A/N: Today's my birthday! Leave a review? #shameless Also, keep your eyes peeled because I may just post a second chapter for you later TODAY!


Chapter 11 - Inhumans

Steph's POV

I was relieved to set foot in the Avenger's jet this time and know that I was on my way back out of Trenton. I'd taken a few minutes during my meal to talk to Grandma Mazur on the phone, and she seemed to be taking the whole thing surprisingly well. Rather than be upset by getting arrested or having to stay in jail for so long, she thought the whole thing was a hoot. She told me that it was just another item that she could cross off her bucket list. Personally, I was happy to have her keep crossing items off, since she seemed to add them in at an even faster rate. I figured the odds were low that she was going to leave this world to visit Grandpa Mazur in that big all-you-can-eat buffet in the sky while she still had things she wanted to do.

On Grandma's recommendation, I'd elected against an in-person visit as my mother was fit to be tied. Maybe in a couple days, I'd get Steve to give me a ride back into town and see if my mother had calmed down at all. But, in the meantime, I wasn't in a rush.

It was my third trip in the Aven-Jet as Clint called it, but my first time flying in it where I was in anywhere near the correct state of mind to be looking around at my surroundings. Steve insisted on me buckling in for safety's sake, citing the fact that I was tired and weak. Because of that, I couldn't move around freely. As such, my head and gaze were darting around like crazy, trying to see everything. I had about a million questions, but I didn't want to bother anyone with them, so I managed, just barely, to keep them contained.

When I looked up, I noticed the amused gaze of each team member on me, and I rolled my eyes, "oh, come on. You can't tell me you didn't all think this was cool when you saw it for the first time!"

"Well," Rhodey said, "compared to Stark's jet, this is downright utilitarian. Did you know that he has a stripper pole in that jet of his? Or at least he did before Pepper took it out. He even had flight attendants who were also willing to dance. Those were the good old days."

"I have absolutely no idea what to say to that other than, no, I didn't know that." I replied, fully conscious of the fact that I was goggling at him.

Natasha reached over and smacked Rhodey upside the head, then told me, "you say, 'Rhodey, you're an idiot. Pepper probably saved Tony's life,' and you smack him like I just did. Take a shot if you'd like- he doesn't have his armor on and it takes a few seconds to assemble around him if he calls it. Helmet goes on last."

Now my bewildered gaze was firmly planted on Natasha, "oooookkaayyyyy...?"

Honestly I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. From the pilot seat, Clint called out, "she's not joking, Steph. Don't let this crazy bunch scare you off. Some of us are normal."

"Didn't you fight off swarms of robots with a bow and arrow in a flying city a couple months ago? A bow and arrow, Clint!"

"Yeah, I know, it doesn't make sense, but I really like it!"

"And didn't I see video of you in the battle of New York using some kind of grappling hook arrow to fling yourself off the roof of a building and crash through the windows into a board room?"

"It was awesome! I'm still so happy someone got that on HD video! It's my screensaver on my computer."

"I'm normal," Sam tried.

I snorted out a laugh, and Bucky said, "in Sam's defense he probably is the most normal one on this jet."

"I am perfectly normal!" I argued. "I don't go running around as a superhero fighting aliens or blowing up giant helicarriers! I have a job, I work it, and when my mother isn't out of control, I go to dinner at my parents house at least once a week. I think I'll skip this week though."

"I'm sorry," Sam argued. "But how many times has your apartment been blown up and/or set on fire? And how many cars have you totaled? No offense, but I think Vision might be the most normal of all of us."

"None of that was my fault!"

Everyone just snickered, and when I looked over at Steve, he looked so happy to see me getting along with his teammates that I just had to give him a soft smile and blow him a kiss.

"You're going to be sickening, the two of you. Aren't you?" Pietro said in his thick accent.

"I think it's sweet," Wanda cut in. "And yes, they always will be."

Rather than being thrown off by it, I just looked over at Wanda and grinned. What could I say, I mean, her weirdness was growing on me. Plus, her use of the word "always" made me hope that she could see at least some portion of our future together and it was a long one. I thought I heard her echo the word "always" in my head again, like a promise, but I wasn't used to having her in my mind yet and I wasn't certain. I could have just imagined it.

