Memories best forgotten

The dingy Hydra base echoed their footsteps as the three walked down the corridor. Drake was making sure all his armour and weapons were in check and weren't broken or damaged. He hated this place. He'd wanted to be free and to discover the realms at his leisure but now, he was just a mere slave trying to survive. Animalia was his birth place but was it really his home. He'd never experienced the warm glow of their sun, nor the velvet like grass beneath his shoes.

"What's wrong with you?" Lucy growled to him. She was the tallest and, begrudgingly, the strongest out of the three and had the taste for blood. She hated him and he hated her. Well, both he and Harriet hated her. They'd found out that she was part Asgardian and they hadn't been so stupid to challenge her about it. Harriet herself was scrawny and weak. But her mind was the thing to be truly feared, she knew every creature's weakness and strengths, she knew all about the history of all of the ten realms and she was terrifyingly clever.

"Nothing, just can't be bothered to meet Strucker." He rolled his eyes convincingly.

"I wonder why he asked you two to bring your weapons and me to bring my technology." Harriet pondered.

"Probably another mission." Drake continued.

"Maybe we're finally going to capture that wolf!" Lucy cackled. Jess was infamous around here breaking out of the laboratory and then joining the Avengers.

"Well, if we do I can't wait to dual against her." Drake smirked. Jess was the best dual wielder there was in Midgard. Kira was the best in all the ten realms. He envied them both, wanting to watch how they fought and how they treat a battle.

"Drake, Lucy, keep focused on meeting Strucker please. I don't want to be yelled at because you two was being fantasists."

They walked up to the doors which had the logo of Hydra on them and pushed open the double doors. The room was looked like a billiard room with snooker and a bar with thousands of brands of alcohol. The wooden carpet accented with red carpets running through the main parts of the room. Strucker stood near the windows which overlooked the whole base. He turned his head slightly to look at them.

"Ah, Welcome…"

Jess stood in the Heli carriers training hall. It wasn't as fancy as Tony's, this hall being overrun with metal Struts and Ties which held up the whole thing. Today she was going to show them the Animalian ways of fighting. She didn't know if they would work here as it was Midgard but they'd worked when Kira had shown them to her, so theoretically they should. She unsheathed her Dual Tiger Hook blades from their sheath on her back. She looked up to the six robots that were in front of her, they were purely for training the Avengers and X-Men. They hadn't told her anything about their programming, due to Fury's orders and they had fitted out the room with scientific readers to see what happened when she used Animalian fighting techniques.

Ready. The electronic voice crackled.

Steady Jess got into her fighting stance.

Fight.

The robots lunged at Jess and she pushed herself upwards causing them to crash in to each other. Two robots however followed her and hovered in mid-air. Its screened eyes now red in attack mode. Jess, using the hook of her tiger hook swords, pulled herself towards it and landed on its back. She then leapt and landed on the floor. The robots all bleeped to each other and aimed their guns at her. Jess smirked and held her sword out in front of her. The rapid fire of Shield machine guns filled the air but with her Animalian abilities she could see the bullets and where they were going to go. As Jess got older now, her abilities got better and better, sometime something new would come out of the blue and surprise her. In a figure of eight style she swung her swords in front of her. Each bullet was deflected but some went stray and she twirled out of the way of it, like a ballet dancer. To be fair, lately Jess's style had been getting to more of a tactical dance than a hack-and-slash style. Well, her herself used her swords in a dancing motion but she could switch between the two. Distracting herself with thought she failed to realise one had teleported behind her. Its hand glowed yellow and the light transformed into a scythe. Jess quickly flipped over the robot and then the rapid fire form the other robots ceased. Jess held both her swords and concentrated, this was it. She closed her eyes and shifted all her energy to her hands. A blue light engulfed her hands and ran straight up her swords, causing the metal to turn blue.

Jess pictured Animalia. The green grass swishing in the ever cool breeze from the plains of Asgard. The spectrum of flowers that filled ever nock and cranny of their land. The booming beating of a dragons wings keeping it air borne. Everybody she'd promised to protect, Elise, Bailey, Amani, Zabby, Xavier, Kira, Cadence, Tynerius, Luna, all of Animalia Regnum's citizens and inhabitants. Then she remember everyone she failed to protect, Zara her late sister killed in the great war of light, Artemis killed in the fight for the dimension, the thousands of slaves and dead fighters all dead because she couldn't protect them. All those people dead because of her. She'd never told anyone. They'd think she was weak because she let it happen or stupid thinking it was her fault because it would have happened anyway. Then her mind raced to her mother, Sonja. Jess was only just learning how to fight when she was murdered, she still remember her mother to this day. Her faultless face a master piece of genetics, her face petit against her long brown hair. Her eyes. Her blue motherly eyes looking at her with all the love in the world. Jess missed her. If she was here everything would so much easier, everything much calmer. Everything more bearable. They could be a family again. Jess would give anything to have a hot chocolate with her mother again, if it was only for a few seconds. She would give her own life if it meant she could see her again.

