Author's note: I'm BACKKKKKK! Phew! Apologies everyone! My life kinda went hectic back in June, and I was having a tough time writing down these action scenes, because they're not really my thing. So, in the future, my action scenes will take longer. But, I found my motivation again, so hopefully I did good with this. I'm not sure though, if I will post once a week again, but Wednesday will be the day, if it's one week or two or whatever, Wednesday. I'm in college, I just had midterms, so my classes have been laying off all of the work, and I don't know when they will shove more papers in my face, so I tried to get in as much writing as possible, for you guys of course!

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with me on this neat little story, and all of your kind words of encouragement! They've really helped me get my butt moving and start writing again. 3 I am so glad to be back!

Sorry about the cliffhanger, but beware, there is another at the end of this chapter. This chapter explains what happened in Norway, but I'm not sure if this was what you were all thinking it was or whatever, I just hope I came up with a good idea for it. Chapter Twelve finishes up the movie, and then we'll get going with the new stuff.

Andddddd, I'm thinking about posting this on AO3 as well...?

I relish in the feedback, so feed me back(?)! Okay, so without further ado… Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven – The Face of Death

Kayla blinked, her vision blurry as she awoke from a brief blackout. She immediately felt pressure on her side, and then she was being rolled over onto her back. She blinked again, her eyes focusing, and saw that one of the Chitauri stood over her, pointing its gun down at her. Her eyes widened, and she moved, rolling to the side. The gun went off, emitting a blue blast of light that hit the ground where she had been only seconds before. That was the first time Kayla had looked death right in the face two feet from her.

She barely had time to think about it before the Chitauri was swinging its weapon, and she moved – or so she planned. She wasn't fast enough. Searing hot pain erupted in her arm and shot up her body as the weapon pierced her skin, and her vision blurred for a moment. Kayla ignored the pain as best as she could as the Chitauri swung again. She could see it, the path of the blade aimed for her neck, as if it were in slow motion. She ducked, then brought her leg up and hit the Chitauri as hard as she could square in the chest, sending it back a few feet as it landed on its back. The movement caused another flare of pain to shoot up her arm.

After she stood, she took the chance to focus on her injury while the alien was out of reach. Kayla held her fingers up to her arm, and they came away bloody. Her arm warmed as she looked down to see the blood running down her arm. The cut was half-way between her shoulder and her elbow, and it was deep enough to have a steady stream of blood to flow down her skin.

Kayla didn't have any time to wrap it though, before the alien was stirring. She took a step forward, kicking the weapon out of reach from its hand. The Chitauri stood, its mouth opening in a growl, ready to attack. Without warning, it lurched forward, tackling Kayla to the ground before she could jump away from its reach. The alien pinned her legs down to the ground with its weight, and its hand clenched over her wound, its grip tight. Pain shot through her arm and she let out a scream. She was sure she blacked out for a few more seconds. Kayla's teeth clenched together as she pushed with all her might with her free arm to free herself. The Chitauri only moved a few inches before it grabbed her head with both of its hands, letting out another growl. Kayla felt her own warm blood on her temple as it lifted her head off of the ground-

-then slammed her head against the road, causing another scream to slip form her lips. Her eyes rolled up as her vision blurred once again, and the outline of the Chitauri grew as it leaned down towards her. Kayla heard voices in her ear, human, English, not the sounds of a Chitauri, but she couldn't make out what was being said from all the pain and fear she was feeling. She reached forward, her hand connecting with armor as she tried to push at the alien again. Her vision clouded with tears. This only caused it to pick up her head again, getting ready to slam her head into the ground with a killing blow. She briefly saw her arm glow yellow before a shard slipped into her palm, and her eyes focused on the beast above her, her perspective changing. She was going to survive this. Distracted by the light, the Chitauri looked down and Kayla took the opportunity. "Bastard," she choked out before slamming her shard into its body.

