Anarchists

by watchmen4

Members of the Rising Tide decide to acquire weapons of mass destruction, forcing Skye and Clark Kent to take action.

4. Chapter 4

SHIELD HELICARRIER

STRIKE TEAM READY ROOM

SANTA PRISCAN AIRSPACE

"You must be Skye."

Skye stopped her nervous fidgeting in her seat to see Agent Natasha Romanov, sit next to her in the small briefing space. Skye was only here because Agent Phil Coulson, her team leader, had recommended her for this joint SHIELD/ US military operation. Though she was only a trainee, Coulson believed that Skye's career would benefit from a high-profile mission, and it didn't hurt that the operation needed a computer scientist. So far it had been more than she could ask for, and they hadn't even entered the field yet. She looked around and fan-girled at the assemblage of superhero celebrity in the room; Romanov in her sexy yet practical catsuit, Clint Barton fidgeting with an arrowhead, and James Rhodes in his imposing War Machine armor sharing a joke with Tony Stark amd Bruce Banner. Even Thor was here, sitting at the room's edgedrinking water. Would they think her an amateur if she asked for selfies? Skye could almost feel her serious and tactiturn teammate Agent May frowning at her for a lack of professionalism, and thought better of it. "Um, yeah, I'm Skye."

"You must be halfway decent if Coulson wants you in on this op, but you're greener than grass, so stay close to us and pay attention. If you aren't sure what to do you, just follow Rogers."

Skye's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Rogers? You mean..."

Captain Steve Rogers entered the room clad in his dark blue stealth suit and his shield clasped to his back. To Skye he was just as impressive in person as he was on television. He stood at the front of the room in front of a large computer monitor and cleared his throat. "Alright, everyone." Everyone turned from what they were doing and looked to Rogers. "Today's target is a tier one personality. He's the leader of Rising Tide, Michael Hendricks."

Skye blushed as she felt every eye in the room zoom in on her. "Awkward," she whispered to herself. Is this the real reason why Coulson had wanted her on this op, to test her loyalty? She thought that they were past that now. Or maybe Coulson thought that she had inside information? The Rising Tide was too compartmentalized for that. She barely knew who Hendricks was; she cetainly didn't have inside knowledge on him specifically. Either way, she'd do well on this mission for her own sake, not anyone else's.

"When did he jump from tier three to tier one on the threat list?" Barton asked, clearly suprised. "Sure, he's a criminal who causes problems, but he hadn't killed anybody. Tier one ISIS senior leader level. All this muscle," he waved his hand around the room, "for an information thief?"

"He's not just an information thief anymore. SHIELD had intel before the Battle of New York that his group had acquired an EMP bomb, but couldn't corroborate it." Skye thought of speaking up, but decided better of it; it wouldn't change anything. "Last night the Riding Tide hacked into Paradigm Defense Labs' network. Apparently they were searching for schematics on gamma bombs."

This time eyes shifted over to Banner. "Now we know why I was asked to come."

"Uh, gamma bombs?" The eyes returned to Skye. She knew that the Los Angeles group was corrupt, but she wasn't ready to believe that the entire organization had betrayed their non-violent stance. She risked sounding as if she were defending them, but didn't want to go on a fool's errand after good people. "Rising Tide has always been about stopping weapons, not using them. Is SHIELD sure that Rising Tide didn't try to delete the schematics?"

"You'd probably know that better than anyone. Even if they had peaceful intentions, compromising the gamma research threatens America's security interests."

"Maybe they're right to do so," Banner argued. Skye thought he sounded like her former comrades. "When will people learn to leave gamma alone? Is my example not scary enough, or does He need to show his face every now and then?"

Rogers stiffened slightly. "Personally, I agree with you Doctor Banner. The last thing we need is more weapons of mass destruction."

"Peaceniks," Stark quipped.

"But," Stark continued, looking slightly irritated, "it's not our place to determine national policy. Moving on, we've had Hendricks under surveillance for several weeks before this recent hack, and apparently we weren't the only ones. Earlier today he was grabbed by two gifted vigilantes we've had on our radar for a short while." Rogers activated the computer monitor behind him to present two images. "Green Arrow and Aquaman."

