"Are you even hearing yourself right now? This is why we believe you're fully competent for this initiative. Whatever you've gone through has been training you for these moments. You don't ever stop fighting, there's always another threat. A threat...
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My knees knocked against Thor's as we sat next to each other on the quinjet on the way to Sokovia.
"Ultron knows we're coming," said Steve, addressing the team. "Odds are we'll be rising into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority, is getting them out. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters, that we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right. "
I glanced down at the floor, understanding exactly what I must do. Their lives come before my own. I will protect the innocent until my dying breath. It was something that I struggled to come accustomed to. While fighting, I had always aimed for my survival, to be able to go home to Old Panteleimonas. Now that wasn't my life, I did not care whether I prevailed through the battle or not, as long as the job got done.
"Selene," Thor's voice said.
"What's wrong?" I asked, turning back into the quinjet to face him as the others stepped off to begin the mission.
"I need you to promise me something," he said, taking my hands into his.
"You have been asking me to promise a lot recently, Thor. What is it," I asked, my eyebrows furrowed as I looked up at him.
"Selene, I can see your determination in your eyes, the determination to win this fight no matter what the cost is. Even if that cost is your life."
"Of course, Thor. What do I have to live for now?"
"Me," he said quickly, cupping my cheek in his hand. "I need you to fight to survive. It is what your father would have wanted...it is what I need you to do. I have no idea what I would do if I lost you just when I have finally got you."
I looked down, almost guilty that I even had those thoughts. He was right, without my father, with the disappearance of Artemis, he was what I had left in my life. Him and this family, the Avengers.
"I will try Thor," I said, meeting his eyes once again. "I will try for you. You have been an anchor holding me to my senses even if you hadn't known it. You are right, you are the person I shall fight for."
"As are you."
With that, he leaned down and pressed his warm lips to my forehead. A sweet kiss to seal the promise we made to each other, a promise of survival.
We parted ways as he went to find what Ultron had been creating as I stormed into the main bustle of the city.
I pushed the wooden doors open to a large building, revealing a hall full of school children, an after-school club of sorts.
"The city is in danger," I said to the young lady, not much older than me. "You must get these children out, keep them safe. Their parents should be on their way out too."