It let out a roar as its grip on her loosened. Kayla pulled the shard out, only to drive it right back into its body. Feared for her life, but now able to fight, she pushed the Chitauri off of her and climbed on top of it. With a scream, she raised the shard over her head and drove it through the Chitauri's skull. Blinded by rage and fear, she drove the shard over and over into the body of the Chitauri.

All of her rage, all of her pain, went into those stabs. She stabbed it over and over, because if it wasn't dead, then she could still get hurt. The feeling of rage and panic, it was all Norway's fault. She was never going to feel that pain again. No one could take her life, and muddle with it, because she deserved to be happy. Not if she had anything to say about it.

Fear returned to her, just like in Norway, brought on by almost dying. She brought down her shard again, tearing through flesh. She couldn't die, not after she fought to get her life back under control. Not after she had learned to control her powers, and learned to live with them. Not with a battle undergo, and the fight she had put up. Not when she could still help.

She didn't stop, not until a voice brought her back to reality, guiding her past the rag. Kayla finally let out a gasp of breath, dropping the shard, as she slipped from the Chitauri's body beneath her. She lifted her hand to wipe the tears and blood from her cheek – or at least tried to. This only resulted in spreading the blood – her blood – across her face.

"Kayla!" Her comm cracked in her ear, but the voice was so quiet. The brunette covered her mouth when she heard Clint's voice, and dropped the shard onto the floor. "No, dammit! No, no, no."

"I'm here, Clint." Kayla looked around, seeing Natasha down away. The spy nodded to her, blood on her own forehead. The Chitauri was dead for the moment, so Kayla walked toward her, seeing Rogers there, too. "Don't worry about me."

She heard Clint spout out a few more words that Kayla shook her head at and she heard a few curse words slip out. Kayla decided then that she would turn her comm off instead of having everyone able to hear her. That way, she could listen and they wouldn't have to hear a screaming distraction.

Kayla pushed some hair out of her way before she shook off the dreadful feeling. She tried catching her breath and checked her cuts. The blood still ran down her arm, but not so much as before. She took the moment to think, Good thing I took off that jacket. Otherwise, it would be ruined. As she stepped forward, her head throbbed, but she pushed on, finally processing what had just happened. It had all been so quick where she didn't have time to think. The Chitauri had lunged at her, and she had almost died. Kayla let out a shaky breath as she told herself, I'm alive.

Kayla slowly made her way back down the road the few feet, feeling that she could still fight despite her wounds and the pain. She had time to mutter to herself, "Stupid powers, stupid training, stupid Chitauri, stupid Loki and his stupid helmet, and his stupid scepter." She cut herself off and looked up to see a few of the aliens fly by above her as she moved closer to where Captain Americs and Natasha were fighting, wondering what they were planning, what they were doing. She looked back down in time to see Natasha run towards Rogers, jump on top of his shield, and then fly into the air as Rogers helped with the push of his shield.

When Kayla was a few feet next to him, she looked where Natasha had maneuvered the ship down the street. She quickly glanced at the captain, who was looking down the street in awe. "So," Kayla started conversationally. "You two, huh?"

"What?" The super soldier turned towards Kayla, his mouth gaping open slightly. He looked flustered, not knowing what to say to that. Instead, he said, "I-I was just helping her up. She's going up to the Tower to see what she can do with the cube."

Kayla just looked at him suspiciously before raising an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

He changed the subject by stepping forward. "You're hurt."

She followed his gaze down to her arm. "It's not bleeding. A lot." Kayla shrugged it off. She knew that it could be a bad thing, that her arm was still injured. "I'll make it."

She moved before he could tell her differently. In truth, her body hurt. A lot. Her head ached and she was exhausted, but she couldn't stop, not in the middle of a war. Not with a city full of defenseless people who couldn't protect themselves. They were the ones that could protect the innocents, the Avengers, and that was what she was going to do. It was what she came here to do.

She jumped back into the battle, fighting side by side with Captain America. Before the Chitauri could even get close to her – she didn't want a repeat of last time – she was throwing shards, one after another. The two took down the few Chitauri on the street. A few minutes later, when Rogers took down the last of them, the comm in Kayla's ear came to life. Clint's voice came over. "Captain, the bank down on forty-second past Maddison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there."

