Chapter 3
Samantha stood on a red field surrounded by an army of blue giants and golden soldiers. They clashed violently on all sides with no sign of the battle turning in anyone's favor. The fierce fighting churned up dirt, while the blood of the fallen turned it into a loose, red mud. Fallen soldiers were trampled to nothing under the feet of their comrades- and fallen didn't always mean dead.
Sprinkled throughout the field were battle-maidens- perhaps twenty Samantha could see, fighting more fiercely than any others. The women wore black and silver armor that was thick and uniform in styling. Their heads were covered by helms and half-cloaks of (formerly) white feathers swirled around them as they laid into the blue giants with the grace of dancers.
She walked through the throng unseen and unmolested, drawn towards the fiercest area of the battlefield- a clearing in front of some sort of massive, golden-domed building. As she approached, the battle slowed to a crawl. Ahead of her a giant was felled, revealing three more battle-maidens as unlike their comrades as they could possibly be.
These women wore no practical armor, but rather dark red gowns studded with golden plates. They cut through their enemies with a speed and efficiency their peers could not match, encumbered as they were. Their arms were clad in ridged guards as sharp across the back as any blade- and they used them as such wherever possible. A simple punch to the jaw could slice through a giant's neck if angled right.
Even their helms were strange. Two had golden helms that covered all but their eyes and yet left their braided hair to fly about them. Based on the glint of gold as they spun and dodged, plated into the hair were blades of the same severity as those on their arms. One spun fast and slashed through a giant's chest while her hair whipped up and ripped through his eyelid, blinding him. No opponent lasted long against them. The third spun around to strike at an attacker and Samantha realized with a jolt that her helm had no slits for eyes. Blind as she must have been, she still fought with deadly accuracy.
She sensed the furthest from her, closest to the golden dome, was the eldest. She swung a massive broadsword around her in a deadly arc that left her enemies in more pieces than they were upon attacking. She was incredibly fast and agile with the blade- but it wasn't enough. She was tiring, and the giants seemed to come for her without end. After a moment she had to adjust to fight two opponents at once, then three, then four- then she was overwhelmed. The woman fell under a mob of blue giants and was gone from sight.
When they pulled back she was still gasping, trying to breathe through the spears and blades buried in her. Her sword was still gripped tightly in her left hand. Samantha knew she was dying, she knew she was dying, but she reached up and pulled her helm back so that she could see the other two- still fighting nearby. She seemed to take comfort in the sight of her companions fighting. It wasn't long before the light in her amber eyes was gone and her grip on the sword eased.
An anguished cry came from the smaller of the two when she turned and saw her fallen comrade. No, Samantha thought, not comrade… Sister. She tightened her grip on her short-swords and threw herself at her sister's killer with renewed vigor. The third sibling helped clear her sister's path with a large reaper's scythe- the perfect image of Death incarnate.
"Skuld!" the woman dove behind her sister to block a blow from a particularly large giant. Her scythe absorbed the shuck, but the slick, bloody mud beneath her feet sent her to a knee. She tried to recover her footing, but before she had a chance the giant swung again. She cried out as the blow connected with the side of her scythe- then the blade shattered. Her sister turned just in time to be splashed with her blood as the blind warrior was opened from shoulder to hip.
The final sister, Skuld presumably, attacked her sister's killer with reckless abandon, but he caught every blow. She stretched, sprang, whirled, swiped, ducked, lunged, tried every combination of moves she knew and a few she made up in the heat of battle, but it wasn't enough to do more than irritate the behemoth.
Samantha knew she would die soon. Judging by the grim set of the fighter's mouth and the grin on her attacker's they both did too. So Skuld made the only move that was left to her- she stepped directly into his sword and plunged both of hers into his chest- piercing the heart and lungs. They were frozen a moment, both in shock, before he adjusted his grip on his blade and gave it a horrific twist, then jerked it back from the body.
As she fell, Samantha felt a wave of anguish from her. The killer stumbled a few feet before he too was downed, still pierced with Skuld's blades. She didn't go so easily. With the last of her strength she pulled herself towards her sisters. The eldest- hand still outstretched, the next split in two, just like her blade. Skuld lost the strength to move mere inches from either sister.
The hilts of the weapons began to glow, drawing Samantha's eye. Each of them held the same symbol- three interwoven triangles. As Skuld died they grew brighter and brighter, eventually blinding her to all else.
"STOP SEEKING THAT WHICH IS LOST!" A madwoman's harsh voice howled at her from the blades, "STOP NOW, OR WATCH YOUR WORLD BURN!"
"Steve, do you trust me?"
"Of course Bucky. I always will. 'Till the end of the line!"
"Oh Steve!"
"Bucky! Take me with your metal arm and-"
"FOR FUCK SAKE! WE DON'T ACT LIKE THAT!" Bucky threw his popcorn at Clint, "I only asked if he trusted me because I was going to throw him off a goddam skyscraper!"
Tony smirked and dodged a similar barrage, "Well, it all sounded very romantic on comms. Hey- judgement free zone."
Steve was actually in a good mood again, so he just chuckled at Tony's needling. He was normally a big supporter of stapling Stark's mouth shut, but nothing bothered him today. They were on their way back from a successful raid on a Hydra-sponsored lab and spirits were high. These were the Avengers he one day would (be forced to) introduce Samantha to, if he had his choice. The kind who ate popcorn on the jet and reenacted bits of the fight for entertainment. Unfortunately, he couldn't promise they'd always be so laid back.
