She Rides

There comes a time in one’s life where they are forced to take action. Called into an unknown duty. In some instances, the reason being that they are the only ones able to meet the goal for the determined purpose.
I had a feeling it would happen to me one day, just not as soon as I had originally thought.

My powers are… well, somewhat difficult to maintain (it comes with being from another universe). Unless, of course, with plenty of training- which is what I had been doing for the majority of the evening. I wanted to be able to have full control over my abilities of fire and mystic energy.
The familiar flames engulfed my body, black taking over where my actual skin used to be, before I hovered in the air and raised my arms to the sky. An orb of mystic energy began to take shape with added concentration, and I could feel the immense power within. However, before I was able to release it down to the target plastered below on the tree, he interrupted.
“Whoa there, Hot Stuff. Did anger management classes not help again?”
I sighed inwardly. Only one man dared to address women in the manner of a first-given nickname. Looks like I had just “earned” mine.
Lowering myself back to solid ground, I allowed the fire to fade away; the armor covering my slender form retracting back into the neckband I wore until it revealed my true self- bright red hair, orange eyes, spiked leather jacket, white tank top, ripped skinny jeans, bullet belt, buckled boots. “Just practicing,” I informed the metalloid figure standing some feet away from me. “I thought it was obvious.”
He nodded slowly, then noticed the other spots where I had done some damage. “Must’ve been one hell of a practice, huh?”
I shrugged half-heartedly. “So, is there a reason why my presence is being graced by the one and only Tony Stark?”
There was no response for a moment, until his head armor was removed and I saw the well-known face of the man I had just mentioned. “How’d you know it was me?” he questioned with an innocent look on his face.
“You’re avoiding the question,” I wasn’t in the mood for playing games, even if he was trying to attempt to cheer me up or just have some innocent fun. Either way…
He let out a drawn-out sigh. “Before I tell you, I at least want to know your name so we can all be familiar with each other.”
I raised an eyebrow and gave him a bit of an odd look. “We… all?”
“I’ll explain later.”
I wasn’t getting the answers to all the questions I was asking, but with Tony Stark actually sounding serious about something, it didn’t take me that long to think about it. “Lisabeth Andrews,” I responded after a few seconds. “Lise’ if you’re comfortable. ‘Fahrenheit’ if you’re nasty.”
Both of his eyebrows raised, he nodded once more, then averted his gaze to something visible in the corner of his eye. “That yours?”
He was pointing to my motorcycle, parked against a tree. “Yeah. The radio’s busted though,” I informed him. “Wish I knew enough about mechanics to fix it myself, but…”
“Tell you what, Hot Stuff- you come with me to where we need to go, I’ll explain everything along the way. And, I promise to fix up your bike.”
Ugh. There was that nickname again. Even so, I would get what I needed from him if I simply agreed to his offer.
“Deal.”



The others whom Tony had referred to as “all” were nothing less than what seemed to be other ordinary people, but with extraordinary powers, like mine. Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, and Thor. Tony had only given a couple of them nicknames, most notably Steve, whom he called “Spangles”. Everyone else, save for Natasha, was addressed by their last name.
We, altogether as a group, were soon to be called The Avengers.
Of course, we had our flaws. Most notably with each other. Tony seemed to have a bit of a clash with Steve on some occasions- and were in the middle of one when I happened to walk into the lab where he and Banner were focusing on trying to crack the secrets of this all-powerful object they kept calling the Tesseract.
Tony, as always, was being a bit of a smart-ass, playing casual and snacking out of a bag of dried blueberries (I stole a couple of them when he wasn’t looking in my direction). “I thought you said you would fix my motorcycle, Tony,” I proceeded to bother him by tapping his shoulder repeatedly and took another handful of the small fruits out of the bag in his hand.
He flashed me a half-assed attempt at a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s on my to-do list, I’m gonna start on it today,” he responded, this time noticing my hand reaching for another blueberry and popping one of his in my mouth instead before I could get the chance to. “Just cool your jets, Hot Stuff.”

The self-proclaimed “genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist” was currently positioned on the seat of my black vehicle, using the array of tools at his feet to tinker with the sound system. Myself, leaning on the top of the front wheel, gazed at him, blinking only a couple times a minute.
“Are you done yet?” I asked for probably the tenth time.
The look he gave me was of playful, humorous annoyance. “If I was done, I’d tell you,” he flashed me a lopsided grin before gazing back down at the bike. Silence reigned supreme for a good five minutes until he decided to strike up a conversation with me.
“So… speaking of your radio, what’s your music preference, exactly?”
It was my turn to smile. Though it was rather faint, it was still an upturned of the lips nonetheless. “Rock and metal, preferably. Not too big on much else.”
“Is that so?” he replied, eyebrows raising in interest. “Tell me more. Favorite bands and such.”
I fought the urge to smile wider and laugh. My guess was, he liked this kind of music as well. “Mainly bands from the 80’s,” I told him. “If I had to pick a favorite, though, it’d probably be Danzig. His solo work from around 1988.”
He gave me a nod, his facial expression matching mine in a small grin. It was probably just me, but I could swear I saw a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he continued to work, but I brushed it off and adjusted my seat while I stayed and watched.



