S.H.I.E.L.D.'S DISNEY DIVISION

Chapter One

The expanse of night sky over New York City was an endless abyss of purple clouds and faint starlight. The streets were alive and buzzing with motors, traffic lights, and the never-ending hum of the citizens' chatter. Yes, this was truly a city that never slept. The booming bass of hip-hop music emanating from the nightclubs was the city's heart beat; The rattling subways underground were the city's pulse. Both never stopped. The body of old New York, New York had proven itself strong time and time again. It was unshakeable at its core. Its immune system had been strengthened over many decades of being inundated with crime, pollution, and alien attacks...

But there were still a few germs lingering in the pipelines that were the city's veins; building their numbers, waiting to contaminate the fibers of the city and finally bring it down.

One of these germs was kneeling on top of a gargoyle a good 100 or so stories high. The only thing keeping her keenly balanced frame from falling through the air and into the tumultuous street below was an old, crackling stone demon peering down at an old museum...which happened to be her target. She narrowed her teal eyes and smirked, standing up. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the warm summer breeze waft over her lean, leather-clad body, carrying her brown waves of hair toward the sky. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. They gleamed with anticipation, shining in the night. She couldn't help but grin as she threw herself out over the street, diving into the open air.

She remained in free fall for about seven seconds before expertly flipping over so that she faced the endless sky. In a brief flash, she saw the stars dancing in and out of view, and the tall buildings reaching higher and higher above her. The gargoyle that she'd just been perched on glowered down at her, as if it were jealous that she could fly away and it couldn't. She smirked as she nimbly pressed a button on her utility belt, sending a small hook silently shooting up and grappling the edge of the museum's roof.

The indestructible cord snapped to a stop, jerking her tiny frame out of mid-air. She swung by her hip for a moment, and she had to fight her brief panic as she threw her torso upward so she could grip the cord with her hands. She pushed her feet out in front of her, preparing for impact with the museum wall as she picked up speed. She instinctively bent her knees just before landing, coming to an easy stop as her strong legs took the force of the wall and continued to bend until she was crouching against it so that her back faced the ground below. She held in a shaky sigh and used one hand to brush some wild hair away from her face. She glanced around to make sure she hadn't been seen. Of course, she was safe. She may have been a little new to this job, but she'd definitely been picked for this for a reason. She was meant for it.

She smirked triumphantly and stifled a giggle as she hopped out of her crouch and started to scale the wall. She placed one hand on the cord, and used two fingers of the other hand to control the cord's trigger on her hip. Lightly applying pressure to the button slowly inched the cord toward her, effectively helping to pull her up as she walked in the direction of the roof. As she grew nearer and nearer to the roof, her excitement climbed as well. But she forced herself to focus on making the climb, because at this point, falling would be so embarrassing.

The climb was quick and easy. She hopped up onto the edge of the roof and crouched there, pushing the button on her belt with full pressure. This forced the hook to release from the roof and snap back into the device on her belt. She carefully stood up and crept across the roof on quick, silent feet. When she found the vent she was looking for, she grinned and knelt down, placing all ten fingertips (which were free due to her fingerless gloves) against the roof on either side of the vent. She closed her eyes, her expression suddenly somber. She furrowed her brow in concentration.

When the cement shifted under her grasp and melted away, now sand, she grinned. She leaned over the vent's grate covering and quickly used another device on her belt to unscrew the bolts holding the grate, leaving the vent open. After taking a moment to admire her work, she slipped into the vent.

She followed her boss's instructions exactly; Forward for ten seconds, right turn, forward, second left, forward for 28 seconds, and one last left turn. (For the sake of success, her timing had to be perfect. She was supposed to be leaving the building in no more than two minutes.)

She was now directly above the target: An ancient Arabic staff, crafted from pure gold and tipped with a sculpted cobra's head. The eyes of the cobra were said to be enchanted rubies that would hypnotize any one that looked into them.

She scanned the area. The museum had been closed for a good eight hours, and security was pretty bad, but paranoia helped her work better. She used a scanner on her belt to determine the strength of this vent; It was considerably weaker than the first one.

Feeling mischievous, she decided to ignore her boss' s warning about using her less inconspicuous powers. She grinned as she pulled the glove off of her right hand, then made a fist with the same hand. The molecules of her fist shifted and transformed, turning the fist to stone. She peered through the grate once more to double-check that no one was in the room beneath her. It was deserted. She gave the grate one quick, firm punch with her stone fist, popping it open in one go. Not very quietly either. She quickly caught the grate with her left hand before it could go crashing down to the ground. She pulled the grate inside and let it sit nearby in the vent. She waited to hear footsteps approach while she changed her fist back to flesh and pulled the glove back on.

