I hope y'all are enjoying. I know that the pacing is a little weird in this story, and that's because I wasn't ready to post so now I'm scrambling to just get something out there for everyone haha. Don't get me wrong I've got ideas and I know where I want this to go, it's just a matter of getting there that's the problem! Anyway, so now we get to see Rena's powers coming out! Fun stuff.

11

The shaggy haired blond lying on the hospital bed hadn't woken up yet and Rena was surprised that Natasha had even granted her request to see Thor, even if he was still out cold.

Earlier Rena had been in the middle of lunch with the Steve, Bruce, and Nat after getting her blood taken with the Doctor when Clint came walking in slowly with giant bruises marring his otherwise flawless skin. He sat down silently next to his red-headed friend but didn't say a word.

In fact he just looked beyond tired, even more so than when she first met him a couple of days ago. She hadn't known he was back from his so called mission at all and Nat, who had insisted that Rena call her that, looked him up and down with an obviously worried expression.

"You should be resting," Nat said.

Clint attempted to shrug but the pain from the action was clearly written across his face. He winced and rubbed his shoulder, "I've got better things to do besides sleep all day. They fixed all the broken bones and closed up all the major wounds, so I'm just a little sore. Plus, it's the weekend."

"So?"

He gave his friend a look, "So they bake fresh cookies on Saturday. I think I deserve a cookie. Do any of you disagree?" he met each of his friends' gazes, including Rena's. Silently challenging them to argue with him.

No one did, but Rena who still felt uncomfortable around him stood quickly and offered to get it for him. He looked like he was about to protest, but Natasha gently pinched his forearm as she had predicted his response to Rena's offer.

Rena went through the line and grabbed a small pile of cookies and a prepackaged carton of milk. When she got back she slid the tray across the table and Clint's eyes looked down at the food and then up to her. He didn't smile, but as he was opening the carton he said, "I am so glad you understand things."

Everyone except for Rena, who was slightly confused, just chuckled lightly, "What?" she asked.

He just held up the milk in response and shoved a cookie in his mouth.

As silence fell upon the group she wanted desperately to ask what had happened on his mission as he supposedly went to go retrieve Thor, but she held her tongue. She didn't even know how appropriate it was for her to ask anyway, but thankfully Steve was the one to speak up.

"So uh, how's he doing then?"

Clint, now cured of his cookie craving, sat back on the bench, "Still out cold. Mostly healed, but asleep. He's breathing at least."

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

Nat rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. You've been in the emergency wing for the last two days and under complete lockdown."

Clint's eyes suddenly hardened and he looked away from everyone, "I told you and Banner what happened. That's all you need to know."

"But how did he even… what did he even do?" Bruce spoke up for the first time in a while. He was about as quiet as Rena was sometimes.

Clint ran a hand down his face, "You know. Bad stuff. He's kind of evil remember? When I went to pick up Thor the poor guy was under some big blue bastard's food and was barely breathing. His hammer is still out there since I obviously couldn't grab it, but once he wakes he'll be able to retrieve it easily enough."

Rena's interest peaked, "Thor?"

Clint turned her way, "Yeah. Guy's still down in the med bay. They moved him inside and he's not going to be happy when he finally wakes up."

"Can I see him?" all eight pairs of eyes turned to her and she blushed deeply, "I um, when he wakes up I mean."

A strange look crossed Nat's face and she stood. She made a "follow me" gesture towards Rena and started walking towards the elevator, "We can go see him now awake or not. I want to see how he's doing, since he's my friend too."

They took the elevator downwards and Rena fidgeted with her hands. Fast forward through about ten minutes of arguing with the staff down there and that brings them to where Rena was currently sitting in a chair and staring at the strange man from another world.

His breathing was even and the two of them had been staring at him for about twenty minutes now. Natasha had started pacing back and forth after a time and Rena wasn't entirely sure what to do or say to calm her.

Rena was biting her bottom lip nervously. She should probably go back up soon, she was supposed to talk to Steve about training since her schedule yesterday hadn't quite gone as smoothly as originally planned, but instead she was down here.

In fact she was about to excuse herself, but before she left she felt the strangest need to put her hand in Thor's as some kind of symbol to him that she was there. She briefly remembered someone telling her that if someone's mind was still active then they could still unconsciously feel another person's touch.

After a moment of thinking, she realized that it had been her mother who had said that. When she died for the first time and her family was saying their final farewells. If she concentrated, she could barely remember the faint feel of her little sister's tiny hand in hers as she cried and said goodbye.

She smiled at the memory and trusted her instincts. If anything, it was simply just to offer Thor some comfort while he continued to rest.

She reached out, but the moment her hand touched his an overwhelming pain washed over her and she fell to her knees. Natasha was at her side in an instant. She was asking her what was wrong but all Rena had the strength to focus on was making the pain go away.