Still, I took it as a good sign, and happily went back to looking around the jet. Clearly sensing how difficult it was for me to contain the questions, Steve stood and started walking around explaining what some of the stuff was. There was a stretcher, which I was informed had been used after I had been shot, as well as heavy duty medical gear. Sam actually got up and showed me the contents in detail "just in case" since Bobby had told him about some of the more advanced aid training he'd been working on with me.

There was a section on one side with lockers for each team member with extra uniforms and gear for them all. Noticing that they were all just mixed together in a line, I asked, "no girls corner and boys corner?"

"It's more space efficient just to lump them all together," Steve said. "And as we're on a jet, space efficiency is important."

"Huh," I said, looking at both women. "That doesn't bother you?"

"No," Natasha said plainly. "My body is a weapon, and I view it as such first and foremost. Plus, they're all too scared of me to try to sneak a peek without permission- unless I'm bleeding and need aid but then they're usually too busy providing said assistance. And really most of us have gotten enough battle wounds around the others that there isn't much we haven't seen."

I looked over at Wanda and she just shrugged, "even if they weren't too afraid of me as well to allow their eyes to wander without permission, I could just instantly make them forget what they saw."

Huh. Hard to decide which woman was my hero based on those answers alone. I'd have to think up some sort of rating system. Both women smiled at me enigmatically, and I realized I'd spoken out loud and they were willing to accept the challenge I'd inadvertently made.

"Wait, aren't I supposed to be your hero?" Steve asked teasingly.

"Nope, you can be my boyfriend or my hero, but you can't be both. You choose."

"Boyfriend," Steve chose without hesitating. "Although so far you've proven yourself to not really need a hero anyway. You take pretty good care of yourself."

"Damn right I do!" I crowed, "I've been working on it."

"And you're about to get a whole lot better," Wanda provided. When I simply raised my brow in question while letting out an impatient breath, Wanda capitulated enough to say, "soon."

Before much longer we were back on the ground at the New Avengers Facility, and as we stood to get off the plane, Steve asked me, "how are you feeling?"

"Exhausted," I answered truthfully.

"Okay, I know Dr. Cho wants to look you over if you don't mind, just to make sure you're still healing up okay given how stressful the past thirty hours have been. Then maybe we'll just call it a night early? Grab a quick bite to eat and then try to catch up on the rest of the sleep you missed?"

"That sounds like a marvelous plan to me," I said.

While I wasn't excited to be back in the medical facility, I was at least glad to at least be doing so under my own steam. I thought about protesting when I realized Dr. Cho was going to treat me in the Avengers' big mission room again, but one look at Steve and the rest of the team told me it would be a wasted effort, so I didn't bother.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself dropped off with Dr. Cho then told that they'd be waiting for me in the cafeteria, clearly giving me privacy.

"You know, the others are plenty good at keeping me on my toes, you don't have to feel the need to contribute," Dr. Cho teased as she patted the exam table.

"Well, I figure you should treat some regular people who don't have a death wish too. Make sure you don't lose your bedside manner for all types of patients."

"That's very considerate of you."

"I try. Do I need to change or anything?"

"Not at the moment, I'm just going to take your vitals while you tell me about what happened."

I poured the whole experience out to her, and Dr. Cho made appropriately sympathetic noises at the right moments while flitting around me. She probed gently at my lip, then asked me how I was feeling otherwise, and I truthfully answered that I was tired more than anything else.

"Okay, well. Go get a hearty dinner, as many hours of sleep as you can manage, and I think you'll feel much better again in the morning. I'll be leaving around mid-day tomorrow, so if you're going to have another crisis, can you try to do so first thing in the morning? Trans-continental travel is a hassle without having to reschedule."

With a laugh, I promised her that I'd try not to need her again at all, and then allowed FRIDAY to guide me back to the cafeteria. For dinner I had a delicious plate of lasagna, and when I was too tired to finish it, Steve did for me before taking me to bed. Try as I might, I couldn't get anything more than some kisses out of him, as Steve insisted that I needed my rest. Given the speed at which I dropped off to sleep, though, he may have had a point.

Steve's POV

I stayed awake for an hour, just listening to Steph breathe and making sure that she wasn't going to be plagued by the same restlessness she had been earlier. When it seemed that she was sleeping peacefully this time, I pulled her into me even more closely and let myself sleep as well.

