May 1st

 

After crying her eyes out on Captain America's shoulder, Victoria received a few head pats and some more words of encouragement that served her well in preparing herself for what was to come. She wasn't very happy with the image she had shown one of her favorite heroes ever, but at the very least she knew he was the right man to idolize. At least as long as he didn't go the 'Hail Hydra' route like he had done in the comics that one time.

Right now, though, she had more pressing matters. Namely, the fact she would need to study the area in which the Invasion would take place. That meant taking a bus to downtown New York and spending the first day purely exploring the publicly available buildings she would have to gain access to for her to keep the civilians safe during the battle.

She didn't trust herself with improvising, so she planned.

Victoria visited every building and carefully implanted the layout of every single one of them into her mind as strongly as she could, so that she may not need to make stops in the middle of the action to re-orient herself. To most people, she simply looked like either a very fired-up intern, a possible new hire, or just a kid having a tough time finding her way around town, but she didn't mind those looks at all. Not when their lives would be in her hands sooner rather than later.

She even got access to Stark Tower! Only the first few floors since they were the only public space the tower had, with the upper levels being reserved for R&D, security, and finally Tony's penthouse. As day turned to night and she prepared her backpack filled with medical supplies, she sent the largest pulse she could manage, catching Tony connecting the last few pieces for his tower to light up like a beacon in the middle of Manhattan.

If she could see, she was sure it would've been a magical moment.

But with that pulse, she could at least tell that the lights were turned, as nearly every passerby turned to see and smile at the spectacle being presented in front of them. If only they knew...If only they knew.

Victoria decided to sleep for the first night, not trusting herself to be able to the next day, so she went to bed early. Most of her budget was blown off her pockets with the two nights she asked for at one of the hotels nearby, but she could at least enjoy a comfy bed and a warm shower before her work started the next morning.

As she finished her shower, she remained inside the cubicle of glass, her hair dripping wet, tightly hugging her shoulders and upper back.

"....You're doing great, Vicky." She repeated those words.

The words that she took from Cap-no. The words that Steve Rogers gifted her.

With newfound determination, she pushed herself off the shower and put on her pajamas before going to bed for the night. The pressure inside her chest slowly built up, one grain of sand at a time.

 

---

 

May 2nd

 

Victoria spent most of the morning hours stretching, exercising, and eating as much as she could. Her experiments with her Telekinesis had allowed her to find out that most of the strain from using her abilities was placed directly into her metabolism. Not only would she get headaches or feel symptoms related to anemia if she overdid it, but she would also lose weight at a very dangerous pace.

So she stuffed herself full, did some light exercise to keep herself from barfing it all out, and stretched her muscles so she wouldn't pull anything the next day.

Soon she would be fighting for her life, and from now on she would be running on nothing but energy drinks, rations, and water when she could afford to stop for a few moments. It was more than likely that she wouldn't be able to, even if the fighting wouldn't take multiple days, she still needed to prepare for the worst. And in this case, the worst-case scenario was being buried under a fallen building, or getting trapped underground while trying to keep civilians in a safe area.

She had mapped the entire area where she knew the Invasion would hit the hardest and figured out that the underground parking spaces that allowed most of the office and commercial buildings to function despite the heavy traffic were her best bet at evacuating the civilians within a very small timeframe.

The fight itself would likely take a few hours at most, maybe less if she could get involved and anticipate Loki's moves, but she wasn't about to assume she was smarter than a literal God of Trickery, so she planned for the worst-case scenario, as always.

With a deep breath, Victoria took out the one briefcase she had brought with her, taking the outfit from within and displaying it on the bed in front of her. What looked to be a mixture of some kind of traditional Asian clothing and a militaristic uniform was proudly resting on the soft mattress.

It had a half-dress that allowed the wearer to keep full mobility of her legs and a pair of jeans that she made sure to reinforce with multiple extra layers of denim to protect herself from debris as much as possible. There was also a half-cape that could cover her back and most of her right side, giving her an advantage against anyone who could figure out her superpower by hiding her dominant hand.

