AN: I'm not picking favorites when put someone's user name and give a comment back- I promise! It's just that particular person said something in their review that made me smile, try harder, or just feel amazing about the writing I've just done. Just thought I would clear that up. :o)

Enjoy

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"Tell me…please tell me you didn't lead off with that joke."

Deacon flashed his gorgeous white teeth at me and wiggled his eyebrows. He was such a playboy, but once he found a woman he adored…he was a straight and narrow kinda guy, "I did. She laughed and then introduced me to her husband."

"Hah. See…I told you. You should just keep your appendages to yourself." I joked as I kicked sand up at him. We were standing guard at a building that held four US graduate students doing a tour of the city for some paper. They came over seas into a hostel territory just to interview a professor. They were crazy. I was being paid to be here and I didn't even want to be here.

"That's just a fraction of what happened. You should come out with us more. We might be able to finally find you a man 'M."

"I'll stick with my gun…" I said wondering off as I spotted movement on a building a hundred and about a hundred yards away. Looking through the scope of my gun I saw them staring straight at us.

"What is it?" Deacon asked quietly as he looked up and down the street trying to hold a sense of calm with the other members of our team.

"Three men, due northeast, top brown building. Six o'clock. Suspicious?"

Before he could look through his scope, we were flying through the air. I landed against the Humvee, helmet smacking the metal hard. My ears rang loudly. Dirt and smoke filled my vision. My chest ached and my left arm tingled. I looked down seeing red cover my arm, shrapnel more than likely. I haven't felt like this since that time when I was eight. I decided that I could fly off the house. Surprise, surprise…I didn't fly. Deacon's hands were on my face, my vision focused on two green orbs, "Marcy, you with me? You with me 'M?"

I nodded dumbly as he pulled me to my feet, "Yea…yea."

"We need to check the area. Hooper and Gerstein are down. Marshall is calling base. You're with me. Got it?"

There was a deep gash on the right side of his face. The red looked odd against the beige colored dirt caked on his face. I felt my vision swim for a few seconds before he began pulling me toward the half standing house. I blinked several times throwing my gun up in front of my face. Focus Marcy. Deacon was expecting me to cover him and I had a damn job to do. No point in being a sissy now.

I knelt down and checked the pulse of two females from the University. They were gone. I shook my head at Deacon and he led on. Gun fire erupted and I dodged behind a piece of a fallen wall. I had about three and half foot of coverage…in each direction. I'm going to die. I heard my name being called, "Where's it coming from!"

Deacon fired back twice and ducked behind the fallen concrete wall, "Down the street."

I lifted my gaze over the top and found myself dodging a shower of gunfire again. I felt a sting pierce my shoulder, "Fuck. Fuck."

Deacon met my eyes. I held on to my left shoulder which was already bleeding from the shrapnel. Now I had a bullet in there too. Perfect, what a perfect fuckin' birthday this was. He pushed his mic, "Marshall, do you copy?"

"This is not how I wanted to spend my birthday 'D." I squeezed my shoulder harder, blood oozed out. "Not at all."

"I have a bottle of Jack we will split. We will have the best party you've ever imagined 'M." He face scrunched together, "Marshall, do you copy?"

"Are you hitting on me? 'Cause I don't fall for your lines. You should know that by now." I said with a bitter laugh.

"I keep trying though." He pushed the button once more, "Marshall! We are fucked sitting here! Do you copy?"

Gunfire showered around us again and I caught a stray bullet. I cried out as fire crept threw my left thigh. I'm going to die. I swallowed dryly, "I'll cover you, you run to the Humvee."

"Shit no. I'm pulling rank. You get that ass of yours up and get to the Humvee James." I looked at him, tears welling up in my eyes. I'm going to die. Deacon's bright green eyes smiled at me as he nodded in the direction of the Humvee. "I'll be right behind you gorgeous."

No, you won't.

