Like a Hurricane

Chapter 1 - Awakening

Vera Blau was very happy to perform that evening in Stuttgart. At least, that was her earlier thought, but now, seeing the panicking crowd and enduring the screams abusing her sensitive ears, she was beginning to doubt it was a wise decision to accept the invitation to the string-quartet.

She clutched her violin to herself as the torrent of people swept her away from the spacious hall where a seemingly mad man decided to assault the host of the event. Vera's height was average, but she felt like a dwarf amongst the tall people who attended this evening. It was no wonder when she ended up struggling in the middle of the crowd. She made it to the streets, before losing her footing.

'KNEEL!' she heard a man's voice shout just as blue light lit up around the crowd for a minute. The people immediately fell silent and knelt as one. Vera was busy inspecting her grazed knee, but she heard him talking. His words were arrogant and the whole situation stirred something familiar in the back of her mind, but before she could latch onto the memory, it faded away, as always.

'It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation' the man said. Several people glanced down, ashamed. The others looked on, fearfully and Vera finally glanced up at him. He wore strange, unearthly clothes, but there was no doubt he was the one from earlier. 'The bright lure of freedom diminishes for your life's joy, in a mad scramble for power... for identity.'

"He's gesturing as if we were in a theatre and he was the leading actor" Vera noted and her gaze was drawn to his emerald green eyes. Crazy or not, he had beautiful eyes and a pleasant voice which distracted her momentarily, as he continued, nearing her.

'You were made to be ruled... In the end, you will always kneel' he smiled, clearly enjoying the situation. Vera put a hand to her suddenly aching heart.

For a moment, there was silence. Then an elderly man slowly stood up nearby.

'Not to men like you' he said.

Vera was only a couple of people away and she felt her heart beat loudly. The old man's words stirred that familiar, but fleeting feeling in her, again.

The strangely dressed man only laughed, amused.

'There are no men like me.'

'There are always men like you.'

'Look to your elder, people' the young man said, lifting his spear once again. 'Let him be an example.'

The old man paled as the spear was pointed at him. The blue stone at the end of the weapon lit up and Vera, who was near, could feel the charges in the air. The blood drained out of her face as she realized he intended to kill the old man.

'NO!' she shouted, jumping in the way. Her body acted on its own and shielded the old man as the blue blast of light from the spear caught her in the side. She felt content that she saved the brave old man, but everything suddenly ceased to exist the next moment. As if a film had been suddenly cut off.

'What should we do with the woman?' Steve asked as they hauled Loki into the aircraft.

'With whom?' Natasha asked.

'I wasn't fast enough and Loki's attack injured someone' Captain America explained. It was clear he felt guilt.

'Leave her' Loki advised, staring back with a blank face when they glared at him. 'She should be dead.'

Steve marched up to him and planted his fist near the Aesir's head. He looked him in the eye, with fury.

'I had no doubt about your intentions' he spat, before turning around and going outside to look for the woman.

The others prepared for flight and he soon returned with a small body in his arms. She looked about as tall as Natasha was and though her face was pale, she was still breathing. A huge burnt mark covered her left side and her scorched skin could be seen through the hole in her blouse.

'She's still alive! Let's bring her back to the helicarrier!' Steve said, securing her on a seat, opposite of where Loki sat.

'She's a civilian' Natasha said, already closing the hatch.

'So am I' Tony reminded her.

'That's different.'

'So what? Are you going to dump her in a public hospital?' Iron Man demanded, sliding his mask over his head.

There was silence for a moment, before Steve spoke up again:

'According to him' he nodded in Loki's general direction, 'she should be dead.'

'Yes' Natasha said, lifting the aircraft off the ground.

'But she isn't. You see the problem.'

'Wait a minute' Tony interjected. 'Are you saying it's a problem she's alive and wasn't killed by him?' he jabbed a metallic finger at Loki who frowned.

'No!' Steve shook his head to clear his thoughts. 'Listen; all I'm saying is that it's strange. And we don't know how that weapon affects people, and there's no guarantee that they can help her in a general hospital.'

Natasha let out a barely audible sigh as she made a decision.

'All right, let's bring her in.'

'What did you say about her injuries?' asked the doctor when the unconscious woman was brought to the medical bay.

'Her left side is burnt!' Steve exclaimed, gesturing towards Vera's still form. 'Can't you see the burn marks?'

He was usually polite and respectful, but the guilt and helplessness he felt towards the innocent woman who was caught in the crossfire and he couldn't save, made him less than agreeable.

'I only see them on her clothes' the doctor replied, scowling. 'She doesn't have any marks on her body.'

Steve blinked, his expression blank.

'Come again?'

'See for yourself' the doctor nodded towards Vera and Steve stepped next to her. He leant down and after a quick internal debate, pulled the blouse away from the woman's ribs. Where there should had been scorch marks, there was absolutely nothing. Not even slightly pink, fading marks.

Nothing.

Steve straightened up, thinking.

'The director should know about this.'

'I agree' the doctor said. 'I'll keep a close eye on her, until she wakes up.'

Steve curtly nodded and strolled out of the medical bay to report to Fury.

One moment she was floating in blissful unawareness, in warm blackness, then the next, she sucked in a lungful of air and was wide awake. She instantly sat up, wanting to look around, but instead buried her face in her hands. Vera felt disoriented as if the events in her head weren't continuous. As if she had to remember something very important, but her head didn't want to cooperate. Shards of memories floated around her mind, with no references.

'She's awake' she heard a man's voice. Vera looked at him, eyes narrowed as she studied him; a human, middle-aged, in a white coat. Where did she see coats like his?