I wanted Steph to eat again before we did anything else, so our first order of business was breakfast and the rest of the day, including workouts, was to be rescheduled accordingly. When we walked into the cafeteria the next morning, most of the support staff was in there ahead of the morning shift starting. The dull roar of conversation stopped the instant people set eyes on Steph, and realized that she was once more in the facility, even though she clearly wasn't a new hire. She shifted uncomfortably under my arm, so I just pulled her more firmly into my side.

Natasha, as my second in command, stepped forward. She waited until the eyes shifted to her warily before she called out, "This is Ms. Plum. You probably remember her from when we had to search for her a couple days ago. In addition to bringing in a person of interest for us in our HYDRA case and being Captain Rogers's girlfriend, she is continuing to help us and we ALL consider her a friend. Get used to seeing her around."

There was nervous murmuring throughout the room at that, and I chose to guide Steph over to the line of chefs who were eagerly anticipating our orders.

"They're not really going to call me Ms. Plum, are they?" she whispered.

"On shift, yes. Whoever you choose to get to know and whatever you tell them you want them to call you off shift is fine," I explained.

"What can we make for you, Ms. Plum?" Mary asked on cue.

Steph looked at her and said, "Mary, you definitely need to call me Steph. Do you have pancakes?"

"Of course we do! Just plain? Or we have blueberries, strawberries," Mary responded happily. She took in the look on Steph's face and tried, "chocolate chips and whipped cream?"

Steph's eyes lit up, and Mary just laughed and called back the order before confirming that I would take my usual. We slid down to the side and allowed the others to order behind us. Once our food was ready, I made a point to scope out the tables while Steph was gaping at the amount of food on my tray.

Walking forward, I guided us to a mostly full table that contained many of the people from Steph's first cafeteria experience. Including the employee from whom she'd taken the phone and gun. I indicated for Steph to sit then took my own seat across from her. "Steph, this is Aaron, he's a flight tech for our larger carrier type vessels. This is Danny, one of our communications techs. Pat here, is a scientist. Abigail is a pilot, and finally Charlie is a weapons tech. Each of them was onsite at the Triskelion and played a large role in helping us overcome HYDRA and bring down Project Insight that day. We wouldn't have succeeded without them, and then they managed to get out alive and were willing to come help out when we made this facility. Actually, some of them helped us evacuate people from Sokovia as well."

"Wow, it's nice to meet you all," Steph said, rising up to shake each person's hand in turn. "Aaron, I'm sorry about the whole gun thing."

Aaron flushed and told her it wasn't her fault. After that I mostly listened and observed as she made small talk with the people at our table. Around the room, everyone else settled in when they saw that Steph was just a friendly, normal person. When she burst out laughing, I caught more than a few employees looking over and grinning at the sound. I'd chosen this table to sit at because I trusted the people at it, but also because I wanted Steph to feel comfortable with everyone in the facility, not just the Avengers. And I wanted the people in the facility to feel comfortable with her- and protect her if anything happened onsite when I wasn't around.

Everything was going well and I felt I had achieved my mission until I saw Steph reach into her pocket and pull out her vitamins. She took a sip of her orange juice and popped the pills into her mouth in between telling an amusing story about working security with Ranger for some singer named Brenda. She swallowed, continued her story for a couple more minutes about fake eyelashes being rubbed off on television and Brenda thinking it was some sort of bug, much to the delight of her now captive audience, when she suddenly stopped and went wide eyed.

When she started choking, I jumped to my feet. I was around the table in just a second, but Steph moved away from me frantically shaking her head. One of the other scientists and Pat stepped forward and moved to touch Steph, but Wanda called out "no! Don't touch her; she's okay, but nobody touch her!"

Pietro picked his sister up and carried her to Steph. Ignoring her instruction, I ran toward Steph again, only to be thrown back by Wanda and her powers. I felt shocked and betrayed when I realized what had happened, but when I tried to move forward again, Wanda cried out, "Bucky, stop him or he dies!"

From behind, I felt Bucky clamp onto me with his metal hand at the same time Steph started turning into charcoal grey stone. I fought him harder, but Vision joined in and helped restrain me forcibly. When I saw the tear streak down Steph's face before the last of her body, her eyes, got covered in stone, I dropped to my knees in despair.

"No!" I cried out as I hit the floor. "I just found her!"

I stared at Steph for a moment longer in absolute disbelief before getting to my feet again and turning to Wanda.