This would make it harder for anyone to see what she was doing, and it also added a sense of style to the mixture.

"Should probably make sure it does fit." She thought out loud and decided to try it on.

So she did, the entire outfit mixed quite well if her biased judgment could be trusted, so she decided to not make any further changes. She had thought about maybe trying to get a mask of some kind, but the lack of mobility in her facial expressions could be a bit hard to manage, especially if she was going to use her manipulation of sound to make herself sound different already.

If Clark Kent could pull it off, then she most certainly could try too!

It was on that happy thought that Victoria decided what she was going to do. She was going to do a good job.

She was going to make past Vicky proud.

She was going to help protect this world.

Because it was now her home, and she wouldn't allow a crybaby to destroy it because he thinks himself bigger than he really is!

 

---

 

May 3rd

 

One more day. Just one more day to go.

Victoria had been tempted to try and find the boxing gym Steve would be at the previous night, but decided against revealing herself before it was time to act. Primarily because she figured out she would be asked not to intervene and to evacuate with the rest of the civilians, she knew what he thought of young people joining the fight, despite that he had done the same during the war, he was against Spider-Man participating in their dispute later down the line, so Victoria wasn't expecting a good reaction from him.

Especially after her little meltdown.

So she had simply forced herself to sleep. And here she was, calmly searching every five minutes for any news from Germany in case the skirmish was being reported on. It wouldn't be until May 4th that the battle proper would begin, but Selvig should have his Iridium almost ready to finish his beacon, and all that was needed was for it to be transported to the very top of Stark tower.

Victoria had a chance, a chance to evade the entire fight and just skip right to the end.

All she needed was to destroy the machine before it could function, but she wasn't sure she actually could. Or if she should. The entire reason why the Avengers bonded together so well was because they had an enemy in common, a goal they could all strive for.

It was what connected them all initially. Sure, friendship and other bonds surged from there, but this fight was the beginning of it all, and Victoria wasn't sure what would become of the world without the Avengers becoming the catalyst for what was to come. If she wanted to survive the Mad Titan, she would need them all in top shape, and she'd rather deal with a small Invasion force rather than a full-on army if she could seize the chance to choose.

Eventually, the news hit, it was mostly in German, but the parts that were translated gave her the gist of it all. Loki must already be on his way to the helicarrier, or maybe the attack was already happening. A sudden rush of adrenaline hit her, but she calmed down and relented.

This wasn't the time to panic, it was time to prepare.

She made sure she had everything ready. Including the series of weapons she had at her disposal. Four batons, two knives, and two taser pistols. Victoria had stolen from the local police department with a lot of precaution and guilt riding on her mind due to it.

But she would need the weapons more. She'd need to defend not only herself but the unarmed civilians as well. The police department over in Queens could survive without a few batons and a pair of tasers. At least she hoped, she wasn't sure how well-funded they were over there, maybe she would need to start donating money to public services. Was that something heroes would do?

She wasn't certain, but with Thor falling from the sky, a stray Hulk landing on an abandoned warehouse, and a trio of Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye on their way, Victoria would need to stay ready if she wanted to make a difference.

And it started by keeping Loki from running away after Tony was done with his distraction. It was that fact that caused the whole Nuke incident, and she'd rather not deal with a What if? scenario where the Nuke does go boom.

All she needed to do was keep a God of Trickery and Deception from running away, how hard could that possibly be?

It's not like he was that much stronger than her anyways!

...

Panic started to settle, Victoria wasn't ready.

She never would be.

But that's what being a Hero is all about. 

About stepping forward even without preparation, taking the challenge by the horns and doing your very best to overcome.

"Alright. Let's do this." She put on her backpack and walked out the door, reaching downtown Manhattan and waiting until the evening turned to night, and the night to day once more.

She would show Steve she could be a Hero too!