Secret Warriors

by Lalaith Quetzalli

-AU to Nightingale- The choices made by two people shall forever alter the lives of four, who will in turn go forth to change the rest of the world and, possibly, the universe. The Caterpillars have morphed into Butterflies and they will spread their wings and take the world in, transforming it, one mission at a time. (Rework of Avengers) (Can be Stand Alone, read notes on top).

1. Caterpillars

If you read this as a Stand Alone, all you need to know is that this takes characters from the MCU and two major OFCs, it's an AU for both my original fic and the MCU, the changes are explained in the story itself.

I don't own anything from the MCU, X-Men, Fantastic Four, or anything else you might see in this fic, aside from the Original Characters, though I certainly don't own the actresses who play them in my mind, and sometimes in fanarts.

To those who might be interested. Nightingale is played by Emily Browning, and Kathryn by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Hope you enjoy!

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Secret Warriors

(Alternative Universe to Nightingale)

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

The choices made by two people shall forever alter the lives of four, who will in turn go forth to change the rest of the world and, possibly, the universe. The Caterpillars have morphed into Butterflies and they will spread their wings and take the world in, transforming it, one mission at a time.

Caterpillars

There are some decisions that can change the world, rewrite destiny.

xXx 3rd Person POV xXx

High on the sky, around 30,000 feet above the North Atlantic Ocean, was located the flying fortress that was Argonaut, the main SHIELD helicarrier. A group of would-be heroes had been gathered in the bridge. They were watching a video-feed of what once had been the PEGASSUS facility in North Arizona, nothing was left but ruble. What called their attention most was learning that the majority of the damage had been in fact caused by agents… a team of agents that were walking into the room right then…

Two young women were at the front of the group, one noticeably shorter than the other (half a head, at least), they were both wearing black-tactical suits, the long-sleeved top halves unzipped just enough to reveal their sleeveless tops, one gray, one white. They were also both wearing armored tactical vests, fingerless gloves with plates on the knuckles and reinforced boots (one of them with platform), long hair in high, tight ponytails (one honey-brown, the other dark auburn), both with dark glasses covering their eyes (one chocolate brown, the other hazel). It was also noticeable that the first agent had a handgun on one side of her hip, a hunting-knife strapped to the opposite thigh and a sniper-rifle on her back; while the other had a total of half a dozen knives on different sizes strapped to various parts of her body, no guns, and a collapsible staff in the small of her back.

Practically on their heels was a slightly older man (at least in looks), he too wore a tactical suit and heavy leather boots, except with a padded jacket instead of a vest, his hair was black and looked more than a bit wild, just a bit longer than would be expected in most men, and dark glasses were hiding his emerald-green eyes. No weapons could be seen on his person, though all who'd met him at least once before knew it'd be a folly to consider him in any way defenseless just because of that.

Another man was walking at the back of the group, in a dark tactical-suit (though of a thinner cloth), showing something bulky underneath, implants or modifications of some kind. He was African-American, and aside from the bulky pieces underneath the clothes, there were pieces of armor on top of the suit (covering his chest, shoulders, forearms) as well as reinforced gloves and thick-soled boots. He too was wearing glasses, though his looked more like a visor. Those with good enough eyesight would be able to realize that a good number of those armor-pieces also carried weapons of some kind, and there was more to his visor than futuristic-looking glasses.

"Agents Johnson, report!" Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, ordered in his strongest tone of voice.

Stark opened his mouth, one of few to have noticed the plural, when he was interrupted.

"Extraction mission: success! Sir!" The two called brightly in unison.

"As you know, PEGASSUS base in the north of Arizona is lost, sir." The shorter of the two young women began.

"Technically it was lost before, what with big, bad and fugly taking over… but we had to pretty much collapse it on our way out." The taller woman added.

"It was the only way to actually get out." The shorter finished.

"Just how do seven people take down a square mile SHIELD facility?" Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, practically demanded.

He'd seen the pictures and even the live-satellite-feed of the zone, there was nothing left except dirt, dust, and possibly a few fist-sized rocks. He knew of very few pieces of tech capable of causing destruction of that magnitude, and as far as he knew all had been 'recovered and disposed of'. It was a task he'd undertaken personally too, those pieces having been Stark Tech and all… but if someone had managed to replicate it, if SHIELD…

"I demand to know how that was done!" He insisted when no one answered his first question.

"That's classified!" Both Agents Johnson called at the same time.

"Just who are you ladies?" Captain Steve Rogers, the Captain America, trying to sound polite and instead managing to sound patronizing.

"Agents Johnson." The two girls answered in synch.

"And your first names are…" Stark practically hissed.

There was something about them, all of them, but especially the two young women, that just rubbed him the wrong way.

"Need to know." The shorter stated calmly.

"And you simply don't need to know." The taller went on.

"What if I only want to call for one of you?" Rogers inquired, confused.

The two turned to look at each other before scoffing.

"Assuming you had a reason for talking to us…"

"… really talking and not just trying to chastise us for what we did in a mission…"

"…which, as has been stated already, was necessary not just for the success of the mission but, on the most basic level, for our own survival."

"If you still needed to talk to us about something else…"

"…you still wouldn't need to know our first names."

It was well known around SHIELD that the Johnson sisters were hardly apart. At least where it came to the organization and the missions they were sent on, wherever one was, the other was likely to be close. They'd been partners from their very first mission, even before becoming leaders of their special team.

"I assume all assets have been recovered then?" Fury went on, ignoring Stark.

"That is correct." The shorter woman nodded.

"We've checked them over and they're both safe, sound and free of anything that may prove risky for themselves or anyone else in the helicarrier." The taller woman went on.

"Nonetheless, Agent May and the twins took both of them to the Infirmary, for a full check-up." The shorter agent offered. "They will be led to temporary accommodations afterwards."

"Very well go eat, rest, I will expect a full written report by tomorrow, and anything else you might consider relevant." Fury informed them.

"Yes sir!" The two called brightly.

Nick just waved his hand in dismissal and the team of four left, much like they'd arrived. And yet Rogers still felt there was something off about them. As for Stark… he'd already decided he'd be finding out who they all were.

xXx

The second meeting between the Johnson sisters' team and the would-be Avengers Initiative didn't go any better than the first. In fact, it was worse. And it all started (as some probably expected already) because of Stark.

"The Caterpillars? Really?" The self-addressed genius/billionaire/playboy/philanthropist asked with a mock grin. "That name is even more ridiculous than Avengers!"

"Did you honestly try to hack into our files, Stark?" The tall, honey-haired agent inquired in a dangerous tone (which Stark either didn't notice, or chose to ignore).

"Try?" Stark scoffed. "Seeing how I know your secret-name, one would think I succeeded, wouldn't you?"

"Tell me Stark, what else did you find out?" The honey-haired asked in a drawl.

Her sister wasn't interfering in that moment, unlike their first meeting. Of course, what the Avengers didn't know was that their twin-speech was nothing more than an act used mostly to unnerve others (especially people they were testing… and the would-be heroes had failed fantastically).

"Did you find our names?" The agent asked in a sing-song voice.

Tony's gritted teeth were answer enough… as well as the fact that he hadn't used the girls' names to taunt them.

"No, you didn't find our names, or our codenames." The taller Johnson stated calmly. "I'm quite sure you found nothing except our surnames, the name of our team, and the position each of us occupies, and that's if you were extremely lucky."

"Johnson and Johnson, team leaders; Serrure, second in command; Peterson, third; May, Parker, Stacy and the two Maximoffs are probably just the minions." Stark stated.

There were several scoffs around, though no one volunteered any additional information. Truth be told, most of those present in the bridge in that moment were rather enjoying seeing Stark so vexed, especially by one of the Johnsons.

"I will find more." Stark said in what was probably supposed to be a threatening tone, though sounded more like whining.

"No, you won't." The tall Johnson was really enjoying the exchange. "I know you won't. And you know how I know that?"

"You cannot know that!" Stark practically spat. "I'm one of the best hackers in the world!"

"And that's precisely why!" The other answered brightly. "You're One of the best hackers in the world, I think you might be the third, in fact, wanna bet who's above you?"

"You can't be number one!" Stark scoffed. "There's no way you're TaserQueen."

"No, I'm not." The other admitted with a shrug, choosing not to tell him that she knew the TaserQueen, quite well. "I'm actually BlueCloud."

"BlueCloud…" Stark repeated, unable to hide his shock. "You're the number two hacker in the world?! And you work for SHIELD?!"

As far as he was concerned, something had to be very, very wrong with the world if one of the best hackers ever known worked for the government (if he only knew it was actually both of the top two… but among all the things Tony Stark really didn't need to know, Darcy Lewis-Coulson, her name, identity, abilities and the like, the young woman as a whole was very near the top of the –long- list).

"Yes…" The agent/hacker drawled. "But that's not the point. The point is, I personally encrypted all of my team's files. Left a few things out, of course, for people like you to find. Small things, unimportant… Because really, you knowing the name of our team, or our surnames, it changes nothing. But that's all you will ever find out about us, unless we decide to give you more… and right now I don't see why I should."

"Some things I don't need to hack." Stark retorted, voice getting cold. "I can see the implants on Peterson's back." He no longer had his armor. "What was it? Extremis?"

"Centipede actually." Peterson volunteered from a side. "Not like it's any of your business."

"After the mess with Killian, AIM and Extremis I was told it was over, that that… thing was gone and there was nothing to worry about. And now you tell me there's a freaking super-soldier?!" Stark practically roared. "I mean, I know your people have always been obsessed with replicating Captain fucking America, but this is ridiculous! You do remember what happened to all of those who had extremis, right?!"

It looked like quite a few people were about to go for Stark's throat, not least the Johnson sisters themselves. But Peterson was faster, and his voice louder and stronger.

