Wilder: An Altered Civil War

Chapter 1/Prologue

2016, "Captain America: Civil War"

Ava Wilder's POV

"Hey, Luke, could you get that for me?" 

Somewhere in my polished apartment in New York City, a cellphone rang.

"Of course, Ava,"

My boyfriend Lucas Collins approached the ringing phone and answered.

"It's for you, love," he called after a pause.

I stood from the couch and hurried to the kitchen where Lucas handed me the phone. I pressed it to my ear as I heard Tony Stark's voice crackled over the phone.

"We need you at the compound," he said quietly.

"What? I just got back, like, two days ago!" I argued.

"You'll only be here for a day or two, I promise. Just get here as soon as possible,"

"Do I have a specified time that I need to be there by?" I asked, leaning against a counter. From across the room, my boyfriend eyed me suspiciously.

"Yes. As soon as time allows," Tony said.

I sighed, knowing my little vacation would have to take a pause.

"Alright," I agreed reluctantly. "I'm coming,"

I hung up just as Lucas started protesting.

"Hold on, Ava-" he began.

"I have to go. I'll be back soon," I assured him, heading for the door.

"No, Ava, wait-" Lucas grabbed my arm and pinned me against the wall, planting a long, passionate kiss on my lips.

"I won't be gone long," I assured him as he drew back. "It's probably for a mission,"

He kissed me again. "What if you die?"

I rolled my eyes. He'd become overly protective of me since we'd met up again.

See, I'd met him at a party. We got along alright until he passed out on the floor for no apparent reason. He was probably drunk or something.

Anyway, now that my old boyfriend/ex-boyfriend was dead, I was trying to move on and start a new life for myself as a training Avenger.

Why they wouldn't let me be a real Avenger when all the other new recruits were becoming Avengers, I wasn't sure. Maybe it was because I was young, but then again, Scarlet Witch was younger than me and she was still an Avenger.

Ugh. Times were confusing.

"I'll walk it off," I responded with a smirk.

Lucas gave me a half-amused, half slightly annoyed look. I grinned.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I reassured him. "Now, I have to get going,"

Lucas reluctantly backed up. "Stay alive. Please,"

I gave him a huge hug and muttered "I will," into his ear.

With that, I drew back and flung open the door, marching out and closing it behind me.

~

A few minutes later, I was driving my car down the crowded roads of New York City. The new compound was in Upstate New York. For me, it was only an hour-long drive, because I already lived pretty far upstate.

Besides, if I ever needed to get to the compound, I needed to live somewhat close to it.

I drove with my windows down and took in the crisp air. Though I got a couple of catcalls, I was very used to it at that point and ignored them.

They were probably drunk anyway.

While I sat at a red light, I ignited my fingers with small, purple flames and admired them. I'd gotten much better with magic over the past few years now that I'd begun to understand what triggered it- strong emotions, yes, but also focus. If I focused on a burning fire, then pictured water pouring on top of it in my head, I could dump water on it using magic. So I'd grown better at training my impulses so that I don't accidentally blow stuff up.

Which I'd definitely done before.

In that time, I'd also met a new friend- Bryce Russell.

Or, Bryce Russell-Stark. That was what she went by now after being adopted by a millionaire.

Oh, sorry. Billionaire.

I was adopted as well, not by Tony Stark, but by Steve Rogers.

Yes, Captain America.

Recently, the press had been bombarding me with questions about him and if we planned to live together or whatever.

Honestly, we're already living together! We live in the same compound, and my room is literally a second's walk away from his. 

We even went on missions together. Like when we saved the world from getting destroyed by Ultron last year. Or when we got attacked by Steve's old friend Bucky back in 2014. Dang, it was hard to believe that that had taken place two years ago. 

It honestly felt like yesterday.

Finding out that HYDRA, a weapon-making organization that made weapons with the Tesseract back in World War II was still around and in fact infiltrating SHIELD... Captain America becoming a fugitive... Nick Fury "dying" then really being alive... Bucky Barns, Steve's old best friend, still being alive and actually be brainwashed by HYDRA...

Wow. More things than I can count, that's for sure.

Long story short, my life is never going to be the same again.

As the light flickered green, I began to drive again, getting ready for the mission that laid ahead of me.