Author's Note: Hi All! The next part is long and continuous, so I plan on posting it together as a couple chapters. There may be a bit of a break until the next posting. Things are going to get diceeeyyy.

Thanks for staying with me. Enjoy!

The toes of Ellie's boots dig into the loose dirt of the mountainside. They're high enough that there aren't even any trees around. She wipes the sweat from her brow, looking up the slope.

Maedlyn's red dress flaps about in the wind over her hiking boots. She lunges energetically up the slope. She looks over her shoulder with a cheery expression. "Come on, love!"

"How are you still going?" says Ellie, forcing herself to move again. "I thought you hated this stuff."

"Oh, don't pout! We're almost home!"

The warm feeling of Jackson passes through Ellie's chest. Home…

But how can that be? They're approaching the top of the mountain.

"Hurry up, love!"

Ellie hussles after her. Maedlyn's gaining distance on her. "Maedlyn, wait! Jeez! I'm trying!"

Ellie sucks in breaths as she jogs up the steep slope the last few feet toward the level-off. She puts her hands on her hips, panting. She can't see Maedlyn anymore, and she feels fear. "Mads?"

She hears a scraping sound and looks over to see Abby sitting on a boulder, whittling a bit of wood. The blonde girl shoots her a glance. "Don't panic. She's just over there."

"What are you doing up here?" Ellie asks.

"Waiting for you, mostly." When Ellie's look lingers, Abby rolls her eyes. "Well, go on. You're almost there."

That's all she has to say? Ellie scoffs and continues plodding through the rocky crown of the mountain.

Two raised peaks stand dozens of feet above her to the left and right, perhaps fifty feet apart. She walks between them. As she approaches the slope on the other side of the peak, she sees an array of buildings spread out before her.

Ellie freezes. The buildings are all newly wrought steel, covered in antennas and junction boxes, huge cables running between them. Robotic humanoids roam between them with their lifeless, attentionless footsteps.

"I have to go through there?" she says. Something else catches Ellie's eye.

Floating maybe fifteen feet off the ground off to her left, there's a ghost made of stars. As Ellie focuses on it, she realizes it's not a ghost, but a woman. She's all aglow, wearing a dress growing searing teals and deep, fiery purples, like it's made of constellations and nebulae. Her skin and hair are the same, but different tones. Around her head, little orbs of light circle slowly. Her eyes are purple-white fire.

Ellie feels a spark of recognition. She seems familiar, somehow.

The girl returns her look, and the same thing seems to happen to her. She beams. "Hi, Ellie!"

"Huh…?" A name drifts to her from the ether. "Sofia? Is that you?"

"That's my name! What are you up to?"

"I don't know…" Ellie's gaze drifts down to her hand. She sees she's holding her mother's switchblade. It's broken near the handle, from when she had tossed the blade into the sea out of respect for Abby's request.

"Are you still wrestling with that thing?" Sofia asks her.

"What thing? This knife?"

"Not the knife, silly, what it symbolizes."

"Huh?"

"You know what? Nevermind."

Ellie frowns at the confounding comment. Her eyes drift down to the facility below her. It's AIM, she realizes. "I guess I have to go through there."

"Eh," says Sofia, "you don't have to. You're dreaming, after all."

"What?" says Ellie. She blinks. "Wait, this is a dream?" She looks at her hands. They seem real enough. But then again…

That's right. AIM wouldn't be on a mountaintop, near Jackson. And Maedlyn would never outstrip her on a hike. And doesn't…

There's a rumble in the ground.

"Whoa!" says Sofia. "Easy now, or you'll wake up."

"Huh?" replies Ellie. "Wait a minute, what are you doing in my dream!"

Sofia giggles. "I don't know, what are you doing in my dream?"

Ellie scowls, but she can't come up with a good answer.

"I'm sorry Natasha's words hurt you yesterday," says Sofia, with real empathy. "I hope you know, she really does care."

It still smarts, but it pales next to the feeling of warmth when Ellie thinks of Nat. "I know."

Then, someone shouts to Ellie from below.

"Come on, Ellie!" It's Kamala. She's standing at the edge of the AIM facility. She balls her fists, which grow to huge size. "We've got work to do!"

