A/N: Holy crap never again. Longest chapter by a long shot. We're also coming up on what I have written already... I may have to actually pick up my pace in writing. As always Constructive Criticism makes my day. Read and Review. ^-^

Disclaimer: If I owned the MCU, let's be honest, I'd mentally scar all the characters.

Chapter 10

Soldier glanced back at the SHIELD agent following them several times as Loyalty led them down the halls.

I don't trust him, Bucky told him.

Agent Barton, Soldier thought back, remembering the files that Pierce had shown him about the Avengers Initiative, also known as Hawkeye. One of the best agents SHIELD employs and one of the few humans on the Avengers Initiative. Present in New York. Possible future target. Skilled with a bow, and his handler used to be Agent Coulson before the agent was almost killed by the Norse God Loki, and Fury pulled the handler to put together another specialized team. Has a close relationship with Natasha Romanov, and is known to disappear after completed missions. Highly dangerous to Hydra's goals, and can not be converted to the cause or controlled.

Wow, Bucky thought, I think that's the most I've heard you think or say ever.

Pay attention, Soldier snapped, if we're going to be switching places you need to know this.

Before Bucky could reply, Loyalty stopped in front of a door, raised a hand to knock, and then hesitated. She lowered her hand, raised it again, lowered it.

"Knock," Agent Barton said, his voice in a fake whisper with a strange glee in his voice, "Just knock." Barton grinned and turned to Soldier, who glared, "Why isn't she knocking? Do you think she knows how to knock?"
Loyalty flinched slightly, and Soldier glared even more. Barton raised his hands defensively, "No offence meant. Here I'll do it."

He stepped forward, and Loyalty stepped to the side to let him through. Barton didn't knock though, he simply opened the door and walked in. There was a crackling sound, and Soldier pulled Loyalty behind him, stiffening in alarm.

"Agent Barton," Agent Coulson said in a dry unimpressed tone, "Perhaps you would feel like informing me why you have a HYDRA assassin following you."

"In all fairness Phil," Barton said, bouncing on the balls of his feet, like there wasn't a taser inches from his face, "I followed him."

Coulson sighed, and pulled the taser away from Barton's face, slipping the taser back to wherever he hid it. He stepped aside and waved them in, nodding to Soldier and Loyalty. Loyalty kept close to Soldier's back as he looked around the large hotel room. Steve's back was to them, and he was talking on the phone.

"I'm sure Natasha. There something strange going on with…"

Agent Coulson coughed, and Steve whirled around. He stared at them with wide eyes for a second before he turned back to the phone.

"I'm fine. I'll call you back," he said and went to hang up the phone, but Agent Barton made grabby hands at it.

Steve gave him a confused look, but handed the phone to him.

"It's Nat, right?" Barton didn't wait for an answer, and began to talk on the phone, "Hey Nat, it's me." Barton grinned, "You'll never guess who I ran into today." He pouted at something that was said, "Yeah, it's Coulson." Barton's eyes darted to the agent, and he turned serious, "I agree. We should get together and have a serious conversation about not telling your team that you're not dead."

Agent Coulson sighed, and opened his mouth to say something, when Loyalty froze, and then quietly whimpered. She tugged on Soldier's sleeve and whispered, "We need to go. Now."

Soldier furrowed his brow in confusion, and then he distantly heard the elevator ding as it reach the floor. There were a small group of steady, deliberate footsteps, and everyone in the room froze.

"HYDRA?" Steve asked. Loyalty shook her head and plastered herself to his side. He could feel her start to shake, and for a second he debated letting Bucky take care of it. Then there was a crash down the hall, and everyone jumped.

"They don't know what room we're in," Loyalty whispered. "So they're going through all the rooms in this hallway. We have about five minutes before they find us."

"Who are they?" Barton asked.

"Bounty hunters," Loyalty explained, "they capture what they think of as unique people and creatures and sell them to the highest bidder. But occasionally they take a contract to capture something or someone specific."

"We'll have to fight them then," Steve said after scanning the room for another possible exit, if they left through the door now they'd be spotted, but that was the only exit from the room.

