A/N: Hey-o! *ducks random thrown objects* Whoa. I realize I've been gone for months, leaving my Supernatural and Dexter fanfics both high and dry by way of updates, but I had some college setbacks and was severely lacking in writing muse for a while there. I'm trying to get back in the saddle this month with writing on a Marvel Avengers idea that I've had for quite some time, so spare me please. Monthly updates for my other two fanfics will start up again in May.

As for this story... I hope you like it! I do hope I make Amrita both believable and likeable. Seeing as this is a (Camp) NaNoWriMo story, I'll be updating regularly, likely every other day due to the chapter length I like to have, for the next month.

Don't forget to give feedback/review! There will be minor changes from the film but nothing major, and this story will continue on with its own plot after the events of the film have been covered.

"Target is leaving the village, headed north-by-northeast. Target is likely headed home. Orders to pursue?" The agent said, lying completely still in her concealed spot on the rooftop despite the discomfort she felt, fully geared (discretely, of course, though that simply added to her discomfort as she had to have her weapons strapped in very strategic yet inconvenient places) for her mission in the scorching Indian summer's heat.

"Roger that. Pursue the target at a safe distance until she arrives at home and secure the perimeter. Agent Romanoff and a small team will join you shortly to take the target in. Remember, the target has no history of violence, but she is to be treated as a potential threat should anything go wrong. Good luck, agent."

"Orders received. Agent out."

Amrita Mehrotra was different from most people that were native to India, even to the naked eye. With skin paler than should be possible to have without a copious amount of either burning or tanning from all the time spent outdoors, brown hair that shone auburn in the sunlight, and golden eyes, people tended to be wary of her despite the fact that she had lived outside the same village long enough to be known by everyone who lived there. Or perhaps that was simply another contributing factor to why they were all so wary of her. When she thought about it, it seemed quite reasonable to believe that was so.

Tugging at the neckline of her cream-and-green sari, Amrita found herself wondering for the umpteenth time that summer whether she shouldn't move to someplace with cooler weather once and for all. She had been wondering for the past few years whether it wasn't time for a change of scenery. After all, the only human interaction she ever got anyways was when people had medical emergencies they couldn't trust anyone else with; ones that would almost certainly result in death.

It wasn't that she didn't like helping people—she did, really. However, for once in her life, she felt as though she wanted to make the effort to find her own niche in the world, rather than simply staying in the land of her birth. It was special to her, undoubtedly. But she simply found herself wondering…what else could there possibly be to see and do in the world? Besides, what with the incident that happened a few months back, she found herself growing restless staying in such a place that made her mind dwell on the negative…

Amrita exhaled through her nose, deciding to ponder her agitation with the land of her birth later. Pulling aside the curtain she used in place of an actual door for her out-of-the-way little stucco house, she stepped out of her sandals, shoving them to the side with her foot. She started towards the kitchen, but she paused in her tracks, narrowing her eyes.

"Why don't you just come out?" she said to thin air. "I'd rather we talked before you pull your gun on me."

There was a pause before a woman with bright red hair stepped out into view, her feet not making a sound against the tile flooring. The woman looked her over from head to toe, seeming to be assessing how much of a threat she posed. Amrita resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the woman's behavior.

"So who are you with, then? FBI? No, you look like you could be Russian…not KGB? I doubt they could've tracked me down the fastest, though, too many other things take priority over someone like me…"

The woman's face gave nothing away, but she seemed to deem fit to answer anyways.

"I'm with SHIELD. I'm here to take you in." She held her hands out in front of her, as though to placate Amrita. "Without using force, if possible."

Amrita wracked her brain, trying to recall anything she might have heard in the past about SHIELD. She could only recall hearing about it once, shortly after its formation. They had gotten a lot better at covering their tracks after that. Nowadays, it was just a thing of rumor. She remembered when she had heard about it, one of the founders had been involved in the only successful Super Soldier project to date. Perhaps, if they were involved in more of those kinds of things…she supposed she had nothing to lose by going to find out. The worst thing that could happen was that she wouldn't escape intact, but even if she didn't escape intact, she would just end up back here in the end…

Amrita ran her hands down the front of her sari, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles. She raised her eyes back to the agent in front of her, hesitating before holding her hand out—slowly, so as not to startle the agent into reaching for the concealed gun that she could smell the metal bullets of on the stagnant air.