She did a quick somersault and hung from the vent with one hand, dangling from the middle of the cieling. She looked around again, waiting for any one to come running in.

Nothing.

She shifted her molecules again, turning into sand and raining down onto the red carpet below. Once every grain had landed, it all gathered up and swirled up into the air, once again forming a human-looking girl. She smirked and strolled toward the tall glass case containing the regal Cobra Staff. She paused, pulling a little black compact from a pocket on her belt. She popped the compact open, revealing a fine purple powder, and held it up in front of her mouth. She gently blew a layer of the powder toward the display case.

In the brief time before the dust faded, she saw that lasers were surrounding the case on all sides like a box. She rolled her eyes and snapped the compact shut, once more securing it in its pocket. Taking out surveillance had taken all day while she spied on the place, and she didn't have that kind of time to kill the security alarms... That would just be pushing her luck.

She needed a distraction.

She silently moved out of the room and down the hall. She reached the room at the end of the hall, which was full of stuff from the medieval ages of England. She slunk her way over to a shelf on the furthest wall and looked it over quickly. Her gaze rested on a dainty pair of glasses resting on a velvet cushion. The placard in front of the glasses read:

Merlin's Glasses- On Loan From the Museum of Disney City

She smirked and unleashed her grapple, simultaneously snagging the glasses and setting off a blaring alarm. Once she was holding the glasses, she changed once more into sand and slithered into the corner of the room closest to the door. Three security guards ran into the room, right past her. While they all searched the room, she was disappearing and moving back into the room with the staff. She transformed back into her human from, slid the glasses into her vest pocket, and pulled the glove off of her right hand again. Without a second thought, she used her stone fist to break the glass. Nothing could be heard over the alarm. She snatched the staff with both hands and quickly strapped it to her back. This thing would be too difficult to carry through the vents; She would have to be sand again. And she did just that, crawling up the wall, across the ceiling and into the vent, then onward to the roof.

Once there, she again transformed into her human self. The alarm could still be heard wailing, and now the whine of police sirens was drawing near. She reached back to grip the staff for reassurance. Yup, still there. She grinned in triumph and started to pull her communicator from her pocket.

"Sadira." A very unhappy female voice spoke from behind her.

Damn it.

Sadira turned her aqua eyes, flashing with anger, toward a woman about her age-very early twenties-glaring at her from behind a black eye mask, her arms crossed. She wasn't wearing dark leather, like Sadira. She wore bright teal spandex leggings that sat low on her hips, same level as her black utility belt, and reached only to the middle of her toned calves. She wore a tight vest of the same color that showed off her abs and a generous amount of her chest, and had long, sheer black sleeves attached. The sleeves had a print like a tiger pelt and became fingerless gloves at the end. She also wore flat black shoes. Yes, her look was one of the most daring of all the Runners. Her long, thick waves of black hair were kept in a tight ponytail on top of her head. She was fit, but not big. She was actually quite dainty; She was thin and stood at about 5'3" or 5'4". Nevertheless, she was fairly intimidating.

Sadira smirked at her old enemy. "Well. If it isn't the Desert Rose herself." Her expression turned to a look of complete loathing. "Hello, Jasmine."

Jasmine's oval-shaped brown eyes, thickly traced with black eyeliner, flickered toward the staff. Then she glared at Sadira again. "I can't let you take that."

Sadira shrugged, grinning ruefully. "You don't have much of a choice. This baby's coming with me no matter what." She reached up to fondly pet the cobra's head. "I've got a lot riding on this guy."

"Your life?" Jasmine quirked an eyebrow.

Sadira looked at Jasmine sharply. "In a way, yes."

Jasmine sighed, uncrossing her arms. "Sadira, do I really need to say it?"

"Don't." Sadira said darkly. "I don't need to hear you scolding me ever again."

They stared at each other again.

"Okay, but seriously, you can't take that." Jasmine repeated, pointing toward the staff.

Sadira smiled deviously. "Think you can keep up with me?"

"Don't do this, Sadira."

"I mean, you never could any way..."

"You can still get out of this. You can still join us. We will help you." Jasmine was pleading now.

Sadira glared at her for a long moment. Then, she shook her head. "I don't need help." And she started running.

Jasmine didn't hesitate to run after her, nor to follow her when she leapt from the museum's roof to the roof the neighbouring apartment building. Sadira was one of the fastest runners, rivaled by very few others, and they were all male. Jasmine tried to remain calm and focused, but the old frustration of being unable to keep up was nagging her. She had always been too hot-tempered for her own good; Coupling that with the violent competitiveness that Sadira had always awakened in her created a very ugly tumult of mental and physical turmoil inside Jasmine. She couldn't focus, so she couldn't run fast enough. But she never stopped moving; Endurance was an even more important key to Running than sharp focus or mental clarity. Of course, those two were still important, and Jasmine was seriously failing at it right now. And realizing that she was failing made things even worse. Still, she never stopped moving, despite the fact that she was growing more and more angry about how Sadira was so much more skilled than her.

