Chapter 10

"Please?" Lessa begged Tony hours later when the sun was up. They were in the kitchen while Tony took the advantage of no one up to pour a bowl of cereal."That's why I came back here a second time so I could ask you this."

Tony scoffed. "How? By screaming?"

Lessa crossed her arms. "It did catch your attention, didn't it?"

"Touche." He strolled over, bowl in hand, to the table and sat down. Normally he would eat in his workshop, but since Lessa was there now he sat at the table that was meant to be eaten at. The table was never used since the team sat in the lounge to eat or in the lab or workshop. Lessa followed him and sat down, staring at him for an answer. As Tony ate his cereal, he glanced up and found her expression still the same: wide eyed, eyebrows up, and waiting. He set down his spoon. "Fine. But no promises."

"Really?" She asked, holding her hands together. She jumped up from her seat and hugged him, catching him off guard and nearly choking on his cereal. "Thank you! Thank you!" She ran off back towards her room still changing.

Later during the day, she met the other two Avengers that currently resided in the tower. Natasha and Steve were only staying there for a short while before heading back to D.C. but Lessa was excited to have them there. She couldn't wait to tell Emily about meeting them.

Lessa didn't know what to think of Natasha. She was calm and collected, doesn't talk much except for the jokes that she would crack at the others, sending them either laughing or pale in embarrassment. For being the Black Widow, she was exactly what Lessa expected but didn't expect at the same time. She loved her.

Steve on the other hand, was amusing. The amusing part about him was watching him get annoyed by the jokes Clint, Natasha, and Tony would throw around about his age and slow progression of understanding pop culture references. He was nice to Lessa when they met, but she felt cautious about his character from how good he seemed. Lessa was put off by how respectable and nice he was all the time. Luckily for her, she didn't know how he was while in a battle when giving off orders.

Tony also mentioned Pepper, his current girlfriend and former assistant who now ran Stark Industries. She was busy attending meetings and working for her to stop by the tower for a meetup. Lessa was disappointing when told that, but Tony's best friend Rhodey stopped by the tower for a quick second.

The group spent the next night in the lounge, talking and joking around while eating take-out Clint and Bruce got. Lessa loved hearing all of the Avengers' stories, but she found them not peeping a word about the alien attack. Halfway through dinner, she brought it up.

"What about the attack that happened here a few months ago? How did that all start?"

The Avengers fell silent. Tony paled, clenching his fists as he stared off, Bruce looked down at his food, eating normally as if he hadn't heard the question, Clint had a scowled, Natasha frowned, and Steve took a deep breath. Lessa looked at each of them, waiting for someone to speak, but by their faces it looked like they were re-experiencing their parts of that time. She regretted the question.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that. We can change the subject," She quickly said, biting the inside of her cheek.

Steve shook his head. "No, it's alright. It's just...the attack is just a touchy subject right now." He gave her a small smile of reassurance, but Lessa didn't feel reassured.

"Oh okay." She sat on the floor right up to one of the coffee tables, playing with her food in the Styrofoam container. She never thought the battle affected anyone that bad, much to her ignorance. Of course the attack affected the Avengers. They were right in the middle of it all, trying to save the city. She just didn't realize how much, assuming it was just usual for them to go through something like that.

Looking up from her food, at the entrance to the elevator, something moved in the corner of her eyes. Her eyes flickered over to catch what it was, but nothing was there. She felt uncomfortable sitting there in the middle of the silent room. Lessa cleared her throat. "I'm going to go to bed." She closed the container, scurrying out of the room while throwing her leftover food in the trash on the way out.

She bolted down the hall and to her room, slamming the door shut. Her lungs took in air and released it at a fast pace that Lessa couldn't control. Lessa pressed her back to the door and slid down to the ground and closed her eyes. There was so much regret built up in her that she didn't know what to do. Should she scream? Cry? Punch a pillow?

Instead of doing anything she thought of, Lessa sat on her bed for the time being, watching the city. Her eyes wouldn't stay closed long enough for her to fall asleep so she maintained her current position, legs pulled up to her chest with her chin resting on her knees for an hour or two.

The scene in the lounge wouldn't leave her mind. She hated herself for even asking the question. How humiliating it was to see their broken expressions over the memories that she couldn't see. Whatever went behind the scenes must have not been the best. She still debated on punching something or not.

The door opened, and Natasha emerged through it. Lessa blinked at the assassin who sat at the end of her bed. "I'm sorry," Lessa whispered to her.

Natasha twisted her lips into a small small. "While I accept your apology, it wasn't your fault. No one has brought up what happened in a while."

They both sat, furthering the silence from a few hours earlier. Lessa stretched out her legs and looked at Natasha. "What happened?"

Natasha seemed hesitant at first to answer, but she did. "You know who Thor is, right?" Lessa nodded. "His brother, Loki, came here for... a source of power that S.H.I.E.L.D. was tampering with. He stole it, planning to recreate the portal he first came through with. Loki wanted world dominance. He believed us humans were weak and lost in need of a ruler. The Avengers was created as a way to stop him. So S.H.I.E.L.D. rallied up Earth's mightiest heroes to form the team.

Loki manipulated us to set us apart from each other, pitting us against one another after we captured him. He escaped and opened the portal that lead his army to attack. We won and Loki was brought back to his home world to be punished for his crimes."

Lessa stared at Natasha in awe. "That explains a lot. Loki? Thor? Aren't they gods from Norse Mythology?"

"Thor says they, the Asgardians, don't believe themselves to be gods but they basically are. It's all real."

Grinning, Lessa scooted forward on the bed so she was sitting next to the assassin. "My friend Emily thinks you guys are amazing. She believes in your ability to protect the world. Actually, she kind of worships you. I'm sure she is hiding a shrine somewhere dedicated to the Avengers."

"I'm glad someone believes in us," Natasha replied softly, peering down at the small girl.

"Yeah, especially after all the scrutiny you got from the media. But they are idiots anyways. You are heros." Lessa wanted to ask about her mom. The question nagged at her, but she kept silent, playing with her thumbs.

Natasha stood up after a moment or two, smoothing down her blouse. "It's late and you should get some sleep. See you in the morning." Winking, she walked out and shut the door.

The Avengers didn't believe in themselves from how Natasha spoke. Half of the media deemed them heroes, the other half villains. Lessa thought they were heroes. Her mother and the people she worked for were the villains.

Hey, everyone! I am almost done with writing this story, but I feel like it's going to have an abrupt ending that will make you think, "What the heck?" There are many different ways this could end, but since I have a lot of other projects going on, I think I might cut this short and end in the way I felt it would go as the story moves swiftly towards the Winter Soldier. We'll see!