiative. Once Nick mentions Phil and his ideas about heroes, Ed almost scoffs. Nick is one slick bastard.
Ed walks back to the table and sits down next to Bruce.
The title of hero only exists to those who are awarded it by the people. Heroes are thrown under the bus whenever they can't do something or something goes wrong. The expectations of being a hero are impossible to continuously achieve. Nick wants them to be heroes that follow orders and be public figures. It is not them who are making the decisions, it's Nick. He can control the media however he wants, if either of them do something he doesn't like, he can destroy their image in a heartbeat.
Ed has already seen what people can do to a public figure. No matter how much good they have done, their image can be destroyed way too easily. One inkling of doubt can create chaos. Nick is only asking us one thing: what would we rather endure, following orders or the wrath of the citizens?
There is no point of saying his thoughts out loud because the three who need to make a decision have already made it. Ed doesn't have a choice in the matter since he and Nick have a deal.
The room is silent after Nick is done talking so Ed busies himself with cleaning his wound. It's kind of hard to clean it when the blood dried his hair stuck to it, but he makes due. When he's done cleaning it, he grabs another cloth and some rubbing alcohol and pours a generous amount on the cloth.
Ed rubs the soaked cloth against the back of his head. The pain isn't too bad, when he said it was a little scratch, he wasn't lying. The wound feels like it has finally stopped bleeding, but Ed should still get some water in him before he has to go back into battle.
“I don't find it fair that Goldie has to fight either way if we decline or not because you didn't give him a choice not to.” Stark says suddenly, breaking the silence.
Huh?
“I agree.” Bruce chimes in from next to him. “If we choose not to fight, Ed has to do it by himself.”
Ed looks over at Bruce and Tony with wide eyes. THAT'S why they are choosing to fight? Because of Ed? That's an awful reason!
“Um… as much as I appreciate the help, you guys should find a different reason to get involved in this. I don't want you to put the blame on me if we lose.” Ed says while pulling the cloth from his head and grabbing the staple gun that will staple his wound closed.
“I'm going to fight because there are people on the streets that will be in danger if we don't stop Loki.” Rogers determinedly says. “We just need to find out where Loki will open up the portal for his army to arrive.”
“Edward.” Nick looks expectantly at Ed. “You predicted what Loki's plan was when we captured him. Do you have any ideas on where he would open up a portal?”
Ed thinks for a second. “Well… there are only three places where his army can come from; the sky, land, or underground. He wants it to be where everyone will be able to see it, so underground is unlikely and land is less flashy. The portal will likely be opened in the sky and the cube will be at a high vantage point. He will also try to stomp on someone else's image in the process to create chaos and fear.” Ed pauses. He doesn't know any places like that because he doesn't know much about Earth. “Does anybody know a place like that?”
“You just perfectly described Stark Towers.” Stark says like it's funny but also absolutely terrifying at the same time.
Rogers interrupts their discussion with a question for Ed. “How do you know so much about Loki’s actions?” He sounds suspicious and Ed doesn’t really know why. He’s giving them Loki’s plan on a silver platter, what more does Rogers want?
“I'm surprised you don't.” Ed scoffs. “You spent most of your military career chasing a crazy person, you would think you would start to understand how their thought process works.”
“I tried not to think about what went on in his head.” Rogers defends.
“No wonder it took you years to get the crazy fucker.” Ed mumbles loud enough for Rogers to hear.
Rogers looks offended by his last statement and says, “How many crazy people have you gone after, since you seem to be such an expert?”
“Oh man, I can't even count there were so many.” Ed looks up at the ceiling and tries to mentally come up with an estimate of all the ones he’s gone after. Even counting the homunculi and Kimblee, there are so many rogue alchemists that Ed needed to hunt down throughout his career. For being a country with war all around it, nobody really talked about the war it had with itself and the increase in crime.
Rogers stops to think for a moment and Ed can tell there is more on his mind. Ed scraps his counting and takes this moment to ask Bruce if he can use the staple gun to staple his wound closed. He can’t really reach behind himself to do it. He could really just heal it with alchemy, but there are too many people and cameras around for that. He also needs to go into battle in a while and he doesn’t want it to open while he’s fighting.
CAMERAS! Ed totally forgot about the cameras in Loki’s cell room where Ed healed Phil. He’s such an IDIOT! Thankfully, Nick either didn’t check the footage or didn’t watch long enough to see what Ed did. His qi isn’t curious enough to conclude that he saw what Ed did. Either way, Ed needs to hope that Nick will actually let him go free once he completes his end of the deal.
