avengance

PART THREE.

the inception

"Aveline Ridley, please come to attention. You have 35 seconds until initiation."

"Aveline Ridley, please come to attention. You have 25 seconds until initiation."

I'm opening my eyes gingerly as the voice surrounding me finishes alerting me of the time I have left until initiation, whatever that is. As I fully open my eyes and look around outside the transparent cylinder I'm in, I take a breath in awe at the sight in front of me. The landscape all around me is a vivid rainforest, the trees reaching as high as I can see and the sky a bright blue against the water behind me. I look down at my feet, the water stretching from me to about three-hundred feet behind me, a large building that resembles a hut sitting about two-hundred feet in front of me. Between me and the building there's a field of green grass, resembling a strictly-kept meadow. I turn around me and look across the water stretching from me to about three-hundred feet away. Beyond the water lies a huge, beautiful rainforest. In awe, I turn back, my eyes unable to take in the beauty I've been placed in front of.

After a moment, I begin to think of how I got here as my memories flood back. Each word of wisdom from Bradley echoes in my ears, and though I should be worried about what lies in front of me, I can't help but smile. The first step of the plan worked.

I go to look closer at the building, but my eyesight gets distracted by a flash beside it: another cylinder. My heart stops as I lean forward to get a closer look. I can't tell who is in it, and as I flick my eyes to the right I see another cylinder. My eyes widen as I finally look to my right, finding more and more cylinders. As the cylinders get closer to me, I can pick out some teammates, the rest being a bit too far away for me to place them. My breathing quickens as I look all the way to my right and see Nat with a deadly look on her face, her hands tapping her sides. She looks bare without her weapons, and I can tell she's uncomfortable without the comfort of them. At the feel of my gaze she looks my way, and her face softens when she sees me. Her eyes scream with worry as she presses her hand onto her cylinder.

"Are you okay?" She mouths. The fingers she has pressed against the glass begin to tap once again, revealing an anxious tick I didn't realize Nat had.

"I'm okay," I mouth back. "What's going on?"

She simply shakes her head. "We were... compromised."

My spine shivers when she says this. The Avengers, the world's protectors, couldn't protect themselves. A strange feeling of guilt settles over me but I shake it off. It's not my fault we're here, but it could be my fault if we don't get out.

When I nod my head shakily, gives me a concerned look. "We'll be okay. Don't worry," she mouths reassuringly, offering a small smile.

I smile back and nod again before averting my eyes from her gaze. I see her take her hand down from the cylinder and focus on the obstacle in front of us. I turn to my left side automatically, and I'm not sure who exactly I was looking for but it certainly wasn't who I found.

Pietro.

I stutter in a quick breath as I press myself up to the glass of my cylinder, wishing for him to turn to me. He's completely focused on the water below him, probably attempting to figure out how fast he needs to run to get across it. With no options left and little time, I resort to banging my fists on the glass. When I do, a shock runs through my hands and up my arms, making me step back. I scrunch my eyes in confusion as I hit the glass again, Pietro still not looking up. As I do I receive another shock, and I quickly realize that the glass must have a defense mechanism for if someone attempted to break out. But as a voice above me alerts me that there's only ten seconds until initiation, I forget my regard for safety and attack the cylinder.

"Pietro!" I yell, though I'm sure he can't hear me. My hands keep hitting the glass, the shock growing by each hit. "Pietro! It's Aveline! Pietro, please!"

He's still staring directly down, not noticing my yelling or large movements. With tears filling my eyes in frustration, I yell his name one last time, louder than any of the times before.

"Pietro!"

His head jerks up and looks directly at me, relief filling his eyes. He presses his hands to his cylinder, but before he can say anything a loud voice from outside the cylinder begins to speak. The ominously familiar voice tears my eyes away from Pietro and points them to the sky, looking for where the words are coming from.

"Welcome to Fluer Enterprises. I'm sorry we had to meet in this manner, but I won't lie– this will be fun. For me, at least." The voice sounds as if it belongs to a young male, just around my age. He sounds confident in what he's saying, but the age of his voice seems to almost contradict the seriousness he's trying to portray.

"If you've taken a moment to look around you, you'll find an arena filled to the brim with trees, water, and other surprises that you'll find along the way. In the building in front of you lies supplies and weapons. What you decide to do with the said circumstances is up to you, but let it be known we not only will not stop death, but we encourage it: Only one of you will make it out of here alive, but how that occurs is up to you. For the most part."

My breath hitches in my throat as I turn to Pietro, who's already looking to me. Teardrops sprinkle his cheeks, and it takes my entire might to not try and explain my plan to him.  I put a hand onto the glass, much gentler than my previous actions, mirroring the stance Pietro is holding in his cylinder. 

"Don't worry." I mouth this simple statement to him, offering a small smile. It's not much, but it's the best I can do at this point. He nods before taking his eyes away from me, turning to the direction of the voice.

"In thirty seconds, you will be released, and the games will begin. I wish you all luck. May the best survive." A small clicking noise tells me that the person speaking has turned off whatever he was using to project his voice to us, creating an even emptier quiet than what I felt before. 

My blood turns cold after the voice stops speaking. Not necessarily because of what he's said, but at the realization of his identity: Ardyn, the blue-eyed-boy who captured me moments before my escape. My mind flashes to earlier today, when he threw and ordered me around just for fun. Good luck, Miss Ridley. You'll need it. My emotions instantly turn completely to anger, and I wish more than anything that I could be face to face with him again now that I know who he is. My anger begins to make my hands shake, but I force myself to take a few deep breaths and calm myself down. I won't get anywhere if all I'm thinking of is revenge.

I look over to Nat, keeping loose track of the amount of time we have left, to find that she's already taken a running stance. She must've already weighed out the possible consequences of running toward the center compared to trying to survive this without weapons. With skills like hers, I don't blame her. 

As I begin to look around at the scenery once again, I start to think of allies I might have in the arena. Due to Natasha's display of kindness to me, I immediately count her. I don't even waste thought on Pietro, as I know he'll stay by my side more than I'd probably like, but I won't argue it at this point. I know from exiting interrogation that both Tony and Peter are also here. I know the two will most likely team up, or Tony will at least protect Peter to the most of his ability. Though we might not be direct allies, I know I won't find an enemy in Tony or Peter. I look past Natasha at the two cylinders past her, as they're the only ones I can see into. Bucky stands in the one next to Natasha, Steve next to him. 

Though Steve and I aren't particularly close, Bucky and I became good friends over the years I've lived at the facility, our difficulties socializing with the other Avengers at parties originally bringing us together. Eventually, we began to socialize with the others as a team, one of us helping the other when it became a bit too overwhelming. We both have extremely different backgrounds and much different reasons to not like the spotlight, but we both understand the other's want to stay out of it. I know I'll have Bucky as an ally in this, and in most cases, wherever Bucky goes Steve will follow. I add the two names to the small mental list I'm making.

Bucky stands with a determined stance, his face staring directly forward. When I look to Steve I'm surprised to find that he's not holding the same position but instead is pacing a bit, his head turning to Bucky every few seconds. He makes me twitch with nerves just by looking at him, so I tear my eyes away from the captain before I can get too nervous. 

I turn to my right and I see Pietro attempt to meet my eyes, but I refuse for the moment. My mental countdown tells me that there's about fifteen seconds left, and I don't have the time to try to talk to Pietro right now. I look past him to the cylinder at his right, where a familiar woman stands with a powerful stance. Her green skin seems to glow in the sunlight, her pink-tipped hair flowing over her shoulders. She stands as if nothing has feared her, her chin held high and her eyes casting down. I instantly feel intimidated by her and almost feel the need to shrink away from her presence, but I continue to look at her. Not only do I want the woman who makes me fearful just by looking at her as an ally, but I feel like I know her. My mind ponders the thought for a moment, but I can't figure out from where. 

I spend a few more moments trying to figure out why I recognize the green woman before a drop of my stomach tells me there's a strange familiarity about this setting. I try to place it as the voice finally counts down from five, but I don't realize it until the cylinders shrink into the ground quickly and my legs throw me forward.

A collection of sounds, images, and feelings hit me all at once as I watch the people around me run to the center. I fall to my knees as I hear the screams, feel the pain in my side and my chest, and see the deaths in front of me all over again, each one becoming more realistic than the last. It isn't until a flash of blue whirs past me and grabs onto my arm that I'm snapped out of my thoughts. I look up to find Pietro looking down at me with worried but nervous eyes.

"Aveline, we need to go! Now!"

I shake my head, trying to find the words to explain to him what's going on. I begin to take quicker breaths as I try to get the most I can out in the little time we have. 

"Pietro, this is it. The vision." His eyes widen as I say this, and he kneels down to my level. "You have to go. You have to get out of here."

"I'm not going. Not without you." His eyes pierce mine, a look of determination covering his face. 

"You have to. Please, trust me, Piet. I'll find you. You just can't stay here. You have to stay safe." He opens his mouth to respond, but I cut him off quickly, knowing I'm running out of time. "Please, Pietro. Go."

As I lay a hand on his arm he nods, avoiding my eyes as he stands up. He gives me one last look before speeding away, and I swear I hear the winds whisper, "You stay safe, too, my love."

