Call to Action
It had taken three months of training with Bruce for Ren to feel comfortable with her new reality. Once she had enough control to not erupt anytime she got upset she had wanted to go home. He’d insisted they keep working until she at least had some control over her flames. With all Bruce had done for her she’d relented and spent another two months mastering the art of not burning everything in a 10-mile radius when she used her abilities. After that, Bruce accepted her decision to go back to New York, back to her life. If anyone could understand her desire to at least pretend to be human, it was him.
So that past year had been spent slowly picking up the pieces and finding her new normal. S.H.I.E.L.D., the organization that had put her in that cell, checked in occasionally, to make sure she remained safe to be in public. Bruce checked in too. Mostly to see how she was coping, they usually talked about whatever story she was working on or his work in India. Other than that she was able to pretend nothing had happened.
She mourned Johnny. She’d missed his funeral, but he’d been buried in New York, so she was able to visit his grave. Sometimes there were others. Growing up he was always social, always making friends in the foster homes they were sent to. Now he was a headstone and wooden box. The funeral had been closed casket.
…
The morning of May 4th, 2012 had started fairly ordinary. Ren had woken up, gotten ready, and stopped for coffee. She’d stayed in the cafe for a few hours to work on her newest article. Throughout all this, she’d been checking her phone every few minutes. Bruce hadn’t responded to her for the past few days. While this wasn’t entirely uncommon, she couldn’t help her anxiety over it. Last they’d spoken he’d mentioned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had tried to reach out to him. Despite his assurances that they were the good guys Ren still didn’t trust them. But there wasn’t anything she could do. Which naturally drove her insane. She hated feeling helpless, especially when it came to people she cared about. After only writing one page in four hours she decided to give up and take a break. Terrible timing really.
It was on the walk back to her apartment when the first ship came through. Through a giant wormhole that had opened in the sky above Stark Tower. She really tried to convince herself this was just another one of the eccentric billionaire-turned-superhero’s stunts. But of course, she had to be wrong. More ships poured through the dark tear above her and dove down toward the street, tearing through buildings. Within moments the streets of Manhattan were filled with destruction and carnage. Ren was frozen.
What does someone do when aliens are coming out of the sky and attacking your home? When they start attacking innocent people on the street? When you see them diving toward a child clinging to her mother? When you feel rage and something much more deadly boiling in your gut?
Three gray bodies lay burning on the pavement, a few feet from the little girl and her mother. Ren hadn’t moved, she hadn’t thought, but she had managed to immolate the aliens in seconds.
You know what? She had liked it.
So she did it again. Again. And again. Until her hands were wreathed in flame while she moved through the city streets. A familiar roar sounded a block away and she turned in time to see the Hulk stop one of the alien ships with his bare hands. Even better, he had some friends with him. Iron Man himself flew by, and a man in a red cape followed soon after. Emboldened by heroes fighting nearby Ren redoubled her efforts to help the people around her.
Fighting and burning her way through the ever-growing horde her blasts were getting more precise. They were getting hotter too. It felt damn good to let it out.
Minutes or hours later she spotted one of Bruce’s teammates. A guy in a bright blue suit, he was kinda hard to miss, and his ass looked awful. He was alone, with nothing but a shield against a horde of the creatures flooding the streets. Something about him was familiar, but she couldn’t place it. One of the aliens tried to jump him from behind but she blasted it to ash before it could make contact. He was too distracted with the ones in front of him to notice. By the time she made it over to him, he had taken care of three of them. Finally, he turned and noticed her. That’s when she realized where she’d seen him before. The stars and stripes were a dead giveaway, and so was the massive ‘A’ on his forehead. She was standing face to face with Captain America, a man she had read about in history books. There had been rumors that he’d been discovered in the Arctic and brought back to life. She’d thought they were insane. But here he was, fighting aliens in New York, and standing almost a whole head taller than her.
“You shouldn’t be here, you need to get out of the line of fire, there’s an evac rout-”
She cut him off, “I’m here to help,”
He gave her a smile with a touch of nostalgia, “I get that, but the best way you can help is by staying safe,”
“I- Well-”
How was she supposed to explain having fire powers? Show not tell, she figured, and lit her hand on fire. He was shocked into silence. The Captain recovered quickly, “Well… that might be useful,”
As they marched back toward the fray he gave her a quick rundown of the situation.
