The lack of reviews is making me sad, guys...and sorry about the language in this chapter-just warning you :P

In truth, she didn't know why she was at this gala.

She hated fancy parties, detested most of the people attending, and hadn't been invited in any sense of the word. However, over the past few days, she had been stagnating-growing bored. Her life was one of action, so two weeks without a single thing happening was enough to bore her to tears. The only thing of note was this intrusion into the high life and the conversation with the green-eyed man yesterday. That had shaken her, yes, and what did she do when she was shaken?

She infiltrated buildings to creep on partygoers.

Which was how she found herself sitting on the railing of a second floor balcony, watching the glittering ladies and sumptuously dressed men walk about the room, string music wafting upwards to her ears. One gloved hand was delicately clasped around the railing, her back pressed up flush against a corner column, one knee up and the other leg on the open side of the railing. Getting in had been rather easy-no one expected a teenage girl to drop in from above when security was expecting drunken party crashers. No one had spotted her, either, although there had been a close call-in her experience, she had noticed that few people tended to look up. Her uncovered fingertips tapped the smooth marble along with the music as she relaxed against the pillar, her other hand holding a delicate glass of champagne she had snagged from a table, unseen.

Really, though, there was no reason for her to be here. It was a spontaneous and reasonably stupid move. However she didn't regret it in the slightest-this was how she had fun.

That probably said something horrible about her mental state, that she had fun by hanging out in restricted areas and watching people, but hey, she had never said she was entirely mentally sound.

She leaned back lazily, shifting farther down into the shadows and stretching. She slid down from the railing, trailing a hand across it, before she froze. There was that feeling again-the one that had come over her in the coffee shop, the feeling of being watched. Her head snapped up, sweeping the crowd below her before scanning across the shadowy balconies across and around her. And then she saw her target.

He was watching her again. The green-eyed man, in all his striking glory, the man who had so smoothly uncovered her secrets and laid them out in the open. She had no idea how the hell he got here. He was still wearing the black coat ensemble, the gold staff held in his hands. The blue light at the top was out in the open now, casting an eerie blue glow on his face and throwing his angular features into sharp relief. His eyes looked icy blue in the light, and his lips curled in a decidedly predatory grin when he saw she had noticed him.

Her mouth had dropped open slightly, but she shut it slowly, raising one eyebrow and chuckling softly. Well wasn't this a right coincidence. Or was it? He had said she would see him again...

Still chuckling softly, she inclined her head while maintaining eye contact and raised her glass, leaning out over the railing. He raised the staff in his hand in a mockery of her toast, shadows shifting, and tipped it towards the left-there were stairs there, farther along the balcony, that went down into the ballroom. One of his eyebrows raised as if to say, Shall we?

She grinned back, sudden and feral, as if to respond, Why the hell not?

He set off immediately towards the stairs, but she went that way at a slower pace. Which was probably the best decision, as when she rounded the top of the stairs, she heard screams. Her eyebrows immediately drew together and she began to creep down the white marble steps.

There was no need. By the time she arrived in the main room, all she saw was the fleeing remains of the fancy crowd, people screaming their heads off, and a flash of gold light. There was a body twitching on what had been the focal point of the evening-an artsy reproduction of the Ark of the Covenant. Running up to the suited man, she recoiled in disgust when she saw the bloody ripped hole that was where his left eye used to be. Choking back her dinner, she turned on her heel and ran for the doors, her heart in her throat. Obviously, the guy in the black coat with the staff had caused this-so what offer had she just unknowingly accepted?

I am in way over my head.

She skidded out of the museum, halting before abruptly changing course and streaking to the right. The last thing she needed was someone noticing her right now.

There was a man-suspiciously familiar in height, bearing, and hair-in gold and green armor with a horned helmet moving through the crowd. There were shimmers of light around the crowd, and she watched, gaping, as copies of the man appeared in their place. The true one moved through the crowd, pointing a full-length golden spear threateningly at the crowd. She was sure it was him when he turned and she saw his face, but she had known the second she saw the eerie blue light at the head of the spear. His eyes passed over her briefly, and was that a hint of a smirk when he spotted her?

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state?" he said, moving through the crowd. She was disgusted to see that they were, in fact, cowering, lowering their heads closer to the ground when he passed. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation." She felt her hands clench into fists. Okay, yeah, she had a serious problem with this psychopath. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

She was furious now. She had problems with a lot of things, but this was one of her biggest rules-you fight for freedom or you die trying. Perhaps she had been thinking about joining this man in whatever scheme this man had planned, what with the charm that simply dripped from his words, but now...now things were different. And anyone who threatened freedom was her enemy.

She took care of her enemies.

She was about to move forward herself when she spotted movement and decided to stay in the shadows. An old man was standing, shakily, but with a determined look on his face. The man's eyes were hard as he spoke quietly.

"Not to men like you."

The man with the spear and armor, stared down by a man in his seventies. He looked taken aback, leaning slightly backwards in shock. The black-haired man recovered quickly, though, and smiled-a smile that sent shivers down her spine.