Loyalty paled and shook her head. "I don't think you could take this many of them."

Barton raised his eyebrow at her and asked, "You don't think the Avengers could take down some bounty hunters? How many are there?"

Loyalty cocked her head to the side, her eyes slide shut. Her hands tightened on Soldier's arm, and she whispered, "There are seven here."

"Seven?" Barton said, "Coulson could take seven bounty hunters by himself. He'd just taser them all into submission."

The door of the neighboring room shatters, and Loyalty flinched.

"But what if they're not human?" she whispered.

"Wait. You mean like Thor?" Barton asked.

"I don't know who you're talking about but they aren't from this world. If that's what you're asking," Loyalty said, as she grew paler and paler. There was a crash from next door, and something thumped as it hit the wall.

Loyalty felt herself shaking more and more, and for a moment she thought that she was going to fly apart. She pressed her fingertips to Scary-man's arm, and focused on not hyperventilating, as the familiar presences in the next room dragged memories that she would prefer forgotten.

-heat as they tested how much her senses could take-

-pain as her wings were stretched, and the people watching broke into whispers-

-a crack as she hit the wall, when Cora failed to dodge the strike-

-loss of warmth as Cora's soul was separated from her own; the connection that they had both held since the day Loyalty received Cora from her parents, torn-

She jumped when she heard another crash from the next room, and bit her lip.

"Please," she said, her voice cracking, "Please. Can we just leave?"

Soldier watched the door warily, and ignored Barton's eye roll.

"Look," Barton said, his tone growing cross, "You hang out with a guy that may or may not work for HYDRA. Excuse me for not believe a word you say."

"Even if we did agree not to fight them, there's no way we could leave without them spotting us," Steve pointed out, grabbing his shield from where it leaned against the wall.

"She's not from HYDRA," Coulson said, glancing down as his phone vibrated, "We got intelligence that proved that they were after her for some reason. She isn't working with for all that she hangs off of their best assassin."

"Natasha's on her way," He said, looking up from his phone, "She says that she's bringing Sam and 'whatever that contraption of his is called.'"

Coulson's phone vibrated again, and he glanced down, "She also says that if anyone else finds out that she spoke that unprofessionally then she's going to skin them while she plays the worst of Stark's ramblings in the background. So I suggest that sentence never leaves the room."

In their head Bucky whistled, Ouch, but why would she threaten to use Stark talking? Howard wasn't that bad. Arrogant, insufferable, and a complete idiot despite being a genius, but he didn't ramble to my knowledge.

Anthony Stark, son of howard Stark. Former CEO of Stark Industries. Engineering prodigy and all around genius. He was captured during a weapons showing in Afghanistan, and created the Iron Man armor to escape. Well-known for his irresponsibility and flings in the press. Recently converted Stark Industries from a weapons manufacturing company to working on green energy. Currently in a relationship with the CEO of Stark industries Virginia Potts. Soldier recited from the files he had been given. Member of the newly formed Avengers Initiative. Present in New York. Is dangerous to Hydra's goals, but could be blackmailed with threat of Virginia Potts and Happy Hogan's lives.

"You're friend Sam," Loyalty whispered, "does he feel warm like he does?" She pointed at Barton, "A little bit broken, his presence wavering just slightly. But warm, and loyal."

"I would assume he does?" Steve replied, his brow furrowing slightly, and confusion entering his tone.

Loyalty looked up at Soldier. "The window," she whispered. "We can leave through the window."

Barton leaned closer to Coulson, "See Phil? Someone else advocates my jumping out of windows."

Coulson gave Loyalty a disappointed look. "You seemed reasonable. There's no reason to encourage his ill advised thoughtless tendencies."

"I put plenty of thought into my actions," Barton protested. He opened the window and leaned out of it, probably planning the best path down using the window seals. There was a sudden bang and the door shuddered. Barton yelped and his hands slid forward as he tilted precariously out the window.

"Clint!" Steve yelled, and surged forward to grab the archer before he fell.

"Oh yeah," Coulson said dryly, "I'm sure you put a lot of thought into that Clint."