"It wasn't SHIELD." He stated, and that was enough to make everyone pay attention. "SHIELD didn't make me into this, Stark. Though, that may not be fully correct. Simply told, if it weren't for them I wouldn't even be here right now." He shrugged. "Four years ago I was a construction worker in L.A., I had an accident while on the job, and while the insurance paid for my surgery and the PT, there was nothing that could be done for the chronic pain I was left with. There was also nothing that could be done when my boss hired someone else to fill my position when I wasn't ready to return right away. So I lost my job, the only source of income I had, for myself and my son. We were going to end up on the streets!" He took a deep breath. "I was almost at the end of my rope when I was approached by a woman, right after one of my appointments. She told me she represented a private project, one that could help me end the pain, and allow me to make a new future for myself. They would also pay me, and I really needed the money, so I accepted." He let out a breath. "A month later I was learning to use the enhanced strength and speed the Centipede implant granted me, when it all went to hell. The other test subject blew up! Literally! I happened to be around and saved our doctor, though I'm not quite sure it was worth it."

"Wait a second." Stark cut him off abruptly. "You're the hooded hero?!"

"That I am." Peterson nodded. "Though nowadays, in the field, I just go by Cyborg." He shook his head. "What you seem to still not be getting, Mr. Stark, is that SHIELD did not make me this. Centipede did. The Johnson sisters saved my life…"

"And then they recruited you?" Banner guessed, he was still feeling uncomfortable about the way he'd been 'persuaded' to join.

"No." Peterson shook his head. "They saved my life, first from the experiment that would have killed me, just like it had already killed the other volunteer. They offered me protection, for both me and my boy. A new life… I chose instead to join their team, to use what was done to me, what Centipede gave me, to take them down, to make sure no one else would suffer."

No one was quite expecting that. The sincerity in every word was enough to make a lot of people reconsider what they'd been thinking about the Johnson sisters and their team; though Stark still refused to concede.

"And you became a happy team, went around saving the world…" He said in a drawl. "Sounds a bit too fantastic to me."

"You mean like a careless playboy, the Merchant of Death, turning into an environmentalist and, some might say, a hero?" It was the first time the shorter Johnson agent had spoken during that meeting, and everyone turned to look at her.

Stark didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"So what, you're heroes then?" Banner asked, seemingly not convinced.

"We help the people that need to be helped, the label of hero is something others care about, not us." The smaller Johnson said with a shrug. "Our actions won't change, no matter what the public thinks about them."

"So, lets say w… I believe all that spiel… which I don't." Stark said snarkily. "Why Caterpillars? I mean really, it's absolutely ridiculous! Truly and…"

The taller Johnson agent was practically shaking in anger in that moment, but right as she opened her mouth to say something (probably sharp and biting), there was a sound like a shrill whistle that broke through the air. A moment later she was fisting her hands almost convulsively even as she stormed out of the bridge, Peterson on her heels.

"Oh please…" Stark called loudly as she turned to the remaining Johnson sister. "You cannot tell me she took offense to that? I'm just saying the truth!"

"So you shouldn't be offended if I say that for most of your life you were little more than a waste of space, living the great life thanks to the blood-money made out of the lives your creations destroyed?" She practically snarled.

Silence was absolute after that. No one knew what to say. That'd been below the belt, and they all knew it, even Johnson knew it. But Stark had just made her so angry… she always got violent (whether physically or verbally) whenever someone attacked those she loved.

"Let me tell you something Stark." Johnson went on. "What you did a minute ago? It wasn't just an innocent joke. You were mocking the Caterpillars, our team. You were mocking who we are. My sister and I, we've been agents for years, and while at first it was just the two of us, it didn't stay that way. We're a team, we're the Caterpillars. We created that team, it's who we are, part of our identity. So you effectively insulted us and every single member of our team." She made a pause before adding, for good measure. "If you think my reaction was harsh, that using a few words to knock you down a bit… then you have no idea what some of the other members of our team… of our family, would have done to you."

No one knew quite what to say to that.

"I have something else to say." A quiet but strong voice called.

Everyone turned in the direction instantly. It was a woman, probably in her mid-twenties, with wavy auburn hair to the middle of her back and green eyes dressed in a ¾ sleeve top, skirt, tight-leggings and boots, all in black, along with a red shawl resting around her elbows and her back. Her eyes flashed red just for an instant as she looked straight at Stark.

"Let me tell you all a little story." Even as she spoke to everyone, her eyes remained fixed on the genius. "Me and my twin brother, we were born and raised in Sokovia. A simple, little country. Not important at all except for being on the way to everywhere that is important. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either. And while Sokovia was in a constant state of unrest, nearly on the edge of a civil war, we were alright, even happy." She stiffened. "Until the day a bomb fell through the roof of our apartment and straight onto our parents, killing them instantly. My brother took me and pulled both of us underneath the table, where we laid, waiting. A second shell fell through the roof, only it didn't go off." She took a deep breath through the knot in her throat, her accent-less English giving way to her old, Sokovian one. "Have you any idea what it was like? We laid on that floor for two days. With the corpses of our parents on one side and the bomb on the other. We could hear the rescue teams working on getting the survivors out; knowing that at any moment something they did, or even a shaking of the building could activate the shell, blowing us all up. I will never forget what was written on the side of that explosive, wanna guess what it said Stark?"

"Stark Industries…" The billionaire breathed out, closing his eyes tight.

"Stark Industries." The Maximoff girl repeated accusingly. "So, what gives you the right to mock us? To mock our team? To mock the origins of one or more of us. If there's anyone who doesn't belong here, among people doing good, protecting… that's you."

No one knew what to say to that.

She didn't go into any further detail, didn't even consider explaining how she and her brother had come to be in America, to be part of SHIELD and the Caterpillar team when they'd been born all the way in Sokovia. She didn't care for them knowing such things. She didn't give anyone, and especially not Stark, a chance to reply either, leaving the bridge before a single word could be said. Truth was that for the longest time the twins had wanted vengeance on the man they saw as responsible for the death of their parents. Things had changed a little in recent years, thanks to the Johnson sisters and the team as a whole. It had especially helped when one of the Johnsons hacked into SI and found out about the illegal deals Stane had done with terrorist organizations. Made them accept the fact that it might not be all Stark's fault. And yet, they didn't like the man, it was unlikely they ever would.

"While I completely agree with everything she just said, I have something more to add." Agent Serrure, with a hand on her arm all along, added. "Tell me Stark, what are caterpillars exactly?"

"Worms." Stark answered with a shrug. "Insects."

"Wrong." Serrure contradicted calmly. "Caterpillars are infants, children, who one day, when they're ready, shall become butterflies."

Stark snorted at that, and even some of the others were looking at the SIC in disbelief.

"Alright, imagine there's a caterpillar in front of you." He waved a hand dismissively at Stark's expression of disbelief. "Just imagine it. Now imagine you go blind." Stark made to interrupt and Serrure shut him up with a glare. "Don't argue, just imagine it. Now, how would you know if before you there's still a caterpillar or if it's changed into a butterfly? If you cannot see, how can you know what is truly before you?"

"But I'm not blind." Stark finally managed to get a word in.

Serrure rolled his eyes, the man wasn't getting it!

"You might as well be." He said simply.

They left the room then, both focusing on the other Johnson sister, wanting to make sure she was alright, there were several yards away when they managed to hear a voice, most probably Stark's (trying to get the last word).

"Hey! Just what kind of glassware do you keep onboard Fury, this glass is cracked!"

xXx Nightingale's POV xXx

It was easy to track down my sister. Really, we'd been able to find our way to each other for a long time… and finding her all the way to some top-secret Southern Chinese hide-out (from an enemy base in the Arctic, north of Russia) had been much harder than walking from the bridge to our personal meeting room. With the Argonaut being pretty much SHIELD's flagship (or flag-helicarrier), measures had been taken to make sure we Caterpillars had a room all for ourselves. We also had one in three of the most important SHIELD bases: the Triskellion, the Cube and the Playground (not in the Hub, as Agent Hand, the one in charge there, really didn't like us… didn't like anyone gifted, period).

"I cannot believe I lost control back there." My little sister (by all of five months) was saying with a grumble. "That hadn't happened to me in years!"

"Cracking a glass doesn't count as losing control." I quipped as my love and I stepped into the room. "If I'd given into my own impulses I would have thrown it straight across the room, which would have been much worse."

"I would just have thrown Stark." My match scoffed.

My sister snorted and suddenly all three of us were laughing. It made me happy. Knowing that regardless of how tense the situation might be with the so-called Avengers Initiative, we were still alright, still happy, that was important to me.

I could still remember how my little family had come to be:

I was born Silbhé Arianna Kinross Salani and it all started with the death of my father, when I was three. Perhaps it would be right to say it'd all started with the death of my mother in Early-Spring. She'd had Cancer, it was detected too late to do anything except make her comfortable. All I really remembered of her were whispered endearments and soft lullabies, sometimes in English and sometimes in Gaelic. Then, in Autumn, my father too was gone. As my aunt explained it, a co-worker of his had recommended some pills that would help him give more energy (apparently he'd been nodding off in the job and the boss threatened with firing him), not knowing my father was already taking some pretty heavy anti-depressants. The combination had caused a massive organ failure, and thus death.

And that was where everything had changed for me. By the end of the year I was adopted by my aunt Kathryn and her husband who, to a very important and top-secret section of the world were better known as Agent Kathryn Adler, the Sphinx, and Agent Nicholas Fury, the Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention and Logistics Division (SHIELD, for short).

The biggest change in my life, however, came early the following year, when I met Mary Sue Poots. A foster-girl my aunt took home, apparently SHIELD had saved her after some great tragedy happened in China, they hid her in the foster system, afraid that someone might come after her; but upon meeting her Mama Kathryn had decided that such was no life for a little girl (being moved around every two or three months, never able to have a stable life), so she brought her to our home in Portland, Maine.

