Chapter Text
Tony stark had an idea.
More than an idea he had a vision. Nick Fury requested the “Avengers.” To find something that had been stolen from Shield, Tony asked why he needed his assistance if Captain America was part of it, he wasn’t surprised by the answer or lack of it.
Not even Shield trusted Shield, everyone knew it, Clint knew it so he left and now he lived in the Stark tower that after the alien incident with Loki was known as the Avengers tower since all that was left from his name was the “A.”
Bruce lived there too, but Natasha and Steve stayed with Shield for reasons unknown to him, so he agreed and he went with the team to retrieve an item from a base in Sokovia, he found Loki’s scepter, and the moment he touched it he had a vision.
He saw a terrible world that he mistook for the future, the world was on fire and all of his comrades were dead on the ground. Tony didn’t know, no one could have known that what he was seeing was both an illusion and a reality that was not his.
So he started a project along with his scientific accomplice Bruce Banner, the idea was to use the energy in the scepter to build a shield around the world, as an answer to Steve Rogers’s last question in the illusion before dying.
“Why didn’t you do more?”
He worked with the concept for hours and left the analysis running while he distracted Natasha and Steve before they would take it from him, because they wouldn’t listen, they couldn’t know how scared he was.
He convinced them to give him more time so Thor could be consulted since it basically belonged to him, they couldn’t contact him but he visited some times, there was an agreement that if he happened to come back they would give it to him.
Tony was smart, probably one of the brightest people in the world, he thought that his ideas were his own, it never occurred to him that somewhere else someone would have a similar idea and when two thoughts connected and you messed with things you shouldn’t.
There were consequences.
Tony wasn’t even sure of his concept but he built a prism surrounding the scepter, powered by it, unbreakable, but when the prism containing the scepter broke, Jarvis couldn’t even finish a single word when the dammed thing started glowing and sucking all the energy around it.
“Come on we have to do this more often, we’re the Avengers we should all just do this instead of asking for Shield’s permission,” Tony argued sitting on the sofa with his close friends.
“And that’s exactly why we need Shield’s permission, doing whatever you please is going to cost you one of these days,” Natasha said.
“Good, I can pay for it.”
“I mean he does have a point, rich people don’t suffer consequences.” Clint agreed.
“So it is hereditary, got it,” Steve said, hiding a smile behind his hand.
“Consequences or no consequences we’re giving that back,” Clint stated making a face of disgust, he hated the thing so he didn’t want it close, sue him.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Just giving the Alien technology that can control minds back to the organization that lost it? How did that even happen?” Rhodey asked and Tony pointed at him giving him the point.
Steve and Natasha didn’t say a word, they just stopped smiling, Steve was wondering the exact same thing, but giving it to the government also didn’t seem like a good idea.
“I didn’t need to know so I didn’t ask.” Natasha brushed it off “I’m taking it back to Fury and him I can trust, sorry but you can’t keep this souvenir.” She said looking at Tony.
“Doesn’t matter, I’m giving it back when I feel like it, which will be in a week because I have plans with Pepper so if Thor doesn’t make an appearance to take it, back to Shield it goes so they can lose it again, besides the shitty thing gives me nightmares.”
“Whoa, language,” Rhodey said.
“We have elderly here, don’t be fucking rude,” Natasha said glancing at Steve.
“You know what, you all can shove it.” Steve said fighting a smile, more laughter ensued along with gasps and more teasing, especially from the spy duo.
The light mood was interrupted by the flickering lights, everyone stayed silent looking up but the lights went back to normal in a few seconds.
“A shortage?” Steve asked but he didn’t sound sure.
“Impossible, the Tower should be self-sufficient.” Banner said and everyone stood up.
“Jarvis?” Tony called and even though the lights were back there was no answer.
“Could it be because Thor is back?” Clint said, at this point, everyone was reaching for their weapons.
“Thor never comes directly into the building, the bridge doesn’t work like that,” Natasha said, keeping an eye around.
Nothing happened, things were just eerily silent when finally the whole building started shaking as if there was an earthquake and then it just stopped after the sound of an explosion, lights went off not only in the building but the whole city.
