Recruited - Chapter Twelve

"Steve?"

The analyst slipped past a pair of armed SHIELD guards, offering them a false smile as she did so. The corridor was silent save for the sound of her boots clicking on the steel floor. She had spent ten minutes searching for the super soldier, weaving in and out of groupings of guards and other SHIELD recruits. Anna turned left as she reached a fork in the corridor, searching the rooms she passed with quick glances.

"Oh!" she cried in surprise, heart beating wildly as Steve appeared before her. She breathed in deeply through her nose and exhaled. "Do you have to creep up on people?"

The Captain raised one brow. "Only when I'm being followed," he replied.

"Yeah," said Anna, scowling. "Thanks for the mini-heart attack you just gave me."

Steve smiled. "Sorry." He cocked his head to the side. "You were following me?"

Anna nodded, her breathing relaying back to its normal rate. "Yes." She paused, judging his expression. Despite his earlier altercation with Stark, Steve seemed even-tempered. "I wanted to apologise for what Tony said. He has this habit of not thinking before he speaks. It gets him in trouble. And, more often that not, it gets me in trouble, too." She let her words sink in. "And despite what you may think, Stark isn't that bad. A little… rough around the edges, but aren't we all?"

Instead of accepting her apology, Steve asked another question. "You really hacked into SHIELD's files?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Anna sighed. "Because they're up to something, and I want to know what. I'm not happy being here, Steve. SHIELD are using me as a puppet. Their last analyst was murdered. I don't feel safe here. Why should I?"

Steve frowned, unwilling to comment on her safety. "And how long will it take for your… programme to find out the information?"

The analyst copied the man's expression. "It's been running for four hours. I imagine it'll take another forty-five minutes." She stared at his face in silence, watching as he pondered something silently. "Why? What is it?"

Again, Steve did not answer her. He merely jerked his head to the right and gestured for the woman to follow him down the corridor. And, against her better judgement, she followed him without protest.

The two SHIELD recruits strode down the corridors, careful to escape the accusatory gazes of other SHIELD agents. Steve halted outside of a door marked PRIVATE. A keypad and retinal scanner were embedded into the wall beneath a sign reading Security Clearance Needed.

"Wait," instructed Anna, placing her hand on Steve's arm. She bent down and reached into her black boot, retrieving a second smartphone. This particular device was larger than her previous one, and had been gifted to her from Stark upon their reunion two hours previous. It was a black rectangular phone with rounded edges, a white 'on/off' button position at the bottom of the gadget. "The door needs a passcode."

She ran a finger along the exterior of the phone, and smiled. Glancing back at the passcode, Anna reached toward the silver plaque beneath the character buttons and tugged it open, revealing three port holes. The analyst turned the phone over in her hands, ejecting the three built-in USB flash drives.

"What is that?" asked Steve, frowning at the external poles.

"A digital key. I'll have the passcode in a few minutes," replied Anna, smiling. She moved forward to inject the drives into the ports, but Steve placed a hand on her shoulder and halted her movement. "What?" questioned Anna, her smile now replaced with a frown. "You have a better idea?"

"I do."

"It'll only take a few minutes," said Anna, "and it will take at least half an hour for Fury's systems to realise-". The words died in her throat. She watched as Steve gripped the doorframe in his hands, using his enhanced strength to pull the steel door from its hinges, jerking it to the side; his fingerprints now embedded into the iron.

Steve turned back to Anna with a small grin.

"Or we could just do that," conceded Anna, fighting back a smile of her own.

The soldier slipped inside the room, eyes travelling along the raised levels. He beckoned to Anna with his hand. "C'mon," he murmured, keeping his voice low.

Anna followed him inside, trying to keep her steps light. The room was dark with very little light. Three armed SHIELD guards patrolled the upper levels, protecting the vast amount of metal boxes stacked around the sides of the room. The female crept along the walkway, watching Steve for further instructions.

"Stay here," he whispered, and before she could protest, the soldier leapt from the ground and landed on the upper flooring. Steve hid from the SHIELD guards, gesturing to Anna to be quiet.

She merely stared up at him, studying the man as he hid behind a stack of boxes.

The SHIELD guards left the area, moving to patrol a second perimeter.

Steve stalked forward, his voice faint. "There's a ladder to your right," he said.

Anna hurried toward the ladder, climbing it one leg at a time. She reached the top of the steps in seconds, Steve lowering his arm for her to hold. He pulled the brunette to her feet, waiting as she righted herself.

