As with everything, I love hearing from all of you lovely people! Tell me your thoughts, your opinions, your hopes and dreams (lol). I have been trying to work on my other stories too and everything gets kind of jumbled in my head. But I hope you still enjoy it! I heart you all.

My heart raced as I was jerked awake being tossed from the bed. The night stand smacked my head on the way down. Alarms started blaring over the PA system. "Aahh ooww…" I whined as I touched the fragile part of my noggin. "What the… what the hell." By the sounds of everything something bad just happened, with enough force to fling my body from the bed and onto the floor. I was rather annoyed I had been disturbed from my slumber. I was still in the black sweater and boots from before. I couldn't be too sure how long I was out. The screaming sirens caught my attention suddenly. "Shit, come on, Emma! MOVE!" I coached myself to get into panic mode.

The night stand. I gripped the handle on the small table next to me and ripped it open. It had rolled into the corner but at least it was there, the tiny, black earpiece Phil had given me days ago. Quickly, I pressed it into my ear and immediately heard a woman's voice over the intercom, "-one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch that engine!" The engine. What about the engine? Which engine did that mean?

"Stark! You copy that?!" boomed Director Fury's voice.

Tony's undoubtful, unmistaken words came through the intercom, "I'm on it!"

"Tony…" I muttered, frantically thinking. Something happened to an engine. Which would mean that the ship is going down if it's that bad. "Shit!" I whirled my head up towards the door.

Without thinking I booked it into the hall, gripping the door frame for support as I swerved to the left. A couple doors down I came in front of one absent mindlessly and banged on it with my fists. "Steve!" I screamed. There was no answer. I tried again a little mightier, "Steve!" I jerked the handle and the door flew open. The tidy room was empty, the twin bed neatly made, a brown leather jacket hanging off the edge, and on the middle of it lay the circular red, white and blue shield. I stared at the object in all its glory. Hesitantly, I crept towards it. My fingers traced the cool, metal surface. An odd sentiment I had trouble placing passed through my body when my skin made contact. My gaze trailed the outline of the large white star in the middle. I made the determination to lift the thing, prepared for it to be heavy. Unfortunately, it was really quite light in weight and I almost smacked myself in the face with it. "Well okay then…" Flipping it around, my arm flew in between the straps and I made my way out the door.

I whirled past frantic Shield personal as I flew down the halls. Blaring sirens rushed in my ears and red warning lights flashed. Smoke started to appear. People seemed to become more panicked. I figured I was getting to the right engine by the debris that emerged gradually through the corridor. Through all the noise and visual effects, a new voice was clear as day in my ear, "We got a perimeter breach! Hostiles are in SHIELD gear. Hold on to every junction." "Well, shit." I pressed on.

The air flow was getting windier, the pressure increasing against my being. I had to be close. Out of the nowhere, a Shield agent appeared in heavy armor and holding a large gun. I came to a halt, especially when he pointed the weapon at me. My arm flew in front of me with the shield; the boom of a gun went off and I was almost tossed backwards from the impact of colliding bullets. I didn't know why I was scared; I shouldn't have been as those bullets wouldn't have done much to me. I was a mutant after all with the ability to rapidly heal. I'm a mutant. Emma, come on! You idiot! Use your abilities! My eyes grew wide as I tried coaching myself. I dropped the shield and stretched my free arm in front of me, a stream of water gushing at my attacker, causing him to smash into the wall; he dropped to the ground and didn't move. I stared at him for a moment and the water that lay around the body. I shook my head and bolted down the hallway once more.

Finally, I slowed down when the debris was heavy in the hall, the wind current was almost unbearable and the noise was deafening. On top of the roaring engine, more bullets were flying from guns held by impostors. There were only a handful of them but each of their focus was in the gaping hole in the ship. I could only imagine Tony was their target. I sucked in a deep breath and my heels bounced off the floor.

I took a leap, slamming the shield against the head of one of the men knocking him to the ground. I spun around and smashed the object against the chest of another as he came at me. The attention of the other men turned away from the outside and to me, guns still blaring. I used my free hand to unleash a jet stream to knock the remaining villains down. I kept the shield ready to strike again as I gazed at the men I took down. A thump behind me made me whirl around raising my arm to hit another attacker.

"Whoa! Whoa! Emma! It's me!" frantically voiced the tall, dirty blonde hair man as he gripped my arm.

"Steve!" I cried. My bewilder emotions quieted as I stared into his bright blue eyes. "I've been looking for you!"

He just laughed. He nodded at his shield that was still resting on my arm, "It looks good on you."