Skye recognized Green Arrow as one of the superhumans who'd rescued her from Davis Bloome after he'd transformed into a hideous beast that they'd described as "Doomsday".

Rhodes busted out laughing. "Seriously? Those are their handles? How tough can they be?"

"Green Arrow is a real problem," Barton countered. "Romanov and I ran into him Budapest back in the day."

Romanov wore a sly grin.

Rogers continued before Skye could ask what the story was. "Good or not, we know that they operate with other superhumans out of Metropolis." Several images of different people joined Green Arrow and Aquaman on the monitor. "Green Arrow is alot like Bartan, while Aquaman is a noted swimmer with superhuman strength. He's wanted for questioning by the Chinese government for possible involvement in ecoterrorism." Rogers continued through the photos, some of people Skye had recognized, others of strangers. Each of them presented a unique threat, and it seemed to Skye that the Avengers were doing a mental checklist on each one. Were they planning for a fight so easily? Rogers tapped a button on the wall behind him, and a hologram of a large building appeared on his right. "We tracked them to an abandoned warehouse owned by Queen Industries in Santa Prisca. We're going to go in and snatch him from them, and if necessary bring the superhumans in. We'll also grab the laptop he had on him for exploitation."

These men weren't worthy prison in Skye's mind. Didn't SHIELD read the headlines about these men? If they weren't rescuing hurricane victims they were shutting down human trafficking networks, not to mention saving Skye's life. Why were they possible targets?

"What are their intentions?" Romanov asked.

"Unknown, be we can only guess that they plan to interrogate him before turning him in. What little we know about them suggests that they may have altruistic motives, but they do have issues. Aquaman is wanted for questioning by the Chinese government for disrupting fishing operations, Green Arrow is believed to have broken into a LutherCorp facility, and Hawkman allegedly assaulted two corrupt police officers in Corto Maltese."

Based on what she'd read about them on the blogosphere, Skye expected them to be heroes. She raised her hand tentatively. "If they're going to just turn him in, then why not just wait and let them do that?"

Everyone exchanged looks, as if the answer was blatantly obvious. "Because we don't want the vigilantes to know what he knows," said Romanov. "We wouldn't be the pros if we did."

Rogers nodded. "It's best that they leave this to the authorities, at least for now. Once we know more about them, I might change my tune."

Skye realized that it was probably because of her own rebellious nature that she was more willing to work with vigilantes. She was about to ask if the Santa Priscan government was aware of the raid, but thought better of it. The didn't the room to think of her as an amateur.

Rogers presented a new photo: a Quinjet hovering outside of the warehouse as ropes dangled from its sides. "We'll use a fast-rope insertion to hit the warehouse while Colonel Rhodes and Iron Man will provide air support. Romanov, Barton, and I will handle the prisoners, while Skye will handle any crack open Hendricks' laptop and upload all its data to the SHIELD server. We will exfiltrate via Quinjet and drop the prisoners off at the Fridge."

Skye had to ask. "The Fridge?"

Rogers was about to answer when Barton interjected. "Don't worry about it, kid.

"No, I wanna know, too," Rhodes countered. "What's the Fridge?"

"It's a secret SHIELD holding facility," said Rogers, drawing a disapproving look from Barton. "SHIELD has too many secrets, Barton, and everyone deserves to know all the details on this raid." Romanov rolled her eyes. Skye agreed with Rogers, but knew better than to get in between people who'd fought off an alien invasion. She just wanted to run the op and become an agent. Rogers deactivated the monitor."Any other questions?"

"Will the US military have access to the Fridge so we can interrogate the prisoners?" Rhodes asked. "These guys have been operating on American soil, after all. The Pentagon's going to a piece of him, however small."

"No," Rogers answered sheepishly. "And you'll have to power down your armor during egress, so that your navigation software doesn't record the Fridge's location. Fury's orders, not mine," he said before Rhodes could object. "But we will share all intel on the superhumans. Sorry, Colonel."