"What are you grinning at?" Natasha was sitting with Sam and Banner at the back of the ship playing cards, but she had this terrifying ability to see all around without looking.
"Feels good," Steve shrugged, "I don't know. It's a good day."
He jumped when he heard a long, sudden sniff next to his ear. When he turned Tony was nearly nose-to-nose with him, "You smell like sex."
"What does that even mean?!" he turned brick-red from his cheeks to his ears.
"You know what it means, spill."
Since it was the worst possible time imaginable, Steve forgot to even look surprised when his cell phone rang. He shoved Tony back and fished it out of his uniform- Samantha. Steve's mouth fell open slightly. His Avengers cell was an in-case-of-emergency line. If she was calling-
"Zoink!" Tony took advantage of the distraction and snatched the phone. Steve dove for him and managed to grab Stark's wrist. He had a whole finger on the phone when Tony lobbed it over his head at Clint. Steve released his friend and jumped to swipe it out of the air.
The world abruptly turned sideways. Bucky slammed his shoulder into Steve's torso and lifted him up off of his feet. They ended up in a heap on the floor of the jet- and then Thor decided to get involved. Taking advantage of Steve's struggle, the Asgardian simply sat on his leader's legs with the full force of his 750lbs. Bucky laughed at Thor's assistance and wrapped both of his arms around Steve's, then locked one behind his head and slapped a hand over the soldier's mouth to stifle his angry shout. Natasha, Sam, and Banner showed their support for the leader of the Avengers by dealing another hand.
"Hello?" Clint did his best Cap-voice as Steve struggled against the two idiots pinning him.
Desperate, Steve sucked up every last bit of saliva into one wet glob and licked the inside of Bucky's hand, "HEY!" it was worth the gross-factor (though, in all fairness his hand tasted like popcorn)- Bucky pulled back far enough for Steve to disengage the hold and shove Thor half off. He was going to get that phone before-
"Hold up," Clint sighed, "just a sec-" he made a face and tossed the cell back to its owner. "It's someone from that gym you're so fixated on." Clint shook his head at Tony and scratched his ear. Stark grinned savagely- he was turning on the spy feature in his hearing aids. Steve hadn't been clued-in to that one yet.
"Grant?" She used his middle name, meaning someone could be listening to her end.
"Yeah, sorry. Hawkeye intercepted my phone."
Samantha sounded frustrated at whatever was going on around her, "I'm sorry I used the emergency number, I just didn't want you to hear about it through a messenger."
'Messenger' was Samantha's code for JARVIS, "Hear about what? Is the… gym alright," Are you alright?
"I'm fine," she practically spat. She must have been saying it to people for a while already, "the guys at the dig are being dicks, you know how it is."
"Oh yeah, I'm familiar with those kinds of conditions. Not good for the… sandbags." What the hell are you talking about, Rogers?
"They, um, took an 'overheated student' joke to the next level, and while I'm perfectly, totally, one hundred percent fine… I'm in the hospital."
"WHAT?!" He glanced nervously on all eyes trained on him. Clint winced as if Steve's shout hurt him somehow. He coughed and whistled, "Wow, who knew wet sand got so… moldy." What?! C'mon!
"I'm fine, I just… Might have, um, gotten dizzy and decided to take a very… quick nap. That only lasted a few seconds and is barely worth mentioning. I just- I know you were going to come back tonight and I'm still here until someone picks me up so…"
Steve was already a little panicked, no matter how often she told him she was fine, "No worries, I'm glad you called. I'll be there in-" he glanced at the display on the ship's dash, "three hours? Is that alright? Um, at your D.C. branch I mean. Since you have… Moldy, um, sandbags." Tony snorted and covered his mouth, Bucky just looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
Samantha confirmed that the pickup would be fine, apologized again for calling his cell (not that he was complaining!), and promised to tell him exactly what the doctors said. He kept his eyes locked on Stark, daring him to make a move throughout the rest of the call.
"Moldy sandbags," Banner set his cards down as soon as Steve hung up and arched and eyebrow, "you sure that's what you want to go with?"
"Yeah man," Sam shook his head, "if you wanna change the story I'm willing to pretend this never happened. Anyone else in on a do-over?" Literally everyone raised their hands in unison. Tony raised three.
"DAMMIT! GIVE ME BACK MY ARM!" Bucky snatched it away, "How did you even-"
"I made a quick-release latch that's coded to my fingerprint so I can do this-" Tony put his thumb on the arm as soon as Bucky reconnected it. His grin only grew wider as Bucky ducked to catch it, cursing all the way.
From there the conversation devolved into another good-natured tussle between Bucky, Tony, and Clint. Steve was just happy he was forgotten in the mix, "If you have personal business to conduct, you are certainly free to do so openly. It need not be secret from us. "Thor stood by Steve with his arms crossed and monitored the three fools before him. Should Bucky trigger and 'good-natured' became 'fatal-hostility' he would be the one to step in before the non-super-soldiers were irreparably harmed.
"Moldy. Sandbags."
"I get it," Sam shoved Clint at Tony when he came too close, "you want to keep your gym separate from all this shit. Makes sense."
"Pepper Potts and Jane Foster- both have been targets because of their affiliations with us," Thor agreed. "Know that entrusting merely your comrades with the… gym's identity will only make it safer."
"Telling us isn't telling the world."
"That's not for me to decide."
"You better decide quickly," Sam shook his head, "or life'll decide for you, and something tells me that would get ugly fast."