Hey! I am really sorry about the awfully long wait. I've got no excuse other than that I have been swamped with schoolwork and I needed to sort out some ideas before I actually wrote them out. So I'm sorry for the wait but I hope you enjoy the chapter! I can't wait to hear back from you. As usual, I only own Charlotte.

I was grateful that I had had the forethought to wear my S.H.I.E.L.D. suit and some regular boots. Between Bucky and I, we barely made a blip of noise when running down the hallway. Taking the stairs two at a time, I adjusted my wire and noticed that Bucky did the same. This was one of the few times that I was glad that S.H.I.E.L.D. had started requiring that agents wore wires at all times.

I flinched when the alarms began blaring above us, darkening the hallway. I paused for a second but when I realized that Bucky had no intention of letting me catch up, I took off again. After grabbing a couple of guns each, we continued on down.

When the two of us reached the garage, Bucky was already holding keys. He tossed me a pair before handing me a helmet.

"I'm not that bad a driver," I said. He smirked before pulling on his own helmet. Skeptical, I hit a button on the pair of keys and heard a beep in the distance. I walked forward as Bucky began snickering. When I saw what the pair of keys belonged to, I almost began screaming. "You have got to be kidding me," I said, staring down at one of the company's motorcycles.

"Do you have a better idea on how to follow people on motorcycles?" he retorted.

"Yeah. It's called run them over with an SUV." He started laughing again.

"We don't have time for this, Kent."

"You do realize that if I die, they'll know who did it, don't you?"

Bucky didn't respond. He just climbed onto the bike beside mine and revved it. I groaned and swung my leg over the side of the small black motorcycle. It was a better fit for me than Steve's had ever been but it was still a bike. I pulled on my helmet and slapped its visor down. Bucky rode off and after revving my motorcycle, I followed him out onto the street. Pulling to a stop beside Bucky, I waited for us to get a vague direction to head in.

"They're heading down Fifth near Central Park," Maria Hill informed us.

"No problem," I muttered and twisted my handle to take off.

Bucky immediately followed on my tail. My nails felt like they were digging into the handles and when I turned, I had to try not to sound as worried as I felt. Bucky was not going to hear me falter. He had done this to throw me off to begin with and there was no way that I was going to prove him right.

"Kent, let me flag the first one," said Bucky. I would've rolled my eyes if I thought I wouldn't crash.

"Not likely, Barnes," I replied. "Besides, it's not a competition."

By the time the two of us had swung onto Fifth Avenue, my mind was going at a mile a minute. S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't had any internal cause for concern since… Well, since me. Then there was the thing with their eyes. I had never seen anything like it. I mean, Thor had blue eyes and so did Steve but neither of them have the radioactive color that was in these guys' eyes.

"Kent, time to stop white-knuckling the handles and get ready," said Bucky. "I think I've spotted one."

Bucky took off past me, weaving through traffic. I almost wished someone would hit him and then run him over. Besides, I was not white-knuckling the handles. What an ass.

But I quickly saw that Bucky had been right. I revved up and took off when I caught sight of the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on a few motorcycles ahead of us. It was clear these guys had had a strategy. They were nowhere near each other, spread out over all the lanes and at various distances away from one another.

I moved my hand and lifted my visor to get a better look. I didn't care about anyone else except the dude with the scepter, which could have been any one of them. Then a blink of bright blue caught my eye. Of course, it was the guy leading the pack and the one farthest away. Bucky was closing in on a guy who was falling behind and was slowly getting closer to the cars beside him.

"Barnes, head for the scepter. Don't waste your time with these guys," I said. I doubted Bucky was going to listen to me. As far as he was concerned, I was not in control here.

The man Bucky was pursuing managed to jolt fast, swinging like he might've lost balance (and I knew that feeling too well). But immediately, he was right again. When my eyes turned to Bucky, I saw the reason for that maneuver. Bucky hit the side of the car next to him. I could hear the scrape of metal from here. Bucky righted himself and set to jetting off down Fifth faster than before.

I shook my head and slammed my visor down again. I was going to have to retrieve the scepter.

After briefly stopping at a red light, I turned the handle on the left side of my bike and zoomed off. The blue of the scepter was in focus and I kept my eyes on the prize.

At some point, I lost sight of Bucky, who was clearly preoccupied with the lackey that sent him banging against some poor civilian's minivan. I turned off Fifth and down a side street when the blue of the staff disappeared.

"Barnes," I said, "I'm almost there but I think I'll need backup. Care to stop your stupid little revenge fantasy and actually do what we're here for?"

