Maria dips and twirls through the air, tilts her head up into the sun and relishes the warmth that dances across the bridge of her nose. The air smells like pollution and the wet tang of a sun shower, and below her the streets of New York hums with life.
The Avengers building glints like a homing beacon straight ahead and Maria sighs, angles her body towards the structure.
It's been a year since the Skrull invasion. A year since she had become…whatever she was. Not quite human, not quite alien.
'We're hybrids,' Abigail tells her one day, her green hair stark against the grey walls of the helicarrier. 'Caught in between and never knowing where we belong.'
She spots Steve long before he sees her. He's broad and has his hands in his pockets as she drifts down towards him, flashes her a shy smile.
'Hey,' Maria almost whispers and leans in the same time he does, relishes the quick touch of lips and skin. Her face tingles and she quirks her lips when his eyes linger on her legs.
'Eyes up solider,' she says and rolls her eyes at his sheepish expression.
'How was patrol?' Steve asks her, shoulders brushing against hers as they make their way inside.
'The usual,' she shrugs. 'Uneventful.'
A shudder runs through the building.
'Tony and Bruce are in the lab again,' Steve explains.
Maria quirks an eyebrow.
'I have no idea what their doing. I got lost after a bit but Tony looked excited so I figured it was best if I didn't ask too many questions,' he continues. 'You want some coffee?'
Maria's heart warms. 'Sure but maybe-'
Her words get swallowed up as something heavy and solid slams into her side, taking her into the concrete wall. Maria takes a second to suck in a breath and catches a glimpse of silver before Steve's tackled whatever it is into the ground.
The red klaxons blare and cut through the still air with the shrill, piercing wail of the alarm.
Whatever's attacked her is rolling around the floor with Steve and he's trying to get the silver form into a headlock. Maria narrows her eyes and sees the silver form – which looks suspiciously like a humanoid robot – buck his hips and land a well placed punch on the side of Captain America's jaw.
'Is that an Ultron?' Tony's disembodied voice rings through the air and fires a pulse of energy towards the intruder. The form catches the bolt like a baseball and Maria watches as the energy dissipates and absorbs into the palm of its hand.
Maria doesn't bother answering, instead launching herself quickly at it and doesn't know whether to be surprised or not when it catches her arm and torques it back.
'Shit,' she hisses between her teeth. 'Where the fuck is Bruce?'
A primal growl rents the air.
'One Hulk, as ordered,' Tony quips as the Hulk barrels in and literally slaps the silver form away.
'There's something off about this thing,' Tony yells as Steve rolls away just in time to avoid being flattened by the Hulk.
'Like the fact it's kicking our ass,' Maria shoots back and cringes as Steve gets tossed into the minibar.
'It's sentient,' Tony shouts over the Hulk's battle cry. 'It's almost as if-'
Tony is cut off as the silver form vibrates and shifts itself, and a second later Maria stares at a replica of the Hulk.
'Yeah that's not good,' Tony spits out before two Hulks smash into each other. The shockwaves rip apart the floor and carves it clean in two. Maria darts out to grab onto Steve before both Hulks smash through the lower levels. Steve dangles from her arm as she flies up towards Tony.
'Take him I'm going to try and knock him out with Banner,' Maria tells Iron Man before dumping Steve into his arms and taking off. She hears Tony shout her name but the wind tunnels through her ears as she follows the sound of destruction.
Banner is bloodied and bruised when she reaches them. She smashes through the chunks of concrete being thrown around, yells at Bruce to get away.
What happens next makes her question whether Tony had been trying to tell her something.
The silver robot – sentient being, whatever – narrows its eyes at her. Its fingers graze the ground and the whole floor starts to hum and buzz with energy. It glows magenta.
Maria's eyes widen in recognition.
Bruce's arms wrap around her before everything explodes in a glaring haze of purple and pink.