"Well, that explains it." 

The city is alive tonight. Jackie Barnes thinks.

The lights are bright and thanks to her heightened senses, she can hear the buzzing of the neon signs that hang all over the buildings as she passes them. Cars honk and weave through the streets, while exhaust fills the air where they pass. There is so much noise around her that she has to focus more on the music that’s coming out of the open entrances of the restaurants and small boutiques. All around her is noise. But thankfully, she tunes most of it out while focusing on getting where she needs to go. Both sides of the streets are congested with people. Some are dressed for whatever activity they have planned tonight. While others rush past Jackie with exhausted looks on their faces. Jackie makes a beeline across the street and walks two blocks east.

She slows her pace down when she spots her two best friends. Huddled together underneath the street in front of Hector's Bodega. When they spot her, Jackie gives a playful salute. A blonde who is SallyJean is dressed as if she is a pinup girl from the 1950s waves at her while the boy named Collin waves back with less enthusiasm.

     “Jackie finally.” The blonde smiles walking over to Jackie and giving her a quick hug.

      “The streets are really packed tonight,” Jackie says standing in front of her best friends.

Collin smooths his gel black hair back and checks the time on his phone. “We better get going the shows going to start soon.”

Jackie nods her head and they began walking down the street towards the venue. Jackie is honestly, surprised, she even agreed to go out. She hasn’t been doing much of anything as of lately besides doing extra missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. here and there. While still leading and teaching an aerial yoga class each week. Besides her, SallyJean tugs on her arm.

      “Put a little pep in your step. Don’t wanna be the last to find good spots.” SallyJean teases.

Jackie laughs rolling her eyes. "Super Sonic, Sally?” Jackie asked following the other girl

Sally nods her head, “Yes and it’s going to be awesome.”

      “Sure. Sure.” Collin says, looping his arm into Sally Jean’s. Jackie trails behind them until they slow down and join the large crowd that’s gathered at the side of the club’s building. Club Oz is a brick building with a huge neon sign hanging diagonally on the front of a lime green awning. On the front of the building leading towards the entrance are different bands and singers' posters plastered on it. 

When they get to the bouncer whose guiding the entrance, Jackie fishes her ID out of her pocket and shows it to the bouncer at the front of the door. There's a red plastic bracelet slapped on her wrist. Collin whistled near her, “Nothing like a couple of bud lites and a little music.” 

Jackie laughs looking at the fluorescent sign that sticks diagonally on the bathroom door as they walk through the dingy hallway and into an open area. The room is completely full and Jackie wonders, how many people are actually here for the bands or just for the free drinks that were advertised on the bathroom door.

There is silence and the microphone crackles as the bar owner comes onto the stage. He is tall and gangly. With red hair and black square glasses. The bar owner clears his throat, “ Hey welcome to Open Mic and Bar night. Tonight our special guest is the awesome band, Super Sonic.”

There are a few cheers and whomps heard throughout the crowd as the owner moves off the stage. A hush fell over the crowd as four members walk onto the stage. Out of the four, the band’s drummer catches her eye. She knows him from somewhere but she’s not sure where. Maybe, from when she was younger, but she is certain she knows him. Her thought process is interrupted when the first chord of the song is struck. She doesn’t think about more but she does her eyes trained on the drummer.

Stop, the train is ridin down to the station
Where you lived when we were school kids
Hey, the rails are caught now
And I am falling down fools in a spiral
Round this town of steam

My Body tells me no, but I won't quit
Cause I want more, cause I want more
My Body tells me no, but I won't quit
Cause I want more, cause I want more

Stop the train is riding down to the station where I lived
When I was a cool kid
Hey, is it my fault that the fallen embers burn down in a spiral
Round your crown of thieves

My Body tells me no, but I won't quit
Cause I want more, cause I want more
My Body tells me no, but I won't quit
Cause I want more, cause I want more
And it rides out of town

For a moment the room comes alive and the vibration from the instruments and the crowd makes the floor and walls shake and rumble. Jackie feels it through her skin and continues to sway to the music. She bumps shoulders with Collin and SallyJean as the band keeps playing. When the band finishes the last note, the crowd gives a loud roar. Jackie can’t help but do the same and clap along. Not what she was expecting the band wasn’t bad.

