A/N: Please read and review!

Alice walked into the building. playing with her glasses for a moment before she went to put them. She was thinking about something else entirely at that time, and that had been something that had always seemed to happen from the moment she moved to that city. Anyone in her classes would have felt she was always focusing on something else entirely even though her grades, tests, or papers had always been pretty good.

She was probably being shy and quiet, they had thought. Some had tried to get to know her a little bit better, but she would always push them away, polite as ever. Alice would always be uncomfortable around other people. Her childhood in Smallville had made sure of that.

There was someone from Smallville who had managed to break that coolness. They had been friends for years, and she was not going to ever allow the young woman to push her away.

Her name was Emma Willowbrook. She had been raised by her grandparents when both of her parents had been killed during the meteor shower that had hit Smallville when she was really young, and she still wore her mother's necklace that had been passed through her mothers side of the family. It was very precious for her.

She knew Alice a bit better than most other people, so she could get why Alice acted the way she did when she was around other people. But, just because she understood a little, did not mean she liked or approved of her creating that kind of distance between herself and the people around her.

"Allie," Emma said to her. "Please don't be afraid of opening up to people around you. We all know friendships and personal relationships would never make you cross that line."

Alice stopped playing with her glasses and turned away from the elevator to look back at Emma.

"I could do that," Alice admitted, but she shook her head. Too many people had been hurt or had become so messed up because of her. It was pretty difficult to never think like that. "But, It'll be difficult. . ."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Life always is." She became serious for a moment. "Knowing you would bring out the best in some people."

Alice went to say something, but she had stopped herself. She turned back to the elevator to hit one of the buttons. She had to admit that Emma was correct, having seen that sort of thing in a person.

Smallville, Kansas, 5 years prior

Emma Willowbrook had a cousin who went to Smallville High, and he could never fit in over there. Days at that school had become pretty difficult for him. Many of the popular students tease him mercilessly day in and day out until one day when he had completely snapped.

She was looking up from her notebook when she saw her cousin arrive very late to the school. Emma immediately knew what he was going to do. He wore a very baggy trench coat, and he was walking towards the trunk of his car. Something made him stop as he went to pull the gun out of the trunk.

Alice Kent was there, wearing her red and blue hoodie sweatshirt and holding up her hands in a nonthreatening manner. She was quietly speaking to her cousin. Even from that distance, she could see the change coming over her cousin the longer Alice spoke to him until that very guarded attitude disappeared completely as he allowed Alice to wrap an arm around his shoulders.

There were many instances all around Smallville where she had witnessed Alice talk down many people who had snapped because of the strange meteor rocks all over the place. She was able to see their true possibilities and bring out the best in people.

Alice waked out of the elevator as she was still talking to Emma, and she had actually walked into another person. He went to hold her for a second to steady her, and she could recognize him as the young man who helped her when she had first met him.

"Hi," Alice said, becoming very quiet all of a sudden. "Um. . ."

He was still holding her, and for some reason, he was being just as awkward as she had been. Emma had been looking between the two of them, and she rolled her eyes as she realized she needed to make some kind of noise to bring out their attention to the real world. He quickly took a step back from her and rub the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Emma made a small hand gesture to her, silently telling her to introduce herself.

"I'm. . .Alice Kent. . ." She said, reaching out her hand to him.

He gently took her hand to shake it. "Steve Rogers."

Smallville, Kansas in the days following the shower.

Martha Kent had been sitting on the floor with the little girl, quietly speaking to her. The little girl was looking up at Martha, smiling and giggling. It was like the girl could only focus on the older woman.

Jonathan had let in her parents, an older woman who still had the fire and kindness in her eyes and man who had a type of inner strength that went beyond the man needing a cane to support himself.

"I can see why you wanted me here," the woman said with a British accent. She sat in a chair closest to her daughter and the little girl, and she reached out to the girl.

"What happened?" The older man had asked.

"We were driving back to the farm," Jonathan said. "When the meteors hit."

Martha's father quickly turned his attention back to his daughter, trying to see if she really was alright.

"I'm fine," Martha went to say, and the little girl climbed into her lap. She wrapped her arms around her neck like she was comforting the older woman in her own way. "We were lucky."

"She found us," Jonathan said. "Her parents were nowhere to be found."

The little girl was still trying to comfort Martha, somehow sensing she was pretty upset over something. She was trying to say something, but she was struggling with the words.

"Lara," she was finally able to say to her.

The name had made Martha's parents study the girl very closely, trying to see if they could recognize her.

"What else did you see in that field, Jonathan?" The woman had asked, and she was silently communicating with her husband.

Jonathan quickly looked to Martha, and she gave him a slight shrug.

"A spaceship," he admitted. "That's in the storm cellar." He could see the knowing look that had been shared by his in-laws, but he still handed his father-in-law an object wrapped in a towel. "She took that out of the ship and gave it to us."

His father-in-law studied the piece of otherworldly metal. "I don't think the symbols are from around here. . ."

