➢𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗦➢

『 Take me higher, higher than I've ever been
We can wander all the way to the top
I'll hold on to every word you've ever said
Don't you let me down 』
―𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴, 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦

⟶𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 1: 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒚, 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒄-𝑰𝑵𝑭𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀  𝑾𝑨𝑹⟵

❝...𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐞? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮?❞

-𝙼𝙰𝚈 𝟹𝟶𝚃𝙷, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟾-

𝙽𝙴𝚆 𝚈𝙾𝚁𝙺 𝙲𝙸𝚃𝚈, 𝙽𝙴𝚆 𝚈𝙾𝚁𝙺

It's a sharp pain at first, like a snap-second worth of a sudden movement. It was incredibly quick, and startling, not just because of the crushing feeling behind it. A breaking feeling, like something, broke. Something that was previously holding the Space Stone. 

Something was coming . . . 

It wasn't known yet.

A man is sweating while jogging alongside his fiancé in a public park, "Slow down, slow down. I'm totally not kidding."

To which the woman shortly laughs and talks over him, "You're totally rambling."

"No," He also speaks over her, "I'm not."

"You... lost me." She says through a breath, and the man steps in front of her this time.

He speaks, "Look, you know how you're having a dream, and in the dream you gotta pee?"

Pepper Potts nods, "Yeah."

Tony Stark continues enthusiastically, "Okay, and then you're like, 'Oh my god, there's no bathroom, what am I gonna do?', 'Oh! Someone's watching,' 'I'm gonna go in my pants ...'"

"Right. And then you wake up, and in real life, you actually have to pee."

"Yes."

"Yeah," Pepper repeats, insisting truthfully, "Everybody has that."

"Right! That's the point I'm trying to make."

"Apropos of that,"

Tony stops her, "Last night, I dreamt . . . we had a kid."

"It was so real. We named him after your eccentric uncle... Uh, what was his name?"

Pepper nods in understanding, "Right."

"Morgan!" He remembers, saying again, "Morgan."

The woman gets his analogy, "So you woke up and thought that we were..."

"Expecting."

"Yeah."

Iron Man gets excited, "Yes?"

The CEO of Stark Industries shuts him down, "No."

"I had a dream about it. It was so real."

"If you wanted to have a kid..." Pepper unravels his sweatshirt tied around his neck, then taps his chest, "You wouldn't have done that."

Tony shakes his head, pointing to the attachable Arch Reactor, "I'm glad you brought this up, 'cause it's nothing. It's just a housing unit for nano-particles. To help with Dan-o's bracelets."

Pepper comprehends the necessity for her niece, though the rest of her fiancé's claims are complete and total B-S, "You're not helping your case, okay?"

"You don't need that." She tells him.

He explains, "I know I had the surgery, I'm just trying to protect us."

"Future us-es', and that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet, instead of, y'know—"

Pepper exhales in question, "Shirts?"

Tony can't help but smile, "You know me so well. You finish all my sentences."

"You should have shirts in your closet." She stresses.

"Yeah. You know what there should be? No more surprises." The two now are done walking, and Tony pulls his fiancé/former assistant close, "We're gonna have a nice dinner tonight."

He endearingly lifts her left hand, "Show off this Harry Win-stone. Right?"

She giggles in contentment, and he tells her, "And we should have no more surprises. Ever. I should promise you."

"Yes," Pepper agrees, willingly, and the two begin to share a kiss.

"Hmmm . . . What about Strawberry? You have that?"

"You do? Ah, great, I'll take one of those with a scoop of Vanilla."

"My friend? . . .  She  . . .  Hey, Dani?"

. . . "Earth to Danielle Mairead!"

"Oh!"

 A surprised gasp escapes her mouth, before turning to look at the other teenager.

Then she clears her throat prior to ordering, locking eyes, "Vanilla, please."

"Ugh, Vanilla?" He complains, "Such a normal choice."

"Well," she shrugs, a smirk developing, "a normal choice for a normal girl, am I right?"

"Sure . . ."

She lightly laughs.