“It came from the lab!” Natasha shouted, Bruce and Tony shared a quick glance and without waiting for an order every person present geared up, Tony called his suit, Rhodey too, Natasha took her guns and Clint his arrows and bow, Steve grabbed his shield.
Everyone ran to the lab, once they made it there a few lights were back but it should be mostly dark because the explosion destroyed the room leaving it unrecognizable, but it wasn’t dark, among the rubble something was glowing with a soft white light.
No one said a word but everyone noticed soon that what was emanating the light had a shape, a hooded figure was lying on the floor, face down, the clothes were black and burnt too, it looked as if it was a uniform of some kind.
“Another Asgardian?” Bruce broke the silence and this made the figure on the floor twitch just a bit, everyone tensed and pointed their weapons, Steve lifted a hand to stop them and moved closer but with his shield in one hand.
The figure raised their head with a small whimper and a groan, first, all Steve could see was their nose peeking from the hood, then he saw lips that were too feminine to be of a man.
“Ma’am?” Steve called in a serious tone, walking closer, making noise with every step, the sound of broken glass. And as the woman raised her head further he stopped breathing.
There were many reasons, first, the woman was injured, not so much, just a cut lip and few cuts that seemed to be the result of the glass, secondly, the shape was human but her eyes had a glow to them, her irises were iridescent.
Just like her body, the glow was mostly a pure white but similar to a soap bubble, multiple colors could be seen, especially in those eyes, to him it looked as if liquid silver was moving inside, swirling with crystals.
It was absolutely mesmerizing, but it wasn’t just the glow that got his attention, there was something that could be called innocent, naïve in her gaze, something like childlike wonder telling him this person could not be evil.
So he offered his hand to help her up, and all this happened in a few seconds, but what struck him the most, what made him shiver all over was the third reason, those pure magical eyes changed from someone kind to deep boiling hate.
Steve was frozen in place, tense, he had seen those eyes multiple times, the hurt and the pain and the horrors of war, eyes of the enemy, and before he could react her black irises disappeared and her eyes were now all white and glowing stronger along her body.
She pushed her body up by planting both hands firmly on the floor, and everyone stared dumbly when she hovered just a few centimeters from the floor, much like Tony’s own hand movements she pointed one hand back, another pointed at Steve and the light grew stronger.
The energy hit Steve hard sending him flying back to a wall but the groan indicated that he was very much still alive, now the weapons were pointed at her again.
“That’s enough human torch,” Tony warned with his hands glowing, the woman turned her gaze to him and there was something weird again, everyone could see clear confusion in her face, her eyes even turned back to having irises.
What they could agree on was that she seemed like a caged animal, scared, hurt, and confused, and to Tony’s displeasure, her eyes had lingered on him with furrowed eyebrows, not quite showing hate but with a question.
“Who are you?” Tony asked again seeming that she reacted the first time he spoke and he didn’t get a blast like Captain America that was standing up, so not a murderer, noted.
After hearing his voice again she seemed even more confused but less hostile by how her hands lowered and her body floated down almost touching the ground, seeing that Tony decided to try again.
“Easy, that’s good, no one has to get hurt.” Tony could almost say that her eyes softened and she opened her mouth to speak.
“You ok cap?” Natasha asked and Steve waved his hand dismissively.
That seemed to break the moment of peace because the woman turned her eyes sharply to Natasha and just like with Steve, her face that had calmed down showed anger and now her eyes moved to examine every person in the room.
Her head moved franticly and when she spotted Bruce, shyly moving to see behind the group the glow increased, she floated higher and her eyes were all white again.
“Hey! Hey! We mean no harm.” Tony tried again, confused as to why she didn’t react that way with him, because if he was honest, usually he had the opposite effect on people.
“That I don’t believe.” She snarled but there was a slight waver of her voice, seeming affected.
She pointed her hands at them and shoot the energy again and this time all the Avengers were sent flying back, only Steve that had already been hit once moved his shield to cover himself and Natasha, still, even with the shield the energy shook his body to the bone and his arm tensed horribly.