With that, she turns and runs into the facility. The robots immediately take note, and turn to attack her, but within moments, Kamala is sending them flying with her punches, arms stretching and whipping around.

Ellie feels a pull to go help her, but then she feels something coming from Sofia.

Ellie looks up, and Sofia is watching Kamala fight. A darker blue glow enters the array of colors around her body. She seems to sense Ellie's gaze.

"What is it?" Ellie asks her.

There's a sobriety to Sofia's expression. A wisdom that seems beyond her years. She gazes off. "Down there, things are hazy, and I can't really see. Up here, I can see clearly. And sometimes I see things that haven't happened yet."

"So what?" Ellie asks.

Sofia looks at her. "I saw a great wall of stone. The moonlight of a steel-winged drake. There will be danger. I saw that she's not going to make it."

"What?" Ellie looks down at Kamala's fight, but she seems to be doing just fine. She takes a synthoid in her enlarged hand and hurls it at an adaptoid, knocking it onto its back.

"Not in here, Ellie," says Sofia, and now there's sadness in her voice. She ignores the fight, meeting Ellie's eyes. "Out there."

Ellie stares.

"Tonight's going to be her last night," says Sofia, face scrunched like she's delivering bad news. "I'm sorry. I know you care about her."

Ellie frowns. It doesn't make sense. "It's not even nighttime." The sun is high over the airy mountain top.

Sofia shakes her head. "You don't understand. You will, after you get up and drink your water."

She's right, Ellie doesn't understand.

"You can't save them all, Ellie," comes a sinister voice.

A chill goes down Ellie's spine. She turns to see Mephisto in his spotless finery, leaning in the shade of the sheer base of one of the peaks, cleaning his fingernails idly with a dagger.

He sneers. "Apparently, you can't save anyone."

Ellie becomes aware of Elliot's crumpled form a few feet away from Mephisto. He pulls in ragged breaths with effort. Ellie's heart sinks.

"They don't… get to…"

Mephisto flips the dagger, grabbing it by the tip and casually tossing it at Elliot with a lethal trajectory.

Of its own accord, Ellie's arm hurls a dagger that intercepts Mephisto's mid-flight, causing them both to clatter to the dirt.

Mephisto looks sharply at her in anger.

"That's right!" Ellie shouts, "they don't!"

Mephisto's handsome features morph into a more animal, hateful mien, and he lunges at her. Ellie lunges right back, knife in hand.

Ellie bolts awake with a sharp intake of breath, then it's quiet.

She becomes aware of the sound of rain. It's dark. She sits up in bed, holding her head. She groans.

Where is she?

She recognizes it's not her bed, or Maedlyn's. And it's not her bunk on the Chimera, either.

She's in the infirmary still, she realizes. She looks up.

Along the long wall of the ward are several windows. The sky is dark outside, but the sound of rain pattering the hull is unmistakable. Then there's a flash, followed shortly by a peel of thunder.

Ellie lets out a breath. She remembers yesterday, now. She sighs. That was all just a dream. Still, it was vivid.

Her head feels crowded and she's groggy from sleep. She shakes it away feebly. She needs water. She grabs the glass on the stand next to the bed, but it's empty.

Sighing again, she picks it up and climbs out of bed onto tired feet. She walks down the ward to the nurse's station, where there's a tap.

Kamala's face keeps entering her mind, for some reason. It's the moment where she looked over her shoulder as she was walking away, throwing up the 'v for victory.'

Ellie frowns, and puts the glass under the faucet, turning the handle.

What are you doing in my dream? she hears her own voice say.

I don't know, Sofia replies, what are you doing in my dream?

Why had she dreamed of Sofia? She was glowing like her face did that day at the Ant Hill, but it covered her whole body instead. It sort of freaky, but also pretty awesome, to be honest.

Sometimes I see things that haven't happened yet.

Ellie's brow knits. That's right, she'd said something about Kamala. That was… fucked up, now that she thinks about it. But it was a dream. That wasn't really Sofia. And she's had bad dreams before.

She turns off the faucet and brings the glass to her lips, taking a drink of cool water.

You don't understand, comes Sofia's voice. You will, after you get up and drink your water.