While the band thanks the crowd and the crowd starts to settle, Jackie gives Sally a high five and takes a sip of her drink in her hand. She’s about to reply when she feels the floor shaking. Sally Jean clutches her shoulder as the rumbling continues. Jackie stands there unaffected by the shaking. She is sturdy, and due to her super-strength, she can withstand it.

Jackie hears a slight cracking and a tear in the ceiling above them appears. She blinks from the dust particles in the air. Another crack is heard and the people in front of her, start to crouch as a circular piece of debris falls from the ceiling. If it lands then it will crush the people under. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Jackie is about to leap into the air when a gust of wind ruffles her hair. Like time has stopped, her feet haven’t even left the ground before she sees a blur go past her, and then it’s gone.

The debris from the ceiling is nowhere to be found. Although when Jackie looks around, she sees that people are unfazed.

Someone moved it out the way. Quicker than expected. Jackie concludes.

Jackie's gaze hardens and her attention turns to the stage where the drummer of the group is still standing there. While the rest of his band had moved back. Jackie realizes, that there is a buzz that tickles Jackie’s ears. The humming is still there and Jackie has to squint to realize that yes, the drummer did in fact move in time to save some of the people in the crowd from the crumbling ceiling. Some of the dust particles have settled on his clothes and thin blue streaks that are still in the air, hum, and buzz around him.

There’s no way. Jackie thinks continuing to stare at the boy.

Maybe she should go over there, and say something. Maybe she should have already acted when part of the ceiling was falling. But she hadn’t. She wasn’t into exposing herself not tonight at least. She’s about to move towards the stage but the drummer runs off. Jackie curses under her breath. Cellphones buzzed and lit up the dimly lit room. Her own phone vibrates in her jean pocket. Besides her, Sally Jean gasps, showing Jackie her phone. In bold black letters, Jackie reads, ‘SOMETHING IS ATTACKING CENTRAL PARK.’.

She pears closer to the screen and her eyebrows raise only a fraction. A dozen black figures run across the screen. She spots some of them jumping on people trying to escape the park. Jackie shakes her head, looking at the black creatures.

Jackie doesn’t know what pushes her, but she tells SallyJean and Collin that they should get moving. While she checks out what’s going on in Central Park. They nod their heads and SallyJean squeezes her arm and offers her a ‘good luck’

Jackie follows the rest of the crowd out of the building and she starts to weave and dodge through the throng of people. She doesn’t stop running until she is at the entrance of Central Park. When she sees what lies before her, she doesn’t hesitate but barrels through the entrance at full speed towards the chaos.

"Wasn't expecting that." 

Doutzen Barton stretches her limbs from her seat on the couch. It’s Wednesday night, and she is in charge of babysitting her three younger siblings. Together, the four Barton kids are scattered throughout the living room watching Freaky Friday. Next to her is her younger brother Cooper who has the bowl of popcorn on his lap. Doutzen grabs a handful of popcorn from him and returns to watching the movie.

She eats them out of the palm of her hand as she continues watching the movie. She wipes the popcorn residue on her jeans when she feels her phone buzz. Doutzen looks down and sees a dozen texts appear on her phone screen, so she swipes her finger across the screen and unlocks it.

     “Ohhh whose that?” her brother says leaning into her shoulder.

      Doutzen bumps his shoulder and stares at him “Watch the movie nosy.”

Cooper sticks his tongue out and goes back to watching the movie. Doutzen smiles and rolls her eyes. She taps the phone and scrolls through the texts that were sent to her. She chuckles as she reads some of them and fires off texts replying to people in the chat. Not even five seconds passed before a dozen more appear.

She laughs seeing Hugh Stark complaining about the watered-down taffy he bought from the store. While Katarina Romonoff only tells him to ‘keep it together rich boy.’.

