AUTHOR'S NOTE: Eir's outfit is up on Polyvore.
Over the next three days, if Steve and Eir were unusually on guard, they didn't notice.
The night of Thanksgiving, Thor had left for yet another trip to Asgard but had yet to return. Of course, time ticked by differently so they couldn't blame Thor for taking a day or so with his family and friends before returning.
Eir had also taken Hermione's words to heart, waiting until she had the dark of the night on her side to slip into the shadows and cast a protection ward around the entire block that her apartment building resided on. At first, she wasn't sure if the ward would hold up but the bright blue shimmer of the ward after she finished casting let her know that it was pretty strong and could take a few blows if need be. The specific ward she had put up wouldn't let anyone who wished her harm set foot on the block and the moment someone started to tamper with her ward, her magic would let her know.
With December came colder temperatures and a thin layer of snow.
Eir was happy to find out that Molly's treacle tart had been a huge hit at Steve's work party and rather amused when Steve told her his friends started annoying him the following day to beg Eir to make more for them. Eir promised she would make some more soon and even went out to buy what was necessary for show but in reality, she was just waiting to send a patronus to the Weasley Matriarch and ask for some more. Steve had told her not to rush, that his friends could wait, and then went on to invite Eir for breakfast. Eir had refused at first, saying she wasn't a morning person but then settled to attend brunch with him.
.:HP/AVNGS:.
As Eir dressed for the chillier than normal morning, she dressed casually in a pair of black skinny jeans, a dark blue long tank top cami with lace trimming, a black wool pea coat jacket, and left her hair in slight waves framing her freckled face. After casting a quick warming charm over her body and placing a well thought of non-slip charm on the bottom of her stiletto platform boots, Eir tucked her wand into her right boot in case she needed it.
After locking up her apartment, Eir set off to go and meet Steve three blocks west at a small cafe that served great food called Sal's.
The cold air nipped at Eir's exposed skin but since she had the warming charm, it didn't quite affect her like it did the muggles around her. It wasn't as cold as Eir was used to but given the fact that every time she breathed out and caused a puff of smoke of her breath, she knew it was pretty cold.
She soon finds Steve sitting by the window inside Sal's and the moment he spots her, he eagerly waves her in. Eir greets him with a smile, unbuttoning her jacket as she moves to sit. "Been here long?"
"The waitress has only been by three times." Steve shrugs. "She probably thinks I've been stood up."
"Ah." Eir laughs and picks up her menu. "Fear not for your lady has arrived!"
She's too occupied with trying to find something to eat from the menu that she doesn't see the way Steve blushes at her words. He then quickly occupies himself with his own menu to find something worth eating, only to have his blush come back full force when the elderly waitress stops by for their order and coos, "Ah, young love."
Eir blushes as well though she was nowhere near the level of red as Steve, and chuckles kindheartedly. "We're just friends, ma'am."
"Goodness gracious." She replies. "I am terribly sorry."
"I-it's fine." Steve coughs, reigning in his embarrassment. "May I have a mug of coffee and the number three breakfast plate?"
"Sure thing, darling." The woman drawls, scribbling down Steve's order before turning to Eir.
"And I'll have the same but instead of coffee may I have orange juice?"
"Mhm. I'll get right on that." The waitress smiles, ripping off their order receipt and making her way towards the kitchen.
As the duo falls into an awkward silence, Eir fiddles with the sugar basket in the middle of the table as Steve picks apart a napkin.
"So." He drawls, keeping his eyes downcast. "Did Hermione make it home okay?"
"She sure did." Eir breathes a sigh of relief, her eyes darting all around Steve's down turned face. "I mailed off the Thanksgiving pictures this morning to her." She grins. "And I have your copies at home so stop by whenever."
"I will. Thanks." Steve finally looks up, meeting his friend's gaze with a genuine smile just in time for their waitress to return with their drinks. As Eir sips her juice and Steve fixes his coffee to his liking, he figures he'd get Tony's invitation out of the way. "I know it's a bit early but do you have any plans for Christmas?"