Ellie swallows. The cool liquid passes down her throat and into her stomach. She just stands there, holding the glass.

"W—"

The sound escapes Ellie's throat, and disappears into the quiet. There's only the sound of raindrops on the hull.

Her heart beats faster, and faster. Her skin feels cold, all over, all the sudden. She's breathing too fast.

She looks down at the water and the surface ripples in her shaking hand. She's afraid she'll drop it, so she sets it down on the countertop, but she doesn't feel better. She feels sick.

Tonight's going to be her last night. I'm sorry. I know you care about her.

"What?" she breathes.

There's a flash and Ellie jumps, wheeling. She's greeted by darkness and then a sharp crash of thunder that makes every hair on her body stand on end.

Then there are loud footsteps in the hallway, and Ellie's eyes snap to them. Through the wall, she sees a handful of armed SHIELD personnel moving quickly, faces serious, clearly on some kind of orders. They pass the ward and continue moving until their footsteps are too far to hear.

She stands there for a while, staring at the door.

What's happening?

The thought echoes in her skull. She walks forward on bare feet. The tile is cold.

The doors snap open smartly and she startles again. The hallway outside is well lit, but there's no one in sight. It's quiet again, only the sound of the rain in the background.

Somehow, deep inside, Ellie knows something is very wrong.

She steps forward into the hallway and automatically starts moving toward the bridge. She passes down a few corridors. Most are deserted, but she does encounter a few night guards. They eye her curiously—probably because she's barefoot in her shorts and a tank top, but she doesn't care—but otherwise keep their peace. One gives her a solemn nod.

At the main intersection leading to the bridge, a stream of soldiers issues suddenly in a clamor of bootfalls.

"Come on, move! You can sleep when we're done. Bays nine and twelve!" The captain's eyes pass over Ellie and his brows twitch, but he pays her little other mind, following his team.

Ellie watches them go for a few moments, then turns down the way they came from, toward the bridge.

She takes the upper walk to the command deck, Alisande's haunt. She didn't bring her uniform or any kind of credentials, but the light on the door goes green and opens for her anyway.

"SHIELD Clearance 3 detected."

So Nat didn't strip her clearance, at least. Ellie walks through.

To her surprise, the bridge is at full staff.

The command deck is full of people, fuller than most mornings. Most terminals are occupied and there aren't even any seats left. She's familiar with some of the SHIELD officers, but she doesn't even know most of their names. There's no idle chatter, they're all engaged with the monitors and tablets.

Ellie steps forward into the room, narrowly avoiding collision with a woman carrying a tablet that doesn't even look at her. Ellie looks through the wide window to the bridge below.

All the operating lights are on, and it too is fully staffed. In the center of the bridge, by the war table that houses Jarvis's hologram, Ellie recognizes Hawkeye Clint. And then Kate, next to him.

He's holding a tablet, reading through it studiously. A SHIELD tech approaches him and asks him a question. He answers soberly and succinctly. She nods and moves on. Ellie presses a hand against the glass.

The bridge and the command deck are full of chatter, but as she focuses, she can just make out Kate speaking to Clint.

"Come on, did he give the word yet?"

"Five minutes, Kate. Easy."

"I just feel like we're wasting our time, up here."

"We aren't."

Another officer stops by Clint and they have a terse conversation before he moves on.

"Where's Tony?" Kate asks.

Clint glances up through the tall outer windows at the front of the bridge. He gestures with his tablet.

Outside the bridge, sheets of rain can be seen falling under the operating lights. She can see various aircraft and vehicles moving around the landing strips of the Chimera, despite the adverse conditions.

Then she notices a bright light burning through the sky. He's far away, but Ellie recognizes Iron Man. He flies a couple hundred feet in front of the Chimera, then takes a sharp dive, disappearing into dark clouds below.

"We should be out there," says Kate.

"And we will," says Clint, running out of patience.

"I'm sorry," says Kate. She hops on her heels a bit. "You know I get antsy when I'm not sure what to do."

"I know," Clint replies. He hands her the tablet. "I need to talk to Brody for a minute. The bridge is yours."

She takes the tablet then his words seem to register. "Whoa, wai—what?"

