Song: "Eleanor Rigby" by Cody Fry

******

I sat in the quinjet, across from Thor, who stared at me. It was my first time meeting him, and I was getting weirded out by his staring.

"Can I help you?" I finally asked. Steve, who sat next to me, looked from me to him.

"Are you a Valkyrie?" Thor asked finally, resting his chin on his fist.

"Ah, no. More like biologically experimented on," I say and fold my hands in my lap.

"Your hair and eyes then?" He asks.

"Born that way." I say with a shrug.

"Hm. The marks of a true warrior. You'll serve the people of Sokovia well."

"So that's where we're going? Sokovia?" I asked and looked at Steve. "I've never even heard of Sokovia."

He nodded. "Yes. We found a Hydra base there and are working to destroy it. We think they may have Loki's scepter in it."

"Huh. Ok. So a search and recover," I say.

"Pretty much," Bruce says stiffly from where he sat to my left.

He wasn't looking at me much, or talking, I noticed. He wore a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. Bare feet. He looked extraordinarily uncomfortable. I bumped my shoulder into his and said,

"Hey, if it helps, I'm nervous, too. You'll be ok. Just go in and get the scepter and we're golden." I paused. "That was supposed to be a pun to make you laugh."

A weak smile appeared on his face. "That's not what I'm worried about, but thank you, Avery."

"Then what is?" I asked and dropped my voice to a whisper.

"You seeing him." He replied softly. It was so quiet I almost didn't hear it. I did, however, notice that Tony, Steve, and Thor were pretending to be very interested in something on Tony's phone. Clint and Natasha were piloting the air craft. I resisted an eye roll and merely looked at him instead.

"Well, I've heard of him. I've seen pictures, and what I've seen, I still see you." He still didn't look at me. I reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not scared of him, but you are. And that's ok. I'll be there supporting you, like you did for me. That's what friends do."

That strange look appeared in his eyes again, but he looked away as I finished and mumbled, "Thanks, Avery for your, ah, friendship. And support."

"Thank you for the suit."

"You're welcome. You should thank Steve, too. He had a lot of ideas." He leaned forward to look past me at Steve.

I looked over at him and he met my eyes. "Well, I wouldn't say I had a lot, but you should like your suit and it should suit your needs."

I smiled. "I do. It's amazing. Thank you for your help."

He returned the smile and nodded, his hand reaching up to rest over mine as he gave it a gentle squeeze before standing and walking away.

I felt my cheeks beginning to burn, and I looked over at Bruce to see him smirking at me.

I rolled my eyes and pushed on his shoulder, a small laugh escaping him.

Soon enough, we were landing and I stood, reaching for a wrung, then once I was steady, began to pull on my fingerless gloves with the padding in the knuckles, strapping them at my wrist.

I rolled my shoulders and stretched my wings, getting ready.

Tony appeared next to me, now in his suit, as Thor joined me, hammer in hand. "Ready to fly out, Avery?" He asks.

"You betcha," I say. I had trained jumping from the quinjet before, and had controlled flying now, and it became my favorite kind of training exercise.

However, it had never been into open combat. But I had them. I'd be fine.

"While we're on it, you need a superhero name or whatever it's called," Tony said and nudged my arm as his mask slid down over his face.

"Thor is just called Thor," I say blandly.

"What else are we gonna call him?" Tony asks and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. The hanger door began to lower and I turned to look back and Steve gave me a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.

"I guess that's a fair point. See ya down there." I ran and jumped off the hanger door, my wings catching me as I turned and dove for the tree line, tucking them in tight to my body.

Tony and Thor were close behind me.

That's when I saw the first soldier. He wore white camouflage, and I almost questioned how I saw him, but realized that I didn't see him, but sensed his mind activity. I had done training exercises where I located S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with my telepathy. And now was the time to put it into practice.

I reached up to my comm and said, "They're in snow camo."

I then reached the man and tackled him out of the tree. He fell with a yelp of surprise. I merely punched him in the face and stood and jumped into the air again as a bullet was fired at me, but Thor took the sniper out. I got up and jumped into the air again, looking out and locating the minds of several more people in the trees.