With trembling legs and a plan that goes exactly against what Bradley told me to do, I stand carefully. I take a deep breath, shaking out my arms, then begin to run toward the center of the circle, knowing my death could quite possibly be waiting for me there.

~~~

      I make my way quickly through the grass, growing closer and closer toward the hut of supplies. Many people are already inside the building, and when I'm about fifty feet away from the entrance, my right foot catches on something. I'm thrown to the ground, my heart stopping as I recall the details of my vision. All of my senses scream at me to stand up and get out of here as quickly as possible, but I ignore them painfully.

This is all part of the plan. Stick to the plan.

I wait for a moment, hoping that what I'm doing will end up helping me. But when it's been almost ten seconds of me on the ground, I begin to pick myself back up. That is, of course, until a flash of pink and black grabs me by the arm and yanks me the rest of the way up.

Gamora's eyes search me quickly, her height over me making me feel even smaller under her intense gaze. I expect to hear a loud, deadly voice, but instead hear a soothing, motherly tone.

"Are you alright?" I now see that her eyes don't hold an anger at me, but concern. "You need to get out of here. It's not safe."

I can only nod in response, and I turn to make my way to the supplies building but she grabs my arm tighter.

"No, you can't go in there." Her eyes widen in worry as she shakes her head. "They aren't hurting each other yet, but it's only a matter of time."

She pulls a large pack I had neglected to notice off her back and I begin to step away, unsure of how to handle this situation. She quickly pulls out a knife, along with some other small supplies and a small tote, shoving the items into my hands. I flinch when she forces the knife in my direction, but she gently opens my hand and places the handle in it, closing my fingers around it. She hastily puts the other supplies into the tote before I can get a good look at what she's given me, but I accept it gratefully as she steps back.

I open my mouth to try to say something, but only two words come out: "Thank you."

She smiles softly in return. "What's your name, young one?"

"Aveline. Aveline Ridley. You're Gamora, right?" I ask the question quickly, knowing that at any moment a fight could break out, putting the two of us right in the center. She nods her head with speed, acknowledging the lack of time as well.

"I am. I'd like to continue our chat, but could we meet at a different place? Here is... not safe." She speaks with a softness and vagueness that could only be attributed to a mother trying to explain something to a young child, and I can't help but wonder if she was taken away from a family.

"Sure. I'm probably going to try to get across the water, can we meet up at the shore at dusk tonight?" I make the proposition off the top of my head, and realize that I had already had my mind set on crossing the water though I hadn't put thought to it.

"A wise idea. I will attempt to make it to the shore by dusk, but do not worry if I'm not there. If I'm not there tonight, I will be tomorrow night. It was lovely meeting you, Aveline. Keep that knife on you, and don't go down without a fight." At this she turns and jogs off, and I can see the handles of two large swords poking out of her pack.

I pause for a moment, trying to understand the strange interaction, but am quickly thrown back into reality as an arrow flies in front of my face. I gasp and retract back, quickly beginning to run in the opposite direction of the arrow. I look over my shoulder in the direction that the arrow originally came from, but as I do I trip over myself once again, landing strange on my left knee. I go to stand and keep moving, but instantly fall again, my leg being unable to hold my weight. My breath quickens at the thought of not being able to move when I'm surrounded by a familiar blue. I'm lifted off the ground in an instant and raced across the field, the strong arms not letting me go even after I'm back on the ground. Pietro looks at me with a passionate worry, his hands already testing the swelling on my knee.

"Piet, I told you not to worry about me. And I barely even hurt my knee, I just wasn't expecting it to hurt as much as it did when I stood. You should be somewhere safe," I lightly scold him, though having him near for just the past few seconds has already calmed me down.

"And I told you to be safe, and look at you. You're talking to dangerous strangers, almost hit by an arrow which could have killed you had it been just a few inches closer, and a broken knee. I should be the one scolding you, not the other way around." Pietro doesn't take his eyes off my knee as he speaks, his worry boiling into a caring anger. Coming from anyone else, the words he spoke would make me nervous for what's coming next, but I know he isn't here to reprimand me. I take one of his hands in mine, and with my other hand I tilt his head up so I can meet his eyes.

"We both know my knee isn't broken, love. And I'm sorry that I was a bit irresponsible, but considering you had supposedly left before I spoke to Gamora and was almost hit by an arrow and shouldn't know that either of those happened, I think it's safe to say that we've both made some bad decisions already." I give Pietro a teasing smile as he rolls his eyes. He then scoops me up in his arms without warning, making a gasp escape my lips, which he laughs at lightly.

"Where to, princess?" Pietro asks, preparing to run to wherever I say. I look up at him as a thought comes to mind, a playful smile growing on my face.

"Can you run over water?"

"You want me to run over water?" Pietro asks, an amused look on his face. "I suppose I've never tried it before."

The statement makes my jaw drop. "You have super speed and you've never tried to run over water?" I ask, astonished at the idea. "If I got powers that let me run really fast, that'd be the first thing I tried!"

Pietro laughs at my surprised response, taking a small breath while re-positioning his stance. He looks down to me with a smirk on his face and I watch as he shakes the hair out of his eyesight and leans forward. Right as he's taking a deep breath, I realize what's truly happening.

"Wait!" I yell, unable to contain my laughter. "Put me down! I don't want to be with you on the first trip if it turns out you can't make it over!"

Pietro fakes hurt, his mouth opening to scoff but the sound never coming out. "Oh, so you ask me to run over water, but don't have enough faith that I'll actually make it over? Thanks for the confidence boost." He drops me, making sure I land on my good leg. Rolling his eyes then giving me a quick kiss, I watch the blue blur race away, and within a matter of seconds he's back– but he's soaked.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing you didn't come with," Pietro starts, walking toward me confidently as a devilish grin spreading across his face. "Or maybe I jumped in just so I could do this."

I see his attack coming. He jumps at me with open arms and I manage to duck and roll away before he can wrap his arms around me. I know he can't use his super speed to catch me, as he'd just dry himself off if he did. I laugh when I see Pietro realize this, his confident expression dropping into dismay, but he quickly takes to running normally instead. I test putting weight on my knee, and though it hurts some it just feels like I twisted it slightly. Knowing that I shouldn't put too much pressure on it, I lightly run away from Pietro. However, on top of me being cautious with my leg and Pietro being a fast runner even without his enhanced speed, he's caught up to me in seconds. As soon as he's close enough I'm engulfed in a bone-crushing, soaking wet hug– not to mention that the water clinging to his arena suit is freezing.

"Pietro!" I exclaim, shivering in his embrace. "You're so cold!"

"I thought you'd warm me up!" He turns me around so that we're face to face, or as close to it as we can be. Though I'm decently tall, Pietro still stands about a half a foot taller than me. "You were the one who insisted on staying here while I did my test run anyway. You probably got bored without me here, so I brought some of the action back!" He winks, and I roll my eyes as I continue to shiver in his arms.

"Very thoughtful, but that doesn't make this, or you, any less cold. And as much as I'd like to wait until you're dry so that I don't have to hold onto someone covered in freezing water, we should probably get moving. We won't be safe here for much longer."

Pietro's smile falters for a moment and he shifts his eyes to the ground. Taking a deep breath, he brings the full smile back to his face and looks to me. A glimmer of mischief hints at his blue eyes. "You're right. Hold on tight, love. This could get interesting."

He picks me up as I look to him in protest. "Wait! I thought you just said you made it across fine!"

"Well, I did," Pietro starts, tilting his head as if he's in deep thought, "but that was when I was carrying only one person across. Now there's two, which might be a bit different. So, be prepared to get a little wet?"

I laugh and shake my head. "Guess that's what I get for asking to stay behind on the test run."

Pietro laughs, then pulls me closer to him as he takes off. I'm immediately thrown to the memory of this morning, the same nauseous feeling overcoming me as we travel across the water. What feels like in less than a second, we've made it across the water. I look at Pietro in awe, seeing that not only did he get us across the water but he did so without sinking. He sets me down gently onto the sand, keeping an arm around my waist as I look up to him.

"I still don't understand how you don't feel sick after doing that. It still gets me. Every time." Pietro laughs, shrugging his shoulders.

"I've just had lots of practice, I guess." 

Pietro takes his arm off of my waist and bends over, and I almost expect to see him tying his shoes but I realize that the shoes we have don't have laces. They're sturdy, strapped boots, and look as though they've been specially made for environments like these. Instead, Pietro grabs tight onto the bottom of his left pant leg, and when he does so a stream of water comes out. I raise a hand to my face and try to cover my laugh as he looks at me with a teasing annoyance.

"If it's possible, I'd like to avoid doing that as much as possible. You might not have gotten wet, Ave, but I basically just went swimming." Pietro switches legs as I let out a laugh. I take a seat on the soft sand next to where he's standing, meeting his eyes.

"Sorry babe," I say with a small smile. "But at least you got to go for a swim?"

"Wasn't looking for a swim, but sure." Pietro stands up, water still dripping down his suit. "Now if you'll excuse me for a second," he says with a wink. A blue blur speeds past me, kicking up lots of sand, only to return within the second. Pietro is completely dry when he comes back and he runs a quick hand through his hair to smooth it down.

"Alright, now that that's all taken care of," Pietro starts, "where are we going?"

I ponder the thought for a moment, looking around at the new scenery. I have absolutely no idea where we should go, what we should do, or if there's anyone else around. I decide to act on the last idea first, because if we can find an ally over here before more people show up, it would be an advantage for us.

"Wherever there's people."

Pietro looks at me with slight confusion, and just as I'm about to explain my thoughts his face clears and he nods his head in understanding. He adopts a serious look as he looks at me once more, as if he's studying the features on my face.

"I'll start looking around." He's about to run off again when I stop him.

"No, wait. I think we should do this together. Without powers," I tell him. He looks a little unsure of the idea at first, but hesitantly nods his head after a moment. I begin to walk toward him when I feel the pain in my knee again, and I roll my eyes at myself. "Okay, one exception. But after this, no powers."

Pietro laughs as I place my hands on my knee and initiate the healing process. I feel the coolness of the power surround my knee, the pain already receding. In seconds the pain is completely gone and my knee is back to its normal size. I walk over to Pietro with confidence, and he smiles when I reach him, his hand finding mine. We look behind us at the seemingly small island, and when we turn our attention back to the forest in front of us, I say one last sentence before starting to walk.

"Let the search begin."

~~~

      A sharp snap of a tree branch I've stepped on breaks the comfortable silence Pietro and I have fallen into, and I let out a small sigh before turning my head to meet his eyes.

"Piet, I don't think there's anyone here. We've been walking for a pretty long time, and it's not like whoever's here would have too much of a head start to get in front of us." Pietro nods his head in response before slowing down. He releases my hand and takes a seat on the forest floor, leaning against an insanely tall tree.

"Yeah," he says through a release of breath. "You're probably right. Wanna rest for a second?"

I don't respond, instead simply taking a seat next to him. I realize that I still have yet to look through the pack Gamora shoved into my arms before running off, so I take it off my shoulder and undo the buckle holding it secure. I begin to fish my hands through the crammed supplies, but quickly take to unpacking it instead, as I can't see what's actually in the bag. The first item I pull out is a small ration pack, which on a normal diet for two people would probably last a day or two, but with some inventive thinking and cutting back could easily last a week. I set that aside and let Pietro take a look at it as I pull out the next item.

