Magma knew she couldn't hold out much longer, but she kept running. She couldn't, couldn't be caught by SHIELD! She ducked into a deserted alleyway and kept running, the two agents hot on her tail. She made a pushing gesture with her hand in the direction of her pursuers, sending a hot blast of fire back at them. The woman yelped as it passed barely an inch from her face, singing her curly red hair. The man glanced at her briefly, his footsteps never slowing. The woman was fine, she charged on, firing a few bullets at Magma. The young vigilante dodged them and leapt over an old pick-up that probably hadn’t been moved in a decade or so. No normal teenager should be able to jump that high. She had been ten feet in the air before she stared to come back down. Then again, she was Magma. A fiery mutant. A self-appointed superhero. And wanted by SHIELD. They didn’t want her dead. They wanted her in for questioning. The mysterious Magma was a possible threat, though she didn’t seem to acknowledge the existence of SHIELD. That was just plain obnoxious. The young woman risked a glance behind her. The two agents were still chasing her. Hawkeye and Black Widow, if her research had been at all worthwhile. An arrow whizzed past her head. Yup, Hawkeye. Magma ran on, eventually taking a flying leap and ending up halfway up a ten-story building. She clung to a window ledge, scaling the wall like an overgrown spider.
“What the hell?” Hawkeye, or Clint Barton, stared, mouth slightly open, then fired an arrow. Romanoff, or Black Widow, pulled her guns out of the holsters strapped to her legs and started shooting. The girl on the wall barely made it to the top without getting shot. She started running, using her uncanny jumping abilities to get from one rooftop to another. A SHIELD helicopter followed, the whirring blades breaking the silence of the night. It picked up the two agents on the ground, allowing them to get a much better angle at their target. Finally, Hawkeye managed to shoot the young woman in the leg. She cried out in pain as her knees buckled, her leg no longer able to support her weight. She yanked the arrow out, threw it aside, and continued her escape, now using fiery red wings that had appeared on her back. “Oh, god, that’s so unfair.” Natasha aimed her guns at the wings, trying to bring Magma down. She heard a scream of pain as one of her bullets hit its target. Magma tumbled from the sky, landing on the top of Stark Tower. Her wings disappeared, and she looked up, glaring at the helicopter, and the two master assassins in it. But, she gave up. She knew there was no way to escape now.
Natasha and Clint jumped out of the helicopter, both landing on their feet and instantly pointing their weapons at the vigilante. Magma held up her hands in surrender. “You've taken my last means of escape. There’d be no point in fighting back.”
Natasha slowly lowered her gun. “And how do I know that you don’t have more tricks up your sleeve?”
“I swear it.” Magma examined her leg. “Did you really have to put a hole through my leg?” She glared at Hawkeye, who shrugged, lowering his bow and putting his arrow back in the quiver on his back. Magma rolled her eyes, rising slowly. “What do you want?”
“We’re here to bring you in for questioning. SHIELD doesn’t like random vigilantes running around. You’re a potential threat.” Natasha shoved her gun back into the holster on her leg, gesturing to the helicopter. “Get in.”
“And if I don’t?”
“We’ll make you.”
Magma got in.
Back on the SHIELD helicarrier, Magma waited patiently in a white room. The only furniture was a long white table and two white chairs. A stereotypical interrogation room. A tall, bald man with an eye patch walked in. He sat down across from Magma. “I am Director Fury. We know you as Magma. Would you mind telling me your real name?”
“Kenna Smith.” The young woman was clearly not intimidated by the menacing Nick Fury. She was still mad at Clint for putting an arrow through her leg. And at Natasha for putting a bullet through her wing. “Well, Kenna. Why don’t you tell me a bit more about yourself? Where are you from? How did you discover your… talents? And, most importantly, why have you been playing vigilante?”
“I’m from Pennsylvania. Or, I was, until my parents died when I was six. I lived on the streets, traveled, I've probably spent a week in all the states but Alaska. I discovered my powers when I was 12. I was attacked, I panicked, and roasted the thugs who tried to rob me. Two days later, I found out that I could make wings appear on my back. It made travel go a lot faster, I’ll admit. A year later, I became Magma. Honestly, I’m surprised it took you three years to hunt me down and bring me here.”
The redhead smirked at Fury, orange eyes twinkling. Orange streaks stood out well against Kenna’s naturally dark ginger hair. A dusting of freckles across her nose complimented her tanned skin, giving the overall impression of a tomboy that spent all day outside. Of course, in Kenna’s case, that was mostly true. The Avengers worked at night. Kenna, under the guise of Magma, worked during the day, stopping bank robberies before they even begun, saving the odd old woman from a band of thugs, etc. Director Fury noticed the alertness in the young woman’s eyes, the way she held herself in her seat told him she was ready to run at any moment.
“We’re not going to attack you, you know.” Fury was amused.
“And yet you have armed guards outside with loaded guns ready to burst in and kill me the moment you give the signal. I’m not stupid. And you know the moment I see an opportunity, I’m going to run.”
“Of course you are. But what if I told you that I want you in the Avengers?” Fury studied the 16-year-old girl before him. She met his gaze coolly. “And if I say no?”
“That’s not an option.”
“Oh, so now you’re forcing me into your little group of superheroes? I don’t like being pushed into anything.”
“No-one does.”
“And yet you’re doing it.”
“Allow me to rephrase my original statement. You either cooperate, or you die. Am I clear?”
“Crystalline.”
“Good. Now, your choice?”
“I’ll join your little group. Playing the loner was getting a bit boring, anyway.”
Three rooms away, the Avengers were gathered around a screen, watching the conversation taking place. “She really grows on you, doesn’t she?” Bruce Banner admired her gut, standing up to Fury. The guy was terrifying.
“I seem to remember you saying much the same thing about Loki.” Natasha glanced at Bruce.
“I did, didn't I?” Bruce shrugged and turned back to the screen. Kenna was absently playing with her powers, small flames licking her hand, making shapes. Horses, birds, trees, any random thing from nature. She glanced up at one of the cameras and smiled. She knew she was being watched. Fury had left, he was on his way to the control room, where the Avengers were gathered. He walked in. “Well?”
“She has gut, that I must say.” Steve Rodgers twisted in his chair to look at Director Fury. “Not sure if we’ll be able to handle her. She might get to be rather annoying.”
“You’ll have to deal with it. She’s powerful, and we need her on our side. Loki has escaped from Asgard. According to Thor, he’s teamed up with the chitauri again.”
“Déjà vu, anyone?” Clint turned away from the screen.
“All of us, I think.” Natasha fiddled with a throwing knife she kept in her boot.
“This time, though, the fight will be different. We have another ally, and a powerful one at that.” Fury sat down in a vacant seat.
“Who?” Tony Stark was playing confused, there was something Fury hadn’t told them yet.
“Kenna Smith, ex-Aesir, formerly Brandr of Asgard.”
Dun, dun, dun! Plot twist right at the beginning. And you wonder why she's no longer one of the Aesir...
I'll be looking forward to the next chapter.
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