Steve wrapped his arms around her as soon as she was against him.

"I couldn't... I couldn't save him! I messed up!" She sobbed.

"Hey, it's okay!" He tried to cajole her. "He's alive, and that's better than not."

She sobbed, trying to speak, but he shushed her and just let her cry. Once she got herself together, they sat back to back against each other with the tree bark between them.

"So. Catch me up. What've I missed?"

"I kissed him," Kyra told him, chuckling nervously.

"You did what now?!"

"Look, at first, I was just trying to save his life. But when I kissed him, it was... right. Like, everything was wrong before because it wasn't Stephen. Kissing Pace was wrong because he wasn't Stephen. And I feel it in my bones, that he's... he's mine."

"More like, you feel it in your soul," Steve smirked.

Kyra elbowed him at the corny comment, but had to laugh.

"Well, you're not a minor," Steve swung his legs over the branch, leaning forward towards her. "And if he loves you and treats you right, then I don't have a problem."

"I think he might have a problem. If he lives, he might not get to use his hands. I'll lose him before I even get him."

"Hey, he's gonna be fine," he took her hands and rubbed them reassuringly. "You just need to keep your mind off it."

"Yeah," she agreed, clearing her chest. "Got any mission for me?"

"I currently don't have a job at the moment," Steve rubbed his neck.

In answer, his phone beeped. Frequently.

"Guess you're wrong," Kyra teased him.

Steve immediately jumped down the tree. Kyra followed. She pulled out her own phone, bombarded with news headlines and texts. She clicked a live YouTube link to a news channel.

Hours after Tony Stark sent an invite to the Mandorin, it seems like the terrorist took him up on it.

"Oh my god," they echoed.

The rubble you see behind me is all that remains of Tony Stark's once glorious Malibu manor. As of now, the Avenger himself is M.I.A. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones at this time.

"Sound like a mission?" Steve turned to her.

"Yeah, I'll check in with Happy, find out what Tony was chasing."

Kyra took out her phone and walked towards her bike. Steve followed.

"You're not using your powers."

"Can't use what I don't have," she replied.

"You don't...?" Steve sighed. "You can't..."

"What? Go find Tony?" Kyra smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "I may not be Asgardian at the moment, but I'm still Captain America's sister."

Steve smiled. "Always. You still bulletproof?"

Kyra pursed her lips. "I... don't know."

"So gear up before you go."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll work with Happy. Don't worry."

"Alright. Stay safe, okay?" Steve held her by the shoulders.

"I will. Stay outta the light," she hugged her brother.

The siblings went their separate ways and Kyra traded one hospital for another.

Happy was pacing the room, phones and screens scattered all over. "Mini Cap!"

"Happy! What's going on? What've we got?"

"We lost track of Tony after the attack on the house. Rhodey's working from his end to find Tony and I've got all these..."

She walked around the room, seeing that every device was tasked with locating Tony.

"It's my fault. Shouldn't have tried to play hero. I should've just stayed in my car," Happy cursed himself.

"Hey, it's not your fault!" Kyra held his arm and made him stop walking. "It's the bug in all of us. We can't stay sitting. You got Tony a clue. And if I know him, he's not sitting on his butt either. So let's switch gears."

"Instead of tracking Tony, we follow the bad guys..."

"And hope to run into our guy along the way," Kyra sounded out their plan. "Okay. So what're we after?"

"We were tracking the explosions Rhodey told you guys about. AIM's guy was one of them," Happy worked on one of the laptops to find new information. "I tracked one of them to the Chinese theater. The latest one we've got happened in... downtown."

"Got it, I'll start there. Got any comms for me?"

"I can get you set up," Happy said with a smile and made some calls.

In two hours, Kyra was fitted into an almost custom ironsuit. Happy informed her on all its tips and tricks, how it was rigged to adapt to her powers, or lack thereof.

"My very own iron suit!" Tony Stark's fan girl jumped in place, excited.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't tell him I ruined the surprise. He was gonna give it to you on your graduation."

"Well, I'll take good care of it, promise," Kyra thanked him. "Now, let's go check out downtown."

