The clap of her boots on the cliff she walked seemed to echo in the vast empty space around them. The sound announced her arrival and the stone chair that hovered above her slowly began to turn. When her eyes met his her feet stilled and she moved no further. "Father," was her quiet greeting.

Smiling as though he were happy to see her the Titan stepped from his throne and stood towering over her. "It's good to see you, Elara" he told her raising a large hand to her cheek, feeling her lean into his touch. His smile grew. "You stayed away too long this time."

"I'm sorry, father," she replied, her eyes downcast.

Watching her blank face closely he asked, "were you with anyone?"

Elara's eyes shifted to his violet face and she blinked slowly at him. He knew. "Of course," she answered honestly, catching the faint twitch of his mouth, "Nebula always keeps me safe."

"That she does," he agreed, pale eyes flicking to the mechanical daughter hovering in the shadows, who he'd forcibly retrieved answers from. Her optic scanner malfunctioned leaving only a partial video, in it he'd seen Elara's smile. It was something he hadn't seen in some time. Looking at her now, staring innocently up at him with her smaller hand holding his to her face, he tried to remember when she stopped smiling. His sweet girl. "The asgardian failed, you know this."

"Yes father."

"The mind stone remains on Earth though it has changed hands. You will find it and bring it to me," he told her, his fingers trailing under her chin before his hand returned to his side. "He also lost the space stone, this you only need bring the location. There is no one better suited."

As Elara bid him a grateful, "thank you father," behind her Nebula seethed. If it wasn't Gamora it was Elara, she wasn't his most prized fighter but he favored her differently.

The two returned to their ship, Nebula's footsteps cracking like thunder as she stalked along the metal flooring. "I'll take you to Earth if only to be rid of you," she said through clenched teeth as she threw herself into the pilot's chair and set their course.

Calmly Elara sat beside her feeling the hyperdrive starting up. "Well I for one will miss you dearly," she said with a hint of irony to cut through the vulnerability of her honesty.

"Because you're weak," Nebula sneered, but without enough bite to sound like she meant it.

"Maybe," she quietly agreed.

They traveled in the silence Nebula created, but it was soft in the way only Elara could be. Glancing at her awed face as she watched the stars bleed Nebula felt as though a hole had been carved in the pit of her stomach, she wanted to be sick.

It seemed small, Elara thought as they came to a stop hovering outside of Earth's atmosphere. But it was beautiful, this little blue dot. There was a soft whir and a loud click, and Elara turned to Nebula seeing her left eye jutting out. With nimble fingers Elara disconnected the wire to the sensor as she had many times before.

"You won't be forgiven for this," Nebula warned her. Any leniency Thanos was capable he showed only to Elara, and they both knew it was out of no real care for her.

Hooking her retracted sword to the belt of the white suit Thanos had crafted specifically for her, Elara replied, "I'd imagine not." She looked at Nebula to see her stubbornly turned away. "Will you not say goodbye?"

"From the day he brought you I've waited to be rid of you." She'd carved her voice to stone, her black eyes refusing to look at her. She jerked at the light touch on her hand and recoiled, feeling Elara's grip tighten unwilling to let go.

Binding their fingers Elara stepped closer pressed against her side, hearing Nebula's harsh breathing as she pressed her forehead to Nebula's cold temple, the tip of her nose brushing her cheek. "I'll always love you."

Nebula turned into her touch though her eyes looked as though it pained her. "You were always the weakest of our siblings," she said unrelenting.

It curled a smile on Elara's face. "You never saw me as your sister," she reminded her. "Otherwise you wouldn't love me as you do." The absence of pain was all Nebula knew of happiness. And mine is you, Elara thought looking at her blue plated face.

"I don't love you," Nebula told her callous and hateful.

Still smiling Elara said, "of course not."

Feeling her pull away Nebula finally looked at her, feeling the nonexistent thread that tied them together making her want to reach for her. A thousand times Nebula almost did, a thousand times she almost let Elara love her. And she thought, as she always did, why not. But every time Nebula remembered how easily Thanos had taken her heart from her the first time. "Let this be my last kindness to you," Nebula said, meeting Elara's sad gaze. "Should we meet again I won't hesitate to kill you."

"I know," was Elara's simple response.