In unconscious response to the pain her grip tightened around Thor's, not realizing she was still holding on.

The pain she felt wasn't exactly physical, but she felt her heart breaking and her gut twisting into tiny little knots. She felt as if every fiber of her being was on fire and the feeling manifested itself in the form of fat salty tears as they rushed down her face.

She felt utterly betrayed.

But why?

No one had done anything to harm her in the short time she had been here. All the people she had met were kind to her and she would easily consider them friends. So why was she feeling as if someone close to her had just stabbed her right where in counted? Right in the heart?

She felt like someone had bottled up all of her trust and smashed it to pieces on the ground. She gasped and her breaths came in short little pants.

Then it was gone and both of her arms were wrapped around herself tightly.

"Rena, Rena are you okay?" Natasha's green eyes were wide and were looking her up and down for injuries. Rena was shaking violently and the older women, seeing the fear in her eyes from all the pain she had suddenly just experienced, pulled her in for a hug.

"I – I…"

"Shh, it's okay. You'll be okay."

"Wh – wha…"

Rena couldn't spit out the words. She felt disoriented and like she was going to throw up. She couldn't calm her rapidly beating heart, but the sound of sheets moving captured both of their attention. Rena looked at the man on the bed and saw his head moving slightly. Not trusting herself to speak, she gently turned Nat around.

Still with one arm around Rena, she hefted the two of them up and leaned over Thor slightly, "Thor..?" Natasha asked, unsure.

The blond stirred some before his eyes opened wide and he sat up with a startled gasp. His arms flailed and he looked at the two of them with fear in his eye.

He relaxed a little when he spotted Natasha and he ran a hand through his long locks, "Where… where am I, what happened?"

Nat helped Rena back into the chair she had previously occupied, "You're on Earth, at one of S.H.E.L.D's bases."

"Which one?"

"New York."

Thor nodded and his gaze went to his lap. He looked at his hands and flexed his fingers as if to make sure he was really awake. He sighed heavily, "I know not of what happened. One minute I am in Asgard speaking with my father Odin, and the next sirens have been rung and an army of Chitauri are at our doorsteps. Their presence had been undetected by even Heimdall, which startles me greatly."

"How'd you get here?"

Thor's gaze was blank as he recalled the last few moments he'd had before being knocked out by some powerful and blinding power, "I was… trying to get word down to Midgard…"

Thor clutched his head in confusion. Nat reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't force it. Just tell me what you can recall."

Squinting his eyes, Thor looked at Natasha and then at Rena. He looked severely confused at her presence but then stuck out his hand for a handshake as he had seen other Midgardians do, "I am Thor. Who are you Midgardian?"

Surprised, Rena slowly reached out, "My name is Renaissance Str—"

As their bare skin made contact Rena felt her eyes roll into the back of her head. The emotional destruction returned tenfold and her legs gave out and she tumbled to the ground. The pain having been so sudden and so severe that it was too much for her to handle a second time and she fainted.

On her way down Thor had let go of her hand and was startled to see her reaction. He looked at Natasha who was already sticking her head out the door and calling for help.

Two medics came in and whisked the young girl away. Thor looked down at his hand and could feel a powerful surge of calming energy washing through him. That girl was not an ordinary human, this he knew the moment he touched her. His hand looked normal, but just under the skin his pulse was racing. She had done something to him, taken something. At first he didn't know what, but as his thoughts returned from their scrambled state he knew. For a brief moment, she had stolen all of the negative things inside of him and experienced them for herself.

The calm was what had woken him. His mind had been so clouded with thoughts and fear of what his brother was doing yet again that he found that he could not claw his way to the surface and back into a state of consciousness. That and the big bruise on his head wasn't helping in the slightest.

With his mind in a state of sudden peace, the feeling had jolted him awake and he was glad he was up and able to move, because now he could concentrate on the important task at hand.

While she had taken all of the evil from him, he did not feel refreshed. In fact he felt ten times worse as it all came rushing back, but the God of Thunder shook it off quickly and stood, pulling off all the strange Midgardian equipment in his arms and heading straight for his clothes lying in a neat pile on a chair in the corner.

"Thor you should sit back down."

"Not now Widow of Black. I must speak to Fury as soon as possible."

Her hand halted his movements, "We know Loki got out. Clint told us."

"Then you understand that we must hurry. I remember now, he has stolen the stone of Reality. He must have used it to bend the rules of reality and ensure that the Chitauri would not be noticed. Should he succeed in whatever it is he's doing, I fear it will not end well."

Thor pulled his pants on under his hospital garment and all but ripped the flimsy thing off and was roughly throwing on his armor. Natasha didn't really know what to say so she waited for him to finish and the duo rushed out the door in search of their Director.

