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CHAPTER ONE
a trip to germany
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HER HEART WAS pounding as her face and muscles ached. Diana was thinking that she might have to call in tomorrow when another poorly wrapped fist collided with the side of her face. That was the third punch that successfully landed above the shoulders and that really pissed her off. She was holding back on turning her own wraps into something else as she threw a knee into the guys side.

He wheezed as he stumbled over and Diana threw another knee, grabbing onto his head as she did so to hold her target still. She pushed him to the floor in his disoriented state and gasped when he swiped her feet out from under her, making her land on her own side. She rolled before his foot could land another strike and she crawled to her feet quickly, same as him. Henry wasn't going down as quickly as he did last time which had her groaning, she can't lose out on this money.

Diana decided to pull a move she saw once before, and hoped that it would keep him down so she could put him in a hold. She charged at the man, blocking his punch and jumping. She didn't realize the height she made until her legs were around his neck and the two were falling to the ground. Diana grabbed onto the foot that was attached to the leg around his neck, straining to pin his arm down with the other leg. The fact that the leg around his neck was bent was holding Henry's other arm back enough that all the punches from that arm were weak.

It was a waiting game, he could either wake up in around 30 minutes or he could tap out and forfeit the money.

Henry tapped out.

Diana hissed out a "Yes!" As she released him from the hold. She bounced up to her feet as the people around her cheered, she held out a hand for the man as he gasped for air. He reluctantly took it and the two managed to get him off the ground.

"Maybe next time, Henry, you almost got me a few minutes ago," she smiled weakly, aches from his punches were beginning to settle in now that her blood pressure and adrenaline was dropping.

"Next time," he sighed, patting her back and walking off to treat his own wounds.

"Alright this is the last fight of the night, Renfrey, you mind closing up?" Dana called out, as she stepped into their light, a wad of cash being firmly planted in her hand.

"It's no problem, my blood is my mess, right?" Diana smirked with her response. Dana rubbed her shoulder slightly as the woman also smiled.

"Sure, Renfrey, see you next week," she said. A few other members of the club came up to congratulate her; others who fought before her had already left to lick their wounds.

Diana shoved the wad in the pocket of her leggings. She pulled a chair into the matted square that the club fights on, it's the only spot that has good light. She sat down and got to work on unwrapping her hands, the ache settling in the most and the quickest there. She seethed at the pain as she ripped the wraps off her bloodied knuckles. Tonya and Judith are going to have something to say about this.

She sighed as she turned her wrap into a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, she turned her other wrap into a stress ball, squeezed as she poured the peroxide over her hand, hissing at the pain that came with it. As she switched the items in her hands, another light came on, this one was directed purposely in her face. Her heart dropped in fear of someone seeing her use her powers, she squinted, holding a hand over her eyes to block the light but it was no use.

One set of footsteps runs out in the empty warehouse.

"You know, technically I should be arresting you," the familiar voice of Nick Fury called out, the light was blocked a bit more before he completely shielded her from it.

He still had that same eyepatch - trench coat combination on from when she last saw him years back.

"Is this one of those emergencies we discussed?" She asked, pouring the peroxide on her other hand, squeezing the stress ball to direct the pain. She eyed the packet that he had in hand,

"It is, but not one that you might've thought it would be," Nick sighed. Diana furrowed her eyebrows as she set down the bottle and the ball.

She gently took the file that he held out for her, opening it up to see a photo of a glowing cube.

"The tesseract? Really? That's what you guys named it?" Diana frowned, reading further the limited information provided to her.

"You got a better name?" Nick asked, Diana scoffed as she stood up.

"The cube of destiny," she smirked, "Kevin."

Nick shook his head as he accepted the file back, raising his eyebrows in expectance of a response for him rounding her up.

"What happened and what do you want me to do about it?" She asked as she quickly grabbed her things from the floor next to them, waving at him to follow her.

"It was taken from us by a man, well - maybe, - anyways, his name is Loki, he's not really from around here," Nick explained, "and I need you to help me get it back."

"You didn't say, 'Swiper no swiping'?" She asked, he rolled his eye again which made her snicker, "give me a minute to clean up and close up and I'll join you, I'll need to call Ms. Anderson and tell her I'll be out for a few days, you're lucky I'm off for two days after tomorrow."

Nick nodded as he turned to go back to where he came. Diana blew a puff of air from her cheeks and poured the rest of the hydrogen peroxide on the mat, she turned her empty bottle into a rag and wiped up the chemicals and blood.

