Take Me or Leave Me - by Pyro

CHAPTER ONE: Three Musketeers

"You are insufferable and I wish you would leave me alone!" Angel Stark yelled at her older brother, Tony. "Jarvis, slam the door for me."

"As you wish, Angela," Jarvis responded, letting her door slam.

Tony made a face. "That was very mature!"

"Wow, coming from Tony Stark, I'm going to ignore that," Angel responded, shaking her head. "You remind me so much of Dad, I want to punch you in the throat!"

"You just can't take a joke!" Tony said, opening up the door of the bedroom he was letting her stay in currently.

Angela Veronica Stark, or Angel as people called her, looked up at her brother as she went over a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission log and glared at him. It had nothing to do with anything that had actually been talking about—it had to do with the fact that when left alone together for long periods of time, the Stark siblings went at it and never backed down. Tony was 10 years older than his little sister and was already in college when she started Kindergarten, so what they had in common was…well, practically nothing.

While Tony slept with practically anything with legs until pursuing a romantic relationship with Pepper Potts, his assistant, Angel was still a virgin at 30 and incredibly picky about the men that she dated. What they did have in common, however, was their snarky attitudes, their ability to banter and make jokes at the wrong time, and their stubborn attitudes. The two loved each other very much, but they were never seen being affectionate to each other, so no one would know that.

"How old are you? 7?" Angel asked him.

"Asks the 4 year-old," Tony responded, and then out of nowhere he started to laugh.

Angel rolled her eyes, but she smiled too. "Wow, we were just acting like children. That's not even a little okay, Ed."

"It's really not, V," Tony responded, calling his sister affectionately by a nickname of her middle name as she did to him—it was all part of showing each other that they cared. "You have a meeting, I have a meeting…how's the Cap?"

"Adjusting…slowly…" Angel told him, shrugging a little bit. "I feel really bad for him. This is a really hard thing to adjust to."

They were talking about Steven Grant Rogers of course, or Captain America as some called him. Angel had been assigned to him to try and help him to assimilate into this world and it was a rather slow going process no matter what she said. Steve was still dwelling a bit on the past that he had left behind and Angel wished that there was some way that she could help him through it, but she knew that this was also a really hard situation to adjust to.

"Well, after checking on him, go get yourself laid," Tonty said, heading out of the room and getting a shoe thrown at his back. "Ow! Yeah…you're 4."

"Says the 7 year old."


Sharon Jeanette Carver's place inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. was something that she was incredibly proud of. These 27 years of her life had been spent trying to do her job to the best of her abilities and also trying to actually have a life even though she thought that the time was ticking down on that—Sharon was newly 30 and still had yet to have a relationship last longer than 11 months and was currently single and the prospect of kids was looking pretty non-existent. Still, she had my work to fall back on.

"Is Angel coming in?" Clinton Barton, or Clint or Hawkeye as he was called asked her.

Sharon looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, after she checks in on Cap."

Her smile was that of incredible tenderness as she looked at Clint with a soft, affectionate look in her eyes. She had always had a thing for Clint and he liked her too, but they didn't have time for romance right now and he wasn't making a move so she wasn't either. Besides, these days she was starting to think that Natasha Romanov, or Black Widow, and Clint had a thing going. That bothered her more than she would admit to anyone but her best friends Angel Stark and Adrienne Mett—or Andy—but she was trying to just roll with the punches.

"How is he holding up?" Clint asked her, taking a seat across from her.

Sharon had been going over some fighting scenarios because that she was interested and she closed the file and gave Clint her full and undivided attention. Smiling at her because Clint was fond of her company, he crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward a little to let her know that he was invested in the conversation. That just made Sharon smile some more and then she straightened out a little bit and fixed her hair with a swish of her hand.

"He's working on it. It helps that Angel's there for him." Sharon said with shrug. "We were all strangers to him, but now he's grown accustomed to seeing her and he likes being able to see her when she visits him. Sometimes he really doesn't want to see her though."

Clint nodded slowly. "Understandable—he's going through a lot. So, what about those files you got there?"

"Just some strategies to try," Sharon waved it off and moved to stand. "You could help me teach them to the others if you want to…"

Perhaps it was a play to get to hang out with Clint some and get to spar with him and in general be near him and get to touch him without it being weird, but it would also be helpful. Clint was one of the few that didn't wonder constantly what it was that Sharon was good for and that was probably part of her attraction to him—even though she knew he had no idea what it was that she could do. She, Angel and Andy had a habit of trying to simply act like agents even though they were mutants…it was just that only Nick Fury and Natasha knew that.

They were very secretive about their powers and they liked to get people to like them before letting them into their circle of trust…if they let anyone in. Now, Sharon was kind of looking Clint up and down as he looked over the files she had been looking over, looking like she was just kind of waiting for an answer when he looked back at her. He nodded, however, and Sharon felt her eyes light up at the idea of getting to work with him.

"Yeah, I'll help you," Clint said with a grin on his face. "Let's get to it…where's Andy?"


"Oh my God—can't you guys do anything right?" Andy exclaimed, grunting a little bit. "If I didn't already feel like I was getting paid enough, I would ask for a raise."

As much as Adrienne Mett enjoyed her job training the new recruits, today she felt spent and she felt like they couldn't shot a damn weapon to save their lives. She ended up sending them off and scowling a little bit, rubbing her temples and heading down a corridor until a very familiar face stopped her: Tony Stark. She'd met him before of course because she and Sharon had been Angel's friend for years, but she was weary of Tony just as Angel was because he made it impossible for her to get things done.

"If it isn't Anthony Stark," Andy said, putting her hands on her hips. "If you're here to disrupt my life, I suggest you turn around and go out the way you came because I'm not in the mood today."

"Oh, but torturing you always brightens up my day," Tony teased, moving to tousle her hair and getting punched in the gut. "I really need to start spending time with less hostile women."

Angel laughed as she came down the corridor. "Thank you for punching him. Trust me, he deserved it. Now, he's here because he's being a pain in my ass, but I have to get to Steve, so…"

"Angel!" Sharon called out.

The corridor was suddenly getting a little more crowded and so Andy moved to push Tony to continue down it, but he stuck there for a moment or two just to annoy her. The sexual tension between the two was kind of astounding, but they hated each other too much to even consider it…in fact Angel and Sharon were pretty certain that should Tony ever try anything with her then he would surely regret it. Besides, Andy could take him—that they were sure of, Ironman or not.

"Clint and I are going to run through some scenarios," Sharon explained, pulling her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

Andy nodded at that. "Awesome—you can help me run the newbies through them because they suck. I'm trying to be supportive, but I'm afraid to let them have weapons."

"It can't be that bad, this is S.H.I.E.L.D. after all." Angel laughed, taking Tony by the arm. "We're heading out, but good luck. Dinner tonight?"

"Dinner tonight," Andy and Sharon chorused.

"And no, Tony, you aren't invited," Angel said as he opened up his mouth. "For the love of God, go do something with Pepper tonight."

CHAPTER TWO: Tensions Everywhere

"I bet you need a chaperone, right?" Tony asked Angel wiggling his eyebrows and then smiling as Angel punched his arm and rolled her eyes. "I forgot, he's Mr. Moral—you're not getting in his pants."

Angel took a deep breath. "I'm just trying to make him more comfortable in this world, Ed…so stop it. Not everything is about getting someone else to part their legs for you."

"Um…I don't think you know this world like you think you do, Sis," Tony laughed and then looked at her as he got ready to take his leave from her. "People ever ask you why you call me 'Ed'?"

"When they do, I just tell them that your middle name is 'Edward'. Will you please leave now? Why'd you even show up again?" Angel asked him, putting her hands on her hips. "Last I knew you and Nick kind of hated each other."

"That's why we're talking—I'm going to win him over with my award winning personality."

"Or suffocate him with it. Break a leg."

"Thanks, V."

"No, I really meant 'break a leg'…"

The two siblings smiled at each other for a moment though and then parted ways, Angel feeling her heart beating a little faster just knowing she'd get to see Steven Grant Rogers today. She had a crush on him—that much she knew—and every time they talked she felt like they were getting closer and closer. Still, she didn't know if anything would ever beat the first time they had met…

"So, what exactly is my task again?" She asked Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick looked at her, eye patch over his left eye making him look more intimidating. "Professor Xavier tells me that you have the powers of manipulation—it's the perfect asset to this team."

"So you want me to join S.H.I.E.L.D. so that I can manipulate people?" Angel asked him, shaking her head. "I try to only do that if I have to—like self defense or protecting others. What about this Rogers guy makes you think that he's hostile. I will talk to him, but I won't use my powers unless I have to."

"I can let you do it at your own discretion, but use judgment," Nick said, pointing to the door.

Angel nodded slowly and walked into the training area that Steven was in, looking at him as he sparred with another member of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a boxing ring. He was strong obviously—he was a super soldier—and he was much more attractive than she had been expecting. The graceful and determined way that he moved was also just so incredibly perfect that she couldn't help but lose her breath for a moment, pink tinting her cheeks.

"Ms. Stark," the agent said, getting side swiped in the face as he lost concentration.

Her last name caused Steve to turn around, sweat all over him, which was just making him that much more attractive to her. After apologizing to the agent, he got out of the ring and came over toward her, Angel checking him out in a much more subtle way than Tony, but Steve knew what was happening and smiled a little bit. He might have been a moral guy, but he was still very flattered.

"You look nothing like your father…or even really your brother." Steve said, having obviously known she was coming and done his homework.

Angel's eyes met his and she smiled brightly, offering him her hand for a shake. "Good—I take looking like my mother as a compliment so we've already started off on the right foot, Mr. Rogers."

"You can call me, Steve," he replied, taking her hand and kissing the back of it like a gentlemen. "I know why you're here after all. Ease me into everything."

Angel's whole body flushed hot at the touch of his lips on her hand. "Um…yeah. Call me 'Angel'—no one really calls me Angela and I prefer it that way. Want to get some lunch, or would you rather stay in the facility?"

Steve thought it over a moment, smiling at the pink in her cheeks. "I just might trust you to take me to lunch."

Smiling at the thoughts of it all, Angel walked into the training room and realized that she was having a few impure thoughts when she saw Steve working out yet again, only this time he was boxing, and sweat was dripping down him. There was something about sweaty men that just made her lose her mind and she had to take a deep breath as her heartbeat sped up. The sound of her heels made Steve turn around and he had a grin on his face, happy to see her.

He remembered how beautiful she was the first time they'd met, and he remembered happily their lunch and how she had talked to him about models of cars and about the school that she went to. She was old enough now that she was no longer really a student, but she wasn't a professor really either…she just did what was needed and now she was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. He didn't know about the mutant part of her—she had left that part out because she never told anyone that kind of thing—but he enjoyed her company.

"I still need counseling?" Steve teased a little, taking a deep breath and then reaching for a water bottle.

Angel smiled and shrugged. "Maybe I was just visiting."

"Maybe," Steve said with a smile as he took several gulps of water and then motioned to the showers. "Let me shower and change, then I'll treat you to brunch."

Refrain from asking to join him…refrain from asking to join him…"Alright, I'll wait here and then we can go have some brunch." Angel told him.


Loki was ready to strike with everything that he had—he was the God of Mischief after all and setbacks meant nothing to him. All they did was delay the inevitable as far as he was concerned and right now he was certain that he was going to get exactly what it was that he wanted. He just wanted power and a kingdom to rule and he was fairly certain he was now ready.

Being a God with all of his powers made him a little cocky and maybe that would be his downfall—maybe it wouldn't be. Right now, he just wanted to focus on the fact that he was right where he needed to be and he knew what was going to happen next. The most important part, though, was making sure that his brother was out of the way and that Bruce Banner never got complete control over his Hulk form…so that was his next step.

"It's time to take out my brother…"


Sharon was all suited up for a sparring match and while they waited for agents to show up, she smiled at Clint and then got into a fighting stance. Clint smiled as he too got into a stance and then for a moment they stared each other down, wondering who would make the first strike. For a moment it was just looking into each other's eyes and then she was going at him with her fist, which he blocked with his forearm, and just like that they were sparring.

"It's been a few weeks since we sparred," Sharon reminded him.

He nodded at that and went to sweep her legs. "Yeah, it has been."

"Nice try," she responded as she jumped over his leg, her feet landing back on the ground. "It's not like I haven't been trained, Clint…you're going too easy on me."

"Maybe I am…"

He started to make his moves faster and harder, both of them punching at each other and blocking each other's moves. It was a rush and they were both starting to breathe a little heavier as they focused all of their attention on each other, just making the hormones inside of them rage that much more. The two stopped talking for a little bit and then suddenly it happened—a leg sweep from Clint landed Sharon on her ass on the floor and just like that he was straddling her.

"So why exactly did S.H.I.E.L.D. hire you?" Clint asked Sharon as they walked down the corridors.

The blonde had caught his attention right away and he wanted to act like her guide in a time such as this. They were supposed to work together and they knew nothing about each other except maybe that they were both agents and they both had experience under their belts. Clint knew he needed to look more into her files so he knew more about this woman that he had to work with…

"I think Angel and I are just a packaged deal—sorry, Ms. Stark." Sharon said with a shrug, a smile on her face anyway. "We do almost everything together, and then about 80% of the time we work with Adrienne Mett, who is also extremely talented."

Clint nodded at that. "Tony Stark has a little sister…it's not like she's never been mentioned, but she's not in any spotlight."

"She likes it that way," Sharon laughed. "Nothing Angel likes more than not being mistaken for a Stark. While she enjoys the wealth and she gets to do whatever she wants, she and Tony don't get along. Probably the 12 year age difference, but their personalities are nothing alike."

"I've noticed that…though they're both a bit hot headed."

"Maybe they're both stubborn."

"They carry themselves pretty well and get kind of bossy…"

"Okay, maybe they're similar—just don't tell Angel that I agree with you on that, okay?"

"Your secret is safe with me, Ms. Carver."

"Please, just call me Sharon."

Having Clint on top of her right that second was kind of making her feel all sorts of feelings rage through her and Sharon had to take a deep breath. She wasn't really all that sure as to what was going on, but he had pinned her and that meant that he won—he wouldn't have had she used her powers, but right then she was too frazzled by his form and his weight on her to even think straight. Even Clint wasn't thinking straight with the beautiful blonde between his legs like that.

"Sorry," he said, blushing a tiny bit and getting off of her, straightening up and holding out his hand to her.

"No, it's fine," Sharon responded, but she was flustered. "You won fair and square."

She reached up and took his hand, letting him pull her up and then having her breath catch in her throat as she was pulled into his strong body. Swallowing, she found herself feeling deprived when he pulled away and dropped her hand, turning to grab his things. She opened her mouth to say something when some agents came in and she knew it was time for business—to teach them some things. Still…she wanted to know if there was more to that than there had been.


Nick Fury was more than happy to see Andy walk into his office. "Tony—Adrienne Mett."

"Yeah, she works at that school for geniuses," Tony said as he looked up.

He wasn't as happy as Nick that this little meeting between them had been interrupted by the redhead, but he was going to make the best of it at this point. It wasn't like Tony to show when people annoyed him all that often without making a joke and so he was just going to slip into his natural annoying routine and then get his way. He was used to that and he would always be used to that.

"You wanted to see me?" Andy asked, ignoring Tony.

Tony turned to Nick. "Oh, so she's like the fail safe?"

"Of course I am—long period exposure to you is as safe as radiation." Andy told him with a straight face.

"Says the poisonous spider bite,"

Andy had always been a bit of a loose cannon, but that was part of why she got along so well with Sharon and Angel. They had met at Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted and they had grown rather close in a very short period of time, rising the ranks in their classes and then Andy immediately became a professor and then Nick Fury showed up. He came and gave the 29 year old a chance to be part of S.H.I.E.L.D. and gave her all that she could ever want—work and lots of it.

Then Andy had met the brother that they knew so much about from Angel talking to them about him and had come over for dinner. Tony and Angel loved each other even though they never acted like it, and he had wanted to meet her friends when he realized they were going to be part of the same process. So Andy and Sharon had dressed up and rung the doorbell, smiling when the door opened and then being confused when it seemed to have opened on its own.

"You have got to be kidding me!" They could hear Angel yelling. "You are a jackass!"

Tony scoffed at her. "Says the High Priestess of all that is Bitchy!"

"You and I need to sit down with Nick and have a talk! I can't believe that you honestly tried to get me fired!" Angel yelled at him. "Nick asked me to help! I didn't run off to try and be part of your little team!"

"You're not even useful!" Tony told her. "You're not a fighter and you don't get to be an agent!"

"We brought alcohol…" Andy tried as she and Sharon entered the kitchen.

Tony and Angel turned abruptly to see the two standing there looking awkward and like they had intruded and Tony sighed loudly. He didn't understand how they were there since Pepper wasn't working and they certainly hadn't invited her in. Then he remembered that there was Jarvis and that Angel would have had him let them in and he sighed loudly and then put a smile on his face.

"Alcohol is always welcome here," Tony said warmly.

Angel nodded at that. "Yeah, we're going to need it. He's like a beast that needs to get bitten."

"I could be that spider if you want," Andy said as Sharon laughed.

"That she could be…now, are you two handsome people going to seat us for food or not?" Sharon asked them with a smile on her face.

Andy decided to ignore Tony for the moment and made eye contact with Nick Fury to not look at Tony's handsome mug. He was incredibly attractive, that much was true, and she loved bantering with him, but he was an ass. He slept with anything with legs, didn't really care about other people unless he was pushed to do just that and Andy didn't have time for him. She was here to do a job and she was just as capable at her job as Tony was at his and she wasn't going to let him get to her…not right now.

"So why is she here?" Tony asked Nick.

Andy nodded slowly. "What do you need from me, Fury?"

"I need you to find a way to bring me Thor and Bruce Banner." Nick told her. "Something big is unfolding."

CHAPTER THREE: Marching Orders

Two weeks passed before Andy got done what it was that she wanted to get done—find a way for Thor to be able to get back to Earth. There was definitely a lot of trouble that went along with it, but if Andy was anything, she was persistent and she found a way. So bright and early on Thursday morning, the 'Avengers Initiative'—Nick was still trying to form them but had yet to announce that—assembled with three extra people added to the party: Angela Stark, Adrienne Mett and Sharon Carver.

Angela Stark, however, was late.

That morning she hadn't really wanted to get out of bed, and yet she knew it was her job and so she had gotten dressed and headed over. Everyone had already started without her though, even though Steve had protested that they wait for her—Tony would do no such thing. He didn't want his sister to be part of it in the first place and Sharon had promised to brief Angel when she got there.

"I don't believe that Loki will try anything quite yet, but people are talking," Natasha explained, bringing up some pictures of people for everyone to see. "He is causing quite the stir already and we're trying to pinpoint exactly what he's doing as no one has seen him, just spoken of him."

Thor nodded slowly. "Creating diversions. He means to distract us from our duties."

"Then he's doing one Hell of a job, because he's creating chaos," Andy said, smiling at Thor and then suddenly wishing that Angel was there.

Andy, Sharon and Angel enjoyed talking about Thor over in a corner, ogling the God and while he knew it was happening, he didn't. He was fairly certain that they were watching him and talking about him, but he had yet to hear them say anything of the like. Without Angel, however, it wasn't as much fun to talk about the God and objectify him.

"We'd like to send out a team…" Nick suggested, looking at Andy and Sharon. "I'd like that team to be you two and Ms. Stark."

Tony shook his head. "Oh, no…no, no, no. Those three have no business leading a team."

"You're not the leader around here, Stark," Nick explained, shaking his head. "I brought these three in to do a job and as agents they're going to do their jobs."

"Besides, none of us answer to you," Andy told Tony, shooting him a look.

"I think I'm with Tony on this one…" Steve said slowly, looking at Andy and Sharon. "They should have more back up."

Sharon smiled a little bit because she loved how much Steve cared about their well being and wondered if he was just saying that because he was looking out for Angel. She and Andy were big fans of Angel and Steve getting together, but neither of them seemed to be making a move at all and so they were trying to figure out what to do. Either way, they wanted the Avengers to know that they were not fragile little girls and they could most definitely hold their own. Before they could say anything to anyone, however, they were interrupted by a door opening.

"THOR!" Angela exclaimed.

She had come in the door and seen Thor standing there, opening up her arms wide and then rushing to him. Andy looked over at Steve to gauge his reaction when the God's face lit up and he hugged the young woman, both of them beaming at each other. They had bonded the last time they had met because of their issues with their brothers and now it was almost like they were best friends.

"Stark daughter," Thor said happily.

"Angel," Angel responded, pulling back and looking him over, you look well.

"As well as can be expected," Thor replied.

Angel nodded and then looked around and took her seat, knowing by the look on Nick's face that he was frustrated with her—Natasha and Clint as well, even. They were very into their jobs and while Andy was trying to suppress her smile, she was annoyed a little bit too. Sharon was happy to see her and Tony looked…well, kind of like he had hoped she had skipped it…and Steve just looked lost. He was still new to the future and she kind of wished it was just the two of them talking.

"What did I miss?" Angel asked, calmly folding her hands in front of her.

Andy looked straight at her. "A mission assignment."

"For us?" Angel asked her.

"Yeah, for us—just the three of us, though Big Brother over there has been protesting." Sharon added in, taking a deep breath. "The subject has been raised that we have no business—"

"—if you are trying to get me fired again, Anthony Stark, let me tell you—" Angel began before she was cut off by Tony.

"—I'm just trying to get Fury to see some reason." Tony protested.

Angel found herself narrowing her eyes at her brother before she stood up and leaned her hands on the table in front of her. Tony did the same thing from across the table and suddenly it was a staring contest that she had a feeling she was going to win—she always did. Well, alright, she only won about 90% of the time, but she did win more than Tony and she did it without having to manipulate him at all.

"Nick Fury runs this entire organization," Angel pointed out to Tony.

Tony faked looking shocked. "No, really? I hadn't let that sink in when he told me when we met."

"By now you should at least have faith enough in him to let him call the shots!" Angel said loudly. "He wouldn't have hired Mett, Carver and I if we didn't have what it took to be agents!"

"Unless he was just grasping at straws because you have the Stark name!" Tony retorted.

"Then what about those two?"

"You're a packaged deal, like the 'Three Musketeers'! Of course they're along for the ride!"

"Why is everything about you? Are you so blinded by what you think is your own awesome that you can't let me do something for people for once?"

"Just because you went to a school for geniuses, doesn't make you a spy!"

"Just because you make yourself a fancy suit, doesn't make you a hero!"

"You could get hurt," Steve said suddenly.

Everyone looked at him as he stuck himself into the argument and while Tony pointed at Steve and proved for once that he was just looking out for his sister, Angel was…touched. In the midst of everything happening right then, Steve was worried about her safety and while he was worried about Andy and Sharon as well, his eyes were on Angel. She smiled a little bit and was about to beat Tony to the next thing to say, when someone else spoke up first.

"This isn't a democracy," Nick told them all, standing up and heading for the door. "The Musketeers are suiting up and heading out."


"I think Tony might have actually gotten upset 'cause he thinks you'll get hurt," Sharon said as they sat around Angel's quarters and went over their assignment.

Angel shrugged a little bit. "I haven't seen that guy with the bear for years."

"Yeah…he's got to be buried deep inside of that shell of his." Andy told them with a nod. "Though I agree with Sharon: he cares if you die."

"Only because he'll miss the sparring matches," Angel responded quickly, but part of her was thinking it too…and hoping it was true.

Angel and Tony hadn't been fighting for their entire lives…just most of them. There was a time in their lives when they had been rather close and she had looked up to her big brother, and she missed those days every day. Not to mention that before he became Ironman, she had been on the first flight out to see him and make sure that he hadn't died on her and yet…and yet they were still the two that bickered about absolutely everything.

Still, Angel looked over at her bear, propped up on her pillow and she chewed on her bottom lip, sitting up from lying on her stomach on her bed and pulling her hair back into a ponytail. Her eyes never left the bear and thought a bunch of things through for a moment before she returned her attention to Andy pacing with research in her hands and Sharon sitting in an armchair watching her. When hers and Sharon's eyes met, the two just kind of nodded and it was clear that Sharon knew what she was thinking about.

Then a knock on the door made them all once again change focus.

Because Andy was the one standing up, she went to open up the door and was surprised and yet not to see Steve standing there on the other side. He smiled at her and stayed in his position, curious but not wanting to be rude and not even peering around her to see Sharon and Angel. Instead his attention was focused on Andy and Andy loved that he was such a good person to not just peek into some young woman's room that he didn't know all that well.

"I just came by to check up on Ms. Stark," Steve explained to her.

Andy smirked and nodded. "That's good, because Sharon and I were just leaving."

"Yeah, we're as caught up as ever—we'll debrief a little in the morning and head out." Sharon replied, standing up and ignoring the look that Angel was giving her as she and Andy left the room. "You two kids have fun."

"Ignore them," Angel said, getting off of her bed and motioning for Steve to come in.

Steve shook his head though. "It would be rude and improper—this is your room."

"And we're just talking business, so…come on in." Angel said with a gentle laugh.

The sound that escaped Angel's mouth made Steve smile a little bit, so he nodded and then ever so slowly crossed the threshold of Angel's S.H.I.E.L.D. base room. Angel thought that it was kind of adorable how he thought it was so wrong to be in a girl's room and it kind of made her like him all that much more that he was so respectful. Still, she was glad that he was there and wanted more than anything to get to talk to him since he was checking up on her.

"You and Tony…he cares about your well-being," Steve told her with a nod, sitting in the armchair when she motioned to him to do so and sat on the edge of her bed. "He just wants you safe."

Angel nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know and I appreciate it—but I'm not a child anymore."

"No, you're a woman," Steve responded without thinking.

He blushed a little bit and so did Angel, but it had been the truth—he had noticed that she was a woman and he respected her. In fact he knew that she could get the job done because he knew that Nick Fury only assembled the best of the best—or so he had been told that—and it didn't make military strategic sense to send out a team that would undoubtedly fail. The thing was…Steve was worried. He was worried that something was going to happen to Angel and every fiber of his being wanted the beautiful woman that came to visit and talk to him, to be safe.

"Just because he is difficult, doesn't mean you shouldn't ease his mind—you're his family." Steve told her slowly.

Angel smiled and nodded a little. "You want to know something about my brother, Steve?" Angel asked him and nodded again as he nodded slowly. "There was a time when I knew that my brother would do absolutely anything for me and I mean anything. You see, I was never close to my father. Ever. He was invested in his company and in Tony, because Tony would someday run his company. I spent the majority of the time with my mother and with Tony when Tony had the time for me. My father did, however, give me this teddy bear when I was born that I cherished—this bear right here on my bed," Angel said, pointing to it, "and I always kept it with me. Then one day when I 6, a few months after Tony's 18th birthday, I lost it. I lost it and I was beside myself and you know who came to my rescue?"

"Tony?" Steve asked her gently.

Angel nodded at him. "Yeah…Tony. He dropped everything that he was doing and he searched high and low for that bear with me. We searched until dinner and then Tony decided he wasn't hungry and while Mother made me eat, he worked away in his room and didn't come out until bed time. You know what he had done? He spent the whole evening making me another bear—an identical bear. He marked it up in all of the same place I had marred that bear since birth and while I knew it wasn't the exact bear…my brother did that for me. I still keep that bear with me and so I know my brother would go for bat for me, it's just been years. Being in the spotlight and being in charge of everything after Dad—even before that—he changed. He became more conceited and vain and selfish than ever before and he forgot about being that guy with the bear. I hold onto the hope that he's still in there, but right now he's just a little douche trying to control everything because he thinks he's higher up than he is."

Steve looked at Angel and nodded a little bit, glad to have more insight into her and her relationship with her brother and yet…flattered. That story was obviously dear to her because she looked at the bear so fondly, and then looked back at him and she had told him it—she had trusted him enough to tell him something so personal. It looked like she wasn't quite done though, so he settled into the chair and gave her his undivided attention.

"I know I'm his family and he doesn't want me to die—I'm all he has left—but he's all that I have left too and he makes everything so difficult." Angel explained shrugging her shoulders. "There have been plenty of times since that incident that he was nowhere to be found when I needed him most and I've grown to learn that I can't rely on him. That's why we butt heads so often. He lost sight of what's the most important and only brings it to the table when he thinks he's losing."

Steve stood up. "He does treat everything like a game."

"A game he can't lose," Angel added, shaking her head. "If you ever see the guy with the bear again, let me know, but for now…for now he's just Tony Stark the Asshole. He's my brother, and I love him, but for now I just can't respect him. My hero fell and there's no redeeming him now. I'm alright though, Steve…I am. Andy, Sharon and I will get this done and come back all in one piece."

"I certainly hope so," Steve responded, reaching out to capture her chin with his thumb and forefinger gently, looking into her eyes. "Stay safe."

Angel practically melted at his touch and swallowed even though her mouth was dry. "I promise."


Andy and Sharon had left to give Steve and Angel some space since they were trying to be matchmakers, and were walking down the corridors together. They had a little more information to pour over but they were pretty much done and ready and now it was time to retire. It had been a long day and the meeting hadn't exactly gone as planned and yet everything seemed to be going pretty well. Tony had gotten emotional for obvious reasons and they had a mission to do, which was good because Sharon and Andy easily got restless.

"I have this feeling that we were only assigned to this because we need to use our powers," Sharon said softly, looking around constantly to make sure no one could overhear them.

Andy nodded in agreement. "He wants this to be in and out and only we can give him that sort of peace of mind."

"Send in the crack team and get the desired results—it's a good strategy." Sharon told her smiling. "I'm looking forward to suiting up and being badass."

"Comes with the territory," Andy agreed, both of them laughing.

It was great to get to work together again because they all worked so well with each other and their powers meshed so nicely. Angel liked to do most of the work though, because like Tony, she craved being in the spotlight and being the one calling all of the shots. At the same time, she knew when to back down and relinquish her power and that made her a pretty good asset to any team. She was a leader, and yet a follower when need be.

Andy was the brawn and she enjoyed fighting to let off steam, and then there was Sharon…Sharon could adapt to be whatever it was that she needed to be. She enjoyed being the observer and yet she also enjoyed the thrill and rush of a job well done and it made her smile brightly just knowing that she was going to get to go out and prove her worth. It was one of the many times that Sharon enjoyed throwing it in the faces of everyone that she was a powerful weapon—and she was.

"I think it's my turn to vacate," Andy said suddenly, darting off.

Sharon wasn't quite sure what to think until she saw Clint coming toward them and then she just laughed a little bit—just like Andy. Andy enjoyed making people form bonds because she felt like emotions were the key to everything, and she also thought that being matchmaker made the in between of jobs bearable and Sharon was more than okay with that. If she got to spend her time in the company of Clint Barton, then so be it. She was attracted to him and after their sparring match and having him on top of her she couldn't stop thinking about him.

"She darted off quick," Clint commented as he neared Sharon.

Sharon nodded. "She wants sleep before a big day tomorrow."

"About that—Nick sent me to make sure you all knew that there is some preliminary training tomorrow before you can head out, so you might not leave until tomorrow night or the morning after."

"Of course…should have know he'd want us all put through our paces before leaving," Sharon laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "As long as we still get sent out, the wait won't kill me. Besides, maybe you'll be my instructor…"

"You have all the weapons you'll need?" Clint asked her suddenly.

Sharon was a little taken back but she recovered quickly and nodded, smiling a little when she noticed the tiniest bit of pink in Clint's cheeks. She had been making a pass at him with innuendo and he had caught it and changed the subject to be professional—that was just like him. So she decided to humor him and just let it slide as she certainly wasn't going to be making anything that could be construed as the first move.

"Yeah, but I'd like to practice with them tomorrow before we head out," Sharon admitted nodding. "Never hurts to be prepared."

"Trust me I'll be right there to make sure that you're prepared." Clint promised her, reaching out to take her hand. "You're part of this team and I will personally make sure that you make it back in one piece."

Smiling at him, Sharon stopped in the corridor and looked him in the eye. "I appreciate that, Clint…escort me to my room?"

"Of course," he responded, slowly letting go of her hand and keeping his touch to himself.

CHAPTER FOUR: Mistakes Galore

Sharon was up that morning, but it was certainly not bright and early—Sharon hated getting up early more than anything. Still, she got up, showered, pulled her hair back and then got dressed to work with some weapons with Clint before they all headed out. He wanted to make sure that she was safe and while that flattered Sharon, she was also feeling like every man in this place thought that she, Angel and Andy were these helpless girls and that couldn't be any farther from the truth.

So, Sharon headed into the armory on the base and she smiled when she saw Clint there with an arsenal out already to work with her on. She waved at him a little bit and his eyes lit up when he saw her coming into the room…something that Sharon should have clocked right onto, but she was already looking over the variety of guns. If Andy or Angel had been there, they would have seen just how much care Clint already had for Sharon, but the girl was oblivious.

"I figured you'd want something to choose from," Clint explained beaming. "Let me show you how to use this beauty…"

Sharon looked up at him as he went for the sniper rifle she had been eying hungrily with want and she smirked a little bit. 'Show her how to use it'? While Clint might think that she had absolutely no idea as to what it was that she was doing, Sharon already knew how to use a sniper rifle and preferred them to the other weapons—she liked being as far away from danger as possible.

"Don't you understand what it is that you're doing?" Logan Vernon asked Sharon.

Sharon looked at him incredulously. "Oh, I understand that you want me to run off into certain death and get my head blown clean off."

"Sometimes you have to get down and dirty," Logan said shrugging.

"Yes, I bet," Sharon told him as she wiggled her eyebrows playfully and then got serious again. "Look, I just don't want to run off into danger. I'd rather shoot the bastards from far away."

"I'll run off into the danger head on," Andy told him as Angel filed her nails down. "Sharon can just be a sniper."

Logan sighed loudly and rubbed his temples because being a mutant wasn't about having a bunch of gadgets and weapons—it was about being able to focus their powers. So now he was dealing with three of the most infuriating people and he honestly wasn't sure whether or not he was going to be able to handle this. Couldn't Ororo take over since she and Angel were such good friends?

"Just do what I tell you to do," Logan told Sharon bitterly.

"Pretty sure that you take the gun, like so," Sharon said as she grabbed the less desired sniper and held it expertly, "look through the scope, pick a target, time the shot, and then snipe the living Hell out of the little shit you're aiming at," she said as she pulled the trigger and hit the moving target board cut out directly between the eyes. "Or am I wrong about that?"

Just watching her move with such grace and knowledge made Clint swallow, his mouth dry, feeling incredibly turned on at the moment. He was a weapons kind of guy and he had brought her here thinking he could teach her more about how to defend herself and he couldn't—she knew what she was doing and she was smirking and it was incredibly attractive. Clint just stood there for a moment and then he set the sniper down and smiled.

"I've been mistaken," Clint said nodding. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that? I doubt that Xavier's Academy taught that to you."

Sharon laughed a little bit. "I doubt Fury would have hired us as agents if he didn't think we could handle ourselves in battle."

"That is actually rather true, I agree with you." Clint responded nodding, stepping up close to her and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, glancing at her lips. "I feel less worried now that you're going to get yourself killed."

Sharon resisted the urge to kiss him because she wanted him to kiss her first. "I'll come back in one piece and we can go from there."

"Good," he managed as his eyes met hers. "Looking forward to it…now how about the pistols?"


Angel stretched a bit in the training room, wearing short exercise shorts and a fitted T-shirt, before she chalked up her hands and began to box with the punching bag. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her bangs were pinned back, focusing all of her energy on the bag and reminding herself like she did every once in a while that she couldn't always solely rely on her powers. She had to rely on her strength in the situation and she was completely unaware of Steve coming into the training room.

He had wondered where she was that morning since Nick had postponed their departure and he smiled a little when he saw the beautiful young woman taking a page out of his book. She was so focused and so determined and the way she hit the bag made him remember one of his not so happy moments with her, which made him frown a little, but he still took off his jacket and got ready to spar with her. They didn't spar often, but he wanted her to be prepared to go.

"Angel…" Steve said softly.

Angel looked at him and smiled a little bit, touching the punching bag and making it stop moving, wiping some sweat off of her brow. Then she walked over toward him as he took his jacket off and she put her hands on her hips, which made Steve look her up and down a moment—he was after all, only human. For a moment she wanted to say something witty and flirty to him but she was tongue-tied and couldn't think of anything. Steve smiled at her and chuckled that chuckled of his that made her bite her lip, speaking up to her before she could say anything to her.

"We're going to spar," Steve told her as he unbuttoned his button up and moved to pull it off, in his T-shirt now that hugged his muscles in all the right ways. "You alright?"

"What? Fine…" Angel tried as she raked her eyes hungrily over his form. "Right…spar—doesn't that put me at a disadvantage Mr. Super Soldier?"

Steve chuckled and went into the boxing ring. "I'll go easy on you…"

The first time that Angel and Steve had ever sparred together, Steve hadn't really been in the mood to talk to her, but she didn't want to leave him alone. He was still feeling lost in time and Angel wanted to make him feel as settled as possible even though he was in a bad mood.

"You don't have to stay," Steve told her.

Angel shrugged as she pulled her hair back and pulled on some boxing gloves. "I want you to take out your frustration on me."

"No, that's wrong," he answered shaking his head. "It's also not fair to you."

"Steve? Just hit me." Angel told him as she took a swing at him.

She knew that he could dodge it and he did, shaking his head and saying over and over that this wasn't the way to handle what he was going through. Angel, disagreed, however, and as they boxed each other, she could feel the weight in his punches become more and more and she knew she didn't stand a chance. So when he barreled at her because she had worked him up, she moved out of his way and he slammed into the ground, afraid that he could have done that to her.

Just remembering how he could of almost hit her, put him in a space he shouldn't be in, but she told him not to stop because she needed this too. There were things that they had to work out, only she wasn't as focused this time and miscalculated which way Steve was weaving, feeling the punch right in her stomach, flying out of the ring to land on her ass and slide a little bit. She was winded, that was for sure, and Steve had jumped right over the ropes without hesitation to check on her.

"Angel!" Steve cried, on his knees and letting his hands roam over her to check her over.

Angel shook her head. "Fine…winded, but fine. I've been hit harder."

"That's not the point," Steve said sadly, obviously highly alert.

"Steve…calm down, okay?" Angel said, reaching up to cup his face and inadvertently using her powers. "Just calm down, I'm fine. That was a good spar, I loved it…even the getting knocked on my ass part."

Steve nodded slowly, visibly more calm and glancing at her mouth before he did something neither of them was expecting—he closed the distance between them. Angel didn't even know the kiss was coming until Steve's lips crashed into hers, Angel responding immediately and sliding her fingers into his hair before it clicked in her brain what had just happened. As amazing as the sensation felt to have their lips crushing against each other's and even though Angel began to open up her mouth, she had to stop…this wasn't right, she had manipulated him, she knew it.

No…no, no, no, no…"Steve…" she said shaking her head as she pulled away, forehead to his. "I don't want this like this…"

Her words confused him, but without another word, she was up and leaving the training room.


Andy knew that the first thing that she needed to do that day was get ready to leave—she wanted to do this mission as soon as possible. So she had gotten up early, gotten showered and dressed and packed and even talked to Angel about boosting one of Tony's cars before she went to talk to Nick. It was kind of hard for her, but at the same time, she and Nick had so much history that it was harder not to talk to him…regardless of what it was that they were talking about.

"It just seems to me that you love him," Angel said with a gentle shrug.

She, Andy and Sharon were at the Academy and they were talking to each other one night before sleep as Andy was tossing and turning a bit. They had been talking about Nick Fury and how he had come to them to try and get them to join him as agents and how he had been training them since them. Andy wanted to be an agent, she did, but she also didn't want to leave Logan because they had gotten so close and she wanted to teach here at the school.

"Even if I did, it doesn't matter," Andy responded, turning so her back was facing her two best friends.

Sharon sighed loudly and tried not to be so upset. "Andy, you have got to stop this. You can't push away everyone in your life."

"I haven't pushed you two away," Andy reminded her. "I just can't let Charles down after everything he's done for us."

"I understand that, Andy, I do, but you've got to at least tell him how you feel," Angel told her.

"No, now drop it," Andy responded.

Ever since then, Andy had simply tried to live her life because even though she and Nick had been close and flirted and gone on dates, nothing happened of it. Andy had decided to be a professor over being an agent and yet she always came when Nick called her to help because she cared about him and she always worried about him. He was the one she let get away and she knew that she couldn't do anything about it even if she wanted to.

"Nick?" Andy asked as she rapped her knuckles on his door.

It opened and Nick smiled at her. "Adrienne…come on in."

"I just wanted to make sure that we're all good to go," Andy said as she entered the room, sitting down across from Nick with a smile on her face. "I want this all to go off without a hitch."

"As do I," Nick responded, shaking his head. "I have a feeling that until everyone knows about you three, they're not going to trust you or my judgment."

"They just need to be shown that we have everything under control."

