Time had seemed to go too slow for Ezri. She had lost count of the days after three hundred and she had called for Heimdall each night with all her might. Life here was enjoyable and peaceful in the beginning until she met the mortals. Everywhere she swam, the mortals were.
The oceans were dirty and polluted, the fish hunted too much for her liking and did her best to stop the capturing of the fish. Shortly after arriving, he had to stay deep inside the ocean to avoid detection, but I guess her arrival had alerted people. Either by metal contractions or by swimmers, Ezri had to be quick to avoid swimming deeper into the water.
Today was not her day.
Ezri was swimming hastily as she saw two bogeys on her, avoiding the web shooting's coming her way from their vessels but they were somehow improving in speed. She had dipped and dived, spinning around as she lowered fell back, diving down deeper. She had looked back victoriously when she realized they were still following them.
Bastards had adapted.
Ezri had rushed up once more but screamed when they caught her, the two webs catching her.
Ezri had fought against the webs when she felt pronged by electricity, the pain realization that she was being shocked. The assault continued multiples times until she finally lost consciousness.
"Notify, Fury. We caught it."
"We have Loki in custody, mind tell me why SHIELD decided to trap a creature above him at the most inconvenient time?" Tony asked as Fury entered the lab with him and Bruce.
"What is this about a creature?" Thor asked as he came in with Steve and Natasha behind him.
Thor was overwhelmed with ways his brother could escape, or who he could manipulate to help him next. To have a creature here now, what were the mortals thinking? Their thought process wasn't always the brightest, but they did try, if not horribly.
"A little over a year ago, we had detected something foreign enter our system, similar to how Thor did previously," Fury explained, "Now, they haven't done anything wrong, but we don't know what this is or how it'll effect our eco-system, let alone our people."
"So, what? You're going to test this like some kind of lab experiment?" Bruce questioned, not liking the idea of this whatsoever.
"As a scientist, I thought I'd have your support," Fury explained, "but not necessarily. We are going to watch her for now, see for ourselves how to approach it. I have yet to look at it."
"Can you pull up the vid?" Steve asked, curious to see what it looked like.
"On it." Natasha said before she put up the comms.
The live feed pulled up and Thor's heart dropped when he saw her.
It was Ezri.
When Ezri had awakened, Ezri was beyond afraid when she realized she was in a glass-like container, with tint on both sides of with only vision in the front. She brought her hand to her mouth and realized she had a nuzzle on her face. She cried out in pain when she felt a shock go through her; they wired it.
She panicked, thrashing against the glass as she attempted to get free with her hands before she used her feet to kick against the glass. When all had failed, she shifted her legs into her fins, whacking at the glass, creating a small crack but not enough to get through the glass.
She began to cry, before she ran her hands through her hair; she was trapped.
"Is…that a mermaid?" Bruce questioned.
"No, that is a siren; more powerful and regal than whatever you say a mermaid is." Thor explained, but his hands were fisted.
"ENOUGH!" Thor shouted, jolting the team as Thor saw her face in pain.
"You know it, don't you?" Nat questioned, reading his body language.
"That…is a dear friend of mine…" Thor smiled for a moment, but his face hardened, "my best friend in fact. I-I thought she had died…"
"What can you tell us about her?" Steve asked, but his eyes were still mesmerized by the woman creature. The way she moved in the water, it was beautiful to him.
"Her name is Ezri, a siren healer who comes from royalty, as I do. She is the kindest of her people and the kindest person I know but is the deadliest if you treat her as an enemy. She is Loki and I's dearest friend, but it's different for Loki. He adores her, they were just budding a romance before all this chaos." Thor explained.
"We need her away from Reindeer, then." Tony said.
"She's in the water, she can't exactly go anywhere." Bruce reminded them.
"She doesn't need water," Thor said, catching their attention, "you saw her legs shift. Just drain the water, but be warned, she doesn't speak. If you want to talk to her, speak in sign language."
"I can go, I know sign language." Nat offered.