Sadira cast a quick smirk over her shoulder at Jasmine. They'd jumped three roofs now, and Jasmine was showing no sign of catching up. Feeling cocky, Sadira decided to collapse into a tiny pile of sand. Jasmine ran right over her-not seeing her in the dark-and halted, looking around in shock. Jasmine knew all about Sadira's powers, but she wasn't expecting her to use them. Sadira could have easily gotten away by simply continuing to run; It was common knowledge that Sadira could run for hours on end without getting tired if she needed to. The girl's endurance and stamina were insane.

Jasmine sighed and hung her head in shame. She'd let Sadira get away...

"Ahem."

Jasmine turned to be met with a stone fist in her gut. She groaned and crumpled to her knees, wrapping her arms around her stomach. Sadira chuckled and strolled around Jasmine's hunched form, heading toward the edge of the roof. Jasmine could barely see, let alone think. She turned her head in the vague direction that she thought Sadira had gone, but was basically blinded by spots dancing and flashing through her vision. Her mind was completely clouded.

"It was nice seeing you, Jazz. It really was. Unfortunately, I've gotta dash." Sadira giggled and waved cutesily. "See you around... Oh." She grinned. "Say hi to Al for me."

With that, Sadira unleashed her grapple hook so that it grabbed the edge of a taller roof across the street. She leapt away and sailed through the air, landing safely against the building's side. She quickly scaled the building, then turned to give Jasmine one more smug grin before disappearing.

Jasmine groaned again and leaned down so low that her forehead rested on her knees. She allowed herself to black out.

"Jasmine!"

She had no idea how long she'd been down, but she knew it must have been awhile. Aladdin and Flynn were both shouting her name from far away, sounding truly worried. She heard their voices and their quick feet getting closer to her, so she slowly sat up. She could actually see now, but the pain that wracked through her stomach, back and rib cage was still pretty distracting. She had probably cracked a rib or two... Maybe she was even bleeding internally... To be a Runner, you had to be pretty in tune with your body, so sensing these things was important.

Her pain must have shown on her face, because Aladdin was kneeling beside her in worry. Flynn stood nearby with his arms crossed.

"Jasmine, are you alright?" Aladdin asked.

She shook her head. "She hit me... Really hard."

"Stone fist?" Flynn asked.

Jasmine nodded.

"We need to get you to Dr. Sweet right away, babe." Aladdin said.

Flynn nodded and reached toward the communicator in his ear. "I'll call for a lift." Flynn wandered away a few steps and started to speak to someone on the other end.

Aladdin looked at Jasmine, wrapping his arms around her. "Flynn and I won't be able to go back with you. We've gotta stay here and figure out what happened exactly. But I swear I'll come see you in the Medical Wing the moment we get back. Alright?"

She nodded with a weak smile.

Flynn ended his call and came back to them, sighing. He frowned at Jasmine. "Why did you chase her? You were supposed to wait for us."

Jasmine glared at him. "She moves faster than we thought. You guys were gonna be too late; She was getting away, and instincts kicked in."

"Well, she got away any way. You should have called us. We could have tracked her! Could have handled this quietly, and possibly find Jafar's hiding spot. But, no, you had to go after her, let her know she's being watched."

"I didn't know what else to do!" Jasmine yelled.

"Well you definitely shouldn't have let you little childhood feud get in the way of our mission! You should have just sent Aladdin after her, since he can handle her without any use of force!"

Jasmine glared at Flynn. It was common knowledge that Sadira had a long-standing attraction to Aladdin, and couldn't stand that he was with Jasmine. It was what finally drove Sadira away. The three of them used to be best friends.

"Lay off, Flynn." Aladdin mumbled.

After a quiet moment, Flynn sighed and turned away. "I told them they should have sent Tarzan."

Tarzan was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best Runner. If he had been here, Sadira would have undoubtedly been caught and the staff secured. But, Tarzan had been assigned to help train the recruits tonight. (The kids loved him so much, he did it pretty regularly.) Director Disney didn't think this robbery would be too much of a problem, so he sent these three. Flynn and Aladdin had both been at this gig for a few years now, after spending their whole lives training, and they were good. Really good. But Jasmine was a bit of a newbie. Flynn had put her on guard duty at the museum, thinking she probably wouldn't have to do anything to mess up the year-long operation of tracking Sadira to find the bigger threat.