"Okay, so hear me out . . . " A blue-shirted and yellow-collared Matthew Framingham speaks in-between licks from a tasty cup of ice cream, just at the entrance of Greenwich Village—in New York City.

It is light outside, a nice spring day, and through the mid-afternoon, everything seems to be downright ordinary.

Dani Rockland takes her spoon out of her mouth, confirming with an assenting nod, "I'm listening."

Her honey-blonde dyed hair is extremely long as always, a simple braid pulling only part of it back. 

A pair of light-washed shorts along with two layers of shirts—the first one long-sleeved with black and white stripes, and the other a short-sleeved graphic tee of her favorite band Queen make her outfit, and on her narrow feet are teal converse. 

Distinctively different from a style previously worn by the girl, however that and more was undeniably expanded upon in her early teenage years.

Teenage years, as Dani Rockland is now thirteen years old.

Deeply excited to turn fourteen, though her Uncle Rhodey is persistent in reminding her that she is nowhere near her next birthday yet, and therefore cannot express entitlement to being that age until then. IF she makes it there . . . The same goes for her best friend, Matthew, who expresses much desire in their situation, hoping for a rapid end of the year onto the next as Freshman in High School—and the two now occupy a park bench to sit and catch up, eating their ice cream.

Matthew, being the lively individual he is, continues talking about their future: College, the prestigious theatre school he wants to get into . . . and Dani, listens.

Listens, provides feedback most times, although today the girl is particularly quiet. She is not exactly sure why. 

Yes, she is. 

Her switch in demeanor comes right after last night when awoken abruptly from sleep, a disturbance within . . . from her abilities.

And the feeling was just . . . So creepy. Dark, stomach-churning . . .

"Hey." 

A voice disrupts her thoughts, and the both defined and pulled together brows of Dani Rockland instantly frown at a concerned Matthew Framingham—that has since stopped his venting.

Dani shrugs at him, "What?"

The boy scrunches up his chin, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," She answers, not even after a beat, then tries to steer the conversation back on track, "Tell me more about your plan."

To distract . . . from her.

"Really?" Matthew tilts his head, not buying her current demeanor, "Because if I asked you to repeat any of what I said earlier, you probably wouldn't be able to . . ."

Dani heaves a long sigh, growing annoyed, and the action is something the acclaimed 'best friend' is very used to. 

Her cold exterior, built up in the last two years with a growing sense of anger at the core . . .

He enlightens her while she stirs her spoon in the melting vanilla cup, "You know, listening is a skill, and I happen to be pretty good at it."

"So," Matthew props his own cup on the park bench before himself, "What's up?"

"Is it a guy?"

The girl scoffs, "You'd know if it was a guy, Matt . . . "

"Right." The boy remarks back, "Because that would be extremely rare."

Dani sends him a glare.

"Okay, okay. You know I'm only joking." He raises his hands in defense at her extreme sensitivity these days, before following up, "Then a grade?"

She is silent once more, using her body language as a means to represent much aggravation in being prodded like this—about her feelings. She didn't understand what the big deal was. Why couldn't people just leave her alone as of late?

 She was fine, they didn't need to keep on asking. The mind of a teenager. The mind of an Agent Rockland.

Finally, she caves in telling bits and pieces and with not many details, why she's acting in such a moody manner, "I had a bad night, okay? My powers were acting up."

Matthew glances at her, noting the mention of the enhanced abilities inside his best friend—and he proposes, "A potential threat?"

"No." Dani brings her hands to her face, seemingly rubbing the last bit of sleepiness from her eyelids and in the process, two white bracelet-looking devices are shown on both her wrists, "Probably just a malfunction."

That feasibly could be been true. Still covering both of  Agent Rockland's arms are the technological wrist-wear invented by Tony Stark, meant to bring the pieces of the Tesseract inside her to one place . . . Meaning, at last, some sort of control. 

Without Vision consistently present, it was evident Dani needed it. She needed something to tame the outlandish abilities that only continue to grow stronger as she gets older. Become harder to manage. That was still a fact.