"I'm on it."

"Captain, there's another group of civilians at the other end of the street."

There was a long pause. Kayla met the blue eyes of the Captain. Before he could even speak, she nodded, turning her comm back on. "I'll take care of it." Rogers opened his mouth to protest, but she continued. "Clint will watch over me, won't ya?" She looked up at the building that the archer was perched on, seeing his figure crouched near the edge.

She couldn't see the archer nod, but assumed he did as he looked down at them. "Yeah, I got her back. Eyes and ears." Kayla slapped a hand to Roger's shoulder before jogging down the street.

Clint gave her directions, and she followed, focusing on the task at hand. She ran down the road, only to be met with more of the Chitauri and she instantly threw up her shield around herself. Their weapons were raised, and the blue beams of light struck her pink dome. Through her flinches she saw a few of the aliens move around her. Kayla was surrounded, and she felt herself start to panic and a burning inside her. I'm surrounded. Panic and fear engulfed her, and before she even knew what was happening, all at once her whole body was glowing yellow, she was screaming, and pink shards were shooting out in all directions.

The brunette took deep breaths as she scanned the area around her. Her dome had dropped, and Kayla looked at the dozens of shards lying on the pavement around her, and in the bodies of the aliens. She was safe again. She could move on. A few seconds later, she was jogging away again. There were people who needed her help. She could think about how to pull that off again later. She didn't bother picking up any of the shards, not even worrying about them.

Once she reached the building Clint led her to, she peeked through the glass, to see what the situation was inside. There were three of the aliens inside, crowding the people into the back corner. One of them had some device in its hand, a blue light flashing in its hand. Kayla had two seconds to think before she was slamming her fist into the glass. She rushed in as a few of the woman inside screamed, and Kayla immediately tackled a Chitauri, a shard sliding into its chest, and she was flinging another shard at the one heading towards her.

The next few moments went by in flashes. She yelled for the people to get out as she fought the alien. The last Chitauri had shot off a blast. The crowd of people screamed and ran out of the building. Kayla tried to dodge the chunk of cement falling from the ceiling.

The dust and cement settled around her, and she tried to slide away as she coughed for clean air. Only, her leg wasn't moving. Kayla rubbed at her eyes to clear away the dust and tried to sit up. When she saw what was keeping her leg pinned, she gasped. A huge chunk of cement lay on her legs, though her left leg could still move, the right leg was completely pinned. Smaller chunks of the cement lay around her, and she coughed through the dirty air to try and push the chunk off of her. When she realized there was no chance that she could move it again, the silence filled the room around her, and she looked up to see if the room was empty - it wasn't. There was a man and a woman standing in the doorway, and when Kayla laid eyes on them, they seemed to take that as their cue to head towards her.

"Hey," the man stumbled over the cement chunks, and the woman stayed a ways away. He was tall, brown hair stuck up in every direction, and a layer of dust covering his shoulders. He must have been close when the shot was fired. "Hey, are you okay?"

Kayla took a deep breath, brushing her hair out of her face. "My leg's stuck."

"I'm going to get you out, okay?" The man tried to move the weight, and after a few tries, spun around. "Sarah, come help me!"

Kayla closed her eyes for a brief second, listening to the sounds of screaming and explosions in the city. When the man spook again, she tried to focus on his face through the water that was building in her eyes. "On the count of the three, okay?" With the efforts of the man, the woman, and the one trapped underneath the cement, the three pushed on the count of three – to no avail.

That was when she heard the beeping. All three froze. Kayla tried to sit up and get a better look. "What is that, Billy?" The other woman was terrified, her blonde hair tangled with a few chunks of cement, as she looked toward the sound.

Kayla closed her eyes, taking a shaky breath. She saw the blue device in the hands of the Chitauri, had recognized it as a bomb. It was now lying underneath another chunk of cement, and it had been activated. Her voice was shaky as she grabbed the man's hand. "You two need to go."