It’s a group chat she’s in with the other heroes' kids and she loves it. It makes her feel more connected to the other kids who can understand what it’s like to have a superhero parent. Growing up and wondering where her dad was off to was always fun. Or, figuring out why in the world did your dad leave for months on end. A mystery to some regular kids but not to them.

Doutzen replies, ‘Stark doesn't have an eye for what’s good’. And she locks her phone back returning her eyes to the screen. She plucks a red vine from Coopers’ hand, tears off the half, and smiles chewing it while her younger brother glares at her.

When the ending credits roll by, she sends her younger siblings off to bed. Doutzen yawns and grabs the rest of the snacks off the coffee table and ables into the kitchen to put them away. She plucks some stray popcorn into and dumps the rest into a plastic bag. She drops it and the rest of the snacks on the kitchen table. While walking back into the living room she feels the house somewhat shake. Dust particles fall into the air around her. Raising an eyebrow, she stands in the middle of the room and another wave shakes the house. Stumbling forward, Doutzen bends down and grabs her bow from under the couch.

Her phone buzzes and Doutzen pulls it out of her pocket. By the time it’s in her hand, her phone buzzes again. There are two alerts from the news on her phone.

NY NEWS NETWORK
 - A large sound seems to be coming from Central Park.

1 min ago

NY NEWS NETWORK
- (UPDATE): CIVILIANS ARE NOW RUNNING FOR COVER AS THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED. MORE UPDATES TO COME.

53 secs ago

Doutzen blinks slinging her bow across her back while her arrows are strapped to her thigh. She runs to the closet near the kitchen and grabs her jacket from the rack. Before running to the door, she makes sure her siblings are already asleep. Secured and sure of herself, Doutzen slips out of the house, following the noise.

She spots the noise coming from Central Park and double-takes. Doutzen ducks behind a broken tree and cranes her neck over it. The park’s grass is singe with black spots. Trees similar to the ones Doutzen is crouched behind are broken or pulled from their roots. While there is a hideous screeching coming from a few meters in front of her. What really sticks out to the archer is that there are more than a dozen of people who are running toward other people who are fleeing. 

Although as Doutzen peers closer she realizes that they look less like people and more like creatures. From what she can see, their skin is pale grey and cracked. Their eyes look bottomless and black like they were dug out. Out of the corner of their eyes, black liquid leaks out. That same liquid falls from their mouth where protruding razor-sharp teeth are.

Well, this is definitely not a beauty pageant. Doutzen thinks.

She is already readying an arrow from her back and notching it against the string of her bow. She aims it at the one running towards a child crouching under a falling branch. She lets the arrow go and it hits the creature directly in the chest.

Looking from her place she is sure she hit the creature but is surprised to figure out that it is still standing. Doutzen grimaces, she didn’t pack her trick arrows, just her regular ones. So, she loads another arrow and hits the creature in the same direct spot as her last one. This time the creature falls backward and hits the ground with a loud thud.

Doutzen peers at it as it sizzles and smokes. She sees that whatever that thing seems to have evaporated into thin air. This is when pure chaos ensures.

Doutzen counts how many there are left and knows she can take them out and be back before her parents even arrive home.

All in an hour’s work. Doutzen thinks loading another arrow and crouching behind a boulder.

She shoots two more creatures and is ready to shoot another when she hears the most jarring sound ever. She lowers her bow and covers her ears. It’s a screeching sound and it makes her ears ring. The sound is enough to make her grit her teeth. When the sound stops, she blinds trying to gain focus but there is one of the creatures already descending on her. Until it’s not. In a blur, there is a woman dressed in a black leather jacket who body checks the creature. The creature goes crashing straight into the tree and away from Doutzen.

Letting out a breath, Doutzen smiles as the woman stands there.

      “Nice move,” Doutzen says

      The woman nods her head, “No time for chit chat. ”

Doutzen gives the woman a look, slightly agape, “I’ve been working.”

The other woman doesn’t say anything.