"Kent," I heard a voice hiss in my ear. Fury.

"I'm right behind you, Charlotte," Bucky said. I held my breath and looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, Bucky was flanking my left and soon, surpassed me.

"What do you wanna do?" I asked. "Wait, wait, wait. I've got it. You jump off your motorcycle and tackle the guy. I stop and grab the scepter. Everyone wins!" Okay, maybe this wasn't a movie but in a movie, this idea would be totally plausible.

"Bring him in," said Fury. "Any of the men that you can retrieve, bring them in." I wanted to ask how in the world we were supposed to do that on motorcycles but there was no doubt that S.H.I.E.L.D. had people even following Bucky and I.

The side street came to an end and our guy, who might've been Mills, veered off. I envied how good he was on a bike. I had yet to master the skill. Bucky followed him, a ways ahead of me, and turned too, narrowly missing an oncoming car.

"Kent, hurry up!" said Bucky. "I can't do this without you!" Hmm, that's a good sign.

"What about the traffic?" I asked, more than a little weary of continuing to drive on a crowded street.

"You've got it if you hurry!"

Bucky sounded insistent so I revved and took off, emerging from the side street at just the wrong time. I shrieked at the impact as a car slammed into my bike. I hurtled on top of the hood and my head bounced off the windshield. Luckily, the car breaked.

"Charlotte, are you okay?"

"Charlotte."

"Charlotte, oh, my God!"

I pushed my helmet off of my head and groaned. The car was quickly surrounded with bystanders and I saw, in horror, that most of them clearly knew who I was.

"I'm fine," I said into my mic through gritted teeth. I couldn't quite tell who all was yelling at me through my earpiece but one voice was, not surprisingly, absent; Bucky.

Sliding off the hood, I felt my legs almost give out beneath me and I rocked back onto the car. I heard people around me asking whether I was alright and I only nodded. I put my hand to my forehead and made myself stand straight, feeling a pop in my vertebrate that just could not be good. After giving myself a minute to clear my head, I said some thanks to the people who had actually been worried about my wellbeing and not just getting a picture of me screwing up again.

I slowly made myself pick the bike up off the ground and get back on it. Most likely, I had lost the men who had stolen the scepter but I was going to get back to headquarters somehow and I will be damned if I take the subway.

After an excruciating ride back, that culminated in me shrieking in fury, I was finally back at S.H.I.E.L.D. I quickly glanced around the garage and saw another tattered motorcycle that had to be Bucky's. There was no evidence that he had succeeded in getting the scepter either and I hated to admit that I was happy about it. Whether either of us wanted to be or not, we were still partners and at this stage of the game, the petty insults and the life-threatening tricks should have stopped. I wasn't going to put up with it anymore and the fact of the matter was that I shouldn't have to.

I walked into HQ and immediately caught sight of the Avengers in a meeting room, along with Bucky, Loki, and Fury. I started gritting my teeth and furling and unfurling my hands. This wasn't going to end well.

I opened the door with a push of force and walked in. Everyone turned to see me but I only saw Bucky, leaning up against a wall like absolutely nothing had happened. I felt a hand on my arm before I made it much farther than the doorway and I snapped my head back to see Tony. He shook his head.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," he said.

"Tony, just don't," I replied, shaking free of his grasp.

After quickly grabbing the hilt of a knife in my belt, I pummeled forward so fast that I'm not entirely sure they knew what happened. Luck was on my side because I caught Bucky off guard. I threw him up against the wall, pinning him with my forearm. The knife I had was so close to his throat that it almost drew blood. I saw Bucky barely react to me. Years of training with the Soviets had made Bucky an expert at not openly showing emotion.

"You tried to have me killed, you stupid son of a bitch!" I yelled. Bucky moved against my arm and my knife nicked a soft spot on his neck.

"It was an accident," he muttered.

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"Charlotte, if you don't back off, I'll have you restrained," said Fury.

"And that's exactly what you want, isn't it?" I said lowly to Bucky. I felt a hand on my back and I turned fast, almost swinging my knife at whoever it was. I expected Steve, trying to break up yet another pissing contest between me and Bucky, but it was Natasha.

I sheathed my knife when I looked at her. I couldn't win in a fight against her. Emotions never clouded Natasha's head. She could calculate a winning move in under a second while I stood there boiling with rage. Lately, she had taken to standing up for Bucky to me. I didn't know whether it was because she and Steve had grown close or because she knew exactly what Bucky had been through.