Months later a doctor finally explained to my adoptive parents why I was so sick all the time: I too had Cancer, leukemia to be precise. They put me on treatment immediately, and the hopes were high. Mary thought we would send her away though, for some reason she believed Mama and Papa wouldn't want her around anymore… I refused to accept that. She was my little sister, I loved her, and no one was taking her away from me.

When the adoption went through, Mary decided that since it was a new life, it deserved a new name, and so Skye Kinross Salani came to be.

It took five years, but I finally went into remission when I was nine. A year later Skye and I began training, we wanted to be agents, just like our parents.

I knew that our lives were probably considered odd by most people. We didn't have much of a social life, not the way normal people did. Both Skye and I were home-schooled by Mama, which was good, as it allowed us to progress much faster than we would have in a normal school (and to avoid having to explain what our parents did for a living and the like to classmates and teachers). Even in SHIELD, few people knew about us; only those our parents trusted completely, which was quite rare. It was dangerous, being the daughters of the Director of SHIELD and one of the best Agents in history; but we'd never regretted it.

The next big event in my life happened the following year, shortly after my eleventh birthday, when a boy appeared out of thin air, in the middle of my rose-garden, in the backyard of Salani Mansion in Maine. He tried to feed me some bull-story, but one needed only to look into his eyes to know he was no child… not human either. As it turned out he was Loki Friggson (back then he was still using the name Odin, but that changed) of Asgard, God of Mischief, Lies and Magic (and with many other titles like Silvertongue, Liesmith, Sky-Treader, Shadow-Walker, etc.). We became friends, he gifted me the dizi (Chinese transversal flute) that would become my favored instrument for the rest of my life, after I told him how much I loved nightingales. It was also how he began calling me that: Nightingale.

I convinced him to meet my sister on his third visit and she promised to keep the secrets from our parents. As great as they were, the two of us were used to being on our own a lot of the time, neither of us trusted anyone more than the other. It was perfect.

I'm not sure when I realized Loki was my match, it might have been from the first moment I laid eyes on him. However, a children's idea of absolute, unconditional love is very different from that of an adult. At eleven I grew close to him, loved him like a brother, like I loved my sister, for I knew no stronger love than that one. But as I grew into my teens, that changed, not the absolute, unconditional parts, no; it just gained new dimensions, as I came to see him as more, as a man, as the man I wanted to send the rest of my life with…

There were some bumps, of course, particularly when the cancer returned and, after refusing the stronger treatments (the last thing I wanted was to spend what time I had left, on a bed, too sick to enjoy my time and my family, particularly since there was no hope of curing me), I was told I had three months to live. Of course, those who said that never counted on my sister, who put the internet upside down finding out anything that might be useful to give me more time (she got in some trouble, hacking the databases of a few laboratories, but my parents never really tried to stop her, they knew why she was doing it); or a sorcerer and almost-god of another realm using all his power to create an artifact that had only been part of science-fiction until then.

The deamarkonian saved my life, by tying my life-force to that of Loki. His energy fighting off the sickness in me, enough at least to allow me to continue living and to regain health. It didn't erase the leukemia, nothing could really do that. There were also some side-effects, like picking up on each other's emotions, phantom-sensations when something happened to the other, and knowing that if one of us were to be killed, we would both die.

Our parents didn't know how I survived, and since the deamarkonian was spelled to be invisible unless I willed it otherwise, they didn't know about it. Skye kept the secret too, knowing Papa Nicholas might not react nicely if (when) he found out about Loki's existence.

In any case, life went on. Skye and I had finished up to high-school in our studies by then and we enrolled into Norwich University (we decided we actually wanted to go to college, it would be a change of pace, if nothing else).

We were sixteen when we graduated college (with two undergraduate degrees each), it was also at that point that we finished SHIELD training, ready to be agents… and the Papa Nicholas said no. He downright refused to give us our badges and induct us into the organization, believing us to be too young. A part of us knew he was just trying to protect us, that he loved us and was afraid something might happen to us; at the same time we had tried so hard for so long, we did not appreciate being blocked like that. We weren't the usual whiny teenagers who would wail and kick up a storm as part of their temper tantrum; no, we chose a different route.

It was quite easy to have our parents believe that we were taking off on an unplanned road-trip, leading them to believe it was our way to cool off, our version of a tantrum. The truth was very different. Skye had hacked into SHIELD, pulling several files of a classified cold-case. Our real plan: to solve it, to prove we were ready to be agents… didn't exactly work out that way, but still, cannot really regret it either.

It wasn't just any case that we chose, but the very one that had lead to Skye becoming my sister. At first things were great, and we had a lot of fun. We tracked down Richard Lumley, the only remaining living agents from the group that had been tasked with getting the 084 in China. We weren't expecting for Skye to have been the 084 (we thought it might have been some kind of family heirloom or something). We went to China, where we learnt all the stories about the 'monsters' that had razed the Hunan Province to the ground, searching for a baby. There were all kinds of theories surrounding that event: from those who believed the baby to have been their own child (a prospect too scary for either of us to truly contemplate, then or ever), to those who stated that it'd been some child of prophecy destined to save the world (and wasn't that the worst kind of cliché ever?).

Right as we believed we might have hit a dead end we met her: Raina. The girl was about the same age as us, maybe a year older, and completely obsessed with gifted individuals. She claimed to be an angel, she just needed the right push for her power to manifest. And at some point she got it into her way that we, or at least Skye, were her ticket to that power.

It would be hard to tell how it happened, exactly, but at some point we all ended in a hidden, subterranean cave in Puerto Rico, standing in the middle of a sealed-off ancient alien temple, at the time an alien device known as a Diviner, went off.

I only truly remember one thing of that day, that moment: pain, Beyond anything I'd ever felt before in my life, it was almost as if my own body were slowly being ripped to pieces, as if some kind of force tried to pull my body apart from its very atoms… only, in the last moment, that did not happen, instead some kind of energy filled me, taking over me, all of me, pushing the alien energy out abruptly. At the same time some kind of cocoon made of the earth itself covered both my sister and the girl we knew nothing about except that it was her fault we were there at all. Then darkness finally took me.

The first thing I realized when I woke up was that we were no longer in the temple, the second was that I was actually in some kind of bed, and by the stiffness in my body I could deduce I'd been unconscious for quite a while (three days, as I found out later).

Skye went to see me later on, and explained what had happened. How some guy named Gordon had appeared out of nowhere (he could teleport) and had taken all three of us straight there, to some secret hideout called Afterlife. And that wasn't all, apparently all the people who lived there belonged to the same lineage and a few had active gifts, they called themselves Inhumans… they were lead by a woman called Jiaying, who happened to be Skye's birthmother.

That whole week was an absolute mess. I wasn't at a 100% just yet, which was why I didn't really notice at first how everyone in that place kept trying so hard to keep me away from Skye. I was too weak to go looking for her, and whenever I asked I would be told she was training her powers, learning more about her people, spending time with her parents. Because, as it turned out, her birth-father too was alive, he was more-than-half insane and a murderer (he'd been one of the monsters in the stories we'd found), but most definitely alive. Apparently he'd been looking for Skye all along (though he kept insisting her name was Daisy), and went as far as killing everyone who got in his way.

Things only got more complicated when I began displaying powers, mostly illusions, and short distance teleportation (I call it jumping). Some would ask if I too was Inhuman, though no one had been able to connect me to any of their known lineages.

A week after our arrival to Afterlife I was finally strong enough to stop asking questions and go out myself. Raina met me just outside the house and gave me a warning that has stayed with me ever since:

"A Flower is beautiful, graceful, it can even be powerful, but it will always need Thorns to protect it of those who might envy its beauty and grace, might wish its power for themselves."

I didn't understand what she meant at first, didn't fully comprehend everything until much later. The way my sister was the flower, and Raina considered herself the protector (an angel, a guardian and messenger wrapped in one… which fit in a way, considering the way her body was covered in thorns since the terrigenesis and her power was to see the future); and apparently I had placed myself in the same position from the moment I first called her sister…

As it turned out Raina's words weren't just a warning for some distant future, but for that very moment. Something I found out when instead of finding Skye, I found her father and he tried to kill me. My sister found us just in time (Raina'd gone to warn her too). She denounced her parents, claiming me as her only family, then she screamed her desire for us to go home and a mix of words I did not recognize for a moment, not until I realized she was talking in ancient Norse. A moment later Loki was there, he got us out of Afterlife and straight back to our home (and to our waiting parents).

To say that Papa Nicholas blew a gasket would be to put it lightly. He was furious, both with us and with the Inhumans in general. Mama Kathryn just muttered about how they should have known we wouldn't give up so easily. Shocked as they were by Loki's appearance and the explanation of just who he was and his connection to us (but especially to me), they all focused more on Skye's birth parents and the rest of the Inhumans (It is also my belief that our parents were too grateful to Loki for saving my life to have any negative reaction to him, regardless of how pessimistic and paranoid Papa tended to be).

Much as it cost us to admit, Skye and I had to accept we were nowhere near attaining control of our abilities. So our parents decided to send us to a safe location known as the Retreat. The place was solid and strong enough to withstand even the Hulk, had sensors, fences and other security measures to keep possible hostiles out, and wasn't in any records anywhere. In fact, only Papa Nicholas, Mama Kathryn and their protégés (Phil Coulson, Maria Hill and Melinda May) even knew the place existed at all. Loki also added magical wards to make sure no one would be able to see into it or track us there. It was perfect to lay low, and also to learn to use our powers.

