A/N: Hi everybody! *Hi Doctor Nick!* . . . The Simpsons' is awesome. Anyway, here's our Saturday update and please read, review, and enjoy! Thanks so much! :)

Disclaimer: We don't own Marvel 'cause if we did we'd be invited to all the bitchin' Tony Stark parties, but we haven't received any invitations. We're still waiting for our Hogwarts letters, too. Maybe our mailboxes are broken. . . .

Chapter 6: Aryaliana

We were rudely paraded through the corridors of the enormous building into the main headquarters and, looking around, the thing that really caught my eye was my absolutely enraged father. I shrunk into my dress under his gaze, my cheeks burning with shame.

An angry-looking dark-skinned man with an eye patch glared at the four of us children after Agent Coulson caught his attention. He had to be Director Fury. He growled, "You're all here. We've got a lot to talk about."

The agents with guns still surrounded us, making me feel incredibly awkward. I watched as Director Fury took long strides forward, grabbed Leo, and dragged him over to a desk where he handcuffed him to a chair. For that moment, it was Leo who had the pleasure of garnering his attention.

"So, when I thought I was talking to Agent Barton, I soon realized that when he didn't come to the headquarters, that something was wrong. I called Agent Romanoff, then, and it was discovered that Agent Barton didn't have his cell phone." Leo cringed away from the man. "Not only that, but you have been hiding the girl that came across the Bifröst, and stupidly went after the threat we detected in Central Park, based on information you shouldn't have been hearing because you stole your father's cell phone. Now, I could arrest you, but perhaps it would be better to just turn you over to your parents." If it was possible, Leo sank even further in his seat and I almost felt pity for him. Almost.

I discreetly glanced back at my father, and with a start, I realized that all of the Avengers were standing silently behind a rail. Uh oh, I thought.

I felt Charlotte fidget next to me, and I looked over at her next. She didn't look too great. She was sweating in a very feverish way and looked positively exhausted, but she stood proudly despite her obvious injuries. I was extremely surprised when I fought her before. She was a mortal, yet she was just at accomplished at fighting as me.

Director Fury next turned his attention on me, but before he could say anything, Daddy shouted out, "Fury, that is my daughter. You arrested my daughter."

Director Fury yelled back without turning around, "She knocked out fifty agents, Thor. Am I supposed to ignore that?"

"I won't ignore it," Daddy said strongly. "Just hand her over to me, or you shall face my wrath."

Director Fury glowered at me. "It's your lucky day, child."

I smiled smugly as I stalked past him. I was curious to know how much the handcuffs drained my powers, as I was from another realm, so as I was walking past I brushed my hand against Fury.

I had to stifle a gasp. His information didn't go coursing through me, but his thoughts faintly did. I was at the forefront of his thoughts, laying across a metal table with needles and tubes sticking out of me. He wanted to test on me. . . . My mouth was suddenly very dry.

Daddy beckoned me over, looking positively menacing. At least he wasn't Director Fury, but he looked even angrier. I was in shock; Fury wanted to test on me. I had to find a way to tell Daddy, but my hands were cuffed with the power-draining cuffs and I didn't know if I had enough power left in me to send him a message. Daddy would protect me, though, I just knew it.

I shuffled on over to him with my head lowered, and I was sure I looked like the epitome of a "scolded child." Leo flashed me a sympathetic glance on the way but I just frowned at him. This was his fault.

I felt bad for Charlotte, though, even though we were fighting only a short while ago. Leo got handed over to his parents and I to my father, and though they were furious, we had someone to belong to. It struck me how alone she and the other boy looked, surrounded by the agents.

I ducked under the rail to my father, expecting him to start screaming at me then and there, but he stayed silent. That was how I knew he was beyond furious. Much to my surprise, though, he pulled me into his chest in a suffocating hug.

"Never do that to me again," he whispered in my ear, and that was when I knew he was also relieved to have me back. I squeezed him back tightly, until Mr. Stark ruined the moment by quipping,

"This is so heart-warming. Glad I don't have kids," he added as an afterthought.

Daddy glared at him in a very god-like way and shot back, "Children are a blessing, Stark. All of the us have children but you, and we're happy." The other Avengers nodded vehemently, but Mr. Barton and Mrs. Romanoff still looked rather displeased at Leo. Leo yelled out,

"I'm sorry. . . ! Please don't kill me!" Before the conversation could go any longer, Director Fury grabbed my attention.

"Well, well, well," Director Fury drawled to Charlotte. "Do you have an Avenger for a scapegoat, too?"

She sneered at him, and if there was a possible way to make that man angrier, I was sure she would find it. "I don't need a scapegoat."

"Really, now? You've been terrorizing the streets."