"I wish it were that simple."

"I think it's exactly that simple."

Andy took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders because she figured that there was one simple way to fix this: make the mission their bitch. If they came back having done it all on their own, then the others would have absolutely no choice but to believe that the three of them could do what it was that they needed to do—no choice but to have their faith restored in Nick. If there was one thing that Andy wanted, it was for Nick to get his confidence back, so she stood up and went around the desk, kissing his cheek gently.

"I have to go back to the Academy after we kick this mission's ass, but just remember why you hired us, alright? We won't let you down, Nick."


Geared up and ready to go, Andy, Sharon and Angel bid the boys farewell and then headed out as soon as they were sure that they weren't being followed. While Nick would never try to do such a thing, Steve, Tony and Clint weren't entirely happy about what had been decided and so Tony and Clint decided to take matters into their own hands. Steve was still trying to get used to the world and while he wanted Angel's safety more than anything, she seemed to want her distance a bit and he knew that Tony would protect his sister from harm.

"They're following us," Sharon said as Angel drove a 'borrowed' car from Tony. "About a mile back…tracking us somehow."

Angel nodded at that and took a hand off of the wheel to touch the car. "Don't worry about it."

Xavier had been incredibly proud of his mutants and he loved how their powers worked together, and right now, Angel needed to use hers. Her manipulation power was just that: manipulation. Over people, objects, emotions, thoughts…and right now she needed to disarm the Lojack that Tony had on his car and then they wouldn't have a problem getting away.

"Wait…I'm losing the signal," Clint told Tony from shotgun in the car they were using to follow the girls in. "I think they found it."

Tony made a face. "That sister of mine is smarter than I give her credit for. How could they possibly know we were tracking them?"

"I think they were just making sure that we couldn't," Clint said, taking a deep breath and shaking his head. "So much for that brilliant plan, Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes at Clint and they tried a few other things they could think of to track them, all of them coming to a dead end. That left the girls alone to confront the man that Fury had sent them after and as usually happened, Andy went in first. She had high healing properties and a shotgun and as she entered the building, she made sure to check around her corners and Angel manipulated the security cameras to give her cover.

"Something is off," Andy said as she rounded a corner, keeping in contact with the others. "I think we got set up."

Angel shook her head. "No…I think they just knew that we were coming—keep your eyes, nose, ears and senses peeled. Both of you."

Sharon and Andy both nodded at her voice in their ears and then they decided to converge on the same spot, feeling like they were being followed. In fact Sharon was started to feel like something was terribly wrong and she didn't know what to do quite yet because she was trying to focus and figure out a plan of action. Then she realized the person was in the room with her and turned to see a big man there who didn't look happy to see her at all.

"Oh, this was a bad idea," Sharon said as she felt a man grip her neck tight. "I suggest you let go of me…"

CHAPTER FIVE: Underestimating Plans

"Sharon's with the bad guy," Andy said bitterly, heading toward her location.

The man smiled as Sharon started to struggle. "Trying to use your powers, little girl?"

"I'm not a little girl!" Sharon yelled at him, moving to punch him where it would hurt, but he stopped her.

He was bigger than her—faster, stronger—and she was worrying a moment as it got harder to breathe as he started to crush her windpipe. She didn't understand what was going on and when she heard an explosion in the hallway that echoed in her ear and made her cringe and cry out, she feared the worst. That meant that Andy and Angel had detonated something in the hallway…something that Angel hadn't been able to manipulate with her powers.

"From where I stand, you are," he replied, leaning in to take in a breath of her perfume. "You smell nice…"

"Seriously…you should let me go…now," she managed as menacingly as she could before she made a choking noise, feeling his grip tighten.

Andy came up behind him and pointed the gun at him, cocking it. "It wasn't a suggestion, Asshole."

The man turned around to face her and smirked as he saw Andy and Angel standing there, Angel obviously in a little bit of pain, but standing her ground. The brunette had gotten some debris to slice across her forehead and the redhead just looked incredibly pissed off. They knew that something was up and they knew they had been anticipated, but why? What was this accomplishing?

"If it isn't a poor version of Charlie's Angels," the man chuckled, tossing Sharon aside violently.

Sharon laughed and rolled her eyes as she heard Andy listing off all of the things that people used to call them. They were always getting grouped together and for the first time in a long time, they were all going to go their separate ways for a little bit. It was kind of hard to think about seeing as how they had gone through so much together and now they wanted different things…mostly.

"You sure you want to stay here and teach these brats?" Sharon asked with a smile.

Andy shrugged a bit. "Who else is going to whip them into shape?"

"Not me," Angel responded laughing. "If I can't make my own brother into a better person, I have absolutely no business shaping young minds."

"Besides, she might accidentally manipulate them," Sharon piped up.

"I'm going to miss you guys—I'm just one third of the musketeers, you know." Andy told them, pulling them into a hug. "Not like we won't see each other at S.H.I.E.L.D. sometimes though."

Sharon nodded and grinned. "Showing them all just how awesome we are."

Landing wrong, Sharon felt the coffee table's corner jab harshly into her side as she fell, grunting a little and burying her face in the carpet before she looked up to see Angel's finger ever so gently pulling on the trigger. She was wondering what was taking her so long until she saw the blood dripping from her pointer finger and she wondered if Angel tried to protect Andy from the blast and that was why Andy wasn't as hurt. That wasn't like them—because Andy healed better, she was always shielding the others.

"You'll find that won't work in here," he said as he went for Andy, grabbing her by her hair and pushing her into a wall as she tried to fire the gun. "Machinery won't work in this room. Surrender?"

Angel shook her head as she looked him dead in the eye. "Never…"


Perhaps his plan was a little half baked at best.

Loki paced around a little bit as he thought things through, but he kept coming to the same place in his head: subdue his brother and get rid of the mutants. The mutants were going to be a right pain in the ass, especially if they could use their powers on Gods, and that just wasn't in the slightest bit acceptable. No, no this plan to lure them to their deaths was a much better plan and the mutant that he had chosen was the perfect mutant for the job.

He had started off being rather free lance, but the false promise of power had made the man want to squash the three women like bugs. After all, he didn't think much about woman power and he had a feeling that he could take them with his eyes closed—his power was pretty boss, after all. All he had to do was plant the information and lure them there and then nothing else would matter but taking them out and getting what he was promised.

"I just kill them?" he asked Loki slowly.

Loki smiled at him. "Just kill them and you will be rewarded."

"If you're so powerful, why don't you do it?" The man asked him. "I mean, why do you need me to do it?"

"I don't need you, that's the beauty of it," Loki responded. "I want you to do it. I have better things to do."

The man nodded slowly at that answer because he hadn't really expected a much different one—besides, if he was shafted, he could just kill the God. Loki seemed to be very showy and he certainly had presence, but the man was fairly certain that he was stronger than the man…even with Loki's added strength. Even so, it would bring him great pleasure to kill…

"I'll do it," he promised the God.

Loki knew that the man would take pleasure in getting to destroy and it made him smile a bit as he watched the whole scene. They had been taken down easier than he had anticipated and he wondered how this would all go as he looked through his looking glass to the world. Everything was all set in motion and he honestly couldn't be more pleased with himself over the unfolding events.

"It's just a matter of time, Brother…"


"Angel!" Sharon said loudly as Andy tried to kick her foot with her own. "Come on, honey, wake up."

Angel stirred a little bit, knowing they were tied up—she could feel the restraints. "Son of a bitch…"

"He's like a black hole! Nothing works!" Andy said angrily, closing her eyes. "He's toying with us. This was a trap, but I caught something when he was on the phone—Sharon and I think they knew they were coming and switched targets on us."

"Switched targets?" Angel asked, feeling bruised all over. "God, what I wouldn't do for some of your healing blood, Andy."

Andy shrugged a little bit. "Join the club on that one—I still have cuts on my legs from the explosives."

"Speaking of which, you look kind of pale…" Sharon told Angel.

Everyone was roughed up a bit and bleeding, wondering how they were going to get out of this because they may not be mutants at the moment technically because of the power drain, but they were still agents. They had been trained as humans as well to get the job done and even though their chairs were tied together, Angel was trying to come up with a plan. They had to get out of this because she had made it so that her brother couldn't follow her.

Then again…maybe now he could track her again.

After all, it wasn't like her precautions were in place anymore now that she was in such close proximity with this man. Every time Andy and Sharon thought their powers were coming back, the man would come back into the room and he would ruin everything for them, making them actually feel like weak little girls for once in their lives. It was time to get out of this and prove the others at S.H.I.E.L.D. wrong and they knew they'd need Angel to be up to it.

"Sharon's right, Angel—but we'll get out of this." Andy promised her.

Angel nodded slowly. "I know…Andy? Can you get to my left boot?"

"Your boot? Oh!" Andy exclaimed.

"I forgot that Tony taught you to do that!" Sharon said happily. "Luckily I distracted that dick long enough that he didn't pat you down."

Angel smiled a little bit, knowing she was still losing a bit of blood, but happy when Andy pulled on a piece of the bottom of her boot and then slipped out the pocket knife that was there as Angel lifted her foot up to her as much as possible. With that grabbed, Andy began to cut through her ropes and once that was done, she quickly worked on getting the other untied. Then it was time for Angel's plan as she laid it out as quick as possible, hearing footsteps.

"Sharon? By the door. Andy? Grab the letter opener on the desk." Angel said as she grabbed the shotgun and went to the other side of the door.

Andy gave her a look and whispered. "That doesn't work in here, remember?"

"I can still beat him with it." Angel responded angrily.

This guy was already on her last nerve and she wanted to know why he was here and what he was doing. She wanted to know what this whole 'switching targets' thing meant and she wanted to know who sent him and what his power was exactly. He saw that they weren't in the chairs anymore before he even tried to enter the room and as he did, Sharon hit him with a vase, that shattered on his head, causing him to grunt angrily and then black out when Angel hit him in the face with the butt of the gun.

"Who's the little girl now?" Sharon asked him.

Angel smiled a little and they went to tie him up, Andy looking around to break the device that was making it so that the machinery didn't work. When she found it, it was bright and it was kind of breathtaking, and she didn't want to destroy it—she wanted to keep it and give it to Tony to study. After all, it could prove useful for their side as well.

"What are you waiting for, Andy?" Sharon asked her.

"What are you waiting for, Andy?" Sharon asked her.

Andy looked at the blonde as she held up the moonstone in her hand and then she shrugged a little bit and set it down. She was a curious being and she didn't like to destroy things when she didn't have to—she didn't like leaving things behind she could look over when she didn't have to. At the same time, they were in a tight spot and they needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Shoot the man!" Sharon exclaimed. "If you just stand there examining moon rocks, we're never going to get anything accomplished!"

Andy did better than that—Andy ran toward him and barreled him into the ground, a crater forming at her amazing strength. She had always been that girl: the one that charged into everything. She enjoyed being right in the fray and getting her hands dirty, and honestly this was absolutely no exception to the rule because in this kind of situation, she was the one that was going to come out on top and once again prove to the men around her that women did it better.

"That works too!" Sharon told her with a laugh.

"We just shouldn't destroy it," Andy said with a sigh. "Tony could use this to help our side."

Angel nodded slowly. "Fine, but take it out of this room."

"Agreed," Andy responded, handing it to Sharon. "Take it out of here—I need to punch this guy hard in the face."

"No need to tell me twice." Sharon said nodding, grabbing the device and leaving the room.

She didn't get very far though, before she saw Tony in his Ironman suit glued to the floor, Clint trying to help him. Putting her hands on her hips, she scowled at them as Andy punched the man in the face to wake him up. He just smiled at her like he knew that they would somehow get the upper hand and Sharon walked over to Tony and Clint as they saw her coming.

"The suit doesn't work? That would be because of this." Sharon said, holding up the device and enjoying the power. "Your save came a little late."

As she said that, however, she heard the scuffle and she hurried back toward the room, having missed the man fight Andy and Angel with the chair. He looked at Sharon and winked at her, jumping out the window, chair and all. Clint had come running into the room after Sharon, Andy and Angel dusting themselves off and glowering because they were upset. At least they were doing that until Angel suddenly felt very weak, and fainted right into Clint's arms.

CHAPTER SIX: Not Adrenaline

"She never should have gone!" Steve told Nick as he, Tony, Clint, Natasha, Andy, Sharon, Angel and Coulson sat around in the conference room.

"You're right, they never should have gone," Clint corrected him.

Nick took a deep breath. "Look, they got out of it just fine and even though he got away, Ms. Mett and Ms. Stark got information out of him."

"Not enough to go on, Eyepatch!" Tony said, raising his voice.

"They went on a mission and they came back with intel and a device," Natasha said shrugging her shoulders. "They did exactly what was expected of them and everyone is alive. It wasn't a complete failure and it wasn't Director Fury's fault."

Everyone stopped talking when Angel stood up, placing her palms on the table. She had been cleaned up and so had Andy and Sharon, everyone's wounds patched up. Andy was wearing bandages even though she was already healed, and while Angel and Sharon weren't, they felt a lot better than they had before when they were cut and bruised. Angel was tired of all of this arguing though, because right now they weren't doing anything that was even remotely helpful—they were just bickering.

"He's a very powerful man that got away and we can track him. Right now, we're going to lay low and we're going to figure out what's going on, end of story. Now, I'm going to rest and my brother is going to look over that device and see what he can make of it." Angel said, and just like that, she was out of the interrogation room.

Sharon nodded as Andy stood up too. "We did what you asked of us and while the results were less than desirable, it happened. Sometimes a mission gets botched, but we swept the place and now we have more information on him, so be grateful and stop acting like we're damsels that need saving—we're not."

"I have to head out on a plane, but Sharon and Angel are staying here and if you need me, call. I'll keep tracking him with Charles' help." Andy explained, looking at Nick and sharing a loving glance with him before heading out of the room.

"I'd say, 'dismissed', but it seems everyone is already dispersing," Nick said slowly.

Everyone nodded at him and headed out as well.


Sharon went to the armory to unload a clip or two of bullets to make her feel a bit better about the botchery of the mission after she and Angel said 'goodbye' to Andy for a little while, and smiled because she was alone. So she put the goggles on to protect her eyes and grabbed a magnum. All she wanted to do was unleash some tension on an unsuspecting target, take a long, hot bath, and then go to sleep and wake up and spend some time with Angel.

Angel, was in a mood.

It was obvious as to why because she had unloaded on the car ride and Sharon was feeling pretty bad for her because she didn't know exactly what to do…maybe talk to Steve about it? No, if she did that, then Steve would tell her when she inquired about it and then Angel would just be mad at her for getting involved in her affairs. At the same time, Sharon had seen how worked up Steve was when he saw that Angel was hurt when they'd gotten back to the base and she knew how Angel was feeling.

"I kissed Steve," Angel said abruptly in the car.

Sharon and Andy both looked at her. "What?"

"Yeah…well, actually, he kissed me, but I'm pretty sure I manipulated him." Angel said dismally. "I mean we were sparring and it got out of control and he thought he had hurt me and I wanted to calm him down. I wanted to calm him down and I was so touched by how freaked he was that anything bad happened to me and I wanted to kiss him…and then it happened."

"Maybe it was adrenaline," Sharon tried, nodding a little at the story. "I mean, maybe he was just so happy that you were okay that he lost himself a moment and then—"

"—Share? I manipulated him involuntarily into giving me what I wanted." Angel said shaking her head. "It wasn't real, and I don't get to pretend that it was."

Sharon thought that Angel and Steve were pretty perfect for each other and just the fact that she was taking this so hard was commendable. Andy and Sharon would have just waved it off, but Angel was going to dwell on it forever and Steve was even genuinely falling for her—it was obvious. His whole face lit up when she was around and vice versa, and Sharon sighed loudly, sighing again when she saw Clint enter the shooting range.

"You are the last person that I want to see," Sharon informed him, shaking her head, her ponytail swishing from side to side as her head moved.

Clint shrugged his shoulders. "That's too bad—what are you doing here?"

"I'm practicing shooting a pistol."

"No, what are you doing here? You're not cut out to be an agent."

"Excuse me?" That last word had made her take the goggles off and set the gun on the table, getting up into his face. "You want to say that to my face, Arrows?"

Clint took hold of her by her shoulders and pushed her up against the wall. "I think we need to have a talk…"

Sharon was angry—that much was certain—but her whole body flushed hot at his touch and the fact that he was pinning her to the wall. First the floor, now the wall…he was just trying to make her jump him, she was sure of it. The veins in his arms were practically popping out because he was so tense and everything and she couldn't handle it…she just wanted to jump the bastard's bones.

"No, I think you need to stop touching me…" Never stop touching me, Clint…

Clint shook his head. "Tell me what three women who are obviously not combat trained, are doing going on a dangerous mission up against a powerful mutant."

"Why are you suddenly questioning everything?" Sharon asked him, getting even more in his face and breathing on him, glancing at his mouth. "Just because we botched a mission?"

"You were totally unprepared!" Clint yelled at her.

They were both glancing at each other's mouths now and Sharon couldn't stand it because he was so close to her. He was strong and he was upset and she was so turned on, she really couldn't think straight and neither could he. Clint had thought about Sharon being in his arms a time or two and suddenly here she was, but it was because he was mad and he knew she was hiding something from him and that hurt.

"Why don't you trust me anymore?" Sharon asked him.

Clint went in for the kill, crashing his lips against hers and letting his body press into hers as well. Sharon responded with a need she hadn't thought that she had inside of her, and then just like that, he had pulled away, his eyes blazing into hers.

"You're not going out on another mission alone!" He yelled at her.

Before Sharon could say anything at all, Clint was storming out of the shooting range and Sharon's knees had practically buckled underneath her. She slid down the wall and sat there, fingertips touching her lips as she took a couple of deep breaths, wondering what the fuck had just happened...

"Cold shower it is then…"


As soon as Angel had gotten back to her room, she had taken off her pants and opened up her button-up and looked at all of her wounds, just standing there in her underwear and looking in the mirror. She was trying rather hard to figure out what it was that they were all doing and what it was that she was going to do about the mutant that got away. Not to mention she had seen the look on her brother's face and knew that Tony was going to come visit her—then there was a knock on her door.

"I'm fine," Angel said as she opened up the door.

She squealed, however, when she opened the door and it was Steve standing there, which made her quickly pull her shirt closed over her and shut the door in his face. Her cheeks were flushed red and she buttoned the buttons up before opening up the door again, surprised he was even still standing there. His cheeks were also flushed because he'd just seen her practically naked and neither of them knew what to say. She was a Stark and she wouldn't have been as embarrassed if it was anyone but Steve Rogers. Now she just felt cheap.

"I thought you were Tony," she said lamely, running her fingers through her hair. "Something that you needed, Steve?"

Steve nodded slowly. "I, uh…I just wanted to make sure that you were all right. You're a bit scratched up…"

"Comes with the job," Angel told him, shrugging it off like it was nothing.

It really did warm her heart that he cared so much and she smiled a little as she leaned against the door frame and then Steve rang his hands a little bit. She was torn between letting him come in and sending him away because she was sore, but at the same time she really wanted to make sure that he knew that she wasn't trying to avoid him. She was just pretty certain that after that kiss, that was what he wanted to talk to her about and she didn't know what to say to him.

"Are we going to talk about it?" Steve asked her.

Yeah…there it was…

"It was adrenaline," Angel said shrugging. "I got hurt, you were happy I was alright and it just kind of happened."

"What about what you said?" Steve asked her slowly. "I come from a time where people are more likely to simply say what they mean."

Angel nodded slowly. "I just…"

She motioned for him to enter her room and while he shook his head, she motioned for him to do it again and so he did, but made her leave the door open. Nodding at that, she left the door open and crossed her arms over her chest before she realized that Steve was looking her over.

"Can you…put on some pants?" Steve asked her slowly.

Angel blushed and then spoke instead. "I just don't think you meant it."

"You think I kissed you for no good reason?"

"I think you had no idea what you were doing."

"I knew exactly what I was doing."

"Did you?"

Steve walked up to her even though she hadn't moved to cover herself other than the oversized button-up and he stroked her hair. She wanted this and she knew it, but she couldn't help but feel like he only liked her because she had manipulated him before. Angel just felt so bad about it even though Steve was leaning in now without having been manipulated at all—maybe he actually wanted to kiss her too.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not wearing pants, this is…"

"Right…"


"I'm sorry, you made him leave?" Sharon asked Angel that morning, shaking her head as they drank some coffee. "You are incredibly stupid."

Angel rolled her eyes. "It didn't feel proper…I was wearing a button-up over underwear and I had embarrassed myself and I still don't think he kissed me on purpose the first time."

"So you kissed again?" Sharon asked her.

"No, we just almost did…then I pointed out that I wasn't wearing pants." Angel said, resting her head on the table. "Ugh…hey, what about you and Clint? You guys made out and then he yelled at you and left. I'm surprised you didn't rip his clothes off right then and there."

Sharon nodded slowly. "God, I wanted to…"

Shaking her head, she drank her coffee and then she smiled a little when she saw Steve come into the cafeteria area to get some food, smiling over at Angel with a blush on his face. He was very into her and she was into him, but she felt bad for what she'd done and he was a gentleman and the night before had kind of caused a setback…even if the man inside of him was intrigued. Steve had seen her in her underwear and the mental image was kind of stuck in his head.

Then there was Clint.

Clint had been so upset about what had happened that he was convinced to figure out why they were here in the first place—what their specialties were. He was being driven by his attraction to Sharon, and he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Still, he spent the entire day trying to figure her out while she spent the day trying to figure out about the mutant that they had all had a run-in with—this was clearly Loki's fault.

"You are clearly obsessed," Tony told Clint as he walked into one of the rooms in the base.

Clint looked up at him. "That school that your sister went to…how much do you know about it?"

"I know that my sister is a genius like me and she went to a school with other geniuses…why?" Tony asked him point blank.

"Because I don't think that your sister, Andy or Sharon are geniuses," Clint told him, shrugging his shoulders. "I think the school is a front for something else."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Right…okay, then, I'll bite. What kind of front?"

"I'm not sure yet…" Clint said, but he stood up and headed for the door. "I intend to find out."

He headed for Sharon's room, Sharon having just gotten out of the shower and was blow drying her hair so she could sleep on a dry pillow. She hadn't at all been expecting the assaulting knocking on her door and opened it up without a care in the world. When she saw Clint standing there, she sighed loudly and shook her head.

"No…no, you are the last person I want to talk to," she told him, starting to close her bedroom door.

Clint stopped it with his foot and forced it open a bit. "You and your friends are keeping something from us. We're a team, Sharon—you can't just keep us in the dark."

"Yeah, we're a team, which means you should trust me." Sharon said, snapping her fingers in front of his face as he looked her up and down in her towel. "And you need to keep your eyes on my face, or I will just put them out so we don't have a problem."

"I can't keep you safe, if you keep secrets from me." Clint told her, stepping up close to her and making her breath catch in her throat. "You have to be honest with me."

Sharon nodded slowly. "And you honestly need to leave…"

Clint sighed loudly as he let his actions kind of sink in, realizing that he was being kind of insane about all of it. Yeah, he wanted to know everything, but he had to trust in Nick's judgment or it all fell apart and right now he wanted to make sure that they stayed a team no matter what. Besides, he still wanted to keep Sharon safe and this was not the way to ensure that.

"I meant what I said before, Sharon," Clint told her as he backed up back into the hallway.

"What? That I'm unprepared?" Sharon asked him hostilely.

Clint shook his head, smiling at her a little. "That you're not going out on another mission alone."

Flattered as she was, Sharon was angry he still thought she needed protection as he walked away from her…that just wasn't going to fly.


Angel was dressed in a nightgown when there was a knock on her door and so she didn't repeat the night before, she pulled on a robe. When she opened up the door, though, it was her brother and she motioned for him to come in before she shut the door behind him and turned to him. He immediately sat in the armchair and looked at her with his arms folded in his lap.

"Clint thinks that you, Andy and Sharon are hiding something." Tony told her.

Angel laughed a little. "Oh, thank God—I thought you were here to grill me about Steve."

"What? You're sleeping with Captain America?" Tony asked her suddenly.

"No, I am not. What about Clint?" Angel asked him, honestly interested. "I mean I know Sharon was upset because he was yelling at her last night, but I thought that kissing her would make him feel better."

"Wow, there is a lot of stuff happening around here that I didn't know about," Tony said softly.

He started to try and calculate some things in his head as he got the new information and then let it cycle back to what Angel had said about Steve: were they together? At first he thought that he was supposed to be the big brother and interrogate the man or something, but his sister had picked the one guy that didn't really have a mean bone in his body…so what was there for him to be worried about? Still, that didn't stop him making jokes, since it was in his nature.

"I didn't realize you went for such old men," Tony laughed.

Angel shot him a look. "Here I thought you'd be happier than that month I was crushing on Bruce."

Tony just kept staring at Angel as he processed the information and he nodded a little bit as she almost stared him down. She knew that he was only making fun because she cared, but that didn't mean that she liked being picked on by her brother. Besides, she was old enough to make her own decisions and this was just a crush—she hadn't even met the guy.

"You realize that he can't have sex, right?" Tony asked her. "I mean I feel for the poor guy and I'm not letting my little sister never get laid."

Angel made a derisive noise. "Wow, you're impossible. Relationships are not about sex."

"Sex is a big part of relationships."

"I said it was a crush, I'm not going to marry him."

"Of course not, because he can't have sex. You get his heart rate up fast enough and he Hulks out and then kills you with his—"

"—you are done."

Tony laughed a little bit. "V…I am far from done."

Tony smiled a little bit as he thought about that and then just shrugged his shoulders until he stood up to leave because he felt pretty good. He liked teasing his sister more than he enjoyed the thought of her keeping secrets from him and if he really wanted to find out about her school then he would look it up—he certainly thought he'd find more out than Clint. After all, he was Tony Stark and he had access to so much more than Clint could ever imagine.

"Just try not to corrupt the man," Tony said, patting his sister's shoulder and laughing to himself.

Angel nodded. "Only if you promise to let the door hit you on the ass on your way out."

Tony laughed and then left her room, Angel curling up in bed with a good book until there was a knock on her door and she sighed loudly. If Tony was coming back to make fun of her one more time, then she was certainly going to have the last laugh. So she opened up the door and was blind sighted by Steve standing there, glad she was still wearing her robe and also wondering why he kept showing up at her door looking so…perfect with that leather jacket and the button up shirt and the classic pants and belt.

Before she could ask him what he was doing, though, he kissed her and she had no idea what was happening. So, at first she didn't do anything, but then she kissed him back and was speechless when he pulled away and he straightened up his shirt, touching her lips with her fingertips and looking him in the eye…those beautiful, perfect, blue eyes. Right then she couldn't think about anything because she was feeling far too blissful that that had happened all on its own.

"It wasn't adrenaline," Steve told her, nodding slowly. "I think it's only proper that we have a proper rendezvous to talk through all of this. I know that I'm out of time and that you're the daughter of Howard Stark, but I want to talk this out with you because you're important to me. Breakfast?"

Angel nodded slowly. "Yeah…breakfast."

"Sweet dreams, Angel."

"Sweet dreams, Steve."

CHAPTER SEVEN: Uncovering Secrets

"Ten times, Share…I've changed ten times," Angel informed her friend over the phone. "I mean this is breakfast, it's not exactly a date."

Sharon laughed a little bit. "Why can't breakfast be a date?"

"Because I said so," a very flustered Angela Stark responded. "Alright, I'm going with the side braid, skirt and conservative blouse. He's used to women who actually had standards. Why would he go for a Stark? Why would he want to date the daughter of the guy that couldn't stop talking about him?"

"Because you're Angela Stark," Sharon replied as she brushed her hair, "and any man with half a brain would want to date you—manipulated or not."

"Okay, that was not funny," Angel told her, even though she had a smile on her face as Sharon laughed. "I'm still not entirely convinced that I didn't put the idea in his head."

Sharon shrugged a bit. "So what if you did? He came to you and told you this was what he wanted, so just go and talk to him."

"Fine, I'll tell you how it goes when I see you this afternoon." Angel said as she nodded at the outfit and then slipped on some heels. "Have fun avoiding Clint today."

"Trust me, that's the part of my day that I'm looking the most forward to," Sharon laughed, and then they hung up and Sharon put her shoes on too.

She was going to have breakfast in the cafeteria are that morning and laughed when she saw Tony sitting with Natasha. The two had some chemistry and she was laughing, but she got up when she saw Clint enter and choose a table and wanting to avoid Clint at all costs, Sharon sat down next to Tony. He smiled at her and nodded as she took the seat, not bothered in the slightest by the change of estrogen.

"Where's the brat?" Tony asked Sharon, referring to Angel.

Sharon smiled a little. "Off to breakfast not here."

"So she's dating the guy that our father idolized…that doesn't seem like her." Tony told Sharon as he thought it over. "She hates everything about what our father chose to be and yet she's off banging the super soldier."

"I assure you that they are not banging," Sharon laughed, standing up to grab some food. "Are you still going to be here when I get some food to eat?"

"Barton's staring at you…"

Sharon froze a moment when the words came out of Tony's mouth and then shrugged and went to get food without waiting for his answer. When she came back, she sat down with Tony again and then drank some coffee as Tony looked at her and then at Clint and Natasha. Clint was having a hard time not looking at her and even Natasha knew that something was going on.

"So…when did you kiss her?" Natasha asked him.

Clint gave her a look. "Nat, don't…"

"What? It's a simple question: when did you kiss her?" Natasha asked again.

"Yesterday," he responded. "Something is up with that 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters', and I want to know what it is. I want to know what she, Angela and Adrienne are hiding."

Natasha nodded at that and observed Clint as he looked over at Tony and Sharon talking and laughing together and felt that feeling in the pit of his stomach: jealousy. This was, without a doubt, something that he had never thought would come to pass—feelings for Sharon Carver coming to the surface and letting themselves be known.

"Ask Angela," Natasha said after a pause. "If you really want to know what's going on, then ask the one that's most likely to tell you the truth."

Clint nodded slowly. "But what if she doesn't want to tell me the truth?"

"Then you go over her head and you talk to Nick," Natasha explained to him.

Clint nodded again and took in what she was saying, even though his eyes were traveling up and down Sharon's legs and focusing on her face. He was attracted to her and that was why he wanted to know so damn bad: he wanted to know what it was that he was getting into with her should he decide to actually pursue this. If she was intentionally lying to him, though…how could he ever trust her?


Steve didn't quite know what it was that he was going to say or do, but he had picked the café that they had gone to for lunch the first time that they had met. It held fond memories for the two of them and he was trying to get a real handle on all of the feelings that he was feeling right now because he still didn't know what all was going on with him. He still missed Peggy and he still missed what his life had been and what it had the potential to be, and he knew he'd always miss it.

"I'm still not used to this hustle and bustle," Steve admitted to Angel as he let her lead him to the diner.

She nodded and took his hand to comfort him. "It's going to take some time, but I'm here to help."

"Like a counselor?" Steve asked her. "That was what Director Fury made it sound like."

"I'd rather be like a friend," she responded with a smile on her face.

She was beautiful, she really was, and he couldn't help but smile too at the way she lit up the place. In this new time and place, Steve could really use a friend and what better friend than the daughter of a man he had once known? She would understand things that he talked about and that made him feel a lot more comfortable as he pulled out one of the chairs for her to sit down in.

"I've died and crossed over to another universe where chivalry still exists," Angel had said happily, blushing a bit and smiling as Steve sat down after pushing her into the table. "Sorry, it's just…it's refreshing to meet a real gentleman. So…do you want to talk about the past, or…?"

But this was the here and the now.

He had woken up 70 years later and he was in a new place with new people and he was supposed to still be helping them to make a difference, and then there was Angela. Sure, it was a little weird that she was the daughter of Howard Stark, but in the long run, Steve felt as though that shouldn't matter so much because she was still a beautiful woman and he was still a man. If the two of them thought that they could make something work, then they could—maybe this was going too fast.

Steve and Angela had only known each other for six months and he still barely left the base or integrated himself into anywhere and she was always out and about in the world. She had this grace, beauty and presence that made his whole face light up whenever he saw her and he was convinced that the kiss wasn't in any way just adrenaline…in fact he'd wanted to kiss her once or twice before. They'd been in positions where they were close before and there had always been a spark between them.

"There are so many more books than there used to be," Steve told her, and he knew that was obvious, but he felt like he had to voice it. "Technology is immensely different and I have no idea how to use this."

Angel smiled and sat on the couch rather close to him, taking the cell phone from him. "You just flip it open, and then press the number buttons, like a phone. If you press this button here, it brings up your menu and you just use the arrow key here on the keypad to go to the contact list and press 'ok'…you'll get it. Plus, don't worry about the literature—most of it blows. We've lost the eloquence of the past, that's for sure. I'll bring you some of my favorites though, and we can read them together if you want."

When she looked up at him, Steve smiled at the way she fit right there next to him and loved how close she was. She'd been coming to see him a lot and trying to educate him on the world as it was now and it was hard for him to adjust, but he was doing it. He was still having dreams and nightmares about the past and while he sometimes wished he had never had to make that plane go down, he knew that he was supposed to be able to meet this stunning girl sitting next to him.

"Tonight, maybe, we could go to the theater and catch a movie?" Angel asked him, reaching up and ruffling his hair a little bit. "While the movie and the actors wouldn't be familiar, the setting might be a little more comfortable."

Steve smiled and captured her chin with his thumb and forefingers. "I'd enjoy that very much."

Smiling at the memory, Steve glanced up as the waitress came over and his eyes sparkled when he saw Angel coming toward him. She'd gone for a very feminine look, and yet he could tell that she was trying because she looked…conservative. The blouse was short sleeved and had buttons on it, but it wasn't entirely fitted like some of her other shirts and it had a collar. She looked stunning, she just also seemed a bit nervous to him and his own stomach was doing belly flops—a lot of nervousness going around.

He stood up as she smiled at him and neared the table, the waitress watching as he pulled out Angel's chair for her and seated her before returning to his own. The waitress couldn't help but feel a little envious that such a man still existed and turned to let them be for a moment since it was obvious they didn't have their order ready yet.

"You keep reminding me that chivalry exists," Angel said as she set her purse down at her feet and tucked the longer parts of her growing out bangs behind her ears. "Are you weirded out that Howard is my father?"

Steve chuckled and shook his head. "I've given that a lot of thought, actually…what matters is you."

Angel opened up her mouth to say something, but just blushed and then smiled and closed her mouth because now was not the time. He had brought her to their café, he had told her that she mattered to him, and talking was just going to ruin the way that he was looking at her. Still, she knew a lot about him and about his feelings for Peggy and she knew they'd never go away…could she handle that?

"I'm willing to give this a shot, if that's what you really want…" Angel told him with a smile on her face.

Steve smiled back. "That's what I really want, Angel."


Four months without Andy actually dragged on along more than Sharon and Angel thought would be possible. They missed her like crazy and they still couldn't pinpoint the location of Anex—the mutant that they were looking for, so it was time to go and see Charles and try and figure out what in the world was going on. Nodding at each other as they got to the steps, Sharon and Angel went up to the big door and they knocked on it, standing their grand in their jackets, their hair pulled back: Sharon's into a ponytail and Angel's into a braid that hung over her shoulder.

"That's your phone," Sharon said laughing. "Ten bucks it's Steve."

Angel smiled and fished her cell phone out of her pocket, smiling at the text. "Yep—he wants to know if we made it safely or not. You know, he rarely uses his phone…"

"Because it's a daunting piece of equipment," Sharon responded before the door opened. "ANDY!"

Andy beamed at them and hugged them both tightly. "I am so glad you guys are here! Charles pinpointed Anex's location, but he keeps moving. He's not staying put long enough for us to actually get to him at the moment. Still, I want to gossip and tease Logan and ask about Nick."

"As always, Nick Fury's life is better with you in it," Angel said as Andy let them into the mansion.

It always felt like coming home, stepping foot into this place, and Angel couldn't help but run her fingertips along the wall. She missed every hole, crevice, molding, tapestry…this was where she had met Sharon and Andy and it had been her home away from home in a time where her older brother had gone from being her older brother, to being the head of Stark Industries. There were so many memories here and she kind of wished she wasn't lying to Steve about what it really was—about who she really was…it hurt her to think about how upset he'd be when he found out.

"I can't believe that my brother has the audacity to send this to me!" Angel exclaimed that night in the mansion, Sharon and Andy listening to her as she looked over the paper in her hand. "It's basically a list of rules telling me what I can and can't say and do in the house that still has my name on the lease!"

Andy nodded slowly. "A lease he could buy you out of."

"True, but he hasn't yet," Sharon reminded her. "It actually says you can't talk to or be seen by the girls he brings home?"

"Yes!" Angel said angrily. "Just in case he drunkenly brought home a reporter, he doesn't want there to be any press about him bringing ladies home when his 'young, impressionable sister' is home from school. Wow, because the real world doesn't think I know my brother is a whore…"

"Everyone knows your brother is a whore," Andy laughed loudly.

"You guys need to pipe down…" Logan said, having opened their door with a stern look on his face. "I can hear you down the hall."

Angel nodded a little bit even though she wanted to yell at him too, putting the letter down on her bedside table and crawling into bed. Logan nodded and told them to sleep, leaving their room and letting the three whisper about Tony and how he was just being obnoxious.

"Careful there, Changer—I want the drapes to stay the same," Logan said with a smirk.

Angel looked up at him and grinned. "Logan! Come give me a hug."

Logan rolled his eyes, but he hugged Angel and Sharon and then led them to Charles' office, Charles smiling when he saw them standing there and then he nodded at Logan. Logan let them all have their privacy and closed the door, wondering for a moment what in the world it was that they were talking about—then again, it was probably about S.H.I.E.L.D. He had been doing his homework on the organization and he had been keeping tabs on his girls—they were close friends of his.

"It seems that Clint is onto us," Andy said sighing loudly. "He's visited the website several times and is continually looking for ways to hack into it. We need a course of action."

"I could always just kick his ass…" Sharon offered, shrugging her shoulders and sighing when Charles shook his head. "Then what?"

Charles took a deep breath. "Tell your team the truth."

"The truth?" Sharon asked him before shaking her head. "They can't handle the truth."

"Nick could and Charles and I talked about this already—we shouldn't be lying to our team." Andy told her. "They might all freak out a little bit, but I think that we need to consider telling them what we are and why Nick hired us."

Sharon was vigorously shaking her head while Angel remained silent. Angel was thinking about how Steve would react to knowing what she was because while they might not all freak out about what they were, their powers were another things completely. What if Steve understood now why she was trying to push him away? Why sometimes she reacted oddly to a situation? It was all because she had to be extremely careful with him so she didn't accidentally manipulate him.

"We'll think about it," Angel told Charles with a gentle nod.

Charles smiled at her. "He'll understand in time."

"Yeah…maybe," she responded.

With that, she got up and hugged him and then the three girls went to have some lunch and watch the mutant kids play with each other. Basketball, tag, practicing powers—it was like the olden days. They smiled and their moods were better seeing all of the other mutants around and so they decided to spend some time gossiping a bit. They could talk about serious things later until they were blue in the face, but right now the three of them were together.

"So how's your boyfriend?" Andy asked Angel as she bit into her sandwich.

Angel smiled at her. "He's good. We've been taking things slow: seeing each other at meals, eying each other across the room, sparring more often…its been really good."

"Four months and no sex," Sharon told Andy, pointing at her.

"He's Captain America—I believe his virtue is just as intact as hers." Andy smiled, shrugging a bit. "I'm glad it's going well. Did you tell Tony, or did someone else?"

Angel laughed a bit. "Oh, he figured it out all for himself."

"Yeah, we were in a briefing with Nick and Angel and Steve kept eying each other across the table, smiling to each other like smitten little kittens and suddenly Tony stands up and goes, 'when were you going to tell me that you were seeing each other?' and then Angel said, 'wow…we are in a meeting, Paranoid Man'. It was priceless," Sharon recalled through giggles. "I have never seen Tony so offended in my life. Not because they're dating, but because the rest of us knew that it was happening—in fact after the two of us, Angel told Coulson and then Natasha, who told Clint. Thor has been away, Bruce is still being kept from all of us and after the meeting, Tony went back home."

"He wanted to spend time with Pepper because she's been developing feelings for Happy," Angel explained to her. "It's no big deal, Tony just wanted to be near the company and actually feel like he was doing something other than babysitting me."

Andy nodded at that, wondering in all of this what had all been happening exactly at S.H.I.E.L.D., because while they certainly had their off days, they were always doing something. They had their hands in all sorts of little things just like Charles did, and sometimes Andy was pretty certain that that was why Charles and Nick got along so well. Even so, this was about Sharon and Angel.

"No more kissing Clint?" Andy asked Sharon.

Sharon shook her head. "Nope…I'm just as likely to kiss Clint again as you are to kiss Nick again—so basically: let's not get any hopes up."


