Together We Stand...

Chapter 1

Oh my god I was 11 when this movie came out... I feel so old......

Also make sure you read "The Hex" before you read this book. It's a short origin story for Ela, and it's not great, but it explains a lot.

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        Frequent shuffling around the house woke me from an unfortunately light sleep. I couldn't get a decent amount of sleep these days. Every time I tried, memories of the day I'd broken Manhattan invaded what should have been sweet dreams. The bleeding faces of mothers and fathers desperately reaching for their children; that little girl, her head at a devastating angle as blood poured from her ears, color slowly draining from her face and the luster from her eyes. Those around me- well, the one person around me- knew about this, and as much as they tried to help, nothing ever worked.

        Carefully, I pushed myself up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, a shudder passing through me as the cold of the small apartment I lived in. My hand immediately reached for the large sweatshirt hanging next to my bed, and I slipped it on with ease, allowing two large, black wings to fit through the holes cut into the back. As soon as I was comfortable, I pushed open the squeaky wooden door to my room and padded toward the kitchen. I peered my head around the corner to see a large figure frantically moving about, putting some food onto two plates and set it onto the table, alongside a manila folder in the center of the wooden circle. Curious, I came around the corner and made my presence known.

        "'Morning, Dad," I mumbled, making my way toward the enticing smell of something sweet for my first meal of the day. My father turned around and flashed a bright smile as he took his seat at the table.

        "Good morning, Ela."

        I joined him at the seat across, picking up a fork to start eating some re-heated waffles from yesterday. All the while, I couldn't keep my eyes off the folder, particularly because of the two names on it:

        Rogers, Steven and Rogers, Elanor.

        "What's this?" I asked, picking it up and waving the folder around a bit, attempting to open it in a different way.

        "Director Fury dropped it off last night." I set the item down and went back to eating. "We've got a mission, apparently."

        "Was Fury here last night? You should've woken me up, I could've said hi."

        My father went silent for too long, and when I looked up at him, a guilty look crossed his face. My imagination started to run away with me, as it started to dawn on me what happened, how he'd gotten that file.       

        "Not... exactly."

        My hands began to tremble, the sliver fork between my fingers clattering onto the wood below my as my eyes slowly rose to meet my father's. Normally, they were a source of comfort, but this time, they'd deceived me.

        "I was out last night at the ring. I couldn't sleep." As thought that excuse would help... "He came to me and handed me this. Mentioned something about the Avengers."

        I'd remembered a vague mention of the Avengers from back when I'd first been brought to this part of the world. I'd been asked to join, but then... supposedly things fell apart, and the initiative was abandoned just like that. But that wasn't what I chose to focus on.

        "What if someone found me while you were gone?" My breaths were coming faster now. "What if someone broke in, what if I'd gotten hurt, what if my age suddenly caught up with me and I died?"