I ran my finger over the serpent crown, feeling something like the shock of the muses, the intensity of knowledge. But what was most remarkable about the crown was the impressive, even oppressive, way that it boosts my existing knowledge of things and places. Every inch of the Earth seemed familiar to me and easy to recall, without even having to focus in on it. I leaned back in my chair as the other heads filed in. Durrani, Salcedo, and Konstantin sat down in their chairs early – They had been brought onto the table in recognition of their regional leadership in East Asia, South America, and Russia respectively.

Durrani was a lean Pakistani, Salcedo was mustached man with graying hair, and Konstantin was beginning to look his seventy five years – No matter how broad his shoulders, age comes for us. But his lieutenants were not the brightest stars in the sky and his sons were even dumber so he was stuck for the time being, Leading Hydra was a headache among headaches.

The point of this meeting was to discuss how we were moving forward toward world domination. From my perspective, where we were was good – We had a third of the world in thrall, the United States and China alike were willing to work with those countries. We should focus on developing our interests and strengthening our hand.

Gideon Malick had other feelings that he felt free to air to the group, "We were promised domination eight years ago by Zola and Pierce and you still haven't delivered. You risked control of the world to defeat Thanos and we accepted the risk, now it is time you keep your promise."

"I believe," I said, resisting the urge to have him smacked around, "that my exact promise was that we would act by March of 2019, no earlier. There is still work in need of doing – We need higher ranking officers in China and Europe, we need at least a patina of legitimacy within the United States. Rest assured, I am working on it."

"I have rested assured for some time," Malick said. "We are no closer to summon Hive and humanity is fracturing again now that you've dispelled their threat."

"Malick," I said, "I promised you all the world by next March and you will have it." Either that or things were going to get very nasty for me, very quickly. "Stern," I said, turning to our U.S. political head, "the candidates you've fielded in both primaries are not looking promising."

I could count the beads of sweat forming on his head. Couldn't blame the guy, all of us were going to suffer if we failed. The dictatorships we had were all propped up on the promise that we could deliver U.S. aid and, in the absence of the threat of Thanos, that meant we needed to actually have some real control of the United States. That was Stern's whole job. "It's difficult for us to recruit those with popular talents, Mr. Trent," he said, not bothering to wipe his forehead. "But… we do have one candidate who is polling promisingly among the Democrats."

"Who is that?" I said, relieved that he had found somebody who worked.

"You."

This is the loyalty one expects from Hydra. What a way to offload his problems onto me.

---

Steve didn't feel like the suit was a good fit but it was what he had. He stepped into the hall of the hotel to see Daisy waiting for him in a somber black dress, "You don't have to come." Daisy didn't even know Peggy. They'd never even met.

Daisy put her finger on her lip and shook her head, "I distinctly remember you holding a gun to my head and demanding I come."

"Didn't happen."

"I guess," Daisy said, tilting her head and spinning her hand as if thinking, "I guess that means I," she pointed at herself, "chose to be here… because I care about you," she pointed at Steve.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Alright," Steve said, holding up his hands in surrender and giving her a polite smile. He didn't really feel it though. It was a hard day and he didn't have much levity for it.

Daisy made a sympathetic face, her eyebrows crinkling together with compassion. She walked up next to him and squeezed his arm, "You don't have to smile or talk about it or look on the bright side. Just pretend I'm not here if that helps."

"That wouldn't help," Steve said, giving Daisy a look that he hoped was appreciative but was probably just sad. He started them walking down the hall. "I'm glad you're here, it's just hard."

"I assumed," Daisy said and then paused, "Ward did too. Been texting me this morning to let you know."

"I got his text."

"Well, so did I, several of them," Daisy said, "he must not trust your caveman tech skills."

"I'm not a caveman."

Daisy grinned at him as they finished walking down the hallway and Steve held open the door to the steps, "Well, I am told this Peggy Carter woman was a badass heroine."

"Really?" Steve said as they headed down the steps.

"Yeah, this guy I know, head over heels for her at ninety, when he could have any woman he wanted." Daisy was taking the steps with a remarkable amount of grace and speed for a woman in heels, but Steve did have to slow down a bit for her to keep pace. It was just two stories. Steve started to feel bad about taking the steps, he wasn't used to taking into account normal physiology on that front.

"Not any woman, surely," Steve said,

"I don't know," Daisy said as they made it down to the ground floor. "He'd be more successful than he thinks."

Steve felt his cheeks heat up as they walked through the hotel reception. People stopped and looked at them, two Avengers. Even in London, people knew who they were. They were famous. Steve didn't think that was fair – He, at least, hadn't contributed any more than the average Firefly. Daisy had helped clear hordes once the fighting got rough. People were calling her Quake, which Steve thought was a kind of funny name.

Daisy leaned over, "If you keep blushing like that, they're gonna think this is a date."

Steve held the door open for Daisy as they stepped outside and tried to get control of his embarrassment.

"Holding the door won't help, Sir Rogers," Daisy said.

"I kind of wish they didn't notice us at all," Steve said, hailing down a cab

"Being noticed isn't so bad," Daisy said as a cab pulled up. She opened the door and held it open. "After you."

"Thanks," Steve said, getting into the car. "It feels so fake, they feel like they know you, you may even be really important to them or their family but you don't know them from Adam."

"Sometimes," Daisy agreed as she slipped into the car. "But I've been able to draw attention to the causes I cared about. Something you should think about doing rather than hiding behind your aviators at every protest. People would take them more seriously if they knew Captain America was there."

Steve looked at Daisy, took a deep breath and-

"Oh I'm sorry I brought it up, Steve," she said, "I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine it-"

They both laughed. Daisy broke the silence, "Let's table that discussion, tell me about Peggy one more time."

Steve smiled and started talking. But when Sharon got up and spoke about standing up for your convictions in spite of all opposition, Steve couldn't help but remember what Daisy had said and wonder if he'd kept his head down for too long.