I do not own Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Dark clouds swirled in the sky, threatening the Earth with more snow. The wintery mess of snow and ice covered the streets of New York, breaking any record highs of snow fall that had happened before hand. The weather's drastic change was nothing short of impossible. The once miserably hot summer day was now a winter wonderland. Maybe winter wonderland isn't the best way to describe it, Valkyrie thought. She had seen enough snow in her life, and didn't think she'd have to worry about the stuff until late fall. She pulled her jacket closer to her as the blistering cold wind blew around her, though it did little to block out the cold. "What the hell do you think has happened?" she asked Captain America.

"This could be the work of any number of villains," he said. The calm in his voice surprised her; he sounded like the extreme change in weather was nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, he is kind of an old pro when it comes to saving the world and such, she thought.

There was a sudden loud cracking sound, like something hitting a window. Valkyrie stood there gaping as she watched icy claws came out of the snow in front of them, followed by the rest of a ten foot tall snowman from hell. Without giving it too much thought, Valkyrie drew her guns and shot the creature in the head, causing it to shatter. "Bulls eye," she said. She glanced over at Cap, who was looking back at her with a blank expression. "Sorry, I forgot to think first."

"I was about to do the same thing," he said as he swung his shield off his back. He threw it with perfect aim at another one of the things came up. As his shield flew back around, he caught it with ease. More of the menacing creatures raised out of the snow. Screams came from the bottom of the hill that they were standing on. "We'd better split up and try to get these things under control. Think you can handle it up here?"

"Don't worry Cap, I've got it," she said as she shot down another creature. Captain America nodded before he took off down the hill, holding his shield in front of him. Valkyrie watched a moment more, as Cap used his shield as a sled. That looks like fun, she thought. Shouts for help came from her right. Valkyrie turned to see a group of people running from two of the creatures. She shot one in the head as it reached down to pick up a screaming business man, gaining the attention of the other. "Come and get me, Frosty!" she yelled. It began to charge at her, but it hadn't even crossed half the distance between them when it also ended up headless like its friend.

Valkyrie's I.D. card went off, beeping relentlessly. She pulled it out of her pocket while she ran after a group of the giant ice creatures. Iron Man appeared on the little screen and said, "Iron Man to all Avengers. We've got a beat on what's causing this. Thor, Panther and I will deal with it." The screen went blank as he cut off the transmission. Guess that means the rest of us are just supposed to make sure the snowmen from hell don't take over the city, she thought as she took down another creature.

A half an hour had passed since the transmission from Iron Man, but, God, did it feel much longer. The creatures popped out of the snow like daisies. Each time Valkyrie would destroy one, others would rise from the snow. She loved to fight, but not when she knew exactly what her opponent would do. The each did the same thing after they got up out of the snow, like some sort of routine that they'd all practiced. They'd terrorize a few screaming citizens, though as the fight wore on less people were in the streets, then Valkyrie would shot at one, and following that, the rest would charge at her. I wish they'd at least mix it up a little, she thought hopefully. She hoped that things were going as easily for Cap as they were for her.

"Somebody help!" a woman yelled. Her accent sounded familiar to Valkyrie. Valkyrie ran towards the voice. A creature held a petite woman with dirty blonde hair a few feet off the ground. Valkyrie shot the creatures wrists, causing its claws to shatter and for it to drop the woman. She shot it once more in the head before running to check on the woman. The woman laid face down in the snow, not moving a muscle, which made Valkyrie fear for the worse. As she turned her over, Valkyrie gasped from surprise. Lying in the snow was Rachel Paulson, a mercenary she had worked with before.

No, Valkyrie thought, it can't be. Rachel Paulson is in prison, along with the rest of them. She tried to get her wits about her as she picked up the woman and carried her out of the middle of the snow covered road. Besides, she didn't exactly stand out from the crowd when it came to looks. This woman could be anyone, and just be unfortunate enough to look like Rachel. She placed her down. Valkyrie took a step back, turned and bolted down the street towards another group of creatures.

