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Epilogue: Gone Their Separate Ways

News coverage of world-changing events was nothing new. It had existed since the dawn of time. Every time something remarkable happened, every conceivable opportunity to let the world know was made. Sometimes, people with power would try to restrict the spread of such information, but more often than not, the people found out about the changes to their world.

The devastated New York Midtown, littered with the bodies of a failed alien invasion at the hands of a group of extraordinary people, pretty much spoke for itself.

Every news outlet in the world was talking about the invasion. The aliens, the strange phenomenon, the damage to the city. But more than anything else, they talked about the ones who stopped it. Everyone wanted to know more about this group of superheroes that had just saved the entire world. And everyone who already knew wanted to share their thoughts. Though some were skeptical, most were enamored by the Avengers. Hell, some people were already pushing for merchandising rights.

Behind closed doors, however, the ones with power had their own priorities.

"Where are the Avengers?"

"I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts. I'd say they've earned a leave of absence."

Nick Fury stood before the World Security Council, a position that he had become quite familiar with in his position as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Most days, he would have been occupied with formalities and professionalism for hi immediate superiors. However, considering that these four people had just recently disrupted his command and nearly jeopardized the very victory the media was celebrating, he felt entitled to being a little more nonchalant than usual.

"And the Tesseract?"

"The Tesseract is where it belongs." Fury emphasized. "Out of our reach."

"That's not your call"

"I didn't make it. I just didn't argue with the god that did."

The council was less than pleased. "So, you let him take it, and the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crimes?"

Fury snickered for a moment. "Oh, I think he will be."

"I don't think you understand what you started. Letting the Avengers loose in this world. They're dangerous."

"They surely are. And the whole world knows it. Every world knows it."

"Was that the point of all this? A statement."

Fury could only give a small grin. "A promise."

XX

At a lone bridge in New York's Central Park, a remarkable collection of individuals had gathered. Though if one were to look at them, one would not suspect anything remarkable at all about them. With the exception of two, all the people there were dressed as casual, everyday people. No colorful uniforms. No high-tech armor. No green skin. The only exceptions were a pair of men dressed in ornate robes and armor. One was blonde, muscular, and wore a long scarlet cape. The other was thinner, with black hair and a green and gold coat. The blonde man gripped a large hammer in one hand, while the other held a grip on his companion, whose hands were bound by a long chain and whose mouth was covered in a metal mask.

As the group congregated, the trunk of a nearby car opened up. Dr. Erik Selvig, rested and in much better shape than he had been for the past couple weeks, pulled a long glass tube with golden handgrips from the car. At the same time, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner opened a metal briefcase, revealing a most peculiar glowing blue cube. Carefully, and under the close watch of Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, and Logan, they placed the cube inside Selvig's cylinder.

It was time to send Thor Odinson and Loki Laufeyson home, along with the Tesseract.

"Just one twist, and it should activate its own portal." Selvig said to the Asgardian pair. "You should be home in no time."

Thor smiled, then frowned again as he looked to his stepbrother. Loki was unarmed and restrained. He wasn't going anywhere other than Asgard. And given the cocky smirks that were etched into Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff's lips, nobody was complaining. Thor took the cylinder in his hands, holding on to one handle and extending the other to Loki. The muzzled would-be warlord glared at the tube that contained what should have been his instrument for conquest, and was now just something to send him towards certain imprisonment.

Loki looked around at the people surrounding him. Peter, with a beautiful red-haired girl standing behind him, had his arms crossed and was giving him a dirty look. Steve, Tony and Bruce all had similar expressions. As for Logan, he copied his fellow heroes, but also rose his right hand in a way that the knuckles were pointed at the sky. The silence was broken, not by words, but by the sound of three razor-sharp claws extending from the mutant's hand.

The two outer claws abruptly returned to their owner's hand, leaving only the middle one for Loki to observe.

The message was clear. Come back at your ass's own peril.

Reluctantly, Loki seized the other handle, waiting for his brother to take him away. Thor rose his eyes and gave one last look to the group standing around him.

"Take care," he smiled. "All of you."

"We will." Steve said reassuringly. Everyone else nodded in agreement, sharing their own goodbye to their new friend…and their new enemy.

"If he causes any trouble," Logan remarked as he drew his claw back, "just let me know."

Thor smirked. "Be my guest."

Without another word, Thor twisted his handle. Almost immediately, the tube and the people holding it were engulfed in blue energy, enveloping the two Asgardians. It covered their bodies in a way that made it look like they had transformed into pillars of pulsing cyan light. The shimmering energy continued to grow and cover their bodies, the glow becoming so bright that Peter had to cover his eyes. Then, with the speed of a rocket, the two glowing columns launched into the sky. Despite all the incredible things they had all seen over the past week, there was still a measure of awe that captivated the other heroes. Barely a second after it left the ground, the ball of light broke through a cloud and vanished. There was no trace of Thor, Loki or the Tesseract anywhere.

Just like that, it was all over.

The remaining people were silent for a moment before Bruce Banner piped up.

"Well," the scientist mused, "that was some goodbye."

Clint Barton grinned. "I'm sure we'll see him again."

"Yeah," Peter remarked, "But not any time soon. I've had enough aliens for one lifetime."

"Let's hope we never have to deal with more." Steve said.

Tony started to walk over to his parked car. "You didn't do so bad."

Steve followed Tony over to the car, clearly meaning to speak with him. For some reason, Logan was expecting some long-winded speech and noble remark or something mushy like that. So he was pleasantly surprised when the soldier simply smiled and extended his hand.

"I guess I didn't."

Tony looked at the hand for a second, then simply smiled and shook it.

"Dr. Banner."

Natasha Romanoff, who had left the circle of people without anyone else's knowledge, returned to the group with a duffle bag over her shoulder. "I believe this is yours."

