As the Sky May Fall ©EirlysLavellan
The Avengers ©Marvel Comics

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Summary: Alice was always so sure of the way her life was going to go, however, her entire perspective is changed upon being forcibly added to the Avengers. After the Invasion of New York things quickly change and she realizes that everything she thought she was, is nothing close to what she ever imagined especially when she realizes that the man she had thought was dead turns out to be forcibly working for HYDRA as their Winter Soldier. She swears she will do anything to keep him safe even if that means going against the new family she has built.

Disclaimer: I am a poor college grad and am receiving no payment whatsoever to write this fiction. If I was, in fact, getting paid for this, I would not be a poor college graduate that I can assure you. All rights are reserved to Marvel, D.C. Comics, and Walt Disney Pictures and Columbia Studios as well as the amazing screenwriters, directors and producers, and actors who created this film. I only own the subplot as well as Alice Alexander and any other unrecognizable character throughout the plot.

Story Type: OC-Insert – Slight AU/Fix-it come Endgame

Pairing: Eventual Bucky/OC

Other Pairings: Slight Nat/Cap, Maria/OC and OC/OC

Rating: M

Warning: Spoilers, character death, violence, suggestive themes (such as sexual assault/self-harm) and vulgarity.

Author's Note: Hi there and welcome to my new baby (thanks Covid-19)! I've been working rather tirelessly on this little baby and decided to give some much needed TLC to it since it's been on my external hard drive since 2012...literally. I sincerely hope you like it!

Please enjoy chapter 1! As always, reviews are not mandatory for me to update, but I'd love to hear from you all the same. Please keep criticism constructive if you have any and I will certainly adjust where needed.

On with the fiction!

xoxo Eirlys

As the Sky May Fall
The Avengers
01

October 2012

Her knee bounced from where she sat with her arms crossed across her chest and her petite frame slouched in the chair with an air of both irritability and defeat. Her dark tresses fell in deep layers around her narrow shoulders making her look smaller than she actually was; the holes in her clothes, the dirt smudges on the fabric and her skin alike, gave way to her having been through something determinedly not pleasant. She glared around the room, taking care to study the armed guards to her left and stationed before the door leading out of the room she was in.

She had been surprised she hadn't been handcuffed or even detained properly; however, they probably figured she wouldn't try to run at this point. She had evaded their hold for a long time, but she hadn't been anticipating them coming after her with their top agents. The only thing that they had done was place her in a room with nothing more than a desk, two chairs and a clock. The only windows to be found was the one at the door where the guards stood, their hands on their rifles as a reminder that she was in captivity and not the other way around. Not that she wanted to escape any more than they wanted a problem at this particular point.

As much as she hated to admit it, she was tired. She was tired of running and tired of trying to maintain personas and guises and tired of attempting to stay hidden. She knew her mutation would be noticed eventually and it had only gotten progressively more noticeable as the years passed. Perhaps that was why she found herself sitting in a reinforced room with armed guards staring her down. She didn't seem to mind the stares, she knew for a fact she looked terrible and she looked much younger than she was. Looking down at her bloodied knuckles, she frowned. They had spared her no time to be treated for her health or injuries that their agents had inflicted upon her detainment, but it only served to remind her not to trust a word these people told her.

Her musings were cut short by the unlocking of the door and she frowned upon looking at the suit that had walked in, along with what she only assumed was the man responsible for her capture in the first place. The suit was a tall, fair skinned man with thinning light brown hair and kind blue eyes. He wore a pleasant smile on his face, despite the rather intimidating man looming behind him, and held a file under his arm. The badge on the inside of his jacket told her that he was an agent just as much as the ones who had detained her were and her guard immediately rose. The second man had dark skin and roughish features accompanied by a patch over his right eye with the tell-tale scars leading up his forehead and down his cheek expressing how he may have lost his eye in the first place. He wore all black and a trench coat, the badge and pistol on his hip did not go unnoticed by her and she frowned, turning her eyes to the other man as he sat down.

"Miss Alexander, a pleasure to meet you."

She withheld her snort of discontent and simply leveled him with an icy stare, "Why am I here?"

"Well," The agent began as he took the seat across from her and laid the file on the table. She did not need to look at it to know it belonged to her. "You're a person of interest."

"Why?"

"I'm Agent Phil Coulson, Miss Alexander and I –"

"I didn't ask for your name, nor do I care for it, why am I here?"

