"This shall help against your injuries, Lady- I mean, Eve. Rest here as I will do my best to find out where we currently are." Thor has bandaged my wound with a peace of his cape that he easily ripped off. I'm sitting under a tree on the meadow in the middle of nowhere, still overstrained with the situation. My whole body is smudged with dirt and blood, my ribs weigh heavily, filling my chest with pain but the wound in my stomach at least stopped bleeding.

"At least you don't have to witness this." I whisper quietly, glancing at the sky and thinking of Bucky. He would have freaked out and killed Loki. My throat feels dry and scratchy like sandpaper. "Thor, do you even know the areas of the earth?"

"To be honest, no." He admits, stopping his looking around and picking up his hammer. The God comes back to me with a concerned glance. "Are you alright?"

"A good man died in front of our eyes, one of the few good men nowadays. And now we're in the middle of nowhere, I don't even know if Steve's alright." I let out a deep sigh, swallowing the threatening tears. "I don't belong to this world, Thor. I belong to the past."

"I do not possess a big knowledge about you. But I read from a source that you lived seventy years ago until the ice captured you, may that be right?" He asks carefully, afraid to overstep boundaries but I nod. "When did you receive your powers?"

"In 1943. I went through an experiment until  lightning suddenly hit the machine I was in. Why?"

"1943... That was the year where my folks fought against another colony from the realms, a war that lasted a whole year. I used Mjölnir and won the battle by causing a thunderstorm. It may have influenced your planet."

"There was a storm on this day, lightning but no rain. I remember that the earth was dry." I put one and one together, looking at him and the hammer in his hand. "I got my power from your hammer Mjölnir."

"Lady Mjölnir." He now smirks with pride and content. "You do own god-like powers. You shall carry them with pride, not with regret and sorrow."

I nod, processing the reason for my powers which sound like a bad and confusing game from the universe. I would like to ask Howard about that but he's dead, just like Bucky. Maybe Thor is right but I'm not ready to move on, to just continue fighting for something if I don't have a purpose. Who am I without Bucky Barnes?

"There you are." A voice from above with a distance appears and a weak wind blows. I stand up, Thor helping me, and face Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit. "You two left quite a destructive mess and guess who has to pay for that."

"If you show me how to perfectly fall thirty thousand feet down to the earth without leaving any destruction, then I'll apologize." I narrow my eyes, folding my arms over my chest. "Took you long enough to find us, three whole hours. Where's Steve, is he alright?"

"Your boyfriend's annoying but fine, popsicle."

"Not my boyfriend. And I do have a name, genius." I correct him, rolling  my eyes. Why does he have to be the one to find us? "What's about Bruce? Where is he?"

"And Loki?" Thor speaks up and I can tell that he's after all still concerned about his brother. Stark lands on the ground and removes his mask, revealing his face now.

"Both disappeared but we know where Loki's gonna be. You seem to know that Coulson died." He suspects with a rough and bitter voice, the death of the agent seems to concern him as well which surprises me. A hint of vulnerable humanity is in his brown eyes, revealing that he may not be fully made of arrogance. A broken man behind a mask, who would have expected that?

"Yes, we do. We were there when he died." I mumble and gulp, taking a deep breath. "Listen, whatever your problem is with me, I don't really care. But the world is in danger and we have to fight together as a team if we want to save it. So please, get over your high pride and just cooperate. In honor of Coulson."

"If it's necessary." A dramatic sigh leaves Tony's lips, reminding me of his father. I probably won't get more kindness out of him, so I have to be content with this. To my surprise, he almost smirks in the end, it's probably his most open way to admit that he would like to work together with me. "Are you gonna respect me more though?"

"I haven't electrified you yet, be content with that." I scoff, rolling my eyes while Thor snickers with amusement and Tony responds with a glare. "Where's the quinjet that's supposed to pick us up?"

"I never said that a quinjet will be coming. Thor can use mew mew or whatever that hammer is called as a propeller to fly, I gotta give you a ride." The billionaire shrugs and fakes a smile. "If I want. Under the condition that you ask nicely with a sweet smile. Otherwise you'll have to walk your way to New York which may take two days."

"Are you actually serious?" I tilt my head at his ridiculous behavior and he nods securely. What a dick. Creating a voltage in my hand, I glare at him. "If you don't stop wasting time now, I'm forced to use measures that would be a disadvantage for your chances to survive the upcoming fight."

"Satisfying enough." He gives in and puts on the mask. Thor starts swinging his hammer, creating a massive wind and storm while I just walk towards Tony, not knowing how he exactly wants to transport me.

"Please don't tell me you'll carry me in bridal style."

"Any other suggestions?" The way he asks me gives me a picture of him raising a brow in the air in a provoking way beneath the Iron Man mask. Sighing, I shake my head and he extends his arms, making it possible for me to sit in. God, this is seriously not how I imagined my future.

***

New York is an absolute mess, the streets are made of destruction and filled with screaming and panicking people who try to escape the chaos. Tony drops me from a safe height after he has handed me an earpiece, then he and Thor continue their flight to the Stark Tower. Bruce, Natasha, the arrow man and Steve meet me on the streets and the last one runs towards me, pulling me into a hug. I embrace him with relief, a burden is taken away from my shoulder. "I'm glad you're fine."

"Always am." I answer and let go of him, receiving Bruce' glance that is filled with guilt and shame. I'm glad that he didn't get hurt and is himself again. "Do you remember the last thing that I told you?"

