Despite Sokovia's freezing temperatures, the suit kept Elsie warm with only parts of her face and ears being kissed by the icy air; somehow she still felt goosebumps prickling her covered skin. The rush of heading into battle also added to the buzz in her blood. It was also her first mission with the rest of the Avengers which included her uncle and fiancé, and she wanted to make a good impression.
Elsie's heart pounded as adrenaline pumped into high gear, but she stayed focused on the task at hand. The stress of it all made her days as a former agent-in-training look like child's play.
Their target had launched a counterattack with robots and soldiers. Natasha and Clint stole a snow truck, Thor fought with his hammer, Banner was in Hulk mode, and Tony was clad in his red-and-gold suit. Steve and Elsie shared a motorcycle, him using his shield and her firing small rockets with her wristlets. The scene was chaotic with explosions and gunfire, but Tony managed to head to the building.
"Shit!" Tony cursed when he bumped into an invisible shield.
"Language!" Steve scolds. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," Jarvis replied. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken."
Thor attacks a few more soldiers. "Loki's scepter must be here," he concludes. "Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it. At long last."
Natasha attacks and takes down some more soldiers. "'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys," she half jokes.
"Yeah," Clint agrees after firing an arrow. "I think we've lost the element of surprise."
"Wait a second," Tony chimes in, "is no one else gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said, 'Language'?"
"Yeah, honey, is now really the time to be scolding others for cussing?" Elsie questioned before firing at a tank, causing it to explode.
"I know," Steve sighs.
Another truck drives towards them, and Elsie immediately knew to jump before Steve did. She landed on her feet just in time as the motorcycle was thrown into the truck, causing a crash.
"Just slipped out," he adds. He glances over at Elsie, and she nods in a manner that lets him know she's alright.
A rifle goes off, hitting Clint in his right side.
"Clint!" Nat rushes over to him.
Steve and Elsie turn to see what was the matter, a gust of wind rushed between them, but someone or something knocked them off their feet.
"Ow," Elsie wheezed, the wind having been knocked out of her.
"We have an Enhanced in the field," Steve reports as he helps Elsie up. The couple then keep moving.
"Clint's been hit," Nat responds as she rushes over to help her teammate, Hulk taking out the bunker that fired at Clint.
Together, Steve and Elsie moved as one—Steve's shield striking with precision while Elsie's wristlets lit up the snow-covered battlefield. Elsie ducked under a soldier's swing, flipped over his shoulder, bounced off of Steve's shield, and landed a clean shot to the soldier's chest with her wristlets sending him flying. However, with each passing second they're outside, they lose time they need to get into the facility.
"Stark," Steve alerts Tony, "we really need to get inside."
"I'm closing in," Tony answers. Once he and Jarvis find the shield generator, he takes it out, eliminating the power to keep intruders out.
"Drawbridge is down, people," Tony announces victoriously.
Grabbing his shield, Steve and Elsie meet up with Thor, who had just taken out the last of the soldiers with his hammer.
"The Enhanced?" he asks.
"It's a blur," Elsie replies.
"All the new players we've faced," Steve adds, "I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."
"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys," Nat said. "We're gonna need to evac."
"I can get Barton to the jet," Thor says. "The sooner we're gone, the better. You and Stark secure the scepter."
"Copy that," Steve nods. "Elsie, you go find Nat and start on the medical care he needs."
"On it," she nods and runs off to go find her friends.
After another round of a hammer smash, Thor tells Steve, "Find the scepter," and flies away.
"And for gosh sake's, watch your language!" Tony teased.
Steve sighs. "That's not going away anytime soon."
"Welcome to the family, Steve," Elsie jokes as she reaches Clint.
The wounded Avenger is on the ground, Natasha doing her best to stop any bleeding.
"Thor's getting the ship ready," Elsie reports.
Just as they turned to escape the forest, more soldiers appeared with weapons loaded.
"We're locked down out here," Nat reports.
"Then get to Banner," Steve instructs. "Time for a lullaby."
Nat turns to Elsie. "Stay here with him," she says. "Patch him up the best you can."
With a nod, the younger woman reached into her utility belt and fished out all the gauze she had.
"Stay with me, Clint. You're gonna be okay."
She pressed harder against the bleeding wound, her hands now slick with blood, her heart pounding. She quickly wraps the gauze around his torso and helps him up, acting as a crutch to bring him to the ship where Thor was waiting for them while Nat brought Banner back from Hulk form.
"We have a second Enhanced," Steve warns. "Female. Do not engage."
"How many surprises are there on a mission?" Elsie asks as she starts an IV for Clint.
"It's all unpredictable," he replies groggily.
"I've got Strucker," Steve alerts.
"Yeah, I've got something bigger," Tony replies. "Thor, I've got eyes on the prize."
Before he knew what was happening, Tony was given a dark vision by the Enhanced girl. The dead alien creature came back to life and slithered away through the air and into an all-too-familiar portal that was opened up to outer space. The scene in front of Tony was horrifying. On a large asteroid floating through space, his entire team lay lifeless. Hulk had spears sticking out of his back, Thor was not holding his hammer as he and Nat lay on their backs. Clint's lifeless body sat in an upright position, his hands still holding his bow and arrow. Elsie lay in a pool of her own blood near Steve, her suit covered in crimson stains suggesting she had been shot multiple times; and Steve's shield was broken in half, resting on his corpse as a fallen flag. The couple's fingertips rested barely touching each other.
Tony kneeled down to check Steve's pulse, and just as he didn't feel a sign of a heartbeat Steve grabbed his wrist.
"You…could have…saved us," the captain wheezed out before going limp again. His eyes now glossed over, blood streaming from his nose.
"Why didn't you do more?" Elsie's disembodied voice asked.
He looked up and saw a portal showing the earth and multiple slug aliens flying towards it. When he blinked, the vision was gone. He blinked again, sweat on his brow, heart racing. But there was silence once more.