Ed pushes aside his internal panic and focuses on Bruce positioning himself behind Ed. He chose Bruce to do this because Bruce is the one he trusts the most and has the most straightforward qi out of the other people in this room, other than the whole ‘always angry’ thing. If, at any point, any one of these people try to capture him or worse, Ed won’t hesitate to steal a jet.
“Ready?” Bruce asks. Ed can sense that he feels guilty, but he doesn’t know how to fix that.
“Yep.” Ed answers and pops the p to act nonchalant. Getting staples in his head isn’t really a big deal so he doesn’t have to act that hard.
Ed feels Bruce pinch the skin then press the staple gun against it until a snap echoes throughout the room. This repeats for six more times until Bruce decides that it won’t open up any time soon. When Bruce was doing his thing, Ed didn’t twitch, move, or make any sound the whole time. He stared at the table in front of him and zoned out until it was over.
He unconsciously goes into that zone when he knows pain is coming. It saved him from the sessions lasting longer than he can handle. Giving people no reaction leaves them unsatisfied, that was one of the reasons Ed has mellowed out throughout the years. Not reacting to taunts, insults, or threats was what kept him alive for as long as he did in that place.
Blinking rapidly to shake himself out of that state, he stands up and gathers his rages and alcohol and takes the staple gun from Bruce. As he’s walking back to where he got them Rogers asks him a question.
“Were you a prisoner of war during your service?” Ed stops so fast that his shoe squeaks against the floor. “I only knew POWs who reacted to pain like that.”
Ed’s breathing picks up and his heart is beating in his chest so hard it feels like it will crawl its way out. He was just trying to not think about Drachma too hard and Roger went and fucked it up. The attention of the other people in the rooms isn't helping in the slightest. He’s at least thankful that his hands are full because he has the subconscious impulse to scratch at his neck. The memories of needles and whips come to the forefront of his mind and he’s having trouble pushing them away.
It takes a few seconds of silence before Ed has the confidence to speak again without risking his throat closing up mid sentence. But when he does, he turns around and levels Rogers with his most feared glare that made generals piss themselves. “Mind your own damn business, Rogers.” He threatens in a low voice.
Ed doesn’t bother using his qi influence to get a double hit on him, he just wants to get out of there where nobody can ask him sensitive questions. He books it out the door and leaves them to figure shit out themselves. Ed offered his two cents, they can sort out the rest. Because of this, Ed misses the horrified looks from all of them, even Nick. If Ed stayed, he would have witnessed Bruce and Stark leveling their own glares at Rogers.
But, since he didn’t stay, Ed left to try to gather himself while dumping all the stuff in his hands on a table and finding his way to an arsenal and possibly a supply closet. After that, a bathroom because those don't have any cameras in them and Ed needs a place to ride out his anxiety attack.
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Bruce doesn’t like this Steve Rogers guy.
He isn’t an expert with emotions, but even he knows to not ask a question like that to someone you haven’t met properly. Bruce is pretty sure that he’s been there for all of Ed and Roger’s interactions, and they were not friendly in the slightest.
To Bruce, Ed didn’t look threatening when he told Rogers to mind his business, he looked scared. Ed didn’t even answer the question either, so it is a high possibility that it was confirmation that he was a POW. Someone as young as Ed being in the military alone was shocking, adding the POW experience stacked on top is just cruel.
How Ed responded to having his wound stapled shut was also concerning, he just… turned off. His eyes lost the life in them and he just accepted it like it was a familiar friend that he’s seen too many times. This makes Bruce think that Ed could have been tortured while a POW. He hates to think about it, but it makes sense.
Ed doesn’t act like someone who experienced something like that. Usually, people who go through something traumatic like that tend to lash out at the world. But, Ed acts like the opposite. Of course, Bruce hasn’t known him to be completely sure, but it seems like Ed has embraced what happened to him and put it in the past. It has clearly still had an impact on him and he is still possibly healing, but he has learned to deal with it in a healthy way.
Bruce thinks back to everything about Ed that might have given it away other than the reaction to pain. The turtle neck and gloves might be connected to it, but that might be a reach. Honestly, Bruce can’t think of anything else that might have given it away. Clearly, Ed doesn’t want that fact to be known about him if he doesn’t show it and reacts that strongly when asked about it.
Next to him, Stark is fuming and Bruce is glad he’s not the only one. From what he knows so far, Ed is one of the smartest, kindest, and most beautiful people he has ever met. He helped Bruce calm down when he didn’t even have the obligation to, and he didn't choose to run away.