Kyra was in what remained of a lab, trashed with burned debris and remnants of victims. She hadn't done much sleuthing before her suit alerted her of possible company.

She looked out the window and saw a black hover pull up and a serious looking woman with two eager kids behind her. The woman stepped over to the crater, then looked back up to the building, and Kyra quickly hid behind the wall. She pressed a button on her chest, and the suit disassembled and fit into her aptly themed necklace. She'd have to examine quick before those three came up.

"This was a lab. Was this leased as a lab?" The young girl said as she stepped into the room.

"Self-empowerment center," the older woman corrected. "With a top of the line motion sensor security system."

From the woman's attitude, Kyra got that that was unusual.

"Ah, so a secret lab." The girl eagerly bent down next to the burnt body. From her spot, Kyra couldn't see what she was doing.

"Or were they just in over their heads?"

A pessimist. Must be the boss, Kyra thought.

The boy finally walked over to join them.

"Yeah, working the problem. Ladies, if you'll just..."

"If you're gonna be in the field, Agent Fitz, you have to get your hands dirty."

"No, I don't," Agent Fitz replied, busy with something.

Suddenly, tiny whirring sounds rose from the ground and Kyra quickly pressed flat against the wall.

"Heigh ho, off to work you go."

Jesus, how young are these kids?

"See, we designed each with their own capabilities, so, um, some recording the dimensions and texture of the rooms and then some are testing the matter density, radiation. I mean, one is basically just smelling."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I've got something in something."

"Who's got it?"

"Uh, bashful."

"Aww."

"Surveillance camera. Deep fried."

"Yes, but that model has flash memory in case of brownouts. Now, umm..." there was a pause as the kid went closer to the other two. "I, I could sync that data from the motion detectors and, with a little luck, get some images from before the blast. And by "luck" I mean "unappreciated genius"."

"Yeah, we'll need it."

"Explosive?" Agent Fitz asked.

"Not of this earth."

Damn! Kyra was frozen in place, and a couple of the scanner lights came on the wall across her. The drones had obviously found her. Kyra sighed and collected herself before she put on a mean face and turned around. Only two of them. Crap!

Just as she realized, the third person roundhoused her and kicked before Kyra had a chance to move. She quickly recovered and launched at the woman, using her Captain America taught skills against her, but the woman met her blow for blow.

"Where. Is. Tony. Stark?" Kyra yelled as she fought.

The kids seemed to have heard her.

"Wait, we don't work here." The girl frantically told her.

Kyra stopped to take in the answer and even the woman seemed to back off.

"I take it neither do you?" She asked Kyra.

"Tony Stark. You mean, Ironman, Tony Stark?" Fitz asked, flabbergasted.

Kyra scoffed. "How many Tony Starks do you know?"

"He got attacked by the Mandarin." The woman said.

"He was following the exploding soldiers. Trail lead me here. Who are you guys?" Finally she got the chance to ask.

The young agents looked at each other then to the boss.

"We're with SHIELD."

"Oh, great," Kyra groaned.

"What, not a fan?"

"Doesn't matter. She's coming back with us," the boss said as she was already on her way down.

Agent Fitz packed up his drones and the girl got her stuff to go.

"Jemma Simmons."

So, not an experienced agent, Kyra thought to herself as the girl eagerly introduced herself.

"Kyra Dawson."

"Agent Fitz," Agent Fitz introduced then followed behind his boss.

Kyra walked with Simmons. "Who's the dragon lady?"

Simmons laughed.

"Agent May. We actually call her the cavalry."

Kyra froze, recognizing the name. "No fucking way! She's the cavalry?!"

Kyra was loud enough for agent Fitz to join them.

"You know her?"

"Maria Hill mentioned her once. In high praise. I heard she's match for Black Widow."

"And you just fought her." Simmons reminded her.

"I have got to tell my brother."

The SUV pulled into a plane much to Kyra's surprise. But she'd rather prefer this than the helicarrier.

"You might wanna hold off the phone until you're cleared with the boss." Agent May said as she kept walking up to the main room.

What was it with cool people not looking behind? The plane was bigger than any of Tony's private planes and god darn that was a full living room with a bar.

