I completely, willingly ignore the retcon of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff not being the children of Magneto.
The team at the start of the story consists of:
- Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
- Riri Williams / Ironheart
- America Chavez / Captain America
- Nico Minoru / Scarlet Witch
- Katherine Bishop / Hawkeye
- William Kaplan / Doctor Strange
- Theodore Altman / Captain Marvel
- Thomas Shepherd / Quicksilver
01:
She had never actually met the woman in the coffin. When she had accepted the role of an official Avenger, recruited by the Black Widow, Jane Foster had long been retired from all the heroics; she had even given up Mjölnir, which was now in display in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s museum along with other superhero gadgets. Nonetheless, Nico Minoru was an Avenger, she had been one for two years, and she wouldn't skip the funeral of Thor.
She sat at the back, unsure of how her presence as a stranger would be received by those who had been more acquainted with Dr. Foster. There were definitely more "normals" than superheroes, as far as Nico could tell. She allowed herself to feel a tiny bit of envy, wishing she could have had a longer life as a regular person; after all, she had been thrown into super heroics at age fifteen and from then on it only took nine years to be noticed and becoming an official Avenger. Jane Foster had had the chance of being a regular person, a nurse. Nico wondered for a moment what path her life would have followed had her parents not been murderous sorcerers. She smirked to herself. What a ridiculous thought.
"Careful there, wouldn't want people to think you're having fun at a funeral." whispered Karolina Dean, who was sitting next to her "Wouldn't help in shedding the goth image you had for a while."
Nico chuckled very lightly and sighed.
Julie, Karolina's partner, shushed them both.
Many retired and past Avengers had showed up to Dr. Foster's funeral. She could recognize Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew sitting at the front, next to Sam Wilson, who had given up the mantle of Captain America to her teammate America Chavez, who unsurprisingly was nowhere to be seen. Agents Morse and Barton, who had gotten back together, were on the other side of the aisle, and sitting next to them was Kate, also her teammate, Hawkeye. The current leader of the Avengers, Natasha Romanoff, sat next to Bobbi, holding Nathaniel Barton, her baby godson.
Conducting the funeral was the Valkyrie herself, who had descended from the skies to carry Jane's soul to Valhalla. Nico thought that was only a figure of speech, but still had her doubts; she had seen weirder things, and they only kept getting weirder since becoming the Scarlet Witch.
Wanda Maximoff was sitting around the middle. At first, Karolina had suggested Nico sat next to her; Nico was her protégée, after all, and it would be rude not to acknowledge her. But Nico dismissed the idea when Wanda's family showed up. Her brother, Pietro, and her sister, Lorna, were sitting to her left; while her children, also her teammates, sat to her right, with William, the current Sorcerer Supreme, sitting farther than Thomas, Quicksilver, so he could sit next to Captain Marvel himself, his partner Theodore Altman.
S.H.I.E.L.D. director Daisy Johnson sat next to the Black Widow, often trying to get the baby's attention away from her godmother.
Nico had never been the type to get excited over superheroes, so she could barely remember the names of others; she just knew they had been affiliated to the Avengers at one point.
She let out a yelp, not loud enough to disrupt the ceremony but enough to call the attention of Karolina and Julie. She felt a sudden burning sensation in her left eye. Ignoring Karolina's questions, she took off her shades to cover her eye with her hand. She rarely took off her shades away from battle since making a second bargain with the Staff of One. It had given her an eye made out of the same material as her witch arm which allowed her, amongst other effects, to sense incoming danger.
She couldn't make sense of it, and the pain was starting to become too much to handle.
America Chavez gazed longingly into the original Captain America exhibit at the S.H.I.E.L.D. museum. When Steve Rogers had passed away, his shield had left the field officially as per the wishes of his widow, Sharon Carter, so it could be displayed along with some of his most emblematic uniforms. Sam Wilson, America's tutor, had been able to convince her to give it up, but she would still go look after it at the official museum.
It was meant to be her legacy, it meant a lot. No matter how many times Sam told her that the shield doesn't make the captain, America still yearned to have the shield once again. The shield that had been made for her by her teammate Riri Williams, Ironheart, was a technological miracle for sure, it was able to fly and split in five, or hide away some parts so it became a gigantic throwing star; but it just wasn't the same.
She started walking when she heard a multitude of steps coming towards her. She had been avoiding groups of young students all day. Apparently, the death of Thor meant the day was ideal to go look at Mjölnir.
