The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 70: Alien Invasion

LYDIA:

I have seen photos of the tesseract opening a portal on the night that Loki appeared on earth. But photos couldn't prevent me from the beautiful, yet terrifying sight of the blue hole in the middle of the sky that leads to space. My jaw hangs open at the sight of the blue gleam of the Tesseract shooting up and above Stark Tower in the distance. I know that the other three Avengers on the quinjet can see it as well. Each of them can't refrain from making small noises of surprise, and Steve grips his shield incredibly tight. The fact that we hadn't managed to make it on time to stop Loki from opening the portal stares us right in the face. We were too late, and the invasion was only minutes or even seconds away from happening.

And Tony and Ava were alone, right in the middle of it.

The last thought causes me to wring my hands anxiously, which doesn't go unnoticed by Steve beside me. He spares me a glance out of the corner of his eyes and sends me a small smile. "I take it this is the first war that you've ever fought in?"

My nerves seem to skyrocket at this, making my heart pound even harder against my chest. I am a spy; I infiltrate places and watch people carry out their dirty work. I remain hidden and blend into the surrounding environment. I fight if necessary, but usually no more than several people at a time. But now? Now I am an Avenger going up against an entire alien army. I've fought robots, monsters and machines from other worlds. And now I was about to add aliens to this list. There could be hundreds or thousands of them, and there is only eight of us. And that thought alone is enough to make me feel sick to my stomach.

"Well, not all of us are super soldiers from the '40s who lived during and fought in a world war, are we?" is my wry response.

He cracks a grin at this, and gives a small shake of his head. "I suppose not," he replies. He then casts a glance towards Clint and Nat, who are currently piloting the jet, and murmuring things to one another that I can't quite hear. When he's sure that they're not paying attention to us, he turns back to face me. "I know that things don't look promising," he mutters underneath his breath. "But you've got to have faith. You're not standing on your own here either. We're with you."

I know that he's trying to assure me, and his words do ease my nerves somewhat. But there's still a part of me that needs just a little bit more reassurance. So swallowing the lump that has formed in the back of my throat, I thickly ask, "Even if this is it? The end of the line?"

He flinches at this much to my surprise. These words must have a significant meaning for him, though what it is and which of the words I had spoken, I don't know. I say nothing as he draws in a shaky breath, and closes his eyes briefly before he nods his head. "Until the end," he quietly promises.

I let out a breath that I didn't even realise I was holding in the first place at this, and my shoulders sag with relief. Steve's words provided me with a sense of comfort that I desperately need, and I feel my heart rate drop as the butterflies in my stomach disappear. "Thank you."

He shakes his head as if to say 'no problem', but there's a pain in his eyes that wasn't there moments before. He's only silent as he reaches into his back pocket and pulls something small from out of it. Something that fits in the palm of his hand, and is hidden by his gloved fingers. But I don't have to see it to know what it is. I know that he carries the small object with him wherever he goes, and this war wouldn't be an exception. A small smile graces my lips as I say to him, "Do me a favour. If- when we walk away from this, promise me that you'll finally see Gran."

Steve snaps his head up faster than I thought possible at this. With his mouth agape, he stares at me with such an unsure and almost terrified expression on his face, that I almost take back what I said. But I quickly bite down on my tongue to prevent myself from doing so. SHIELD found Steve in the ice eight months ago, and we had spent the majority of his time since then trying to assimilate him into the modern world. We hadn't spoken much about Gran, as he had never seemed comfortable enough to do so. I hadn't tried to persuade him to go and see her either. But now that we are only minutes away from fighting in a war that we might not survive, there seems like no better time then to try and do so now.