Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Not writing for profit, writing for fun.

Chapter 7: Chemical Mixture

Zoe sighed, and leaned her head against her pillow, as she worked on finishing her reading material. Bruce and Tony were working on tracking the cube, and Romanoff sent her to her room to study. Zoe frowned, and looked up from her tablet, staring off into space, as her thoughts started to run off in a tangent. She would've tried to get some sleep, but she really wanted to get this done before sunrise.

She was almost done with a few pages left to read. She couldn't wait to be done so that she could actually be involved with the Avengers Initiative at least that's what she hoped she would be involved with…unless Romanoff tells her otherwise. She sighed, rolling her eyes. Will she ever get to do something? The one thing she did learn in her reading material that was quite intriguing to her was the sole fact that every agent on the Hellicarrier was a level seven agent, or higher like Agent Hill and Director Fury. So it was interesting that Fury even let her on board in the first place. Information Specialist or not, she could've just stayed at S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters.

Why did Fury allow her here in the first place?

She heard her door slide open slightly ajar. Dropping her tablet to the side of her on the bed, she reached for her gun hidden underneath her pillow. She pointed it at Steve as he cleared his throat, "Sorry," he said. "Um, you got a minute?" he asked.

She lowered her weapon down, and put it on safety lock. She sighed. "Thought you knew how to knock first?"

Steve smiled sheepishly. "It's not that kind of door," he said.

"True," Zoe said, rubbing her tired eyes with her fingers. She glanced up at him, and placed her hands in her lap. "Suppose I could use a break. What's up?" she asked, smiling at him.

Steve cringed. "I need to know where the archives room is."

Zoe raised an eyebrow, and slid her legs off of her bed. She shoved her gun within her side-holster and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's a restricted area, Captain Rogers."

"I know," he said with a cringe then smirked when she saw her intrigued expression upon her face. "I'm feeling dangerous today."

"Really?" she asked, letting out a small chuckle. "Got the Fonze vibe going on there?"

Steve tilted his head at her, brows furrowed to confusion.

She blushed, "Just kidding. It's another culture reference. You should really start a list on what you missed in life."

"I'll think about it," Steve nodded.

Zoe tilted her head from side to side, waiting to see what he was up to. Snooping around her second home didn't seem like a good idea in her book, but she was curious as to why he'd want to snoop the Hellicarrier's backup files. There was a computer for that, but Steve's knowledge on today's computers was probably lackluster.

Steve smiled at her, noticing her questionable look. "Look, I promise it'll be our little secret."

"Oh good, more secrets to add on to my list of my ever growing secrets," Zoe said in a teasing manner, even though it was secretly true. "Okay, I'll bite. Why?"

"Well, you are the information specialist, and I figured you'd know where the secret room is on board, and everything," Steve noticed her eyebrows raised and he sighed. "Plus, Bruce and Tony have this ridiculous theory that Fury is hiding something," Steve said.

"That's a serious offense," Zoe said, crossing her arms over her chest. She narrowed her eyes at the First Avenger.

"Uh-huh," Steve nodded. "Want to help me prove them wrong?"

Zoe grinned. "Thought you'd never ask."

"Lead the way," Steve said, offering her the lead.

Steve followed Zoe through the curving hallways that eventually lead them to the restricted area. She didn't like this one bit. She didn't like to think that Fury was keeping something from her or anyone for that matter. Bruce and Tony had to be wrong. Zoe didn't want to believe it. After what happened in her home in New York, she was a new person, and she felt like herself again. She could wipe out her past, and focus on helping other people instead, and put all that past behind her. She didn't want to find out anything bad about Fury.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Zoe asked in a whisper, glancing behind her to keep an eye for wandering eyes. She never once thought about her home being bugged. She just thought they all worked together as a team.

"No," Steve said.

"Ah-ha, bingo, there you are," she said. Zoe finally found the door and glanced warily around her as Steve pushed it open with all of his strength.

They walked inside down the hallway, lines of yellow leading them into caution. She felt her nerves prick her skin, usually she felt them when she was doing something wrong, or something she shouldn't be doing like snooping against her boss.

"I don't like this," Zoe whispered.

There were strange metal case boxes in rows on either side of them as they walked further inside. A cool chill went down her spine.

"You think I do?" Steve said, looking up above them. He looked up at the second floor curiously and then turned to Zoe. "Stay here, keep a look out."

Zoe frowned. "What am I supposed to do? Fire my own co-workers?"

Steve winced. "Just holler!" he yelled, as he stepped up in a quick movement to get to the balcony.

She sighed, placing her hands on her hips, watching after him. "Show off," she muttered.

She started to pace back and forth as Steve combed through the boxes on top of the balcony.