"Go, take clothes with you." Fury agreed.
"Natasha," she looked to Thor, "be kind and patient with her."
She nodded, "I will."
Ezri heard a noise and looked over to see a red headed woman approach her in a black jumpsuit. Ezri pressed her back against the wall, keeping her distance. Ezri had her strength, but she was weaponless and voiceless.
"You are okay here. I am a friend." The woman spoke, but Ezri narrowed her eyes.
"Will you tell me your name?" Nat asked but Ezri still said nothing.
"I'm Natasha, I know your friend Thor." Nat said and Ezri's eyes widened.
Ezri shook her head, refusing to believe it. She would not fall easy to such a comment.
"He can see you actually, from that black ball up there in the ceiling," Nat said, noticing Ezri looking towards Nat's pointed direction, "he said the colors of your gills gave you away. You're very beautiful, you know."
Ezri edged closer to her, and Nat felt like she was making easy progress with her.
"Is there anything you can tell me?" Nat asked.
"You smile, but not with your eyes…you're a warrior." Ezri signed, and Nat knew there was more to Ezri than she previously thought.
"You're right, I am a warrior. I just want you to know that I am coming to you peacefully. I hope you can trust me enough so I can let you out of here, we'd love to talk to you."
"Forgive me if I do not trust you. You just captured me, shocked me unconscious, muzzled me, and shocked me again. You've hunted me down since I got here when I've done nothing. What, did you want me to dance for you now? Put on a show? I just…." Ezri signed before she gave up, turning her back on Nat.
Nat felt a little guilty about her predicament, but Nat knew SHIELD from when Barton recruited her; they wanted to see her potential. Could she be a friend? Or be an enemy?
"I know it doesn't mean much but…we have more in common than you think," Nat said as she kneeled, placing down spare clothing and boots for her.
"If you want to stay in there, then fine. But you should at least get dressed and see Thor one last time. He's really worried about you. Just knock on the glass twice and I'll drain the water." Nat said before she left the room quietly.
Ezri listened as the door closed, looking over to see that Natasha had left. Her eyes though couldn't help but dwell down to the clothes; should she allow herself to hope? Spending over a year here, she had not spoken to anyone since her arrival, but she was alone against a world.
The team watched as she approached the glass, her hand over the glass before she finally, yet slowly knocked twice on the glass.
"She hit it! We are a-go!" Tony exclaimed as Fury activated the drains.
"Natasha, stay behind. She's ready."
"Roger that." Nat spoke through the comms.
Thor smirked; he was finally going to reunite with his friend.
Ezri shifted into her human legs as the water came down, sitting on the floor for modesty as the water finally disappeared.
"Look away, gentlemen. Give the woman her privacy." Fury spoke, turning off the feed for a moment.
"She's clear." Agent Hill announced, allowing Fury to turn the feed on once more.
Ezri had braided her hair to her side, draping it over her shoulder before she slowly walked out of the container with her hands held up in surrender.
The door opened once more and Nat smiled, and Ezri this time saw that it was genuine.
"Welcome to SHIELD. Let's take you to Thor."
Thor was pacing on the observation deck, watching intently as the elevator door closed when he finally saw her. Ezri walked out of the elevator carefully, looking around in wander at her new surroundings, but it all came to a halt when she finally saw him.
Thor couldn't stop the smile erupting from his face as Ezri ran towards him, opening his arms to her before she clung to him tightly. Thor couldn't stop the twirl he gave her, hearing her cry as she buried her head into his neck, holding her in a tight embrace.
"Thor, I missed you so much!" Ezri whispered in Thor's ear in excitement, and he chuckled; so glad to finally hear her voice.
"Ezri, my dearest friend. You can't believe how excited I am to see you alive and well!" Thor explained as he slowly placed her down on his feet.
Ezri began to sign extremely fast to Thor, with nearly the whole team looking at Natasha for help in translation.