Just thereafter a SHIELD officer sees Clint walking away and approaches Kate with a question. She glances back, unsure of herself for a second, then begins navigating the tablet.

Ellie's lips are parted, teeth firmly locked. The Chimera is in full operational capacity. She hasn't seen it this active since she came here.

"Ellie?" says a voice in disbelief.

Ellie turns sharply to see Alisande watching her from the portside of the command deck, tablet in hand. She looks Ellie up and down.

For the first time since she woke, Ellie blushes at her attire, but it's a momentary distraction. She moves in on Alisande. "Sande, what's going on?"

Alisande frowns. "A lot, Ellie. What are you doing here? Natasha said you were recovering."

"I'm recovered. What's going on?"

Alisande takes a deep breath, evaluating her. "AIM is on the move, in a big way. We think it may be a retaliation for yesterday. Anyway, we're not sure what they're up to, and we're lining up several contingencies."

"Where are the Avengers?"

Alisande glances down to the bridge, and Ellie follows her eyes to see Clint and Kate together. A woman with short, dark hair attended by several officers enters the bridge. She approaches the present Avengers and salutes Kate smartly. Uncharacteristically, Kate returns the salute solemnly and hands the woman the tablet.

The woman immediately turns and issues several orders and requests for information. The chatter dies down as the crew deftly responds. Kate and Clint walk together out of the bridge.

"Maria's here," says Alisande to herself, frowning for some reason. "We're on." Her eyes snap back to Ellie. "The Avengers are in the field. I probably don't need to say it, but you won't be joining them today. You should—"

"Don't try to send me to bed, Sande," says Ellie.

Alisande screws up her lips. "You reporting for work like that?"

Ellie looks down and blushes again.

Alisande gives her one last considering look. "Hit the locker room, I have a spare uniform you can use. Be back in five. And don't complain if you're tired tomorrow."

Alisande turns back to the console, but Ellie is already leaving the command deck.

An hour later, it's 3:36 AM, and Ellie has managed to grab a desk console, a tablet, and even a chair for herself in the corner of the command deck.

She's wearing one of Alisane's spare uniforms with the jacket and everything, as well as a shield baseball cap, her hair tucked behind her ears. She's staying low profile on purpose.

She's used to spending a lot of time here working almost one on one with Alisande, but her hands are far too full today. Which suits Ellie. She just wants to know what's going on.

The lion's share of the work on the command deck is keeping moment-to-moment tabs on AIM's logistical network, through both moles and backdoor network access. As always, the information is incomplete, but they're putting it together to get the best real time map they can.

Ellie has just finished compiling the launch manifests for cargo planes leaving known AIM facilities in the last half hour. They're all encrypted, and the ciphers change several times a day, but it's someone else's job to provide that data. Any minute, Sande is likely to—

"I need manifest data," says Alisande to the room, "air freight, last half hour. Benny, where's my cipher?"

She's standing in front of the largest display, big enough that anyone in the room can see it. It's a map of the continental United States, already a mess of lines and symbols. Ellie sends her data through. Alisande glances down at her pad.

"Got it," she says. She makes some movements with her hands. Dozens of lines disappear from the map, and new ones take their place. "Benny, ciphers. We need to know what's in transit."

"Just sent."

"Got it." A few more flicks of her hand, and the new transit lines take on coded coloration. Alisande's perpetual operating frown deepens as she surveys the map. "What are you guys doing?" she says to herself, as if asking AIM.

That's the question.

"Alexis," says Alisande.

Needing no elaboration, Alexis reports. "I'm seeing the same thing you are. These movements are huge, but there's no clear pattern. There's a nominal accumulation of arms and robotics in Seattle, St. Louis, Buffalo, Houston, Des Moines, San Diego, and Minneapolis, but most of these movements are typical. Exotic material transit forms no outstanding patterns. No site activity of note, from coast to coast. If they're preparing for something, it's impossible to say what, at this point."

"So give me something," says Alisande.

"Well…" Alexis hesitates. "As far as the short list—the Dormants…"

She's referring to Dormant Strongholds. AIM locations that are less well known, largely housed underground and of unknown size. They don't import and export large amounts of experimental tech or raw resources, but the estimated power draw and troops flowing in and out suggest a concentration of AIM's power. Alisande put them onto a short list of potential AIM headquarters.

