"You just saved my life."

"I suppose I did."

"But how did you… the train—"

"You're welcome."

"Well, thank you—but I still—don't know how you…"

Esca trailed off, staring at the grinning man in front of her. He looked amused as she stammered; his gray eyes were full of laughter. She crossed her arms defensively and muttered, "It was still a train."

He looked back at the train and nodded. It had finally stopped; it lay about six feet from where she and the man were standing. He had somehow managed to pick her up and spirit her away from the vehicle just before she was squashed. "That is indeed a train," he said, still smirking.

There was a silence for a minute before he asked, "Well, do you have a name?"

She blinked and looked at him sideways. "I do," she replied. "But I'd like to hear yours first."

He raised an eyebrow at her request, but apparently decided to comply. "Pietro Maximoff. And y—"

But he was stopped by Esca, who had just gasped and pointed at the sky. "Look out!"

Pietro whirled around and leapt toward the robot descending straight for them. He was faster than Esca could ever imagine—in less than one second, he had defeated the robot and landed back on the ground. He grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way as the chunk of metal collapsed on the ground right where she had been standing.

"Thanks," she gasped breathlessly. "Was that how you got me away from the train?"

But she didn't receive an answer—Pietro's joking manner seemed to have evaporated. He looked at her with widened eyes and exclaimed, "You need to find somewhere safe to hide. More of those robots will come, and they will kill you if you don't get out of the streets."

"Can I help kill them?" asked Esca, although it was mostly a rhetorical question. If she could just control herself a little better, she might actually be able to lessen the number of mechanical enemies that were flooding the city.

"No. The best way to help would be to find somewhere safe." The urgency in his voice made Esca nod and run toward a building close by. Since Pietro had saved her life twice, she wanted to make his job a little easier.

Would he survive that battle? It was a scary thought—she admired that he was using whatever powers he obviously had to save the people of Sokovia, even as the city somehow floated in the sky.

Once she sheltered herself in the building, Esca tried to look for Pietro, if only to keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, he was already gone, undoubtedly fighting somewhere. She wished she could be fighting, too… Esca had never honed her powers the way she wished she might've. She'd tried for years, but all she could do was heal wounds.

But previous failure didn't stop her from trying now. When a man wielding a bow and a quiver of arrows appeared, fighting the robot monsters in the streets, Esca raised her hands and concentrated. She couldn't tell if her powers were working… she needed a robot to shoot at the man to see if they were.

As if the robot read her mind, it lunged toward the man—but its attack was rebuffed. The man looked astonished, but he got over his shock quickly and twisted the robot's head to the side. The artificial light in the robot's eyes dimmed, and Esca lowered her hands.

She grinned. It had worked.

That was when she realized the bowman was heading towards her.

"Are you all right?" he asked once he came close enough.

Esca nodded—he had no idea. She was never better. "Yes, I'm all right."

"Come with me. We have a way to get all the civilians off the city. Better hurry." He held out a hand to guide her into the streets, although he occasionally let go to shoot an arrow into an incoming robot. They continued down a couple blocks as the bowman exclaimed, "We have a helicopter getting people off the city! After that, we're going to destroy it!"

"Destroy it?" gasped Esca. She could hardly fathom it… Sokovia had been her home the past two years. Although she had not really grown attached to it, she was frightened by the unknown that would follow its demolition.

The bowman nodded. "That's what I said!" he grunted as he loosened another arrow. This particular arrow lodged itself in a robot's forehead before exploding. Then he seized her hand again and continued leading her to where the helicopter awaited.

Right as they rounded another corner, a monster struck out at the bowman. He yelled out in shock more than pain; he spiraled through the air. Seeing Esca standing, petrified, in front of the monster, he cried out, "Blondie! Duck!"

But Esca simply raised her hands and screamed. Without really meaning to, a shield enveloped over the monster and crushed it from the inside out. When she lowered her hands, there was nothing left.

Seeing what she had done, Esca gaped and stared at her hands. Maybe she had the power to fight after all?

The bowman stared, aghast, as he slowly walked forward. "You have powers?" he asked, dumbfounded.

She nodded. "I knew I could heal people's wounds… I only just discovered that I can crush magnetic robots too."

He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I knew there was something special about you, blondie," he chuckled. Then he gestured her onward; Esca followed. After another moment, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Esca," she replied. "Esca Rarity."

"Are you from around here, Esca Rarity?"

"I've lived here for the past two years," she explained. "I've had to relocate myself constantly the past decade or so…"

The bowman looked at her incredulously. "You can't be a day over twenty-one."