I pull out a small item, covered in what looks to be a case, and at first I'm not sure what to make of it. I turn it in my hands, looking for the way to open it, and finally I resort to simply pulling at it in different directions. It takes a few tries but I finally get it to open when I slide the top to the right, and I take a small gasp as I see what it is.

"You alright?" Pietro asks at my jump, but I see his eyes widen as he looks at what's in my hands. It's a small, silver pistol, with two extra rounds in the case as well. I carefully close the case, gently placing the gun in between me and Pietro.

"Let's hope we never have to use that," I whisper as I shakily pull out the next item.

My hands wrap around a large item, and I know instantly what it is: a canteen. I pull it out quickly, but find it surprisingly light. My hope falters slightly as I come to the realization that there's most likely nothing in it, but I look just to make sure. I unscrew the cap but find that my suspicions were right, so I close it tightly then toss it to the side. Pietro stays as quiet as I do during my unpacking, probably due to both being a little tired and not wanting to comment on the fact that besides the food, not a lot of these things can help us at the moment. 

I pull out a few more small things: another pack of food, a box of tampons (which I find surprising but could be very helpful depending on how long we're stuck here), and a small vial. My eyes widen when they see the vial, and I impulsively drop it. Pietro jumps for the vial and catches it, but I don't hear his scolding, my mind too preoccupied. My hands search my body for the two vials I left with, and I feel tears come to my eyes in frustration right before I find where they've been hidden. I feel a couple bumps on the inside of my right boot, and when I take it off and look inside, I see both vials taped to it, along with a note. I reach to take the note out, but take a moment to think. Whoever's running this has to be incredibly smart, and even if not, they wouldn't have an arena –especially one filled with superheroes who are there only to kill each other– be without cameras. If someone had been watching my actions before they've probably already caught on that I have something, but I don't dare to take the note out for anyone to see. I try to act casual as I look through my boot, almost as if I'm searching for a pesky rock, but my eyes stay glued to the note. It's only a few sentences, but it's enough to get the point across.

Aveline,

        I have faith that you can make it out of there alive, and with many of your teammates, but you have to remember: not everyone, or everything, is an ally. People will die, and possibly because of you, but you can't let it stain your hands or your conscience. You're a good kid, Aveline. You've got heart and you've got brains. Don't let this place take either of those from you. I look forward to meeting you again.

–Bradley

P.S.– pretty good hiding spot, right?

My eyes tear up and my hands shake as I put the boot back on, leaving the note in its secure place. Pietro looks to me in confusion, but doesn't ask of it yet. I know he noticed the note, and he probably understands that if I wasn't willing to take it out in the open that we shouldn't talk about it in the open either. I take a deep breath before taking hold of the pack again.

"Is there anything I missed?" I ask with shaky words, and Pietro places a hand of comfort on my arm.

"No, you got it all." He takes a breath, his thumb drawing small circles on my wrist. "Should we keep looking around or start to look for water? I don't think the water that we ran over is good for drinking, but I'm sure there's another place we can find some around here."

I nod my head, thankful for the change in subject. "We should probably look for water now. If someone else were here, we probably would've found them by now." We stand and I quickly brush the dirt off my suit. I meet Pietro's eyes after and he takes my hand, giving it a light squeeze in assurance.

We begin to walk in no particular direction, neither of us sure on where we are or where we should be going but knowing that Pietro can get us back to the shore in a matter of seconds should that be necessary. I think about his enhancement for a moment, and almost turn to him to ask if instead of us walking around and wasting more time if he would just do a quick sweep of the area, but a jolt to my side stops my thoughts. I look to Pietro, or more accurately, where Pietro was a moment before. I gasp as I see Pietro on the ground, clutching his left leg with the hand I'm not holding, and I quickly let go of his other hand and drop to the ground next to him. Out of instinct, I immediately put my hands on his leg and try to heal him without a second thought, and I don't realize until it's too late that I made a mistake.

"Aveline, you've got to get out of here," Pietro says quickly with an anxious voice, his hands gently pushing me out of the way. "I'll find you, I promise I will, but you can't stay here. There's something else here, it's only a matter of time until–"

He's cut off abruptly by a snarl coming from behind us. My eyes widen in panic as we both turn slowly. I grab Pietro's arm when I see the animal.

It's closing in on us as a painfully slow speed, but I can tell by its stance that if we were to try to run off that it would be able to catch us. Its gold eyes are staring daggers into mine, and it's looking only at me, like it forgot Pietro was here completely. Its large, wolf-like body continues to make its way toward us, rising and falling with each great breath it takes. The gray fur atop its back looks almost sharp and stiff, and makes me think that touching it would draw blood. It continues to put one foot in front of the other yet doesn't make any more noise, so slowly I begin to move my hands back to Pietro's leg. I finally let my eyes take in what happened to him, and when I do I find myself surprised that Pietro isn't crying out in pain.

The left leg of his suit is torn to shreds, the entire section below his knee either gone already or will be soon. His leg itself is a bright red, and though I'm not an expert in the medical field, even I can tell an infection has started to eat its way at his wound. It's a large, open, and painful wound, one that makes me cringe at just the thought of how much it hurts for him. It looks as though the wolf-like creature took a bite out of his leg, though if some of his leg is indeed missing, it's not a lot. No longer caring if the animal attacks due to my quicker movements, I place my hands on his leg and instantly begin healing him. I close my eyes, the process straining me more than usual. I feel his leg repairing itself under my fingertips, and I finally open my eyes to see the animal approaching us at a quicker rate. My worry begins to show through my healing as my hands shake and the process slows a bit, but I force my hands harder onto Pietro's leg. He whips his head back in pain, his eyes slamming shut as he visibly bites his lips to keep himself quiet. I feel myself begin to weaken as I try to finish healing his leg, my breaths growing more irregular as I continue. The animal is only about ten feet away now, and I feel a tear escape my eye as I whisper.

"You're going to be okay, I promise, it’s going to be okay." I realize after saying this that I'm speaking these words more for myself than for Pietro, but I force myself to make eye contact with him. His face is scrunched with pain but he still manages to look at me, and he gives a quick nod at my words.

"W–we have to get, get out of here s–soon," he says shakily.

"Not until you're okay. I'm not leaving you until you're okay." I don't leave room for debate, but as I grow weaker with each second I start to wonder if he will be completely healed by the time I'm unable to continue on. I don't normally find myself being drained of energy this quickly, especially after the amount of training I've had with this skill, and I can't help but let my mind ask the question of how bad his injury truly is.

Feeling like I'm about to run out of energy completely, I focus all of my attention on Pietro. His leg looks much better compared to when I started; it's not red except for in the very center, the signs of infection seem to have gone away, and the wound has stitched itself up for the most part. It's now only about the size of a golf ball, and even that continues to shrink as I pour the last of my power into his leg.

"Ave." He doesn't say more than this, and when I tear my eyes from his leg to meet his I find that they're wet with tears but aren't directed at me. "We have to move, now." He gets the sentence out quickly, and begins to shuffle his body. When I don't respond, he grabs me by the arm and pulls me toward him. "Ave, now!"

I finally turn to look at where his sight has been pointed, and the animal is all but standing directly over us. I gasp and shuffle myself back with Pietro, careful not to move my hands. I start to feel the wound closing with finality, and though I feel as though I'm about to collapse right where I am, I pull together what little strength I have for him.

After just a few seconds, the wound completely closes, and I drop my hands as I fall onto Pietro. I catch myself a little, but Pietro still gets most of the hit, and I see a look of surprise on his face before I turn to the animal.

"Piet, the knife," I say with realization, and with trembling fingers I try to get it out of the pocket I placed it in after Gamora planted it in my hand. Pietro realizes that I'm trying to get it out and grabs it for me, and in a swift movement he's on his feet and has pulled me up as well.

With one arm holding me up and the other prepared to fight off the animal, Pietro adopts an expression that I've only seen him have in battle. My heart rate picks up as I realize that I don't even have the energy it takes to fight off a squirrel, let alone a foreign animal designed to kill us. Pietro continues to bring us farther back and away from the animal, and I close my eyes for a second and hope that the animal simply just leaves. Though, obviously it doesn't. As we keep moving backward, I notice that Pietro is still favoring his right leg, and I make a note to myself to check on what else might be wrong with his leg after. It's a trivial thought, but it's what keeps me from panicking.

But the distracting thought doesn't last me long. Without a moment's notice, the animal sprints toward us, driven by some unknown force. I feel Pietro prepare to use his speed but he does so with hesitance, his left leg still hurting enough for him not to be able to run to his best ability. I steal the knife from Pietro's hand without warning and prepare to fight the animal off when it suddenly stops in its tracks. Pietro and I immediately freeze, unsure of whether it's still able to attack us. It begins to fall to its side, and I watch as its legs give out and cover in blood.Once it falls completely I find that a dagger sticks out of the side of its stomach, the aim so precise that I don't even need to hear her voice to know who killed it.

"Well, if it isn't my маленький целитель and the fast twin."

My eyes widen when I see her, and I can't help but let a smile grow on my face. Natasha looks down at us from her place in the trees, choosing to stay where she is at the moment. I get the strong urge to climb up and sit with her but as I try to walk toward the tree I'm quickly reminded of how drained I am. I'm honestly surprised I'm still standing on my own, but right as the thought passes through my mind Pietro slides an arm around me and helps keep me upright. I feel a bit lightheaded after the movement, but return back to my spot next to Pietro anyway.

"Nat," I say softly, and a small smile appears on her face too. "H-how did you–"

I try to finish my sentence but the words fail as my legs collapse under me, and Pietro launches into action. My eyes feel too heavy to stay open so I let them shut, but I vaguely hear Pietro talking to me and telling me to keep them open. I try to force them open and do so for a few seconds, my eyes searching for Pietro's the whole time. I find him leaning over me, his hands cradling my head.

"Sorry, 'm tired," I mumble, my eyes closing again.

"Ave, I need you to stay awake, okay? Just a few more minutes, can you do that?" Pietro asks gently, his voice like a warm blanket late at night.