"We're gunna get in trouble, and I'll get another lecture, or I'll get fired, and this isn't gunna be fun at all, no, no, we're gunna get in trouble," Zoe sing-songed lightly to herself. She bobbed her head to her own crappy lyrics, as she fretted about being caught.

She stopped singing when she didn't hear any more footsteps upstairs. She searched for the stairs, and in the corner she headed upstairs. "Steve?" she whispered, searching for him in the weave of boxes piled up on the second floor. He was staring into one with a deep look of remorse on his face. "Steve?" she asked.

Steve looked up at Zoe. She found him with a box torn open. His face had a grave expression written upon it and she took a deep breath. She walked closer to the box and looked inside.

She peered inside the box, and ran a hand along the cool black pieces of metal that belonged to weapons of mass destruction. She shivered at the ill thought of S.H.I.E.L.D. building such things.

~*A*~

"No muss, no fuss…what is phase two?" Tony asked as the screen showed Jarvis's trace of hidden information from S.H.I.E.L.D. on screen.

Steve dropped the heavy weapon onto the table, catching Director Fury, Bruce, and Tony's attentions. "Phase two is that S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons."

Zoe stepped up closer to Director Fury, crossing her arms over her chest, and glared at her boss with questionable eyes. Fury looked from Zoe to Steve.

"Sorry the computer was moving a little slow for me," Steve said, glancing at Tony.

"Rogers, Sawyer, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"

Steve and Zoe listened to Fury, or at least tried to because Tony opened his big mouth again.

"I'm sorry Nick," Tony said, moving the computer screen closer toward them that had the weapons on screen. "What, were you lying?"

"I was wrong, Director, the world hasn't changed a bit," Steve said.

Zoe frowned, as an unsettling feeling started to burn a hole her heart. She glanced out at the open door, as Thor and Agent Romanoff joined them inside the lab.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Agent Romanoff, pointing to the screen.

"I sure as hell didn't," Zoe snapped, glaring at Agent Romanoff. "Is that why I'm still a level six agent?" she crossed her arms over her chest, staring vehemently. She'd been a level six agent far too long.

"You want to think removing yourself from this facility, doctor?" Agent Romanoff said, glancing at Zoe, but keeping her focus on Bruce.

"I was in Calcutta," Bruce chuckled dryly. "I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you," Agent Romanoff said, stepping closer toward him.

"And you'd been doing what exactly?" Bruce asked.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Agent Romanoff said.

"Yes," Bruce said, stepping closer towards her. "And I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy," he pulled the computer screen in his hands. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

All eyes were on Director Fury until he suddenly pointed toward Thor. "Because of him," he said.

"Me?" Thor asked, pointing to himself.

Everyone glanced at Thor questionably.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town," Director Fury explained. "We learned that we are not only alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor said.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Director Fury turned to face the God of Thunder. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people and can't be matched. They can't be controlled."

"Like you control the cube?" Steve asked.

Zoe chewed her lip, listening to her boss as it settled uneasily with her.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki it, and his allies," Thor explained. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"Now I get why I'm a level six," Zoe muttered under her breath.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something-" Director Fury began.

"Nuclear deterrent," Tony cut him off. "Cause that always calms everything right down."

Director Fury turned to face Tony. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in it," Steve said stepping closer.

"Wait, wait," Tony held his hands in defense. "Hold on, how is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked.

"Steve," Zoe whispered, shaking her head. Steve and Tony looked at her.

"I thought humans were more involved than this," Thor said.

"Excuse me!" Director Fury turned to Thor. "Did we come to your planet and blow things up?"

Steve and Tony started bickering at each other over Thor's response to Director Fury, and Zoe stepped in between Steve and Tony, trying to get them to stop snapping at each other.

"Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats," Agent Romanoff said, catching Zoe's attention.

"Captain America is on a threat watch?" Bruce asked, glancing at Agent Romanoff.

Agent Romanoff turned to face him. "We all are," she said.

"Is that how you found me before the police could raid my house?" Zoe asked Director Fury, crossing her arms over her chest. She narrowed her eyes at him, staring at his one eye. The eye patch never scared her, underneath it though, she didn't want to know what happened.

"For good reason, Agent Sawyer," Fury said, turning toward her in the midst of the fight that was brewing between the lost creatures. "You're a wanted murderer."

Zoe swallowed hard, her throat tightened, and she tightened her fists underneath her arms as the memory hit her hard. A memory she'd worked so hard to wipe out, to wipe away, but it came back hurtling at her like a mean tidal wave.

"I swear Stark, one more wisecrack out of you!" Steve said.

"Verbal threat, I feel threatened!" Tony shouted, pointing at Steve. "I feel threatened!"

"Will you two cut it out already?" Zoe asked.