When his blue eyes landed on hers, she could see that he was scared. Scared, but brave. He shook his head and began to speak, but she interrupted him. "No, you have to go. Take Sarah, and go, leave me and get as far away from here as possible." The man hesitated. "Go."

The man took Sarah's hand, and the two made it to the entrance before they stopped again. Sarah stared at her. "Thank you."

Kayla let a small smile slip onto her lips before repeating, "Go." When the two had left, she let herself feel scared since she first got into the building. At least I saved them, she thought. At least I saved a few people. Explosions rocked the ground around her, the sounds of glass shattering and the ships zooming by. The bomb was just out of her reach, steadily beeping faster. It was steady, maybe thirty seconds apart. She tried her hardest to move her leg, but the cement wasn't budging. It was too much weight, for even the three of them to move.

She wasn't going to make it out of there in time.

"Hudson, where are you?" Romanoff's voice came through the comm, and Kayla hit the button to reply.

"I'm down a ways from the bank," She grunted again with an effort to pull her leg out and coughed. The dust was still stirring. "I was getting people out of the building, and a piece of cement fell from the ceiling. My leg is stuck." She looked back at the bomb, hearing the beeping grow faster, twenty seconds apart. "There's a bomb."

"Kayla!" Clint's voice cracked through the comm. "Get out of there!"

"I can't," Kayla felt a tear slip down her face. "I can't move my leg."

"Hudson, I'm heading your way!" Roger's voice came next.

"No. Cap, no, you won't make it." Kayla coughed again, her throat growing dry. The beeping grew even closer together, now maybe ten seconds apart. "You won't be able to get us both out. There's not enough time."

"I can do it-"

"Steve," Kayla cut him off, the fear she had been holding back finally entering her voice. "Don't."

"Kayla," Clint's voice was quiet, but she smiled at his voice and closed her eyes.

"It's going to be okay, Clint. I've accepted it." The beeping was seconds apart now, quickly getting faster and faster. She realized that she was okay with dying. She had done enough, had helped save the city, she hoped, and cleared the building. It was enough. A cough and a hard swallow later, she said, "Not every hero survives. Not in real life."

More voices came over the comm, but Kayla only smiled and closed her eyes. The beeping sounded in her ears, the only thing she could hear. "It's okay," she whispered, then turned her comm off. They didn't need to hear the sound of the explosion, of her dying.

She let her head fall back, letting her body relax. The bomb was close, a few seconds apart, when the blast echoed around her.

oOo

Eight months ago

A business trip.

That was all it was supposed to be.

"Kayla!" The woman turned at the sound of her name. Tessa Brown waited with her hand in the air as she stood on her tiptoes to be seen over the small crowd. Kayla smiled, and Tessa's hand waved more excitingly knowing that she was seen. The woman shook her head at her assistant as she pulled her bag behind her and weaved through the small crowd. Tessa had left earlier, to get settled and scope out the places she thought Kayla would enjoy the most.

A business trip. One that changed her life forever.

Tessa grabbed Kayla's bag the moment she was in reach, despite the bag she was already carrying. The author had learned to stop protesting a long time ago. Tessa was her assistant, but no matter how many times Kayla told her she didn't have to carry her bags, the girl did it every time. Tessa tried to make her life as simple as possible, and never stopped working her best. She really enjoyed her job, and Kayla really enjoyed having her around.

The business trip.

Tessa was wearing a gray sweater, and pink scarf wrapped around her neck, with her blonde curls falling into the fabric. A black pair of skinny jeans, and a pair of combat boots wrapped up her attire. Her blue eyes were always filled with adventure and joy, which was always a sight that Kayla never tired of. Kayla herself was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a blue blouse, and a peacoat. Her brown hair was pulled into a French braid, though the wind was making a few strands of hair fall out of the braid.

