Avengers X Eternals

Thena 2

The Cargo ship Thena used to escape docked into a harbor. She could name New York City off of looks alone. She remembered Gilgamesh showing her picture from the internet of their achievements. One of the images was of a cascade of buildings with a green lady standing to the side of it all.

Thena's fist clenched at her side and she fought the urge to punch one of the shipping containers. Everything she knew and relied on for the past three centuries had been because of Gilgamesh, now without him beside her, it was like a part of her was missing. Not wanting to lose herself in front of a lot of humans again, Thena controlled her breathing and jumped off the ship.

When she landed she half-expected the humans to try and ambush her again. But to her surprise, nothing came and Thena walked around town for close to an hour. Weaving in between streets, crosswalks, and just generally going with the flow of early morning traffic. She didn't have a direction or any specific place to go, although she knew Phastos lived somewhere in the city. Ideally, he could make some kind of contraption to contain her.

Walking around the city, Thena marveled at the human accomplishment. She'd of course seen the images of the internet, but seeing them in person did it justice. In the last century, they'd undergone a technological advancement like nothing she'd imagined. Just to take it all in, Thena stopped on a street corner and looked up at it all. Spinning in a circle with a giant smile on her face.

"Tourist," someone said to her mockingly. And Thena slowly lowered her eyes to him. Normally human insults couldn't get under her skin as easily but as Thena lost herself more and more, the easier it was to set her off. Slowly she followed the man, keeping a keen eye on his black beanie weaving through the crowds.

She followed him until eventually, she stopped herself. What are you doing? What are you going to do? His head continued to move back and forth ahead of her. Thena knew the answer and deep down knew the road it would bring her down. She swallowed and made her way inside the first door she could find. Anything to get her off the streets and away from people.

The room she entered was an empty space, a training area of some kind. On the right wall, she recognized technologically advanced weights and some machines that she assumed did a similar thing. Lined up on the other side of the floor were giant bags about eight feet tall, there were twelve of them lined up.

Ideally, the room would've been empty so she could focus on something peaceful, but there was one man in there. He had one of the bags hanging up and was repeatedly running into it with his fists. A fighting training method of another kind, she guessed. "What are you doing?"

He punched the bag another three times. On the final swing, his fist collided with the bag and sent it flying off the hook, and grains of sand spilled out of it. His entire body was covered in the hard work of sweat, another human thing Eternals never got to experience. His body shape reminded her a lot of Gilgamesh, broad-shouldered, well-defined facial features, and arms that swung beneath a pendulum. His white t-shirt was tight-fitting and khakis extended down to his ankles.

"Just..." he said slightly out of breath, "training" He went over to his pile of punching bags and rehooked another one. Then stepped closer towards Thena. "Are you from legal? Ready to make me alive again?"

Thena had the slightest clue what he was talking about. "Not sure what you're talking about, I just got off the street because I had to get away from all the people. Before something regrettable happened." She had managed to clean her pearl white dress on the boat, it no longer had the bloodstains of innocents on it. "Why do you punch the bag?"

"I have uh... trouble with the past sometimes. And it keeps my mind off things. I'm Steve Rogers by the way." He extended his hand.

Thena looked at it unsure before offering her own for him to kiss. "Thena." The man didn't miss a beat and brought her hand up to his mouth. An awkward silence fell after the motion.