"Oh, I, you know. I thought you might need this," as I unhooked it from my grasp, sheepishly handing it over. I smiled at him again just before a few more intruders blew in from the hall. Within seconds, Steve wrapped a huge bicep around my waist and forced the both of us to crouch down, his shield protecting us from the incoming rain of bullets. I glanced over at his stern face, realizing just how close we were. His eyes connected with mine and he gave a short nod. What he did next was really quite a blur. I almost toppled over as the man stood up, quickly turning around and flinging the shield at the new group. I attempted to steady myself using my arm to keep me propped up. I had no idea how, but the shield had flew back to Captain after the squad had gone down like bowling pins.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, taking a few steps at me. He offered a red gloved hand to which I gladly took. He pulled me up like I was a ragdoll. I couldn't help but snicker. He smiled at me, "I have to get back up there. Are you going to be fine keeping guard down here?"

I saw where he was pointing at. It was a narrow ledge left from the blast that took out a good chunk of the ship. On that ledge was a panel full of lighted cords and a large red lever. Before I could answer, Tony's voice hysterically came through the earbud, "Cap, I need the lever!"

Steve reply was panicky, "I need a minute here!"

I twisted my head to see what he was glaring at down the hall. I let out a groan as I saw more masked men with guns heading our way. "Steve, go! I got this." He peered at me reluctantly, but he took off towards the ledge. I bent my knees and brought my arms up in front of me. The men were almost on me, pointing their guns. I was ready to fight. I took a step towards them preparing to charge when a red blur tackled the men out of nowhere, causing me to stop everything. I blinked a couple of times to refocus on the new scene. Ironman lay on his back in the pile of guys. His face shield retracted to reveal Tony's beat up expression. I couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Hey, Bright Eyes. Glad you could make it," he exasperated.

Steve, Tony and I made our way through the damage. "I can heal you guys when we get back to some place quiet," I mumbled. As I took in the surroundings, I saw a lot of personal hurt from all the damage done in the fire fight.

"It looks like you have your work cut out for you, Bright Eyes," Tony chimed in. He didn't look so hot himself. That run he had with the rotor had took its toll. I knew he would be okay but it still worried me.

As we walked, we remained quiet. Steve stood close to me, protective, a little apprehensive that something might come up again. I appreciated the gesture but it didn't exactly make me feel any better. I jumped as Director Fury's deep voice sounded in my ear, "Agent Coulson is down."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Coulson. Every emotion in my body had left. Coulson is down. There was nothing. Agent...down. I barely saw the two men standing just ahead of me. Phil Coulson. My eyes darted back and forth. Phil. I booked it as fast as I possible could down the hall.

My sight was blurry. Images weren't being processed by my brain. I had no idea if I was running into things, people, or if I was just phasing past them. I didn't care. I didn't feel anything. I needed to get to one man. I needed to save him.

In what seemed like forever, I stumbled upon the room where Loki was being held; except now there wasn't a giant glass chamber in the middle of the area and there was no god. However, medical personal were in plenty. Director Fury's face was of exasperation, grief and anger glared in his eye. My breathing already heavy, I hesitated before I followed his gaze down to a large black zipper bag two medics were attaching onto a stretcher. My heart stopped. That couldn't be him. No. Absolutely not. "No!" I gasped and lunged towards the bag.

"Miss Blaser!" Fury's voice boomed as he wrapped his arms around my body, restraining me from getting near the stretcher.

"No! I can help him! I can help!" I struggled against him, begging for some sort of miracle. I could have passed right through Fury's grip, but part of me already knew.

"There's nothing you can do! Emma, he's gone! I'm sorry."

"No no no no no no no," I wailed. My knees gave out and I held onto the man's arms for support. I couldn't do anything. I was pathetic.

I had hunkered down in one of the medical rooms. In fact, the one with Clint Barton resting, chained to the bed. I should have been over joyed to see his stupid face but it was a little hard for me to show any emotions. He began stirring, face contorted in pain as he struggled against the straps. I merely stared at him. Clint strained as he tried to free himself. I sighed. I trudged out of my hunched over form in the corner chair and towards my dear friend.

I solemnly stared down at him, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. I wanted to feel upset about the pain he was experiencing but my heart was still failing in the void. "Hey, sweetie," I barely whispered. My fingers gently traced along his hairline, eventually running them through his thick brunette hair. I guess I was hoping his struggle would calm down but it didn't. Clint still wiggled in agony in the straps.