Though the incident that occurred last night, seemed completely unrelated to whatever issues endured with Dani's bracelets, in fact, it had nothing to do with it at all . . . The thirteen-year-old was left wondering. What happened? 

A groan threatens to escape her lips. Irritableness had been a constant for any interaction held with Dani Rockland, a sense of distance, and that was only manifested in the last two years. The last two years, right when . . .

Matthew gives it a shot, "Does it have anything to do with—"

"Don't," Dani warns, plain and simple, but aggressive.

In what she thinks he is going to mention.

 It was irrelevant, absolutely.

The boy immediately drops it.

"This is what I am saying . . ." Matthew then says next, licking the excess strawberry flavor off his plastic utensil while Dani picks at her vanilla—half the cup still there, and he once again expresses a desire, "We need to take a vacation."

The honey-blond teen frowns, "Oh?"

"We do," He insists, going on with a persistent tone, "You and I have been through enough shit for long enough, we just need a change of scenery."

Dani's gaze suddenly focuses on two figures that make her stoic-looking expression soften a bit, and it's the people who have been looking after her for a while.

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. -Stark, as the two were to be married real soon.

Dani was excited for them, for the man who had first been a distant uncle, and now a close legal guardian . . .  and for the strong love he had for his future wife, who was incredibly head-strong and able to keep him in check when gone off the radar. 

She really admired their relationship, hence she's been around it for quite some time and practically welcomed into the Stark-Potts family based on the "Refrigerator Ceremony"  they held two nights ago when attaching a math quiz marked with an earnest 'A' on the side of the Avengers Compound fridge . . .

Dani liked them together. A lot. It was nice to see a couple that worked.

"I got it," Matthew confirms, motioning to her and then himself, "We find you a boyfriend."

Simply put, "Someone nice and tall, and then we find me a boyfriend. Someone with great charisma."

Dani places a hand on her chin, sighing as she allows herself to imagine, "That would be nice."

Wonder if she could ever get one of those? A man that had everything she looked for. Fall in love. Ah. 

She is too young now, no question . . . though takes immediate pleasure in thinking of the pretend scenario.

All until a lot of commotion from the direction she was looking in earlier abruptly alarms her, and Dani stands up. Her eyes narrow, checking to see if what she was currently viewing on the other side of Greenwich Village, was what she was actually seeing in real-time.

And it was. 

Something strange.

Inside Dani stirs.

She chucks her ice cream, saying rather quickly without looking, "I'll be right back."

"Wait uh—hey!" her best friend calls out after her, rising when her skinny-growing figure dashes away, and Matthew yells out, "You didn't even finish your ice cream!"

"Dani!"

"What's going on, Uncle Tony?"

Danielle approaches Tony and Pepper, who had just been on an afternoon jog, pulled apart from one another when some sort of orange portal opened up in front of them.

One that had a mystical-dressed man on the other end of it, "Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange." 

He introduced himself beforehand, "I need you to come with me."

"Oh, and uh," he adds sheepishly, "Congratulations on the wedding by the way."

"I'm sorry, you handing out tickets to something?" Tony questions, more than confused.

"Look." Orange flurries circle around the cape-wearing man, "It's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe, is at stake."

"We need your help. Both of you."

Dani's figure stands on the other side of Tony, who protectively extends an arm out in front of the teenager in his care upon still not knowing what was going on, and promptly demands in an assertive tone, "And who's 'we'?"

Someone walks out, "Hey, Tony."

It's Bruce Banner.

"Bruce!"

The thirteen-year-old emits a gasp of pure shock, " . . . Uncle Bruce? Is that you?" 

Dani has astonishment present in her voice. It had been at least three whole years since she last saw this uncle figure, and instantaneously, she can tell, he is shaken. Very shaken. 

It makes her shake. Doctor Bruce Banner steps forward, greeting Pepper.

And then, "You okay?" 

He crashes into Tony's arms, distressed.

The honey-blonde teenager frowns, lip quivering as her own expression shortly turns haunted, and Dani is very nervous.