"Apart from your screams?" The doctor slightly scoffs bitterly but nods in the end. "You told me not to feel guilty because it wasn't me."

"Exactly. Listen to this advice and embrace the Hulk." I command with certainty and almost manage to smile, then I turn around to the man with the bow and arrows. Like Natasha, he looks like a SHIELD agent for field work. "I don't think we had the pleasure yet, heard you were brainwashed by Loki. I'm Eve Farrell."

"The woman out of time. I know who you are." The blonde nods greeting, determinedly preparing  his weapon. "Clint Barton. I don't really have the time for small talk, need to restore my honor and take revenge. Oh, and save the world, but that's my second priority."

"Glad to have you on the team." I almost smirk and rather not go further into his time where he wasn't himself and brainwashed. That wasn't him, just like Bruce and the Hulk aren't the same person. Tying my hair to a ponytail, I glance at Steve. "Go hold your speech, Captain. You're leading."

"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash. Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. Eve, you got the lightning, help Thor. Light the bastards up. Natasha and I, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk... Smash."

Bruce grins and turns into the Hulk within seconds, all his clothes excluding his pants ripped off and the green coating his skin. It appears that he can control the Hulk when he embraces him, the monster inside of him. I look at the sky, noticing other kinds of monsters from a space hole spread through the city with violence. Aliens. Chitauri.

"Can you give me a lift?" I hear Clint's voice through the earpiece, directed to Tony who flies by in his suit.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." He picks up the agent, bringing him to a skyscraper. I rather not ask who Legolas is. The Hulk jumps on the building, running up the wall and killing dozens of Chitauri soldiers, snapping them in half. A gigantic roar leaves his mouth, echoing through the borough.

"Lady Mjölnir, I'm gonna pick you up now." Thor tells me through the communication device and before I spot him, he suddenly places his arm around my waist and swings his way to a high building, lifting us into the air. A squeal escapes my lips, the air rushes rather roughly into my ear and the ground beneath my feet is gone, just Thor offers me a steady halt. Even the ride with Tony was safer.

Landing on the top of the building, I can't resist looking down and a nervous prickle creeps into my stomach. The height is for the first time problematic for me and if I took a step further, I'd fall right into death. Clinging onto the top, I watch how Thor lifts his hammer, creating a thunderstorm and sending me a smirk. "Ready?"

"Ready." Forcing myself to swallow my fear, I nod and place my hand around the handle of Mjölnir, shooting through the asgardian weapon an electric impulse as he controls the thunder at the same time. The dark clouds that arise strike a blinding bolt of lightning down, colliding on the hammer.

On Thor's sign, I aim the massive shockwave towards the portal that the alien army enters through, channeling the blast and firing the electricity against our enemies. They all drop dead to the ground and the huge Chitauri leviathan explodes into a million pieces. I breathe heavily, exhausted because of my massive pounding heart but I still have the strength to keep going.

"Already exhausted?" Thor asks almost teasingly as he seems to need a break as well.

"I haven't felt this alive for a long time." I just answer, still shaking because of the amount of energy that I just felt. It's like Thor's weapons has given me more power, the electricity of Mjölnir feels like a part of me that has been lost. I talk through the earpiece to the others, checking on my team. "How is it looking?"

"We're trying to look good. Not like we're trying too hard but it's noticeable that we do, even though it's almost effortless." Clint answers and I can hear the screams of the Chitauri in the background, rolling my eyes.

"Shut up, Clint, you don't look that handsome." Natasha pipes up, heavy breaths and fight sounds interrupt her words. The roar of the Hulk resounds sometimes, we all know that he's not able to communicate right now.

"But you do admit that I'm handsome!" The agent's smirk runs through his voice, quietening the redhead and I hear Steve's sigh.

"Guys, focus, please. Eve, Thor, the lightning was incredible, help Tony with the leviathans, now on the 6th. Natasha, try to close the portal."

"Already on it." I assure him and look down, witnessing how Tony shoots his missiles at the gigantic leviathan, trying to take him down on his own. "Thor, take care of the leviathan on the other side of the building, I'll help Tony. Hey, trash can. Try to lead the thing higher to me if you don't want to die."

"Don't tell me what to do, plug socket." He answers with a stubborn and childish attitude but in the end, he does as I say. Thor leaves with his hammer the top of the building, helping the Hulk to take down the leviathan and I gulp, using all my courage to jump off the building when Tony and the Chitauri monster are closer. The adrenaline races my heart, shooting its way through my veins and I land harshly on the back of the leviathan.

"You scared the crap out of me, icy." Tony groans and flinches when I appear right next to him out of nowhere and I roll my eyes.

"You could have led this thing higher to me, now my ankle hurts." I narrow my eyes and try not to lose the balance as the leviathan keeps flying around.

"I didn't force you to jump!"

"Oh, I'm truly sorry for trying to save your ass, Stark!"

"Guys, stop acting like five years olds!" Steve interrupts our discussion with annoyance. "I'm trying to rescue civilians right now, bloody hell. Try to act like a team."

"Alright, capsicle." Tony probably rolls his eyes underneath the mask and glances at me now. "Electrify me. When I got hit by Thor's lightning, it charged my suit to 400% and I could use a bit more power now. When I shoot the energy blast, you shoot your electricity at the same time, that's how we knock this dragon out."

"Fine. But just because we're in a team, as Steve said."

"We're more than a team." He corrects me, sounding less arrogant now. Certainty and confidence lie in his voice, breaking through his mask. "We're the Avengers."