Somewhere they might find their number one target, and most elusive quarry, Monica Rappaccini.

That gets Alisande's attention. "What about them?"

"Well, as in the past, they're moving a lot of troops, mostly out. There's one site, though, let me see… Delta."

"The Hoover Dam?"

"Yes, ma'am. Adding our known info together, it looks like over the course of the last six hours, they've either offloaded at least 75% of their militant capacity, or it's even more of a whale than we thought."

Alisande's brow pinches for a second. "Mm…"

One of the techs perks up, looking at Alisande. "Sergeant Morales, I have Captain America on the line."

Alisande's cheek pinches up. "Patch him through."

"Through now."

"Steve," says Alisande, "don't suppose you have a report?"

"I was hoping for one," says Steve's voice over the command deck intercom. "We just cleared Rendezvous B. Still nothing. We've probably seen twelve trains roll by in passing, but none of these sites are active in the way we expected."

"Same to report, unfortunately," says Alisande. "We have troop accumulations near several major US cities."

"Looking like what? Do they expect an attack?"

"It crossed my mind, but the bolstering is nominal. That tack doesn't really make sense."

"So what, then?"

Alisande winces. "Still looking for that. There's—" Alisande bites her lip, like she almost regrets her words. "The only standout piece of information I've received is that Dormant Stronghold Delta has offloaded a tremendous amount of military power in the last six hours."

"Offloaded? Where to?"

Alisande looks at Alexis, who rapidly scans her tablet. "Everywhere. Mostly the aforementioned major cities, dozens of other sites. It's like they're spreading it out evenly."

"Like an immune response," says Steve. "Like they're preparing for some kind of broad scale attack. Have you considered the Skyfall Contingency?"

"Every day," responds Alisande. "We're still recovering on the orbital asset front, but our land based observatories are equipped to detect anything larger than a department store entering our solar system, and we're coming up blank across the board."

"What about terrestrial threats?"

"In exchange for our data, the Secretary of State was kind enough to speak with Maria directly a few hours ago. No unusual movements from any likely actors."

"Is that right…" says Steve. Ellie can practically hear him stroking his chin. "Could it be Dark Helix related?"

Dark Helix is SHIELD's classified term referring to AIM's tachyon experimentation.

"Only if they're far enough ahead of us to see things we can't. And I'm not counting on that. Bruce, any input?"

"Ah…" comes Bruce's mild voice over the comms. "Well, frankly, I have to agree. We don't know what we don't know, but that's why we're monitoring their key sites. That kind of energy usage is conspicuous, and we're just not seeing it."

"Could it all be a ruse?" Steve asks.

"That's one hell of an expensive ruse," says Alisande.

"Agreed," says Steve. "AIM has something planned for the very near future. We can't be sure what, but we can be sure it's not good. When that happened back in '44, and we couldn't guess their play, we had one sure-fire solution, if we could pull it off."

"Sounds like I'm not going to like it," says Alisande. "What's that?"

"A headshot. You said Delta?"

Alisande visibly starts. "You… you're thinking of a preliminary assault?"

"I am."

"We don't have a lot to go on, Steve."

"True, but my gut tells me it's time to go anyway. Nat?"

"I don't like it either," says Nat. Ellie's chest tightens at hearing her voice. "But given what we know, it may be our only play. Other than waiting on the sidelines, and I don't like that."

"Bruce?"

"I trust you," replies Bruce in his quiet, reserved voice, "you know that. And so does the Big Guy."

"Thor?"

"A frontal assault against an entrenched foe, while their forces are depleted?"

"That's right."

"So be it."

"Tony?"

"The Hoover Dam? Just a hop and a skip from Phoenix. I can be there in thirty."

"Kamala?"

Ellie's heart skips a beat.

"I'm in," she replies without hesitation.

"Kate and Clint, you two rendezvous with us?"

"At your word, Cap," they reply together.

"That just leaves one voice out of the discussion."

