A Taste of Vengeance

This was the amazing thing about S.H.I.E.L.D: their home base could be destroy, fallen to the ground and set in a blaze, never again to rise from the ashs, but it could still move on. There was always another base ready for use, ready to take on the world. S.H.I.E.L.D was the very essence of skill, protection and strength. This much was evident stepping off of the jet onto a giant carrier ship.

The large vessel was covering in shield agents and soldiers moving along in uniform, tying up jets and moving things inside. It was hundreds of feet long, and I could not help but be impressed at how amazing S.H.I.E.L.D had grown to be. The amount of fire power just above deck was astounding, and gave me a glimmer of hope.
Steve whistled long and loud. “Impressive.”
Before we could compliment the vastness of the ship, a man with dark hair, and dark eyes approach us. He is dressed casually, but there is something in his face as he looks around that tells me he is nervous about something. I don’t recognize him at all, but clearly Steve does.
“Word is you can find the cube, Dr. Banner.”

I realize instantly who this is; Bruce Banner, the amazing scientist who accidently messed himself up in a science experiment. The nervousness on his face is understandable now. Bruce Banner was famous for turning into the Hulk, a huge, rage driven creature that smashed anything in it’s way. I couldn’t believe that they had him here for that, so I assumed he was here to help locate the cube.

“Is that the only word on me?” he asks, not unkindly. I can imagine how he feels, with everyone looking at him like he shouldn’t be here.
“The only word I care about.”
Steve Rogers has shocked me for a second time upon meeting him now. I watched as he shook Banners hand, making it very clear that he meant what he said. Steve doesn’t care that Banner is a threat, nor that he could potentially destroy us all; all he cares about is serving and saving the world, and it seems he would go to any length to do that.
“Ashlynn Bane,” I introduce myself, extending my hand. He smiles and shakes it in return. “Glad to have you on board, doctor.”

The two men begin talking and I turned away, scanning the deck, feeling out of place. From around a jet, Natasha Romanoff began walking towards me, smiling. Her scarlet hair was shorter than I had last remembered, but seeing the familiar place took off the edge.

I embraced the Black Widow, realizing just how long it had been since I had seen her. Her green eyes were filled with happiness at seeing me, but they were filled with a sadness that tried to hide from the world. Once an assassin for anyone who would hire, Natasha had a dark past. She was another example of a broken hero, trying to push her darkness away.

“It’s been far too long,” she said after breaking our embrace. “Shame we’re reuniting under these circumstances.”
“I know.” I looked around, searching for our other companion that was usually around Natasha. “Where is Hawkeye?”
Her face faltered then, and I could see that she tried to keep the dismay from her emerald eyes. She looked down at the ground, and said, “Loki has him. He’s under some form of mind control and he took down half the agents at the base.”

I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment. Hawkeye was a good agent- one of the best S.H.I.E.L.D had. He was strong, quick, brave and smart. He could also shoot anything with a bow in the pitch black. His talent for combat was unmatched, and the glimmer of hope I had once had faded dramatically. If this Norse God could somehow get one of our finest agents under his spell, we were doomed.

“Barton will snap out of it,” I say, trying to make her feel better. But we both know my words are empty. “And if he doesn’t, we’ll snap him out of it.”
“Come on,” she says over my shoulder, talking to Bruce and Steve. “We should go inside. It’s going to get a little hard to breathe out here in a few minutes.”
“Really?” Bruce asks, looking over the edge of the ship. “They want me submerged in a pressurized metal container?” His voice is amused, yet I can here the faint worry in his tone.

I turn to face the two men who look excited, thinking that this is a submarine. As if on cue, the water around the ship begins to churn and move, slowly getting up to higher speeds. Waves crash against the boat and whirpools behind to form as the propellers move. But instead of going under, we are slowly beginning to rise. This is no submarine- it’s a super plane, far behind my comprehension.
Bruce smiles and looks back at Natasha and I. “Oh no, this is much better.”
“Come on,” I roll my eyes. “Let’s not get to excited out here, shall we?”

Bruce threw me an irritated glance but I ignored it, falling into step with Natasha. It felt strange, being with the S.H.I.E.L.D team again. Usually we were never all together at once. Natasha, Hawkeye and myself were assassins at their disposal, only calling us in when it needed to be done quickly and quietly. S.H.I.E.L.D hadn’t called me in for three months, which was highly unusual for them. But perhaps it was because they were working on the tesseract that was now stolen.

Inside the ship there were hundreds of bunk rooms, storage rooms, and labs. We headed for none of these, shuffling off to the main control room immediately. The amount of computer and technology beeping in the room is overwhelming, and I try not to look amazed at how far this place has advanced itself. One look at Steve is trying not to gawk at it as well, and I can’t help but try and hide a smile.

