The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Twenty

"Hey, Mr Stark," I sighed, relief flooding through my body.

"Hey kid," Tony said, his Iron Man suit disappearing. He was standing in a massive hole in the wall, debris and dust everywhere. He gulped. "I'll pay for that."

I peered behind him to see the entire Avengers collective with their weapons out on the street below. I gave them a half-hearted wave. "Hi guys."

"MORTAL!" Thor boomed, zooming up to the now-destroyed house. "YOU HAD US ALL INCREDIBLY WORRIED. IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN I WILL RIP OFF ALL YOUR CRITICAL LIMBS AND BLAST YOU TO HEL. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

I giggled. "Yup," I said, punching him playfully on the arm.

Natasha burst through the hole, fire in her eyes. The rest of them followed, each letting out a breath of relief when they saw that I was safe. Nat looked like she was about to kill someone so I assured her, saying, "Don't worry! I'm OK. Tina found me on the mountain after the explosion." I swallowed nervously, knowing that I'd have to explain this whole Evelina-Is-Actually-Evie-Who-Is-Actually-Me problem soon enough. "Listen, Nat..."

I didn't have time to finish because Natasha enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug. Seriously, bone-crushing. I could feel my already injured leg getting more injured so I let out a little squeak of protest. She let me go and said fiercely, "You ever do that again, and I will rip off all your critical limbs and..."

"...Blast me to Hell, yeah, I know," I sighed. I gave her a small smile. "I'm glad you're safe."

The other Avengers greeted me and gave me similar threats, except for Wanda, who promised that when we got home she'd get me as much ice-cream as I wanted. While that had been happening, I'd forgotten that Tina, Evie and Ben were still cowering behind the couch.

Well, Tina and Evie were. Ben wasn't. He was staring, gaping at Steve, who had just given me a massive life lecture about disappearing after explosions. "Captain America," he breathed in awe.

Steve turned around and looked at him. "Hey..." He started to say, "I'm sorry, I don't know your name..."

Everyone looked to Ben, who was practically red with excitement. "Ben!" he piped up. "I'm Ben Halinsway and I think that the Avengers are really cool but Captain America is my favourite and I can't believe that Kira the Spy knows them and this is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm so excited and...and..." He wheezed, running out of breath.

Captain America chuckled and gave him a high five. "I'm my favourite Avenger, too," he said. "Great minds think alike."

Ben gushed, "Really??" and gave Steve a massive hug.

"Kira the Spy?" Clint asked dubiously.

"I'm so sorry," Tina said, prising Ben off Steve. "This was never meant to happen... We were driving back from Evelina's mountain camp and we found Kira unconscious in a snow drift after the explosion on Mount Gestola. We didn't mean for this." She looked apologetic and embarrassed.

"Evelina?" Bruce breathed.

"Oh yeah," I said. "Um. There's somebody you should probably meet. Evie? You can come out now."

A head of fiery red hair poked over the corner of the couch and everybody (minus me, Tina and Ben) gasped like they were in a pantomime at the theatre. Evie looked around nervously, tugging on a strand of her hair. Natasha looked lost for words. "Um, hi." She waved self-consciously. She looked at me. "Why's everyone staring at me?"

I didn't answer her. I just turned to the Avengers and swallowed, saying loudly, "Avengers, Evelina. Evelina, Avengers. We have a lot to talk about."