Loki: Brother of the flying lightning guy and the one trying to invade New York, Bad Guy.
Thor: Lightning Guy, good guy.
Redhead woman: Assassin, good guy.
Archer: Scanty costume, good guy.
Iron Man: no introduction needed.
Closer to Stark Tower the fighting was worse, with strange aircraft zipping around, and giant whale-looking things flying through the sky. “Dude with the horns is bad right?”
“That’s Loki, why do you ask?”
“Because he’s right there,” She pointed toward one of the aircraft with him riding on the back.
From her outstretched hand, she sent a concentrated blast that blew the small ship in half. The invading god fell right at their feet. Captain America grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him up. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get it out, he was blasted back by one of the fallen aliens. He flew backward and dented one of the abandoned cars, before falling to the ground. Her attention was whipped away from him when Loki grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground. The feeling was uncomfortably similar to that metal room, the air being sucked out every time she got a little too hot.
She grabbed his arm with both hands and kicked, attempting to free herself. His face split into a sharp girn. “You hold out surprisingly well for a mortal. If only I had my scepter, the Man of Iron may have been immune, but I doubt you are,”
She didn’t know what he meant by that second part, but he was right, she should’ve passed out by now. Then again, she’d gotten used to the air being stolen from her lungs to kill her fire. Her fire. Idiot. Ren gripped his arm tighter and pulled on the last of her flagging strength. She concentrated every ounce of her power through her hands. Loki hissed as his sleeve began to smoke but kept his hold. From behind Ren could the sounds of the Captain fighting. No one was coming to save her. Her vision was starting to get fuzzy but he locked eyes with him, his ice-blue ones glaring down in anticipation of his victory.
Not a chance in hell.
Ren screamed as the last dregs of her power flowed out of her. Finally, his fist opened and she dropped to the ground. She landed in a crouch and jumped back up, certain he would come back swinging. The leather of his left sleeve was gone, even some of the metal had melted and warped. Now he looked well and truly pissed off. She felt as Captain America came to her side, and Loki began to look nervous as he glanced between the two of them. Before they had a chance to gang up on him, he turned and launched himself upwards off a sedan. He jumped impossibly high and landed on another alien ship.
“Damn,” the Captain muttered, “Let’s go,”
…
The battle didn’t last much longer. The portal was shutting and the pair watched as Iron Man flew straight into it. There was a nuke, he’d informed her, and Tony was sacrificing himself to make sure it didn’t hit the city. Moments after he disappeared all the aliens just fell down and died. Whatever Stark had done, it’d worked. They watched in horror as a small red form fell from the now-closed portal.
…
By the time the team had made it to the top of the building, Loki was just coming back to consciousness. She felt a grim satisfaction as she took in his beaten appearance, especially his arm, burnt and blistering. Even gods can burn, she thought to herself. His brother had chained and subdued him and teams from S.H.I.E.L.D. were there to take the glowing scepter and cube that had apparently caused so much trouble. While Thor argued with the agents Ren took the opportunity to get out of there, before her least favorite government agency decided to notice her. Sadly, she didn’t move fast enough.
“Well look who it is, I had a feeling you would show up,”
She couldn’t help a bitter smile as she turned to face Nick Fury, “You know, I’m a little offended you didn’t invite me to join your little super team. They got a catchy name and everything,”
He laughed, “From what I heard Miss Wright, it didn’t sound like you would be interested. Guess I was wrong,”
“No. No, as much as I hate to admit it, you were right,”
“What? You’re not joining the boyband?” Stark appeared next to her, “I was already thinking up your superhero name,”
The bitter smile grew into a genuine one, she could see why everyone liked him, “Thanks, but I’m not a superhero,” She nodded toward Fury, “And I don’t work with S.H.E.I.L.D.,”
“Oh god, no, me neither. This was a one-time, end-of-the-world kind of thing. But our little team, we got a good thing going,” She raised her eyebrows at him and he nodded seriously, “Tell you what, I will let you stay on a probationary basis. Hm? Do what you want, show up when you want, it's perfect!”
He was persistent, she had to give him that, and it wasn’t a terrible offer, “I’ll think about it,”