Rhodes crossed his arms. "Why did the Secretary of Defense even agree to this? This isn't really a joint op."

"If it's successful, he can take partial credit," Stark explained. "If not, he can blame SHIELD for not playing fair."

Rhodes shook his head in frustration. "Politicans."

What did SHIELD get out of it? Of course they wanted Hendricks, but ss for the superhumans, were they looking to control these men, or simply add them to the Index? Not for the first time, Skye wondered if joining SHIELD, even if it meant finding her parents, was the right decision.

UNUSED QUEEN INDUSTRIES WAREHOUSE

SANTA PRISCA

"Do you honestly think that anything you do will prevent Darkseid from reaching full ascendance? You can't even begin to fathom his plans, let alone stop them." Despite being tied to a chair in vast, empty room, Hendricks sounded as if he were in charge. Any doubt that Hendricks was a pawn of Darkseid had evaporated, as he proudly proclaimed his allegiance to the extraterrestrial despot.

Arthur Curry turned away from Hendricks and frowned at Victor Stone, who was busy perusing the files on Hendricks' laptop. An hour of questiong Hendricks had yielded no new intelligence on the The Rising Tide or Darkseid's designs. Arthur wasn't a trained interrogator; no one on the team was. But he'd expected better results than Hendricks' bluster and threats after an hour questioning. What else could he do to make their prisoner talk? He certainly wasn't about to resort to torture, even if he did want to smack the smug grin off Hendricks' face. "Any progress on accessing his files?"

Victor's brows furrowed in frustration. "He's using an encryption protocol that's too exotic to be anything but alien. I can't make heads or tails of it."

Hendricks chuckled. "You see? Darkseid has given me the tools I need to prepare the way for his arrival. And I'm only one servant with a small group of non-violent revolutionaries. How will you stand against Darkseid's Furies, or Darkseid himself?"

"We'll find a way." Victor donned an earpiece and activate its digital communications system. "Cyborg to Watchtower."

It took a moment before a voice responded on the other end. "Go ahead," Chloe Sullivan answered from Metropolis.

"I need your help with a hack."

"Okay. Upload what you have."

"Where are we with this piece of filth?" Carter Hall asked as he walked in with Dinah Lance. Barely healed from their recent encounter with Doomsday, this was his first operation since. Hall still sported a cast on his right forearm. "Boy Scout is set to pounce on whatever targets he reveals."

"You could shut down every Rising Tide cell in existence, and you'd still wouldn't stop Darkseid's Terran operations. HYDRA, ISIS, and his other creations advance his interests. Those that don't directly support his cause still serve as a distraction for your security forces, occupying their time and draining their resources. They have too many problems of their own to any acknowledge Darkseid's existence. So why fight the order and stability that Darkseid provides when you will lose? The structure and discipline of his governance eliminates the very things that you fight against: murder, rape, abuse." Hendricks shrugged. "Isn't that what you want? An end to crime and terrorism? Those things don't exist on Apokolips."

"Not at the expense of liberty." Dinah joined Carter in front of Hendricks. "Not if it means the loss of free will."

Arthur put a hand on her shoulder. "Amen."

Carter gently pulled back. "Everyone leave the room."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Carter's somehow dastardly grin sent chills down Arthur's spine. "Mister Hendricks and I will enjoy a frank discussion."

Carter's aggression always let things come to this. Oliver and Clark had the patience for this, but Arthur didn't. "Hawkman, we don't-"

"Do you honestly think that he'll be moved by your stern looks and angry tone?" Carter looked at Arthur as if he were a disobedient child. "Your harsh words have made him tell you everything, haven't they?" He continued smiling at Hendricks. "The ancient Egyptians had compliance methods that I'm sure will be effective."

Arthur moved in front of him. " 'Compliance methods?' "

"Boy Scout to all units: we have a Quinjet inbound."

Clark's warning grabbed everyone's attention. Hendricks could only see their startled reactions and guess at the cause.

SHIELD QUINJET

INBOUND TO SANTA PRISCA

"We're thirty seconds to target," the crew chief told the strike team.