I keep my eyes shut, feeling too tired to try to open them again. I hum in response, and I feel a different pair of hands lift me up. Instead of the soft, familiar hands that were holding my head, I now feel calloused, small, worn hands. My head can't help but make the connection to the way my mother's hands felt after a long day of work, when I was much younger and she would bring me to the local laundromat and let me put the quarters in the machines. She would often play with my hair, her tough hands running through my knotted strands before picking me up and carrying me around. Is my mother holding me?

"Aveline, stay with us, just a little farther." 

I can't place the voice speaking to me now. It's definitely feminine, but it's not the voice that sounded like how strong coffee tastes in the morning, which belongs to my mother. Instead, it sounds like the way it feels to drive one of Tony's sleek, black cars, with no music on and all the windows closed. It sounds like the type of lonely that you want to feel sometimes, like when you've spent just a bit too much time with someone and wish to be alone in your room for a while. I feel my eyebrows scrunch in confusion over the new voice, but only for a moment– even the small movement makes me more tired.

I lean into the woman with the black-car voice instead of responding. I vaguely notice my hair being blown from my face, and I decide that it's because whoever's carrying me is running. I hear hushed whispering from above my head and I try to grasp on to a few of the words, but I don't hear enough to make any sense of it.

I open my mouth to call out to someone, but I can't pin down who. I know I was just with someone, but the name of who it was won't come to me, nor will the face or voice that comes with it. Why can't I remember?

I was healing him. That's why I'm tired. Whoever I was with, he got injured, I was healing him, it felt different than normal but I didn't think of it. It's never felt different except for this time. Is there a reason it felt different?

My breathing begins to quicken as my thoughts spiral. What was his name? A flash of white hair and fast-moving blue wisps breeze by the back of my eyelids, but I can't reach it, I can't hold onto the thought, and the image is gone as quick as it came.

"Pietro, she's going into shock, we have to get her somewhere safe. We don't have much time. I know you're hurt, but she needs help, and she needs it now. Can you run her?" 

His name. It's Pietro. I hold onto the knowledge with all I can, not letting it escape my mind again.

"I can try, but I don't know how far I'll get. There was something else in that bite; I've been hurt many times before, but nothing has lasted this long on me after Ave's healed me. I think there was some sort of poison in it. She must've taken most of it when she healed me."

The words go right over my head, but I listen to the way Pietro talks. His voice reminds me of snuggling on the couch on a cold winter's day while watching the snow drift across the windowpane. While the woman's voice was a deep purple and black, Pietro's feels more like a light pink and yellow, his voice sounding the way cotton candy feels.

I feel my body shift and before I know it I'm being taken out of the woman's arms. I let out a small sound of confusion, and I hear a small intake of air after I make the noise.

"You're going to be okay, alright? You're fine. You just have to stay with us for a few more minutes, Ave, then you're going to be okay."

This time, Pietro's voice sticks in my mind, lodging itself next to the spot I made to hold his name. I'm placed in strong hands, and I feel as if I belong here. This definitely isn't the first time I've been in these arms. I open my mouth, deciding to test words once more.

"Pietro?" The name feels both familiar and foreign on my tongue. The arms holding me jolt, then quickly pull me closer.

"I'm right here, I've got you," he says, his accent curling his words into delicate designs. Pietro's holding me. Have we done this before?

"I'm tired," I say hesitantly, the words not wanting to come out.

"I know, babe, but you have to stay awake for just a few minutes," he says, then pulls me even closer to his chest. "You're not going to like this very much, okay? You're going to get a little dizzy and feel like you're going to throw up but it'll be over in just a second."

My head spins at all the information. "I'm... what?"

"Just hold onto me tight, okay? We have to get you out of here."

I nod against his chest. I feel him turn and talk with the woman for a few moments, words like " hut ", " quick ", and " vial " being thrown around a lot. One sticks out to me, vial. I have one. Someone gave me one, or I took it, or both, but I have one. In my right boot.

"Pietro, I have one." 

The whispers above me stop immediately at my statement. "You have a what, love?"

"A vial. I have one." I force the words out even though they'd rather stay in, my head beginning to pound harder with each word I say. 

"I know you do, we found it in the pack earlier, remember?" I can barely understand what he's saying anymore, with my head pounding so hard and my eyes feeling so heavy. I shake my head quickly, knowing that the vial is in my right boot. It has to be.

"No, my boot. It's in my boot, this one," I say, shaking my right foot. As I do, I feel two bumps hit against the front of my ankle. I knew it.

Hands quickly dive into my boot. It feels strange but I don't move, letting them find it as quick as they can.

"Pietro, she's right, there's two in here." I feel her place them back in my boot. "You have to go. Now." 

Pietro doesn't respond, instead wrapping his arms around me tighter. "You ready, Ave?"

It takes a moment for me to realize he's talking to me, and that I'm Ave. Once I do, I nod my head slowly. 

"Alright, here we go."

My eyes fly open as I feel myself surround in a blue haze, and the air leaves my chest instantly. I gasp out, my stomach feeling as if it's being flipped upside down. I feel tears spring to my now closed eyes, and my chest feels like it's being demolished from the inside out. My lungs search for air and I continue to try to force anything in, but it seems to leave as quick as it came. But, just as Pietro promised, it's over in a second, but I still feel the same after we've stopped. Once we're standing still I hear myself gasping for air. A low, animalistic choking noise escapes my throat with each breath, and I feel myself drop to the ground quickly. Nervous that we're moving again, I latch onto Pietro and my eyes snap open, searching his. They're a pale blue, and look strained as well. 

"Ave, what's wrong, what's going on, talk to me!" His voice booms with worry and I flinch back from it, which makes his eyes soften with regret.

"Can't breathe," I force out, my eyes growing heavy once again. Pietro looks around urgently, then dives for my feet. He digs into my boot and grabs onto the vials and a piece of paper, quickly putting down one of the vials and letting the paper fly to the ground before bringing the other toward me. 

"Do you remember how much of this you're supposed to take?" He asks quickly, his eyes staying wide and looking around frantically, as if he's expecting something to attack.

I try to think back to when I found it, but nothing comes to mind. I'm still gasping for air and for memories when the paper floats into my lap, revealing the writing. I don't look at it, but my eyes bring themselves to the bottom. Bradley . 

      "You have to keep that safe. Even just a little of that could be enough to save your life. It says one dose, but really you only need a drop or two for most revivals. What you have could literally be the difference between life and death up there. Be careful with it."

The memory burns through my mind, leaving a searing pain behind it. I cringe inwardly at the self-inflicted attack, my eyes slamming shut instinctively but I force them open right away. I tear the vial from Pietro's hands, bringing it gently to my mouth, then let two drops hit my tongue before handing it back. My head continues to scream in pain but I'm able to catch my breath right after I swallow the drops, the liquid tasting a bit metallic. I get the vial back in Pietro's hands safely, but my eyes have grown even heavier since swallowing the liquid. 

I look up to Pietro with tired, drooping eyes, and once I do so he moves so that he's planted next to me. He places his arm around my shoulders, his body warm.

"You did a good job, love. You did it," he says with a thick voice as he adjusts himself. "Just relax. Take some deep breaths. You don't have to fight anymore."

