The Avengers (3)
Bea Rogers | The Avengers (2012)
Saffi Cidarian | The Avengers (2012)
When an alien army descends on New York, the fractured team aboard the Helicarrier is forced to become something more. As the Avengers make their stand against Loki's invasion, Bea finds herself drawn to the Tesseract once again—and face to face with a stranger who looks disturbingly familiar.
Word Count: 6.5k
Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2
—
The medical bay had transformed into organized chaos by the time we got there.
Agents rushed everywhere while medics patched injuries on the fly.
Natasha sat on one of the benches tightening the straps on her gauntlets while Clint leaned against the wall nearby, newly cleared and looking deeply annoyed about the whole mind-control situation.
Steve walked in first, “Time to go.”
Natasha looked up immediately. “Go where?”
“I’ll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?”
Before Natasha answered, Clint pushed off the wall.
“I can.”
Steve looked toward Natasha for confirmation. She nodded once.
“Good,” Steve said. “Suit up.”
Everyone moved immediately after that.
Purpose settled over the room like a switch flipping back on.
Tony disappeared toward his armor station.
And I stayed exactly where I was.
Because unlike the rest of them, I didn’t have a suit.
Natasha noticed almost immediately.
“You’re not moving.”
I looked down awkwardly at my SHIELD uniform. ““That’s because I’m still just a person with a gun.”
Natasha arched a brow. “So am I.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No,” she said plainly, standing. “I don’t.”
Before I could answer, she reached behind one of the lockers nearby and pulled out a folded bundle of dark blue fabric.
“I was saving this for later,” she admitted. “But Coulson would probably haunt me if I didn’t give it to you now.”
Confused, I took it from her carefully.
Then unfolded it.
My breath caught.
It was tactical armor — streamlined and reinforced like Natasha’s suit, except emerald green and silver accents had been worked subtly into the seams. A small star rested near the shoulder.
Somebody had designed it carefully.
Specifically for me.
“What…”
“Coulson designed it,” Natasha said softly. “Or helped design it, anyway.”
I swallowed hard.
“He said they used to call you Lady Liberty,” Clint muttered from the corner.
I looked horrified. “Absolutely not. That was the press doing what they do.”
Natasha actually laughed quietly for the first time all day.
“He was very proud of himself.”
My fingers brushed across the material carefully.
“I can’t wear this.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I’m not—” I looked around helplessly. “Look at all of you. Thor’s a god, Steve’s Captain America, Tony flies in a metal death suit—”
“And you walked into a room full of enhanced egomaniacs and figured out Loki’s plan before the rest of us,” Natasha interrupted.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
She stepped closer, expression gentler now.
“Bea,” she said quietly, “you keep thinking your value has to look like theirs.”
I looked down.
“You’re useful to this team,” Natasha continued. “You’re smart. You stay calm under pressure. You see things other people miss.”
Then, softer, “And after today? I’d be happy to fight beside you.”
Something in my chest tightened painfully.
Because Natasha Romanoff didn’t say things she didn’t mean.
Slowly, I looked back down at the suit in my hands.
Then nodded once.
“Okay.”
---
The hangar buzzed with controlled urgency by the time I arrived suited up.
Steve stood near the quinjet adjusting his gloves. He saw me in my uniform and did a double take. I sent him a glare.
“Not a word Steven.” I said sternly.
Steve raised his hands in surrender. “I wasn’t gonna—”
He paused, “Lady Liberty.”
I punch him in the arm.
Clint checked arrows methodically.
Tony walked toward us carrying the Iron Man helmet under one arm before stopping dead when he saw me.
“Well, look at that.”
I crossed my arms. “If you say Lady Liberty, I’m pushing you out of the jet.”
Tony grinned immediately. “So you have heard the name.”
“Clint told her,” Natasha said flatly.
“Wow. Betrayal everywhere today.” Tony muttered.
Steve looked me over once, then smiled softly.
Not teasing. Proud.
And somehow that meant more than I expected.
The ramp began lowering.
Beyond it, clouds stretched endlessly beneath the damaged Helicarrier.
New York waited somewhere ahead of us.
Loki too.
Steve stepped toward the quinjet first.
“All right,” he said firmly. “Let’s go to work.”
---
New York, 2012
The second the portal tears open above Stark Tower, my stomach drops.
Not because of the army.
Not because of the impossible blue light splitting the sky in half.
Because of the woman who comes through first.
For one horrible second, I think I’m seeing things. Recognition hits me hard enough to make my stomach twist — except I know I’ve never seen her before in my life.
Then the Chitauri pour out behind her.
The mothership lurking beyond the portal makes my blood run cold.