"More in the trees." I said into my earpiece.

I looked down as I heard a jeep and saw that Clint and Natasha had taken one over, Clint holding his bow at the ready. And Steve was on a motorcycle.

"You keep telling us where these guys are, Avery," Steve said. "We're gonna need it. I can barely see most of them."

Suddenly, a roar broke out and Bruce jumped from the back of the jeep as the Hulk, giant and green and muscled. I watched from where I flew as he began to tear through the soldiers that came swarming.

I dove down into the trees again as I located a structure with three men on it, and landed, ducking and sweeping my wings out as I tripped up their legs, then kicked them over the railings, jumping up and over the structure's railing with a handgun now.

I continued to fight through the soldiers, watching as effortlessly the others filled in where I was absent and I located ones that were hiding and they uncovered them.

Then, a giant building came into view. And so did several tanks. I yelped as one shot a bolt of energy in my direction and I made it behind a tree as it shot passed me. Then, the tank was ripped to shreds moments later by Bruce.

We locked eyes momentarily, Bruce's brown eyes still the same, but he shook his head and looked away, letting out a roar as he jumped up to destroy more of the energy tanks.

I looked up as Tony shot by overhead and I ran forward and jumped into the air, pumping my wings to try and catch up, and watched him fly towards the building. More of those energy canons fired at him, but they bounced off his suit effortlessly. He continued to fly... and bounced off a strange blue energy field.

"Ouch." I mumbled with a wince of sympathy.

"Shit!" Tony yelled on the comms.

"Language!" Steve replied.

I snorted and dove back into the trees as Tony said, "Jarvis, analyze that thing for me."

"It seems to be surrounded by an energy field, the whole perimeter, sir. It is run by a generator." Jarvis replied in our ears.

"Then we knock out the power," I said and spun around and ducked under the barrel of a gun and punched a soldier in the face. He crumpled into the snow.

"Then we should find it," Thor said.

"Is no one going to talk about how Cap just said 'language'?" Tony asks.

I went to reply with a snide comment of my own, but jumped as another soldier appeared in front of me, barrel of a rifle aimed at my forehead, but I lifted the handgun and fired. There was a spray of blood and he collapsed.

I froze for a moment, staring at the red blood mixing with the white snow. I killed him. I lifted a hand to my face and it came away sticky with blood. His blood. Shaking, I dropped the handgun and turned and jumped into the air. No. No. I couldn't freak out like this now. Not on my first mission.

"Avery? What happened?" Steve asked in my ear.

"I-I shot him. In the face," I managed. "I'll be fine. There are more in the trees- at your three o'clock, Nat. Watch out."

I felt my knees give out and I lifted clumps of snow and began to scrub my face with the freezing white powder until my skin burned. I heard Hulk roaring in the distance, several explosions and gun shots going off in all directions. Was this what I signed up for? Maybe I wasn't ready after all.

I felt my heart hammering in my chest and I couldn't breathe for a second, trying to regain my composure. I had just killed someone.

"Avery, breathe for me, ok?" Steve's voice said on the comm in my ear. "Take deep breaths. Slowly."

Thor suddenly appeared and hit the ground with his hammer, lighting shooting though the trees and dropping the men to the ground.

I barely moved, my fists digging into the snow as tears trailed down my cheeks.

"Are you alright, Avery? Come. We must keep moving," Thor said, squeezing my shoulder. "You are alive and that is all that matters."

I nodded. "Y-Yeah."

And that's when I sensed something even stranger. I frowned, turning in the direction of it, and saw Clint behind a tree. Then, he got shot and I sucked in a sharp breath as I watched a blue and silver blur run into him and knock him off his feet. Then, it ran towards me.

Thor was already gone, and I knew he wouldn't make it back in time, so I raised my wings, and jumped as the blur reached me, and time seemed to slow as I locked eyes with a man.

I landed again and he skidded to a stop, sending snow in all directions, and looking at me strangely. "You saw me coming? People usually don't do that."

"I'm not like other people, clearly," I replied stiffly, raising my fists.

He squinted at me, and went to say something, but I lifted my hand, curling around my fist as I dragged snow from a tree down onto him, flattening him to the ground.

