The STRANGE Avenger

Chapter 4 : Decisions

Avenger's POV

Thor continued to make his way through the snowy forest, running into the occasional HYDRA soldier. Though he came here with the Avengers to find Loki's scepter, Thor's current mission involved finding a so called enhanced individual, and asking her why she was present at the HYDRA base. He jogged along the uneven forest floor with ease, his cape brushing up small clouds of snow behind him. A low rumble began to make its way into ear shot, the sound from a tank drawing closer to Thor's position. Thor flipped Mjolnir around in his hand, a small smile dawning on his features. Though he would acknowledge that his war hungry self no longer existed, he did enjoy the thrill of a fight. Especially one that posed a challenge; however slight that challenge may be.

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Thor easily handled the tank, flanked on either side by several heavily armed soldiers. He launched himself forward, striking the tank with a powerful burst of lightning, effectively frying the vehicle's systems. After he finished off the remaining soldiers, Thor righted himself and glanced around, ensuring that they were still laying unconscious on the ground. As he did so, he spotted a small clearing within the trees that led towards an open dirt road. The road seemed to be scattered with debris, and as Thor entered into the clearing, he quickly recognized the debris was made up of several burnt vehicle frames. Though Thor wasn't fully listening to the metal man, he knew he said something about several HYDRA cars being torn apart by the woman he was looking for; and by the steam still billowing from the charred cars, he knew the woman would be close by.

Before he got the chance to inform his team of his discovery, Thor saw a sudden shot of blue race into the opposing treeline. At seeing this, He began to jog towards the road, his grip once again tightening around the handle of Mjolnir. Thor expected to come face to face with the enhanced woman, but slowed to a walk as he noticed there was no one around. His brow bent in confusion, what did he just see? He remembered Stark saying that the woman used magic, but that hers was of an orange colour. So then what was the blue streak that he saw? Thor pondered this thought as he neared the dirt road, a pool of shiny red liquid catching his attention.

"We have an enhanced in the field." Cap called through the team's com.

"The enhanced?" Thor questioned, kneeling over the pool of scarlet liquid, taking some up upon his finger. He had seen the remnants of many battles; Thor knew this was blood, and it was fresh. He was beginning to piece together an idea of what happened.

"He's a blur. " Cap answered, picking up on Thor's question.

"Then he's responsible for taking the woman spotted earlier."

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Thor began to walk away from the wreckage, beginning to head back towards the rest of his team. As he shoes meet the snowy grass once again, he felt a firm pressure underneath his right sole. Lifting his foot to see what was trapped beneath, the sheen of metal caught his eye. Thor bent down to pick up the shiny metal bar, turning it within his fingers. The object appeared to be a two finger ring, the bands on the bottom small enough for a woman's hand; most likely, the woman's hand.

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Rachel's POV

Rachel sat in front of her monitor, sweat making its way down her left temple. In her five years of knowing and working with Jessica, nothing like this had ever happened before; Jessica had never failed a mission, let alone been in danger on one. Normally she would just keep an eye on Titan, and stop the occasional robbery. But this, this was new.