A Sense of Belonging - An Avengers Fan fiction

Chapter 5

"She shouldn't be here. She's just getting in the way," Natasha hissed, speaking her thoughts to Steve as I ran into Tony, making him drop his case containing the suit on his foot.

"Sorry," I whispered as he clutched his foot, swearing, and giving me a dirty look. From the corner of my eye I saw Steve approach me.

"Stay on the ship," he commanded. I stared at him, stunned.

"What?"

"I said stay on the ship!" He repeated, glancing quickly at the aliens who kept getting closer.

"No!" I protested, trying to move around him and exit the ship. "I can help! I can fight!" I reasoned, but with no success.

"You will just get in the way. We dont need your help ... In fact we would probably benefit more without it. You are not a soldier." I was shocked at this side of Steve.

"And this is not the war you are used to," I retaliated, but unwillingly moved back onto the ship, knowing my argument was pointless, watching as Steve led the group out to face the oncoming terror.

After a minute of sitting idly, not knowing what was going on, I made up my mind as to what I was going to do. I couldn't just sit here when I knew there was excitement outside the ship. It took me a matter of seconds to grab my previously discarded weapon, before making my way into the bright midday sun, where I struggled to understand what was happening. I felt a bullet whiz past my ear, and I quickly dropped to the ground, crawling to the side of the ship where I could have cover, but still a good sight of the going ons. I raised my gun, poised to attack, when a cold hand clamped over my shoulder. Letting out a small scream, I closed my eyes tight and let out a couple of shots blindly behind me, and heard the successful ring of a bullet hitting metal. Wait... Metal? My eyes shot open and I was face to face with Iron Man, who was also a very pissed off Tony Stark. Shit.

"Tony, I'm sorry, I didn't realise! I thought you were -" My words turned to muffled gibberish as he placed a metal glove covered hand over my mouth. His mask retracted to reveal an even more annoyed expression to the one I saw when I ran into him. At the moment, all I felt like was crawling into a dark hole and never coming out. I had managed to screw everything up.

"What are you doing?!" Stark half shouted, half hissed at me. "Get back on the ship!" His loud voice must have given away our position, as the next thing I know I am being shoved behind the building, and Tony has stepped in front of me, hands out at the ready to use his weapons. However, something happened, and next thing we all knew, the Chitauri had dropped to the ground, lifeless, and resembling something close to a pile of black goo. It was disgusting.

"Guys?" Tony's hesitant voice ran out through the clearing, and when he spotted Natasha and Clint step out from various locations, followed soon by Steve, I could see him relax and step out, revealing himself and surveying the alien mess on the ground in front of him. Unfortunately, he didn't forget about me, and he had a hand clamped around my upper arm, dragging me behind him while I looked, embarrassed, at the ground. "What happened?" Stark asked. A loud thump caused the groups attention to turn to a hole in the trees where an extremely large, green man was standing. The hulk. Bruce.

"Hulk killed big guy," he grunted, a please expression on his face. An expression which morphed into confusion as he spotted me, which directed everyone to notice that someone who wasn't meant to be there had joined their 'gathering'.

"Eleanor?!" Steve's voice was almost unbelieving. "What is she doing here? Tony? You were meant to stay on the ship, Eleanor!" He ripped his mask from his face, furious about behind disobeyed, before turning to Tony for an answer.

"She shot me." Clint let out a snort, before signaling we should all follow him onto the ship.

"What's done is done. Let's go guys. Miss Eleanor is not our problem... Fury will deal with her when we get back to the carrier." He reasoned, and I shot him a grateful glance that was missed as he sent me a look of annoyance in return. I seemed to be receiving a lot of them lately.

"I think we should just leave her here," The Black Widow stated her opinion and I glared at her. Clint silenced her with a wave of his hand, and began herding us like sheep onto the ship, patiently waiting for Bruce to morph back into ... Well, Bruce, I guess. I ended up walking next to Steve, and I hesitantly cleared my throat, getting his attention.

"You were really nice to me on the carrier, Steve? What changed?" I asked, my voice a small, scared whisper. He took a moment to answer, his gaze steely as he looked at me.

"I let my emotions get out of hand. It was stupid. It wont happen again... Especially since you almost got us killed," he replied in a monotone, not meeting my gaze as he sat on a seat as far away from me as possible.

The ride back was horrible. I sat by myself in the back corner, my legs curled up to my chest, and a choked feeling haunting me. I wanted to cry. I probably had just lost any chance of finally belonging somewhere. I thought that one day I might be able to call the Avengers friends, and be able to feel as though I had a purpose. But that was all gone. Upon landing I could hear Fury shouting at Steve, and another wave of guilt overcame me, because I knew all of this was my fault. I wasn't meant to leave the ship, and yet I was stubborn. So, being the coward I was, I slipped around the side of the ship and away from Fury and the Avengers' anger, and made my way towards the light that I hoped was the hanger door. As I excited I heard Tony alert the others of my unexplained absence, and knew they would be searching for me. I'm pretty sure I was necessary to Fury, but at the moment, I didn't want to think, I just wanted to escape. And I had to go somewhere they couldn't find me. So what better than the biggest building in New York?

...

Hope it meets peoples expectations! Please leave a review :)

- Maddie xx