Ed did something weird during that time, it felt like he put a warm blanket over Bruce and was feeling what Ed was feeling, which was calm. Bruce is fascinated about what Ed did, but he can ask him later. Right now, he needs to know why Rogers thought it was appropriate to ask a highly sensitive question to Ed. But Stark beats him to it by asking the first question.
“Was that really necessary?”
Bruce is surprised how Stark isn't climbing over the table and using Rogers as a punching bag by how mad he sounds. He thought Stark was one to control his emotions in every circumstance, but he has been proven wrong.
“Yes, it was.” Rogers admits.
Stark and Bruce are taken aback by that answer. In what world would Rogers need to ask that question to make Ed feel like he needed to escape from the situation? Ed made Bruce feel safe around him, Ed doesn't deserve everyone suspecting him every corner he turns.
“And why is that?” Bruce and Stark say in unison. They are feeling the same rage and Rogers doesn't seem to notice.
“He never said what country he fought for or what side he was on. He must be in Fury's custody for a reason and I needed to see if he was speaking the truth. Getting people emotional is one way to do that.” Rogers explains, like what he did was noble and logical.
Is this what Ed felt in the lab when he called all of them out on their stupid mistake of bringing Loki on the ship? Bruce feels like Rogers is missing a few brain cells, but knows that he didn't stay long enough to read Ed's file so he doesn't know Ed like Bruce and Stark do.
“Captain.” Fury interjects. Bruce forgot he was still there to be perfectly honest. “I apologize for not informing you sooner, but Edward isn't from Earth. When I said he has some of the same experience as you, I meant that in a military sense and a time traveling sense. He stated that he was born in 1899, which makes him 113, and older than you.”
Rogers looks down at his folded hands on the table. He doesn't have a guilty expression on, which makes Bruce feel like he should need more sense talked into him.
“Why was he in your custody?” Rogers acts like Fury will give him an acceptable answer. Too bad for him, Ed did nothing wrong from the start.
“He arrived in the research room where we held the tesseract. I took him into custody to test if he was trustworthy.” Fury answers.
“Has he proven himself?” Rogers asks. He's digging for an excuse for his actions.
Fury thinks for a moment and leans on the back of a chair. “As far as I can tell, he is the type of person to help others without needing to receive anything in return. He approached Agent Barton soon after he arrived here and gave him advice about his job. Not to quit exactly, but to find one that benefits him the most and one that he is happy with.” Fury pauses. “Edward has given me every reason to trust him, and that is the reason why I don't.”
“I am aware he is hiding many things from me, and I have yet to find them out. One thing I do know is that Edward could be extremely dangerous.” Fury finishes.
Dangerous? Ed doesn’t seem dangerous, he just looks like a normal young man (except the obvious blinding beauty).
“Dangerous in what way?” Stark asks skeptically.
Fury exhales through his nose. “I don't know what it is, but Agent Barton knows what I’m talking about. If you work together with Edward, he might trust you enough to tell you.”
Bruce doesn't blame Ed for not trusting Fury, even Bruce doesn't trust him. He looks toward Rogers and even though he still looks justified with his actions, there is a hint of doubt.
Stark still looks unsatisfied by Fury's answer and Bruce is the same. He really hopes that Fury offers his end of Ed’s deal. If not, he’s sure that Stark will back him up with helping Ed get out.
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Ed is exhausted.
Not only is he running on only a few hours of sleep in the last few days, his anxiety attack really took a lot out of him. Damn Rogers, he just had to open his big mouth.
Ed ended up stealing a leather jacket from a supply closet and some extra knives and also a gun (just in case) from a nearby arsenal. He's still uncomfortable with using guns in actual battle, he's had plenty of practice thanks to Riza, but he doesn't want to kill anybody. However, he needs a last resort no matter how much he doesn't like it.
The leather jacket he stole is thick enough to cover the contours of his right arm. Ed chose the jacket because of the many pockets in it to store all his knives. With the red hoodie, he had to sew his own secret pockets.
Once Ed calmed down enough to actually think about something other than what Rogers asked and the memories it brought up, he notices that there are two more people who joined Nick, Bruce, Stark, and Rogers at the table in the control room.
Internally groaning, he drags himself back to them. He really doesn't want to face everybody after what happened. And he kind of feels bad at snapping at Rogers that venomously. He should probably apologize when he gets back, he thinks that's what Al would want him to do, but only if Rogers apologized too.
