An Iron Will

32 HOURS EARLIER

LACIE'S POV

"Where are we?" I asked softly, clutching the StarkPad to my chest. I took one step forward and stopped, after feeling something odd. I looked down at my legs, or where they should have been visible. Instead, there was a sheer green fabric, the color of the forest in spring, flowing around them. It was loose all the way up to my waist, where is tightened and the color darkened. This asshole had put me in a dress!

"I like your taste, Victor. A little too, light, for the company present though." I said with a confident smile, shuddering internally at his leering. My breasts were almost completely exposed, something that had to be intentional from the way his gaze hadn't moved as he sipped his champagne in his expensive, designer looking suit. The room was tilting faintly, the hues seemed a little too bright to be real.

"No, I think it's perfect, Lacie. I can call you Lacie, right?" he laughed softly, some inside joke with himself. "Why don't you come join me? We have some things to talk about."

A sound like a swarm of buzzing bees filled my head. No way in hell!

"I think I'll just stay here, actually." his smooth smile vanished, immediately.

"No. I don't think you will, Stark." the room started spinning and the colors blurred, stretching the silhouettes of the room into to dark, grotesque projections. I felt an extreme heat flooding into my body, before I felt nothing at all.

The Present

The picture is in black and white. But Steve knows what the colors really are. Her hair is brown and soft, her eyes are too, the serious lips are pink and can curl up into the most beautiful smile. Could, he reminds himself darkly. They could. But now, now that smile is probably dust. Along with all the rest of his friends that he would fight along with.

But the Captain doesn't dwell, he concentrates to the time around him. Which is almost as bad, at the moment.

He's sitting in the backseat of a reinforced, SHIELD SUV, next to the man called The Thing. Both of them are dead silent as they ride from the press conference to SHIELD HQ. Ben is staring at his orange, cracked hands like they're responsible for what happened. Like they could have gotten to the trio on the penthouse floor on time. Steve is staring blankly at the numerous files a Junior Agent had shoved into his hands before he had started the conference. Both had a reel of memories from the questions of the reporters turning over, and over, in their minds.

"Captain America! Captain! What happened today, around Stark Tower?"

"Is it the supporters of the alleged Mandarin?"

"Mr. Grimm! Is it true that the Fantastic Four are disbanding?"

"Has Victor Von Doom really come back to life, again?"

"Has the Baxter Building really been vacated, Mrs. Richards?"

"Is the reported death true? Did someone really die?" This question pulls the morose group of superheros up short. Ben starts to shut down under the rapid fire questioning, leaving Steve to answer the questions while Sue glares death at the blonde reporter who asked about the causality as if asking about the weather.

31 Hours Earlier

LACIE'S POV

"Welcome back, Your Majesty. You've been out for awhile. I didn't realize magic would affect you like that." was the first thing I heard. I swatted at the origin of the voice, rolling over so I could go back to sleep. The voice dispelled a soft chuckle and ran a hand down my exposed back. I sighed, the skin-to-skin contact felt exquisite in this heat.

Wait.

Magic? My eyes snapped opened and I stopped breathing momentarily. What in the hell?

Sand. There was sand everywhere. I slid a tentative hand forward, expecting the rough grain to give under my probing fingers. Instead, I felt a hard, cool surface that was crusted with something. I could smell saltwater, and hear the crash of waves upon the shore. I guessed those would be fake too. But the air was stifling, it felt like a warm blanket that had been on just a little too long during the night. Nothing fake there.

I pushed myself away from the hands that had been slowly massaging between my shoulder blades and flipped over to see a smug Victor, who was wearing a dark green polo shirt and khaki shorts now, smiling at me.

"You do realize how fucking creepy you are, right?" I spat furiously. I remembered blacking out, the rush of too bright colors and the distortion of everything around me. But, I couldn't figure out how we had been transported from a cleaned penthouse, to a white sand beach. Last I had heard, Doom hadn't had magical fairy powers.

Victor's charming smile was gone. "I prefer eccentric." He gripped the upper part of my arm and ripped me to my feet. The dress was gone. In its place was a black bikini with rhinestones.

"If I keep changing clothes like this, I'm going to feel like Oprah with all of the wardrobe changes." I said, trying to tug out of his grip. He smirked, tugging me over to hammock which he proceeded to fall into, pulling me down on top of him. I squawked at our closeness, disgusted by the man who had tried to kill my family. On multiple occasions.

"What do you want?" I yelped, smacking his hands away from where they played with the strings that held my top together. He chuckled, his tone making me freeze. He sounded insane, his voice cold and crazed with something I couldn't pinpoint. His hands gripped my jaw, tilting my face so that I was staring into his steel blue eyes. He smiled then, a smile that made me want to cry.

“The world, Lacie.”

He leaned in, so close that our lips were almost touching, and he brushed my hair from my face, twining it around a finger. He contemplated those little strands of hair for a moment.

“And for that, I need you.”

The Present

“I'm sorry, but, who are you?” Sue asked pointedly, glaring at the pretty blonde in the front row.