"She says, 'I tried everyday to come back home. I called Heimdall every day, but no one came for me. How is everyone? Is All-Father and my lady alright? What about Loki? Is…he, okay? …Why are you here? Why am I here? What's going on?" Nat translated but stopped as Ezri kept repeating the question.
"Everyone is fine, we have much to catch up on but for now…it's Loki. Ezri, I'm sorry, but he is no longer the man you once knew." Thor answered her.
Ezri looked at him cautiously, what did he mean?
"Do you remember the tales of Midgard we told you about?" Thor asked her.
Ezri nodded shortly.
"This is Earth, or Midgard. Loki…he's using the tesseract to attack the people of Midgard. He means to take over as ruler here." Thor told her.
"Yeah, a real nutjob." Tony muttered.
"He is the son of All-Father and will do well not speak ill of him."
"He killed 80 people in two days." Steve reminded him, catching Ezri's attention for a moment.
"He's adapted." Thor rebutted.
Ezri frowned, shaking her head in disbelief. Thor gripped her arms when he saw the tears in her eyes, wanting to keep her still. Ezri spoke in sign language frantically, but Thor stopped her.
"She said that the Loki she knows is full of mischief but would never kill so many unless provoked." Nat translated.
"Don't hide it from me…what has Loki done?" Ezri asked in sign language.
"She wants to know what Loki has done." Nat translated.
"I want to, believe me my dear friend, but I don't want you involved." Thor explained but Ezri narrowed her eyes to him.
"Why don't you ask us Ezri, and we will answer all of your questions?" Nat offered.
Ezri looked at Nat and nodded; she still had questions for these mortals.
"You may want to sit down for this." Bruce warned her, and she smiled to Bruce gratefully as he pulled a chair out for her.
Ezri smiled, signing a 'thank you' as she sat down, noticing Nat sit beside her with Thor standing right next to her as Steve sat on her other side.
"Loki has the tesseract, using it to hypnotize others to work under his bidding. We lost a good number of our own agents and people to him, but we are not sure why he wants to; only Thor would know. Point is that SHIELD has had this in their sights for a while now, but we couldn't have predicted what Loki is capable of." Fury simply.
"And what is SHIELD, exactly?" Ezri signed.
"It's a newly government group that dedicate themselves to intervening, enforcing, and protecting against those that normal people can't resolve on their own. We're a team with special skills that work together to do just that." Nat explained.
"So, everyone around this table has special abilities or skills. That's cool." Ezri signed.
"You're right, it is cool. Right now, though, we are trying to work together to help stop whatever Loki is planning." Nat said.
"I can feel the tension between everyone though. I imagine not everyone here gets along?" Ezri signed.
"We're new, but do you expect from boys." Nat signed to make, making Ezri smile.
"Nu-uh, no private conversations." Tony warned them, making Steve roll his eyes.
Ezri signed and Nat helped translate once more.
"She wants to know why you were hunting her?" Nat asked.
"I apologize for the way we approached you but had to know after we saw this." Fury said simply as he turned on the vids before them, catching her by surprise.
Ezri saw herself swimming with her fin towards an injured dolphin. It had a piece of glass on its back and Ezri carefully pulled out the glass as the dolphin made a sound. Ezri noticed the other dolphins had surrounded her, but she paid them no mind as she cast her hand over the cut, her hand glowing for a moment before she moved her hand away, revealing the injury had disappeared.
"That's a nice trick you have there." Fury commented.
Ezri quickly stood, backing away as Thor took her arms to calm her down. She shook her head feverishly, afraid for a moment. Ezri would fight like hell if she had to but refused to be used like her father used her again. She heard tales of Midgard's treatment towards their creatures, and had no interest in being a 'pet' or a plaything for anyone.
"It's okay, Ezri. I'm here, no one will force you." Thor assured her, and she calmed herself. The team could see the fear in her eyes, and Bruce knew all that look all too well; she was afraid to be held against her will just to see her other side.
"Don't be alarmed. We were searching for you because we wanted to ask for your help. You can say no, no one will force you here," Fury explained, "but we thought someone your ability may be willing to join us in helping those who can't help themselves."