'Agent Romanov is on her way' a voice answered in the earpiece the man wore.

Strange... she didn't remember such technology...

The man nodded and stepped next to her.

'How are you feeling?'

She only cocked her head sideways, with a questioning look as she examined him. He coughed, uncomfortable with her scrutinizing gaze and looked around briefly.

'Do you know who you are?'

'Of course I–' she began arrogantly, but a sudden headache cut her off mid-sentence. Series of memories surfaced and finally, the pieces fell into place. The amount of information she received in such a short time was overwhelming her. She gripped her head, leaning over.

'Are you in pain?' the doctor asked and she couldn't bit back a sarcastic comment:

'No, I'm pulling my hair in extasy' she let her hands fall down and looked the man in the eye: 'Why, what did it look like to you?'

'There's no need to be so hostile' a woman's voice interrupted. The newcomer had red hair and dark blue eyes. For an oblivious eye, her posture seemed relaxed, but Vera could see the tension in her muscles.

'Hmph' she turned away from the redhead.

'Do you remember what had happened?'

Vera was slowly massaging her temples. Her long, brown hair obscured the others' view of her face and she could dive into her thoughts, examining the new memories and putting them together, like pieces of an elaborate puzzle.

It took effort, but a continuous story finally emerged. The moment she questioned her kind's way of living, her experiment that followed and the harsh punishment for her curiosity and wish to create a better world for humans. For everyone.

She lost more than a century over her foolish aspirations. It wasn't worth it. They weren't worth it.

'Well?' Natasha crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

'Why are you asking me these questions?'

'Because we need to know the answer.'

'Why?'

'So we can help you' the doctor replied.

The patient scowled at the needle poking out of her arm. She pulled it out in one fluid motion.

'It's not advisable to–'

'Don't tell me what to do' she bit out, looking him directly in the eyes. Natasha could finally see the colour of her irises.

'Red...?' the agent asked, momentarily confused. That was, undoubtedly, not natural. 'Do you wear contacts?'

'That is for me to know and for you to find out' Vera replied, smoothly.

Natasha crossed her arms, the first obvious sign of her annoyance.

'All right, let's quit fooling around.'

'Finally' Vera sighed.

'What are you?'

'Well, aren't you blunt?'

'Miss Blau, when we found you, you had a very serious burn mark on your body and by the time we arrived here, it disappeared. We'd like to know why.'

Vera looked at her, blankly. She wasn't going to correct her use of her alias. She had too little information to trust them with her real identity.

'And I'd like to know where exactly is 'here' and who are the 'we' you are talking about.'

They stared at each other for a long moment; if Natasha was unnerved by Vera's red gaze, she didn't show it.

'All right,' she gave in, 'it isn't as if you could just walk out of here.' Vera suppressed a snort. 'You are at the headquarters of SHIELD.'

Vera blinked, then finally climbed out of her bed, shaking her head.

'As if that should mean anything to me...' she mumbled, fingering the the damaged part of her blouse. She looked up at Natasha, poking a finger out of the burnt hole. 'Hey, any chance I could get a change of clothes?'

Vera needed time to organize her thoughts and decide on her next action. "Well, it shouldn't be hard: get out of here! Then I can contemplate over the injustice of life..." She was stalling as she put the clothes on SHIELD provided for her. It was one of their uniforms. Vera scowled. "Great. Now I look like one of them."

That might come in handy when she planned her escape. She also needed to find out if they took a blood sample while she was asleep. No matter how she enjoyed chaos on occasions, the consequences this time would be unimaginably dire. Well, Vera could imagine and that was what made her decide to destroy all the cupboards in the medical bay which contained blood samples. Not to mention it was good practice.

She finished putting on the clothes and brushed her hair with her hands. She lost her hairpin the night in Stuttgart and now the long brown tresses were getting in the way every now and then. She idly wondered how much time had passed since that ominous event. Vera walked outside the small room to the medical bay and she swept her gaze around.

It was easy to locate the cupboard containing the blood samples.

'Miss Blau' a new voice spoke and she curiously looked over at the man. He held out his hand. 'Nick Fury.'

She nodded curtly, but didn't take his hand. Fury let his arm drop back to his side.

'I'm the director of SHIELD and would like you to clear up some of our confusion.'

'I bet you do.'

'Pardon?' his one good eye narrowed.

Vera ignored him for the moment and turned to the doctor who attended to her: 'Did you take any blood samples?'

'I don't see how it is–' he started, but she interrupted the doctor:

'Clearly.'

He held her gaze for a moment, before it flickered towards the cupboard Vera had located earlier. So they did and it was in there, just as she suspected.

'That was foolish' she allowed, before marching toward the cupboard.

'Miss Blau–' Fury addressed her, but she waved her hand impatiently. The sound of glass breaking reached their ears the next second, and Vera suppressed a wince. She destroyed not only the cupboard containing the blood samples, but also the others nearby, packed with medicine. She glared at her hand, as if to reprimand it.

She was definitely out of practice.

To be continued...

A/N: I'm going to write this only this once, because I think it's ridiculous, because, after all, this is a 'fan fiction' site, so of course I do not own any Marvel-related or any other elements you recognize in this story. However, anyone and plot-points you don't recognize from the movie (or somewhere else), would be my creation.

Now, that's out of the system; I do hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Let me know your thoughts and thank you for reading it :)

Special thanks to: Jazz, Sweet and Betty, for being my lab ra-I mean, focus group and providing me with much needed insight. Thank you!
And FFNet for not allowing me to upload immediately after registration, so I could work out the kinks in this chapter before publishing it ;)