Her attention is grabbed when suddenly she is tugged into an embrace as well, by her shaking uncle, and with a similar open-jawed look on her face—Dani finds herself hugging the non-hulked-out version of Bruce Banner as more fear threatens to spill out of her.

Out of her and onto everyone else.

Something was coming. Someone.

. . . Dani Rockland has never been inside the New York Sanctum before, in fact, didn't even know it existed, but from what she can see it looks incredibly ancient. 

Still not entirely informed of what this portal-spawning man does for a living, she knows it is similar to what the Avengers do—protecting the world from potential threats.

Essentially, not the physical ones.

Her teal converse press into the wooden floor of the main room inside, carefully inspecting the large hole in the staircase where her Uncle had just previously crashed down from Space—and Danielle still struggles to fathom what is going on, it is important that she finds out.

That's what they do. The Avengers.

At least those that are left . . . 

She continues cautiously looking around the area until a voice evokes from above, startling her temporarily, "If I were you, I'd watch my step."

Dani spins around, gazing up at the tall staircase where the hole was, and coming down the steps of the Sanctum now is a short, blonde, curly-headed female. One who's got a bit of an attitude. Clearly.

Dani is not amused.

"I think I am just fine where I am, thank you."

"Your funeral."

Black combat boots, complemented by sheer black tights and rolled-up jean shorts lay over a red and black flannel—a snazzy belt that looks like more, and with hands in her pockets, a cold-hard smirk is displayed on the face of this mystery girl. 

One slowly approaches the other.

Both polar opposites in the personality category, though their demeanor noticeably is similar due to one of them having changed, and she wasn't going to let it slide. 

The blonde girl looks edgier than the honey-blonde is pretending to be, for reasons that are legitimate, and rather in amusement, she looks her up and down.

Dani notices this in an instant, and is ticked off, crossing her arms while scowling in discomfort, "I'm sorry . . . And you are?"

The fifteen-year-old chuckles dryly, tongue clicking as she still has her hands in her pockets—then takes them out when extending one, "The name's Caitlyn Strange."

"Being a Troubled Youth is my game."

The thirteen-year-old, following a sense of much reluctance, reaches out and politely shakes the hand of this 'Troubled Youth' and still, Dani is not impressed.

"It's nice to meet you."Not really, she perceives, before giving her own identity as well, "Dani Rockland."

Caitlyn picks up on that, her judgment, and goes on to showcase the very satirical demeanor she possesses, "I was sure it was you. That pristine girl with the berets!"

"I'm not that pristine." Dani snaps back, tongue laced with a bit of hastiness and annoyance at the referral of what she usually is like, though the katana-wielding blondie does not seem to care.

She just reads her like a crappin' book.

In the slightest, "Sure, and as you mention it . . .  That last name of yours, was it always just 'Rockland'? I'm pretty sure there was a hyphen at the end. For another one."

"Another name." 

Dani goes rigid, and through gritted teeth, she insists, "It's just Rockland."

How dare she . . . Though the blondie does not show any fear. The two lock eyes, sharply, Caitlyn's pale blue and Dani's sea-foam. Thankfully, they are interrupted from their staring when adults enter the room. 

The older girl smiles somewhat promptly before moving to be near her uncle, pacing with a set of crossed arms herself.

And Dani rolls her eyes, in reaction to the interaction just had with this girl who just was so . . . blunt, and because of that considered rude—she cannot fathom how Caitlyn had the courage to just walk up to someone and say something like that . . . Though, for Stephen Strange's niece, she's just identified the girl's weak points, her struggles—and will continue to do so until Dani is aware of who she's become.

Of  . . . what she is doing to herself.

"From the dawn of the universe . . . " Former librarian of Kamar-Taj Wong begins.

He explains the history of the Infinity Stones while everyone gathers around, Dani Rockland close by to Tony Stark, sitting on the wide couch inside the New York Sanctum, "There was nothing. Then boom!"

"The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals . . . hurtling across the virgin universe."

