Author's Note: Big thanks to my first reviewers, who have only brightened my spark for this story! And of course to whomever followed and favorited as well! My weekly update, we're meeting Bruce. And to those of you who hopefully get it, these two understand each other, when it comes to isolation at least, which is how their friendship grows. Just a heads up.

Okay, so I forgot a few things to mention last week. First of all, I had a bit of a crossover last chapter if you didn't get that. When Coulson mentioned that he went to an expert? Yeah, Charles Xavier everybody! Kayla is technically a mutant, but since they don't have mutants in the Avengers movie, because X-MEN is owned not by the same producers of Avengers, they had to change mutants to"Miracles" - spoilers for Cap 2 - so I decided not to mention it with Kayla, but hopefully you all get it.

Second of all, I am basing Clint's character more off of what I have read in the comics. He's more humorous, witty and badass. And he's blonde! I'm making him like a dirty blonde so it's not so different, but blonde none the less - like he's supposed to be.

And, I would have put this story in the comics section, but considering that it's based off the Avengers movie, I put it here. And to let you all know, I've seen the movie a whole bunch of gazillion of times and I can basically quote this whole movie - much to my Twin's annoyance. And I read the comics and am proud to say that I am a comic geek as of last Christmas.

Alright, well... enjoy!

Chapter 4 – New Waters

As one, they stepped off the ramp. Kayla and Rogers, the two new comers, taking in the new setting around them. "Whoa," Kayla said as she looked around at the equipment and people. This was definitely something she would have to write about in the future, or somewhere she should have gone on a business trip.

Coulson turned his attention to the agent that approached the trio, and the author took her eyes away from the scene around her to focus on the woman who stood in front of her. She had red hair, cropped just short of her shoulders, wavy near the tips. Green eyes peered at each, analyzing. She wore a dark gray leather jacket over an orange shirt, a pair of jeans and a gun strapped to her left thigh. Her back was straight when she paused in front of them, like Kayla had noticed that most of the agents did.

"Romanoff," Coulson said, causing the girl's eyebrows to shoot up. A name she recognized as she studied the agent more carefully. Yes, she had met her before, Kayla knew that now. This was Clint's partner. "I believe you've met Hudson." He paused, his tone changing as he stepped aside. "Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am," the captain acknowledged her.

"Hi," Romanoff said simply, then turned and nodded to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace."

"See you there," Coulson walked in between the captain and Romanoff. Kayla noticed immediately, and all she could do was blink. This was the first time that she had been separated from the older agent since Fury had said so, or rather, commanded her to stay with Coulson. She felt her head fall to one side, and then she slide her gaze away from the retreating agent, only to land on another agent. Oh, right, Kayla thought as she looked at Romanoff, a new babysitter.

Or not. She didn't really seem to notice Kayla, who was standing on right next to her. She only had eyes for the captain, literally. Kayla asked herself if she really saw the two making googly eyes at each other, or if it was just her imagination. Then the agent did glance at her, and the younger flinched. She can't read minds, can she? Kayla wondered. Anything was possible, right? The agent inclined her head, meaning to follow her, and the three began to walk forward.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Romanoff returned to her attention to Rogers once again, humor now lacing her voice. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon."

"Oh, on the ride over, he was embarrassing himself just fine without the swooning," Kayla laughed as she noticed the expression on Rogers' face.

"Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

The captain looked at the agent in disbelief. "Trading cards."

"They're vintage," She replied, with a slight mocking of pride. "He's very proud."

"Dr. Banner," The captain said after a moment, clearly changing the subject. Kayla turned at another familiar name. Rogers was looking towards a man in a suit, not in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform or formal wear. He was wearing a brown jacket and slacks, with a purple button up shirt underneath. He looked out of place standing there uncomfortably. He responded to his name, waiting for a few men to walk by before approaching them. The two men shook hands.

"Oh, yeah, hi," the doctor looked the captain up and down. "They told me you'd be coming."

The captain squinted in the sun. "Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word of me?" Banner asked, looking around the Hellicarrier.

"Only word I care about."

Dr. Banner nodded, then finally looked at Kayla. She smiled. He, out of the two men standing beside her, seemed he would be more enjoyable, no offense to the captain. But like him, she was a little uncomfortable being around so many people, although the doctor had a different reason than she did. He seemed the most like her; socially isolated, or in his case, just plain old isolated.

"Hi, Dr. Banner," Kayla shook hands with the man. "Kayla Hudson. It's an honor to meet you."

"Yeah, uh, you too," Banner held his hands together in front of himself after the two shook hands. "They brought you in? I mean, I read your file, but…"

Kayla sent a glare towards the spy at the mention of the file, then turned back to Bruce with a nod as he trailed off, then shrugged. "Yeah, they brought me in for my amazing aim, and… other stuff."

Banner nodded, looking around again, still looking uncomfortable. He glanced between the captain and her. "Must be strange for you, all this."

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar," the captain said, his hands sliding into his pockets.