Clint was closer than ever at finding out what it was about the girls that really made them tick. In fact, he was going over some surveillance footage of them as Steve came into the room and looked around. He and Tony were both aware that Clint was rather obsessed with what the girls were hiding and while he didn't think that Angel would ever lie to him, he was curious as to why they were hired too.

"You planted all these cameras?" Steve asked Clint.

Clint turned to look at him and shook his head. "Not all of them. Some of them are simply in the facility, but these two screens are mine. I just want to know—they're lying to us and I want to know why."

"What if they're protecting us?" Steve mused, but he was curious too.

"We'll cross that bridge if we get there," Clint responded, "I just think that they were hired for a reason that no one is sharing with us."

Steve nodded slowly. "Fury does have his secrets…"

"Everyone has secrets, Cap, even you." Clint told him shrugging. "All I want to know is whether or not their secret is harmful. Don't you want to know what your girlfriend isn't telling you?"

CHAPTER EIGHT: Emotional Blows

"We're not telling them," Sharon told Angel in the car as they drove back to the base.

Angel sighed loudly. "Telling them should be a considered option. I'm not saying that we should, but we should at least think about what it would mean to tell them."

"It would be chaos!" Sharon exclaimed, looking at Angel as Angel drove since it was Tony's car and there was no way she was letting Sharon drive it. "They would all assume we bullied our way into the position and Steve would think exactly what it is that you don't want him to think!"

"I know…" Angel said slowly, nodding. "I know. He'll immediately think that I manipulated him into liking me and I'll lose him."

Sharon nodded. "Then we don't tell them."

"We can't make the decision not to tell them based on what Steve's reaction will be."

"They will hate us."

"They deserve to have us not lie to them."

Sharon made a derisive noise in her throat and then looked out the passenger seat window of the car and Angel sighed again. Neither of them were really seeing eye to eye on this because Angel felt like the longer they waited, the more likely it was for Clint to find what it was that he was looking for and then everyone would hate them anyway. Not because they were mutants, but because they had kept it from them and then Clint had to tell them instead of them hearing it from their own mouths.

"I'm just worried, Share," Angel told her honestly.

Sharon nodded slowly. "So am I—we're mutants, Angel. The whole world thinks that mutants are abominations and you know it."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Angel responded after a pause. "I mean, you're right, but that's not what I'm scared of."

"Then what are you scared of, Angel?" Sharon asked her as she actually turned to look at her.

Angel bit her lip. "I'm afraid that if we don't tell them, they're going to find out from someone else. Eventually, this secret is going to come out because secrets always do…and I don't want Steve to find out because of Clint finding what he's looking for. I want to be honest with him."

"You've brought it back to the boy…"

"I know, but think about it…"

Sharon nodded even though she was pretty sure about what she wanted: she wanted to make sure that no one found out about her. She liked being in the shadows and staying out of trouble as much as possible and telling S.H.I.E.L.D. that she was a mutant was just going to put her into spotlight that she didn't want to be in. While she understood where Angel was coming from and she even agreed with her, she didn't want anyone to know about it.

Angel felt terrible that part of her decision here was even based off of Steve and how he would react, but at the same time…that's what she cared about. She cared about Andy and Sharon and how they felt about it, but she also felt like she was deceiving people that meant a lot to her and that just wasn't the right thing to do. It just kind of felt like she was going to have to choose who she was alright with having mad at her for a while.

Then again, maybe they'd both be mad no matter what.

Sharon would be angry if the secret came out, so one way or another she was going to be angry…it didn't matter if Angel told them or if Clint did. Steve would also be angry either way because he would still know that she had been keeping such a monumental secret from him, he would just be more likely to calm down quicker if it came from her mouth and not from Clint's. So in the long run…maybe it was better if she just told S.H.I.E.L.D. what was going on.

"I'll let it be for now, but think about telling them, Share," Angel told her, glancing at her and then looking back at the road.

Sharon just nodded, still staring out at the scenery around them, listening to the hum of the car engine.


Whenever Sharon was in a mood and she was at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, she always ended up in the shooting range shooting at things, but not this time. Instead, she took her favorite sniper outside and she set herself up in a perched area, watching everyone through her scope and trying to calm herself down. Being labeled as a mutant and pointed and stared at, was the last thing that she wanted and she wondered if maybe she should have tried harder to persuade Angel not to want this.

Because she knew that Angel wanted this.

Angel didn't just want this because of Steve and the fact that he was going to be angry no matter what happened, but because she was Angel. Unlike Tony, Angel hated keeping secrets, but she did when she was protecting people and Andy, Sharon and Angel didn't exactly need protecting…but the other mutants at the Academy did. This was just something that they needed to keep to themselves for the time being.

"If you're trying to snipe me, I'm not down there," Clint told Sharon as he sat down next to her, making her sigh loudly. "You seem upset."

Sharon looked at him. "I don't see why you care."

"Of course I care, Sharon," Clint assured her, shrugging his shoulders. "I just don't like being lied to."

"How would you even know if I was lying to you?" Sharon asked him, raising her voice. "You don't even know me, Agent Barton! You've been acquainted with me for almost a year, but you know nothing about me. We are friends, and barely even as you've been on a vendetta against me for four months after assaulting me with your mouth!" Best…assault…ever… "So just stop, alright? Stop acting like you have any clue as to why I act the way that I do!"

Clint looked her in the eye. "I want to know you…"

"You want to know my secret!" Sharon countered, shaking her head and standing up. "In fact scratch that—we're not even friends."

Clint sighed and stood up too, taking a step toward her and sighing when she took a step back. He should have known that she would act like this and he had to admit to himself that he kind of had it coming, seeing as how he was digging around in her personal business. At the same time, he was only doing it because he wanted to be with her and he couldn't be with her if he couldn't trust her and that was killing him.

Sharon was trying so hard not to check him out as he stood there and pondered what it was that he was trying to tell her. He hadn't come up here to pick a fight—his body language was all wrong for that and suddenly Sharon was afraid of what it was that was coming next. If he just up and sprung something on her then she would have half the mind to just run and be gone and that would be that…she'd become a professor with Andy and Logan and just call it quits with S.H.I.E.L.D. to ease her nerves.

"All I want is for us to get to know each other better…that's all I've wanted since we met," Clint admitted to her slowly.

Clint Barton was talking to Natasha Romanoff in the conference room, looking up only when he heard the padding of footsteps and counted more than just Nick Fury's. Nick came in with two women walking alongside him, a blonde and brunette, the brunette looking bubbly as ever and the blonde looked determined and guarded…she was absolutely stunning. The way she had her hair pulled back in a ponytail to signify that she meant business and the way she filled out her clothes left him a little breathless and Natasha smiled a little at the instant attraction.

"Agent Barton? Agent Romanoff? This is Agent Angela Stark and Agent Sharon Carver—they're new to the fold." Nick told them.

Natasha and Angel both shook hands immediately as Clint kept his eyes on Sharon and Sharon smiled a little bit at him. That smile soon grew into a smirk when she realized that he was checking her out and he held out his hand to shake hers, wondering which one she was—he hoped she wasn't Angel because he had heard a lot about Tony from Natasha, who had been sent to brief him already.

"Nice to see you again, Tasha," Angel told her, beaming at her. "Tony sends his regards."

Natasha smiled a bit. "I bet he does—that brother of yours…"

"He's not as charming as I am," Angel said winking.

Then she looked over at Clint and Sharon who introduced themselves and then slowly let go of each other's hands. It was in that moment that Angel saw the attraction, and that Clint realized that he was drawn to the beauty that was Sharon Carver. In the days to come they were going to become close friends and he was going to trust her…until that trust was snapped in half like a stick over a knee.

"If you wanted to get to know me, you should have asked me about myself instead of snooping around in my personal life," Sharon told him.

Clint nodded slowly. "I deserved that, I know, and I agree with you, but I also wouldn't have to snoop if you would be honest with me."

"You don't know me!"

"I know you well enough to know that you're hiding from me!"

"Because I can't get close to you!"

"Can't…or won't?"

"Both!"

Clint nodded and took a breath. "I care about you, Sharon, even if I'm hurt. Yeah, I'm hurt. I thought that you could trust me with anything and that you knew that there was someone that you could run to because I've told you about me. I told you that I had a shady past and that Fury was trying to help me to help myself to be a better person and you can't even be honest with me about why you got hired. If anyone is being unfair here, it's certainly not me, because you can still run to me…but not if I find out this secret before you tell me. If you can't trust me enough to stand by you even in your worst moments, then I'm requesting to be taken off of the team because I can't work with someone that doesn't trust me enough to be truthful with me."


Angel went straight to find Steve when she made it onto the base, having not seen him in a few days and missing him desperately. They were used to seeing each other every day for one or more meals and she just wanted to know that she was right about what it was that she wanted to do here. She just wanted everyone to be happy in the end and she thought that she could lower tensions by just coming clean even though it was going to make everyone mad.

This job was about hard decisions though.

It was going to come down to this eventually and Angel needed to be the one to tell them all so that Clint didn't get the satisfaction of 1)finding it out, and 2)turning everyone against them. The secret would shock everyone and for a period people would be mad at them, but Sharon and Angel could handle this because they would have Andy to help them through it as well once she showed up. She was currently working with Xavier to give her some time off and since she was helping the world and all of that, Charles was lenient with her.

Nodding at that thought, Angel went around looking for Steve, finding him in the training room of course and that just made her smile a bit. Nothing like finding him sweaty to turn her on when she knew that she wasn't supposed to be feeling such feelings right now, given what she was going to do. She was supposed to be focusing on the cute times that they had had so far and not on fantasizing about what he might look like with no shirt on…

"You honestly hated that movie?" Angel asked him as they walked hand in hand down the sidewalk.

Steve laughed and nodded. "It was terrible. The cinematics were good, but the story line was lacking in so many parts."

"Okay, I'll give you that one, but it was at least enjoyable?" Angel asked with a smile on her face, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.

Steven smiled and stopped too, turning to face her and leaning down to kiss her tenderly. Being with her always made him feel so much better, and she was definitely the light at the end of the tunnel. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be nearly as put together had she not come along after he had woken up and helped him to fit in. To be honest, he still didn't, but he enjoyed trying to more, just so that he could fit into Angel's world with her.

"PDA from Captain America?" Angel teased as she lipped her fingers into his hair and nipped at his bottom lip. "Tsk, tsk,"

Steve felt his body flush hot at her teeth on his lip. "They don't know who I am."

"No, but I do," she responded, kissing him again and then pulling back and starting to walk again. "Tell me again which parts you hated…I love when your eyebrow quirks up when you're annoyed…"

Steve heard the footsteps and looked up, more than happy to see Angela and moving to get the wraps off of his hands. When he was close enough to her, he just smiled at her and was about to tell her that he would get a shower, when she was kissing him. She felt like this was going to be one of the last times for a while and while he didn't mind it, he was sweaty and he probably smelled terrible, so he didn't get why she was kissing him right now.

"I need to shower…" Steve told her, chuckling.

Angel shook her head. "I'd really rather you didn't…"

"You like that I'm dirty?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows as he was genuinely confused.

"I like it when I can tell that you've been doing something," she said with a shrug. Be sweaty always…

Her arms slid up around his neck and he nodded gently and placed a tender kiss to her nose, leaning down like he was going to kiss her lips, but just hovering there. This last four months had been nice and this was about as far as anything had gone—kissing. He was a man of old fashioned values and he was still trying to get to know her…not to mention that Clint's words were in his head.

"Dinner tonight?" Steve asked her, stroking her hair and looking into her eyes lovingly.

Angel nodded slowly and bit her lip. "I don't know that you'll still want to after the meeting."

"There's a meeting?" Steve asked, pulling back a moment from having his face close to hers. "I wasn't told that there was a meeting."

"You're being told now," Angel responded. "Sharon and I have an announcement to make."


After assembling everyone into the conference room, Angel took a deep breath and looked over at Nick and at Sharon, who had a scowl on her face. Behind that, though, was some pain and Angel wanted to know what was going on because Clint looked hurt too. It seemed like they had already talked to each other and they had come out of it as hurt as ever and Angel thought this over again for a moment because the last thing she wanted to do was cause Sharon more pain.

Sharon wasn't even looking at her and though Nick was showing her with his eyes that he was there for her and Sharon and Steve was smiling because he was smitten, Angel found her mouth going dry. Natasha was on a mission, so Coulson and Clint were just sitting there waiting for some answers and Angel closed her eyes a moment as her heart began to race: it was like the moment of truth. She was finally going to get it all off of her chest and yet for a moment it almost seemed like the wrong thing to do now.

"Sharon and I have something we need to tell you—Andy's part of this too, but she has a job to do and can't be here currently." Angel explained, looking over at Sharon, whose eyes were on the table.

Clint looked at Sharon and then at Angel. "Is this about your secret?"

"The one you've been digging for? Yes," Angel told him nodding.

"Talks about trust and he can't even give a teammate the benefit of the doubt," Sharon mumbled, but everyone heard her.

"I did until that mission you had no business being on…" Clint responded, looking directly at her. "The one where you got hurt and all I felt was a crushing pain in my chest because you were in pain."

Sharon paused a moment but decided to say what she wanted to say. "I had every right to go on that mission, Clint…"

She couldn't find it in her to put anger in her voice, however, hearing about how his heart hurt to see her wounded. Sharon knew that had the roles been switched, she would have been worried about his safety too and while she still didn't want them to know, she knew that there was no stopping it now. Angel had made up her mind to do something and do something she would.

"Look…the reason we were hired for this team is because we're special…we have special…abilities," Angel tried, sighing when everyone just looked at her. "We're mutants, okay? We've been being trained for years and we were hired because we can do things that you guys can't, that help us all in the long run. We're anything but normal."

Maria Hill came barging in before anyone could say anything. "Sir? You're needed downstairs."

"Barton, I need you," Nick said, motioning for him to follow him to the Tesseract.

CHAPTER NINE: Totally Loki'd

For a moment Clint was simply frozen in place, but when Nick told him that his services were needed again, Clint nodded and he walked out of the room. That left Angel with Sharon, Coulson and Steve, Angel trying to calm herself down while Sharon shook her head and continued to stare at the table in front of her—she hated this and she certainly didn't want Angel to think any differently. In fact, what a time to pick so that Clint didn't have time to process it!

"Does Mr. Stark know yet?" Coulson asked Angel calmly—in fact Angel just kind of smiled at him because it was obvious to Steve now that Coulson had brought her in.

Angel shook her head slowly. "Only member of my family that knew was my mother—she sent me to Charles Xavier and he trained me."

"Seems like a story you should tell everyone when they're congregated together," Steve said as he rose, heading for the door. "Explain yourself once instead of over and over, right?"

"Yep, this was a great plan, Angel," Sharon told her sarcastically as she rose. "Unless you'd like to ruin my life further, I'm going to leave too."

Angel looked at her. "You're being a drama queen."

"Yeah, but I'm going to go be one away from you right now." Sharon responded as she went for the door without another word.

Angel sighed loudly and sat down, knowing that Sharon and Steve were heading off of the base and it bothered her because she didn't know what to do. Andy wasn't here for her to run to and so since Coulson was heading down to where Nick and Clint had been summoned off to, she decided that she would follow and lend aid if she could. She had to keep herself busy somehow because it seemed like her noble idea to tell the truth had blown up in her face.

"They'll come around," Coulson said with a smile.

Angel nodded slowly. "Yeah…everyone needs to have time to process, is all. Though let's be realistic here: when they know what our powers are, they're not just going to let it go and you know it."

"If you're worried about Mr. Rogers, don't be," Coulson told her, taking her hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "He's Captain America, and he always rises to the occasion."

"You're only saying that because you're in love with him," Angel laughed, shaking her head.

Then it sounded—the alarm. They had all been on the base long enough to know when the evacuation alarm was sounding and Nick was giving everyone orders to get out…orders that Angel didn't really intend to follow right now. After everything that had happened, she didn't feel like she really had anything left to lose, so she headed toward Clint's 'nest', and she saw something she hadn't been aware was being used: the Tesseract was being used as an energy source.

"Are you people insane?" Angel asked them, heading over to a console and gently touching one of the scientists and making them move with her powers as he went to remove her from the room. "This is the Tesseract! Sharon, Andy and I read up on it when Steve came to and it was fished out of the ocean. You can't just use it for an energy source!"

Nick looked at her. "It was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up."

"Well, it's emitting small doses of gamma radiation," she told him, giving him a look. "I have a very bad feeling about this…"

Everyone did, and when a portal was opened—a doorway—out stepped Loki in all of his glory and he was ready to claim what he thought was rightfully his…


"You sure you don't want something to drink?" Sharon asked Steve calmly.

Steve hadn't even wanted to come to this bar in the first place, but Sharon had offered and they hadn't really talked as much as he would have liked. Mostly he spent his time with Angel and right now he was confused and he was hurt, and he didn't know exactly what to be confused and hurt about because nothing had entirely gotten explained. Also, this bar reminded him of the bar he used to go to with his best friend, Bucky, and a sad look crossed his eyes.

"No, thank you," Steve said shaking his head. "Problems aren't fixed with alcohol, they're caused."

Sharon laughed. "Yeah…speak for yourself."

With that, she took a shot and then she looked at a girl that came up to Steve and smiled at him, ready to use any kind of line she could think of. Angry with Angel or not, Sharon wasn't about to let some bar floozy pick up Captain America, and so she shook her head and looked at her with the most unfriendly look that she could muster.

It certainly got the girl's attention.

"This man here?" Sharon asked her, pointing to Steve, "he's my best friend's soul mate, so back off before I rearrange your face and make you back off."

"I was just coming over to socialize," the girl protested.

Sharon scoffed at that. "Suuuure, you were. Go."

Shooting Sharon a dirty look, the girl turned to Steve and handed him a napkin with her number on it and then hurried off when Sharon got off of her bar stool. Obviously the girl had thought that Sharon had meant her threat, but that hadn't stopped her from trying to pick up Steve anyway. So, in the girl's view, Sharon took the napkin from Steve, held it up, borrowed the bartender's lighter, and set the napkin on fire, putting it out in a glass of water that the bartender placed on the bar for her.

"You…are hostile," Steve told Sharon, sitting down on the bar stool and looking at the bartender. "Ice water, please?"

Sharon smiled a bit. "He'll have a Shirley Temple—not a drinker, right now, it seems."

The bartender nodded and whipped up the rather girly drink, Sharon looking at Steve and sighing loudly because she was starting to feel less angry. Yeah, she didn't want anyone to know and she certainly wished that she knew how Clint was reacting to all of this, but Steve looked more upset than he should be when he didn't know the whole story and didn't have anything to be upset about…yet.

"She didn't tell you because Andy and I told her not to," Sharon found herself saying. "We were all afraid of the reactions because of our powers and when Andy said it was time, Angel readily agreed. I still wish you all didn't know."

Steve nodded slowly. "I'm not…I don't entirely understand. What does it mean to be a mutant exactly? What are your powers?"

"You're kidding right?" Sharon asked him and then she remembered something: Steve was 70 years out of time with the here and the now. "Oh, of course you're not. Um…mutants are humans that have a mutated gene. Depending on the person, that gene affects them in different ways. Andy, for example? Kind of like a super soldier without the serum—she regenerates nicely, she's really strong and she has incredibly stamina. Angel manipulates machinery and stuff and I'm…just the side kick."

While the secret was out there, Sharon didn't really want to go around spilling her secret to everyone, even though she realized what she had said: 'manipulate' was a bad word to use even if it was true. The look on Steve's face had changed when he heard about Angel's power and he took a deep breath before he looked Sharon in the eye.

"People too?" Steve asked her. "Fury brought her in so that she could keep me contained? Of course she was the perfect one for the job, right? She was just following order: manipulating the soldier into doing as he was told and playing nice with others."

Sharon shook her head. "She never manipulated you."

"How do either of us know that?" Steve asked as he looked at his drink. "After I kissed her she said she didn't want it to happen that way…what else would that mean?"

"Steve, I know her, and asking if she was forcing you into all of this is just making me want to rearrange your face instead, so knock it off." Sharon told him, shaking her head. "Angel doesn't use her powers unless she has to—none of us do. Hell, part of the only reason she even told everyone about us was because she hates doing anything to hurt you, keeping you in the dark included. Suck it up, be the man you're supposed to be, and forgive her."

Steve let the words sink in and looked at Sharon. "You're just the side kick?"

It was obvious that he didn't believe her, but in his shoes she wouldn't believe her either and so she just opened her mouth up to reply when her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and she looked at the cover of the phone: Angel. Flipping the top open, she decided that it was time that she talk to her friend and bring Steve in if it was absolutely necessary.

"Yeah?" Sharon answered.

Angel took a deep breath. "You know the air base? I need you to get there."

[/center]xx[/center]

"What do you mean Clint's missing?" Sharon asked her. "Where is Natasha? She should be out there getting him back!"

Angel sighed a bit. "Tasha is trying to bring Bruce in."

"Wow…my life just keeps getting better and better," Sharon muttered, slumping in her chair.

Sharon had been the only one to come in when Angel called, Steve needing to clear his head—besides, Angel hadn't given them any information over the phone, just wanted to be with Sharon. Whenever something was wrong and whenever she needed someone that she knew that she could lean on, Sharon was always there for her, right by her side…Sharon and Andy. In fact, Andy was on a helicopter flying for them and Angel leaned on the conference table.

"Andy is trying to get Thor back through the gateway she made, but we both know that that takes a lot of power," Angel explained to her. "When Natasha gets back with Bruce, we'll have part of the 'Avenger Initiative' assembled like Nick wanted in the first place. We have all of the computers searching for Clint and Loki as we speak."

Sharon nodded slowly. "What about Tony?"

"Are you kidding me?" Angel asked her. "I sent Coulson to talk to my brother because I refuse to deal with him right now. I can't even get Steve to talk to me right now and I just…this is the best plan that we have."

"Well…it's not good enough," Sharon told her, standing up. "I'm going to go find him."

"Share…"

"I have to keep him safe, Angel."

Angel took a deep breath and bit her lip. "As all for saving him as I am, you can't go by yourself, so…I'm going with you."

Sharon was going to protest, but she knew that look in Angel's eyes and she hadn't seen it in a long while: she felt like she was on her own. Everyone that normally stood by her wasn't there and Clint was part of this, so they got ready to head out and they did, both of them trying to extrapolate where Loki might be judged on his behavior and Thor's pattern last time he had been on Earth. Then they split up when they caught onto some energy signatures, Sharon finding a hand clamping over her mouth.

"Scream and she dies," came a voice, and Sharon could tell it was serious. "Right now, all I need is you."

Sharon nodded slowly, trying to use the man's power against him, but aside from his strength, she was getting nothing.

"If you're trying to get the better of me, I suggest you stop trying right now, I'm a God," Loki whispered to her, tracing her cheek gently and turning her to face him. "I am going to bring this world to its knees and you're going to help me."

"Why would I do that?" Sharon asked him.

Loki smirked at her. "Because if you don't, I'll kill everyone important to you and make you watch me do it, Sharon. You might as well not fight it."

If there was one thing Sharon was certain of, it was that she was tired of being threatened…


"You lost the signatures?" Natasha asked Angel when she got back and told them that Sharon was most definitely gone.

Angel nodded slowly. "They have Sharon and Sharon has my powers for another few hours. See, her power is to absorb other mutant's powers through touch. She keeps them for a few hours—sometimes days, it depends—and she's manipulating the signals. On regular people, she just kind of gets to be able to be their best natural ability and it doesn't work on Gods, or she'd be back by now."

"I think it's time we brought Cap back into the fold," Nick said gently. "I think you should do it, Angel."

"No, I think you should," Angel responded gently. "Look, Coulson says that he doesn't know if Tony is even going to bite—he will, but right now it's a waiting game. Not to mention that Andy isn't due for another hour and without her, we have no Thor."

"I can still try and find us that gamma ray signature," Bruce told them all, adjusting his glasses. "That's why you brought me here, isn't it?"

Angel looked over at the man and she smiled at him, a big fan of his work, as was her brother. That genius gene hadn't gone far and actually, sometimes, Angel thought that Tony was a mutant too and just had Technopathy—he was exceptionally good at machinery. Still, the reason she admired Bruce outside of the obvious knowledge he had as a scientist, was the fact that he always had to have control over the beast inside of him and while she didn't know what that was like, she was always trying to be extra careful because she never knew when she was going to use her powers and have it backfire in her face and in everyone else's.

"It's important that we have everyone on this…for Ms. Carver's sake," Nick said gently.

Bruce and Natasha looked at Angel as she nodded and went to grab her jacket, nodding at them because there was really nothing else to do. She was going to have to figure out what was going on and face Steve because this wasn't about her or him or them: this was about Sharon.

"Where are you going?" Natasha asked her.

Angel just kept going. "I'm bringing in Captain America."

CHAPTER TEN: Finding Loki

Angel just honestly wanted to get this all over with—she wanted to get the team assembled and she wanted to find a way to get Sharon back safely. So she had to swallow her pride and go and see Steve even though she knew what he would be doing: taking his frustration out on punching bags like he normally did. It was going to be easy to find him, but not easy to convince him that this needed to be done…or so she thought at first.

Steve was, after all, Captain America.

If Sharon was in trouble, then Steve would spring into action and help to rescue her, Angel was sure of it. So when she found Steve punching away at the bag, she smiled a little bit and then she took a deep breath when he looked at her and then looked away again. She didn't even have time to check him out before he punched the bag across the room and then went to hang up another one, talking to her and bringing her out of her own slightly dirty thoughts.

"Here to keep me calm?" Steve asked her. "Integrate into the world?"

Angel nodded slowly. "You honestly think that I would force you to do something you didn't want to do?"

"At first I suspected, but…no." Steve said, stopping the bag and then looking over at her. "I'm trying really hard not to think ill of you, I'm just upset."

"That I didn't tell you about it?" Angel asked him, nodding when he did. "Yeah…well, if it helps, Tony has never done a single thing I've ever asked him to."

Steve laughed a little. "Yeah?"

Angel sighed loudly as she tried hard not to get upset with her brother, but Tony seemed to bother her on a regular basis. It had become somewhat of a habit for him since he had taken over the company and Angel wondered if maybe she was the problem around here. After all, he seemed to be all about the company and whomever he could bed instead of caring about his little sister…

"Stop it, Tony," Angel told him, hitting him with a wooden spoon. "I live here too."

Tony pushed on his sister's shoulder gently. "Don't hit me with spoons."

"Don't bring strange women home!"

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Just because I'm younger, doesn't mean you can boss me around!"

"Actually, I think that just because you are younger, means just that."

Angel growled at him and then turned on her heel to leave the room because as much as she wanted to use her powers on him, that just wasn't like her. She would never do that to him, especially since he was kind of raising her a little bit since their parents were gone, even though she was really raising herself and being raised by Charles while she was at the mansion. No, Angela Stark really just needed to have some space from her brother right now and he needed space from her.

"I know that we're not okay, Steve, but I need you right now," Angel told him, handing him a file folder. "What do you know about the Tesseract exactly? I know we've touched on it, but…Loki has it."

Steve looked at her as he slowly took the file folder from her. "Loki…"

"Thor's brother," Angel said nodding.

"Have we gotten to Andy to ask her how to get Thor here?" Steve asked her slowly.

"She's on her way, but I came to get you," Angel responded, smiling gently. "This is really important because on top of Loki having the Tesseract…he has Sharon."

Steve's eyes were on her in an instant when he heard her voice crack and he stepped up closer to her, sighing because he was torn. He was still upset and he was still processing, but Sharon and Andy meant everything to Angel and Steve couldn't find it in him to be upset with her when she was so clearly hurting right now not knowing where Sharon was or how she was and Steve sighed a bit. Even sad, she was every bit as beautiful and his fingers easily found their way into her hair.

"Hey…we'll get her back," Steve promised, resting his forehead against Angel's before kissing it. "What's the next step here?"


Sharon wasn't sure how she felt about being with Loki, but one thing was for certain: the man had a plan. He knew what he wanted and he had all sorts of people on his side that she hadn't been expecting to see: humans, agents and mutants alike. Anyone that could help him achieve his goal was right there and now she was there and she wondered why he hadn't actually tried and controlled her yet when he honestly could have…nothing was stopping Loki from using his scepter.

Shaking it off and trying to count her blessings, Sharon went on a hunt for Clint, seeing him working with Erik Selvig and she decided to approach them. She knew that she and Clint weren't really in a good place even though they'd had a few nice encounters this last four months, but she wanted to see if she could snap him out of this before he did something that he was going to regret forever…

"I know you're not entirely you, right now," Sharon began.

Clint looked at her. "I'm me…"

"No, you're not," Sharon responded, shaking her head. "You would never do this to Nick or to Natasha and you know that."

"Maybe you don't know me," Clint told her.

Sharon couldn't explain the pain in her heart that she felt at that comment, but she knew that she deserved it because he was right: she didn't know him. They didn't know each other past what they assumed and for one of them to think they knew the other over the other meant that they were just being hypocritical. So, she decided to approach this in a different way because that way was obviously not getting her anywhere…

"If you're you, then why—"

"—you hurt me, Sharon." Clint cut her off. "I wanted to put my heart on my sleeve for you and all you gave me were secrets. That doesn't matter though. What matters is this…Iridium?"

Erik nodded at him. "It's important for the device."

Sharon glanced at the plans, but Clint moved them out of her eyesight and then went to talk to Loki while Sharon tried to figure out what to do. She didn't want to stay here, but there were mutants that she knew that she couldn't just abandon…and she couldn't abandon Clint. God, she was into him and she knew that now, seeing him like this. All he had wanted to do was get to know her and she had gone out of her way to push him away every time.

"Thought you might like a pudding cup," Clint told Sharon as he sat down next to her at the table.

Sharon looked at him and laughed loudly. "Angel put you up to this. I hate tapioca."

"Really? She said it was your favorite…"

"She does that to every guy she thinks is sweet on me."

"Is everyone starting to talk like Captain America?"

His last question made her laugh a little and shrug because she had to admit that it was kind of nice having Steve around—having a real gentleman around.

"Besides, I'm not sweet on you," Clint told her, but he was blushing a little bit. "If anything you hit on me first."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "In your dreams, pal. Now, if the pudding cup is all you have to offer, I'd like to eat it in peace…"

She was like that, though. Sharon had a tendency to run from men when they got too close and it was more fun to play with them than it was to trust them. Not only was she a mutant, but she'd been hurt a time or two before and in a place where there were so many spies, she just didn't feel entirely comfortable when they all had secrets as well. She didn't think that anyone had a right to talk to her about keeping secrets, but at the same time she knew that hers was big.

"You're coming with me," Loki told Sharon gently.

Sharon looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"To get the Iridium, Sharon…you are coming with me." Loki told her, grabbing her arm and digging his fingers in a little bit. "And I'm certainly not asking."


Angel wasn't sure what to do that night, but she knew that she needed to get some sleep. She was walking down the corridor to her room when she just started crying, leaning against the wall and trying to pull it all together because right now she just wanted to know that everyone that she cared about was nice and safe. Then she felt arms wrap around her and even though she shook her head, they picked her up and cradled her, carrying her to her room.

"I just want to be alone," Angel said gently.

Steve nodded and kissed the top of her head. "I want to make you feel better…"

"If I was my brother, I'd be chalk full of innuendo right now,"

"You're not your brother…"

"I'm still a freak…"

Steve shook his head and couldn't stop the door from shutting with her in his arms, but he kissed her forehead and then nuzzled her skin. When she got her feet on the ground, Angel went in to kiss him, lips capturing his, pouring herself into him because she just wanted to feel good right now, and kissing Steve felt good…in fact it felt great. Steve couldn't say that he didn't feel good either, having Angel's soft lips crushing against his with such need and determination.

"We should have a talk about where we are," Angel told Steve that night as they listened to some music.

Steve nodded and gave her his full attention. "I think we're good…am I wrong?"

"No, you're not wrong, I just think that we should have a slightly awkward conversation." Angel admitted blushing. "Like…a sex conversation…"

She could see the red rise up in Steve's cheeks, but they'd both been thinking about it more than they should have been. They were close and she was a Stark and he thought that she expected it and Angel wanted him to know that she was a virgin and she really couldn't be expected to just throw herself at a guy no matter her age or how much she wanted him. They both turned each other on and they enjoyed each other's company, but at the same time it was something that they would need to talk about eventually and right now seemed like the best time.

"A…what…?" Steve asked her slowly.

Angel blushed a little more. "I'm a virgin and I would rather we wait."

"Oh, you're…" Steve nodded because while he hadn't expected that, he was kind of glad that she wasn't expecting anything from him.

All this time he had been expecting that because she was Angela Stark, she was experienced and she was expecting someone more experienced than he was. Now she was telling him that she was just like he was—not used to this—and it made her that much more attractive to him. So he smiled at her to let her know that he got it and that he was good with waiting and just when he was going to say something, Angel spoke because she was so embarrassed she'd even brought it up—way to scare the guy off.

"So are we good? Good talk?" Angel asked him.

Steve nodded at that. "Yeah…good talk."

For a moment, Steve just let it happen, fingers in her hair, holding her close to him and feeling her body against his…but it didn't last. He knew that it was wrong because she was upset and he desperately wanted to make this stop, even if there were feelings surging through him—and he felt like he really needed to stop when she was unbuttoning her shirt. This was not the way that he wanted this to happen and he was still a gentleman.

"Angel…stop…" Steve said slowly, hands covering hers as she paused what she was doing. "You're upset and I care about you, but this isn't the way…"

Angel nodded, flushing red. "God, I know…oh God, I'm so sorry."

She fled into the bathroom, Steve watching her go and trying to make the feelings subside because he just wanted to be kissing her again. Angel quickly got into her pajamas and then opened up the door, seeing Steve leaving her room and speaking up because it was the only thing she could do.

"Stay with me…please?" Angel asked him.

Steve heard the words and then nodded gently, turning to her and watching as she got under the covers in her bed, his mouth going dry. Still, he took off his leather jacket and he laid down on top of the covers, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him, breathing in her scent as she rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. He would give anything to be with her right then, but he knew he had to stay alert and she knew it wasn't the time.

"As long as you need me," Steve promised.


"Okay, you guys are really in need of a clue," Andy said bitterly, looking over the information and then glancing at a console. "He's only hiding until he shows—every villain is like that."

Nick smiled a little bit at her and nodded. "Right…so, we need to…what have we here?"

"I've been trying to pinpoint Sharon because I'm worried about her, and I have a terrible feeling that we're close," Andy explained to him.

"As soon as we find him, I want Angel to know where she is," Nick told her.

They nodded at each other and were about to speak up about more personal matters when everything seemed to fall right into their laps. Andy smiled and looked at the screen, pointing to it and then looking at Nick, Bruce, Coulson and Natasha.

"He wants to be found," Andy said, nodding slowly. "I'm sending Steve."

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Obtaining Information

All Clint could think about was how much Loki had given him—how much clearer his thoughts were right now thanks to Loki's staff. When Loki had infiltrated, he had taken a few people with him and Clint had been one of those people…the first of those people. Whatever the scepter had done to him had made him feel as though he was more opened up and free and now he was certainly willing to do anything that Loki told him to do…anything.

"Clint!" Clint heard Angel shout at him.

Once the portal had been opened and Loki stepped through, a confrontation was bound to happen and it did: fighting Loki because it was clear that he wanted the Tesseract for himself. Clint found himself moving to protect Angel when Loki sent a blast at her, but it hit Angel in the arm and she whimpered before she looked at Loki with murder in her eyes. As she got up, Clint went for him and Loki grabbed him, smiling at him and Angel knew something was immediately wrong.

"You have heart," Loki told Clint before resting the scepter on his chest where his heart was and manipulating him…manipulation…

Angel hurried over to the consoles and placed her hands on them, looking up when Loki shook his head and took Erik over in the same manner: scepter to heart. She was trying to manipulate the technology and Loki couldn't have that, but he also couldn't blast her and just hope that he'd miss the equipment, so he sent Erik after her. Erik was violent with her too, which was unlike him, but he was being controlled by Loki partially and he knocked her out.

"This place is going to cave in on us," Clint told Loki, looking at the S.H.I.E.L.D. officers that were being controlled by the scepter and also looking at Nick, who had the Tesseract in a briefcase.

Loki nodded slowly. "Take care of it, Barton,"

"Of course," Clint told him before he shot Nick, grabbed the briefcase, and left the safe house.

Sharon kept looking at him like there was something else going on, but the fact of the matter was that right now he simply hated her. He hated that no matter what he had done in the past, she had lied right to his face and Clint was certainly clear on one thing: he couldn't trust her. She had made it perfectly clear to him that nothing that she said could be taken on truth and Loki was right about her…all she did was hide things from people.

"You and Ms. Carver seem to have some sort of past," Loki told Clint slowly. "I know all about it."

Clint looked at him. "I know, I told you about it."

"Yet again she's hiding things from you…" Loki explained, an evil smile on his face. "First she doesn't tell you who you are, and now she doesn't tell you why she's here…she chose to be here."

"Chose?" Clint asked him. "By a very different method than you."

Clint nodded slowly and looked over at Sharon as she assessed the situation around her. She had always been rather observant and Clint knew that the wheels were turning in her head right now about what to do and how to get it all done in a timely fashion. Still, the fact that Loki hadn't touched her with his scepter meant that she was here of her own free will.

"Does it matter?" Clint asked Loki. "We're both here to help you get what you want: Earth."

Loki smiled at that. "Yes, I know…I'm just reminding you that we can't trust her. She'll always switch to whatever side needs her most, just to save her own skin."

"She said that to you?" Clint asked him.

"She's certainly not innocent," Loki responded with a knowing smile.

As they made their way to get the Iridium, Clint glanced at Sharon and their eyes locked, Clint glazing over the thoughts about how beautiful she was and just dropping it. He was focusing on this mission for Loki because they needed to make the device and that, right now, was really the only thing that even remotely mattered. Besides, Sharon seemed to be helping Loki too now and if he had to be around her, then he would simply stop thinking about her.

"What are you going to need?" Loki asked Clint as Clint began to take the guards out one by one.

Clint smiled a little bit. "A distraction…and an eye…"

Sharon didn't know exactly what that meant, but she knew that she didn't like the sound of it…


"Has anyone seen Rogers?" Andy asked out loud as she wandered around.

When no one had any information for her, she went to the computers and typed in some information, nodding when she saw the footage of him and Angel in the hall. She felt so bad for Angel because this was just the type of person that she was, and she also wished for a moment that she and Nick had some time to talk just the two of them…but they didn't. Angel was a mother bear—she would maul if you hurt her cubs—and she felt lost without Sharon and Andy, but right now Andy needed Steve too.

"I just want things to be easier, but they're not." Andy told Nick with tears in her eyes.

Andy rarely cried, but when she did it was always for a good reason and right now she felt ashamed of herself that this was a good reason: crying about Nick leaving. There were so many things that the two wanted to say and to do, but right now she knew that she was making the right decision even though it was ripping her heart into pieces. So much was going on and she didn't think that she could really handle anymore sadness.

"I have to do this," Andy continued, cupping Nick's face. "Charles has been like our father and I need to help him here…you know that."

Nick nodded slowly. "I know, I just…it means we're done right now."

"Yeah, I know," Andy said as she felt her heart break. "I do love you, though."

"I love you too, Adrienne," Nick responded, kissing her lovingly.

The kiss escalated and became rather passionate, Nick stroking her hair and pulling her body close so that he could savor her warmth. Their heartbeats quickened and they stayed there, glued together until Logan walked in and cleared his throat—there were things to do. Andy rested her forehead against Nick's and he brushed her tears away with his thumbs gently, kissing her tenderly to let her know that this had been real.

"I will always love you," Andy promised him.

Nick nodded at that. "I'll always love you too…especially when we're apart."

Shaking the thoughts away as she went down the corridor, she slowly opened up Angel's door and Steve was suddenly incredibly alert. His number one instinct had been to protect her and that warmed Andy's heart so much in that instance as she looked at the brunette sleeping in the bed. Untangling himself from Angel reluctantly, Steve got up and pointed to the corridor, not wanting to wake Angel up from her slumber if he didn't have to.

"You need to suit up—we found Loki," Andy explained to him, smiling a bit at Angel's closed door. "You're falling for her."

Steve looked at Andy. "I'll bring Sharon back to you…both of you."

"I'm counting on it," Andy responded and smiled after him as he went to put on his suit.

While he went that way, Andy headed to find Bruce, wanting him to help her to bring Thor to them because it was still hard to get him out of Asgard when they needed him. They were trying of course because they wanted to bring Loki to justice, but right now they needed a doorway and Andy knew just to make one—she just wanted Bruce's expertise right now. They didn't have the Tesseract to make a doorway, but that didn't mean that they didn't have a pure energy source.

"What brings you here?" Bruce asked her as she walked in the door. "I haven't seen you in a long while."

Andy smiled at him…just another secret. "I could use your gamma ray expertise."

