Chapter One: A Flame In the Night
Here's a new fanfiction I decided to write with all the avengers having kids, this series is separate from Panic and Vanya's series's. Okay so the kids in the picture are, who I picked to be the characters, so going from the left at the top is Shaylene, Tara, Ciara, then on the second row Nathan, Bryan, and Tarben. Please comment and follow this story as well as my others! Also the story's in Shaylene's POV but may swap from time to time as it's always fun to explore other aspects of characters through another's eyes.
Also I'll update ONCE A WEEK on WEDNESDAY!
The world around us is illuminated in an azure ocean blue glow from the full moon above. Occasional honks of vehicle horns startle the others as we aren't commonly around the main city section where most traffic resides. I'm the only one who has absolute reasons to be startled by cars, not that they, or anyone else for that matter, knows that. Together there are six of us; three girls and three guys and we're practically family even if not by blood.
It's past midnight but instead of using the sidewalks placed all along New York's street sides, my group and I use abandoned and forgotten alleys scattered along the city to keep out of sight. Apartment complexes and food establishments loom over us, cleverly shadowing the six of us in a obscure cloud of darkness. Predominantly, I wouldn't bring my group along like this for menial task like buying tonight's dinner but they wanted to tag along so I obliged.
Director Nick Fury having his nose in the air in search of us is a major factor. He's been after us for a decade and while S.H.I.E.L.D. has been disbanded after the whole—ugh! Steve Rogers— Helicarrier take down when it was discovered that HYDRA had been working, growing inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pushing the thought aside we round a corner, me in the lead. Peaking my head around I search for anyone of any suspicious characters. Finding none I wave my hand o my crew signaling them to follow. The bright, blinding flashing of red, blue, purple, yellow, and green lights blur together looking more like rainbow vomit rather then advertising signs.
Tara, my closest friend, stands to my left, flipping her long, dark brown locks off her shoulder. We're total opposites; Tara and me. While Tara has dark brown eyes, outspoken, never takes anything seriously, and has a killer knack for sarcasm and signature one-liners on the other side of the spectrum; there's me with sharp, focused light blue eyes, a voice of strategies and battle plans, always taking anything and everything seriously, and a distant but determined fighter.
Despite our distinct and polar opposite personality differentiation, we rarely have heated disagreements unlike our older DNA counterparts. Perhaps Tara doesn't take anything serious because— unlike me —she doesn't have to worry or stress about the next meal, where to go next, what the battle plans are. She's never had to protect anyone and lead anybody else like I do, knowing that if you make one mistake, that could be the death of a friend.
"Shay!" Tara whines, tugging on the sleeve of my smokey gray, long-sleeved shirt like a five year old kid would.
"Yes darling, do you need your diaper changed?" I reply, snapping back with an ever so slight trace of sarcasm in my voice.
"Hey," she says, glaring at me with playful anger. "I'm the sarcastic one in this group, I'm like a modern day Bill Cosby, only less famous, and white, but that's not the point, are we there yet!?"
"Almost," is my response.
Nate, or Nathan to everyone else, tugs Tara back and looks at her with his dark green eyes almost glowing, with what can only be assumed as annoyance. "Quit pestering Shay, she needs to focus on the surroundings." He releases her and using the newly freed hand, brushes his dark red hair back into place.
"Thanks for the help Nate" I say, looking back a moment to flash him a genuine smile before looking forwards again.
"How come Shay gets to call you by a nickname but the rest of us can't?" Tara protests and I imagine her stomping her feet into the ground, back arched, and hands planted firmly on her narrow, but curvy hips.
"Because unlike the rest of you, Shay doesn't actively go out of her way to annoy me."
I hear Tara scoff but pay it no mind as I lead them closer towards China Town where my close friend, Mei has a Chinese restaurant. During the day I work at her restaurant and in exchange for my work there she provides food for my friends. This will be the first time they have met Mei but as long as they don't get me fired, I'm fine with their attendance because if not for this job we'd all be in hot water.
Just as we start getting closer the smell of smoke overtakes the air and that's when I notice it, an apartment building across from China Town has gone up in flames, I can see all the people still trapped inside. More people are up in the higher floors while most of the lower floor people have managed to escape, as I look back at my crew they nod, we're not eating tonight, that's for sure.
"Help! Please someone save my baby!" a dark skinned woman with medium length black hair shouts out of her open window, looking for any sort of escape for her children only to find none.
"Tarben you stay down on the main floor and I'll go out and drop the kids from the window for you to catch, Tara," I turn to her. "Find something to put that fire out, Bryan you help her with that and keep your temper in check, Nathan standby to help Tarben in case he needs it, and Ciara, get onto of the building and be lookout, we have our comm units, so let us know what's going on. Alright?"
"Alright!" they all agree, nodding a moment we turn and spring into action.
I watch as Ciara darts off toward the tall, seven story building I pointed too and as Tara runs towards the fire hydrant, Bryan trudging pretty far behind. Dashing forward I don't look back to see if Tarben, one of my guy friends, is behind me. All I can focus on the burning building, the people and children inside, and my urge to save them as well as my gangs decision to help them too.
