Disclaimer: Avengers, Hunger Games, and all other elements belong to their relevant owners; I merely borrow them to write this story

Feedback: Always a pleasure to receive.

Falling Hope, Rising Threat

With Anya back on board the hovercraft, the Avengers had soon resumed their journey towards their main facility, taking only a few moments to confirm that they had no intention of taking Anya back to Mount Weather or making her do anything she didn't want to do before they continued. As though respecting the privacy of the two women, Steve, Mockingjay, and Iron Man had all gathered at the front of the ship while Clarke and Anya sat together at the back, the former Ark resident keeping an anxious eye on the Grounder leader.

Anya might have accepted Clarke's assurances that the Avengers weren't affiliated with Mount Weather, and she was clearly calmer than she had been when the initial transformation had taken place, but that didn't mean that she was automatically better. More than once, Clarke had seen Anya staring at her as though she wanted to say something, even if the Grounder's obvious pride made her reluctant to actually ask for help.

"You know," Clarke said at last, looking at Anya with a slight smile out of a lack of any other ideas about how to reassure her awkward ally, "there's no need to keep looking at yourself like that; you aren't going to change at random."

"How can you know?" Anya asked, looking at Clarke with what could be considered anxiety if it had come from anyone else

"Because in everything I've read of the Hulk, he only changed when he was feeling particularly emotional," Clarke explained, trying to sound confident and reassuring; she didn't want to provoke Anya by doing anything that might give her the impression Clarke thought she was weak for her reaction. "You might have more control when you're transformed than he did, but considering that you were fairly shocked when you woke up and thought I'd sent you back to Mount Weather, I think we can assume you're the same in that regard."

"Oh," Anya said, sitting in silence for a few moments, her expression shifting from anxiety to uncertainty, before she looked at him again. "You have… heard of this… 'Hulk'?"

"A bit," she admitted awkwardly, hoping that Anya wouldn't ask too many questions. As much as Clarke wanted to talk to the Grounder about some of the details regarding how her transformation had taken place, but her limited memory of Callie's old stories of the Avengers and her uncertainty about how much Anya would understand in the first place meant that she wasn't sure how much she even could reveal under the circumstances…

"What was he?" Anya asked, which was at least a question that Clarke could answer.

"He was an Avenger," she said firmly, gaze fixed on the older woman as she spoke. "He was originally a scientist called Doctor Bruce Banner, but when he was working on recreating an old serum that was capable of enhancing the human body to operate at its peak potential… well, something went wrong, and he gained the ability to turn into the Hulk instead."

"And… how did I become like that?"

"We're just guessing right now, but… well, we think that you and your people have been…" Clarke began, lost on how to explain this before she settled on a possible method. "Look, you know how the Mountain Men were… taking your blood?"

"Yes," Anya said, eyes narrowing at the memory.

"Well," Clarke said, trying not to pay too close attention to the flash of green in Anya's irises as she continued, "they're doing that because… over the years, the air out here has become slightly toxic. Your people have become used to it, and my people are actually able to cope with more potential dangers than yours after living in the sky, but the Mountain Men can't cope with what's out here, so they take your blood to make it… easier for them to go outside."

Anya simply stared at Clarke in silence, Clarke swallowing awkwardly as she took in her potential ally's cold stare.

"Believe me, I don't agree with them doing it, I'm just explaining why…" she said defensively, before she continued her explanation. "Anyway, we think that one of the things making the air out here toxic is the same energy source that triggered Doctor Banner's ability to turn into the Hulk. Captain Rogers over there… he was exposed to the original version of the serum that Doctor Banner was trying to recreate when he became the Hulk, so we're thinking that, when he gave you a blood transfusion, the serum in his blood mixed with the energy you've been taking in over the years, and… well, it all came together and made you the 'She-Hulk'."

Anya simply stared at Clarke in silence after that statement, but the contemplative expression in her eyes at least suggested that she was intrigued at the explanation Clarke had provided even if she didn't understand the finer details.

"The point of all that," the woman known as Mockingjay said as she walked over to sit opposite Clarke and Anya, "is that you've just received a very unexpected… 'gift', is probably the best term for this situation… and we'd like to offer you the chance to use that."

"In what way?" Anya asked, her attention shifting to the Mockingjay just as the sound of the engines powering the hovercraft shifted.

"We'll explain once we're on the ground," the other young woman said, Clarke's stomach experiencing a slight jolt as she felt the ship starting to descend, albeit at a far more gradual rate than the dropship she'd come to Earth in all those months ago. "If nothing else, there's still a couple of other Avengers you need to meet."

