Chapter 11: Murky Waters

"Ahem!"

Via turned around. There standing behind her arms folded, was a tall dark bald man in a black trench coat and wearing a big black patch over one eye.

"Shit" she swore softly as Nick Fury smirked.

"It's a bit late to be out on a school night, Summers."

Via stared at the man.

"What the HELL are you doing here?" she hissed, half caught between terror at being caught red handed and anger that the eye-patch wearing bastard was still smirking at her smugly.

"Oh you know, the same as you. Investigating this Hydra facility. Though unlike you I have the authorisation to be here."

"So what, Old Man Tony summoned you or something?"

"Let's just say I was investigating a personal matter and Stark just asked me to keep an eye out for you while I was here-"

"And what you just magically knew I'd be up here on the roof?" Via rolled her eyes and Fury's smirk widened.

"No. But Strange knows you. He said you might make a move on this place given your desire to find out about your mother. Also, Stark may act like a royal pain but he's a stickler for details. Those suits for example-" He pointed to the sky, where Via could just make out two humanoid shapes hovering in the distance with lights glowing from their eyes, chests, palms and feet. "-had their eyes on you from the moment your portal spell's energy signature appeared. They tracked your progress as you scaled the building and were prepared to catch you should you fall. Oh yes and they also sent a message to the Avengers about your progress-"

"They're here?" Via frowned. She hadn't heard any planes or seen any new vehicles drive into the compound since she arrived.

"Strange brought them in himself. They're waiting for you in the big fancy office downstairs, the one that belonged to Alphard-"

"Yeah about him, who is he? He seemed to know a lot about me." Via narrowed her eyes up at Fury, who's smirk fell a little as he slowly stepped towards her hands slipping into his pockets.

"He was a junior SHIELD agent when your mother first met him, and since then he seems to have wormed his way up Hydra's greasy pole. From the files we've seen in this place he has taken charge of managing all Hydra's U.S. forces and resources, while his leader Strucker is away."

"Did the team capture him?" Via blurted out quickly but Fury shook his head.

"While Cap and Stark's forces managed to round up many Hydra agents, we were not able to capture Alphard. Nor did we find trace of the Craven brothers-"

"You mean…" Via breathed, horror filling her gut "Those two are still out there?"

"It seems that way" Fury sighed heavily, eyeing her with a grim expression "I gotta say, I'm a disappointed in you Summers."

"Yeah well, I've disappointed people all my life, why stop now?" Via grumbled, not quite meeting his one good eye. But he ignored her embarrassment as he pressed on.

"I really thought you'd know better than to fall for Hydra's trap-"

"Trap?"

"Let me guess, did they talk about your mother or your parents? Did they say that they'd give you answers if you joined them?"

"They-Ah! Yes." Via groaned as she slumped defeated on the floor, cheeks flaming red hot shame.

Not only had she been caught, but she'd been caught out doing one of the most stupid things ever in the history of stupid. Of course, those Hydra bastards were trying to reel her in with information about her mother. She had known that but still she dove right into the lion's mouth…or the hydra's mouth in this case.

"Well…I suppose I should've seen this coming" Fury sighed as he turned his good eye to look at the glorious night-time view of the forest behind her. "Once Hydra knows how to get under your skin, it's easy for them to manipulate you into doing shit you normally wouldn't do."

"I still got no excuse" Via muttered angrily to the concrete ground. "I was still the idiot who did the stupid shit right after everyone risked their hide to get me out of this godforsaken place."

"Damn straight" Fury agreed, his smirk returning, but not quite as smugly as he held his hand out for her to take. "Now get up. No doubt your guardian is getting antsy to see you."

"Oh joy"

Over the years I've done a great many stupid and selfish things. Running back to the Hydra base I was held hostage, that still takes a high spot in my top five most stupid ideas (Oh yeah I've got plenty more mistakes where that came from).

I suppose it was a good thing I was caught before I could do anything stupider…even if the lecture I got from Stephen was damn near terrifying.

Seriously I don't think I've ever seen him get that mad. Not even when we used to hate each other's guts. And quite frankly, I really don't want to piss him off ever again.

They were in that Alphard's office. The one with the glass windows. Via had hoped to never be back here again, but there she was sitting and gulping down the urge to strike back as Stephen snarled into her face.

"What. Were. You. THINKING?!"

"gross" Via winced as Stephen Strange nearly all but spat straight into her face.

"SHUT UP!" Stephen barked, and she quickly clamped her lips shut tight as he towered over her. "You were injured. You needed to rest! Do you have any idea of the trouble you've caused? These people just risked their necks to come and rescue you from this hellhole and what do you go ahead and do? Yet you run back HERE of all places, just because you were too impatient to wait to get answers YOU wanted?!"

