Author's Note: Here's the sequel to Erased. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend reading it beforehand. Especially since this picks right back up after Smudged left off. Well... not entirely. Erased starts 1 week after the events in the last chapter of Smudged (not the epilogue however). Anyway... I'm looking forward to writing this, and I hope you're looking forward to reading it! Please review and tell me what you think! ~Jazzy
Story Summary: Normally, when you're fired from a job, you pack up your stuff and leave. However, SHIELD is no normal job, and Ilia is no normal person. After the battle of New York, she finds herself on the run from SHIELD's assassins, who will stop at nothing to complete their mission and eliminate her. Alone & in hiding, she may just have to rely on the god she once betrayed. Sequel to Smudged
Erased
By Jazzy Pseudonym
Prologue…
On Asgard…
"Brother, I am most disappointed…" Thor sighed, pacing outside of Loki's jail cell that was holding him captive.
On the inside, Loki looked away from his adopted brother, separated not only by the metal bars between them, but by the years of lies he had discovered. The god of mischief closed his eyes gently, choosing to view the silent blackness over any image of his so-called brother.
"Loki- brother- will you not speak to me?" Thor asked earnestly. Loki could hear the sound of Thor's pacing stop, and the god of thunder's hands clasp the bars. Thor sighed once more, and opened Loki's cell, stepping inside before he could even escape.
Loki's eyes remained closed as he felt cold metal brush up against his mouth, and the magically-enhanced muzzle was placed around his face. Every day, Thor would come and undo the muzzle, hoping to hear anything at all from his adopted brother's mouth. Even if it was slander or words of anger… just hearing his brother would be a relief. But Loki remained silent. He would not speak a single word. Not to anyone. Especially not Thor.
Thor was certain if this continued, his brother's rage would only fester and grow worse. Thor sought to redeem Loki. But his brother was making this difficult. If Odin could only see some remorse in Loki... maybe his punishment would be less severe. At this moment, the outlook was looking bad, but Loki did not even seem to notice, much less care.
"I am sorry brother…" Thor said quietly, exiting the cell. The door closed with a bang. Footsteps.
Loki opened his eyes to watch Thor walk away.
In S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters…
Maria Hill hastily signed the papers, her scrawl far from the perfect signature she typically displayed. However, with the amount of paperwork she had to do, she didn't have time for perfection. After the battle of New York, there were myriads of papers to sign, explanations to give, orders to command. She placed the completed document on the filing tray, for an Agent to take later and file wherever it was supposed to go.
She absent-mindedly picked up the next document, and scanned over it, almost carelessly signing it. However, something caught her eye. She pulled it closer, and read it fully.
It was an order to terminate the Agent known as 'Ilia.' Already signed by Nick Fury. It awaited only her signature, as one of the foremost Agents.
"But why…?" she mused. Ilia had given them their fair-share of troubles in the past two years, but she was an effective Agent nonetheless. The document wasn't very straightforward in wording, but she got the gist of it. Ilia couldn't be trusted. She was a player on both sides and went too far in her duties. The Agent had refused orders from Fury, and put multiple missions in danger, and declined answering important questions. In short, she was too costly and needed to go.
Maria Hill faced a moral dilemma. Technically, Ilia wasn't even supposed to be alive, if Maria had read the Agent's history properly. S.H.I.E.L.D. had saved her life, and Ilia owed them her loyalty.
She couldn't spend too long debating this. She had hours more of paperwork ahead. With a guilty sigh, Maria signed the document, and sent it away, desperately trying to forget the face of the one she just authorized to kill.
On Stark Tower…
Captain America sat on the roof of the building, staring at New York, still in shambles. Car horns blared, sirens roared in the distance, people shouted. People were cleaning and repairing, but some scars he knew just wouldn't fade. He turned around and sat down in a nearby chair. The door opened, and he looked over to see the face of Natasha Romanoff.
"You doing alright, Captain?" She asked, pushing a few strands of red hair behind one ear. She took a seat next to him. Steve rubbed his neck a little awkwardly.
"Yeah… just… thinking," he said softly.
She raised one eyebrow. "What about?"
He paused. "New York… Just... how will it ever recover fully?"
"If I know one thing," she let a ghost of a smile appear on her face, "New York's a hardy city. It'll be fine in a few months or years. It's a city of progress. Of moving on. It'll get better eventually…"
"I suppose so…" Steve said. Natasha stared out into the city with him, both sat in silence for a few moments.
"When do you think the team will reassemble?" Steve asked, breaking the peaceful silence.
"I-I don't know," she said truthfully. "Stark's still recovering. He says he's fine, but the medical staff say otherwise. And Bruce…? I don't know where he went. Clint's back at S.H.I.E.L.D. already on his next mission. Thor's back on Asgard with Loki. I don't know if we'll ever come back together."
Steve let the words sink in for a second. "You forgot someone…" he said suddenly.
Natasha looked down at her feet. "I didn't forget. I chose to leave her out."
"She'll come back," Steve insisted.
"Why would she want to?" Natasha scowled. "She fell off the building and now she's gone. I don't think she's ever coming back."
"It… just doesn't make sense," he replied. "She was fighting on our side-and injured. Why would she run away?"
"I can think of plenty of reasons," Natasha whispered, mostly to herself. She stood herself up and walked back inside, leaving Captain America sitting alone on the roof...