Ezri looked at the team hesitantly, looking up to Thor one last time.
"We will decide this AFTER we secure the tesseract. Will you stay beside me and help bring Loki home?" Thor asked of her.
Ezri smiled and signed, "Of course."
"Thank you for trusting me, friend." Ezri gasped happily as Thor signed to her, bringing her hand to her mouth as she felt emotional once more.
"You learned sign language?" Ezri asked in sign language.
"I learned enough to understand what you're saying. Don't ask me to respond though, I'm still struggling." Thor confessed but Ezri smiled.
"Where is Loki now?" Ezri asked in sign language.
"We have him detained right now but promise me you won't go down there." Thor asked of her.
She pouted but nodded. That was his brother, at the end of the day, Thor knew his brother best and would leave all deals with Loki to him for now.
"Good, in the meantime, let's continue working on locating the tesseract. Tony, Bruce." Fury said before he walked back to his station.
"Tony, can I trust you with my friend here while I check on a few things?" Thor asked of him.
"Sure, Sparky, go head. I've got her." Tony agreed, smiling warmly at Ezri as she smiled back at him.
"Come, I'll show you all the cool toys we've got." Tony said with a wink, walking towards the elevator with Bruce following behind them.
"I'm going to take a crack at Loki." Nat said before she went towards the stairs, leaving Steve to himself.
Steve glanced over towards Ezri, noticing her nervous stance but her smile never wavered as the elevator door closed.
"Welcome to where geniuses work!" Tony exclaimed proudly, hearing Ezri clap excitedly as she spun around the room. Observing the room around her, Bruce smiled at her curiosity, noticing the shift in her eyes.
"I'm Tony, of course. This other genius is Bruce Banner; we're both kind of big deals." Tony introduced themselves, making Ezri smile when she could hear the sarcasm at the end: or was it?
"So, you're from Asgard as well," Bruce spoke, attempting to make small talk, "what was it like for you?"
Ezri began to sign, but stopped when she realized they may not understand her.
"I'm sorry, I forgot that you can't speak. Can you write or use a computer?" Bruce asked.
Steve had walked in when Ezri nodded, motioning with her hand that she could write.
"I want to test something," Tony said as he approached her with a tablet, "can you try adapting to this for me please?"
"Are you out of your mind? She has no previous knowledge of it, how is she expected to learn that?" Steve asked, watching her as she looked up to Steve with a small smile.
"If she can't, I'll get a whiteboard for her. Would you like me to show you how it works?" Tony asked her and she nodded.
Tony showed her quickly how the tablet worked, explaining what each app, and what each button did, all while Ezri listened intently.
"Great, now. Can you open the translator app for us." Tony instructed her, the men watching her curiously.
Ezri did as she was told but didn't wait for further instructions as she pushed the text box, quickly seeing the letters appear below the screen. She quickly typed what she wanted to say before she looked around the screen, seeing the speaker button that looked familiar from the volume screen, pressing it carefully.
"Back at my home, I was a healer and a warrior for my people. But on Asgard, I was not only that, but welcomed by Thor's family. His family and their people are almost like home for me, but my family disowned me for my beliefs. Now, I am here." The voice said from the tablet.
"That was fast." Bruce muttered but was amazed how quickly she learned.
"Thank you all for being patient with me." The tablet voiced after Ezri typed in more.
"You said you are a warrior as well. What are you proficient with?" Steve asked her but she frowned.
"I would rather not share too much, but I am proficient with a spear, staff, and bow. Our people use the spears as our source of weaponry in the water since metal rusts too fast. In Asgard, Thor trained me with a bow." Ezri translated through the tablet.
"Wow, little Ariel with a weapon: I'd love to see that." Tony said with humor, but Ezri looked at Steve questionably.
"Ignore him, everything is a joke to this guy." Steve commented.
"Tell me Ezri, do you want to go back with Thor and Loki after this?" Bruce asked.
