Thor pushed through the doors to the lab with a look on his face that made Tony take a step back, unsure if he had done something to incite the god's anger and not willing to take any chances in getting too close. "Woah, what crawled up your ass? Slow down, big fella, it wasn't me."

"Have you seen (Y/N)?"

"No, why? What could she have done to get you this pissed?"

Thor sighed and rested his hands on his hips, looking around the room as if he wanted to go on a rampage of broken equipment and smashed glass, not that it would make him feel any better. He knew it wouldn't and restrained, but it was still an appealing thought. "She has missed our training session for the final time. I cannot work with someone with such disregard for my assistance."

"Okay, but before you completely lose it, have you asked her why she's been missing them? Maybe she has a good reason." Tony offered, grabbing a handful of blueberries and returning to his work. "I've never known you to get so worked up over something like this. You're taking it personally."

"I am not."

"Okay, but you totally are," Tony chuckled. "Hey, J, where's (Y/N)?"

"Miss (Y/N) is in the library, sir."

Tony turned and pointed at Thor with a smirk, "see, all you have to do is ask."

"I don't know how to talk to that...thing," the god huffed and made his way towards the door, preparing what he was going to say to you and deciding whether or not you were worthy of another chance to fulfill your agreement to work with him. All he knew was that you had better have a valid reason that met his satisfaction, and with Loki as a brother, he had heard every excuse ever spoken.

~~~

"Here, read this one," you said quietly, handing Steve a large book from the shelf.

He took it and turned it over in his hands, flipping the pages casually and stopping randomly when something would catch his interest. "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die? That sounds a little depressing. I'm only ninety-seven, (Y/N)."

"It's not about your age, Steve. You said you still feel like you've missed a lot of things under deep freeze, so that might help. And it's entertaining."

"Hmm, okay," he smiled, "thanks!" He took a seat across from yours and opened the book, only to quickly shut it again when Thor stomped into the room.

"(Y/N), you and I need to have a discussion. Immediately."

"Hey, what's going on?" Steve said as he quickly stood with his hands raised to try to calm the scene, looking between the two of you and sensing that you were actually scared of your teammate's approach. "Let's just calm down, alright? You seem a little worked up."

"Oh, no," you whispered, grabbing your phone from your pocket to check the time. "Oh, Thor, I'm so sorry. I missed our training session."

"Yes, you did. But that's the third time this week, (Y/N). I am no longer willing to accept your excuses, and I am no longer willing to work with you." Making his point, Thor turned on his heel to leave but the Captain grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side of the room to get out of your earshot.

"Don't you think you're being a little extreme here?" Steve whispered. "She hasn't been herself the last few days, and I'm sure this is gonna pass. How about if I take her and give you a break for a while?"

"I can still hear you," you coughed, dropping yourself into a chair and opening a book, avoiding their eyes as you pretended to read. "You guys are so sneaky."

Steve took a long breath and turned to you, nodding for Thor to join him at the table with you. The two men sat quietly and watched you for a moment, waiting for you to explain why you hadn't been remembering to attend your training, but when no words came, Thor only grew more frustrated. "So you have nothing to say for yourself? Are you not going to try to excuse your behavior?"

"Are you alright, (Y/N)?" Steve said quietly, attempting a softer approach to get you to talk. He reached forward and tried to grab the book from your hands but you pulled away harshly, closing it with a firm snap and slamming it down on the table. He instinctively retracted his hand and leaned back in the chair with his hands resting on his lap.

"No, Steve. I'm not alright, and I can't believe that you don't know that already," you hissed. Grabbing your book and shoving it back into the rack of others, you left as quickly as you could, leaving the two of them behind in total confusion. You wouldn't have run away, but with the tears about to build in your eyes, you felt that you had no other choice.

~~~

"Miss?"

"JARVIS, I said I didn't want to be bothered," you groaned, rolling over in your bed to bury your head under the security of your blankets. Your room was the one place in the tower that you knew was completely private and was your respite from the pressures of being on the team.

"I understand," the A.I. continued, "but I felt it important for you to know that Mr. Stark is approaching.

"Tell him I'm not here."

"I may have already divulged your location, miss. Apologies."

"Great," you huffed, throwing the blankets back and swinging your legs over the side of the bed, waiting for the inevitable knock on your door. What lecture would it be this time? You hadn't heard the 'how can you be so stupid as to piss off a god' one yet, so maybe there was hope for new content, at least.

"(Y/N), can I-"

"It's your building, Tony. Come on in."

When the door opened you had expected him to come hurrying in with his speech prepared and spilling out, but he only peeked his head in and summoned you to join him. "Let's go, kid. Team meeting."