She honestly scoffed, throwing her head back in contempt. "Really, terrorizing? You need to broaden your vocabulary. I was doing no such thing."

"Are you saying the fire seen coming from your hands was a lie or accidental?" he challenged.

She narrowed her eyes; he had her in a trap. She clearly didn't like being trapped. "I don't know what you want me to say," she evaded cleverly.

"The truth. All of it. From the warehouse you escaped from to the fire to the earthquake."

"Well, you see, that's all a very, very long story that I'm not in the mood to tell." She grinned without humor.

Mr. Rogers piped up, "Fury, are all of the guns really necessary? They're children."

I saw a strange gleam in her eyes; Mr. Rogers must have just substantially added to a plan she must have been forming. "Yes, Patchy, listen to the hot guy and his words of wisdom."

Leo gaped at her after as called him "Patchy." I was shocked at her audacity and insolence myself, but I had to agree, Captain America was very good-looking. I snuck a glance to see him rather red in the face.

"Have you seen the videos of the girl, Cap?" Director Fury demanded, outraged. "She's a threat."

Before Mr. Rogers could reply, Charlotte taunted, "Scared, Patchy?"

I didn't have to see his face to feel the burning of his glare. Tony Stark snickered quietly next to me.

"Come on, Fury," Mr. Banner now pleaded. "You put on those power-draining handcuffs, didn't you? They're kids, you don't need to scare them with guns."

Director Fury stared at Mr. Banner for a long moment then ordered sharply, "Put your guns away!"

The agents moved quickly in stacking their guns on an empty table before moving back to surround the kids. The kids were having some sort of unspoken conversation, both smirking. "Now!" Charlotte yelled.

They sprung into action, taking on the ten or so agents around them. I felt the Avengers stiffen with shock around me. Their moves were astounding! They were flipping, cartwheeling, spinning . . . and it worked. They were winning.

"Best capoeira I've ever seen!" Leo yelped, straining to observe as well as he could with his hand cuffed to the chair. "Damn!"

The Avengers' expressions ranged from stunned to impressed to awed. The agents were being overwhelmed. It then occurred to me that this was my way out, this was they way I could avoid being tested. Before anyone could stop me, I spun around on my heel, placed the chain of my handcuffs around the handle of Daddy's hammer, and pulled. I couldn't carry the hammer as I wasn't considered worthy of it, so it didn't budge, but the chain snapped. "Yes!" I cried, leaping over the ledge and darting over to all the commotion. Daddy went to grab me but I swerved to avoid his hand.

"Aryaliana! Get back here!" he roared.

"Aryaliana?" Tony murmured, also jumping over the ledge along with Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Romonoff, and Mr. Barton. "Poor kid."

Running over to Charlotte and Jack, I shouted at them, "Put your hands over your ears." With some difficulty, though their cuffed hands were now in front of them instead of behind, they followed the instructions.

I sent out a fierce mental wave and shouted along with it, "EVERYBODY FREEZE!" Everybody in the room, excluding Charlotte and Jack, ceased movement. Charlotte and Jack slowly removed their hands from their ears and Charlotte whispered in awe,

"Wicked!" My knees buckled out from under me and Charlotte caught me before I could hit the floor. "What's wrong?" she demanded urgently.

"It takes a lot out of me," I gasped, feeling the energy sweep out of me. At least the purple veins didn't appear yet.

"Can you go on?" she asked as gently as she could probably muster.

Jack raced over to us, "Here, Double-edge, you're hurt, let me carry her."

Charlotte didn't object, which seemed to be new for her, and handed me over to Jack. My vision was a bit blurry but my thoughts were clear enough. "We need to move, the Avengers will unfreeze soon enough, probably before the rest. They all have strong wills."

"Where do we go?" Jack asked, rising.

"We can figure it out on the way. Let's just move!" Charlotte said impatiently. With that said, we bolted out of the huge headquarters and out through the door. We were met with a network hallways that none of us knew how to navigate.

I was starting to feel better quickly as we maneuvered the room. The things that Leo called "elevators" were locked by some kind of access code and so were the stairs.

"What the hell?" Charlotte growled, utterly frustrated. We were moving quickly across the hallways, very, very lost.

"That is not acceptable language. In my realm that is the ultimate show of disrespect," I chided her.

Charlotte looked extremely confused. "What the hell is a realm?"

"Never mind you. I can be let down now by the way. Humans are weak-minded so my exhaustion didn't last long."

"Hey! I am human and Double-edge is at least somewhat human," Jack said, sounding offended though he set me down carefully.

"Not all humans, but S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are the weakest beings I have ever encountered. And she's only somewhat human? What else is she?"

"Guys, we need to move, remember?" Charlotte cut in sharply, and all conversation was stifled.

