AN: I don't own the Avengers. I know this chapter doesn't actually have the Avengers in it, but this is an Avengers fic. This is like a prologue.

She sat on the hood of a battered jeep, one sleeve of her shirt pulled up to her shoulder. He crouched next to her, holding her sleeve up so he could see the bullet wound in her forearm. "You should've said something sooner." The jeep was parked in a dirty alley. A third person must be there, because a pair of pink hiking boots and jeans were visible behind the jeep. Her entire upper body was under the hood.

The girl sitting on the hood winced. "We don't have time for this."

"You shouldn't have run into trouble like that again." The boy said. "You could've been killed."

"But I wasn't." The girl said coldly. "Besides, one of us had to do something." The boy scowled, fishing through the backpack leaned against the jeep. He pulled out a pair of tweezers and a rag.

"We shouldn't have done this without a better plan, or backup." He said, handing her the rag. She stuffed it into her mouth. "Sorry about this." He slid the tweezers into the bullet wound. The boy winced sympathetically, but the girl didn't even wince. She made no sound. "Sorry…" He pulled the tweezers out, holding up a shard of metal. "Got the bullet."

The girl nodded briskly. He wrapped her arm with gauze, using a piece of duct tape to hold the gauze in place. He tugged the rag out of her mouth, her eyes watering. "That could've been so much worse, Lou."

"Don't call me Lou." The girl snapped, yanking her arm away with a sudden flare of anger. "That isn't my name."

"I know you can't remember," The boy sighed, sitting back on his haunches. "But your name is Louisa. Everyone calls you Lou."

"That is not my name!" The girl, Lou, hissed. She stood up. "I have already told you. My name is-"

"Hey!" The third person pulled themselves out of the back of the jeep. It was another girl, the same age as Lou and the boy. "Engines fixed. The bullets didn't hurt anything important. We should go."

"We're ready, Cass." The boy said, nodding. He tossed his medical supplies into his backpack, slinging it over one shoulder and standing up. "Is the coast clear?"

"How the hell should I know?" Cass rolled her eyes. Lou pulled her sleeve down over the gauze and tugged on a black leather jacket.

"I can eliminate them." Lou said. Cass raised an eyebrow, and the boy shifted nervously.

"Or we could not do that." Cass suggested. "This is a good car. We can just outrun 'em. Get far enough away they can't get to us again."

"Cass-" The boy started to protest.

"Just come on." Cass said, slamming the back of the jeep shut. "We're getting the heck out of this stupid country."

Lou's frown deepened, but the boy followed Cass's lead, moving to the driver's side door. When Lou didn't follow as well, he turned with a worried look. "What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.

"I don't know you. I can't just leave with you." Lou said suspiciously. "I know HYDRA."

"I don't know much about HYDRA. But I do know what they did to you. And you might not know us, but we know you. Your name is Louisa Cardinal. My name is Dewey, and our friend is Cass. We are your friends, even if HYDRA wiped your memories of us. Please, Lou-"

"Stop calling me that!" Lou burst out. "My name isn't Lou, dammit!"

"Then what is it?" Dewey demanded.

"My name is Siafu. The Siafu Soldier."

Dewey looked confused. "Like the poisonous ants?"

She glowered at him. "Like the type of poisonous ant known for overwhelming a victim and clamping their jaws into their flesh, even known to kill humans? Yes."

"Um, yeah." Dewey looked a little sickened. "We have to go." He turned and slung himself into the jeep.

Cass was already waiting in the rental car and looking scared, impatient, and haughty all at the same time. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Dewey, who shook his head.

Cass had short dark brown hair in two messy braids, and a few loose curls coming out from under her black ski cap. She had a round kind face and dark brown eyes, and light skin turning pink in the cold. She was of medium height, and was built sturdily but wasn't overweight, just strong. She wore jeans with patches on each knee, black fingerless gloves, pink hiking boots covered in mud, a fitted black t-shirt, and an army fatigue jacket. Hung on a chain around her neck was several dog tags that were starting to loose their shine.

"About time." Cass said as Lou (or the Siafu Soldier) climbed into the backseat. "Okay," Cass said, starting the jeep. "We just make it to the airport, hightail it back to Chicago. Any alternate plans?" Dewey shrugged.

"I'm not going to Chicago." Lou said suddenly. The other two exchanged a worried look.

"Lou, we're from Chicago. It's our home. We live there, with our families. Your parents are worried sick about you, and ours will call the police if we don't get back from our "school trip" on the right day. We have to go to Chicago." Dewey said, trying to sound comforting.

"He's right, Lou. Chicago's-" Cass started to say.

"That isn't my name!" Lou screamed, and she twisted, kicking the car door. It was ripped off it's hinges and slammed into the side of the alley with a loud bang. "I am not going to Chicago! We are going to New York City!"

"What are we supposed to do in New York City?" Dewey asked.

"What did you do to the car!" Cass demanded. "That was crazy."

"I already told you about my leg, and hand, didn't I?" Lou said, and the other two didn't answer. "And we are going to New York City because of my mission. The mission HYDRA gave me."

"What mission would that be?" Cass demanded, twisting around in her seat to meet Lou's eyes.

"To kill the Avengers."

One week earlier, Chicago Illinois

Dewey was woken up by his phone buzzing with Cass's ringtone. He lifted his head off his pillow, searching blearily for the phone. It had fallen off the blankets onto the floor, and he picked it up. "Cass? 'S three in th' morning…" He mumbled, wiping sleep out of his eyes.

"Dew, I got something. I got a hit. She's in Slokovia. Her face was on a traffic cam. Dew, we gotta go to Slokovia."

Six months earlier, Chicago Illinois

Dewey banged on the back door of Lou's house, the way he did everyday after school. Cass climbed the stairs a few feet behind him, the way she always did. And Lou always threw the screen door open and invited them in. But today the house was silent.

"Is something wrong?" Dewey wondered, peering through one of the windows.

"She would've texted me." Cass shrugged. "Maybe delinquent school ran late."

Dewey shot her a look, reminding her not to call it that. It wasn't Lou's fault she had gotten kicked out of the school where Dewey and Cass went, and the only other school close enough was for child delinquents. Lou was the kindest friendliest person they knew, but Cass wasn't funny.

They knocked again, and a few minutes later the door swung open slowly. Lou's mother stood in the doorway, looking tired. There were bags under her puffy red eyes, she looked miserable, and she was dirty and missing her usual makeup. She and Lou looked similar; the same jet-black hair, the same light hazel eyes, the same high cheekbones and tall figure. But Lou wasn't with her mother.

"Cass, Dewey. What are you doing here?" Lou's mother rasped.

"We… always come here?" Dewey asked.

"Isn't Lou around?" Cass asked impatiently.

"You mean you haven't heard?" Lou's mother looked surprised, but that didn't mean she was any less miserable-looking. "You haven't heard about Lou?"

Cass and Dewey felt nothing but dread. Cass grabbed Dewey's hand for reassurance, and the pair of them waited for the woman to tell them what was going on. But instead she sank to her knees in the doorway, crying.

A shooter had stormed into Lou's school that morning. Before he could shoot anyone, Lou had tazed him. The police had come, and taken Lou and the shooter to the police station. But on the way there, the police car that Lou had been riding in had been hijacked. Someone had taken her, and nobody knew why.

Because she stopped the shooter? Dewey wondered. But he promised himself something; he would find Lou. He would find Lou no matter what, and bring her home.

AN: Thanks for reading. Please review or favorite/follow.