As the ship shuddered with a slight thump as it made contact with the ground, Clarke tried to restrain herself as she unbuckled her straps, but even after seeing Anya's transformation, the thought that she was about to meet actual modern-day Avengers…

They might not have stopped the nuclear apocalypse that forced the Ark to come together, but they'd still saved humanity from becoming slaves to literal alien invaders; no matter what else had gone wrong afterwards, Clarke couldn't see how that could be anything less than a victory.

However, looking at the small group before her as the hovercraft's doors opened, Clarke hated to admit it, but she suddenly felt less confident in her chances of saving her friends. Mockingjay and Iron Man were certainly good at what they did, and the news that Thor was still alive was encouraging, but if the other Avengers consisted of just a man wearing what looked like a wetsuit while carrying an elaborate trident, and a one-armed woman with an artificial arm and an extremely large axe…

It wasn't exactly anything to sneeze at, but it wasn't the kind of arsenal she'd been hoping for after hearing all those stories of the original Avengers from-

"Callie?" she said, staring incredulously at the sight of her mother's best friend walking out of one of the side buildings.

"Clarke?" Callie said, staring at her in shock for a moment before she ran over to wrap Clarke in her arms, Clarke returning the hug for a moment before Callie stepped back. "What happened to you?"

"We saved her and her friend here from a group of soldiers," Mockingjay explained as Anya walked out of the hovercraft alongside Iron Man, the Grounder looking at the other two in an apprehensive manner. "By the way, Clarke, Anya, these are two of the other Avengers; Bloodaxe and the Mariner."

"Bloodaxe?" Clarke repeated.

"I like it," the woman said, flexing the fingers of her artificial arm as she studied Clarke.

"So… what's going on here?" Callie asked, looking anxiously at Clarke. "The last we heard on the Ark, you were still facing war with those 'Grounders'…"

"They're not the major problem any more," Clarke said grimly; she knew that things with the Grounders would still be difficult, no matter what happened with Anya right now, but for the moment Mount Weather was the more serious problem. "Things with the Grounders just escalated due to bad decisions on both sides; we have a more immediate threat that's after us for a definite reason."

"Which is?"

"It turns out that Mount Weather's still inhabited, but the residents have been trapped in an isolated environment for so long that they can't even step outside without collapsing from radiation sickness," Clarke explained. "They're using captured grounders to treat their illnesses with massive blood transfusions, but since the rest of the Hundred are all better at coping with radiation because we spent our lives in space…"

"You're thinking they'll move on to your people as a better source of blood, right?" Bloodaxe asked grimly.

"Let's just say I've… learned to assume the worst," Clarke said, looking awkwardly at the one-armed woman.

"Good call," the older woman nodded firmly at Clarke. "I realised that before some bastard crushed my arm."

"Someone crushed your arm?" Callie repeated, looking at the artificial limb with a new sense of shock. "How-?"

"That's a fairly long story that will have to wait until later," Mockingjay said, looking firmly over at Callie for a moment before she turned her attention back to Anya and Clarke. "What matters right now is that we have a target, but we only have a fairly small team to deal with it-"

"We dealt with Snow-" Bloodaxe began.

"No offence, but back then we had back-up, we knew what we were going after, and nobody innocent was going to get hurt," the man who'd been introduced as the Mariner noted. "This time around, we can't guarantee Thor's going to be here and I don't think we want to be the kind of people who assume that everyone in an area deserves to die because of what kind of crap their leaders are up to."

"In other words, we can't just hack our way in without killing even the innocents," Bloodaxe noted, staring at her weapon for a moment before she sighed in frustration. "Damnit… being the good guy sucks sometimes."

"If this was easy, everyone would be doing it," Steve Rogers noted as he walked out of the hovercraft to join the team, smiling at the other two Avengers before turning back to the other four people who'd been in the hovercraft. "Still, you're wrong about one thing, Mariner; we have extra assets this time around as well."

"In what way?" Mariner asked. "Bloodaxe's arm aside, three of us are just really really good at kicking butt, and Iron Man's not that good without the suit-"

"It's been adequate for what we've had to deal with so far," the Mockingjay put in, looking over at the Mariner before she looked back at Clarke and Anya. "But I think I know what Captain Rogers means; considering what happened on the way here, we have an opportunity to do more."

"In what way?" Anya asked, looking suspiciously at the younger woman.

"Your changes make her uniquely qualified, but what I'm thinking of goes beyond that," Mockingjay explained, as she looked over at Clarke. "From what Callie's told us, things between you and the Grounders were… strained… before the Ark lost contact with you, and I have a feeling that things haven't improved much since even if you're both here?"