There was no anger or ill will, no accusation, and yet Nebula still felt the burn of shame. As Elara turned to the escape pod Nebula grabbed her arm and jerked her back feeling her stumble as they collided. As metal encircled her wrist Elara looked down at the cuff to see a smooth red chip in the center that almost looked like a jewel. And on the wrist of the hand that held her too tightly Elara saw Nebula had an identical marker. They shared a rare quiet look before Nebula shoved her, forcing distance between them.

Catching herself Elara looked at her as though to memorize her face before she climbed into the escape pod and ejected it. From above Nebula watched in grieved silence until the pod fell farther than she could see. And then she was alone, with nothing to fill the empty space Elara left behind.

…

Flitting quickly across the surrounding area a drone hovered over the crashed oblong ship scanning for signs of life around the dimly lit empty stretch of highway. Hundreds of miles away Nick Fury stood watching the feed closely, the sensor was picking up something faint on one specific part of the road but neither it nor Fury could make out the details. Suddenly the road seemed to leap up and grab the drone, the last image recorded were a pair of strangely technicolored eyes. "Hostile confirmed," Fury said to the man on the other end of the mic.

"Noted," Tony said less than a mile out now. He stopped and hovered several feet from the strange pod that'd split the road on impact, it was the only heat signature he picked up. "I'm not seeing anything," he told Fury, who he called after JARVIS informed him of the unknown spacecraft that had entered earth's atmosphere only a few minutes before.

"Yeah the drone didn't either," Fury replied.

"Sir?"

"What is it JARVIS?" Tony replied looking from one end of the highway to the other, lit only by a few roadway lights. Still no sign of anything.

"There's a section of grass that isn't moving with the surrounding area," JARVIS explained sectioning what he noticed for Tony to view.

Tony turned seeing the outline highlighted for him and had just enough time to mutter, "shit," before it rammed into him sending him spiraling toward the ground. Holding his hands out he caught himself with the rockets in his gauntlets and prepared to fly up from whatever came out of the ship when a hand latched onto his foot dragging him down and slammed him into the asphalt. Finding himself lifted into the air he got a hand under him and hit his grass-shaded assailant square in the chest with a repulsor.

He watched them tumble along the ground before catching themselves and turning toward him, and with a sudden shift of color Tony found himself looking at a tall woman with yellow skin and red and blue hair. And she looked very pissed off. "We can talk this through," he told her, trying to lessen the deep lines of anger carved in her strange face.

She lunged after him, and the rockets in his little boots lit up in a way she realized meant he was going to fly away. Grabbing his leg she flung him to the ground, and when he tried to catch himself she landed on his back flattening him with a loud crack. Another blast from his glove and she was thrown to the side, she caught herself easier and jumped at him again pulling him with her back down so that she fell heavy over him. Lifting his shoulders she threw him back onto the strange rock hearing part of his armor crack. His arm rose to hit her again but she grabbed it, tightening her fist so her fingers broke through the metal and she pulled it off throwing it aside.

Tony lay with his ears ringing and his head spinning feeling asphalt under his palm. He raised his other arm but she lashed out and slammed it on the ground hard enough he felt the frame splinter. Before he could transfer power to the main arc reactor in the center of his chest her fist came down cracking it hard enough he felt the blow from within the suit, he swore his heart skipped a beat. This was it, she was gonna kill him. As the screen above him flickered in and out he felt her tear the helmet from his head and watched her raise it above her head. He closed his eyes bracing himself for the final blow hearing metal crunch in his ear.

Finding he was conscious of his own panting, having yet to feel any new pain, he cracked an eye open to see her gaping down at him, her hand next to his head where she'd crushed his helmet.

"You are not a machine," she said softly, feeling her heart still racing as she stared down at his mildly frightened face.

Tony looked at her and saw confusion as she touched his cheek. "Not last I checked." He wanted something quipier, something that felt more like him, but he was still reeling from her strong hands that were now almost gentle on his face.

All of sudden she was on her feet pulling him off the ground, and he grabbed her to keep from falling and righted himself standing only a few inches taller than her. She had to be near six feet at least. "My apologies," she told him, "I did not realize you were a person."

Catching his breath he nodded. "Yeah, I know a few people who'd disagree." He looked down at himself seeing she'd ripped off chunks of his suit, and gathered around the asphalt around him were the remains of his helmet and gauntlet. "You owe me a new suit," he told her, hitting his still covered hand against his leg hoping to get the repulsor back up. But there was nothing more than a dull clang, she'd killed the suit. Taking a heavy breath he looked at her to see her curiously appraising him. "So who are you, why are you here?"