"I know it was stupid" Via looked down at her toes, doing her best to ignore the stares of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff who were all watching on silently but worriedly.

She supposed this was Stephen's way of rubbing even more salt into the embarrassing self-imposed wound.

What she wasn't aware of was that the Avengers weren't looking disappointedly at her. If anything their gazes were those of pity as they glanced nervously between one another; wondering if they should intervene if things got too heated.

Thankfully they were saved the trouble when Wong grunted from Stephen's side.

"Strange…I think she understands"

Stephen paused about to retort, but then he looked down at Via. She looked downright miserable, but what caught him most off guard was the way the little jewelled eyes of her dragon bracelets were both glowing with an angry red.

He'd only ever seen them glow red once before, and the last time that happened Via had nearly strangled another girl in a literal blind fit of rage.

No…he himself might be angry beyond belief but it wouldn't do to push her so close to snapping…

He sighed, rubbing his temples, which he was certain was even greyer than before, courtesy of the girl sitting angry and humiliated in front of him.

"Wong, take Olivia home. I need to send this lot back to their tower"

Via nodded meekly, not even opening her mouth a peep as she chanced one last glance at the three Avengers, who all watched her as she followed Wong silently through a sling ring portal which shut promptly behind them.

"Well…at least she's okay." Tony mumbled from his corner, where quite frankly he was quite happy to stay in as it kept him well out of arms reach of the angry sorcerer.

"Thank you for your help Fury" Stephen grunted at Fury who nodded quietly from where he'd been standing in the shadows.

"Glad I could help. Freyja was a good friend of mine"

Stephen turned towards the two Avengers "Now what was it you said you had to show me."

"Right, show you. Nat?" Tony muttered glancing at Natasha who flicked out her glass smartphone.

"We've had Jarvis examine the footage from the building. We'll show you the full recording tomorrow but this is something we thought you should take a look at" the spy said as she pulled up a video on the small screen.

Stephen took the phone gingerly in his hands, his chest tightening horribly as he saw on the screen Via. She seemed to be in a dismal prison cell, lying still on a hard cot while someone in a lab coat poked and prodded her with a needle.

"Can I zoom in?" he asked and Tony shrugged.

"Yeah sure just go for it"

With trembling scarred fingers, he zoomed in the image on the screen, which became slightly pixelated, but still discernible.

But he didn't care about the video quality as his blood froze in his chest.

"They're…are they taking her blood?"

"They took two full units" Tony muttered, bristling angrily as he watched the moving images through the transparent back of the phone. "but that's not the worst bit. Jarvis skip ahead three minutes"

Natasha watched closely as Stephen's face paled to the colour of parchment.

"What the hell-" he growled. Where there had been bags of red blood being taken away from Via's body, there was now a syringe of something that had been injected into her arm.

"Do you know what it was they injected her with?" Fury scowled.

"Nutrients and vitamin supplements" Natasha murmured softly. "in highly concentrated doses."

"What kind of supplements?" Stephen's jaw hardened.

"Nothing dangerous" Bruce assured him quickly. "In fact it was probably necessary, given the amount of blood they took from her…but that's not the bad thing. The bad thing is-"

"Is that that cocktail of supplements…was the same one they used to give me before Steve was injected with Howard Starks super soldier serum" Natasha growled, her simmering anger barely hidden beneath the surface as she all but glared at the tiny device in Stephen's hands.

"What are you saying?" Stephen's heart was racing in his chest, and it only accelerated as Tony sucked in a deep breath.

"We're saying…that Hydra was prepping your ward to become their new Super Soldier…"

When Wong brought me back home, I immediately went to bed. I was tired, and staying up and climbing a massive wall past my bedtime had not helped matters.

Buddy joined me. He always sleeps on the end of my bed. Truth be told I'm kinda glad for the company because my bed's too big and I don't really take up that much space.

The next morning when I woke up it was ten in the morning and Stephen was still in bed. Apparently he had been talking to Bruce, Fury, Nat and Steve quite late into the morning. I wasn't sure what they talked about, but when I asked him what they talked about he didn't look to happy.

Though that may have been because he was still pissed off at me.

"Listen" Via gulped as she nervously fidgeted in her chair.

She was sitting in Stephen's private office, right under his disappointed glower as he quietly watched her squirm for the right words. She was still wearing the same black ninja gear and her blue coat from the night before, not having being bothered to change when she'd all but fell into her bed and slept till the morning.