“Christine Everhart. Vanity Fair.” she answered with a smirk. The others in the media room fell silent as they watched the two blonde women squaring off. Ben muttered something to Sue, something she didn't even bother listening to.

“Well, Christine, the answer is no. No one died. Not yet, anyway.” Steve groaned in panic.

“What the Invisible Women means is-” Steve started, trying to calm the panic that had been induced. Sue cut him off quickly, however.

“What I mean is: there is a war coming. Maybe not soon, but eventually. This? This wasn't even a battle, this was a little warm up brawl for them. So, no, Miss Everhart, no one died. But people are going to.”

31 Hours Ago

LACIE'S POV

“Me? What do you need me for?” I breathed out softly. I wasn't panicking, which I found as a sign that something was terribly wrong. There was a super-villain sitting nose to nose with me, talking about how he wanted the world but he needed me for it. Not to mention that we wouldn't look out of place if we discussed this drinking out of coconuts with little pink umbrellas, because we were lounging intertwined on a hammock. On the beach. A fake beach, to make matters even more worse/comical.

He raised an eyebrow and laughed “A prophecy. Hadn't you heard? I don't tend to take stock in fairy tales, not until man fell from the sky claiming to be a god, anyhow. But this, this I believed.”

“Share with the class then.” comes an ice cold voice. I look around, managing to pull far enough away from Doom to do that. I couldn't see anyone, but I knew I had heard someone. Doom clearly had too, but he could see them, unlike me. He fixed his eyes slightly to our left, grimacing as if a put upon host to some unwelcome relative.

“Why, Agent Romanov, how kind of you to join us. Would you care for a long walk down the beach?” he asked suggestively. I snorted slightly, earning a disapproving glance from him, but I didn't care. I didn't really know the woman, but I knew of her. If Doom wasn't careful, he might be short one appendage soon enough.

“How about, a short chat in a ripped open tower?” she asked. He considered, glancing at me, then around us, then back to me. He heaved a great sigh, pulling us to our feet. I automatically slammed my heel onto his foot, but he just grunted and held me against his chest.

“I suppose that would be acceptable, though it is much prettier here.” with that the heat seemed to vanish from the air, becoming chilled and oppressive instead.

The sand vanished in a bright blue haze, along with the ocean and the bright sapphire sky, and the hammock behind us melted into a scorched and riddled couch. My bikini lengthened back into the clothes SHIELD had given me, Victor's clothes also reverting back to his stupid outfit with the cliche cape. We were obviously still in Tony's tower, apparently we had never left, but this wasn't anything like the graceful penthouse I had first walked into.

The windows were almost all smashed out, the pieces still hanging on were jagged and the edges were covered with scorch marks. All of the furniture had been splintered, charred, filled with bullet holes or smashed into oblivion; except a single bar chair that had been overturned but not destroyed. The floor had gotten away with relatively no permanent damage, but then I saw what I had touched instead of sand earlier. The color or rust, was a large patch of dried blood that was smeared, as if someone had been dragged off.

“So what's this prophecy then?” I asked as casually as one could manage, when a psychotic, power crazed super villian had you in a death grip. Victor chuckled, the vibrations from that running up my spine and giving me chills. It was his crazy laugh again.

“You don't need to know everything. Just what you need to do, gorgeous. And that, is to die before he gets here. Such a pity for something for a such a beautiful creature.” My eyes went wide as his grip went up to my neck and tightened. “Say goodbye to the nice agent. I'll tell Richard that you died quickly, with relatively no pain.” Natasha had only the first two sentences, because Doom had dropped his voice as low as it could go, but she clearly understood my panicked eye messages. I probably looked like a dying bullfrog though. But by the time she reached us, it was already too late.

Electricty coursed through my body, setting my muscles on fire. I opened my mouth to scream but I didn't hear it, all I could hear was the blood rushing through my ears and the buzz of pain that crackled in the air around me. It felt like ages before he tossed me across the room like a broken toy, but the pain lessened. I smashed into the half-decimated bar and for the third time, everything went black.

CLINT'S POV

“That the last of them on my side!” I shouted as I took down the last bot with a fourth arrow to its neck. This fight had taken way too long, these metal assholes were way too resistant for my taste. Not that I don't like a challenge but everyone had at least one close call tonight. Steve had been tossed through the windshield of an abandoned taxi and hadn't reappeared for a good ten minutes. Tasha had gotten herself into a tight corner, surrounded by four of them at a subway entrance full of civilians. Stark had gotten knocked in the back by a piece of exploded Wall-E, he really needed one of his suits back. Thor and Loki had vanished under a tide of them for almost half-an-hour, but they were Asgardians, case closed.

Not to mention, my ass got knocked off a building more than once. Thank whatever god for the Hulk, even if his catches weren't exactly gentle.

And, no, I did not scream like a girl when I fell the first time, no matter what Stark may say.

Thor's voice boomed from a street away, he hadn't liked the idea of a comm. in his ear, but all I got was the word 'friends'. “What did he say?” I asked, directing my question to anyone listening.