"Mistakes were made," Clarke said, trying to sound diplomatic; she recognised that the Hundred and the Grounders had made mistakes, but she didn't want to sound like she was blaming one side more than the other.

"Which is why this is a perfect opportunity to show that you can move past those mistakes," Captain Rogers put in, stepping forward to look at Clarke in particular with a smile. "Follow me."

Exchanging glances with Anya, Clarke shrugged and walked after the old man as he led them to one of the smaller huts around them, Anya close behind her and the rest of the Avengers around them. As they entered the hut, Clarke was surprised to find that its interior consisted solely of a series of smaller doors in front of them, along with a keypad on the left side, and nothing else.

"What is this?" she asked.

"You'll find out," Captain Rogers said, as he turned to look at her. "Clarke Griffin, what would you do to save your people?"

"Whatever I have to do that doesn't kill innocent people," Clarke said firmly.

"In that case," Steve continued, walking over to the keypad and tapping a few buttons, "what would you say to this?"

As soon as his finger touched the last button, one of the doors opened, revealing a strange-looking harness with thick 'straps' and what actually looked like rockets on its back.

"These belonged to a valued friend of mine," the old man explained, noting the curious stares he was receiving from the rest of the group. "He was never able to officially join the Avengers before everything went wrong, but he helped me mitigate the worst of the damage that my enemies might have done if I'd been fighting on my own, and I… inherited his gear after his death."

"Hold on; you've had more equipment-?" Bloodaxe began.

"They weren't Avengers, so I felt that storing them separate from the rest of the weapons limited the risk, and I never found anyone I felt comfortable entrusting any of them to," Captain Rogers interjected, fixing the one-armed woman with a firm stare before his expression softened as he looked at Clarke. "Until now, anyway."

"Hold on; are you saying-?" Clarke began.

"Clarke Griffin, I want you to be the new Falcon."

Clarke could only blink at that statement.

"Falcon?" she repeated.

"Appropriate," Anya noted, smiling briefly at Clarke. "You lead the Sky People, after all."

"And I understand that you have some medical training?" the old man asked, smiling as Clarke looked at him in surprise. "The way you assessed Anya's condition without us needing to tell you what to do; only someone with experience could do everything that automatically."

"Well… my mom was the chief medical officer on the Ark, so I picked up a few things…" Clarke explained awkwardly.

"Don't worry, we've already got one field medic, so you don't have to take it on if you don't want to; it just makes it more appropriate," Rogers explained with a smile. "The first Falcon was a field medic as well as a soldier; as Anya noted, considering that you lead the 'Sky People' from the perspective of her tribe, assuming his codename just makes sense."

"Ah," Clarke said, looking at the harness once again.

It would probably need a few adjustments to fit her- she might be in good shape, but even an amateur could see that this thing had been designed for someone a bit taller and bulkier than she was, and shed need to work out what she wanted to wear under the harness since her standard jacket was a bit basic- and she was definitely going to need time to train with it if this thing was what it looked like… but she had to admit, in a strange way, she felt that she was going to enjoy the opportunity she'd just been given.

"Anya," Captain Rogers continued as he turned to the Grounder leader, "obviously, we're extending you a similar invitation; think you'd be interested in helping us take down Mount Weather?"

"Is this because of what you did to me?" Anya asked, walking up to look Rogers directly in the eyes.

"Among other factors," Rogers confirmed. "The fact that you're… well, that you've become a new Hulk makes it easier for you to contribute to the team, but I'd be making this offer even if you were still human. From what Clarke's told us, you're a leader among your people, so you can obviously handle yourself in a fight, and what's happening to Mount Weather affects the Hundred and the Grounders equally; if we're going to stop them, I want to make it clear that we're doing this for the sake of both your people, rather than just one side or the other."

Anya stared at the old man in an assessing manner for a moment, apparently unaware as Clarke looked anxiously at the Grounder leader from the side, before she held out her hand.

"If you seek the destruction of the mountain, I will fight at your side," Anya said, smiling slightly at Rogers.

"Thanks," Rogers said, giving Clarke a brief nod as she glanced at Anya in relief before he turned to address the team. "OK, we have some ideas of the situation on the Ark over the last few months, but we need to know about what's been happening on the ground; Clarke, Anya, give us what you can, and then I'll see about giving Clarke a crash course in using the Falcon harness while we sort out what to do next."

It was a credit the command authority he'd developed over the centuries that not even Clarke or Anya objected to Steve Rogers' orders despite the relatively brief time they'd known him.

Whatever was about to happen, Clarke had a feeling their lives were set to become very complicated…