New York. 2012.
I gazed out of the window as we flew over the Hudson River and into the middle of the city that had been thrown into chaos. A huge wormhole had developed in the sky over Manhattan and aliens were falling through it like raindrops. Gripping onto the cargo net as I stared through the wind screen of the jet, I felt genuine fear for the first time in years. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As we soared in between high rise buildings I heard Tony's voice come over the coms and rolled my eyes as he commented on our delay in arriving.
"You know Tony if you'd be so kind to share your suit's flight technology with SHIELD I'm sure we could have got here much faster," I commented, making sure the sarcasm was clear in my voice. It all felt like a very fast-paced game of cat and mouse, but I knew that once we landed it would cease to be any kind of fun. I had been trained on how to deal with threats of any kind – but not even The Red Room could prepare me for an alien invasion. My grip on the cargo net tightened as the jet twisted and turned at sharp angles to avoid enemy fire. We eventually slowed when we pulled parallel with Stark Tower to see Thor and Loki locked in an intense battle. The 'K' from Tony's beloved sign had already fallen hundreds of feet to the street below and as Clint maneuverer the jet to face the two gods a familiar beam of energy was directed at us and made a direct hit on the engine causing us to spiral out of control. Clint performed a crash landing in a small plaza and I was knocked clean off my feet by the full weight of Steve Rogers as we skidded to a halt amongst the bricks and rubble. Steve quickly got up and lifted me to my feet as if I weighed nothing at all, it was a sensation I found rather unnerving.
"Hey Clint, if we live through this…do you think I could get some tactical landing lessons from you because that, was just…I mean, wow." I sniggered as he glared at me whilst retrieving his bow and arrow. He and Natasha were the only two people I could really joke around with but even then, the two of them held a much deeper connection with each other than I ever would with either one of them.
"God, Leyna. You know I really think you're in the wrong field of work. Have you ever thought of being a stand-up comedian, because I'm in stitches." He retorted with a completely straight face.
"Enough, you two." Natasha scolded as Steve watched the interaction between us. I flicked the loading doors opened and without hesitation, the four of us ran out onto the streets that were reminiscent of a active combat zone.
'We've got to get back to the tower." Steve instructed as we ran in the general direction of the looming building. Terrified civilians ran screaming in the other direction, none of them even pausing to glance at us. As the four of us stared at the sky as another ungodly creature ascended through the wormhole, a scream, faint in my ear caught my attention and I had separated the group and was following it before I realized my feet were moving.
Eventually, I came across a car with a yellow cab laid across the bonnet and windscreen. The screaming was coming from inside and I found myself dreading finding an injured civilian. My bedside manner was poor, if not entirely non-existent and I couldn't be answering irrelevant questions whilst I was needed elsewhere. However, when I looked inside the car I was met with much worse than an injured civilian. Two adults were in the front seat, both dead, having been crushed by the cab and in the back seat, still screaming and crying in fear was a young toddler. She had a tiny fist clamped around a blanket and her throat was hoarse from her prolonged crying for help.
I found that I couldn't move initially, my mind had gone back in time more than twenty years and I saw myself, crying for my parents after seeing their bodies in our tiny New York apartment. In my mind, the entire battle behind ceased to exist as I reached into the car, unclipped the child and pulled her out, positioning her blanket over her head so she couldn't see the carnage around her. I slipped back into a partially concealed doorway and radioed through to Clint.
"I've got a civilian, where are you evacuating people from?"
"A wrecked bus under the bridge, point them in the direction." I was already heading to his location as I answered.
"It's a child. Both parents are dead, they were crushed by another car." I jumped over the side of the bridge and landed softly on the road beneath and came face to face with Clint grouping scared tourists and city locals together and pointing them in the direction of the police cordon Steve had instructed. He left them and approached me tentatively pulling the blanket away to expose the terrified face of the young child who now had her chubby fist wrapped around my necklace.
"Good God." Clint murmured as we walked over to the crowd of people. Before we needed to speak, a middle-aged woman stepped forward and held out her arms.
"I'm a foster mum. I can help." I exchanged a sceptical glance with Clint but we both knew neither of us had a better option and so I untangled the infant from my arms but she immediately began to cry again and her grip around my necklace only tightened. As a large explosion sounded from behind me and Clint ran in the direction of it with his bow and arrow armed, I quickly unclipped the chain without a second thought and handed the child to the woman and followed in Clint's footsteps.