"There are no men like me," he said wryly, but was that a tinge of loss she heard?

"There are always men like you."

For a second, all was still. And then that evil grin came back, and the tip of the spear raised. "Look to your elder, people, and let him be an example to you all." The light in the staff began to flare brighter, and she made a split-second decision.

Her hand snapped out, and lightning flashed across the plaza with a crack. It struck the menacing man's hand precisely where it met the staff, making him whip around, the light dimming again. His eyes found hers once more and he took a single step towards her as she raised a hand, palm towards him, prepared to defend herself. Worth it.

There was a blur of red and white, and the man was knocked back. She found herself with her hand outstretched to nothing, and she looked around confusedly.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing."

And, okay, yeah, there was a guy standing there in a red, white, and blue jumpsuit. This was happening.

"The soldier. A man out of time," the black-haired one on the ground sneered.

"I'm not the one out of time," the newcomer retorted. Her eyes went wide. Oh God, that was Captain America. The Captain America. She wasn't too surprised-the files she had stolen had been a little more all-inclusive than she had originally intended-but holy Jesus, that was Captain America. Worse, though, he was SHIELD's little pet project, which meant they couldn't be too far behind.

Goddammit, it was her week or something, because honestly, this has got to be the only damn time in SHIELD's entire career where they were suddenly very involved in Stuttgart, Germany. And of course, that managed to be the day she was there, and a scant day after she had finished talking to an extremely creepy man who she suspected was clinically insane. Fucking coincidences, ruining everything.

There was a plane in the sky now. That was new. She really needed to work on her observation skills. Oh, and it had a PA too. That was nice.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." That was a female voice-strong and slightly accented, but still obviously female as the jet hovered over the scattering crowd. Wait. Loki? That rang a bell-something that reminded her of lessons and books with Norse writing in them...wait.

Oh, fuck.

At this point, Loki-Jesus Christ, this was what her life was now, talking with Norse gods in coffee shops and Captain America dropping out of the sky, she almost missed the days when she just stole files and ran-had fought back, striking again and again with his spear. She was really just trying to get out of the way, inching her way around the edge of the plaza-she didn't need SHIELD noticing her right now-but it seemed like Loki's creepy little teleportation ability would have him crop up wherever she went, and the Captain would follow. So she did the intelligent thing-she hid behind a bush until the fight was over.

At one point, it looked like Loki had gained the upper hand and was pressing down on the Captain, but the red boot lashed out and swept the god's legs out from under him. The jet was shifting from side to side in the air-yeah, it was still there, and it was messing her hair up-but it was obvious it couldn't get a clear shot to Loki without risking the Captain.

She was just about to make a break for it when suddenly, AC/DC was blasting from the jet, and her gaze was drawn upwards to stare quizzically at the plane. It just didn't seem like SHIELD. Not that she was complaining, but-

A straight beam of some kind of energy went blasting over her head, and she yelped and crouched down before slapping her hand over her mouth. Her hair was thrown to the front as yet another flying projectile joined the fray. She slowly rose to her feet, throwing caution to the winds, because really, if one has the opportunity to see Iron Man in action, you take the damn opportunity. Tony Stark was known worldwide, both as the genius weapons designer and as Iron Man, but she hadn't known he was working with SHIELD.

And he, at least, was an enemy she knew exactly how to deal with. She smirked, and kept her position.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games."

Seriously, that suit had a ridiculous amount of weapons. She could barely count the amount of missiles that popped up out of the red and gold shoulders of the billionaire's armor, not to mention the bright light coming from his palms, and it appeared to cow Loki. He raised his hands non-threateningly, and his armor simply...phased away in a glimmer of light.

"Good move," Iron Man said sarcastically as the jet landed and Loki was led inside. Okay, yes, start thinking about escape, they're done with the main enemy, they are distracted, this is the best situation possible, they're busy meeting each other or something, start moving...

She was just turning and starting her first hurried step when she felt a strong hand clamp around her upper arm and pull her backwards. Shit.

She reacted immediately, twisting the captive arm and sending her other elbow into whoever had grabbed her's neck. Or, at least, that should have been his neck-all her elbow ended up hitting was a white star in the middle of Captain America's chest.

This is really not my day. This is really, really not my day...

The hand around her arm loosened somewhat in surprise, and she took advantage of that, twisting her arm around again and managing to break free. She sent a punch in the vicinity of his face for good measure, smirked slightly when she felt her fist contact something, and then took off running in the other direction. Fuuuuuuuck. Get me out of here.

She heard a short bout of shouting behind her, but she didn't turn around to look. She heard a noise that sounded like the jet firing up-oh please, for the love of God, please don't have them send the goddamn plane after me-and there was a flash of red.

Iron Man, of course, they sent fucking Iron Man, this was too good, clanked to the ground in front of her, feet planted firmly and hand out in front of him, glowing palm out.