"I'm sorry but am I living in an alternate universe?" I asked. "Does no one see what's going on?" I looked around the meeting room trying to gauge what everyone was thinking. Steve didn't want to say anything but I think he believed me. It was clear that Loki and Thor were on the verge of defending me but I was glad they hadn't. The two of them were already under a lot of pressure just by being here. Clint and Tony were exchanging a look with each other. Bruce was staring at the ceiling, wishing he could be anywhere else but here. Natasha was only looking at me like I might've lost my mind and Fury was shaking his head.

"Agent Barnes has already admitted that he made a mistake when he was out in the field with you," said Fury.

"Yeah, right," I said, moving to look back at Bucky. "That kind of act might work on everyone else but it doesn't fly with me."

"Why would I willingly give up pursuit of the scepter just for the slim chance that you might be caught off guard?" he demanded. I had to admit, he had a point.

"Well, the thing is that you didn't even turn back for me and if anybody else was my partner, they would have. Hell, if roles were reversed, I would have-"

"Oh, don't play that game with me," Bucky said, cutting me off. "You would've left me in the dust to finish going after the scepter, which is exactly what I did."

"I don't see it anywhere."

"Bucky wrecked too," said Natasha. I looked from her back to Bucky, wanting to see whether it was true.

"I made the wrong call when I told you to follow me," said Bucky. I felt like rolling my eyes but then I thought he might be genuine. "You could've been hurt." I almost asked whether he actually considered that an apology but he did look like he might be marginally sorry about it.

"Thanks," I said. "We'll do better, as a team, next time." Bucky narrowed his eyes. He thought I was lying.

"Well, as a matter of fact, it's great that you mentioned that," said Clint, leaning on the meeting room table. "You're gonna have a chance to prove it… tonight." I groaned.

Fury gestured from us to the table and reluctantly, we all sat down. I found my seat between Clint and Loki. Trying to keep myself calm, I leaned onto the table and stared across at Steve, who was relatively unreadable. He couldn't pick a side between me and Bucky and I was beginning to feel bad that I might've put pressure on him to do just that.

"We need to discuss how we're going to pursue this," said Fury, who was sitting at the head of the table. "Barnes and Kent were unsuccessful in retrieving the staff earlier this morning through no fault of their own. The men they were chasing are agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and many of them, highly qualified agents. As Agent Kent is well aware, S.H.I.E.L.D. does their research and none of the men we are missing has ever been a threat to the security of this agency or the welfare of the people working here."

"How many agents are missing?" asked Natasha.

"That's a good question. It seems like we really don't know. This morning at least seven agents who regularly come in didn't."

"Well, why are they doing this?" asked Bruce.

"What the hell do they want with an alien scepter that's been in quarantine for the last six months?" asked Tony.

"What made their eyes change color?" asked Steve.

"I have to tell you that I really don't know," said Fury. "My best guess is that the possibilities that we've been ignoring are what's happening."

"Did you just openly admit that we might get attacked by aliens?" I asked.

"Wouldn't be the first time," said Clint.

"Kent, what I'm trying to tell you and everyone else is that we shouldn't ignore any avenue. I don't know what's going on and the agency is in an uproar about it. I'm trying to keep this contained to who already knew."

"Well, I'm sorry but I don't feel comfortable working with the man who tried to blow up the planet," said Tony.

"That's really just too damn bad, Stark. Now everyone needs to stay calm. Kent, Barnes, Rogers, and Barton, you are going to take care of this situation tonight."

"Do we even know where they are?" asked Bucky.

"Do you even know what they are capable of?" muttered Loki beside me. I turned to look at him and he only looked back at me. It made me feel uneasy, like I shouldn't risk going with Clint, Steve, and Bucky.

"Charlotte is very aware of what every agent in this facility is capable of, Loki," said Director Fury.

"Do you know something?" I whispered. I caught Loki barely nodding back.

"May we talk before you decide whether to go on this mission?" he responded. I was pretty sure that Fury hadn't given me a choice in whether I was going to go or not.

"Yes."

"We're tracking the motorcycles they stole this morning," said Fury. "It looks like they're all still in Manhattan and that they're relatively close to us."

"Should they not be anticipating this?" Thor questioned.

"Yeah," said Steve. "They're pretty stupid if they just happened to forget that S.H.I.E.L.D. tracks all their vehicles."

"Or it could be a trap," said Loki. Everyone turned and looked at him, including me. "Director Fury, you said not to ignore any avenue."

"He's right," said Fury. "The four of you will have to use a great degree of caution when you approach this."

"Maybe they dropped the bikes and moved on," I said. "That would've been the smart thing to do."

"They are not exactly acting of their own volition," Loki replied.