But, here they were. As far as they knew, Jasmine had just blown it. Looking at him, Jasmine and Aladdin could tell that Flynn was blaming himself for the whole thing and letting his frustration out on Jasmine. According to Flynn's mind, he was really the one who blew it. He'd left Jasmine "in charge" while he and Aladdin had a quick chat with Director Fury, leaving her to act foolishly and get hurt.

Now they were all screwed.

Once a helicopter was carrying Jasmine to headquarters, Aladdin turned to Flynn.

"Shall we head back to the museum?"

Flynn sighed. "We shall, buddy. We shall."

They both started running.

The outside of the museum had gathered a pretty good crowd, which was unsettled because they weren't allowed to pass the police tape. There were five police cars parked on the other side of the tape, with five officers working crowd control. Five more officers were in the museum talking to the security officers and the museum curator and searching for clues.

The curator was surprised to see two young men with shaggy hair walking toward him. One had brown hair and a light stubble on his chin, and wore a leather, sleeveless vest of a faded blue color, a utility belt, form-fitting brown pants of a flexible fabric and black boots and fingerless gloves. The other boy was foreign-looking, and had thick black hair. He was dressed similarly to his partner, but his vest was dark purple and his pants were white. He also wore a red beanie cap on his head, which was probably not regulation. Both boys wore black eye masks and had the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on their vests.

The curator nervously smiled at the boys as they approached. "I was just called by a Director Disney telling me he was sending enforcers... Are you them?"

Flynn shook his head. "Probably not." He crossed his arms. "But we were closeby."

Aladdin looked apologetic. "We were kind of supposed to keep this from happening..."

"Oh... Well, at least you're here now." The curator said.

"Yes, sir. And we're aware that it was the Sultan's Cobra Staff that was stolen. We'll be working vigilantly to get it back." Flynn assured him.

"Thank you, but... That wasn't all that was stolen." The curator said.

Aladdin frowned. "Oh?"

"What else is gone, sir?" Flynn asked sternly.

"I'm afraid that Merlin's glasses were also taken." The curator said sadly.

"Ah, shit." Flynn sighed.

"Well, we definitely have to get those back." Aladdin said solemnly.

"We will. And the staff." Flynn told Aladdin. Then he turned to the curator. "Our own museum curator's gonna cry when he hears that." He joked.

The curator laughed hollowly. "I've already broken the news to Mr. Crane... And yes, Ichabod was pretty broken up about it."

Flynn nodded. "Well. My partner and I will look around, see if we can figure out where the thief might have been heading after her job. We've dealt with her before; She's always been kind of sloppy. We'll report back to you before we head out."

Aladdin stayed quiet. Flynn wasn't usually the type to lie to civilians to protect their feelings, but it was a common method in the Disney Division.

"Yes, thank you... I'm glad that someone here knows what they're doing." The curator said quietly, nodding toward where the police officers were joking around with the security guards.

Flynn chuckled. "That's the NYPD for ya'."

"Which reminds me... Isn't this a little outside your jurisdiction? I mean, since you're from Disney City..." The curator said nervously.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is a nation-wide unit. Any agent will be expected to go anywhere they're needed, regardless of where they're H.Q.'d." Flynn explained curtly.

"And all your local agents are busy recuperating after the Ultron incident." Aladdin added.

The curator chuckled. "Oh, right. Of course."

Flynn gave a quick salute. "We'll be looking around if you need us."

After a few moments of searching around this room, Flynn and Aladdin went to the other room, where Merlin's Glasses had been. They stared at the empty cushion that once held the glasses.

"Aurora'll probably be the enforcer that shows up." Aladdin mumbled distractedly.

Flynn shrugged. "It could be Ebony... Or Tiana. They're a couple more public favorites."

"Could even be Esme."

Flynn smirked. "Well, we both know it won't be Meg." Agent Megara was notorious for her terrible people skills.

Aladdin chuckled. "Yeah, probably not."

"They might send Jessica." Flynn said after a long pause.

That was true; Usually Aurora and Jessica were a packaged-deal. More often than not, they were partners for assignments, much to the majority of the male agents' dismay.

They stood in silence for awhile.

"Do you think Jafar's actually gonna use this stuff? Or is he just gonna pawn it?" Aladdin finally asked.

Flynn sighed. "Well, he's pretty power-hungry. And definitely not hurting for money."

"Right." That was the answer Aladdin was afraid of.

Flynn looked at him sympathetically. "Did you know Sadira was working for him?"

"Not till Disney gave us this assignment this morning. I didn't even know she was working for anyone before today..."

Sadira had always been kind of a lone wolf.

They were quiet for another moment. Then Flynn glanced around again.

He sighed. "Well. We've seen nothing but destroyed vents, broken glass, and the occasional grain of sand. Which means..."

"We've completely and utterly failed." Aladdin muttered.