"I know it was dangerous and risky and I stuffed up real big this time, and I know it probably doesn't make much of a difference, but I just wanted to say…I'm sorry. I'm sorry I stole your sling ring and I'm sorry I ran away…again. It was stupid a-a-and selfish and-and I should've known better then to do it. I-I just thought-"

"That you could find out what happened to your mother." Stephen finished for her. His voice was calm, and thankfully she could feel the anger dissipate somewhat as he sighed heavily.

"I understand that you're frustrated, that you want to know the truth. But what you did yesterday…that was beyond reckless. It was dangerous. Not all those Hydra men were captured and that base of theirs was large. If any one of them had been lying in wait for you, you could've gotten hurt, or worse you could've gotten others hurt-"

"I know" Via shut her eyes, but Stephen just steamrolled over her.

"-evidently not" he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Olivia…this isn't the streets of New York where you have to be selfish to get what you want. You have a home here, one where you will always be safe. You don't always have to be the tough kid-"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Via scowled but Stephen wasn't swayed one bit.

"I'm just saying…that there's nothing wrong with asking for help. You know Wong and I will always be there to help you-"

"No you won't" she mumbled glaring at her feet as she tucked them up on her chair.

"Yes we will" Stephen growled but she shook her head.

"No you won't"

"Olivia-"

"YOU WON'T ALWAYS BE THERE STEPHEN YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT!" Via snapped, eyes burning with hot wet tears as sparks of energy flying from her fingertips and burning the seat cushion. "Y-you can promise me the sun and the moon all you like but NOTHING will stop the fact that you cannot possibly be there for me always. NO one can. Not you, not Wong…Heck not even the Ancient one or Mordo could-DAMMIT!"

She bit down on the inside of her cheek as she felt her wet eyes stream over, and furiously began scrubbing at her eyes.

"Alright…maybe I can't be there for you always" Stephen agreed quietly as he made the tissue box hover over to her.

"But if we're going to make this adoption work you're gonna have to stop keeping yourself so distant. How can I do right by you if you don't trust me to help you when you need it"

"I don't need help" she spat.

"All evidence to the contrary" Stephen countered swiftly "Via there's nothing wrong with needing help, we all need help occasionally-"

"Good line. Maybe I should use it on you whenever you sulk about something you need help on" Via rolled her eyes.

"There's a big difference between mere spell casting and emotional injury" Stephen leaned forward. "and you've just been through a terrifying ordeal-"

"No really? Because I thought all the guns pointed at my back and the punches to my face were simply charming" Via snivelled bitterly.

"-As I said you've been through a lot recently. A new job, a kidnapping… Maybe it's a good idea to just slow down and take a breather." Stephen steamrolled over her, firmly but gently, his eyes wells of compassion.

Via wished he wouldn't. It made it difficult to keep snarky or defensive like normal.

"So what's going to happen with helping the Avengers?" She asked eyes glued on the study's carpeted floor.

"You'll be giving them your statement of events this evening. Then you'll have the rest of the week off here to recuperate. But you'll start working with them again next week to look for the sceptre."

"You mean…you're letting me-" Via breathed and Stephen nodded sombrely.

"I might as well. We both know that even if I didn't allow you, you'd go ahead anyway. This way at least I can be assured you'll be safe, or at least as safe as possible. However, this time we'll have to take more stringent measures to not let Hydra capture you again"

"What kind of measures?"

"I don't know. I'll have to talk it over with Stark when you're giving them your account. U-unless you want me there with you."

"Why? Who'll be interrogating me this time?" Via snorted.

"Don't know. Someone from the team I suppose" Stephen shrugged. "Are you sure you're going to be fine?"

"Yeah…I…I think so. But thanks" She added, tentatively meeting his eye "So…we're good?"

"Yes. But don't steal my stuff again unless you want me to dump you in a dimension of slime… brat" Stephen smirked.

"Wouldn't dream of it doc." let out a small nervous breathless giggle as for the first time that week, the shadow of a small smirk, flickered over both master and apprentice's faces.

The rest of the day passed by more smoothly after our chat. But Stephen still refused to tell me what he and the Avengers and Nick Fury talked about the day before when I'd left.

He said it would be explained to me in due time, and that I just had to be patient. Whilst I admit patience is not really one of my strong points, I did manage to keep my cool while we waited for five o clock to arrive.

When it did, we used a sling ring portal to the tower.

I got to admit, it felt odd being at the Tower in my sorcerer's clothes. Up till that point I'd only ever appeared to the rest of the team in normal clothes. So when they first saw me in (what Thor calls) my "battle suit" I couldn't blame them for looking surprised.