He peered up from the shield and everyone was on the floor but seemingly okay, the woman shot him a quick glare then looked around and flew away at an incredible speed, Steve followed her, fearing what that power could cause.
He saw how she broke through the window crashing directly but undamaged by the glass, Steve stared then he felt a familiar metal sensation pulling him.
“Need a ride?” Tony said and before Steve could answer he was already following her.
She was fast but it was hard to miss her.
Even if the light was back in the city, in the dark of the night she glowed like a beacon, moving through the buildings, and both men could see something odd with the way she was flying.
She seemed disoriented which was weird, considering how firmly she moved before inside the building. As if the lights in the city confused her, she moved lower looking up and they landed too, Tony let Steve down.
She seemed conflicted as to where to go and unsure of where she was, people in the city gasped and some moved away noticing two Avengers were there, which everyone knew meant trouble, sadly for the same reason some people moved closer and started to record or take pictures.
Steve was worried that this would agitate the woman further, after getting hit with the energy he knew a normal person would be heavily injured or die, but she only seemed altered and disoriented by the flashes on the phones, however, she did not attempt to attack.
She just kept hovering, anxious.
“Please, wait.” Steve said, trying what Tony did before, she looked down at him and didn’t attack right away “Talk to me, I don’t wanna hurt you.”
She kept frowning but her eyes softened when she focused on his shield, Steve considered dropping it, proving he meant no harm but getting hit with her attack hurt like hell.
Her expression worsened, she shook her head and the glowing around her moved more harshly along with her mood. She glared at Steve and pointed.
Uh-oh.
“As if I would believe that you Nazi piece of shit!” She yelled and Steve knew she made her mind to attack but again for the second time she made him freeze.
Steve was constantly getting into fights, he was no stranger to his fair share of insults, but nothing had ever felt worse and more confusing as being called a Nazi, so when she flew towards him, he covered himself poorly with his shield without properly planting his feet.
He felt the hit on his shield and the strength was similar to Loki’s, so as a consequence he was sent flying towards the floor. He wasn’t given even a second to recover when she punched the floor next to his face because he rolled and he saw the concrete had been damaged.
She was going to hit again but Tony’s attacks came so she had to fly away.
“You couldn’t have done that before?” Steve groaned while standing up and seeing the two of them fly away.
“Sorry I was stunned after hearing her calling America’s sweetheart a Nazi, I’ll get her off your back.” She hovered in front of Tony “Fighting on air, is this a challenge?” Tony teased.
She flew to him and Tony expected a punch but instead, she flew away.
“Not getting away—” Tony followed at the same speed tip-toeing her in the air around the city.
With as much control as him in his suit she moved with ease speeding up, Tony did too and when both were on a race she started flying around his body without touching him, making a flaring movement that has honestly dizzying.
“Not good gonna throw up.” He said trying to keep up, she changed the course up and he did the same, thinking she was trying something with the ice but instead she stopped glowing and started falling as if she had fainted.
“Out of gas?” he said and flew down to catch her but she opened her eyes, whatever that was, it wasn’t good but what happened was worse, she started glowing again, fast, too fast and too bright “Shit—” Tony moved his arms to his face to cover himself, blinded for a second.
He felt a hard kick in his back and felt the crash against the pavement.
“That was cheating by the way.” Tony groaned standing up and hating that he couldn’t rub his eyes to chase away the white spot in his vision “Some help? Backup? Avengers?”
“Tony did you see what you crashed into?!” Rhodey yelled.
“I can’t see shit!” When Tony’s eyes cleared enough to make out shapes he saw what Rhodey meant “Oh no.”
He crashed on a Ferris wheel, and now it was falling.
“All Avengers available rescue priority.” He said seeing the falling wheel, but it was falling fast, he knew Rhodey couldn’t catch them in time and saw someone about to crash on the floor.
His stomach tensed and even if he couldn’t reach the woman falling in time he had to try and beg that someone was closer. His prayer was heard but the savior was the same light that blinded him and made him crash.
He even stopped midair, for a moment he thought he saw wrong because he couldn’t actually see that well, but as an answer to his mental question “Did I see right?” the glowing target helped other two people and after looking at the situation she fled away.
