Precarious Introductions

-At the Avengers Compound. The day after Tony Stark's funeral-

It has been a rough morning at the compound. Not only were there a lot of cleaning up and construction to be done after the war with Thanos, but Tony Stark was buried and the true reality of his death started sinking in. Steve used the time machine to return all of the stones only to come back as an older version of himself. He went to live the life he was meant to have, without the world knowing who he truly was.

Noticing a ring on Steve's finger, Sam smiled and asked: "Wanna tell me about her?" Rogers smiled staring ahead. "No, I don't think I will."

Bucky standing a few metres away overheard the ongoing conversation and smiled to himself knowing that Steve would never have missed the opportunity to dance with Peggy. He even knew that Steve would stay with her, his true self not belonging in the modern world.

What no one but Steve knew was that the ring on his finger did not represent a marriage with Peggy. They did indeed share their dance together, but this ring represented his life spent with someone else. Someone the rest of the team knew all too well. Steve did not feel the need to tell Sam nor Bucky about her. Since she has long since passed on and them knowing about the truth would not bring her back. With the pain still in his heart Steve just stared at the dam, reliving some of those memories.

It would only hurt them by knowing who she really was, especially Dr.Banner that still stood near the machine he thought failed to bring Steve back. Standing up, Steve walked away without saying another word after handing the shield over to Sam and sharing one last look with Bucky. They both knew that Steve would prefer to be left alone, away from the world he once knew.

It was a cloudy day, the mood and atmosphere amongst the rest of the team not much better. They knew that building and cleaning up would take time and no one looked forward on reliving what happened that day. The name Thanos would die amongst the ashes he disappeared from.

Heading back towards the compound, Sam and Bucky talk and admired the shield sharing a few jokes along the way. Bruce slowly trailing behind them, struggling to hold all of the equipment. Still in his half Hulk form, the weight of it not keeping him down but rather the small sizes of the computers meant for regular sized people.

"We have a problem!" Clint said, walking rather fast towards the three men as they walked inside of what was still left from the compound. Barton wasn't even supposed to be here but instead with his family. Clint couldn't shake the guilt he felt for letting Natasha sacrifice herself. He felt somewhat responsible and instead try to cover the guilt with working to rebuild the compound.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Bruce asked with concern on his voice as they all walked in the direction Clint was leading them.

"As we were cleaning some of the rubble away at the basement we saw a light behind a wall. Almost as if it was supposed to be hidden away. As we got closer and broke through of what was still left from the room we saw some sort of containment box. Almost resembled what you were kept frozen in. " Clint said whilst referring to Bucky.

Feeling a bit uneasy about the mention of what he had gone through, he also got confused as there were no other subjects that were kept in those machines. Those that were are long dead and only Bucky remained.

Clint continued, "We found someone in there, a girl. I was about to move closer to look for any way to move or open the container, but as I got close she suddenly opened her eyes and stared right at me."

Sam and Bucky share a confused look to one another and then back at Bruce who seemed to share the same expression. Sam was about to ask a question when they reached the wing that used to be the infirmary. It seems a few rooms survived the attack from Thanos and they were headed straight for one at the far end of the hall. Wanda, Carol and Thor was already waiting for the others standing at the foot of the bed where the girl was laying in.

"Did anything change at all?" Clint asked as everyone reached the room, confusion placed on all their faces.

"Nothing and I can't seem to get in her head either. It's as if she's dead." Wanda spoke up, her eyes a slight red tint from her powers as she uses it while trying to read the girl's thoughts.

"She seems to be in some sort of coma." Carol said staring no where else but at where the girl is, the feeling of uncertainty laced across her face. The girl could be a danger and she wants to be prepared for if she seems to appear as a threat.

"Was she wearing that when you got her?" Bruce asked looking at the black polyester jumpsuit. Feeling nostalgia from how similar the suit looks to what Natasha used to wear. He still feels guilty and heartbroken about what happened. He still had so much to tell her and he never got the chance too.

"Yes, looks pretty similar to some of the suits we have here doesn't it? Which is weird considering that the container looks to be sealed for years." Clint said.

"What makes you say that?" Sam asked.

"It said Stark Industries on the side." Thor said, who was quiet this whole time and kept staring right at the girl on the bed in confusion as to why she looked so familiar to him. The room got eerily quiet when he did speak up.

"It was Howard Stark's brand on the side, not Tony's. Meaning that she either has been in there all these years or whoever put her in here used old technology. Which I highly doubt since they tried so hard to keep her hidden." Thor said.

This girl was a mystery to the team and they all stared at her in wonder about where she came from and why she was there. Just as quickly as these thoughts appeared, she suddenly opened her eyes and sat upright, causing all of the members to jump and stand in a fighting position. The girl slowly looked at each of them up and down starting from the far on her left where Bruce stood. She looked at the green man creature trying to look intimidating but failing miserably at it. Then she moved on to look at Sam and stared at his shield recognising the Captain America logo on it, but kept her face void of emotion and moved to the person next to him.

She stared at Bucky lingering a bit on his arm noticing the detail. As she looked into his eyes she could see his past and immediately knew why he had a familiar face. Still not showing any emotion, she moved to Clint, noticing that he has a somewhat sad look in his eyes. She can see in them why he tries so hard to hide it. Looking at Wanda she sees her hands having a type of red smoke surrounding them and her eyes having a tint of red in them. She could also tell that Wanda is trying really hard to invade her mind. Smiling inwards she moved on to Carol and noticed her hands were glowing too, but they weren't one specific colour and it wasn't surrounded by smoke like Wanda's. When she looked at Thor she unintentionally gasped and stared straight into the eyes of a man she once knew. His eyes also reminded her of Odin and she shuddered at the memories she has of him, not wanting to relive that past. Thor had a moment of recognition on his face but it soon disappeared when he couldn't place his finger on why this girl looked so familiar. The girl also noticed how much bigger he got, not from muscle but rather fat.

