Chapter 1: Not So Warm Welcome
"And this is the main rec room," Natasha said. "Everyone should be in here."
"Hey, Nat," said Clint. "Who do you have here?"
"Hey there," Tony said flirtatiously. "The name's Tony Stark, but you already knew that. I may be many things-billionaire, playboy, philanthropist- but one thing I want to be is with you."
"Give her some space, Tony," said Pepper. "She's only just arrived."
"Sorry about that. I'm Bruce Banner."
"Hey. There's no need for introductions. Fury showed me all your files on the jet. It's an honor to meet the heroes who saved New York," Terra said. "The flight was kinda long. Can someone take me to my room?"
"I'll take you, Terra," Steve said.
As Steve led her to her room, he refused to speak to her no matter how much she tried to break the awkward silence. However, being the gentleman that he is, Steve took her bags into her room for her.
While Terra's back was turned so she could place her things where she wanted, Steve placed a wirelessly transmitting microphone into one of the flowerpots in her room.
"Have a good rest, ma'am," Steve said as he left the room.
After Steve walked out, Terra realized that she left her purse in the other room. She walked out into the hallway and heard angry voices.
"How could you bring her here? We don't even know if we can trust here!" Steve angrily said. "Natasha, you of all people should be more cautious and suspicious of her. Why would you bring her here? She could be spying on us."
"Listen, Steve. I know what spies are like, and she isn't one. She's a mutant and she just wants to help the world. You should at least give her a chance," Natasha replied calmly.
"I won't trust her until she gives me a reason to."
"Steve, she seems like a really nice girl," said Bruce. "I doubt that you would have any cause to distrust her."
"And she's HOT!" Tony and Clint said in unison.
"But….ummm….not as hot as you, Pepper," Tony said nervously as Pepper cleared her throat.
"WHIPPED!" yelled Clint while laughing.
Steve stormed out of the room while the rest of the team was laughing at Tony's expense. He accidentally ran into Terra, looked at her impassively, and walked off.
Feeling hurt, Terra quickly walked back to her room.
What if this is gonna be lahke with tha X-Men? What if they nevah trust meh, Terra thought miserably. Ah don't lahke runnin' from mah own lahfe. Maybeh Ah should just leave before Ah get too attached.
Terra sulked in her own thoughts for fifteen minutes before deciding that she wouldn't run from another life without great cause.
Suddenly, Clint walked in, startling her.
"What's wrong?"
"Suit up," Clint said anxiously. "I guess we get to see what you can do earlier that we expected. Mister Sinister is attacking the SHIELD base in California."
Clint led Terra to the conference room to be briefed.
"Alright, everyone," said Steve. "Mister Sinister is attacking a SHIELD base in California. We think he's trying to take some of the genetic material of the few mutant agents that are in SHIELD. We can't let him get to this. We have no idea what kind of sick experiments he's planning on using them for-let alone on whom he's going to be experimenting on."
"What are the abilities that these mutants have?"
When Steve didn't answer, Tony jumped in, "Well, they won't tell us what their super mutant abilities are, but I hacked into the database and found out."
After a moment of silence, Natasha exasperatedly asked, "Are you going to tell us, or are you going to revel in your ability to hack into SHIELD?"
"Oh, right. Umm…Wanda Marya Maximoff manipulates probability and reality. Her twin brother Pietro is the super speedster of the family. And Angelica Jones has microwave manipulating powers."
"This is why we need to stop him. He can't get any of this," Bruce said urgently.
Walking quickly to the jet, Terra took some time to talk to Clint.
"Does Steve not like me?"
"Steve is just kinda stiff. He doesn't like change too much. It gives him anxiety. He's been burned in the past for being too trusting, so now it takes a while for him to trust new people," Clint said. "But he has no reason to not trust you. You're a babe, and you're awfully sweet."
Terra rolled her eyes and walked onto the jet.
Arriving in California, everyone jumped off the jet to clear the area. Clint climbed to the top of the building and started shooting arrows with alarming accuracy, while Terra ran off to help the SHIELD agents surrounded by Arclight, Sabretooth, Malice, and Riptide.