"Hey!" a man standing around the group of people forming a mob around the building says as I start pushing past the people. "Where are you going? That building's on fire, you're gonna get yourself hurt."
Without turning back or stopping I respond. "It's better than sitting here waiting for the fire department that will take at least five minutes to arrive."
My eyes burn and sting as soon as I enter the burning apartment building. Finding a plain black scarf thrown precariously on the lobby floor couch I take it and wined it tightly around my face as a futile attempt to keep at least some of the hazardous smoke from infiltrating my lungs. Through blurry, watery eyes finding the staircase is hard despite it only taking a few seconds at most.
Using one hand to hold the scarf in place the other one to grip the railing on the stairway I use it to propel myself up three steps at a time instead of only one. I reach the next floor but unlike the main floor, ceiling beams have collapsed and flames engulf the fallen boards. Stepping back I get a running start and perfectly clear the flaming rafters, slamming into the floor on the other side of the hallway.
"Hello!" I shout, cupping my hands by my mouth to make my voice louder. "Who's here on this floor, I'm here to help you out? Hello!"
A small voice peeps up from a room labeled as a janitors closet at the end of the hallway. The door swings open and huddled close to the ground sits a girl with bright red hair and lost looking grey eyes. "Me."
Stepping forward I hold my hand out for the little girl who can't be any older then eight years old, pull the scarf away from my face, and secure it tightly around her face instead. Pressing my hand to the middle of her back I give small, soft orders to keep from intimidating her. I feel like I need to protect her more, get her out now, as she is only two years older than my crew was when they relied on my to take care of them.
"Get as low to the ground as you can kiddo, smoke rises, if you need to use my waist as support, that's perfectly fine, now lets go. I need to get you you out of here," I lead her forward.
The little girl is walking low to the ground under my command, her arms secured tightly around my waist to keep from falling, her eyes closed tightly. Kicking open an apartment door I pull her in and glance around in search of a window only to find none in the living room, tugging her into the bedroom I tell her to lay on the ground and keep that scarf around her face.
Digging my fingers under the window seal, I grit my teeth in frustration using all the reserved strength that I haven't been forced to use since my awful childhood. The screen squeals out as I force the window up, locking the latch on the windows top, securing it.
"Tarben!" I call. "Where are you?"
"I'm here!" he calls, looking up at me with steel blue eyes much darker than my own.
I nod. "Get ready out she comes," I look to the girl. "Get up."
She does as ordered and looks out the window, fear evident on her young face. "I-I can't, I'm s-scared of heights."
"Sweetie," I say, she doesn't glance my way. "Sweetie, look at me, I need you to trust that man down there, he's my friend, one of my best friends and I promise on my life that he won't drop you."
"You swear?" she says, voice slightly muffled by the scarf.
"I do," is my response, honesty filling my voice. She must hear the truthfulness in my tone as she steps to the window and lifts one leg over, then another until she's literally just sitting on the window seal
"Sophie, oh my God Sophie my baby!" the mother of the child who I now know as Sophie cries, absolute fear in her tone.
Sophie looks back at me, mumbles a thank you, and then drops of the window, hair flying up behind her. I don't bother to look as I know Tarben caught her otherwise horrified shrieks would surely have followed. Ignoring the now constant burning in my lungs I reach the next set of steps and thunder up them in a flash and up here the smoke is even heavier.
It's so heavy it's like a grey cloud is filling the room, the smoke can been seen as clear as day. The burning in my lungs becomes to intense and I have no choice but to let out a choking, sputtering sort of cough. Tears from the smoke burning my eyes drips down my face is salty tears but I press on and shout out for anyone on this floor.
"Hello! Anyone here on this floor!" my voice is husky and hoarse. It feels as if the hallway is shifting, slanting over but I press on, using the walls of the hallway to walking straight. "Anyone!"
"In here! We're in here," it's the voice of the woman that I'd seen calling out the window for someone to save her children. Stumbling forward I take notice on how the smoke in my lungs has started to effect me. It won't be long until I'm unable to comprehend strategies so I need to get them out as fast as possible so I can get out too.
"Two minutes," Ciara's voice rings through the comm unit—designed by Tara from stray wiring and metals I acquired, she has a thing for technology.
"Hear you loud and clear Ciara," I mumble. Pushing the door open I realize that it's either melted shut from the fire inside the room, stuck but a broken bolt, or locked but either way, the door's coming down.
"The heat from the fire melted the door, we're trapped inside!" the woman on the other side of the door tell me as if answer my internal question.
"Stand as far back away from the door as you can get."
"What are you gonna—" she doesn't get to finish her sentence as I get a running start. The door creeks and groans when my shoulder collides with the weakened wood and without much strength issued the hinges snap and the door slams inward revealing the dark skinned woman with a young son around five years old gripping at her knee while a girl at least two or three years older stands straight at her mothers side.