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We were called out sometime during the night. I couldn't exactly tell you the time, but when I left it was pitch black outside, and my hair was still wet from the shower I had taken before bed. It was now a wavy frizzy mess of a ponytail. We were just outside of Rome at a small village that was under attack by none other than Crystal himself. Luckily, our timing was better than it had been before. We were in the stages of evacuating people. Each of us was given different sections of the village. There was still no sign of Crystal- he was assumed to be gone, but we were told to be watchful. I wasn't for sure how long we had been here, but it was long enough for the sun to come up. Stark had developed some type of non lethal gas that extinguished the fires, but it was taking forever. We had quite a few SHIELD agents that were helping with the process. Our biggest concern was civilians right now. Evacuating people had my mind doing mini flashbacks of my time overseas…I didn't like it. Most of the memories of evacuating people involved memories of Deacon…just before his death.

Steve or Captain, as I was trying to call him out in field, was heading my way. We were in a large building that people had taken refuge in. If this place collapsed, it would be like a slaughter house. The building was massive, complete stone and brick, three floors, and not to mention at least a few hundred years old. It was probably on its last leg and right now, I could feel it shaking beneath my feet. "Priest says that's the last of the survivors."

"Are we taking his word for it?" I asked wiping the sweat off my forehead. The room was beginning to fill up with smoke. I could feel the heat from the flames outside. The trees surrounding the villages were burnt to ash, homes destroyed, streets mangled by the fire bombs. It was a war zone. I swallowed dryly as I saw the flame snake up the concrete rock. The blue flame that Crystal constructed didn't need anything to burn…it just spread and spread…until everything was gone. Water worked, but not fast enough. Shipments full of fire extinguishers were flew in and then also Stark's Fire Be Gone as he so creatively named it worked the best.

"Are you not?" Steve said as he shifted his shield to his left arm. Shrugging I moved toward the stairs and he grabbed my wrist. "It could be dangerous Marcy. The foundation is not stable. We need to get out."

"Just doing my job Cap." I winked and he scowled. He shook his head and let my wrist go without a word. "I'll be back before you know it. I think Stark needs help with the gas canisters though, so maybe go help him. I'll be fine…Captain."

He smirked, "Giving me orders now Sergeant?"

"Of course not Cap…just suggesting," I cocked my eyebrow as I laid my hand flat on his chest. We shouldn't be flirting here. We had a mission to do. His eyes flickered to my lips and then back up to my eyes. His blue eyes seemed to dance with reflections of the blue flames. I found it…incredibly appealing.

He tugged on my ponytail and gave a swift nod. His demeanor returned as if he had read my mind, "Five minutes. Hurry your butt up."

"Oh…you said butt. That was almost…bossy." I jogged off toward the side stairs. Glancing back I saw the grin that plastered on his face as he turned shaking his head. I turned my attention to the task at hand…clearing the building. I wasn't sure if I was going to take a regular Joe's word for it…even if he was a Priest. I rounded the top of the stairs, the smoke instantly became thicker. I squinted as I covered my mouth the thick scarf like material that was around my neck. It made it slightly easier to breathe. The blue light was faint, but I could make it out through the haze. I stepped closer and felt my heart sink. Seven canisters of the blue liquid were hooked up about a billion ways to the device.

"Oh God…" I backed away slowly seeing the timer counting down from five minutes. I rushed to the window seeing all of the aircraft carriers and military vehicles loading people. There were still about five hundred people that were still down there. We couldn't clear that much in time. The effects would be disastrous. Clint was on the building next to us keeping lookout. He needed to vacate or he would surely be injured in the blast. "Hawkeye, you there?"

"Flame? Where are you? I'm not seeing you with Cap."

"Building to your right, listen. There is a huge ass fire bomb up here set for four minutes. Clear as many as you can and leave. You will be in the blast range, so you need to leave. Now!" I felt my heart quicken at the thought of Deacon. Clint and Deacon were so much alike. I'll be damned if they were going to die the same way.

"What? Are you there with it…right now?" He was moving toward the edge about to repel off.

"Yes. I think I can absorb some of the energy. Make it smaller. We can't clear all of these people in time from the street." I headed back to the fire bomb and stared at it for a moment. What in the hell was I doing?

"Negative, Flame. Evacuate the building." Clint's stern voice yelled through my earpiece. I ignored it as I flipped open the panel. The panel was a mess of wires and tubes running directly to the timer. I sighed and mumbled, "Okay…'D…how in the hell do you do this?"