"Is doing this tonight the best idea?" I asked. "Shouldn't they be expecting us?"

"Under normal circumstances, I'd say yes," said Fury. "But at this point, I'm just concerned that the scepter has fallen into the wrong hands."

"Why didn't you just destroy it when you had the chance?" asked Bucky. "You should've left the tesseract at the bottom of the ocean." I agreed. It had been humanity's (and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s) fault that the cube had even been available to Loki practically a year ago. We were still paying for it.

"The 'what if' scenarios are going to stop now," said Fury. "The only thing I want to hear people wondering about is how those agents' eyes changed color." Loki looked down at the table in front of him. I just gave him a look. "You don't have to know exactly but everyone needs to be thinking of how they're going to go about this and how we should handle it."

When Fury left the room, Natasha, Thor, Tony, and Bruce took it as their cue to leave. Loki leaned over to me quickly and if I hadn't been completely aware of him, I might not have known what he said. "When you are ready to talk, I'll be waiting outside." When he moved behind my chair and slinked out of the room, I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

"So the bikes have been traced to the Waldorf Astoria," said Clint, typing away on a laptop. I raised my eyebrows.

"The Waldorf?" I replied. "That's a bit schmoozy for a few agents at the bottom of the totem pole."

"But think about it," said Steve. "It's a hotel so they have plenty of room to hide."

"It's also an incredibly public hotel that has hundreds of visitors a day."

"Neither of you is wrong," said Clint. "Fury is right. We have to be cautious."

"Then we need a better plan than running in, guns blazing, trying to steal back an alien spear," said Bucky. "What do we know about the thing?"

"That's just it," said Steve. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been studying it ever since Loki and Thor left for Asgard a few months back. None of their scientists have been able to get a read on it."

"It also seems to have a mind of its own," said Clint.

"Then how do we know this isn't exactly what those guys want?" asked Bucky. "The four of us, completely vulnerable to whatever that thing is capable of."

"We have to do this tonight," said Steve. "Fury's right. We can't let the scepter fall into the wrong hands. We just don't have the time we need to figure out what it can do."

"Yes, we do," I responded. "Everyone's been running around all day, worried about this thing that none of us can control but we've ignored the best avenue we have. Loki is in this facility right now and he literally has to cooperate with us. There is no one else here who's handled it without it influencing them. He's our best bet." Bucky looked like he wanted to grimace but Clint and Steve were genuinely considering it.

"I don't like it but Charlotte's right," said Clint. "He's been annoying so far but that's all he's been; annoying."

"Maybe he's been only annoying to you but to me, it looks like he spends his time assessing all of us and every situation we put him in. He's smart," said Bucky. "He knows he has to be on his best behavior or he'll get hurt… and the moment when the tides change even slightly in his favor, he'll switch off the charm and try to finish what he started with the Chitauri. If you want the truth, the tides changed this morning."

I clenched my jaw. "Look, if we want your opinion on when the Reds will rise again, we'll let you know," I replied. Clint tried not to laugh.

"Unfortunately, I think Bucky might be right," said Steve. I groaned. "We have no proof that he won't just lie to us. He wants us to be killed."

"Do you honestly think he wants us dead?" I asked.

"Some of us, he does for certain," said Steve. I clenched my hands into fists under the table. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I knew Steve was right.

"I think we should listen to Charlotte," said Clint. Clint had weighed the options and knew that no matter what we chose to do, the likelihood of us coming out on top of this mission was slim anyway. It was better to go forward with at least some sort of information.

"Okay, maybe you and Bucky feel like it's futile but it's incredibly shortsighted if we don't at least ask him. He may lie, he may not. Whatever the case, he's still the only person around who knows anything concrete about the scepter," I said.

"And if we send in Charlotte, he might decide not to sugarcoat it at all. He could tell her everything."

"He could," said Bucky, "but he's not going to. He knows she'll just run back here and tell us." I pushed myself out of my chair.

"Well, you guys can slog it out while I actually go get some information," I said.

"Charlotte." I paused before walking to the door when I heard Steve's voice. "Don't fall for any of his tricks." I shook my head.

"Of course not." I am aware that Steve would've said the same thing to any of us going into a parlay with Loki, even Thor, but the fact that he said it to me almost came across like he didn't quite trust me. I knew that wasn't true. Steve had stood by me through worse than this and he had always trusted me. That hadn't changed since Loki came back, unless Bucky was finally getting through to him.

The moment I opened the door to the meeting room, I saw Loki slouching against the wall beside the doorframe. I gave him a chuckle.