“Holy shit,” Clint mutters.
The Quinjet rocks violently as a blast clips the wing.
“Hang on!” Natasha shouts.
The floor tilts hard enough that I slam against the side of the jet. I grab the nearest strap with one hand and Steve’s arm with the other before he can lose his footing entirely.
The city spins outside the window.
Cars below look microscopic.
The portal keeps growing.
And the army just keeps coming.
Not soldiers.
A swarm.
My brain starts cataloguing immediately.
Patterns. Formations. Weaknesses.
“They’re coordinated,” I say fast, forcing myself to focus. “Hive structure maybe. Look at the flight patterns — they’re moving in packs around larger carriers.”
Steve looks over sharply.
“If we take out the carriers?”
“They may lose direction or support.” I point upward through the windshield. ““Those leviathans are armored everywhere except the underside joints. See where the plating separates?””
Tony’s voice crackles through the comms.
“Please tell me one of you has good news.”
“They bank left slower than right,” I fire back instantly. “Infantry’s driving civilians into open streets. They want panic.””
A beat.
“See? This is why we keep Bea around.”
The Quinjet shudders again.
Clint swears under his breath.
Outside, the woman disappears toward Stark Tower.
Toward Loki.
Toward the center of all of this.
And I can’t even think about that right now.
The ramp drops open the second we crash-land hard enough to throw all of us forward.
Smoke pours into the cabin.
I grab whatever weapon I can carry and sprint after Steve down the ramp.
Then I stop dead in the middle of the street.
I’ve seen bombed cities before. I’ve seen war. But nothing like this.
The portal stretches across the sky like a wound.
The mothership hangs above Manhattan like death itself.
Chitauri stream endlessly from the opening.
Explosions ripple through nearby buildings.
People are screaming everywhere.
Even Steve looks stunned for half a second.
“Stark,” he says into the comms, staring upward, “are you seeing this?”
“I’m seeing, still working on believing,” Tony answers.
My eyes keep moving.
Counting.
Tracking.
Analyzing.
“The flyers are herding civilians into open streets,” I say quickly. “They want panic density. Easier targets.”
Steve turns immediately, “Those people need assistance down there.”
Natasha nods once. “We got this. It’s good. Go.”
Steve looks at me. I’m already moving.
“On your left,” I tell him automatically.
That finally gets the smallest ghost of a smile out of him.
We sprint straight into chaos.
---
New York, 2012
The air inside Stark Tower feels wrong the moment I step through the penthouse doors.
Too loud with intent.
Below me, Manhattan is already burning.
The sky is split open like something has been torn out of reality itself, and through it pours the Chitauri—endless, obedient, perfect in their destruction.
This is not chaos to me.
It is order finally arriving.
I move past shattered glass and overturned furniture until I find him.
Loki stands at the edge of the balcony like he owns the city beneath him.
Like it has already accepted him.
“You’re early,” he says without turning.
“I’m efficient,” I reply.
He finally looks at me.
There’s satisfaction in his eyes. Not surprise. Not doubt. He already assumed I would succeed in getting here.
Behind him, the portal pulses again as another wave of ships spills through.
The ground shakes with distant explosions.
I step closer to the balcony, watching the Leviathans drift like living engines through the skyline.
“They’re arriving faster than projected,” I say.
“Yes,” Loki replies calmly. “Earth resists more than I anticipated.”
I glance at him.
“That wasn’t part of the plan.”
He smiles faintly. “Plans evolve.”
Below us, a Chitauri strike hits a building and the shockwave rolls upward like heat.
I don’t flinch.
“I’ve seen resistance structures before,” I say. “This isn’t structured resistance. It’s coordinated chaos. You’re overwhelming them too quickly for fear to stabilize into compliance.”
Loki’s gaze stays on the city.
“They will break.”
A pause.
Then I ask the question that actually matters.
“What do you want from this?”
That finally earns me his full attention.
Not anger.
Interest.
“I want them to kneel,” he says. “I want them to understand what they are beneath something greater.”
I follow his gaze down to the street where tiny figures scatter like insects.
“And after that?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer immediately.
Somewhere far below, Iron Man streaks through the air like a flare.
Thor’s lightning splits another wave of attackers in half. Something shifts beneath Loki’s composure at the sight of him.
“Your brother is here,” I say carefully.
A flicker.
There it is. Not fear. Not hesitation. Something more complicated.
“I am aware,” Loki replies.
“You’re still watching him,” I say.
His jaw tightens. “Do not mistake observation for sentiment.”
I don’t push further. Instead, I step beside him.
