Hostiles
From Princess: Invasion In New York.
From Billy: ??
From Teddy: Again?
From Fast Bobo: Srly?
From David: Where?
From Chico: This is ridiculous. We have just gotten rid of the Chitauri.
From Princess: 5th Avenue.
From Princess: Hurry up.
From Fast Bobo: Already here.
From Teddy: We're on our way.
America looks at her phone and back at the clock. Her shift isn't done for another half an hour.
"In a hurry?" Rebecca asks walking past her towards the kitchen.
"Yes," she frowns putting the rest of the plates on her tray.
The place's almost empty already, but there's a couple people more just starting to order. She's getting anxious.
"Emergency?" Rebecca asks walking back out.
"Yes."
She takes the trays to the kitchen and sighs with frustration.
"Go."
"What?"
"Erica, go. I'll cover for you," the other girl says. "You're no use here if you're gonna be all distracted and I can handle two tables on my own."
"But Lou-"
"He won't mind. He's probably watching the game or something. Just go."
"Thank you," America gives her a dry nod that doesn't nearly express how thankful she is, before grabbing her jacket and running out.
From America: On my way.
The invaders almost seem human. At least, their armors do, though they can't see their faces. They're dressed in silver and armed with some kind of laser guns. Billy and Teddy mentioned Robocop, but she ha no idea what they meant. Still, she can punch perfectly fine though the metal and that's all that matters right now. The laser shots sting, but nothing she can't take.
She's punching one of them right across the face when she hears David call her name. She looks down, expecting to find him at ground level, but finds him flying towards her. He's riding one of those flying-boards the aliens are using. At this point, she isn't even surprised that he figured out how to use them.
"What's up?" she asks throwing her opponent away against a building.
He only points. Above them, there's a big hole. In it's center there's only darkness, and a strange purple-ish shine around it's edges.
"Fuck."
David looks at her and she realizes maybe her voice gave up more than she'd intended it to. Maybe she'd sounded worried. Scared.
"They are coming through there," David says.
America nods accepting the information immediately. It makes sense. That's why they seem to be so strangely resistant to even her. Why they don't look like any alien she's encountered so far. They come from another parallel world; and a part of her is relieved to confirm the holes are not leading to her world.
"Where are they coming from?" David asks next to her.
"Tell you later," she says looking up.
She's got no intention to explain, but right now her mind's preoccupied by something else. She can hear Billy's voice clearly even from the distance.
"IwanttheholetocloseIwanttheholetocloseIwanttheholetocl..."
"Amer-"
Before David insists she speeds off to catch Billy who of course passes out at the effort. She grunts to herself as she catches him midair, closing a hole in existence is way out of Billy's league right now.
"Don't," she deadpans sitting him on a rooftop, far enough from the battle for him to catch his breath safely.
"I can do it."
"No. You can't," she glares at him.
"But-" he looks hurt.
"Billy, you just passed out trying to close it," she softens her tone squatting next to him. "The holes will close by themselves," for now. "and you're one of our strongest. We need you ready to fight right now."
He perks up a little and nods with a focused frown.
"Good," she says before flying away and back into the battle.
"So what the hell were those things?" Tommy asks kicking a body out of the way as they regroup.
The holes closed barely a few minutes ago, as the fighters retreated back into them. The ones remaining are either those who were already knocked down and a few left behind that seem to have fallen unconscious one by one.
"They came from the holes," David says frowning.
"Oh! Thank you, Prodigy, we hadn't noticed," Loki rolls his eyes.
"The question's what they are," Kate says kicking one softly. The helmet rolls off only to reveal an empty armor.
"Uh, what?" Billy arches an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Creepy," Teddy whispers next to him.
"I had never seen anything like this," Noh-Varr declares plainly, though his eyebrows are slightly pinched.
The rest of the eyes turn to America, wondering if her experience has given her an answer. She frowns thoughtfully and shakes her head.
"Let's ask," she says as her eyes catch a glimpse of one still moving.