"He's going to be fine," a woman's voice entered the room. I turned my gaze to the door and tried to smile at the short red head.

I exhaled, "It's not the way I saw any of this going down, Nat. I'm glad we got this doof back though."

"As am I." The sound of her boots against the tile grew louder. "You're going to be okay."

I looked at her again. She meant it. I knew she wouldn't let me fall. I gave her a tight smile and shrugged. I took a quick peek down at Clint before I brushed past Natasha and out the door.

Mindlessly, I wandered the halls. I wasn't in a rush but I still had a hard time caring what was happening around me. I should have felt bad for blowing Natasha off. I also should have been glad to see Clint was mostly in tack. Everything was numb.

In my impassiveness, I found my way to the briefing room. The dazed shock on the faces of Tony of Steve greeted me as I slumped against the door frame. I didn't think I could make it to the table the two were sitting at. Tony looked awful; it seemed that Phil's passing was hurting him just as much as it was to me. Steve didn't appear to be as shook up but he didn't look well either.

Director Fury was standing at the head of the table. I must have interrupted his conversation, he merely nodded at me before stating, "We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this and I can only assume Emma does too, called the AVENGERS INITIATIVE." I crossed my arms at those words. "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died, still believing-"

I couldn't hear what he had to say. I ducked out of the doorway and quickly sped down the hall.I barely made it to my room before my legs felt like jelly. I stumbled inside, swiftly closing the door behind me so my back could slide down it. My heart pounded. My breathing was staggered. My hands reached up to my face and ran through my hair. I frantically looked around the room for nothing as tears poured out the corner of my eyes.

It felt like hours had passed; part of me knew that probably wasn't true but the concept of time was skewed in this small unit of space. I did know I was laying on the floor in front of the bed. I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Laying, curled up on the hard floor did feel good for whatever reason. A soft knock echoed. I refused to budge. The sound of the door clicking open followed suit and I shut my eyes hastily. "Emma?" Steve. And yet, I still didn't move. His footsteps became louder; I felt him close to me. "Em…" A light touch landed on my shoulder.

My voice cracked, strained, "Nobody I ever cared about got hurt. No one who I loved, died. Until today… And I was completely useless." My eyes finally opened and I tried to prop myself up on my arms to face his blue eyes. "What…what am I even good for? What am I supposed to do? I don't…" Steve's face was full of compassion. "I don't know how to handle this," came as a whisper.

"You're strong. You're going to get through this," his voice was soothing. He stood up, offering me a hand and I let him haul me up. I had to steady myself with my hands on his chest and his hands balancing on my hips. "There's nothing you can't do. Emma, Em, you're amazing. You're going to do great." He grinned down at me and I swore it gave me a new wind of energy. I had to smile back at him. I realized where my hands were planted, making me blush, but not as much as when I felt Steve's hands still sitting on my hips.

"If you say so, Wonder Boy." It was wonderful that he was here with me. He didn't have to check up on me but here he was. Being near him was calming. This was probably the best I had felt all day.

Steve seemed to notice the daze he was in and slightly shook his head, "Stark figured out where Loki went." I blinked several times trying to come to reality. "I'm going to talk to Agent Romanoff and take her back to New York with me. You need to rest."

I looked at him confused. "Wait wait wait. I'm staying here?"

"I thought it would be best if you helped out here."

"I don't think so," my words may have sounded a little more harsh than what I intended. "I'm coming with you and Nat. Drag Clint along with you if you have to."

"Emma, really, you should get some rest," Steve protested.

I pushed myself out of his grip, quickly turning towards the bed. "You know, Steven, you might be a captain but you don't get to give me orders." I bent down, grunting as I reached underneath the frame and grabbed a hold of the black duffle bag underneath.

The man continued on, "Really, between Stark, Romanoff and I, we should be able to get things situated."

The bag plopped onto the bed and I immediately unzipped it. "Go get Nat and Clint," I shook my loose hair, ran my fingers through it and tied it up in a high pony tail. "Get to the hanger. I'll meet you down there in 10 minutes." I pulled out a couple articles of clothing from the sack. "If I'm not down there by then, then leave and go do super hero shit and save the world or whatever."

"Em-"

I whirled around to look at Steve, "That's an order, Captain." I stood my ground.

To my surprise, he smiled and nodded, "Yes ma'am." His eyes lingered for several seconds before turning and leaving out the door.

I chuckled surprised at my own words. I tore the black sweater over my head, leaving me in a white spaghetti strap top. I took hold of the dark navy jacket, holding it out in front of me. I smiled as my arms flew into the sleeves.