Loki was our main trainer when it came to using our new abilities. Even if what Skye could do was nothing like his own, he taught her meditation, focus and other quite useful things. He also realized that my power did not come from any hidden-alien-DNA, but was rather a side-effect of the deamarkonian fighting off the effects of the Terrigen-mist, which would have killed me otherwise (hence the pain). In other words, it was his magic I was channeling.

Months passed. We trained our powers and our bodies too, we still wanted to be agents when it was all said and done; took online classes for our graduate degrees and read on all the books Loki got us where there was the slightest mention of the Diviner, the terrigen crystals, the Inhumans… from which we branched into the Kree, alien races in general, the Nine Realms, etc. (It seemed prudent, in case something ever happened). Our parents didn't like there being so many risks, so many possibilities, but Skye and I trusted we could take things as they came.

Of course we didn't actually expect what ended coming our way…

When we first answered the phone to hear Raina and the other hand we couldn't help but hang up automatically. The second-call was more productive. Apparently her power meant she knew where we were, had known all along, and hadn't shared that information. No one even knew she could find us; especially since Gordon (the teleport with a built-in Inhuman detector) had tried and failed for months. The reason she'd called us though, was that Lincoln Campbell, a young new inhuman our same age, with the ability to create and manipulate energy, had been captured by some crazy-scientist-type while jumping around with Gordon to try and find us. Gordon had managed to escape, Lincoln hadn't been so lucky. The worst part was that Jiaying had forbidden him or anyone else from going after him; which meant no one was rescuing the teen.

Our decision was made in an instant, we didn't even need to consult it among ourselves. We simply weren't the kind to leave someone in need, alone. A handful of minutes after leaving the Retreat Gordon was there. Skye somehow managed to talk him into taking us to the Arctic, where we stormed what turned out to be a secret hideout of a wannabe-Hydra group. Lead by a man called Whitehall who apparently had had a different name in the past, back during WWII, he'd aged, only to then find Inhumans, had experimented on them until eventually finding one that had allowed him to rejuvenate himself, at the cost of the Inhuman's life… that Inhuman had been Jiaying. She'd been dead, only Cal (her husband) had somehow managed to heal her enough for her powers to kick in, heal her fully, at the cost of the lives of hundreds of people in the Hunan Province. Also, while she might have returned, it was quite obvious Jiaying hadn't come back quite right. She was obsessed with getting her daughter back, the daughter that had been stolen from her… except Skye didn't really fit the mold of the daughter the Inhuman elder expected to have. Not the least because she would rather be part of our family than theirs.

Whitehall wasn't expecting the rescue party, and certainly not for all of us to be gifted. I wasn't quite ready to fight others directly, but had gotten good enough at illusions it was relatively easy to make most people in the base turn against each other, making them believe they were shooting at enemies rather than their own colleagues. It made me sick, so much death, but I had already made up my mind, they needed to die for us to be safe, and that was that.

Things were more complicated with Whitehall, he used Lincoln as a hostage to keep us from using our powers against him. Then I did the one thing I never wanted to do and came to regret. I teleported across the room to get Lincoln, hoping to be fast enough to get him before Whitehall could move; what I wasn't expecting was for Gordon to use that moment to take hold of Skye and high-tail it out of there!

I was so shocked by what had just happened I wasn't as alert as I ought to. Thankfully Lincoln was. He reacted just in time to shoot a bolt of lightning at Whitehall, strong enough he vaporized the bullets that had just been fired at us and then went on to fry the wannabe-Hydra-scientist too. Jiaying's organs might have allowed him to rejuvenate himself once, and slow his aging, but he wasn't truly immortal (even Jiaying wasn't, she needed the life-force of others to fuel her own powers, her healing and youth).

We arrived to Afterlife (having shadow-walked for the first time, a power I didn't know I could use, but apparently my desire, my need to be with my sister had been strong enough for the metaphorical switch to flip) in time to hear Jiaying spinning some story about Skye 'valiantly attempting to rescue Lincoln' only to fail and 'surviving against all odds'. The woman obviously wasn't expecting that and she let her anger control her as she moved to attack me.

Skye, who was being kept restrained by her father, used her powers to free herself and rushed to my side, defending me. Then Lincoln stepped forward to tell the real story, let everyone in Afterlife know just how little Jiaying truly cared about the lives of her people. All hell broke lose then. Lines were drawn and a fight broke out.

It was awful. In my life, particularly since becoming an Agent, I've been involved in many fights, bloody, brutal, even deadly. Yet none of them ever marked as much as that one. The first time we killed… For it was my sister who killed Gordon, crushing him through the vibrations to prevent him from going after me. The Jiaying turned to her, intending to absorb her own daughter's life-force… I stepped in between them, didn't even think about it, just did it. What none of us could have truly expected was what actually happened when she tried to use her gift on me. My life-force was already bound to Loki's, and there was no place for another in that bond; also, Loki's magic defended me, it was an instinct. It was one that ended costing Jiaying her life.

It took considerable effort, but eventually Lincoln and Raina managed to make the Inhumans stop fighting, right about the same time Loki appeared. He had the answer we'd been waiting for: for why Jiaying had become so cold, so cruel… she was soulless. Cal might have been able to 'put her back together', and her power had saved her, but she had effectively died, her soul had left, and it hadn't come back. Because of the tragic way in which Jiaying had died, all that was left in her were: the need for her family (no love, as a soul was needed to process such emotions), which was why she'd continued with Cal, and why she'd been so obsessed with getting 'Daisy' back; and then there'd been her fear and horror at her own death, which made her want Whitehall dead, and then got twisted into wanting everyone who might represent a threat to her little family dead too (hence why she wanted me dead, and our parents, and SHIELD…)

Cal died that day too. The insane formula that gave him power also destroyed his body, and he'd been abusing it. There was nothing any of us could do. Though we stayed by his side until he drew his last breath. We forgave him, something that seemed to give him peace. The last thing he said was his daughter's birth-name: Daisy Johnson… Skye would later decide to honor the man and her own origins by taking Daisy as a middle-name.

Our parents were already at the Retreat when we went back. Apparently everyone had heard about the death of the wannabe-Hydra and all his followers. It was impossible to cover it up. Every single agent and team that was strong enough others would believe they'd done it had been busy with other ops., so there was no easy way out, we'd have to take responsibility for our actions. I knew our parents still wanted to protect us, didn't want us to feel like SHIELD was our only choice, like it seemed to be for them. I made a sudden decision, suggesting to use a different surname while we were acting as agents… there was one obvious choice, and so Arianna and Daisy Johnson came to be.

We began as a top-secret duo under the direct orders of Director Fury, which helped keep others from finding out the truth about us (about our true identities, and our gifts), though Loki would join us for a mission whenever he was able to get away from Asgard for a while. We mostly served as back-up to some black-ops team (particularly those that tended to have no extraction, whenever one of their missions went really wrong), and as liaison whenever SHIELD had to work with other gifted, like the X-Men, the Fantastic Four (though they were mostly retired), and of course the Inhumans (Raina and Lincoln had been chosen as the new leaders).

It went on like that for near on two years, when one particular mission ended with a request to join our team… and it was then that we stopped being just a duo and became truly a team… we became the Caterpillars.

"So, what's the plan then?" Another voice asked right about then.

I raised my head, taking a moment to watch each member of my team: my sister, Skye Daisy Kinross-Salani, Daisy Johnson, Quake; my match, Loki, Luka Serrure Hvedrungr, Maverick; Mike Peterson, Cyborg; Melinda May, Cavalry; and the twins: Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. We weren't quite all the members of the Caterpillars, but when Peter Parker (Spiderman) and his fiancé, Gwen Stacy, had signed in we'd been very clear that they wouldn't be joining us on any missions until they were finished with school, they had a year to go yet. Aside from that we worked pretty well with a number of field-agents and a couple of scientists known as FitzSimmons, though none of them were with us.

"Right now, we wait." I admitted after a few seconds.

"I hate waiting." Pietro snorted. "It's boring, makes the world seem so much slower…"

"Yeah, well, we cannot exactly kick alien-asses until we know where the aliens are." Melinda reminded him with a roll of her eyes.

Pietro pouted, something that caused all of us, even (specially) his sister to chuckle. It was truly amazing how childish Pietro could be most of the time; and yet on the battlefield he was always focused on the task, even when he did joke on the comms and such, he wasn't the kind to make mistakes or get distracted.

For me it was especially a wonder, with the kind of life he and Wanda had had, after the death of their parents, having to live on the streets, and especially with everything that had happened to them while Von Strucker used them ('recruiting' them under the promise of helping them, of giving them power to make justice for their family, only to then pretty much turn them into lab-rats). It was a wonder that they could still be happy and carefree, Pietro more so than Wanda, but still. I would never stop thanking the mistake/accident that brought us to that castle in the outskirts of Sokovia that day. Most people in SHIELD had been so sure there was nothing there and the place had seemed abandoned at first sight, but we just wanted to be sure… if we hadn't been so insistent we probably would have never found Von Strucker and his minions, but more importantly, we might have never found the twins.

"You do realize Thor is coming." Loki spoke up right then, it wasn't a question. "It's also likely he won't be coming alone."

We all nodded.

"We've known all along this would be happening some day." I reminded him.

"We're a team." Skye added. "We stand together, against anything and anyone."

She didn't need to be any more explicit, we all understood what she meant, if the Asgardians tried anything, they would have to get through us to reach Loki. And that wouldn't be an easy thing to do. Most of the world didn't know what we could do, even in SHIELD very few had seen us in action (part of being Fury's top-secret team, everyone had seen us, had heard our 'names', but only those we'd helped at one point or another had seen what we could do… and even then no one outside the team and family knew everything we were capable of).

"Have precautions been taken?" Melinda asked seriously.