As the two woman made their way to the bus that would take them to their hotel, Kayla felt a tingly sensation make its way across her back. The hair on the back of her neck and arms stood up, and a shiver went down her spine. She paused in step, tempted to look around, but she pushed the thought away. It was the wind. They were, after all, in Norway. After they dropped their bags off at the hotel, they ventured out and started to explore.

"Here's a tip, young Padawan; if you want to be an author, you have to do it right," Kayla was telling the younger girl, pointing at her and making sure she was paying attention. "If I'm going to publish a book that's set in Norway, I'm going to write the book in Norway. An accurate setting always makes for an accurate book."

The other woman rose an eyebrow, as if to say yeah, okay. Then her expression sobered. "You're lucky, ya know?" Tessa asked, her southern drawl present at the last bit of her sentence. She smiled at Kayla, and Kayla let out a laugh. "And dedicated. You would travel across the world just to write a chapter of a novel, or a sentence if a character just described a place. You would have the exact details, down to the dot."

Kayla glanced at the girl of only twenty years walking next to her, who she thought of as a sister. Tessa had become her assistant two years ago, at one of the author's book signings. The girl had a copy of her first novel, and she was talking to Kayla as she signed, going on about her favorite parts of the book. She was talking so fast and nervously, but she seemed to understand exactly what Kayla had been trying to get across. The meaning behind the meaning, which few understood. Kayla had been surprised; no one had understood, no one except an eighteen-year-old who had been interning at a lawyer's office. Kayla invited her to coffee the next day, and by lunch, she was hiring an assistant.

Looking at the girl now, Kayla knew she did the right thing hiring Tessa. Not only did the girl change the author's life forever, but she knew that Tessa would learn so much more working with an author by her side, to get first-hand experience and advice. And, by doing this for the girl, Kayla had gained more than a friend, someone she could trust for once in her life, someone who wouldn't disappear on her.

She sighed as she glanced at the blonde, who was currently staring up at a building in awe. The architecture was fascinating and breathtaking. "I approve," the younger of the two said as her gaze moved to another building. "Even if you end up poor from all of these 'business trips.'"

The business trip that ruined everything.

"Have you ever thought," Kayla stepped up, admiring the building beside Tessa, "that I go on all of these business trips just so I can have you tell me how awesome it is? Or, because me and you have more girl time together?"

Tessa gave her a knowing look, an eyebrow raised. Kayla couldn't help the smile that slipped onto her lips, as she ducked her head shyly, dragging out her next words. "Or, maybe it's because I have writers block."

The younger girl laughed. "That's more like it."

Kayla nudged the blonde with her shoulder, and the two started walking again. "Might as well do something fun to get an idea, right?" Tessa rolled her eyes and got an elbow to the ribs. After a few more minutes of chit chat, the women made their way into a park, where they ended up standing on a bridge and admiring the pond beneath them.

The last business trip.

A shiver ran up Kayla's spine again, that feeling of being watched returning. This time, she turned. She locked eyes with a man at the other end of the bridge, and it was as if that one glance started everything, even if Kayla didn't know it. He was holding hands with a woman, and the couple looked happy as they walked across the bridge. Kayla smiled politely at them, before turning back to the pond.

What happened next was a blur for the author. Everything happened at once. The man touched her shoulder, his face lighting up with joy and surprise, recognizing her as the author of her series. They shook hands, and he told her how amazing her work was. He called her by name, and told her how beautiful her house was.

She focused on his eyes, the piercing blue. They were eyes that knew more than what was coming out of his mouth, full of something she couldn't exactly place. "I wanted to show you how much your books mean to me," the man was saying, and it wasn't until then that she realized, how does he know what my house looks like?

After that, it seemed like somebody had hit the fast forward button on a remote. He pulled something out of his jacket, the object gleaming in what little sun peaked through the clouds. And then he was moving, his arm wrapping around the woman's waist, his other hand up to her throat. Another moment later, and the woman's mouth opened, but no sound came out, and her neck was covered in red. Kayla was frozen, staring down as the red haired woman slipped to the ground. She didn't even notice as Tessa was moved from her side.