She had taken two of them down when suddenly they all shattered into thousands of pieces of ice. From the ruin rose dark ghostlike figures. They flew into the air, circling above her head. One flew right in front of her. She wasted no time shooting it right between its yellow eyes. The bullet went right through the ghost, not causing any effect to it in the least. Another hit her in the back, causing her to fly forward, landing face down in the snow. Valkyrie rolled around onto her back. One of the ghosts put its claw like hand onto her shoulder. The touch felt like it froze the blood in her veins. Slowly, ice crept from the hand all over her body, leaving Valkyrie frozen in place. She closed her eyes as the ice made its way up her face. Shit, was the last thing she thought before she blacked out.

The hot desert sun bore down on Max's face. It had been a year since she had left New York. She tried not to show it to the others, knowing that they'd ridicule her instead of comfort her, but she was feeling more than just a little homesick. Lance wasn't helping. He had started acting differently since that first job in the Amazon. He was more distant, less caring. He was rougher too, Max thought as she touched the red mark on her neck absentmindedly. Maybe it had been a bad idea to go with him after all, Max thought.

"What're you doing, bitch?" yelled Rachel Paulson, in her English accent. She was the only other girl in the group, which made Max try to befriend her, thinking that maybe the older woman could be like the big sister she never had. Turned out that the woman could give a damn about Max and didn't want anything to do with her, let alone be friends.

"Nothin'," Max answered as she stood up straight, no longer leaning against the R.V. She didn't want to go back into the R.V. that had quickly become her personal Hell. Between the constant bickering of the others, the insults the others flung her way, and the occasional passes that a certain middle aged man made at her, left Max wanting to jump out of the R.V. when it was driving full speed down the highway.

"Bishop has something he wants to say to you. Alone," Rachel said as she scowled up at Max. During times like these, Max was happy she had the height and weight advantage over the older woman. There was something intimidating about the shorter woman, the sort of intimidating feeling a person who's not all there.

"And I have nothing I want to say to him," she said in reply. The thought of having to talk to that old pervert by herself was terrifying. She had managed to have Lance around the last few times when she talked to him. Not that Lance did anything to stop the man's advances.

"It doesn't matter what you want," Rachel said, "When Bishop wants something, he gets it." The cold, distant tone in her voice made Max realize something; Rachel must also be dealing with Bishop, but not just his advances, though. For a moment Max was half tempted to comfort the older woman, maybe even try to convince her to quit and turn the others in, until Rachel grabbed her by the arm and lead her towards the R.V.'s door. "Come on."

During those weeks before she left her old life back in New York, Lance had promised to keep her safe. What happened to that promise? Max wondered as she followed Rachel into the R.V. Lance just seemed to stop caring about her, unless he got the sudden urge for…more intimate actions. She liked to fight her own battles, that was true, but at times she wanted someone to protect her, fight for her. She hadn't thought about ever having knight in shining armor since she was a little girl, but if she had a prince charming, it surely wasn't Lance. And she wished that whoever he was would hurry up and save her.

Warmth flooded over Valkyrie as the ice melted away. She stood up, rubbing her eyes. All traces of the winter nightmare gone. She looked towards the part of the street where she saved Rachel's doppelganger. The woman was gone. She made her way to were the woman once laid. The snow had melted away any trace of her, leaving Valkyrie to wonder who it was. Come, this is ridicules, don't become a creeper because someone looked like Rachel, the more rational part of her mind said, Seriously, Rachel had that common, every-day look to her. That could've been anyone. She really wanted to believe that, but,honestly, she couldn't.

"Valkyrie!" she turned to see Captain America walking to her. "Glad to see you're alright. Any trouble?" he asked.

"You don't look to worse for wear either," she said with a smile, "Not too much. Although now I know how a Popsicle feels." She shivered and told him about what happened, leaving out the part with the woman. As they exchanged tales they made their way back to their bikes. Driving back to the mansion, Valkyrie decided she might have to check in on the status of her ex-associates.

End of chapter. Please read and review, thanks.