"Make yourself at home." Agent Simmons offered her with British hospitality.

"Want a drink?" Fitz asked as he went behind the counter

"Anything soft. On the rocks." Kyra settled herself on a barstool and Fitz slid her a drink.

She didn't get to swallow it as she spat it out. What a day for seeing ghosts! Agent Coulson nervously smiled at her as the guy standing next to him reached for his gun.

"It's okay," Coulson raised his hand, "she can keep a secret."

"What?? You-..." Kyra jumped off the stool and marched towards Coulson. "You!" Kyra stopped to take in the people watching her. "Oh thank god you're alive! You took the blade for me. When the EMTs took you away, I feared the worst!"

"Who is this?" The trigger hasty guy asked.

"Agent Ward, this is..."

"Dr. Kyra Dawson. I'm Tony's live in physician."

"That's why she was at Stark tower." Coulson understood.

"You fight well for a physician." May wondered aloud.

"Prerequisite, for the job. I have older brothers in the military so, I kind of have the experience. And, as you all know, the life of a superhero is full of, opportunities."

"That's how you know agent Hill." Simmons realized and Coulson turned to look at her.

"We should talk," Coulson turned back to Kyra. "May, wheels up. Ward, keep our asset company. FitzSimmons, set up your findings in the lab."

The team dispersed around her and Kyra waited for Coulson to lead her into another room.

As soon as they were alone, Kyra hugged him.

"Oh my god! I held you as you died!" She shrieked.

"I guess I was revived on the ambulance."

"You know my dad still feels bad about it?"

"I'm sorry. Glad to hear Loki has a conscience. So, Doctor Kyra?"

"I've been to med school since I got back. Mixed my Asgardian Midgardian names. You're following the explosions too?"

"Yeah. Something called project centipede. How are you on this?"

"Tony was tracking the terrorist bombings."

"The Mandarin."

"Yeah. Happy Hogan, Tony's head of security, found a lead but he got caught in an explosion."

"That's when Stark sent out the invite."

"They sent presents. I gathered intel from Happy. He said the soldiers exploded."

"Yeah? Let's find out." Coulson went over to the comm and called everyone to the mission room.

In the mission room, everyone was standing around a holotable, except there was a new girl instead of agent Ward.

"Did Agent Ward give you anything?" Coulson asked New Girl.

"He told me he's been to Paris, but never really seen it and that he wishes you had stayed in Tahiti."

"You went to Tahiti?" Kyra asked him, like the Asgardian princess had never been to an exotic location.

"It's a magical place." Coulson told her with a smile.

"Ward doesn't like your style." New Girl continued. "kinda think I do."

"What about his?"

Coulson swept his hand along the table and a feed from a news report showed on one of the TV screens.

"... Remains in critical condition. Employees could not identify the attacker, but security footage confirms..."

The security footage showed a pissed off black guy strong enough to grab a gas canister, recking the factory.

"This is wrong. This is not...the guy I met...he was...He just needs a break."

"Then give him one. What have you got?"

She handed over a driver's license and Coulson put it on the holotable, which immediately pulled up all the information on Mike Peterson. This thing could give Jarvis a run for its money, Kyra thought.

"Mike Peterson, factory worker, married, one kid. Gets injured, gets laid off. Wife jumps ship. Good guy, bad breaks."

"Best guess is, somebody tells him they can make him strong again," Kyra spoke, aware of such things happening before, "make him super."

"Who has the tech to do that? And why would they want to?"

Kyra paced the floor, May's question triggering a memory. She frantically pulled out her phone and scrolled through her notes from Happy.

"Hold on, I think I can answer that." Kyra swiped on her phone and a holographic screen pulled up. She swiped it over and it merged with the bigger screen, revealing everything on Aldrich Killian and his company.

"Tony doesn't trust Killian, and Happy was following his body guard when the explosion occurred."

"You think AIM is supplying the Mandarin?"

"There has to be a connection between them."

"AIM! That makes sense now," Simmons burst out and pulled up something on the holotable. It was a piece of burnt machine with the letters A.I.M written on it.

"The lab was owned by AIM."