"Of course not," the woman had said, taking the object to study it for herself. "They were right. . ." That part was more for herself than for any of them. She quickly shook her head, getting to business. "I believe there are things that happen for a reason." The tone she had used made it pretty difficult to argue with her on that fact. "I will pull some strings to make this adoption legal."

Martha had to smile to herself, and Jonathan could barely keep his from starting to show. There was something about that girl had allowed them to change a little.

"And," the man said. "How are you going to pull that one off without them even noticing, Peggy?"

The woman who had been known as Peggy Carter gave him an almost playful smile. "I helped Howard out when he was labeled a traitor, and it still took you in the S.S.R. a long time to figure it out."

Emma went to elbow Alice in the side. Apparently Alice could not respond in a way that made her friend happy. Alice recognized his name from many of the stories her grandmother used to tell her about him. She had always seemed to be pretty sad about retelling those stories.

"It's nice to meet you, Steve," she quickly said to him, giving him a small smile. Emma nodded approvingly when she knew he was not going to see her.

"Yeah. . ." He said becoming very thoughtful for that moment.

Emma looked between the two of them, and she rolled her eyes. "I'm Emma Willowbrook. . .her friend and babysitter."

Somehow the two of them were able to start a polite conversation with Emma's help.

"I just. . .got back to New York," he was saying, only pausing for a moment. "After being away for awhile."

She had studied him for a moment, and she could understand what he had really meant. Alice was not going to bother him about it, though.

"We just moved here from Kansas," Alice told him. "School."

"And," Emma said. "To get away from the insanity of Smallville. That was my excuse."

Alice had to keep herself from smiling. She may have been right in saying that, but it was the way she was saying it and the look he had given the two of them. He had no idea, but he would understand soon enough.

"Mostly school," Alice said, quirking up an eyebrow at Emma.

"And," Emma said, wearing a half-smile. She was up to something and was very pleased about it. "So Alice could go out and about as a hero."

Alice looked at her friend, and she rolled her eyes. She would do something like that. "EMT. She means I'm an EMT."

"That's not. . ." Emma went to say, but Alice gave her a look to tell her to stop.

"I know. . ." He said, very close to smiling at her. "Kansas?"

"Yeah," Alice had said to him. "I'm. . .more used to corn fields not skyscrapers."

His kind eyes were full of amusement as he had looked down at her. "I can understand that."

They had parted ways after that, and Alice was pretty sure that would meet and speak to each other again. She wanted to remember why that would have been a bad thing, but all she could really remember was what Emma had said to her.

When Alice had walked into her apartment, she saw Emma looking at her with her arms crossed.

"What?" Alice asked as she closed the door.

"He seems pretty nice, and you're neighbors," Emma said to her. "You should spend some more time together."

"You care far too much. . ." Alice said, rolling her eyes again.

"I'm a friend of yours," Emma said. "It's a job to care too much."

A few days had passed when Emma came back to the apartment.

"Come on," she said to Alice.

"What?" Alice asked her.

"We're going to see someone," Emma said to her, reaching for her hand.

"Why?" She asked her, crossing her arms.

"We're going to talk to someone about Smallville," Emma told her.

"Ah. . .no. . ." Alice quickly said, and she went to take a quick step back from her.

Emma rolled her eyes and grabbed her arm. She was done dealing with her when she was like that. It was usually worked to pull her out of it.

"I think. . ." Emam said. "You need to hear this."

"I'm not. . ." She went to say, but she saw Steve coming back from an early run, making her become very quiet over what she was going to say next.

Too many people who had known that deep and dark secret were harmed. There was a part that made Alice never ever wish to burden someone like Steve with that horrible secret.

"I think it's something you should know." Emma had always seemed to know and care about her secret even long before Alice could bring herself to admit it to her.

They met a young woman who was a little bit older than Alice. She had long, light brown hair and dark eyes, but those eyes were just as sharp and piercing as Alice's had been. there was a laptop open in front of her, still doing what Alice had learned was her hacktivist work with The Rising Tide.

"Hey, Skye," Emman said as she and Alice sat in front of her. "This is Allie."

They gave each other small smiles, and that was sort of how that friendship had began.

"Since you two grew up in Smallville," Skye went to say to them. "I'm sure you already figured it out."

"Figured what out?" Alice asked her.

"The strange powers cropping up everywhere," Skye said to her. "They've been happening since the meteor shower. There's something about those meteor rocks that had caused it."

Alice felt like she was going to be very sick, and she was starting to feel like she had been when around those rocks. It was all her fault. . .

"S.H.I.E.L.D. already knew," Skye said, sounding like she was attacking that intelligence organization. "But, they didn't care enough to keep it from happening. I think. . .they like it."

That did not surprise Alice. Too bad she had to deal with that before when her whole world and opinion of humanity had shattered. Skye could clearly see something like that had not surprised them, and she quirked up an eyebrow at them but chose not to question them on it.

"That means nothing compared to what I had later found out," Skye admitted.

"What?" Alice asked her. She did not need to guess about what she had found out. There was very little else within Smallville.

"They're looking for something that came in on that meteor shower," Skye said. "This thing had many names. Naman. The Traveler." She showed them a photograph or a red and blue blur. "The Blur."