A/N: As always, I do not own Marvel or any characters belonging to them or Disney.

My life was great. Okay, so maybe not great, but definitely comfortable. I had a nice apartment in Queens, a couple of pretty nice jobs, and I was happy. That horned idiot and his alien buddies had ruined it. They're the reason I met them.


Leading people out of the back door of the café, I glanced around warily. I didn't know how well any self-defense classes might work in a situation like this, and I wasn't too eager to test it. Every time a speeder-looking thing shot overhead, we'd duck behind a car or piece of rubble until we were sure it was safe. We'd almost made it out, until a shot destroyed the ground behind me and sent a couple of us flying. I groaned in pain at the throbbing in my back and head. I sat up slowly, crawling towards one of the patrons from my café. I checked on them, made sure they were alright, got them running in the right direction. Before I could make my own escape, I was back in the air, slamming into a car. I gave a cry, shattering the windows in the car and causing the alien fighter in front of me to pause. I slumped to kneel on the ground, glaring up at it. I charged suddenly, giving another deafening cry and slamming my fist into its face. It reeled, clearly surprised, before giving its own roar and coming after me. I was already regretting the decision when an object whizzed past my head, slamming into the alien's face before returning back behind me. I turned to see a main in a…well…star spangled outfit, sliding a shield onto his arm.

"Are you okay, Miss?" He asked as he stepped towards me quickly. I nodded; movement behind him caught my eye. I pushed past him, giving my loudest scream directly at the alien pointing his spear-gun at us. It clutched its head as what I assume was blood flowed from the different openings in it's face, before dropping to the ground in a heap. I turned to see the spangled man giving me a scared and suspicious look. I nodded and turned to run for the perimeter. "Wait, I need to stick around!" He called after me. I simply chuckled humorlessly.

"Like hell, Captain Spangles!"


A few days later, I was back at the café, helping to clean up the damage. Granted, we weren't the worse hit, but we definitely didn't come out unscathed. So, imagine my surprise when I heard the bell above the door ring. I turned to see a slightly disheveled man step through hesitantly, looking around.

"Hi there. You need something, hun?" I blink, giving a small smile. He seemed to shy away for a bit, still glancing around. He seemed to be a bit lost, so I took a step towards him and offered a hand. "C'mon. We'll get you something warm to drink and maybe some food, okay?" He shook his head.

"No, sorry, um…just came to get some coffee to go for some of us. Just haven't gotten the chance to see the damage up close, ya know?" I nodded and let him go to go get some coffee made. He seemed to think for a bit before grabbing a broom and gently beginning to sweep.

"Hey, you don't gotta do that." I gave him a look as I started the coffee. He simply shrugged and continued with his work. I had to admit, he was getting the floor cleaned up a heck of a lot faster than the bus boy had earlier that morning. "Seriously, we have somebody for that." I gave him a smile.

"After what happened, I think it would be better if everyone helped out everyone else. This city has been through hell, and there's no reason we all shouldn't be helping to clean up this mess." He sounded guilty, and I briefly wondered why. I shrugged it off and continued on the coffee as he continued to sweep. After a few moments, a few more people came in, and as each looked around and spotted the man sweeping, they began to join in. I was shocked; I'd seen men beat up in the street for just offering to help someone, and yet here we all were. I set more coffee going, serving up some mugs for the people just coming in.

"On the house, guys." A couple smiled gratefully, while the others simply continued to work. I turned to the man who'd started this weird phenomenon. "How many orders did you need, by the way?" He glanced up, and for a moment I could have sworn his eyes had flashed green. I gave a blink, looking again. No, they were definitely brown. I must have been pretty tired.

"I needed four. I've got the money to cover it." I waved off his offer.

"Like I said, on the house." I grinned, pouring out three travel cups of coffee and passing them over the counter. He smiled and nodded his thanks. "Feel free to come back anytime, Mr…?"

"Oh, um, my name is Bruce. Banner. Bruce Banner." He seemed a flustered and I chuckled. He seemed like the shy nerdy type. Maybe a comic book guy…

A/N: Read, rate, review, and be sure to stop by my page for more fun across the fandiverses!