"Would you cut that out?" Via scowled as Tony grinned mid whistle.

"Cut what out?" he asked oh-so-innocently, much to the exasperation of the girl and the other Avengers in the room with him.

"Whistling that song! I know I'm the sorcerer's apprentice but that doesn't mean you have to whistle the tune every single time you see me!"

"Well someone's grouchy this morning. What's the matter kid? Did your potion blow up in your face or are you just tired from your Mission Impossible stunt?" He ended, sparing her a small glower which she returned with interest.

"Alright enough you two." Steve Rogers narrowed his eyes on the other side of the conference room table, before turning to Bruce Banner who was sitting with a data-pad "Bruce are you alright to start?"

"Yes. If Via is. Via?"

"Let's just get this over with." Via grunted as she leaned back in the chair, bristling as the spotlight fell on her.

"So Via, I'm just going to ask you a few questions to ease you into the process and then if you're feeling up for it, we'll delve deeper." Bruce pushed up his glasses as he glanced anxiously up at the teenage girl.

Via just raised her eyebrows quietly at him and shrugged, though the rest of the Avengers could see her stiffen ever so slightly in her spot as her questioner cleared his throat.

"Alright then. What did you do in the morning before the kidnapping?"

"Woke up at nine." Via sighed "Ate breakfast with Wong and Stephen, walked Buddy-"

"Buddy?"

"The Sanctum's dog." Via rolled her eyes "anyways I walked Buddy, got dressed and then got picked up by Tony and Happy in the car at about eleven"

"Right. And this was the car for Oscorp?" Bruce glanced at Tony who nodded.

"Yeah, the kid and I got there at eleven thirty and were taken upstairs to meet Osborne. But good old Oz wanted to keep things hush-hush so I sent Happy outside and told Via to go case the joint downstairs and get a good look at Osborne's security-"

"You did what?" Natasha's eyes widened dangerously as Steve shook his head.

"Tony-"

"What? You said yourself that we needed to case the joint. And she was there, she was eager"

"For the record he didn't tell me he hadn't told you guys" Via's smirk widened as the billionaire hero scowled at her.

"Way to have my back mission impossible-"

"And back to the matter at hand" Bruce steamrolled over Tony's grumpy mutterings under his breath as he turned back to Via "So Tony sent you to case the joint downstairs. What happened?"

"I went down to the lobby and stuck myself onto the tail of a school tour. Talked to a couple of kids and when we got upstairs I pretended to go to the bathroom-"

"-Where she went dark on me in the middle of a phone call and peeked in on a radioactive laboratory" Tony piped in snidely.

"You really aren't going to let that rest are you?" Via rolled her eyes irritably but was stopped by Steve clearing his throat, this time in warning.

"So that explains why Tony wanted the radiation chamber prepped. Though Hydra seems to have done the job already. Then what happened?"

"So after finding the lab, I went downstairs to the lobby to meet Tony and Happy. We got into the car. Old man lectured me about the dangers of radiation. And then..." She mimed a large explosion.

"The car was smashed by the Cravens-" Clint finished for her and she rolled her eyes again.

"Boom! Give the avenger a prize. Yeah they pretty much mowed us over. Speaking of which how's Happy? Is he okay? Stephen said he was at the hospital-"

"Happy's fine. Got a few broken bones but he's awake now and doin' okay" Tony nodded some of his snark simmering down as it was replaced by guilt, which was mirrored in Via's face.

"Thank god. When we got bowled over I thought…well…" she shivered, before coughing quickly "But he's all good now so I guess that's all that matters"

"Yeah, it is" Tony agreed solemnly "So what happened after that? I remember Craven dragging you out of the car but I blacked out-"

"So did I" Via sighed heavily. "When I woke up I was in this basement. Looked damn familiar but I couldn't quite tell where the hell I was. They had me strapped to this chair, arms, legs everything. I could barely move. And when I did find my feet I fell and couldn't get up."

"You were at the Hope Haven Orphanage basement" Natasha explained, her voice soft but seething as her eyes burned with anger. "We found traces of your blood on the floor and this"

She slid something metallic across the table.

"My sling ring" Via muttered again, relief flooding through her as she picked the golden ring up in her hands. "I was wondering where this got to. Thanks Nat" she quickly pocketed it, steamrolling over Tony's spluttering question smoothly.

"So yeah, they had me tied up for a few hours. Sergei Craven, or whoever he is, he had a few rounds at my gut and face before they blindfolded me and carted me out back into the truck. I knew I was running out of time so I…well…"

"You contacted Tony through the dream dimension" Bruce finished quietly "Yeah, he told us."