Flynn nodded shortly. "Let's get going." They started heading toward the first room again.

"Ah, hello Agents!" The curator greeted. The worthless police officers were obviously getting on his nerves.

One of the officers jumped to attention. "Uh, we were just gonna start dustin' for fingerprints, so..."

"Don't bother. There won't be any." Aladdin said simply.

The officer looked confused. "What? Why...?"

"Because this girl has no fingerprints." A pleasant young woman's voice said.

Everyone turned to see, sure enough, Agent Aurora and Agent Jessica walking in, making all eyes in the room pop and all jaws drop. Aurora, one of the Disney Division's poster-girls, was tall and fit and lean, but still curvy and generously built, with the old-fashioned, movie-star-good looks. Long golden curls of hair, (right now in a loose and fashionable ponytail), lightly tanned, soft skin, and plump, pink lips. Her eyes were the color of lavender, and her long eyelashes were lightly touched up with mascara. She was wearing a tight leather body suit that covered everything from the neck down, and was a deep magenta color. Her boots, gloves, utility belt, and official S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia were dark blue. A heavy pistol sat happily on each of her hips.

And then there was Jessica Rabbit, one of the older agents, and a woman burdened with inhuman beauty that made Poison Ivy jealous. She was strikingly tall-probably the tallest person in this room-and unrealistically lean, curvy...and busty. Her scarlet-orange hair was loose, shielding half of her gorgeous face so that only one of her vibrant green eyes and finely-shaped eyebrows was visible. Her pouty red lips were pursed in her usual expression of cool indifference. She wore a suit similar to Aurora's, but it was bright red and her gloves, boots, belt and insignia were a nice purple. Although, her suit was unzipped quite considerably low to accommodate her suffocating breasts.

"Element-Based Mutants never do." Aurora finished her statement from before. She nodded at the curator. "Agents Sleeping Beauty and Red Rabbit reporting on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Disney Division." She quickly turned back to the officer. "It doesn't matter any way. We already know who this girl is. She's a repeat-offender, and I assure you that she will be brought to justice."

"Who were the security officers present?" Jessica asked in her usual sultry tone.

The three men who'd been working when the theft happened raised their hands in awe.

Jessica nodded at them. "I'm going to need to take down an official report from you three." She pressed a button on her belt, turning on a recording device as she walked toward the men. "Let's start with your names."

Aurora looked at the police officers with a stunning smile. "We'll handle this investigation, boys. The staff and the glasses will be returned soon enough, I guarantee it. Head on home."

The officers nodded and grumbled as they headed out to their cars.

Aurora turned to the curator, looking friendly and sympathetic. "You should get some rest too, sir. You've put up with enough tonight. Save the rest of this mess for tomorrow. We'll send a couple of our best agents down here to help you out."

He nodded gratefully. "Thank you, ma'am. Really, thank you..." He started to head out.

"Sleep tight!" Aurora called after him with an adorable tone. She heard him chuckle and briefly smiled to herself. Then her face became serious and she crossed her arms. She walked over to Flynn and Aladdin. "Anything?"

Aladdin shook his head.

Flynn said "No."

Aurora sighed and glanced toward where Jessica was still interviewing the security officers. Aurora shook her head and looked down at her blue boots. "Damn." She whispered.

"Yeah... Some Avengers we are." Flynn muttered.

"Well, she can't hide forever. I'm guessing that she's underground." Aladdin said.

"Like... In the sewers?" Aurora asked.

Flynn sighed. "Surrounded by the concrete that is the city's base..."

"Concrete that she can manipulate." Aladdin nodded.

"Well, that's definitely not good." Aurora frowned. "And going down there after her is too dangerous. She would have a distinct advantage, and could kill someone if she really wanted to..."

"Not to mention, destroy the city." Aladdin put in.

"We have to wait for her to come out." Flynn nodded.

"Well, first we need to find out which sewers she's in." Aladdin said.

"True. She could still be in New York, but I think she's probably heading back to Disney City." Aurora said.

"Well, she better stay there, so she's in our jurisdiction. If she comes back here, Fury'll be the one handling her." Flynn said, giving Aladdin a careful look.

Aladdin silently nodded and turned away.

Jessica joined the group then. "Alright, we're done here. Security'll keep an eye on the place and keep it locked up. But, they're complete embeciles, so I've assigned a few agents to park nearby and keep watch."

Aurora nodded. "Good job, Jess."

"I called a chopper to come get us. Let's head up to the roof." Jessica said, leading the way. Aurora walked by her side, Flynn and Aladdin fell in step behind them. Jessica looked at Aurora. "You gonna fill me in?"

Aurora explained everything she and the guys had been discussing.