Only after making sure that Rhodey was enough and everyone could be saved.
“Did anyone see that?” Tony asked.
“I did,” Steve said. Natasha had given him a communication device once she made it down the tower, she also picked up Steve to start a chase.
“Me too,” Rhodey said while helping the rest of the people down.
“Me three,” Natasha said, Tony could hear the roaring of a motorcycle, thinking of what could have taken her so long. “So she’s not hostile?”
“She is to us, she’s flying directly to—” Steve couldn’t finish when both he and Natasha had to jump from the motorcycle because they had been tailing her and she pointed at them, both saw the motorcycle explode.
Right now it seemed as if she only wanted to get away, which she could have done in the distraction, but instead opted to save people so she couldn’t be completely bad, Steve thought.
However, he didn’t feel as sure as to what to expect for Natasha and him, since both were seeing her floating near them and looking really pissed off.
Steve groaned standing up, he looked at Natasha pointing her guns at her but just as unsure as him, the floating figure looked at Natasha then at him, her hand pointed at him.
“Captain America?” Steve heard at his side and his shoulders tensed, next to him a kid was staring at him, he moved quickly and covered him with his body and shield, bracing himself, seconds passed, nothing.
“Why?” He heard and dared to move to look up, just a meter away from him she was looking at him with wide eyes.
He didn’t understand the question, not until she looked at his side, at the kid hugged to him and then again at his eyes, she asked why, why he covered the kid with his body, exposing himself to the hit.
He wanted to ask the same.
“You’ve got it wrong, we’re the good guys here.” Tony flew closer to her and she tensed, obviously affected.
“What is this?” She asked breathlessly, barely a contained whisper “What is this place?!” She then yelled.
“Uh, New York?” Tony Joked and decided to move his mask up and he was still partially blinded but he did not imagine the change of expression. Slowly turning from anger and confusion to something like devotion, soft bright eyes.
“Mr.…Stark?” She said softly “It really is you…” He recognized the tone, not the voice but the tone, in the past he had been with multiple women but that tone was something he had only heard in two voices, his mother and his girlfriend.
A tone of love, that rattled him terribly, what was going on? He also noticed her posture, exactly like his in his suit, the way she moved and landed too.
“Why?” This time it was a reproach, accusing “Why are you helping the enemy?” She then looked at Steve that frowned because of the comment.
“Look around sweetheart, who’s the one causing trouble?” Tony said and she did look around, she saw the people surrounding the place and finally, she saw the kid, clinging to Steve’s leg, she seemed taken back.
“He— he’s with Hydra.” She said but didn’t sound as sure, for some reason she didn’t look at Steve or Tony, she looked at the shield as if it was taunting her.
“You’ve definitely got the wrong man, that’s Captain America you’re talking about.”
“I would rather die than be with Hydra.” Steve said with a deeper tone “whatever misunderstanding there is, it can wait, you need to stop this.” She glared at Steve, this time he dropped the shield and she took a step back, clearly startled by the way her chest was heaving rapidly.
She looked everywhere, the people, the shield, she looked at Tony and it was clear that she was panicking.
“You saved those people.” Steve dared to break the silence “I believe you mean good, so please.” Her willful platinum eyes glinted, but he saw how the glow disappeared from them, turning to ones of a normal person.
She was far from done, she didn’t seem tired or injured, not even convinced, this wasn’t a defeated person.
This also wasn’t a ruse like with Loki, when he surrendered it seemed mocking, like a joke, with her it looked as swallowing one’s pride, so for the second time in his life Steve saw a powerful enemy surrender, she even moved her hands back to her head and kneeled, lowering her head.
“Go kid,” Steve said and the kid at his side obeyed and ran away.
Steve started walking towards her while also picking up his shield.
“You’ll come willingly?” He asked.
“I will.” She raised her head “but don’t you put a finger on me, If someone is going to imprison me, I want it to be Tony, not you, don’t touch me.” Steve didn’t want to take it to heart, he really didn’t.
But the clear hate and disgust coming from her felt like a clammy sweat on his back and a pit in his stomach.