Damn, he misses Al. Half a year in and his first stone was stolen by some crazy person. He better get that thing back and keep it away from people until he can destroy it. Thor isn't from Earth, right? Maybe Ed can ask him to take him to a desolate planet to destroy the tesseract in case it blows up.
Arriving at the control room, Ed immediately clocks Clint next to Natasha. When their eyes meet, a sheepish smile appears on Ed's face. He kind of forgot about the crotch kick he landed on Clint. He needs to apologize for that too.
But before Ed can get a word in, Clint walks over to him and pulls him into a crushing hug. This is surprising for Ed because Clint isn't one to do physical touch with people and the last time they saw each other Ed almost prevented him from ever having kids in the future.
Ed stands there for a second being crushed and he doesn't know what to do. Does he hug back? Does he apologize? Is Clint going to stab him in the back for what he did? No, Clint's qi shows that he won't hurt him. Then why is Clint hugging him? Ed's so confused.
“Um…” Ed mumbles. He doesn't know what to say and Clint's qi isn't giving away very much other than worry and relief. Why is he worried, and why is he relieved?
Clint pulls back and stares at Ed with a glare. Ed flinches at the look and brakes himself to endure Clint's payback. But the hit never comes. Clint just sighs and holds him by the shoulders at arms length.
“You couldn't have aimed for a different spot, could you?” Clint says while cracking a smile.
Ed relaxes at the friendly tone and the sheepish smile grows back on his face. “Nick would have gotten mad at me for breaking one of his favorite toys if I aimed anywhere else or hit any harder.”
Clint gasps and puts his hand to his chest in fake shock. “I always knew I was one of his favorites. Fury has such a way with emotions.” Ed can sense Clint's qi fill with amusement.
God, he missed Clint. “I know,” Ed plays along and puts on a thoughtful expression. “His facial expressions are so vast, it's like you know exactly what he's thinking.”
Clint breaks first and starts laughing. Ed cracks his first real smile since Loki showed up and it feels refreshing. He considers Clint a real friend even when he had to keep many things from him. Ed knows that Clint has to tell Nick everything he learns about Ed, but Clint is still a great guy.
He's too preoccupied with Clint laughing that he misses everyone's looks of awe. It's their first time seeing Ed actually smile and it makes their hearts stop for a second. It's like the room is lit up and the warmth of the sun is shining down on them.
It doesn't take long for Ed to notice the attention on him and his smile fades to an uncomfortable one while he looks down to avoid their gazes. Clint notices this and his laughing goes quiet, he dismisses the glances and continues to talk to Ed like everyone isn’t staring at them.
“You didn’t get into trouble while I was gone did you?”
Ed scoffs. “Who, me? Of course I didn’t, that would be a stupid thing to do.”
Somewhere in the group watching them, Stark says, “He split his head open.”
Clint’s eyes go wide and his qi instantly transforms to panic. He grabs Ed’s shoulders and turns him around, just like Bruce did to get a better look at the wound.
Ed sends a playful glare at Stark without moving his head too much. “Traitor.” Stark puts his hands up innocently.
He sighs and turns his attention back to what Clint is doing. “Bruce helped me fix it up and it's fine now, it wasn’t even that bad.”
Clint takes his hands away from the back of Ed’s head and gives him a deadpan look. “I bet you're the type to break a bone and walk it off like nothing happened.”
Ed looks away with a guilty expression. He has done that so many times that all of team Mustang had to do a medical check after every mission because he ignored cuts, broken bones, concussions, and other wounds to the point that they were annoyed at him.
Clint sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You have, haven’t you?”
“Maybe…” Ed says, still not looking at Clint. “But in my defense, they didn't hurt that bad. I could have just walked them off until they healed.”
Now Clint looks shocked. Ed doesn’t know what he said to shock him but he’s guessing he’ll find out soon enough.
“‘They’? As in, more than one?” Oh, that part. Clint sighs. “That’s it. You are no longer allowed to medically evaluate yourself, you need someone else to do it in order to make me believe you’re fine or not.” He determinedly says while crossing his arms.
Ed’s face drops. “You’re just being an asshole on purpose now.”
The mischievous glint in Clint’s eye shines too brightly for Ed’s liking. “Too bad, Goldie.”
Throwing his arms up in the air out of exasperation, Ed turns his attention back to the group who he knows was listening to their whole conversation, even if some of them try to hide it. “So, you guys come up with a plan?” Ed asks.
Turns out, their plan consists of going to Stark Towers and stopping Loki. Ed has never heard a more vague plan in his entire life. Even he and Al could come up with something more concise, and that's saying something.
Working with these people is going to be the death of him.