"Well, it's strange for me," Kayla said, crossing her arms over her chest. She found herself walking away from them, towards another quinjet. She watched as two men were close to the wheels of the jet, and then watched as they ran a few yards away. One dropped to a knee as he worked on something, clipping to the floor of the Hellicarrier. The girl was thinking about how everything around her she had seen before, or at least it was similar to some military based movies, when all of a sudden a loud noise rang out. A voice came over the speakers across the base, and off to the side, she heard men running and working.

The girl's head snapped up as she looked around again. More and more people were moving around her. She back tracked to where Romanoff was walking away from the two men. When Kayla reached her, she turned and watched Rogers and Banner with a small smile on her face as the two stepped to the edge of the ship. "What's going on?"

"You might want to step inside. We're about to take off." Kayla heard the water at the edge of the ship splash, and she assumed that they were going to set sail soon. After a few moments, she realized that she was wrong. The ship wasn't moving forward, but it was rising out of the water, gaining altitude. This is a plane? Kayla thought. Well, the name Helicarrier now makes sense. Slowly the ship rose out of the water into the air.

She shook her head in disbelief. Things could not be any less normal, could they? Super soldiers, super agents, a raging green monster doctor, a girl who generates glass, and a flying boat. Yeah.

oOo

"So," Kayla conversationally said. She was walking next to Bruce Banner while Rogers and Romanoff walked side-by-side in front of them. The two were having their own little conversation about Loki, which she had learned earlier, was who had the cube. He had taken both Clint and Dr. Selvig. She heard their voices, while the two in the back hadn't said a word. Kayla decided, why not have a conversation. "Do you read?"

Bruce watched as another agent passed them, his eyes following the man in black until he was a distance behind them, then he turned to Kayla. Brown eyes trained onto her and he nodded. "Right, I heard that you were an author."

"Yup, I've written a few mystery series, on my second right now. I've also written a few other novels about death, love." Kayla shrugged, slipping her hands into her cargo pants pockets. They were some type of design where the dark blue and dark purple faded into each other, and it always made her think of galaxies. The girl was also wearing a black long sleeve shirt that hugged her frame. She wore her hair up in a messy bun, although a few strands had fallen out from all the wind. She wore a little eye liner, and a pair of black converse.

Bruce seemed to nod a lot, she noticed, like he was now. It almost seemed like he was nervous. "To answer your question, yes, I read. But not books. Mostly science… stuff."

Kayla found herself nodding as they walked forward. After a short paused, she looked at the man walking beside her. "Hey, are you okay?"

Bruce smiled, although it looked forced. "Don't worry, I'm not going to spontaneously combust."

"No, well, that's good. But that's not what I meant." Kayla sort of felt sorry for the guy. She wondered what it would be like to live his life. "Well, not necessarily. I meant, are you okay, with being here? At S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"You don't like them." It wasn't a question. Kayla was taken aback, her stride faltered. Bruce smiled, amused now. "Yet, you're here."

"How…" Kayla shook her head as she looked away. She was surprised that he knew that, from a few simple words. "I don't necessarily not like them. I mean, they've been helping me train, been helping me with my powers. But…"

She glanced over at Bruce, whose eyebrows were raised, encouraging her to go on. She was at a loss for words for a few seconds, not quite sure how to phrase what she wanted to say. Finally, she just shook her head and spoke, a small trace of anger in her voice. "They only asked me to join the team because of my powers, because they think I'll be useful in a fight. And ever since I walked through the doors, it's been all about training, training and more training. There's an agent with me wherever I go. I basically live on base. And really," Kayla sidestepped so she was closer to Bruce so she could whisper. "These people are like robots. Straight faced, backs-always-straight robots. I mean, do these people even have emotions?"

Kayla hadn't meant to be funny, but Bruce laughed anyways, shaking his head. He put his hands in his pockets too, amusement dominating his features. She felt a smile trace her lips too. The four were finally ending their walk as they exited the hallway into a room. The far side of the room is what caught her attention first. It was all glass, a straight view out into the sky and water. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents scattered at computers, some moving with files in their hands or devices, all wearing the standard blue of the uniform.

Bruce looked around too, and this time, he was the one who took a step closer to her. His voice lowered as he glanced around. "Trust me, I'm with you on that." He stared at a man as he walked past them, and then raised his eyebrows at the girl as if to prove his point.

Kayla grinned as she looked around and the doctor took a few steps away. Where they came into the room, there was a circular table with computer chairs lined around it. At the end of the platform that took up a third of the room, there was a railing and a set of stairs on each side to lead down to where the computers and the people stood. In the middle of the platform near the railing, there was a small area with a few screens around, and then a catwalk stretched out all the way to the glass at the end of the room. She looked up, and saw that above the doorway they had walked through, there was more glass that looked at hallways stretched around the circular room.

Kayla had made her way towards the table when she heard the Director's voice say "Let's vanish," and then he stood at the end of the table. Bruce and Rogers had also made their way over to the table, and the four of them stood.

"Gentlemen. Hudson." Fury gave a nod to the girl as the captain walked up to him. He pulled something out of his pocket before looking up at the glass and out at the sky, handing something to Fury and walking down the catwalk. Fury held a ten dollar bill in his hand and he smiled as he slipped it into his pocket. He then took a few steps over to Bruce, extending his hand. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

Bruce glanced away, but finally shook his hand. "Thanks for asking nicely." His eyes traveled away from the Director, seeming uncomfortable again. "So, um, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Director," Kayla stepped forward. "How are we with that?"

