Hello dear readers! This story takes place before, during, and after Avengers so be ready for that. This story is a bit different in the sense that it's third person point of view; which I haven't done in a while. So if it seems a bit off forgive me and with that please enjoy!

Prelude~

She had no clear past to remember, and no clear future to look forward to. Only a few bitter fragments of memory make up what she knows, and only a handful of hopes she can believes in. Ever since she left the foster system she's wandered the globe trying to find a place to call home. She'd been found at the age of eight and kept in the system until eighteen as per usual. No one adopted her, no one wanted her. That didn't deter her from becoming one of the most well rounded children in the entire foster system to date. She excelled in school skipping two grades to make up for her quick learning mind. She graduated high school with flying colors and as Valedictorian and went on to college graduating with a BA in Physiology and a Minor in Literature. After college she had one or two jobs across the US before deciding to travel as much as she could and as far as she could. She traveled anywhere her heart wanted to go; London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Montréal, Oslo, Cape Town and so many others. She picked up languages just as quickly as she had done in any other study in her life. But nowhere she went felt like home, even if she was able to settle in and fit in as best one could. Perhaps it was the fact she never had a normal childhood, loving parents, or a sibling to understand her. Even so she keeps moving after a few months never wanting to be strapped down in any one place. Now she's staying in Calcutta just outside the city teaching English at the local school for children. They adore her and she them in return, she can relate in some way to each and every child. Her home here isn't as grand as some of the others she has had; a simple three roomed cabin consisting of a living room with small kitchenette, bathroom with shower and toilet, and bedroom with just a queen size bed and nightstand. With all that aside however she's happy—if only for now. It's just after school has ended with the children rushing off on home waving goodbye to her. She watches them fondly before making her way to the market. Wearing a sky blue sari with silver stars sewn into it, she has her golden bronze hair pulled back and up into a bun and her hazel eyes lined with kohl. As she wanders through the crowded market where vendors shout out selling their wears the combination of spices, herbs, incense and heat fills her mind. It's a strangely soothing mix to her which eases the tension from her shoulders every time. With a bag she buys vegetables, a cut of fish, some spice and herbs for it along with a tin of chia tea to have. Once she finishes paying she continued on home only to pause when someone pulls on her sleeve. Looking down she sees it's a boy from her class and asks him in Hindi,

"What's wrong Abhi?"

"Come, come quickly Mya!" he replies his face red and eyes watery as he keeps tugging on her sleeve towards his home.

"What happened?" she says again a bit firmer this time so that he hiccups saying,

"Aashi is sick." Aashi is his sister who's only a toddler which makes her heart beat a bit faster. Taking the boys hand, Mya bends down asking him,

"Where are your parents?"

"Trying to find the doctor, but can you help?" brows furrowing, she had no idea what he meant by 'the doctor' but assumed it was the local healer or something. Giving him a soft smile she stands back up and allows him to drag her through the crowds towards his home. Once at the child's home, Mya sees the curtain door pulled back and hears the wails of Aashi inside. Abhi rushes in leaving her to slip her sandals off and enter alone. Inside their father is holding tightly to their mother who's sobbing loudly into her husband's shoulder as someone is leaning over the cradle.

"Abhi where have you been?!" his father demands but upon seeing her says softly,

"Hello Ms. Wall." giving the man a gentle smile Mya takes a few steps closer to see that the man over the cradle isn't the local healer at all. Instead he's a middle aged with dark wayward brown hair gray at the temples, his caramel eyes behind wire rimmed glasses. Wearing khaki's and a button up navy shirt rolled at the elbows, he's giving Aashi an injection of hopefully medication. When he finishes he pulls back up saying slowly,

"She should be fine; her fever should go down soon. Just keep her cool and make sure to give her only liquids for a while." it's only then does he turn to see Mya beside him which makes him jumps slightly.

"Sorry," she says before turning to Aashi's parents and repeating the instructions in Hindi so they could better understand, their English isn't the best. The man only nods before turning to go but Mya takes his sleeve gently saying,

"Wait," before the parent's get out a handful of coins for him to take with the mother saying gratefully,

"Please take." he's about to protest when he realizes that they would probably feel disrespected if he didn't take the money. So with a slightly shaking hand he takes the coins and pockets them before turning to go again. Watching him go, Mya realizes she has no idea who this man is let alone if she's ever seen him before.

"Abhi, who was that?" she asks so that he peeks over the top of the cradle where he was watching his sister to say,

"The doctor." he says simply as she watches him go never once looking back. Shaking her head, she turns to Abhi's parents and offers to make them dinner seeing as if she has food anyway. They refuse politely so instead Mya leaves behind the chia tea saying that they might need it to soothe their own worries. After a few moments stay Mya starts on back home pondering over the man she had run into. She's lived in Calcutta for nearly four months now and had never—ever—seen him before—anywhere. Slightly out of it she doesn't notice the car she's going to cross paths with until someone grabs her arm and pulls her out of the way. The car horn squeals making her snap out of her thoughts and shake as it goes by mere feet from her.

"You should watch where you're going." a familiar voice says so turning Mya see it's the doctor who helped Aashi. He doesn't even look into her eyes before letting go of her arm and going back down the road so that she has to call out,

"Wait!" turning slightly on his heel, he looks at her as she says,

"Thank you for helping Aashi."

"You know them?" he wonders softly turning a bit more to see her and give her a once over, but very modestly.

"I'm Abhi's schoolteacher." Mya replies simply going over towards him and stopping a few paces away holds out her hand for him to take saying,

"My name's Mya Wall, err, Wallace. But I use 'Wall' because it's easier for everyone to say." the man looks from her hand to her face wearily before tentatively taking her hand saying,

"Bruce." giving him a smile she wonders as he drops her hand,

"How long have you been here? No offense, but I've been around for at least four months and have never seen you before." Bruce chuckles dryly saying,

"I've been here longer than that, but I like to keep to myself." that explains it, but even so Mya's curious so asks this time,

"Where do you live?"

"Why do you want to know?" he asks sounding both worried and annoyed so that she takes two steps back saying in surprise,

"I was only curious, I didn't mean anything by it." Bruce exhales deeply before running a hand through his hair and looks away. Sensing silence about to follow, Mya gives him another smile before saying,

"It was nice to meet you."

"Uh, likewise." and then he's back down the road again as if he'd never spoken to her at all, let alone probably saved her life. She watches him go for a moment following him to the very outskirts of town. To her surprise she figures out that he lives near her, probably her nearest neighbor in that area. This makes no sense to her, how could he live so close by and she's never seen him before? Is he that much of an antisocial person?

"Who the hell are you?" she mutters under her breath before heading home only a different way as to not cross paths with him again.