''As of right now, we are at war,''

''What do we do?''

Nick Fury sat at his desk looking over a particular file that he didn't think he would have to open again. They already had a team of people more than capable of protecting the world now that the Tesseract was in the hands of a mad man, but Fury knew they would need to take any advantage they could get, and he knew he would need her.

''Sir, do you really think this is a good idea?'' Maria Hill asked as she stood in front of him, her arms folded. ''SHIELD has an agreement with her, by doing this we'd be breaking it,''

''SHIELD doesn't have an agreement with her, I do,'' he stood up, holding the file in his hands. ''And I'm standing by my part of that agreement, nothing's being broken, but we have to get to her fast,''

Agent Hill remained silent as Fury walked over to Coulson who was standing off to the side. Coulson had been in charge of getting the group of people they needed together, and Fury knew he could trust him with one more, one that was going to be more difficult than the others and potentially dangerous.

''You up for this, Coulson?'' he asked as he held out the file.

''Yes sir,'' Coulson nodded, taking the file in his hands proudly.

''Good,'' Fury nodded. ''Hope you like Italy,''

The snow was thick beneath her feet, but it didn't slow her pace or make her journey back any more difficult. She had grown fond of the white flakes falling from the sky and even found comfort in the sight. The little town of Cortina d'Ampezzo was glowing with light from the houses inside and barely illuminated the Dolomite Mountains that surrounded them. It was peaceful here, so peaceful that it almost made her forget how alone she was.

As she continued walking through the snow, the lights in the town began to fade as she made it to her house. It was further away than the others, but it was necessary. Just as the door closed behind her, she knew something was wrong. The lights were off and the rooms were silent, but she knew someone was there, she could feel it.

Coulson looked at the front door as the woman entered and he signaled for the other three agents he was with to back up and stay hidden. If he could take care of the situation on his own, he would. The lights unexpectedly turned on all throughout the house, but the woman was nowhere to be seen. Coulson looked around every room and every corner, but there was no sign of her.

''Check the perimeter, go,'' he ordered the other agents.

In a matter of seconds, Coulson was alone in the house and his gun was pointed in front of him. He knew this woman was dangerous and she was capable on things no one else was, he had to be careful, he didn't know what she had planned.

Suddenly, he felt a hand grasping around his throat as he was backed up and slammed against the living room wall, unable to call out for assistance. He could feel the airflow to his lungs quickly running out and his gasps for air where desperate. Just as the pain became almost unbearable while his arms flailed and tried to defend himself, the woman appeared in front of him just like a hologram in thin air, her hand around his throat the whole time.

''You're with SHIELD,'' she looked down at his badge. ''How the hell did you find me?''

When her hand loosened around his throat, Coulson took a few deep breaths before he could speak.

''I'm here on behalf of Director Nick Fury,'' he told her in a hoarse voice. ''No one's here to hurt you, Willow,''

She let Coulson stand on his own now with no hands on him, and she watched his every move to make sure he wasn't there to do anything to her. Outside, she heard footsteps and the heavy breathing of other agents.

''Tell them to stay outside,'' she looked at Coulson threateningly.

''Check the further perimeter, the house is clear,'' he called out. ''Go!''

Once the other agents were gone, Willow kept her eyes on Coulson firmly and looked over him, trying to analyze his body language. She hadn't encountered someone who knew about her in a long time, she was on edge.

''Like I said, I'm not here to hurt you,'' he repeated, noticing her wary glances.

''Then what do you want?'' she asked. ''Where's Fury?''

''Busy, with an issue we're hoping to get your help on,''

''SHIELD wants my help?'' she asked, almost unbelieving, until something in her mind clicked. ''That son of a bitch,''

''It's my understanding that you and Director Fury have an agreement in which SHIELD can only contact you if your assistance is necessary,''

''And is it?''

''More than you know,''

Fury sat at his desk and looked over all of the information they had. The Tesseract was in the hands of Loki, a god from a whole other world, Asgard, and they had no idea where he was or what he planned to do with it. The Tesseract had unlimited power, it could destroy the world if it was used improperly, and Fury had a feeling that the man who took it wasn't looking to keep it in storage, he was going to use it on the Earth. SHIELD needed all the help they could get, and that meant assembling a team of people who could be the most dangerous people on Earth or their heroes.

SHIELD knew of people that no one else in the world knew of, and it was their duty to keep those people safe and keep anyone else off their trail. Willow was one of those people, however she also caused the most problems, which is initially why SHIELD had to intervene and Fury managed to make a deal with her. She possessed powers that no one else did and their was no explanation for them. Willow was a product of a dangerous love affair between a human and a man not from this world who possessed similar powers, however SHIELD wasn't aware of just how many powers she had, but for the ones they did know of, they knew she could help them.

''Sir, she's here,'' Agent Hill walked into the room, looking at him cautiously.

Fury nodded and walked out of the room as Hill followed. Willow couldn't be brought in like the others, she couldn't walk in the doors and sit in the room peacefully. She was too dangerous, and until Fury could explain the situation to her and gain her trust on the matter, they lowered the risk by placing her in a clear cell temporarily.

When he reached the room, Coulson was standing outside of the cell, looking over to Fury as he walked closer. None of them liked the fact they had to bring her in like this, but she wouldn't reason with them until she spoke to Fury himself and found out what was going on.

Willow was sitting in the middle of the cell, looking at the ground just in front of her feet as her legs were stretched out. Her skin was almost white with paleness and her lips were a deep red color that made her green eyes stand out as if they were mesmerizing. However, despite her appearance which came off as innocent and fragile, she was the most dangerous person on the helicarrier, even when she was contained in a cell.