Using the water from the air around her, she froze their feet to the ground in order to distract them and focus their attention on herself. Natasha shot Riptide in the back, causing him to charge at her. He ran towards her, but Natasha jumped at him and used her Widow's Bite on his neck.
Tony flew around, helping Clint take down Arclight. Clint would hit his back with an exploding arrow, while Tony subsequently blasted his chest. As they were fighting Arclight, Sabretooth snuck up behind Clint and knocked him out with a swipe of his claw.
*Clint is down. I'll go help him,* Terra said through the earpiece Tony had given her.
*I'm coming with you,* Steve said.
Terra rolled her eyes and flew over to where Sabretooth was standing over a vulnerable Clint. She dove at Sabretooth, knocking him away from Clint and off the rooftop. Sabretooth jumped up and lunged for her, but she flipped back and punched him into the wall. She then flew at him to tackle him, but he dodged the attack, but not without scratching her stomach with his sharp claws.
"I knew I recognized you from somewhere," Sabretooth chuckled darkly as he sniffed the air. "Maybe the little Sephie should scurry on home to her little friends."
"You're lucky thaht tha rest o' tha team is here, because Ah would destroy ya."
"Aw, now I don't feel bad about telling you that your little friend, Remy, is about to be…recruited to our cause. I think that he's malicious enough, especially after the Morlock incident. He's good with Death."
"You are wrong!" Terra yelled as she kicked him in the temple, effectively knocking him out.
As Terra tied Sabretooth up with conjured vines, Steve ran in to help.
"You're a little bit late," she said teasingly, but Steve just walked back out.
As she walked back out the hole in the wall, she saw Steve carrying Clint back to the jet. At the same moment, she saw Malice (as Polaris) about to attack Steve. Malice threw a large piece of metal at Steve, but Terra flew into the way. The metal knocked her back into Steve, causing Steve to drop Clint and hit the wall hard. Although there was a piece of metal lodged in her side, she grabbed Clint's bow and quiver and shot an explosive arrow at Malice while she was laughing, effectively taking her down.
Terra then froze Malice to the ground before turning around to fly Clint and Steve back to the jet. Once she secured them, she flew back out to help Natasha and Tony.
*What happened? You need medical attention NOW!* Tony said urgently.
*I'm fine. Do you need any help here?*
*No, we were just about to go back to the jet.* Natasha said.
She flew with Tony back to the jet to meet up with Natasha.
"What happened to them?" Tony asked.
"They were hurt. I'll fly the jet, but they need medical attention now."
"You're hurt, Terra. I don't think that flying a jet is good for the healing process. Maybe you should rest," Tony said carefully.
Terra thought about his suggestion. Instead of listening to him, she pulled the metal out.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Tony yelled. "YOU COULD BLEED OUT!"
"I'm fine. Look," Terra said calmly as she slowly healed herself.
"Oh…I knew that," Tony said awkwardly.
Terra smiled and walked toward Steve and Clint. She placed her palms on both of their chests to heal them. Her hands were glowing green as Tony and Natasha watched Steve and Clint's injuries disappear.
As the team reached Stark Tower, now the Avengers Tower, Clint and Steve started to wake up. Both were confused about how they got back to the tower.
"I was wrong about her," Steve said to Clint.
"She's a good girl, Steve," Clint said. "She deserves to be trusted."
"She jumped in front of a large, sharp piece of metal to save both-wait! Is she going to be okay?" Steve realized.
"TONY!" Clint yelled.
"What?! What?!" Tony said urgently as he ran into the room.
"Is Terra okay?" Steve asked anxiously.
"Yeah? Why wouldn't she be?"
"She must have had a piece of metal in her body."
"She could be seriously hurt," Clint said.
"Oh…right…she has a small healing ability. That's why you guys aren't bruised anymore."
"She healed us?" Steve asked.
"Yeah. That's why you don't have a concussion anymore, and why Clint's back isn't all scratched up," Tony said gleefully.
"I was so wrong about her."
"Yes, you were wrong about me," Terra said as she walked in the room. "But it doesn't matter anymore. I forgive you for your mistrust. There must have been a reason."
"Yeah…I'm sorry," Steve said awkwardly. "Welcome to the Avengers."