"I am Elara," she greeted, looking at his wary face as he tried to step back. "There is something on this planet my father wants."

"And you're here to get it for him," Tony said hoping Fury sent backup because she'd effectively neutered him.

"No," she said shaking her head, her deep blue brows drawing together on her yellow-tinted face. "I came to make sure he never gets it."

He chuckled faint and unamused. "And I'm just supposed to believe you?"

"I don't care if you believe me. He will destroy everything if he gets it, I cannot let that happen. And if you are the best defense this planet has to offer then you will not stop me."

"Okay first of all," he raised a finger at her, "that hurt. I expect another apology. And second, I've got a green friend I'm sure you'd love to meet."

The furrow between her brows deepened. "You know Gamora?"

"Who?"

"The green friend I want to meet, is it my sister?"

"No?" Tony said trying to figure out what was happening. "We have a Hulk, he's big and green, and would take you in a fight."

"Then why would I want to meet him?"

Tony sighed heavily raising his eyes to the night sky above them. "It's an expression," he muttered. "Look, kid, you can't just fall from the sky and," he was stopped by her hand over his mouth as she turned to look in the distance.

Her auditory sensors picked up the faint whir of rotors and she turned spotting a strange looking ship coming toward them. "Someone is coming, get behind me weak human."

He'd just opened his mouth to give an unkind retort when she pulled what he thought was a dagger from her belt and hit a button making it longer and wider than his forearm. For a moment he was stunned at realizing how easily she could've killed him if not for her obvious curiosity.

The two stood as the chopper circled around them before landing several feet away, and as the doors were opened several black-suited men with military grade weapons streamed out and got into position aiming at the strange woman that stood wielding only a sword. At the sight of an older man donning a scowl and an eye patch Tony pulled her arm down so the sword was pointing at the ground. "He's a friend," he told her quickly, feeling her start to pull away.

"Then why do they have weapons?"

"Because you're not," he said tightening his grip on her arm even though he knew she could easily throw him aside.

Elara looked from him to the heavily armed men judging the situation and how best she could get out of it. There was no doubt in her mind she'd win, but the man behind her would get himself killed. "I don't want to put my sword away."

"You good, Stark?" Fury asked seeing this woman had done a number on him.

"Yup, just new to Earth," Tony called back still looking at her. "You need to put it away," he told her firmly.

Catching movement she turned to see the armed men return their guns to their side, and she looked back to Tony who was still holding her arm. Though she was unhappy she pressed the switch again and when the blade retracted she returned it to her belt. She turned to him looking for the first time young, and unknowing. "What happens now?"

He held a hand out toward where Fury stood by the chopper knowing well enough to wait for the girl to be brought to him. "Now we talk."

For a moment she stood contemplating that, if it would get her what she wanted. But she came to realize other than freedom she didn't know what she wanted, but she figured he was a good enough start. "Okay," she agreed in a quiet voice.

With a nod he stepped forward and a piece of his suit fell clattering to the ground. His jaw clenched and turned to her. "I was serious about you owing me a new suit."

"Wouldn't you want a better one?"

He turned with wide irate eyes. "It was a perfectly fine suit. What do you even know, you're ET if he were big and yellow."

Huffing she rolled her eyes. "I don't know what is ET, but I know you didn't last five minutes."

They'd come within hearing distance of Fury and he smirked faintly chuckling. "I like you already," he told her, finding her coloring unsettling but her otherwise humanoid features familiar. "Nick Fury."

She looked down at the dark hand he held out to her confused. "Yes," she said looking back up at him, "I also have hands."

He laughed again. "It's a handshake, that's how we say hello," he explained to her, seeing she still didn't understand.

"We'll work on it," Tony said reaching a hand to her shoulder to nudge her into the chopper. He noticed the way she flinched drawing into herself, the way she reached for the hilt of her sword before she realized no one meant to hurt her. He'd have to remember that.

She was hesitant as she climbed into their small ship, questioning again if this was the right thing. Times like these Nebula would sneer, and if Gamora was there she'd yell at Nebula and reach a gentle hand to Elara's arm. For the first time in her life Elara had every choice to make and no one to stop her. So she sat back, making her first choice.

Welcome to the story, I hope ya'll enjoy it. You guys will learn more about Elara as the story progresses, but she'll really start opening up and you'll learn the most a little bit after she meets Bucky.