Not Afraid: Revamp

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers.

You know those TV shows where the character asks 'what could possibly go wrong' or 'how can this day get any worse'? If so, then you know exactly how the whole 'jinxing yourself' bit goes. Well, I guess I'm either not all that smart or I must be way to determined that superstitions don't exist because one day I decided to say the latter of those two phrases. To this day, I do not walk under ladders, I toss salt over my shoulder if I spit it, and I freak out if a black cat crosses my path. I guess you could say that saying that phrase may just have changed my entire life.

That is, if you believe in superstitions.

The sun was beating down on my skin even through the occasional cloud that attempted to protect me from it's rays. I reached down beside I was laying and grabbed a chunk out of the ground before bringing the chunk to my mouth and taking a bite out of it. It was fluffy and warm perfection. A whole island that was really just a giant waffle floating in a maple syrup sea. Bushes made of pads of butter were melting in the sizzling sun as sausage canoe. It was-

"Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes."

I looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the music.

"Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear."

The sun's rays became blindingly white, consuming my line of sight completely.

"Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes."

"How do you measure, measure a year?"

I shot up in bed to shoot a glare at my phone as my ringtone blared loud enough to wake Jesus two days after crucifixion. The blinding white sunlight that had engulfed my dreams had cleared away to reveal my dark bedroom that was only dimly lit by the morning sunlight that drifted in through the window. My phone was still blaring "Seasons of Love". Fumbling around sleepily, I groped for my cellphone. After a few moments of searching, I spotted it lighting up underneath my bed sheet. How the fuck does that even happen?

It seemed like it was ages before I had officially trashed my bed and secured the phone in one of my pale, long-fingered hands. The light from the screen stung my eyes as I squinted to see who was calling me. My sister's face was shining back at me, her name blinking in bold white lettering. Sally Hurst.Bleached platinum blonde hair and bubblegum pink lips flashed in my mind's eye. A groan escaped me. I would rather drown in maple syrup than answer her call. Rather than going out to the store to buy enough maple syrup to decide my fate, I answered the call.

"Sa-"

"How is my darling of a younger sister doing?!" her voice chimed in my ear at a pitch that was way to high to be natural, or at least normal. Grinding my teeth, I pulled my phone away to look at my clock. It was 4 o'clock in the morning.

"What do you want, Sally? In case you haven't noticed, this is an inhumane hour to be up. The fact that you woke me up so early in the morning makes me wish that I could knock you through a wall," I groaned out the words as I dragged myself out of bed. My head was already pulsing, a direct side effect of my sister. As tired as I was, it shouldn't have surprised me when I got tangled in my sheets and went tumbling over. My shoulder collided with my dresser, causing me to yelp in pain.

"Did I just hear a crash?" Sally asked. Standing back up slowly, I was about to deny it when I lost balance and was sent in a terrifyingly ungraceful fall that resulted in my face becoming one with the hardwood floor of my bedroom. Even more frustrated, I was readying a sarcastic reply when I was cut off by Little Miss I Love Being Awake As Early As Possible So I Can Torture My Sister. "Nevermind, I need a favor from you. James is coming back from Cali today and I want to meet him at the airport so can you pretty please cover my shift at the coffee shop? I promise I'll make it up to you!"

"It's really sad that I seem to work there in your place more than you do, and I'm not even an employee!" I snapped at her, not sounding as harsh as I was trying to due to the groggy slur that came with a lack of sleep. "Besides, what if I already have plans?"

"You have plans? Give me a break!" she laughed. Like magic, my snippy, to good for the world, sister was back. It was almost comedic how quickly the sugar coating seemed to wash away. "You never have plans because no one besides me can even tolerate you for more than five minutes, sister dear. Not even our own mother could bear to look at you, much less be around you. Now, be a good girl and go fill in for me. Gosh, you are so selfish sometimes. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I missed my gorgeous fiance and that after his long, exhausting business trip I deserve to be the first piece of New York he sees? Yes, you do. Just because you're life is miserable doesn't mean you have to make mine miserable too. Anyway, ta ta! I have to go find something sexy to wear for my honey bear!"