You looked at him quizzically and searched your mental calendar for the date and if you had forgotten this too. "Wait, isn't it Saturday? We don't have team meetings on..." you faded, your eyes widening at the realization of what was actually happening. "Tony, is this what I think it is?" When he remained silent, you felt your anger begin to grow from deep in your chest, feeling like you were about to explode. "Son of a bitch, you've got to be kidding me. This isn't a team meeting, is it? This is about me."

"(Y/N), just...let's go."

~~~

As you arrived in the common room, you shook your head at the sight of the entire team waiting for you, already into their own conversation. You had been a part of a mission that hadn't gone so well only a few weeks before, and you had been surprised that this moment hadn't come sooner. You straightened your posture and did your best to look confident, though inside you were anything but and feared how you were going to respond to this.

"(Y/N), have a seat," Steve offered, holding his hand out to sit across from him. His voice was gentle and almost sorrowful, making your resolve that you were being kicked out that much stronger. "This isn't a punitive meeting, okay? We just want to talk to you."

"That thing that happened on our last mission, that wasn't your fault, (Y/N). We put you in a position that created that reaction," Natasha said, leaning forward to rest her arms on her legs, looking at you with a firm resolve. "I'm okay."

"Yeah," you sighed, slapping your hands down on your legs and standing, the team quickly standing with you in response, "I can see that you're okay, Nat. Believe me, I'm thankful for that every single day, but you have no idea what that felt like to me. You have no idea what this feels like to think that you almost killed one of your best friends because you weren't ready, you weren't strong enough...you weren't good enough."

"But you are," Bruce joined in, "it was an accident."

"That doesn't matter! It wouldn't have happened if I had my shit together, right?" Your voice had escalated almost to a yell now, but they let you continue, knowing that you needed to get this out and accepting it. "When I stand here and look at you guys, I feel inadequate. No matter what I do. Thor, I can't train with you because I have no business taking up your time. You have so many better things to do than to deal with me. And Steve, I know you're going to give me a speech about how we all have faults but they make us stronger, or some crap like that, but it's not going to work. Tony, you and Bruce have minds like I could never imagine, and between Nat and Clint, any skills that I have look like toddler time tumbling class."

They all stood in silence for a moment, waiting for you to go on, but all you could do is turn away and try to get as far from them as you could. "I don't know why I talk to you guys," you whispered. "You'll never get it."

You only got halfway to the door when Thor's hand gripped your arm and pulled you forward, dragging you towards the workout room without a single word. The team followed behind with a few attempts at slowing him, but he acted as if he heard nothing and would refuse to be stopped.

~~~

"Attack me," Thor growled, throwing you down on the mat with a hard thud, "because I will most definitely attack you."

"Thor," Steve interjected, "I don't think this is a good idea."

The god spun towards him and raised a hand, a fire in his eyes that told Steve to stay back or he would be the next intended target of his anger. The Captain stepped back to the wall and encouraged the rest of his team to do the same.

"Get up now, (Y/N). You will not hurt me." Thor commanded, taking a few steps towards you in a charge, alarming you enough to jump to your feet. "But I may hurt you."

With a run to the side wall and knowing he would follow, you pushed your feet against it to throw yourself onto his back with your legs around his neck. Taking advantage of your inertia you swung yourself sideways and knocked him off balance, forcing him to the mat. He easily pushed you away and grabbed your arm, lifting you into the air in front of him. You jabbed your elbow into his throat and swung your foot firmly into his groin; he dropped you quickly with a pained laugh as he bent over to recover.

"Maybe you will hurt me," he chuckled. "But you won't stop me. Aren't you going to defend yourself? In the way that you know I want you to?" He charged forward again but you raised your hands, willing him to stop as your power pushed back and held him in place. He struggled against the force you were emitting, but he didn't make even another single step forward. "Good, (Y/N)," he struggled, "but that's not enough." His hand raised expectantly, and you knew the hammer was on the way.

"Don't make me do this, please," you whispered, glancing at Steve. "Please."

Mjolnir crashed through the window and into his hand, but before he could throw it towards you, your force strengthened and threw him against the back wall and held him off the ground. His eyes widened slightly at a new sensation; he was finding it harder to breathe as you began to control his muscles, limiting the ability for his chest to expand and to take in air. A tinge of blue grew around his lips but you didn't stop; this was exactly what you were afraid of. You couldn't stop.

"Steve," you called out, "Steve you need to break this. I can't stop it."

Panic began to fill Steve's expression, looking to the team for any answer that wouldn't hurt you. He didn't have his shield to try to jump between you, and he certainly wasn't willing to strike you down. He closed his eyes to think as quickly as he could, but within seconds they shot open to the sound of Tony's repulsor charging.