While fighting off some of the men that had infiltrated the flying fortress we were all present in, I heard a massive roar before turning out the window to see Banner, who was now the Hulk, seizing a small fighter jet before they both spun out of control and were blasted off into the distance.
“Son of a bitch,” I groaned under my breath, grabbing a headset off the counter and clicking it on. “Tony, it’s Lise. Can you hear me?” I spoke as clearly as I could while striding quickly through the hallways trying to find an exit.
His voice came over the earpiece shortly after. “Yep, hear you loud and clear, Hot Stuff. What’s going on?”
“Banner’s lost control and is in Hulk mode,” I informed, turning a corner. “Got into a bit of a scuffle with a plane and was just shot into god-knows-where.”
“Damn,” he muttered, “Well what are we going to do, then?”
I had reached the room where SHIELD kept a spare neckband for my armor, grabbing it out of the case and securing it around my neck before walking the other way again. “I can’t tell you what we’re going to do, but I can tell you what I’m going to do,” I responded, pulling open an exit door. “I’m going after him.”
If I could see him along with hear him, I’m pretty sure his eyes would’ve widened immensely. “No, no no no. No way in hell are you going out there. It’s too big of a risk without-”
“Tony, I live through risk. Without risk there is no art. You should always be on the edge of a cliff about to fall down and break your neck.” There was silence after my response before I added, “Plus, have you forgotten that I can fly? It’s not like I’m going to be fighting anyone. Just finding Banner and meeting you guys back in the city.” I sassed back calmly
He sighed over the earpiece. “…be careful, okay?”
“Count on it,” I responded, flipping my hair over my shoulders. “Oh, and one last thing…” I pressed the red button on my neckband, my armor seeping out to cover the rest of my body. Taking a step back to prepare for a running start, I finished, “Just remember to bring the bike.”
With that, my body once more burst into flames as I leapt out the door and flew off in the direction of where Banner had disappeared.



“Damn, what are we missing over there?” I mused under my breath as I clung lightly to Banner on the mid-sized moped we had stolen found. What my eyes were seeing consisted of gigantic other-worldly beings flying like airplanes throughout the city skyline, crashing into buildings and roads. I had been prepared for this fight, seeing as I was clad in my armor instead of the usual leather jacket.
He eyed the chaos along with me, but said nothing.
I paused for a brief moment to look in front of me and saw most of the others gathered in a small group some feet away. “There, Bruce, they’re over there.”
The moped came to a slow, steady halt, the two of us hopping off- me fixing my hair in the process.
Thor approached me first, patting my armor-covered shoulder and giving me a small grin. “It is good to see you back in one piece, Lisabeth.”
Steve had taken to talking over the small headset he had on him, informing Tony that Banner and I were present. The low rumbling noise accented by a high-pitched growl reached my ears as one of the many Chitauri airship monsters came into view, following the red-armored man who was flying as fast as he could away from it.
Way to go, Tony.
As Banner entered Hulk mode and sent the creature flying in the opposite direction, the seven of us stood together- as a group, as a team. I felt awkward having not activated my powers yet, but the action hadn’t approached me personally to do so for now.
Until Tony tapped my shoulder.
“Fancy seeing you here, Hot Stuff,” If facial expressions could be heard, I swore I heard a smirk in his voice. “I know it’s last-minute, but I brought you something you’ll like.”
He pointed behind him with his thumb, and lo and behold, leaning against the front of a building, looking better than ever, was my motorcycle.
I broke out into an ear-to-ear smile and started to approach it, only to have Tony hold me back with a gentle arm. Holding up a finger as to say, ‘watch this’, he pulled out a small remote and pushed the red button in the center- immediately after, the bike’s engine started up on its own, then proceeded to ride over and stop right in front of me.
“Told you I’d keep my promise,” he grinned and winked at me through the armored mask.
The man of iron then placed the tiny remote in my hands, now giving me full control of my vehicle.
“As much as I’m glad that’s fixed…” I lifted my head to the sky. “We’ve still got a group of alien asses to kick.”
Thor and Tony took off for the sky, while Hulk rushed to the nearest smash able building. Steve told Natasha and Clint to stay together on the ground while he worked his way around on his own.
“Lise, since you’re able to access both ground and sky, I’m counting on you to be our backbone and keep watch for both parties,” he informed me. “Do whatever you need to, so long as it works.”
“You got it,” I flashed him a wink before approaching my motorcycle once more. Taking my seat and gripping the handlebars, I revved the engine slightly, to which a pleasant, growling hum flowed through my ears.
“I’m likin’ this already,” I grinned, bursting into flames and taking off down the street.