The broad male looked to his left before turning right, stalking toward a second stack of boxes. He broke the locks and tugged the lid upwards.

"What is all this stuff?" whispered Anna, letting out the breath she had been holding, barely believing what she was seeing. She eyed the mask and weapon with undisguised disgust, watching Steve's facial expression closely.

Steve looked down, catching her gaze, his features set. "HYDRA." He hefted the machine into his arms and held it as though it was weightless, but both Steve and Anna knew the true weight of the weapon; its invisible pressure.


Steve stormed into the laboratory, Anna close on his heels. The soldier marched toward the island in the middle of the room and slammed the weapon down onto the surface, the resulting sound reverberating around the room.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," announced Steve, staring at the director with disgust. "Sorry," he said, directing his gaze to Stark and Banner. "Computer was moving a little slow for us." He gestured to Anna who stood behind him.

"Rogers," began Fury, shaking his head. "We gathered everything related to the tesseract. This does not mean that we-"

"I'm sorry, Nick," cut in Stark, not sorry at all as he raised his brows, flipping the monitor outward so it faced the other three. He tapped the screen with his finger, identifying the information related to the illustrated weapon, and waited for a response.

Steve's glare remained fastened on Fury. "I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."

"Did you know about this?" asked Dr. Banner, gesturing to Black Widow and Thor who stood by the entrance.

The redhead moved into the room in silence, stepping closer to Fury as she did so. "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?"

"Oh," smiled Banner, shaking his head. "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well-removed."

Widow took a step forward, her gaze intense. "Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?" retorted Banner, frowning.

"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you," quipped Widow.

"Yes," agreed Banner, moving across the room to stand with Stark by the monitors. "And I'm not leaving just because suddenly you get a little twitchy." He pulled the monitor toward him, gesturing to the outline of SHIELD's weaponry. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Silence.

And then Fury spoke up. "Because of him," he said, jabbing his finger at the blonde God.

The God of Thunder frowned, raising his hand to his chest. "Me?"

As the team spoke, Anna crept closer to Stark. She tapped his shoulder, and he turned his monitor toward her, allowing the analyst to read the data. Anna's eyes widened with each word she read. She turned to her boss with a questioning stare, and Stark nodded his head; a silent conversation between two great minds.

"Last year," said Fury, his gaze travelling around the room. It landed on Anna and she returned it with a fiery stare of her own. "Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge that levelled a small town. We learnt that not only are we alone, but that we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

Thor shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"Except your brother," murmured Anna, voicing her thoughts aloud. Beside her, Stark snorted.

Fury shot the brunette a dark stare. He turned back to the God. "But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people that can't be matched; that can't be controlled."

Steve shook his head. "Like you controlled the cube?" he asked, levelling Fury's gaze.

Thor stepped closer to Fury, a powerfully dark stare on his face. "Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it. And his allies." He stared around the room, imploring the other inhabitants to listen to his words. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" frowned Steve, shaking his head in confusion.

"You forced our hand," said Fury. "We had to come up with someth-"

"A nuclear deterent," interrupted Stark, "because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" hissed Fury, seemingly unable to comprehend the attitude he was receiving.

Steve stepped forward. "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in-"

"Wait, wait. Hold on," said Stark, shaking his head, holding his hand up to halt the conversation. "How is this now about me?"

Steve raised a brow. "I'm sorry," he said, his sarcasm out in full force. "Isn't everything?"

Anna stepped between the two men, shaking her head. "This isn't helping," she told them.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," spat Thor, his tone disgusted with their behaviour.

Fury frowned. "Excuse me, do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

A mass conversation broke out, words garbled. Arguments proceeded. Anna listened as Stark insulted Steve once again, the soldier retaliating with more biting words. Opposite them, Thor and Fury exchanged jarring utterances, Thor demanding to know the reasoning behind Fury's selection of heroes.

"Are you boys really that naive?" laughed Widow. "SHIELD monitors potential threats."

Beside her, Banner folded his arms and laughed. "Captain America is on a threat list?"

Widow stared back at him nonplussed. "We all are."

"I'm on a threat list?" hissed Anna, surprise and irritation written all over her young face. Her jaw slackened. She turned to Fury with a shocked and appalled expression. "I'm on a threat list?" she repeated.

"Your knowledge of technological systems is unparalleled," said Fury, his stare even. "You know what a fire sale is, Dr. Wellington?"

"Yes."