With a hidden power and her hidden emotions. Eyes still closed, she slid forward, slicing her sword through the metal robot. This caused it to combust and smoke as its part collapsed to the ground. Jess then turned her attention to the other five robots. They seemed to be stopped in time. Jess ran towards them gracefully jumping so she was behind them, swords still glowing blue. She then sliced the remaining five into millions of pieces. A couple of seconds after the door behind her opened and Fury walked up to her with Jamie, Shield weapon expert, and Clint, her mentor. Jess's eyes opened slightly, to her surprise tears started to well up in her bottom eye lid.

"That was amazing to say the least." Jamie commented. She looking at her shield Tablet, showing fury the statistics. Jess ignored them. Each day went by and Jess wondered if it had been any different if her mother had survived. Zara wouldn't be a queen therefore not being a prime target for death, Jess herself wouldn't dragged here. She wouldn't be lonely anymore. Yes, the Avengers, she considered her closest friends but she wanted someone who knew what she'd been through. Xavier knew, but the agreed not to talk about them as it stirred up painfully happy memories. Jess pulled her hood up to hide her face.

"Jess, Are you ok?" Fury's voice cutting through the ignorance. Jess swallowed down the lump in her throat. Her back still to them.

"Yes I'm fine. If you need me again I'll be at the tower." She turned walked past them, head down and not making eye contact.

Jess sat at the top of Avenger Tower and looked down on the city, feet dangling over the edge. Everything was ok, No bank robberies, no muggings, no bomb threats, nothing. The one day she needed something to happen, everything was all rainbow and sunshine's. Jess looked up to the clouds, were they watching her? Do they know how she feels? She clenched the ledge, she hadn't cried for a long time and she wasn't going to start now. 'Crying get you nowhere.' Was her internal motto but could help but wanting to cry? She's the best of the best. She felt a slight nudge on her back. Afraid it was one of the Avengers and she'd have to explain why she was here and feeling this way she sighed and looked over her shoulder.

He looked at her with his big sympathetic dragon eyes and let out a small purr. Jess stood up and hugged his muzzle. He knew exactly how she was feeling. He had been with her thick and thin, rescuing her in more ways than one. His body was warm from his flight from the island. Tynerius had seen her cry only once and she'd cried for hours. But he was prepared to stand here as long as it takes to make her feel better. He just stood there letting her hug him tightly without a protest. He lifted his head away from her and picked up his saddle and bridle. She needed to have time to herself to process things and cheer herself up. After tacking him up, she clambered on. Tynerius shook himself and took off up into the clouds.

"It's been an hour and she hasn't come back." Tony paced worried.

"She's with Tynerius, they'll be fine." Pepper soothed him. They'd seen Jess when she'd come back from the Helicarrier. They'd both greeted her but she didn't return it, she just kept on walking like they weren't there. She'd made her way to the roof and closed the door, one hour ago. "You're becoming a bit over protective."

"She didn't even say 'Hello' Pep and when she was here it felt like someone had died." Tony growled to himself.

"Look Tony, Jess is mature and sensible. Quit worrying." Pepper spoke softly.

Just as he relaxed a little the alarms went off. Tony briskly walked to the Meeting room and found Clint and Steve already there. After Tony arrived Natasha, Bruce and Thor followed in quick succession. Fury was already on the screen waiting for them.

"Hydra agents have been sighted roaming the city. It is unknown who they are. They are near the os-corp building." Fury spoke. The screen went off.

"I'll try and get in contact with Jess, rest of you go." Bruce sat down in a chair and started typing. They all ran to get ready for the fight ahead. Tony got his armour, mark 40 to be precise, and suited up. Clint got his black Avenger's uniform, his bow strapped to his back, his quiver of arrows filled with an onslaught of arrow types. Natasha got her grenades, 50mm pistols and Taser Batons. Thor flew to the scene before hand to give the others a good reading on what was going on, and there were hydra agents everywhere. Steve got his Captain America suit on and shield on his back. The thought of Hydra made him uneasy and he wanted them out of the city, for good.

They got there within minutes and Hydra agents were already clearing out the street, pedestrians running from the trigger happy agents. Immediately, Clint took three out with one shot of his bow and arrow. That's when they realised that these weren't hydra agents. Nor where they from this realm. All their devil red eyes staring at them. Their claws primed, sharpened and ready. Their shadow like humanoid figure turned to them eerily.

They were the Dark Forces.

Next chapter will be up later this week hopefully! Review your thoughts and ideas about the story. Thanks to everybody who followed and favourited the story. I'm on half term now so it will be easier for me to write the chapters now. Have a good week. :D