AU Milliways: 2012 Captain

[therighttime]

The sun is shining, the grass is green, the lake is a gorgeous glittering blue...

And Steph is in the bar, curled up in a chair with a sketch book and a mug of coffee.

Increased energy aside, not everything changes when you grew up a sick, skinny kid in the city.

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[therighttime]

Steph hesitates before uncurling from her own chair, holding onto the armrests so she can push it around and face Matilda. They could move to a different couch or a table, but these chairs are comfy and it's no trouble. Matilda is given a smile for her courageous nature, and her strength if she can move a chair like that.

"It's... it's pretty interesting," she decides on, her smile apologetic at the weak answer. "I started out in the army a long time ago and I guess now I'm more of a special missions agent? Of sorts. But they still call me Captain, I just don't have to live on base or wake up to trumpets anymore."

[missnicegirl]

"What kind of special missions?" she asks, bouncing a little on the cushioned seat. "Or are they the secret kind?"

[therighttime]

"They're mostly secret," Steph admits, sympathetic for not sharing national secrets with a little girl, nose wrinkled a bit. "But sometimes they're not. There was an alien invasion in Manhattan last year, and my team and I went in to stop it."

She's noticed that people she meets in Milliways tend to believe her when she says 'alien invasion,' with or without proof.

[missnicegirl]

"Whoa," she says, eyes wide. "Cool! Are you all okay? Did you kick out all the aliens? Why were they invading?"

[therighttime]

"Everybody's okay. We're a pretty special team, a few of us have some gifts that make it safer for us to fight. That's why we were sent out."

Not that the army couldn't do it, but that the Avengers were less likely to all die in the attempt. Steph's used to - and occasionally oddly flattered by - being the best weapon at someone else's disposal.

As for the Chitauri themselves, her smile fades and she shakes her head. "We won, yeah, but it was a pretty big mess. They're still doing some clean up, even now. I guess they were invading because they thought Earth was a pretty great place to be."

And humans would make some pretty great slaves.

[missnicegirl]

"Gifts like what?" asks Matilda, because that is definitely the most interesting part of that.

[therighttime]

Good! Because the rest is kind of messy.

Steph grins a little, thinking about it. She's not sure who would impress Matilda the most and frankly, every member of her team is incredibly good at what they do. Sometimes frighteningly so.

"Well," she says slowly, thoughtful. "One of my teammates is named Thor and he..."

He's not a god, thank you very much, but still.

"He can change the weather and he has this hammer, passed down through his family. He's the only person who can lift it, anywhere."

[missnicegirl]

"...One of your teammates is the Norse god of thunder?" she translates. "What are the rest of them like?"

[therighttime]

Oh, good, she's familiar with the legend at least. Steph relaxes a little and makes a face, amused. "Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? And Thor's one of the more predictable ones. He's not a god, though. I don't really understand it but I guess he's an alien himself and his people used to come to Earth a lot. That's where the stories come from."

[missnicegirl]

"That's kind of fascinating," says Matilda. "What language does he speak?"

[therighttime]

"He calls it Allspeak," Steph replies, frowning a little, "but it sounds just like accented English. But he can talk to anyone, no matter what language they speak, and be understood. It's pretty weird to see, but wonderful."

[missnicegirl]

"...I wanna learn it," she declares.

[therighttime]

Steph grins at her immediately. She really likes this kid. "I bet Thor would love to talk to you. He's a real nice fella."

[missnicegirl]

"Cool! I don't think I've ever met a god before. Does he come here? Do you know?"

[therighttime]

He is not a god, but Nik had pulled her aside later and told her never to say that 'There's only one God' line wherever there might be someone to record it. And in 2012, that basically meant 'Never say that ever again.'

So Steph ignores that and smiles and shakes her head. "I haven't seen him, but I'd be surprised if he didn't. He travels a lot further than I do, and for a lot longer."

[missnicegirl]

"Neat! Maybe I'll meet him. So what is the rest of your team like?"

[therighttime]

"Well, there's Nikolai. He's the best hand-to-hand fighter I've ever seen. He's a soldier, kind of, like me, and he's definitely the scariest of all of us."

Some would say Hulk. Steph would say Nik twisted his knee running from the beast and spent the next twenty-four hours using that knee to systematically take down every enemy he came across and then shut down an interdimensional portal with strength of will as much as muscle.

Steph's money definitely goes on Nik's, and she has a feeling Dr. Banner might agree.

[missnicegirl]

"Cool," says Matilda.

She doesn't mind scary! She is scary, by many objective measures.

"Who else?"

[therighttime]

Sometimes the best people are scary!

"Claire. She's the only other woman on the team," she feels obligated - and a little proud - to add, "and she's an archer. She never misses a shot and I've seen her hit a bullseye with her eyes closed."

[missnicegirl]

"That's awesome! Is she magic?"

[therighttime]

"No," Steph laughs, shaking her head, "but sometimes she seems like it. She's just that good. She's the only one of us who wasn't enhanced in some way."

[missnicegirl]

"Woooow," says Matilda. "That's even more awesome. Who else?"

[therighttime]

"There's Bruce. He's a genius, really really smart about radiation and biology and things. He helps us out a lot when we're assessing threats, figuring out what the bad guys are doing and how to stop it."

She hesitates here. That's the really important part of Bruce's job on the team, or at least the part he likes to acknowledge. But having seen it in action, Steph can't deny the Hulk's efficiency or usefulness.

[missnicegirl]

"That's cool too," she says, with an oddly knowing grin.

[therighttime]

Steph nods and grins back. "Information gathering is a lot more important than bashing in heads. I think he worries about that sometimes, but we'd be lost without him."