"You knew this would happen! You said she would be okay!"

I strode forward even as Pietro stepped between Wanda and I and Wanda threw up an energy field around the two of them and Steph yelling, "she will be!"

"She's a rock, Wanda!"

I bellowed even as Natasha called out desperately behind me, "Steve! Steve stop!"

I ignored her and kept trying to advance until Bucky's voice finally cut through my rage just because of the quiet wonder it held as he whispered, "Look."

I turned back to Steph as the the rock started breaking apart and realized I was openly weeping, unable to stop. Until, that was, I realized the stone was a shell of sorts and her beautiful, pale skin was starting to show again as the stone crumbled. Her fingers were free first, and she wiggled them slightly. Then her eyes were next, locking with mine and showing me a hint of fear, but also relief.

The rock started crumbling more, and I took a step forward. Casting a glance at Wanda, she smiled softly as she dropped the shield. A split second later, I was thrown off my feet by some sort of explosion.

There was ringing in my ears when I lifted my head back off the ground. Standing in the same spot she had been, was Steph looking around in panic at everyone else who had been thrown away from her, including the twins. The fire sprinklers went off, and water was streaming down in a deluge as people slowly started picking themselves back up.

"What the hell was that?" Clint shouted, finger in his ear and desperately trying to make the ringing stop.

Steph clearly mistook it as anger toward herself and ran. Wide eyed, I looked at Sam, then slowly over to Natasha, Clint, Rhodey, Vision, Wanda, and Pietro who were in turn each watching me.

When my eyes met Bucky's he walked up and shook me roughly. "What the hell are you doing punk? Did you see that? I don't know what that was, but she clearly doesn't either. And she's TERRIFIED, Steve. Go get her!"

Slowly it dawned on me that Steph was okay, but had just left. Shoving Bucky out of my way, I ran for the door, slipping once or twice in the water on my way out. Over my shoulder I called, "someone turn the water off, and Avengers... Assemble!"

One of the benefits of the super soldier serum I was given was peak physical fitness and endurance, which, among other things such as feats of strength, translates into super speed. Which meant Steph really didn't stand a chance of outrunning me, especially when she didn't know the lay of the land and I could call on Friday to keep her in the building.

When I caught her, I called out her name gently so she'd be sure to hear me approach. She spun and looked at me with wide, frightened eyes, and I simply walked up to her, bent down, grabbed her behind the thighs, and lifted her up. There was a moment where she hesitated and I thought she might struggle to get away, but instead she buried her face in my neck and wrapped her arms and legs around me.

"Hey, Steph I don't know what that was, but you're okay. We're going to figure it out, and you're going to be just fine," I offered in between soothing noises as she sobbed in my arms.

I leaned my back against the wall, holding Steph along my front, and just comforted her while she cried. Even once she sniffled and stopped, I didn't push her, just held on and waited for her to be ready for me to move. At the end of the hallway, at least an hour after I'd picked Steph up, I saw Wanda appear and offer me a small smile of reassurance. Seconds later, Steph jolted in surprise then relaxed even more into me. Looking back down the hallway, I saw Wanda's eyes were glowing red, but since Steph seemed better, I wasn't too worried.

I stayed like that for several more minutes until I saw Wanda straighten up and gesture for me to move forward. My instincts were practically screaming at me to treat Steph with kid gloves for the time being, so I brushed a kiss across her forehead and asked, "Sweetheart, is it okay if I take you with Wanda? She seems to want us to follow her."

Steph nodded before confirming that Wanda had been in her mind by saying, "she says there are people here to help me. To make it stop hurting."

I walked forward carefully, wanting to make sure I didn't make whatever pain she was experiencing worse.

"What hurts?" I asked, quickly realizing that Wanda was guiding us back to the Avengers War Room and medical rooms.

"Everything" Steph whispered.

"Do you want me to put you down?"

"No, it hurt just as bad when I was running, and I want to hold you for as long as I can, just in case."

Apparently overhearing that now that I was much closer, Wanda reassured us both. "Steph, you're not going to die. On the contrary, you've become so much… more. These people are going to help you feel better, and then they're going to help you control it."

We stepped into the room, and the rest of the team as well as Dr. Cho's medical staff was waiting anxiously with a group of three people standing together slightly off to the side. There was a man in a suit who I knew, and with him were a younger pair- one man and one woman. All three were watching us with great speculation.