We all ran about the halls, looking for any sort of exit but everything was locked with codes and such. Charlotte was swearing like a madwoman under her breath, presumably out of panic, but I was sure part of why she did it was to annoy me.

The final pathway on the floor was very broad. We were all tired. The building was very large and only led to locked doors and dead ends. Our escape attempt was a resounding failure.

"We're not going to be trapped in a place like this again," Charlotte said firmly, and Jack nodded his wholehearted agreement. I looked at them curiously.

"What do you mean by-" Suddenly, an arrow flew out of nowhere and pierced Jack's side. He crumpled to the ground and Charlotte dove to his side.

"Jack? Jack!" she cried, shaking him vigorously. "Jack, get up!"

"It's only a tranquilizer arrow," a male voice rang calmly down the hall. Charlotte and I snapped our heads up to see Mr. Barton and Mrs. Romanoff standing in the middle of the hall, clearly in their Avenger personas now: Hawkeye and Black Widow. "Please just surrender. We really don't wish to hurt you, because you're children, but we will if we absolutely have to."

"Sir, with all due respect-"

Charlotte cut me off. "Fuck off!"

I slapped my forehead with my palm and shook my head. She just ruined all chances of solving this diplomatically.

Hawkeye raised his bow and aimed it at Charlotte, "Last chance, girls."

"Well, seeing as though we have the upper hand I must offer you the chance to surrender as well," I remarked, sounding cocky. My father had always taught me that confidence can win a battle.

"In what world could you two little girls beat us? We are world-renowned assassins," Black Widow replied, looking rather bewildered.

"Well, you'll just have to find out," Charlotte retorted, giving me a look. She seemed to be a naturally arrogant person, unlike me who had to fake it. She then, in a quick motion, pulled the arrow out of her friend and threw it at Hawkeye with great accuracy, still handcuffed. It missed him by a narrow centimeter but it caused the entire group to rise into action.

Charlotte was the first one to move, bolting in a path straight toward Hawkeye. He began to fire arrow after arrow at her, but she dodged them. Once close enough, she cartwheeled forward and slammed him in the chest with her boot-covered feet. He only needed a second to recover before he retaliated, kicking her in return and sending her sprawling back. He used his metal bow as a weapon now, which she bobbed and weaved around. When he swung it down in an arc, she lifted her cuffed hands and let the bow slice through the metal chains.

She spat at him, "Thanks," and fire started spewing rather uncontrollably from her hands. He most certainly had his hands full now.

I charged at Black Widow, avoiding the fire, and slid under her, hitting her low in the knees. She quickly spun around and got me in the ribs. They were both quickly realizing that we weren't amateurs contrary to their initial thoughts.

My dress was rather annoying as it restricted my kicks but I made do. At first I played offensive and she mainly guarded, only kicking every few times. I quickly realized this was my mistake as she turned the table and hit me hard in the side.

Falling to the ground, I narrowly missed being grabbed as I rolled, striking her in the lower back. This caught her off guard enough for me to rise and rethink my plan.

I was way better with weapons than without since most training revolved around them and it was definitely proving to be my mistake. We sparred, narrowly avoiding Charlotte's fire. I was definitely weak with my lack of sleep and previous engagements today and this was leading to my loss.

She hit me twice in the face, once in the knee, and struck me multiple times in the torso. Blood was running down my face in a steady stream from a cut above my eyebrow, every inch of my body was sore, and my knuckles were bruised and bloody.

Although I was in worse shape, my opponent had her share of injuries. I knew I might have bruised a rib or two of hers and when I nailed her in the face it gained her a bloody nose.

Charlotte was starting to be overwhelmed by Hawkeye, even with the fire blazing from her hands, but she still held her own. As she couldn't control the fire very well, he was using this to his advantage.

I could see a building mass of blood from previous injuries staining her jacket, and Hawkeye seemed to notice as well. "You're injured," he said abruptly. As she launched herself at him, though, he still had to keep the fight going.

Charlotte had blood leaking from her mouth and a cut on her temple from Hawkeye's bow. Her knuckles were bloody and her hands looked blistered. He seemed to be holding back, though. He had an angry-looking burn on his bare shoulder and his left eye was rapidly swelling and closing.

Before I could attack Black Widow once more, cold metal arms wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me back. Similarly, Captain America grabbed and pulled Charlotte away, and the shock of it seemed to extinguish her fire.

"Let me go!" Charlotte yelled, squirming beneath his hold. Her struggles proved futile.

I attempted to reach into Mr. Stark's mind and tell him to let me go but I came up with nothing. All I felt beneath my fingers was the chill of the metal. A thought hit me, Not even the suit gives me information. . . . "The suit is the answer!" I shouted.