When I look up to him he attempts to offer me a smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. I look into his blue eyes once more, finding that they're the wet kind of shiny, before mine finally shut and I let myself collapse against him.

~~~

      I wake up to the smell of dirt, my face buried in it while the rest of my body is tucked in a tarp. My head aches as I open my eyes gently. I sit up slowly to find Pietro and Nat sitting at my feet, whispering urgent, worried words. Unintentionally, I shift just a bit too much and the tarp crackles in response, making both Pietro and Nat whip their heads in my direction.

"Oh my God," Pietro says before jumping up to run over to me. He reaches me in seconds, his hands first grabbing my shoulders but quickly engulfing me in a hug. "I was so worried about you, Ave. Don't you ever do that again, okay?"

My eyebrows scrunch in confusion as I try to remember what he's referring to, but my mind draws a blank. After a few moments of thinking I'm still puzzled, as my last memory is of finding Nat and leaning into Pietro. "Piet?"

He breaks the embrace but keeps his hands on my arms, tracing small circles with his thumbs. "Yeah?"

"What happened?"

Pietro looks at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The last thing I can remember is finding Nat, but I feel like more than that happened. Especially since we're in a hut?"

I watch Nat as she slowly gets up and walks to Pietro. She leans down and whispers something in his ear, which he nods to. He lets go of my arms hesitantly and begins to stand, Nat quickly taking his place. Pietro leaves the small room we're in and I sit up a bit farther, letting my back find the wall behind me.

"Alright, so what do you remember?" Nat asks gently, getting right to the point.

"I remember healing Pietro. It took a lot more out of me than it normally does, and made me a lot more tired considering it was only one injury. After I healed him we turned to fight the animal that was coming after us but then you killed it. I remember asking you a question, but that's it." I pause to look at Nat's face and see if it reveals anything, but it doesn't. "Did I pass out?"

"We aren't really sure what happened, but until we have a more experienced doctor-person with us we came up with a shaky explanation. We think that when you were healing Pietro that the type of venom in the bite was engineered to be able to transfer through your healing ability. That animal was designed to kill one of you, but because of the vial you had you were able to overcome it. It's not the best theory, but it's the most logical one we have right now."

I let the information process in my head, everything moving a bit too slow for my liking. After a few moments I nod my head, the theory settling in my brain. 

"So you think that they were trying to kill either me or Pietro, and they wanted to see who would save who?"

"Pretty much. Pietro's pretty shaken up about it. He doesn't like the idea of you being in danger, let alone almost dead." Nat cracks a small, joking smile, but it quickly disappears. "He thinks this is all his fault. Which, though I hate to say it, isn't far off– if you didn't remember the vial you had, you would've died. You had already gone into shock, but something apparently triggered your memory just in time. Considering how long it took for you to wake up, if you had waiting even just a couple minutes longer before taking it you probably wouldn't of made it." Her voice is just above a whisper by the time she finishes, and I avoid her eyes, trying to take it all in. Finally it all sinks in, and I realize something.

I tilt my head with hesitant questioning. "A vial?"

Nat eyes me and forces me to make eye contact. "I know you know what I'm talking about." She doesn't waste time trying to explain. "Two vials. One's a revival serum, the other one neither Pietro or I have been able to decode. And a note. Pietro said the note was what made you remember how much serum to take."

"Can I see the note?" I remember slightly what the note contains, but I can't help but wonder that if reading it over will help me to remember what happened.

Nat nods, standing up to get the note. She takes it from the table in the corner, which I had failed to notice until now. She hands it to me as she sits.

I read the words with a gentle patience, but none of them bring a memory. I get to the end of the message and am about to hand the note back when something sticks out. Bradley .

I close my eyes, inviting the memories to return. Finally, with me squeezing my eyes shut and forcing my head into my hands, the memories flash through my mind, each only lasting for a moment but filling in the gaps.

           "Ave, I need you to stay awake, okay? Just a few more minutes."

      warm blanket at night

                                                                               my mother's hands

                  Tony's sleek, black cars, no music

     Pietro.                                                                     His name is Pietro.

                                                                                                                                          snuggling on the couch cold winter's day snow drifting

                          the woman's voice was a deep purple and black

                                                         Pietro's is light pink and yellow

                    cotton candy

                                                                        "Pietro, I have one."

     air

        air

             AIR

can't breathe

                     air

             BRADLEY

                                                          metal taste

                                                                      "You did a good job, love. You did it. You don't have to fight anymore."

I open my eyes with a start and to find that Pietro has come back into the room. He stands impatiently behind Nat, pacing and shaking, his hands darting between his hair, head, and legs. His movements remind me of what TV static would act like if it were a person. His eyes never leave me, and he slowly moves toward me.

"Not yet, Pietro," Nat says from her seat next to me. Her behavior is the exact opposite of Pietro's: she's calmly sitting, her hands resting in her lap and her eyes casually resting on me. She lifts a hand and places it on my leg.

"Are you alright?" Nat asks softly.

I nod my head, still attempting to catch my breath from the flood of memories. "I remember some of what happened. Enough of what happened."

Nat ducks her head, averting her eyes, before tilting her head toward Pietro. She doesn't say a word but nods her head, and Pietro all but tackles me in an embrace.

"What happened? Are you okay? Do you need help, I can help, let me help," Pietro rushes out, and Nat lays a hand on his shoulder. Pietro takes a deep breath when she does.

"Remember, Pietro," is all Nat says, but Pietro understands the words and nods. He pulls out of the embrace to look me in the eyes.

"What happened?" He asks again, but without as much panic.

"I just had some memory flashes. Of what happened. That's all." I put up a weak smile, my voice feeling raw for some reason.

"That's not what the screams and gasps sounded like, Ave," Pietro says, his breaths stuttering again. "Ave, are you sure you're okay, I can help you, please let me–"

"Максимофф, будь нежным." Nat says the foreign words in a warning tone, and Pietro turns around with haste, redirecting his attention for a moment.

"No, Romanova, I don't have to follow all your rules!" Pietro begins to advance toward Nat as he yells. "You aren't always right, okay? I'm worried for her! I'm allowed to be worried for her! Not all of us were trained to be emotionless!"

The words slice through the air, each one hitting Nat like knives. The last sentence strikes her like a hand across the face, her head whipping to the side to avoid Pietro's eyes. I watch as Nat's eyes fill with angry tears, but she doesn't let a single one fall. The room stays quiet, Pietro and Nat silenced by anger, I by shock. Nat takes a deep breath, tilting her chin up but still not looking at Pietro.

"I know you don't mean that, Pietro, you're speaking out of anger at the situation, not at me–"

"No, Natasha, that's where you're wrong, I know exactly what I'm saying and I mean every word." Pietro barks each word out, his voice an angry tone I've never heard come out of him before. "Yes, I'm angry at all of this, at this entire situation in general, at the fact that we were kidnapped, the Avengers themselves were kidnapped, at the fact that they're trying to get us to kill each other and that if we don't kill each other they'll kill us anyway, and that someone who I love almost died because I couldn't handle myself, and now because someone is trying to tell me to calm down and not freak out and not worry because everything's going to turn out okay when guess what, Natasha, it probably won't, considering that we've only been here for a couple hours and one of us basically died already! So, yeah, I'm a bit angry at a lot of things, but I haven't said a word to you that I didn't mean, советский убийца."

Nat whips her head back around at the last words, and though I don't know their meaning, I can tell they hurt. I watch as she holds herself back from advancing on Pietro, but her stare reflects the amount the words hurt her. 

Her voice shakes some as she speaks, her anger bleeding through her words. "You have no right speaking of me like that. That was who I was. You should know better than anyone that people can change."

"Maybe so, but at least I found out before I murdered hundreds of people."

Nat no longer hesitates, instead closing the distance between her and Pietro in seconds, grabbing him by the wrist and making him look her in the eyes.

"I did what had to be done," she whispers with venom, "and you know I won't hesitate to do it again. So I'd suggest keeping quiet, Максимофф, before I change my mind about letting you stay here."

Finally I burst out of my head, jumping in between Nat and Pietro. "Woah, guys, chill out, okay?! This is what they want!" The two separate when I step in, but hold their angry stares. "Look, before I was sent in here I was detained by a man. I'm aware we're probably being watched and recorded so I'm not going to get into what happened but he told me this: "Remember who the enemy is."   You two need to remember that, too. We aren't fighting each other. That's what they want us to do. The enemy isn't the people in here, but the people outside, alright? Can we try to keep at least one of us alive today?" The words flood out of my mouth in a slightly irate tone, and both Pietro and Nat slowly lose the angered faces they were holding.

"Yeah, yeah you're right, Ave," Pietro says quietly, his head tucked. He steps even farther away, then turns completely and leaves the hut. I begin to follow him out, but not before I look to Nat. She meets my eyes, but doesn't say anything.

"Well?" I ask in an impatient tone.

"If you're waiting for me to apologize, you're going to be standing there for quite a while," she says as she turns to sit. "If anyone should be apologizing, it's that excuse of an Avenger. I know you don't know Russian, but the things he said in English were bad enough."

She sits on one of the chairs surrounding the table, taking out a knife and twirling it her fingers. She doesn't look at me when she speaks. "I had this on me the whole time. You're lucky I didn't feel like using it."

With a deep breath, I turn and walk out of the hurt to where Pietro has taken a seat. Before I join him, I look at the scenery around us. It looks that we've gone deeper into the forest, trees surrounding us completely.

"I took a run around. We're about a fifteen minutes walk from the shore," Pietro says, reading my mind.

"Anyone else here yet?" I continue on the subject for a moment, not wanting to get into what just happened quite yet.

"A couple people. Looks like they came in on boats, little inflatable ones. There was one guy, a bit older than us but younger than Stark, who I've never seen before. Clint's here too, a bit deeper into the forest. Once I was at the shore, I saw a boat coming in– looked like Stark, Peter Parker, and Rhodes were on it. I haven't seen Wanda at all yet." His voice quiets when he says the last sentence, and I wrap my arm around him.

"It's alright. Maybe she wasn't taken," I say, looking at him.

"Or she's dead." He says the statement bluntly, surprising me. When he turns and sees the look of shock on my face, he continues. "What? You almost died within the first few hours, and you're the healer. It's very possible she's already dead, and you know it."

I don't say anything for a moment, but after a few seconds I nod. "Yeah," I whisper as I lean my head on his shoulder. "It's possible."

I feel him take a shuddering breath in. I begin to rub circles on his back, just as he did on my arms earlier. "Who else do you think is here?" He asks quietly.

I take a moment to think. "Well, we know there's you and I. Natasha. I saw Peter and Tony after interrogation earlier, and I'd like to catch up with them at some point today if that's possible." I look to him, silently suggesting he speeds us to them, and he nods. 

"Later, I can bring you," he says. "There's also Rhodes with them. That makes six so far."

"Plus Clint and the other man on the boat," I add. "Eight. Then Gamora, I spoke with her at the beginning. I saw Bucky and Steve, too. Eleven."

"Who else was at the facility this morning?" Pietro asks. "Because, if you remember, when we ran back after the noises, there was no one left in the kitchen. That can't be a coincidence."

I had completely forgotten about the impromptu meeting this morning following my vision. I think back to who was there, scanning the faces in my memory. "Well, Strange was there. Thor too. Was Bruce?"

"Don't think so, but that doesn't mean he's not here."

"Alright, so that's fourteen, if we count Bruce. Plus Wanda, if she's here. Fifteen. Who else was there?"

"I think that was everyone at the facility, but there are other Avengers who don't stay at the facility. What about T'Challa? He's got a pretty big name, being an Avenger and a king."

"True, if I were kidnapping Avengers, he'd be on my list." I pause as the thought goes through my mind again. "Wait, that's how we need to be thinking. Who would we kidnap if we were them?"

Pietro lets out a small laugh. "Weird way to think of it, but I guess you're right." He stops talking, thinking for a moment. "Well, I'd want all of the big name superheroes. We already said most of them, but what about Falcon? Ant-Man?"

"Alright, there's eighteen. Doesn't Ant-Man work with someone else, too? The Wasp, right?"

"Oh yeah, they do normally work together. So that's nineteen, right?"

"Think so."

"Well, if I were a psychopath who kidnapped superheroes, I'd have it be an even number." I laugh at the statement, and Pietro away in slight embarrassment. "What? You were the one who said we have to think like them! So who are we missing?" 

I go through everyone again, but I can't think of anyone else. "Maybe Thor's brother, Loki? I don't know who else would be here."

"What about T'Challa's sister? The insanely smart inventor?"

"I doubt they'd take her, she's only like sixteen."

"They took Peter."

The sentence burns through my head. "You're right, God, he's only sixteen, isn't he? Is he even sixteen yet?"

"I honestly don't know," Pietro says with sympathy. "We're only nineteen and twenty. Still pretty young, too."

"But he's little . The kid was talking about his homework and being good at taking notes this morning. He's literally in what, tenth grade? And now he's here. Fighting superheroes to the death. He shouldn't be here, he needs protection," I say, my thoughts turning into messes of words. Peter's so young, and he's here, fighting Avengers, trained, deadly, ruthless Avengers. 

"Stark will protect him, you know that," Pietro says, brushing off the fact that a kid is here, and could very well die at any moment. "What about Vision?"

"Yeah," I say distantly, my thoughts still revolving on the young spider superhero. "Maybe him."

"So that makes twenty, right? Unless there's a lot of people we forgot."

"Yeah, that makes twenty." I refocus myself, and bring up something that's been bothering me since the beginning. "But how many are our allies?"

Pietro stays silent at that question. "Well, I guess there's Nat, considering she hasn't killed me yet."

"She's about to though, so maybe keep your mouth shut when we go back in there." I let out a small laugh, but Pietro doesn't laugh with me. I continue with the list of allies. "There's also Tony, Peter, and Rhodes. I know they'll have my back, especially after what happened in interrogation. I'm hoping Gamora will also ally with us, she could be really helpful on our team."

"You've really thought about this, huh?" Pietro looks at me in slight surprise, as if he expected me to not have input on this topic.

"Yeah, well, we're kinda somewhere that's designed to kill us. I want a good team to fight that.

"I know we'll have Bucky, and with Bucky comes Steve, and with Steve comes Sam, if he's here. Strange might not ally with us but he won't fight us. Probably the same with Thor, T'Challa, and Bruce. Wanda, if she's here, will ally with us easily. I'm a little confused on Clint; we aren't the best of friends but we are friends, but it was his arrow that almost shot me earlier. This place must've changed him already, so we'll have to watch out for him, figure out his intentions.

"We know virtually nothing about the man in the boat, so he's a wild card. Ant-Man and The Wasp have been nothing but kind to me in the times I've been with them, so I think we can convince them to become allies with us pretty easily. And let's see, we decided Vision was the twentieth, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Pietro says, still caught up in my words.

"Well, he'd probably side with Wanda, Bruce, or Tony, so we don't have to worry about him. So, really, the only people we need to worry about are Clint, the man in the boat, and the people controlling this place. The rest are either on our side or at least won't fight against us. Those aren't bad odds."

Pietro takes a moment to let it all settle before speaking. "Wow. You, you really thought about this."

"Pietro, there's a good chance that people we know are going to die here. Like, a really good chance. I'm not about to go out there without any plan. I know where my loyalties lie, and you should know where yours lie, too."

He nods, then takes a breath. "I should probably apologize to Natasha, shouldn't I."

"Yeah, unless you want a trained assassin against us. Or, against you."

"Thanks for the pep-talk, babe," Pietro says with annoyance, standing up. "If I'm not back in ten minutes, I'm probably dead."

I stand up, following him into the hut. "Oh, no, I'm coming with. No one's dying on my watch. I won't stop her from lightly stabbing you though."

Pietro turns to me with an annoyed expression, and I let out a small laugh before we enter. "Hey, all I'm saying is that if I can heal the injury, it's fair game."