"You don't look surprised to see me, Captain Rogers," Phil Coulson said with a friendly smile.

"When Natasha was doing the file dump, she was able to flag and save for herself the files that your team attempted to delete. We trusted that there was a reason for your actions and didn't do anything other than keep a local copy, read them, then destroy that as well." I explained. "I know you're Agent Skye, the hacker we assumed was doing the deleting, but I don't know who the last of your party is."

"My name is Lincoln," the man said. "It's an honor to meet you, Director Coulson speaks highly of you."

I laughed knowing full well that Coulson was what could generously be called a "fan" and, considering his surveillance skills, could otherwise be called something much less flattering. To Coulson I said, "I actually have something for you. When I found out that you were probably alive- because why else would your file be deleted even if it did officially list you as dead- I went about gathering some things for you. Once we get Steph here squared away, I'll show them to you."

I set Steph on her feet, then said, "this is Stephanie Plum. She had a bit of an… experience… a short time ago, and I guess you're here to help?"

I held back an additional laugh when Coulson stepped forward and, as he was shaking Steph's hand, said, "Ms. Plum, it is truly, truly an honor to meet you. Anyone who Captain America would choose to have by his side... I just, wow. It's an honor to meet you."

Steph looked a little bewildered, but Agent Skye stepped forward and offered her hand to Steph and then me. "Hi, I'm Skye, no need for the formality of the Agent in front of it. Sorry about D.C. The Director has always been a," she cut off sparing a glance for Coulson before turning back to Steph, "fan of Cap's; even has a sign in his office that says, 'Trust Cap' and collects memorabilia. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he realizes he can't collect people, so you and Barnes should be safe."

Steph laughed at that then clapped a hand over her mouth, shooting the man in question an apologetic look that he waved off.

"No, I'm sorry. I've been working on it. I coached and prepped myself the whole way over here. I had it under control, but I didn't factor in meeting you or the Sergeant." Coulson kept an unperturbed smile on his face as he said it, clearly meant to put Steph and my team at ease.

"Alright," Natasha called out clapping her hands. "Enough small talk! I want to know what the hell happened to Steph and if she's going to be okay!"

Skye stepped forward and started out, "okay, so, who knows who the Kree are?"

I raised my hand, "extraterrestrial species, militaristic, and very advanced in both science and technology. I believe Thor said something about an aptitude for genetic research, but he seemed to not want to talk about them further."

"Well, we've seen an Asgardian and a Kree interact, and they don't seem to get along, so I can't say I'm surprised to hear that," Coulson said.

"Right," Skye continued, "so, the Kree came down to Earth a long time ago."

"How long?" Vision asked.

"Like prehistoric long, so the exact dates and events are quite fuzzy as they aren't exactly written anywhere on Earth," Skye said. "They wanted to create a slave-warrior species, so they messed with the genes of humans. Then they decided it was a bad idea and left, leaving behind some people who were dormantly genetically altered. That has been passed down through the generations, remaining strong enough in some to make them capable of transitioning into what we've been calling Inhumans. Lincoln and I are both Inhuman, and transitioned after going through a process called Terrigenesis."

It seemed several of the Avengers were about to ask questions so I just said, "how about we let Skye get through the entire story first, then we ask questions?"

Skye smiled at me gratefully then continued, "For me that involved contact with what we call an Obelisk, which held a Terrigen Crystal. It briefly turned me into rock-me before I broke out of it. Similar to a butterfly, really. Contact with an Obelisk for people without the Inhuman gene makeup is fatal, as one of my teammates found out."

We murmured condolences, and the Director grimaced before looking at Bucky and I and saying, "Agent Antoine Triplett was Gabe Jones's grandson." We bowed our heads a little deeper at that, but didn't interrupt the story for more details. I had no doubt there would be time for that later.

"There was a small war a few weeks ago between the Inhumans and SHIELD, which is a whole different story we can get into later, with D.C.'s permission." Skye indicated with her thumb toward Director Coulson clarifying my earlier assumption that he was "D.C." before she continued, "Suffice it to say a bunch of the crystals were dumped into the ocean. Which we didn't realize was a problem until I picked up reports of people taking fish oil supplements and then being petrified. Obviously, those were the same supplements you took this morning, Steph. And thankfully, you're Inhuman, so you survived."