When Natasha told everyone that she was able to shut the portal down, the mutual response was, ‘do it’. However, we had only recently been informed by Tony that a nuclear bomb was headed straight for the city, and his plan was to send it through the gateway.
“Tony…” I started, blasting a small group of Chitauri back with a Mystic Energy orb. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Positive,” he replied, though I could tell the connection was fading. “Don’t worry about me, alright? I can do this and come out alive.”
As much as I believed his words, there was a trace of something that just worried me.
I felt the cold sizzle of a teardrop hitting my fire-covered cheek. “…Be careful,” I told him.
“Looks like we’ve reversed positions, huh?” he spoke in a joking manner, referring to earlier. I had to smile at that. “Like I said, Hot Stuff. Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
But he wasn’t fine.
He had gone into the portal two minutes ago and still hadn’t come out. Even when Steve said to finally shut it down, he had yet to show.
Until immediately after the hole in the sky disappeared, and a familiar red and gold armored figure was seen descending from the sky.
“He’s falling too fast,” Thor spoke in a whisper. Not even he would be able to catch him as the rate he was coming down.
I bit my lip and mounted my motorcycle. “I got him,” I muttered, speeding towards the location where Tony would make impact. Surprisingly, Banner got there right before I did, grabbing him with one arm and tumbling to the ground. It took a while for him to come to, but the good thing was that we were all alive and in one piece.
We were victorious.



It was hard saying goodbyes. To Thor, especially, considering he had to go back to Asgard with Loki… and who knows when he’d be able to come back.
Natasha and Clint went off to do their own thing, and Steve gave me a pat on the shoulder before driving off on his old-fashioned motorbike. Now it was just Bruce, Tony, and myself, the first of whom was waiting patiently in the convertible for the other man.
“So…” I started, looking up into the brown eyes of the man of iron.
“So…” he repeated, arms crossed over his chest while grinning lightly at me.
I bit my lip. “Well, you were… you were pretty awesome back there, y’know?” I mustered, rubbing the back of my neck in an almost sheepish manner. This was so unlike me.
His grin got slightly bigger as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “You were pretty great yourself, Hot Stuff,” he replied.
I couldn’t help it- for the first time in quite a while, I laughed- a normal, sweet, genuine laugh, which also caused Tony to chuckle as well. “And I know it’s better late than never, but I forgot to thank you.” I grazed my fingers on the metal handlebars of my motorcycle. “Not just for fixing my bike… but for recruiting me to the Avengers in the first place. Because, well, if I hadn’t gone along with you that day… I would’ve never gotten the opportunity to experience all of this.” A twinkle shone in my eyes as I looked up into his brown orbs and smiled at him. “So… Thank you, Tony. For everything.”
What happened next surprised me greatly- he leaned down and gave me a light kiss on my left cheek, then pulled me into a hug. “You’re very welcome, Lisabeth.”
I smiled broadly to myself as I returned his embrace. That was the first time he had actually called me by my real name, and not a nickname.
“Wellp, either way, I’d better get going. Banner’s waiting,” he responded, to which I gave him a nod. “Oh, and one last thing…” he gestured to the black vehicle of mine with his thumb. “Programmed a little something extra special in there just for you. Hope you’ll like it and not come after me with a fireball or whatever.”
Another chuckle escaped my lips. “I’ll try and keep that promise,” I told him with a wink.
Tony nodded, waving back to me one last time. “See you later, Hot Stuff.”

After he and Banner had driven off in the opposite direction, I slowly sat on the seat of my Harley Davidson, then turned the keys on to the ignition. What I hadn’t noticed until now was that the radio was currently on mute, as it had been for the battle earlier. When I pressed the button to turn it on, a familiar guitar riff reached my ears, followed by lyrics sung by an all-too familiar voice.
“She rides… let loose upon the world, she is the night… and my loneliness in bondage, she’s black… as sin runs down her back, she rides… from the daylight in chains, she rides the night… she rides the night…”
Of course. Leave it to Tony to program Danzig into my sound system, let along my favorite song. He must’ve paid very good attention to detail when I told him about my preferred kind of music when he had been fixing the bike.
Only you, Tony, I thought with a smile. Only you.
The wind blew gently through my red hair as I closed my eyes, driving off down the road into the sunset. Now, all that was left to do was wait for the next time the Avengers assembled.