Everyone stood up from their benches, facing the rear hatch while checking their gear one last time. Skye nervously checked the sights on her M-4 rifle, hoping she wouldn't have to use it against people who'd saved her life. If push came to shove, she'd simply fire above their heads. She imagined Rhodes and Stark, who were flying in formation next to the quinjet, were making their own final preparations. She gripped her weapon tightly. "Don't Miss Skye," Banner said from behind her. "It's just like training, or so I've been told."

Though he sported body armor Banner didn't have a weapon, which made Skye wonder if he planned to go green. The thought didn't appeal to her. "Um, yeah, Doctor Banner."

The crew chief tapped Rogers on the shoulder. "Stark and Rhodes just dropped off comm; I think the target is jamming us."

Stark and Rhodes were going to be a source of intelligence, flying ahead to scout the landing zone for the Avengers. Now they'd have to go in blind. Would it only be Aquaman and Impulse, or their comrades too? Was Hendricks still there? Skye hoped that they had already seen the Quinjet and ran. Rogers nodded to the crew chief and turned towards the others. "Expect a hot LZ."

The wisdom of bringing Banner into a stressful, violent situation concerned her even more. "Doctor Banner, are you sure you want to be here?"

He chuckled. "Don't worry. This little dustup won't be an issue. I'll stay out of the way. Beside, I'm always angry. Why should this be any different?" Romanov turned and winked at Banner, who smiled.

"Thor, watch my six," Rogers ordered, putting his shield on his forearm.

"Aye, Rogers." He tightened his grip on Mjolnir.

"Five seconds," said the crew chief. Skye felt the Quinjet come to a stop and hover. The floor of the Quinjet opened up, and a the crew chief dropped a long rope from the overhead of the Quinjet's compartment, and it hung dozens of feet towards the ground. "Go! Go! Go!"

Rogers dropped to the empty parking lot with a light thud, and quickly ran forward shield first to make room for Thor, he also jumped straight down. Barton hooked the rope to a special clip on his belt and rappelled down to the ground. Romanov followed, then it was Skye's turn.

She'd practiced fast-roping many times before, but this was her first time doing it for real. Would she come under fire before she could even hit the ground? She tried to block the thought out of her mind she she clipped herself to the rope and slid down. She remembered to bend her knees and she touched pavement, quickly detaching the rope and moving to the side to make way for the crew chief to toss the rope to the ground, keeping Banner aboard. The Quinjet slowly moved out to of the area as the Avengers headed towards the warehouse in a single file line. Stark and Rhodes flew above them, providing aerial support.

Aquaman walked out of a door on the rooftop, trident in hand and he stood near the edge. Cyborg was right beside him, pulling a hood on, while Hawkman scowled at everyone. "You guys on are private property."

"You have a wanted fugitive, Mister," Rogers countered. "Give him to us, and this will end peacefully."

"Though I hope that you do not," said Thor.

Aquaman remained firm. "You don't understand what he is. If he escapes your custody like Loki did before the Battle of New York, people will die. We'll turn him over to the American authorities." Green Arrow exited a ground level door and took position behind a closed dumpster. "Please stand down."

"We have our orders." Rogers whipped his shield at Cyborg, and as if on queue, the other Avengers joined in. Cyborg dodged the attack, but Thor flew on to the roof and shoved him a dozen feet backwards, and Cyborg didn't move. Hawkman strung his mace down with one hand towards Thor's head, but Thor blocked the assault with Mjolnir. Aquaman leg-swept Thor with his trident before slinging it at Rhodes. The weapon sliced off Rhodes' shoulder-mounted cannon. Rhodes and Stark both fired repulsor beams, slamming Aquaman and Hawkman to the rooftop. Hawkman defiantly rose to his feet and took to the air. He tackled Stark mid-flight, then drove him straight to the ground in front of a charging Rogers, Barton, and Romanov. Before either party could stand and continue the fight Roger kicked Hawkman across the jaw, knocking him out cold. Rogers used the small magnet on his forearm to recall his shield from the roof.