"Thor? Is this the son of Odin standing in front of me?" She had an amused look on her face upon seeing how confused and taken aback Thor looked. The rest of the team also staring at him in confusion.

"You have put on quiet a bit of weight since I last saw you. Seems as though you had it rough for a while." The girl said. She could read all of their memories and see why they all looked like they went through hell, but she preferred hearing people talk to her than invading their minds. Sometimes she would forget to control that part and she would accidentally slip into what their senses and their thoughts held. It wasn't always fun, she hated it. She hated feeling the sadness, guilt, anger and the memories of them reliving through it. She hated when she suddenly knew everything about everyone.

"How do I know you? Why are you here? Why were you in that chamber?" Thor asked hastily. He had to know why this girl knew him and why he felt like he knew her too. He has a feeling that their story goes back a long time. The rest of the team relaxed out of their positions not feeling threatened and just listened in on the conversation at hand.

The girl smiled and said, "Do you not remember our times together? The horse riding, the fighting, training, pranks, laughter. When you and Loki would try to look your best at the balls just for the sake of keeping Frigga happy?" She sees Thor still looking a bit confused and continued, "What about the time you spilled wine on my dress when you were drunk and poor Loki getting soaked in the process too?"

Thor suddenly looked up at the girl and tears started stinging around his eyes. "Hex?"

The girl smiled at him and stood up from the bed as they both engulphed each other in a hug. For a few seconds they forgot they weren't the only ones in the room and suddenly jumped back from one another when Clint cleared his throat.

"So, you guys know each other?" Clint asked and looked at Hex and Thor.

"She used to be a warden of my father for as long as I could remember. She vanished when Odin decided I was to become King." Thor said.

Hex's smile fell when Thor mentioned warden. Only Hex, Odin himself and Loki truly knew why she was there. She had to leave because she had to protect Earth. During that time stronger enemies were threatening the Midgardians and Thor with his new hammer would have been enough to protect Asgard without her help. Loki wasn't told that she would have to disappear, Odin didn't bother telling him. He didn't like how close Hex and Loki have become and therefore instead told him that Hex chose to leave Asgard on her own accord. She suddenly became sad at the idea of Loki. She knew that he wasn't himself when she left.

Thor suddenly looked at Hex in confusion, "Where did you go? Father only said you decided to leave but he never said why or where you went."

"And how did you end up here in a container hidden underneath the basement?" Bucky asked.

Hex looked at each of them and spoke, "I didn't choose to leave. I was forced to by Odin. He said I had to go back to Earth and hide there. Only making an appearance if I really have to. Heimdall brought me to a man called Howard Stark using the Bifrost. I didn't know the man, but he apparently knew enough to know that I should be kept hidden. He was the only one that knew about my existence on Earth and he was the only one that knew where I was kept in the chamber. I was told that the chamber is only to keep me safely hidden from potential wanderers and said that I was only to be let out if Earth was in dying need of protecting." Hex sighed and sat back down on the bed. The rest of the team stayed standing, taking in all of this new information.

"After Howard died," Hex continued, "The information was passed on to the next person. The man woke me up to inform me of his death, telling me Howard left this information of who and where I was strictly to him. I was put back into the chamber directly after."

"If you were kept hidden from this world and only one other person knew about you, why weren't you let out when Thanos came?" Sam spoke.

Hex was confused with this information. He was right, she should have been let out if Earth was under threat. "Thanos? What did he come looking for on Earth?"

"The infinity stones. He succeeded and wiped out half of the universe." Bruce said, angry at what happened and realising it could have been prevented.

"The infinity stones?!" Hex said, suddenly angry at the man responsible for letting her out and him not doing the one job he was supposed to do. "How did he get them all? They are scattered through out the universe?"

"In recent years they were all found in different circumstances. He managed to kill his way towards all six." Wanda said angrily.

"Where was Odin in all of this? Why didn't he do anything? He would have let me out." Hex asked looking at Thor.

"My father is dead." Thor spoke. "Right after he died Hela came back forcing me to cause Ragnarok which destroyed Asgard." With sadness laced in his voice he continued speaking. "We were on our ship heading for Earth when Thanos found us. He took the Tesseract but not without killing Heimdall and Loki."

Hex stared at Thor and suddenly had tears stinging around her eyes at the thought of Loki and Heimdall being dead. She did not care if Odin was gone. He was cruel and she hated how he treated people, especially Loki. Although, she could not shake the feeling she had when Thor mentioned Loki's death. She could still feel him, if he was truly gone then she would not have felt him at all. This is the only reason she isn't screaming and crying. Hex knew that Loki was alive, but she also knew that there is probably a really good reason he did not make himself known yet. So she decided to not linger on that subject.

"This could have been prevented. I could have saved everyone and prevented the killing and heartbreak you all went through." Hex let herself read the minds of everyone in the room to get a better understanding of what exactly happened. She hated doing it but she did not want them to relive the memories she knew pained them to talk about. "I am sorry, I don't know why I wasn't let out. This doesn't make any sense."

"I should call Fury, maybe he'll know what is going on." Carol spoke. As she reached for her phone, Hex's head suddenly shot up and stared in confusion at Carol.

"Did you say Fury? Nicholas J. Fury?" Hex asked and Carol nodded her head.

"You know him?" Clint asked.

"Yes," Hex said even more confused. "He was supposed to be the one to wake me up. Why didn't he wake me up?"