CHAPTER SEVEN.
HER KINDA FIGHT.

ALEXIOS GRUNTED AS SHE hit the floor during the explosion. Her ears were ringing and her face was twisted into a grimace while she pushed herself to her hands and knees. Alex glanced around, noticing that the others were on the floor as well, except she couldn't see Natasha nor Bruce.

"Well, that hurt." Alex muttered to herself, barely even hearing her own voice through the high pitched ringing and chaos.

Steve and Tony clambered their way out of the lab. Nick contacted Maria Hill and began throwing out orders and checking on Natasha. He was nearly out of the lab before he turned back, seeing Alexios on the floor.

"Rhodes!"

Alexios waved him off, "Go!"

"You better come find me, Rhodes." Nick demanded, heading off as she nodded slightly.

Through the attempts to manage her pain, she pushed herself up. Barely giving her body any time to balance itself or deliver adrenaline, she jogged off into the hallway. Alexios huffed, looking around the chaotic area before turning right and making her way to the control area.

She ran past the other agents, dodging them in the nick of time before they collided. She managed to find her way, her eyes landing on Nick and Maria as she paused in the large doorway. Alexios continued, hopping up and pushing herself off the railing to land on the floor safely. A few agents stared in awe after her stunt before shaking their heads and going back to their urgent task.

"Glad you could finally join us," Maria panted.

"Awh, Hill, I couldn't leave my two favorite pests hanging, now could I?" Alexios joked, a smirk painting her lips.

"We're under attack, Rhodes. While we figure out how to get back online, I want you to watch that door." Nick was quick to explain, seeing that he had more urgent duties. "Need any help, and you yell."

"Got it," she flashed him a smile and a thumbs up.

"We need full evac on the lower hangar bay," Nick told Maria as she passed. She quickly nodded and picked up her speed as she hurried out of the room.

Maria was stopped early as a cylindrical object clanked on the floor at her feet. She backed away quickly and shouted, "Grenade!"

As the grenade exploded, she and other agents were thrown back. Alexios ran to help Maria but was interrupted by the turned S.H.I.E.L.D agents marching through the doors. Alex groaned, cocking her head to the side and moved to where she had a clear shot of the two agents.

Nick was quick to sneak up and take the last agent by surprise, disabling him. Alexios jumped back up onto the platform, which seemed stupid to anyone else, and attacked the first agent before he could attempt to get at Nick. Her hand grasped the barrel of the sniper rifle and pointed it down, to where the butt of the gun was just below the agent's chin. Alex then pushed the gun up, thrusting the firearm into his jaw, then swung her right leg at his knees, knocking the agent's balance. He fell the floor with a thud, which made Alex smirk slightly to herself with pride.

She was quick to kick the sniper rifle out of the agent's reach, listening to clack against the floor as it fell off the platform. Alex snapped her foot back, connecting her foot to the side of the agent's head, making sure he was now disabled and unconscious.

Alexios dusted off her hands as she let out a deep breath, cocking her head side to side and listened to the vertebrae in her neck crack. She glanced over at Nick, who was looking at her with his own small smirk.

"Didn't know you could fight like that, Alexios." He mentioned, sliding his gun back into its holster.

Alex grinned, "There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Nick. I like the element of surprise."

A third agent snuck through the doors. Nick had glanced up to see the agent come through the doors with a sniper aimed at him. Neither Nick nor Alexios had time to react, but was rescued as the agent was shot by none the other, Maria Hill.

"Thanks," Nick muttered before taking cover and shooting at the other turned agents who kept filing in.

Alexios was quick to move, sprinting over and hopping over the railing again to land perfectly on her feet. She kneeled down to where she was covered, but still had a good view of the chaotic mess going on around her. While Alex had no weapon to herself, she still managed to take down agents.

With quick flicks and thrusts of her hands, fire was thrown at the intruding agents. She watched as their uniform turned into their own blazes, leaving the wearers to drop to the floor and writhe in burning pain. Alex's heart hurt at the fact that she was hurting people who were once good, but couldn't show that and remained stoic and cold.

"We have the Hulk and Thor on Research Lever 4," a voice on the PA sounded. "Levels 2 and 3 are dark."

"Sir!" Maria yelled out to Nick, looking back briefly. "The Hulk will tear this place apart!"

"Then get his attention!" Nick demanded.

Alexios took Maria's place and continued defense against the rogue agents as she called demands for the Hulk. Her demands were vaguely heard as the chaos still unfolded around them.

Nick was muttering to himself as another small explosion went off. Alexios scoffed, turning her attention away for a moment.

"What the..." she looked up to where Nick was shooting and noticed that he narrowly missed another person.

• • • •

AFTER THE HELICARRIER BATTLE, everything was calm and silent. Most of the silence was in respect for agent Coulson who lost his life while taking on Loki. Alexios hadn't known him much, only really meeting him when he kept offering her a place at S.H.I.E.L.D. and she kept refusing politely.

Captain Rogers, Tony and Alexios sat at the large table in silence, counting their losses. Coulson was dead, Thor wasn't anywhere to be found, Banner was gone and Natasha was with Barton in recovery— not to mention, Loki had escaped.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Nick broke the silence and held up the vintage trading cards. He threw them across the table in a bloody mess. "I guess he never did get you to sign them."

Alexios looked up, a blank expression on her face but inside, her heart broke.

"Those cards," she murmured under her breath.

"We're dead in the air, up here." Nick continued solemnly, "Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had the coming," he sighed, "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put my chips on that number, though because I knew I was playing with something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark and Rhodes know this, called the Avengers Initiative."

Alexios swallowed, hearing the Avengers come up again. She looked at Nick with remorse in her eyes.

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles we never could." Nick explained. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

Alexios and Tony stood up together, abruptly. She glared at him slightly, earning a scowl in return. Tony walked off, leaving Alex standing there by herself.

"Then let's be heroes," Alex sighed.

"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion." Nick stated softly.

"Steve," Alexios whispered, earning the Captain's attention. "You with me? Let's figure out where the hell Loki is, and be heroes. You up to be a hero with a cursed girl?"

She gave a sad and small smile as Steve looked down, fingering with the cards. A soft sigh left his lips, as he thought it over, though his mind was already made.

"I'm with you, ma'am." He nodded.

Alexios laughed, "First off, if we're gonna be a team, call me Alexios or Alex. Got it?"

"Got it," Steve agreed.

She grinned at him, sitting back down at the table. "Now, second thing, where would Loki go?"

•  •  •  •

not gonna lie, I'm really in love with this chapter. and that gif up top is the reason why I love JJ on cm and AJ Cook. I've been waiting to use that gif forever now.

anyway, enjoy this chapter be looking forward to the next few ones. I can't wait to add tension between Alexios and Tony. 😊😏