Oh man. I really couldn't wait to get this one out!

Tippy: I got the Skye thing fixed! And yes! It is exciting!

TalkNerdyToMe91: Aww thank you so much! And I fixed the Skye thing.

BuckyBarnes07: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

crimson. blood. witch: I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Ryane: Zinny is gonna be feeling something when she wakes up. That's for sure.

Winter kiss: Lol Armored Barbie is my new name for Thor now. Definitely a Ken Doll.

MuffinHipsta: Thank you! It's definitely going to be a disaster and Zinny and Steve finally have a moment.

Enjoy!

I don't know where I am, but it's definitely Earth. It's too dark and the stars are so close I feel like I could just reach up and touch them. I knew I had to be dreaming. I try to remember what was happening, how I had gotten here, but I can't. Deep down I know I should be fighting, trying to figure a way out, but for now I'm content to stay.

I'm standing in what I think is a crater, the ridges lifting into the sky in the distance. There's various debris around me: metal chunks, torn fabric, other various items. It's all half buried in dirt, and it all looks like its been there for a while. I start to walk through the debris, looking at everything as I pass it, moving towards the rim of the crater. Maybe if I can get to a high point, I can get a better sense of where I am. My boots sink into the soft dirt, a slight wind whipping around me. The air smells like hot metal and ozone. I wonder if I'm dying from breathing this air in. I didn't feel like it though. I feel fine.

I make my way through the junkyard, only to spot something familiar. I hurry towards it, pulling the small stuffed bear out of the dirt. It's worn and dirty, missing an eye and its ear is torn. It almost looks like…

"Your grandfather gave that to you, you know?"

I jump in surprise, thinking I had been alone. I turn around, a woman dressed in a white gown a few feet away from me. She smiles warmly at me, and I can't shake the feeling I know her.

"Oh Zinnia. You've grown to be so beautiful."

I scan through my foggy memories, trying to pull something up. A face or a name or even a place I had seen her before. She was so familiar I knew I had to have seen her somewhere. My brain is reeling too quickly though, and I can't get a snippet of any memory.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I knew it would happen eventually. I should have never left that day. I should have stayed. I tried to fight it, but I wasn't strong enough."

Then it hits me. The photo my dad keeps on his desk at work. The same dark hair and bright smile, kind eyes and freckles across her nose. I feel my heart clench in my chest, the reality like a punch to my stomach and I nearly choke on tears as I look at her.

"Mom?"

She smiles at me, the same smile I had seen so many times in that photograph. It was the only picture I had ever seen of her, the only one my dad had visible. I knew there were more, but I never pushed him to talk about her. He always got that sad look in his eyes when my mother got brought up. Whether intentionally or not, he always seemed to go to a different place when you mentioned her. And now she was in front of me.

"Hi baby." She takes a step closer to me. "You look so much like your father. So beautiful."

I can hardly believe it. She had been dead for twenty-one years and yet she was standing right in front of me. I didn't know what to think. I knew I was still dreaming, but it all felt so real. The bear in my hands, the smell in the air, the wind hitting my back. I look down at the bear, the one I had carried around with me everywhere I went, that had survived more horrors than I had.

"How...how is this possible? I lost this bear when I was 8 on a trip to Paris. My dad said he'd buy me a new one but I had already forgotten by the time we got home."

My mother looks around at all of the debris on the ground. "This is a place of lost hopes and dreams. Abandoned projects, failed attempts, childhood dreams and aspirations. All of them come here and stay forever unless they get reawoken or let go of forever.

I frown, looking at her. "But you…"

She looks around the crater. I follow her gaze, suddenly seeing hundreds of other figures in white, their forms flickering between solid and transparent. They wander around aimlessly, looking at the debris of people's lost hopes and dreams. Even as I look back at my mother I can see her own form flickering. Now that I understand where I am, it makes me sad.

"There's a part of your father that still holds on to me. That hope that we once had. That keeps me here, watching new things come every day."

I shake my head, still holding the bear. Part of me didn't want to let it go again. "How did I end up here? Am I dead?"

She shakes her head, smiling at me again. "No. You are very much alive. But you have to get back to where you came from. You still have a lot of work to be done."

I tilt my head as I look at her. "I-I don't understand...how…"

She looks me in the eyes. Her form is more solid now, no longer flickering. "You still have a part to play. Your decisions will tip the scales one way or another. You must choose wisely for the wrong choice could set in motion events that will only lead to destruction." She has a sad look in her eyes as she regards me. "I do not want to meet you here again, for the next time it will be for eternity."

"W-What do you mean?"

"You need to make a choice. You need to save him."

Her hand touches my cheek and for a moment I can feel her, warm and present, her skin soft against my cheek. But then my vision goes dark and I feel like I'm falling, leaving my stomach where I had been moments before. I can hear the rush of something, voices whispering in my ears, but I can't make out what they're saying.

Images begin to flash before my eyes, memories of the past. I watch them all flash in front of me, helpless to do anything. Things start to shift, images of more recent events. The helicarrier, the argument in the lab, Loki and the scepter. Then images I've never seen before flash in front of my eyes. New York in ruins, my dad in his lab back in Malibu surrounded by suits. More suits than he would ever need. The mansion falling off the hillside and into the ocean as someone screams. My dad pouring over something in a lab with Dr. Banner. Part of a city lifting into the air as the rest crumbles around it. My dad and Captain Rogers fighting, throwing punches and repulsor blasts at each other.

