"No she's my sist...arter Jay Moses. Her name is...oses...no, we always go hikin...this isn't new for us..."

[Y/N] could hear Jay's voice moving in and out of her head. She wasn't sure where he was or who he was talking to, but she knew he was near. As she came-to, she could tell that she was laying on something soft and comfortable. However, that didn't make her feel much better about the situation.

"My name is Steve Rog...ucky Barnes...Nat...omanoff..."

[Y/N] felt annoyed that she couldn't seem to hear full sentences. Her head hurt, but she didn't feel too out of it. She made a quick attempt to roll onto her side only to feel a dozen sharp pains in her legs.

"Who were those men out ther...why were they shooting at us?"

As her eyes fluttered open and a soft groan escaped her, [Y/N] was able to understand more of the conversation. She spotted a group of people sitting around a fireplace not far from where she was laying. She groaned again and heard Jay respond first.

"She's waking up!"

[Y/N] managed a small smile as her brother rushed to her side, kneeling beside where she lay. "Carter Jay, I don't think I've ever seen you so concerned," she whispered, her voice raspy.

"Do you guys have any water?" Jay's eyebrows seemed to be permanently furrowed in a hard line, his jaw still clenched like before.

[Y/N] reached out and patted his arm lovingly, giving him another little smile. "Don't be so upset, Jay," she croaked. She almost missed his annoying happy I-tell-puns-for-fun mood.

"I'm just so glad you're okay," he said, dismay in his voice. He carefully moved the odd strands of hair from her face and pressed his lips to her hairline.

"You're lucky to have a brother like him," a voice that [Y/N] hadn't heard yet chimed in. She turned her head to see who all the people were that surrounded the couch she was on.

"[Y/N], I know you must be very confused," a big, blonde man said. [Y/N] squinted at him and thought he was vaguely familiar. To his immediate left was a man that was familiar; the man with the shiny hand. On the blonde's right was the red-headed woman from the tree. Standing beyond those three was a group that [Y/N] had never seen before.

"I'm Steve," the blonde said. His voice was as strong as he looked. [Y/N] couldn't help but note that he was definitely Jay's type.

"I'm Natasha," the red-headed woman said, her voice much nicer now that she wasn't barking orders from a tree.

"This is Bucky," Steve continued, gesturing toward the shiny-handed man. "Behind me are Sam, Clint, Thor, Bruce, Wanda and T'Challa." As he introduced everyone, they each gave little waves or smiles to [Y/N].

"And I'm Tony." The voice came from the other end of the couch and caught [Y/N] by surprise. She turned and saw the ever-famous Tony Stark of Stark industries standing at the end of the couch, fiddling with his watch. He had a serious look on his face as he tapped the face of the watch, cocking his head as if something were wrong with it.

"That's...that's Tony...like..the Tony?" [Y/N]'s eyes widened as she turned to Jay and he smiled in response.

"Yeah, the one dad always talks about."

"I'm actually the leader of this rag-tag group here," Tony remarked, finally looking up from his watch. "We're the Avengers."

"How have you heard of Tony but not the Avengers?" The question came from someone in the group behind Steve, but [Y/N] didn't know who had asked.

"Our dad always talks about Tony. We don't actually know much except that he's super important," Jay said with an airy laugh. It wasn't meant to offend, [Y/N] knew that. But she also knew that it probably would. She'd listened to her dad's ramblings more often than Jay did and she knew that this Tony fellow was pretty snarky himself.

"So, you're the Avengers?" [Y/N] questioned, attempting to sit up. Jay helped her, putting one hand on her back and another taking her arm for support. "What do you guys do? It seems weird that someone as high brow as you would be leading a group of glorified park rangers."

Tony's hand flew up to his chest and he gave a dramatic gasp. "Hurtful."

"We aren't park rangers," Steve chimed in gently, moving into [Y/N]'s line of sight. "We're heros. We were only out here because...well, something bad was happening, but I'm sure you got that. We're here to help civilians like you make it out of these situations."

"Civilians," [Y/N] repeated quietly, a thoughtful look on her face. "So you're all military?"

This got a laugh from the guy Steve had introduced as Sam. "You could say that. We still don't exactly work under the government-" Tony coughed loudly and unconvincingly "-but we do try to help whoever we can. In this case, it was you two."

"What happened out there?" Jay finally spoke up. It wasn't like Jay to just stand by and listen to a conversation from the outside. He was always right in the center of attention if he could be.

By now, [Y/N] had slowly gotten her feet on the floor and was sitting up on her own. Her legs still felt like hell, and as she looked down she could see why. They were covered in scrapes and cuts, some looking a lot worse than others. They appeared to have been cleaned, but they weren't bandaged.

"Where are you kids from?" Steve moved around the couch to take a seat, gesturing for Jay to sit down as well.

"Louisiana," Jay answered, sitting himself between [Y/N] and Steve.

"Long way from home being all the way in Colorado," the other blonde from the group joined in. [Y/N] thought for a moment, trying to remember what Steve had called this guy.