Silence filled the small room, the atmosphere tense and despite her eyes holding Coulson's she had noticed that the guards' fingers had moved closer to the triggers of their rifles as had the more menacing looking man that stood off to the left of the agent before her.

The man only sighed, his eyes softening and looking sympathetic, "Miss Alexander, I understand things are confusing right now, but please, we need you to cooperate with us. We could help you."

She only scoffed, "Help me…Is that why you've been chasing me down the last four years and why, when your agents finally were able to catch up with me, engaged me in an unfair fight and brought me here against my will?" It was the first time she moved and it was only to sit up straighter in her seat, "I was living peacefully and working a good job, until you and your organization decided that I was more important than criminals that are wreaking havoc upon the world. No, why detain someone who actually deserves it. But that would make sense wouldn't it?"

"Alice Alexander, age 25 – apparently – daughter of Revolutionary War hero Major General William Alexander and known as subject 87563 –"

The young woman withheld a snarl and instead leveled her eyes at the man behind Coulson, who she decidedly did not care for upon looking at him, "You think reading things I already know are going to give me a reason to tell you anything? I'm more than aware of what you're trying to do Mr. Fury."

"Well, then…" Fury drew off as he stepped up besides the other agent who frowned in disapproval, his once light and pleasant expression completely gone from his features, "How is it a woman born during the American Revolution…a woman out of time knows so much about me?"

"When you begin to notice that all of your information is being collected, you tend to do the same. I like to call it leveling the playing field." She frowned as she leveled the man with a disapproving glare and ignoring his accusation to when she was born. "Call it what you will, but for being a secret governmental organization you guys have terrible amounts of antiquated security on your computers and let's not pretend that we haven't already been acquainted."

Fury and Coulson looked to one another before the director turned back to look at her, "You're quite the danger to yourself and others, Miss Alexander; therefore we are forced to contain you unless you are willing to aide us."

"I'm listening," Alice frowned at the man, "But I don't see how I'm a probable cause of harm when I haven't committed any crimes nor have there been reports of me hurting anyone…unless of course you're tracing back to the 1700s, but I digress…other than that you have no right to hold me here. I would make your story count because if I don't like what I hear I am leaving and if necessary I will make sure you or your agents can't follow me."

"Is that a threat?"

She leveled him with a steely glare, her eyes conveying her intent indefinitely, "It's a promise, Mr. Fury."

Coulson cleared his throat, drawing attention away from the staring contest that had begun in wake of her declaration and especially her eyes. "If I may propose, Miss Alexander, we have a need for your abilities…are you familiar with the artifact known as the Tesseract?"

Alice paused for a moment before frowning in thought. Yes, she had heard of the item and she was aware they knew that information given that Howard Stark had mentioned her contributions to its study after World War II. Inevitably she wasn't able to find too much on the subject and hypothesized that any documents regarding it would have probably been destroyed after the gods allegedly left the Earth and merely stopped the search suggesting Howard to do the same after seeing what it had done under direct influence of Red Skull and HYDRA. It was strange to her that they would be interested in such an artifact as there was not too much known of it. Shaking her thoughts she returned her eyes to Coulson and nodded slowly, "I have, but only in passing…why is this something that you're interested in, if I may ask?"

"Classified," Fury nearly hissed earning a glower from the young woman.

"If you want my help, then perhaps you should reconsider who it is you're speaking to, Mr. Fury."

Coulson ran a hand over his face as the two once again attempted to stare the other down. Clearly this explanation was going to take much longer than he had first anticipated. When Natasha had told him she had put up one hell of a fight and had taken down nearly half of the men with her based on petty parlor tricks, he had known that she would be hard to persuade as she clearly did not want to be there. Then again, he wasn't anticipating a pissing contest between the director and young woman. "In an effort to keep us on track," He began with a sigh and once again drawing her eyes to him, "The Tesseract was found frozen when Captain America went down in World War II and we've been researching it ever since…to be honest, we're not entirely sure of what it does –"

"It was stolen before we could find out what it officially does."

She regarded both men carefully before rubbing her dirt-smudged forehead and sighing in what sounded like defeat, "It's an energy source…or at least that's what the SSR found after witnessing Johann Schmidt creating weapons with it for the Nazi party…well more accurately HYDRA." Alice supplied simply at the accusing look Fury had given her before her expression and tone had become dry and deadpanned, "I was a combat nurse and served with the U.S 71st field hospital and then later transferred to aid the U.S 107th, which I'm sure you both already knew otherwise I wouldn't have been any more use to you other than another lab rat."