With those departing words, the snob hung up on me. My blood was boiling as I began pulling off my pajamas and changing clothes. I tried to ignore the jab about Mom the most. Out of everything she had said, it was the one that stung. I was excited though. Just the other day I had bought a pretty white sundress with lilac embroidery. As long as I was careful, no coffee should get on it. Thanks to Sally, I had worked plenty of days covering for her at the coffee shop along with working my own shifts as a waitress at Clover- one of the nicest restaurants on this side of New York City. I was confident I could avoid spilling anything on my new dress. The dress had spaghetti straps so I decided to grab a white crop jacket out of my closet to cover my shoulders.

Since I lived in New York, I made sure to grab my pocket knife of my dresser and slid it into my pocket before going into my bathroom to brush my teeth. Before I left, I checked myself in the mirror. A pair of sapphire eyes set into an ivory face stared back at me. No need to bother with make up, I walked down the hall to my living room. Despite my lack of height, I refused to wear heels. A pair of white flats caught my attention and I slipped them on quickly before making a dash for the door. Making sure to lock the door, I made for the elevator quickly. To my dismay, an Out Of Order sign was hanging limply from above the grey doors. The sign dashed my hopes of getting to eat a decent breakfast before going to that damned coffee shop. The coffee shop opened at 5:30 and I lived a good ways away. My apartment was on the 23rd floor of Buford Apartments, which meant I had a lot of stairs to run down if I wanted to get out of here.

If I can just run fast enough maybe I can get a nice bagel from Sam's. I hoped. The thought was crushed as, about half way to the lobby, I realized I had forgotten my cell phone. There goes the bagel theory. But hey, I can lose that five pounds Sally keeps nagging me about.

By the time I had my phone and was exiting my apartment building, I knew I was in for a rough day, and the sun was just rising. How did I know? It may have been a good hint when a painter that was fixing up the sign for my apartment building accidentally hit his bucket of red paint and it toppled over, sending red paint flying as he cried out and I screamed in horror. The paint can landed right on my head, so at least the painter couldn't see the angry tears that began brimming in my eyes.

"Well, this day can't get any worse, can it?" I sighed as I pulled the paint bucket off of my head and stared down at my ruined dress.

That was probably the moment I sealed my fate.

Of course I had to call the coffee shop to give them a heads up that I would be late. It took at least an hour to wash the paint off of me and out of my hair before changing into a pair of dark jeans and a black tank top and running back onto the street. I didn't even have time to mourn the loss of my dress. Instead, I focused on the difficult task of hailing a cab. After the fifth one ignored me, I gave up and took off sprinting in the direction of the coffee shop. Why is an available cab in New York harder to find than Amelia Earhart?

Being a natural klutz, I fell at least seven times on my way. Once the coffee shop finally came into view, I wanted to cry tears of joy. I shoved my way through the slew of New Yorkers until I reached the glass door. I pulled it open and nearly fell to my knees as the crisp air conditioning blew stray strands of long black hair that had fallen from my ponytail. One of the other girls that worked there, a petite red head with sparkly cabbage green eyes arched an eyebrow at me in amusement before breaking out into a smile.

"You look like hell," she pointed out before walking into the back office to get me an apron and make sure Charlotte, the owner, knew that I was covering for my sister, yet again. Knowing my tremendous luck today, it seemed like a perfect fit that I would trip over a Wet Floor sign and land face first into Danny's mop bucket. At least I didn't have make up on for the water to ruin. Not having the taste of mop water in my mouth would have been appreciated, but I must have angered some pretty tough gods because I would be tasting the floors of this plate for awhile, it seemed.

"Damn it, Danny!" I yelled once I had pulled my face out of the disgusting water only to land flat on my butt. The obnoxious part-timer with shaggy blond hair stared blankly at me, not hearing my cursing through the crappy music that buzzed through his headphones. I looked around the coffee shop to see that none of the few customers that were there seemed to care about my predicament.

"Oh my. Jessie you look like a wreck!" Charlotte exclaimed. Charlotte was one of those women in their forties that was tough as nails, but as sweet as candy. She had grey-streaked brown hair with hazel eyes old enough to hold a lot of understanding in them. Taking a towel from her apron pocket, Charlotte handed it to me. Mia returned with the apron and helped me to the bathroom where I got a bit cleaned up and I told her all about my horrible day.

