Cherry bolted across the rooftops, jumping over the thin alleys below. She jumped too far and her foot slipped, causing her to trip, but she was back up in a second. She grabbed her rifle off her back and crouched down on the rooftop, five stories up. Cars zipped by on roads to her left and people walked on the sidewalk. She had to be careful.

"Don't hit any civilians. Just Carlos." The person in her earpiece instructed.

"Yeah yeah. I know. Jeez. Give me some credit." Cherry responded.

"Is he within your sights?"

Cherry peered through her sniper scope into the crowd. There was a shifty man in a dark blue shirt, with tattooed arms and a briefcase. She knew a bomb was in the briefcase, and if she didn't stop him soon, he would ignite it, killing hundreds. And all for what? A few thousand bucks. Carlos disgusted her. He reminded her of her ex-boyfriend. Cherry grinned at this. Every bad guy reminded her of Damian.

"Agent Sparks? Report."

"Sorry, Matt. He's within my sights. Should I shoot?" Cherry hated procedure. She just wanted to kill him and be done with it.

"Don't Kill. Repeat. Do not kill. Set to stun. Fury wants to interrogate him and find his employers." Matt replied over the earpiece.

Cherry rolled her eyes. "Can't you just talk normal? I mean… you sound like a robot. Unless it's robot day at Shield. You know what? I think every day is robot day at Shield. You guys are all too serious. You can't even take a joke!"

"Agent Sparks! Pay attention! Take him down!"

"Fine!" Cherry said into her earpiece.

She zoomed in on her sniper scope. She clicked in her stun darts and steadied her aim. She pulled the trigger and the man dropped to the ground a few seconds later. Cherry grinned. "Carlos is down! Does this mean I can go home? It's past ten."

"Shield is taking Carlos in custody. You can go home." Matt replied from the other side. Cherry watched as several agents defused the bomb and cuffed Carlos, taking him prisoner.

Cherry swung her sniper across her back and stood up, stretching. "Another good day of work. Gosh… why can't I just snipe him when I see him?"

"Protocol, Agent Sparks."

Cherry turned around, just in time to see a fist. Then, everything went black.

Cherry groaned, rubbing her head. She sat up in the dark cell. She reached for her sniper, but it was gone, as was her belt and earpiece. She was defenseless. They had even taken the knife she kept in her boot. Great. She had been planning to get a good night's sleep, and now she was in a danky cell with a creepy person sitting across from her. Wait… who was this creepy person? "Hey." She greeted.

The dark figure didn't respond. Cherry scooted closer. "Hello?" She waved her hand in front of the figure's face. His blue eyes snapped open. She had seen him before. But where? The man stared at him with such a dull and blank stare, she didn't know what to think. Was someone even in there? "Hey! Anybody in there?"

The man looked up at her. It took him almost five minutes for him to even start reacting. In that time, Cherry studied him more. He looked… crippled. His face was burnt and cut up. His clothes were basically rags. His arms and legs were chained and he was slumped against the wall like a rag doll. He blinked a few times at her, a sign of life filling his eyes. And then, dread. He coughed and scooted away from her. What made her really sick was the metal muzzle covering his mouth. She recognized him.

It was Loki. The man who had invaded Earth and tried to enslave everyone. Naturally, she was angry. No. She was furious. "Loki?" She asked, trying to keep her anger under control.

Loki looked up at her with indifference. He turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. Cherry reached over and touched his shoulder. This shook him awake. He backed into the corner of the cell like a caged animal, and she guessed he would be screaming if it weren't for the muzzle. "Hey! Calm down!"

This made Loki more upset. She could hear his struggled breathing through his nose. His eyes were wide in fear, scanning her for weapons.

"Do you have any idea where we are, Lokes?" Cherry asked.

Of course, Loki didn't respond. "Is there a way to take the muzzle off?"

This made Loki even more frantic. He clawed at the muzzle, covering it from her sight the best he could, as if she would hurt him if it was taken. "Okay okay! No way of taking it off!"

The cell doors banged open and Loki curled into a defensive ball. "Sorry about having to share a cell. We ran out of space. So… Cherry Sparks. I've heard about you." A tall man ducked through the door.