"I'd like to, sincerely. I don't know anything about this world, and I wasn't welcomed kindly here." Ezri translated through the app.
"I know it's not much, but you're welcome to stay with me, kiddo. I have lots of space, a home that overlooks the ocean; you'd love it." Tony offered.
Ezri smiled, quickly typing away, "Thank you, that is kind of you. I…think I'll go back to Asgard for a short while, but I'd love to come back and learn more about this world should the offer stand."
"You'd really come back? Why?" Steve asked her.
"You might need my help again, just like you might need my help now."
"With all due respect, Ezri, we won't being needing any-"
"It's okay to receive help, whether you ask for it or someone offers it. You're a warrior, you should know this as you offer your life every day. Do not look down at me like a child for choosing to be kind and having hope."
Steve narrowed his eyes as her smile brightened, and Tony couldn't help but smirk; she was a tough one.
Everything had played out too fast before Ezri.
Loki had escaped, Thor and Bruce were missing, and Agent Coulson was dead. Tony and Steve sulked, but Ezri realized they needed help now more than ever. Ezri had made her way down to the armory; she would stop Loki herself if she had to.
Ezri had grabbed the empty quiver on the wall, filling it quickly with spare bows before she grabbed one of the few remaining bows.
"Another bowman, huh?"
Ezri turned around to see Nat smiling at her, with her friend Clint from earlier behind her.
"This is Ezri, the siren I told you about. Ezri, this is Clint, the best bowmen out there." Nat introduced them.
"Pleasure to meet you," Clint said, using sign language at the same time, "My sign language is a bit off, so please let me know if I answer wrong."
"Pleasure to meet you as well, Clint. Are you both hurt anywhere?" Ezri asked in sign.
"Well, yeah, but we'll be fine." Clint answered, but Ezri smiled as she rolled her eyes playfully.
She carefully approached them, placing her hands on their bare hands as her hands glowed. Clint let out a sigh of relief as he felt all his aches and pains disappear, noticing the bruise on his arm disappear.
"Oh, I could get used to that." Clint spoke.
"We are going after Loki, you in?" Nat asked her.
"I'll be right behind you."
The battle in New York was proving to be challenging. Thor had fought against Loki, trying to get him to stop but it was pointless.
"Stop this madness, brother! Look at the chaos you have brought! Ezri would be disappointed in you!" Thor shouted as he and Loki stood at a standstill.
"Don't you dare speak of her name, you brute!" Loki spat, but Thor continued to push.
"She is alive, brother! She is down there, fighting the Chitauri you brought here!" Thor explained.
Loki investigated the city, hesitating for a moment as he looked amongst the chaos. Could she really be here?
When Loki looked over to him, Thor grunted, feeling the familiar pain of the stab on his side.
"Your sentiment makes you weak, Thor. I will find Ezri myself, and I'll make sure she never leaves my sight again." Loki spoke before he ran off the tower, riding away from him.
The team fought valiantly alongside one another, but Steve had Ezri remain close to him. With her limit on bows, he knew that she would run out of arrows soon enough. He was surprised to see her resourceful, collecting them as much as she could, using objects around her to deflect the attacks without communicating with the team.
It was something she was probably used to. The team was getting overwhelmed quickly when Thor came down, but Ezri ran to his side as he clutched to his side.
"I'm fine, my lady." Thor muttered but she ignored him as she cast a healing spell over him.
"Thank you, Lady Ezri."
Steve had given the orders, Ezri sticking close to him at Thor's request. As the battle ensued around them, Ezri noticed a fire hydrant knocked over on the side, the water spraying straight into the sky.
"Ezri, what are you doing?" Steve asked, as he deflected an attack towards her.
Ezri brought her hand up towards the water, watching as she was able to bend the water. Steve was astonished to see it firsthand and watched as she used her body movement and hands to control the water.
Steve was in awe for a moment before another shot came their way, throwing a shield as Ezri covered them.
"Ezri, duct!"