“You’ll need to accelerate the ground forces,” I say, shifting back to strategy. “The Avengers are adapting faster than expected. If they establish coordination—”
“They will not.”
I look at him.
He is certain. That is the problem.
“You underestimate them,” I say quietly.
“I understand them,” Loki corrects.
Another explosion flashes across the city, lighting his face in gold and fire.
And for a moment, I see it.
Not doubt. But calculation adjusting around something unpredictable.
He turns slightly toward me.
“Remain here,” he says. “Observe. Report anything that deviates from expectation.”
“And if they do?”
His smile returns.
“Then we adjust again.”
Below us, the world keeps breaking open.
And I realize Loki isn’t watching the invasion unfold.
He’s watching for the point where it stops being his.
---
New York, 2012
A police barricade is barely holding together when we arrive.
Officers are firing uselessly upward while civilians scream behind them.
One young cop looks about ready to bolt.
“We need to get out! They gotta bring in the National Guard!”
“National Guard?” the sergeant snaps back. “Does the army even know what’s happening here?”
Steve lands between them like a missile.
“I need men in these buildings,” he orders immediately. “There are people inside that can run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or subway tunnels. Keep them off the streets.”
I step beside him, already pointing.
“You,” I tell another officer, “start redirecting southbound traffic away from the avenue. Create medical triage two blocks over. Keep intersections clear for emergency vehicles.”
The sergeant stares at us.
“Why the hell should I take orders from you?”
An energy blast screams toward us from behind.
Steve pivots instantly, shield coming up just as two Chitauri dive the barricade.
I move with him automatically.
One alien lunges.
I duck beneath the rifle swing and fire point blank into its chest while Steve takes the second one down hard with the shield.
The cops stare in shock.
Steve catches the shield on the rebound.
I reload without looking up.
The sergeant immediately turns.
“You heard them! Move!”
Steve glances sideways at me as civilians start flooding toward safer routes.
“Nice authority voice.”
“Spent years dealing with bureaucrats,” I mutter, firing at another incoming Chitauri. “Scarier than aliens.”
He snorts despite everything.
We move street by street after that.
Evacuating civilians. Clearing buildings. Taking down stragglers.
I stay on comms constantly.
“Nat, you’ve got civilians trapped on forty-first.”
“Copy.”
“Clint, flyer incoming at your six.”
“Seen it.”
At one point, something massive crashes through the upper floors of a nearby building.
Chunks of concrete rain down everywhere.
I barely throw myself behind a flipped taxi in time.
Over the comms Tony says, way too casually, “Heads up.”
“A little heads up about the falling building would be nice, guys!”
“That was the little heads up!”
I hear Clint laughing in the background.
Jerk.
---
The city looked like the end of the world.
Smoke rolled between buildings while Chitauri swarmed overhead in endless waves pouring from the portal above Stark Tower. Every explosion rattled the ground beneath my feet.
“Call it, Cap,” Tony said over the comms.
Steve turned in a slow circle, taking in the chaos around us before pointing upward toward the portal.
“Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we’re gonna use containment.”
Orders started flying immediately.
“Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays.”
Hawkeye gave a mock salute. “Wanna give me a lift?”
“Right,” Tony replied. “Better clench up, Legolas.”
Even in the middle of an alien invasion, somehow he still had jokes.
“Thor, you’ve gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up.”
Thor launched into the sky without another word.
Then Steve looked at me.
“And Bea—you know the most about the Tesseract. Get to the tower and figure out how to close that thing.”
My stomach tightened.
“Got it.”
Steve turns to Natasha, “You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here.”
Natasha nods and checks her weapon.
“And Hulk.” Steve starts.
The Hulk looks at Steve,” Smash.”
The Hulk smiles then launches himself.
“Tony? Mind giving me a lift?”
Tony landed beside me a second later.
“Alright, Tesseract whisperer,” he said, holding an arm out. “Up we go.”
Before I could argue, he wrapped an arm around my waist and blasted into the air.
The city dropped away beneath us instantly.
Chitauri ships darted between skyscrapers while fires burned across entire blocks below. We banked hard around incoming fire, Tony swearing as something exploded too close to us.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No!”
“Good. Rational response.”
Stark Tower rushed toward us.
And the second my boots touched the platform—
I felt it.
The Tesseract.
The power hit me so hard I physically staggered.
Blue energy pulsed through the machine overhead, through the air, through me.
For one terrifying second, I couldn’t tell where the cube ended and I began.
The cube felt alive. Like it recognized me. Then I saw movement near the console.
Dr. Selvig.
“Doctor!”
He looked disoriented, exhausted, but lucid.