      “The name’s Doutzen.”

      “Jackie”

      "Cool."

Working together they take care of the creatures that are left. They make sure the people are safe and stay there until they hear the wail of the sirens. They both agree that if the police find them and talk to them, it will both give them a headache. Especially dealing with their parents.

Once they are a safe distance away the pair find a quiet bench that’s a little outside of the park. They slowly slide onto the wooden bench and lean back. There is an awkward pause between the two until the blonde lets out a sigh.

      "What did you think those things were?" She asked the woman next to her. 

Jackie shrugs, "I don't know. Someone could have summoned monsters. They could have been aliens. I would leave nothing out."

       "I think we could get more information out of our parents later. They definitely bound to mention this incident." Doutzen says rubbing her arm.

Jackie rubs the dry grass stain on her clothes knee, "I could see that happening."

Doutzen stretches her arm and leans forward on her knees. “After today, I think maybe that meeting would be a good idea.”

The brunette next to her doesn't say anything. She leans her back and rubs the bridge of her nose. Jackie sighs and looks at her and shrugs, “Maybe.”

Doutzen raises her eyebrow, “Why not. It’s going to be funny seeing other kids and hearing the way our parents talk.”

       “It’s going to be pure chaos.” Jackie states

Doutzen laughs and knocks her knee against Jackie’s “That’s the best part.”

Jackie shakes her head and folds her arms, “We’ll see I guess.”

       “So you’re going?”

Jackie nods her head. She didn’t see why not, she was already doing extra missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. What was the difference in joining a team where she would be with people she hoped understood her.

“Great.” Doutzen smiles "Because I can't wait for this to go down."

The archer always thought it would have been a good idea for this to happen. Don’t get her wrong there were other heroes out there pulling their own weight and making their name where they were. But, this was them, the kids of the Avengers, it was too perfect not to pass up.

It was well into the night, the two continue to talk and only stop when Doutzen's phone starts vibrating again. She pulls it out of her pocket and see’s it’s one missed phone call from her mother. Doutzen raises her eyebrow as she realizes she’s been out longer than expected and sighs. She looks back up after feeling Jackie stare at her.

She smiles, “Well I gotta go before I’m toast.” She chews her lip contemplating her next question before she shrugs “Wanna exchange numbers?”

Dark eyebrows are raised and Jackie’s mouth opens and closes for a split second before she nods her head. Doutzen passes her phone into the other woman’s outstretched hand and waits as she adds her number. Shortly after, Jackie hands the phone back to Doutzen and stands up from the bench.

Doutzen gets off the bench too, stretching her tired limbs and sighs. She thinks about how she is going to have to haul to get into the apartment before her parents eventually get back.

Jackie nods her head, “Later.”

Doutzen laughs and gives her a thumbs up walking backward. Jackie smiles and gives her an absent wave walking in the opposite direction.

                “See you soon, Jackie,”  Doutzen calls walking away

author's note

Hey! Here is chapter four! I hope everyone is doing good.

This chapter was written from Doutzen and Jackie's point of view. Haha, yes those monsters do show up again in this chapter but they are real as you can read in this chapter. Unlike chapter three where they were not. Haha, who is behind these creatures ... we shall see! We're going to find out more in the future. The band that's mentioned in this chapter is actually Nikolai Maximoff's band, another member of the Young Avengers. Suprise, haha! Also, the song I used was 'My Body' by Young the Giant. I hope you guys like this chapter. Thank you Sun (Golden-Blood) and Gabby (tadhana-), I hope I wrote your characters well. 

Also, the group chat that Doutzen is in, will continue to grow as we get more into the story and see more characters. So get ready for pure chaos, lol.  If you want to read the group chat then you can head over to the Heroes Blog. ✖ click

On another note, there's so much information that's coming with each new movie or tv series. So, if you like, you guys cans always add to your character's app. Lol, just drop a note off to me in the comment section or in my DMs.

Alright, I hope you guys are staying well and healthy. Have a great weekend everyone!