"Great." Jessica drawled. "Glad to know a vigilant agency like ours can handle simple robberies like this."

"I appreciate the sarcasm, Jess, but there was nothing simple about this robbery." Flynn said with a smirk.

Jessica shrugged.

"Where's Roger right now, Jess? Filming?" Aurora asked to change the subject.

Jessica's husband, Roger, was a famous comedian who had recently started doing films. He had no idea what Jessica's real job was (he thought she was a private detective). This was the case for the majority of relationships for S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.

Jessica laughed. "No. Poor thing's been so tired from doing all his own stunts. I tell him not to, but..." She shrugged. "You know how he is. The sweet little thing's probably fast asleep. He's gonna wanna hear all about this excitement tomorrow, I'm sure."

"He'll know you were here?" Aurora asked.

Jessica smirked. "I'm a big, important detective. Remember?"

They stepped onto the roof to meet the awaiting helicopter, quickly climbing into it and buckling up. As they started flying back to Disney City, Aurora turned to Aladdin.

"I just got a message from Sweet. He says he's got Jasmine all fixed, she's just gonna be a bit sore for the next couple of days. Also, he's keeping her overnight in the Med Wing to make sure she doesn't immediately jump back into work."

Aladdin nodded. "Good idea."

Disney City H.Q.

Director Disney sighed after hanging up his phone. He turned to one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top Braniacs, Jane Porter.

"Nick is not happy." Disney muttered, shoving his phone into his pocket. He was, of course, referring to Director Nick Fury.

Jane giggled. "Of course not. And he probably won't be anything close to happy until we retrieve the stolen artifacts."

"By the way, you and Milo will be going to New York tomorrow to help that poor museum curator." Disney said as he started to shuffle through some papers on his desk.

"Ooh! How exciting!" Jane grinned as she started heading out of his office.

Disney smirked, then sighed again and collapsed in his desk chair. Too much to deal with in one night...

"Director Disney." Aurora adressed him respectfully as she came into the room with Jessica and Flynn. They fell in line in front of his desk and stood with their hands folded behind their backs.

He looked up at them tiredly. "Yes, I know. It was a bust. The girl's good. Hell, she took a pretty tough agent down with one punch."

Aurora quickly and calmly explained the conclusion that she'd come to with Flynn and Aladdin earlier. Disney nodded along patiently.

After she was finished, Disney sighed. "Well... I would say that we should hope for the best, but that means waiting around, and we don't have the option to wait around."

"So... What option are we going with?" Jessica drawled, crossing her arms.

Disney rubbed at his chin. "I'm going to have to send some agents underground."

"Sir, Sadira has the ability to control the particals of earthen matter. With concrete all around, it'll be a deathtrap for our agents." Aurora interjected calmly, trying not to be disrespectful. She was one of the only agents who worked not to offend the director.

Disney nodded. "I understand. But it's the only thing we can do now. We're running out of time, and those artifacts are way too dangerous to be allowed in Jafar's hands. He could do some real damage... And we haven't even factored in his new little league of 'Disney Villains'." He made air quotes around the last two words. He sighed again, rubbing his temples. "We'll send a few down in shifts, covering from here to Jersey. All we need to do is catch that girl and bring her in. She's our only lead to Jafar..."

While Aurora firmly disagreed with this plan, she simply nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I'm assuming Aladdin's visiting Jasmine right now?" Disney asked.

Flynn nodded. "Yes."

"Good. She was worried about him... Alright, agents. You're dismissed. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Flynn and Jessica left the room. Aurora lingered, pursing her lips in concern.

"Director, about the plan-"

Disney chuckled. "It's gonna be fine, Aurora. Go about your night."

Aurora nodded dutifuly. "Night, sir." She headed out of the room. Once outside, she sighed and decided to go change into some sweats and go to the training room and abuse a punching bag, maybe lift some weights or climb around...

Aurora was an insomniac, which meant that she never slept, making her mind unendingly busy and her body in constant need of physical work. Her inability to sleep was a key component to her fitness and her sharp mind, much to everyone's disbelief. And since H.Q. offered everything she could need, (training room, gym, kitchen, bathrooms, showers, and her own private office), there were days when Aurora didn't go back to the apartment she shared with her fiance, a politician named Phillip. In fact, more recently, she'd basically started to live in the S.H.I.E.L.D. building.

She was alone in the training room, mercilessly beating and kicking one of the larger punching bags, when she heard the door behind her open. She figured that it was one of the recruits who couldn't sleep. They wandered in here from time to time, in search of physical stimulus to hopefully make them tired enough to sleep. And, more often than not, they wanted to be left to it. So, she ignored whoever it was and continued to beat the poor punching bag, grunting and panting quietly.