There's a brief silence, then a new voice speaks up. "Tactically, I don't like the risk." Happening to glance down at the bridge, Ellie notices the short haired woman speaking through her earpiece. Maria. Her arms are crossed, face heavy with consideration. "But my gut also tells me the time to act is now. SHIELD has your back."

"We'll hit the ground at 0500. Over and out."

Immediately, a buzz returns to the command center, and Alisande starts issuing a stream of new orders. To Ellie, all the sounds become muted into the background.

A cold feeling settles into her. She got what she wanted. She knows what's about to happen. The problem is, now she doesn't want it to happen.

She sits in her seat for a minute, just managing her breathing. A series of needed tasks populates on her tablet, but she doesn't feel compelled to do any of them.

This isn't where she belongs. Her body, this isn't what it's meant for. Her friend is walking into danger. They all are. And she can't explain it, she just knows it.

Then a new idea enters her head, and the rest of the thoughts go quiet.

Her hands hesitate for two heartbeats, then start moving.

Maria's issuing new orders from the bridge. Personnel all over the ship are mobilizing to join the operation. Dozens of troop carriers and half a dozen quinjets are to be dispatched in the next twenty minutes. They'll be full of soldiers, but also crates of essential gear. Ellie has access to both the active manifests and the logistical systems controlling them.

She glances up once at Alisande in guilt, but the older woman has her back turned, completely preoccupied with the tasks at hand. Ellie makes a few more swipes with her fingertips, and it's done.

She has the info she needs, and a ten minute window. She tucks down her cap and stands up from the table, leaving her tablet where it lies, and walks out of the command deck. No one pays any mind.

Ellie clutches her left wrist with her right hand. Her back rests against the side of the crate, legs tucked, feet close to her body. It's pitch black inside the crate, except for a few lines of low light near where it's sealed along the top. Her heart raced when the quinjet took off with the other SHIELD personnel on board. After a couple minutes of feeling like a maniac, it had resumed its normal rhythm. The quinjet's intercom just announced that they've crossed into Nevada airspace, and they should arrive at the Hoover Dam in five minutes. Now she can feel her heart beating again.

So far, it's all gone to plan. She'd skulked into the Chimera's hangar and found the crate she'd designated from the upper bridge. She'd climbed inside, and from there, she'd waited. She'd fabricated the contents of the crate and added it to one of the ship's manifests. Sure enough, a loader came along, scanned it, and placed it on one of the last quinjets being prepped for launch.

'I may have underestimated you, Ellie,' says Mephisto. This time, it's just his voice in the darkness.

Ellie's features harden as she ignores him.

'Still, are you sure you know what you're doing? You're fighting fate, now. If you don't know, I'll tell you. There are countless legends of those who have sought to thwart prophecy. It rarely goes well for them.'

That's none of my concern now, thinks Ellie.

Mephisto laughs. 'Ah, yes, the headstrong heroine. Gods, you are a treasure, just like Tommy said! It would be such a shame for you to meet a tragic end, Ellie. I couldn't bear it.'

Ellie snorts.

'I implore you to listen to my advice, Ellie. Be careful today.'

His slithering voice retreats for the time being. Ellie tells herself it doesn't matter anyway. He can torment her, but he can't take away her will. She's fought for the wrong reasons in the past. That's not what this feels like.

Still, she cannot pretend she knows what the hell she's doing.

'So, then you just do it anyway,' comes Nat's voice suddenly.

Ellie's eyes open at the memory.

They're standing in the HARM room. "What?" Ellie had said.

They were talking about ops. In a moment of frustration, Ellie had thrown up her hands. She'd asked Nat what to do when she knows the objective, but has no idea how to do it, or if she knows what to do but not if it will work.

"You heard me," says Nat. "When your back is against the wall and you know there's no turning back, there's no time for thought, or fear. You just do it anyway."

Ellie had screwed up her face. It was hard to argue with something like that.

"Four years ago," continues Nat, "I was on an op. One thing after another had gone wrong. I was separated from the others, piloting a stolen jet after a craft that, long story short, if it were to reach its destination, would cause untold destruction. I had taken fire from other pursuing vessels, half my systems were down and my weapons weren't responding. I was out of time. So I chose the only option left to me. I set myself on a collision course, opened the throttle, and ejected at thirty thousand feet."