"Marcy! Don't fuckin' touch it! Get out!" Clint yelled once more. I unhooked the first tube that lead to the first canister. The blue liquid poured to the floor and I proceeded to unhook the second tube. I was already made of this stuff…could I really die from it? Honestly though, this was probably the worst time in the world to be testing this theory.

"Marcy, that's a copy of the negative. You are gonna blow yourself to bits," Stark so sweetly put it.

I unhooked the third tube, only four more to go. I glanced around the blue liquid running over the flooring. It was seeping into the wood flooring. This place would be one humungous fire ball when blown. It would be somewhat contained. "Stark, we are going to need as much of that gas stuff as you can get your hands on. When this place blows…it's going to be a huge fire ball."

"Copy that."

"Tell Cap that he needs to get as many people as he can out of here," I heard Natasha say in the background. I unhooked the seventh tube and swallowed. I still wasn't sure how I was going to absorb this. I gnawed on my lip. Two minutes left. I'm going to die.

"Sergeant, you get your ass down here and in cover. Do you read me?" I smiled at the voice. Steve was showing some rank and balls.

"You said ass Steve…I'm proud of you."

"Marcy…please." I heard Steve plead. Footsteps flooded my hearing as they pounded up the wood stairs heavily. I turned to see the priest holding something in his hand, "You need to vacate the premises Sir! There's a bomb…"

Déjà vu. That's what I would call the feeling of being thrown in the air and smacking the wall hard. I felt my vision swim as I blinked. I started to panic. I felt my heart race, for a moment, I thought was back in the house with Deacon. He was yelling something. I could see him, blood running down the side of his face, green eyes ablaze with intensity, 'Go Marcy!' The vision disappeared and I shook my head as I pushed myself off the ground. The Priest looked momentarily shocked. He fired the gun at me again, this time I saw the blue fire ball shoot from it. I lifted my hand and caught it. I felt my body ache as I struggled to stand, "You can walk away…right now."

"Marcy. What was that?" Steve was in my ear again. Clint was yelling something I couldn't understand. How much time was left? The building was about to explode. I needed to get out of here. I stumbled forward and the man shot another fire ball and I caught it without a problem. His eyes were wide as he fell to his knees. The flames were shooting up through my arm now and I extinguished the fire.

"We need to get out of here, now!" I tried pulling him with me and he shoved me away. I stumbled back and realized how weak I was.

"No! For Crystal." He closed his eyes and pushed the controller in his hand. I didn't have time to think, I didn't have time to feel, I didn't have time to scream. I was being thrown back. I felt airborne for what seemed like hours until finally my descent began. I hit several things on my way down through the rubble…several hard things. I hit the ground with a hard thud and a moan before I finally covered my head feeling pieces of brick and concrete shower around me. Blackness was all I could see now. I could hear Deacon's voice somewhere in the distance, 'I'll be right behind you gorgeous.'

I wasn't sure how long I had been out, but when I came to- people were shouting. There was a rumble in the back ground that I couldn't make out and I felt…wet. Surely I didn't piss myself…how embarrassing would that be? I tried to move, but no such luck. My eyes focused on the light coming through the cracks. I was buried…alive. I felt my heart begin to race and my fingers began to tingle. What if there isn't anyone left to dig me out? No, no, no, no, no. No flame…No flame…No flame. I repeated this over and over in my head.

"Marcy? Marcy? I can hear her! She's talking! She's awake!" Natasha yelled. I hadn't realized I was saying anything, guess I hit my head harder than I thought. I could barely hear her, she sounded so far away. "We are going to get you out of there okay? You have half a building on you. You're lucky I tell you."

I shifted a bit and looked at my surroundings, from what I could tell in the light…everything was blue. I moved my eyes around my small compartment…my coffin. I swallowed nervously. This place was covered with blue fuel. If the fire were to reach here…none of them would make it.

"Is the fire still going?" Yelling I found my voice extremely hoarse and my throat very dry. I would chop off my toe for bottle of water.

"Yes. We have about fifteen minutes to get you out." Natasha hollered again. They must all be working on digging me out.

