I never thought I'd say it, but, I missed my apartment in New York. Why?

Tony Stark.

Oh, no, he wasn't a pompous ass of a host when it came to his tower. Oh, no. It was his endless teasing still to this day about my love life. You got to love when one of your Avenger friends constantly acted like the sibling you never had.

"You know, you'd think this would roll off me by now," I told Tony airily as we waited in a room of the tower. "I guess there's not enough desensitization going on."

"Hey, you and the old man have had plenty of chances to run back to wherever you were nesting before," said Tony.

"'Nesting'? Wrong Avenger, wrong joke, Tony. Besides, you know why we moved." I tried to not think about it.

He rolled his eyes. "I never realized being fashionably late was a S.H.I.E.L.D. thing."

I cringed. It still sunk in, that S.H.I.E.L.D. was no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. All thanks to HYDRA, an enemy that had gone underground since the fall of the Red Skull in the 1940s. Oh, you could bet my ass I dug up on all things HYDRA once Steve and I made it to the tower. I wanted every piece of dirt on the organization.

They were the lowest scum I had yet to face so far in my lifetime.

Maybe this is what the meeting is about. We'd been reached out to by Maria Hill, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. There were no details given, just a date and location, which was the Avengers Tower. To prove it was no longer Stark Tower, an "A" replaced where "Stark" once was on it.

Bruce Banner was already in the Avenger Tower, having come around more often lately. The first time I'd seen him since our last Avenger assemble (which really hadn't included him, or Thor, but had included a bunch of malfunctioning super-powered people with pirated power via my bloodstream), he'd done the friendly thing of asking the usual questions. It'd been hard, to talk to him.

Truthfully, aside from Natasha, Tony, Steve, Todd, the former Winter Soldier (aka Steve's not-dead-best-friend James Barnes), and Sam Wilson, no one else knew about my brief time in HYDRA's service.

"I don't see any reason why most would be late. Steve's in another room, and didn't Hill tell you she was bringing Tasha and Clint along?" I asked Tony.

As if on cue, the familiar roar of the quinjet's engines could be heard. Exchanging a look, Tony and I set out onto the landing platform, the wind tousling our clothes and hair.

The engines settled down, and the ramp lowered. Maria Hill, with Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton in tow, exited. I was a little crestfallen, because I had been so sure that Todd would have come along. He was practically a part of the inner circle.

The perks of knowing an Avenger.

"Good thing our lives didn't depend on your punctuality," said Tony. "Otherwise, we would've been dead."

I snorted. "Your humor is off point today, way off point." I nodded towards Tasha and Clint. "Nice to see you two again."

"We're still waiting on a few more people," Maria Hill said.

"Who else do we need to wait for?" I did the mental math. I didn't think Thor could make it to Earth anytime soon. He hadn't shown up, nor had he said anything about the Bifrost finally being repaired after all this time.

"Well, me, for one," came a familiar voice. He descended down the ramp, giving me that traditional crooked smile. My mood brightened at seeing Todd Brealey. "You and me, we're a package deal."

"We always were," I agreed fondly.

"If that were the case, he would've been a part of the initiative," Tony quipped.

"Always need to throw in your voice, don't you?" I gave him a pointed look.

"Argument with the spouse, firefly? You seem like you've got ruffled feathers."

"Sometimes you just annoy me."

"It happens to everyone," Clint muttered.

"He wouldn't be Tony without it." I clapped Tony hard on the shoulder, and he winced. I didn't apologize. Every once in a while he needed to be kept in line. I looked past Todd, Tasha, Clint, and Hill, only to feel flabbergasted.

Out of the quinjet came the God of Thunder himself. Only he looked slightly...different. His hair looked stringy, and longer. His armor looked a bit updated as well. The only thing that hadn't changed was his hammer that he carried at his side like a faithful pet. It was still a significant change from the last time we'd seen each other. And that had been back with the Chitauri and Loki.

Loki.

I hadn't heard from either of them for a while, not since my powers got themselves righted again in the end. After a time, I got used to it and didn't think anything wrong with it.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" I taunted Thor. "Did you just get back?"

"We can talk later," he said. His voice sounded the closest thing to home right now. Well, my birthplace at least. "Right now, we have other matters to deal with."

"Let's take it inside, shall we?" said Tony.

When we all squeezed ourselves in, Steve had made it back into the room by that time. We all settled into one of the main seating areas. Natasha and Clint opted to stand, as did Hill, while the rest of us took seats on the furniture.

"Can we just assume that whatever you've called us into a meeting for is gonna be bad news?" I blurted out.

Maria Hill looked to me. "Yes...and no. The bad news is, thanks to HYDRA, we've lost a lot of valuable possessions. One of those would be Loki's scepter."

"What's the good news, exactly?" asked Bruce.

"I guess there isn't really any good news, unless you count us finding the locations of all of HYDRA's bases around the world. One of them has the scepter. The problem is, we don't know for sure which one."

"So, the Avengers are going on raid duty?"

"It'd be easier for us," I sided with Hill. "We can take the bases better than agents could. No offense to them of course."

"Nobody disagrees," Hill said neutrally. "It's going to require a lot of travel time."

"How many are there?"