Fury nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. How were we in locating Clint, was what she was really asking. Kayla had puzzled together that that was the real reason that he had asked her to join the team, because she would help to find Clint. He knew that she was willing to do anything to find Clint, and the more the merrier. Technically, Coulson had been the one to ask Kayla, and she had refused at the time, that is until he mentioned that she wanted to find Clint as much as the rest of them. She was all in.

Speaking of Coulson, Fury gestured off of the platform, straight ahead of Kayla. The three stepped forward, and she looked down to see Coulson, standing by a computer. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops."

Kayla smiled and held a hand up in greeting. Coulson nodded back. It was an encouraging nod. Almost saying, "we'll find him," in that one nod. "If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not going to find him in time." Kayla turned at the sound of the voice. Agent Romanoff was crouched next to a computer, Clint's picture on the screen. She wondered who the agent meant by him. Clint or Loki. She saw the worried look on Romanoff's face.

"You have to narrow your field." That was Banner speaking again. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

Fury shrugged, arms folding across his chest. "How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on the cluster recognition." Bruce had taken off his suit jacket, and was now rolling up the sleeves of his purple button up. "At least we could rule out a few places." He looked up at Fury. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Fury gestured to the agent behind them. "Agent Romanoff? Show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please."

The redhead nodded, leading the way. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys." The pair walked off, and Kayla watched them leave, walking past two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. They stood on either side of the bird she now just realized was on the wall. It was the symbol that S.H.I.E.L.D. used for their organization.

Kayla walked away once everyone dispersed. She found herself walking down the small set of stairs, over to where Coulson stood. He saw her coming and he stood straight and turned towards her. He pointed to where Agent Sitwell sat. He was the agent who was working on the face trace. "We're tracking Loki here."

The girl nodded, her gaze flickering over to where Rogers stood, arms crossed over his chest. Kayla looked away, walking closer to Sitwell. She had met him a few times, had gone out to dinner with him and a few other agents, he was a good man. He glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, Hudson."

She smiled, stepping closer and looking down at the screen. This was the guy, the one who was the cause of all of this. A pale face and long black hair. This was Loki.

"How are you doing?" Sitwell asked, smiling up at her.

She shrugged. What could she say? She was fine until she thought about what exactly S.H.I.E.L.D. was getting her into. "Fine, I guess. I just can't wait to be done with this and get everything back to normal."

Sitwell nodded. Now his smile was sad as he looked up at her. "We'll find him."

Everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. had known that Clint had been the one to train her, so they had spent a lot of time together. She had been assigned to him because of her shards. Clint didn't miss, with a bow, knives, or shooting; that was why they called him Hawkeye. Since Kayla had taken a liking at throwing her shards, he had been the one to teach her how to throw them. What everyone didn't know, or at least she hoped they didn't know, was that he was more than just her teacher. Kayla had started developing feelings for the archer.

No, she was falling for Clint Barton.

oOo

Kayla stood next to the super soldier, leaning back on the railing and the platform behind them. Coulson stood on his other side. The agent was telling him about his trading cards, and Kayla couldn't help but smile. Rogers looked at her as the agent continued to talk. He must feel so awkward right now. Well, she couldn't blame Coulson. Captain Rogers was the world's first superhero; it was hard not to gush over the guy. She remembered the whole base gossiping about Captain America when they found him in the ice. Everybody thought that he was a hero, and he was. Plus, he was pretty attractive, there was no denying that.

"We got a hit," Sitwell called out, his computer making funky noises and screeches. "Sixty seven percent match. Wait, cross match. Seventy nine."

Kayla felt a surge of hope through her body as Coulson stepped forward, looking at the screens. Sitwell clicked a few buttons, but Kayla was frozen. She couldn't move to step forward and look as her mind wandered.

"Location?" Coulson asked, standing beside Sitwell.

"Stuttgart, Germany. Twenty eight Kunenstrasse." A few pictures popped up onto the screen, even a video showing Loki himself. "He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain," Fury's voice rang out above Kayla where he stood on the platform. "You're up."

Rogers nodded. Here we go, Kayla thought as she pictured what was about to go down.

"Sir?" Kayla finally spoke up as the captain made his way up the small amount of steps to the platform. She stood up straight, took a few steps forward and faced the Director. The question was unspoken, implied. What about me?

Fury stared down at her for a few moments, searching her face. He was probably thinking, is she ready? Has she had enough training? Kayla was wondering that, although she was also thinking that she could be a great asset in a fight. Finally, what seemed like minutes later, Fury nodded. "If Agent Barton's there, bring him in. We need our agent back."

Kayla nodded as her and the captain made their way out of the bridge to suit up. She would find Clint, because she needed her agent back too.

End Note: On that note, I would just like to say that I just noticed that I didn't put any flashbacks in this chapter. But, there is one next chapter, a little heartfelt memory of Kayla's. And of course, some action, meeting a few gods and everything.

- OnyxRing