It was only when a man cleared his throat behind her that she stopped. She slowly turned to see Flynn standing there. She let her gloved hands hang by her sides and she looked at him expectantly.

"What's up?" She asked innocently, but she already knew what he was here to say.

"Just...wondering how you're feeling." He said casually.

"About tonight?"

"Well, I guess that's important too." He smirked.

"I'm pretty confident that we'll find Sadira. As for the other thing, it's still a no."

"Aurora..." He reached for her hand.

She crossed her arms. "No, Flynn. You've asked me every day since that night, and my answer has never changed. It never will."

"I really doubt that, or you wouldn't have said yes that night." Now Flynn crossed his arms.

She sighed. "Don't be so arrogant. We've been over this, Flynn. We'd just gotten back from a dangerous mission- I mean, you almost died! I was just caught up in the moment..."

"Caught up in the moment?" He laughed. "Aurora we spent hours together! You had so many opportunities to change your mind, to back out. Remember that first kiss? Huh? Remember the ride back to my place in the taxi? Remember-"

"Flynn, stop it!" She hissed. "No so loud, idiot."

"I'm the idiot? I'm not the one marrying someone I don't love."

She blinked. "I do love Phillip."

"Then why were you with me?"

"Because sometimes people make mistakes!" She suddenly shouted. Flynn always knew how to get to her that way.

Flynn's expression was blank. They stared at each other for a long time.

Aurora slowly shook her head. "It was a year ago, Flynn. And I'm marrying Phillip in a few months, no matter what. This decision's been made practically since my birth."

"That's right. Your little arranged marriage. It helps that he's a big important politician who could be a good ally for S.H.I.E.L.D., right? Because he actually knows your real job, since you're such good friends. Quite the political power couple you two are..." Flynn spoke bitterly.

"Flynn. Stop." She could feel tears forming. Hearing Flynn talk like this always got to her. "I am begging you to just forget this. Alright? Please."

"Fine." He threw up his hands and headed toward the door. "Fine."

"Flynn!" She called, her voice cracking a little. But he was already out the door. She really wanted to go after him, but forced herself not to. She resorted to going back to the punching bag, hitting and kicking it with way more force than necessary, as if she was going to push her limbs straight through the bag. A few silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

Later...

Agent Belle- otherwise known as Thorn- was going through some files on the super-computer when all the sensors in the room started to beep violently. Belle looked around in alarm. The lights all around her started to flicker and buzz, and the computer was shorting out. Belle quickly typed in a code to pull up satellite surveillance. She stared in awe at what seemed like a giant, fiery meteor headed toward the feilds right outside of Disney City.

"Well, don't we have all the luck?" Belle mumbled. She pulled up the intercom, not really caring what time it was, (the recruits wouldn't be too happy about being awakened), and asked, "Is any one else picking this up?"

"On my way now!" Aurora's voice came from a comm in the training room.

"Me, too!" A much younger and more cheerful voice said from...nowhere in the building.

Belle smirked. Ebony must be flying here...

Aurora came rushing in, fresh out of a shower and wearing a dark blue leather body suit with pale blue accessories. Her hair was loose, much to her own distaste.

"What's happening?" Aurora demanded, not up for putting up with nonsense.

Oh, she's in one of those moods... Belle pointed calmly toward the screen. "Looks like a meteor. Burning white-hot, heading straight for that old Greek man's farm. I'm assuming you'll want to handle this?"

Aurora nodded. "The Director's had enough to do tonight. I'll deal with it."

"Not alone. Ebony's on her way."

Aurora didn't look annoyed, but Belle knew that she was.

"Great. She could be useful for...whatever this is. Seems right up her ally." Aurora said simply.

"Uh-huh..." Belle nodded.

"Can we get a planet-side view of this thing?"

"Yeah." Belle clicked away at the keyboard, giving them the view of a small farm in the middle of a feild.

Both of the girls' eyes widened.

"Oh, God..." Aurora whispered.

Dark, violent storm clouds were swirling overhead, creating a whirlpool in the sky, where the meteor would be breaking through the atmosphere. The wind was picking up to threatening speed, and the air seemed to be just sizzling with pent-up electric energy.

"So... It's alien, then?" Belle mumbled, awe-struck.

Aurora slowly shook her head and muttered, "Might be..."

It was then that Ebony walked in, in full costume, as could be expected. She also looked as cheerful and non-threatening as always. She was very young, (actually the same age as a lot of the recruits), but she was the face that truly represented the Disney Division. She was the first mutant to be plucked out of an orphanage and made into a hero-as was Disney's M.O.-and she was the Director's Golden Girl.

It bothered Aurora to no end.