"Professor Xavier, Dr. Richards, Raina, and the leaders of the three magical covens in the States have all been warned that a situation is brewing, Peter too knows something is likely to happen at any moment and will be informing us if he notices anything strange. Same goes for the others." I told her calmly. "If there's a way to predict something like an alien attack you can be sure Raina, Muse or Destiny will let us know the moment they do."

"So we wait." Mike said, letting out a breath.

"We wait." We all agreed.

Pietro was right, having to wait was boring, and stressful… but there was little else we could do in the time being. It was likely that once things got into motion we would be wishing for the peace and quiet of that moment.

I wasn't wrong.

xXx

The meeting with the Asgardians was rather anti-climatic. Mostly because none of them actually recognized Loki (whom everyone was calling Serrure). It was as if without his usual green-silk, black-leather, golden-armor ensemble they couldn't recognize him; which I found absolutely ridiculous. Magic was being used, of course, and while I might allow that to justify the blindness in most of them; I couldn't believe that a man who'd called my beloved match brother for the last too-many-years wouldn't know him simply because he had longer hair, was wearing earth-clothes, and dark glasses. It just didn't seem possible, Skye and I'd always been capable of recognizing each other, even without the sort-of magical connection we shared. Even the time when we'd been undercover and had arrived separately (and completely disguised) we had no trouble knowing who the other was.

And on the topic of disguises and undercover ops, there had been a rather memorable one, when I'd actually dressed-up as a man (because I had to infiltrate a sect that wouldn't have treated me right had they seen me as female); and when everything was about to go to hell I received back-up in the form of a female-shapeshifted Loki… yep, that had been certainly an unforgettable mission (and its aftermath…).

Once introductions had been made, Director Fury decided it was time to have a meeting and discuss the situation. Which meant the would-be Avengers, several SHIELD Agents and us Caterpillars would all be on the same table, at the same time… I knew that was going to be one hell of a meeting. I wondered if Papa truly believed we'd be able to get along (seemed unlikely, with how things had begun, he'd been there and he wasn't prone to being delusional).

Arrangements were made beforehand, Mike and the twins wouldn't be sitting at the table, none of them were comfortable enough with sitting so close to the others after our rather 'tempestuous' first couple of meetings. Melinda would there, except she would play the part of an interested SHIELD Agent. With the way things were going thus far we wanted, needed, her to be the voice of reason, for the others to respect, which some (Stark!) were likely not to do if they knew she was one of us. She didn't like it, but it wasn't the first time the Cavalry agreed to do something for the good of the team, of my sister and me. Of course Skye, Loki and I would be sitting right there, everyone knew we spoke for our team. I just hoped Stark wouldn't be too childish (again), there just was no time for games, not with the threat that was coming our way.

"So Thor, what's his plan?" Captain Rogers asked after a long, uncomfortable silence.

"We don't have all the details…" The blonde among the Warriors Three, Fandral, began.

All of us Caterpillars rolled our eyes (and most didn't even bother being discreet about it); even the Lady Sif seemed ready to smack herself in the forehead (or maybe him). One of the first things we had all been taught: always keep control of the situation, and when you don't have it, pretend; never make it known that you're anything but sure of things.

"There's an army of creatures that are just known as Chitauri, nothing specific is known about them." Thor began explaining. "According to some journals I found, they're a race that lost their planet and possibly also their original name ages ago. They serve other, much more powerful beings now."

"And one intends to, what? Attack our world? Invade? Conquer?" Maria Hill, Deputy Director of SHIELD, practically demanded.

It was obvious he had no idea of the answer to that question and, for whatever the reason, my match decided to step in right then.

"It doesn't really matter." He stated calmly. "Whatever their intent you can be sure it means nothing good for us all. Which means we have to stop them."

"We believe the Chitauri will be lead by Malekith the Accursed, the last of the dark-elves, who managed to survive the battle in Midgard last year." Sif began explaining further. "He lost the Aether, and now he's turned his eyes to the Tesseract."

A crazy thought came to me: Was it possible that Malekith intended to exchange the Tesseract for the Aether? And if so, did that mean that whoever was 'lending' him the army, the Chitauri, had access to the Aether, or was the elf just being played? I wasn't quite sure which option might turn out worse.

*The first, definitely.* My love replied inside the bond connecting our minds. *Truth is that I can think only of one creature that might exist and survive in the abyss, have control of an army like the chitauri, and interest on the Tesseract… and if it already has access to another of the Infinity Stones… that's definitely not a good sign.*

*Yeah…* I could probably have guessed as much. *I suppose, this probably isn't the right time to bring that up.*

*You're right about that.* He agreed. *We must take care of this threat of invasion first, the chitauri and Malekith, then we can worry about who might be behind it all.*

"We can guess then they intend to create a new portal using the Cube, like they did at the base in Arizona?" Stark stated, all business.

"That will be kinda hard considering they do not, currently, have the Cube." Melinda was the one to drop the bomb.

"What…?!" Apparently no one had expected that.

"Agents Johnson and their team, the Caterpillars recovered the Tesseract, along with Drs. Foster and Selvig." Director Fury explained, and I couldn't miss the pride in his voice, or his eyes.

"Why weren't we told about this?!" Stark demanded, loudly. "I thought we'd been looking for the Cube all this time! And now you're telling me it's been right here all along?!"

"You and Dr. Banner have been tracking the trace of energy exuded by the being that took over the Arizona base." Maria clarified. "Not the Cube."

"We know you Stark." Melinda said, quite bluntly. "Had you known the Tesseract was on board you would have done anything to experiment on it. Since we do not know if this dark-elf, Malekith, was guided to the Cube, or managed to track down its energies, we cannot allow it out in the open, least it guide him and his army straight to us."

"Shouldn't he be dead already?" Rogers asked. "If I remember correctly, The Johnsons and their team collapsed the facility upon them, or so you all said, didn't that kill him? Them?"

All eyes were immediately on us, particularly the Aesir, I was sure they too were wondering just how we'd managed to collapse a building on our own.

"It was necessary." My sister said, stoically. "It was the only way we were getting out. That monster was practically on our heels, and it wasn't alone…"

She cut herself off abruptly. It was something we didn't like remembering, the fact that it hadn't only been monsters that we'd buried down there, (the chitauri probably) but also agents, good men and women who'd probably just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, who were being used… and we couldn't save them. We couldn't even really try. Our mission was clear, get in, get the assets (Foster, Selvig and the Tesseract) and get out. We couldn't focus on anything else, especially when any mistakes, any delays, could end up costing us the mission, or even the lives of all of us. Even as it was we barely managed to get out, with my sister collapsing the building the moment we were out.

Yeah, we were probably responsible for the death of many people, good people, but there was nothing we could do about that. We could still lose, and if we did, then the loss of life would be much, much greater. So we couldn't really focus on what had already happened, only on what was coming. There simply was no time…

"Considering the nature of the invaders, I would rather err on the side of caution and suppose our enemies are still very much out there." Nick stated, quite calmly.

"Wow Nicky, don't you sound a bit paranoid!" Stark joked.

"Would you rather wait until a hole opens over Manhattan and aliens begin pouring into the streets, destroying everything?" I snapped at him. "Because that's quite probably what will happen if we don't find Malekith and whoever else crossed the portal with him, and fast."

"Didn't they need the Cube to open a portal?" Rogers inquired, sounding confused.

"There's more than one way to skin a cat." Banner said sagely. "And I suppose, in this case, there's more than one way to invade our world."

"Quite." We all agreed.

My love went on to explain the ways the chitauri army might find its way into our planet, in the most general terms, justifying his knowledge in every way he could. If the Aesir really hadn't discovered him yet the last thing we needed was for him to reveal himself if it wasn't absolutely necessary. If/When the time came to fight, all bets would be off, of course, a battlefield was not the kind of place to hold back.

So things weren't easy, and Stark was most definitely an ass, but the meeting was still productive and we didn't all end on each other's throats (and no glasses shattered… or people thrown around) so I was going to count it all as a win.

Now all that was necessary was for our luck to hold a little longer and we might be able to win the upcoming battle too.

xXx

The tension was killing me! Truly. I am a very passionate person, it's something Skye and I have in common. During our childhood and teenage years that had been evidenced in our dedication to our studies (we had, after all, finished three graduate degrees by the time we were nineteen, each) and to our training as agents (which had ended with the mess we'd gotten into in Puerto Rico, and later on the fight with Whitehall and his wannabe Hydra and the Inhumans).

There were a few ways to relieve tension: using our powers was the easiest, in a sense, we'd long since learnt not to be too destructive, and it still was a good way to tire us out. Another option was sparring, though for people with our level (not just of training –though we were missing on the experience-, but also of raw power), no normal spar was enough, it needed to be all out, no holds barred; and not just anyone was prepared or willing to go against us under those conditions (and we couldn't challenge just anyone, couldn't trust just anyone). The third option was sex.

Considering we were limited to the flying, camouflaged helicarrier, and that we were supposed to be holding onto the whole 'secret warriors' thing Papa Nicholas had put into place when the Caterpillars first came to be, neither option was really open to us. There was so much tension on the place, and both Skye and I were feeling it, resenting it, with our respective powers. I just hoped that whatever battle was coming our way it came soon, before we both snapped.

In any case, that was pretty much how we ended in a particularly… uncomfortable situation. What had begun as a kiss between me and Loki had soon turned into a full-on make-out session. We were in an alcove of a little used hallway, but apparently not completely abandoned. And who would find us but Captain America himself! He was more embarrassed by the whole thing than us (and really, with the things I've end up doing in my life, and considering it's not the first time I've been 'caught' by someone, doing something with my match… being found kissing and groping him wasn't really that much).

"Ma'am!" He practically spluttered.

"What…?" I asked, rolling my eyes, not quite letting go of my love.

"You… you shouldn't… this is a public area and…" In my opinion he was really too much of a prude for a man on his prime who should have been dating himself.