"When you said you were going to be outside, you meant right outside, didn't you?" He gave me a look like he wasn't the slightest bit amused by me. I heard the door to the meeting room shut. "Well, I have a favor to ask but it can wait until we talk." He nodded. "So what's on your mind?" I moved to lean against the wall beside him.

"Are you responsible for retrieving the scepter?" Loki asked. I rumpled my brow.

"Well, yeah, I guess so," I replied. "The four of us will be."

"You said you have a favor to ask of me. Well, I have a favor to ask of you." I turned a little, shifting my weight to leaning on my shoulder. I stared up at him, waiting. "Let them send someone else in your place."

"What?" I demanded. "Damn, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"It's not that," Loki said briskly. "I am sure you are more than capable." That was sarcasm if I'd ever heard it.

"Okay, I'll bite. If you don't think I'm too weak to do it, then why?" Loki turned to face me, moving away from the wall. Instinctively, I did too, trying to stand up straight.

"What did you wish to ask of me?" I groaned. He'd give me an answer once he found out what I wanted.

"I need some information… about the scepter." Loki nodded at me. "But first, what were you implying earlier? About the men with the freaky blue eyes?"

"You have seen the color of their eyes before, have you not?" I gave myself a moment to think. Yes, I was almost completely sure that I had. There was something familiar about how eerie it was. Then it hit me. Their eyes were the same color as the light at the end of the spear and thus, the same color as the cube.

"The scepter and the cube," I muttered. He turned the corner of his mouth up in a smile. "But what does that mean? Are they under the influence of the tesseract? Or the spear?"

"My estimate would be the spear." Shoot, Loki was right. The spear had been here for months, randomly influencing people to the point that S.H.I.E.L.D. thought it was necessary to quarantine it. Someone could've gotten these guys to take a look at it when no one was monitoring its rooms. From there it would've been rather easy. But still, I had never seen the scepter turn anyone's eyes that color, aside from Loki's and that had been when he looked practically sick.

"How does that kind of thing happen?"

"The staff has the ability to reduce a person down to simply their skills."

"It brainwashes them, is that what you mean?" He shrugged.

"Whatever mortal word means 'I touch their heart with it and it dilutes their consciousness' is what I mean." I nodded before doing some deeper thinking.

"You touch their heart with it and it replaces their mind with what exactly?" Loki bent toward me and placed his hand against my upper chest. I felt my heart start pounding fast.

"If I were to touch you here with the scepter, it would take everything about you away. The only mental ability you would be able to comprehend is to obey me. You would still know yourself and the others enough to tell me everything I want to know about them. You would be reduced to nothing more than a minion, there to die when I tell you to or to kill when I command you. That is what the scepter has done to those men and what it will do to you." His hand fell away from me and I took a deep breath.

"You did this to people?" I asked. "You messed with their brains so bad that they'll probably never be right again?"

"Yes, I did," he replied coldly. "Can you believe that not everyone was pleased to hear that I intended on ruling the planet?"

"Cut the snark," I said.

"I could have done it to you. Be glad I didn't." I raised my eyebrows.

"You had me fawning all over you. I would've willingly gone with you after I freed you back in New Mexico. Why would you even think about doing that to me?"

"It is not so much that I wanted it. That is why I'm warning you, Charlotte."

"Why would Thanos have wanted you to brainwash me?" Loki only shrugged in response. He didn't want to say it explicitly. "Was he testing you?"

"I am sure that he was. He knew that I had allied myself with you for however long a time and he was insistent that you could be crucial in my success." I could have been. If everything I knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. and their operatives had come falling out of my mouth while I was under some kind of spell, Loki might've been able to win. It would have been what everyone I knew had been afraid of; that if I jumped ship, I would turn the tides in the war between Loki and the Avengers.

"But you refused him." I was cautious about it. Would I even be aware of the fact that the spear had messed around in my head?

"That I did… and I am sure that it is what made me falter with taking Midgard, thus making Thanos turn against me."

"Okay… so all this stuff that happened practically a year ago is fueling what's happening now?" He nodded down at me, moving closer.

"Do you understand why I am asking you to stay behind?"

"Not really and even if I did, I don't exactly have a choice. This is my job now. I am an agent, I have been assigned a mission, and I can't let it fall through. Everyone else is right about one thing; that scepter can't be doing good things in the hands of a few brainwashed agents."

"Well, now you are aware of who is behind this. If you are foolish enough to walk blindly into his trap then so be it."

"Loki," I said and instinctively grabbed his hand. "I know that you care for me and that you think you're doing the right thing by warning me about this but give it some thought. What on Earth would make an alien like Thanos want me?" Loki stared down at me and pursed his lips.

