I don't own the Avengers or anything else referenced in this, just my plot.
It always rains before something big, good or bad, happens.
Steve isn't sure why, but it sure as hell always seems to.
It had been raining when he had taken his first step (according to his mother).
When his father had died due to alcohol poisoning when he was a child, it had been pouring rain.
It had been drizzling when he had got his first job.
When his mother had quietly passed due to pneumonia when he was fifteen, it had been raining.
It had been thunderstorming the day he had graduated high school, top of his grade and with the highest marks ever received by a student at the school.
When he had lost his first job it had been raining.
There had been a torrential downpour the day he had gotten accepted at the University of New York for a double major in History and Fine Arts.
When he got his first apartment there was a sort of misty rain.
Later when he looked back on it, he would suppose that's why there was a veritable deluge that day when he left his job at the bookstore for the night.
The day that changed everything.
His buddy Dernier was supposed to pick him up from work for the 'Commandos' biweekly poker night but one garbled call later (bad connection due to the storm) had him with no immediate ride. The Frenchman had had to take a slight detour as one of his co-workers with whom he carpooled with had gone into premature labour on the highway and they had had to go to the hospital. He and the other fellow were waiting with her until her husband could get there so she wouldn't be alone and in labour.
Fair and very understandable.
However, looking out at the rain had him wishing for a moment that Dernier wasn't such a good guy before feeling awful for thinking such a thing.
Steve looked down at his watch and groaned when he saw it was another half hour before the next bus arrived. His phone was no longer getting signal and the store didn't have one so calling one of the other guys or a cab was out. He could go back inside but that would mean disabling the alarm and would only delay his problem.
That then left him with only one option: walk.
Which wasn't too bad really, sure he had asthma and his immune system was crap but one little walk in the rain couldn't hurt, right? It was summertime and warm out so running and the rain shouldn't trigger an attack and his flat was twenty minutes away by foot, even less than that if he took shortcuts. He could then call Morita or a cab from there or at least grab a change of clothes and an umbrella before walking over to Dugan's. With a look up at the sky, he had decided against any shortcuts, realizing that the route would be incredibly muddy and slippery.
Instead he had begun jogging home, his sneakers quickly becoming soaked along with the rest of him as he ran through puddles on the sidewalk and on the road. About ten minutes from home, it had begun to rain even harder, making it difficult to see and he had then decided to pause for a moment, feeling his chest tighten a bit, a sign that he was pushing it.
So he had slowed to a walk and then ducked under a nearby tree in front of the municipal offices before he took a draw on his inhaler (just to be on the safe side) and then waited for his body to settle. He fished out his cell again and sighed, disappointed when still no service bars showed as thunder rolled overhead. He would've ducked into the municipal offices at that point to wait out the storm a bit but the doors were locked, business hours having finished an hour before. He had been half-tempted to go to one of the nearby houses and asking for shelter but had decided against it; he was only ten minutes away.
Feeling better, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and began to run again, shivering as a light wind picked up, his clothes plastered to his skin not providing him with any protection.
He was about a block away when It happened. One minute he was fine and then the next he couldn't tell which way was up or down as this huge weight crashed into him, sending them both flying into an alley. Instinctively he kicked out, separating them in what felt like an eternity as he flew through the air and hit the ground hard, all the air rushing out of his lungs as he did so.
He lay there dazed on the ground for a moment; his chest painfully tight as he struggled to breathe. Coming to his senses, his breath coming in in gasps and wheezes, he rolled onto his front and fumbled to get his backpack off while awakening nerves began screaming in protest, alerting him of the state of his abused body. He groped in the dark for the right pocket in a panic for his inhaler as he fought to keep the terror at bay and to draw in a breath, for his lungs to expand and his throat to open.
As soon as he managed to depress the button, he began to feel his body begin to relax as the medication began it's work allowing him to draw in some air for his starving lungs. That soon, however, became the least of his problems as on his panic during the asthma attack, he had completely forgotten what had caused it.
He had quickly remembered as a withered hand clenched around his throat and another hauled on his jacket, impossible strength pulling him into the shadows.
He couldn't and still can't quite remember what happened after that; he could recall sensation more then anything truly.
Despite the deceptively pleasant floaty feeling that blurred everything, he was sure he would never forget the sharp pain as teeth tore into his throat, the too-strong hands keeping him from struggling and feeling life drain from his body as warm rain fell from overhead.
Nor would he forget the feeling of the a massive roar rang in the air, the sound filling his head and resonating in his bones as the light blinded him. In what felt like forever but was probably only a second, he realized he was falling to the ground while all his muscles seized and a massive shock ran through him. When he hit the ground in a lifeless heap, smoke coming off his clothing and body and his shoes blown off, all of his hair on end; some part of his mind had recognized it:
He had been hit by lightening.
Or rather, whatever the hell had been on top of him had been hit by lightening and the charge had carried through to him. He knew that he needed to move but as he couldn't really control his limbs, he was barely able to push himself up, let alone move anywhere.
When he had collapsed on the ground once more, his muscles giving up on him, he had thought it to be the end. He could feel blood rolling down his neck while the rain soaked him and the smoke triggered his asthma again. He was only twenty-three and didn't want to die but he was helpless; no matter how strong his will was, he was still at the mercy of his body. To make matters even worse, as his vision began to go grey and fuzzy and he struggled for air, a small fire seemed to spark in his veins and he moaned weakly in pain as it grew and began to spread around his body.
Caught up in his pain, he missed the sounds of a fight breaking out and the death throes of the creature that bit him; though he did hear footsteps crunching on the gravel and a warm hand (that had shocked him at first contact!) pressing down on the wound on his neck.
He opened his eyes to see a blurry figure illuminated from behind by the streetlamp. This was not the creature that attacked him.
"He lives yet?" A warm tenor voice exclaimed, surprised. "Lady! I have need of your aid!" He heard hooves approach behind him before someone cursed heavily and the creak of leather hinted at the person getting off the animal as he then heard the two voices speak in low tones. He stopped paying attention; closing his eyes as the world spun, all sound seemed to come from a distance away and his body caught fire completely, every nerve screaming at him in pain.
"Do not fret valiant Thor, you have indeed vanquished the creature. It appears the youth is special; his name is not in my ledger yet so I will take him by the Sanctuary; the good Healer will be able to aid him."
Yep, looking back on it, it made sense that it was raining that day, the day that changed everything.
The description of him getting hit by lightening was borrowed in part from real life accounts, I hope I did it justice.
This is my first time writing these characters, please let me know if I'm making any of them OOC.