Meanwhile, Rena had been taken to her room. After fainting, the doctors and nurses checked her vitals and when everything was deemed okay they took her to her room, thinking she just needed some rest.

In the darkness of her mind, images of a lifeless world rushed through her thoughts. Jewels of different colors were crushed and reformed into different shapes and sizes, it was like a nauseating ride through a kaleidoscope.

With the images came a great sorrow that she couldn't shake. All she could comprehend was a deep heartache that wasn't her own. A memory that made her mourn her brother came up suddenly, but she was sure her own family was perfectly fine. So whose brother was she mourning?

No sooner had the thought entered her mind she woke hastily. There was a heavy fear that filled her and she flailed about until she rolled and fell off the bed. With an undignified grunt she stilled and said, "Ow."

Standing and rubbing her back she sat down and took a moment to think. She looked at her bedside clock and saw that she had been out for a few hours. It was nearing five and dinner would start soon, though she wasn't sure if she was even hungry.

Rena thought back to what had happened right before she fell unconscious. She looked down at her hand and bit her lip. There was no mark, no bruise, not even a faded scar. There was nothing to indicate that something had even gone wrong in the first place.

Did Thor have some kind of supernatural power to make people pass out? She flexed her short digits as she thought this. No, he could wield thunder that much she knew, but there had never been talk about mind control or anything similar. Thor was a warrior, he didn't seem the type to deal in mental manipulation.

Still, she shivered at those feelings that had come so abruptly. Deep down she felt as if she had violated him, but she didn't know how. For the life of her she couldn't even begin to figure out what the heck had happened back there.

Her eyes fell on the phone sitting on the desk. She went over and picked up. Hesitating, she played around with it in her hands for a bit. Bruce had given her his office number and Steve his room number which for him was just three digits.

She played around with the numbers before deciding to call Steve. She waited, listening to the ringing, but after a few minutes she figured he wasn't in his room. She called Bruce and got the same results.

With a sigh, she got up and headed towards the door with hope that she would find someone. She was feeling uneasy and like she needed to talk to someone about everything going through her head right now. She would've called Tony if she had his number, but as of current she had no way of contacting him.

A stern face came flying down the hall. She recognized this person as Maria and she waved to get her attention. The agent glanced her way and slowed slightly, "Something the matter Miss Stripe?"

"I was hoping you would know where Steve or Bruce were. Or even Natasha. I… wanted to talk to one of them."

Maria pursed her lips and pointed towards the elevator, "They are in a meeting with Director Fury. I can tell you where they are but it's up to the Director to let you in or not."

The women gave her a set of directions and briskly walked off. Rena exhaled slowly and made her way to sublevel seven and to the room she had been told. It hadn't been that hard to find either since it was the only room with a light on while the others were dark.

She peaked into the window from the hallway, not really thinking, and immediately caught Fury's eyes. Er, eye. She jumped and made to run away, but the door opened and Steve was standing there.

"Agent Stripe, you seem to have impeccable timing. Come in, we were just talking about you," Fury said.

Worry crept up her spine as she eased herself into the room. All of her new friends were there, including Thor whom she had just met. She sat quickly in hopes of getting the attention off of her, "Did I do something wrong?" she squeaked out.

"No. You are perfectly fine Agent Stripe. Natasha was just telling the group about how you fainted when you and Thor shook hands, and he says you took all of his fears and anxieties away?"

"I – I did?"

Bruce leaned onto the table to talk to her, "We were just theorizing about your powers. Both Steve, Thor, and I think you have a very calming presence. And eventually Natasha agreed as well. We think maybe you have an ability that promotes inner peace along with your other powers."

Rena was confused, "Wh – what? So you're saying that I, like, can calm people or something?"

"More or less. We'll have to test this theory," Bruce stood and walked over to her. He stuck out his hand, "I understand that you probably just woke up, but if you're willing I'd like to see what kind of results this will produce."

"N-now?"

He lowered his hands slightly, "No! No we don't have to. Sorry, I was um, getting ahead of myself. We're all just… really on edge I guess."

Rena bit her lip. She didn't want to experience that feeling of utter devastation again. Her hands were shaking, but she took a moment to think rationally. Bruce was a very quiet person, and if what he was saying was true than what she had been feeling before were all of Thor's feelings. He should be calm and collected right? She shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Surely, this would be a good thing right? She would be able to discover a little bit more about herself and her powers, right? She was actually a little surprised to hear that everyone was on edge. About what she didn't know, but if this would help lessen the tension then she was all for it. She didn't want to cause any more trouble than she had to.

Nervously she stuck out her hand, "O – okay. I guess it doesn't hurt to try."