Wong explains along with the visual, "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

Each different-colored stone lights up when Stephen addresses it, and the first one makes Dani Rockland curl into herself—because it is the one where pieces of it live inside her, "Space."

"Reality." Is the Red stone.

The Purple, "Power."

"Soul." Orange.

Yellow just the same as on Vision, "Mind," and the final green-glowing stone does not just show up on the magical display Wong enraptures, but also in real-time . . . On the chest of one Stephen Strange.

The Sorcerer opens the Eye of Agamotto with a spell, "And Time."

Caitlyn watches him do so, knowing that it hasn't been long since her uncle's been wearing the stone full-time. I mean, its capabilities are just . . . Unparalleled. 

She doesn't shiver. Danielle does.

After the emerald light dies down, Tony is attentive, "Tell me his name again."

"Thanos." Bruce Banner emits, walking closer to his fellow scientist friend in a similar amount of distress from before—anxiety, "He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants."

"He wipes out half the population . . ." Dani's bare knees knob together while she sits, not even wanting to let her imagination run free at what this 'Thanos' could look like.

And she sure hopes she does not have to find out.

Though that certainty grows thinner by the minute, especially when a jarring statement made by her uncle comes out next, "He sent Loki."

"The attack on New York, that's him."

Both girls react differently to that news: Caitlyn folds her lip under, brows narrowing as she recalls seeing the damage from the incident. 

Meanwhile Dani, someone who was on the front lines, fighting with the Avengers—merely tightens her grip on the arm of the chair inside the Sanctum before slowly getting up.

She wanders a few steps forward as her fingers nervously extend in and out of her palms at her sides, and through her quiet pondering she can hear Iron Man whisper to himself, "This is it."

"What's our timeline?" He asks next.

Bruce shakes his head, "No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones, which already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones, Tony . . . "

"He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of . . ." Doctor Strange finishes, and his niece tilts her head.

In reaction to this billionaire 'Stark' guy casually leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos, stretching like he was going for a run. What. The. Hell.

"Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of'?"

"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Stephen retorts back.

Tony remarks, "Is that what this is . . .  ?" A sharp smack is sent into the man's arm, startling him as the Cloak of Levitation is responsible.

Caitlyn smiles, she's loving this.

Loving how unbelievably ignorant and unadjusted to their world these people were. These 'Avengers', and the only thing she could supply right now was that they better get ready to learn more.

Because that is the best chance they have against Thanos, the Mad Titan.

With help from the Mystic Arts.

Tony looks visibly offended, eyes flickering from the red cloak and back to Stephen himself, who doesn't let up with a stare of intense disapproval . . . Maybe even dislike.

"I'm going to allow that." The sweat-shirted man straightens himself, then goes on, "Look, if Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down a garbage disposal?"

While if about something else, the blondie would laugh, she doesn't.

Instead, she invites herself into the conversation, "No way, ho-say."

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives," Wong adds, though the other man is simply not getting it.

"And I swore off dairy, but then, Ben and Jerry's named a flavor after me, so . . . "

Stephen has both hands behind his back as he lists, "Stark Raving Hazelnuts."

"Not bad," Tony persists.

Stephen dismisses, "A bit chalky."

"A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is our favorite." Wong insists.

 Caitlyn seconds him on that, "The best."

Bruce is confused, "T-That's a thing?"

"Whatever." Tony circles back, and before he does the fifteen-year-old notices a sudden silence coming from the thirteen-year-old.

Dani is a few feet away from the group, hands still wringing together to the point where they become sore, and through the uneven breathing mostly heard only in her own ears—she senses that there might be something more to what she had felt last night.

From the pieces of the Tesseract inside her, that is trying to tell her something. She is no mind-reader, or telepath, though all the teenage girl has is this gut feeling. A repetitive voice inside her head. One that only brings more doom to the current situation at hand . . .

Dani closes her eyes.

She is agitated.

 "Hey . . . "

Now rolling them back, sea-foam green irises project to where a relaxed Caitlyn Strange has approached her, and with an uptight tone, she demands, "What?!"