We both pulled ourselves back up onto the bridge and immediately were surrounded by Chitauri soldiers. Nat and Steve were already firing on all cylinders and as soon as the aliens spotted me I was too. I slipped down into a fighting stance as one alien singled me out, clenching both my hands into tight fists I heard the mechanism on my hand begin to work but before I could use it the alien was struck by a fork of lightning and collapsed to the road, the acrid smell of its burning skin making my eyes water.
I rose back up onto my feet, Thor stood tall and we were all given a few precious moments to regroup and catch our breath. I found myself glancing over the edge of the bridge looking for the group of civilians but they had all ran for cover. Behind me, I could hear Steve talking but my attention was suddenly pulled to the sound of an engine. My eyebrows furrowed as I looked over my shoulder and saw Bruce weaving in and out of the carnage that surrounded us on an incredibly unstable looking bike. The engine eventually died and he cautiously approached us, scanning each of our faces trying to get a read on our expressions.
"Well, this is horrible." He commented to try and break the ice. I found myself nodding slightly in agreement. For all the things I'd been trained for in the Red Room, this was never covered. Never, had I thought I would fight beings from another world. I was supposed to be the scariest thing my targets would encounter, that way I could never be scared. But fear was simmering away inside of me and it was an unfamiliar and unwelcome sensation. Not only for an alien invasion but to the people behind me. Assassins worked alone, it was easier that way. If you worked with people, eventually you would start to feel for them, whether it be sympathy or apathy and I knew well enough that emotions form attachments and attachments make you weak.
I was pulled from my thoughts as Tony flew towards us with a massive alien in tow, snarling and roaring as it chased after him. Buildings fell as it collided with the corners and found myself hoping that there were no civilians inside. Bruce turned away from us and within moments he was once again transformed. One hit was all it took to slow the monster and a final shot from Tony sealed its fate. I quickly grappled over the edge of the bridge as the beast exploded and fell over the bridge railing, meters from where I hung. Chunks of metal armour combined with flesh fell onto the street and I heard the screeches of the other, smaller foot soldiers as I jumped back up over the edge of the bridge and re-joined everyone else. I quickly made sure my mechanism was still working and switched out a magazine in my weapon before our attention was once again pulled to the sky as two more of the creatures we had just killed, swam through the air and down into the skyline of New York.
Steve snapped into his role almost like it was a natural reflex, quickly explaining where he wanted everyone to be before turning to Natasha and me.
"We keep the fighting here, low to the ground and away from civilians." Natasha and I nodded in agreement as several soldiers began advancing towards us and Steve.
"Two and two?" She asked. I clenched my hands into fists and felt the venom swirl around the mechanism on my knuckles.
"Saving the last one for me?" Steve asked rhetorically as he adjusted the grip on his shield.
I chuckled as the alien soldiers raised their weapons and instantly all my attention was on them. I ran straight for the one with the largest gun and disarmed it with a swift snap on its arm. I ripped the weapon from its grip and it screeched in pain as it fumbled for its secondary weapon but I quickly attacked it with a kick to the chest. It fell backward and went still as I spun on my heel and pulled my gun from its holster, quickly planting a bullet in the head of the other one. Throwing a casual glance at them both to make sure they were dead, my attention was distracted as I heard Natasha fire an alien weapon at one of them, sending it flying into the side of a car wreck. Steve tossed his own target aside as we took a few seconds to catch our breath.
"This means nothing if we can't close that portal," Natasha stated between breaths, gripping tightly onto the staff of the Chitauri weapon.
"You'll need a ride," Steve stated as more soldiers dropped onto the road and began to advance towards us. Natasha stood to her feet properly and tossed me the weapon.
"I've got a ride. My turn to fly." She smirked as I examined the foreign gun.
"I'll shoot." I raised the gun to my shoulder as Steve threw Natasha upwards into the path of a Chitauri cruiser within seconds of her being gone Steve and I were surrounded once again.
"I count fifteen." He stated. "How many can you take?" I smiled behind his back.
"You know, Captain. I find it easier to count them once they're dead. Easier to know how many you've killed than have to accept that some might have gotten away." I once again took hold of both my firearms and fired simultaneously.
"One, two…" I began as I ran into the group that was headed my way. As I fought with them I heard Steve shouting back numbers.
"…three, four." As one bent low, trying to aim for my abdomen, I hoisted myself up onto its shoulders and dragged my knife across its throat.
"Five." I jumped down as it collapsed onto the ground, I heard the jets from Tony's suit as he landed and shot a beam at Steve's shield, the Vibranium deflecting the energy onto the surrounding soldiers before he took off again.
