Hey guys! So sorry this took so long, I don't know what happened, but I did lose half of my first attempt. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who favourited and reviewed, you guys are awesome and also, on my profile I shall put up links to pictures of my characters and other important stuff for you. Anyways, Review!

Prologue

"Italia, how did you know the answer to Daddy's equation?" A scruffy man asked, his eyes squinting in caution. The little girl in front of him shrugged innocently, her fingers fiddling with the Rubix cube.

"I dunno, it just, sorta… I dunno," she replied, a small frown encasing her soft features.

"That's alright, sweetie, here, I want you to have this bracelet, guard it with your life," her father replied with a smile. Italia nodded, the frown disappearing as she accepted the metallic bracelet from her father.

"Thanks, Daddy."

Chapter 1

The dim light in the old apartment cast a looming shadow of the small figure facing the desk, absentmindedly fiddling with a plain silver bracelet as she looked over the blueprint for her latest clean weapon. Music played quietly in the background, blotching out the sound of reality in the street below her.

Italia jerked at the light knock on her door, her heart rate spiking. She rushed over, checking through the peep hole to identify the stranger. Her nose crinkled as she tried to figure out if she'd seen this man before. He didn't look that dangerous, but he could have other people off to the side.

As she pulled open the door, her other hand slid into her back pocket, beside her sheathed knife, easily concealed by the oversized hoodie the covered her top half.

"Yo," Italia greeted, her eyes dancing behind him to scan for anyone else.

"Italia Gage?" The man on the other side of the door asked.

"If I wasn't you wouldn't be here, therefore I must be, unless there is someone else in the apartment, which there isn't so you have the right house. Just give me a sample of the drugs and you can be off," Italia replied quickly, her hip tilting to the side slightly.

The man in the black suit chuckled slightly, his hand going into his jacket. Italia's eyes followed his hand closely, her heart picking up again and her pocketed hand subtly moved over half an inch to grip the blades handle with white knuckles.

Her hand relaxed slightly once she realised her was pulling out a badge. "Agent Coulson of SHEILD, I'm afraid we need your assistance."

As Italia listened to Coulson's quick explanation of the mess they'd somehow managed to drag the planet into her mind was sprinting in circles. She wasn't sure what his angle was, did he need her to fight? Did he want her skill or the bracelet that clung to her thin wrist?

"I'm afraid I can't go into more detail until you agree to help us and we are in a secured area, but I'm being honest with you, Miss Gage, we need your help," Coulson ended his small story, his eyes sincere.

Tessie stood up, heading over to her desk and slowly packing up her laptop and other important gadgets. All her senses were strained to hear what Coulson was doing behind her. It went against all instincts to turn her back to a stranger, to most people, actually.

Finally she turned around again, gave Coulson a firm nod and ordered him not to move. As she grabbed a duffel bag and shoved in essential items her thoughts tangled and fought. It could be a trap, she could be killed and the bracelet could be taken. But nobody knew that what they were looking for was a bracelet. Not that it made any difference, they'd still take everything anyway.

Shaking her worries from her mind, she zipped up the duffel bag, glanced around at her room and strode back into the living room. Neither of them said a word as Italia grabbed her other bags and followed Coulson from the apartment.

It was dark outside, and the few who were still awake were lurking in the shadows, waiting for someone vulnerable to come along. The pair clambered into a tinted SUV and sped off, rushing through the streets until they reached a traffic jam.

"So what's the threat that could change humanity and destroy the world?" Italia asked Coulson, folding her legs neatly underneath her.

"His name is Loki, he's a-"

"Norse god, yep, heard of him, Thor is his brother," Italia interrupted with a nod.

"Well, Loki stole something called the Tesseract, with that he could take over this planet, and many others, universes, even," Coulson continued.

"So why do you need me? Don't you have assassins to deal with this crap?" Italia asked.

"It's more complicated than that, we have to find and secure him before we figure out what to do with him," Coulson explained.

"But where do I come in with this?" Italia pressed.

"We need you to help take him down, we have a few other people coming in to assist, but we feel that it might be handy to have someone of your… expertise, out with them," Coulson responded, his eyes never leaving Italia's face.

She was silent, approving of his answer. It made sense to have a technician on hand, especially Italia's kind of technician.

Nothing more was said as they drove, heading directly to wherever they were going, unknown to Italia, but obvious to Coulson. Italia couldn't help but wonder what mess she'd managed to drag herself into.