"Couldn't you all?" Bruce teased a little, motioning to his work. "What can I help you with?"

"I'm so glad that you asked, Bruce," Andy told him as she brought up the work and showed it to him. "I have been researching this since Thor showed up on Earth the first time. You see this signatures here? We can use them to open up a doorway to bring Thor through. The Tesseract could do this—it just emitted gamma rays when it did it and thanks to Tony's 'contribution', we have another form of pure energy to use to rip open a portal. The exact energy he's using for his tower."

Bruce laughed at that. "Oh, so he just gave it to you?"

"I get a five finger discount with Tony," Andy responded winking. "I'd like to think that it's okay because I'm best friends with his sister, but he'll probably try and kill me when he realizes that it's missing. Anyway, think you can help me bring Thor here to reign in his brother?"

"I will certainly try," Bruce agreed, stroking her hair for a moment.

Andy nodded at her friend. "Good…then we can talk about the looks you and Natasha keep giving each other and call ourselves caught up."


While Sharon enjoyed dressing up a bit and being paraded about as arm candy as much as the next woman, she hated this. Loki was attractive—she gave him that—and he carried himself well and had that killer evil grin, but this was wrong and she didn't want to do it. What could she do next to a God though? She couldn't manipulate his God powers and make them her own, but she did have his strength so she could take him in a fight if she had to…right?

"Clint said that he needed an 'eye'…was that literal?" Sharon asked Loki as they descended the staircase to the party they were infiltrating.

Loki smiled at her. "Why? Are you squeamish?"

"With eyes?" Sharon asked him, nodding. "Extremely so."

"Good," Loki said, kissing her temple.

Sharon was confused, but she blushed anyway, knowing that he was just trying to blend in at first even though the staff he was carrying should have been a dead giveaway to anyone. Yelling that it was a trap would just make Loki kill her friends that he had control over right now and so she let it all happen and she felt guilty about it…she felt like there was more that she could do. She wasn't used to feeling helpless like this and it was making her want to just lash out and gain back some control.

But could she do that?

Was it worth risking the lives of those mutants just to try to best Loki in battle? No…not when he had that scepter in his hands because it seemed to be a source of a lot of his power and if he had that, then she was certainly outmatched. So right now, the plan needed to be getting the scepter away from him and using it to her own advantage instead of letting him keep it on him to use whenever he deemed he needed to hurt someone or obtain another minion.

"That man right there?" Loki said as they got to the end of the staircase. "His party…his eye…"

Sharon swallowed as Loki attacked a guard that came for him, grabbing the man he was after and throwing him down on the table. Her protective instincts kicked in and she started to help everyone evacuate, deliberately not looking at Loki as he soaked up how much he loved the chaos that he was creating—as he carved into the man's eye to help Clint use it to get in and steal the Iridium from the outside. It was quite a lovely little device to be able to get a reading when the man was still inside, but it killed him and Sharon was a little squeamish…and not afraid to admit that.

Plus, now Sharon had an opening.

While Loki was admiring his own handiwork, Sharon slipped out of his view and hurried outside with the rest of the crowd, wondering if this was all a trap. She had what she wanted and Loki couldn't have possibly thought that she was just going to stay with him when he hadn't used the scepter on her to make her do what he wanted. So maybe when she had swiped the information…that had all been part of the master plan in the first place.

"So the big plan is a doorway?" Sharon asked Erik, looking over the information as he worked away on the machine.

Erik glanced over at her and then back to the device. "A sustained portal."

"For an army…" Sharon said slowly.

"For an army," Erik responded as he worked away. "I just need something else…"

"So he means to actually and honestly take Earth over?" Sharon asked him, nodding slowly. "And we're all just okay with this?"

As far as Sharon could tell, everyone that was taken over by Loki still retained a bit of themselves in all of it and she wanted to know. She wanted to know how much they remembered and how much of it was them and how much of it was just Loki controlling their every move without having to be right there to watch their every move. It seemed to her like Loki had thought of everything, and yet maybe there was a way to get past the spell that had been put on everyone…and why not put her under a spell?

"Can you think of a better person to rule us?" Erik asked her.

Sharon looked at him like he was crazy. "I'm sorry, but since when do we need a ruler?"

"Since when don't we?" Clint asked as he came over to him, Sharon swiping notes off of the nearby table and pocketing them in her attire.

Sharon couldn't help but think that maybe this was all just incredibly wrong as she made her way outside, Loki changing into his Demigod attire and making the people kneel before him. He was under this delusion that he was going to rule them all and Sharon smiled a little bit when an old man stood up to him…until Loki pointed the scepter at him to kill him and then…and then Steve showed up. Steve was decked out in his Captain America outfit and he protected the old man from the blast, walking toward Loki with a look on his face under his mask.

"The soldier…" Loki said slowly.

In an attempt to prove that he was better, Loki began to fight Steve, Sharon sensing that something was close…Natasha in a jet. Then as the fight progressed, Tony decided to show his face, all decked out as Ironman and that made Sharon smile a little bit because it was obvious to her that Coulson had gotten to him and it also made her wonder: did he tell Tony about Angel being a mutant? About any of them being mutants? That was certainly something that she wanted to know.

"You're just surrendering?" Sharon asked, looking around for Clint and not seeing any of Loki's men, just Loki changing back to his normal look and holding up his hands, so she handed Natasha the information when she landed the jet.

Tony laughed a little bit. "He knows he's outmatched."

"Yeah, a Demigod is scared of a super soldier and a glorified narcissist in a flight suit," Sharon said as she noted the look on Loki's face as Natasha took the swiped information. "I totally believe that, Tony."

"I'm with Sharon on this one," Steve agreed as Loki and Sharon looked at each other.

Either Loki honestly didn't think Sharon had the information…or he was a very good actor.

CHAPTER TWELVE: Loki Captured

Taking Loki in seemed like it was a little too easy, and while Steve and Sharon argued with Tony about it, a thunderstorm began and Loki looked uneasy. When Tony pushed the issue, Sharon smiled a little bit because she knew what that meant: Thor. She loved when she got to see Thor and when a thud resounded on the plane, she knew that he was here in the flesh and she couldn't wait to see his face, even if he was just rather upset with his brother yet again.

"Seems like Andy came through for us," Sharon told them all.

Tony looked at her for a moment and then the place opened up, Thor storming in, grabbing his brother, waving around Mjolnir and then leaving out into midair. Sharon laughed a little bit as Tony went off to go and grab him because they were taking him back to Nick, and Steve sighed loudly and followed them out once he got a parachute safely fastened to him. Sharon decided she was staying on the jet and took a seat next to Natasha, shaking her head a bit.

"Men…" Sharon said.

Natasha cracked a smile. "You said it."

Nodding, Sharon wondered where Clint was right now and wasn't even aware of everything that the boys were doing: basically having a contest. While Thor and Loki were having a conversation about how Loki needed to give this all up and go home with him, Tony wanted to do what he had been sent out to do and tackled Thor to the ground…which of course didn't last too long. It seemed like they had to try and best each other in battle, Thor and Tony going at it even though with his suit, Tony was holding up pretty well next to the God of Thunder.

Loki was watching them with a smile on his face, not even bothering to run away from them because he had everything all figured out. He was going to make sure not to put up too much of a fuss because everything was all going according to plan—even more so when Steve stepped into the fight and tried to stop it. Neither Thor nor Tony seemed to like that idea very much, but Steve wanted everyone to keep a level head right now.

"Put the hammer down," Steve told Thor, standing his ground with his shield on his arm.

Tony looked at Steve from within the Ironman suit. "No, he loves that—"

He was cut off by Thor, who took his hammer and hit Tony with it, sending him flying across the field into a tree. Tony rested there for a moment as Loki chuckled to himself at the spectacle and half wished his brother could just take these two out and save him the trouble. Thor turned to Steve and looked at him with a determined look on his face, hammer in his hand ready to cause serious damage if he so deemed that it was necessary for him to do so.

"You want me to put my hammer down?" Thor thundered, jumping at Steve with it.

In an attempt to protect himself, Steve put his shield up, Mjolnir hitting it, devastating the area around them—after all, the shield was made out of Vibranium. So the three stood there for a moment and just looked at each other before the jet approached and they decided to go ahead and just get Loki into it, continuing to head toward the base. After all, Thor trusted Andy more than anyone else and so far, S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't being too terrible to him and as long as he got to take his brother home, he was perfectly alright with letting him be interrogated.

So once they landed on the base in the air, Andy met them, smacking Tony—who was now out of the Ironman suit—and then smiling at Thor. As they marched Loki to the holding cell that was originally meant for Bruce should he 'hulk out' Andy noticed the look that Loki gave Bruce and then left him in Nick's capable hands and heading to the conference room. They were all congregated there listening to Loki's speech: Thor, Tony, Steve, Bruce, Natasha, Sharon…even Angel. Loki thought that he had it all figured out and yet…and yet Angel was starting to think that there was something bigger going on here as everyone started talking out what to do with him.

"Loki is still my brother," Thor reminded them all.

"He killed 80 people in 2 days," Natasha told him.

Thor paused a moment. "He's adopted."

"I want to talk to him," Angel said as she looked around the room. "Maybe since he knows all about us, he'll at least humor me. Unless Thor knows what's going on in his brother's head, but when do we ever know about brothers, right?"

Tony glanced at her. "What do you mean, 'knows all about us'? That sounded a little ominous and secretive, Ms. Stark."

"Well, Mr. Stark, maybe that's because that was exactly how it was supposed to sound," Angel responded with that smile on her face.

That smile that meant that she knew something.

No matter how much they had drifted apart over the years, Tony knew when his sister was looking at him like she had a secret. All this time he had just thought that maybe she was trying to be his kid sister and a pain in his ass, but maybe it wasn't like that at all…maybe she was genuinely here for a reason. It wasn't like Nick Fury to just hire three random young women and send them off into danger so maybe Tony was actually in the dark.

"What am I missing here?" Tony asked her.

Angel sighed loudly. "Alright, a couple of you weren't here to get the memo, so I'm going to have to say it again: Andy, Sharon and I are mutants. Andy is like this regenerative, super strong fighter, Sharon has all sorts of little niches and I manipulate. I mean that too…it's a very wide spectrum of the kinds of things that I can manipulate."

"Andy told me a couple years ago," Bruce spoke up, laying it out there because it was obvious that he wasn't in the least bit surprised. "We were working together on a project when you and Ms. Carver were on that assignment in the Congo for Charles and she told me. I haven't old anyone else, but I thought that you should know that I know."

"I knew not of what you were, Stark daughter," Thor informed her, nodding slowly. "I believe your assets should prove useful in battle, however."

Angel smiled at him and nodded, Sharon taking that all in because so far not a single person had really shunned them for knowing what they were. Maybe it was because they were in a time of war, or maybe it was because they were in a room with a man who became a green killing machine and a demigod…just maybe. Either way, Tony got a look on his face like he thought it was all a joke and Sharon decided to keep her mouth shut since after all, she had no idea how Clint was reacting to it since he was currently under Loki's spell and Steve was shifting uncomfortably so he hadn't completely warmed up to the idea of their powers either.

"Mutant? Manipulation? Seriously?" Tony asked, chuckling. "That was a good joke, bravo. Everyone performed their parts impeccably."

Angel smiled a little bit. "No, we're dead serious here."

"I have never done a damn thing you ever wanted!" Tony exclaimed, shaking his head. "So if you can manipulate things, then prove it!"

"Okay," Angel said, shrugging nonchalantly and then stuck her finger in his glass of water. "How about I manipulate the atoms this water? You're not going to drink it anyway so it might was well be…ice. There. Manipulated a liquid into becoming a solid. Oh! In case you think that's just some parlor trick, who wants music?" With that, Angel touched the console near her and immediately music began to play before she stopped it and took her hand away. "Now…I want to talk to Loki."


After being denied permission to talk to Loki, Angel headed into the training room and decided to just lay on the floor and look up at the ceiling. She needed to think and she didn't want to be in her room or outside, so she came to the other place that made her feel calm—the place like the one where she had met Steve. It wasn't exactly the same and some things were arranged differently, but thinking about Steve made her calm…so down she went.

She just laid there and looked up, trying to figure out what to do next because right now it felt like things were starting to spiral out of control and she couldn't let that happen. The only other time that Angel had lost control had been on a mission with Sharon and she hated reliving that…hated it. Even Sharon didn't talk about it because they had come so close to losing it then—so close.

"What have you done to her?" Angel thundered, struggling against the brute holding her.

The man laughed. "She's drugged—a bit out of it, 'bit' being an understatement."

"Do you have any idea what it is that you have just done?" Angel asked him, suddenly a lot more menacing than before. "I hope you've prayed recently, because you're about to die."

Angel had never actually killed anyone, but she was willing to do that to save Sharon because she and Andy meant everything to Angel and she would fight for them. So she touched the man holding her, altering his chemical make-up to mess with his blood. He started to die right in front of the man that had been threatening her, terror in his eyes, looking at Angel and realizing that he might have just drugged the wrong mutant.

"How do you like having no oxygen in your system?" Angel asked him. "What I have in store for you is a lot less quick…"

Angel closed her eyes for a moment when she thought about it all, opening them only when she heard the sound of footsteps near her. When she glanced up, she saw Steve nodding at her, lying down next to her and looking up at the ceiling as well. It made her smile a little at him, glad he was there and glad that he was trying at least to make sure that she was okay. Then she looked back up at the ceiling and took a deep breath.

"I really will be alright," she promised him.

Steve nodded and gently brushed his fingertips on her hand. "I believe you…"

"I'm just worried right now," Angel admitted, shaking her head a little. "I've done some things that I'm not incredibly proud of trying to protect Sharon and Andy and Nick knows that. It's why he won't let me talk to Loki."

"I thought it was because Natasha was trained in espionage."

"It's because I have done bad things to bad people."

"Sometimes that can't be helped."

"I should have had a better handle on it."

Steve smiled sadly and took her hand in his, holding it because he wanted her to know that even though he still wasn't completely on board, he wanted to make her feel better. She protected and she was beautiful and while they both knew that things weren't perfect right now and they weren't fixed, Angel knew that he was there for her. So she glanced at him and kept looking at his handsome face, smiling a little when he looked at her and made eye contact.

"Thank you…" Angel told him, thumb running along his hand.

Steve nodded at her. "Even if I still need some time to figure this all out, I'm always going to be here for you. No matter your past—we all have a past."

Nodding, Angel kissed his nose affectionately and then they both looked up at the ceiling again.


Sharon was glad that Angel had been told not to talk to Loki and that Natasha was doing it instead—she could only imagine the kinds of things that would come out of Angel's mouth should she be allowed to grill the demigod. Angel was so protective of Andy and Sharon that people started calling her the 'Momma Bear' because she got like a mother bear protecting her cubs when it came to those she cared about most. While it made Sharon happy to know that Angel cared that much about her, she really didn't want anything about her and Clint to come out.

In fact, Sharon was really starting to dwell on that a lot.

There was no doubt in her mind that she had feelings for Clint and she wanted to know exactly what was going on in his head. Right now he was under a spell and she didn't think that everything that he was saying was entirely true, but at the same time it didn't seem to her like Loki was controlling every part of them…just enough to make them work for him. So she didn't really have a doubt in her mind right now that Clint was just trying to get to know her and she had pushed him away.

"You look contemplative about a boy," Andy said as she entered the cafeteria area. "Want to tell me what this is about?"

Sharon shook her head. "No, not really."

"So it's about Clint," Andy said, smiling a bit when Sharon sighed. "Yeah…I know. See, Nick and I were in love once and I had a look on my face similar to the one you're wearing now when we had to leave each other when I became a professor for Charles."

"You and Nick were in love?" Sharon asked her, turning to face one of her best friends. "I thought it was unrequited ducky love or something."

"Oh, it was very requited," Andy admitted, looking down at the table and then back up at Sharon. "It's okay to like him, you know? Just because we're mutants doesn't mean that we're abominations, even if some people would lead us to believe that."

Sharon shrugged a little bit at that and looked back at her food, taking a bite so she wouldn't have to respond just yet. She had grown up believing that because she was different she was bad and so while Charles had certainly changed her life that nagging little voice telling her that she was bad and wrong was still there. Now Clint was in the mix and he was in trouble and Sharon honestly didn't know what to do.

"Besides, we're the good guys—if ever there was a time to be different, it's now," Andy told her with a smile on her face. "Alright, look, hey…let me show you what I do to feel better when I'm low and thinking about Nick."

Sharon looked at her. "You could be with Nick, you know…you both are still obviously very into each other and if you work on it, you can make something work."

"Long distance never works," Andy responded shaking her head. "Now get your ass up and come with me because while you like to go to West's Bar, I have a better place..."

Nodding slowly, Sharon got up and they headed out, Sharon stopping and looking up at the building, laughing loudly as Andy pointed to the front door. A casino? Really? Whenever Andy was feeling bad she would come here and what? Gamble? Gambling was like drinking only worse, so it was like Andy was trying to get Sharon to promote some bad habits.

"Last time I came here, I came with Jedi," Andy told Sharon as they entered the rowdy place and Sharon had a look around. "We hustled a game of pool and came out 5 grand richer."

Sharon nodded slowly and laughed. "You're a bad influence on people. Jedi like just got out of college."

Jedi was one of the mutants that they had met in the Academy, only she was 5 years younger than Sharon and they had all taken her under their wing. They called her 'Jedi' because she could also manipulate, but it was only thoughts. Now Sharon was being told that this casino/bar/restaurant place was a hang out and she had to admit that the music had her feeling a little better already, even though she wished that Clint was there.

"It's A!" a man shouted, all the others cheering and Sharon realizing that Andy was a regular.

Andy smiled at the bartender. "She'll have a shot of absinthe with grenadine and we'll be staking out that pool table for the next hour…usual cut for you for sending us guys to play against."

He nodded and handed Sharon the shot, Sharon glancing down as Andy lifted up her shirt a little to show Sharon the gun tucked into her jeans.

"After this, we shoot some things in the forest and blame it on tourists," Andy told her.


Angel had been incredibly thankful to Steve for staying with her for a little while as she thought everything over, but nothing was going to deter her. She needed to have a heart to heart with Loki even though it had been agreed that Natasha was the one that needed to figure out his plan because she was trained for such things. That didn't bother Angel, really, because she wasn't going to talk to Loki about what his next move was…she was going to protect her cubs.

"The manipulator," Loki said with a smile as she entered the room. "That trick won't work from there."

Angel smiled at him. "I didn't come here to manipulate you…I came here to talk to you."

"I certainly can't deny you when I'm stuck here, can I?" Loki asked her with that devilish grin on his face. "What do you want to talk about? Your powers? Your mutant trio? My secret plan?"

"I came here to see if demigods could bleed…" Angel said slowly, ghosting her fingers over the control panel for the cage that would send it plummeting down to land, nodding when Loki's smile slowly dissipated. "I think I can manipulate this control panel just fine, you know…"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: High Tensions

Loki wasn't sure what was in store for him, but he knew that it wasn't good as he looked at the serious look on Angel's face as she looked at the console next to her. He knew that if she really wanted she could just send it jettisoning down to the ground below and he didn't want to test her: no, he'd keep the mutant happy. If she wanted to talk to him then she would talk to him and they wouldn't have to have any sort of altercation.

"If I had known that kidnapping Sharon would make you so angry—" Loki had begun.

"—oh, don't even pretend like you didn't know that one," Angel cut him off. "Look, you took her and you forced her to stay with you, no doubt because you were threatening people that she loved and that doesn't fly with me. Whatever you are planning is going to fail and before Thor takes you back to Asgard, I am going to feel my knuckles on your face."

Loki laughed a little bit. "You honestly think that you can kill a God, Mutant?"

"Kill? No. Hurt? Yes." Angel responded, nearing the wall of the container near them. "I know that I can make you bleed, Loki, and I will. Don't think that I'm just going to let you run back off to Asgard with Thor."

"My brother's not taking me anywhere," Loki said shaking his head. "Idle threats."

Angel laughed a little bit because it was clear that as much as Loki knew about her, he didn't know enough because the threat was anything but idle. She would make him bleed and that was that because anyone who took and threatened her friends was no friend of hers—they were an enemy that would be disposed of. Loki was that exact person to her and she knew that no matter what happened, she would follow through.

"Careful, Loki," Angel said as she accessed the controls and Loki heard the container make noises. "You do one thing to piss me off and I'll be right here, making you plummet to a bruising. I'm not naïve enough to think this will kill you, but from what I've seen, you bleed like everyone else. Now…don't misjudge me to be weak just because of Sharon's power—I can take you."

Loki stood there looking at Angel, assessing her behavior and her threats and then nodding a little bit when Natasha came into the room. She had been sent down to talk to Loki and to try to figure out what his play was, walking in on instead, Angel threatening Loki because of what he was doing to the people she loved. Angel turned when she saw Loki's diverted attention and looked at the woman that she knew so well: the woman that no one knew that she knew better than she let on…

"I still don't entirely understand…" a sixteen year old Angel asked the newly appointed S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Nick Fury. "If I'm going to be an agent…"

Nick smiled at her. "You, are a very powerful being, Ms. Stark. You may have the whole world fooled by your appearances, but I know your true potential. You would make one Hell of an agent. This…is Natasha Romanoff. She will help you."

"Angel," Angel introduced herself to the twenty year old. "Fury tells me that we'll be working together."

"That is correct," Natasha replied as they shook hands. "I'm going to be showing you the ropes since you're new around here. Let's just start with the basics…you're a mutant, right?"

"Yes, but I'm not the only one by a long shot," Angel told them, shaking her head. "Why me?"

Angel had been trying to figure out for a while now why it was her specifically that they wanted because she didn't get it. She was powerful and she knew that, but she didn't entirely think that she was the kind of person that was suited to help to try and save the world. Then again, it was flattering to even be considered for this kind of position and she wanted to prove that she could be the best of the best if she was given the chance.

"You're remarkable," Natasha gushed, a smile on her face. "I've heard all about the kinds of things that you can do with just a touch."

Angel smiled a little bit too. "It's more like a touch and a thought. I don't have as great a grasp on it as I would like, but I'm trying."

"And we're here to help you," Natasha promised, resting her hand on Angel's shoulder. "I'm going to be your partner."

"I just hope that I'm cut out for this."

"I know that you are."

Angel smiled a little bit, but at the same time she knew that this was no time to be smiling when she was disobeying direct orders. Natasha wasn't okay with that kind of thing and pointed to Angel and then the door, Angel nodding and looking at Loki. He had a smirk on his face because he enjoyed seeing Angel ordered about, but he had no idea what it was that was going on in her head.

"Don't underestimate me, Loki…it might be the last thing that you ever do." Angel told him, walking over to Natasha and lowering her voice. "I'm sorry…I'll go check on my brother."

Natasha nodded slowly. "And Bruce—make sure he's settling in nicely."

"Of course," Angel said, noting the gentle tone in her voice.


"I didn't realize that your sister was dating Steven," Bruce told Tony slowly, nodding a little bit.

The two were getting to know each other, bonding over their common ties with Andy and yet Bruce didn't know how much Tony knew. He knew a little bit more about Angel than he was letting on and yet he knew that wasn't his place because S.H.I.E.L.D. was so secretive and he didn't want to put himself in a hostile environment. He had no idea how Tony would react to knowing that his sister had really been part of bringing him into the fold and so he just tried to make some small talk.

"Yeah…strange, right?" Tony asked with a gentle chuckle. "He's as old as our Dad and yet she's totally willing to tap him."

Steve walked into the room at the worst possible moment. "Tap who? Why?"

"It's none of our business," Bruce responded as Tony said, "My sister having sex with you—that's what the saying means."

"What?" Steve asked Tony, but it was rhetorical, he was just trying to understand what it was that he had just heard and getting alert when Tony randomly poked Bruce to try to get him to 'hulk out'. "Hey! You know that's dangerous!"

"Not as dangerous as you and my sister's emotions clouding this mission," Tony responded.

Tony and Bruce were in here talking about the relationship between Angel and Steve and Steve found that a little unprofessional. So far, he and Angel had proven that they could work together just fine and it seemed to him that the unprofessional one was Tony. Tony was trying to get Bruce to become the Hulk, while Steve was just doing his job and trying to win a war here. So why was Tony trying to turn this all around and make a joke out of it?

Steve remembered what Angel had told him about Tony always turning everything into a joke, though, and he just tried to catch his bearings. He and Angel weren't sleeping together and he wanted to set the record straight even though he was much more worried about what Tony was doing to Bruce. Things seemed off and he wanted to get to the bottom of things because even though he followed blindly like a soldier, he liked to be kept in the loop.

"Ms. Stark and I are not involved that way," Steve explained to Tony, shaking his head. "The important issue here is what you're doing—you can't just keep poking Dr. Banner with sharp objects."

Bruce smiled at Steve. "Don't worry, I wouldn't have come on board if I couldn't handle sharp objects."

"Alright," Steve said nodding, looking at Tony. "You two look contemplative."

"Because Fury's keeping secrets from us, and not just about our mutant lovelies," Tony responded, shaking his head. "Why didn't he call us in earlier, huh? Why now?"

"Because the Tesseract is missing," Steve responded, raising his eyebrows when Tony shook his head.

Tony looked at Steve. "What are they doing with the Tesseract in the first place? Harnessing it for energy, really? Because I've got my reactor for the energy business and this isn't the first time Fury has lied to us."

"He was protecting your sister," Steve protested.

"He was protecting himself," Tony replied.

It seemed like doing what Andy did to unwind was a good way to relax—Sharon learned that out with her friend. She was a little tipsy when they returned to base, but the two were laughing and enjoying each other's company as they entered the room where Tony, Steve and Bruce were talking a bit…but it seemed tense. They were happy and yet the boys seemed to be talking about how Tony had bugged everything and that was just like Tony: he had a habit of letting Jarvis do all the work for him and then reaping the benefits for himself.

"You hacked into the main computer?" Sharon asked Tony, shaking her head. "What is wrong with you? If you fire your sister, she will never forgive you."

Tony laughed a little, knowing she was tipsy. "No, look…something big is going on here and we're going to find out what it is."

"Your job is to locate the Tesseract," Andy told Tony with a heavy sigh. "You can't just go poking around in the mainframe of S.H.I.E.L.D. just because Nick doesn't want you to know every single detail of his every plan. You can't always be the top dog and you know that, so why do you have this need to always be in control of everything? The world doesn't revolve around you."

Tony smiled a little bit. "All I know is that you're all going to be singing a different tune when I figure out what's up."

"Just do your job," Steve told Tony, leaving the room.

Everyone else thought that he was just being a tool, but Steve thought that there was a chance that there was something else going on here. Since he didn't have any proof he didn't want to point any fingers, but Tony was right about one thing: this wouldn't be the first time that Nick Fury was hiding something from them and it certainly wouldn't be the last. They were told what they needed to know and though that was normally enough for him, right now Steve needed to be sure and so he was about to do some snooping.

"I can't believe that that's the guy that my father used to fawn over," Tony said with a sigh. "I can't believe my sister is sleeping with him."

Andy laughed loudly. "Trust me…they're not sleeping together. Steve and Angel are the only people here that had never had sex and it's probably going to be that way for a while. Angel refuses to become a whore like you, and Steve has morals."

"I have morals…" Tony told Andy, fake pouting at her.

"You have delusions," Andy responded rolling her eyes.


"I thought that I told you to leave Loki alone!" Nick told Angel as he saw her in the corridor heading to talk to her brother.

Angel stopped and turned around. "Look, Nick…I'm sorry, okay?"

"No, you're not," Nick said shaking his head.

"Okay, you're right, I'm not sorry at all." Angel admitted with a sigh. "He threatened Andy and Sharon and he's threatening my home planet that is home to everyone else that I care about! So yeah! Yeah, I threatened him!"

"I told you to let Natasha do it!"

"Natasha is doing it!"

"You were being reckless!"

"I was being protective!"

"You should have been watching your brother!"

Angel raised her eyebrows at the last thing that Nick said, but she nodded slowly as Nick went past her into the room, Tony, Bruce, Sharon and Andy just sitting there. Everyone looked rather annoyed at Nick and yet Angel was in the dark here because she had no idea as to what it was that was going on here. All she knew was that her friends looked upset, except for Andy, who just downright looked betrayed and Angel didn't know what to say.

"What did Tony do now?" Angel asked, not able to stop the words from spilling out.

Sharon shrugged a little bit. "He hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D. system."

"Of course he did…" Angel said nodding. "What about finding the Tesseract?"

"Working on it," Bruce assured her as Natasha and Thor entered the room as well.

"What is Phase 2 exactly?" Tony asked Nick, getting them all back on track.

Steve came in with a weapon in his hand and set it down on the table near him. "Phase 2 is where S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Tesseract to make weapons."

Angel nodded slowly, but it was obvious to Sharon and Andy that she knew about this—that Angel had been in on this and now they both looked betrayed because Andy no longer felt just betrayed by Nick. On top of that Natasha said that Loki wanted Bruce to snap and become the Hulk and he needed to step back, but Bruce didn't want to because he wanted to know about the weapons. Nick tried to explain that they needed the weapons because after Thor had shown up they had all been getting their asses kicked and they realized that there was other life out there and they needed to protect themselves…and suddenly everyone was just incredibly hostile.

"Nuclear warfare is always the way to go," Tony told Nick sarcastically.

Nick glared at Tony. "Remind me again how you made all of your money, Mr. Stark…"

"I'm sure if S.H.I.E.L.D. was still making weapons, Stark would be—" Steve began.

"—I'm sorry, since when is this about me?" Tony asked Steve."

Steve looked at him. "Oh, I'm sorry, isn't it always?"

"He certainly seems to think so." Angel said rolling her eyes.

"You're one to talk—how come you didn't tell us that you knew about this?" Andy asked Angel.

"Guys, S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be ready for any kind of threat," Natasha tried to reason with them.

Sharon shook her head. "Doesn't mean Angel gets to keep this kind of thing a secret from Andy and I—we're always in this together, the three of us. Or was that a lie too?"

"Everything is a lie from her—she didn't even tell us she was special," Tony reminded them all. "Actually, none of you did until your secret was about to be found out."

"I don't think that Bruce should be in this environment," Natasaha began, genuinely concerned about him, a loving care in her eyes as she looked at him.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "And why shouldn't he be?"

"You know damn well why!" Steve told Tony, pushing his hand away when Tony went to touch him. "You're putting everyone in danger trying to get him to snap!"

"You humans are all petty," Thor told them, being affected as well, "and tiny…"

"Don't test me, Rogers—the only thing special about you came out of a box. You're a military science project that was on ice for 70 year…literally." Tony responded.

Steve glared at him, both of them getting into each other's faces. "Put on your suit, let's go a few rounds—that is the only way you're anything other than a loud mouthed billionaire, after all…your suit."

"You want to test me?" Tony asked, honestly as hurt as Steve was at the jabs.

"Yes, he does. Hit him with a chair," Angel told Steve.

Tony looked at his sister. "Whose side are you on, Angel?"

"Steve's," Angel responded, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well you're certainly not on ours," Andy and Sharon said at once.

Angel sent them a look as the argument got more and more heated, Bruce starting to snap a little bit because the scepter was making them all act this way. They weren't entirely sure about that as Bruce began to describe how he was indestructible, but then Bruce grabbed Loki's confiscated scepter and suddenly everyone seemed more aware of the manipulation and the power of the weapon. It was then that the tracker beeped to tell them that they had found the Tesseract and everyone tried to calm down.

"Sorry kids, guess you won't be seeing my party trick after all," Bruce told them, heading out of the room to try and figure out how to now help them get the Tesseract back now that a location had been found.

Steve looked at Angel a moment and swallowed. "You knew about Phase 2?"

"My sister's been part of S.H.I.E.L.D. longer than any of us knew, save Romanoff here," Tony responded, making the situation ten times worse.

"Yeah…to all of it," Angel admitted, feeling her heart sink a bit as Steve couldn't look her in the eye, but then one little thing changed everything…

…an explosion.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Overcoming Obstacles

The explosion caught everyone off guard, but very soon it was a scramble to gain back control of their headquarters because an engine had blown out. It was almost as if everyone had forgotten their disputes because they were all scrambling to get things under control and suddenly Steve and Tony were working together, Natasha and Bruce ending up stuck below deck together, Sharon and Andy helping out Nick on the bridge, while Thor got his own act together.

That left Angel.

There was no way that Angel was just going to leave her brother and the man she was so fond of together and alone to face what could be destruction. No, instead it was time to finally put everything out there on the table and she knew just how to do it: put on the suit that she had made with Jarvis and help her brother to get the engine back and running. So she went to suit up while Clint ran the rescue team for Loki, Bruce having an entirely different problem all together.

"Is everyone alright? Copy," Nick said into the comms.

Natasha shook a little bit. "We're fine," she said as she looked at Bruce, who was struggling against the Hulk. "We're fine, right?"

Natasha was terrified of Bruce Banner. It didn't take a genius to see the looks that she had given him either because when he got stressed or angry, she was more on edge than Angel had ever seen her before in their lives. Still, when Bruce was in fact Bruce and not the Hulk, Natasha found that she had a fondness for him that she didn't really have for anyone else either.

Those looks also didn't take a genius to figure them out.

Angel had been clued in on it the moment that Bruce had been brought into the fold and she knew the looks of love and concern that Bruce gave her as well. Of course the sex thing would be an issue for them should they eventually pursue a relationship, but love was the most important. What Angel wanted to know, was how long the feelings had been there…

"You and Bruce keep having meaningful stares," Angel told her with a smile on her face as she set foot into the shooting range.

Natasha looked at her target and pointed a gun at it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," Angel responded, equipping herself with a magnum as well. "You might be a brilliant spy, but I've been your partner in this company for 14 years, Tasha…"

"So because you know about the red in my ledger, you think that you know me?" Natasha asked her slowly, letting off a few shots.

"No, because I know you, I think that I know you," Angel responded with a smile on her face, letting off a few shots herself.

Natasha smiled a little bit and turned to her, wanting to understand why it was that Angel even cared…then again that was how Angel was. She had a habit of making professional things a little less professional even though she was all about getting the job down when it came down to it. In crunch time, Angel was one of the best people to run to because she kept a level head in a crisis and her powers were rather useful.

"Your brother is worried about you and Cap," Natasha informed Angel.

Angel nodded slowly. "And what do you think?"

"I think that you can reign your emotions in…just like I can with Bruce," Natasha responded with a nod. "Besides, for me it pays to be overly cautious."

Seeing Bruce struggle like this was hard for her and she wanted so desperately to help him, but her leg was stuck and all she could do was freak out. Spy or not, S.H.I.E.L.D. now knew that the Hulk was indestructible and that would pose a problem should he 'hulk out' right now and rip her to pieces. Natasha, very much, wanted to live.

"Bruce, it's alright, just stay calm. We'll get out of here—I swear on my life that we'll get out of this!" Natasha tried.

"On your life?" Bruce snarled at her, green and upset.

Natasha froze as Bruce moved away from her, trying to spare her as he transformed into the Hulk, Natasha's eyes going wide as he looked at her. He still had Bruce's sad, perfect eyes, and she knew that he was apologizing with them because he had just lost control, but she pulled her leg free. Running away from him, however, he roared and went barreling after her, destroying everything in his wake.

"I want you to open up that panel," Tony told Steve as they were at engine 3, Tony in his suit. "I need to get through her and dislodge the debris…what in the the…"

Angel hovered right next to her brother and smiled from within the suit. "Thought you could use a hand, Eddie."

"Bitch, you need to stop thinking that just because you're the youngest and the favorite, you can steal my toys," Tony teased, both of them smirking at each other from behind the masks.

"Hey, Jarvis and I made this fair and square and even took into account my abilities, so…let's get into the actual engine, shall we?" Angel asked him, smiling.

Tony rolled his eyes a little bit and then they got into it, Angel giving Steve a salute as he was all decked out in his office, and even winked even though he couldn't see it. All that was running through his mind was that Angel and Tony were much more alike than anyone ever gave them credit for and he didn't know how he felt about that. Still, they had a job to do and they were definitely having a much better time at the current moment than the people on the bridge.

"Sharon? Touch me," Andy told her.

Sharon laughed at how that sounded. "Everyone here just thought something incredibly dirty."

"Focus!" Maria Hill hissed at them.

Everyone knew how Maria felt about the Avengers—not a single fond thought—but she was as loyal to Nick Fury as they came. Right now they were being shot at and there was a grenade, Andy shielding Maria from the blast as Sharon touched Andy and gained her powers for a bit. What Sharon hadn't told anyone yet, was that her power was the most useful of all: she could obtain everyone else's powers.

She wasn't like Rogue, exactly, but they had the same ability to obtain and use others abilities: Sharon just got to keep the powers for a few hours and it didn't harm anyone. Her innate abilities were heightened senses and her genius intellect, not to mention that she could use powers weakly just from being around someone—that included human's natural abilities. It was through touch that she became more powerful and learned how everything worked.

"Thank you," Maria managed to Andy slowly, then continuing the fight.

Andy smiled at her and shot one of Loki's rescue men between the eyes with a single shot. "No problem."

"Steve, as much as I adore you, technology is not your strong suit," Angel told him as she and Tony tried to work on the engine together.

"I'm a soldier," Steve responded, but he didn't sound angry at all—he smiled a little bit.

"I know," Angel responded, smiling too. "I love that about you."

Tony made a face in his helmet. "Okay love birds…enough."

Angel was about to say something witty to her brother when she heard that Bruce was now the Hulk over the comms, and Natasha was in trouble. When she wavered a little bit on moving the debris, Tony reached out his hand and rested it on his sister's shoulder. It was a rare brotherly moment and she was confused, but she listened to him as he spoke to her calmly.

"Go help Romanoff," Tony said nodding. "Spangle and I have this. Hear that, Cap? Pull that red lever to slow these rotors down when I get them up to speed. I'm jump starting it."

Angel smiled and looked at Tony as he looked at the engine. "I do love you, Anthony Stark, even though I know you just want me to save the hot redhead."

Then she took off in the suit as Tony chuckled, getting out of it as Thor saved Natasha from the Hulk, making his attention now focused on him. It was actually a rather even fight: God vs. Indestructible Hulk. At the same time, Angel thought that maybe if Thor could distract him long enough and she could touch him, she could calm him down to Bruce. She had that mind set as she went to find Natasha, incredibly worried about her.

"Tasha," Angel said, kneeling down and stroking her beautiful red hair. "Hey…what happened?"

Natasha stared straight ahead, shaking and sweaty. "An explosion hit and we end up pinned by some debris. He couldn't control it anymore."

"You hurt?" Angel asked her slowly, nodding at the given information.

"Just a little winded," Natasha responded immediately. "I've been compromised…"

"You've been scared shitless, it's normal," Angel said, standing up. "If I get close enough to him, I can calm him down."

"No!" Natasha told her, shaking her head. "No…can't risk losing you."

Angel smiled at her. "I'm an agent remember? I gotta go down swinging if that's the way it ends up being."

She and Natasha shared a loving look before Natasha nodded slowly, Angel telling her to stay put and flexing her fingers. Angel had been practicing more than even Andy and Sharon knew because of her past and her present responsibilities, but Sharon and Andy had their fair share of secrets too that neither each other nor Angel knew about. This was the kind of situation that was making those things come out, and it was about time.

"Sharon!" Andy cried out as a man came out of nowhere.

Sharon had sensed him, but got a blow to the face as she turned to face him, shooting him as he barreled into her and sent her over the ledge. She hit her head on one of the consoles and Andy heard a crack, hurrying over to her and looking her in the eyes. Andy had to make sure that Sharon was alright and she seemed alright, which made Andy wonder what was going on as Sharon sat up and just seemed to be a little dazed.

"Wow…that should have hurt you more than that, even with my powers," Andy said, smiling a bit. "Who else have you touched in the last few hours that I don't know about?"

Sharon took a deep breath. "I inadvertently touched Bruce in the corridor an hour and a half ago. Must have counted."

"That makes more sense," Andy said nodding. "Even though you're not going to 'hulk out' cause you're not infected with gamma rays, he now naturally has the innate ability to stay alive. Touching him must have given you some of his indestructible side for the next few hours. Congratulations."

"Yeah," Sharon said as she stood up and brushed herself off. "That's rather handy."

As Angel was making her way to where Thor was trying to subdue the Hulk, Nick made an announcement about Clint heading to Engineering, so since Thor had it under control, Angel was the one to copy. She headed straight for Engineering, seeing Clint's back to her and going in for the kill because not only was that her job, but she had a score or two to settle with him. After all, it was his digging that started to threaten everything in the first place and she was not a happy camper about any of that.

Clint could sense her coming though, courtesy of Loki's spell, and he moved to attack her as she went for his neck. Within moments they were in the middle of a heated fist fight, Clint moving to sweep his legs under her when she jumped over them and punched him in the face, to which he retaliated with a punch of her own and Angel felt the blood coming out of her nose, but it wasn't broken. Angry about that, Angel grabbed Clint by the shoulder and brought his head down near the bar on the side, Clint's forehead making contact with it.

