The Avenger’s Soul

Billy's POV

I woke up with a start to find that I was on a plane of some sort and once again, eyes were on me. I looked around at the shocked faces as I stood up and stretched. My side still burned and my scars were still itching but the blood had stopped and I could tell that the wound had at least closed itself up.

I straightened up as much as I could to find them all staring at me with various expressions.

"What?" I said.

"Weirdos?" Said Tony, covering his heart with his hand and feigning being stabbed. It would have been funny if I hadn't been stabbed for real not too long ago.

"The Cavalry is here?" said Natasha, raising her brows.

"Saddle up?" Clint asked, one eyebrow quirked up.

I crossed my arms. "Ok, so maybe I'm not as funny as I think I am, but I've always wanted to say that. I didn't mean to offend anyone...I just heard some of the guards talking about some women called the Cavalry who went to Bahrain and saved a bunch of people and I could tell that she made the guards nervous so I don't know...you have to admit, you all look a little
weird the way your dressed, then again...what do I know about fashion...stop looking at me like that!"

The stares were unnerving.

3rd Person POV

Steve, Natasha, Tony, and Clint shared looks with each other as they sat and waited for their newly discovered soulmate to wake up. They couldn't believe the had finally found her. It wasn't until one drunken night that they had realized they all had the same words written on their skin and came to the conclusion that they must share a soulmate. At first, Tony had been reluctant to this idea, not liking the thought of having to share the woman he was born to love with anyone else, but after his time in the middle east, he had decided to work on getting used to the concept of sharing.

As for Natasha and Clint, they had always been close, and did not mind sharing their soulmate between one another. Steve on the other hand, was worried.

He couldn't stop thinking about his new soulmate, but also about his other one. Bucky...he had thought he had died several yeas ago when he himself had gotten buried in a block of ice. But it turns out he was alive...had been brainwashed by HYDRA...and had stabbed the soulmate the two of them were destined to share - for Steve knew that Bucky also had those same words running along his skin as well. They had found out late one afternoon when they had gone skinny dipping as kids.

He just didn't know how he was supposed to untangle everything. Things were complicated enough when he woke up 70 years in the future! And now he had to save Bucky - and break the news to him that he had attacked one of his soulmates!

Steve, Tony, Clint, and Natasha all breathed sighs of relief when their soulmate's eyes opened up, but then they remembered the words printed on their skin. They had been wondering how they would end up hearing them, but had never imagined it would be like this.

Billy's POV

"Hey...Hello, Earth to Everyone!" I paused as I finally managed to get everyone's attention, I hadn't really thought about what I was going to say. So I pointed at Natasha.

"I believe I was promised something!" I said instead, trying to ease the tension in the room.
It worked. Natasha laughed and came over to sit down on the floor in front of me, angling her head so that I could reach it.

I could feel several pairs of eyes on me as I slowly reached out and began to run my hands through her red locks. I blushed as she moaned out loud. I could see Tony out of the corner of my eye.

"You know, I wasn't sure how this would work at first, but I think I could get used to this," he said, watching the two of us with a gleam in his eyes. I laughed as Steve elbowed him hard in the side.

"Sorry, am I hurting you?" I asked Natasha, removing my hands quickly as I started to worry.

"No, no, don't stop!" she hurried to assure me, her face almost as red as her hair. I wrapped my hands back in her hair, enjoying the feel.

"Wow, it's so soft! I wish my hair could be this soft! But they didn't really give me much time to brush it..." I trailed off, not wanting to think about such things at the moment. I was finally free. I was focused on Natasha's hair, so I didn't see the dark looks that were being shared around me.

"So, can you guys drop me off somewhere? You don't have to land or anything, just find an empty space to hover over...Not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm sure I can figure something out!"

"Sorry, dollface, but we need to take you back to New York with us so that Nick can debrief you and get your statement, he'll definitely want to talk to you - and I think we all have questions we'd like answered!" Steve said as gently as he could.

I nodded slowly, not liking the sound of this, but knowing that I didn't have much say right now.

"Well there goes that idea..." I mumbled.

********************************************

Several long hours later, we had finally landed in New York and I was herded into a small room with a long black mirror and a single metal table and chair. I stood in the corner, waiting for what came next. I used my enhanced sight to see through the mirror and into the room beyond, where Natasha, Steve, Tony, and Clint were all huddled, watching me from the other side of the glass.

I paced back and forth, not comfortable with the size of this room. It made me very nervous, but finally the door opened and a man with a black eyepatch walked in.

He asked me a lot of questions, more than half of which I didn't know the answer to. He asked about me, Hydra, and about the Winter Soldier. I gave him what little information I could; I didn't know very much about myself, other than the name Hydra had given me and what some of my powers were - though I was constantly discovering new ones.