She skidded to a stop and held her own hands out at her sides, breathing heavily and every muscle tense in anticipation.

"Look, kid, I have no idea why they want you, but I'm gonna need you to head back to the jet," came the slightly synthesized voice of Tony Stark.

She barked a short laugh. "Like hell I'm going with SHIELD," she said through clenched teeth. The red metal shoulders shrugged.

"I tend to agree with you, but have it your way," he said shortly, lunging for her without warning.

Godammit. On one hand, he was forcing her into combat, and she could very easily short every circuit in his suit. However, that would also give him pretty severe burns, and that would just intensify SHIELD's vendetta against her. Not to mention gain her Tony fucking Stark as an enemy. He was probably even more well-connected than SHIELD, not to mention a genius. But she really needed him off her tail-Iron Man following her wasn't going to be conducive to escape.

So she surprised him, and caught him by the hand, swung him around, and gave him a jolt.

It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it was enough to shut down some things in his hands, including the light beam thing in his palm. Small arcs of energy crackled over his hand, dissipating by the time they reached his elbow, but he still yelped. She used his distraction to his advantage by planting her hand in the middle of his chest and, using all of her considerable strength, pushed.

He only went back a foot or so, barely managing to keep his foot as he shook his hand out and cursed, but that was enough time for her to really run.

No, of course it couldn't be that easy, though.

A blue arm snatched her around the waist and bodily lifted her off the ground, and she was moving backwards, this was very bad, she really did not want to get on that jet. She punched, kicked, scratched at the arm around her, but apparently the Captain's body armor was designed for something slightly stronger than her. She tried to shock him, slowly growing in intensity as she grew more desperate, but every time, he just twitched and kept going.

Eventually, though, he got her back to the jet. She was about to really start fighting when a syringe was suddenly a few inches away from her eyes, held in a red metal hand. She went very still. The face of Tony Stark-genius billionaire and self-made superhero-joined the tool. This was kind of surreal, attacking Captain America and Iron Man in the same situation, really, it was great, but it also very, very immediate.

"If you could stop trying to give the good Captain a heart attack, darling, I won't have to stick this in your neck. You'll be wanting to walk into SHIELD, instead of being carried, unconscious, right?" She breathed in deeply through her nostrils, fighting down the terror that rose every time she saw a needle, and just glared at him. She didn't, however, resume her struggling.

"Thought so." Stark walked away, taking off the helmet fully as he walked into the jet. She remained still as the Captain dragged her into the jet, and he set her down across from Loki, not ungently. He then joined Stark near the cockpit.

Loki, on the other hand, watched her with a mixture of curiosity and disdain in his green eyes. What did she expect from someone that had just made his opening bid in whatever power play he was trying to act out? She folded her legs Indian-style and her arms across her chest and stared back, giving him glare for glare. Eventually, though, she got bored, and dropped her gaze to look around the jet. It wasn't big, but it certainly was high tech, with what she could see of the cockpit was covered in holographic screens and buttons that probably blew things up. And she was sitting on a metal seat.

Grinning ever so slightly, she unfolded her arms and swiveled, keeping an eye on the Captain and Stark, but turning so that she could press her fingertips against the wall she had previously been leaning against. She was just about to press them against the cool metal when Stark spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to not do whatever you're trying to do," he said dryly. She slowly looked over at him, giving him a Really? look. He waved his gauntleted fingers. "I don't know what voodoo magic you did with my suit, but really, it's a pain to get these things back online, and I would really prefer you not sending the quinjet plummeting out of the sky right now."

When she still didn't remove her fingers from the metal panels, the Captain stepped towards her. "Miss Smith, if you would please take your hands off the metal," he said, not threateningly, but his hands were tensed. She, however, froze. Eyebrows drawn down, she spoke for the first time.

"How do you know my name?" she demanded, suddenly very nervous. If SHIELD just wanted the Captain to pick her up, he wouldn't have been briefed on her abilities, at least not in this sense-he shouldn't know what she could do just by putting her hands on the walls of something electric.

The Captain looked confused-he had taken his cowl down, so she could actually see his goddamn face, blonde hair and all. He pointed to something on her left. "Your file, ma'am."

She looked to her left, startled, and plain as day, there was an open file folder on the bench. Pretty thick, too. The first page had her picture at the top, and yeah, her fucking name was printed in bold black letters. She resisted the urge to groan and just dropped her head into her hands. Number one, SHIELD did not keep files that extensive on people they were just looking to interrogate about a theft, and number two, she had been doing so well staying off the radar.

Yeah. Leah Smith was in a lot of trouble.

So! We are finally starting to stray into plot-centric territory, and I swear, there will be answers coming soon. Very soon, in fact, as I have the Chapter 5 doc open right now. However, while there are plenty of story alerts and favorites happening, very few of you are reviewing (thank you to my current reviewers, by the way). And I can finally start referring to Leah as something other than 'she,' thank God.

Remember you guys...the more you review, the faster I update ;P

-Hopp