"Sorry," Angel found herself saying as she checked her nose, Clint grunting.

Clint looked up at her, eyes cloudy. "Angel?"

Surprised that the spell seemed to be breaking, Angel still punched him out, flexing her fingers and looking up as she saw Sharon's feet. The moment that Sharon had known that Clint was near her, she had to come and make sure that he was alright and that made Angel smile even though the look on Sharon's face didn't look too happy. Mixed with the relief of having Clint back, it looked like there was something else going on around here that wasn't too happy.

"Loki escaped…Coulson got stabbed." Sharon told her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Emotional Restart

"…Coulson got stabbed." Sharon told her.

Angel didn't even have time to be upset she was off that fast toward the scene of the crime. She should have been a little bit more on the fact that things would go down with Loki when his lackeys came to save him, but for some reason she hadn't expected this. She never in a million years would have thought that Coulson would try to go up against Loki alone and it was in that moment that she had to see if what she and Xavier had been practicing would work.

What had happened?

Thor knew that something was terribly wrong, heading toward his brother's 'cell' as it were after Hulk plummeted down toward land. The whole battle had worked out in Thor's favor, and now it was time for him to make sure that his brother didn't get away from him because that just would not fly with the demigod. When he neared the cell, however, Loki was coming out of it and with a roar, Thor went hurtling toward him only to fall through one of Loki's many multiples.

"Are you ever going to not fall for that?" Loki asked his brother as he closed the 'cell' on him.

Thor got angry and beat Mjolnir against the wall, it cracking, which made it shift a little bit like it was going to fall. Loki smiled at that and went over to the control panel that Angel and Nick had threatened him with and then he looked at his brother with that sexy, smug look on his face. Thor was right where Loki wanted him, and everything was going according to plan as the base was descending from the sky toward the water.

"Oh, see, fail safe," Loki explained to Thor. "I'm going to be using it to see how it can actually hurt a god because mutant Stark so sweetly explained to me that she'd make me bleed, so…"

He opened up the top that covered the button and went to push it when Coulson appeared with a rather large gun in his hand. Coulson didn't much like the idea of losing Thor and Loki getting away either, so if this base really was going to go down, then it was time that the big guns were literally brought out. Even if this wasn't exactly his smartest plan, Coulson had to act and he thought he was doing the right thing.

"We whipped this up," Coulson told Loki, who had his hands up in surrender. "I don't even know what it does." Loki nodded a little bit as Coulson slowly moved toward him. "I suggest you back away from the console…"

Right then, however, Loki ended up behind Coulson and stabbed him through the heart with his scepter, a smile on his face, Coulson falling to the ground as Thor stood there, angry and helpless. Trying to escape would have sent him plummeting and now Coulson was against the wall with blood coming out of his mouth. Loki paid him no matter, however, and walked back over to the console, looking at his brother and then pushing the button, watching as the whole 'cell' dropped toward the land below…a very long drop.

"You're going to lose," Coulson told Loki as he turned to leave the room. "It's in your nature."

Loki stopped and turned to face Coulson. "Your fortress is crashing to the ground and your heroes are scattered. What makes you say that?"

"You lack conviction," Coulson responded, Loki now angry and coming toward him.

"I—" Loki began.

Whatever it is that he wanted to say, however, was silenced by Coulson's weapon going off from his lap, sending him through the wall and into a different part of the base. Instead of going back to do battle with a dying man, though, Loki went to get on his jet and fly away with the men that were still under his spell. Coulson, looked at the hole in the wall, though, and then nodded gently as he felt his life slipping away from him.

"So that's what it does," Coulson breathed out.

There was absolutely no time to waste as Angel came barreling into the room, pushing Nick aside and moving to undo Coulson's shirts when she saw the bleeding wound. It was just her, Andy, Nick and Coulson at the moment, Sharon having stayed behind to make sure Clint got into the agents' hands safely before heading after Angel, Natasha staying with Clint for now, Thor and Bruce gone, Tony and Steve dealing with the what seemed like newly stabilized engine. No one knew what it was that Angel was doing, but Coulson was slipping away from her fast as she placed her hand over his wound.

"You don't get to die on me, Phil," Angel said, tears stinging her eyes.

Sharon took a step toward Angel. "Angel…"

"Not right now," Angel responded quickly. "Share, I need to focus."

"Angel, it's his heart," Sharon tried again, but the angry look from Angel silenced her.

Sharon didn't understand exactly what it was that Angel was doing, but when she saw the gentle glow coming from her hands she and Andy both clocked in on the answer at the same time: she was trying to manipulate this. Andy wasn't exactly sure that this was going to work, but at the same time, Angel could manipulate all kinds of things, cells and molecules included, so why not? Just because she'd never healed anyone before didn't mean that she couldn't do it now when it counted.

"Tickles," Coulson said, smiling a little bit even though Angel could feel his heartbeat slowing down.

Angel smiled a little bit. "Fight back, Phil, or I swear to God…"

Just when she thought it was the end, she could feel that she had fixed the problem, trying to help him to create a few extra blood cells before he gasped suddenly. He didn't have as much energy as she hoped, but he wasn't going to die—not this time. With a sigh of relief, Angel flung her arms around him, holding close and burying her face in his neck, glad that he was safe and feeling rather exhausted because manipulating like that was hard…machines and emotions were a piece of cake.

"Thank you," Coulson breath, stroking her hair and then chuckling when she pulled back and hit his arm. "I still hurt, you know."

Andy laughed a little. "That's what you get for stupidly taking on Loki by yourself."

"Yeah, Coulson…we should all punch you," Sharon teased.


Deciding to make sure that Tony and Steve were alright since Nick was making announcements about the damage done to the base, Angel went back toward the engine and smiled when she saw them. Tony's suit was nicked up, but he seemed to be alright other than that and Steve was perfectly alright too even though they both seemed frazzled. Now it was time to figure out what to do now that Loki was gone, because they had to find him and stop him from using the Tesseract to open up a portal to let an army of Chitauri warriors come to Earth.

"You have blood on you," Steve said immediately, hurrying over to Angel before Tony could say anything about it. "Are you hurt?"

Angel looked down at her shirt and her hand. "No, no…this is Coulson's blood. He's alright though! Don't freak out or anything, I fixed it."

"What do you mean 'fixed'?" Tony asked her. "Something to do with the freak show part of you?"

"Yeah," Angel said laughing a little bit. "Apparently I can manipulate tissue to heal."

"That could come in handy," Steve mused softly.

Angel could tell that he still wasn't entirely on board, but only because he was confused as to what it all meant…confused that maybe she'd used her powers on him. She kept telling everyone over and over that she never had except for calming him down before their first kiss, but that wasn't entirely true. There was a little bit more to Angel's and Steve's relationship than Angel was letting on and it hurt her that she was keeping it from him—that memory of them meeting was a fabrication and yet parts of it were incredibly true.

"He's waking up," Angel said as she looked at the monitor.

Coulson nodded at her. "It would look like you're up, Ms. Stark."

"Coulson, we've known each other for like 14 years now, so you can call me 'Angel' or 'Angela' if that makes you feel more comfortable," Angel laughed. "How cool is this?"

"I know, right? Captain America," Coulson responded with a smile.

The two had bonded over their Captain America love when Steve had been found in the ice alive, and now that he was waking up and Angel got to talk to him, Coulson was a bit jealous. They had been watching over him for a long while and knew the most about him, Angel readier than ever to see him and figure out what it was about him that made him tick. She was dressed in a nurse outfit of the times, but it was also a bit obvious that she wasn't from that time at all.

She went towards his room as Steve sat up and looked around, listening to the radio that was playing a sports game in the room. Something was off and he knew it, looking up as the door opened and Angel was standing there, beautiful and foreboding all at once. She had this smile on her face as she kept her distance, and she seemed friendly enough, but she could tell that something was incredibly wrong.

"You should take it easy—we had a hard time getting you out of the ice," Angel told him gently. "Would you like some water?"

Steve looked directly at her. "Where am I really?"

"What do you mean?" Angel asked him, surprised he caught on so quick.

"The game is wrong…where am I really?" Steve asked her.

Angel took a breath. "With the good guys."

Before she could stop him though, he was off of the bed and pushing past her, frantically trying to find a way out and Angel understood that. He ended up outside though, Nick explaining that he had been in the ice for about 70 years and Angel was instructed to keep an eye on him because all of the new technology was just too much for him. Steve was trying to take deep breaths when Angel reached out and touched him, a tickling, warm sensation in his head.

"You're going to be alright," Angel promised him, calming him down. "Just forget about this traumatizing experience. Forget me, forget the agents and just focus on adjusting. Nick will take care of you, I promise. I won't let anything or anyone harm you."

Altering his memories had taken a lot out of her, but at the time she thought that it was best to keep him calm even though she'd never wanted to use them on him. It had been the first and last intentional time, and when Steve reached out to touch her hair, she felt like she didn't deserve any of the affection at all because it was almost like this whole thing was a lie. When they had met the second time, he had thought it was their first meeting because she had made him forget her.

All this time, Angel had been the first person he had seen upon waking up and while she wasn't Peggy, she had been calming for him and something had stuck. In the back of his mind, hidden and altered, he knew that Angel just wanted to protect him and that was why he had felt so close to her when they had 'met'…it was why he was so attached to her. She hadn't made it so that they would have a relationship at all—in fact, had she not done that, he probably would have been even more attached.

"I want to make things up to you, Steve," Angel said suddenly as Tony started to move past them to go out of the door. "Can I treat you to dinner tonight…please? Andy and Nick are working on a plan of attack for Loki and I just want to make things better between us. I want to explain things to you and fix my mistakes and I just…I don't want to lose you because…because I love you."

It wasn't what she had expected to come out of her mouth entirely, but the words had come out and she wasn't going to take them back. She'd been falling for Steve this whole year that she had gotten to spend with him and in the midst of this crisis and her losing him, it was time for her to say the words out loud because she honestly meant them. The problem was, she knew that she couldn't expect him to say it back and she didn't want him too—not when she knew what she knew.

Angel wasn't the only one astonished by the words either, as Steve and Angel hadn't come to that place in their relationship yet. They had known each other for a year and Steve had thought that he loved her, and then the secrets had come out and he was adjusting to who she really was and he didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he didn't want to lose Angel, and so he knew that he was going to have to make sure that he put forth the effort here because she loved him.

"I don't want you to say it back, or even really say anything," Angel said quickly as Steve opened up his mouth to accept the dinner invitation. "You don't have any reason to trust me right now and I know that love can only be built on trust…but I do love you. I would do anything to keep you safe and I know I should have laid it all out there, but that's what I want to do tonight. I want to try and start over and let you get to know the real me because whatever is happening between us is important to me, and—"

Angel was cut off by Steve's mouth covering hers, his lips moving against hers in a rather passionate and determined fashion. She just let it happen, sighing affectionately into the kiss and nipping at his lip with want, which made him pull away because he was finding that when she nipped at his flesh with her teeth, feelings started coursing through him…feelings that made him feel like less of a gentleman. Angel blushed, thinking she did something wrong, but Steve placed a gentle kiss to her lips and shook his head, pulling back to look her in the eye, thumb running along her skin as his hand rested on the crook of her neck softly.

"Dinner, sounds good to me," Steve assured her, kissing her on the forehead and then escorting her back to her room to let her shower off the blood.


Glad that Coulson was alive and well, Sharon made her way towards where Clint had been restrained, pausing outside of the room when she saw Natasha in there with him, sitting on the bed next to him. They seemed so close, bringing back Sharon's original fears that the two of them were together, which made her heart sting with pain. It was annoying enough to Sharon that she even had feelings for Clint, but the fact that she was now jealous of the platonic bond between the two was grating on her nerves.

All she could remember as she stood there outside the room was her talk with Andy when she had had a few too many shots of that disgusting drink, wishing she'd never said a word. Now Andy knew for certain that Sharon was falling for Clint, but of course Sharon was not going to admit that to herself because the man infuriated her. He made her want to throw things at him and the fact that he had gone behind her back to try and dig into her past angered her greatly.

"What I don't understand is why I'm attracted to him," Sharon was telling Andy, shaking her head and signaling for another shot. "This stuff is disgusting."

"That's part of its charm," Andy laughed as she looked at the shot glass, but then she looked back at Sharon and took a deep breath. "Look, Sharon, the man is downright hot. He's not 'Thor' hot, but he's this total packaged deal of sexy, well built, toned, athletic and talented. If you weren't completely falling for Clint Barton, I would be trying to screw his brains out."

Sharon looked at her. "Hey!"

"I know that trying to force us into telling him about us was a dick move, but we can't just ignore him forever, and you have a thing for him." Andy said shrugging. "You know what Angel said to me today when Thor and I had been alone for a while?"

"What?" Sharon asked slowly. "Something vulgar like, 'how is sex with a God? I bet he hammered you rather nicely'?"

Andy laughed loudly. "No…that is so much more a 'Tony' thing to say, but it's not like I haven't thought about screwing his brains out since he said, 'you dare objectify the son of Odin?'…I mean I have, but she said, 'if you can't find a reason to be with Nick, you need to start looking at your other options…Thor finds you appealing'."

Sharon nodded slowly, knowing where Andy was coming from even though she was rather tipsy and needed to stop with the shots. She took another one though and looked at Andy, completely serious as they made eye contact with each other.

"I don't want to have any other options," Sharon admitted to her.

Natasha looked up after talking to Clint about how she had been compromised, seeing Sharon outside looking contemplative and wanting Clint and Sharon to talk. They had a lot to talk about and Natasha knew from Angel about it all, so she stood up and then Clint's eyes followed Natasha's to the window on the door where he could see Sharon wondering if she should turn around and go somewhere else. Shaking his head futilely at Natasha, she got up and opened up the door, Sharon giving her an awkward smile and nodding at her slowly.

"He's himself…just a little frazzled," Natasha explained to her.

Sharon nodded slowly. "Just wanted to…check up on him…"

Natasha had moved out of the room to push Sharon in, shutting the door behind her and letting Clint and Sharon stand there face to face. Clint was still sitting and Sharon took a deep breath, not sure what to say because she didn't know how Clint was feeling right now and how much he entirely remembered. It seemed that he wasn't going to give her time to start the conversation, however, because he stood up and starting talking to her.

"You know more than I'd like you to know," Clint told her with a nod. "Angel kind of kicked my ass."

Sharon nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah, she kind of did. She's a bit badass like that."

"Because she's been here for 14 years, probably," Clint said with a shrug.

"What?" Sharon asked him, but decided to let it go and talk to Angel directly about that. "Look, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay because—"

"—I don't care if you're a mutant," Clint told her suddenly, cutting her off. "I'm still pissed as Hell that you didn't just tell us all about it, but you're a good person. You stayed with Loki because he was threatening me and your friends and I just wanted you to know that I still think that you're…well, you."

Sharon stood there for a moment completely caught off guard before she had made up her decision for her. She didn't want to get all mushy and she didn't want to have a meaningful conversation when Clint was standing there in front of her all sweaty with veins popping out of his arms. No, instead she closed the distance between them and crashed her lips into his, hands roaming, trying to get him out of his clothes, regardless of everything else.

"Sharon…" Clint began, kissing her back with the same passion, "…think about this…"

"No, thinking," Sharon ordered him, smiling when he nodded and started to trace shapes on her lower back with his rough fingers.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:Cognitive Recalibration

Clint knew exactly what it was that Sharon wanted, pulling her ponytail out of her hair and slipping his fingers into it, tugging on her lips with his teeth as she moaned into him. She loved the feeling of his rough hands running along her soft skin, the contrast of the feeling sending shivers down her spine as he pulled her hips to his hungrily, pulling at her clothes. They paid no mind to the fact that there was a window on the door, they just wanted each other and bad.

Slamming her against the wall, he swallowed another moan from her lips, letting his fingers roam along her frame and unfasten her jeans, his fingers dipping low. The two of them were practically on auto-pilot right now, neither of them with a care in the world other than being together and as Clint dipped and stroked, Sharon was like putty in his hands. Just having him touch her like this sent every nerve into overdrive and she didn't want him to ever stop.

Sharon felt his tongue touch her lips and she parted them for him, moaning as his tongue interlaced with hers. Tugging at his belt, she got his pants off and pulled him down onto the bed, kissing him more passionately as he straddled her and rested his hand on her breast, giving it a nice squeeze. He started to massage it with his worked hand as his lips traveled to her neck hungrily, Sharon running her fingers along his muscled torso.

They stripped each other down to nothing, Sharon taking the time out to run her hands along his muscled torso. He pulled back gently, pulling Sharon with him, biting and sucking on her sternum as his fingers ran along her back, keeping her as flush against him as he could. Nothing was going to ruin this moment for him—not a damn thing. He'd been wanting Sharon to let him in for a long time now and not because of sex…because he genuinely cared about her and her wellbeing.

Clint sighed loudly as he sat down in the cafeteria area, wondering what in the world it was that he was going to do about all of this. He wasn't exactly one to go all out with his emotions and Natasha knew that better than anyone, but he had secrets too—like the whole façade about Angel. Everyone that was going to be working with the 'Avengers Initiative' and anyone who was anyone within the organization had been briefed about bringing Andy and Sharon on board. It wasn't like he could go 14 years without meeting Natasha's other partner after all.

"You look like you're having a rough day," Angel told him as she took a seat next to him. "Anything or anyone on your mind?"

"Nothing we should be talking about." Clint responded with a gentle shrug.

Angel nodded at that. "So, it's about Sharon then?"

"What's about Sharon?" Steve asked as he joined them, two trays of food in hand.

Clint looked at the man as he set a tray in front of Angel and then sat down next to her, both of them interested in Clint's frame of mind. On the one hand, he understood that Angel was the best friend and eventually she was going to have this talk with him if he tried something with Sharon, but he felt uncomfortable about it. Especially with Steve there because not only was this not about business, but he barely knew the man.

"Clint has feelings for her," Angel said with a shrug, smiling at Steve and thanking him for her food. "Want my advice?"

Clint shook his head. "Not particularly,"

"You're going to get it anyway so I would mind the tone, Clint," Angel told him with a smile on her face. "Know when to hold on and when to back off."

This was certainly one of those moments when Clint wanted nothing more than to hold on, and so he unclasped her bra and tossed it aside when she slid it off. Sharon wanted this and she had initiated it, so he didn't see why he shouldn't go for it because it didn't seem like to him that he was taking advantage. From his stand point, he had said that he accepted her and she was so grateful that all of their feelings for each other had escalated to this.

That was mostly true.

In her life, Sharon had been betrayed by the two people that were the most important in her life and the fact that Clint was letting her in was a Godsend. On the other hand, Sharon wanted to act on all of these feelings swirling around in her gut to try and then deal with them later when they weren't assaulting her as much. So this was what was going to happen and she couldn't say that she didn't want this to happen more often because with Clint she felt safe…she felt calm.

"You're so beautiful," Clint whispered, running his nose along Sharon's as he laid her back on the bed and moved her legs.

She wrapped them around him and smiled gently at him, stroking his cheek as he rested his body against hers, running her nails along his flesh. Clint pressed his lips to hers again, muffling her cry as he pushed his flesh in hers, her nails digging into his back, which just spurred him on. They moved together, picking up on each other's needs and wants, Clint intentionally pushing Sharon over the edge first and feeling his heart swell up as his name was on her lips.

Nothing could be more perfect than this moment…nothing.


"She's not picking up," Angel told Andy with a shrug as she fixed her hair, Andy on speakerphone.

Andy laughed a little bit. "Last I know, she went to check in on Clint. Why?"

"I was going to ask her about my hair too," Angel said laughing, admiring it and then taking a picture and sending it to Andy while they were still on the line with each other. "What do you think?"

"Did you manipulate your hair?" Andy asked laughing. "It looks shorter."

"I cut a bit of it off and even it out with my powers, yes," Angel told her, shrugging a bit. "It was just a trim."

Andy rolled her eyes and glanced over out of the window, changing the phone call to a video chat and then looking at Angel as Angel modeled her hair for her. While she approved, Andy's thoughts were all over the place and Angel could tell so she decided to try and figure out what was going on with her other best friend. She couldn't just leave her in this state of mind while she went off to go on a date with Steve…it wouldn't be right.

"Nick?" Angel asked Andy.

Andy nodded slowly. "And Thor…I'm just worried. Whatever though—I want you to go on your date, come clean and just…know that Sharon and I are always here for you. I'm a bit upset you didn't tell us that you were with S.H.I.E.L.D. for 14 years and that you can't get a hold of Sharon to tell her that too, but Steve will understand. He's very fond of you."

"Yeah…" Angel said nodding and then smoothed down her blouse. "Talk to Nick tonight, Andy."

While she promised, Andy gave Angel a hurried 'goodbye' and then Angel went to meet Steve by one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. jets and smiled that he was there first. She was wearing a black skirt that ended just above her knees and hugged her curves without being tight, and a blouse that was lower cut without being questionable and short sleeves that ruffled ever so slightly. Her hair was a bit curled and just above her shoulders, a clip in it to pin her growing out bangs back and Steve?

He looked perfect.

Steve was wearing old almost pinstripe pants with brown dress shoes to match his brown leather jacket that he wore over a rather gorgeous button-up shirt. He looked so beautiful to her and her to him, both of them standing face to face before Angel held up her hand to silence him as he opened up his mouth to speak. Not liking that he was being cut off, however, Steve spoke anyway with a smile on his face as he looked in her warm eyes.

"You look beautiful," he told her fondly.

Angel blushed a little. "Thank you…I have to do something though—come clean about something before we even decide to do this. I…I have used my powers on you before…when we met."

"You…when?" Steve asked her, highly confused.

"When you woke up," Angel said, her face suddenly sad.

Steve didn't quite understand exactly what it was that she was saying, but he knew that right now he needed to keep an open mind because even hearing this…he was doubtful. He knew so much about her that he just couldn't find it in him to think that she had manipulated this whole relationship and he just…he only vaguely remembered a girl. The memories of waking up were hazy at best aside from Nick talking to him and he nodded slowly, giving her a chance to explain.

"You were so scared and you were trying to adjust and I felt like making you forget me was the best thing for you even though I know it shouldn't have been my decision." Angel told him, chewing on her lip. "I just…I want to give you that memory back and then you can decide whether or not we're doing this date. I'm tired of keeping things from you. I've been with this organization for 14 years and I just want to do right by you."

Steve nodded slowly and took a step forward. "The girl that I vaguely remember? You? Because while I can't remember her face, she made me feel safe and protected and I've thought about what happened to her many a time. If she was you, I don't need the memory back."

"Steve…" Angel said slowly, reaching up to stroke his cheek. "Are you sure? I mean in the long run you'll also remember what it feels like to be manipulated so you know that I'd never—"

"—I know you would never force me to do anything that I didn't want to do."

"How can you just know that?"

"Because this last year you've always put me first. Yeah, I'm a bit thrown that you altered a memory but then I remember the things that you've sacrificed to protect the others around you and I want to fix this between us. I want to trust you, so I'm taking a leap of faith."

Angel smiled, slipping her arms up around his neck when he leaned down to kiss her, honestly not expecting any reaction that wasn't yelling at her or storming off. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, pulling back yet again when she nipped at his lips, making Angel feel a little self conscious for a moment. It was her way of showing affection, but Steve was trying to be a gentleman here and that was honestly turning him on.

"I feel like nipping is bad…" Angel said slowly.

Steve blushed. "It just makes it harder for me to control myself is all."

"Oh," Angel responded as the realization set in. "I'll rein it in."

"Angel?"

"Yeah?"

"Go ahead and give me the memory back. It's important to you that you prove to me that you're turning over a new leaf and while it's not necessary, what you want is important to me."

Smiling and nodding at that, Angel kissed him again, slipping her fingers into his hair and massaging his scalp, Steve returning the kiss with the same passion. Just as he was starting to feel like maybe being alone with her with all this touching was going to make him want things a gentleman shouldn't want, his brain felt warm and slightly tickled. He pulled back slowly, looking Angel in the eye, seeing the memory come flooding back to him and slowly but surely…a smile touched his face.

"That's what it feels like?" Steve asked her.

Angel nodded gently. "Yeah…that's what it feels like and again, I'm sorry."

"Promise me you won't do it again."

"I promise. I really, really promise. I just wanted you to be safe and calm, and—"

Steve cut her off with another kiss and then pulled back. "You can explain over dinner."


Sharon could tell that things between her and Clint were different and she didn't quite know what to do because nothing felt resolved. In fact, she felt like things were that much more complicated. She had gone into this with all sorts of thoughts running amuck inside her head and was lying there snuggled up against him with even more thoughts than before, Clint stroking her hair gently. Being in his arms was one of the more pleasant experiences she'd experienced lately, but she still wasn't sure what this meant and she was damn well going to find that out.

"You're very quiet," Clint whispered, kissing her hairline tenderly.

Sharon closed her eyes and smiled at the feel of it. "It's not very like me, is it?"

"No," Clint responded with a gentle laugh.

He was honestly going to be the death of her because as he laughed, his whole body rumbled and it felt so good, her head on his chest as he did that. She ran her fingers along his torso as the fingers of his other hand ran along her arm, his lips on the top of her head as he thought some things through as well. This whole encounter had just happened so fast and yet all he wanted was to do it again—to actually make a relationship out of all of this so he could kiss and cuddle her all the time, any time he wanted.

"You're going to be fine," Natasha told Clint as he regained consciousness.

Clint struggled a little against the restraints as he got his head back in the game. "I'm going to be fine? Is that what you know?"

"I know that attacking Angel is the stupidest thing you've ever done," Natasha said with a smile as she poured him some water.

"Not the first time she's kicked my ass," Clint said shaking his head. "How'd you break the spell?"

"Cognitive recalibration," Natasha said simply, sitting down next to him. "She hit you really hard in the head." Natasha sighed a little bit as she undid his restraints. "You murmured her name while you were out…"

"Angel's?" Clint asked quickly. "Maybe because she knocked me on my ass…"

Natasha laughed a little bit. "No…Sharon's…"

Clint looked at Natasha and just nodded slowly, taking the information in and trying to figure out exactly what to tell her. He remembered Angel's face looking at him, blood coming out of her nose as she dealt out her damage to him, but he also remembered seeing Sharon's face cross his mind. Clint Barton had feelings for Sharon Carver, and they were just getting deeper and deeper.

"Are we supposed to have a relationship talk?" Sharon asked him slowly, looking up at him.

Clint looked down and looked her in the eye. "Not if you don't want to…"

"You do," Sharon replied after a pause.

She could tell from the tone in his voice that he wanted more from this and she honestly didn't know if she could give that to him. Sharon was afraid of letting people get too close to her and she honestly didn't think that that was going to change in an instant just because the two of them had slept together and now were a sort of item. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she knew that either way she was just going to hurt him.

"Whatever you want to do is fine with me," Clint responded, starting to stroke Sharon's skin with a different thought in mind.

Sharon smirked a little bit, glad to make this playful instead of serious. "I don't know about that…"

"Oh, I do," Clint bantered back, catching her lips with his. "I'm not quite sure that you've put me through my paces, Ms. Carver."

"Who knew you had so much stamina, Mr. Barton," Sharon winked happily.

If there was one thing that Sharon was enjoying about this, it was the fact that they weren't going to have to get serious right now. She wasn't really doing serious very well because she didn't know exactly where this was going and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out unless it involved another go. It wasn't that she didn't have feelings for Clint—she honestly did—she was just scared of him. She was scared of what letting him in and trusting him not to hurt her meant.

"You've got a lot to learn about me," Clint responded, kissing her possessively and pulling her on top of him, loving the feel of her skin against his, letting his hands roam.

Sharon moaned gently and bit his lip. "We've got all night to learn as much as we can…"


"This is your idea of the perfect date?" Steve asked Angel, chuckling that perfect chuckle of his.

They had ended up commandeering the jet and then Angel had 'flown' it to a nearby beach and they were now enjoying hot dogs from a vender, walking barefoot along the beach back toward the jet, hot dog in one hand and shoes in the other. Angel blushed and looked up at him, feeling comfortable and in her element, wanting this moment to last forever because she was really enjoying the company. Steve was looking at her so fondly and they were finally moving into this with all eyes open and all the secrets laid right out there, so she felt better about things.

"I like hot dogs," Angel responded with a shrug, taking another bite and putting her hand up over her mouth so he couldn't see her food in it as she spoke gently. "Besides, the feel of the sand between your toes is kind of worth it, isn't it?"

Steve smiled and nodded. "I'm fond of the sound of the water…and the company."

"You're going to give me a complex," Angel laughed, pushing on Steve playfully and then stopping to revel in the eye contact before she got an idea. "Want to try something a bit out of our norm?"

"How so?" Steve asked her slowly, swallowing.

He wasn't sure what it was that she was thinking about, but even Angel was blushing right now and she finished off her hot dog before she dropped her shoes down on the beach and looked at him. It seemed like an idea that Steve might totally reject, but they were trying to turn over new leaves and Angel wanted to try and be more spontaneous—more fun. Tony had always been teasing her about how she lived a rather 'boring' life and this was the best Angel had felt in a while, right here with Steve Rogers.

"A swim…" Angel said, looking out at the water. "You and me."

Steve followed her gaze and then looked back at her. "It's got to be freezing and we don't have suits."

"We don't need suits," Angel responded, looking at him with a smile on her face. "Be spontaneous with me, Cap. It's something I've always wanted to do, but I've been too scared…until right now, with you."

Angel stared at her brother like he was crazy when he told her about his naked swim with some woman he'd just met and would never see again. All she could think about was the temperature and how skinny dipping just seemed crazy and couldn't they catch something from the water? Tony was sitting there talking about it like it had been so eye-opening and Angel just couldn't seem to understand what the appeal was of hanging out in freezing cold water buck ass nude with a stranger.

"Did you shower to warm yourself up?" Angel asked him suddenly. "You could get pneumonia."

Tony raised his eyebrows at her. "Really? Obviously we warmed up in a different way…"

"You are a pig," Angel told him rolling her eyes. "You're also stupid. If you get sick I told you so. I honestly don't see what women see in you."

"I know what men don't see in you," Tony responded almost immediately.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Angel asked him, obviously offended.

"You are boring, Angel."

"I am not, Tony."

"You are about as boring as they come. Take a chance sometime, Angel—live life before it's too late and it has already passed you by."

Thinking back on it, Angel was still offended but only because she had never seen her life as boring…maybe because she'd been a student at a mutant academy since she was 8 and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent since she was 16, but she liked her life. Yeah, she missed out on things because she let her fear dictate a little bit, but she didn't think that random sex with random people, drinking until you were wasted and drugs helped anyone. She didn't think that that made people any less boring, she just thought that that made people stupid…so, incredibly, stupid.

"Spontaneous?" Steve asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Angel smiled and shrugged a little bit. "We don't have to."

"No, no…we should live life, right?" Steve asked her slowly, dropping his shoes as he finished his hot dog and then taking off his jacket. "We might get pneumonia though…"

"Then we'll be sick together," Angel said with a laugh. "I'm keeping my under garments on."

"Of course we are," Steve responded, going beet red.

Angel nodded and they watched each other take their clothes off, Steve down to his boxers as he found his eyes raking over Angel's frame as she pulled her shirt off last, just in a bra and panties, shivering a little bit. It was a nice, warm night, but the breeze was cold and they were by the water and Steve felt a little bad, but that smile on her face made him change his mind and keep his eyes on her face. He held his hand out for her and she smiled more and took it, both of them turning to face the water.

"We can back down…" Angel said as they looked at the waves.

Steve nodded slowly. "We could…but we both need some spontanaeity, right?"

"We're not boring people, Steve—we just have morals."

"Everyone thinks we tiptoe…Tony thinks we're boring."

"Tony's an ass and everyone else just talks to talk…this should be for us."

Steve nodded and they both turned to look at each other, making eye contact and smiling at each other, leaning in to kiss each other a moment before they pulled back and nodded. Their decision was made for them in that moment as they turned to look back at the water, knowing that this was just another thing that would bond them together. So, on the count of '3', they went running off into the water, letting a wave crash into them as they submerged themselves.

"Oh my God, that's cold!" Angel gasped as she ran her fingers through her hair, treading water, Steve laughing a bit even though they both felt the crushing cold.

Steve smiled at her. "So this was a good idea, how?"

"It was exciting," Angel protested, splashing Steve when he shook his head playfully at her.

That just made Steve splash her back until he was close enough to pull her to him, crashing his lips into hers, feverishly kissing her. It had been a little bit exciting to do something just for them, and to let loose with each other and have a little bit of clean, fun, both of them now kissing passionately and backing up toward the beach. Soon, Angel found her back against the sand, Steve on top of her, the kiss between them practically magical.

Steve managed to keep his hands to himself at first, but as Angel ran her wet leg along his, he let his hands stray a little bit, Angel shivering pleasantly at his touch. They both knew that they needed to stop as they felt those feelings of desire try to take over…it just felt so amazing. Steve's fingers traipsing along her wet skin, her nails trailing his back, Steve reluctantly pulling back, both of them trying to catch their breath as they looked into each other's eyes.

"I feel like…" Steve began slowly, stroking her hair and running his nose along hers to keep the contact, feeling her toes along his calf and urges he'd never really had before.

Angel nodded slowly, stroking his wet hair. "Like we shouldn't?"

"Like I've been waiting for you and I don't want to ruin this," Steve responded, kissing her lovingly and smiling at her fondly. "More than urges…"

"More than urges…" Angel agreed, kissing him tenderly as his other hand rested on her hip and his thumb rang along the soft skin of her stomach. "Which means we should…"

"…yeah…" Steve responded, slowly getting off of her even though he knew he didn't want to, helping her to her feet and going over to their clothes to go back to the jet.

Angel had never wanted to sleep with someone more in her life…and neither had Steve.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: UST and Tesseract

Andy was back at the base trying to figure things out when Nick came into the room and leaned on the doorframe, watching her. Everything about Adrienne Mett was simply intoxicating, but Nick found that these days he couldn't help but just watch her whenever she was working on something. They were too busy to make anything work between them unless one of them was willing to sacrifice some more and right now neither of them was…and Nick understood that look on her face.

"Worried?" Nick asked her slowly.

Andy nodded gently. "Yeah…about Bruce and Thor. Coulson almost died today and if it hadn't been for Angel, he would have. Your little 'Avengers Initiative' really needs to actually become the 'Avengers' and fast, or else Loki is going to win this thing."

"I think they've all gotten the pushes that they need," Nick said confidently. "You're afraid to tell me something and I don't know what it is."

"To be fair, I haven't told anyone," Andy began slowly, chewing on her bottom lip. "I just feel like no one will understand—Hell, I don't even understand."

Nick nodded slowly. "Who is he?"

"The last person I would ever actually want to be with," Andy laughed shrugging a bit. "A one-time thing, and it's also not going to amount to anything."

"So, Tony," Nick said slowly.

"Why would you automatically assume that I slept with Tony?"

"I said nothing about sleeping with him…"

Andy and Nick both paused for a moment and looked at each other, sighing a little bit and then just nodding because right now was not the time. They had been working on a way to track down Loki and they had found one—they were just going to let everyone get a good night's sleep and that included each other. Though as Nick took a few steps toward Andy, she found herself routed in place near the console, not even breathing.

"Was it Tony?" Nick asked her.

Andy looked at him and decided to try and change the subject, kissing him tenderly. They had shared so many memories together and she wanted more than anything to just get all of that back. This time away from him had been killing her and she wanted Nick to understand that no matter what ever happened, he had her heart…and he always would. As far as Adrienne Mett was concerned, she belonged to Nick Fury now and forever.

"I love you," Andy whispered to him, pulling back and then kissing him again. "Nothing else matters besides that."

Nick smiled a little bit. "I love you too, but we both agreed this wasn't going to work. Our futures don't mesh well, Andy."

"Yeah, so it's been said," Andy responded, pulling away from Nick and heading for the door. "I'm going to see if I can't locate Thor."


Steve and Angel were both having a rather restless night, thinking about the date and about the feverish kisses on the beach and Angel had a feeling that she wasn't going to be able to sleep. She was tossing and turning and to alleviate some tension, Steve got up and went to do some boxing because it helped him to clear his head. Especially because there was just so much going on right now that he needed to process because every time he thought about Angel, a whole mess of things happened.

Blood heading to an unused body part being one of those things.

She had laid a lot out on the line when she had told him about altering the memory so he'd forget her, but the fact that she did it for him made it easier to forgive. Angel had done it to make his life easier and because she thought that she was part of what was terrifying him and it was sweet…wrong, but sweet. Then there was the fact that he felt this comfortable with her—comfortable enough to do what they'd done on the beach—and he felt like maybe this was how it was supposed to be.

He was a gentleman, and while he knew what society seemed like today because of the movies and books that Angel had let him read and shared with him and so forth, he was still a gentleman. Steve didn't think it was right to just sleep with someone without knowing them—without being in love—and that was what was getting to him: was he in love? He'd only known Angel for a year, was that enough?

Even with the most recent knowledge about her powers, she was still the beautiful woman that was always standing by him and protecting him, and he had a feeling that she was always going to be there. She had been afraid of letting him in because of things that had happened to her in the past and he understood her hiding…was flattered when Sharon had told him that she had come clean because of him and wanting to share everything with him. So maybe he could trust her enough to love her…

Once upon a time he had thought about Peggy every time that he went into battle, but right now all he could think about was Angel. He wanted to be able to run to her when he needed her, and just come home to her, and all in all be around her as much as possible. She made him feel happy and loved and it dawned on him in that moment that she was all that he could ever want and that losing her made his heart hurt desperately.

"Can't sleep either?" Angel asked him slowly.

She'd finally decided to come and find Steve to talk to him, not even bothering to cover up her tank top and pajama pants with a robe. She was just feeling so hot and bothered thinking about his skin on hers…how his wet skin had been brushing against hers and how wonderfully pleasant it had felt. Angel Stark really did love Steve Rogers, and she understood that their relationship was more than this lust she was feeling right now, but at the same time that was part of it.

There was a passion there that neither of them had really been paying that much attention to because they were trying to be the perfect lady and the perfect gentleman. Obviously they were physically attracted to one another, but there were other things in the back of their minds that they wanted to try out and right now hormones were raging around trying to find outlets. Now Steve was sweaty and a little worked up with the punching bag, looking over at Angel and feeling his whole body flush.

She was beautiful even in pajamas, Steve in a t-shirt and pants, beginning to unwrap his hands and shake his head slowly at her question to him. Just remember how her body had fit against his and how her leg had been stroking his bare, wet, flesh, made his mouth grow dry and he had to look away from her, Angel tucking some hair behind her ears. This needed to be talked about and she wanted to find a way to move past it before she went to sleep.

"I feel like things are weird between us," she said slowly.

Steve looked at her and motioned for her to come over to him, watching her walk toward him. "I think that things are starting to escalate."

"You noticed that too?" Angel asked him, up close to him now, looking up at him.

"How could I not?" Steve responded, reaching out to cup her face.

They both smiled at each other before Angel took the initiative to roll up on the balls of her feet, pressing her lips to Steve's. It was almost like she couldn't help herself as she stared into those beautiful eyes of his, Steve responding immediately, holding her body close to his, letting it form into his. The kiss between them deepened, Angel running her tongue along Steve's bottom lip, Steve opening up his mouth for her a moment, letting his hands roam her frame.

Angel stroked his hair and tasted him, letting out a gentle squeak as Steve hoisted her up, wrapping her legs around his body. There were so many conflicting thoughts as the kissing and groping continued, Angel letting her fingers slip down to the bottom of his t-shirt, gently starting to slide it up. Steve was already starting to be the voice of reason when he felt her teeth on his lips, making him moan involuntarily and shake his head, slowly, pulling back.

"I'm really trying to be a gentleman here," he whispered, both of them breathing heavily.

Angel nodded slowly as she started to slip the shirt up more. "Right now, I really don't want you to be a gentleman."

"I have to be, Angel," he responded, kissing her to let her know that he was still invested in this. "I have to respect you and do this the right way…"

"Just skin on skin contact…no sex," Angel offered, grasping a bit at straws here as she kissed him tenderly and her heart thumped away in her chest.

Steve was about to try and be the voice of reason again when he felt her teeth on his bottom lip again, her fingertips tracing the contours of his muscles. He wanted to tell her that they need to take a step back and think about this, but he was nodding as she kissed him again, trying desperately to keep this going as long as possible.

"Just skin on skin contact…" Steve echoed lazily, helping Angel to get his shirt off.

Angel pulled her shirt off to, letting it drop on the floor before she looked Steve in the eye, letting the gaze drop to his chest, running her fingertips along his pecks and then she kissed Steve again, both of them losing themselves in the moment. They could feel each other's heart pounding away in their chests, lips crashing against each other's until a noise stopped them. While they were both revved up, nothing ruined the moment faster than Tony.