~~~

      Pietro and I enter the hut to see Nat sitting in the same seat, but she's put away the knife she had out when I spoke to her and instead has my vials in front of her. She's looking closely at the unknown vial when we come in, and she pulls it away from her face and leans back in her chair when she sees us.

"Yes?" Her face is back to holding its stony, unbreakable expression.

"I shouldn't have said what I did," Pietro starts, not meeting Nat's intimidating eyes. "It wasn't fair to you, you were right that I was feeling a lot at once and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

I'm a bit surprised at Pietro's apology, but Nat doesn't change her expression. Instead, she nods, then kicks the two chairs next to her out. "Sit," she says sharply, and we do. Though I've done nothing wrong, I can't help but feel nervous as I sit down next to the assassin, as if I'm about to receive a scolding from a parent.

She hands me the vial she was looking at before, and I finally get a look at it since the dark room. The letters look foreign, and though I have some knowledge of a few languages outside English, I have no clue what these words are.

"Any thoughts?" Nat asks, her voice taking on the gentle tone she spoke to me with earlier.

I shake my head. "It's obviously foreign, but nothing I know. Closest guess I'd have is Russian, but if it were I doubt you'd be asking me what it is."

"You're on the right track; I'm a bit rusty, but I think it's Bulgarian. Only problem is that I haven't spoken or read Bulgarian in probably ten years, so we're back to square one."

"Let me see," Pietro says quietly, and I hand it to him.

"Do you know Bulgarian?" I ask, and he nods. "When did you learn that?"

"About a... year ago, for an under...cover mission," Pietro says distractedly, his eyes squinting at the letters. "Think I got it."

"What is it?" Nat asks, her voice holding the gentle tone she used with me. She must've chosen to move on, also understanding that holding a grudge in a place like this isn't the best idea.

"премахване на усилване," Pietro says, the words gracefully forming in his accent. "It's a bit of a weird transfer to English, but if we put it in context I think it roughly translates to enhancement remover. If I'm right, it's supposed to be used on someone who has a genetic power, like me or you. If I were to take this, I think it would get rid of my super speed."

"Wait, so if we were to use it on Steve, hypothetically, he would go back to the way he was before he was injected with the super soldier serum?" Nat asks, a mischievous grin growing on her face. 

"I guess so," I say, and look to Nat. "But we aren't trying it."

"Come on, Ridley, you hear all the stories Bucky tells about pre-serum Steve, you don't want to see it for yourself?"

"It's not that I don't want to see it, it's that we don't want a super soldier against us, and I'm sure that if we use a serum remover on him, he won't want to be best friends with us," I say, and Nat tilts her head in confusion.

"She's come up with an entire list of allies and people to avoid here. It's pretty brilliant, but also a bit strange how she thought it all up already," Pietro says, cracking a smile.

"Who's on this list of allies?" Nat asks, her smile growing too.

"Well, you two obviously. Bucky is an immediate ally, and with Bucky comes Steve and most of the time Sam. We decided that Sam and most of the other Avengers are most likely here. We came up with a list of twenty Avengers that we think were taken too while we were sitting outside.

"I'm hoping that Gamora will become an ally; I have a meeting with her at the shores at dusk tonight, and I'm planning on bringing up the idea then. Tony and Peter will definitely ally with me if I ask, and Rhodey was also with them, so he probably will too. We haven't come to a conclusion on whether Wanda is here or not, but if she is she'd ally with us. Vision is probably here, and he'll probably go with Wanda, so we have him too. Dr. Strange probably won't directly ally with us, but I doubt that he'd go against us, same with Thor, Bruce, and T'Challa. Pietro saw a man travelling by boat when he took a run to the shores, but we don't know who he is, so he's in neutral area right now. We also think that the Ant-Man and the Wasp are here, and they've always been kind to me, so I don't think we have to worry about them as enemies. We may want to look into them becoming our allies, even if they don't have their suits; I know from seeing her fight that the Wasp's hand-to-hand skills are very good, so I'd assume Ant-Man's are too. The only person I've decided is a threat to us is Clint since he tried to attack me at the beginning of the battle-of-sorts." I finish speaking and Nat nods, an approving smile resting on her face.

"Well done, Aveline. I'm proud of you," Nat says, her tone a bit surprised. She takes a breath before speaking again, and when she does her voice comes out a bit softer, her words tinged with sadness. "I agree with looking at Clint as an enemy. I don't know what got into him, but he's not the same." She pulls up her right sleeve to reveal a long, red wound. "He shot me with one of his arrows. It was aimed at my head, but I ducked just in time. Raised my arm out of instinct and it got me pretty good. I don't know why he's acting this way, but we can't trust him. Not yet, at least."

Both Pietro and I nod our heads, not saying a word. Finally, Nat stands and peeks out of the door of the hut. I'm reminded of a question I had when I first woke, and I ask it quickly while we're in between subjects.

"Hey, Nat? Where did this place come from?" She turns and looks at me in confusion, so I elaborate. "The hut. Where did it come from?"

"I... don't know," she says, breaking eye contact to look around. "I found it when I was walking around. Didn't think about it at the time."

Suddenly, she takes to going to each corner of the hut. To each one she goes to, her movements become more rushed, until she's running to the last one.

"Get your stuff," she says quietly, as if she doesn't want to wake someone. "Get it. Now."

Pietro and I get out of the chairs and grab our pack, the two vials, and the note left by Bradley. Nat runs to the back of the room and grabs her belongings. She turns to look at the both of us.

"Once you have your stuff, get out. Not too quick, but get out. Now," she says, her tone making me worried. I grab the tarp that I was wrapped in when I woke up, trying to help Nat. "No, Ave, get out. Now!" She yells, and I finally notice a small clicking noise coming from above.

I run out with the tarp in my hand to see Pietro outside. He throws an armful of stuff onto the ground about thirty feet away, then blurs past me into the hut. I watch as he brings another armful of things out, and finally after one more trip I see Pietro run Nat out of the hut, her arms holding the last of the stuff.

The two stop next to me, and we slowly begin to shuffle backwards.

"Nat, what's going on?" I ask slowly, though I'm not sure why– everything about this situation should urge me to speak quickly.

"It's rigged. Give it ten seconds, tops." Her words further confuse me, but Pietro seems to understand and swears under his breath.

"What do you mean it's rig–"

I'm barely able to get the words out when an explosion fills my ears and I feel hands scoop me up and a familiar nauseous feeling overcome me. I find myself sitting on the shore, and Nat quickly joins me, followed by our stuff. After a few seconds, Pietro falls into a sitting position next to us, dropping the last of our things on the shore.

"Jeez, Nat, next time you're planning on blowing us up, maybe give us a bit more of a heads up," Pietro quietly jokes, and Nat lets out a puff of air, a small smile appearing on her face.

"So," I start, leaning my head back to look at the slowly darkening sky, "that's what you meant by rigged."

Nat makes a small noise of agreement. We all sit in silence for a few minutes, Nat eventually taking to leaning on my shoulder and Pietro laying completely on the sand. I watch the sky as it continues to darken, but the colors remain the same. I'm not sure what I expected, but a small part in my was hoping for a sunset, at least a bit of normalcy in this foreign place.

Nat sits up from my shoulder slowly once the sky turns to a gray. After rolling her neck out and stretching her shoulders, she stands silently and collects an armful of her things. I move to follow her but am cut off by her words before I can.

"I've got this. Pietro can help. If I remember correctly, you have a meeting to attend to." She looks at me with a small smile on her face, and though it's beginning to darken around us I sense a proud look in her eyes.