"Enough to keep you guys busy for a while. I don't think I need to ask if any of you are up for the challenge."

"We need to get the scepter out of HYDRA hands," I said adamantly. "It's bad enough Loki had his on it. HYDRA can't possibly hope to comprehend that kind of technology. Imagine if they have any shot."

"Where's our first stop?" asked Tony. "Someplace nice? Hawaii? Tahiti? Italy? France?"

"Turkey," Hill responded.

Tony looked slightly disappointed in her answer.

* * *

The bad guys certainly have the same MOs when it comes to picking bases: old but strong brick structures.

We hadn't gotten much of a break when Hill told us we were headed to Turkey for our first HYDRA base raid. We'd suited up and all piled into the quinjet, planning strategy based on what kind of base plan HYDRA had going for them.

It wasn't elaborate, I could say that much. The HYDRA fighters, they weren't exactly smart either.

It wasn't wise to shoot at an Avenger, because we always shot back, and we hit our target.

Most of the team was outside defeating foes, I was one of the few that managed to breach inside of the building. This base's version of security was a few armed guards. Nothing a fire-wielder like myself couldn't handle.

Orders were being shouted in a language that I didn't really want to understand at the moment. I tossed around any HYDRA agents close to me, avoiding any bullets. I had to remind myself, grudgingly I might add, that I was no longer bulletproof like I used to be. Thanks to Seth Joyce's stupid serum, my immortality took a serious drop. The ordinary tools of war could hurt me just as easily as they could a human.

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll run into Seth. I knew what the smart thing to do would be: turn him in. But I had a better idea. He tormented me in a lot of ways. He needed to feel that pain and agony under my touch.

I ducked behind a table full of computers which were eating bullets. Sparks flew as the monitors shorted out and blacked. I popped out from cover to throw fireballs in the agents' directions. Some were scalded on impact, others just had to put out a tiny fire on their clothing.

I've got your back, Kia. On cue, Tony flew in with his Iron Man suit, firing little missiles at the agents. Some fell to the floor in pain, others hopped from the sudden impact. I maneuvered through the room, avoiding fallen bodies, as Tony's suit took the bullets that were meant for me. He fired blasts in retaliation, bringing some extra light into the place.

You better. Grunting, I threw out more balls of fire. All they ate was wall, Tony had better luck than I did.

Your boyfriend would be all over me if I didn't. I'd never hear the end of it. He makes long speeches.

It shows he's passionate. You get the same way too. Now, shut up and help me take this base.

Yes, ma'am.

One by one, the agents fell unconscious at our feet. More flooded out of the halls, and more of them were attacking us than we were attacking them. It was borderline overwhelming.

Out of nowhere, through the pack of HYDRA agents, a breeze kicked up. The lights flickered above, and I watched as agents backed up in the pile were suddenly airborne, smacking into the walls. More were thrown, left and right, up, down, into the halls. I couldn't understand why, I stood in confusion and watched. Tony continued to disable the rest of the HYDRA agents.

When the last HYDRA agent groaned his last groan, Tony and I stopped. In that same instant, the wind stopped too. We looked at each other.

"What was that?" he asked through his face piece.

"No idea." Lighting a small fire in my hand, I moved in front of him, stepping over the bodies. "Guess we need to check it out."

"Uh, are you sure about that?" I heard his metal feet thump behind me.

"We need to know what caused it."

"Curiosity could kill the Asgardian."

"Oh, hush." I swatted at him from behind.

"Perimeter is almost secure out here," Steve said through our earpieces. "What about inside?"

"We, uh, have it secure, we think," I said uncertainly. "Doing a sweep of the building now. We'll call if we need an extra hand."

"Copy that. Be careful, you two."

"Always am, Cap. Be on your guard," I said to Tony as we stalked the corridor. Our footsteps reverberated off the walls. "Listen, we don't want to fight you. Play nice and come out from wherever you're hiding. If you do, you won't end up like your comrades." I smacked Tony's arm as he nudged one of the unconscious bodies with his foot.

We stopped at hearing the bitter chuckle. I let my fire grow bigger. Beside me, Tony had his hand out, ready to blast whoever it was off their feet. The laugh sounded female.

"These morons, my comrades?" The voice sounded closer. "Please." She emerged from one of the halls, glancing down at the bodies. "Thanks for doing the job that I couldn't do."

I recognized the Asgardian accent. I didn't realize who she was right away. Time had changed her, like it had changed me. Her hair was longer, wavy, and still a medium brown. She wore ratty clothing, and the twitch under her one eye suggested that these men had been anything but kind to her. But what is she doing on Earth of all places?

"What are you gawking at?" she asked rather irritably.

"You—you don't recognize me?" I asked in a weak tone.

"No."

I took a step forward, over two unconscious bodies. "We knew each other a long time ago, back when we were children."

"Kia..." Tony said uneasily.

The girl looked at me warily with her hazel eyes. "Is this some sick game they're playing with me? I thought I'd gone through enough."

"Look, kiddo, we're the good guys," Tony said bluntly. "And apparently she knows you somehow."

"I fail to see how she does."

"We were so young, then," I murmured. "I'd be amazed if you remembered. Aria, it's me. It's Kiara."