He let out a surprised yelp, then looked up at me in shock. "No. No it can't be you." His eyes narrowed at my hands, the white tendrils of power slowly fading away. He then looked up at my face, a horror-stricken expression crossing his face as he slowly got up. "A-Anya?"

I clenched my jaw. "It's Avery," I replied. "Who the hell are you?"

I tilted my head to the side and focused on the guy in front of me. He had brown hair with white streaks, and was staring at me with brown eyes. Then, in a literal blink, he ran forward and tripped my legs, making me land in the snow and he was there, pinning me to the ground.

"No. Your hair. Your eyes. It is you, isn't it?" He demanded. There was a pain in his voice.

"I have no idea who you are! Or what you're talking about, so get off of me!" I shouted and bucked him off of me, spinning and throwing a punch into his face to get him to let go.

"Avery! Who is that?" Natasha asked over the comms.

"Working on figuring that out," I gritted out. Then, a second, stranger sensation came over me, and I spun around to see a woman with red hair, red tendrils curling around her fingers. She stared at me incomprehensibly, then looked at the man.

"Avery! Duck!" Steve's voice came over the comms, so I did, and watched as he appeared and rammed his shield into the girl and the man yelled, caught her, looked me in the eyes, and was gone again in a flash.

I stood there, dumbstruck, unable to process what had just happened. I lifted a hand and pushed it through my hair.

"Avery? What happened?" He asked.

I shook my head, looking at him. I felt dizzy. "I-I don't know. He called me Anya. She seemed to recognize me, too. Had the same energy things on her hands, except hers were red. I-I killed a guy, Steve... and then those strange people..." Tears began to fill my eyes and he surprised me when he stepped forward and pulled me into a hug.

I stiffened for a moment, then moved my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. His arms were warm and secure, and I could hear his heart beating hard under my ear.

His hands suddenly moved to my face as he tilted my chin up. "C'mon, Avery. You can do this. We are almost done. Then we are going home."

I nodded, hands shaking, and I went to say something, but paused as Tony said on the comms, "I'm in." A few moments later, "Got the scepter. You guys get back to the quinjet. Natasha, how about a lullaby for Banner?"

"Clint's hurt. I can't get to him right now." She replied tensely on the other end, a gun going off.

"I got it." I said and he nodded to me, squeezing my hand one last time as I turned and jumped into the air, wiping at my cheeks and the tears. I desperately tried to regain a hold of myself, even if all I wanted was for Steve to hold me like that again...

I found Bruce a few minutes later and landed lightly and he spun around, snarling.

What were those words Nat taught me? "Hey, big guy. The sun's getting real low..." I paused. "That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

He stared at me, breathing heavily, and I merely pulled off my glove and took a cautious step towards him. My heart was hammering in my throat, but I refused to let him see that I was scared. I steadied my voice, and offered a small smile. "We're all done. Gonna head back now." I say and lift my bare hand up towards him.

He stared at my hand incomprehensibly, then reached out and rested the back of his hand onto mine. It was huge, nearly the size of my torso, and I said gently, "Let's go home."

His whole body shook, and he moved his hand, the green fading from his skin as he turned away from me. The jeep pulled up behind me suddenly and Nat tossed me a bag. She nodded, then drove off with a wounded Clint for the jet.

I heard a groan, and I cautiously walked towards the tree, unzipping the bag and pulling out a pair of pants and holding them out to him. A normal sized hand reached out and took the pants, and a few moments later, Bruce appeared, shivering.

I smiled softly and reached into the bag and handed him a long sleeved shirt, then some shoes, which he quickly pulled on. I walked over to him with a blanket and pulled it around his shoulders, holding it snugly around him.

"You ok?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah. Thank you, Avery," he said tersely, and seemed to want to say something more, but didn't as he merely turned and began to make his way back. I quickly tugged my glove back on and chased after him.

The hangar closed behind us and Natasha set the coordinates for home. I walked over to Clint, where he lay in a stretcher, a wound in his side. There was a makeshift bandage around his torso, but he'd need more than that.