Coulson nodded, "So you know more than you let on."

"I've been alive long enough to know not to trust everyone you see…especially when they're significantly younger than you and more trigger happy," She said as she shot a pointed look at Fury, "I most certainly am aware of what the Tesseract could do, but you've yet to answer why you were looking into it."

Fury leaned on the table and glared at her fiercely, "As mentioned before, it's classified."

"Say it actually was classified, what would you need it for? And I still don't understand what this has to do with me helping you."

"We were in the process of researching it when the Tesseract suddenly started activating on its own. Soon after our facility was compromised the portal ejected a man who stole it from us after attacking and taking control of our men and one of our best agents…"

The woman nodded slowly as Coulson explained, her mind working quickly in an effort to draw conclusions. Coulson looked up at her and sighed deeply, his eyes pleading with her to accept their offer and to help them out. Alice thought he looked like a puppy with that expression.

"As we speak, our agents are in the process of scrounging up extraordinary individuals, such as yourself, to aid us in the endeavor to retrieve the Tesseract." The agent explained, "Captain Steve Rogers – who I'm sure you're familiar with, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark…all to help us stop this world domination from happening."

"And if I refuse to help?" Alice frowned softly, watching both men's faces for any sign of what their true intentions were. "What happens to me if I decide that I don't want to help you and I can list at least thirteen so far –?"

"We're asking you because you can help." Fury interrupted, his eye seemingly softening around the edges, but not making Alice like him any more than she already did, "You have some strange psychic powers and you can help save hundreds of lives and stop a madman from taking over the world, and you're questioning why?"

Alice frowned deeply, her arms tightening over her small chest in a clear effort to keep herself in control rather than to protect herself, "I have my obvious reasons, Mr. Fury. And I'd like to inform you that just because I cannot die does not mean I'm psychic and you know that."

"Nothing would happen to you…" Coulson interrupted as the director made to rebuke her comment, "We'd only be keeping tabs on you to make sure you're in control of yourself."

Alice considered this or a moment before sighing deeply, "So basically I'd never go back to living a normal life either way you try and scratch it." Coulson and Fury knew that she was not asking a question rather than stating the obvious. Both watched in tense silence as the woman considered her options. After a few moments, she released the tension in her arms and allowed them to rest on the table, "I'll help, but I have terms that I'd like to lay out beforehand."

"Of course!"

She regarded the now overly enthusiastic agent before frowning up at Fury, though she commented to Coulson first, "You're writing these down, Agent Coulson, because both you and Mr. Fury are going to sign it afterwards." It took a moment for the agent to pull out a pen and paper and earning a dirty look from the director, who had turned his eyes away from hers only briefly. "I am not, nor will I ever be, a member of S.H.I.E.L.D and therefore will not be treated as an agent, but as a private consultant. I do not take orders unless the situation calls for it, which will be determined by myself. I am not to be tracked, at all, during or after my help is granted and finally I will need full clearance to information surrounding the project so I may help to the fullest capacity. Any failure to comply means me walking out the front door, Director Fury, and I would not push your luck as I can hold you on several counts of kidnapping, abuse and trauma."

Fury glared at her before nodding his consent. Alice simply nodded and signed her name after Coulson signed as witness to the impromptu contract before turning the paper towards the larger man. After another moment of staring at one another for a few more moments, Fury signed his name.

He had never anticipated leaning towards her so willingly, but she was right in her own way that she could technically have his ass handed to her on a silver platter. Then again, he did not mind the idea of this woman on the team as he was sure she would be able to keep the others in line.

"Welcome aboard Miss Alexander…we'll have accommodations for you shortly."

Alice only smirked, "Of course."

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I know it was short but I promise from here on out the chapters will be much longer. I've pre-written up through Captain America: The Winter Soldier and average about 15/16 pages a chapter on Microsoft word, so long reads ahead!

Also, if you're curious, my page has updated character portrayals for this story, but if you're like me and lazy I'll update them at the end of the chapters where they appear. Alice is portrayed by Megan Batoon. Originally I had casted Jenna Louise-Coleman, but it was brought to my attention by my sister that she's the actress who appears with Bucky at the Stark Expo at the beginning of Captain America: The First Avenger and there's no way she and Bucky had met in New York as Alice was living elsewhere at the time...you'll find out, I promise ;) Thanks all and much love. See you in the next chapter!

xoxo Eirlys