"I believe that's six through eleven taken care of." I could hear the sass in his voice and I smirked before I was quickly taken off my feet, I squirmed as a Chitauri soldier kept its foot on my back, one rat at me from the left but I quickly pulled the trigger of my gun that I had kept a firm grip on. The other soldier briefly shifted its weight and I used the opportunity to spin round onto my back as it leaned down to within inches of my face. The stink of its breath brought tears to my eyes as I snarled and reached for my knife before plunging it into the beast's chest and ripped it downwards. It's grip on me instantly faltered as it staggered backward, clutching at the uncontrollable wound. I rolled out from underneath it and curled my hand into a fist, intent on breaking its neck with a punch to the back of the head. Crouched low to the ground, I waited for it to turn away, coherent thought had long since left its head. As the space between its helmet and body armour came into view I forced myself onto the balls of my feet, pressed the button in the palm of my hand and plunged my fist into the flesh of its neck. It instantly froze and I stepped away before it exploded into a puddle of dissolving flesh that almost brought on a bought of vomiting.
"twelve and thirteen." I choked out as Steve's voice overlapped mine.
"fourteen…fifteen." He finished. There were a few seconds of silence as I stared down at the remains of the alien and then examined my mechanism. The venom it contained was obtained from the Deathstalker Scorpion and in normal animals and humans, it mainly caused paralysis. Sometimes death was also an unfortunate side effect but anyone who needed to be subdued with my venom would have ended up that way regardless.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Steve asked as he looked over my shoulder at the smouldering puddle on the road. I shrugged casually as I turned my back on it.
"It's surprising. But effective none the less, and minimal effort is required so it's a win, win for me." He nodded as we heard Clint's voice come over the coms.
"A bank on 42nd. They've cornered a lot of civilians." Steve nodded before turning to me.
"You got this?" He questioned as more soldiers crawled up over the edge of the bridge. I smirked and cracked my knuckles.
"Yeah, I'm good. You go."
I emptied both magazines form my guns before I was within reaching distance of the soldiers. They'd been brought down to a manageable number by the time I was in hand to hand combat. They were clumsy at best and I was able to easily slip in between their flailing limbs to slice through arteries and disarm them all. By the time I was back on my feet, loose strands of hair were sticking to my face, my mouth was dry and I was surrounded by dead aliens. I wiped my knife against the leg of my suit and slipped it back into its holder.
A sudden explosion from the bank Steve had run in to caught my attention but my concern was settled once I saw he was still on his feet. I jumped over the edge of the bridge, scooped up a Chitauri gun from the road and ran in his direction, ignoring the police and military personnel who were escorting the hostages out of the burning building.
I was once again engaged in combat by the time I reached Steve and the exhaustion was beginning to show. I couldn't stop my mind from wandering to where my body hurt the most, I was covered in mild burns, small cuts, and bruises, but my main concern was the pain in my chest every time I tried to breathe in too deeply. As I pressed a hand over my heart, feeling for any pain I spotted a soldier running towards me in the window of a car. I instinctively ducked as Thor landed next to it and struck it with his hammer. I got back to my feet, sighed and then winced in pain.
"Thanks." He nodded politely as he pulled Steve to his feet, the exhaustion was clear on his face as well. I looked up to the wormhole and saw yet more aliens flying through and down above the city. I heard another alien screech as it ran towards me and I suddenly found myself overcome with rage. I curled my hands into a fist once again and aimed a punch directly at its jaw. I pressed the button in my palm and as my hand made contact it exploded the same as the other had. I was instantly covered in chunks of dead alien and was on my knees fighting back the waves of nausea as Natasha's voice rang in my earpiece.
"Guys. I can close it."
"Do it," Steve answered instantly.
"No." Tony interrupted. "We've got a nuke coming in…and I know the perfect place to put it." Thor and I exchanged looks as Tony flew past us overhead, heading straight for Stark Tower. At the last second, he angled upwards and vanished into the sky. Seconds stretched into minutes as we waited for him to come back through. Suddenly the aliens surrounding us collapsed and the lights that had adorned their armour faded. At the same time, another of the huge monsters that swam through the sky stopped as if it had hit a wall and flipped over itself, crashing into the top of an apartment building. My gaze was pulled away from the falling invaders as the beam from the top of Stark tower vanished and the wormhole began to close. At the last moment, Tony fell through and began to fall towards us.