Bruce sat down on the floor, putting headphones on, wrapping the blanket around him tighter. I reached for a rung on the ceiling and held on as Natasha brought the quintet to altitude.

"Avery," Steve asked as he moved to stand next to me. "Do you know those people?"

"No. I've never seen them before." I said and crossed my arm over my stomach, the reminder of them sending a chill down my spine. "They seemed to know me, though. They seemed surprised to see me."

"Maybe they're family," Tony said from the cockpit, turning to look back at me. "You grew up in foster care, and you and that girl have the same powers. Well, same-ish. Same swirly smoke stuff."

"I mean, maybe, but why was I given up if I had family? I grew up in foster care and the streets my whole life. So if they are my family, they have a hell of a lot of explaining to do." I paused, and smirking at Steve said, "Sorry about the bad language word."

He rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. But I noticed he smiled a little at the floor.

"Even so, we have the scepter back, and now a mystery on our hands," Thor said. "We should focus on one thing at a time."

"Yeah. One thing at a time." I say and sit on a chair across from Bruce and rubbed at my eyes, releasing a shaking breath.

"You did great out there," I mumbled to him.

Steve moved to stand behind me, resting a hand on my shoulder. I found he often did this when he noticed my mood shift or if I was ever sad. I didn't mind it, as the action made me feel safe.

He smiled and shook his head. "Great?" He rubbed at his eyes. "I honestly didn't expect we'd need a Code Green."

"Well, if we didn't, we'd be a lot worse off right now. And Clint might not be the only person wounded like that. You helped save us out there," I replied.

"Thor, status report on the Hulk." Tony said from the cockpit. Steve rolled his eyes, seeming amused as Bruce scowled towards the cockpit.

Thor grinned and turned to face us, arms spread to the side, and said, "The gates of hell are filled with the screams of his victims."

Bruce dropped his face in his hands, letting out a pained sound and I leaned forward to pat his knee. Steve's hand remained on my shoulder and I reached up to squeeze his hand.

Thor paused, then amended, "But not the screams of the dead, of course. Wounded screams, mainly, uh, a great deal of complaining and many tales of strained deltoids and, uh, gout."

A small smirk crossed my face and I stood from the chair and Steve's hand dropped from my shoulder, but I didn't move far from him, my shoulder resting against his arm.

His fingers brushed over my knuckles and I moved my hand and he laced his fingers through mine. I looked up at him and he smiled softly. I merely laid my head on his shoulder and his thumb stroked over my knuckles.

I watched Tony stand after telling Jarvis to take over, and he stood with Thor over the scepter, talking about it quietly.

I swallowed hard and thought of that man I had shot in the face. Was he in hell now? And what did that make me?

I didn't know, so I let Steve hold my hand and give whatever comfort he could to me as I sat with the weight of today's discoveries in silence.

******

I went back to my room and peeled myself out of the suit, throwing the pieces onto my bed and turning on the hot water for the shower. I turned my back to my closed door, and waited for it to get a scalding hot, then got in and began to scrub at every part of my body, namely my hands and face.

Flashes of the man's head exploding in front of me flashed in my mind's eye and I felt sick, hot tears springing from my eyes as I let the hot water clean off the dirt and sweat all over my body.

That guy, and that girl- who were they? Were they family to me? If they were, maybe they would have answers for me about why I was abandoned. But what would I even do if I found them? What would I say? And who's to say they weren't in the same predicament I was, and was experimented on by the same people. Was I just insane?

I looked down at my torso, the faint scars around my hips and around my belly button. The scars on my back. A few fresh bruises covered my skin from today, but I knew they'd be gone by morning. I could speed heal myself, but some scars were too deep.

I didn't get out of the shower until the water was cold, and merely dried off and pulled on a pair of leggings and a sports bra and climbed into bed, laying my wings out to let them dry, and letting my wet hair stay wet. I'd deal with the consequences in the morning.

I wrapped my arms around a pillow and felt tears brim in my eyes, and a few fell, dampening my nose and the pillowcase. This was stupid. Why was I such a coward? If I hadn't done it, I'd be dead. It would be my brains blown all over the tree. It was him or me. But why did it have to be that way at all?

I didn't think I'd ever get an answer.