"Seriously, Mia," I set her with an exhausted look as I finished tying the apron and swept a few damp strands of hair out of my face. "How can this day get any worse?"

"It could always get worse," Mia insisted as we swept the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop. There was more litter on this sidewalk than it Central Park. Not really, but it felt that way. I snorted at Mia, rolling my eyes at her.

"How?" I gave her a condescending look as I swept away a discarded soda bottle. Mia shrugged, seeming to contemplate ways it could get worse.

"We could get invaded by aliens," she pointed out, gaining another snort and a roll of the eyes from me. I almost felt like a broken record.

"As-" I was cut off as a humongous vortex opened up in the sky. Alien/robot/creatures began pouring out of it. What did I do? I most certainly did not scream like a little girl. Reacting in a panic, I moved to grab Mia and yank her into the shop. Instead, I felt a harsh yank on my ponytail as one of the creatures yanked me off of the ground. Pain and shock filled me simultaneously as I struggled to get free.

"Let me go!" I screamed. My hands reached up, but I couldn't wrench myself out of its grasp. It was completely tangled into my hair. I remembered my pocket knife, I reached into my pocket in the hope that I had remembered it. My fingers wrapped around it and I pulled it out of my pocket and began cutting the hair a couple inches down from my hairband. This idea wasn't thought through, however, as I soon discovered as soon as the last chunk was cut through and I began tumbling towards the ground. Squeezing my eyes shut, I awaited my inevitable death. Death didn't claim me, though-a pair of metal arms did. Opening my eyes, I nearly screamed in shock. I was face to mask with Iron Man. "Holy sh-"

"Love to chat about your lack of flying abilities, but I need to go back to the whole 'army from another dimension' thing," he commented, as if he was discussing the weather. Unable to force out any words that weren't of a vulgar nature, such as the one I didn't get to finish, I let him place me on the ground without a word. He rocketed away and I was alone. Everywhere I looked was chaos, so I just pocked a random direction and began running. Feet hitting pavement, with screams in my ears as I ran, it took most of my energy not to collapse. Maybe the adrenaline in my system helped a bit as well. I am so going to die.

Luckily, the building I happened upon was Stark towers. If anywhere was safe, it had to be here. I rushed into it just as one of the creature fired at me. As I entered the lobby, I nearly fell to pieces right then and there from the stress that was practically crushing me into the floor. Those things are going to destroy New York! Yea, just New York... You know what I mean! Yea, just like you know that we could be of some assistance. How? I'm not a superhero. I'm normal. Ha! You? Normal? As if. You may not be some famous hotshot hero, but you are a crazy chick having one of the worst days of your life. Doesn't that count for anything? No. No it does not. What would I even be able to do? Throw a rock at one of the murderous creatures to try to knock it off its magic flying bicycle and hope that it doesn't kill me? You have to do something. Or I can. I always regret listening to you. What choice do you have? Death? Neither one of us would like that. Look, we're in Stark Tower. Maybe something here can help us.

I found an emergency flight of stairs and ran up them for what felt like ages. My legs were sore by the time I found a door that would open. It let out onto a floor that looked as if it had been hit by an earthquake. One of the large windows was shattered, the glass covering the floor like sprinkles on ice cream. A moan caught my attention and my head snapped to see a man laying in his own personal crater in the floor. The destruction outside rumbled in my ears as I stare at him in shock.

"Oh my...," I finally broke out of the trance I seemed to have been in, rushing forward to kneel next to the man. The stranger looked to be badly beaten and his skin was pale with purple and blue splotches on certain exposed areas of skin. I pushed his long black hair out of his face to see wide green eyes looking up at me. "What happened to you? Oh yea, evil things outside. They did this, didn't they? Let me get you out of here."

I bit my lip. I knew I was strong... Help me. You really are crazy.

With one arm under his knees and another under his back, I struggled to my feet. I started carrying him out of the crater and towards the emergency stairs. Where should I take him? You won't be able to carry him far. Shut up!

I took off, stumbling and running down stairs and into the chaotic streets of New York with some random guy in my arms. No, it was not my most intelligent moment in al of my life time, but I never was one to think first. After all, how could this day get any worse?

Ready for this adventure? Read on and enjoy!

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