“The portal,” I said quickly. “How do we shut it down?”
“The scepter,” he said weakly. “I built in a safety to cut the power source.”
“The scepter can close the portal?”
He nodded once.
Then another voice spoke behind me, “That seems inconvenient.”
I turned and froze.
For a second, I genuinely thought I was looking in a mirror.
Something deep in my chest reacted before my brain could catch up.
Same face.
Same eyes.
But her energy was wrong.
Mine glowed blue beneath my skin, pulled toward the Tesseract beside us.
Hers burned gold.
Sharp. Violent. Controlled.
The scepter.
We both stared at each other in complete shock.
“What…” I breathed.
Her expression mirrored mine almost exactly.
For one impossible second, it felt like the world had split in half.
Something must have dropped her on a lower platform because suddenly boots hit metal behind me.
Natasha landed nearby and immediately stopped short.
“…Okay,” she said slowly. “Either I hit my head harder than I thought or there are two of you now.”
For a second, none of us moved.
The battle still raged below the tower. Explosions echoed through Manhattan. Chitauri ships screamed past overhead.
But all I could focus on was her.
She looked just as shocked as I felt.
Not just because we looked alike.
Because of the energy.
I could feel it radiating off her now that she was closer. It tugged strangely against my own power, almost magnetic but wrong at the same time.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“You feel that too,” she said quietly.
I swallowed hard. “Who are you?”
Her expression shifted almost imperceptibly, like the question had landed somewhere unexpected.
Then Natasha raised her pistol.
“Maybe we do introductions after the alien apocalypse.”
The woman’s attention flicked toward her briefly before returning to me.
Then her expression hardened, “I can’t let you close the portal.”
The wind around the platform suddenly intensified as the Tesseract surged overhead.
I stepped in front of Selvig automatically. “And I can’t let you keep it open.”
She moved before I fully registered the decision.
Gold energy flashed toward me in a sharp burst. I barely got my hands up in time, blue light erupting instinctively from my palms as I blocked it.
The impact shook the entire platform.
Nat ducked immediately. “Right. Cool. We’re fighting evil space twins now.”
“I am not her.”
We both snapped it at the exact same time.
That only made Natasha look more annoyed.
The woman lunged forward, like she already knew where I would move. We hit the platform floor hard, sliding across metal while a knife was thrown past my shoulder.
Up close, it was worse.
The resemblance was identical.
But where my power felt endless and consuming like the Tesseract itself, hers felt refined. Directed.
A weapon. The scepter.
She realized the difference at the same moment I did.
“You’re connected to the Tesseract,” she said, sounding genuinely stunned.
“And you’re connected to the scepter.”
Her hesitation lasted less than a second before she attacked again.
I blocked another blast and shoved energy back at her, blue and gold colliding violently between us.
The force sent both of us stumbling backward.
Natasha took the opening immediately.
She grabbed Loki’s scepter from beside the console and spun toward the woman.
“Let’s test a theory.”
She drove the blade end toward her and nothing happened.
No blast.
No reaction.
The scepter simply fizzled harmlessly against the woman’s energy.
All three of us froze.
The woman blinked once in surprise.
Then laughed softly.
“Well,” she muttered. “You tried.”
Nat stared down at the weapon in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me.”
The woman kicked Natasha backward before I tackled her sideways into the platform railing.
We crashed hard enough to dent the metal.
For several chaotic seconds the fight became close and brutal.
She fought like someone trained for war from birth. Precise movements. No wasted energy. Every movement felt calculated three steps ahead.
But I could feel the Tesseract feeding power into me the longer I stayed near it.
Every pulse overhead made me stronger.
Blue light sparked violently across my skin as I shoved her backward again.
Her eyes widened slightly at the sight.
Below us, thunder cracked across Manhattan.
Thor’s lightning ripped through the sky while Chitauri ships exploded one after another.
The invasion was starting to fail.
I saw her notice it too.
Her gaze flicked upward toward the portal.
Then toward the streets below.
The hesitation was small.
But it was there.
The woman backed toward the edge of the platform slowly, breathing hard.
I frowned. “Wait—”
For the first time since the fight started, uncertainty crossed her face.
Not fear. Calculation.
Like she was deciding something.
Then her eyes met mine again.
“Now I know what you are.” she said quietly.
Before either of us could react, she jumped backward off the tower.
“Jesus—” Nat rushed to the edge.
Far below us, a passing Chitauri cruiser swept underneath the tower. The woman landed on it effortlessly, barely even stumbling before the ship banked sharply upward toward the portal.
Toward space.
Nat blinked. “Well. That was dramatic.”