"How did you manage it, if you don't mind me asking Lady Via?" Thor frowned thoughtfully, stroking his beard "Dream walking is advanced magic. There are very few sorcerer's who I've met that are capable of such feats"

"It's this" Via pulled out the golden dreamcatcher from her collar. "The Web of Asibikaashi. The Spider Mother from Native American folklore. Any sorcerer who wears this becomes her…uh…representative. No that's the wrong word, uh…they take her place as protector of the Dream Dimension."

"That sounds like a huge responsibility for a fourteen-year-old" Clint took a sip from his soda cup straw.

"Yeah well…I didn't exactly ask for it. I was given it by an old lady called Fala, just before she was killed."

"By who?" Steve glanced worriedly.

"A rogue sorcerer." Via clipped fists clenching briefly "It's a long story okay. And we've got more important things to worry about"

"like the Craven brothers" Steve murmured softly. "So you'd contacted Tony through his dreams. What happened next?"

"I woke up, but I was still stuck in the Craven's truck. After a while of sitting and feeling sorry for myself I decided enough was enough. So I bucked up and broke out of the back of the car."

"And how did you manage that if you were bound?" Tony frowned.

"I broke out of course. Besides it was only duck-tape-" Via shrugged.

"You broke out of duck-tape?" Clint stared at her in disbelief. "With what? A knife?"

"No…I just broke it. Y'know like this" she lifted her arms up, keeping them together at the wrists before swinging them down hard and fast, yanking them apart as the tips of her fingers reached the bottom of the smooth arc.

"Well it didn't break on the first try but it got it loose enough. It's just a technique to break someone's hold so…uh…I figured it would work and it did and…uh…" She blushed unnerved by the stunned faces turned on her.

"Jarvis, memo to me, re-evaluate Mission Impossible's strength next training session" Tony mumbled under his breath much to Via's confusion.

"huh?"

"So you broke out of the duck-tape" Natasha said pointedly, kicking a still shocked Steve under the table "how did you unlock the door? That car they used can't be opened from the inside"

"Uh…just a simple unlocking spell" Via frowned in confusion. "It was a mechanical lock, so it was easy to undo. If it had been digital I would've had a problem"

"…right…" Clint glanced sidelong at Bruce who looked back down and typed something out on his touch-screen.

"So you opened the door. What happened next?"

With another heavy sigh (Goodness she was really sighing a lot nowadays) Via explained how she'd run into the forest, how the Craven brother's had both chased her towards the lake. How she'd stupidly jumped into the lake and nearly drowned herself on purpose. It was at this point she heard Tony mumble something about adding swimming lessons to her roster. Then it was onto her time at Hydra, of how she was brought up to Alphard's office. Of all the hints and riddles they kept spouting out about her mother before giving her the run down on what they were going to do to make her an asset just like the mysterious Winter Soldier. She paused as she heard Steve give a sharp intake of breath.

"What? Was it something I said?" Via blinked nervously at the room at large.

"No…it's just…" Steve put his face in his hand. "They actually said that? That they wanted you to become like the Winter Soldier?"

"Yeah…well…not in that many words but yeah. Why? Who is he?" Via gulped.

"He's cap's old friend from the second world war" Natasha explained quietly, her face grim "James Buchanan Barnes. Also known as Bucky. Long story short he was captured by Hydra and turned into their experimental guinea pig slash top assassin. However, he escaped from their control about a year and a half ago right after the fall of SHIELD"

"Right…and let me guess. You guys have no idea where he is now?" Via folded her arms rolling her eyes as Natasha nodded "And I'm the new replacement?"

"You and a few others" Bruce pushed his data pad across the table at her.

Via looked down, her heart almost stopping as she caught sight of all the photographs of children.

"Wait… Marko, Halley, Jim-I know these kids. We were at the orphanage together…what's going on?"

The fearful waver in her voice was almost heart wrenching as she looked up at the team with horrified wide eyes.

"Via…your orphanage…" Clint leaned forwards, face a mask of discomfort "…it was a Hydra recruitment centre."

"A recruitment what?" Via gaped open mouthed.

"A recruitment centre" Natasha explained calmly "It's where secret agencies like HYDRA sometimes go to recruit new members along with certain prisons and juvie. Most places are unaware that they are recruitment centres, but a select few were built exactly for that purpose and are run by agents themselves. Your orphanage was one of those places"

"Y-you mean to tell me…that I…those kids…Hydra was gonna…oh god" she shut her eyes and sucked in a deep breath head in her hands.

