Pompeii watched in horror as all across the main area of SHEILD were terrible creatures of hell. They wore black flowing capes and evaporated into the air like smoke. Occasionally the hood would fall back and reveal dark hollow eyes that were more like holes. Bare skeleton ribcages that appeared to have been smouldered together with gruesome, vein-covered, rotten bits of flesh could be clearly seen with a stone implanted where a heart should have been. The rest of the body was veiled by a thick blackness.

It was just then she saw a twinkle out the corner of her eye and quickly ducked left, narrowly avoiding the oncoming blade as she fell to the ground. Looking up she saw a sword inches away from her face. It looked as if moonlit vines had all twisted in on themselves to form the weapon, already stained crimson with the blood of a human. In fear, she kicked the creature back before gripping her gun and firing at his head. There was a clang as the head of a skeleton came rolling off the body and hit the floor. Pompeii's eyes widened in shock as the head, much like a magnet, simply floated off the floor and attached itself back onto the mound of flesh and bone.

"Shit!" The thing lunged for her left, right, left and left again, as she only just avoided each attack with quick swerves of her body. The sword came swinging towards her and in a desperate attempt to escape it, to escape she latched onto one of the vertical beams holding up the platform, swinging around it feet first. Upon coming back around behind the creature, she kicked the creature causing it to fall face first on the metal floor.

She didn't have long to rest however, as she turned just in time to see a silver blade come down, cutting her straight across her. She let out a small howl of pain when the creature fell on her and her back hit the floor" would sound better. The sword glistened above her, taunting her, like a sweet promise to escape her life. It came ramming down and she rolled left. It missed her chest as it grazed the edge of her arm. Her mother had always taught her to never give up, no matter what the world threw at her. Giving into the sweet thought would be like giving into a drug. Pompeii would be bringing her to shame.

Pompeii held one advantage over these shadows. While they were strong and virtually indestructible, she was fast, and that speed came and skill came as her only chance of winning. Before the creature could attack again, Pompeii threw her legs upwards and kicked the shadow up and back away from her. It crashed into the bars at the other end.

While Pompeii had the chance, she leapt to her feet and jumped down from the platform onto the desk below. It was worse down there with the Avengers littered across the room trying to stop these strange shadow monsters. Well, everyone but Banner, which was probably a good idea bearing in mind this was a very confined space with lots of innocent people. In the centre were Captain America and Natasha, trying to clear the eye of the storm. Meanwhile, herself, Iron Man, and Hawkeye were scattered among the edge doing the best they could to keep their own 'area' clear for at least two seconds.

Firing left, right and centre Pompeii was desperate to keep her desk territory Shadow free. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a group of monsters by the computers. Wait, were they trying to get into the system? Not good! Quickly she fired at the creatures, blowing them back from the data and accidentally destroying the technology. Well, she never did get along with machines. With her focus on the shadows manipulating the computers, she failed to notice one of her previous enemies until it was too late. Slicing the edge of her face, the Shadow caused Pompeii to almost fall of the edge of the desk. The warm blood now (take out "now") trickling down the side of her face, caused a mild burning sensation. She turned and was struck with fear upon noticing how close the creature had actually got. Grabbing her guns she sporadically fired at the monster, forcing it backwards and eventually off the desk.

That's when something very odd happened, Instead of coming back, the Shadow seemed to almost disintegrate into the atmosphere. It took a moment until it finally hit her, the stone! She had fired at its chest destroying the embedded stone. That must be their soft point!

"The stone!" she called over to the captain.

"What?" He looked at her confused, before throwing his shield at another oncoming enemy.

"The stone in their chest! Destroy that! It kills them!"

Steve looked at her as if deciding whether he could believe what she said.

"Trust me!" Pompeii begged.

The Captain nodded and punched the nearest monster directly where the stone lay, causing it to shatter like glass, taking the Shadow out with it.

"You hear that Stark? Aim for the stone!" He called, spreading the word to the others.

Now knowing their weakness Pompeii was finally able to clear out her area, shooting the Shadows down mercilessly.

With her section clear, she leaped into the middle to help out Captain America and Natasha. No sooner had she done that, they were they joined by Iron Man.

"Right now we know their weakness. Anyone have a plan?" Black Widow asked.

A plan? Who makes plans in the middle of a battlefield, Pompeii wondered.

"Cap?" Stark turned.

"Well, Hawkeye is already on the upper floors taking down any trying to scale the wall. Black Widow and I can handle the ones down here, but there are more outside. You and Pompeii caused the most damage, I suggest you handle them."

"Destruction?" Pompeii was slightly offended. How did she cause the most destruction? That's when she saw one of the hellish creature out the corner of her eye. Letting loose she blew them into oblivion.

"Oh." That's how. She heard Tony sigh behind her but choose to ignore it.

"Arrogant git," she muttered.

"Well you better hold on, Hell," he warned.

"Hell?"

"Yeah, cause I know that's what you're gonna cause me."

Before she could come up with a response, she felt her stomach drop to her ass as the ground disappeared from her feet.

"Woah!" Stark had lifted Pompeii tried to grab her breath and balance herself out.

She hoped that Iron Man had a good grip.

That's when she felt the outside air against her body. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes only to see herself and Stark were outside. Outside, the one place she had not ventured for years. Flying in the air, she soaked it up. The warm sun rays that cascaded down upon her. The fresh wind the flew past her face. For the first time in a very long time, she felt true freedom. Up in the air, not Agent Branson, not SHEILD, not even gravity could control her! And for a second, one glorious second, she pretended that there was not a battle below her, no monsters to kill. It was just she and Tony, soaring through the sky and it felt…

Incredible!

Sadly, it all crashed down as Tony let go. She fell through the air and her feet crashed onto the earth. Her freedom dissipated, and once again she was in the heat of battle fighting for a world who hated her. At least now she had one more incredible dream to cling onto, one more hope to help her struggle through life, even if it did involve a man who seemed to despise her more than anyone.

Like to put in a note here to my wonderful Beta Reader 'blown-transistor' Who is absolutely amazing! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much! My story would be shit without you XD