A/N: Thanks again to everyone for the reviews! The next update may take a little while, what with finals going on and such. But trust me, the next few chapters will be worth the wait. ;) Hail hydra.
"When the star dies, its eye closes; tired of watching, it flies back to its first bright dream."
~Dejan Stojanovic
As it got nearer to the end of her shift, Avery found herself constantly checking her watch. Time was dragging on. The minute the clock struck two, she was out the door. Avery especially wanted to avoid any prying questions from Carmen about their "rescuer"- with the frazzled state she was now in, she didn't trust herself to keep quiet. She walked- almost ran- right by her friend without making eye contact.
Now, not only had Avery had some close calls with an apparently legendary assassin, but she also came into direct contact with the exact man said assassin was trying to target. She was left standing smack in the middle of two terrifyingly powerful forces.
Avery now found herself incredibly anxious to get home.
Of course, the traffic in D.C. did not want to cooperate with her plans. She sat in gridlock for most of the journey home, per usual. But this time, she was having great difficulty keeping her fists from pounding the car horn.
Not long into the drive, her mind began to wander. At first, her thoughts were marked by giddy disbelief:
Holy crap. I just met Captain Friggin' America. Why didn't I ask for an autograph. This is not happening. Seriously, how did that even happen. What is going on. Ohhhh my gosh, if Carmen knew (here, she guffawed to herself)…
Soon, her dark imagination got the best of her, and her mind changed course to What if S.H.I.E.L.D. saw him talk to me? What if they show up at my door? What if...they're already at my house? What if they hurt mom and dad?!
Avery broke into a cold sweat at the last thought. All humor left her as her hands moistened on the steering wheel. In spite of herself, she imagined her dad as he walked in the door, just home from his business trip, having the wind knocked out of him by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She could see her parents tied up and gagged in a corner of the apartment, guns to their head, as her mom cried and her dad's eyes filled with terror. She could hear their faceless captor bring up a hand to shush them as she herself ran in-
Avery slammed on the breaks as the car in front of her stopped short. Her parents were all she had. No siblings, very few close friends, no extended family. She would never forgive herself if something happened to them. Avery didn't even have a plan of what to do if S.H.I.E.L.D. was in her house. In her mind, she imagined that she would offer herself up to go with them, and they would leave her parents alone. A thought at the back of her mind nagged that even that may not stop them from doing anything. Forcing herself to focus on her surroundings, she estimated that she was still about ten minutes from home.
She grit her teeth as she rode out the traffic.
When the road was finally clear, she stepped on the gas and drove as fast as she could without attracting the attention of a cop. Finally, she arrived at their apartment complex, already tensing to jump out of the car. She swung into the parking lot rather recklessly. On any other day, the faint smell of burning rubber would have startled her and prompted a meticulous check of her easily-compromised car. But today, she didn't even notice it.
Backpack slung over one shoulder, she sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, to the front door. Her hand shook as she groped around the pack for her keys. She struggled for a moment at the lock, blowing hair out of her flushed face, then threw the door open.
"Mom? Dad?" she yelled.
No answer. The silence was deafening. Avery felt tears coming on.
"MOM?! DAD?" She ran down the hall. Almost blinded by the welling up of her eyes, she ran smack into someone and screamed, readying herself to be gagged and dragged away-
"Woah," a familiar voice with a mocking lilt said, as two hands gripped her by the shoulders and steadied her. "Calm down."
Avery looked up to see her dad, brow a little twisted at her reaction. Upon recognizing him, she sputtered. It was suddenly apparent how much she had overreacted. A few tears spilled over. She told herself to get a grip.
Her dad, being the non-expressive man that he was, balked at his daughter's tears. "What happened?"
Avery tried to catch her breath. In her hesitation, her dad began spitting out questions. "Did someone hurt you?" She shook her head. His shoulders dropped a little, and he continued, "Did your car break down again?"
Avery choked out a laugh as she wiped her tears. "No."
Her mom must have heard the anxious notes in their voices from the kitchen, because she walked into the hall. "Is that Aver-"
When she caught sight of her daughter, her welcoming grin dropped into an expression of pure motherly concern. "Oh, honey, what happened?"
She ran over and hugged her. Avery's dad stood by helplessly and said, "That's what I asked, but she won't tell me!"
"Well, if you would give me a minute," Avery said in slight annoyance as she stepped back from her mom.