"He's not flying, his suits not on," I said as panic set in, Thor began to spin his hammer before Hulk managed to catch Tony and the pair fell onto the road in front of us. Thor, Steve and I rushed to the lifeless suit as an aura of calm settled over us. Steve pulled off the face mask and rested a hand on his chest. The normal light was gone and after a few moments, grief was emanating from both Thor and Steve. I heard myself sigh, though I wasn't sure what emotion it was attached to if any at all. Suddenly Hulk roared and Tony was awake again.
"What the hell. What happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me." He paused for a moment. "What is that smell?" Steve, Thor, and Hulk looked at me.
"Elena," Steve said with a smirk. I pouted as I spotted Hulk wander to a fire hydrant. He raised a fist with a smirk of his own.
"Don't you dar…" I was cut off as a powerful stream of water hit me and took me off my feet. I gave up resisting and laid on the road as the freezing water washed me clean. By the time the pressure had subsided Natasha and Clint were back with us, both laughing at me as I got to my feet.
"I want to laugh, but I gotta say. The whole wet cat suit look, it's working for me." Tony said and I couldn't help but smile as incoming sirens were heard a few blocks away.
"Come on," Natasha said, draping an arm over my shoulder. "Stark wants Shawarma."
"What?" I questioned as we all began to wearily follow Tony, who ironically appeared to have the most energy.
"I don't know what it is. But given that I saw space about five minutes ago, I wanna try new things and Shawarma is top of that list right now."
I was too tired to argue and at the mention of food, my stomach growled in anticipation.
I tugged at the wet fabric that clung to my skin. The Shawarma was delicious but no one had said it, everyone just chewed silently on their own food. Not one word was shared between any of us, Bruce was draped under a blanket that the owner had found under the counter, it didn't look particularly clean but he had been grateful for it none the less. My jaw felt heavy as I fought back another yawn. Never, had I wanted to see the inside of my tiny room on that helicarrier as much as I did then.
The next day.
New York is a fascinating city. It's ability to bounce back after extreme attacks threatening its freedom and liberty. It did it in 2001 after their first terror attack and it was doing it again now. The drive from Stark Tower to this inconspicuous bridge in Central park had been a brief one, and yet so much had still happened. I had driven alone, in a sleek Audi, the only one not to have been ruined in Tony's garage and along the way, I had seen the city come together. People were painting murals on the remains of destroyed buildings. Tony's face and Steve's shield were everywhere, the symbols of our group and what we had done but the one that caught my attention the most was a little girl with bright red hair, her face dusted with freckles. She was wearing all black, when she ran into a group of boys playing, one who had his face painted green, they were quick to let her join in with their game.
Everyone else was already on the bridge when I got there. Loki was in a mask to prevent him from speaking and Thor held the Tesseract in hand.
"Nice of you to grace us with your presence." Tony quipped sarcastically as we encircled the two Gods.
"You're taking it?" I questioned Thor.
"It's for the best. The Tesseract holds too much power for mankind. Some God's can't even control it." I nodded in agreement as Loki rolled his eyes but remained silent. We each stood back as Thor and Loki were dissolved in blue light and pulled towards the sky, leaving us facing one another. Tony broke the silence as he clapped his hands together.
"Ready, Doc? I've got a lot of wreckage and rebuilding to get done." Bruce nodded as Natasha retrieved his bag out of the back of a marked SHIELD car. He and Tony got into a burgundy convertible and were the first two to leave with Natasha and Clint following behind in their own car.
"What will you do now?" Steve asked as I opened the door to my own car. I shrugged my shoulders and I leaned on the roof.
"I don't know, try and find an apartment I guess. Not here though, too many people know my face. That's never good for someone like me." I smirked.
"The whole world knows our faces now, Elena. There's no hiding in the shadows anymore." He approached his motorcycle before turning back to me. "What do you mean someone like you? You're a hero, Elena. There's nothing else to it." He started his motorcycle and had pulled away before I could argue his point but as I started the engine to my own car, I found that I didn't really want to. Was I really content to accept the new label being an Avenger had given me? It seemed that I didn't really have a choice.
As I left New York, I still wasn't sure where I was going but I felt a sense of calm that I hadn't recognized for years. I had spent years outrunning SHIELD to only go and work for them, and the trust had never been truly concrete, it still wasn't now, but if anything was for certain it was that our planet is being noticed and we're the only ones who can keep it safe.
I pulled onto the highway and set the GPS for Washington D.C.
After all, there was always going to be another mission.