"No! You have to go! This place is filled with that blue liquid…once it ignites…its all gonna go." My voice started out strong, but ended in a fit of violent coughs. I looked down at my hand and saw nothing but blood. Oh boy…

"We're almost there, hang on!" I heard Stark yell from somewhere. The light broke way and I found the top half of my body uncovered. My legs were still under concrete. I blinked trying to see, the smoke was incredibly thick. I coughed slightly and my vision focused on someone's face. My eyes widened for a moment, was I going crazy?

"Deacon?"

My vision cleared and Clint was staring back at me with a perplexed frown, "You with me?"

I blinked again. I was confused, disoriented, hallucinating. No, no I don't believe I'm with you. "Is everyone okay?"

He nodded and looked around for about five seconds, "You saved a lot of people Marc'. A lot. Injuries?"

I shifted my gaze around the hole I was in trying to see if I was missing any body parts. My side throbbed, "I think I have some broken ribs, I can't feel my left leg. My head hurts."

"I bet," he said as he looked away and motioned for something. He looked back down and I felt my eyes drift, "You gotta stay awake- you know the drill."

"You don't have that authority to tell me what to do Barton." I said with a smirk. My body felt heavy, heat shot up through my side, my head began to tingle from the pain.

"I do." My eyes shot open at the voice. Steve was standing beside Clint. His shield was missing, mask was gone, and black streaks covered his face. He definitely looked like he had seen better days. "When you said you were going to clear the building…I wasn't expecting this."

I smiled, "You apparently have a lot to learn about me."

"That I do," he said softly.

Stark called out his name and I was left with Clint. He gave me a swift nod and he took off after Steve. Natasha reappeared, "Stark, Thor, and Cap are working to get you out of there. Damn, you even have Clint carrying rocks. He's not really a laborer, you know?"

"How many people?"

"A few," she said vaguely. The wind picked up and she glanced over my head. I could feel the heat nearing. My body was sensing it. I tried to sit up and only succeeded half way. My legs were still trapped. "You're fine Marcy...we have enough time."

"Bullshit, you lied…I can feel it. It's coming up through the bottom of the rubble Nat. You need to get everyone out of here. I don't burn. Fireproof remember? I'll be fine."

Her eyes became shiny briefly and she shook her head. "We are a team Marcy. We stay."

The weight on my legs was being lifted just as I felt flames start to burn around my face. Natasha's eyes were wide as she backed away. The blue flame caught fast and before I knew it, I was full fire ball mode. Thor heaved the last piece off and suddenly I was met with a burst of cold air. Stark was hitting me with the gas in order to put the flames out. I gasped for air. This stuff wasn't supposed to be lethal to normal people. I wasn't normal. I tried holding my hands up to blast him, but I couldn't. No! Stop! The strength was gone. I felt myself drifting as I gasped. Thor shoved Stark away and the next thing I knew before I passed out…nothing. I wondered if this was how Deacon felt.

Empty. Alone. Dark.

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Hydra350- Wouldn't that be something? If Hawkeye was actually 'watching'? hmmm

Wishfulhamadryad- I'm having an issue choosing which guy. Jeez…how could anyone? *wink*

Sweetielv- Thank you so much. I'm glad you find the characters amazing. I pride myself on writing realistic characters.

Brittwitt16- I'll be honest with you – I was nervous too! You have this guy from the 1940's who doesn't know how to talk to women, he's not used to 'our' culture, or how independent today's women are in general. I was worried about writing him too bold…too shy. But I'm trying to find a happy medium between the two. I think Marcy pulls him out of his shell.

ElleOL- Flashbacks are hard to write and hard to read. I feel the same way. If it hasn't captured my attention within the first 3-4 sentences…I skip it. I took a creative writing class and this was one of the first things that they taught me. If you find it boring to write…then erase it and start over. I'm so glad I capture your attention and hold it. *wink* LOVE- LOVE- LOVE your icon by the way.

Dark Mind of the American Teen- Woohooo! I have names now! Clarcy or Meve! :o)

Whitwhit1893- I hope you are seeing more depth now to the characters. :o) enjoy.

Reviews are love!

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Disclaimer: I own nothing…at all.

Marcy James is my own creation.