Bruce looked dumbfounded as he stared at the bag in her arms. "I...uh…I don't think…"

"I promised you that you'd walk free," Natasha interrupted with a warm smile. "Director Fury got off the phone with the State Department this morning. All federal charges have been dropped. And as I've been told, Mr. Stark has a room to rent out."

Off to the side, Peter, Clint and Logan grinned as the former fugitive jerked his head from one side to another. Tony was already opening the shotgun door by the time Bruce wrapped his mind around what Natasha was saying. He tried to say something, clearly trying to find some way to thank the spy, but proper words could not leave his mouth. Finally, he cleared his throat and gave her a simple "Thank you."

As Bruce fumbled with the bag, Tony walked over to the youngest of their number. "How about you, Pete?" he asked. "Wanna take up the offer? We could use you at the tower."

Peter thought for a bit before looking over his shoulder. MJ, with little to no trace of her recent kidnapping, was leaning against his moped with both helmets under her arms, ready to go home. The offer to work for and alongside Tony Stark, especially for a broke student like himself, was something that most people couldn't even dream of. Then again, flying in the sky with Iron Man could make it difficult for those that slipped under the bird's eye.

"Thanks, Tony," Peter began, "but I think I'll stay low for now. I still have a couple more semesters of papers and lab work. Besides, what's Queens without its' Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?"

Tony was oddly quiet for a short while, then grinned. As he started talking, he pulled a small card from his pocket. "Well, can't argue with that. If you ever change your mind, Mr. Parker, please feel free to call, my receptionist would be more than happy to speak to you."

Peter took the card without hesitation. As he read it, he saw that Tony was being a little literal with the "happy" receptionist. Grinning slightly, Peter just shook Tony's hand and turned away to his waiting girlfriend. Passing Steve and Natasha on the way, both wished him well, the latter giving him a friendly smile that Peter though he would have never received from her when they first met.

"So, you think I'm ready?"

Natasha thought for a second. "Your stealth could still use some work."

Peter laughed despite himself. "Maybe I'll switch to all black. Go goth?"

Natasha lightly patted the young man's arm. "Take care of yourself, kid."

As Peter was saying his goodbyes, Tony Stark started to walk back to his car, only for a certain mutant to stand in his way. Tony stopped and looked Logan in the eyes. A week ago, these two wouldn't have been able to tolerate each other, Logan himself wouldn't have hesitated to punch Tony in the nose. They stood there for what seemed like a minute. Then, Logan reached into his pocket, pulling out a long brown object wrapped in plastic. The mutant smirked as he extended the cigar to his new acquaintance.

"Promised you, didn't I?"

Tony shrugged. "I believe your wording was, 'never do something stupid again', right?"

"You want me to send it back?"

"I didn't say that."

"If you don't want it, I'll keep it. It's a nice cigar- "

Tony's hand flew and snatched the gift from Logan's hand. Sliding it into his pocket, he gave his own smirk and walked around Logan. "Well…" he began, not prepared for another prolonged goodbye. "…so long?"

"So long."

Logan left Tony with his own car and made his way over to one of the two parked motorcycles that sat next to Peter's moped. Peter and MJ already had their helmets on as they were preparing to leave. It must have been the Spider-sense, because Peter turned around to look at Logan before he had even considered swinging his leg over the bike.

No speeches, no jokes, no gift-wrapped tobacco. The only thing that Spider-Man and Wolverine shared between them was a single clasp of hands. A sign of mutual respect and trust that the former shared a little too much and the later rarely shared with anyone.

Logan smiled. "Take care, kid."

Peter grinned back. "You too, Logan."

The moped revved up and took off, no doubt en route to the meager apartment that, unbeknownst to most of the world, housed one remarkable young hero.

Logan turned back to the bikes. Steve's scent filled Logan's nose, alerting him to the blonde soldier as he was mounting the second motorcycle.

"So," Steve asked, "where are you off to? Another patch of woods?"

Logan scoffed. Even if he was the same wandering man that a scared young girl from the South had bumped into all those years ago, he knew exactly where he was going. "Nope. I'm heading upstate."

"Know anyone there?"

Steve's question almost made Logan burst out laughing. As if there was anyone in that mansion he didn't already know.

"Let's just say I've been away from home for too long."

XX

"Come in!"

The door to the office opened with a creak. The publishing agent pushed aside the stray papers that were on his desk as a young woman with red hair stepped over the threshold. "Miss Watson," he said with a smile. "Please, come in!"

Mary Jane Watson strode over to the desk and sat down in the chair opposite of the agent. As they started speaking, she drew a large red binder from her bag, her fingers nervously drumming against the cover. She had been involved with countless plays and other acting opportunities, but actually submitting her own work was something she had never thought possible. But Peter had plenty of faith in her ability as a writer, and he had even gotten Betty to proofread it for her (once he had thrown a raging Jameson off his tail at least).

"I understand you wish to submit a theatrical production for publishing?"

"Yes, I do." MJ said, mixing her normally cheerful personality with professional stoicism. "I thought that, given the excitement that everyone's been going through the past few months, a little milking of that wouldn't' hurt anyone."

The agent chuckled a bit at the joke. Obviously, money was a big deal with this, but to MJ it was always secondary. What happened to New York earlier that year had taken the world by storm, and everyone was taking an opportunity to put their own spin on what had happened. Not that she was free of creative exaggeration herself, but she hoped that her version of the events could remind people about just who it was that saved them on that day.

"Do you have a manuscript, by any chance?" the agent asked.

"Right here," she said, and she handed him the binder. The agent flipped it open and began to read.

And then there came a day. A day unlike any other. When Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. To fight the foes no single super-hero could withstand. On that day…the Avengers were born.

THE END