"He promised me pain, Charlotte, because I failed him in capturing this world. I believed that I was in charge when I was nothing more than a weapon that he could use to help him sabotage each of the realms. He knows why I failed him because he knows how I feel about you." I shook my head. "Charlotte, I refused him when he demanded that I use you and he knew that I asked you to come with me."

"Are you scared that I'm gonna die?" I asked. He harshly shut his eyes and then opened them again.

"I have no shame in saying yes." I nodded. I would hope that by this point in whatever relationship I had with Loki that I would be good at determining when he was furthering his own agenda and when he was serious. So help me, I think he was serious.

"I'll do whatever I can to get out of it." He nodded. "I've seen enough movies to know that if I don't listen to your warning then I will be walking to my death." Loki only stared down at me. "But if I can't, do not be surprised." Loki nodded at me and I finally let go of his hand, not realizing that I had been holding it the entire time.

"If there is nothing to be done," he said, "just be cautious and be aware of everything going on around you."

"I know how to do my job," I replied, hopefully making it seem like I was steadier than I was letting on.

"Of course, you do," Loki responded, finally giving me that vote of confidence that I needed. "I'll let you talk to them alone since they are all still quite a bit frightened of me." I could've sworn that Loki was going to laugh but he walked away before I could know for sure.

I opened the door to the meeting room and the three guys strode out. It was clear that Bucky didn't think I'd retrieved any information but Clint and Steve seemed to trust that I had.

"Did he tell you anything?" asked Steve. I nodded and told them everything about the agents being brainwashed and that the scepter had the ability to make them tell their leader everything. "Well, that complicates this significantly."

"I mean, these people may not even be aware of physical pain," I said. "We'd be walking into a slaughter."

"And some of the agents that haven't shown up today are nothing to be toyed with," said Clint. "There's a handful of lower agents that actually came in and stole the scepter but they could've been like this for weeks and nobody would've been the wiser."

"Lower agents or not, we can't count them out," said Steve. "They're the ones that had access to information about S.H.I.E.L.D. and they're just as big a concern as physical threats."

"Did Loki mention a way to reverse the effects of the spear?" asked Bucky.

"Not really," I said.

"That probably means that he killed them whenever they stopped being useful to him."

"Look, Bucky-"

"We don't have time for this," said Steve. "We need a plan, a solid plan, that will get everyone in and out of that hotel in one piece."

"Then maybe I need to sit this one out." I hadn't planned on bringing it up this soon but hey, when the mood is right. I saw Clint, Bucky, and Steve especially give me an incredulous look. "I'm not really finished with training. I'm much weaker than the rest of you. I don't want you guys having to look over your shoulder, worrying about whether I've fallen behind. I just don't wanna complicate things in an already complicated mission. Somebody could get killed trying to look out for me. These people aren't even aware of what they're doing." Clint seemed to contemplate this and I think he might've agreed with me while I knew that this was exactly what Bucky wanted to hear but Steve wasn't falling for it.

"What did he say to you?" asked Steve.

"What?" I asked, feeling like I hadn't quite heard him.

"I asked about what Loki said to you." Steve had turned on his "leader" voice and presence and that always made me feel a little uncomfortable. I had never really been around Steve when a mission was being planned. In fact, my few times in the field had been all of us just trying to figure out how to survive. But Steve was our leader and more than that, a commander.

"He didn't say anything to me," I muttered back. I saw Bucky smirk.

"Yes, he did. He said something to scare you. What was it?" I shook my head.

"Nothing. I just don't want anyone to have to risk their life for me tonight. There are plenty of more qualified agents who could do a much better job than I can."

"That's not true, Charlotte. You are ready for this and you've been ready for this for months. Don't doubt yourself."

I nodded. "You're right. I know you're right." I looked at Clint, who gave me a nod that showed that he believed in me. I looked past his shoulder and I saw someone down the hall. It had to be Loki.


The Waldorf Astoria is home to three bars/restaurants so that meant we had to split up. Clint's GPS on the scepter showed that it was still in the building and not in any of the hotel rooms. Clint took one restaurant, Steve took another, and that left me and Bucky with the last one. None of us was ready for a fight off the bat. I was wearing a nice looking blue peplum dress and all the guys were in suits so that we looked like we belonged in some place like the Waldorf. Each of them had a gun… somewhere and some of my knives were strapped to my thighs in some weird garter creation of Natasha's. I was paranoid that I'd move the wrong way and one of them would fall out.