''Head back to the bridge,'' Fury looked between Hill and Coulson.

''Sir...'' Hill spoke up cautiously.

''We're good here Agent Hill,'' Fury nodded. ''Back to the bridge,''

''Yes sir,'' Hill nodded, following Coulson out of the room.

Fury walked over to the door of the cell and folded his arms, hoping she would look up. He knew she was aware of his presence, and it made him wonder if she was going to cooperate or if this was a huge, dangerous waste of time.

''I know this was...unexpected,'' he spoke to her. ''But you wouldn't be here if it wasn't necessary, we need your help,''

''Is that why you got your agents to drag me here and throw me in a holding cell?'' Willow spoke up, her eyes still on her feet which were tapping against the floor. ''Not to mention I was restrained the whole way here. But now I get it, you need my help, so I guess all of that's okay,'' she told him sarcastically.

''You know why we had to do that. We had to take precautions...''

''Why? Because I scare you?'' she looked at him, standing up slowly. ''Because I can do this?''

Willow's whole hand began glowing red, causing flames to grow from her skin. One of her numerous skills happened to be pyrokinesis, the ability to create and control fire with her mind, emitting it from her body itself.

''Or this?'' she asked as her body rose from the floor, hovering almost to the ceiling as her body disappeared.

In a matter of seconds, she appeared by the door, right in front of Fury who held back a jolt of surprise.

''Or is it because you don't know what else I can do?'' she asked, folding her arms. ''You're scared of me, so explain to me why you would want my help?''

''Because the world you know, the world you've adapted to, might not be around for much longer unless we find and stop the person threatening it,'' he told her seriously. ''We had a deal, Willow,''

''A deal I don't think you've been upholding, otherwise SHIELD wouldn't have known where to find me,'' she reminded him. ''You've been tracking me,''

''For your protection, and you were well aware of that,'' he shook his head. ''I agreed to keep your identity and location unknown to those who wanted to find you and anyone that posed a threat in return for your assistance if we ever needed it, and believe me, there's been plenty of times we've needed someone like you and I haven't called you in. Now, I've upheld my end of this bargain, it's your turn,''

Willow looked at him curiously, noticing how different he seemed to the last time she had seen him. He didn't have the same confidence he usually had, he was worried. She could see it in his eyes, his silent plea for her help as if he needed it more than anything.

''A deal's a deal, but I want to know what was so important you had to bring me in,'' she folded her arms, walking closer to the door. ''And I want out of this cage,''

Fury pulled a device out of his pocket and pulled up an image of the Tesseract, projecting it in front of him to show her. Willow's eyes widened at the blue object and she moved forward to make sure what she was seeing was real.

''Is that...,'' she gasped, still looking at the image.

''You know of it?'' Fury asked curiously.

''Oh yeah, I know of it alright,'' she nodded. ''The Tesseract. But what's SHIELD doing with it, and what's it got to do with anything?''

Fury sighed. ''It's been stolen,''

Willow's eyes immediately left the image and looked over to Fury instead. She had heard of and studied whatever she could about the Tesseract many times in her life, and she knew how important and powerful it was. SHIELD shouldn't have had it, no one should have, and now it was gone.

''It can't be,'' she shook her head. ''Do you know what this thing can do?''

''I'm well aware, which is why your help is necessary,''he told her. ''I take it you're on board,''

Willow looked up at him with her emerald green eyes and nodded her head. She may have had a rather negative opinion on SHIELD and how they worked, but she knew the severity of what was going on, and she would help however she could.

''What do you want me to do?'' she asked, fearing what they had planned.

''Right now, I need to know everything you know about the Tesseract, anything that can help the team track it,'' he told her.

''You have a team on this? Then...why do you need me?''

''Because you're a part of that team now,'' he took a few steps back.

Willow's eyes widened again as she watched him begin to walk out.

''Uh...no I'm not,'' she told him before he was gone. ''You've got the wrong person. I've been by myself my whole life Fury, I don't do teams,'' she shook her head. ''Hey! Can you at least get me out of this cell?''

Fury was no longer in sight, but she knew he was walking with a smirk on his face at her protests. Willow let out a groan and walked back around the cell, moving her hand in front of her as tiny flames came off the tips of her fingers as she thought to herself. Something else was going on at SHIELD, and they weren't going to tell her. They just wanted her to find the Tesseract along with whatever team they had lined up, and although she was on board with finding the Tesseract, being a part of any team at all wasn't appealing to her. However, a deal was a deal.

Okay so before you guys ask, I'm not giving up on my other story, I'm just really busy lately and haven't had time to fully work on it plus I sort of lost interest for a while there, hence this story being introduced. I've always wanted to write something like this, something different, and in the Avengers movieverse instead of just Iron Man. Plus, I think I'll be focusing kind of on one Avenger in particular and for once it's not Tony. It's nice to write about a different character considering I've done 4 stories about the same people. Not that it bores me at all, but it's nice to have a change. Anyway, I hope you guys like this story and please review with anything you think or want to know. I'm aware there's a few stories about The Avengers and weird alien-like people befriending them, but as always I do try and make my story different and unique, which I hope I maintain. I have so many ideas for this story and I feel like you guys will really enjoy it.

Please review!

Also, I am working on the new chapter of 'Heroes...'' but you'll probably hear from this story more now, just until I know I can write a good chapter for that story! Thanks!