There was a boy with piercing eyes and a wicked aim. He piqued the interests of circus goers like arrows piercing a target. He threw swords and shot arrows with deadly accuracy. The harsh weapons danced through the air, unassuming of their violent uses. With eyes like a hawk, he dreamed of soaring through the air and finally being free from the chains of the dysfunctional circus he called a family. His parents were gone, and his brother's memory was still tinged with the aftertaste of bitter betrayal. The circus was his home, for now. His skin prickled with the idea of living on the road, the quirks he picked up from the circus would help in stealing food and necessities. Living free. Like a bird finally escaping its cage.
Clint Barton perched up in his 'hawk nest', eyes scouring the floor below. A blue gleam reflected from the center of the dark room bustling with scientists. The Tesseract. He was to protect it, watch over it. Keep anything from touching it. It was far too important. But then it was far too bright. And there was a foreign person, a God. And then his instincts kicked in and he fought but it was too late. The God was too strong and Clint watched as the God's sharp saber touched his chest. And then he could finally breath.
There was another boy, with large glasses and a mind much too big for his body. His intelligence sparkled as he attempted experiment after experiment, so curious about the ways science and gamma radiation worked. His want for knowledge was uncontrollable, unattainable. It was his one and only. Dark fingers stained with black ink darted across pages of worn paper, scribbling down equations. He just wanted to be something. To be recognized for his pure, flowing curiosity. Because once he was recognized it would all be worth it. All of his struggles, the people who had said he'd never amount the anything, all the doubters, they would all be wrong. And that was all he wanted.
Bruce hurried across his lab, little beads of excitement sparking low in his belly. He had had a breakthrough with replicating the Captain America serum. The Super Soldier Serum. This could be it. Bruce could finally be publicly recognized for all his hard work. He honestly didn't understand how nobody else had realized. It was obvious. The secret was gamma radiation. An unstable radiation yes, but very strong nonetheless. It was so simple! Bruce took a vial of the radiation and added it to the serum mixture. But something was wrong. There was gas and this wasn't supposed to happen. No, no! It was so simple. The gas overcame him and he lost consciousness. When Bruce woke up, he was angry.
A young girl sat alone. Fiery red hair gleamed in fluorescent lights, but eyes sat dull and shrunken as if they had given up. It was all a ploy. Because at the slightest sign of defiance, it would be over. On the inside though, she was tense with anger and harbored thoughts of rebellion and escape. Flames danced inside her mind as she entertained the idea of finally being able to leave the horror of the Red Room. She followed the rules and slipped through the facility like a ghost, purple veins visceral against her white skin. One day she would escape, and when that happened. Well, she would change the world.
Natasha watched silently as Loki paced around his cage, almost like a feral animal. She faked her way through sentence after sentence because, after all, she had a very specific set of skills. She was an expert at manipulating and gathering information from the smallest tidbits of overconfidently revealed plans. She looked on, eyes filled with defiance as she faced off with a God, their weapons were words. Sharp tongues clashed, evenly matched. And once it was over, once the information had been gleaned and the God beaten, Natasha sat alone. As much as she hated to admit it. The God was right. There was so much red in her ledger. So much red. Too much red.
A small boy sat in the middle of his fathers lab. All of the technology glittered with the sleek vibe of attraction. The child looked around in awe. There was so much to explore! He glowed with thoughts of finally impressing his father with new inventions. Maybe he could even help his dad find Captain America! Scrambling up to a cabinet, he began rummaging through it, looking for something, anything he could use to build. A few minutes later he had acquired metal, some wire, and a few memory cards. Yes. He knew exactly what to do. He would build a robot to keep his dad company! Yes, perfect. He would name it… Dum-E.
Tony tightened his entire body as he woke up on the floor of the Afghanistan cave. It was hot, far too hot. And his chest hurt. There was metal in it. Soldiers lined the outside of the cave with instructions to keep him in-line. They wanted his technology. His weapons. Everybody was against him. Tony would never make it out of here alive. But then Yinsen made himself known. Yinsen had helped Tony, saved him. Together they had built a suit of metal so Tony could finally escape and make his way home. It was a perfect plan. But then it went wrong. Tony watched as Yinsen lay dying, because of him. It was his fault. It was all his fault. Tony didn't look back as he blasted out of the cave.
A small God sat in a large golden building, called the Bifrost. He was but a young boy, curious of all the worlds in Yggdrasil. The Gatekeeper drew him in with molten eyes and stories of battles fought and wars won. The boys hair flowed around his head like lightning as he jumped around, reenacting the battles inside his head. His feet pounding down on the rainbow bridge and his imaginary cape flowing through the air behind him. He would totally become an amazing warrior one day. He would win wars. He and his brother. They would always be together because they were brothers. And he loved his younger brother very much.
Thor knew he shouldn't still be trying to save Loki. But there was still that undeniable agony every time he saw the forced smirk cross his little brothers face during a battle. Thor just wanted his brother back. Loki had never done anything to directly harm Thor. So he thought little of it while diving into Loki's glass cage to keep him from escaping. Then the door slid shut and Loki stood smirking from the outside of the thick glass. And Thor lost a part of himself that day, because Loki had actually almost killed him. The last thing he had seen was Loki's smiling face. And that hurt. Because he still loved his younger brother very much.
Another boy, this one much too small for his age, sat on the stairs outside of his Brooklyn apartment. His skinny arms wound around his fragile legs as he stared up into the polluted sky. The stars twinkled and he sighed, breath coming out in a white puff surrounded by cold air. Why him? Why did he have to be so weak? All he wanted was to join the Army and serve his country. His melancholy was interrupted by a door opening and Bucky joining him on the steps. Taking one last look at the beautiful, free sky, he allowed himself to be ushered back in to their slightly warmer apartment. At least he had Bucky.
Steve looked around from the inside of the Red Skull's plane. The snow looked so peaceful, covering the ground like soft, warm blanket of white. It reminded Steve of the night sky, with the millions and trillions of twinkling white stars. He glanced at the compass sitting on the dash, a picture of Peggy inside. He sent out a silently apology to her. There was no other way. Steve directed the plane downward and held his breath as the snow became closer and closer. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The last moments seemed like slow motion. The glass cracked and the metal bent. He'd see Bucky again soon. And then cold.
The Avengers struggled, maybe more so than most people. They had so many challenges and hardships to overcome. But eventually, they became more than just a group of heroes thrown together to save the world. They became family that looked out for each other. Together, they slowly learned to live again. And maybe, just maybe, they were the lucky ones.