"There's nothing where I am," said Clint into our earpieces. "I'm going back to the car to look at the GPS and get everybody's stuff ready." By "everybody's stuff," he meant Steve's shield, other weapons, and everyone's various outfits.

"Good plan," I muttered so that it didn't look like I was talking to myself.

I took a seat at the bar and ordered a cosmopolitan. I felt Bucky's groan before I heard it. "You know that that's not what we're here to do," he said.

"We've walked around in here for twenty minutes and not seen even a hint of a blue light," I responded. "We were looking creepy. Besides, this drink is probably gonna be free because the bartender recognized me from TV." Bucky rolled his eyes but took a seat beside me anyway.

"So this is probably a complete bust?"

"I wouldn't say that," I said. The bartender slid me my cosmopolitan and I immediately took a swig of it.

"Seriously, we don't need you to get drunk and start telling everyone that you love them."

"I'm having a tonic for my nerves. Besides, who told you that anyway?"

"Who do you think?"

"Damn, Steve, you don't tell embarrassing stories during bro time." I heard him laugh in response over our earpieces. A moment of silence passed between me and Bucky and then he broke it.

"I still can't believe that Loki didn't tell you anything about how to save these agents. They don't deserve this."

"You wouldn't have believed he was telling me the truth anyway so why do you care?"

"Well, really, it just goes to show that everyone being wary of him is the right thing to do." Bucky knew there was a pretty high chance that Loki was listening to this right now back at headquarters, along with the rest of the Avengers, so it took everything I had to stay calm.

"The two of you are not that different from one another, you know?" Bucky started to say something to counter my argument but I kept going. "I mean, just think of all the similarities. The fall, the best friend/brother becoming really popular and successful and in turn, you becoming jealous, the kind of fear you have of being replaced by said brother/best friend. The two of you could bond." Bucky was looking at me, angry, but he didn't respond because he knew I was right. There was one thing I was incredibly good at and it was figuring people out.

"I think we've got a problem," said Bucky warily. I knew he wasn't responding to what I had just said to him so I meekly turned and looked over my shoulder.

"Steve, Clint, we're gonna need some help," I said. There were at least fifteen men that were on the side of the bar where Bucky and I were. I turned to the bartender, who looked as scared as I was beginning to feel. "You need to get everybody outta here." He didn't need any more instruction than that.

"Don't aim for a kill," said Steve through his mic.

"Don't worry about it. I've never killed a member of my own species and I don't plan on starting today," I replied.

Bucky had already shed his suit jacket and pulled out a handgun. I jumped off the bar stool I'd been sitting on and stepped out of my nude pumps. My eyes scanned the group in front of us. I didn't see the spear. Slowly, I hiked my dress up and pulled out three knives.

"Loki was right," I whispered. "This is a trap."

Bucky didn't have the chance to respond. One of the agents near the back fired a shot and Bucky pushed me to the ground so that it didn't hit me. Then all hell broke loose. I heard Clint and Steve come in as more agents with those eerie blue eyes did. They had the scepter. Finally standing back up, I used all my body force to throw a knife like someone would throw a discus. Clint had climbed on top of the bar behind me and started to shoot tranquilizer arrows. I lost track of Bucky somewhere in the fray.

I threw another knife at a man about to attack Steve and it caught him squarely in the lower back; exactly where I wanted it to go. When I threw the last knife I had been holding, I heard Clint call my name. I turned and was immediately slammed into the bar by an agent that was at least twice my size. Trying to hike up my dress to find another knife, the man grabbed a handful of my red hair and yanked my head back. I screamed as he pulled it more, practically pushing me over the bar. Right as I felt the hilt of a blade, the guy yanked me up by the straps of my dress and threw me on the floor. I shuddered as I felt the impact of the marble tile on my back and I scrambled to finally grab a knife, tearing the garter off me. He quickly moved it out of my reach but I already had a dagger. This agent wasn't stupid but he was moving so fast that I couldn't figure out who he was.

I formed a fist around the dagger as the agent bent over me, ready to slam my head into the tile so hard that I lost consciousness… or worse. His hand went into my hair again and as soon as he was ready to make a move, I forced my blade into his thigh. He pulled my head back again and I yelled, pulling the knife down his leg, tearing muscle and splitting ligaments. Blood poured over my hand and the agent slammed me against the floor again, making every bone in my body scream in pain.

Just like that, he fell off of me once he'd been hit by one of Clint's arrows. I pulled myself away from the unconscious body, taking my knife with me. Right as I tried to stand, I caught sight of another agent about to take a few shots at me. I almost admitted defeat when I heard someone else call my name; Steve. He threw me the shield from yards away and I managed to curl up behind it, feeling the impact of someone shooting at me. When it stopped, I pulled myself up by the bar, clinging to the shield like a life force until Steve reached me.