I stand up and brush the sand off my pants before nodding my head. "I suppose I do."

~~~~~

      I watch the sky fade to complete black as I'm sitting alone on the beach. Pietro and Nat left a while ago while the sky still hinted blue, off to find a place to camp out for the night and to give me space to have my meeting without disruption.

However, the shores now reflect a sliver of white and the only light shining down on me is the crescent moon above.

The air begins to chill as I sit, my eyes studying the water silently with the hopes that Gamora will show soon. Though she told me not to worry if she didn't show tonight, I'm beginning to frustrate. I've been waiting for what feels like an hour by now and there has been no sign of Gamora– or anyone else. After about five minutes of sitting in the dark, I stand. Gamora said to meet at dusk, and it's past that now, so I might as well find Pietro and Nat and our temporary sleeping area.

I begin to walk up the beach, quickly making it off of the cold sand. Though the moonlight is bright in comparison to the darkness I'm shrouded in, I still can't see where I'm going. I don't want to risk going in the wrong direction, but I also don't want to risk yelling to find out where they are. Should either Clint or the man from the boat be nearby and be an enemy, they'd know where we are immediately. I'm still weighing my limited options when a gust of air hits me, and I'm standing face to face with the local speedster. Before I can ask how he knew I was here, he scoops me up. I look to find a grin resting on his face, and it only grows as he speaks.

"We found a place to stay. And a couple friends, too."

I don't even try to question him before he begins to run, knowing at this point that it's a lost cause. The run is shorter than usual, making me only slightly nauseous, but it still manages to throw me off.

We stop in an area surrounded by trees, all tinted a bright orange. I look down to see a small fire burning and Nat placing her hands over it. The embers spark with the gust of wind that Pietro brings, and a familiar voice speaks up.

"Woah there, fastsilver, don't want to be putting out our fire! Only took what, an hour to get it going?"

I take in a breath as I listen to the voice that's speaking from through the fire and watch the thousands of memories that are coming to mind. I vaguely hear Pietro groan at the butchering of his superhero name as I race around the fire, hoping that I'll see the person I'm expecting.

My ears weren't deceiving me– Bucky's sitting behind the small wall of flames, and I engulf him in a hug once I see him.

"Ave," I hear him say softly as he returns the hug. "I'm glad to see ya, doll. Though it's not under great circumstances."

I pull out of the embrace to meet his eyes. They're watering, and I can't tell if it's from the smoke or from me. I laugh as I wipe my own tears away, which I know are definitely not from the fire. "I'm glad to see you too, Bucky."

"Well, we obviously know who's the favorite, huh?"

I turn to find Sam standing and looking at me with fake accusation, and Steve laughing to his left. I run over and give the other two a hug as well. Though I'm not nearly as close with them as I am with Bucky, I'm still fairly close with Steve and have been pretty good friends with Sam for a few years now. I haven't seen him in a few months, and though it's in a strange place, I'm glad to see him again. He gives me a pat on the back before sitting back down, his face grimacing a bit when he bends his knee.

"Hey, what happened?" I squat down, placing my hands on Sam's knee's to try to find the problem.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened. Little punk Barton thinks he's so cool shootin' his teammates, like I haven't saved that puny little arrow-shooting royalty from death multiple times before." Sam pauses to roll up the pant leg on his right leg to show a large, red wound, definitely the result of an arrow. Sam continues to talk as I begin to heal his knee, the wound quickly stitching up under my fingertips. "Can't wait to give him a piece of my mind now that he's on the other side. Y'know, everyone used to tell me, "Oh, he'll grow on you," and "He's really a good guy once you get to know him," but then he pulls crap like this! Not to be that guy, but I can't wait to shove it in everyone's face and say told you so. Knew from day one that guy was trouble. I knew it! Little jerk."

"Sam, you do know you two are like, the same age. He's not little," I say, holding back the urge to laugh.

"Well, he acts like a petty twelve year old, so he's little. Out here, shooting his teammates. Wish we had phones in here. I'd totally have Bucky record me finally beating him up."

"Sam, come on man," Steve says, but he can't contain his laughter.

"Sam, I know you've never really liked Clint, but take it easy, alright? Something happened and he's changed. We're gonna fix him," Nat says quietly from her spot next to the fire.

I had almost forgotten that she was here, along with Pietro. Once the thought enters my mind, I turn my head around to try to see him, and I find him sitting next to Nat. I let out a small breath of relief, one I didn't realize I was holding.

I turn my attention back to Sam's knee, and watch as the wound completely mends back together. "All set, Sammy." I stand and turn to Bucky and Steve. "Either of you have wounds that I need to heal while I'm at it?"

"Surprisingly, no. Sam was the only one to get hit today." Steve's tone sounds even more surprised than how I feel as he speaks.

"Even more reason for me to hate Barton. Only aimed for me."

"Nah, he aimed for us too, you just aren't as good as dodging things as we are," Bucky teases, and I take the seat across from Nat. I relax as they continue to banter, falling into the domestic rhythm that I had already felt I lost in the few hours we've been here.

I look to my left to Pietro and offer him a smile. He's been quiet since we've gotten back, but when he returns the smile back I realize he's probably been quiet so that I could catch up with them and not because something was wrong. I scold myself on being so paranoid about every little thing that happens here, but I can't help myself.

After a few more minutes of listening to the light conversations, I put my hands over the fire, the cold finally getting to me. When the talking dies down, I ask my question.

"So, how'd you guys start this fire up anyway?"

"Sam grabbed all the fire starters from the supplies building and threw them in his bag. Didn't realize how helpful they'd be, or I would've grabbed some too," Nat says from across the fire, the flames dying down enough for me to see her face now.

"Yeah, those suckers were what I got shot over," Sam says, annoyance hinting at his voice yet again.

"Everything loops back to you getting shot, doesn't it?" I ask, laughing.

"As long as he remembers what happened, everything will have to do with him getting shot today," Bucky responds, and Sam hits him on the arm. Bucky makes a sound of fake hurt, and the two resume their light bickering and mocking of each other. Steve laughs along for a few moments before I watch his eye catch something. He squints into the darkness behind Pietro before speaking up, causing Bucky and Sam to stop talking.

"Who's that?" Steve stands as he asks the question, walking around the fire toward Pietro and standing a few feet behind him.

"Hey!" He shouts, and I wince at the loud noise. Though we haven't been super quiet, Steve shouting is pretty much the equivalent to having a blinking light pointing directly to where we are. "Who's out there?"

When no one responds, Steve looks to Bucky. "Buck," he says, and Bucky immediately bends over.

"On it," he says, quickly pulling out a flashlight and a small, gray disk. Bucky throws the flashlight first, and when he throws the disk it expands and turns into a shield, much like the one he uses outside of the arena. Steve waits a few seconds, then turns on the flashlight, sweeping the area.

"Who's there?" He asks again, his voice still painfully loud.

Finally, a figure comes out of the darkness, hands in the air and his head down in hesitance.

"Hey, hey, hey, please don't hurt me, I'm not lookin' for trouble," the man gets out quickly. I don't recognize him, but Pietro turns to me quickly.

Man on the boat, he mouths, and my eyes widen. I stand up quickly.

"Who are you?" I ask, my eyes squinting in uncertainty.

"You might not know me," he says, slowly moving closer to the fire. "Any of you from space?"

When we all shake our heads, he nods his. "Yeah, that's what I figured. I'm kinda a big name up there. Name's Peter Quill, but I'm pretty well known by the name Star-Lord."

"You're... you're Star-Lord?" Nat asks in a disbelieving tone as Steve collapses his shield, tossing the disk back to Bucky.

"Uh, ye-yeah I'm Star-Lord, why?" The man looks almost a bit offended at Nat's response.

"I just thought... never mind, it's not important," Nat says, laughing a bit to herself as she waves him off.

"So, Star-Lord, why are you here?" I have a lot of questions for the man, but I decide to go with the most relevant one first.

"First off, call me Quill. Second, I saw fire and people and thought that I should probably come this way if I wanted even a chance of surviving. That was until Captain America himself started yellin' at me, of course."

"Valid reason," Sam comments from the back, and I vaguely hear Bucky tell him to shut up.

"Alright, Quill. Next question: Do you know anyone else here?"

"Don't think so? I didn't really see anyone, the guard's smacked me up pretty good so I was passed out for a few minutes after the gates opened or something, I don't really know what happened."

"So you didn't see anyone?" Steve asks.

"Nope. You guys are the first people I've like, actually seen. I saw somethin' blue run by me earlier that kinda looked like a person, but I'm not really sure. I also saw this guy with some arrows getting out of a boat when I was about to get onto shore, but he booked it pretty quick."

"Clint's over here?" Nat asks, her tone a bit worried, but I can't tell if the worry is for us or for Clint.

"If that guy's name is Clint, then yeah, guess so."

"You didn't know that, Nat?" I ask gently, and her eyes whip to meet mine.

“You did?" Her head tilts and I almost brace myself for a scolding, but Pietro speaks up.

"I was going to tell you, Nat, but I figured since you were already under enough stress with everything that you didn't need to know about him yet," Pietro explains, his voice staying quiet. 

Nat's mouth thins into a line, and she takes a deep breath before speaking. "We'll talk about that later. But Quill, you didn't see anyone else? There's no one you might know?"

"I saw nothing. Sorry."

"What do you got for materials?" Bucky asks from the back, his hands supporting him as he leans back.

"Just the boat. Everything else was gone once I got there. Honestly surprised on how a boat was left out of all of the things, but I'm not arguin'. Whatever works, I guess."

"You're really trying to tell us that you don't have anything? You think we're gonna believe that?" Sam asks, his voice taking on the tone he spoke about Clint in.

"It matches up. I saw him earlier, he didn't have anything in the boat but himself," Pietro says, and Quill looks at him in confusion. "I'm the blue thing that ran by you," he explains quickly, and Quill nods slowly.

I walk a bit closer to Quill, and look at him closely. His hair is a bit of a mess and his suit is a bit torn around the ankles, but he still gives off a certain glow, one that reminds me of looking at an old photograph. I take a deep breath and hold eye contact with him, now only a few feet away.

"Can we trust you?" I ask him quietly, knowing that a few of the Avengers behind me won't be able to hear me.

"Yes." He answers right away, and I can see in his eyes that he's telling the truth. Something about the way he carries himself and speaks makes me want to trust him right away, though I know that I can't fall into a trap this easily. His eyes search mine for a more complete answer, one that tells him if he's welcome here or not, one that tells him if he's trusted or not, but I can't give him that complete answer quite yet. Instead, I simply nod and step back, returning to my spot near the fire. His eyes follow me, and when no one makes a move or asks him another question, I wave him over and invite him to sit next to me. He moves quickly, as if I'm going to take back my offer, and sits, taking to putting his hands near the fire almost instantly.

