"Nat, on your left!"

Dahlia called out to Natasha as she backflipped onto the roof of the truck, dodging a bullet and slicing the driver's throat.

Nat nodded and kicked a robot in the face as she continued to drive, Clint shooting arrows from the top of the car.

"Shit!" Tony swore through the comms, and Dahlia looked around for the iron-clad man, who had just bounced off of the base's force field.

"Language!" The audio crackled, revealing Steve's ridiculous comment.

Dahlia's face broke out into a grin, internally laughing as she kicked a soldier in the face.

"JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?" Steve said, obviously trying to brush past his previous statement.

Thor landed about a yard away from her. "Loki's scepter must be here. Strücker couldn't mount his defense without it. At long last."

Natasha jumped out from the car and began to fight a few soldiers. She gestured with her hand, silently signaling for Dahlia to cover her back. The two fought in perfect sync, covering each other's blind spots.

"At long last is lasting a little long, boys." Nat grunted as she kicked a man inbetween the legs.

"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint panted, drawing yet another arrow out of his quiver.

"Wait a second. No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'Language'?" Tony said in disbelief.

"I know." A large explosion sounded along with Steve's comment. "It just slipped out."

"Sorry, Spangles, we'll be sure to watch our mouths." Dahlia teased.

"Oh, quit it, Anelace."

Tony was distracted by something JARVIS said to him through his suit, and nearly got trampled by three men, but Dahlia jumped in before anything bad could happen, fighting all three at once.

When she stepped away from the scene, there were three more bodies littering the forest floor then there had been previously.

In the distance, Dahlia could hear Natasha yell for her, and she made to move towards the sound, but a blue blur stopped her from doing so, knocking her to the ground.

A man who looked about her age appeared out of the blue (literally), and stopped right in front of her, grinning. If she wasn't about to seriously beat this guy up, she'd even consider him to be attractive, but the fight came first.

"You didn't see that coming?" The enhanced said, smirking cockily.

Dahlia scoffed in her head, before responding, "Oh, but I did."

An explosion sounded behind him, causing him to turn around in shock, giving her the perfect opportunity to knock him to the ground.

Using his super speed, he stood up extremely fast and the two started fighting hand to hand, her quick reflexes keeping her at the same pace as him with his powers.

"I find it's rude to fight someone without knowing their name." The anonymous enhanced said, grunting as he blocked her fist with his arm.

"It's not a date, buddy, I don't need to know who you are to kick your ass." Dahlia retorted, jolting her knee up to knock him square in the jaw.

"It's still a matter of politeness, darling, so could I get your name, or should I continue to call you darling?" The guy asked, his accent laced through his voice.

She contemplated this as she kicked him in the stomach, entertained by his questions. "Dahlia."

"Pietro." He smiled, dodging her fist. "I hope I see you soon, Dahlia."

"Can't say the same, Pietro. I would hate to have to beat you again. That would just be sad." Dahlia mock-pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

Before anything else could be said, Pietro winked and raced away, leaving a trail of blue electricity behind him.

She smiled to herself and shook her head, before notifying the team of the new development.

"We have an enhanced in the field." Her voice sounded over the team's earpieces.

"Clint's hit!" Nat responded, her voice panicked. "Somebody want to deal with the bunker?"

"I'm taking the close perimeter, I'll try to stop the soldiers from where they enter." Dahlia ran up to the base, stopping right before the line where the force field went into place.

The energy field crackled and fell, leaving silent woods behind it.

"Drawbridge is down, people." Tony claimed proudly.

"The enhanced?" Thor asked Steve.

"He's a blur. All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."

Dahlia reloaded her guns and said without thinking, "A really hot blur." An awkward silence ensued, several Avengers looking at her in disbelief.

"What? He was! He had a hot accent."

Thank the lords, Natasha saved her from the weird looks she was receiving, but not with good news.

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac."

"I can get Barton to the jet, the sooner we're gone to better. You, Anelace, and Stark secure the scepter." Thor instructed Steve.

"Copy that."

"Find the scepter." Thor said, his face serious.

"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony cackled over the radio.

Dahlia doubled over in laughter and simultaneously shot a soldier in the arm, not letting Tony's comment compromise her.

"That's not going away anytime soon." Steve sighed.

Steve and Dahlia made their way into the base, fighting off soldiers left and right.

"Baron Strücker. Hydra's number one thug." Steve said as the two approached a man who evidently, was the cause for this mess.

"Technically, I'm a thug for S.H.I.E.L.D." The man snarled, making Dahlia tense up, her finger hovering over the gun's trigger.

"Well, then technically you're unemployed." Steve responded, his face serious.

"You know, I know a cashier job at a grocery store that might be just your speed, Strücker."

The corners of Steve's mouth lifted a bit at her comment, but he forced them back down again. "Where's Loki's scepter?"

"Don't worry, I know when I'm beat. You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope."

"I'll put it right under 'illegal human experimentation'." Steve's face hardened.

"Maybe put it alongside with weirdly shiny head? Seriously dude, do you grease it or something?" Dahlia put on a look of concern, one that was thoroughly fake, but before she could say anything more, she was thrown onto the wall by a force she couldn't detect.

A girl was controlling the force that had thrown Steve down the stairs at the same time, but her hold on him slipped as she focused her full attention on keeping Dahlia's gun as far away from her as she could.

All at once, she dropped to the ground, the girl moving out of sight.

"We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage."

"Damn, Gramps. Learn to use contractions, will you?" Dahlia said, rubbing her head where it had gotten smashed into the wall.

"You'll have to be faster than-" Strücker was cut off by Steve's shield hitting him in the chest.

"Guys, we got Strücker." Steve said over his comms, helping Dahlia up from the ground.

"Yeah, I've got something bigger." Tony said, looking around at all of the Chitauri artifacts he found.

"That's what he said." Dahlia said as she and Steve headed back to the jet.

"Not the time, Anelace, but nice one." Tony chuckled. "Thor, I've got eyes on the prize."

Just then, the second enhanced came up behind Tony and used her powers on him, without his knowledge.

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin when the Chitauri came to life, roaring and soaring over his head. Beneath the terrifying creature lay each one of the Avengers, dead and cold.

Hulk, slumped on his side. Natasha, blood gushing from a wound on her head. Clint, with his hold on one last arrow that he'd never shoot. Thor, Mjolnir just out of his reach. Dahlia, her gun laying in her lifeless fingers, and Cap, his shield torn in two.

Tony reached down to check Steve's pulse and as he did, Steve grabbed his hand and whispered, "You could have saved us.", before his hand fell and his eyes rolled back into his head, lifeless.

He looked up to see that the Chitauri realm surrounded him, the portal to Earth right in front of him, and he snapped out of it, everything where it was before, everything seemingly unchanged.

Pietro and Wanda stood far behind Tony as he reached for the scepter, and Wanda held up a hand to stop her brother from taking it first.

"We're just going to let him take it?" Pietro breathed, disbelief heavy in his voice.

Wanda grinned from ear to ear and the twins watched as Tony grabbed his iron man armor, picked up the scepter, and did everything she knew he would.

He made it almost too easy.