Fury's gaze intensified at her answer. "You know how to start one?" he asked, emphasising his words.

"Yes," uttered Anna, nodding once, understanding where the conversation was heading. "Yes, I know how to start one, but it doesn't mean I would. I'm not a threat-"

"What's a fire sale?" questioned Steve, furrowing his brow.

"It's an attack on computer systems," murmured Anna, lowering her voice. "A fire sale would override the government's control on its computers. It has three stages, each designed to corrupt and delete the country's reliance upon technology." She swallowed back the lump in her throat. "I would never-"

"Just like you didn't hack into my system and give all our information to Stark?" said Fury.

"Threatened!" called Stark, pointing at his analyst with a mock-horrified expression. He winked. "I feel threatened!"

The arguments stilled for a moment. Anna stood by Stark, the glare still on her face. She ignored Steve's glance and focused her anger on Fury and the rest of SHIELD. How dare they accuse her of something she had no intention of doing? Loki was the villain. Not her. Not Stark.

"You speak of control," mocked Thor, shaking his head. "Yet you court chaos."

"That's his ammo, isn't it?" asked Banner, swallowing thickly. "I mean… what are we? A team? No, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time-bomb."

Fury turned away from Anna and Stark to face Banner. He stared at the doctor with a stern expression. "You," he said, "need to step away."

Tony shook his head, and gestured to Banner before resting his arm on Steve's shoulder. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

"You know damn well why," said Steve, hitting Stark's hand away. "Back off."

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," replied Stark, his stare fixed on the Captain's face.

Anna stepped between them once more, pushing Stark away with her hand. "Tony," she hissed.

But Steve stepped forward. "Yeah," he said, a derisive laugh leaving his mouth. "Big man in a suit of armour." His eyes flickered to Anna before returning to Stark. "Take that off, and what are you?"

Stark smirked, unconcerned with the soldier's insult. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." His smile challenged the captain to another round of aspersions.

Anna closed her eyes in exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage," confirmed Steve, a second later. "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play; to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you-"

Stark rolled his eyes. "I think I would just cut the wire," he said, his tone aloof.

"Always a way out," said Steve, staring at Stark with disgust. "You know you may not be a threat," at this, his eyes flashed back to Anna, "but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Anna pushed herself between them, her left hand pushing on Stark's chest whilst her right shoved Steve away. Her force had little impact. "Stop it," she repeated, knowing how Steve's words would have grated at Stark's mind. "This isn't helping."

Stark grabbed Anna's hand and lowered it from his chest, giving it a light squeeze. "A hero. Like you?" he asked Steve, letting go of Anna's hand. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

The analyst looked up at him in frustration. "Tony," she murmured. "Leave it. Stop before you say something you'll regret."

"Can't do that, sunshine."

Anna glanced to her right and stared at Steve with a similar look. "Right now, you're both acting like idiots," she declared, but neither paid her any attention. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

Steve's stare was resolute. "Put on the suit." He sneered at Stark. "Let's go a few rounds."

Before Stark could reply, Thor's boom of laughter broke the silence. "You people are so petty," commented the God. His gaze turned to Anna, scrutinising her size. "And tiny."

Banner spoke up next, his sarcastic words cutting. "Yeah," he mocked, eyeing Fury. "This is a team."

Stark raised his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. Anna moved forward and gently tugged his arm from his face. She knew that Tony's headaches had worsened over the past few months; the impact of the suit on his body often gave him migraines, but he would sooner die than admit to it. No matter how many times she told him otherwise, Stark believed himself to be invincible. The analyst worried her lip, and glanced at Stark with a concerned look. He brandished his hand to wave away her concerns, shaking his head.

"Agent Romanoff," began Fury, "will you escort Dr. Banner back to his room-"

"Where?" cut in Banner, his lip curled in distaste. He raised his arm and indicated to the holding cell. "You rented my room."

Fury sighed. "The cell was just a precaution-"

"In case you needed to kill me," spat Banner, "but you can't. I know. I tried."

Anna's eyes widened in horror, and she instinctively took a step back toward Steve and Stark. He tried to kill himself?

Next to her, Stark placed his hand on her wrist, gripping it gently, pulling her closer should she need protection.

Banner folded his arms across his chest. "I got low," he explained, meeting the horrified glances with a casual disposition. "I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out." He paused, letting his words sink in. "So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show, and put everyone here at risk." He turned to Widow, challenging her with his words, and reached behind him toward the sceptre. "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

Anna raised a hand to her mouth in distress as she heard the sounds of the others drawing their weapons.