I stared upward as the cruiser disappeared through the portal.
Something twisted uncomfortably in my chest.
I didn’t even know who she was.
But somehow watching her disappear through the portal felt like losing something I hadn’t even found yet.
Like something important had just slipped out of reach before I understood what it was.
Selvig’s voice snapped me back to reality.
“The scepter!” he shouted frantically from the console. “It can close the portal!”
Right.
The portal.
The end of the world currently hanging over Manhattan.
I grabbed the scepter from Natasha.
The second my hand wrapped around it, energy surged violently through my body.
Blue from the Tesseract.
Gold from the scepter.
Opposing forces slammed together so hard my vision blurred for a second.
“You okay?” Nat asked carefully.
“No,” I admitted again.
Above us, the portal roared louder.
The comms crackled in my ear.
“I can close it,” I said quickly. “Steve, I can shut the portal down.”
“Do it,” Steve answered immediately.
Then Tony’s voice cut in sharply, “No, wait!”
I looked up instantly.
High above Manhattan, Tony streaked through the sky after something moving impossibly fast.
A missile.
My stomach dropped.
“I got a nuke coming in,” Tony said. “And I know exactly where to put it.”
“No.” I stepped toward the edge instinctively. “Tony, don’t—”
But even as I said it, I already knew he would.
Because there wasn’t another choice.
Static crackled over the comms as he flew higher.
“Stark,” Steve said tightly, “you know that’s a one-way trip?”
Tony didn’t answer right away.
Then quietly, “Save the rest for the return trip, J.”
Something painful twisted in my chest.
Howard.
All I could think about was Howard Stark smiling proudly when he talked about his future son.
Tony disappeared into the portal and the comms went dead.
Silence. Absolute, horrifying silence.
The kind where your brain starts preparing you for grief before your heart can catch up.
I stared upward, gripping the scepter so tightly my hands shook.
“Tony?” I whispered into the comms.
Nothing.
Below us, every Chitauri suddenly froze. Then collapsed. The invasion stopped all at once.
The missile worked. But Tony still wasn’t coming back.
Nat stepped beside me slowly, staring upward too.
“Come on, Stark…”
Seconds dragged by painfully.
Too long. Way too long.
My breathing started quickening.
No.
No, he was supposed to come back.
Then suddenly—
“There!” Nat shouted.
A figure dropped from the portal high above us.
Tony.
Relief hit me so hard my knees almost buckled.
Steve’s voice came through the comms immediately, “Close it!”
But I waited.
I waited until I saw Tony fully clear the portal. Until I knew he was back on our side of it.
Then I drove the scepter into the beam.
The portal collapsed instantly in a violent explosion of blue light.
And Tony started falling. Fast.
“He’s not slowing down,” Thor shouted somewhere below.
Panic slammed into me again immediately.
“Tony!” I yelled into the comms desperately. “Tony, answer me!”
Nothing.
Then Hulk launched upward like a missile himself and caught Tony out of the air before both of them crashed violently into the side of a building.
“Tony?” I asked again frantically as Natasha and I sprinted towards the elevator doors. “Tony, are you alright? Tony!”
Hulk slammed into the street below hard enough to crack the pavement.
Natasha and I barely waited for the elevator doors to fully open before running out onto the street. Thor and Steve were already there beside Hulk, Tony’s armor scorched and frozen over from space.
For one horrible second, he wasn’t moving.
Thor ripped the faceplate off.
Tony’s eyes were closed.
My chest tightened so painfully I could barely breathe.
No, no, no—
Hulk suddenly roared directly in Tony’s face.
Tony jolted violently awake with a gasp.
“What the hell?” he croaked. “What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me.”
The relief that hit me was so intense it almost made me dizzy.
Steve let out a breath beside him. “We won.”
“Alright,” Tony mumbled weakly. “Alright. Good job, guys. Let’s just not come in tomorrow. Let’s just take a day.”
I let out something between a laugh and a shaky breath, my hands still trembling from adrenaline.
Of course.
Of course the first thing Howard Stark’s son did after nearly dying in space was make jokes.
Tony slowly looked around at all of us staring at him.
“…Why are you all looking at me like that?”
I crossed my arms tightly, mostly to hide how badly my hands were shaking.
“You disappeared through a portal carrying a nuclear missile,” I snapped, voice cracking despite my attempt to sound angry. “You don’t get to act confused about why everyone’s staring.”
Tony blinked at me for a second.
Then grinned weakly, “Aw. You were worried about me.”
“I was considering throwing you back through the portal myself.”
“See? That’s friendship.”
Natasha snorted quietly nearby.
