"Sir," came Friday's voice over the PA as the Avengers returned home to their tower, "I have found footage of the mystery savior of our captain."
This got everyone's attention and they gathered around the screen. "Roll the footage and give us all the info you have Friday."
"As you wish."
The team watched as the screen sprang to life, a video of the battle they had just fought appearing on screen. They all watched as the blast began to head for the unsuspecting Captain, Tony grabbing his boyfriends hand as he watched. Ice sprang up and stopped it.
"Friday, I thought you had video of who it was?" Tony was feeling impatient.
"I am getting there sir."
"I seriously don't remember programming her to be so snarky." Tony mumbled this to Steve, who was smirking as Tony got a taste of his own medicine.
The screen changed views, and the Avengers watched as the blast was about to begin again, but in the distance they saw a young woman. She raised her hand and the ice appeared, then turned and raised her hand and thrusted it forward to move the Earth.
"Woah." Sam sounded shocked. "How did we not know about this?"
"I believe I can help with that," the Ai sounded proud now, "after hacking security files as directed I was able to find a file on Lenora Ruddninsky. Her file says that she was an FBI agent that worked under cover. She was caught by an enemy that they had suspected was doing experiments on humans to recreate the serum that made Captain America. When found out, they experimented on her, which had a strange effect, one that was not expected. Instead of super strength and speed, she was gifted the powers of Earth, wind, fire, water, and ice. Upon waking up she destroyed the facility and everyone in it, including the experimental serum used. Shield hired her, without announcing her powers, and kept them a secret, using her for covert missions. Today, after the fall of Shield, she has gone off the radar, until today that is. This is the first documented proof of her using her powers."
The screen showed a picture of a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, with long, wavy caramel colored hair. Her eyes were a strange light violet, but had a very cat like shape and she wore a mischievous grin on her face. She was pale and had rosy cheeks and a button nose. She was lean and slightly muscular, but seemed to be short, maybe 5'3 at the most.
"How was Shield able to hide this?" Tony was questioning the two assassins, who for once, actually looked surprised.
"My guess is she was still doing undercover work and covert missions. They couldn't risk enemies knowing her face, and as you know, people with powers get a lot of media attention. In order for operations to run smoothly, they couldn't risk her information being leaked," came the musings of Bruce, who was still wearing the torn clothes from the Hulk switch, "so they didn't reveal her to anyone."
"I wonder if the director Fury knew of this powerful one." Thor mused loudly. No one had an answer. Since Fury had gone underground, it wasn't like they could call and ask.
"Friday, can you get us a location?" questioned the Captain. He wanted to meet this woman who had been tortured in an effort to recreate…himself. He felt guilty and the need to apologize.
Tony could hear the guilt in his lover's voice and squeezed his hand. "Hey, this is not your fault! People tried to recreate that serum all the time. We have one of them right here," he said gesturing to Bruce, who shrugged sheepishly, "and the only ones at fault for anything she went through is the sickos that kidnapped and tortured instead of asking for volunteers." Tony kept staring at Steve to make sure it go through.
"You're right…"
"Of course, I always am."
Steve ignored the interruption, "but I would still like to meet her."
"I have forwarded the last known address to your tablets."
"You're the best Friday!"
Steve looked at all the dirty, still suited up Avengers. "Maybe we should clean up first, so we don't scare her. Meet back here in 30 if you plan to go."
"Good plan Captain." With that everyone went to their respective wings of the tower to clean up.
After 30 minutes had passed Steve looked to see the majority of the team wanted to go, only Vision opted to stay behind. The team wanted to thank this mystery person.
The Avengers arrived at the location of Lenora's house in less than 20 minutes. Upon arrival they noted the house was dark. Tony ran scans that confirmed no one was home.
"Scott, you think you could shrink and get us inside?" Tony had adapted Pyms technology so that Scott didn't always have to wear his suit, in case he was in a pinch and needed to shrink. During battle though, Scott always preferred the extra safety of the suit.
Before the good captain could protest Scott hit the button, "I guess this is one thing I will always be good at."
Scott ran inside under the door and grew back to his normal size and unlocked the door. The house looked cozily furnished. The team walked in, Steve trailing uncertainly behind. He wanted to meet her, but not by breaking into her home.
"Tony, why are we breaking into her home?" Wanda wasn't sure what the genius expected to achieve here.
"To get a feel for what type of person she is."
Tony began snooping through things with Clint while the rest of the team stood in the living room just looking around. Steve's eyes landed on a manila folder that looked like it was haphazardly hidden. Pulling it out he read the info aloud to the team.
"Mission Code F45GK9, Classified. It basically says she is to infiltrate a local drug ring that has come up with some new drug that gives strong hallucinations and caused the user to commit crimes, and in some cases murder. Her job is to find the leader get evidence, and shut it down."