Stark pushed the woman behind him. To her right, Steve copied Stark's actions and formed a protective barrier.

"Dr. Banner," called Steve, voice even, willing the genius to listen. "Put down the sceptre."

The doctor stared down at the spear in his hands, eyes widening in realisation. The glowing blue light stared up at him, and the man hastened to put it back in its holding position upon the desk.

Anna breathed out in relief, idly aware of Stark and Steve not moving from their positions. She touched each of their arms in silent gratitude, thankful that the situation had been averted.

Before she could speak, a shrill ringing interrupted the din.

Banner placed his glasses on his head and moved over toward the screens. Anna copied his actions. She recognised the sound - she had programmed it to toll when the tesseract had been located.

"Got it," murmured Fury, gesturing for the doctors to read the findings.

"Sorry, kids," joked Banner, but his voice was strict, "you don't get to see my party trick after all."

Anna stared at the numbers in silence, her eyes widening as she and Banner digested the data, ignoring the ongoing conversations around them. Her voice was caught in her throat. She couldn't quite get the words out. Oh, God.

"You have located the tesseract?" questioned Thor, voice loud amongst the noise.

"I can get there faster," offered Stark, willing to make it a one-man mission.

Thor disagreed. "The tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it."

On the opposite side of the room, Steve halted Stark's exit. "You're not going alone," he argued, grabbing the billionaire's arm.

Stark laughed. "Are you going to stop me?"

"Put on the suit," said Steve, mimicking his earlier words. "Let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," declared Stark.

"Put on the suit."

"Guys!" shouted Anna, her voice piercing across the uproar. All eyes turned to her. She swallowed. "The tesseract," she continued. "It's-"

But she didn't finish her warning.

She felt the explosion before it happened; she heard the roar of the detonation, and the heat of the fire on her skin. The floor beneath her gave way, and she clung to the monitors, her feet dangling above the newly-formed hole. Anna screamed, the fear gnawing at her insides, but suddenly a hand shot out and long fingers wrapped around her wrist. The man's brute force pulled her out of the hole and onto the laboratory floor. Gasping for breath in the smoke and haze, Anna glanced at her saviour.

The blonde God barely nodded, not needing an utterance of gratitude. He pulled her to her feet and his eyes travelled over her body. "You are harmed," he noted, staring at her arm.

"Anna!" called Stark.

Her voice was shaky, but despite the fear and pain, she called out a brief, "I'm okay!"

"Anna!" repeated Stark, recognising the tremble in her tone.

"I'm fine," she shouted, voice breaking. "Go!" She barely heard Stark and Steve leave the laboratory, her eyes gaping at the scalded flesh. The inside of her left arm was a scorched red, flesh eaten and seared by the flames. She cried out in pain as she teased her fingers over the tissue. "Oh my God," she muttered, bile rising in her throat, teardrops bleeding from her eyes. "Oh my God." She looked up, vision blurred by the tears. Thor remained before her, unwilling to touch her skin in case he inflicted more harm.

"Do not touch it," warned the God, placing his large hands on her shoulders, guiding her out of the laboratory, steering the woman along the corridor. "You need medical aid."

The two hurried down the corridor, Anna biting her lip to keep from yelling in agony. She whimpered and slapped her right hand across her mouth to quiet the screams.

She stopped as they neared the third level, the roar of what could only be the Hulk halting their movement. "Go," instructed Anna, jerking her head to the next room. "Go."

"You need medic-"

"I can get it," keened Anna. "Just go."

And, with one final nod of his head, Thor left the brunette with a hurried, "Stay hidden."

The rumble of the Hulk's anger intensified, and Anna's eyes widened in fear at the sound. She hastened to get away from the noise, away from the Hulk's rage. Keeping her arm elevated, the pain tenfold as she ran, Anna screamed in distress as she barrelled into something. She looked up, her face wet with tears. "Coulson?" she gasped.

The balding agent turned to her an undisguised look of unease. He held a large gun in his arms, orange rings wrapped around the machine. "Your arm," said the Agent. "What happened?"

Anna could barely form her words. "The explosion," she rasped out. "The fire."

"Come with me," said Coulson, tearing his gaze away from her wounds. "It's not safe on this floor. Follow me." He stopped for a second. "Hold your arm out in front of you. It'll help a little."

