Psych the Avengers Out

Xena Awakens

Stark, that's not a good idea!

Oh go find someone else to deal with your codes of conduct, Captain.

She's a mind reader, Stark, it's not the best idea to-

Oh, can it Stars and Stripes!

The door to the bedroom was thrown open and Stark waltzed into the room with a flourish. The girl was lying on the bed, sprawled across the sheets, hair laying in straggling lines over her face. She was dressed in simple black pants and a white tank top. Her feet were bare and on her wrists were slim circlets of silver metal.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!" Stark sang and jostled the girl's shoulder.

Immediately she was up, hands clawing around his throat.

She'd moved faster than either Rogers or Stark could have thought was possible. She was on the bed one second, flying through the air the next. Her momentum carried them off the bed and onto the floor, her hands clamped tightly around Tony's throat. Rogers took a moment to respond. The he was grabbing onto the back of her shirt and hauling her backwards. It took much more strength than he expected to pull her off of Stark.

Rogers finally succeeded in pinning her arms behind her head in a firm hold as Stark sat up warily regarding the girl while massaging his red neck. "Get your hands off of me!" she growled at Steve, pulling hard against his arms. Unfortunately his muscles were exceptionally large due to his being a super-soldier and she only succeeded in making him tighten his grasp.

"See, Stark, I told you this wasn't a good idea!" Rogers yelled. He let a small "ow" reflexively, as she viciously stabbed her heel down into his foot. Given that she was barefoot, it didn't really help her situation much.

"Well I didn't expect her to go all Xena Warrior Princess on me, now did I?!" Stark said indignantly in response. The girl stopped pulling against Rogers momentarily and let out a small laugh, barely more than a quick snort of breath but she had a small grin on her face. Tony gave a laugh as well and she tried to hold back a giggle. Suddenly Tony and the girl were both laughing with a bewildered Steve holding onto the girl.

"Care to explain that one?" Steve asked quizzically. Seeing the look of puzzlement on his face, Tony gave a brief explanation of the modern reference in question. "Ah, I see," Steve said with a puzzled look. Clearly the Captain still didn't understand it. These modern references are so confusing, came his thought.

"No worries, most of us don't get them either," the girl said. Shocked that she had answered his thought, Steve momentarily relaxed his grip on her arms. She pulled away with a quick twist and ducked as Steve tried to grab her again. She sprinted past Tony, who was still trying to get up and leaped through the door.

Out in the hallway, she quickly looked right then left and decided on the left and blew down the corridor at a sprint. She could hear Steve running after her. No time to look back and see if he was gaining; that would cost her precious seconds. She passed a living room with a blond-haired man sitting on the couch. He gave her a puzzled look as she flew by. "Don't just sit there, Thor, help me!" she heard Rogers yell.

She skidded around the corner and heard another set of heavier footsteps join Roger's. Great, just her luck. She mounted a staircase, taking them two at a time. She emerged on the roof and ran towards the edge, to discover that, oh great, this wasn't some house or apartment. No, this was a tower. So much for that escape route. She heard Steve pound out onto the roof behind her and spun to see him coming at her, followed by the blond-haired man.