"Tony, don't!" He jumped to block the beam but was too late. You were on the ground and unconscious before he could even take the first step.

~~~

Steve was pacing outside of the infirmary, with Tony and Thor watching you talk to Bruce through the large window overlooking the room. Steve was mad, and you didn't know if you were in the group of people he was going to yell at or not. The other two men were sitting uncharacteristically quietly and you almost felt sorry for them, believing that this situation was solely your fault. Thor was only trying to help, and Tony had to stop you. None of this would have happened if you hadn't even been there, like you were trying to tell them in the first place.

"I don't know what to do," Steve began quietly, "we just got called out for a job and I don't think this team is in any shape to go. I'm so pissed at the two of you that I don't know if I can even work with you right now."

"I think you might be overreacting-" Tony retorted but was quickly shot down.

"You shot her in the chest, Tony. You shot her. Please, tell me how I'm overreacting." Before he could get his answer, Steve snarled at the sound of his phone, angrily yanking it out of his pocket. "Well, there we go. I guess we don't have a choice anymore. Suit up." He stuck his head through the door and pointed at both you and the doctor, "Time to go. All hands on deck for this one, and that means you, (Y/N)."

"Steve, you can't be serious," you gasped.

"I am." He paused and held his breath as he contemplated what this meant for you, but he needed you there. He needed every set of hands available. "Okay," he sighed, "no powers. Only combat. I don't think this one will need them anyway, so that's our play. Now move it."

Oh, but how the Captain was wrong; he couldn't have been more wrong. For every agent that was taken down it would seem that two more appeared, making the HYDRA tag line that much more appropriate. If only you could be sure that you wouldn't lose control, you could stop this much faster, but you couldn't take that chance. You had already almost caused the loss of Natasha last time, and Thor just barely escaped your grip; you had to rely on your skills, no matter how hard this got.

Thor was fighting about a hundred yards away, occasionally looking to you to be sure you were okay, as far as you could tell. He was harboring guilt from how he handled things back at the tower but hadn't had the chance to apologize. He knew he was out of line and that Steve was right; he would make amends once the team returned, but that likelihood began to dwindle when he was taken down by two men, one of them with their hands tightly around his throat.

"Thor!" you yelled to him and began to run, "can anyone give us backup?"

"I'm on it," Tony replied through your comm, but didn't arrive as quickly as you had hoped.

You took a shot at one of the men, but he deflected it as if it were nothing; he must have been enhanced as you were. With a hesitant and shaky deep breath, you held out your hands and pushed, trying to force the men away, but he pushed back. "Release him now," you ordered, "or I don't know how this will end for you."

"Do your best, little girl," the man growled, but quickly dropped to his knees as you controlled him, though still pushing back. The other man watched but hadn't yet released Thor, so you turned attention to him as best as you could.

"(Y/N)," Thor struggled between gasps, "don't."

"It's okay, I don't care if I lose it on these two wastes of air." You could feel the second man struggling against you as he tried to hold Thor at the same time. He was stronger than you expected but you continued, beginning to feel the fatigue of your own energy draining. "Tony, any time now...I'm two-to-one here."

"One second...one...second," he replied, clearly still in the midst of his own struggle.

You had gained enough control for Thor to finally break free, swinging Mjolnir with enough force to finish the first man off completely, then taking aim at the other. Before he could connect, the man's hands shot light towards you that was blinding, blocking your sight for a moment; when it faded, you felt a tightness in your throat and chest that wouldn't release. You could feel your air quickly running out and your vision begin to darken.

"(Y/N)! (Y/N) is down," Thor called out, grabbing you and lowering you to the ground when your legs could no longer hold you. "(Y/N), what did he do?"

"Can't...breathe..." You struggled but tried to stay calm, thankful that if it was your time to go, you did it with the team that believed in you even when you didn't. Thankful that you could help to save your friend in your final act. You felt peace with your ending, and tried to smile weakly so that Thor would realize this, hoping to save him from the same guilt you had felt when you held Natasha in your arms this way. "It's...okay..." you gasped, taking his hand with a small squeeze as your last breath left your chest.

"No...no, no this can't happen," he mumbled, pulling you to his chest. "No...this is my fault. You did this for me. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

Steve and Tony ran up behind him, the fight beginning to slow though still very active. "Thor, I can take her to the jet," Tony offered, but when he reached for you, the god growled with an anger that neither man had ever heard before and he immediately backed away. "Or, you know, maybe not."

"No one is to touch her," Thor warned, standing with you in his arms. "She is a warrior and is to be respected as such." He began to swing Mjolnir at his side and looked to Steve just before disappearing into the sky, bringing you to his home for your final resting place. "I will make certain that she is honored as she deserves."