"It's not going to work, trainee. They're men. They don't listen to little girls like you. And you're not even supposed to be here. Did you finish that package?" Agent Romanoff asked.

Zoe stepped closer to Agent Romanoff, and away from Steve and Tony as they continued to bicker. Voices in the background she didn't care. She stepped right up to Romanoff.

"I don't like being treated like a child," Zoe said.

"Then stop acting like one, and I won't," Agent Romanoff said. "You really need to work on your emotional work. Maybe that's why you're a level six. You can't think clearly like the rest of us."

"Did you ever think that not all of us are perfect like you?" Zoe demanded as the two ladies stepped in front of each other nose to nose.

"You think I'm perfect?" Agent Romanoff asked with a slight chuckle. "You don't know anything about me."

"And you don't know anything about me and what I'm capable of," Zoe said dangerously, as her dark eyes glowered with warning at Agent Romanoff, who didn't bat an eyelash at her. "Yeah, I figured it out. I'm your prisoner on this boat. You're not even training me like you're supposed to."

"We could go a few rounds if you want, get a little kitty action," Agent Romanoff said, smiling at this girl's challenge.

"Your boyfriend doctor won't mind?" Zoe asked, motioning a quick nod over to Bruce. "I thought you and Barton were like this," she wrapped her two fingers together in a lock.

Agent Romanoff smirked, shaking her head. "Oh you have no idea what you're stepping into."

"Then tell me because I'd like to know who I'm dealing with," Zoe said.

"How 'bout I show you," Agent Romanoff said, advancing on her.

"You speak of control," Thor said. His voice boomed around the room, causing everyone to look at him, and stepped away from their headed arguments. "Yet, you cause chaos!"

"Well, that's his M.O. isn't it? What are we, a team? No, no, no, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're…we're a time bomb," Bruce said.

"You need to step away," Director Fury warned.

Zoe peered over Agent Romanoff's shoulder. Romanoff noticed the worried look in Zoe's eyes and turned around to step closer towards Bruce. The gem inside the middle of the scepter was glowing blue, as if it was spiking again.

Fury and Romanoff were prepared to grab their firearms. Zoe stepped backwards towards Thor cautiously, as she tried to come up with another tactic that might calm this thing down before it blows up in everyone's face, all arguments aside.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, slapping his hand along Steve's shoulder.

Steve ripped it away. "You know damn well why," Steve said angrily, standing in front of Tony.

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony taunted.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve said, glaring at Tony.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony grinned.

"I know guys worth none of that are worth ten of you," Steve said.

Tony was silent. In fact, the whole room was silent, and Zoe literally felt like her world was caving in and she was helpless to stop it.

"Yeah, I've seen the footage," Steve said. "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the kind of man to make the sacrificial play to lay down the wire, and let the other guy crawl through over you?"

Tony swallowed hard, listening to Steve's words sting in his ear. He regained his composure and shrugged. "I think I would just cut the wire," he said.

"Always a way out," Steve said. "You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Tony stepped closer to the first Avenger. "A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

~*A*~

Meanwhile outside the Hellicarrier, Agent Barton pulled out an arrow from his quiver and attached it to his bow. Standing inside the quinjet he'd stolen, he scanned the perimeter exterior and found his target. He aimed and shot a perfect shot along the side of the lab.

~*A*~

"Put on a suit," Steve smirked. "Let's go a few rounds."

Thor let out a hearty chuckle. "You people are so petty, and tiny," Thor said.

"Yeah," Bruce said dryly. "This is a team."

"Agent Romanoff, would you please escort Dr. Banner to his-" Director Fury turned to Agent Romanoff, but Bruce cut him off.

"Where?" You rented my room," Bruce said, pointing out the door.

Director Fury sighed, "That was just in case you-"

"Need to kill me?" Bruce said. "You can't! I tried!"

Everyone stopped talking, and now all eyes were on Bruce.

"I got low," Bruce said quietly. "I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the Other Guy spit it out. So, I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good till you dragged me back into this freak show," he glared at Agent Romanoff. She shifted uneasily on her feet, staring back at him. "And put everyone at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Director Fury and Agent Romanoff's hands lingered toward their side-arms, watching warily at Bruce, fixated on the scepter that he was now holding in his hands.

"Dr. Banner," Steve warned. "Put down the scepter."

Zoe took a tentative step closer. "Bruce," she said. "It's okay. We all have our demons," she said. "Even me."

Bruce frowned at her.

"Director Fury?" Zoe asked quietly.

Director Fury turned to face his trainee. "Sawyer?" he asked.

"What would happen to me if…I did…kill my father?" she asked. "I mean, you're a spy too, right? So, you should've known all along that I had something to do with it. I mean, after all I helped stage that robbery in Soho, who's to say I wouldn't stage a murder too? You know…to cover my tracks?" she whispered. She glanced from the floor cautiously to everyone else in the room that was now staring at her. She felt the wave of shock around the room and wince. It wasn't like how it sounded…

"You did say I was an excellent actress," she continued.