The children all have fabric wrapped around their faces except the mother. Everyone in the room looks at me, shocked that I was capable of knocking a door down without tools of any sort. Pushing past them I look to Tarben and wave my hand catching his attention. "Two kids, five and two to three years older coming down. Eldest first."
"Wait! What? You ain't sending my children out that window with no safety net or nothin'" the mother quickly protests.
"Well it's either this or risk burning to death on an attempt to scale down a no longer structurally sound building that's in flames, this is the best options, I've already gotten one child out and reconnected with her family. Your children will be fine."
The daughter climbs up and out, screaming as she free falls a moment before I see her caught by Tarben. As he sets her down he flips his longish blonde skater boy hair out of his face, his dark blue eyes now clear to see.
She sends her son over to me and tells him to do as I say. The boy is much to small to climb out like the sister so, being as careful as I can possibly be, I lift him up and hold him out the window, getting a nod from Tarben saying he can catch him. Releasing him is one of that hardest things I do but when I finally do my heart pounds— if possible —even harder in my chest than before.
I dig around the room and find a bed sheet long enough to extend out the window. Twisting the bed sheet around into a tight, spiral I use two ponytails on on each end to secure it into the would shape. Darting back to the window I toss the bottom of the bed sheet out the window and brace my feet by the wall near the window and nod for the woman to climb out and use the bed sheet as a ropes to climb herself down.
"A-are you sure that'll hold and what about you, are you going to be able to hold that and support me, I've got a least an extra hundred pounds on you, you can't be no more than nineteen."
"Go, don't worry, I can support this."
Not saying another world the woman obeys my order and climbs out the window and I feel her weight on the bed sheet as if I was hit in the back with a sack full of bricks. Just as she closes in on the ground a loud, thunderous rumble and ear-shattering splitting or the beams supporting the room fall in on themselves, falling straight for me.
"Tarben! Catch her!" my voice rips from my lungs as my fingers release the rope, pushing my feet against the floor I jump backward, slamming into the wood floor as the rubble from the roof piles up, blocking the window and keeping me trapped. I either have to find another way out on the floor or get down stairs and hope that that way is still a clear passage.
"Shay!" Tarben screams for me, fear in his voice. Flames from fallen beams lick their burning tongues at me and I scurry back, still in a laying position. The room is spinning and I clutch my throat coughing hysterically as I climb to my feet and stumble from the apartment. The whole floor is such a dark, stormy gray color that it's taken on a fog like appearance leaving me incapable of seeing what's directly before me.
My eyes are on fire and my though burns, itches, and is as dry as a desert. Every breath I take a deeper, more intense cough emerges and I know I'm done for if I don't get out, soon. Using the wall as a guide I lead my way through the what feels like the longest hallway ever before finding a staircase. My feet slip and I tumble down the stairs, pain ripping through me each time I collide with a different step.
I glance around and it, the world, is fuzzy and hazy like a camera effect.
"Shay!" Tarben calls my name.
"Shay are you alright!" Tara voice.
Shay!?" Nate screams and I can hear the utter fear in his voice.
My arms ache and wobble, probably from the smoke in my lungs. Large wooden beams lie all across the flames, that set the main room ablaze with flames eating ruthlessly at the collapsed boards. A cough escapes me and the world is blurry from the tears in my eyes, I can't see anything but the flames in front of me and the heavy dark fog of smoke hiding the door from me.
Rising to my feet I run forward, not even caring and just before I reach the beams I push up off the ground and go flying across the room and collide with what I assume to be the door. It doesn't move but I hear the bolts creaking and pulling against the brick sidings. I slam into the door over and over again, ignoring my gaze fading in and out.
Fed up with the door not budging I step back and slam my foot at it in full force and that does the trick as it falls outward and slams with a loud thud against the paved road. Smoke plumes out from the now open passageway filling the outer air but granting me fresh, breathable air. I stumble forward only to feel Tarben and the rest of my crew by my side. All of them have at least one hand on me for support, support I don't need.
The people around us are pointing and thanking me, the ambulance and fire trucks decide to finally show up now and we know it's time to get out of sight. As we make our way back into the shadows goosebumps pop up all over my arms, and down my spine. It feels as if someone's watching us, I glance around as Tara, the one closet to me gains more and more distance from me.
Shaking my head I chalk the odd feeling up to adrenaline and push forward, stepping into the shadows of the alley's of New York and hopefully this event will be forgotten because if not I'll be all over the news and that's not good, especially with Nick Fury still searching for us.
Remember how I said in Panic's second story; "In the Line of Fire, Panic" I had a different plot for the second one, well this was the original plot(ish) for it. Things may been a little bit more different with Panic being the only kid of Tony's and Nick Fury saying that he didn't want anymore Stark's in the world but yeah I thought it'd do better as a solo story, do you all think I made the right choice? Be sure to leave me comments on this story and as you can all tell, I've put way more work into the writing of this story than most of my other ones.
I decided to change the image so if you all want to see what the characters look like, copy and paste the URL to see ,my quotev where the image with all six of them are.
story/6118300/The-Avengers-Kids/