"Like I said earlier, we camp a lot. Normally our dad would come with us, but sometimes we like to go out on our own. Been doing it since we were kids." Jay seemed so cool and collected around all these strangers that had claimed to be heros. [Y/N] still wasn't sure that she trusted them. "Now, is anyone gonna answer my question?"

"Look," Tony started, sounding a little annoyed. "There's a lot going on that we can't just tell you, alright? You're civilians. It's safer that you don't know."

"But," Steve cut in. "We can tell you that you aren't safe here. It's probably obvious, considering how we found you two. And I think that they deserve an explanation on what's about to happen," Steve's voice was suddenly stern as he turned to Tony.

Tony sighed and dropped his head into his hand. "Fine, tell them about how they're mutants now. Whatever."

Jay's eyebrows furrowed and [Y/N] scoffed. She finally spoke up, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Mutants? Okay, this is definitely some kind of dumb ass television show. Where are the cameras? Which one of you is the director? I quit. I want out. You don't have my consent for this."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, sweet cheeks, but this isn't some fake out prank show. This is real." Tony's serious gaze made [Y/N] shrink back and Jay put a protective arm around her shoulders.

"I'm assuming the two of you were asleep at around 3:56 AM," Steve said gently. [Y/N] wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, but she and Jay nodded in unison. "At around that time, those men that were shooting at you had released a toxin into the air. It's not a normal toxin. It's one that alters the host that breathes it in. And it's a fast acting toxin. They let it loose at 4 and it's out of the air at 5, only affecting whatever inhaled it."

"That's why they said survivors," Jay thought aloud, staring hard at the floor as he took in this new information.

A shorter man came forward from the group. "To make it simple, it's a highly unstable sleeping gas that has properties which can mold itself to host DNA and make...changes. The two of you are the only humans we've found that could possibly have been affected by it." [Y/N] remembered him being introduced as Bruce as he seemed shy yet comfortable at the same time. Bruce seemed like a fitting name for him.

Jay looked at [Y/N] and then back at the group. He ruffled his hair nervously before standing up and sighing deeply. "So what do we do? If I'm understanding this right, I don't guess that we can just go home and everything be normal." Everyone seemed to nod sadly. "So, now what?"

"Our immediate plan was to just keep you in this cabin while we get this sorted out," Bruce admitted.

"We still need to find out if you two were changed by the gas," Natasha cut in harshly. Her brow had been set in a perma-furrow for most of the conversation, [Y/N] had noticed.

"Do you two feel any different?" Steve's ever gentle voice dominated the conversation easily.

Jay began patting various places on his body. "I feel normal," he shrugged.

"Well, that's interesting because you were just holding up your own weight plus her's not that long ago," Bruce mentioned, gesturing to Jay's arm. Everyone followed his gaze back to Jay and he froze for a moment.

"I mean, I..." Jay stuttered, stretching his arm out and feeling the muscles. "I don't feel anything...I'm not sore or anything." His eyes widened at this discovery and within seconds Bruce and Tony were at his side, inspecting him and talking amongst themselves. At this point, the group of strangers broke up and began wandering the house, each looking to have some kind of job to do.

Natasha took the seat next to [Y/N] and placed a hand on her shoulder. "How do you feel?" she asked gently.

"I don't feel bad, but I don't feel good either," [Y/N] sighed. "I just feel confused."

"That's normal," Steve chimed in. "There aren't many people that wouldn't be confused in a situation like this."

"Am I going to die?" The question must have caught the two off guard because Natasha spun her head around to Steve as if to get the right answer.

"We aren't sure yet," Steve admitted. [Y/N] lowered her eyes. "But we're doing everything that we can to make sure that you don't," he said, trying to be reassuring.

"[Y/N], may I speak with you for a moment?" [Y/N] looked up to see Bruce smiling gently at her, standing off to the side. She stood up hesitantly and moved over to the dining room area where Bruce was standing. "Have a seat, I only have a few questions for you," he said quickly, his voice kind but serious.

As [Y/N] pulled a chair from the table and sat, Bruce pulled out a pair of glasses and a small tablet. He began tapping away at the screen, his face stuck in a somber expression. [Y/N] glanced to Jay, who was still talking with Tony. He seemed to be a little excited that he would be developing powers. [Y/N] wished she could be happy with him, but there was still a rock in her stomach and a bad feeling in the back of her mind.

"Have you ever broken a bone?" The question shook [Y/N] out of her thoughts and she quickly shook her head. "Never? Interesting. Do you have any pets? A cat maybe?"

"No.." [Y/N] drug the answer out, narrowing her eyes.

"How many of those cuts did you acquire in the past 24 hours?"

"All of them.."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," [Y/N] replied with a little aggravation in her voice.

"Take a look at them again. Notice anything?" She looked down at her legs and only saw that there were cuts and scrapes that shouldn't be there. She shook her head and looked back to the man in front of her. He smiled gently and touched one of the cuts. "They're healing quickly, [Y/N]. This is how a cut would look two days after the fact. Some of the smaller ones are almost gone. It looks like the toxin took effect after all."