Director Fury widened his eye at her. "Zoe," he began, but she cut him off. Damn it, Fury thought. He was never going to be able to explain to them anything if it kept going like this.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. never intended to offer me a job or a home…you didn't want to waste my potential behind bars," Zoe said. "You wanted to use my skills in the field. You saw what I was capable of and found me on that nifty little radar of yours. Right? I mean that's how you got this "team". I wondered why you brought me here, the thought wouldn't leave my mind. I finally came to the conclusion that it was to keep an eye on me, right?"

Director Fury frowned at her words, hanging in the air like they were on strings.

Zoe drew in a deep breath, and let it out. "You asked me once if I could talk?" she asked, turning toward Bruce.

Bruce nodded slowly, still holding onto the glowing scepter.

"Just listen, and I'll talk," she said. "I did it, I killed my father," she said, looking down at the floor, avoiding everyone's gazes on her. She worked so hard to block it out. "Sometimes he would come home and he wouldn't be himself. I didn't know at the time that he worked for this mysterious company called S.H.I.E.L.D. and that he was trying to get out. I just assumed it was the life of a workaholic, stressful, needed to get well, whatever he was on, and he ended up crazy because of it. One night, he attacked me right when I was doing homework for college. He used a knife on me and tried to cut open into my stomach. He kept yelling Ava, why won't you let me see your abilities, I need to know. He didn't stop there. He would try to rip open other unseen places, but he never got close. I was able to try to get away, barely each time, and I'd run." she let out a shaky breath, and hugged one arm across her chest.

"Who's Ava?" Romanoff whispered.

Zoe shrugged. She'd never figured that one out. "One night, I came home from school only to find my mother dead. I was about to call 911 until my father attacked me out of nowhere. He shoved me again on the sofa. It felt like he was going to do it again, but this time it was different. He thought I killed my mother. But, I swear I had nothing to do with my mother's death. I swear!" she stressed to the point where she emitted a low stressed growl from her throat. Her throat constricted and she let out a small cry of pain at the painful memory. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Director Fury listened to her, and the room grew thicker. He kept his eye on Bruce just in case, but Bruce seemed too intent in Zoe's story.

"During the struggle, I grabbed the nearest weapon I could find, clocked him in the head, and he never woke up," she whispered. "I panicked, and I freaked out in the worst way."

"Why didn't you just call the police?" Steve asked in a low whisper.

Zoe sniffed, and shook her head, rubbing the tears that had fallen from her eyes off of her plump cheeks. "Look at me! I look like I'm twelve-years-old, but I'm older now. No one ever takes me seriously because of my baby face," she whispered. She looked at Bruce.

She let out a sigh. "Like Dr. Banner, I didn't see any other option out of this, so I staged it to make it look like a suicide. I went to the circus that night, trying to figure out what to do…I was offered a chance to flee the state, but something in me made me come back. I was going to turn myself in, but then I noticed someone broke into my house, so I decided to play the victim. Fury recruited me and that was that."

Suddenly a hit on the Tesseract read an energy signature match of ninety-five percent, gaining everyone's attention.

"Got it," Director Fury said.

Bruce glanced down at the scepter, suddenly realizing that he had it in his hands and looked at the sounds beeping and spluttering to life in the room, going haywire.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all," Bruce muttered, placing the scepter down. His computer suddenly went haywire.

"I'll get it!" Tony said, making a mad dash to the door.

"Right there with you!" Zoe said, jumping at the chance to help Tony. Tony looked at her warily.

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked. "The Tesseract belongs on Asguard. No human is a match for it."

"Not gunna kill me?" Tony joked, trying to ease off the nervousness he got when she walked up to him.

Zoe glared at him, tightening her fists at her sides.

"Too soon?" Tony said.

Zoe nodded.

"You're not going alone," Steve said, and slapped Steve's hand away from his arm.

"You gonna stop me?" Tony asked.

"Put on a suit, let's find out!" Steve challenged.

"I'm not afraid of you, old man," Tony said, getting into his face, leaving Zoe behind.

"Put on the suit," Steve said through clenched teeth.

"Oh my God." Bruce whispered, staring at the computer screen.

Suddenly the Hellicarrier exploded from the inside of the ship, causing parts of the engine side of the floating fortress to fall apart.

Everyone flew to the floor in different directions.

Tony and Steve flew toward the door of the laboratory with Zoe not too far behind them. Fury and Thor had fallen in other directions still inside the lab, while Bruce and Agent Romanoff flew backwards out of the glass laboratory, falling a few feet below the lab, landing unconscious.