"And?" I couldn't help the hint of challenge in my tone. "I should be embarrassed? Ashamed? Sorry to be the one to tell you this, Captain, but I'm neither one of those, and it's unlikely I'll be. Just ask those that know me, those emotions do not exist in me. In my opinion they're ridiculous and unnecessary. And even if I thought differently, I would never be embarrassed or ashamed of kissing my husband."

That seemed to throw him for a loop, I could see him mouthing the word 'husband' a few times, though no word came out of his lips. I wondered how young he thought I was. While Skye and I'd been in full tactical gear when first meeting them (including platform-boots so I wouldn't look too much shorter than the others), we'd relaxed since then, going around in training clothes (still all black, still with tight ponytails, but much less formal). He'd seen my face, was seeing it right then, and he wouldn't be the first man to believe I was much younger than I actually was (not like twenty-four was old or anything, but still).

"We've been married for the last four years, if you must know, since I was twenty." I clarified.

It was more information that I'd have preferred to give him, but the last thing I needed was for him to get into his head that Loki was some kind of pervert. And if we were supposed to fight together in the upcoming battle, it was probably better to be on good terms with at least some of our future teammates.

Most of the time it felt like I'd loved Loki since forever, since the first time I met him, in the garden behind Salani Mansion in Maine, when I was eleven years old… sometimes it felt like I'd loved him for longer than that, before I was ever born…

At first the visits had happened every several months, then every other month, and then every few weeks. By the time Skye and I were fourteen (after the cancer and the deamarkonian) it almost seemed like Loki spent at least as much time in our world as he did in his. I was sure the only reason Papa Nicholas and Mama Kathryn didn't find out anything about him before the disaster in San Juan and our first visit to Afterlife was because they spent so much time working and were hardly ever home long enough to see him. Though they'd certainly heard about him (or at least the human name he'd given me that first day).

Then that had happened, and they found the truth, and I'm quite sure the only reason Papa didn't go nuts with the whole concept of there being other realms and beings so much more powerful than us, was because he was feeling too grateful towards Loki for all he'd already done for all, and all he was still doing.

We were nineteen when Skye and I got involved in a hell of a mission in the Middle East. It wasn't supposed to be anything more than research and recon. Until we realized there was another SHIELD team there, with completely different orders (technically we weren't there for the same reasons, but as it turned out the two were too tightly entwined to properly separate them). It was one of the most terrifying ops we were ever involved in; truly ironic considering that the earth didn't shake even once; then again, the situation did not require that kind of force, but an entirely different measure of power. In any case, that had been the mission that earned us a new team member, and finally changing our status from a top-secret duo to an officially (and still almost completely top-secret) team…

We'd just collected our papers, which certified us as masters in our respective areas of study: me in literature, mythology and history, Skye in psychology, relations and history. We both loved being Agents, but we weren't unaware of the risks, of the chance that one mistake might kill us, or at the very least end our careers on the field. Also, we wanted more. I was hoping the day would come when there would be actual communication between our world and the rest of the realms, and I wanted to be one of the people to handle that; I also knew that Skye hoped to one day be able to help other gifted, the people in the Index, and all those still in hiding.

We'd just gotten back to the manor, when Loki appeared straight in front of us, out of nowhere. I would have asked him how he was (he looked off) when suddenly all the blocks we always placed onto our bond whenever there was a mission (to prevent any possible distractions) came crashing down and I realized how wrong he was… the moment my arms wrapped around him he collapsed into my embrace.

"It's all a lie…" He practically gasped as he panted into my neck. "My name, my family, my life, everything that makes me… me, is a lie!"

By the time he finished he was practically screaming. Skye, a couple of feet behind me, stood dead still. We both had enough experience with gifted to know it was a bad idea to startle them, least the react instinctively and unleash their powers at us… and Loki was already doing that, unleashing a power we didn't even know he possessed.

It began with a sudden gust of chilling wind, and suddenly I realized we were standing over frozen grass. Skye was rubbing her arms as surreptitiously as she could, to try and keep some warmth. Though in the end she made herself vibrate, just a bit, just enough to create energy that would keep her body-temperature decent.

I didn't even need my Maverick to explain anything further, it was all painfully clear in that moment, just like the blue skin in the arms still around me… Loki wasn't Aesir, which meant he wasn't an Odinson, had never been. He hadn't been born a prince of Asgard (though if Odin had adopted him, they were still his family, and that was still his right, as far as I was concerned). Also, I didn't need anyone to tell me what race was connected with ice and the color blue…

I briefly considered talking about adoptions, about chosen families. About how I honestly believed Odin, Frigg and Thor were still his family… it was true enough with Skye and us, with Papa Nicholas, why shouldn't it be so for them? But truth was I didn't like Odin any more than he did, and I didn't actually know the others. I couldn't know, for sure, that their family situation was the same as ours. However, there was one thing I could still hold onto.

"Look at me." I instructed, taking hold of his face with both hands, and holding his eyes with my own. "Look at me, Maverick. I'm not a lie. I'm here. I'm right here and I'm real. I am still your Nightingale, just like you're still my Maverick, and that will never change. Never."

He burrowed into my embrace again for a long while, and I could feel him calming down, not just by the way the tension drained from him, but also because of the way the ice melted and then fully disappeared, the temperature around us returning to what would be expected of a late spring afternoon (it was early June).

Eventually Loki straightened up again (it wouldn't be until much later that we would both realize that he'd touched me, with his Jotun skin, and didn't burn me, and after a while longer, we would come to learn why that was, exactly).

A moment later Skye was standing beside me. She looked straight at Loki as she, slowly and purposefully drew the intricately decorated short dagger she always kept strapped to one of her thighs (a gift from Loki and part of a set, I had the other one; they were charmed to injure or kill according to our will). She then very slowly drew the blade over her open right palm, before offering both bleeding hand and knife to Loki.

"Brother…?" Was all she said.

She need not say more, we both knew exactly what she was offering, A blood-bond, Skye was offering to become his blood-sister. We were all well-versed on the ritual, having first read about it in some ancient history books, before having Loki explain the real magic-fueled version of the rite; we'd performed it once, with each other, shortly after the Terrigenesis. And in that moment she was offering the same to Loki, she was offering him herself, as a sister, a family, the very thing he believed to have lost…

There was no doubt in Loki as he cut open his own right palm, before clasping it with Skye's bleeding one, their blood mingling as both quietly repeated the needed words in an ancient tongue. I just watched as a golden cord of light connected them, a symbol of family, under the eyes of the Higher Powers they were effectively brother and sister.

"Sister." Was all he said in the end, with so much emotion I could feel it shaking me inside.

I stepped aside them allowing the two to embrace each other, feeling the echo of their love.

In the following days we learnt more of what had happened. Being SHIELD Agents ourselves we'd been aware of Thor's 'fall' to New Mexico. It had been necessary to brief Phil into the existence of other realms and their inhabitants, though not quite explaining how we knew (and he knew better than to ask).

What we didn't know was just how bad things had been on Asgard at the same time. Everything Loki had to do to correct the mistake Thor had made on the day of his near-coronation, which had almost brought war to Asgard's door. And had anyone thanked him? No, instead they blamed it all on him (and, granted, some of it had been Maverick's fault); and in the end Thor had chosen to believe every negative word his so-called friends said rather than give his brother a chance. Loki had been so close to breaking point… and yet, instead of going down the deep-end, in the end he'd chosen simply to walk away, letting himself fall into the Shadow-Plane and allowing his instincts to guide him to the place he felt safe, where he felt most at peace: our home, to me…

As angry and sad as I was on his behalf, I couldn't help but try to see the positive side of it all. He was with us, and we would take good care of him.

Loki and I were dating less than a week later (with my parents' permission); he was also, officially, a part of the Caterpillars team by the end of the summer. Finally, a year later, on June 13th, with my parents' blessing, Loki and I got married in a very private ceremony in the gardens of Salani Manor. The only guests to our wedding were my parents, our sister, our teammate Melinda May, her husband Andrew Garner, our parents' other two protégés: Maria Hill and Phil Coulson, as well as AC's assistant (recommended by us, as Skye knew her by being a hacker): Darcy Lewis, aka TaserQueen (who, in the following years, would come to be Phil's partner in the field and personally as well).

It'd been almost four years since that day.

"I thought it went against the rules." Rogers's blurted words pulled me abruptly back to the present time and place. "Fraternization, especially with members of the same team."

"Our team, our rules." I couldn't help but say almost defensively.

It wasn't like he was the first person to say something like that. I'm sure that if our abilities weren't enough reason for Hand to, not quite hate but definitely dislike us, the relationships of every single member of the team, would have been enough. I also knew there were others like Sitwell, Blake and sometimes even Maria Hill herself, that only kept from making similar comments out of respect to my parents.

"Every person in the Caterpillars was hand-picked." My husband decided to be the reasonable one and explain things. "Each of us brings something to the table, something unique. In order for the team to work, we accept each other in every way. The two of us are married, the twins have dates but nothing serious, one more in our team is married, another is divorced and with a son, and finally two others are engaged to each other. It might not be orthodox, but it works for us."

And he wasn't even including the serious, and top-secret relationship our sister had… yeah, Captain Rogers definitely didn't need to know that part.

xXx 3rd Person POV xXx

Tony Stark was having his own brand of fun, playfully harassing Bruce Banner in Steve Roger's line of sight. Bruce was well acquainted with Tony's personal brand of humor, had been subject to what he saw as jokes for a while (since the genius/former playboy/billionaire/philanthropist had decided he wanted to have Banner work with him and things like the Hulk were a minor annoyance that could and should be ignored); of course, Captain Rogers did not know that. Tony was almost rubbing his hands together while chuckling to himself like a bad-drama villain, when he was abruptly distracted by the two figures that dashed down the hall. The mere fact that a number of good-and-proper SHIELD Agents went running, told Tony that he wanted (needed) to know what was going on. So completely ignoring the captain and the beginnings of what was sure to be a memorable self-righteous speech, he walked right out of the lab and in the same direction the running agents had taken.