Her head was swimming. It was like she was underwater, as the comforting hand on her shoulder sounded so distant to her ears as a worried voice asked:

"Are you alright?"

"Oh yeah. Just fine and dandy. Yeah sure I just found out that the bastards who kept me under their roof were working for the same bastards who just tried kidnapping me and were responsible for the deaths of millions of people, some of them sorcerers, and one of them quite possibly my mother- But yeah I'm totally super" she snapped, not looking up from her hands.

She could just see it now. All those kids she knew, waiting in dark cells like she had been. All of them had probably thought they'd be going somewhere safe and happy. Instead they were prisoners, subjected to brainwashing, torture and who knows what horrors. It was enough to make her stomach turn.

She might not have gotten along with all of them, but still she had grown up with them around her, and she never truly wished any of them harm. To think that HYDRA might have them in their clutches…that they were being sold off like cattle to the slaughterhouse…

All these thoughts ran rampant through her head as she steeled herself and began telling the rest of her account of her capture, right up to the point the team had rescued her.

Keep breathing…just keep breathing.

She told herself as she forced herself to emotionlessly speak of how she managed to get the helicopter to land. She didn't even register the slightly alarmed looks on their faces as she spoke of stabbing the hydra agent in the leg before holding Alphard to ransom.

Her actions no longer mattered. She could've killed a man and confessed, and she couldn't have cared. All she could think about was those kids…

"Olivia..."

A hand shook her shoulder gently. A heavily scarred one.

Via blinked, looking down at the table where her hands were now placed. They were balled into such tight fists that her knuckles were chalk white. She sighed and released her grip, wincing as she felt her palms sting.

"Sorry" she mumbled as she caught sight of the small cuts her nails had dug into her palms.

"It's alright." She heard Stephen's voice murmur gently before speaking to someone else.

"We should probably go home."

"Yeah…you should. We got the answers we needed anyway." She heard Steve's voice mutter as he turned to face her.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead just patted a hand on her shoulder and muttered.

"Rest up kid. It wasn't easy what you did…. but you did good"

"Thanks" Via murmured softly, but everyone could hear her heart wasn't really in it as she was led outside the room and towards a sling ring portal Stephen had opened in the hallway.

As soon as they heard the portal shut, Tony swore softly.

"Crap…that was…"

"Intense?" Clint provided with a small snort as the man of iron bristled.

"I was going to say scary, but yeah intense works too."

"It's not an easy thing, to learn of such horrors so early in one's life." Thor agreed his tone unusually grim. "I for one do not blame her for feeling angry-"

"She's not angry. She's confused" Steve mumbled as he took back the data-pad from Via's empty spot. "She's had so many things happen to her in such a short space of time, and she doesn't know what it all means. I'm just surprised she hasn't had a nervous breakdown yet"

"I'm not" Bruce murmured, eyes glowing faintly green as he took a breath to calm himself "Strange may not be the most approachable of human beings but they both seem extremely comfortable with one another. Which is good. She'll need that if she'd going to get through any of this in one piece."

"Bruce is right" Tony nodded quietly "but still, she needs more than just Stephen Strange. The fact that she ran away last night proves she still doesn't trust anyone completely-"

"Like how you don't trust us enough to tell us when you're sending a teenager to case the joint of Oscorp?" Clint narrowed his sharp grey eyes at his friend who shifted uncomfortably in his seat once more.

"I was going to tell you guys…but I ran out of time."

"Translation, you were going to tell us AFTER it happened" Natasha sighed in exasperation as Steve rolled his eyes.

"Tony this is a team. If we're going to work effectively, we're must communicate. Not do stuff behind each other's backs and tell them after the fact. Anyways what were you thinking? She's a kid? What if something had happened to her?"

"But they didn't" Tony groaned "You didn't see her at Oscorp. She was walking beside me, cameras were flashing, people were ogling and still nobody noticed her. You can't buy skills like that."

"He is right you know" Thor piped in much to everyone's surprise "Lady Via does have quite a gift with keeping herself unseen. For sure people notice her beauty, but that's the very thing that keeps her hidden from suspicion. In that way she's a lot like my brother. People always underestimated his strengths because he played on his meeker appearance and he was still able to nearly take over this planet. Is it any wonder that HYDRA, an organization obsessed with secrecy, would want her to be one of their assets."

There was silence as they all mulled over the God of Thunder's words. While they all disliked his brother, they had to admit he was still one of their most challenging enemies to date. Not that, that made any of them feeling any better about their current predicament.