Ebony was average height-at least for her age-and had a Cupie Doll kind of look. Big, round brown eyes framed by dark lashes, lips red as blood, hair black as ebony (hence her name), skin white as snow, with a light rosy blush in her round cheeks. She was also dainty and lean, not looking incredibly strong or intimidating. Still, all the bad guys feared her. She could break every last one of the bones in a criminal's body, throw him in jail to rot, and still give him an honest-to-goodness smile afterward, like he was her best friend in the whole world. She was also known to be able to knock people out simply by blowing a kiss at them.

She wore a dark blue sleevless leotard with a high collar, a little yellow skirtlet, red boots that reached to just under her knees and matching gloves that reached an inch or so above her elbows, a yellow belt with a red emblem shaped like an apple, a little red cape (which Aurora could not possibly believe to have been sanctioned by Edna, who designed all the heroes' costumes), a blue eye mask and a red ribbon head band in her short, curly bob.

She smiled cheerily at the other two girls. "Where we headed?"

Belle smirked and gestured toward the monitor.

Ebony gasped. "Oh, my! Well, we better get going!" She looked at Aurora expectantly.

"Right. I'll ring up a chopper..." Aurora reached toward her belt.

Snow giggled. "Nonsense! I'll just fly us over."

Aurora shook her head. "I don't think that's-"

"If I can carry a schoolbus full of high schoolers while flying for 25 miles, I think I can carry you for less than 15, silly." Snow grinned. That was actually the most modest example she could have used right then.

Aurora sighed and started to pull her hair into a ponytail. "Fine."

"Ready when you are! I'll wait outside!" Snow cheered, running enthusiastically out the door.

Aurora glared after her.

Belle looked up at the blond in amusement. "You've been working together for...how many years now? And you still can't stand her. You know she was here before you, right?"

Aurora smirked at Belle. "Shut up."

Belle chuckled, then heard a new beep and turned toward one of the scanners. "Oh, my God..."

"What?" Aurora asked in alarm, looking over the monitors.

"We're picking up a heat signature..." Belle said in shock.

Aurora frowned. "The whole thing's on fire."

Belle glared at her. "Not like that. It's..." On a nearby monitor, another beep came up, quick and rhythmic. The foreign object was drawing close enough for the sensors to pick up all kinds of stuff. Belle stared at the new monitor in absolute shock. Aurora frowned at it; It looked familiar... Like one of those hospital monitors that measures heart rates.

"What is it?" Aurora asked quietly.

Belle looked closely at the meteor for the first time. Then she looked at Aurora anxiously.

"You have to go right now." Belle said. "That's not a rock."

The Farm.

"Amphitryon!"

Amphitryon frowned and halted his wood-working for a moment. He could have sworn that was his wife calling him...

"Amphitryon!" She repeated from outside.

He frowned and headed outside. What was she doing out in this storm, and at this time? (He usually got up early to start work.) Granted it wasn't raining, but the feilds were starting to look like some kind of disaster film...

"What is it, honey?" He called over the howling wind, joining her near their feild. Their old mule, Penelope, was nearby, braying like crazy.

His wife pointed up at the sky.

His eyes widened and he tackled her out of the way. "Alcmene, look out!"

She gave a small cry as the two of them dove and rolled away. The flaming meteor made its impact in their front yard, making the ground all around them shudder and roll. They clung to each other, frightened by the deafening rumble of the earth. There were a few pops, like gunshots, making them both scream. Far away, car alarms were blaring and street lamps were flickering. Telephone wires hummed and vibrated.

Once everything was calm, and quiet aside from the Penelope's braying and the screaming car alarms, the old married couple sat up and stared at where the meteor had embedded itself so deep into the ground that it wasn't visible from where they sat. It lay at the bottom of a massive crater, glowing an iridescent gold that reached up into the brightening sky. The light was warm, and slowly growing paler.

Alcmene turned to see the completely darkened house behind them. What they'd thought had been gunshots had actually been all of their light bulbs exploding.

Amphitryon gulped and started to crawl toward the crater. His wife gripped his arm, and he patted her hand reassuringly and warned her to stay put. Then he slowly stood and walked toward the crater. He looked down at the bottom of it, only to be temporarily blinded by a bright white light that was slowly fading. He covered his eyes until the light completely melted away, seeming to recede into itself. When the light was gone, it became still and silent all around. After a moment of calm, Amphitryon opened his eyes and gazed toward the bottom of the crater. He gasped.

There crouched a giant man with long curls of pale red hair and tanned skin that was steaming. He was incredibly tall and muscular- undoubtedly strong- but seemed completely enervated at the moment.

He was also completely naked at the moment.

Amphitryon heard a giggle at his side and turned to see his blushing wife. Amphitryon shook his head.

"For Zeus' sake, get the boy a blanket or something..." He mumbled.