Chapter Nine
"Ariana?" Steve paused slightly at the door before he slowly opened it. "Ari, are you awake?"
Ariana raised her head slowly from where it had been lying on her bed. She knew now that she had to lift her head slowly otherwise everything would start spinning and she would soon fall into darkness. "Yes." she squeaked.
As soon as she had returned from HQ she had laid on her bed and fallen into an uneasy slumber. Everything seemed to either ache or burn. Her bones felt like they weighed fifty pounds and the cut below her rib cage pained her.
"Are you feeling all right?" Steve asked concerned as he kneel down next to her bed so that he could face her. He wanted to scold her and tell her that she should have stayed home, but something told him that Ariana wouldn't listen to a scolding. He placed a hand on her brow and was concerned when Ariana didn't pull away, in fact she seemed much too weak to do much of anything.
"Steve. Hurts." she whimpered as she buried her face into the blanket. She was too ashamed to meet his eyes. He had been right, she was sick and she guessed it was from that stupid cut she's been too stubborn to actually asked Bruce to cure her. Bruce wouldn't have told, he was trustworthy like Steve.
"What hurts?" Steve asked her gently.
"Body." she mumbled. "Head."
"That's because you're running a fever," he said with an edge to his voice. "Ariana, may I see your cut? Just to see if its healing?"
She nodded as she crawled to the middle of the bed and turned around, Steve gently lifted up the shirt and was surprised to see that the cut was much worse than before. The cut was bright red and it looked swollen. Steve touched it with the trace of his finger and Ariana pulled away. "Steve!" she snapped.
"Sorry," he sunk in his cheeks. "Do you want me to get Bruce?" He was going to get him anyway, but wanted to at least warn Ariana. Or make her believe that he was asking permission.
Ariana paused for a moment before she slowly nodded.
Steve nodded as he rushed to Bruce's room. Bruce was sitting in an armchair, with a book propped over his knees. He raised his eyes when he saw Steve. "Hey, Steve who are you running away from?" he teased lightly.
"Bruce, please you need to come with me," he said panicked. "It's an emergency."
Bruce frowned looking concerned as he placed the book next to him. "What seems to be the problem?"
"You need to come with me, Ariana is sick, I think she may have gotten an infection," Steve blurted out. "She got injured when the scorpions came and attacked us."
"Wait," Bruce said looking more confused. "How was Ariana involve? She told us that you got there before the scorpions even touched her."
"She lied, she's more than capable, because, because well-"
"Spit it out Steve."
"Because she's an agent for SHIELD," everything came tumbling out like a house of cards. "She's been an agent for one year behind Tony's back."
"An agent?" Bruce stammered in disbelief. "Ariana? I though she was a ballerina."
"She is, but it's complicated, Bruce please you have to help her." Steve bit his lip. "Please, Bruce she needs you."
"Ok, I'll ask questions later," he said as he grabbed his medicine bag and headed towards Ariana's room where Ariana looked more dead than alive. "Ari? Ariana can you hear me?" he asked. "Raise you head a little, honey I need to take your temperature."
Ariana raised her head a little bit and Bruce managed to place the thermometer under toung. "104. 3." he said as he read the thermometer. Anxiously he pulled back her shirt and saw the red swollen cut under her rib cage. "It's definitely an infection. We need to take her to the hospital, I can treat her better there."
"Uh, Bruce is that really necessary?" Steve asked and noticed that Ariana had fallen asleep. "Because then Tony would find out and I'm sure that Ariana wouldn't want that."
"Well then that's too bad for Ariana," Bruce said firmly. "I rather keep her alive than help her keep her secrets. Steve, can you help me with Ariana?"
Steve nodded as he picked her and put her over his shoulder. Steve could feel how hot her skin was though his thin t-shirt. As soon as they arrived at the hospital Bruce went to work on Ariana and to get the infection out of her body while Steve waited in the waiting room impatiently.
Hours later Tony stepped into Stark Tower and saw that only Clint was there. "Hey, Barton have you seen Ariana?" he asked cheerfully. "I've brought some Chinese food for dinner."
"Um, actually," Clint squirmed uncomfortably. He wasn't sure how to phrase it. Hey, Tony turns out that half of the people you know have been lying to you all along, oh and guess what your ballerina daughter is actually an agent and is in the hospital right now.
"Ariana is in the hospital, Stark," Natasha said simply as she entered the living room. She threw a warning glance at Barton.
"What?" Tony nervously dropped the food on the counter. "Why?"
Natasha shrugged. "I don't know. She's been there for an hour or two. Bruce and Steve are with-" But Tony had already left.
"Bruce! Rogers!" Tony exclaimed when he saw Bruce and Steve talking in the waiting area drinking a cup of coffee. They looked up, looking guilty.
"What happened?" he demanded furiously. "What happened to Ariana?"
They looked at each other uncomfortably. "Um, well-"
"I can explain," Phil Coulson stepped into the waiting room. He ignored the surprise glances of his friends. He smiled at Tony. "Stark, Banner, Rogers nice to see you again."
Halfway around the world things between Audriana and Red Skull were tensing up. Audriana was perched on a chair, her feet bare and not caring that Red Skull was pacing around the room throwing things around.
"What are you still doing here?" he snapped. "You're suppose to be killing your sister and destroying the Avengers, not laying around here like some princess."
"I don't have enough information about Ariana." Audriana replied annoyed. "What do you expect me to do, just go to New York and immediately destroy them? No, I need information."
"Then get some," Red Skull narrowed his eyes. "It's easy to get information."
"Not out of SHIELD it isn't." she snorted.
Red Skull pressed a hand to her shoulder. "You'll figure out. Think, Audriana, you're a smart girl. Stop thinking like Audriana and start thinking like Ariana. No, become Ariana. Become the Black Swan."
-End of Chapter Nine-