Tony pointed vaguely down the street. “Also, have you ever tried shawarma? There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don’t know what it is, but I wanna try it.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“You almost died.”
“And now I’m hungry. Near-death experiences really work up an appetite.”
I shook my head, unable to stop the small laugh escaping anyway.
For a moment, standing there in the wreckage of Manhattan with smoke filling the air and alien debris scattered across the street, everything felt strangely light.
We were alive.
Tony was alive.
And somehow, against every impossible odd, we had actually won.
---
New York, 2012
By the time we made it back up to Stark Tower, emergency crews were already flooding the streets below.
Smoke still curled through Manhattan, but the screaming had stopped.
The silence afterward somehow felt stranger.
I followed the others into the destroyed penthouse, stepping over shattered glass and broken concrete. Loki was dragging himself weakly up the stairs when he sensed us.
He turned and immediately froze when he saw me.
Not fear. Shock.
A genuine double take.
His eyes narrowed slightly like he was trying to understand something impossible. For a second, I thought he might actually say something about it.
Instead, his expression smoothed back into that familiar arrogance.
“If it’s all the same to you,” Loki drawled tiredly, “I’ll have that drink.”
Loki’s gaze flicked toward me one last time, lingering for just a second too long before Thor hauled him upright.
I noticed it.
But before I could think too hard about it, exhaustion finally started catching up to everyone.
Including me.
---
SHIELD Helicarrier, 2012
The next few days blurred together.
Medical checks. SHIELD debriefings. Cleanup reports. Media coverage.
I spent most of my time moving between exhausted Avengers and overly curious SHIELD agents while trying not to think too much about the portal.
Or that woman.
Or the way the Tesseract had reacted to me.
The analytical room aboard the Helicarrier was quieter than usual when I slipped inside one afternoon. News clips played across half a dozen monitors.
“…these so-called heroes have to be held responsible—”
The screen switched.
“Captain America saved my life…”
Another clip.
“Superheroes? In New York? Give me a break!”
I leaned back in my chair, watching the endless stream of opinions cycle across the screens.
Some people blamed the Avengers.
Some worshipped them already.
Some were terrified.
Honestly… it could’ve gone worse.
A lot worse.
“You look disappointed,” Tony said from behind me.
I glanced back to find him carrying two coffees.
“I was expecting at least one headline calling us the apocalypse.”
“Oh, give it time,” he replied, handing me a cup. “The internet’s still buffering.”
I snorted softly.
The reports scattered across the table in front of me were half-finished summaries of the battle. Damage assessments. Civilian casualty estimates. Chitauri analysis.
And one very long section labeled:
AVENGERS INITIATIVE — FIELD OBSERVATIONS.
Tony glanced down at it.
“Are you writing our performance reviews? ”
“Yes.”
“And?”
I took a sip of coffee dramatically while pretending to think.
“Banner gets excellent marks.”
“Fair.”
“Thor causes property damage on a concerning scale.”
“Also fair.”
“Hawkeye needs supervision and a bigger quiver.”
“Absolutely.”
“And Steve Rogers has no regard whatsoever for his own safety.”
Tony grinned immediately. “Oh, this I gotta hear.”
Almost like he sensed us talking about him, Steve walked into the room at that exact moment.
“You needed me?”
I pointed at the bruising still visible along his jaw.
“Yes. To explain why you thought launching yourself through a bank window was a good idea.”
Steve blinked once.
“…There were civilians inside.”
“That is not the point.”
Tony leaned casually against the table. “No, no, keep going. This is the best thing I’ve seen all week. I needed this.”
I stood up fully now, slipping into the same tone I used on agents after reckless missions.
“You had a concussion, three cracked—”
“I was fine.”
“You were bleeding.”
“I’ve been bleeding before.”
“That sentence is the problem.”
Natasha walked in halfway through my lecture, “Oh good. Someone else finally said it.”
Clint pointed at me. “This is why she sounds like everyone’s mom.”
“Okay, mom,” Tony added instantly.
“She does have strong disappointed-parent energy,” Bruce murmured.
“I hate all of you.”
I stared at all of them in disbelief.
“Yet you love us,” Tony replied.
“Debatable.”
---
Later that night, Steve found me sitting alone near one of the Helicarrier observation windows.
The city lights below reflected faintly across the glass.
For a while neither of us spoke.
Then quietly, Steve asked, “You okay?”
I let out a slow breath.
“I think so.”
He nodded like he understood that answer perfectly.
There was still so much neither of us had talked about.
Everything after I disappeared.
Everything after the ice.
I looked over at him finally.
“When I heard what happened to you…” My voice faltered slightly. “I thought you were dead.”