The blonde teen makes a face at her snappiness, molding over that occurrence before pulling something out of her pocket—something signature.

She carefully and noiselessly takes out one, then wedging the paper through the gap in her middle and pointer finger, Caitlyn Elizabeth offers, "Want a light?"

Dani avoids dropping her mouth open in shock, though struggles in not showing bewilderment when saying matter-of-factly, "Smoking kills." 

"Yeah . . . " The other girl heaves a long sigh, being someone who learned the hard way in using cigarettes and promptly places the roll back into its pack before sighing again—this time at Dani.

Caitlyn responds softly, "Not as much as acting like someone . . . you're not."

She leaves her speechless, the thirteen-year-old not replying to the rather stinging comment, and Dani rolls her eyes again before marching herself back over to the group. Away from isolation. The fifteen-year-old notices her caved-in figure, not just naturally but the way she carries herself—and Caitlyn's gaze turns sympathetic for a moment in knowing what that felt like.

Figuring out who you are, but being stuck. Needing to overcome. There was no time for that.

At least not now.

"Point is: things change," Tony says, turning his head briefly when Dani's darkened face makes its way back to his limelight.

He makes an effort to stay close to her.

Though cannot help trekking toward the man-who-had-just-said hitherto undreamt of—still can't believe it, and Stephen corrects him, "Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change."

"The Time Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

Iron Man jumps in, "And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us."

Dani swallows roughly, she agrees with that.

Doctor Strange does not, beginning to insist, "Well, if we don't do our jobs."

"What is your job exactly?" Tony sounds condescending, "Besides making balloon animals?"

Meanwhile, Stephen is completely calm, "Protecting your reality . . .  douchebag."

Their sarcasm is nearly matching, amazing Caitlyn but also irking her. This dude is an Asshat. Just like Uncle Stephen used to be. 

Dani is back to functioning normally now.

She looks at her Uncle Bruce when he speaks, breaking the two men out of their tight-knit squabbling, "Okay, guys, c-could we table this discussion right now?"

"The fact is that we have this Stone. We know where it is." 

He extends a hand, "Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now."

"Yeah, that's the . . .  thing," Tony admits, awkwardly.

Dani is silent at the realization, and Bruce inquiries, "What do you mean?"

"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline."

Disappointment surges through the shorter man's face, "What?"

"Yeah," Tony walks away.

Meanwhile, Bruce is triggered, "Tony, you lost another super-bot?"

"He's not lost. He's more than that." The thirteen year old's voice is slightly raspy, due to underuse.

Dani branches off as well.

And her legal guardian adds, "He's evolving!"

They both now stray from the conversation at hand, growing quiet, and then Stephen's voice pops into the air, asking with importance, "Who could find Vision then?"

Tony continues pacing in silence for a moment, thinking, then quietly curses to himself.

"Shit."

The Ironed Man closes his tired eyes, inhaling and exhaling briefly before uttering a name that hasn't left his tongue in a long while. Nor Agent Rockland's. It's almost foreign. But it's not.

"Probably Steve Rogers." 

The girl physically stiffens, inside and out, her shoulders becoming rigid as long-sleeved arms hug her thin figure for a bit of comfort. Comfort in this incredibly uncomfortable and unsettling situation. One that refers to what happened almost two years ago. 

With the Sokovia Accords, between Iron Man and Captain America. 

Dani forces the memories to stay locked away.

They do. For now.

"Well, shit. So much for having hope . . ." Caitlyn Elizabeth remarks, reaching back into her pocket as a means to get some relief through what she actually used to do, and her uncle sighs as well in exasperation.

"Oh, great."

Right.

Dang right . . .

Because as this story begins, there are other parts of it previously left unresolved. 

Unforgiven, unforgotten, and so much more can be used to describe what Dani Rockland experiences, when thinking of her former adoptive father, Steve Rogers. 

The former Captain America. The former surrogate father. 

Tony's voice is an echo, "Maybe . . ." He then comes back to the present, "But—"

Yeah . . . But  . . . There isn't a way of forgetting.