After she cleaned up, Diana took the wad out of her pocket and snatched up her bag that was by the door. She shoved the wad into her bag and walked out, locking the door before she left. Fury was a few feet away, waiting by an SUV. Diana didn't mind getting in since she had walked to the abandoned warehouse in the first place, she walked to the passenger side, opening the door and dropping her bag on the floor of the vehicle.

"You have to get a caretaker for Judith," Diana spoke, situating herself in her seat once she's got in, "I was supposed to be there by eight am tomorrow, I assume you guys have been watching me?"

Nick only nodded.

"Okay, so you know her schedule and the things that need to be done, she has a doctor's appointment at ten am," Diana spoke and she could see Fury roll his eye.

"Ms. Anderson will have someone taking care of her while you're with us."

"Good, because if I find out she missed her appointment and has to pay their fees for it, I'm making a large stick out of your eyepatch and I'm shoving it where the sun don't shine," she spoke with a pointed glare to express her seriousness.

"I believe you," Nick sighed, "you done with that file?"

"I barely read the first page, I was stuck on that shitty name for the Cube."

"Well hurry up then."

• • •

THE SALTY AIR was definitely something to wake Diana up with considering she hasn't gotten a wink of sleep in twenty four hours. She considered finding a soft crate in storage and taking a nap, but she didn't want SHIELD workers going on a manhunt for her because she suddenly disappeared.

So the chair in the bridge would have to do. She sat down towards the center of the table, watching as the shield agents got the Helicarrier ready to be in the air. Gravity was a lot harder since they were going up. Diana watched as a blonde man walked in, being followed by Nick. She pushed her glasses down her nose a bit as she got a better look at him. She recognized Steve Rogers.

He was better looking in person, or maybe his shield file needed a better photo, she wanted to help him take a new one.

"Well," she spoke softly, an agent near her glanced her way, blinking and shaking his head. She smirked as she stood up, Steve had walked down the path to the control panel and back, he had pulled out what looked like money from Diana's distance and handed it to Nick on his way past, heading towards Diana and the table.

"Ma'am," Steve nodded.

"Captain Rogers, this is Diana Renfrey, she was also recruited for the Avengers initiative," Nick introduced. Diana stepped around the table towards Steve and held her hand out.

"God Bless America," she winked at him as he took her hand and shook. He looked away after that and faced Nick.

Nick gave her an incredulous look and she shrugged, tilting her head at him as in "look at that, he's beautiful." Nick only sighed as business went on as usual, another man walked in, Diana also recognized him as Doctor Bruce Banner.

Diana read all about him, from the file to the news. A science experiment that left a very intelligent man with a condition that only shows itself when he's angry. Diana watched as the timid man was approached by Nick.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Nick held out his hand for Dr. Banner to shake. Dr. Banner moved his jacket from one arm to another, taking the hand as he nodded.

"Thanks for asking nicely," he spoke, Nick nodded after they shook. Diana watched as Nick pointed to Diana.

"This is Diana Renfrey," Nick introduced and she gave the timid man a wave with a smile, Bruce returned it.

"So uh," Bruce looked back to Nick, "how long am I staying?"

Diana understood why he didn't want to be here long, the helicarrier was cold and no one seemed to have a spare jacket. She wrapped her holey sweater around her tighter and sighed, she took it off and turned it into a leather jacket, that would be better insulated.

"Once we get our hands on the tesseract," Nick's voice was gentler than normal, "you're in the wind."

Diana was beginning to zone out as she looked around the bridge. She caught notice of Natasha Romanoff, a woman she met earlier, crouched next to a screen, she and another S.H.I.E.L.D worker were looking at a photo of a man, Diana couldn't see what they were doing from where she sat. She looked around even more, making eye contact with Steve, she wondered how he could get his jaw so chiseled when Nick addressing her pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Will you accompany Ms. Romanoff and Dr. Banner to his lab and assist him with the tracking algorithm?" He asked.

"How do you even know I code?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. She got out of her seat and grabbed her headphones off the table. Diana stuffed them in the pocket of her new leather jacket and quickly hurried to join Natasha and Bruce.

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DIANA HAD FINISHED her code way sooner than she thought considering all the variables she would have to calculate were already calculated by Bruce. They didn't really talk much outside of that until she finished, Bruce continued to work on other things but Diana sat back at her desk in the corner.

"Stop me if I'm intruding, but did you find the serum and then try to activate it with Gamma or was it just Gamma?" Diana asked, "when I was reading everyone's files, it didn't tell me much."

Bruce paused at the question, glancing at her and continuing to work.

