-One month after Sokovia - (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
There was an explosion off in the distance. The Hydra agents looked at each other.
"They found us," one of the agents said to the head researcher. He smiled at that, feeling that he had already won this battle, despite the fact The Avengers were attacking the base. They would never see her coming.
"Release her," he told the agents in German. They nodded before leaving.
"Do you think she's ready to face off with them?" someone asked him.
"She will be, if she knows what's good for her," he said with a cold smile.
"So much for the element of surprise," Steve Rodgers said looking over the rubble of the outpost that had just blown up.
"We knew this wasn't gonna be a walk in the park," Natasha Romanoff said as they made their way to the compound.
"Yes but we didn't need to announce our presence as soon as we made it to the gate," he said, fighting off some Hydra agents, attacking the group with his shield.
"Yes, but this is more fun, wouldn't you say, Cap?" They all heard over the coms. Tony Stark swept in, taking some out with his repulsor beam.
"Let's just get the job done," Steve said. The three of them slowly made their way to the compound, taking care of agents along the way. They made their way to the entrance only to find it barricaded shut.
"Stark," Steve said.
"Got it," he said, sending a missile to the door, blasting it off its hinges. To everyone's shock they heard a very feminine scream come from inside the now open compound. Steve looked to his team before slowly walking inside, passed the rubble and found a young woman sitting on the ground, looking scared at what happened. This was not what he expected.
Steve looked her over, her strawberry blonde hair messy, scattered down her back. She was dressed in only a t-shirt and shorts, leaving nothing to the imagination. She was petite but muscular, someone who might give Natasha a run for her money, if she wasn't cowering from them.
"You ok?" Steve asked.
"Help me…" she said, looking terrified. Steve's heart nearly stopped at her plea before he pushed in, moving towards her.
"Be careful, Cap," he heard Natasha say before approaching the young woman.
"Are you hurt?" he ask, kneeling next to the woman. She looked at him sadly, before moving closer to him in what seemed like fear.
"I am sorry," she said softly, as her hand, that had already been moving slowly to the back of his neck, made skin to skin contact. Steve felt the pain before realizing his mistake.
'Help me,' Steve heard again, but this time in his head.
'Help you? What about me?' He thought. 'What are you doing to me?' he asked.
'I am draining your power. I am sorry. I have no choice,' she explained.
'You always have a choice…' he said before images flashed before his eyes. He sees her being grabbed and shoved down to a metal gurney by men with gloved hands, screaming for them to stop. She kicked one of them, nearly escaping before more came in, holding her down. Steve sees through her eyes, as a man with a sinister grin looks down at her, holding in his hand a small metallic device.
"Since you can not see reason, Rebecca, you'll just have to be controlled," he said in German but Steve understood him. The memories suddenly switch to them testing the newly inserted device in her neck as she screamed in agony, Steve feeling every sensation along with her.
"If this does not persuade you, then the bomb attached to it will. Do as we say or boom," he said with a laugh before Steve left the memory.
'Please help,' she pleaded again.
'How can we help you?' he asked feeling himself getting weaker.
'Save me from them,' she asked before he felt her leave his mind, with an agonizing scream. Steve blinked before seeing her a distance away, having been pushed off him by one of Tony's repulsor blasts.
"Cap? Are you ok?" He heard Natasha say. He nodded but he knew he didn't have the strength to stand.
"Rogers, what did she do?" Steve heard Tony say. Before he could answer, the red headed woman stood up, shrugging off the blast like it was nothing. Tony looked at her oddly, like she shouldn't be standing after that.
"She took my strength," Steve said weakly. Tony took a breath.
"Well, that's new," he said before moving to shoot her again.
"Wait!" Tony heard Steve shout, stopping Tony.
"Why?!" Tony asked.
"Look at her," Steve said. Tony looked at her, right at her face. Her eyes where pleading and her mouth repeated a silent mantra: 'Help me.' She began to advance on Tony with the strength of Captain America behind her. Tony caught her arm, being pushed back with the force of it.
"She's not pulling her punches," Tony said "...for someone asking for help."
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Steve called out. "Please do a scan of her neck," Steve said into the coms.
Tony watched in the iron suit as F.R.I.D.A.Y. followed Captain America's orders.
"A small detonation device is located within her neck," F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded.
"Son of a … is there anyway to …" Tony started.
"Already on it," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said as Tony blocked more of the woman's strikes. Tony tried his best to block her moves before one got passed him, sending him flying away from her.
"Shit, she's strong," Tony huffed.
"She's me," Steve said trying to stand but his legs wouldn't hold him.
Tony stood, putting his arm out to hit her with another burst when F.R.I.D.A.Y. chimed in. "A close range EMP burst should make the device inert. It won't be pleasant but it should work," F.R.I.D.A.Y. explained. "Calibrating," she announced to him.
"Close range meaning..."
"Right next to the device." F.R.I.D.A.Y. added.
"Meaning I have to get next to her…" he said to himself as she started to approach him at full force. "Not a problem..." Tony mumbled, when he heard Steve yell out.
"We'll help you!" he said, causing her incoming attack to stop, inches from Tony's protective arms.
"Calibrated," he heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. say. Tony didn't need to be told twice. His arm went to her neck, a shock going out, causing her to scream before collapsing in his arms, passed out cold.
"The device?" Tony called out.
"Inert," F.R.I.D.A.Y. answered. Tony nodded before dropping her next to Steve.