My feet hit solid ground, all of the people I care about and those I had just met, some I don't recognize surrounding me. My dad is in front of me, his face frozen in fear. Captain Rogers is next to him, Pepper next to my dad. They all start to fade, their bodies turning into dust, floating away in the wind as everyone surrounding me crumbles. Pain sears through my head and I scream, falling to my knees as the world crumbles around me. The last thing I hear is a voice whispering on the wind.

"Save him."

My eyes snap open and I don't know where I am. The pain in my head fades, my breath coming back to me. I realize I'm sitting on someone, my fist raised. I look down, Captain Rogers under me, blood streaked across his face. His hand is holding my fist and I realize I was the cause of that blood. My memories come streaking back, the attack on the helicarrier, my facing Loki and his taking control of me.

But we weren't on the helicarrier anymore. We were in the middle of New York. I look around, trying to get a bearing of where we are. There's a protective bubble around the two of us, the area surrounding us reduced to rubble. I can see beyond the bubble there's people...no, something coming towards us.

"Zinnia?" Captain Rogers asks, releasing my fist.

I look back down at him, and I'm sure I looked like a deer in the headlights. "W-What happened? Where am I?"

Captain Rogers gently pushes me off of him, sitting up. "We're in New York. Loki took you from the helicarrier and had you under his control. He sent you down here to attack us. You came after me first. I tried to hold you off as best I could, but you have a mean swing." He wipes the blood off his face. He's dirty and missing the signature cowl. His suit is torn and he's cut up in a few places.

"O-Oh god...I did that…"

He puts his hand on my shoulder, helping me stand. "It's alright. I've had worse today." He looks at the approaching figures. I don't know what they are, but I'm not keen on finding out. "How long will your shield hold?"

I shake my head. "Not long." It was already starting to waver. I was exhausted and kind of sick.

"Can you hold it long enough to get somewhere safe?"

I nod. "Yeah. But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. I can do this all day. Where will you go?"

I think for a moment, before looking up at the tower. I'd never actually been inside that I remember. "Back to the tower."

"Loki's in there."

"My dad has to have a private elevator. I'll take it and find his lab. Barricade myself inside, use the Baby on Board protocol. Even if Loki can find me, he won't get into the lab. I can link with my dad's suit from there. I promise I'll make him tell you I made it."

Captain Rogers looks super confused but he doesn't ask questions. "Okay. Be careful."

I nod. "I'll try."

Thor lands outside the bubble and I push it out a little to pass over him, letting him inside. He doesn't look any better than Steve.

"Lady Zinnia, welcome back."

I nod. "Good to be back."

"Thor and I will hold them back long enough for you to get through. I'll keep my promise."

Steve nods, giving me a sideways smile. "Alright. Good luck."

I nod, the shield dissipating, the alien creatures instantly firing on us. I form a smaller shield around myself, the aliens focusing on Steve and Thor and I move through the debris in the road, making my way back to the tower. My shield deflects any shots fired at me and I make it back to the tower unharmed, using the front entrance to get inside. There's people gathered inside, taking shelter from the raging battle outside. I weave through them, finding the private elevator at the back of the tower. I can only hope JARVIS was still running, otherwise I'd have to take the stairs. I was not looking forward to that trip.

Thankfully JARVIS is still up and running, letting me into the elevator, closing the doors immediately after I'm inside.

"Miss Stark, good to see you're back."

"Thanks, JARVIS. My dad's lab please."

I collapse against the wall, tired from using my powers so much. I hadn't used them like this since my first days at the training facility when they had done rigorous testing. I was sore, tired and my brain felt like it had been through a blender. All of the images that I'd seen, my mother, the visions she'd shown me, all still fresh in my mind. I didn't know what any of them meant, but I didn't have time for that.

The elevator opens across from my dad's lab and I hurry inside, inacting the Baby on Board protocol. The windows are covered by thick titanium shields, the door being barred shut and it buzzes with electricity. If anyone tried to come in, they'd get shocked to shit.

I make my way over to my dad's computers, patching in to his suit like I'd done before, back when he was saving the world on a small scale. Fighting terrorists in the Middle East, not aliens in New York.

"Dad, do you read me?"

"Zinnia? Thank god. Where are you?" His voice comes through the speaker.

"Barricaded in your lab in the tower. Baby on Board protocol. Good to see you implemented it here too."

"Of course I did. I knew I'd need it someday."

"Dad, could you perchance tell Captain Rogers that I made it safely? I made a promise when I was out there."

I can tell he wants to make a snarky remark, but he doesn't. "Fine. Gimme a sec."

The line goes silent for a moment and I have JARVIS pull up live news feeds and any security cameras that happened to be running in the area. It was a mess out there, and the aliens just kept coming and coming.

"He says he's glad." My dad's voice coming back through the speaker.

I smile a little. "I'm glad that he's glad."

"Hey, none of that goo-goo eyed stuff, he's old enough to be your grandfather."

"Uh, he knew my grandfather."

My dad is silent for a moment. "That's true." He goes to say something else, but his voice gets cut out.

"Dad?"

"Zinny, listen to me, I'm gonna do something probably stupid, but I need you to be brave for me, okay?"

"Dad, what's going on?"

"There's a nuke heading straight for the city. I gotta send it up the portal."

"Dad...you could die!"

"I know. But I can't let this city and everyone in it get destroyed. I love you, Zinny. I'm sorry for everything."

"Dad, you can't! I just got you back!"

"I know. Take care of Pepper for me."

"Dad!"

There's nothing but silence.