"Thirty thousand…?"

"That's right. I had enough oxygen to last maybe half that distance to the ground, and unconscious parachuters tend to land badly. I—"

"That should have killed you," said Ellie.

That gave Nat pause. Her face was level, as usual, but her eyes were present with Ellie. "That's right, Ellie. And for a brief moment, I was sure I was going to die. But that was the situation I found myself in, and I knew what I needed to do, so I did it anyway. Nothing is more deadly than hesitation in a crisis like that."

"How did you avoid passing out?"

"I didn't. I woke up in a simple home in rural Northern Thailand. By some miracle I drifted the last several thousand feet to the ground unconscious, and my chute had caught on some tall trees rather than me dashing into the rocky cliffs of the area. They'd cut me down and brought me to their village elder, an aging widow who had nursed me back to health with holistic medicine. I thanked her and the others, and was extracted a few days later."

"That's amazing." Ellie had meant it, but it had also deflated her, a bit. She could never imagine herself doing something so brave and incredible.

"In hindsight, yes," Nat had replied. "And lucky, too. But in the moment, it was the only option. I've survived a thousand things I shouldn't have simply by acting in spite of my thoughts and fears. If you are resolute, you will find that the enemy will generally find their hesitation before you do. And that can make all the difference."

Ellie had frowned, trying to take that in.

Suddenly, Nat had shoved her.

"Hey!" Ellie protested.

"What's with the long face? Have you ever survived something you shouldn't?"

Ellie blinked. "More times than I can count…"

"Then it sounds like you know what I'm talking about." Nat's blue eyes and crystal intelligence appraised her.

"I mean…" Ellie shifted her feet. "Honestly, I think I do, but where I come from, people do die. All the time. Most of the people I've cared about… And we aren't crashing jets into each other thirty thousand feet in the air."

"It's the same here, Ellie," says Nat. "It may look different, but it's the same. Take it from someone who knows. When I pulled that ejection lever, for a moment I was sure I was going to die, but it was my only choice—"

"So you did it anyway."

Nat smiled in recognition, a look that warmed Ellie's chest every single time. "That's right."

Ellie flexes her fingerless glove, the leather creaking.

Reluctantly, she'd accepted that day that Nat, The Black Widow, was no immortal hero. She was a woman, like Ellie.

She knows what she has to do. Get in. Warn Kamala. Protect her, if necessary. And when the moment comes, even if she's scared, do it anyway.

"Drop in thirty!" A voice shouts over the intercom, jolting Ellie. "Avengers are on the ground and air defenses are down, but AIM has mobilized ground troops and aerial support in defense of the target. The Avengers are pushing the primary elevator, and we're here to make sure they crack it open! Heads up!"

The hull fills with the sound of straps being pulled and guns being readied, accompanied by a few energetic whoops of preparation. The quinjet lurches as it slows down. The rear hatch opens, heightening the roar of wind and engines.

"Drop now! Go, go, go!"

Boots pound down the ramp as the unit rapidly exits the quinjet, and gunfire and plasma blasts start sounding almost immediately after.

Having no idea if she'll have another chance, Ellie finds her feet and throws her shoulder into the lid of the crate. It pops off cleanly and clatters to the floor of the quinjet. She vaults the side and runs down the ramp of the quinjet just as it is beginning to ascend. The ground is fifteen feet below her. She jumps.

The air whistles past her for a second, then she hits hard and rolls to a crouch.

She's on a huge metal platform of some kind. There are crates and human-height machinery around them to provide cover. She can see quite a few AIM guards from where she is, but they're clearly shaken. They're already exchanging fire with the SHIELD agents. Ellie draws her nine mil.

She runs to the nearest mechanical installation where three other agents are already taking cover. She presses herself against the opposite end, peaks, then leans out and takes aim. She fires off seven shots, bringing down two guards on the outside threatening to flank them.

One of the agents behind her is shouting orders into his comm piece. His eye catches Ellie, and she recognizes him from somewhere on the Chimera.

His eyes widen. "Who the hell are you?!" He blinks. "Wait a minute, aren't you that kid?"