Bruce is not aware of said events leading up to this, and casually just tells Tony, "Call him."

Dani bites down on her lip.

Tony quips back around, "It's not that easy."

"God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"

"No." Bruce is genuinely lost.

Tony lays it on thick, dark brown eyes darting toward where the child now in his care stands, and his heart tightens—tone turns flat and honest, "The Avengers broke up. We're toast."

"Broke up?" the other man repeats, furthering, "Like a band? Like . . .  like the Beatles?"

Caitlyn from the background lightly chuckles to herself.

Before eyeing the thirteen-year-old she's been teasing this whole time, who shakes while an overall numb expression overcomes her appearance.

Dani is stuck looking upwards while Tony relays, "Cap and I fell out hard."

He looks to the side before informing, "We're not on speaking terms."

The man practically dressed in rags turns toward his niece-figure, inquisitive as he remembers, "Dan?"

Dani doesn't answer. Doesn't prefer to give her opinion on the situation. 

She doesn't like to talk about this. Ever. 

She doesn't want to talk about it, either, so she doesn't, causing all to respectfully leave her alone while she proceeds to pace around the Sanctum to hide her extreme franticness. Fidgety demeanor in the matter. About this matter. 

When it comes to Steve and Nat . . .

Bruce then almost has to plead, turning back to his friend although it's been three years, "Tony, listen to me . . .  Thor's gone. Thanos is coming."

He finishes with the utmost sincerity and truthfulness, "It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."

The man known as Iron Man is stationary, momentarily right when something registers inside him . . . a device that the Captain had mailed him along with a letter addressed to himself, and one to Dani.

An old-looking, "Flip Phone," is pulled out of his pocket naturally, oddly enough, almost as if he carries the cellular device everywhere in case of a need to call his lost friend. 

Or wanting to.

Dani never wants to.

Tony Stark prepares to press 'Call', over the contact name labeled Steve Rogers, though a distinct rumbling outside prevents him from doing so.

Everyone else becomes aware of it, too.

Stephen Strange halts. Caitlyn uncrosses her arms.

Even Dani Rockland blinks in adjustment to the unusual sounds coming from outside the Sanctum . . . More like, outside of New York.

Oh, no.

He's here.

The entrance is enough for a minimal earthquake, and that is heavily noticed in a loose piece of Doctor Strange's dark hair to move by itself.

Tony has to make sure, "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"

All glances look to Stephen, who speaks after objects rattle, "Not at the moment, no."

"Well . . ." Caitlyn insists again, with dry satire, "shit," and Dani makes eye contact with her surrogate uncle, nervously. 

He sees the Hulk-made opening from the ceiling of the New York Sanctum, from when he was sent to Earth, and Tony marches forward to make his way outside.

The rest all follow him.

Somewhat preparing for another . . . attack on New York.

Okay so... Yeah, here's the official first chapter of THE FALLEN! Avengers: Infinity War!

I'm still getting used to writing in a new movie so I'm hoping for things to flow more naturally as the story goes on (it probs will) but for now I present to you two of the FORCES Characters officially meeting for the first time! Right off the bat!

And they happen to be the ones who do not get along!!

So yeah basically Caitlyn Strange and Dani Rockland are polar opposites in their personalities which makes them ultimately clash in a lot of ways, and to be honest that is something fun to explore as a writer... Of course, we can see how cold Dani has really become since the events of CA: CW, and TRUST me you've only seen the surface of it. She's really going through it and that along with how ALL my characters are feeling about this Thanos guy will be explored in further chapters... As well as some impending reunions ad interactions am I right, from both sides heeheheeehe...

Anywho, thanks for reading and I honestly have much inspiration right now that I think I will get started on writing chapter 2 today as well, it could come out earlier than expected (earlier than a week from now) but DON'T count me on that... I've got AP work...

Let me know your thoughts on this one, predictions for the story, and anything else you wanna ask for clarification that I may or may NOT be able to answer.

See ya! ❤️❤️

xoxo, Alessandra (dreamkept)