A scream pierced the air, and the man was talking, but Kayla couldn't hear him. Not until Tessa was grabbed, and Kayla suddenly knew what was happening. The scream was Tessa, hysterical from having just watched a woman get murdered right before their eyes. The man was covering Tessa's mouth, his face right in front of hers, and he was speaking quietly to her. "Don't scream, it's okay. This is all for Kayla, the proof to show her how much I love her. How loyal I am to her. Don't you want to show how much you love her?"

Kayla was still frozen, and now Tessa was struggling against the man. His hands were covered in blood, and he was trying to hold Tessa still. Then, he brought the knife up, and in a quick motion, his hand was falling back to his side.

The worst day of her life.

Kayla, horrified, and scared for her friends life, shot her hand out, a scream of "No!" falling from her lips. But it was too late. Blood fell from her throat. The man threw Tessa. She fell to the stone beneath her, by the other woman. As Tessa fell, and Kayla screamed for this to stop, for it all to stop, a flash of pink shot from her outstretched hand. Pink struck the man's neck, made him stagger to the ground, but Kayla was turning to her friend.

The author dropped to her knees and grabbed her friend. Tessa was struggling to breathe, the blood dripping from her. There was so much blood. How was she still alive? Kayla didn't know, she just knew that she was crying, and Tessa, her best friend, was dying. She clutched her best friend to her chest as both women suffered.

The blonde looked up at her best friend, her sister. "It," she stuttered, choking around the blood. "Hurts."

Kayla pushed the hair away from her face, tears falling from her face. "It… hurts."

Kayla nodded, feeling her entire body heat up with despair, anger, and confusion. But she had to make this better, because she knew this was her fault. She was losing everything at that moment, as Tessa slipped away. "I'm sorry," she choked out, tears clouding her vision. She pulled her friends head up to her chest and rocked her. "I'm so sorry."

The words he said would haunt her for the rest of her life.

oOo

Two hours later

She was dead because of Kayla.

A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, and the lights of the emergency vehicles flashed through the night. Kayla stared straight ahead, focused on nothing as the images flashed through her head. She kept seeing Tessa's face, streaked with blood, the flash of the knife in that man's hands. He had done that because of her. Because he was a psychopath who was obsessed with the murders in her novels, he killed that woman, and Tessa, because of her.

A police officer touched Kayla on the shoulder, startling the girl out of her thoughts. The woman had blonde hair, almost the same color as Tessa's, which caused her to choke up. She remembered her from earlier, the one that spoke the most fluent English, and would stay with her to be a translator of sorts. "We are going to take you to the station now." Kayla zoned out as she continued to talk. Paperwork, a statement, another check-up, all things Kayla didn't want to do, didn't want to even think about. She wanted to go home, to take Tessa home so that she could mourn over her friend.

Kayla shivered as the images flashed over her thoughts again. The man and Tessa falling, blood everywhere, the flash of pink.

What happened to the man? They had asked her, how did he die? She had answered truthfully. I don't know.

Kayla pushed her hand into her pocket, feeling the object of unknown. Through the pain and the despair, before the paramedics had arrived, she had calmed down enough to think it all over. To think over what the man had said, and why, when she held Tessa as she passed, the man was gone. She leaned over, seeing the object by his throat. She had picked it up, her thoughts haunting her.

The flash of pink had probably saved her life, though it wasn't quick enough to save Tessa's.

Kayla pulled the glass-like object out of her pocket, the pink glow illuminating the small space of the back of the ambulance. She held the object in her hand as she stared at it, thoughts swarming, unanswered questions. Tessa was dead, Kayla's hope along with her. Everything was lost.

And yet, the proof lay in her hands; everything had changed.

End Note: Thank you everyone! I'm ecstatic with how many people enjoy my story!

I was a little hesitant with this chapter, how Norway went down... What do you think?

I will probably be staring at the computer for a while, waiting for the little chirps of joy… And freaking out myself... Okay, bye! :D

-OnyxRing