She dashes towards him, followed by the team. By the time she reaches him she's left most of them behind except Tommy who's practically on her heels. She grabs the armor, bending it under her fingers, and raises him off the ground. With her left hand, she rips the front part of the helmet off and throws it away, fist ready to break someone's face. If there was a face to punch. Instead, they are greeted by what tv static looks like. She thinks she can make a face out of it but isn't sure.
"What are you?" Tommy asks.
The face seems to move to look at him, a pair of sparkly eyes setting on him.
"What are you?" the thing repeats. It's voice is like white noise and sends a shiver down both their backs, though neither acknowledges it. "Human," it continues. "Mutant."
Tommy glares at it clenching his fists. It is defining him and making him nervous.
"What are you?" America demands again, partly to take it's attention away from Tommy.
Once the sparkling eyes set on hers, she understands Tommy's tension. It feels as an electric shiver going down her spine.
"What are you?" it echoes again. "What are you? What are you? What are you?!" the electric being starts to repeat, anger and frustration growing in it's voice as the static seems to star pouring out of the suit.
The others are getting closer.
"Stand back!" she orders without taking her eyes away from the being and feeling it vibrate in her hands. "What the hell are you?" she mutters looking at it defiantly.
"WHAT ARE YOU?" it repeats, it's voice becoming a screech as the energy explodes from the suit.
"Down!" Tommy has time to shout.
The only thing she can do is gasp and let go as a painful electric current sends her flying several feet backwards and the suit explodes with energy. She hits a car and the alarm goes off as the world goes dark.
She can't hear anything but an annoying high-pitched ringing on her hears for a moment. She forces herself to open her eyes.
The team's running towards her, but she catches a glimpse of a sparkle running through her body before they can reach her.
"Don't get any closer!" she demands, but her voice sounds muffled to her own ears.
They seem to hear her alright because they stop a couple feet away from her. She struggles to stand up, but a wave of pain shoots up her arm. She mutters a fuck between clenched teeth and takes her other hand to her sore arm holding it. She's surrounded by sparkles and buzzing with energy. Part of her knows she absorbs most of that blast. Secondary effects of being a magic-created being.
The team is still looking at her cautiously, so she stands up straight and looks at them calmly, trying to focus over the way the energy buzzing through her body hurts, as if she was overloaded. Her hearing's coming back to her slowly, as she starts to hear what they are saying.
"...do we do?"
"How...?"
"...happened?"
"...but ...she alright?"
She looks at them firmly and nods, though alright is a far cry from what she's feeling right now.
"Master Kaplan..." she recognizes Loki's voice.
Him and Billy start talking in a voice too low for her to hear. Then their hands glow green and blue as she feels the electricity in her body dissipate. She breaths in a slightly shaky breath and gives them a thankful look. Her arms still hurts, but other than that she feels much better. Only a little shaky and breathing heavily. Once the sparks are gone the team rushes towards her but she instinctively gives a step back.
"It is alright, Chavez, the energy's gone," a hand drops on her shoulder.
She gives Loki a warning look and he promptly takes his hand away. She's still thankful, but that's pushing it too far.
"What was that thing?" Kate finally asks.
"It looked like it was made of energy," David comments. "I'd guess their suits are made to contain their bodies. After you ripped it open, it couldn't contain it's physical state much longer."
"What was it saying?" Billy asks.
"It was just repeating your question, wasn't it?" Teddy says.
"So did you find out what it was?"
"Did it say anything?"
"Did it answer?"
The questions continue but America ignores them. Still panting, she shoots a glance at Tommy who's unusually quiet. They share a grim look, knowing they can't describe what that thing was or made them feel.
"Do you know why it attacked you?"
"Are you two alright?"
"Did it say something else?"
"Do you know what it was?"
"No," she finally deadpans looking at all of them and answering every question at once.
She shoots an enquiring glance at Loki, hoping he knows something else. He shakes his head almost imperceptibly. She can tell he isn't lying this time.
America sighs. Too many unanswered questions so far, and she's got the feeling she's not gonna like the answers.