Steve’s expression softened immediately.
“Bea—”
“No, listen.” I shook my head. “Howard searched for you for years. Peggy too. Nobody stopped hoping you’d be found.”
Steve looked down at his hands quietly.
“And then when I surfaced in 1995, they told me you were gone.” I swallowed hard. “I remember thinking it wasn’t fair. You survived everything else and then the world just… lost you.”
For a long moment, the only sound was the distant hum of the Helicarrier.
Steve rubbed his thumb against the edge of the railing thoughtfully.
“I didn’t know anyone still remembered me like that.”
I laughed quietly under my breath.
“Steve, people spent decades hoping you’d come home.”
“That’s not really what I meant.”
I looked over at him again then.
Not Captain America.
Just Steve.
The same stubborn kid from Brooklyn who wouldn't back down from a fight.
“You mattered to us,” I said quietly. “You still do.”
Steve smiled faintly at that.
“Some days this century still feels wrong.”
“Yeah.”
Neither of us said the obvious part out loud.
That somehow we’d both been dropped into a future we didn’t belong in.
---
New York, 2012
A few days later, we stood together in Central Park beneath a gray sky.
Thor held the Tesseract securely inside its casing while Loki stood beside him in restraints, looking deeply unimpressed by all of existence.
Everything felt strangely peaceful after the chaos of New York.
Thor stepped toward the portal device.
“We will meet again, my friends.”
“Try not to bring another alien army next time,” Tony called back.
“I make no promises.”
Loki glanced toward me briefly.
Again there was that strange flicker of recognition.
Like he knew something I didn’t.
Then Thor activated the Tesseract.
The air pressure changed instantly. Every instinct in my body screamed.
The energy pouring off the Tesseract felt familiar now in the worst possible way — endless and ancient and far too powerful to belong in anyone’s hands.
Blue light crawled across my skin before I even realized it was happening.
Steve noticed first.
“Bea?”
Tony’s expression changed instantly.
Recognition.
Fear.
He’d seen this before.
“Uh,” I managed weakly, panic rising fast, “guys—”
The energy around me intensified violently.
Steve stepped toward me instantly. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know—”
But I did know.
The Tesseract.
“No… no, not again—”
The pull became unbearable.
Tony’s eyes widened. “Everybody back!”
“What’s going on?” Clint demanded.
Nobody had time to answer.
I looked at Steve helplessly just as the energy completely engulfed me.
The world vanished in blue light.
Steve lunged toward me.
And then I was gone.
---
Sanctuary, 2012
The Other bows his head low, armored hands clenched tightly behind his back as the throne room falls silent.
“The humans are not what we anticipated,” he says carefully. “They are unruly. Dangerous. The Asgardian fought beside them. The Tesseract has been lost.”
I stand at the base of the throne beside Thanos, staring out across the cold darkness of Sanctuary. The bruises from New York are already fading, but the ache under my ribs hasn’t. I can still feel the strange pulse from the girl on Stark Tower.
Bea.
Even now, I can feel traces of her energy in my mind. Familiar. Opposite. Wrong.
The Chitauri leader swallows before continuing. “And the woman—”
“I know,” Thanos says quietly.
The entire room freezes.
His voice is calm, but somehow that is worse.
“The one connected to the Tesseract.”
I lower my gaze slightly. “She was unexpected.”
“The girl looked at you as though she’d seen a ghost,” Ebony Maw muses from somewhere in the shadows. “And you did the same.”
I ignore him.
“She interfered,” I say instead. “The Avengers would not have succeeded without her.”
The Other Guy shifts nervously. “The human called Stark carried a nuclear weapon through the portal. The fleet was destroyed before we could recover.”
Silence settled across the throne room like pressure against bone.
Then Thanos slowly rises from his throne.
The movement alone makes the Chitauri leader visibly panic.
“You assured me Earth would fall quickly,” Thanos says.
“My lord—”
“You assured me Loki could control the humans.”
The Other Guy drops to one knee immediately.
“My lord, we underestimated—”
“Yes,” Thanos interrupts. “You did.”
His voice never rises.
It doesn’t need to.
I keep my expression neutral as Thanos steps down from the throne platform, golden armor glinting beneath the dim blue light of Sanctuary. He stops beside me.
“Do you believe the mission failed because of the Avengers?” he asks.
“No,” I answer honestly.
His eyes shift toward me.
“It failed because of her.”
For the first time since returning from Earth, the corner of Thanos’ mouth twitches slightly.
“Interesting.”
I force myself not to react.
“I can do better,” I say carefully. “I won’t fail again.”