The two trained assassins, retired pararescue, and the super soldier all eye him carefully. Pietro sits on the other side of Quill, but looks over only to meet my eyes, and I can tell he wants to ask a question but won't be the first to speak up. I decide that if the adults here are only going to stare, I might as well ease everyone into a conversation.

"So, where did you three come from anyway? You weren't around when Nat, Piet, and I crash landed on the beach," I ask, making sure my tone stays light.

"After we left you to have your meeting, Nat and I were going to look around for a spot to camp out, but I figured it'd be quicker to run around. I went all the way around the arena and was almost back to Nat when I ran into Bucky," Pietro explains.

"Literally. Knocked the wind right out of me," Bucky adds, laughing.

"They don't call me fastsilver for nothing, snowy soldier," Pietro teases, and the two laugh.

"Bucky and Pietro talked for a few minutes, and Pietro explained what had happened after the games begun: the bite, you two finding Nat, and something about a list of people. He was pretty brief about it all, but it seems like you guys have already been through a lot," Steve says, looking at me in sympathy.

"Yeah, well, it's not like this place was designed to be our home sweet home," I say, a sad smile growing on my face. I quickly change the topic, not wanting to get into the homesickness I've been avoiding since we've gotten here. "What about you, Quill? This anything like your home?"

"Well, my home's normally a spaceship, so I don't think anything is really like my home." We all look to him with confusion, so he elaborates. "My team and I are always bouncing around, causing a bit of trouble but also helping people get out of it. In comparison, I guess we're a more reckless version of the Avengers, but in space.

"We've got a talking raccoon and a talking tree. We have this guy named Drax, who's looks like what a baby elephant and a big guy had a kid. Pretty weird guy, but he's the muscle of our group for the time being. We also have this bug-girl, who can like, read your emotions just by touching you. She's definitely thrown me under the bus with it before, even if she didn't realize it. She and Drax both don't really understand English as well as the rest of us, or like, social interaction in general, so it's a bit difficult sometimes but it's worth it. We also have an ex-adopted daughter of Thanos who's a scary and wicked deadly assassin but once you get to know her she's a big softie. We've also got her sister, another daughter of Thanos, who's always mean. She's literally tried to kill Gamora like, at least three times since me and Gamora have been dating. It's pretty rough."

"Wait, Gamora?" I ask without thinking, and Quill's head whips to meet my eyes.

"Yeah, you know her?" His eyes widen and search mine desperately for a connection, and as much as I want to tell him, I don't think I should tell him that she's here yet.

"I've heard a lot about her. Seems pretty cool," I say, trying to keep the light tone I had set. Quill's eyes break eye contact and his shoulders drop a little at the simple statement. Pietro meets my eyes and makes a look of confusion, and I slightly shake my head. Thankfully, he doesn't speak up, though I know he wants to just as much as I do.

"Oh, uh, yeah, she's really cool. Definitely out of my league, but she's still into me for some reason. I'm not arguing." He laughs a little, trying to lighten his own mood, and everyone else laughs lightly too.

The talking dies for a few moments before Quill speaks up again, this time a bit quieter. "So, uh, I know you guys are Avengers, but who are you? Like, actually? I know Captain America and Black Widow, but who are the rest of you?" He looks around the circle when he says this, nodding his head to the appropriate people when he mentions them.

"I'm Bucky Barnes. Superhero name is the Winter Soldier. Or, I guess that's more my assassin name, but whatever, it's close enough. I was taken by HYDRA in the forties and trained to kill a lot of people over the decades. I was actually Steve's best friend before the war, and he found me again a few years ago, got me all fixed up. So yeah, that's basically my origin story. Nice to meet ya, Star-Lord," Bucky says, laughing a bit to himself as he sums up his life in a couple sentences.

"Name's Sam Wilson, and the superhero name's Falcon. I was a part of the pararescue unit in the army for a while, and used my suit for rescue missions. I retired after my partner was killed in action, but when Cap here needed my help finding his forties boyfriend-turned-assassin I was like, hey, why not. Got back into the rescuing business, but this time as an Avenger. I'm more of a low-key Avenger; I don't normally stay at their facility and don't come on as many missions as the rest of them, but I do still help out. I just try to lead more of a normal life now. How's that for an origin story?" Sam shoulders Bucky as he says the last sentence, and the two laugh.

"So, you know me?" Nat asks, her expression a bit surprised.

"Obviously! You're like, one of the coolest ones, you don't even have super powers but you're still one of the best Avengers. I'd be ashamed if I didn't know who you were." Quill's face lights up when he talks, and it reminds me of the time Nat talked to some fans on the street when we were coming home from running some light errands in town.

Nat smiles at the casual compliments, probably not expecting Quill to be this enthusiastic. "Wow, um, thanks!" She says as her smile grows even bigger.

"I'm assuming you don't know me, even though I'm obviously the best Avenger," Pietro says sarcastically. When Quill shakes his head, Pietro begins to tell about himself. "I was originally a part of HYDRA's testing with my twin sister –HYDRA was this Nazi organization that did experiments and was still around until a couple of years ago– and then the Avengers came in and tried to fight my sister and I and this robot guy we worked under for a while until we found out he was trying to kill everyone. It's a long story, but we eventually switched to the right side. But we got our powers from HYDRA, my sister Wanda getting telekinesis and the ability to search minds, me getting super speed. But I've been with the Avengers for a few years now, and I'm there full time. Guess that's it for my origin story. Well, unless you want to know that I've been dating the pretty girl next to you for a few months now, but I guess you don't really need to know that type of stuff quite yet." Pietro winks at me when he says the last sentence and I roll my eyes, hoping that the darkness is able to cover my blushing.

"While we're on the topic of me, hi, I'm Aveline. I don't have a superhero name, which should definitely change soon, but I've been with the Avengers for about three years now. I found Tony on accident after a battle and he was about to die, and I went to pick him up and bring him somewhere where he could get help when he just started healing at super speed. It's kind of a long story, but we found out that I have healing powers, so the Avengers took me in as a secret recruit and kept me off all public files, and a lot of the private ones too. I've been living at the Avenger's facility in secret since we found out I have powers but whoever's running this place found out somehow. I don't really have any cool origin story, we still don't know how I got my powers so that's kind of lame but I'm an Avenger so it's not that lame. But yeah, nice to meet you, Peter Quill." I offer him a smile, and he returns it easily.

"So, Mr. Lord, what's your origin story?" Sam asks jokingly, and Quill laughs.

"Well, it's a bit longer than all of yours. I was born in Missouri, and my mom died when I was eight from a brain tumor. Some space guys kidnapped me after she died and kept me in space, raised me, taught me scavenger stuff. Then I got involved with all the Infinity Stone crap for a minute, met the Guardians of the Galaxy in space jail, stole from some people, helped save some people, did some more good and bad, y'know how it goes. Fell in love, had some fun with my friends, stole some more stuff, almost died again. Met my dad who apparently was some god or something, and it turns out he killed my mom, but then I killed him, I guess. Family drama, gotta hate it. Met some more friends, then the guy who raised me who was the dad I never had sacrificed himself so I could live, but that part still hurts so we're gonna ignore it. We had a funeral for him and then the Guardians and I sorta just flew around space for a bit and made some more trouble. But then one day when I had brought the crew to Earth because a lot of them had never been and wanted to see what all the fuss what about, we were ambushed. They knocked me out before I could fight back. I don't know if any of the other Guardians are here, but as much as I hope they aren't going through this I also hope that at least one of them is here. I really like you guys and I know I can trust you, but it'd be nice to have a familiar face, y'know?"

I put a hand on his knee to comfort him. "I get it. We all have that advantage of sorts; we all know each other, but you don't yet. I don't blame you for wanting to have someone here that you know." My heart hurts when I say this, knowing that I could easily just tell him that Gamora's here.

"But now you have us," Nat says softly from across the fire. "You know us. Until you find out if there is anyone here that you know, you have us. We can be your temporary family."

I'm surprised by the amount of nodding heads showing agreement around the stories, thinking for some reason that the others wouldn't be as open to him as I am.

"Wow, uh, thanks." Quill seems taken back by the welcoming as well. "That really means a lot guys. Thank you."

"Course, man. It's not like we were just gonna turn you away," Sam says.

"Not gonna lie, I had prepared myself for that possibility," Quill says, laughing a bit. "But thanks for taking me in. If you all don't mind, I think I'm gonna head to sleep now. Getting a bit too late for my liking." He stands, and I nod to myself.

"Think I'll do the same thing. We're probably going to have to face a lot tomorrow, so you all should probably get to bed soon, too." I stand and make my way over to Pietro.

"You coming with or are you staying for now?" I whisper in his ear, not needing the others to hear this question.

"I'll be there in a few. If you go to the trees behind Steve, I set up a small fort for us. It's not the best, but it'll work for now. I'll meet you there once I help Nat clean up," he whispers back before planting a kiss on my cheek. I squeeze his shoulder before I begin to walk toward the fort Pietro made.

"See you all tomorrow!" I say as I walk away, though a part of my brain warns me that what I said might not be true depending on how the night goes. If any of the others think the same thing, it doesn't show, as they all return the sentence is staggered unison.

I finally turn my eyes from the fire and try to adjust to the darkness as best I can, my eyes slowly picking out details in the night. After about thirty seconds of walking, I come across a fort of sorts and conclude that it must be what Pietro was talking about. The structure is made from many fallen branches and leaves, and inside the small area is the tarp I was wrapped in earlier. I smile at Pietro's attempt to build something before crawling in, silently acknowledging that if we want this building to stand for longer than one night that I'll probably have to rebuild it tomorrow morning. 

I curl under the tarp, slowly warming up as my body heat radiates underneath it. My body quickly gets into a slow rhythm of breathing, making my eyes feel even heavier, and I vaguely feel Pietro lay down next to me as I finally fall into sleep.