"I knew you were having sex!" Tony said happily. "Carry on."

With that he turned to leave, Angel and Steve both looking at each other and sighing loudly before Steve let Angel's feet slowly touch the floor. She grabbed her shirt and put it on, running her fingers through her hair as she went after her brother, wanting to make sure he didn't say anything to embarrass her and Steve as Steve put his shirt on and went another round with the punching bag.

"Because of you, I will be a virgin until I die," Angel told Tony as she caught up to him.

Tony looked at her. "No! I really meant it when I said to 'carry on', V."

"You ruined the moment and you know it," Angel said, moving past him.

"Maybe," Tony chuckled, laughing more when Angel flipped him off as she walked away from him. "I'm not the one that you should be telling to fu—"

"—I'm never talking to you again." Angel cut him off, heading to her room for a fitful night's sleep.


"Have you ever just wanted to be all, 'just drop your pants and get between my legs'?" Angel asked that morning as she stormed into the conference room.

She had known that it was just Andy and Sharon there as she opened the door and saw the two of them, huffing and sitting next to Andy, a cup of coffee in her hand. Angel hadn't slept very well the night before and right now she was in a mood because she didn't know what kind of mood Steve was in and she'd have to see him. They were all supposed to figure out what was going on and Andy and Sharon suddenly burst out laughing at their friend.

"I slept not at all, thanks for asking," Angel told them with a heavy sigh.

Sharon looked at her. "Something tells me that you got not laid last night."

"Both chances were utterly ruined," Angel responded, sipping her coffee. "You look chipper."

"She had sex with Clint last night," Andy pointed out, Sharon shrugging. "Some of the agents caught the show on the security cameras—all three of them."

"You had sex three times last night and I got to have a fitful night's sleep?" Angel asked her, clearly envious. "So…what happened? I mean obviously, sex, but how did that happen? I thought you were avoiding Clint like the plague."

Sharon smiled a bit as she remembered what had transpired the night before, shrugging again because she was still trying to figure things out herself. At first she was just going to sleep with him and then find a reason to get dressed as quickly as possible and take off—she still wanted to because things were now fifty times more complicated—but he had held her afterwards. He had stroked her hair and then focused on sex instead of on talking and right now that arrangement was good for her because he wasn't trying to get anymore from her.

"He accepted her, she's wanting to have sex with him since they met…you do the math." Andy told her, looking over at her. "Why was your night so fitful? I thought that you and Steve were going on a date? Didn't it go well?"

Angel nodded at her. "It went better than well. We were all heated and passionate and then he backed off. I mean I'm grateful for it, but my loins aren't."

"Sure they are," Sharon responded with a smile. "They're not sore."

"You're just so incredibly funny," Angel told her, rolling her eyes and sipping more coffee. "So this meeting…what is it exactly?"

Andy started explaining about the Tesseract signal as Steve intercepted Tony in the hallway and called for him to wait up. After walking in on Steve and Angel the night before, all Tony could do was smirk at the man and then make a quick joke that made Steve red in the face because it was Tony—be funny at everyone else's expense. Steve had something on his mind though, and Tony decided that he might as well hear him out.

"I'm in love with your sister," Steve told him directly.

Tony looked him. "You're in lust with my sister, there's a difference."

"No, it's not like that," Steve responded shaking his head. "I don't want to just sleep with her, like a cad, I want to make it known to you that my intentions with her are very honorable."

"Your 'intentions are honorable'?" Tony asked him, making sure he had heard right as Steve nodded. "Right…well, what can I do for you then, Cap? Her dowry is mighty high…"

Steve knew that he was joking about, but what he had to talk to Tony about was important and so he laid it all right there on the table before the two headed to the conference room. By then, Coulson, Fury, Natasha and Maria were there and Andy rolled her eyes when she saw that Tony was late and that Steve was trailing behind him. Angel smiled when Steve walked in, Steve smiling back, also having looked like he hadn't slept as much as he had wanted to.

"Glad you finally made it," Maria quipped at Tony, obviously being sarcastic.

Tony smiled at her. "We're trying to figure out what Loki is going to do, correct?"

"Oh, we found the Tesseract's signature…" Andy told him, standing up and then touching the console next to her, sending the file to the console in front of Tony. "It seems that Loki is just as much about pomp and circumstance as you are."

"That little shit," Tony said, standing up. "I'm going."

"Tony, you can't just run off to your tower by yourself…" Angel began, standing up too. "He knows we're going to figure it out."

Tony nodded at that. "Of course he does! He knows he's going to have to take us all out and my tower is the best place to do it in a public setting. You guys suit up and meet me there—this portal is about to open over my baby."

"You heard him," Angel said hurriedly, feeling a desperate need to protect her brother. "Suit up."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Chitauri and Nukes

While Steve got into his Captain America outfit that Coulson had spruced up, Andy and Sharon dressed in S.H.I.E.L.D. attire with Natasha and Clint as they headed for a jet. Coulson and Maria were staying behind with Fury, Thor and Bruce still down for the count and Angel…Angel was following her brother in her suit. She was determined to make sure that he was safe and that he wasn't taking on Loki all by himself because right now, she really couldn't handle losing him.

"Sir, it seems that Ms. Stark has decided to follow us," Jarvis told Tony as he neared his tower.

"I seem to remember you saying you'd never talk to me again," Tony told Angel as he opened up a comm to her.

Angel smiled a little bit. "I still hate you…doesn't mean I'm not going to have your back, as you're still my brother."

"Not by choice."

"When this is over, we're going a few rounds and I'm going to kick your ass."

"Only if you don't manipulate the fight in your favor."

"Jarvis? Feel free to cut off his oxygen."

Tony and Angel continued their argument until they came to the device, looking over it as Erik Selvig told them that they were far too late. The device was already ready to be activated and when Tony shot at it even though Angel told him not to, the rebound affect sent both him and Angel flying backwards a bit. Angel sighed loud as she and Tony both clocked in on Loki, Jarvis telling them that it was a pure energy barrier—they couldn't penetrate it.

"You're an idiot," Angel told him.

Tony shrugged a little bit. "An idiot with a plan B…"

"If your plan B is threatening Loki, then no," Angel replied, sighing when he flew down to the left side of the tower on the roof, the mechanical arms taking off his armor. "I'm leaving my armor on…"

"I'd rather you did that, to be honest," Tony told her. "Mach V still hasn't been quite tested yet and I need an escape plan."

"Wow…you really are an idiot," she said as she landed on the roof.

As Angel and Tony got ready to face off with Loki on top of Stark Tower, Clint, Natasha, Sharon, Andy and Steve were in a jet headed there. Steve seemed a bit on edge since Angel was off with Tony doing something undoubtedly stupid, and Sharon and Clint kept sneaking looks at each other, Clint smirking at the beautiful blonde in the black leather suit. Sharon winked at him because he was checking her out, Natasha and Andy exchanging knowing glances.

"Sex has treated you both well," Andy told them, pulling her red hair back into a messy bun and checking her weapons. "Tash? I suggest we don't leave them alone…"

Natasha laughed a little. "Agreed. How close can you get us to Stark Tower, Clint?"

"Pretty damn close," Clint responded, Sharon sitting down next to him, her hair in a ponytail.

"They…?" Steve asked Andy slowly.

"Don't look so surprised, Cap," Andy said as she checked her boot for her knife. "Tension can only mount for long belong before it needs a release."

Steve blushed a little about that, knowing that Andy knew more about him and Angel than she was letting on, Loki approaching Tony and Angel. He thought it was kind of novel, to see them standing up to him, but he figured that he would go ahead and give them the benefit of the doubt at the moment. Loki needed to let them know that the army was coming and they had absolutely no chance in the world of surviving this upcoming war.

"You here to appeal to me?" Loki asked.

Tony shook his head. "No…threaten you."

"You should have left your suit on like your sister did," Loki told him, watching as the helmet came off and so did Angel's gauntlets. "Just in case?"

"Yes," Angel admitting, looking at her hands and then back at Loki. "It's kind of nice always being armed."

"Want a drink?" Tony offered Loki, nodding when Loki shook his head. "Look…you're going to be stopped."

Loki laughed at that. "By who?"

"The Avengers—that's what we call ourselves." Tony told him. "You think that you've scattered us, but all you've done is piss us off."

"Royally," Angel added, "plus, I believe that I promised to make you bleed."

Loki laughed a little bit, sizing the woman up with his eyes because he wondered if she honestly could do such a thing. She had a lot of power wrapped up in that tiny bundle of a body and something told Loki that he needed to be smart here and not test her out because she looked like she was still very angry with him. Looking at her and sizing her up gave Tony the opportunity he needed to put the Mark V bracelets on and then he grabbed his drink and he continued.

"You may be bringing a war here, and you may win, but if we can't save the world, you can be damn sure that we'll avenge it." Tony responded, Angel hearing Clint give her the signal in her earpiece.

Loki stepped up towards Tony with an angry look on his face. "How will they be able to focus on me when they're too busy fighting you?"

With that, Loki touched Tony with his scepter, but because of the reactor where his heart was supposed to be, the spell didn't work. So instead, Loki grabbed Tony by the throat as he told Jarvis to deploy the Mark V, Angel getting to Loki and Tony just as Loki threw Tony out the window, Loki shooting Angel with the scepter and in turn getting shot at by the jet. It was in that moment that Loki shot at the jet, smiling at it started to crash—that was just what he wanted.

Angel was out of the window in a moment, heading to the jet when she saw Tony in the Mark V doing just fine, touching the jet and making it land softly on the ground, but it would take some serious strength to get it going. Strength she couldn't afford to waste. She looked up as tony did, the portal open and the Chitauri army coming through to try and destroy them all and force them into submission.

"Right…army…" Tony said, heading up to fight.

Angel looked at Steve, Clint, Sharon and Andy and then up at Tony. "You guys fan out and cover the area—Tony and I are taking them head on."

"Just make it back in one piece," Steve told her lovingly.

"I promise," she said as she took off, her helmet and gauntlets slipping back over her exposed skin.

As Tony and Angel took on the air, Natasha, Andy and Steve made up one team, Clint and Sharon moving up to be on top of the buildings and get things done from there. Sharon had a build-up of powers because of Xavier sending her mutants to touch that morning, and she was feeling pretty proud of herself as she and Clint did their archery. Andy, Natasha and Steve were proving useful on the ground taking out the foot soldiers, thunder crackling as Thor showed.

Thor, who went straight for Loki.

He was going to fight his brother and Tony wanted to make sure that everyone told him when Bruce showed up, everyone else but Natasha a little skeptical that he was coming back. Right now they had alien speeders and foot soldiers to deal with, plus a portal they weren't sure of how to close. Then Angel got an idea and she headed back toward the tower as Loki and Thor fought, knocking out Erik and letting the gauntlets come off.

"Maybe if I can just…manipulate it…" Angel said out loud, the comm on.

Steve beheaded a soldier with his shield and then looked up toward the tower. "Angel…what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to manipulate the device," Angel said, slowly reaching her hand out to touch it.

"If you die before I get to properly tell you that I love you…" Steve began, Angel pausing and standing up, her hand now on her ear piece.

"You love me?" Angel asked him.

Tony cleared his throat into the comms. "Guys…end of the world battle here. Touch the device, Angel—shut the portal down."

Angel nodded at her brother's voice and then she reached out to touch the barrier around the device as Bruce arrived on the scene and made the ground parties pause for a moment. He was here to try and do something with himself and he looked at Natasha a moment, both of them making eye contact with each other.

"So…this all looks horrible," Bruce said nodding a bit.

Natasha smiled a little. "I've seen worse."

"Sorry about that," Bruce told her honestly, everyone catching on a little in that moment.

"No," Natasha said with a gentle smirk, "right now we could use a little horrible."

"I'm bringing the party to you guys," Tony said, flying one of the giant space creatures to them.

Natasha looked up. "How is that a party?"

"It's like a giant, spiny, space whale…" Sharon said out loud.

Bruce nodded and then looked at the group as they all looked at him, knowing he was going to have to become the Hulk. He had been getting better control over his green side, but right now he wondered what it was that he was going to do…hoped that he could fight everyone except for his friends—everyone except for Natasha.

"Well, before I get all horrible again," Bruce said as he walked up to Natasha, arm circling her waist, "I'm going to do something good."

Natasha smiled at him as he said that, kissing Bruce back passionately when he took the moment out to show his true feelings for her, feeling flushed and a little turned on when he then turned, morphed into the Hulk, and took down the giant creature in one swift movement. At the same time, Nick was talking to the council—the council of which wanted to bomb Manhattan. They wanted to use nuclear warfare and even had rogue birds go out equipped with them, one of which Nick got to in time with a bazooka…not so much the other one.

"Stark, do you copy? You have a missile coming straight for you," Nick told him.

Angel touched the barrier as Tony told Nick that he got the memo. "Javis…"

Everyone else was focusing on fighting off more giant creatures and not one of them heard the scream that she let out when the energy make contact with her. It short circuited her suit rather quickly, Loki smirking as he tried to hop off of the building after stabbing Thor, who was distracted by the sound, only to have the Hulk grab him and throw him into Stark Tower where Tony had been thrown out by Loki before. Thor pulled the blade out of his side and hurried over to Angel as Hulk tossed Loki around a bit until he was rendered unable to move, reaching out to touch her and getting shocked gently. Something about that energy had forced her onto the ground, Angel looking up at the sky and only vaguely being aware of Natasha coming up on the building.

She had Loki's scepter and after checking Angel over—Angel who was recovering, but dazed—she told everyone on the comms that she could close the gap…but Tony said 'no'. Tony wanted to take the nuke through the portal to the Chitauri and when Natasha looked over at Angel who didn't have the feed anymore, she swallowed slowly. Angel seemed to sit up a little bit, Thor checking her over as he helped her to take the suit off, Angel slowly making her way over to Natasha.

"You make it home to your sister, Tony," Natasha told him before nodding at Angel.

Angel took the ear piece and put it in. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm ending this by taking the nuke to them," Tony responded slowly. "We'll talk about this when I get back, V."

"Yes, we will, because if you die before then, I will find a way to bring you back and then kill you," Angel threatened, tears in her eyes. "I will never forgive you if you die on me, Anthony Stark…"

"Don't be such a drama queen," Tony responded, though he knew this was a suicide mission, just as Steve had pointed out.

Angel looked up as she saw Tony flying with the nuke, everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. cheering as they disappeared. Then it was up to Steve to tell Natasha to shut the portal because he was the one that was in charge right now giving everyone their orders.

"Come on, Stark…" Natasha said as she looked up at the sky.

Steve took a deep breath. "Close it,"

"We can't see Tony yet!" Angel protested.

"Angel…we have to close it," Steve told her firmly.

Angel made a face as Natasha shoved Loki's scepter into the device and destroyed the portal, the bomb having gone off and destroying all of the creatures that were left on Earth. They were all connected to the mother ship that Tony had just utterly destroyed and there was a look of relief on Angel's face when they saw Tony falling from the sky when the portal closed…until they saw he wasn't moving. The suit not able to function, Angel quickly made her way into the tower to borrow one of Tony's, getting out as Bruce in Hulk form caught him, slid down a building, and deposited him on the ground.

"Move!" Angel said desperately, letting the suit come off.

She gently moved in to touch her brother's face, using all of the strength that she had left to try and revive him, Hulk roaring. The roaring and the mix of her touch made Tony jump to life, looking around and telling them all that they needed to try the shawarma joint down the way cause he never had and they had won. He and Angel made eye contact, Angel stumbling as she stood, Steve catching her in his arms. He was wounded, but nothing would let him let Steve fall.

"Time to arrest Loki for good," Sharon said as she looked up toward the tower where Hulk had subdued him during the battle.

Angel nodded at that. "Yeah…I have a bone to pick with that bitch…"

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Admitting Out Loud

Even though Angel was feeling under the weather, she was the first one up in Stark Tower. It looked terrible because of what the Hulk had done, throwing Loki into things, and Loki was crawling out of the crater he was in when they all got there. Angel knelt down so she was level with him, Loki putting his hands up in the air because he was outnumbered and his army was gone. There was no way he could see that would get him out of this…

"I never did follow through on my threat, you know," Angel told him shaking her head. "How does it feel to have built yourself up so high only to lose?"

Loki smirked, looking her in the eye. "I underestimated you…"

"Yeah, you did, and you threatened people that I care about," Angel responded, looking him over. "If you ever threaten them again, I will destroy you."

"Because you followed through on your last threat so well," Loki replied with a laugh.

Angel nodded at that and then out of nowhere, she punched his already obviously broken nose, Loki reaching up to cradle it as it gushed blood. Smiling at him, Angel stood up and then she took a step back, letting Thor take over because this was after all his brother and she had done what it was that she had wanted to do. She felt Steve's hand slip into hers, smiling up at him and then looking at her brother as Tony tried to orientate himself.

"So…shawarma?" Angel asked Tony.

Tony smiled at her and they headed down to the shawarma joint, meeting some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there that would watch over Loki, who was now bound by Asgardian restraints as Bruce became Bruce again. Then the Avengers went into the restaurant and they got some food, sitting at a large table and just focusing on the food—well, mostly at the food. Clint and Sharon were eyeing each other across the table, Angel trying to check over Steve's wounds, Steve too exhausted to eat.

After all, he was only human.

He smiled tiredly as Angel stroked his hair, her not even finishing her food before she got up to take Steve away from everyone. They didn't even want to go back to the base and be debriefed—they just wanted to go about their lives now and Thor and Loki had to go back home. So, Tony headed out to Stark Tower to meet up with Pepper and deal with repairs, Andy going with Thor and Loki to make sure that that transfer went safely, Clint and Sharon heading off together while Natasha and Bruce returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Angel took Steve home.

They were the Avengers…they'd come back when they were called.


Andy was ignoring Nick's pages after she told him that Thor was taking Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. She didn't want to deal with him right then, and it warmed her heart to see that Thor was well and he was still fighting for what he believed in. He smiled at her as Loki stood there chained up, mouth covered, reaching out to take Andy's hand in his, Loki watching the exchange of affection with his eyebrows raised: he ha d had no idea at all that his brother and Andy were involved.

No one knew that they were involved.

Trying to get the link back up between Asgard and all the other planets was incredibly important to Andy and she was keeping all of that research to herself. She and Thor had been working away on it since he had shown up on Earth the first time and while she was in love with Nick and Thor was clearly into Jane Foster, she and Thor had a spark. Andy loved the way that he talked and he loved how intelligent and passionate she was about her work.

"I do not believe this will be easy—it will take longer than your life span." Thor explained to her.

Andy smiled at him. "I don't think it has to take that long to fix the Bifrost, Thor. We just have to find a way to get you the resources that you need and that is certainly not my specialty."

"You have ways of making portals," Thor began, looking at her. "We may no longer need the Bifrost."

"The portals I make only work the one time…we'll figure it out," she responded, smiling when the demigod got closer to her. "Be careful…I have a tendency to get rather attached."

"Attachment is not a terrible injustice," Thor told her, smiling too.

Andy swallowed as he reached out to stroke her hair, both of them maintaining a level of rather intense eye contact before Andy went in for the kill. His eyes were bold and beautiful and the feel of his lips was even better, crushing into hers with a fierce passion. The two were breathless when they pulled back, but Thor had a grin on his face and Andy felt like a puddle of goo at the tingling sensation coursing through her…that was perfect.

When Andy smiled back at Thor, Thor's thumb running along her hand, he leaned down and kissed her, Andy responding readily. She had feelings for the demigod, she did, she just also knew that this kind of relationship—like her past one with Nick—wasn't something that was ever going to last. He was a god and she was a mortal and they literally came from different worlds. One of these days, Andy was really going to sit down and think about what in the world she was doing in her life, and which choices she was making…cause she was lost.

"The next portal, I will return," Thor told her.

Andy nodded at him. "At the moment though, you have a brother to take care of. Be safe."

Nodding, Thor kissed her one more time and Andy smiled, watching Thor and Loki activate the Tesseract and take off. Then she decided it was about time that she talked to Nick to check in, and then she was going back to her job with Xavier and she could deal with this Thor thing after she came clean to Sharon and Angel about it…if she ever did that. It was up in the air at the moment.


Natasha smiled a little bit as she got out of her suit, not really noticing that Bruce was watching her at first, even though he was. He most definitely was. Everything about Natasha Romanoff was incredibly intoxicating to him and while they couldn't act on any sexual tension, the two of them would deal with that when they came to it. Just being able to have contact with someone else meant more to them than anything else in the world.

"Enjoying the view?" Natasha asked as she turned to face Bruce, pulling on a button up shirt and leaving it unbuttoned. "It's not exactly polite to sneak up on a woman when she's getting dressed.

Bruce smirked a little and nodded. "That can be argued."

"That can be argued," Bruce told Natasha.

She smiled at him and raised her eyebrows. "Oh, can it?"

Natasha and Bruce had a relationship that they just couldn't explain…they really couldn't. While he had terrified her at first, Natasha had grown fond of him in a short period of time and the looks between them couldn't be denied by a single person. They were already so perfect for each other with their pasts and their need for contact, and honestly…Natasha had been through so much in her life that she knew that she could handle this.

Sex wasn't everything.

That was a view that she and Angel had in common and now she had to believe in it more than ever because she liked Bruce. She liked the control he was trying to have and she liked how he smiled at her when she was doing the most trivial things, and she liked him this close to her, teasing her in that incredibly attractive way. Natasha had yet to see him become the Hulk, but she was entertaining the idea that she would be able to handle that.

"I think you have a job to do, Mr. Banner," Natasha told him, eyes on his until they traveled to his lips.

Bruce nodded gently, eyes raking over the agent. "I do, Agent Romanoff, I do…just remember that you were the one that told me that I had to come here."

"You didn't come because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha said, eyes meeting his again, wishing he'd just kiss her, but not about to be unprofessional and make the first move on him.

"You never know…maybe I did," Bruce responded.

Natasha smiled at him and couldn't say she didn't love that he crossed the room to her and pulled her close, kissing her. She knew they had to watch his heart rate, so she kept things slow and romantic, not needing heated passion even though she admitted that that was also something she eventually needed. In fact Bruce seemed to want to show her the passion that he had for her, deepening the kiss and cupping her behind, keeping her body against his as their tongues fought for dominance.

"Bruce…" Natasha began, biting her lip happily as his lips traveled to her neck.

Bruce shook his head, biting the flesh gently. "I'll back off when he tries to fight me."

"I trust you…"


Clint wanted to talk to Sharon and he wanted to make sure that they actually talked because Sharon had been right before: he wanted to have the relationship talk. There was so much that he was holding back right now and he didn't know what to do because Sharon seemed like the kind of girl that was going to run if he tried to get too close. That was certainly not what he wanted to do—scare her off—in fact he wanted just the opposite.

"So…you think she's hot," Angel said as she stood next to Clint.

Clint looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"You were looking at Sharon's ass—it's okay. People do that a lot," she told him shrugging.

"You really think it's a good idea to bring in these two?" Clint asked, looking over at Andy for a moment too and then looking back at Sharon.

Angel nodded at that. "Yeah…they're really intelligent."

"They're not trained as agents," Clint reminded her.

Angel shrugged at that, which made Clint raise his eyebrows because he'd known Angel for a while and she seemed like she was very protective. Still, it seemed like she was bringing in her two best friends to an organization that fought the bad guys for a living and that was putting them in danger, wasn't it? That was making it so that there was a chance that they were looking at their lives counting down quicker than they should have been.

"Trust me, Clint…they're so much more than they appear," Angel said nodding.

At that point, Clint had no idea about Angel being a mutant because only Nick and Natasha had known and now he was smiling as he set up the candles. There was more to Andy and Sharon than anyone really gave them credit for, but he was sure that he could through to Sharon and let her know that he was trying not to underestimate her. He could see what she could do and he was sure that there was more to her than that, but he really he just wanted to be close to her. Clint wanted Sharon to know that he had her back and that he wasn't taking off.

"Why do I get this feeling that you want something from me?" Sharon asked as she opened up the door.

Clint smiled, having told her to meet him. "I just had an idea."

"I did too," Sharon said as she shut his door behind her, moving her fingers to the buttons on her shirt.

"Share…" Clint said as he swallowed, watching her slowly open up her shirt. "We need to talk…"

"No…we need to celebrate that we won this battle…" Sharon responded as she walked up to him, letting the shirt flutter to her feet. "Now, kiss me…"

Clint didn't have to be told twice—not at all. He reached out to pull her to him, turning them around so he could push her up against the wall, Sharon smiling and reaching out to pull his shirt off over his head, cupping his face and kissing him passionately as his hands went to her pants. If she could distract him this easily with her body, she was going to be able to avoid a whole damn lot that she didn't want to talk about right now and that made her happy.


While Steve had an apartment all to himself, he had to admit that going back to Angel's house was a nice change of scenery. She was a Stark, after all, and she had her father's money just like Tony did—even though it was obvious that because of the company, Tony had more money. Then again, there were things about Angel that Steve still didn't know and he had a feeling that he would have to figure that out before they took their relationship to the next level.

"I didn't realize everything was so high tech…" Steve said gently as he looked around.

Angel smiled a little bit. "Tony helped me build it. I don't have my own Jarvis, but it's nice and I like spending time here. Frank?"

"Yes, Ms. Stark?" the male AI asked her.

"Whatever Mr. Rogers wants, he is entitled to," Angel told him, smiling when he agreed with her.

"I thought you said you didn't have your own Jarvis," Steve said laughing.

Angel smiled. "I don't…I have my own Frank…"

Angel made a face at Tony as he worked away, turning the blueprints every which way and making sure to look them over thoroughly. It wasn't that she didn't trust Tony with this—she did—it was just that ever since he had gotten there, he had been being a right pain in her ass. She loved the help that he was offering, but right now she just wanted to manipulate him to be nicer even though she had made a pact not to do such a thing.

"I know how to use an AI, Tony," Angel told him angrily.

Tony shook his head. "This isn't just any AI, Angel,"

"No AI is just any AI!" Angel replied rolling her eyes. "I'm 21 years old, Tony…I know how to use an AI having grown up with you and Jarvis."

"Point noted, but I'm still teaching you the basics," Tony said with a grin on his face.

Angel went down a hall and Steve watched her, smiling a little when she came back with a men's t-shirt and pair of pajama pants. She wanted him to be able to get out of his outfit and still have something to wear and that made Steve feel pretty good. She knew how to make him feel comfortable even when he was uncomfortable and that was a good part of any relationship.

"Tony stays in the guest room—rarely, but it happens. There are a few clothes in there and I want to take a look at those wounds before we do anything else." Angel told him, blushing a little. "So don't put the shirt on yet…"

Steve blushed a little too and nodded. "I will shower and put the pajama pants on and come back."

"Good idea," Angel said with a smile.

She then grabbed a button up short sleeved pajama shirt and pajama shorts while Steve showered, trying not to picture him naked with water running down him, but she couldn't help it. Shaking the thoughts away, she grabbed the first aid supplies and sat down in the living room, looking up when she heard Steve's footsteps. Even though he had towel dried his hair, it was a little damp and Angel found her mouth going dry at the site of his torso all bare and right there for her to touch all she want.

"Um…I think some ointment and then some gauze will help," Angel managed, swallowing and standing up as Steve nodded and walked over to her. "You're actually healing nicely even though you're human."

Steve smiled and nodded, feeling his mouth go a little dry too as her fingertips touched his skin, testing around the wounds for tenderness. He was trying to focus on telling her where it hurt, but for some reason, all he could think about was how much he'd like to be kissing her right then. It was about the same for Angel, who made eye contact with him, her eyes asking him a question she could really only ask him herself.

"So…you love me?" Angel asked him.

Steve smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah…I love you."

Just like that, their lips were crashing together, arms wrapped around each other…

CHAPTER TWENTY: Truth and Secrets

Steve's touch made Angel's body hum with pleasure letting her fingers trail through his hair as they shared a passionate kiss. He tried to hoist her body up, but as he did he cringed, Angel immediately pulling away, blushing and reaching out to touch the area around his wounds. Angel could tell that he was in a little bit of pain even though the serum made it so that he healed better than normal humans, not to mention he'd been exhausted during shawarma.

"Let's fix you up," she told him, grabbing the medical supplies.

Steve nodded gently, "yeah…of course…"

"The gauze is in my room, I'll be right back," Angel said happily.

"Yeah…"

Angel nodded and went up the stairs, going into her adjoining bathroom and grabbing the gauze, only to come out into her bedroom and see Steve standing there. She was flushed, she knew that, and yet she had a job to do and so before Steve could say anything, she set to tending to his fight wounds, letting her cool breath blow on the alcohol as she made sure it was cleansed and dry, Steve shuddering at how wonderful it felt. Then she got him all patched up and put the supplies away, walking up to him and smiling a little bit.

"So…you're part of the 'Avengers' now," Angel told Steve as his arm reached out and pulled her close to him, smiling up at him as her heart beat faster. "Captain America…"

Steve nodded gently, leaning his face down. "Steve Rogers to you…"

"Oh, so I can't call you 'Captain America'?" Angel teased, her breath catching in her throat as his nose gently ran along hers.

"No…I prefer that you call me 'Steve'…" he said before he kissed her tenderly. "I love you, Angela Stark."

"I love you too, Steve Rogers," Angel told him, smiling giggling a little when his lips touched hers.

Logan Vernon looked at Angel as she sat down with some of the mutant students, smirking and setting a cup on the table. She wanted more than anything to tell him to just give up and go away, but at the same time, she wanted to make sure that she didn't ruin this already fragile friendship—after all, she couldn't ruin this for Andy. Andy and Logan had always been incredibly close and even though Logan reminded Angel of her brother, he'd never really done anything mean to her.

"You have that look on your face," Logan told her.

Angel gave him a look. "And what face might that be?"

"That, 'I just got kissed good and hard face'," Logan said wiggling his eyebrows. "This Captain America must pack a whollop."

"I swear, you and Tony have so much more in common than you even know," Angel told Logan, but she was smiling regardless. "His kisses are pretty fantastic though."

In fact, Angel could get completely lost in Steve's kisses and vice versa. The two let their hands roam a little before Steve moved to push Angel to the bed, nice and slow with a gentle nip to her lips that he had learned from her. Angel was surprised, but she loved it, her breathing changing even more as Steve started to unbutton each button of her pajama top slowly.

"Steve…"

"Angel…"

"I don't want to ruin this…"

"Neither do I…"

"I know we've been kind of running on urges lately, but I really do love you and everything you did today was amazing and I believe in us…I don't want to ruin anything."

Steve nodded and kissed her nose. "I understand…but I'm going to keep kissing you…"

They smiled at each other and Steve trailed his fingertips along her skin, kissing her gently and then deepening it. Angel responded by pulling Steve in close, enjoying the romantic moment with smiles and giggles, both of them enjoying his skin on hers since her shirt was unbuttoned. After a little while though, Angel pulled back and smiled at his tired face.

"What?" Steve asked her.

"You had a big battle today…I just want to kiss you until you're too tired to kiss me anymore," Angel said happily. "I do understand that it's been an exhausting day…"

Steve smiled at her. "You know…I don't think I could ever get tired of kissing you…"


Clint wasn't even a little surprised when Sharon's hands went to his belt, getting his pants off rather easily and rather quickly. She stripped him down until he was naked, him doing the same to her, letting his rough hands handle her bare skin. There was just something about Sharon that was so intoxicating and he couldn't let her go. He had to talk to her about all of this, but she really didn't want him to talk about anything with her because talking never went well with her when things were talked out. Not only that, but she felt like she couldn't trust a single person in her life—at least she couldn't trust anyone aside from Andy and Angel.

"So…we're not talking then?" Clint teased Sharon.

Sharon bit his lip and tugged a little bit. "Right now I just want to be with you, Clint—I'm throwing you a bone."

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

"Exactly."

Without another word, Sharon had pushed Clint down on the bed, climbing on top of him and straddling him with her legs as he had done to her before. She could remember vividly their sparring sessions and the flirting that had happened before she had started to develop feelings and then he wanted to know her past and she had pushed him away. Right now, all that mattered was the man that was in front of her and nothing would ruin this for her.

Soon their lips were pressed together, Sharon fighting for dominance as Clint tried to get the upper hand by touching her in places he'd learned the first time around made her pause a moment. Sharon wasn't having it, however, and moved his hands to her hips as she raked her fingernails along his abdomen, and just enjoyed her perch above him. Unfortunately for Sharon, that didn't last very long because Clint was determined to have some sort of control here.

He had wanted to have a romantic night and talk about things and inquire about where they stood, and Sharon had just come in and started taking off her clothes. Of course it was hard to think when all of his blood was rushing to a completely different part of his body and he knew that he was going to have to gain back some of his 'manhood' here. He was still a man and he certainly wanted to be close to her in this way and he wasn't going to give that up…he guessed they could talk later.

Sharon let out a gasp when Clint turned them over, wrapping her legs around him anyway because either way, sex was happening. She could distract a man as long as she needed to and this was just proving that point because she needed to mask her feelings…she needed to not let them win. She had feelings for Clint, she did, and when he got the angle he needed and pushed in, she stopped thinking so much about it all.

Instead, Sharon focused on the feel of his skin against hers and how it felt for him to move in and out, his lips covering so many different parts of her. He was kissing her neck and her lips, her collarbone and her breasts, taking the time out to revel in every part of her as they moved together, Sharon finding her whole body shudder as she reached her peak. She was trying to bring everything back into focus and at the same time hoped that Clint wouldn't try and talk to her about their relationship.

This was fine.

She let out an involuntary sound of sadness when Clint slipped out, gathering her up in his arms and stroking her hair, which was going to be the death of her. He was trying to use their sex to get closer to her and she just didn't know what to do about it. Clint Barton wanted to know her and there was just so much about her that she just didn't want to tell him about because it was hard enough talking to Angel and Andy about it all.

She certainly wasn't going to just let in a man.

"I'm starting to think that I'm doing this sex thing wrong…" Clint said softly, catching his breath. "You're always so quiet."

Sharon smiled a little bit. "Or you're exhausting me just the right amount."

"Come on Share," Clint said gently. "You can tell me anything—you can trust me."

"You can trust us, honey—this is for the best,"

What are you talking about?" Sharon asked her parents.

Her mother had that look on her face that spelled out that she was unhappy, and her father just looked determined like he normally looked. It was in that moment that Sharon knew that something was terribly wrong, but what the 6 year old didn't know, was that her parents honestly meant what it was that they had said. The moment they had opened their mouths to talk to her and she had let the words sink in, she kind of shook her head over and over again.

"You can't be serious about this," the little girl told her parents. "I don't want to be away from you."

Her mother nodded at that. "Sharon…someone has to take a look at you."

"Someone that knows what they're doing with you," her father said gently.

"William Stryker knows what he's doing," her mother told him something.

"I don't like that man!" Sharon screamed at them, standing up. "You can't make me go with him! You can't! I don't like him!"

Sharon's father got up and went for her, Sharon trying to dodge him, but he was stronger and faster and caught her by her arms. She was struggling and it was breaking her mother's heart, but she just stood in place as her husband got in Sharon's face and tried to lay it all out for her. This wasn't a discussion, this was a decision, and Sharon was going to have to deal with it whether she wanted to deal with it or not.

"You're going, Sharon…now go upstairs and pack," her father said sharply.

As the memories flooded back, Sharon shook her head, getting up and moving to get her clothes before Clint's hand reached out and caught hers. She turned to look at him, pain in her eyes, and Clint released his grip, sitting up as she went to putting her clothes on and shaking her head. Sharon wasn't going to cry in front of him, but she just wasn't going to talk to him about it either just because they'd had sex twice and kissed and what-not…she couldn't let him in.

"Sharon, you can't just walk out, here…let me help you," Clint told her.

Sharon glared at him. "You don't know me, Barton. You have no idea what goes on in my head."

"I'm trying to know, though," Clint reminded her, getting up to pull his pants on too.

"Leave me alone," Sharon told him coldly before leaving the room.


Bruce stroked Natasha's hair gently, leaning in to kiss her with loving affection, wanting more than anything to make her understand where he stood. It wasn't like him to just make a move like this, but everything about Natasha was just special to him and ever since they'd met she'd been there on his side. His Hulk side terrified her still, but he was part of Bruce and Bruce was important to her even though that other side of him scared her.

"I think it's important that we talk about this," Natasha said gently.

Bruce smiled and nodded. "Talking is a good part of any working relationship."

"Yes…and I think we both know that in this relationship there is a part of it that might not work out…every time you get angry…"

"I'm trying to find a better way to control it."

"I know that."

"I've lost a lot of people because of the Hulk,"

"I never said you were losing me because of him…"

Bruce looked into Natasha's eyes after she said that and saw the sincerity behind her words. She wanted more than anything to help him with this and she was going to stand by him regardless of what it was that she was afraid of. There was certainly a chance that he could 'hulk out' and attack her and hurt her and yet she was telling him that he wasn't going to lose her. That was more than anyone had ever done for him and it touched his heart.

"I just think that we have to make sure that we're aware of the situation," Natasha said, trying to explain herself better. "The Hulk is part of you and I would never want you to just get rid of him if you didn't want to because right now, this is who you are. I'm saying we need to find a way to get through it."

Bruce nodded at that. "We are kind of stuck with him."

"He is you, Bruce…just a part of you that you don't want to face," Natasha responded. "The moment you really accept that, the easier it all becomes."

"And you'll be here for me?"

"Every step of the way."

When Natasha promised that and smiled at him, Bruce went in for the kill, pressing his lips to hers and pouring passion into it. Natasha moaned into his mouth and kept him close to her, biting his lips and letting out a gentle sigh when Bruce's lips started to brush across her neck. The nibbling and sucking was making his heart start to race and after a moment he had to pause.

"I can't let this happen…not again…" Bruce said out loud.

He had been trying for so long to really be in control of his Hulk half, but every once in a while he just seemed to lose all of his control…not this time. No, he was trying to stay in an environment that wasn't very stressful and now here he was with Andy and he felt like something was off. Their research had led them to this place and one thing had gone off and Andy looked ready to bolt.

"Just take deep breaths," Andy tried.

Bruce gave her a look as he turned a little green. "Because just calm breathing is going to help!"

"That yelling that you're doing certainly isn't," Andy responded, putting her hands on her hips even though she'd taken a couple of steps back.

"I just…I need a minute…" Bruce explained to her.

He had just given her the out that she needed and she took it, turning and going for the door like any normal, smart person would do. Bruce took a little bit of time to himself and calmed down, fully in control and glad that he was—hating how he had to do this every second of every day and feeling like it was all for nothing. How was he going to get through this when every time he almost slipped up and cost the people around him everything?

"I wish I could take it all back…" Bruce whispered to himself.

To try and continue spending this moment with Natasha, Bruce pulled back and just let his fingertips traipse along her skin. He could see the goosebumps that he was leaving in the wake of the trail, smiling because it seemed the two turned each other on and this was going to be the death of him if he continued, so he started to shake his head a little bit and back away.

"Bruce?" Natasha asked him.

Bruce smiled sadly. "You're getting my heart rate up, Tasha…I need some air."

"I guess this means I can't come with you?" She asked slowly.

"No…it's best I take a walk on my own," Bruce responded, kissing her swiftly before leaving and remembering what Andy had said: take deep breaths.


Heading back to the mansion was the best decision that Andy had ever made…or so she was trying to tell herself. She felt at home in this place because she had such great memories of this place, but really her life had begun when she had started teaching. She and Angel had really taken Sharon under their wing when they had met her and since then, Andy had been doing whatever was necessary to protect and teach the other mutants that showed.

"She looks so scared," Angel said gently, looking through the window of the door.

Andy nodded at that. "She really does. You going to use your powers on her?"

"I would never do that, Andy," Angel told her, giving her a look. "I'm not using my powers just to try and make her calm down about what Stryker did to her."

"He's a monster…she does have every right to be angry," Andy responded, clenching her fists. "I just want her to know that this place can protect her."

"Professor Xavier says she has no one…she's only 9, Andy…she's not that much younger than us," Angel said with a sad look on her face.

Andy nodded and then looked at Angel, who was 12 and tearing up. "Please, don't cry on her when we get in there."

Taking a deep breath, she went into the mansion, smiling at the kids that recognized her and waved in her direction. Logan smiled brightly too, his whole face lighting up when he saw that she was back and he would have her to talk to again because he had really missed her banter with him. So he walked up to her and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling back and looking her in the eye.

"So, how is the God?" Logan asked, winking at her.

Andy pushed on his arm. "Shut-up, Logan."

"I was just wondering—you were looking rather good last time he hammered you…get it? I made a joke."

"The joke wasn't funny."

"You're smiling and blushing."

"It's cold outside and I see Ororo."