Tony Stark (with Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers following in a mix of exasperation and confusion) arrived to the end of that particular hallway, the bridge, just in time to see the Johnson sisters commandeer Fury's computers, apparently to no one's surprise (just who were those girls that they could take such liberties and no one got angry, not even surprised?). In seconds the huge main screen had a world-map on it.

"What's going on?" Maria Hill asked, confused by what was going on.

"We just got a call, or rather several, from a number of our contacts." The taller Agent Johnson announced seriously as her fingers flew over the keys at vertiginous speeds. "We know where the attacks are going to be."

"Wait a second…" Sitwell called, looking sick all of a sudden. "Did you just say attacks?"

"That's exactly what I said." The agent nodded grimly.

In that moment three red points and one white appeared on the screen. Replicas of the map appeared on every screen around the bridge, and upon taking a seat on one of the places of the round table, they could manipulate their copies enough to see tags naming each of the marked locations. The red points marked the north of Sokovia, the north of Rusia inside the Arctic circle, and a spot in South-Eastern China, a around 400 miles north of Hong Kong.

"Wait a second!" Agent Shadow, Darcy Lewis(-Coulson) called abruptly from her own station. "What those points have in common is…?"

No one missed the way she broke off abruptly. Though most didn't realize the moment Daisy Johnson opened her mouth to say something, only for her word to be drowned by the one pronounced by her siblings: Arianna and Serrure.

"Quake." They said at the same time.

"The point in white." Stark called right then. "It's where the SHIELD base was located, the one you took down. That's what all those points have in common? Whatever technology you have that can take down a acre-wide facility? Just how many places have you destroyed with that thing? That Quake?"

"Shut up Stark!" Several voices yelled to him at once.

The billionaire couldn't have missed that Nicholas Fury was one of the people to seem more angry with him. Even if he didn't quite understand why.

No one except the Caterpillars saw the way Daisy paled so drastically it looked like she might pass out any second.

"Don't talk about what you cannot possibly understand." Arianna hissed.

"I might be able to if you would just tell me!" Stark snapped. "Instead of hiding behind words like top-secret and classified."

"That's really not the point right now." Serrure stated, brushing off the other man's comment.

"True." Instantly Arianna was all-business once again. "We talked to our informants and they all agreed: four attacks are coming."

"Four…" Banner spoke up. "But only three of those locations are in red."

"We know there is a fourth, but we don't think it'll take place in Arizona." Serrure elaborated. "All our contacts agreed that the points of attack will be populated locations. The SHIELD-base was in an almost deserted area. So that cannot be it."

"And you deduced the other ones based on places where this… Quake technology was used?" Banner assumed. "Where else has it been used?"

"That's just it." Daisy finally gathered her wits about her and focused enough to get into the discussion again. "We cannot think of any other place where it was used, aside from those… at least not to that scale."

"You're focusing so much on this because of what 'informants' told you, what makes you think you can trust their intel?" Rogers inquired. "Who are these informants?"

"Allies, whom we trust and respect." Arianna spoke formally. "They are confidential contacts, known only to us. Their intel has helped us greatly in the past, it can be trusted."

"You may trust them, but it's not like we trust you!" Stark insisted. "I cannot be sure they're right or wrong until I know them!"

"Stark, do you not know what 'confidential informant' means?" Daisy practically growled.

She was moments away from unleashing her powers on the bastard, he was making her crazy. Even her lover couldn't push her buttons that way! (Or maybe he'd just learnt not to do it).

"Let's focus on something else." Banner called, trying to play peacemaker. "Quake, I'm assuming the name is telling of what the tech does. And if the attacks are happening in those locations, then it might mean that the portals are somehow tracking the energy left behind after the seismic events. Perhaps it's about more than just the technology, we need to check databases, the most serious earthquakes in the last five-years or so. Or get readings from the better known fault-lines, in case they're tracking growing tremors rather than past ones."

"It's about more than just earthquakes." Daisy muttered in sudden realization.

The eyes of several people began widening as, beneath the name-tags for each location, years began appearing: 2015, 2009, 2008… and then a fourth red point appeared with the year 2008 also: in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"Puerto Rico…?!" Several voices called at the same time.

"What the hell did you do in Puerto Rico?!" Stark demanded hotly.

"There was a violent earthquake with epicenter near Puerto Rico in that year." Banner said quietly, thoughtfully. "It was quite commented, because there had never been anything like it in the country's history, not one so strong, or with the epicenter so close to land…"

Not a word was spoken out-loud, though a whole conversation was taken place non-verbally, as the Johnson sisters looked at each other.

"Are you sure?" Fury interrupted the exchange, asking the question to both of them.

One more look, and then they were both staring straight at the Director as they gave their answer.

"Yes." That was all that needed to be said.

"Hill, Coulson, Lewis, get in touch with the governments of Sokovia, Russia, China and Puerto Rico, we need those locations evacuated as soon as possible!"

"Yes sir!" The three called in unison.

"Sir, there's no way we can possibly handle an alien invasion on four fronts." Sitwell called after what seemed like forever.

"We only need to handle one front." The sisters announced in synch.

"We got in contact with our allies." Arianna stated officially. "Professor X says his X-Men, working along with the Fantastic Four will deal with Sokovia and the northern Russia."

"Thorn and Shock say their people will deal with the situation in China." Daisy added.

She'd barely remembered not to use the term 'Inhuman', she knew it wasn't a good, not with the Aesir present. They might be as scholarly as Loki, but if any of them knew anything at all about what the Kree had done… it could end up putting the whole tribe in danger. Daisy/Skye might have refused the leadership when it was offered to her, but that did not mean she wouldn't do anything in her power to keep them all safe.

"We have others keeping an eye on the Arizona site, just in case." Serrure offered. "However, we will need to take care of Puerto Rico, personally."

"Any way to know where this Dark-Elf you've mentioned before will appear?" Melinda inquired, interested. "I suppose that will be the prime invasion…"

The most important one, it was a good point.

"We have no way of knowing where he'll be." Serrure admitted.

"But we might have a way of making him come to us." Daisy offered unexpectedly.

"What…?!" No one was expecting that, not even her siblings.

"We already know chitauri are coming to Puerto Rico, now we just need to make sure he comes too." Daisy explained with a mix of eagerness and nervousness.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Stark asked. "Are you going to bring out your top-secret super-weapon?"

Several people around the room rolled their eyes, however, most of them kept looking straight at the taller Johnson, who was looking very solemn as she answered.

"Exactly."

xXx

The smaller Johnson (Arianna), the rest of the team, and even a number of other Agents, opposed the plan, loudly and vehemently. Most of the would-be Avengers did not understand. Stark kept muttering about Fury being so selfish that even on the face of an alien invasion and hundreds of thousands of civilians in danger (more like billions, if one took in consideration that the world at large was under threat) Fury still didn't want to reveal his weapon.

"This isn't about a weapon, this is about the danger doing this would put some of my people." Fury stated with a hint of something most people couldn't read. "You might have a death wish Stark, but my agents shouldn't…"

"This isn't about a death wish…" Skye Daisy, one of the few who understood what he meant, replied softly. "This is about what we're supposed to be. SHIELD as a whole, and us Caterpillars in particular. SHIELD is meant to protect, to defend the world from the 'much weirder world'… at least that's how AC and Robot like to put it." She smiled lopsidedly. "And the Caterpillars… we've been playing Secret Warriors for the last five years… maybe it's time we go further. From the very moment this began, even before we formed the team, I've always known what I wanted, and so did you. Maybe this is the chance, to show the world what… who we really are. To show them how much the world is truly changing."

"What if the world isn't ready yet?" Fury asked, but he did not sound angry, not even challenging at all, instead he was… concerned.

"It'll have to be." Skye replied, completely calm. "I know I am."

"We are." Silbhé Arianna corrected, standing shoulder to shoulder with her sister.

"Very well." Fury nodded after what seemed like forever. "Do it."

The two sisters nodded before spinning around in place and leaving the bridge, their teammates filing behind them without a word.

"Just who the hell are those chicks?!" Stark demanded loudly.

He didn't understand. Just who could they be, that they could take control of Fury's things, of the bridge, that everyone followed them, that even Fury listened to them and let their choices stand, even when he obviously didn't like it?

"Those two?" A non-descript agent commented from a side in an even tone. "They're the Princesses of SHIELD."

The answer just left Stark gaping even more. What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

xXx

It took a little while longer, but eventually the members of the Avengers Initiative had sorted themselves out and were ready to go too. Much as he might not like to admit it, Stark knew enough of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to be confident that they could handle things on both Sokovia and Russia, and while he had no idea who was in China, he was willing to go with the flow and focus on Puerto Rico. Also, he would admit he was a bit curious about the Quake weapon and whatever the Johnsons and their Caterpillars might be planning.

The group was walking towards their quinjet, when they noticed a female agent of Chinese ascendance, dark-brown hair to her shoulder blades and equally brown eyes dressed in an attire very much like Natasha Romanoff's, except in deep-blue, and black-leather boots, standing by the entrance to one of the quinjets.

"Agent Melinda May, the Cavalry…" Stark blurted out in a fake-ominous tone. "That's some codename! Especially considering most of your file is redacted."

Melinda remained completely unmoving (and feeling deeply unimpressed), refusing to rise to Stark's bait. The man-child was worse than Pietro and Skye put together in their worst days!

"So what, you want to join our team?" Stark kept trying to provoke her.

At that Melinda truly laughed, she couldn't help it.