She grinned. "You're right. I'm not. I'm twenty years old, from London originally. But something happened, and I had to leave when I was ten. At any rate, I've told you who I am, what I can do, and where I'm from. Might I get your name in exchange?"

"Name's Clint Barton," grinned Clint, his blue eyes gleaming. "I'm part of this group called the Avengers—"

"I know who they are," giggled Esca. "So, Mr. Barton, who else is out here?"

"No need to address me so formally," chuckled Clint as he gazed over the scene. "Right now, we've got Dr. Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, Thor, the Maximoff twins Wanda and Pietro, and—"

"Yours truly," said another voice behind them. Esca jumped at the suddenness of the new voice, but then she blushed upon seeing the easily recognizable costume of Captain America. Seeing that he had startled her, the Captain saluted her faintly. "Sorry about that, miss," he said, a small smile on his face. "The name's Steve Rogers."

"Esca," said Esca politely, shaking his outstretched hand.

Steve looked at Clint and smiled again. "I assume Clint found you?" he asked Esca, who nodded in response. Satisfied with her answer, the Captain then turned back to Clint. "Have you seen Banner anywhere? I haven't been in touch with him or Nat for a while…"

"I'm sure they'll turn up before long. They always do."

Steve opened his mouth to respond, but then there was mechanical whirring, and a large suit of armor plopped down on the sidewalk next to them. Esca stepped backward a little until she realized this must have been Tony Stark.

"I told you," declared Stark's voice petulantly. "They're playing hide the zucchini." He then seemed to realize Esca was standing amongst them. "Hello there. I don't know you," he added, pointing a finger at her direction.

Seeing the gesture, Steve raised an eyebrow. "Don't point, Stark, that's rude."

"Oh, wonderful. Are you going to criticize my manners now as well as my language?"

Captain America looked down at the ground, either extremely exasperated or stifling laughter. Esca figured that it was probably both.

As it was, she never got to find out, because Steve said, "Well, Miss Esca, we'd better get you aboard. I'll take her from here, Clint."

Clint nodded and walked over to a woman who was crying and pointing to something. He gazed back to where she was gesturing and inhaled sharply. "I'll be right back," he said to Steve. "Take care of blondie." Then he set off to where a little boy was trapped underneath some cinderblocks.

"Come on, Miss Esca," said Steve gently. "It's almost time to go."

Esca's gaze lingered on Clint for a spare second before nodding. "All right," she said. But just as she stepped his direction, there was a terrible rumbling throughout the place.

She whirled back around to see a jet shooting dozens of rapid bullets down toward Clint. A larger, more menacing robot was at the wheel of that jet, and out of the corner of her eye, Esca could see Pietro Maximoff running toward them, his power of super speed aiding him.

"No!" gasped Esca, and she raised her hands and thought, with all her might, of conjuring a large shield around the three.

The bullets were gone, as was the jet; a large, green creature had leapt upon it with a deafening roar and ejected the pilot. Meanwhile, Clint remained standing, the boy in his arms. Standing in front of them was Pietro, who had red wounds trailing his arms and legs. Even from so far away, Esca could hear him ask, "You didn't see that coming?"

Then he collapsed to the ground.

She gasped.

"Esca—" said Steve, trying to usher her toward the helicopter.

But he was too late. She was running toward them, toward Pietro. She couldn't have failed, not like that. He'd saved her life twice—she had to repay him.

She was running so fast, Esca had to drop to her knees to stop herself. Ignoring the jabs of pain as her knees were sliced open by the gravel, she quickly perused Pietro's injuries. Luckily, she had managed to shield his chest, stomach, neck, and face—but she hadn't been quick or strong enough to protect his arms or legs. There was also one stray bullet that was lodged in his side.

Pietro's eyes were open, blinking up at her, but they were somewhat glazed over. Noticing that he was conscious, Esca smiled down at him and said calmly, "It's all right, Pietro. You aren't going to leave us that easily. Listen to my voice, all right?"

He blinked once, which comforted her. At least he could hear her.

"I don't know if you can see me," she admitted, taking great care to keep her voice as gentle and soothing as possible. "But do you remember me? You pulled me out of the way of that train."

As she spoke, Esca carefully lifted his shirt so she could get at the bullet in his side. She looked at his face and saw him blink again, slowly, comprehendingly. She gestured for Clint to give her his knife—he silently handed it over. With great care, Esca used the blade to dig the bullet out of his side.

Pietro groaned, clenching his fists and teeth.

"Hey—hey," she exclaimed softly. "It's all right. That was the worst part, I promise. You saved my life today. Now I'm going to save yours."

Should I continue the story? Reviews would be welcomed. Beginnings are always my weakest point, so let me know if I did all right! :)