Andy wasn't normally a loud person, but all of the sexual tension between her and Thor had been mounting up to this point. A table, some flirty words and suddenly there were clothes flying everywhere and Thor was practically bruising her mouth with his kisses. Andy wasn't sure exactly what had happened to get them here, but she wasn't about to stop it.

Because of her powers, she could withstand quite a lot, so sex with a God wasn't exactly hard for her because he wasn't going to break her. He could be as rough as he wanted and Andy would be able to handle it, and at the moment, nothing could stop them from this point that they had reached. Thor was more endowed than she had originally thought, but she fit in his arms and she certainly didn't want this to stop.

It was actually the best sex that Andy had ever had, and she wondered briefly if she was going to regret it later, but Andy couldn't think anymore…not with what Thor was doing. The table was shaking underneath all of the pounding and she was sure that the people outside the room knew what was happening, but that was too bad. Thor was perfect…but he was a demigod.

"Whatever…you got hammered by a God," Logan told her.

Andy punched him rather hard, flushed because remembering rough sex with the God of Thunder was a highlight of many a down time for her. Logan made a face because her strong punch had hurt and then he smiled and chuckled, going to go and talk to Charles while she went to go to her room. When she got there, she took a deep breath and tried really hard to figure out what she was going to do.

"I need to figure this out," Andy said aloud.


Steve stroked Angel's hair and kissed her forehead before he got off of the bed and went to grab a glass of water. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as he thought about Angel, the smile fading a little bit when he came to the cabinets…which one would hold the cups in it, he wondered. For a moment he just stood there, before he opened up one of them…no cups. Then he opened up another before he took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Mr. AI?" Steve asked aloud.

Frank chimed on. "Frank."

"Yes, Frank…I need a glass for some water." Steve told him slowly.

A cabinet opened up on its own and Steve awkwardly thanked the AI out loud before he got the glass and turned on the water. Then he drank it before he heard a knock on the door followed by three loud rings of the doorbell. He felt awkward opening up Angel's door, but if it was important and he didn't get it, she might be mad at him and the last thing he wanted was the love of his life angry with him.

Steve opened up the door and saw Sharon standing there. "Sharon?"

"Um…I need Angel," Sharon told him, but she couldn't not look at Steve's abs. "I can come back later…"

"No, no," Steve told her, knowing she was upset. "Come in and I'll get her for you."

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: Promises and Losses

Steve wasn't sure what to do after waking up Angel—Sharon had yelled at him for waking her up in the first place and then shut the door behind her. Now he was trying to figure out the high tech house while Sharon and Angel were talking in Angel's room, Sharon seeming rather distraught. He wondered if there was anything to do but wasn't sure what he could do if she wouldn't let him help so he just kind of awkwardly stood around.

"You couldn't expect him to just let it all happen, could you?" Angel asked Sharon, stroking her hair as she held and comforted her.

Sharon nodded though. "Yeah, I could—I think I'm allowed to expect that he's a man! They shouldn't want to talk!"

"The good ones should," Angel responded slowly, shrugging gently. "I firmly believe that Clint is a good man and that's why he actually wants to get to know you."

"I just want to have sex! I don't want to talk about it!" Sharon exclaimed suddenly. "I don't want to tell him about how I got to be where I am! It's none of his damn business!"

"It is if he wants to have a future with you…" Angel offered slowly.

Sharon sniffled, tears in her eyes, wishing that she could try and forget this whole thing, but she just couldn't—trust wasn't easy for her. It had taken her a year to fully trust Angel and Andy even though they had become friends prior to that and Clint couldn't expect her to just let him in after everything that she had been through. Her life had been a mess ever since her parents had found out that she was a mutant and now this was happening and Sharon wanted to run.

She wanted to be far away from here.

"I'm just never talking to him again," Sharon said shaking her head. "He tried to force himself on me with the whole diving into my past and now he's trying to make me talk about things I don't want to talk about. I don't have to put up with it."

Angel took a deep breath. "Sharon, sweetheart, you can't expect him to just understand when he has no idea what is up with you."

"Again, he doesn't need to know," Sharon reiterated, shrugging. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Okay, but at least stay here, okay?" Angel offered. "You can use the guest room."

Sharon shook her head. "No, I saw your half naked, super old super soldier…I'm getting in the way of you consummating whatever it is that is going on here. He's in your home walking around barely clothed and I know how horny you've been lately, so staying is honestly just ruining the moment for you two. I just needed to talk and since he woke you up, I knew I had to stay and talk it out, but I'm not ruining your sex with old guys."

"He's not even that old!" Angel protested. "He's like as old as my brother."

Sharon laughed at that and rolled her eyes because while he might have gotten encased in ice at that age, he was like those old men in nursing homes. Maybe not the mentality, but he was certainly not quite yet adjusted and he looked at everyone like they were incredibly foreign to him. Sure, he was out of time and he looked like he was just in his late thirties or early 40s, but no…he was still a man born in the 40s and that made him old.

"He was on ice for 70 years, Ange," Sharon told her. "He's an old man."

Angel rolled her eyes. "Fine, then he's the hottest old man ever, but seriously…he and I aren't having sex, so just stay."

As Sharon was thinking about it, Steve sat down on the couch and looked at some of the magazines on the coffee table. It seemed like the only ones out for people to choose from had articles about Tony in them and he didn't mind that—he after all wanted to read about his future brother-in-law. Reminding himself about that made Steve think about his conversation with Tony before the Chitauri had showed up and the whole Tesseract portal business had been taken care of.

"Dowry?" Steve asked Tony. "You know I came from World War II, right?"

Tony waved it off. "You're old and you got the reference."

"Right," Steve said and then he took a deep breath. "As Angel's only living relative, I think it's important that I ask you if it's okay to marry her someday. It's only proper."

"What?" Tony asked him, genuinely surprised. "Wow, my 'dowry' comment was right on."

"Stark, this isn't a game," Steve told him.

Steve had been thinking about it all night and he had realized that the thought of marrying Angel made him really happy. He knew they had only known each other for a year and dated less than that, but this was for the distant future, not the immediate one and he wanted to do this the right way. Getting Tony's blessing to marry his sister felt like the right thing to do and besides, Steve wasn't ready to propose just yet…it was just that they were at this place and he wanted to plan ahead—wanted Angel to be part of those plans.

"You really are serious, aren't you?" Tony asked him, looking less snarky than before. "You realize that if you become part of this family, I am your childrens' uncle, right?"

Steve nodded slowly, his eyebrows raised. "That's kind of a given seeing as you're Angel's brother…"

"Just wanted it on the record," Tony said, nodding slowly. "If you propose to my sister and she says 'yes', I'm not going to stop you two. You're a stand up gentlemen and while I don't know you enough to like you, the fact that you two were half naked last night and all over each other means that she likes you. So…sure. Have at it."

"I even picked out a promise ring," Steve said, fishing it out of his pocket. "I went out last night and the guy at the store recognized me when he was closing up and let me look around in exchange for an autograph. I…will she like it?"

Tony looked at the ring and swallowed—he had no idea because he had no idea about what his sister did and didn't like these days. He had been keeping his distance since he had gotten the company and besides the times they bonded when she thought he was dying and had come right away, he hadn't really moved anything around in his schedule for her in years. So he just pretended he was looking over the beautiful band and nodded—why wouldn't she? It was gorgeous and engraved.

"She'll love it, Iceman."

Steve hadn't had time to give Angel the promise ring yet—he wanted to go about this the right way, and wanted to give her a promise ring first to let her know how he felt and what his intentions were without scaring her with a proposal. It was the first thing he would do the next day and he'd give it to her at the right moment because right now Sharon was the biggest priority. He'd ask about what was going on later, but right now she was with Angel, so she was in good hands.

"She's staying in the guest room tonight," Angel informed Steve as she came into the living room. "She needs to be near me, but refuses to give either of us a reason not to share a bed."

Steve blushed a little. "I am lacking a shirt."

"Which is totally okay," Angel assured him, smiling a little bit. "I just worry about her, so I'd like to have her close."

"I understand, you're a good friend," Steve said as he stood up, crossing over to her. "After letting her in I locked back up…may I ask what's wrong?"

Angel sighed a little bit. "Clint's trying to get past the walls around her heart and she won't let him in. Instead she's sexing out her feelings with him and pushing him further and further away."

"Oh…they're…"

"Yeah—well, they were. She rushed out this time when he started asking questions. See…there's this man named William Stryker and he's done some pretty terrible things to mutants like us: torture, experiments, just plain killed us. He's a rotten guy." Angel told Steve, chewing on her bottom lip. "Sharon's parents gave her to Stryker when she was 6 because he told them that he could help her. After they found out what he had done to her, her father was more interested in knowing if it had worked and so Charles Xavier took her in, when she was 9. That's three years of experiments."

Steve was speechless for a moment when he heard about all these things, feeling really bad for Sharon even though he didn't believe in the 'sexing out' her problems. So many terrible things had happened to her at an early age and he was surprised that she even turned out this way, but at the same time, she had people who were always there for her: Andy and Angel. With true friends like those two in her life, Sharon couldn't really turn out to be a terrible person.

"That's why it's hard for her to trust," Steve said slowly, nodding as he understood.

Angel nodded too. "Yeah…the two people that were supposed to love her most and unconditionally, just let it happen. Sharon and Andy became really close because Andy lost her parents when she was about 9 and Charles took her in too—the two pretty much lived at the mansion with the other mutants that were abandoned. I had my parents until I was 15, and then when I was 16 I had S.H.I.E.L.D., but I had lost Tony about the same time that I lost my parents. After they were gone, everything brotherly about Tony was gone and he only showed sympathy when I was hurt. The three of us are all that each other has and I want both of you here tonight. I'll even make breakfast in the morning."

"Don't worry," Steve said, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. "I'm not going anywhere."


Angel stirred that morning, stretching her legs out and feeling Steve's legs there too. For a moment she had forgotten that there was someone else in her bed because she wasn't used to others being there, but she smiled, leaning over and kissing his mouth as he slept. He stirred a little too, but he was asleep, Angel getting up and getting dressed and then heading into the kitchen to make some breakfast for the two people sleeping in her house.

She had a giant smile on her face as she started to make pancakes, one of the dishes that she was practically a god at making. Angel even brewed some coffee, which is what woke Steve up, him getting dressed in the extra set of clothes and coming downstairs. He smiled at Angel as she beamed at him, her trying to get used to seeing Steve in a t-shirt…especially because it was Tony's t-shirt. Still, she set to getting him some breakfast and pouring him some coffee, but he was confused because there were only two place settings at the moment and she was putting some of the batter away.

"What about Sharon?" Steve asked her.

Angel laughed a little bit. "It's before 11am…she's still sleeping. Don't wake her up either, or she'll physically harm you."

"She sleeps that long?" Steve asked with a look on his face as he sat down. "She's been up earlier than this before."

"Not by choice and to be fair, we were in a war situation when you saw her up and about," Angel said laughing. "Try the pancakes though—I worked hard on them."

"They smell delicious,"

"They taste delicious,"

Steve smiled because he had no doubt, taking a bite and smiling because she was right—they were delicious. The two talked and ate and laughed and then as Angel went to clear away the dishes because it was getting towards 10:30 and she wanted things cleaned up for when Sharon came out to eat some breakfast. Steve's hand stopped her though, motioning for her to sit down and then he pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket and handed it to her, getting on one knee.

"Um…Steve…" Angel began, knowing that pose all too well.

Steve shook his head. "Just open it, Angel."

She did, and smiled at the white gold band, a double infinity on it, the bands of silver braided together and interlaced in a circle. Angel knew the significance and she took the ring out of the box and looked it over with tears in her eyes before she looked at Steve and back to the ring. There was an engraving on the inside and she took a breath before she read it out loud.

"A promise of forever," Angel said gently, smiling at him as a tear trickled out.

Steve nodded and reached up to brush the fallen tear away with his thumb. "It's not an engagement ring, but I wanted you to know that my intentions are honorable here. I want to be with you and I want you to know that someday I want to marry you—I even got Tony's approval first."

"You…you asked my brother if it was okay?" Angel asked him. "What Tony says on the subject doesn't matter."

"I couldn't ask your mother or your father, so…it's important to me that I get his blessing." Steve explained, Angel nodding because she understood. "So…will you wear it?"

"Of course," Angel said happily, slipping it onto her finger and smiling because it fit nicely. "I'm still not used to all of this romance."

Steve chuckled when she squealed a little and went to wrap her arms around him, Steve standing up as she crashed her lips into his, both of them holding each other close until Sharon came storming out. She didn't look too happy with them and it was before 11am, so Angel knew that it was the commotion that had dragged her out of the bedroom. She couldn't help it though, because she was just so happy about it and right now she wanted to share her happiness instead of having Sharon stay mad forever.

"IT'S BEFORE ELEVEN IN THE MORNING!" Sharon thundered at them.

Angel nodded at that. "I know, I know, but…look!"

"I just thought it was the perfect moment," Steve told Sharon as Angel went over to her.

"The perfect moment would have been at like noon like a normal person!" Sharon responded, but she had to admit that her eyes lit up a little bit when Angel held up her hand.

"It's a promise ring…" Angel informed her brightly.

"I forgive you," Sharon told Angel as she looked over the promise ring with a small smile, "because I can't really expect you to stay quiet over such a beautiful ring," but then she looked at Steve and frowned. "You, however, could have waited to give this to her, so the squeaking was your fault as it could be prevented. Where are my damn pancakes?"

Angel laughed a little bit. "I'll get you coffee and pancakes right now, Share."

"Good, but don't cry on them," Sharon teased, sitting down at the table as Angel cleared the plates and started cooking her food, leaving Sharon to look at Steve. "So when are you two having sex?"

"Sharon!" Angel chastised, cheeks flushing pink.

"We're waiting for the right time," Steve responded, shifting uncomfortable in his chair.

Sharon laughed and nodded. "Giving her the promise ring? That was the right time. It's like, 'I want to be with you forever, lets bang'."

"Wow, you are still upset about Clint," Angel said, her whole face flushed hot. "Do you want pancakes or not?"

"Yeah," Sharon said, holding her hands up in surrender. "I want pancakes."

She didn't want to admit it out loud, but she still was feeling a little bitter and so when she got the pancakes she was a little happier. She'd make it up to Angel and Steve in a little while, but right now she was going to wash her pain down with pancakes, syrup and coffee and call it good. There was nothing that Sharon wanted more right now than to just focus on the task at hand and forget that Clint Barton even existed.

"I'm going to call Andy," Angel said after kissing Sharon's head and then kissing Steve's lips swiftly.

Sharon smiled a little bit. "Be sure to remind her that I want to see her this weekend—we're going to gamble away our sadness and shoot unsuspecting bushes."

"Will do," Angel laughed as Steve raised his eyebrows. "Remember, Steve: you're marrying into this too."


Andy had woken up that morning feeling pretty good, but at the same time, she felt like something was rather off. It was days like this that Andy felt as though she needed to have Sharon and Angel by her side so that they could face the world together, so to speak, but it was just her and Logan. She had gotten the call from Angel and was incredibly excited to hear about it and to hear that Sharon wanted to go to the casino bar again, but then when she hung up she realized that it was just her and Logan…Logan and her. They were co-teaching a class that day on defending yourself, and Logan smiled when she entered the room, which in itself annoyed her greatly.

"Since when do you beat me to class?" Andy asked him.

Logan shrugged a little bit. "Since I was anticipating you wanting to beat me here. Besides, you should be used to being the second person there—Angel's normally the first."

"Then me, and then Sharon because Sharon hates getting up early," Andy said nodding. "I'm excited for today at least. It's not a Chitauri army, so all is well with the world."

"What about that mutant on the run?" Logan asked her.

It was an alright question to ask her because there were no students there in the room yet, but Andy didn't really want to talk about Anex. Everything about that man had been terrifying and wrong, and she just wanted things to be over right now because she couldn't handle it—couldn't handle the thought of him being out there to hurt others. So she just shrugged and gave Logan that look that he knew so well: 'I don't want to talk about it so drop it right now'.

"I was just wondering," Logan told her defensively. "You know, you're starting to get distant from everyone, Ad. I know you've been here longer than I have—longer than a lot of us—but I need you, okay? Stop being such a gigantic pain in the ass and man up."

Andy smiled a little bit. "I'll try. I think that getting back into the groove of things around here will help me to focus on the here and the now. I don't want to think about Anex or demigods or the Chitauri—I really don't."

"Good, because I need your wits about you," Logan teased.

"Hey, here they come," Andy said with a smile on her face.

Seeing her students always made Andy's whole face light up, and they all mingled a little bit before she and Logan got down to business. They were trying to teach the kids how to use their powers defensively and even better, how to use their powers as a team. Some powers went really well together and they were trying to give them ways to stay alive and still try to remind them that you never used your powers on someone just because you could—that was never even a little bit okay.

"I don't know," came a familiar voice, "sometimes just using your power makes things easier."

Andy swallowed, moving in between Anex and the children. "What do you want."

"I want what I wanted before," Anex shrugged, barreling at her.

"Andy!" Logan cried out.

He ran at Anex, not really remembering about the whole powers thing, Anex smashing into him. Anex started to pummel in Logan's face as Andy got up off of the ground, Logan having pushed her out of the way. Two of the students went for the mutant as well, Andy seeing one of them get thrown up against the wall and the other punched hard in a spot that shouldn't have happened, Andy on Anex's back and trying to cut off the airflow by grabbing his neck tightly.

Instead, Anex stood up and slammed her back into a wall, Andy hearing a crack before she was forced to let go and he picked her up. There was a group congregating around one of the students that didn't seem to be getting up, a couple of the students near Logan. They were sounding a general alarm, but as Anex carried her outside, she knew it was useless…this was his game and it wasn't going to be over until he said it was over.

"I'll never forgive myself if they're dead," she said, feeling her vision go blurry.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: Kidnapping the Others

"What do you mean she's missing?" Sharon asked Clint angrily.

Clint rubbed his temples from the other side of the phone. "I mean, Fury told us that Charles Xavier called and said that—"

"—AND INSTEAD OF BEING OUT LOOKING FOR HER, YOU'RE CALLING ME AND JUST GIVING ME LAME DETAIL AFTER LAME DETAIL OF NOTHING?" Sharon thundered at him.

It was clear to Clint right now that he should have just left Nick to tell Angel and Sharon about the abduction because Sharon didn't want to talk to him. She still fought Angel for the phone, but Angel took it from her, manipulating her a moment to calm her down and send her into the next room. Steve had already started getting things ready to head out, and Angel wanted more than anything to just find Andy and bring her home.

"I'm sorry, look, Charles gave us very little to go on here." Angel said as calmly as she could. "Just tell me where she is."

Clint took a deep breath. "I don't know where she is—none of us do. All we know is that Anex showed up and took her and killed some mutant students in the process."

"He killed students?" Angel asked, a lump rising in her throat.

"THAT BASTARD!" Sharon screamed from the kitchen, grabbing a plate and throwing it on the floor.

Angel jumped at the sound, but wasn't surprised when Sharon came back into the room and held her hand out for the phone. While she didn't want to, touching Sharon before had given Sharon her power and if she wanted something, Sharon would do anything to get it—even use Angel's own power against her. So…she decided to just relinquish the phone even though she also knew that Clint was about to get an earful he didn't really deserve.

"WHEN YOU ACTUALLY HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY, BARTON, YOU CAN CALL BACK!" Sharon screamed at him before hanging up the phone.

She was fuming, Angel reaching over to try to calm her again, but Sharon shot her a look and Angel just retreated her hand back. Right now, Sharon didn't want to be calm and so she and Angel pulled their coats on and went out to Angel's car, climbing into it as Sharon fumed a little bit more and then started to cry. Angel had been about to call Steve to let him know where they were going, when Sharon had just burst out into tears. She was overwhelmed right now, and when Angel unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to pull Sharon in close, Sharon just let her.

Sharon felt like the only people in her life that she had were Andy and Angel and she just wanted to find Andy and bring her home. Add in that she was upset with herself for yelling at Clint, and she was just breaking all over the place and trying to fill in the cracks. She buried herself in Angel's chest and just sobbed, Angel nodding and stroking her hair, kissing Sharon's head and telling her that she would personally make sure that everything was alright.

"How can you promise me that?" Sharon asked her.

Angel shrugged a little bit. "I'm the eternal optimist."

"How could I forget that one?" Sharon asked with a gentle laugh.

"Just keep your head held high and let's get to Charles, okay?" Angel asked her.

Sharon just nodded and dried off her face with her sleeve, both of them riding in silence except for the radio and the occasional singing to the radio, Sharon and Angel practically bolting out of the car when they got to the mansion. So much for their home away from home…it looked so foreign to them with all of the sad faces and the crying students. It was hard to believe that young mutants had been killed and right now even Angel was tearing up.

"No, no…I need you to be the rock right now," Sharon told her.

Angel took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I just—this place feels ominous right now."

"Finally! You're here!" Logan exclaimed, coming over to them. "That bastard came out of nowhere and beat me to a bloody pulp and then carried Andy off!"

"You look just fine," Sharon teased him.

"That's because I got my powers back when he got far enough away," Logan responded, not in the mood to joke around.

Sharon took the hint and she nodded, taking a deep breath and crossing the threshold, her and Angel going straight to see Charles. He had been trying to find Andy using Cerebro, even though he knew that it was pretty fruitless at this point…something was jamming it. He couldn't find her and he was Charles Xavier and he was starting to feel like this was a lost cause, but he would never give up on Adrienne Mett—she was too important to everyone and she was like a daughter to him…her and Sharon.

Charles thought of Angel as a daughter too—the three pretty much never left each others' sides and Angel needed a father figure too—he was just a little bit closer to Sharon and Andy. The two had been living in the mansion since they were little girls and were always hanging out with him and actually it could be said he felt like all of the young mutants' father. Still, it was hurting him so much to know that Andy was hurt somewhere and he didn't know what to do.

"No luck?" Angel asked him, seeing the look on his face. "Alright, I can do more at my house. Logan said that everything started working again when Anex got far enough away?"

Charles nodded at that. "You can activate her tracker…"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Sharon asked with a laugh. "The three of us put those in ages ago…but you won't get a signal unless he goes on the move again."

"He said that he wanted what he wanted before," Logan explained, looking at them. "So maybe she's not the only one he wants."

Angel nodded slowly. "He wants Share and I too."

"Well then we're entirely fucked," Sharon said shaking her head. "You go to your house and I'm going to S.H.I.E.L.D. to get some more help. At least that way, we're far enough away that we stand a chance, right? I can get the system set up to the frequency there so that at least one of us will succeed."

"He can't be in two places at once," Angel mused and sighed. "Alright, but…be careful…"


Sharon got to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and went straight to find Bruce, surprised by what was going on. At first she had offered to go here and Angel said nothing of it because Angel needed to be in her own home, but Clint was here. Clint was here and she didn't want to have anything to do with him at the moment because Sharon felt like she was in over her head here.

Then she was caught off guard by seeing Natasha there with Bruce, giving him a backrub and running her fingers through his hair as he worked away. She had known that something was going on between them because of the kiss he had planted on her before letting the Hulk take over during the battle with the Chitauri. Now they were caught a little off guard because Sharon had shown her face and yet part of her thought it was kind of cute.

"I wasn't expecting to see you," Bruce said, Natasha's fingers slipping out of his hair. "I've been working on a way to get Andy back."

Sharon nodded slowly. "I bet that was all you were doing,"

"Portals," Natasha said to keep the subject business related. "Andy and Bruce were working on them together and he thinks he can get Thor here. As far as we know, your powers don't work on Gods."

"Well…not entirely anyway. Angel can still manipulate, Andy can still handle herself and I can still pick up on innate strengths." Sharon explained. "I just have a feeling that Thor is the most capable of getting to Andy and not having Anex's powers affect him."

"Which is why we need to get him here," Bruce admitted nodding. "I don't want to lose Andy."

Natasha smiled at him and rustled his hair. "You won't."

Sharon smiled at that because someone other than her and Angel had Andy's best interests at heart, and yet…and yet that made her wonder. What was the nature of Andy's and Bruce's relationship and how long had they known each other? Maybe it wasn't something she should ask there with Natasha, and anyway, what mattered right now was making sure that Andy got home safe and sound and if Bruce could help her to do that then so be it. Sharon could ask about his and Andy's relationship later on when they got out of this.

"How close are you to getting a portal open?" Sharon asked him.

Bruce sighed a little bit. "It's going to take a little more time—I need to generate enough power and contain the gamma rays."

"Good thing you're here then, Bruce," Sharon said, patting his shoulder. "I just need to set up one more thing with you…"

Sharon then set in to explaining about the trackers that she, Andy and Angel had gotten years ago as a safety precaution. Bruce got everything set up to monitor the activity should Anex come for Sharon and Angel next, so he could pinpoint the location and send Thor after them. See, it was important for the three to have ways of finding each other because they were such powerful mutants and bad things had happened to them in past…and now it was time for action.

"I'm going to go and stock up on some weapons and you call me when you get the portal open." Sharon explained with a smile. "I want to be prepared."

Bruce smiled a little bit. "Just make sure not to have guns."

"Of course not—they won't work with him," Sharon reminded him with a chuckle.

They both nodded at each other and Sharon headed straight into the armory, not really thinking about running into Clint. She was too worried about having weapons to fight off Anex with, that when she turned and saw Clint watching her, she screamed and then suddenly it was all anger. Everything about her features was pissed off and Clint knew it, but he was standing his ground because he was concerned about her.

"I kind of feel like you're stalking me," Sharon said bitterly.

Clint shook his head. "No, just checking in with you. I knew it the second you stepped onto the base, what with the security cameras all over the place and what not. I figured you wouldn't be the one to come here…"

"Trust me, the original plan wasn't going to be me, but Angel has things to do at her house, so this is my job," Sharon responded with a shrug. "Can I help you with something, or are you just here to bother me?"

"I'm here to try and help," Clint told her, visibly hurt by her words. "Even after everything, you still don't trust me?"

"The only people that I trust are Angel and Andy and one of them is currently down for the count and I need to rescue her. Take your pity party to someone who cares about it." Sharon said angrily.

She knew that he didn't deserve it, but she was trying to push him away as much as possible because it was easier for her. It was easier for her not to feel a damn thing and right now she felt so much for him and it scared her…it scared her that she honestly didn't have a reason not to trust her. Right now, though, she wanted to keep the focus on Andy and if that meant pushing Clint away, then fine. She just felt like such a terrible person because he looked so hurt and all she wanted to do was be kissing him and apologizing, but she stood her ground.

"Who hurt you so bad that you can't let anyone in?" Clint asked her suddenly.

Sharon glared and pushed past him out of the room. "None of your damn business."

"Yes, it is, because I love you!" Clint yelled at her, reaching out to grab her arm.

Her first instinct was to wrench her arm out of his grasp, but even as she did so, she felt tears well up in her eyes and she shook her head. No…he couldn't mean that. They'd known each other maybe six months now and that just wasn't enough time for him to have these kinds of feelings. Besides, Sharon had always felt like she couldn't give anyone any kind of future and now was certainly no different even if it was Clint Barton…even if she felt the most comfortable with him.

"No, you don't," Sharon said slowly, not looking at him, continuing on her way.

She started to cry as she neared the door off the base, not even registering the alarms going off until she was punched hard in the face. Clint had her emotions raging around inside of her and when she hit the floor hard, she looked up and saw a familiar face: Anex. Suddenly she felt like a damsel—more so than she had ever felt before—the strong, tall man hitting her hard with a pipe he had with her, Sharon breathing in the ground. Then, just like that, he slung her over his shoulder and made off with her.

Two down, one to go.


"So you've got the location?" Steve asked Angel, running his fingers through her hair.

Angel nodded, closing her eyes at the feel of it. "Yeah, and him not being here means that he's gone after Sharon first. In fact…look at that."

"Fury?"

"Clint…"

Angel quickly flipped open her phone and answered it, her heart racing because she really needed to know if Sharon was alright. She couldn't handle it if she had just effectively lost the two most important in her life and her heart sank when Clint told her that Anex had swooped in. His powers made it so that he disabled all of the electronic equipment just showing up, and some blood in the hall had been identified as Sharon's.

"No," Angel made out, her knees buckling.

As she sunk towards the floor, Steve caught her, sitting on the floor with her and knowing that the news was bad and kissing her head. So, he took a deep breath as Angel closed her eyes, his heart sinking as he watched her start to cry right then and there, shaking her head. Just knowing that Sharon was in trouble and bleeding was making her start to break down and now, more than ever, she needed to be strong.

"I'm texting you the coordinates and sending Cap," Angel said suddenly, standing up.

Steve shook his head. "No…I can't leave you here. He's coming for you next."

"I don't care!" Angel yelled at him. "More than ever, Sharon and Andy need me, okay? I can't let them down! You have the coordinates and if he gets me, you know where you need to go!"

"Come on, Angel…I can't lose you, okay?" Steve said, cupping her face in his hands and looking into her eyes. "Tell me you know that."

Clint could hear the entire conversation from his end of the phone and he couldn't help but smile a little and yet feel a bit pained. He wished that he could be as forward with Steve about it and not get yelled at, but Sharon had a past she didn't want to talk about and he knew that that was what was making her so hostile. They had gotten closer since they had slept together and it was scaring her so bad that she was pushing him away…but he didn't want to back off, he wanted to fight for her.

"I know…" Angel said softly, Steve kissing her tenderly.

Clint spoke up. "Sharon and I had a fight before she took off. This is probably all my fault."

Angel pulled back from kissing Steve and sent him an 'I'm sorry' look before she turned her full attention to Clint and sighed a little bit. She knew that Sharon might get mad at her later, but in the long run this was for Clint's own good and Angel thought that he needed to know. So, she took a seat as Steve gathered up some non-mechanical weapons and got them ready for Anex to show his face.

"When Sharon was little…okay, let's back up. Do you know about William Stryker?" Angel asked Clint.

Clint nodded slowly. "Yeah…when this whole thing was going down, Steve and I did a bit of research. He's that guy that says he can cure mutants."

"Yeah, if by 'cure' you mean 'torture' and 'experiment' on." Angel scoffed shaking her head. "He's a really terrible man and Sharon's parents gave her up to him. She was with him for three years Clint…ever since then it's been hard for her to let men in—she just doesn't trust them. It took Andy and I a long time to get this close to Sharon because her parents betrayed her. They are the two people that are supposed to love her unconditionally and they abandoned her."

Clint swallowed. "Did they find out what happened?"

"All they knew was that experiments happened and then just like that it was swept under the rug," Angel explained, tearing up. "Her dad asked her if the tests had worked and she just fled. She ran as far away as she could and then Logan showed up and brought her in for Charles. That's where Andy and I came in, because Charles thought we would be the best to take care of her. It's hard for her, Clint. Besides us and Charles, Sharon's always felt wrong. That's the only reason she's pushing you away because I know that she's crazy about you…she's just been hurting for a really long time."

"I know what it's like to not trust your parents," Clint found himself telling Angel. "My dad abused my older brother and me cause he was a right alcoholic and my mother didn't do a thing about it. I didn't know it was this bad though…tortured for three years?"

"I'm sorry your dad hurt you, Clint, and yeah…tortured for three…hello?" Angel asked slowly.

Suddenly the lights had gone out and all of the electronic equipment had stopped working. She and Steve were up and ready for anything, grabbing what they could and heading toward the bottom floor when they smelled the smoke. Angel couldn't really wrap her head around it at first, but when Anex came out of nowhere and started to hurt Steve, who was fighting back rather valiantly, Angel understood…HE WAS BURNING DOWN HER HOUSE!

"You asshole!" Angel cried, jumping on his back.

She made the same mistake that Andy had though, crying out for Steve as Anex grabbed her and threw her on the ground. Angel let out a cry as she felt her shoulder crack a little bit, Anex picking her up and slinging her over her shoulder as she squirmed. He was smiling a little bit to himself because this was fun for him—he knew how emotional Angel was and to see her house built with her and her brother burn down with her boyfriend in it…had to hurt.

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT HIM!" Angel screamed, beating on him until he grabbed her hand and tried to crush it, Angel crying out and crying a little. "Just let him go…"

Anex shook his head and stuck her with a needle, Angel passing out as Anex slung her into the back of his truck and got in to drive away. He had a smile on his face as Steve stirred and frantically looked around for her, the house on fire. The fire fighters were on their way and they still had Andy's signature for now, so he called up Clint as he went upstairs, the flames getting bigger and bigger.

"Her house is on fire? Captain, you have to get out of there!" Clint told her. "We're sending people to get them, we are!"

Steve nodded. "I know…but right now I need to grab a bear…"

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: Mysteries Behind Torture

Andy was freaking out when she saw that the three of them were in the same place now, Anex just grinning as the three were now pretty much awake, strapped down and powerless away from each other. Sharon had been just as worried when Angel had tried to struggle against her restraints, but she had a feeling that this was just the beginning of something painful and terrible and she didn't like this. She didn't like that this was feeling so damn familiar to her.

"You can struggle all you want, dear…" Stryker told her gently, reaching out to stroke her hair. "You're still going to do exactly what I want. See, I've hand selected these abominations myself…"

He had Sharon strapped down to a chair and now he was making her absorb power after power through touch, wanting to see what it was that she could really do. While he should have been afraid of what it was that she could do, he knew that he had a secret weapon on his side that he wouldn't have been able to live without…the only mutant that he knew of at the moment that was useful other than his son. What William Stryker believed was that mutants should be eradicated…but it was so much more fun trying to 'fix' them, and watching them suffer.

"Don't touch me!" Sharon yelled at him, trying to wiggle out of his touch.

She was just a little girl and the restraints were digging into her wrists, making tears come to her eyes because this place was horrible. It smelled funny, Stryker was mean, and every day was a new form of torture meant to make her 'better' when all it was really doing was breaking her spirit. Sharon just wanted to go home and tell her parents what they had sent her into and then watch as they felt so bad about it and took her back home.

"That's mistake number one," Stryker responded, back handing her hard in the face. "You will learn to respect your elders as well."

Sharon tried to move against her restraints as Andy took a deep breath, eyeing the fire poker that Anex was playing with and swallowing when he poked it into the fire and then came over to her. He knew full well that she was supposed to be the strongest one, but without her powers, she was going to fold like a cheap house of cards and that was what he wanted. He just wanted to play with his prey and hear them scream and beg for mercy.

Nothing was more fun for him than that.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Angel screamed at him.

He smiled at her and touched the poker to Andy's skin, Andy hissing. "You mean like this?"

She tried to hold it in, but as he deliberately trailed the poker down her arm and drew blood, Andy cried out and shook her head. Andy wasn't used to feeling pain, so the tears that came to her eyes were genuine, making Angel tear up just having to watch it. Sharon felt panic rise up in her when Anex smiled that toothy smile and then went to grab a knife instead, coming over to Sharon and tracing it gently along her abdomen before plunging it right on in.

"NO!" Angel screamed, Sharon gasping and looking Anex in the Anex.

Anex twisted the knife a little bit, Sharon feeling it tear her insides. "Stryker says 'hi'…"


Ever since arriving back in Asgard, Loki had been having a Hell of a time trying to redeem himself again because one thing was for certain: he didn't want to have to be restrained forever. He had things to answer to in Asgard and he knew that, but it seemed to him that Odin was being rather lenient because he still considered Loki his son…Loki didn't care. Once upon a time he had, but right now all he wanted was his power back and that was what he was striving for.

Being on trial in Asgard was painful and he was trying to be as cunning as possible, hoping that Odin would show him some favor. He hadn't expected Odin to be so loving and wanting to forgive, and so Loki had struck up a plan in his head: act remorseful and go through whatever he needed to, to look like he had turned over a new leaf. Only then, could he then find a way back to Earth and conquer it once and for all…he had a new plan.

"He is the God of Mishief—it is all an act," Loki heard a voice say.

Odin shook his head. "I believe that there is good in him. He was raised as an Asgardian god and he will be treated as such."

"You are letting your emotions cloud your judgment, Odin," the voice continued.

"Are you questioning me?"

"I am questioning your emotions."

Loki took a deep breath from his holding cell and tried to figure out what exactly it was that he wanted to say and do next because it was true: he was the God of Mischief. In order to make this convincing, he was going to have to pull out all of the stops and he was honestly alright with that because it would get him to his ultimate goal. As long as he found a way back to Earth to rule it once and for all and prove his power, Loki would do whatever it took.

"And where is Thor in all of this?" The voice asked Odin, capturing Loki's attention once again.

Odin took a deep breath. "Another portal opened and Earth summoned him back to save it."


Hearing that Anex had been working for Stryker didn't entirely surprise them…no, he had to have a failsafe of some sort to protect him in case a mutant got away. It would explain why Charles had only found the one opening when Logan ending up saving Sharon all those years ago and it explained why he was after them—Sharon had been the one to get away. Now they were stuck here in the middle of nowhere being carved into and treated like nothing.

"You won't get away with this," Angel told him firmly as he started to carve shapes into Sharon's arms.

Anex laughed loudly. "You mean because of your trackers?"

"Exactly," Angel responded.

"I already took care of that," Anex said nonchalantly, shrugging. "You three are all mine…"

"I, actually, don't belong to anyone," Sharon told him boldly.

She was met with a deep cut into her arm, watching as the metallic liquid spilled everywhere, feeling nothing but a sharp, stinging pain all over her arms. He was carving her up like she was some sort of art project and she hated it…hated that this was simply torture for pleasure because it was obvious he didn't work for Stryker right now. No, Stryker enjoyed exploiting powers, so this was simply Anex wanting to have a little bit of fun.

"Why are you just hurting them?" Angel asked, watching Anex move from a bleeding Sharon to rip Andy's shirt and start to carve into her abdomen with the hot poker. "You have three of us! HEY! I AM TALKING TO YOU!"

Anex chuckled and nodded. "Yeah…playing with them is more fun when you have to watch. You're helpless to save them and that's just it—you can't save them. That's all you want to do…that's all you've ever wanted to do is help them…protect them…save them. Too bad. They're going to die in front of you and all you get to do IS WATCH IT HAPPEN!"

When he thundered like that, his whole voice shook the whole place and Angel felt the tears coming out as Andy wailed out in pain again, feeling and smelling her skin burn as Anex carved various shapes into her flesh. He was enjoying how they writhed under his control—how they seemed to bleed just for him—and then…then he would get to kill them. First he had to carve them up, but then he'd take their lives once they started to beg for him to stop.

"I remember when I used to adapt to this kind of thing…" Andy said gently, Sharon and Angel both looking at her.

"What?" Sharon asked her.

Angel swallowed gently. "You…adapt?"

Andy hadn't had a walk in the park kind of life even though she remembered her parents being as doting as ever. She lost her mother to disease and then eight months after starting school with Charles, her father died and so it was just her…just her and Angel until Sharon showed up and then it was her and Sharon when Angel was off with Tony for holidays and such. There were times, though, that Andy was by herself trying to test her own limits.

"This is dangerous," Alex Summers aka Havoc told her.

He was a year older than her and while he thought that she was being an idiot, she was too cute for him to not do what she wanted. She had been testing out her powers while he sat back and contained his and he didn't want to hurt her—he didn't want to do this. There were very few people that knew about her powers, but why not this cute guy she would totally date should he ask? Maybe it was the need to feel badass, whereas with Sharon and Angel she already felt good about herself…just not with men.

"I want you to hit me with your best shot…do it…" Andy told him.

Alex nodded slowly. "Right…yeah…"

At first when his blast hit her, Andy felt like her skin was on fire, but then something happened as the pain subsided…she adapted. So, she had Alex try it a few more times before he could use his power on her and it didn't affect her…not at all. He was impressed and he was oddly turned on and the 16 year-old in front of him just beamed and jumped on him, showering his face with kisses.

"I think we can safely say that I could kick your ass…" Andy warned him before kissing him deeply.

Andy just nodded at them and then squeezed her mouth shut as he stuck the poker in the fire and then applied it to her skin, Andy feeling the tears trickle out as a scream came out of her mouth. She had never felt this weak in her life and she hated it…she hated it so much. Here they were, helpless, and there was no one coming to their rescue. This was it for them and for a moment Andy wanted to ask him to end it, but she never would…but then he turned to Angel with that demonic smile on his face…

"What are you doing?" Andy asked him hurriedly, feeling blood in her mouth.

Anex smirked a little bit. "I'm going to see how much the brunette can take…"


Tracking down the tracker hadn't been difficult—not at all. The problem was, Anex knew what they had done and moved the girls before they could be rescued. Clint and Steve had insisted on coming along, Bruce and Thor there as well. Tony had wanted to come but his power was in his suit, and Anex made it so that his suit didn't work, so he had to sit this one out.

Not being able to save his sister was eating away at him and he suddenly felt like he should have been trying all these years to make an effort. She had always been there for him when he needed her most and he hadn't always done the same for her…and now she was missing. She was probably being tortured horrifically and he wasn't going to be able to save her because he wasn't really a fighter.

