This was my first fanfiction and I took it down after being inactive for a while. I have decided to now put it back up but I have made quite a few changes that will probably affect the story quite a bit.

WARNING: Massive changes have been made from the first edition!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Avengers. I only own Noctra and the dragons.

It is too late. Too late to save our home. They have come and there is no stopping them. All we can do is pray to our ancestors and their ancestors before them that this virus will not spread. There is no escaping this plague. The humans have come…

I wake up to a million different voices pounding in my head. I sigh - being a mind-reader isn't as great as you'd think. Unless you learn how to silence the voices, taking them out only when necessary, this powerful ability can drive one mad. I rub my eyes and sit up in my hammock. Sasha's still asleep in the hammock next to me and my best friend, Bane, is on the other side.

I didn't introduce myself, did I? My name's Noctra and I am the leader of one of the very few small dragon groups that still exist. Mine is the largest of all of them, with around 30 dragons. Most groups have between 10 - 15. I myself am not a dragon but most of my friends are. I am half cat, half human and full round psychic in development. I can read minds but I prefer not to do it that much as sometimes, I accidentally hear all the voices instead of just one.

Sasha is my second self. According to one of the eldest dragons (who knows stories passed down through generations), roughly one in a million psychics end up with a second self and Sasha is the first one anyone can remember to have powers different to the person she is the second self. We share a psychic link but only I can read minds. Her powers come into play when she touches something:

She blows things up.

Not on purpose... most of the time... What happens is that whenever her hands come into contact with anything - living or not - she sends all the cells and atoms into the air with a great explosion. To combat this, I created (with the help of many failed experiments) gloves that wouldn't 'explode' upon contact with her wrist or hands. With them on, she is unable to touch anything with the bare skin of her hands and so cannot cause any explosions. I used to often offer to see if we could remove the ability somehow but she always refused, each time joking that I would always need protection. Recently, I even created a device that permanently gave me the ability to locate the atoms and reverse them. To be honest, that was completely accidental but at least we know how to deal with it now. I was the only person able to perform these experiments due to the fact that when Sasha first came into existence, I developed the ability to take in powers that try to 'attack' me when I touch the creator of those powers. I also gained weightlessness after... never mind...

Bane has the ability to teleport. He is also mutated to be half wolf. We grew up together. He's two years older than me but he's still my best friend in the entire world.

All around me are sleeping dragons in similar hammocks - my friends. It is funny how a human, who's kind the dragons have hated for decades, can be their best friend - funny how I can be their best friend. This enormous tent is the main tent, where every dragon sleeps. We have a healer's hut but even the healer and her apprentice prefer sleeping in here with the company of their friends. Many of the hammocks have feathers tucked into them but others are bare and empty. Our belief is that we should not spend all of now worshipping the past (although we do spend a bit) but look straight into the eyes of tomorrow. This way, we can spot danger or threats before they arrive and so we will always be ready for anything.

Clambering out of bed, I swing up on the hanging vines to the top platform of the tent but stop suddenly, my eyes wide with panic, fear and rage. The voices in my head do not belong to dragons; they're human! Sasha, who detected my panic through the psychic link, jolted awake too.

I panic and launch towards the alarm bell, which has remained untouched for years, before stopping myself and allowing a few seconds of thought. The voices are not coming from near here. In fact, they're quite far away! Concentrating hard, I seperate the six main voices. 'This could be so easy! Why make the plan more complex just so it can look better? Typical Stark.' mutters a feminine voice. That's it - they're only planning! If I creep up on them and eavesdrop, we can turn their own thoughts against them! Prepare for a little excitement…

I mentally signal to Sasha to remain while I scout ahead. She crosses her arms in annoyance but complies. It takes less than a minute for me to make my way over to the humans. Using a trick I learnt from Shadow of Silent Whispers, the only other mind-reader alive in our camp, I slip the soldiers' voices into the chorus of birds singing, leaving only the six main voices speaking. It isn't their actual words I'm hearing, it's their thoughts. Reaching into their minds, I am able to pick out their names and abilities:

Tony Stark - 'Iron Man' - Powerful suit and very rich.

Steven Rogers - 'Captain America' - Super strong through experiment.

Clint Barton - 'Hawkeye' - 'Super' recurve bow

Bruce Banner - 'Hulk' - Turns into green monster when angered or threatened.

Thor - 'God of Thunder' - Norse god of thunder with hammer called Mjolnir.

I snort at the god of the group. Of course, they had to have a god. Supressing my laughter, I reach into the mind of the final member.

Natasha Romanoff - 'Black Widow' - Super flexible and great with guns.

I flick my ears in annoyance at the fact that they only had one female in the group. Swapping my pale human skin to feline ebony fur in order to blend into the shadows, I tune out the thoughts and eavesdrop on the conversation with my sharp cat ears.

"Any questions?" Steve asks. I curse under my breath in dragon: I had missed the plan.

"Yeah, I have a question," announces Clint, looking up from where he's fiddling with his arrow. "Could you repeat that again?"

"Clint!" Tony groans. Thor sighs, Natasha glares at her partner and Hulk (turns out that Bruce Banner has already changed) smashes the ground in frustration, making everyone jump.

"Only one more time," Steve sighs as Tony facepalms. On the contrary, my heart leaps with joy. "Nat and Clint will sneak into the base using the tunnels and deactivate the alarm. Then, they'll give us a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Thumbs up, we go in. Thumbs down, Plan B. Got it?"

"Not that I don't know anything but… uh… what are the code words for thumbs up and thumbs down?" Clint asks.

"Thumbs up is Water, Thumbs down is Fire!" Natasha snaps, finishing a few final checks on her widow bites and guns. I grin slyly. Time to put MY plan into action.

Clint and Natasha are creeping through the tunnel beneath camp, the archer, who is behind his teammate, complaining non-stop about the assassin's posture. "Nat! Stop kicking me! My face is not a cushion!" Barton protests.

"Then move back, idiot," Natasha shoots back, still annoyed about having to go over the plan 5 times.

"You shouldn't be so hypocritical," Clint grins as Natasha rolls her eyes. She mutters something about 'paperclips', 'daggers' and 'torture' so Clint wisely decides to keep his mouth shut. The assassin in front reaches a hand tentatively out of the tunnel. Nothing. Silently, Natasha led the way into the clearing and almost laughed at the stupidity of the design. The building was nothing more than an enormous tent of cowhide with hammocks and vines hanging everywhere. In the hammocks, lay the shadowed bodies of hundreds of dragons sleeping soundly as they pranced through their dreams. At least, that's what Agent Romanoff thought that the bodies were doing. Neither Avenger realised that the bodies were actually illusions in their mind.

At the bottom of the tent, a handful of mysterious blue, black and purple boxes were positioned in a formal square, powered by magic. Natasha shook her head in disbelief as Clint murmured something about 'better security'. It was plain easy to cross to the boxes labelled 'Border Alarm' and 'Security Alarm' and turn them off. 'Too easy' Natasha thought as Clint activated his communications device an announced, "Water." Then the two snuck out as the Captain led his troops to the border… right where I was waiting. Stupid humans.

My name is Noctra, Defender of Dragonkind, cat and human hybrid. This is my story...

So, as I said, leave a comment if you like it, have advice, have ideas (be it for this story or another) or just want to ask a question! All ideas for the next chapter are welcome!

- Flare