The SHIELD agent stuck his tongue out at his ex-handler, and leaned out the window again, as the door shuddered once more. "I think we can climb down safely if we go in a somewhat diagonal pattern," Barton said, tracing out the path that he saw as everyone else crowded around him.

The door shuddered and there was a crack. Soldier spun around and stared at the large crack that ran down the door.

"Faster," he growled as the bird circled above them chirping frantically. Barton was already out the window, the teddy bear he had brought tied around his waist, and Steve was helping Loyalty climb out. The door shuddered, and there was a creak as the hinges began to pull away from the wall. Soldier moved to a different window, and when he noticed that it wouldn't open, he shoved his left arm through the glass.

He gestured at Coulson, and the agent climbed out, careful of the glass shards. Soldier glanced up to make sure that Loyalty had gotten out, and met Steve's eyes. They nodded at each other and climbed out their respective windows at the same time, Bucky's memory echoing in his head.

Get outta here!

No! Not without you!

Soldier swung his leg over the window sill right as the door buckled in on itself, and the woman from the zoo walked in. A spark of anger hovered in her eyes, and she held a pair of brass knuckles lightly in her hands.

Soldier started in surprise when she immediately charged him, and he felt his right hand catch on the shattered glass. He let go of the window and dropped down right as the woman reached him.

Distantly, he heard Steve yell his name. He reached out to grab on of the window sills as he fell, and he winced at the pain that flared through his arm when he jerked to a stop. The blood on his hand made gripping hard, and Soldier figured that he had a minute before he fell again.

He tried to swing his metal arm up, but the movement jostled his probably dislocated shoulder. He glanced at Loyalty who clung to the wall just above him and slightly to his left. She was pale and her tight grip on the window sill turned her knuckles white. Their eyes met, and she nodded her understanding.

Can I say that this is a bad idea? Bucky thought.

You can, Soldier replied blandly, as he kicked off the wall, and started to freefall.

Loyalty took a deep breath and let go of the wall right after Scary-man did. She pushed off of the wall, and twisted her body into a dive after him. She felt someone's arm brush her leg as she fell past them. She figured that it was probably Steve trying to stop her from falling.

She concentrated on her magic, and focused it in her shoulder blades. Cora wound tighter around her waist, and Loyalty took a deep breath before she forced her wings out. She cried out in pain as they ripped out of her shoulder blades, and heard Tina chirp in worry above her.

She flapped her wings to catch up to Scary-man, and grabbed his arms. She tried to pull up, straining against his weight, even with the increase in strength that her true form gave her. She whimpered as the added weight pulled on the cuts that ran down her back, new and old.

But their descent slowed, and then stopped. Loyalty's wings strained, and then slowly they began to ascend. She carefully carried him to a nearby rooftop, and put him down.

He nodded his thanks, and she gave a small smile in return. Loyalty glanced up, and in a small voice, asked, "Is that the person with wings that Bucky mentioned?"

Scary-man glanced up sharply, his dark eyes scanning the sky. Loyalty pointed out quickly approaching man in the air, not sure if Scary-man could see him without enhanced senses like her. The dark male approaching them was still far enough that she couldn't make out his expression, but the presence that had been hovering at the edges of her senses made sense now. Warm and loyal, but just a bit broken.

Scary-man cocked his head to the side slightly, and unconscious gesture that Loyalty wondered if he even knew that he did when he conversed with Bucky in their head.

He shook his head slightly, and for a brief, irrational moment Loyalty hoped that one of her people had managed to find her. But she shook her head of that thought, even if it was, she wouldn't leave without Dil, and Scary-man still needed her support.

She grimaced in pain as she stretched her wings out to take to the sky once more. A large hand landed softly on her shoulder, preventing her from taking off. She turned to look at Scary-man.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Loyalty glanced back to the people who were climbing down the side of the hotel. "They won't make it before the hunters make it to the bottom," she said quietly.

Scary-man glanced at her, the figures clinging to the hotel, and then the rapidly approaching man. His face turned grim, and he nodded, stepping back to give her room to take off.