"What?!" Stark demanded, he didn't like not being in on the joke.

"Whyever would I want to join your fledgling team Stark when I already have my own?" She inquired, cocking her head to a side. "And it's the best team in the world…"

"Wait a second…" Rogers called, giving a step forward. "You're a Caterpillar Agent May?"

"I am." Melinda nodded. "Have been from the moment the team was founded.

She didn't tell them the Johnson sisters had been doing missions together for two years before the team ever came to be, though.

"So you'll be the one transporting this weapon, Quake?" Stark asked, very interested.

May's expression went hard and cold all of a sudden.

"Nightingale is right." The Agent stated quietly. "Do not speak about what you cannot understand Stark. And be advised, this is your last warning!"

"Nightingale?" Banner asked, in an attempt to defuse the situation.

"The codename to the older Johnson sister." Melinda answered, somewhat evasively. "In the field its codenames only."

"And the codenames of the rest…?" Stark muttered, already suspecting he wouldn't be getting an answer, or at least not one he would like.

"You'll learn them when you need to." Melinda answered simply. "You already know I'm the Cavalry, you'll learn the others in due time."

"We'll be seeing you in San Juan then." Rogers stated, rather than asked.

"Of course." May nodded, and after thinking it over for a moment or two, added. "Be advised Captain, your rank might stand with most in SHIELD, and you may command the Avengers Initiative. But the Caterpillars follow the Johnson sisters only."

Steve Rogers, Captain America, obviously wasn't expecting that. Everyone was so deferent to him, and while he didn't exactly like it most of the time, he found it convenient during fights. Except in that moment he was going to battle and half of his allies would not be following him.

"And who do the Daughters of Johnson follow?" Lady Sif asked, intrigued and somewhat unnerved by everything going on.

If the Captain Rogers was the highest rank in the field, shouldn't he be the one to command them all? No one had ever referred to the sisters with any title that might show them to be above him… except for that agent who had called them princesses…

"Director Fury." May gave them the simple answer, knowing already they wouldn't understand the more complex one.

A moment later Captain Rogers nodded once, before leading his own team to another quinjet. Melinda May stood there, waiting for her own team to arrive, they had some time yet, and she knew they were getting ready to make a stand.

She knew that the Avengers didn't understand a lot where it came to the Caterpillars team, and especially the Johnson sisters. Really, anyone who wasn't part of the team had a hard time understanding how they functioned. Even agents who had worked and been saved by the team in general and the sisters in particular, more than once, found them odd. Most would never be able to grasp why Melinda was part of the team. Why she'd made such a choice (because it had been her choice). Then again, those people hadn't been there in Bahrain, hadn't seen what she'd seen on that day:

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Just another 'Index Asset Evaluation and Intake', or like some (like Skye, Darcy and Coulson) preferred to call it: the Welcome Wagon. The mark was a woman called Eva Belyakov, gifted with super-strength. It seemed to be a recent development. SHIELD wanted a chance at recruiting the woman before she got too mixed up with the some of the more unsavory organizations in the Middle-East.

It had been a surprise when they found the Johnsons were already on site. They explained they were on a recon mission pertaining the theft of a dangerous artifact which belonged to their allies in China. Something they called a terrigen crystal (and refused to elaborate on). They had no reason to believe their missions connected in any way, though for some reason May couldn't understand, Coulson had asked them to stay around, just in case.

Things had gone south pretty fast. Belyakov had noticed them, apparently she was already in contact with some kind of criminal organization, or at least with mercenaries; as they could see all the men who had followed as she barricaded herself inside one of the buildings. One of the men had also taken a young girl who'd been playing nearby… and that May couldn't stand for.

Truth be told she hadn't been paying much attention to the sisters, the two had been arguing quietly among themselves in a language May did not know, though it sounded European (later she would learn it was Gaelic, Arianna's favored language).

When the SHIELD Agents went in and then did not come out, decisions had to be made. There was no back-up coming, and Coulson couldn't go. Also, the local authorities were threatening with going in themselves, something all SHIELD agents knew was a bad idea. So May took it upon herself to handle the situation. She wasn't expecting it when the sisters announced they were going with her (neither was Coulson).

She hadn't liked the idea at the first, the Johnson sisters were clearly young (barely 19) to be getting involved in so dangerous situations. However, their ranks and the fact that they weren't their subordinates, mean that neither Coulson nor May could really stop them. So in the end they just went along with it. It was something May would always be grateful for.

Daisy was the one to announce that the men were being controlled, though she didn't explain how that was happening, or how she knew. May took it upon herself to cross off all the mercs, while the sisters knocked out all SHIELD Agents, being careful not to hurt them too badly. It went well, until they got to the main floor, where Belyakov, the girl, and half of the remaining men (mercs and agents both) remained.

"You get the girl out and I…" Melinda began, only to be interrupted.

"No." The sisters said in unison.

"What…?" May wasn't expecting that.

"Eva Belyakov has super-strength." Arianna stated calmly.

Melinda was about to ask what she expected by stating the obvious, when she got her answer.

"Who do you think is manipulating the men?"It was Daisy who said those words.

The older agent had no answer to that.

"I cannot believe she did that." Arianna muttered under her breath, addressing her sister. "I mean, it's one thing to feel offended by a refusal, but to actually force it… It's insane! I wonder what she would think, if she were conscious enough to know what's going on, what's she's provoked…" she shook her head. "Spirits!"

"What are you talking about?" Melinda demanded.

"It's a bit complicated." Daisy said even as she tried to summarize. "The artifact we were looking for, it might be what caused this. Eva was the one who stole it… well, we didn't know her name, just that the thief was here in Bahrain, and it's obvious now."

"Are you saying your crystal gave that woman her super-strength?" May didn't understand.

"No, that she already had." Daisy shook her head, not quite ready to explain that there were other crystals, and everything else about the Inhumans. "I mean she used the crystal to give power to her daughter. And that's how the child came to be able to manipulate people."

"Can you undo it?" Melinda thought it was all absolutely insane, but they were so outnumbered, the odds weren't good, she was willing to try pretty much anything at that point.

"No, the change, when it happens, it does so at a genetic level." Arianna half-explained. "It cannot be undone."

"Any way to free the agents?" May asked next, trying to come up with some kind of plan.

"You're not taking my friends away!" The child, Katya Belyakov, practically screeched. "I will not let you! I will kill them before you can take them away!"

As if to prove her point, all the mercs in the room dropped in that moment. No questions needed to be asked, all three female agents knew they were dead. And the agents would be next, unless one of them could think of something…

It was May who reached what she saw as the obvious conclusion first. As discretely as possible, she chambered a round in her gun, and began preparing herself to shoot the girl.

"Do you want to be my friends too?" Katya asked in a sickeningly sweet voice, as she began slowly walking towards the women.

Before Melinda could finish psyching herself up for what she 'needed to do', Arianna was on the move. She threw herself on top of the girl, taking her down, moving her hands to the child's neck; at the same time Katya reached her uncovered face.

Melinda and Daisy screamed at the same time. A handful of seconds later there was a flash of light only one of them could actually see; while the other focused on the fact that all the agents had dropped to the floor, unconscious rather than dead. Then Arianna sat up, taking deep breaths while trying to clean the blood from her fingers on her own clothes (though it was hard when she was the one bleeding).

"I'm alright." She announced with a sigh.

Melinda May had no idea what she'd done, what had just happened. Was Arianna Johnson suicidal or something? Why hadn't Katya's creepy ability worked on her? What was with the blood? Or the strange figures Arianna had apparently intentionally drawn on the girl's chest (just above her hart)? Just who were the Johnson sisters anyway?!

The moment they were out Melinda demanded answers from Coulson, who told her to bring it up with the girls' 'handler': Co-Director of SHIELD: Kathryn Adler, the Sphinx. It'd been a hell of a tale, full of so many surprises Melinda would never had believed it from anyone other than Adler and Fury (and the fact that the sisters were around to provide some graphic proof helped too). She also found out what Arianna had done to Katya Belyakov. Apparently once an Inhuman had been through terrigenesis the changes couldn't be undone. But at least Katya's gift could be blocked. Arianna had used magic to trap it inside the girl's own skin. Tied to the blood, as long as Arianna lived, Katya would have no power; there was nothing they could do about the girl being a sociopath though.

At the end of the long explanation Melinda made two choices: to allow the codename 'Cavalry' to take hold and the legend to grow (if everyone focused on her they wouldn't stop to wonder what the Johnson sisters did in that mission); she also asked to be transferred, she wanted to work with the sisters, as their pilot and backup. It was the official start of the Caterpillars team.

"Ready to go?" The voices of the Johnson sisters pulled Melinda from her memories.

The Cavalry looked at the up and down for a moment, noticing the changes in them. They truly were making a stand, and not just the sisters, but everyone. It appeared like their time of being the 'Secret Warriors' had come to an end. The Caterpillars were stepping into the light, and the world will then see what they truly were made of, and the fact that they were not just caterpillars but more… so much more…

Hopefully the world would be ready, they certainly were.

---

I know things might seem confusing at times, I'm trying to explain everything that's different in this particular reality, but if I miss something let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Now, while I'll try my best to post the second half of this fic in two weeks, I cannot make any guarantees, for two reasons: first, even as I get working on posting this I haven't written more than a couple of pages of the next part; Second, right now my focus is actually on an original work.

And on that front, PLEASE READ THIS: I'm currently participating on a contest over at , with an original WIP called "Krystel - Book 1: Blue". I'd love it if you could read that, leave me a review, hopefully even vote for me. The winner will be published. The contest ends on Dec 14th. I will be very grateful to every reader and every vote.

As always, full-sized poster and set of wallpapers are on DeviantArt.

Please don't forget to comment! Suggestions are welcomed.