Green Arrow peeked from behind the garbage can and landed an arrow in Rogers' thigh. Rogers dropped to the ground, grimacing in pain. Barton returned Green Arrow's fire, but he'd already hid behind the trash can. Romanov and Barton laid down suppression fire on him. Thor stood above on the roof's edge, prepared to drop down on Green Arrow unexpectedly, but Aquaman kicked him across the lot and on top of Stark. Rhodes knocked Aquaman back to the pavement with repulsor beams for his trouble.

Skye made sure that she stayed in the background, eager to avoid the superhuman melee before her. How long would it take for someone to be seriously hurt?

Rhodes took an energy blast to the chest, his armor seizing up as electricity coalesced around him and wreaked havoc with his armor's circuitry. He dropped to the ground with large crash. Next Romanov took a blast to her arm, and she fell to the ground clutching the injury. Stargirl smiled from a broken window, her cosmic staff still glowing from being discharged. "Canary, we need you and Boy Scout out here, now!" She turned it on Barton next, and Rogers hobbled in her line of fire just as she cut loose, protecing Barton with his shield. The shear force of the blasts sent Rogers careening back into Barton and to the ground. Green Arrow used the distraction to peek out and fire on Barton, but retreated when Stark aimed his gauntlets in his direction. Barton sent an arrow in Stargirl's direction, clipping Stargirl in the shoulder. Stargirl screamed before hitting the floor inside.

"Stand down, Green Arrow," Rogers demanded. Thor and Rhodes were now on their feet, flanked by Stark and Barton. "You're by yourself. You can't hold out."

Stand down, Skye thought to herself. People are already hurt.

Black Canary came running onto the roof, and Stark took several shots at her. They all missed, and she somersaulted onto the trash can then onto the ground.

Then she screamed.

The sound knocked Skye off of her feet in agony; the most intense, penetrating noise she'd ever experienced. She covered her ears in vain.

SHIELD QUINJET HOVERING NEAR DROP ZONE

SANTA PRISCA

"I can't tell if I need to get into the fight or not."

The crew chief simply shrugged at Banner's statement. "Only you can make that call, Doc. Are you sure you wanna, you know...?" he let the question trail.

Banner shrugged himself. "That's the thing, I don't-Argh!" Banner dropped to the deck and clinched his head in agony. "What is that noise?!" His heart rate rocketed, and his muscles tensed. He had to calm down! He took deep breaths, but his head continued to pound. His vision began to grow fuzzy, and his entire body began to grow larger.

UNUSED QUEEN INDUSTRIES WAREHOUSE

SANTA PRISCA

Clark stood vigilantly over their prisoner, trying to ignore the sounds of his teammates outside struggling with SHIELD. The Avengers had the advantage, and all of them could potentially be captured, but Clark had to prevent Darkseid's minion from escaping to enact whatever scheme he had planned. Carter's slowed heartbeat meant that he was uncoscious, as were Arthur and Victor. Courtney was injured but gathering the strength to keep fighting. With Bart and John both still injured, Clark was the only member of the team that hadn't entered the fray. With every passing second he became more tortured about what he should do.

Hendricks donned a look of concern. "Are you really going to stand guard over me while your team is in peril?"

Clark shook his head. Headgames were right out of the Darkseid playbook. "You aren't going to manipulate me."

"Manipulate you?" Hendricks tilted his head towards the noise. "I know you can hear that pitched battle outside. If that doesn't tell you what to do, then I don't know what-" A powerful roar cut him off. "What was that?"

Clark knew exactly what, or who, it was. He was glad that there weren't many civilians nearby. Was SHIELD really so determined to capture Hendricks that they would unleash him? Perhaps they knew Hendrick's true nature? "He's turned. They brought him here, and he's turned." Clark couldn't possibly let his teammates face this monster alone, even if Hawkman were to come to. But how could he be certain that Hendricks didn't just walk away? Bonds could be broken by a determined escapee. Using his x-ray vision, Clark began looking for a stray piece of metal.

"Who?" asked Hendricks. "They brought who here?"

Clark found a rod thirty feet away and walked towards it. "Banner. That's the Avengers outside, probably here for you."