She's not interested in being entangled with these guys. She needs to get where the Avengers are. She grabs a smoke grenade, arms and lobs it to the center of the platform.

"Smoke!" one of the AIM guards calls out.

"Watch the left! Watch the left!"

Ellie concentrates. There are rows of venting units between them and the AIM line, but they're concentrated about fifty feet away. She grabs a flashbang, arms it, and gives it a mighty throw.

It tumbles through the air. Its timer runs out about ten feet off the ground at the center of the troops' concentration, causing a boom and flash.

"Shit!"

"They're pushing up center!"

The SHIELD agents pour on fire as half the AIM troops retreat and the others are stunned. Sprinting into the smoke she created, Ellie holsters her gun. Arms pumping, she runs right past the AIM line to the edge of the platform. Through the grating below her, she can tell there's an overhang, and a lot of empty air below her. She reaches the handrail at the edge of the platform just as a few plasma bolts start seeking her out from AIM rifles. She vaults the rail, and plummets into the open air below.

Without looking she fires a grapple into the underside of the platform. It finds purchase and her body jerks as her weight is absorbed. She swings hard under the platform, turning just in time to plant her feet into the rapidly approaching red rock cliff face, stopping most of the momentum left. She allows herself to swing back under the grapple anchor, and then appraises the situation below her.

It's chaos.

The dam is largely original structure, a towering edifice of smooth concrete hundreds of feet high. At its base are old warehouses and equipment from when it was constructed almost a century ago. From there, it's all AIM.

Over the rushing river are a series of interconnected, grated platforms anchored deep under the current. Together they cover most of the visible river. On top of them are stacks of crates, vehicles, and a lot of ant-like personnel running around, firing lasers.

All along the walls of the canyon, vertical lifts are installed along with a loose collection of towers also connected by catwalks. She's hanging from one of them. Huge bands of electrical wiring string through everything like a spider web.

The empty air in the middle of the canyon is one massive dogfight. Heavily armed AIM dropships gun relentlessly at the smaller, swifter quinjets, rarely finding their mark. The quinjets for their part harass the gunships and destroy ground anti-air installations in passing. On the ground, blue streams of plasma fire and the flare of combustive rifles dot the platforms crossing over the dashing river like a little meteor storm.

She notices a spot of green and recognizes Hulk as he barges into a group of AIM guards and knocks them away like bowling pins. She sees the glint of Cap's shield, too. There's a flash, and one of the gunships pulls up short, surprised to see the God of Thunder levitating in front of the windshield.

His body arcs with electricity, and he spins about and bashes the nose of the ship with his hammer, jarring it with such force that one of the engines starts smoking and it begins to spin out of control toward the ground.

The Avengers are here, but where is…?

Then she sees a flash of blue and red, and elongated limbs, threadlike from the distance, batting away a horde of drones advancing on some kind of shield bubble. Kamala. She's defending a dark-suited woman inside the bubble, who's interacting with a console, and Ellie would bet her life it's Nat.

What is she doing? It's impossible not to notice the massive, rectangular metal plate dominating the central platform where Kamala and Nat are staking their claim.

The officer's words on the ship come back to her.

The Avengers are pushing the primary elevator, and we're here to make sure they crack it open!

That's it. The soccer-field sized plate is the elevator, and Nat's trying to get it operational. Why does that give Ellie a terrible feeling?

And what the hell is she going to do about it?

Downriver from all that, a huge building stands central. Above the first couple floors, the structure is dominated by a massive hedronic shape of some black, gleaming metal. It looks like some kind of life-sucking invasive plant, so many black cables spread out from underneath it and connect to everything else in the area. It looks fucking expensive and pretty important, but the action is centered elsewhere. She has a feeling that with Jarvis's help, it could be useful.

She looks below her. The next catwalk is probably a hundred feet below her, and the grapple won't extend half that distance. To her right, the cliff face slopes at a steep angle, but the rock is relatively smooth and dusty. She could slide it. There's a single guard on the catwalk by the entrance to a tower, glancing nervously down at the madness below every few seconds. He's armed, but he would never see her coming.

It's pretty insane, she notes absently.

But she swings her legs and cuts the grapple anyway.