Loyalty took to the air, ignoring the pain like Teg and Dil had taught her so long ago. She hovered by Agent Coulson, and blushed when Sharp-eyed man whistled.

"Well, aren't those some nice accessories," he said.

"May I?" she asked Agent Coulson, aware of her burning face and the way that it was spreading to her ears and neck.

Agent Coulson studied her, his impassive face giving nothing away, "Can you carry me?"

Loyalty nodded, and grabbed his upper arms. "Ready?" she asked.

He nodded and she pulled away from the building. He let go of the wall, and in a quick, smooth movement reached up to grab her arms in return. Her wings flapped harder to keep her and her new passenger in the air. Loyalty flew towards the roof she had left Scary-man, but the winged man stopped her before she could.

"Are you with SHIELD?" he asked, and this close she could see that the wings weren't natural extensions of his body, but a metal contraption that looked like wings. She bit her bottom lip and opened her mouth to reply, but Coulson beat her to it.

"SHIELD's been compromised. You might want to ask a different question," he said, his voice deadpan.

Loyalty could see the other man blink underneath his goggles before he asked, "Are you with Steve?"

She felt Coulson nod with the utmost seriousness. The winged man gave a sharp exhale before moving out of her way and towards Steve and the Sharp-eyed man. Loyalty placed Coulson down next to Scary-man and turned to grab whoever the winged man hadn't when she swerved in the air. She shook her head trying to clear it of the light headedness that abruptly reminded her of her bleeding shoulder blades.

Her back itched slightly with drying blood, and some fresh blood started to drip down her arms, warm and sticky and dying everything red. The winged man pulled Steve off of the building, and headed towards Coulson and Scary-man, so she went to help Sharp-eyed man. She fought a whimper of pain, hands shooting up to cover her ears as something close to a gunshot assaulted her ears. Sharp-eyed man winced as glass shards rained down, one scratching his cheek, and the smaller ones making his hair sparkle.

A hand shot out from the broken window and reached for Sharp-eyed man, who let go, in a mix of surprise and an attempt to get away.

"Tina!" Loyalty cried, as he fell, his fingers scraping against the wall as he attempted to slow his fall or grab a windowsill. Loyalty flung her arm out to met Tina who dug his talons into her upper arm to stay on. She reached out with her magic through the physical contact and the small, wavering bond she had with the bird, so different from the constant chain-like connection she had with Cora, and tugged.

There was a bewildering moment as her body adjusted to the new soul that she had forced into it, and Loyalty huddled in the back of her mind, wondering at the warm excitement that Tina gave off. Loyalty tried to reconcile it with Cora's cool calm, as Tina took control and sent her body hurtling after Sharp-eyed Man. Warmth radiated everywhere as Tina laughed, reaching out to catch Sharp-eyed man. Her hands sticky with blood clasped his, and Tina snapped her wings out in a smooth natural motion that Loyalty would never be able to match.

They dipped and then launched upward, Tina's laughter growing and Sharp-eyed man joining in. The air whistled past their ears as they pulled away from the street. Tina fluttered Loyalty's wings and they landed gently on the roof. Sharp-eyed man sauntered over to Steve, Coulson, and the Winged-man, a wild grin on his face.

"That was great!" Tina cheered, a grin splitting Loyalty's face. "Can we do that again?" he asked bounding up to Scary-man, who stared at Tina with wide eyes.

Let's not, Loyalty thought with a quiver in her voice. Tina pouted.

The silence stretched until Cora hissed, Idiot, give Ty control back.

"Oh, right, oops," he chirped, and the warmth from his soul receded. Loyalty took a deep breath, pulling her wings back in even as she winced when Tina dug his talons out of her upper arm. She wobbled and Scary-man's metal arm shot out to stabilize her.

"I'm fine, really," she said breathlessly, her ears ringing. Her putting most of her weight on his arm didn't help her argument, and he gave her a dubious look. "I'm-" her breath hitched, and she tried to blink the spots out of her eyes. Cora hissed something that Loyalty didn't catch as her vision tunneled. She blinked again, her vision turned black, and she toppled forward.