Clark finally saw fear on Hendricks' face. "The Hulk is out there? I thought he was on the lam!"

Clark tied the rod around Hendricks' waist, clamping him to the chair. Hendricks wasn't going anywhere if Clark could help it. "It's not your concern." The ground trembled. "The best way for you to avoid Banner is to stay here."

OUTSIDE OF THE UNUSED QUEEN INDUSTRIES WAREHOUSE

SANTA PRISCA

Skye knew that the fight would be over soon, but didn't know if she'd survive it.

The sound of the Hulk roaring was frightening enough, and brought her and the Avengers out of their sound-induced incapacitation. But once he dropped down from the Quinjet for Skye to see, frightening became terrifying. Hulk surveyed the area, and she hoped that he didn't notice her. When he rumbled past her towards Black Canary and the others, Skye couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Black Canary stood her ground, and Skye wondered if she was suicidal until she cartwheeled out of Hulk's path like an acrobatic matador. Before Hulk could stop and turn around something - or someone - came crashing through the wall of the warehouse and slammed into Hulk like a wrecking ball. Hulk went skidding back onto the concrete, skidding across the ground and creating a gash in the concrete where he'd slid, caught completely off guard.

The tall, squared-jawed brunette who'd fought the gray spikey creature now stood in front of the Avengers, his red jacket covered in dust from just having run through the wall. "Please, we both have injured operators. Let's end this. We'll let you come with us if need be, but we have to stop fighting."

Hulk grunted as he came to his feet. "Stop?"

"Wait, Hulk," said Rogers, trying to stand on a bum leg. "We don't know his power set. Avengers, V formation-"

Hulk charged the brunette, ignoring Rogers. "Hulk not stop!"

They both landed fierce rights, drawing blood from each others lips, and the shockwave from the punches knocking everyone of balance. Hulk kicked the brunette in the gut, sending him to the ground in agony. Hulk smiled, and began pounding him in the stomach until the brunette shot red laser beams from his eyes and into Hulk's face. Hulk growled in pain as he clutched his face and backed away, his face slightly burned.

The brunette got his feet, wiping blood from his mouth. Hulk slammed the ground with his fists, and splitting the asphalt even wider open. The brunette leapt into the air and came down with a right to Hulk's eye. Hulk backhanded him, and the pop! of the brunette's jaw being dislocated could be heard.

Skye couldn't believe it. Who was this man who could trade blows with the Hulk and still stand? Might he even beat the Hulk?

"Let 'em have it!" Though injured, Stargirl held her staff with one hand and opened up on the Hulk. Almost instantly she had to duck a repulsor blast from Stark, while Barton and Green Arrow took arrows to the shoulder from each other. Thor tossed Mjolnir at Black Canary, who dodged it before Barton opened fire on her.

Almost instantaneously the brunette was standing in front of Black Canary, the arrow meant for her bouncing off of his chest. He released the red beams from his eyes at Barton's bow, and he dropped it like a hot potato. He blew out an artic blast of air so cold that even Skye had felt it at the Hulk, who within seconds was encased by ice.

"That was-ahem!-cool," Stark joked.

"What sort of madness is this?" Thor asked as Mjolnir returned to his grip. He reared back Mjolnir for a toss. "I shall break you to find out!"

The brunette moved Black Canary out of the way as Mjolnir soared past. He caught it on its return flight and hurled it into Thor's chest, knocking him to the ground.

Skye had no clue how she was going to stop this. Someone was going to die, if they already hadn't. Didn't Coulson ask her to join SHIELD so that she could help people? An idea popping into her head, she took a chance and stood up from behind her cover, hands in the air. "Stop! He's Worthy!" Everyone froze, looking at Skye. "Stop fighting!" She ran and stood between the two parties. Hulk broke free from ice, sending sharks in every direction, cutting Skye's cheek. Hulk rushed towards her, and she cringed as he stopped inches away. "He caught Mjolnir. Only the worthy can lift Mjolnir," she looked at Thor, "right?"

Thor dusted himself off as he stood, looking completely bewildered. "That is true."