"I thought I had a serum but it relied heavily on Gamma so I don't think I was anywhere close to Rogers," Bruce answered truthfully. Diana nodded.

She didn't want to ask him too many questions about it since he seemed uncomfortable about the topic so she adjusted herself in her seat.

"So what were you doing when S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to snatch you up?" She asked as Bruce tapped away on his screen.

"I was taking care of a disease in Calcutta it's been rampant in the poorer areas," Bruce answered.

"Have you been able to find a cure or are you treating the symptoms?" She asked, she almost felt like she was bothering him but she couldn't read any sense of irritation from him, if he was irritated, he was damn good at hiding it.

"I've almost perfected a cure but it's going to cost a lot to get it mass-produced," he spoke and Diana frowned, shaking her head.

She walked over to his water bottle and picked it up. She took a seat on his desk, crossing her legs at her ankles.

"Want a sprite?" She asked, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Uh," he drawled.

Diana smiled and held her palm out, the bottle turned into a can of sprite and he looked at it incredulously.

"How are you doing that?" He asked as he gently took the can and cracked it open, taking a sip, "it's sprite."

"I've been able to do it for as long as I can remember," Diana shrugged.

The conversation was interrupted by Steve entering the room in his Captain America suit.

"Renfrey," he addressed her, tossing a suit into her lap, "we found him, suit up."

"Him?" She asked, looking at Bruce confused.

"Loki," Steve said.

Diana didn't argue after that. She hopped down from her desk and smiled at Bruce.

"I'll turn that back into water when I get back," She promised as she walked off with Steve, "where am I changing?"

He stopped in front of a door and pointed to it.

"This is just a closet but we have no time, we can drop your clothes off in the suit room." Steve spoke, Diana opened her mouth to ask where that was, "it's on the way."

Diana nodded and went into the closet, quickly changing in the dim fluorescent light. She pulled the jacket back on over the shield suit and stepped out with her jeans and t-shirt in hand. Steve nodded silently. It was dark outside, Diana wasn't sure if it was because they were in a different time zone or if that much time actually passed before they could find him.

Steve let her drop her clothes next to his and after that they were jogging for jet on the surface of the helicarrier. They met with Natasha and another pilot, all loading onto the jet and settling.

It didn't take long for them to get them flying off. Diana avoided eye contact with Steve, looking down at the shield suit, adjusting one of her pant legs since it rubbed her leg the wrong way.

"I've uh, seen you fight," Steve broke the silence, pulling Diana's attention to him. She raised an eyebrow at the statement. "On your digital file, you're pretty good."

"Thanks," she felt she was a bit better than pretty good, but he probably doesn't approve of underground fight-club, "any pointers?"

"I don't know my moves are probably outdated," he gave her a small smile and she returned it.

"Maybe, maybe not, I guess we'll see when we touch land."

"Well get ready to," Natasha spoke up, "Diana, we're dropping you off low to the ground but Loki looks like he's going to engage so Steve is going to need to do a quicker drop."

Diana nodded and the two got up from their seats. She shedded the jacket and left it on the seat, grabbing a baton from the hook above and smacked her palm with it. She held it out and it turned into a long staff, making Steve look at it in wonder.

The door opened and he nodded to her before running and jumping off. Her jaw dropped, looking over at the untouched parachutes next to her.

"Dude," she spoke softly as the jet continued to drop in altitude.

It made her head a little fuzzy and she leaned off the staff. They eventually got low enough that Diana was able to jump, rolling to spread the impact once she touched ground.

It was initially hard getting to them, especially since there was a crowd of people running away. Probably from the fight. Diana managed to get through a clear path. He had just thrown Steve to the ground, asking him to kneel, in a not so polite way. Steve saw her before Loki did, making him smirk.

"Not today!" She yelled, swinging her staff and smacking him in the face. He stumbled back and Steve jumped up, kicking him in the chest to knock the tall man down.

Diana finally got a good look at him and her jaw dropped.

"This is bullshit, no one told me he was hot!" She complained, swinging her staff once more as he went to hit her with his spear, there was a glowing blue gem on one end that was almost mesmerizing to her. She had to ignore it so he wouldn't compromise her.

Steve gave her an incredulous look as Loki tilted his head.

"Who are you?" He asked, as he sent a blast in her direction.

Diana narrowly dodged it, hissing when it grazed her arm. She swung her leg out from her new position on the ground and knocked him on his ass. She grabbed her staff and turned it into a spear similar to his, though she has no idea what was in that gem of his to be powering it like that.