“He said “We have fought valiantly, friends. But where is the Lady Spider? I have not seen her for some time.' .” an elegant voice replied. Chills went down my spine, and rage flared in my gut, at his voice.

“Loki, when did you get a communicator?” comes Steve's surprised and wary voice.

He snorts in derision “My oaf of a prince refused to where it, but he wanted to know what went on. So, I, being the kind spirit I am, placed your little piece of Midgardian technology into my ear. In fact, that was quite a manly scream earlier, Hawk.”

“Fuck you, douche bag.” I snarled back. Not my best comeback I'll admit.

Steve chided us sharply”Not the time. Widow, come in.” No response. “Natasha? Are you there.” he asked again, worry seeping into his voice. “Tony, are you there?”

“Shit! Yeah, Capsicle. But, you aren't gonna like where she is, I don't. Fuck-JARVIS! How fast can we make a suit.” The AI's response wasn't heard but apparently Tony wasn't a big fan “Damn it! Alright, ladies. Get your asses to my tower. Natasha is fighting Doom, and the kid's on the ground. Her heart's really unstable.”

I cursed violently “Where are the Fantastic Four?”

“Cleaning up some bots about a block away. I'm relaying they information to Storm right now.” Tony said, I winced slightly. I didn't know Reed Richards but I had seen him go down hard, and not get up. His wife had freaked out, taking down three bots all at once. Mental note to self, never piss of the Invisible Woman. But with Richards down, and Sue taking him to medical, only Storm was left to get the news seeing as Grimm didn't have a comm.

“Let's head to the Tower now, then.” was Steve's only response. I nodded to myself. I could easily see the Tower, and the figures moving on its top level(eyes of a total bad ass, thank you very much), but I wasn't sure how I was getting there, then I heard my ride.

“Hulk! Buddy!” the building shook faintly as Hulk landed on its roof ten feet from me. I was still nervous around him, but I tried to never let it show. “Can I get a lift up to the Tower, bro?” The big guy grinned widely. Great.

“Hulk take Birdman.”

NATASHA'S POV

“You're insane.” I snarled, still fighting Doom. He had finished telling me about the prophecy, and as Dr. Banner would say, his brain was a bag full of cats. Even if I worked with an immortal from a different world whenever he was visiting his girlfriend, I couldn't believe any of it.

The last time I had felt this much pain was when I had still been working with the Red Room, he had managed to hit me with a bolt of electricity for moment. The girl was curled onto the floor in front of Stark's bar, her eyes hadn't opened since her had thrown her across the room. Richards and Tony were going to be pissed, even if Tony would say it was all about his tower.

Doom laughed, his silver face mask back on “No. I'm enlightened.” the world seem to spin as something hit me from behind, and a high, female laugh came at the same time.

“Poor mortal. Don't worry, this won't worry you much longer.” the woman trilled, I tried to turn and look at her but my vision washed red and cold gripped my limbs as I heard a loud roar.

The Present

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at her body, uneasy about how vulnerable Natasha looked like this. Her short, red hair was slicked to her face with sweat and her normally smooth face was pinched in pain. Clint looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown and no one else looked much better. No other beds were occupied, which didn't make sense to Steve.

He knew Tony and Reed were allowed to be up and moving around, but Lacie should still be in her bed. “Dr. Banner.” he said, getting Bruce's attention. “Where's Lacie? Shouldn't she still be in bed?” Bruce looked deeply uncomfortable as he answered.

“She left about four or five hours ago. An Agent Sitwell came and got here.”

“But, why? She shoud still be resting. Doom electrocuted her entire system, what would SHIELD want with her that can't wait.” Steve asked sharply, seemingly angry that she was moved when she was hurt.

Thor surprised Steve by answering “She has joined the brothers of SHIELD, Fury had accepted her among their number.” It took Steve a moment but he when realized what Thor meant he was furious.

“She's an agent?! She's a kid! Who let her do that?” Steve yelled, standing up straight and seeming to expand and cast a shadow over the room.

“It wasn't any of us.” Tony said this tiredly, rubbing his forehead in exhaustion. Steve didn't mean to but he made an unlikely ally then.

“None of us would have!” Johnny yelled “But she's 18, so that's all that matters to Fury! He's just going to use her to keep us in line and under his thumb.” He paused and looked at Steve in realization. “You could convince Fury to not put her dangerous situations!”

“Johnny.” Sue hissed in warning, glaring from her spot next to Reed “Lacie doesn't want you interferring. Just leave her be. She'll be fine, it's what she wants.”

Reed exploded from his quiet then “FINE?! FINE!?! She's going to watching Loki! They guy who tried to take over the world with an alien army! That. Is. NOT. Fine.”

A smooth voice sounds from the doorway, almost laughing “What timing we have, Lady Stark.” Everyone, bar Natasha, turned to look at the doorway and the two people standing there. Loki, full godly appearance. And Lacie. With her brown hair cut short and suited up in the clothes of a field agent, slight frown on her face.

The only sound was the sullen, steady beat of Natasha's heart monitor as Lacie stood, squaring off with three different superheros.