Ezri duct behind Steve as Iron Man and Steve attack widely, creating a crazy combo around them before Tony flew off.
Ezri caught the shots with the water, swirling them back at the enemies as Steve guided them through the madness back towards the team.
Ezri couldn't help but watch in horror as Tony was suddenly heading towards the blackhole, the team watching intensively as he came back down with Hulk thankfully able to catch him. But the issue remained with Loki. Thor had secured him, and it was time for them to go home soon. The team had recovered with the help of Ezri, but the fact remained that no one could really know when they would return. Ezri had walked towards the group as they said their farewells when they looked over to her.
"Ezri!" She heard Clint shout as they approached her, each of them smiling at her.
"We loved having you here, kid. Are you sure we can't get you to stay?" Tony asked her.
Ezri smiled sadly and spoke in sign language once more.
"I wish I could, but I promise I'll come back as soon as I can. It won't be too long, if you'd like me to visit." Clint replied.
"Well, here, take this," Tony said, handing her a card, "this is a phone number. Just call this number and it'll connect you to my personal line at any time. Call me the moment you arrive, and I'll come for you."
Ezri looked at it in confusion, making Steve chuckle at her predicament.
"I was there too, believe me." Steve said, approaching her as he pulled out his flip phone. He came to stand beside her as he showed her the phone.
"This is a cell phone. You hold this down for three seconds and it turns off…like this," Steve explained as he showed it to her once more, "just this phone icon, it's to call. Just type the number on the card and push green again; he'll know it's you." Steve assured her as he turned off the phone again.
Ezri smiled, gesturing a 'thank you' to him, making him smirk.
"Let us know when you get back. I'm sure everyone here would like the chance to get to know you." Steve said.
"I second that." Nat said.
"I third that." Clint spoke, smiling genuinely.
"I will, thanks again everyone; truly," Ezri signed as Clint translated for her, looking over to Nat, "Especially to you Natasha, I'm sorry for being harsh."
"No hard feeling, I'd react the same way, if not worse. And please, call me Nat." Nat said.
"Lady Ezri, we must be off." Thor called for her, glad to see her conversing with others, but it was time.
Ezri waved everyone goodbye, pocketing the phone carefully as she approached Thor, when she saw Loki standing before her. Her eyes watered, approaching him slowly. His eyes were filled with a look of anger towards the Avengers, but when Loki's eyes met hers, his eyes softened.
"Ezri…" Thor tried to reach her, but she pushed him away as she approached Loki.
Ezri bought her hand up, but realized with his mask that she couldn't touch him. Ezri knew he was a prideful man and went behind him. Loki looked over his shoulder, his stomach fluttered when he felt her head against his back, feeling her hands pressed against him.
"I've missed you so…" Ezri spoke softly, and Loki closed his eyes as if to savior the moment.
For the first time, he regretted his choices for a moment, wishing he could hold her once more, but he was on a vengeful path-one he'd dare not bring her on. She slowly pulled away, wiping her eyes as she made her peace, walking away.
Loki felt himself panic, and hooked his arms over her, securing them around her waist as he pulled her back against his chest.
He remained oblivious to the guards alerted with Thor's warning to stand down with the team cautiously watching, and Loki instead focused on the presence of her. He rested his chin on her shoulder, resting his head against hers when heard take a sharp intake of breath.
She felt his content, his confusion once more, and closed her eyes as she took in his presence. She turned her head, feeling his forehead against hers and she took the opportunity to enforce positive emotions onto him as she normally did when he was upset.
Loki felt Ezri's warmth, feeling a peace he was unfamiliar with, and he hated himself for wishing to stay with her. He snapped his eyes open and looked at Thor, who was watching them intensely. Loki removed himself from her, taking one last hard look at her before she went with Thor.
"Farewell, everyone. We shall return." Thor assured them before he held the protected tesseract to Loki for him to grab. Ezri grabbed the handle with Thor as Loki reluctantly grabbed the opposite end. With a simple twist, the portal activated and the Asgardian's disappeared, leaving Midgard.