1 A New Path

It was strange looking at the apartment Margaret and I once shared now empty. It used to be a mess here with all of Margaret's things laying all over the place. Margaret was never a tidy person and it didn't help that she loved the arts too. Which means she had art books, paint brushes, pens, pencils, anything that you could create stuff with all over the place.

I can't help but smile remembering I once tried to move her easel, it was in the middle of our small cramped kitchen blocking the way to the fridge. I had just come home from a long shift and I was starving! The moment I touched it she came screaming.

"No! Don't touch that! I'm not finished yet! I only stopped to go to the bathroom! I'm sorry I had intended to finish it before you came home! Leave it! Leave it!" she screamed shoving me out of the way then checked to make sure I didn't move anything else.

"Come on Margaret! You have three other projects going on in this place! Why did you start another one?" I complained. Seriously it has become a minefield of art projects in here! She looks at me with a puzzled look.

"Didn't you see the sunset outside? It's beautiful!" she exclaimed pointing out the window. I followed her finger.

There it was, out of our small, dirty, little window; the only window we have that's not facing the alley was a sun set spilling the most brilliant orange across the sky. It gave our dirty, old city a beautiful aurora it normally didn't have. Then the clouds were painted with a brilliant pink that complemented the orange sky.

"Okay you can finish your painting. I'll order pizza tonight."

Margaret always saw beauty in things. Same ability that made her see the best in people too. See the best in me.

Now her happy glow was gone.

It felt like someone took a knife to me and cut a hole in my heart, leaving me to bleed and deal with the pain of missing a piece of my heart.

"What am I going to do now Margaret?"

I didn't have anywhere to go now. I was orphaned when I was young. I have quiet the extensive juvenile record on my hand. College drop out. I don't think any credentials I did gain from my time with Shield are worth anything anymore. I'm not rich. My job is gone. I had no idea what I was going to do now.

I have nothing.

Terror filled me.

Was I going to live on the streets again? No that was not an option. Sleeping in a car wasn't an option either seeing that I owned a motorcycle. Margaret always told me I should have traded my 'death machine' for a proper vehicle….

Knock, knock, knock.

My heart jumped. I wasn't expecting anyone. I shake it off though and go and open my door. There stood a sweet little old lady.

"Mrs. Dorothy! I wasn't expecting you. How are you?" I ask politely. Mrs. Dorothy was our neighbor next door. Good little lady. She looks so fragile Margaret and I always went out of our way to help her whenever we could.

"I just came to check to see if the rumors are true. Are you and Margaret really leaving? I'm going to miss you guys so much. You're such sweet young kids. You know you remind me of my daughter Shannon…" Mrs. Dorothy babbled on. She was a pretty good talker.

"Where is Margaret?" she asks.

"Margaret already left. I was just picking up the last our things," I lied as pain shoots through my heart real quick. I'm slowly getting better at managing my feelings again. Not many people know the real story of what happened.

"Oh I wish I could have given my last farewell to her," she says sincerely looking sad she missed her chance.

"Well I will let her know that you said that," I tell her now realizing she has a pile of old looking newspapers in her hand "what is that?'

She looks down.

"Oh these are old newspapers my husband use to collect from WWII. He was a huge fan of history. He's gone now and I'm old so I figured it's time to throw them out. Can't take these with me when I die," she chuckled.

"Oh Mrs. Dorothy, don't talk like that. You are still going to live for a long time. You have to be here when I come back okay." She chuckles at me

"I can't promise you that Elena, but I will do my best," she smiles "well good luck Elena. I know wherever you're going you will do great things."

She starts to waddle away.

"Mrs. Dorothy let me take those newspaper down for you," I tell her locking up the apartment behind me real quick before grabbing the newspapers from her.

"Oh thank you dear," she smiles again. "Can I give you one last hug?"

That gets me.

"Of course Mrs. Dorothy," I say moving the newspaper to one arm so I could hug her back. Her hug was warm.

"Bye Elena."

"Bye Mrs. Dorothy," I smile back before she waddles back to her apartment.

I go down the hallway, deciding I can dump the newspapers before coming back for my stuff. I still don't know what I am going to do. Finally I reach outside and dump the newspaper on top of the already full recycle bin. The wind blows, blowing away several pages of the newspaper in the alley.

"Really?" I say to no one. I sigh before running to pick up the flying pages.

Got one, two, three, and four. The last page tries to escape again when the wind blows it further down the alley before getting caught on a fire escape. I catch it then something on the fifth page catches my eye. I open it

"I want YOU for the ARMY." It read in bold letters. There he was Uncle Sam pointing at me.

"Oh Uncle Sam, your propaganda would work better if you looked more like-" I say cutting of midsentence. That's it! That's my next step! Quickly I dumped the newspaper back in the bin and ran back upstairs for my stuff.

Stark Tower

"So that is what I have planned for the Avengers so far. What do you think Captain?" Stark asks me.

"It's a good plan but you are missing a few key elements you know," I tell him crossing my arms. He rolls his eyes

"What elements? Honestly I spent all month planning this for the team," he says bringing back a different part of his hologram presentation.

"No Mr. Stark you have been planning all month for yourself and for your fans," I correct him.

"Okay well what am I missing then? You have to admit my new building design is brilliant! We will have everything we will ever need. Everyone will have their own floor to live in, training rooms for you and the ninja assassins, a lab for us science bros to work in, look even a bar for all of us to relax in after the missions are over!" he boasted yet again.

"Yea, where are the hospital rooms? Where are the doctors who will help us with our injuries after the missions? You haven't thought this through yet Stark. This isn't a game! We are still at war! What will happen when your soldiers come back injured? Not all of us are protected by a metal shell like you Stark," I tell him now annoyed.

Stark has a hard time taking anything seriously yet, despite everything that has happened. For a second Stark's jaw just opened and closed before he figured out something to say.

"I just figured since we are the only super people in the world you know injuries would be a minimum," he admitted scratching the back of his head. Just like his father.

"Trust me we will need that," I tell him, ready to leave. Sam has found a new lead to find Bucky and I wanted to join him.

"Have you thought this through Captain? Who can we trust to treat your injuries without trying to steal your blood sample?" he asks trying to make a jab at me rather than making a point. Now I'm the one smiling putting a puzzled look on Stark.

"Well I happen to know someone," I say deciding now was a good time to leave.

"And who would that be?" Stark asks as I put my hand on the door.

"Doctor Elena Noble."