"Not really." Eir murmurs. "My friends are spending time with their families and I really don't fancy going back there." She shrugs and watches Steve practically gulp down his drink. "I'll probably go shopping soon and mail their presents. Why do you ask?"
"Well," Steve cups the mug of coffee in his hands, tapping his fingers along the sides. "-my coworkers and I are sort of close, in case you haven't noticed."
"I kind of figured." She smirks at him.
"Yes, well, they told me to extend the invite to you." Steve admits before meeting Eir's gaze. "It's going to be a small get together where they'll exchange gifts and have a dinner so do you maybe want to go with me?"
Before Eir could answer, the waitress appears with their food and leaves them to eat in peace but not before refilling Steve's mug with coffee. After giving their thanks, Eir and Steve dig into their eggs and sausage links, leaving the hash brown and pancakes for the end.
After a good mouthful of food, Eir gives her attention to Steve. "Can I think about it and get back to you?" She asks him, getting back on topic. "I mean, it sounds like a good idea- meeting your friends but I wouldn't know what kind of gifts to get them."
"Of course." Steve blurts and wipes his mouth clean. "And don't worry about gifts. Seriously. They just want to meet you." He assures her before turning sheepish as a grin makes it's way onto his face. "And they may want more of your treacle tart if you show up."
Eir barks a laugh as she shovels more food into her mouth with a nod. "Of course."
..
..
It's halfway through their meal that Steve's phone continuously chirps, annoying said owner until he reaches into his pocket to see what's going on. Frowning at the screen, he looks up only to see Eir grin at him.
"Take it. It must be important."
Steve nods and with a relieved smile, he answers it. "Rogers." Eir hides her amused expression at the way Steve easily fell into professional mode but said amusement falters when she sees his lips thin and eyes go hard. "Yeah, I'll be right there." Eyes snap to her and with a sheepish grin, Eir nods in understanding.
The moment Steve ends the phone call, the most apologetic look crosses his features. "It's fine, really it is." Eir quickly assures him.
"I'm sorry." He still blurts. "Work emergency."
"Understandable."
Steve's gaze flickers back and forth from their table, to Eir, to their waitress who doesn't know if Steve's trying to gain her attention or not. As Steve waves her over, Eir's eyes widen. "I'll make it up to you, I swear."
"N-no. It's okay." Eir tries to assure him when their waitress appears and Steve immediately asks for the bill. "Don't worry about it." She snatches the paper from the waitress before Steve could get to it which causes him to huff. "I'll worry about the bill, you go. The call seemed important."
And she only realizes just how important the call really was when he doesn't bother fighting her on it. "I'll call you when I'm done." He tells her before quickly standing and pulling on his jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair. "See you soon?"
"See you soon." Eir smiles up at him. "Have fun."
Steve snorts, shaking his head and squeezing Eir's shoulder before he brushes past their waitress and out the door into the frigid air. When the waitress eyes Eir warily, Eir merely waves her off saying she'll take care of the bill after she's done with her own food. When the waitress realizes that this isn't a dine and dash, she happily clears away Steve's side of the table when Eir tells her he won't be returning and lets Eir finishes her food in peace.
Eir eats her fill, stopping herself before she actually stuffs herself to the point of stomach pains, and pays for her and Steve's meals. Tipping the waitress a little more than what Eir usually would, she smiles fondly at the elderly woman before buttoning herself back up in her coat and sets foot outside. But luckily for Eir, her warming charm is still activated and keeping her from freezing.
As Eir makes her way back home, she ends up getting sidetracked when she realizes that city officials are putting up Christmas lights. Wondering what Central Park looked like at the moment with the snow covering the ground, she decides to make her way towards the park for a quick peek.
But almost as if the Fates are against her, Eir only gets two blocks away when the man in a maroon and gold iron suit zooms overhead. She falters in her steps, looking around to see if anyone else spotted him but when people merely look up and continue on with their day, she figures they've grown use to seeing Iron Man flying about the city.