"Thanks," I groaned, out of breath.

"Any time," he responded.

I looked around and realized they were thinning out. Clint had managed to tranq almost the entire lot of brainwashed agents, except for maybe twelve. Steve and I got behind the bar, ready to shoot at the rest to incapacitate them. Clint threw me a rifle that he had just been waiting to use. I moved it to the bar and aimed and fired, barely aware of the kickback. I looked up after a few minutes and realized a couple more were down. I pulled down the rifle and took a deep breath beside Steve. I looked over to say something when I saw that an agent was coming to finish us off. I thrust the rifle at Steve and he only gave me a look. I moved to my feet quicker than I would have normally, found a bottle of liquor, and slammed it over the agent's head. It shattered instantaneously and I watched in shock as the guy fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Thanks," said Steve in disbelief, now standing beside me.

"Any time," I replied.

"The scepter's gone!" Bucky called, running out of the restaurant.

"Keep an eye on them!" said Clint. "Get the car started!" Clint followed Bucky and Steve and I ran behind them.

I climbed into the backseat of the car, still barefoot, and immediately began pulling my dress off. Steve gave me my S.H.I.E.L.D. bodysuit and I miraculously got it on in the backseat of a moving vehicle. Bucky was pulling off his button up shirt and I saw that Steve was too. I zipped my bodysuit up and pulled on some boots.

"Damn it," said Clint, looking at the GPS. "They're in Central Park on foot."

"Why does everything have to happen in Central Park?" I asked.

Clint practically drove into the park but managed to stop it before we all climbed out of the car. I grabbed hold of the rifle that I had been using before and tightened the belt that held my knives around my hips. Clint looked down at the GPS that he had pulled out of the car and groaned.

"We're gonna have to split up," he said. "They're expecting us."

I turned to look at Steve for confirmation. Splitting up was literally the last thing that I wanted to do. Even if I could sort of manage to take care of myself, there would be no way that I could take down more than one agent at a time. Steve nodded.

"Clint's right," said Steve. "Being covert is the only way we'll be able to sneak up on these guys. Whatever happens, keep in contact and if it becomes more than anyone can handle, then we're going to back off."

Bucky nodded. "I'll head this way," he said and immediately walked off down a dark path in the park. I watched Clint walk in the opposite direction with a nod to us. I turned to Steve then, practically in a panic.

"I can see you starting to doubt yourself, Charlotte," Steve said down to me. "Don't let that happen."

"I know," I responded. "I know."

"It'll be easy. We'll be back at headquarters in thirty minutes." I managed to laugh.

"You're the king of optimism, you know that?" Steve only responded with one of those smiles that made me feel good on the inside. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"Let's finish this." I nodded and took off vaguely in the same direction as Bucky.

I hated Central Park at night. It was full of creeps and never seemed to have any lights. I let my eyes adjust to the dark and kept my rifle at the ready. So far, there hadn't been a sign of anyone anywhere. I vaguely caught a glimpse of a blue light in the distance and I headed into some of the trees to get a better look. None of this made any sense to me at all. Why enter Central Park at night with a scepter that actually glowed in the dark? Why hadn't they immediately taken it wherever they wanted it instead of waiting around here? This wasn't adding up, even if these agents were brainwashed. I knew that this was a trap.

I heard something in the brush behind me and I snapped around, ready to shoot. I didn't see anyone. Then I heard something else and I took off running again. I wasn't into being toyed with like this.

"Has anyone seen anything yet?" asked Steve.

"I feel like I've been tracking them but they keep evading me," said Bucky. I heard something again and I froze.

"I don't think they're the ones being tracked," I said. "But I think I saw the scepter."

"Yes, you did," said a voice that didn't belong to any of the team that I had come out here with. I moved fast and fired a shot as I turned around. I heard the person groan in response and I breathed a sigh of relief that I had actually hit him.

I started running down the sidewalk, trying to make for another growth of trees where I might be able to hide until I had back up when I heard everyone else having issues of their own. I moaned. There would be no back up for me, at least not for a while.

I managed to lose track of what everyone else was up to while I was running. I finally saw a wooded area and when I was ready to breathe a sigh of relief, I felt something pierce the back of my thigh. I felt my leg begin to weaken and slowly, the rest of my body became limp. I hit the ground hard and tried to say that I had been tranquilized but I couldn't. Someone turned me over so that I was looking up and I barely registered that they tore off my mic before I passed out.