When she reached the Mjölnir display, there was only a young boy there. He couldn't have been older than seventeen. He had dark skin and a flat nose, and straight, black hair on the longer side. He was just there staring at the hammer.
"It's quite something, huh?" said America.
"Yeah." replied the boy, without peeling his eyes off the ancient weapon. He chuckled, and then sighed.
When he finally looked to his left, acknowledging the company, he almost jumped from excitement, only being stopped by America pressing her finger against her lips asking him to be quiet.
"Oh my god, you're Captain America." said the boy "I'm very sorry about Thor…"
America smiled awkwardly. She hadn't really been friends with Jane Foster.
"Are you here on your own?" she asked, trying to steer the conversation away from her.
"Oh. No… I'm here with my class, but…" he sighed, looking in the glass' direction again "It's just so…"
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
The boy looked at her again, smiling intently.
"I'm Tadi, Tadi Nootau. I'm a big fan of yours."
America smiled and stretched her hand towards the boy, who could barely contain his excitement when shaking hands with her.
"I wish I could believe you, but you're at the Thor exhibit." America said, with a smirk.
Tadi laughed and brought his attention towards Mjölnir once again. He was about to explain himself, when an alarm started blaring through the air.
The lights changed to red and started flickering.
Tadi looked towards America, who seemed just as confused as him but quickly took out a communicator with a big A on it. It was probably inappropriate to feel so excited imagining that, maybe, Captain America was calling the rest of the Avengers; but he couldn't help it.
"Riri, there's something-"
A shockwave blasted both away from the glass, but America's quick reflexes had allowed her to catch and cover Tadi from the incoming rubble. There was a big hole on the ceiling as a result of the explosion.
America stood up and looked around.
"Stay behind me." she told Tadi, who was still lying on the floor.
Quick steps could be heard in the distance as people rushed to leave the museum, and America guessed some of those were coming from S.H.I.E.L.D. officials approaching the scene.
From the skies descended a figure of an inhumanly tall woman covered in some sort of super tight armor made out of a luminous material. She had long, flowing black hair, and the top half of her face was obscured by the same material of her armor. She had long slightly curved horns protruding from the top of her head like those of an oryx.
As if she didn't notice America, the woman turned towards Mjölnir and put her hand against the glass.
"Stand back from the hammer!" said America, already forming fists with both hands.
The woman turned towards them and tossed her hair behind her shoulders. She was smiling.
"You stand back." she said. Her voice echoed in the air.
As she spoke, America was lifted in the air and pushed back violently, barely missing Tadi on her way to the nearest wall.
Tadi didn't avert his eyes from the woman even when he could feel her sight burning into him.
The woman turned away from him and lifted one hand towards Mjölnir. A dark flame like a dancing shadow formed in front of her and shattered the bulletproof glass with a blast. She reached for the hammer.
Five pieces of flying metal hit the woman one after the other, pushing her away just a little bit as they made way towards America. She had called for her shield.
"The Avengers are on their way." said America, although she was mostly bluffing. Maybe Riri, who had stayed back in the tower, had noticed the shield abandon the premises.
"Good." said the woman.
She lifted her hand once again towards America and shot a dark fireball towards her.
America covered herself behind the shield, but it wasn't enough to protect her. Only her invulnerability protected her when the force of the explosion destroyed the wall behind her.
"Stay down." said the woman when America tried standing up.
America fell violently against the floor. She let out a scream as one of her legs bended painfully under her weight.
Suddenly, America disappeared into the floor.
Tadi noticed the woman seemed confused, like that wasn't had she had intended. Her confusion only grew when America fell on top of her from a star shaped portal.
America slammed her face with the shield one, two, three times. She was then blasted into the air by a dark fireball.
Captain America's punches had worked a bit, as the woman stood up very slowly and in an arched position. The woman then pointed in America's direction. It was another fireball.
America ducked just in time to avoid the collision with the fireball and, as she dashed towards the assailant, she threw her shield in the air, hitting her five times with the shards.
The woman blocked away the last hit of the shield, but she didn't have time to protect herself from an enraged America tackling her to the ground.
Tadi stood up and rushed towards the hammer, only wishing to hide it away from the woman. He had never heard of the enchantment protecting Mjölnir, he just assumed everybody could lift it… like he did in that moment.