She doesn't pay attention to where he flew off to but in the next moment, she finds herself freezing mid-step as a ferocious roar pierces the air. People wandering about freeze mid-step as well, glancing around nervously to see where the threat is but nothing seems to be off. After shaking off the instant bought of unease, Eir continues to head in the direction she's already heading and makes sure to keep her eyes peeled for anything unusual.
The moment she turns the corner, all hell seemed to have broken loose. People look on with terrified expressions, some choosing to stay where they are while others are smart and start to flee. Black clouds of smoke are billowing up in the sky, the ferocious roar heard earlier is now more of an angry constant growl, and Iron Man is zooming around overhead shooting blasts of energy from the palms of his hands. Eir doesn't know what the hell is going on but her curiosity is getting the best of her.
The closer she creeps, the easier it is to distinguish the screams of terrified civilians who are either trapped or running around without a clue as to where to go. A couple of blocks later and Eir is faced with the destruction of all too familiar enemies.
Deatheaters.
Eir's stomach seems to drop at the sight of them- her eyes darting from one person to another as her breathing changes dramatically into unfulfilled intakes of air. There's a rather large number of them, all wearing their usual black cloaks and black masks as they fire spell after spell at unarmed muggles and the Avengers trying to protect their city. The source of the constant angry growl seems to be the green rage monster that is bound by enormous ropes and chains, and it seems his jaw is spelled shut as well.
Realizing that the Avengers are way in over their head, Eir wonders what she can do to lend a helping hand. As her mind reels about whether or not outing herself is a good idea, she has to crouch behind a few metal contraptions that appear to be holding newspapers inside when a Deatheater looks her way. She doesn't think she's been spotted and her stomach drops yet again as she watches the Iron Man get hit by an eerie blue curse. She flinches as he gets blasted out of the air, the man falling onto a car un-moving and for a moment, she fears the worse.
That is until she spots Iron Man sitting up and working his way off the car only to freeze as the light on his chest flickers on and off.
A Deatheater takes it's chance by sneaking up behind Iron Man now and Eir tries to call out for him but her voice gets stuck in her throat. Heart pounding and tears prickling the corner of her eyes, she breathes a sigh of relief as an arrow suddenly penetrates the chest of the advancing witch or wizard. A few more arrows fly by, taking out a couple more deatheaters who were starting to circle a red-headed woman firing two hand guns and crouching behind a demolished vehicle. When the deatheaters realize that the archer is a serious threat, they blast the ledge that he's standing on. Luckily for said archer, he jumps and rolls away just in time.
Eir's too busy watching the destruction right before her eyes that she doesn't spot the red curse flying a little too close for comfort. She does, however, feel it after it's hit the large glass window behind her and knocks her into the metal contraption she had been hiding behind. Disorientated, Eir crawls away only to cut up the knees of her jeans and the palms of her hands on the glass shards, and crawls directly into the line of sight of several deatheaters.
She can feel blood dripping down the sides of her face so she knows she knocked her noggin pretty good and her hands and knees are on fire. She has half a mind to pull out her wand right then and there but to do that would mean to expose herself to the deatheaters and if they take a second look at her, it'd be all over when they realize who she is.
When Eir thinks she's finally in the clear, she stands up on shaky legs after making sure her wand was still tucked in her boot. Seeing it there, she stands fully with her hair obscuring most of her vision but it's still enough to see a deatheater staring straight at her and raising his or her wand. A red light flees from the tip of their wand and Eir freezes- her joints locking together in terror at being in the middle of a war all over again. However, before the spell can reach her, she sees Captain America from her peripheral vision landing at her side and is suddenly being pulled down by him- he crouching over her body and bringing up his shield for protection.
There's a gong-like noise suddenly filling her ears and it takes a moment for her to realize that the shield blocked the spell. It actually repelled their magic! Pushing herself up, she puts enough space between her and Captain America before brushing her hair aside and out of her face. For a second, she thinks she sees a flash of shock and recognition flashing in Captain America's eyes but it's gone way too quickly.
..
..