"Fine, so the kid is good with stealth. We get it." Clint growled shook his head out glaring at Tony "But Cap's right Tony. You can't just keep us in the dark about these things. What if one of Osborne's guys caught her? At least if you had told us we could've been back up if she needed to get out safely."

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but shut it hastily. Obviously, he hadn't thought of that scenario before going on ahead with his plan.

"Okay" he conceded bitterly "Yeah, maybe I should've told you guys I'd changed the plan…"

"But?" Steve folded his arms irritably.

"But now we know what Project Weaver is all about, and we have an idea of the security measures we need to get past before we go in."

*sigh* "Tony…"

"Olivia?"

Via blinked. It was dark, nearly midnight. She was sitting at her desk in her bedroom back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, glazing out over one of the many spell books Wong had gotten for her from the Kamar-Taj library under the light of the one solitary desk lamp.

"Hey" She managed a small weak smile as the silhouette of Stephen Strange stepped into the room.

"It's a bit late to be up isn't it?" he smirked gently from his spot at the door, or at least she thought he smirked, for his face was almost cast completely in shadow.

"Couldn't sleep" she mumbled turning back to the page, her fingers tracing the sketch of an oddly shaped mandala spell "Thought I could take my mind of stuff"

"By studying?" Stephen snorted, though it sounded slightly odd to her ears. And what was that buzzing she could hear?

"What? You'd rather me be up doing drugs or what?" she rolled her eyes as she reached down for the source of the buzzing, only to find nothing there.

"Shit. Must be on my bed. Doc do you think you could just-" she stopped dead as she turned back around in her chair to face him…

For there standing behind her, was Cornelius Craven, with his pale pointed face and his beady black eyes narrowed down victoriously at her as he stepped towards her.

"Hello kid. Miss me?"

"GET AWAY FROM ME-MHPH!" Via tried to balk to the side only to be grabbed by a pair of pale claw like hands, one of which smothered her mouth.

She struggled wildly but it was no use as horrible dark shadowy mist suddenly surrounded her. Black tentacles of slime and darkness slipped out from it and coiling around her body, trapping it as she whimpered and kicked at her attacker, who was now looming over her, his features distorting with every word.

"It's no use. You cannot escape this." He hissed as his face contorted into another shape altogether.

Now above her was a man with one brown eye and one milky white surrounded by horrible burnt scars. He stared back at her from the midst of black smoke his mouth splitting open in a wide taut leer to reveal a pair of sharp canines amidst yellowing teeth.

"You…you killed me. You killed me and you will pay."

"No…" Tears now streamed down Via's face as she tried to turn away. The buzzing in her ears was growing louder and louder.

She struggled frantically, her screams muffled by the force that covered her mouth as she felt her shoulders both burn.

"How does it feel?" Fabian Russo sneered blood dripping from his open mouth and onto her face. "the pain…the burning pain. Isn't it glorious?"

She yelped as she felt something sharp pierce into her gut. But the blackness held her still as the face of Fabian Russo bared down over her, features twisting and bulging as they transformed. This time the skin became younger, both eyes turned brown as a handsome face snarled down viciously at her.

"Cass" she managed to gulp as Cassian Russo now leant in to whisper into her ear hands wrapping around her throat.

"It's all your fault. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have to do this-"

"No Cass! No-stop-NO-N-" but her screams were smothered as her head was suddenly dunked deep under ice cold water.

She writhed fiercely as she felt the tentacles and darkness suddenly leave her body, only to be replaced by the crushing weight of the dark waters around her.

No-it can't be this way! It can't end like this!

She thought desperately as her arms flailed upwards towards the surface of the water. But it was no use, no matter how hard she kicked upwards she couldn't make it.

Her scream billowed out into the water in large bubbles as she felt what felt like millions of dark slimy hands suddenly grab her from behind and start dragging her downwards.

The buzzing in her ears grew louder, so loud that it rang straight through her like the rumble of a chainsaw.

She tried screaming, but no sooner had she turned to fight the things off her, she saw something that made her heart stop.

There…floating a few meters away, pale and lifeless was a ten-year-old boy. His blue eyes were vacant, his blue lips parted gently as he stared up at the water's surface, his neck collared by dark red hand marks.

She stared aghast, barely registering the slimy hands grip tightening on her as they pulled her down. As she descended she saw other small figures floating about her, each one marred differently, all with blank staring eyes-

"AGHA!"

Via cried out, cold night air filling her lungs as she balked up to sit.

"What…the hell…." She panted as she looked around. She was still sitting at her desk, her clock on it reading two-thirty in the morning, though she could've sworn she'd only sat down at nine-thirty…

Must've dozed off

She groaned, wiping her forehead with glistened with sweat before scrubbing her tearful eyes. She felt something large, warm and hairy nudge her softly and looked down just in time for Buddy to lick her face.

