To embrace the extraordinary

Summary: Leanne Barton has never been what you would class as normal. She is very good at pretending she is an ordinary girl but she's not and with her big brother in danger it is time for her to stop hiding. The time has come for her to embrace the extraordinary

Disclaimer:I don't own anything that you recognise. The idea is the only thing that's mine.

AN: hello everyone I am finally back with a new chapter, this is shorter than the others were because I have been away from this story for so long that I have to get a feel for the characters again. I hope you enjoy it and I fully intend to update more regularly from now on.


Chapter 10

Finding and following Steve was a lot more difficult than Leanne had expected it to be, he was dressed like the American flag after all. When she finally did locate him he was stood glaring at one of the many doors that she knew she didn't have clearance high enough to open.

"Steve" she softly called out to him "you doing OK?" she asked him, she was genuinely concerned by his actions. "Look, I know Stark is a genius but he is also an ass, don't let him get to you" she implored the young man who was technically older than her mother had been.

Finally, Steve sighed and switched his attention from the door to the young woman beside him. "Just because he's and jerk doesn't mean he is wrong" he said parroting a cleaner version of Leanne's own words back at her.

Leanne found herself at a loss, she had chased after Steve intending to calm him down and maybe talk him into coming back to the lab. It had never occurred to her that Tony's words may have done more than just bother Steve.

"Go back to the Lab, where it's safe Leanne" Steve told her before turning his attention back to the door in front of him.

"The way I see it safe is a relative term at the moment" Leanne shot back before she could stop herself. "Are you seriously going to try and break in there?" she asked.

Steve didn't give her a verbal answer, instead he lent all of his weight into the door until the lock popped and it began to slide open.

"I guess you are" Leanne whispered in answer to her own question.

"Go back to the Lab Leanne" Steve said again "You don't want to be involved in this" he assured her.

"So, my choices are breaking and entering with Captain America or hacking with Iron Man, both seem pretty illegal to me" she commented as she slipped past Steve and through the now open door.

"Leanne" he hissed at her "get out of there"

"You know the longer you loiter out there the more likely you are to get caught, right?" she asked him from her spot just inside the door.

Steve crept in and shut the door behind him, sighing once again. "You stay here and watch the door" he told the head strong young woman "anyone catches us in here you tell the you were just following my orders, you got that?" he asked.

Leanne had no intentions of blaming Steve if they got caught but she suspected he would forcibly remove her if she told him that so instead she tossed him a smile and a small salute "You got it Cap she grinned"

As she watched Steve effortlessly hop and jump from one catwalk to the next the gymnast in Leanne was equal parts impressed and jealous. She had been training since she was 5 and she still wouldn't be able to pull off the moves that Steve made look so easy.

The young woman was pulled from her observations by a sudden and persistent buzzing in her ear. It took her a moment to realise it was coming from her ear bud, hesitantly she applied the necessary pressure to activate it. "This is Leanne" she whispered, not wanting to be the reason she and Steve were caught in S.H.I.E.L.D's super-secret vault.

"Leanne" a familiar but not instantly recognisable voice filled her ear "It's Gizmo here".

"Hey Gizmo" Leanne greeted still whispering "Now is really not a good time for me to be chatting" she said trying to politely dismiss him.

"Leanne, wait, wait" Gizmo yelled making her flinch at the volume "Missy said I had to contact you and that it is really important that I tell you this"

"Tell me what?" she sighed and gave up any hope of ending the conversation before it started.

"The Black Widow is going to interrogate Loki and I can patch you in without her knowing" Gizmo said in a rush "I said you wouldn't care but Missy said you would want to know" he explained.

"You can let me listen in on Nat, you can really do that?" Leanne was shocked.

"Well I made the ears buds, so yeah" Gizmo sounded somewhat bashful. "So, do you want me to put you through or not?" he asked.

For a moment Leanne was torn, she knew that interrogation was listed as one of Natasha's skills in the file Steve had given her but she didn't know what that entailed. As much as she wanted to know if Loki had anything to say about Clint she wasn't sure she could handle hearing it.

"Leanne" Gizmo prompted her and she knew that if she didn't take him up on his offer she would probably regret it.

"Yeah, do it Gizmo" she told him feeling nervous but determined.

As she listened Leanne kept an eye out for Steve's return. What she heard was nowhere near as bad as bad as she had expected it to be and yet it was somehow so much worse. There was no pain or torcher, there weren't even that many questions. Natasha used Loki's own ego against him to find out all she needed to know but hearing what the god had planned for her brother broke her heart.

Never had Leanne Barton hated someone as much as she hated Loki and never had she so feverishly wished she possessed Z's gift, she would dearly love to misuse it on the creature that believed himself above them all.

If she wasn't trying to go undetected Leanne would have whooped when Natasha thanked Loki for his cooperation she could almost see the confusion on his face as he realized, he had been played by a mere human. Her joy however was short lived and was soon traded for apprehension.

First Steve came back to the door looking madder than ever and carrying what looked like high tech gun then Natasha's voice filled her ear once again, this time it was actually directed at her. "I don't suggest you listen in on me again Kid" that woman scolded her "you might not like the outcome". Leanne instantly felt bad and wanted to apologize for her actions but Nat disconnected her before she could.

Steve passed Leanne without a word and made his way to the Lab, Leanne knew she probably follow him but she also knew that this was probably the only chance she was going to get if she wanted to face the monster that had stolen her brothers mind from him.

Entering Loki's holding area felt like walking into a horror movie, from her spot by the door Leanne watched him pace the length of his glass cell like some kind of animal, she thought she had gone unnoticed but as Loki had said to Natasha not many people could sneak up on him.

"Well, well, well" he smiled sinisterly "I wondered how long it would take you to come to me, hello little witch" he greeted her.

"I'm not a witch" Leanne replied almost instinctively.

"No, you're not" Loki agreed smoothly "but you could have been" he reminded her. "Just imagine how much more use you would be now if you hadn't refused your gift and thrown your powers away" he teased her.

"You of all people should be glad that I can't manipulate emotions" Leanne told him never once moving from her place by the door. "Even without my powers I can see you for what you really are, a scared little boy, just imagine what I could do to you with those powers and all that fear, it wouldn't be pretty" she promised him.

For the briefest second Leanne thought she saw both fear and anger flash in Loki's eyes but they were gone to quickly for her to be sure. The lack of confirmation didn't stop the flash of pride she felt but his next words did "neither will you end, who's death do you think will destroy Barton more, yours or Romanoff's" he asked coolly.

Any snappy come back Leanne may have had was interrupted by a sudden shaking of the whole ship around her.

"Oh, here's you dear brother now" Loki practically crowed "if you want to help your friends I suggest you run along now" he smirked at the clearly frightened girl before him.

Without giving Loki another look Leanne took off running for the Lab where she knew the others had been, she tried to ignore the laughter she could hear ring out from the demented god and hoped she wasn't too late to be any use to the others.


Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, I have actually really missed adding to this story and I would love to know what you think.

Thanks again

Millie xXx