Natasha Romanoff is crouching behind a car that's currently on fire with every window blown to shit and watching on in horrified awe at Bruce Banner- the Hulk- struggling to free himself from his confines. Had this been an experiment of Stark's, the Black Widow would have been impressed with the genius for coming up with something strong enough to contain the Hulk's strength other than a room that they had to drug the beast and toss into when he got too unruly. Instead, these new chains and ropes came from their enemies who they had no idea how to defeat.
The cloaked and masked figures had appeared from thin air- instantly setting off every magical signature alarm that S.H.I.E.L.D had in place over the city. There were a little over twenty of them- each one of them cloaked and masked- and marching directly down the middle of the street in a military manner that set everyone on edge. For a good while, they did nothing but march, but the moment Tony flew over them in his suit- various colored lights started to fly from the tip of sticks that they produced from under their cloaks.
"Stark, you there?" Natasha speaks calmly, tapping the comm at her ear to see who's still up and about.
"Positive, Red." Tony's voice fills her ear. "Though I'm out of the fight." He then grumbles. "Whatever they're firing, it's messing with my reactor. Damn thing nearly fried."
Natasha groans before calling for her fellow assassin. "Hawkeye? What's the visual from up top?"
"No idea, Nat." Clint sounds tired and pained. "They found my perch and I had to tuck and roll. Shoulder's dislocated."
"Fuck." Natasha mutters, the usual stoic female losing her patience. "Captain?"
"Busy." Steve's voice instantly replies. "Civilian crawled into the thick of it."
The comm goes silent and it's then that Natasha, Tony, and Clint notice the sudden lull of explosions and cackling of laughter from the new crazies attacking their city. Each Avenger peer from the safety of their hideouts only to see the cloaked figures closing in on Steve and the civilian he has. Red, blue, and purple lights suddenly fly and Steve reacts instantly by placing the shield in front of the civilian and crouching down with her. Right away, his team members realize the opening that Steve left on his back and sides but before they can do anything about it- red lights are connecting with their teammate's body.
The female civilian is screaming but Steve hangs on- taking no less than five red shots of light to his body. Each light hit has him visibly flinching and groaning until he stands during a brief lull of activity, and it's then when the protection of the shield is out of the way does a purple light hit him in the chest that he finally goes down.
Natasha swears, pulling up her handguns and ready to fight while telling Clint to hurry the hell up and get his ass back into action when she pauses mid-rant. The civilian Steve had been protecting now has a fancy stick of her own but instead of firing off different colored lights like the cloaked figures were- the civilian is slashing her stick through the air every time a light comes her and Steve's way. A nifty blue shield shimmers to life as the red and purple lights collide with it.
"Nat?" Clint's voice crackles in. "Is that civilian one of them?"
"One of who?" Stark immediately chimes in. "Oh. Not as innocent a civilian as Cap had thought, huh?"
The female figure crouches now, closer to Steve's body as she tries to maneuver the red, white, and blue shield to cover Captain America's face. "She's protecting him." Natasha realizes. The moment the cloaked figures appear to overwhelm the woman, Natasha rethinks their approach. "Kill the cloaks. Save the woman for last. If she puts up a fight, knock her out and take her in for containment."
Clint and Tony give their agreement of the new plan, Tony taking a bit longer to get back into the game so that the cloaked figures don't catch him off guard again.
The three conscious Avengers manage to take out half of the cloaked magic users before one of them sneaks up behind Steve's savior- catching her in the back with one single red blast of light. The moment she slouches over Steve's unconscious form- the remaining cloaked figures start to disappear in clouds of black smoke though one of them lingers with their head tilted curiously to the side as they stare down at the female civilian before finally disappearing.
When there is no more threat, Tony stumbles over to the Hulk to see if he could get the beast to calm down enough so Banner could come back and possibly slip out of his bindings while Natasha and Clint limp over to Steve and the unconscious magic using woman.
"Well, at least she didn't put up a fight." Clint muses, rubbing at his injured shoulder he had to pop back into place himself.
Natasha snorts, the corner of her lips tilting up in a brief smirk. "Let's get her to containment. Fury's going to have a ball with this one."
So yeah, that happened.