It was back and forth, Steve and Diana weren't able to find a good rhythm with fighting together, and it was mainly Diana's fault but she couldn't help that she had never fought in a pair before.

Just when she started to panic over the fact that she was separated from her own spear, AC/DC began blasting out from what seemed to be the jet. Diana looked up to see Iron Man fly out from behind it. He blasted Loki, sending him flying back. Diana rushed and grabbed his spear, turning and pointing it at the man with the horned helmet. He held his hands up as he stared up at her.

She glanced over to see Iron-Man holding his blasters up at Loki with Steve next to him, putting his shield back up on his arm.

"Make your move reindeer games," Tony said. Loki's clothes and helmet glowed and soon the armor was gone.

Tony lowered his weapons and Diana grabbed his shoulder, pulling him up.

"Mister Stark," Steve greeted.

"Captain," Tony Stark returned. Diana only sent Tony a nod before turning back to Loki with a glare.

"Someone hand me my spear," she sighed. Her open hand was soon holding the spear she just made and she turned it into a pair of handcuffs.

"Hands," she spoke firmly. It was hard being threatening when she was eye level with his shoulders. She managed to cuff him nonetheless and pushed him over to Steve.

She looked down at the gem with the spear. Diana wanted to touch it, see its chemical makeup, but she soon realized it was compelling her too so she lowered it from her face.

Diana shook her head as she held the blue gem away from her face. She glanced over at Tony who was staring at her through his helmet. In the photos of him she saw, she thought the suit looked silly, but seeing it up close in real life, she felt a bit intimidated by the stern look on the face of the mask.

She glanced back down at the spear and tilted her head. She wondered how he was able to do all those things Diana loaded up onto the quinjet with the others. She strapped Loki down to his seat, setting the spear down out of his reach, but close enough that it tantalizes him.

"I don't like it." Steve said, glancing at Loki as Diana walked over to them, raising an eyebrow at the statement.

"What?" Tony asked "Rock of Ages giving up so
easily?"

"I don't remember it being that easy," Steve pointed out, his cowl was off and he was grasping onto a handle bar above their head, Diana had to fight the urge to swipe his feet out from under him, "This guy packs a wallop." Diana looked away, fighting her urge to laugh at his 1940's talk.

"Still, you were pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing?" Tony asked, "Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things." Tony shrugged, "Y'know, doing time as a Cap-sicle."

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve changed the subject, Diana nodded, now realizing that fact, though she did remember reading his file a few months ago, so he could've been called in anyway.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony scoffed, Diana pointed to her nose and to Tony.

"He still hasn't told me why he needs me," Diana shrugged and Tony furrowed his eyebrows as she spoke up, looking down at her.

"Renfrey, right?" He asked, making the smaller girl nod, "how do you do the-" he wiggled his fingers "-changing- thing?"

Diana shrugged, looking around and grabbing the near object, which happened to be another baton and she held it up, turning it into a rubber duck, and then turned it into a hand blaster like his. Tony nodded, his eyebrows raised, Diana got the feeling that he was impressed. She turned it back into a baton and put it back.

Thunder and lightning made the environment outside rumble, throwing Diana off her balance and she reached out, stopping her fall with the wall next to them.

"Where's this come from?" She heard Natasha mumble and Diana leaned forward, seeing a mess of storm clouds outside. Unease turned her stomach as she looked to Tony and Steve in alarm.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked, looking in Loki's direction, "Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows."

"Plus," Diana added, "not everyone wants to die like Buddy Holly."

Before Steve could react to what she had said, the back of the quinjet fell away and a tall, muscular, blond man in armor and a red cape charged in. Tony pulled on his helmet and went to head off with the Viking man but got pushed back into Steve and Diana.

All three of them fell into a heap of bodies, scrambling to get back up. Tony managed to get off Diana and Steve helped Diana off of him. When the three turned back to the gaping door, Loki and the Blond Man were gone.

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3.8k words

WOOOOWWWW this book is so old to me and like, idk in my mind I'm so far ahead with Diana's story that writing her in the avengers feels like a throw back. And it just feels so slow to me idk.

this may be my shortest part one ever written considering all of the avengers takes place in about a day or 24hours really, maybe 36 hours idk.

i also completely redid the playlist for this book so please go check that you! there will be a scannable barcode in the long summary of the book and a link to my spotify is in my carrd at the bottom of my bio!

I have big plans for Diana and I can't wait for Bucky to come in Part Two!!

stay tuned bc I'm in love with Jiana

-greta!