"I'm okay boy" she whispered, scratching the dog's head affectionately as he whined worriedly up at her. "Just a stupid nightmare"

That being said, it had been a long while since she'd had a nightmare. Especially one so vivid and horrific.

"I wonder what-Oh yeah…right…" she muttered to herself as she reached out and picked up the Web of Asibikaashi, which was resting on the top of a nearby book.

That's right…I took it off before my bath and forgot to put it on again.

She quickly slid the dreamcatcher around her neck, sighing as it leaked some of its invigorating power into her.

Buddy however wasn't so convinced and leaned up to lick at her face again.

"Yeah-yeah I love you too bud" she murmured, kissing the top of his head "I'm fine. Now stop being a silly-billy and come to bed. Come on" she stood up, leading the way to her bed.

Buddy was quick to take his spot at her feet as she settled beneath the covers. Though her heart was still hammering, the presence of Buddy with her was comforting as she reclined back to sit against her pillows, book in hand.

"You go to sleep." She assured the animal as he looked balefully up at her from his spot "I'll just cool off with this"

Buddy stared at her for a moment, almost as if he was contemplating a response. Indeed, Via could've sworn she'd seen him almost roll his eyes at her. But then the moment was gone and he'd rested his head on top of her ankle and shut his eyes.

She smiled softly as he quickly settled down to snore. Whenever other people saw Buddy, they were almost always scared by his massive size and shaggy appearance. But where people saw this massive beast, Via saw a gentle giant with the biggest cutest puppy dog eyes ever-

Something buzzed by her side and she jumped.

"Shit" she hissed as she looked down at her bedside table.

There sitting upon it, glowing in the dark was AURA, a bit scratched and scuffed but still operational. Tony had offered to repair her just before Via had sat down for her interrogation, but had never gotten the chance to examine the damage before Stephen had whisked his ward away.

Via glanced down at the screen curiously as she picked up her artificial friend from her bedside. While the golden metal back was scratched and scuffed, the glass front touch screen was barely marked. Tony had said she was made of rather sturdy material but still-

"Hmm…what's this?" Via frowned as she checked her messages. The earliest one was from Wong, reminding her of her appointment with Susanna Ericsson.

Whoa…totally forgot about that…better talk with Stephen about that-

She gulped as she flicked down to the next set of messages. Most of them were from the Avengers and a couple from Stephen, and even a couple from Wong and Master Percival from London. All of them sounded worried and increasingly desperate as they tried to reach out to her.

Must've been from when we'd crashed

She reasoned as she flicked down towards the bottommost message which turned out to be just a reminder for a missed call…from a few minutes ago…

Hmmm…odd…who could be calling me at this time?

She frowned as she tried to look up the caller ID, only to find it was a blocked number.

"Probably a call center" she muttered to herself, but paused frowning.

No wait. Tony had told her that he'd set Aura up to automatically redirect any call center crap.

So who could it be?

At once a pair of dark beady eyes flashed over her minds eye and she shivered.

"No. just hold it together Vee. It's probably just a crank call."

Still…it couldn't hurt to find out…

She pressed the call button and held it up to her ear.

Ring-RIIING! Ring-Riing!

She pursed her lips as she waited, but the phone just continued to ring.

Ring-RIIING! Ring-Riing! Ring-

There was a click.

Via's heart was pounding in her ears as she listened intently.

She could hear someone breathing on the other end.

"Uh…hello…" she licked her lips nervously.

"Hello Olivia" A deep voice whispered on the other end, a voice she knew only too well.

"Mordo?"

DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!

And that's where i leave you guys. Via get's into trouble, learns some disturbing news, has an even more disturbing nightmare and why is Mordo calling her in the middle of the night? and how did he get her number? (hmmm...questions questions..)

So yeah, i got to admit i was really happy with the responses to the previous chapter. The fact that some people actually got pissed off at Via's selfishness was great. i know it sounds strange but I don't want Via to be the "perfect character". I want her to be more real, and that means that just as much as i want her to be liked, i also want people to see her flaws and to point them out, because otherwise how will i make her grow? Anyways at this point in her life she's scared and confused and falling back onto old habits, (which aren't exactly the best ones either) and also, she's a headstrong rebellious teenager with magic, she's going to make some screw ups at some point anyway.

Well whatever enough of my ranting. If you enjoyed please read and review for more and hopefully i'll get the next chapter up before long :)

Cheers

FuzzyBeta