"Then his intentions must be honorable. They're going to take him to American authorities," Skye looked at Black Canary. "right?" Black Canary simply nodded. "Captain Rogers, are you willing to escort them back to the States?"

Barton retrieved his bow and trained an arrow on the brunette. "You're going along with this, Rogers?"

"Maybe. Arrow!" Green Arrow peeked from behind his cover, with a trio of arrows nocked and ready to fire. Barton made him his target, and now the two archers had their own standoff. "The prisoner goes on the Quinjet. You can send two if your people with us. That's the deal."

Stark took to the air, hovering about thirty feet in the air to get a better angle for fire on Green Arrow. "I'd take the deal, Robin Hood."

Black Canary and the brunette nodded to Green Arrow. "One scream from Canary in close quarters, and you'll all be knocked out."

Rogers clamped his SHIELD onto back. "Understood."

Romanov stood up and softly put her hand on Hulk's shoulder. He whipped around as if he were about to strike her, but stopped. "The sun's gettin' real low, big guy."

What?

Romanov took Hulk's hands into hers, and his excited breathing began to slow down. His face began to soften, and he gradually became shorter and less Green. By the time he's collapsed into Romanov's arms he was Banner again, though looking very weak.

The pop! of the brunette setting his jaw back into place drew Skye's attention away. "I'll go as well."

Did she really just recommend a plan that Captain America liked? It was the brunette's plan, but it was her point about Mjolnir that made things come together. Skye's inner fangirl squeeled in delight. And goodness, Thor was even more handsome in person the on TV.

Rhodes came to and climbed to his feet, and Stark landed next to him. "How about you stop jamming our comms so we can to call our ride?"

Green Arrow chuckled. "You knocked out our comms guy. Use a smoke signal, Stark."

"Why don't you drop the bow, green jeans?" Barton demanded, still aiming at Green Arrow.

"You first. Let's see if you can hit me when I'm not distracted.."

"Since you're both injured, let's call it a draw," said Romanov. Both men slowly lowered their weapons. Black Canary retrieved a bandage from a rear pouch and tended to Green Arrow's wound.

Rogers pointed to the archers. "Do you need help with your wounded?"

The brunette looked at the building and squinted, as if looking for something, then shook his head. "Stargirl was only grazed, and Cyborg is shaken up but is coming to." Aquaman woke up slowly. "Besides, we came prepared. Let's get our prisoner behind bars." He turned towards the warehouse, with Rogers at his heels.

"We didn't know that you were an Avenger," Green Arrow said Skye, almost like a question.

That what be awesome! "No I'm not."

Thor's brow furrowed in confusion. "Do you know these people?"

Skye felt as if she'd been caught in a lie and blushed. Thor wouldn't be surprised if she had mentioned this to the team during the mission briefing. "Um, kinda sorta? They saved me from a...I don't know what you would call it, a few weeks ago."

Barton's eyes widened. "And you're just telling us this now?" Thor folded his arms in irritation. "What was Coulson thinking when he put you on this mission?"

Barton may have been an Avenger, and Skye could understood his mistrust, but he didn't have the right to question Coulson's competence. "He was thinking that you needed someone with inside knowledge on the team, and I was thinking that I didn't want anyone else added to the Index. You think that I can't be trusted? Well I don't trust people who surveil innocent citizens because they can do a little something extra. Someone has to watch the watchers."

"And that should be you? You clearly don't understand some of the threats that are out there. The Index is a necessary evil."

"Though I enjoy debating global security policy as much as the next guy," Stark tapped an imaginary phone on his wrist. "I have a fundraiser I'd like to make. Fashionably late, of course."

"For what it's worth, Stark and I don't trust SHIELD either," said an unsteady Banner.

Accusatory stares was not how Skye had wanted this to go. Would Coulson's career take a hit because of her decision? Would hers? Not for the first time, Skye wondered if finding out about her parents was worth joining SHIELD. Wearing the "uniform" might mean becoming more Barton, Fury, and others, allowing a cynical world view to justify a police state.

Was she better off being an anarchist?

THE END