He must have known we were being watched closely, because when he had finished his questions, he leaned in closer and began to whisper.

"SHIELD could really use someone like you. I know that Tony and the others are going to want to take you with them to Stark Tower, and would hate me for even suggesting it, but I'd love to discuss you joining SHIELD. I am building a specialized mobile unit that you would be welcome to join. The others won't like it, but you could really be an asset in helping bring Hydra down. They will try to dissuade you, but I just wanted you to know that you have options. It's up to you what you do with your life now, no one else's, just remember that."

The man stood up and left the room. Not a minute later, Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Clint entered the room, all talking at once. From what I managed to gather, they wanted me to come with them back to some tower to live with them.

"Woah, you want me to move in with you? Why? You hardly know me, heck, I barely know me! That's a bit fast!" I said, blinking wide-eyed at them. They frowned at my answer, but slowly nodded in understanding.

Though I told him it was too much, Tony insisted on getting me set up in an apartment nearby. It took all of a few minutes for him to sign the documents before I was handed a set of keys to my new place.

I was then dragged to the store along with the others to find furniture and other necessities. I kept trying to tell them it was all too much but they wouldn't hear it. I knew they were trying to do what they thought was best, but it was slightly annoying. I wanted to find my own way in life, not have them hand everything to me on a silver platter!

I point blank refused Tony's offer to set me up with a job at Stark Industries, much to his disappointment. I also refused the phone that he tried to hand me after they had dropped me and the furniture off at the new apartment.

"But how are we supposed to stay in touch?" He asked, pouting.

"We don't! Look, I really appreciate everything you are trying to do for me, but it's too much! No offense, but I already told you, we hardly know each other and I don't really want to stay in touch -" I looked around at the hurt looks on everyone's faces. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, I just don't get why it's such a big deal to you all - it's just...I..." for some reason, I couldn't finish my sentence. It was almost painful to look at the disappointment on their faces.

"It's ok, you don't have to explain yourself. We get it, you need space to get used to your new life...we just wish you'd let us help," Natasha said sadly.

"I will ask if I need it, ok?" I said, crossing my fingers behind my back. They nodded and filed out of the doorway, their heads down and their shoulders slumped.

6 Months Later

I sighed heavily as I slid the beer across the counter towards the man sitting in front of me.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing working at a bar?" He asked, taking a swig of his drink.

"Paying bills," I said tonelessly. I had spent the last few months finding someone to take over my lease, and used the money I had made from selling the furniture to buy myself a run-down van, which now served as my new residence as well as my mode of transport. I had then hit the streets looking for a job, which is how I had landed up behind the bar at "Nights," one of the local clubs in sunny California.

"What's your name, gorgeous?" The man asked.

"Skye," I said. I had decided to ditch Billy and legally changed my name to Skye a few months back, liking it better than Billy or Angel.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Skye, I'm Grant."

"And I don't care," I said, turning around to serve my next customer. It was a bit harsher than I would have liked, but I was getting fed up with everyone trying to talk to me.

I think I heard the man; who's name I had already forgotten, mumble something about a big mistake, but I was too busy making a cocktails to pay attention.

He wasn't the first man who had tried to hit on me, and he certainly wouldn't be the last. I guess that was one of the unfortunate side effects of being a female working at a bar. Though why any of the drunks thought I would sleep with them was beyond me. Must be the alcohol addling their brains.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I headed out the door at the end of my shift. Who knew that serving drinks could be so exhausting!

I headed down side streets and back alleys as I made my way towards my van. I had to blink several times to keep my eyes open. Unfortunately, my super hearing was currently out of commission due to the long nights and many hours I had been pulling at work, and I missed the sound of footsteps following.

It wasn't until I found myself being slammed into a dumpster that I realized that my night wasn't over just yet.

I looked around me blearily, ignoring the pain in my back, to see that I was surrounded by several men in black, their faces covered from view.

Seriously? This is so not what I need right now! I thought as the men started to advance. I had been trying to stay off the radar as much as possible, knowing that both SHIELD and Tony and his friends were still searching for me. Nick Fury, as I had learned was the name of the man with the eyepatch, was still trying to recruit me and though I wanted to help, I just wasn't ready. And I knew that Tony would have realized by now what I had done and with his knowledge of tech, was constantly scanning everywhere for me. A part of me knew that he would never intentionally hurt me, but I couldn't help but dread what would happen if he and the others ever found me again. If I were them, I would be pretty ticked off - hence why I was so worried.

I did my best to fight the men off, but even with my powers, there were just too many of them.

I growled as one of them managed to rip my shirt in several places, leaving my arms exposed to the cold night air. I kicked wildly as they managed to drag me to the ground, grabbing a hold of my arms as one of them clambered on top of me and straddled my hips.