"It sounds like she might be a bit a bit busy," Sam said.
"The location of the secret hero is a club downtown, she is employed to be a singer." Thor boomed.
"Um, Thor, shhhh! It's supposed to be a secret!" Scott said as he whispered.
"The Grey Lounge huh? Run by one Chad Stan. Can you be a bad guy with the first name of Chad? Like really, how intimidating is that? Oh look out, it's Chad! Please." Tony scoffed at the name.
"Well what are we waiting for," Natasha said, "Let's head over."
"Hang on," Said Cap, "The last thing we need to do is blow her cover. We can head over but the only people going in are Clint and Scott. Their faces aren't known to the public and they look inconspicuous. Since she is the singer, she should be easy to find. Do not approach her, I just want you to watch where she goes, if anything seems to be going wrong, then intervene. I'm guessing something big is going down tonight, or she would have concealed her mission better." Steve wanted to repay the favor to this woman, ignoring the fact that his gut was telling him not to interrupt her mission, that the woman was a professional.
Everyone nodded, except Tony, who began to pout that he wouldn't be allowed to go into the club.
"Ready to party Lang?" Clint and Scott had become pretty close in the 3 months Scott had been with the team. With Scott's shrinking ability and Clint's impeccable aim, they had pulled some great pranks on the team. Although they may have pushed it when Scott told ants to come pouring out of Tony's Ferrari, effectively grossing the man out.
"Always ready for a good time." The men high fived and headed in. The lounge was more like a club, probably in an effort to spread the drug. The music was for people to dance and there were many bodies on the floor, moving to the music.
"I see three men sitting behind a tinted glass window." Clint said this quietly to Scott. They opted out of wearing any comm devices, so they wouldn't draw any unwanted attention.
Scott's eyes were on the stage. There was the woman they were searching for. And she was gorgeous. Wearing a black dress with no straps, accented with bright colors of jewelry, the woman continued to sing to the music and dance. Scott and Clint realized they had better blend in. Splitting up Clint went to the bar for drinks while Scott moved to the music.
When he looked up again he noticed Lenora's eyes on him. Grabbing her mic she stepped off the stage and into the crowd. She continued to sing and dance with patrons as she moved through the crowd and up to Scott. Flipping the mic off she began to dance with Scott as he lay his hands on her narrow hips she flipped around and leaned into his whole body.
"I don't know why you're here Ant Man, but I need you to leave. I have an extraction team heading to the boss room on my left in 5 minutes. I really don't need the Avengers making a spectacle or blowing my cover. It is imperative that no one knows I am the undercover." She said this is a breathy tone into Scott's ear, sending shivers down his body. This was the first woman Scott found himself attracted to since Hope and he had called it quits. Scott and she had been way too different, Hope was too serious and Scott was never serious. But this woman was smirking as she walked away from him, having fun with her mission as she turned her mic back on.
Following her directions Scott grabbed Clint and walked out of the building. Steve was shocked to see them leaving, his orders had been to stay when before he knew it police lights were lighting the street.
Before Steve could jump into action, Clint shook his head, signaling the Avengers to not act. When they made it to the rest of the team Scott filled them in on what had been said to him. Captain nodded his head.
"Okay, we will meet her another day. If we blow her cover it could be dangerous to her. Let's head back to the tower."
"How'd she know Scott?" Wanda asked.
"Yeah, no offense Tic Tac, but it's not like you've been in the papers a lot." Sam said.
"Guys, she's a professional. She has probably done extensive research about the Avengers. She has to know who is a friendly." Bruce explained.
Exhaustion from the day's battle sunk in and as they returned home the team bid each other goodnight and went their separate ways.
Scott went to his room and lie awake on his bed. He thought of the brief dance he had shared with Lenora and how wonderful her hips had felt in his hands. With groan he turned over and tried to push the thoughts from his head and get some sleep, but the smirk she had left him with stayed in his mind as he closed his eyes.
Across town Lenora entered her home and felt something was off. Why had members of the Avengers been at the club? She was sure she hadn't been seen saving the Captain. She had collected the pay for her latest job. She free-lanced her work, often being hired by the local PD, who knew nothing of her powers, only that she had once worked for the FBI. She also got hired to do boring jobs as well, cheating husbands and things like that. Looking down she noticed her mission folder was not where she had left it. Eyebrows furrowing she went to her laptop to check her security footage. The high tech that was unnoticeable to other devices had been her last gift from Fury before he had disappeared. Her face contorted angrily when she saw the man she had danced with appear in her house and let all the Avengers in and snoop through her things.
"What. The. Hell."