Ebony Maw studies me from the shadows. “You sound invested.”
“I am correcting a mistake.”
The room goes quiet again.
Thanos studies me for a long moment, weighing every word, every breath.
“You felt it too,” he says finally.
Not a question.
I hesitate.
“Yes.”
That strange pull. That impossible resonance between the Tesseract and the scepter. Between me and Bea.
Two energies that should never have existed together.
Thanos folds his hands behind his back.
“The girl is tied to the Space Stone,” he says. “You are tied to the Mind Stone. Two fragments reaching for one another across existence itself.”
The words settle uncomfortably beneath my ribs.
“She is inexperienced,” I say quickly. “Emotional. Attached already. Stark and Rogers both protect her.”
“And yet,” Ebony Maw says softly, “she defeated you.”
Heat flashes through me instantly.
“I was outnumbered.”
“You retreated.”
I turn sharply toward him, energy flickering faintly beneath my skin.
“I survived.”
Thanos lifts a hand slightly.
The room stills immediately.
His gaze settles back on me.
“One final chance.”
My breath catches.
“If you fail again,” he says evenly, “I will consider the experiment concluded.”
Cold settles into my stomach.
Experiment.
Not daughter. Not warrior.
Experiment.
I lower myself to one knee anyway.
“I understand, my lord.”
Thanos steps closer, placing two fingers beneath my chin and forcing me to look up at him.
“Do not disappoint me again.”
His presence presses against my thoughts like gravity.
“Yes, my lord.”
He releases me.
Behind us, Sanctuary stretches endlessly into darkness while the shattered remains of the Chitauri fleet drift through space beyond the windows.
Earth survived.
The Avengers survived.
Somewhere out there, the other half of that impossible signal was still alive.
I can still feel her energy.
Faint.
Distant.
Waiting.
---
New York, 2012
The tiny shawarma place is almost completely destroyed.
Half the lights flicker overhead. One of the windows is cracked. Dust still drifts faintly from the ceiling every time something rumbles somewhere outside.
And yet somehow, Tony had still insisted on coming.
So now the six Avengers — plus me — sit silently around two pushed-together tables in exhausted defeat.
No one talks.
Not Bruce.
Not Thor.
Not even Tony.
We all just sit there covered in dirt, ash, blood, and exhaustion while the workers slowly clean around us.
I sit beside Steve in the far corner booth, absently pulling apart a piece of pita bread while staring at the untouched pile of shawarma in front of him.
“You gonna eat that?” I ask quietly.
Steve blinks slowly like he didn’t hear me the first time.
“Hm?”
I point at his plate.
He looks down at it like he forgot it existed.
“Oh. Yeah. Right.”
He picks up the wrap, takes one bite, chews twice and his eyes nearly close immediately afterward.
I snort softly, “You look awful.”
Steve barely opens one eye at me.
“Thanks.”
“No, seriously. You’ve got soot on your face, your suit’s ripped, and I think there’s alien slime on your boot.”
“You’re one to talk.”
I glance down at myself.
My jacket is burned at one sleeve. There’s dried blood near my collar. My hair is an absolute disaster.
“…fair.”
Across the table, Tony slowly raises one finger without opening his eyes.
“For the record,” he mutters, “we all look terrible.”
“Speak for yourself,” Thor says around a mouthful of shawarma.
Everyone looks at him.
Thor pauses mid-chew.
“…Perhaps a little terrible.”
Bruce lets out a tired laugh into his drink.
Beside me, Steve’s shoulder suddenly bumps against mine.
I glance over.
His eyes are half closed now.
“You falling asleep?” I ask.
“No.”
A beat.
Then his head tilts slightly forward.
“…maybe.”
I laugh quietly under my breath before reaching over and stealing the rest of the shawarma from his plate.
Steve barely reacts.
“You are the worst,” he murmurs sleepily.
“You weren’t eating it.”
“M’thinking about it.”
“You’ve been thinking about it for ten minutes.”
Another long pause.
Then Steve mutters, barely awake, “Pretty sure this counts as theft.”
I take another bite.
“Pretty sure saving New York earned me a free pass.”
Steve huffs out the faintest laugh beside me, eyes finally slipping shut for a second.
Across the table, Tony is half asleep upright.
Bruce looks seconds away from faceplanting into his food.
Clint quietly steals fries off Natasha’s plate while she pretends not to notice.
For just a moment, the city outside is quiet.
No explosions.
No screaming.
No portals.
Just exhausted heroes crammed into a tiny restaurant after an alien invasion, trying very hard not to fall asleep in their food.
And honestly?
It feels kind of perfect.
---
Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2