"Ya know, in my day, you had to at least buy a lady a meal and meet her parents before you could so much as hold her hand!"

We all looked up to see who the new arrival was. I wiggled underneath the man on top of me as one of my scars started to burn. Why does that keep happening? Several times a day my scars would randomly start to itch or burn and my mood would shift just as randomly. It was really getting on my nerves!

My thoughts were interrupted as the man above me was suddenly sent flying. And then the next, and the next, until there was a pile of limbs stacked on the other side of the dumpster.

I got to my feet shakily and looked towards the man who had saved me.

"Thanks for the save, but I had everything under control," I said, crossing my arms. I didn't like feeling helpless.

"Sure thing, dollface. I don't doubt you are capable of taking care of yourself, I could see that from the way they had you trapped on the ground," the man said, raising a brow as he looked at me with a voice laced with sarcasm. I glared at him, but paused - I knew someone who liked to call me that...what were the odds of running into someone else who used that nickname though - it wasn't exactly common...but it couldn't be him. He was supposed to be miles away in New York!

I silently thanked the universe for granting me excellent eyesight as I looked the man up and down. My heart froze. He had a metal arm...

I stared at the Winter Soldier standing before me in fear.

"I'm not going back!" I said stubbornly.

"Back where?" he asked tilting his head to the side.

"Hydra! I'm not going back to them, so you can tell them to shove it!" I hissed. The man's eyes widened.

"How do you know about Hydra?" I blinked, now confused as well. I looked at him more closely and noticed for the first time that his eyes didn't seem to have their normal glazed look. He must have managed to somehow break the control they had over him!

"You don't remember me do you?" I said, slowly stepping towards him.

"No, should I?"

"We met a few months back when Hydra had us locked up. We had an...altercation before I managed to escape with a few others. I'm glad to see you were able to get out of there as well!"

He looked at me suddenly with a sudden look of realization.

"It's you!" He leapt over to me and I almost tripped as I stepped back in surprise.

"Huh?"

"You, your voice, it was what broke their control! It's you! I can't believe I found you! Steve is going to be so happy! We've waited so long to meet you?"

"Oh, you know Steve? Well he was in New York last I heard, if you wanted to meet up with him! But I should be heading off...wait what do you mean, you've been waiting? You knew we were going to meet? What, are you psychic as well or something?"

"No, of course not, I meant your words, I've...well we, have been waiting years to hear them!"

I stepped back even further, thinking that they must have caused permanent damage when they had messed with his mind.

"Look, I don't know what weird word nonsense you're talking about but I'm gonna go now. If you see Steve, please don't tell him about this. No point in bothering him or the others with insignificant matters. What with them off doing more important things. Well, see ya!" I said, hastily making my way towards my van which was parked a few blocks away.

"Where are you going, dollface! We need to talk! You can't just -" I heard him shouting after me, but I continued on my way, resisting the urge to look back over my shoulder.

********************************************

In-Line Comments

- Ok, so dont hate me but I was halfway through the chapter when I decided I really wanted to link Agents of Shield into the story more and decided to make the character a mashed up and different version of Skye's character from the show so that I could add a lot more elements into the story so hopefully you like it!
- My OC will obviously deviate from the original Skye (haven't decided if I'll go with the being raised in in the system thing since she was with Hydra so if anyone'd got any ideas on how to work that in and or change it up let me know!) in certain ways regarding her parentage etc so I'll probably write up to the episodes leading to the whole terragenisis stuff from the show but either leave the concept the way it was written or make something different depending on who her parents end up being before getting back into the Avenger events which will then go back to the start of the avengers initiative so just a heads up that I know certain things wont be lining up timeline wise.
- As I said, parentage will not be the same as original Skye so if anyone has any ideas for who they could be that would be great! Unless enough people want me to keep that part the same? Dont mind going that route either. If I don't go with the whole Daisy Johnson thing though, then I want it to be someone from Asguard - just obviously not anyone related to Thor or Loki since they are also her soulmates - and since I don't know enough about the Asguardian characters I'm open to suggestion! That or I could go the Greek God/Goddess route? (Thinking Athena/Aphrodite maybe?) Let me know what you think?! I'm not sure if I want to throw in an animal transformation as well maybe dragon or something - again depending on who she ends up being related to - def want her to have wings since she's called angel but not sure if adding an animal form is cliche or makes her seem unrealistically too powerful. Also not sure if one or both of her parents should be evil; assuming people DO want me to change Skye's parents?
- I was originally thinking of making her Ward's Sister but then I decided I wanted to keep it with him becoming obsessed with her to create a roadblock for her soulmates and or I COULD go with adopted sister and or unwanted incestyness?
- Hopefully that rambling mess made sense! As I keep writing I'm sure it'll just fall together but just wanted to put my current thoughts out there and see what y'all think!