"Cool. Does that mean I'm famous or have you just been stalking me?"

The tall man chuckled. "I guess you could say a little bit of both."

"Hey, I really appreciate being abducted and all, but I was planning on a cup of cocoa and a cheesy movie when I got home."

"I apologize, but your plans will be delayed permanently."

"Oh great… you're not another one of those people that wants to ransom me to my uncle. I'll tell you right now, he and I aren't very close. He's turned down seven offers so far, not caring if I die and I've had to fight my way out of every situation."

"I am sure he will accept a packaged deal." The man smirked evilly, all playful banter set aside now.

Cherry sighed, rolling her eyes visibly. "So does this mean I'm stuck here with Creepy?" She asked, pointing at Loki.

The tall man glared at her. "That is enough. I bid you the best of luck with this piece of trash." And with that, the man turned to leave.

Cherry frantically looked around the cell for anything she could use, settling on her boot. She slipped her boots off her feet and sprang towards the now closing door, lodging her shoe in the doorway, the man cursing as she kicked the door and it flew open, slamming into the man's forehead. He slumped to the floor, a boot-wielding Cherry standing over him.

Guards were on her in seconds. She swung the hard, metal heel of her boot into the first guard's face. The second man grabbed her arms, twisting them behind her and fumbling for some cuffs. Cherry had the courtesy to laugh as she slammed her elbow into his face, sweeping a leg under him and pushing his head down as he lost balance and fell.

She looked back at the tall man, seeing a communication device on his belt, or at least hoping that's what it was, as she dived for it. The guards were on her heel, her cold and very bare feet catching on something, sending her sprawling to the ground, crawling towards her objective. Flipped onto her back, the first guard towering over her, snarling. She held back a laugh, thinking how stupid these people were, as she nailed him in the eye with a strong kick from the heel of her foot, the man falling off her.

She scrambled to her feet, hearing the showering of footsteps in the outside corridor. She grabbed the communicator off the man's belt, only to find out it was a taser. "What?!" A coppery taste filled her mouth as she bit the inside of her cheek trying not to scream. "A taser! You couldn't at least have given me a gun? Or a phone? Or some sort of map thingy? Not even a pair of keys?"

She patted the man's belt and found nothing besides a pair of cuffs. She took the cuffs and taser, prepared to do anything, when the footfalls she had heard earlier burst through the door, bright light blinding her.

The first person through the door charged towards her. She pointed the taser at the man and fired, her aim never off, hitting him in the chest. He convulsed, falling to the floor in a fitful seizure.

The second person appeared to be a woman. Cherry soon found the taser had been kicked out of her hand, a fist crunching against her jaw. Cherry fell backwards, losing her balance, the cuffs flying from her grasp. The woman was on top of her,

"Wait!" She heard the man say.

"What?" The woman snapped.

"I think that's her." The man staggered to his feet, having recovered abnormally fast.

Cherry struggled under the woman's grip. The woman's steely grey eyes narrowed as she flicked her red hair out of her face. "Nat?" Cherry asked, ceasing her struggling.

"Oh. It's you." Natasha replied, standing up and holding out a hand to Cherry.

"Who's tha… Oh. It's Captain America. " Cherry stretched her back.

"You have impressive aim." The Captain nodded, breathing hard.

"Sorry about that… You didn't exactly come at the best time for me to be trusting people… So Uncle Fury really does care about me?" She asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"No. We came for the other part of the 'packaged deal'." Natasha stated blandly.

Cherry fought back the bitter taste of disappointment and turned to the cell she had previously been in. "He's probably passed out. He wasn't looking too good."

"He was in there with you?" The Captain asked.

"Yeah-"

"Did he compromise you?" Natasha cut in quickly, her sharp gaze looking over Cherry's form.

Cherry rolled her eyes. "No. In fact, he wouldn't even talk to me. I don't think he's had a very good week… Do I get to come back with you or do I have to walk home?"

"I don't think it would be wise to walk home, seeing as you're on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." The Captain commented.

"Great." And with that, Cherry pulled on both of her boots and waited glumly in the corner as they retrieved the other half of her package.