"How did you know?" Tony asked.
"She told me…" Steve said, holding onto the unconscious woman.
"We need to get out of here," Natasha said, shooting an approaching Hydra agent.
"But the mission… the information…" Steve said.
"Let us handle it, once we get you two safe. Anyway, we got a consolation prize, one less enhanced in the hands of Hydra," Tony said. Steve looked at Tony before nodding. Natasha carefully picked up the woman while Tony helped Steve to stand before they fought their way back to the quinjet.
When she came too, she sat up with a jerk. Her hand went to her neck, feeling a sharp pain under the bandage that was now there.
"I removed it. Didn't want it to be reactivated and then poof," Tony said, sitting across from her in the quinjet, now in civilian clothes.
"Thank you," She said before looking around the small place, a little scared. Her eyes came upon a sleeping Captain America, when she heard Tony.
"How long is he gonna be down for?"
"Depends. Few hours… a few days. It is different from person to person," She explained, still feeling his strength within her. She sighed at that. She saw Tony moved towards her and she recoiled in on herself.
"Do not touch me," she snapped, fear in her voice.
"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you."
"I - do not want to hurt you," she explained, looking over at the sleeping man.
"Yeah, about that, what happened? First, you latched onto Rogers and drained him dry, then he's protective of you," Tony asked, keeping his distance.
"I…" She started but looked really lost at that.
"She drained my powers," they both heard Steve say, exhausted as he sat up. "But she... I don't know. Talked to me, inside my head," Steve supplied.
"I do not just take powers, I form a link. I can read minds. I saw something when I touched you… I saw… salvation. I saw hope," she said with a sad smile. "A way out of that hell. I knew you could help me. Thank you." Steve smiled at her, giving her a slight nod.
"She talked to me. Showed me what they did to her… well some of it." Steve said as she looked away from them, a tear in her eye. "What she went through. After that, I had to help her."
"And the bomb in her neck tells me she wasn't a very willing participant," Tony added. "You feeling any better Rogers?" Tony asked.
"I'll live," he said standing up to sit next to her. She coward away from him.
"Please, do not touch me," she begged to him as he looked at her. He remembered his memories of her, before he showed her his still gloved hand and she nodded back at him. He placed a hand on her chin, ignoring Tony's warning. Nothing happened as he moved her face to look at her bandage covered neck. He let go of her chin before a gloved finger wiped away her tear.
"You're safe now. We won't hurt you," he says to her. She nods softly, looking into his caring eyes.
"Huh? So skin to skin contact only." Tony said fascinated. She nodded to him as well. Tony went to the back of the quinjet, going through a few things before coming back with some clothes: pants, long sleeve shirt, and gloves. "This might make you feel more comfortable," he said, dropping the clothes next to her before leaving to check on Natasha in the cockpit.
"I'll give you some space," Steve said before getting up too quickly and she caught him before he hit the ground. He let out a light chuckle, their eyes meeting as she held him in place. "I see you still have my strength…" he said with a small smile. She smiled back at him.
"I will for a bit longer. Yours should be back soon. I am sorry for what I did… I…"
"Had no choice, I get that now," he said, pointing to his head. He slowly got onto his feet, leaving to give her privacy.
Steve walked into the cockpit and sat down with a sigh.
"You still with us, Cap?" Natasha said with a smile.
"Yeah, I'll live. She sure packs a punch…" he said.
"And you weren't the one she was punching," Tony said with a smile before it slowly slipped off his face. "Do you think we can trust her Rogers?" Tony asked.
Steve nodded without even really thinking about it. "Yeah… I really do," he said.
"What did she show you?" Tony asked. Steve sighed again, rubbing his hand over his face.
"They tortured her… because she wouldn't comply. They forced her down and put a bomb in her neck to get her to do what they wanted her to do. She was so scared… and alone…"
"Seems like she did a bit more than just show you what happened?" Natasha guessed. Steve nodded before looking out the window, lost in his thoughts.
They made it back to the Avengers facility before landing the quinjet. Steve was feeling mostly back to normal. The three left the cockpit to find her sitting in the back, clothed from her neck down with the clothes Tony provided her. Tony didn't blame her, with powers like hers, he would have done the same.
"Lets go get you checked out… ahhh… never asked you for your name…" Tony asked.
"Ahh it is Emma," she said softly. Steve looked at her confused.
"I thought it was Rebecca?" He asked her. She looked away from him, caught in her lie. "Why lie about that?" he asked her.
"Because Cap… she doesn't trust us yet," Natasha said as she moved passed them.
"At least not us," Tony said, pointing to him and Natasha before following Natasha out. Steve looked at her as she formed a light blush on her cheeks.
"You can trust them, you know. I trust them with my life… " He explained to her.
"I…" She started but he held his hand out to stop her.
"It's fine… it will take time, after everything," Steve told her.
Author's notes: I hope you liked it. Leave a comment if you did! I know her powers are quite... Rouge-like but if you can move past that, I think you might quite enjoy this story. I quite enjoy writing it. It's got some interesting twists and turns. I have a bit of this written, so I will most likely post 3-4 time a week. MWF min, with maybe an extra one on the weekends.
One of the main inspiration for this story was a music Video I saw on you tube. Legends Never Die... I had to download the song and listen to it while I was writing this. If you want to see that MV, please do! One of the best I've seen. It's on my profile page, because you can't put links in your story. It's worth your time. It's says Infinity wars but only has clips that where seen in the trailers.