"I suppose we should introduce ourselves then, if I'm going to be letting you kidnap me. Amrita Mehrotra," she said as the redhead tentatively grasped her hand, dropping it quickly after shaking it once.

"You can call me Natasha," she said briskly. Very business-like.

Amrita smirked. "Well then, Natasha," she said cheekily, "take me to your leader."

Natasha fixed her with a blank stare, causing Amrita to frown.

"Note to self…don't expect government agents to have a sense of humor," she grumbled to herself as the redhead moved towards the doorway, placing a hand on Amrita's back as though to 'guide' her, but Amrita felt as though it was more so that she would be able to grab her quicker if she tried to make a break for it. That seemed the more likely reason, anyway. Amrita quickly shoved her feet into her sandals before they stepped out of the house, and it didn't escape her attention that there was now a government-issue Jeep waiting for them, with two other agents sitting in the front. Amrita climbed into the back, Natasha sliding in behind her. They had barely sat down before the driver stepped on the gas.

"We have one more stop before we head back to headquarters," Natasha informed her before staring out the window, all but ignoring Amrita.

"O…kay," Amrita said, not sure how to feel about that. What in the world could they be doing? Were they going to be kidnapping another person that SHIELD had taken interest in? She wanted to ask so many questions. How had SHIELD found her? Did they know the full extent of her powers? She bit the inside of her cheek to hold in the questions. It would probably be best to ask the person in charge all of her questions rather than one of the agents. They'd probably just tell her to wait and ask the person in charge anyways.

It was a very long feeling two hours' drive before they stopped again, and Natasha slid out of the Jeep, walking until she was out of sight. The driver pulled the Jeep into a back alley and pressed a hand to what she assumed was an earpiece.

"Agents Domingo and Vale ready for pick-up," he said, pausing for a moment as Amrita assumed he was listening to a response. "Copy that."

Amrita sighed, not liking being out of the loop on what was going on, but resigning herself to the fact that she would just have to wait to find out what was happening, if they would even end up telling her in the end. She leaned her elbow on the glassless window frame of the Jeep, placing her chin in her hand and staring out at the graffiti on the building they were parked behind. She must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew, she was jerking her head up from where it had fallen back against the seat, startled awake by the motion of the Jeep. She tried not to get her hopes up, but she hoped they were actually going to be finishing whatever mission they were on and going back to headquarters so she could either get some real sleep or some real answers, though seeing as it had turned into nighttime since she'd last looked at the sky, she felt she would prefer sleep over anything else at the moment.

They rolled to a stop in front of a small, secluded house not terribly unlike her own a couple of minutes later, and Amrita squinted out into the dark, just able to make out the dark figures of what looked like Natasha and an unfamiliar man. The man slid into the Jeep first, and Amrita fought the urge to squash herself up against the upholstery in order to put a little extra distance between herself and the stranger. She wasn't exactly the most trusting of strange men. She had been taken advantage of more than once in the past, and despite that it became more and more likely to happen the longer she lived, that didn't make it any more acceptable, or any less scarring.

The man looked over at her as Natasha climbed into the Jeep behind him, seeming to notice her discomfort, though whether he realized it was because of him, she couldn't be sure. Either way, he smiled faintly, holding out his hand to her.

"Hi. I'm Bruce," he said.

Amrita hesitated for a fraction of a second, but hastily shook his hand before dropping it, not wanting him to feel awkward despite that she was unsure of whether he was to be trusted just yet.

"Amrita," she muttered.

Bruce looked at her thoughtfully. It seemed innocent enough, but she still didn't like it.

"You wouldn't happen to be the Amrita that lives in the village a couple hours away, would you?"

She deflated a little at that. Of course, even someone who didn't look to be native to India had heard of the rumors the locals spread about her 'spooky' supernatural healing powers. The locals thought she was bad luck to those who crossed her doorstep because the healing she did defied the laws of nature, and they spread their thoughts to anyone who would listen.

"Yes, I'm that Amrita," she said tiredly, turning back to the window and leaning her head against the frame.

Bruce muttered something along the lines of "that explains it, then", but Amrita was no longer listening, already feeling herself being lulled to sleep as the Jeep adopted a steady speed towards wherever their destination might be.