He hid behind his suit and his money and his quips and now when it really mattered, he had nothing to offer and it was making him sick to his stomach. He didn't know what to do or where to go, but he was working comms at the moment to tell them where to go next. There were other ways of tracking them down now and it was about time that he put his genius to the test on something like this. Besides, Angel's life was in the balance here and he would never forgive himself if she died.

"I'm looking for an area of blackout…" Tony explained to them as they waited for orders.

Thor had become incredibly restless because he cared about Andy more than he had ever let on…and no one knew about it. They hadn't been really keeping it a secret, it was simply that the two of them had struck something up and while a lot of people at her research center knew about her screwing a God, her friends didn't…the Avengers didn't. In fact, there were a lot of things that no one knew about Andy that they were going to find out, and soon.

"It is imperative that I find Adrienne," Thor said as calmly as he could. "She and her friends are essential to our wellbeing."

Clint nodded at that. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Big Guy."

"I wasn't aware you and Andy were so close," Bruce said slowly, noticing the demigod's agitation. "Seems to me like this is much more personal to all of us than we'd ever let on, eh?"

"Nothing about this is impersonal," Steve agreed with a nod. "They all mean something to us and it's important that we not waste time and that we find them. We have no idea what is happening to them."

"Torture," Tony said slowly. "The Logan character sent over Anex's MO. If we don't find them soon…"

Thor nodded at that. "Pinpoint a location."

"I'm working on it," Tony said irritably.


Angel's heart was pounding away in her chest as she saw Anex get ready to hurt her…get ready to hurt her bad. He had already emotionally crippled her at this point, taunting them and carving into her friends, who were cringing and bleeding in front of her. Now it was her turn to feel the pain and she realized that she wasn't like Sharon and Andy—not by a long shot. She could feel pain and nothing this terrible had ever happened to her before…she'd led a pretty apple pie life compared to the other two.

"I think this money maker face of yours should go first…or maybe something a little closer to home…" Anex said as he trailed the knife along her slowly before stabbing her in the abdomen. "Maybe do a little carving and prevent future mutants."

Angel couldn't help but scream as the knife tore through her skin, Andy and Sharon trying to struggle, but it hurt too much. Not to mention Sharon had been stabbed twice now and she was losing a lot of blood and fast…she was pretty sure she was going to go first, all because this monster had worked for the one man that had always had it out for her in the first place. Now she was helpless to do anything and her blood was all over the place.

"Why are you doing this?" Angel asked him, shaking her head as the tears spilled out and splashed onto her legs.

Anex smiled and started to carve into her legs so that the salty tears would sting as they fell, Angel not stopping with the sounds of pain because this was honestly the worst thing that had ever happened to her. While she and Tony fought a lot, they had their moments and yet…no, she had been through worse emotionally—Tony had almost died on her twice now. She couldn't replace Andy or Sharon or Tony and right now she had to stay strong and see him again…she had to…

"You are a colossal dick!" Angel yelled at him, tears in her eyes. "In all of this Pepper had to call me?"

Tony turned to see his little sister and sighed as she gasped at the arch reactor in his chest, rushing to him and wrapping her arms around him. He had never been as close to Angel as he had wanted to over the last few years, but right now nothing felt better than having her in his arms, crying about what would have happened had she lost him. This whole kidnapping had her on edge and he got back and Tony had made Pepper tell her…he hadn't expected this.

"I'm going to be fine, V…I promise…" Tony told her.

"You can't promise me something like that!" Angel yelled, hitting his arm. "I almost lost you! Do you know how scary that is?"

Tony nodded and kissed her forehead. "I can't lose you either. I just thought that after all this time you thought I was a colossal dick…"

"You are, but I still love you," Angel responded, smiling a little bit. "I'm staying. I'm moving back in until I know for certain you can be on your own."

"I'm not on my own, V! I have Pepper here and Jarvis!" Tony protested, but he knew her mind was made up and it didn't do any good to argue with her…

Angel hung her head and tried to muffle her screams as Anex continued to tear into her flesh, carving what he wanted and smiling as the tears kept coming. She was trying to hold back, but the pain was horrible and the stinging of her tears splashing on her open wounds just added to it. Still, the three girls were determined as well as broken and then Anex said something to her she hadn't been expecting. This was so much bigger than just Stryker's right hand mutant going AWOL.

"That agency of yours? Ask them about the contingency plan…" Anex told her.


Loki was desperately trying to figure out how to make others see that he was trying to turn over a new leaf because it seemed like Odin was the easiest to trick. It was only because of the fatherly love, but he wished that this would be easier for him because he hated being here…hated pretending he was good. He actually thoroughly enjoyed doing terrible things and he wanted to get back to Earth and see what he could do for leverage. After all, if he didn't have leverage next time, he was just going to end up here and it would be all the worse for him because he would have disobeyed twice.

"I have been doing every good deed imaginable here, I have repented," Loki explained to the circle of Asgardian gods that were carrying out his sentence. "I just want to help my brother."

Odin took a deep breath. "You still have a long way to go to proving your loyalty to us again. What you did cannot simply be overlooked."

"I am not asking you to overlook it, Father," Loki said, adding in 'father' for good measure. "I am asking you to give me a chance to prove to you that I have changed. Let me fight alongside my brother."

"We have no reason to trust you." Odin told him firmly.

"I don't exactly have any army this time, now do I?"

"You might have other ways."

"The Avengers would simply put me away should I misbehave."

The other gods seemed to nod a little and talked in hushed tones about that point, knowing that without any backing from anyone else, Loki couldn't stand up on his own. It was a chance to try and redeem one of their own and for a moment everyone seemed to be in agreement that Loki try…but was it a good idea? Had the God of Mischief really changed now that he had a family and home waiting for him every time he left?

"You have one chance, Loki…one…" Odin warned him.

Loki smiled and bowed. "Thank you, Father."


Battered.

Broken.

Sharon, Andy and Angel were feeling like things were bad and Sharon was the first to break—there were too many flashes of Stryker running through her mind and she was scared and in pain. She was finding it hard to stay conscious and she knew that that was a bad sign…especially when she was feeling a little cold too and she'd lost so much blood. She couldn't take anymore and if she was going to die, she wanted to die now…there was too much pain in her past and her present and she was done.

"I should have told Clint I loved him too," she said softly, starting to cry. "He told me he loved me and I just walked away."

Angel and Andy looked at her, Angel whimpering because it was currently her turn again even though Anex smiled at that. He had wanted them to start to divulge information to him and this was even better than he could have anticipated. After this—after they were dead—he had more people to go after for his own amusement. So he turned to look at Sharon as he carved a bit more into Angel and then just nodded at her like he wanted her to continue. Her eyes weren't even on him, they were on the floor and she just kept crying.

"Please…just make the pain stop," Sharon said as she cried. "I don't want to feel this way anymore…"

Angel shook her head. "Sharon, listen to me—we'll get rescued, we will! You'll see Clint again!"

"SHUT IT!" Anex yelled, backhanding her face hard and then stabbing her shoulder. "LET HER TALK!"

"I'm done…" Sharon told him, shaking her head. "I'm an abomination and I just want to be done…"

Only part of her felt that way. Mostly she wanted him to stop torturing Angel like this because she hadn't withstood this kind of pain before and yet part of her was finished. She didn't like living with everything that she had to live with and she didn't want to feel this kind of pain again…never again. Emotional, physical—Sharon just wanted it all to be over so that she could finally be at peace.

"You are not an abomination!" Andy told her, shaking her head. "You'll get to tell Clint and I'll get to…I slept with this guy that it's never going to work with…not in a million years. No one would want that."

Sharon glanced at her. "Tony?"

"Ew…did you get yourself checked out?" Angel asked, screaming when Anex stabbed her again.

"Why does everyone keep asking me if it was Tony?" Andy asked, shaking her head. "It's Thor…Thor, who is immortal."

"My second guess?" Sharon asked, smiling a little bit. "Have you two…?"

"Best, sex ever…" Andy reported.

Anex growled because they were getting off topic, but they all noticed the look on his face as it registered: Thor the God of Thunder. He had been torturing a demigod's girlfriend and he was about to get his face beaten in—literally. In fact as he went to stab Andy for even starting this conversation, the doors flew open and a hammer hit him hard in the body, sending him through two walls. The girls smiled a little when they looked up and saw Thor, but they were weak.

Thor took a moment to survey the scene as Steve, Clint and Bruce arriving too, looking things over as Anex got up slowly. Bruce took one look at all of the blood and at the state of the girls and he got angry—he got so incredibly angry. He turned into the Hulk right then and there and went barreling after Anex with a roar, Steve hurrying to Angel as Clint hurried to Sharon and Thor looked Andy over, all of them getting them unrestrained.

"Angel…no, no, no, no," Steve said in a panic, moving to pick her up.

Angel squeaked loudly. "It hurts everywhere!"

"I know, baby, I know," Steve responded, picking her up anyway as she bit her lip to muffle her cries of pain, knowing she couldn't walk even if she tried. "I've got you—God, I promise."

"What did that fucker do to you?" Clint asked, glancing over to see Bruce giving Anex quite the brutal beating. "What was this even for? What did it accomplish?"

"He works for Stryker," Andy responded, shaking her head. "That and he was wearing a strange symbol."

Thor nodded gently. "An Asgardian symbol."

"Loki? He did show before the Tesseract business," Andy tried, yelping as Thor touched one of her arms. "I'm not…I'm not used to this."

Thor nodded and went to where Bruce and Anex were, grabbing Mjolnir and beating the mutant in the head with it…and that was it. In fact the moment that Anex was dead, Andy, Sharon and Angel felt their powers slowly return and Andy nodded gently as she could feel her wounds start to heal and the pain start to lessen. She knew that Sharon would be able to absorb the power for now, even though it was getting harder and harder for Sharon to do that…that was just part of Andy adapting to it. Still, she was giving it, so she touched her Sharon thankful for the regeneration even though it was slow going for both of them because they were so weak, but Angel was a different story.

"I can't…I can't feel my right leg…" Angel said slowly, trying to manipulate it so she could heal herself, but she didn't have enough strength or focus. "Cap…I'm getting your outfit all bloody."

Steve smiled a little. "I can get a new outfit…I can't get a new you. Stark? We have them."

"Good, good…bring them in." Tony instructed.

"They're going to the hospital first," Clint said, shaking his head. "We're not taking any chances."

Angel nodded slowly, but she wasn't feeling so good. "Can the room just stop…spinning…"

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: The Big Twist

Andy was recovering the quickest because she adapted rather nicely, but the three of them had had surgery…and everyone was worried about Angel. It seemed that during the torture, Anex had put this little piece of metal into all of them that was slowing down their powers returning—a metal none of them had ever seen, so Bruce was looking into it right now. Once the metal had been removed, Andy and Sharon had been making speedy recoveries, now just waiting for Angel to wake up.

The doctors were fairly certain they fixed her not being able to feel her right leg they just had to wait until she woke up to check it all out and run their other tests. Besides, when she was awake, she could heal herself and so everyone was just waiting for that to happen. They were in a hospital with other mutants and it was important right now that she get the space she needed to recover…so the others were being doted on as well.

Sharon especially.

She and Clint hadn't talked about what he had said, but Sharon knew at this point that she felt the same way, which was why she was acting so crazy. Everything about him was amazing and she knew that she could trust him, it just scared her and after all of this is just scared her even more. She didn't think that she could give him everything that he wanted and that hurt her and she didn't want him to sit around waiting for her when she might always feel this way.

Still, Clint was beside himself with emotions because he had been freaking out ever since he had told Sharon that he loved her. Everything had just happened so fast and yet he wasn't going to take it back because that was how he felt and he was just falling deeper and deeper in love with her. He couldn't even imagine life without her and he hoped he never had to find that out.

I can't believe I just said that. Clint thought to himself. I can't believe she just dismissed it and ran off. Actually…that I can believe.

He knew that he had to hurry to her and make everything better, but how could he? Sharon had made it very clear to him that she thought he was crazy and had gotten as far away from her as possible. Still, he wanted to know her and he wanted her to let him in and every fiber of his being was telling him to fight for her right now…he had to.

"Sharon!" Clint called out finally, going down the hallway.

He hadn't gotten very far before he noticed the alarms and then the giant power outage, hurrying toward the exit. Clint didn't know what he could do to the powerful mutant, but he knew two things: he had to try and save Sharon in the process. So he was off like a bullet, finding nothing but a flung open door and some blood on the floor. His heart starting racing and panic set in as he pulled out his phone but it was no use…he had to wait to use it. So he took off running on foot, towards the street because he couldn't call until Anex got far enough away.

"SHARON!" Clint screamed into the open air as tears stung his eyes. "SHARON!"

He couldn't lose her, he just couldn't…not when he loved her this damn much.

Even though he felt the same way, he wasn't about to try and bring it up again, especially when Sharon was actually being cordial with him right now. She had been in a funk with everything, and yet he had noticed a change about her when he had saved her, and felt his arms cling around his neck even though she was trying to make it seem like she only cared he was there to save her. They could talk about it after everyone knew that Angel was going to be alright, because right now that was the top priority.

"How is he?" Sharon asked Clint, coming up to stand next to him.

Their fingers were dangerously close, Clint letting his brush against hers, both of them feeling a shiver run through them at the much needed contact. She was inquiring about Steve, who had been pacing outside in the waiting room for ages now. He had gotten his uniform off in the time that she had been in surgery, Tony practically forcing him to be cleaned up for when he saw her again and Steve couldn't help but listen. Tony had taken control since Angel got there and everyone was letting him do it—she was his sister after all.

"He's holding up as well as can be expected…the woman he loves is still unconscious after being tortured," Clint responded, glancing at Sharon as he said 'woman he loves'.

Sharon caught the glance out of the corner of her eye and blushed a little bit. "She'll pull through—she always does. Besides, when she's conscious, she can just heal herself and everyone can stop worrying so much…we're all fine."

That was a lie—they weren't fine…not a single one of them. Sharon and Andy were only being optimistic because Angel hadn't woken up yet, but they hadn't slept well the night before at all. They couldn't stop thinking about what happened and wondering what to ask Nick and how to find Stryker and they didn't want to talk about it. All they wanted was to have Angel back and right now even that didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon…they were broken.

Anex had done things to them they didn't want to tell anyone about it and it was going to haunt them forever. They were just worried that Angel was going to be the most broken because out of the three of them, her constitution for this kind of thing was the weakest. While Sharon had been tortured before, it wasn't something that you just got over and Andy had been through some pretty traumatic things as well that she just buried deep down. Angel…Angel had lived like a princess compared to the two of them and the three were protective of each other.

"Nothing about what happened is fine," Clint told Sharon.

Sharon shrugged and pulled her hand away—it was good while it lasted. "Drop it…please…"

The tone in her voice was pained and Clint just nodded because it was one more thing that she didn't want to talk about. He could understand that and yet he felt like it was his job to let her know that he was there for her all the time and that she could always lean on him if she wanted or needed to. So, the words came out of his mouth again because he couldn't stop them from coming out when he meant them so sincerely.

"I love you, Sharon…" Clint told her, reaching to turn her to face him. "I am here when you want to talk to me, but I can't force you to tell me anything. You are important to me and I want to help you, but I can't when you keep pushing me away. I meant it, Sharon…I meant every syllable. I…love…you…"

Before Sharon could answer, Clint pulled her in close and planted a kiss to her mouth, kissing her deep and slow, Sharon responding with it because she loved him too. She honestly did. It was just so hard for her to say it, so when Clint poured himself into her, she poured herself into him too before she pulled back and looked him in the eye. She cupped his face and kissed him gently before she took a step back and shrugged her shoulders.

"You deserve better than me…" Sharon told him, heading off to find Andy.


Andy wasn't exactly going about this waiting for Angel thing the way that Sharon was…in fact, she was just trying to make herself feel better right now while she waited. She and Thor had a lot to talk about and right now she didn't really want to talk at all…instead she wanted to work out the God of Thunder and work through her issues at the same time. Actually, Andy and Sharon had one thing in common: they tried to use sex to fix their problems.

"Your wounds are many," Thor said dismally.

Andy nodded slowly, picturing Anex's end over and over again. "You didn't…you didn't kill him because he touched your things, did you? Something like, 'you dare touch the things of the son of Odin'?"

"Is that your impersonation of me?" Thor asked her, before she gave him a look and he just shook his head. "I care for you…I care for your friends. He would have done the same to others—to you again. I could not rightly stand for that."

"I just…I guess I wasn't expecting you to do that…" Andy admitted, blushing a little bit. "I've seen people die, but that was brutal."

Thor nodded slowly because it was true—what he had done with Mjolnir was brutal, but he would do it again to save the people he cared about. Right now he didn't know quite what to do, but he knew that he had to stay close to her for now for safety, even though she was trying to assure him that she was taken care of. It was then Thor had a feeling that something else was going on here…

"Are you ashamed of me?" Thor asked her. "For I am a g—"

"—I'm just not used to this," Andy responded, hand on his. "Give me some time."

It was true that Andy wasn't really used to all of this, but only because she had never really cared about men before…not really. She had always been just fine being single and then life happened and now everything was different and Thor was here and she cared about him…and the sex was fantastic. Still, Thor was a bit confused about it all even if he wasn't going to turn her down.

"Should you not rest?" Thor asked as Andy pulled her shirt off and went to get his clothes off.

Andy shook her head. "Right now, I'd rather not."

"I do not feel entirely comfortable—"

He was cut off by a hard kiss placed to his mouth, Andy's hands on the move as she undressed him and herself, both of them in the same position about that they had been before. She cupped him between his legs, letting her hand run over the length of him a moment as he grunted into her mouth, smiling and pulling him down onto the hospital bed with her. He hungrily devoured her mouth, Andy moaning from underneath him as she let him settled in between her legs.

Thor seemed so much more in control now that she had gotten the ball rolling, so to speak, arching her body up into him, nails tracing the contours of his back as she practically begged him to just take her. Not with words, of course, but with her actions, feeling him tease a little before pushing in forcefully, Andy gasping out and nodding. She just wanted to feel good right now and knew that if she told Thor nothing was wrong, he would believe that she was as strong as she was pretending to be.

"Adrienne…" Thor whispered, sucking on and biting her neck.

Andy shook her head as he moved a little bit, in and out at a pace she liked. "No…just kiss me…"

Thor nodded, sharing a passionate kiss with her as he gripped the small bed to get a better leverage, thrusting into her and letting her nip at his jaw and chin. When she found his Adam's apple she bit gently, sending tremors of pleasure through the demigod, making his pace increase, her nails digging into his back, just making the sounds louder as they continued, Thor assaulting her spot. In fact Sharon knew exactly what was happening as she neared the room and thought about turning around.

"Oh for God's sake!" she exclaimed loudly.

The nurses and doctor's also knew what was happening, but soon it was over, Sharon keeping her hand up over her eyes as she entered the room. Andy looked at her enter and hastened fastening up her clothes, catching Sharon peek at Thor as he tried to regain his modesty. Sharon made a face because the place reeked of sex, moving her hand when she heard the whir of zippers and smirking a little at the sight of Thor's torso and then when he turned to grab his tunic, she noticed the red claw marks.

"Now that you two have had some fun…" Sharon told her slowly.

Andy blushed just a little bit. "Just enjoying each other's company during a difficult time. Any word on Angel?"

"The doctor I passed on the way toward here said that she should wake up any time now," Sharon informed her, smiling a little when Thor kissed Andy's head and then headed out to be with the others. "So, Angel is in critical condition and you're getting hammered by the God of Thunder?"

Andy sighed loudly. "I care just as much about Angel's recovery as you do."

"Are you two wild animals?" Sharon asked her suddenly. "Sounds like some pretty fantastic sex though, there, Slick."

"Any idea as to why Tony's been acting weird this last little bit?" Andy asked, trying to change the subject as she fixed her hair.

Sharon laughed a little bit at Andy's change of topic, but at the same time she was wondering too whether or not this was serious. Tony had never acted like this before—around them at least—and they wanted to know what had him so on edge and refusing to leave her side. He had been gone for a little bit after the blood transfusion and let Steve stand watch, but when Tony was here, he was the one in the room because that was all she was allowed right now: one person.

"I think he's just hoping that the blood transfusion worked," Sharon said shrugging her shoulders. "This is his sister we're talking about and this is life and death. She can't heal like you can, or like I can by touching you. She has to heal herself and she can't do that until she wakes up…maybe we should ask Charles?"

"If she doesn't wake up on her own, yeah," Andy responded nodding. "You know how Angel hates having people rooting around in her mind."

Sharon laughed a little. "Yeah…but it could be helpful."

"Hey, guys…she's stirring," Clint informed them, him and Sharon sharing a look.

Andy caught the look on their faces and it made her smile a little bit, nodding because she totally knew what that look was: unresolved issues. They clearly loved each other and Sharon was just being her usual self but Andy had a feeling that Sharon was also using this situation here to try and pass it off like nothing was happening. Sharon had a tendency to make up excuses and right now it was important that the three of them focused on Angel and then got their own lives in order.

"When Angel is recovering at home," Andy told them both, "you two are dealing with your issues…or you're answering to me."

Sharon sent her a look, but they both knew that after being tortured, they were going to need all of the help that they could get to get back on track. Maybe Clint was what Sharon needed right now, and far be it from her to not take a threat from Andy seriously. So, they just nodded and went to crowd outside the window of Angel's room to see if they could read her lips or something, as Tony was the only one allowed in her room and Steve…Steve was incredibly fidgety.


Angel was in a lot of pain as she opened her eyes up slowly and tried to get all of the feeling back. She was groggy and her vision was out of focus at first, but soon she was smiling a little bit because Tony was sitting down next to her holding onto her hand. Slowly, she reached out to rustle his hair even though she cringed, Tony shaking his head and scooting closer to her. There were tears forming in her eyes as it all came back to her and Tony was shaking his head, kissing her forehead and telling her it was all going to be alright.

It just wasn't going to be alright.

All she kept thinking about was what had happened and though it was comforting for Tony's whiskers to be tickling her face, Angel couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop any of it and the first words out of her mouth Tony had been anticipating and he smiled at how decent and good she was—something she certainly hadn't learned from him.

"Sharon and Andy…how are they?" Angel asked him.

Tony nodded a little bit. "They're good. Right out there with everyone else."

"Right out…" Angel began, but her gaze followed Tony's and she smiled a little bit.

Everyone was congregated out there to see her and she waved a little bit to let them know that she was going to be fine…even if that was probably going to take a while. She couldn't forget what had happened no matter how hard she tried and right now she just wanted more than anything to be back home and safe and the look on Steve's face was killing her right now. None of them had been able to stop anything until Thor and Bruce had killed and Anex and glad as she was that he was dead, she felt shattered in more ways than one.

"Iceman wanted to be in here with you 24/7, but I made him change. I doubt he's eaten anything, but he's been attentive, that fiancé of yours." Tony said with a smile, but something was up—something was wrong.

Angel knew him better than that. "He's not my fiancé yet, Tony—it's just a promise ring…what's wrong? You know you can't hide anything from me."

"You lost a lot of blood, V…so much that you needed a transfusion and I came running—you would have done the same for me." Tony began slowly.

"I don't get why that makes you sad—it obviously worked and I'm incredibly thankful," Angel told him.

"Don't be."

"Tony, your blood saved my life."

"No, it didn't."

"You didn't…give me some strange STD you got from some random woman, did you?" Angel teased, a smiling on her face. "I'm teasing…okay, half teasing because you look beside yourself."

"We don't have the same blood type, V," Tony told her, the joke funny, but he was trying to be serious for once. "I couldn't help you."

Tony had been beside himself with worry when the nurse said that Angel was going to need a blood transfusion, Steve off changing. Of course Tony had jumped right up to try and give his sister his blood, so he went with the nurse to get prepped to give some blood. They were about to get all underway when she swallowed and looked at him and he knew that couldn't be good—had he contracted something?

"Don't tell me I have another STD…" Tony said slowly.

The nurse raised her eyebrows—disconcerting. "No, you…you and your sister don't have the same blood type."

"What are you going on about?" Tony asked her angrily. "I am trying to save my sister's life here!"

"I mean…you're AB+ and she's O+, Mr. Stark." The nurse explained to him. "You can only donate to other AB patients…I don't know what to say…"

Tony didn't know what to say either, but it suddenly dawned on him that everything had been one giant lie when it came to their family. Something was wrong and he didn't know if it was with him or with her, but he did know that there was so much more to his mother's disappearance before his 12th birthday than she had ever once let on. He was going to get to the bottom of this and he was going to get to the bottom of it now.

"Since O+ is the most common, we can treat her," the nurse said.

"Are you saying that my sister isn't my sister?" Tony asked her.

The nurse shook her head because she didn't want to get involved in this. "There are plenty of explanations—depends on your parents' blood types, Mr. Stark. It's possible she just got a different jumble than you. You shouldn't jump to such drastic conclusions."

"Right…thank you," he responded, getting up and leaving the exam room in a huff.

Angel opened up her mouth to say something but she closed it because that didn't make any sense—they had the same parents, so they had to have the same blood type. That was just genetics. What was he trying to tell her? After all of this time was he trying to tell her that she was adopted or something? In fact Angel started to hyperventilate as she ran through all of the possibilities and then the words just slipped right on out.

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm not your sister?" Angel asked him.

Tony smiled a little bit. "You're my sister no matter what happens, V, you know that. Besides, you took some genetics, just take a deep breath."

"You just look so sad, I jumped to the worst conclusion possible," Angel responded, taking a deep breath even though even that made her cringe. "It's possible Mom and Dad had different blood types and we got a nice settled mix…why are you looking at me like you're sad, Tony?"

"Because we're only half siblings…" Tony explained to her slowly. "I know the others will yell at me for telling you this right now in your state, but they all think I gave you my blood and I couldn't. When the nurse told me, I got curious about Mom's nine month absence before my 12th birthday and I figured out that she had a safety deposit box where she went. I find these in there…"

Bending over, Tony grabbed a keepsake box and put it on the bed, opening it up and Angel saw pictures of Maria Stark and another woman—an obviously pregnant woman. There were a couple of journals too and a birth certificate that she had never seen before in her life. She choked back a sob when she read the name, 'Elizabeth Jenkins' and then looked at Tony.

"This is my biological mother?" Angel asked him, pain in her voice. "Dad cheated on Mom?"

Tony nodded slowly. "Yeah, and the pregnancy was high risk, so Mom went to help her out for the baby's sake without telling Dad. All this time she made us believe that you were hers and in a way you were."

"Where is Elizabeth now?" Angel asked slowly.

"She died in childbirth with you," Tony responded. "I knew that something was wrong when I realized that Dad had B+ blood and Mom was AB+ like me. There's no way that those two blood types can give someone O+ blood like you…but that was Elizabeth's blood type. You're still my sister—you're still a Stark!"

"I know, I know…" Angel said slowly, reaching out to stroke Tony's face, Tony leaning into it affectionately. "You're always going to be my big brother, Tony…can I see Andy and Sharon and then Cap, please?"

Tony nodded and kissed her hand, shutting the keepsake box. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you," Angel told him, smiling as he went towards the door. "I love you, Tony."

"I love you too, Angel," Tony admitted before he put his game face back on and then he ushered for Andy and Sharon and told Steve that Angel wanted to see him next.

Steve understood—she knew he hadn't gotten hurt in the fire because she could see him and Andy and Sharon were her cubs. He was willing to wait as long as possible to see her and he was going to do it with a smile on his face because one step at a time. Right now she was awake and that was all that mattered to him…that and helping her to get through this rough time.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: Cherishing Every Moment

"We honestly thought the worst, Angel!" Sharon told her, getting onto her bed and watching as Angel tried to use her powers.

She could, in small doses, getting more power back as she got more of her natural strength back, wanting to be healthy again. More than likely, Angel was going to have to see a counselor for this, but at least one thing made the three women feel better: Anex was dead. He was as good as gone and now it was time to figure out why he had been around in the first place…why he had wanted them in particular.

"I'm going to be fine," Angel responded with a shrug, looking at them. "Want to know what else came out of all of this?"

Andy raised her eyebrows. "Um…what's wrong, Angel?"

"My Dad cheated on my mother with some mutant named Elizabeth Jenkins and that's how I came to be," Angel told them, shaking her head and biting her swollen lip.

She yelped, regretting that, but she was more determined to see what kind of reaction she was going to get out of Sharon and Andy than about her wounds. Her wounds would heal and she would deal with them later, not really wanting to talk about what had happened—she had found something to hide behind now that she knew that she and Tony were half siblings.

"Wait…what?" Sharon asked her.

Andy made a face. "So you're still a Stark?"

"I'm an affair baby," Angel responded, shaking her head. "I'm…I'm not even the product of two people being in love, I'm just something Howard accidentally made by knocking up some random woman."

"And all this time, Maria knew about it?" Sharon asked her gently, taking her hand. "Sounds to me like you know who your real mother is."

Angel smiled a little bit. "Of course she was my real mother…I just have a whole other family out there that doesn't even know that I exist."

Sharon and Andy nodded as they tried to process everything, Angel pointing to the keepsake box that Tony had brought to her. She wanted to read the journals before Sharon and Andy took a look at them, but they looked at the pictures. Angel had been saddled with something when they would have rather had her recover some more before such an emotional blow, but it was also nice. They knew she was going to hide behind it now, but she needed something else to focus on right now when her whole world was so drastically different.

"So…how did you find out about all of this?" Sharon asked her, genuinely curious about it all.

Angel shrugged a little bit. "Tony went digging into it all when he found out that he couldn't donate blood to me. This whole thing it just…I think Anex planned this, you know? I think he knew that he was going to be stopped and he just wanted to make us all dig a little bit deeper into the past. Who knows what other little secrets are hidden there?"

"Right now I think we all…need to figure out why Anex wanted us," Andy told them, making sure they didn't lose sight of what it was that was going on here. "I mean we're all going to have to talk about this sooner or later even though—"

"—there's nothing to talk about," Angel said suddenly.

Out of all of them, they had expected Angel to want to talk about the current events the most because she was the 'care and share' out of the three of them. She was always getting on peoples' cases for not letting their true feelings on the subject be known and now suddenly she just wanted to forget that it had ever happened? None of them could simply erase it all and for a minute or two they sat in silence before Sharon spoke up.

"Just because we have the powers to hide the physical scars, doesn't mean it doesn't still emotionally hurt," Sharon explained slowly.

Andy nodded in agreement. "Sadly enough, Sharon knows what she's talking about. We were tortured for maybe half a day and now it's almost 48 hours later and we're sitting here acting like we're fine when we're not. Sharon was tortured for three years, Angel…its far worse."

"That's exactly my point," Angel spoke up. "What happened to Sharon was horrific and this doesn't begin to even compare so why talk about it?"

"Because it affects all of us," Sharon told her. "Stryker didn't go around stabbing me with things and carving me up like he thought I was marble to mold…this was deep. We all felt it."

"What do you think S.H.I.E.L.D.s contingency plan is?" Angel asked, trying to change the subject. "Unless you guys would rather swap stories about feeling your flesh burn and listening to the knives and poker tear into it, I'd like to hammer out the reason this all happened…it's not just Stryker."

Sharon nodded slowly. "Doesn't mean it can't involve him."

"Anex did work for him once upon a time," Andy chimed in.

The wheels were turning in their heads as they thought about what Anex could have possibly meant, not having him around for questioning anymore since he had taken Mjolnir to the head. On the one hand they were all thankful and on the other they had so many questions to ask and right now they really didn't have anything else to say. They didn't want to swap stories right now about what it felt like to be carved up…they just wanted to try and live their lives and get down to the bottom of all of this. Anex was there for a purpose and had kidnapped them for a reason—they wanted to know why.

"I think it's the boyfriend's turn," Sharon said, shaking the thoughts away. "We can work on this once you've fully healed yourself.

Angel smiled and nodded. "Tony tells me he's been by my side this whole time practically."

"He's the perfect man, seriously," Sharon said with a smile. "Just wait and see."

"No man is perfect," Angel reminded her, but she was nodding. "He's pretty great though."

"He's perfect for you at least, and hasn't eaten a thing, so stomach some hospital food for the poor guy so he will," Andy winked at her.

"Yeah, then when we come back later when you're checking out, we'll talk about how Thor and Andy had sex in a hospital so loud it's prolly what woke you up." Sharon laughed, laughing harder when Andy punched her in the arm.

"I was wondering what that grunting and moaning was all about," Angel teased, a grin on her face. "What about Clint? Did Sharon say 'I love you' back?"

"Sharon is more stubborn than a mule…and about as pretty," Andy teased, laughing when Sharon punched her in the arm this time. "Whatever, Sharon, you know you're beautiful."

The three friends shared a warm smile before they nodded at each other, Andy and Sharon taking their leave and Steve going in. He had a bag in one hand and it made Angel smile a little bit, sitting up and working to healing herself a bit more as he swooped down and kissed her lovingly on the lips. Steve was so glad that she was awake and recovering, but he knew that her mental recovery was far from done or okay…he had something to cheer her up though.

"I have a surprise for you," Steve said fondly.


Being back on Earth was both a pleasure and a drag for Loki—he had failed in conquering this space rock and yet…something about it seemed nice. While he still firmly believed that humans were made to be ruled, he wasn't about to say that he thought that Earth was a terribly ugly planet. In fact, parts of Earth were quite pleasing and he knew that he could stay here for a short length of time if he needed to because not all of it was unappealing.

"Can I help you, sir?" An old man asked.

Loki shook his head and looked him over. "I'm getting along just fine on my own."

"You just look lost," the man said shrugging his shoulders. "Thought I'd help."

"Well, I don't need your help," Loki told the man rudely.

Right now he couldn't risk exposure to his real plan, so he just growled a little bit and continued on his way, trying to find some sort of leverage. He had tried to contact Anex as soon as he had gotten down here, but to no avail and then suddenly, out of nowhere, Thor appeared, anger in his eyes and Loki didn't know what to do. He had yet to do something troubling, but he felt like his brother had a warning for him anyway.

"You are out of Asgard," Thor told him.

Loki nodded at that. "Yes, I am, brother—our kind father has given me a chance to prove that I have changed."

"Your mutant abomination almost killed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents!" Thor thundered, getting visibly angrier. "Was this your doing, brother?"

"No, I assure you, it was not—though before the Chitauri he worked for me," Loki admitted honestly. "What happened to the brute."

"Mjolnir smote him down." Thor assured him with a nod. "He will trouble them no more."

Loki nodded, saddened to hear that and yet it could help him to get closer to the source: William Stryker. The only reason he had gone through Anex was because William was all over the place trying to purge the world of humans and far be it for Loki to stop him. Then again, he had a soft spot for the mutant women who were now part of S.H.I.E.L.D. because they were spunky…and powerful. If only he could get them on his side—Sharon would be easiest.

Sharon had a history with Stryker and if he could kill that one person that the mutants despised most, they might fall in line. All the others would accept defeat once Sharon showed them that Loki only meant to unite everyone for a greater purpose…that plan would take time to execute. First he would have to find the mutants again and gain Sharon's support before he tried to take on Stryker. That way he had the following built up first.

"I regret you had to clean up another of my messes, Brother," Loki told Thor as sincerely as he could. "I have come to aid you in whatever I can. Tell me what to do."

Thor looked him over a moment. "You truly mean to redeem yourself?"

"That is all I wish," Loki responded with a nod.

"Then help the Earth."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Help me to protect the Earth," Thor said again. "This world means much to me and I wish to see it protected from others who would choose to harm it."

"You have my word," Loki began with a smile on his face, "to even protect it from itself…"


"I was really worried about you, you know," Angel told Steve with a sad smile on her face. "You tried to fight off a brute for me and you got wounded."

Steve smiled as he handed her the bag. "I am going to be fine and so are you. Open it up."

"You didn't have to get me a gift…" Angel trailed off as she took the tissue paper out and looked into the bag with a smile on her face.

She stopped suddenly though, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to picture exactly what was going on here and keep on track with what was going on. Reaching in slowly, her hand touched soft, caramel colored fur and she pulled out the bear from Tony, looking it over and realizing it was actually the bear from Howard, which was almost better…almost. At this point, Angel liked Tony a lot more than her father, but at the same time, Steve had rescued it from the fire.

"You saved my bear…" Angel said slowly, slightly in shock about it and looking up at Steve who was beaming, proud of himself, but happier to see her happy.

Steve nodded and looked her in the eye. "I know how much it means to you."

"In all actuality, you mean more to me…" Angel told him, reaching out and stroking his cheek. "You shouldn't have stayed in that burning house any longer than you had to."

"This bear is important to you and considering the circumstances, I thought you should still have it," Steve shrugged, smiling when her eyes lit up. "What?"

"This is the bear from my dad, you know…" Angel told him, looking back at the bear.

Pepper had been doing some paperwork for Tony when she had seen Angel coming in holding a bear—a bear that looked almost identical to the bear Tony had made her years ago. She had heard the story from Angel and she figured she shouldn't say anything, but this bear looked older…dustier. Then it dawned on her that maybe it was a different bear—the original bear.

"I found him," Angel said shaking her head. "Don't tell Tony!"

Raising her eyebrows, Pepper took a couple of steps toward her. "Why not?"

"Because he worked so hard on the other one!" Angel exclaimed, shaking her head. "Not a word from you either, Jarvis!"

"Wouldn't think of it, Ms. Stark," Jarvis responded obediently.

Angel nodded and then looked at Pepper. "Tony's bear is really important to me, so I want to keep it on me when I travel so I feel like he's always there, you know? This bear can stay in my house on my bed."

Steve looked at her funny for a moment before it really sank in that the bear he had rescued was the one from Howard and not from Tony. She hadn't told him that, and by the sound of things, she hadn't told anyone that and she wasn't about to start now…or was she? After everything that she had gone through, she felt like the bear was still important, but for a different reason now. Everything was so much different now…everything.

"I found it—Dad's bear. Tony's is the one I carry with me everywhere, so it was in the suitcase." Angel said as she looked back at Steve. "Thank you for this—thank you for caring so much about me and about this old bear. It's the only thing of my Dad I really have left besides Tony himself."

Steve smiled and nodded, leaning in. "I love you, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Angel asked with a smile, kissing him tenderly. "So…when do I check out?"

"In a minute," Steve said, kissing her again, which made her giggle.

They were sharing a tender moment and he hadn't asked her how she was because he seemed to know she didn't want to talk about it. Eventually he wanted to, but right now he cared more about her being safe, happy and healthy and so he kissed her a moment or two longer before he went to fetch the doctor and let the others talk to her. He was going to take her home and take care of her, and hopefully get to give her the other bit of the surprise…


Before Sharon got too far away from him, Clint decided to make sure that they talked to each other, so while Steve and Tony were mothering Angel for once, Clint found her. She didn't look like she really wanted to leave Andy and Thor alone—who could blame her—but Clint took her by the hand and dragged her into a nearby, empty exam room. For a moment her whole body flushed because she thought maybe he was dragging her in here to take her on an exam table, but instead he smiled.

"I want to take you on a date," Clint told Sharon with a big grin on his face. "That's how we're going to do this. We are going to date like normal people."

Sharon smirked a little bit. "You know that dating takes both parties agreeing, right?"

"Share, I love you," Clint said shrugging. "Go on a date with me."

"You have got to quit saying that…" Sharon said slowly, but her heart did somersaults every time he said it and the feeling was amazing.

Clint shook his head and took a step closer to her. "No, because I mean it."

Sharon didn't know what to say at that point because it was clear to her that Clint meant business here and she didn't want to shatter his hopes and dreams or anything. Besides, he was laying everything out on the table and if she rejected him anymore he might get a complex and she wanted him to be happy, not close off like she was. So, she took a deep breath and then nodded, feeling her chest tighten in a pleasant way when that made Clint's eyes go all a-twinkle.

"You get one chance, Hawk," she told him, wiggling her eyebrows to try and keep things light. "I don't know why you're trying so hard here, but I'll throw you another bone."

Clint smiled and went in for a kiss, Sharon returning it. "I'm trying because I'm fighting for you, Sharon…and I'm always going to."

"Why?" Sharon asked, but covered his mouth. "No, 'because I love you' nonsense, Hawk."

Clint chuckled and nodded. "Because I want to be with you."

Sharon opened her mouth to say something else that she thought was rather clever, but Andy showed up. She seemed a bit impatient and so Sharon took a step away from Clint and then looked at Andy like she expected Andy to talk and do it right then. Andy laughed a little at the look on her face—having overheard the whole thing—and deciding to be a difficult little pain for now.

"Thor and I are itching for sex so if we could get going…" Andy said, not able to keep a straight face.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Let's go, horndog."

"Hey, I expect her home by 11 on this date!" Andy called back to Clint as Sharon led her out of the room. "I mean it, Mister!"

"Andy!" Sharon chastised. "I am a grown woman!"

"You're still my little Share Bear," Andy responded and linked arms with her to go and see Angel.