She took a minute just to look at her parents, standing unharmed in the hallway. Avery had gotten her height, pallid complexion and sense of humor from her dad, but otherwise, she was a visual carbon copy of her mom- they had the same dark, wild curly hair, the same dull, greenish eyes, even the same tendency toward asthma attacks.
She was so happy they were both safe, she almost started crying again. However, she opted to muffle her emotions for now. Her mind was a jumble of words as she quickly tried to think up an excuse for her tears.
"It's not really a big deal, I just- I mixed up a bunch of orders today, and Josh threatened to fire me."
It was only half a lie. While she had been extremely inefficient with her work after her surprise visit from "Captain Friggin' America," the manager, Josh, was actually a huge teddy bear. He couldn't even bring himself to fire the useless employees that screwed around in the back, let alone one of the two workers that ever actually worked.
Avery kept that information to herself, and attempted to look dismayed. "It was just... a really rough day."
Both her parents seemed a little relieved that nothing worse had happened. After allowing them to comfort her with a few hugs and words of reassurance, Avery excused herself.
"I think I'm gonna go upstairs. I kind of want to be alone for a little while."
Both of Avery's parents nodded, and her mom said, "Sure, baby, go ahead. We'll be down here if you need us." They watched with mild concern as she walked up the stairs. Avery had never been the biggest extrovert, so her parents were used to her verging-on-reclusive habits.
She made the journey upstairs to her room and flung her backpack on the bed. She then made her way over to the large window in the corner of the room, unlocked it, and flung it open. Taking care not to lose her footing, she stepped out onto the fire escape and scaled her way up the ladder on the side of the apartment. Anyone else would have questioned the integrity of the rusty steps, but to Avery, they were old friends; they offered an escape from the hectic life below out onto a roof where she could clear her head. Actually, she was grateful for the ladder's rusty appearance- it ensured that no one else in the apartment complex would ever dare to join her.
When she reached the top and pulled herself over, she straightened, paused, and stood for a moment. The view from the roof mostly consisted of the tops of other apartment buildings, interrupted here and there by a few trees, but her view of the sky was unobstructed and vast. She took a deep breath and strolled across the expanse of gray concrete, relishing the familiarity of her escape. The behemoth clouds above moved gently with the breeze, rolling slowly and lackadaisically by. The sounds of the city traffic below were faint. Cool, fresh air tickled Avery's face, and agitated her curls as she stood.
She gathered her sweatshirt around her, shivering in the middle of her little concrete island. The big, gray box of an air conditioning unit in the corner hummed quietly, further deafening Avery to the distant sounds of cars rushing in the streets below. She eased herself onto it and sat with crossed legs.
Avery watched the clouds drift by in total silence for hours. She pondered the insane situations she'd been in lately, wondering why in the world she suddenly found herself in something resembling a movie. This kind of stuff just didn't happen to normal people. And if it did, those normal people were the extras on the screen- collateral damage from some major catastrophic event the movie focused on. If there was anything Avery wanted to avoid, it was dying like a faceless extra, not even getting a chance to live her life before it was snuffed out.
If she kept her head down and consciously tried to avoid men in spandex uniforms or anything remotely out of the ordinary, she reasoned, everything would probably go back to the way it was. At this thought, her heart felt an echo of a pang. It seemed like her brief encounters with the two legends would be where her little adventure came to a screeching halt.
But maybe that was worth it if it guaranteed her safety. If she did become another faceless person in the crowd, she would never have to worry about getting strategically assassinated in a back alley because she presented a threat to S.H.I.E.L.D. Avery continued mulling over these thoughts, completely oblivious to the world around her.
It was not until the clouds were lined with the pastel pinks and purples of sunset that she realized how long she had been sitting. She suppressed the urge to yawn and straightened, attempting to rid her back of a newly formed kink, courtesy of her terrible posture.
As she stretched, it occurred to her that the hairs on the back of her neck were sticking up. It took her a moment to place the exact sensation, but then she realized- she was being watched.
It dawned on her that she may have had the feeling for at least the past hour, but had been so lost in her thoughts that her subconscious had tucked the feeling away. She gulped, and her stomach dropped to the ground. In all her years, no one but her had ever come up to the roof.
Avery sat completely still, listening.
All that she heard was the continued whisper of the breeze, which seemed to urge her to behold the roof's second occupant.
Finally, she summoned the courage to turn.
Not five feet away, the Winter Soldier stood motionless on the roof, watching.