She followed Coulson away from the corridor, listening as the speaker attached to the collar of his shirt buzzed with new information.

"There's a fire on Level 6. Evacuate! All evacuate!"

"Engine 1 is down! I repeat: Engine 1 is down!"

"Loki's men are disguised as SHIELD agents. Proceed with caution!"

"Hostile has escaped holding cell. All agents to Level 4!"

Coulson turned to Anna, his face displaying an emotion she couldn't read in her tortured state. The analyst merely listened to his next words. "Loki's escaped. We have to stop him."

"We?"

The Hulk's roar rang out loud and clear, and despite the pain and the light-headedness she was experiencing, Anna followed Coulson toward the fourth level.

What they discovered disturbed Anna to no end.

The God of Thunder trapped in the glass cage, his weapon slamming against the glass. Loki, the God of Lies and Mischief, mocking his brother on the other side.

Before she could stop her legs from giving way, Anna slumped to the floor. Her back was pressed up against the wall, her fire eaten flesh held out in front of her. A whimper escaped her throat.

Coulson raised his weapon, holding it firmly in his hands. He aimed it at the God of Lies.

"Move away, please."

The God backed away from the control system, raising a dark brow at the Agent.

Inside the cage, Thor watched the scene with wary eyes.

"You like this?" asked Coulson, raising the machine gun in his hands. He moved forward, slow careful strides. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." He pressed a button beneath his fingers and the weapon purred to life. "Wanna find out?"

Coulson never exacted his threat.

Anna watched as Loki appeared behind Coulson, the spear-ended point of his sceptre embedded in Coulson's chest. The God wrenched out the sceptre and the agent fell to the floor beside the analyst, fatally injured.

"NO!" cried Thor, banging on the thick panes of glass.

The God of Mischief ignored his brothers cries.

"I had hoped it would be your lady, brother," murmured Loki, stalking toward Anna with a deranged smile upon his face. As he neared her slumped form, Anna kicked out her leg in resistance. She murmured her displeasure at the man's closeness to her. "But I suppose the billionaire's only friend will be token enough." And without warning, Loki pulled Anna to her feet, his slender fingers wrapped around her burns.

"No," she hissed, eyes burning with pain and fear, for the God's touch bit at her skin with an icy feel. "No!"

The pain ceased, but the tears remained. Anna stared down at her arm in magnified shock; the wound had disappeared, leaving behind four dark blue lines in its wake.

"What did you do?"

The God ignored her question. He raised his sceptre, the bright blue blinding Anna's eyes, and held it to her heart. "And in return," murmured Loki, "I will have something of yours."

The world faded before her. The pain vanished. The fear erased.

She could only stare straight ahead at her saviour, dropping her healed arm to her side.

"Time to go," said Loki, paving the way toward the waiting jet.

Anna could only follow.


AN: So… Ever since watching the movie, I knew this would happen. I had so much fun writing it. It's easily my favourite chapter of the entire story (so far)!

Chapter Eleven received 66 reviews, and I only uploaded it TWO days ago. I am in awe, you guys. I never thought this story would be so well-liked. I realise I'm not a great writer (sometimes my prose/grammar can be quite atrocious), but I do try. When this story is finished, I'll probably go back and edit/re-write it. I think the earlier chapters lack a certain 'oomph'!

Now that the Avengers category is here, I am no longer putting spoilers up. If you haven't seen the Avengers yet, not my fault. Read at your own peril.

I've also been told that people are reading my story for Anna as they don't like Captain America. That's the biggest compliment I could receive - that people are reading this story because they like a character I created. Thank you so much!

Anyway, now to answer a few questions: as for the chapter length, a lot of you have said "do what's better for [me]". Now that I have the script, the chapters are getting much, much longer. I just need to flesh out the scenes and dialogue and add in my own twists. What do you think so far?

Characters: I feel a little iffy about Steve and Loki in this chapter. Trying to get Loki's wording right was a bit of a struggle, but I think it's OK. I hope. What do you think?

I have a little competition going in my head at the minute (how sad). When I click my stats, my review and alert counts are usually the same. But last night I went to bed with 216 reviews and 220 alerts, and woke up with 230 reviews and 370 alerts! I would love to see some of my alerters reviewing - I would love to know what you think. Good or bad.

And finally, a HUGE thank you to all of my old reviewers (you know who you are), and to my new ones - HELLO! I do love getting reviews. It's lovely to know what you think.

Best Wishes,

~ Little April / Daisy