Fury turns upon our arrival and I can’t help but break out into a smile, breaking away from my companions and walking up to him. He smiles at me warmly and opens his arms, embracing me like an old relative. In this case, he might as well be. I know that it is unusual for him to be unprofessional and hug me, which makes the situation all the more worrying. If he was accepting affection in front of his staff, he was worried it would be the last hug he eve received.

“Doctor, I’m glad you could make it,” he says, shaking Bruce’s hand. Bruce looks extremely uncomfortable when he smiles.
“Yeah… how long am I staying?”
I sit down and answer for Fury, “Until we find the Tesseract, then you’re free to leave.”
Fury glares at me, knowing I’ve plucked the information from his head. Unlike the rest of the group, Fury let’s me follow some strain of his thought, able to block out whatever he wanted to keep secret from me. Rarely anyone knew how to do that, but being who he was, it was his job to do those kinds of things.

“Oh would you look at this,” a voice calls, a sarcastic tinge to it. With a sweep of my mind, I can feel Tony Stark’s stream of consciousness. I can feel the brightness of it, the equations that are running through his head in numbers and functions I don’t want to try to understand. I simply let go of his train of thought, not wanting to intrude on his nerd parade. “Everyone’s all happy and together.” He plops down next to me, tossing a piece of gum in his mouth. He glances over me, cocking his head to the side. “You the mutant?”
His bluntness doesn’t bother me. “The one and only. You the lost, troubled genius?”
“I prefer ‘experienced’ genius, not troubled.”
“What’s the status on finding the tesseract?” Banner asks, crossing his arms. I turn in my chair, eager to here as well. The technology team was having a hell of a find trying to find the damned thing, and we needed to find it before Loki found us.
“We’re sweeping every wireless signal possible,” Coulson answers, running his hands over his face. I can tell he is exhausted, and I know that by the end of the day, we all will be. “We’re scanning cell phones, lap tops, GPS you name it.”
“That’s not going to find him soon enough,” Natasha murmured distantly, glancing at a computer with Barton’s picture on it. I nod my head in agreement with my fellow agent saying, “Loki will only be seen if he wants to be seen. It’s the way he works. I’d go for a different approach than looking for him by camera.”
“How can you be sure you know him?” Steve asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow in doubt. I cast him an annoyed glance as he continued, “You’ve never met the guy, ma’am, and quite frankly I wouldn’t want too.”
“Well, Captain, I’ve studied the file on Loki and from what I can glean, he is smart, smarter than most of us. Which is exactly why he gained the tesseract.”
“She’s probably right,” Bruce agreed. The look on his face was that of someone calculating very difficult equations. “ We’re going to have to do something else. Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?”
“Agent Romanoff. Show Dr. Banner his labs.” Natasha nodded and gestured for him to follow her. I watched and waited until they had left the control center, automatic doors closing behind her.
“How bad is with Barton?” I asked Fury immediately. “I want an honest answer… if you don’t…”
“What?” Fury asked sharply, glaring at me. “What will you do, Agent Bane?”
What happened to Barton? I demanded telepathically, my anger starting to pique. I tried to calm myself, clenching and unclenching my fists and thinking of calm, tranquil memories, like my uncle had taught me to do when my anger was rising.
Fury looked at me, fury written all over his face, ironically enough. “Agent Bane, is there an issue?”
“I believe,” Steve said loudly enough to catch my attention, his blue eyes boring into mine, telling me to shut up. “That Agent Bane is just concerned for her friend, sir. It’s okay to be upset, ma’am but you should calm down.”
Steve’s eyes never left my for a moment. I studied how blue they were, how they matched the sky better than any pair of blue eyes I had ever seen. Something about them willed me to be calm, and as I stared at him, I felt his conscious brushing against mine, urging me to reach into it. Lightly, I touched his conscious, and heard his voice echoing in my mind, repeating the same thing over and over. Calm his voice whispered.
“I’m sorry,” I said roughly, looking away from him after what seemed like years. “The Captain is right. I’ve spoken out of turn and I apologize.”

Fury watched me with careful eyes, knowing very well that I don’t simply just calm down from rage. He saw me throw tantrums. Even at a young age the room shook, thinks were broken, and people were endangered. But never before had someone tried and successfully calmed me down.

I watched him as Fury proceeded reluctantly with other business. He looked away from me, blushing suddenly and I began to get the feeling that he was not used to talking to girls. Something about him made me want him to talk to me, to not be shy. It was a feeling I’d never felt before, and it caused me to stand up suddenly, afraid of what it was.
“Agent Bane,” Steve called after me but I ignored him, hurrying through the automatic doors. But try as I may, I knew I would not forget those blue eyes.