Chapter 29 – Keeping Your Secrets

"You really are the smartest people on the planet." The Reaper giggled as she walked into the light towards the Avengers. A few of them shared a glance whilst the others remained looking at her with fear in their eyes. She walked towards them and stopped as she got close enough. There was a pause as she surveyed each of them and they all wondered who she would tell on first.

"Before we begin," she said quietly, "does anyone want to say anything?" there was another silence and The Reaper laughed slightly. "Let's hope no one has anything incriminating to hide hey?" she smirked as she walked around the Avengers. Each of them felt like they were frozen in their spot, they all turned to watch her as she snaked through them to pick her first victim, but none of them could move their feet or aim a blow at her, they knew they had to let things play out the way she wanted them to play out.

"Where to begin?" she drawled as she weaved in and out of Natasha and Clint. She winked at him and flashed her eyes at Natasha but she kept moving. She walked between Thor and Odin and looked between the two of them, giving each a knowing smile. She blew Steve a kiss, earning him a confused glance from Tony. But her sights set on Bruce who shifted uncomfortably

"Bruce Banner." She whispered and danced over to the scientist. "I guess you're a great place to start."

"Give her back." Tony said suddenly and she looked around quickly in alarm, she was like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"I will." She assured him. "Just let me do this first. So keep quiet, you might want to hear what I have to say. Or what Bruce had to say. Do you want to tell them Brucey or shall I?"

"Why do I get the feeling you're about to twist my words?" Bruce asked with a smirk and a shake of his head.

"I'm not twisting anything. You said that Tony would abandon Minnie once I gave her back. You doubted his ability within this team and as a father. You claimed that he would abandon his daughter at a time when she would need him most." She explained loudly with a slight smile touching her lips. "Do you have anything you want to say Brucey?"

"I have nothing because I never meant that." He defended himself, staring at the floor.

"But you don't deny you said it."

"Not in those words.

"But you said it?" there was a long pause as Bruce took a deep breath.

"Yes I said it." He admitted and there was a shocked silence that ensued from the rest of the Avengers. The silence was allowed to go on for a few moments before The Reaper suddenly shrieked with laughter. She giggled as she turned away from Bruce and gestured to the others.

"Now let's open this up to the class, anyone have anything to say? Tony?" she asked as she fought to control her giggles.

"You said that Bruce?" Tony asked quietly, his voice was dangerous and they watched as The Reaper's eyes lit up in anticipation.

"Yes Tony but she's taking it out of context, I didn't mean what she's implying…" Bruce began to defend himself but Tony sprung at him. He would have gotten to him had The Reaper not suddenly flicked out a shadow that caught him square in the chest. It didn't hit him hard and he only stumbled back a few steps to be steadied by Steve but he looked alarmed anyhow.

"I'm not here to bring out the Hulk thank you very much. You might want to hold onto that rage Tony, there's a lot more where that came from." She said with a wink before glancing around at the rest of the Avengers. Her eyes connected with Odin's who straightened up a little and The Reaper tilted her chin up.

"So we're still playing dress up are we?" she asked in a quiet tone and her question hung in the air like ice.

"You do not understand, we are from Asgard…" Thor explained slowly but The Reaper held up a perfectly manicured hand to stop him.

"No, I don't mean that. I mean the man behind the throne. The great leader. She loves you, she still does in her heart." The Reaper looked down as tears glassed over her eyes, she was oddly still and her voice was smooth like glass. "I can feel it, this overwhelming desire. What I gave her wasn't enough. I tried Minnie, I tried to give you wanted. I only want to help you, I'm the only one who truly understands you. He doesn't love you, or else he'd show who he really was." She suddenly snapped out of her trance and looked up at Odin again with a furrowed brow. "You don't care about her, or else you'd show who you really are."

"I am Odin, King of Asgard." Odin said and Thor turned to look at him with a confused expression. She raised an eyebrow and looked genuinely angry with him.

"Of course you are." She whispered before shaking her head in slow motion, like a snake. She closed her eyes and brought a hand up to her left ear as she gritted her teeth and groaned. "She's yelling at me. All the time she wants to be let out, to be freed. But I have to protect her." The Reaper explained and turned so she was facing Steve.

"I have to protect her from those who pretend to be someone their not." She said to him alone. He was stood with his hand on Tony's shoulder as if to restrain him.

"You two seem very close. As I remember you used to fight a lot?" she asked as she took a step closer to them, she slunk forward slowly. Steve was suddenly reminded of someone he'd once seen being hauled away to a lunatic asylum after coming back from the war. They had been so affected by the PTSD it drove them crazy and they developed schizophrenia. It was like this girl had schizophrenia, she had a constant twitch in her head and she had the eyes of a crazy person. He knew that The Reaper just grew one hundred times more dangerous.

"Let's just say we have common ground here. We both want the same thing." Steve explained, praying that the Reaper might keep his secret for just a little longer so he could come up with a way to explain it.

"Doubt it." She whispered. She looked at Steve with disgust. "I chose you for this specific secret because, because well I think every woman in America, maybe even the world, has some secret crush on Captain America. Steve Rogers to his friends. But it didn't work, you're apparently not her type."

"What secret?" Steve asked suddenly, coming up with a new plan. "I have nothing to hide you placed me under some magical trickery and played with my mind." He said defensively as he dropped his hand from Tony's shoulder and took a step forward toward her, she didn't move despite the fact that they were chest to chest. She didn't even look away as she tilted her chin up and kept her eyes locked with his. It was as if they were about to kiss. When she spoke her voice was little more than a whisper.

"High Kind of Asgard, dear, you know the most about me. Hell, you've experienced my powers first hand. Do I have the ability to manipulate someone's mind? Am I able to control people's thoughts and actions? In fact, do I have any power besides the possession of shadows?" she asked and Steve's heart almost stopped. There was a pause as they all waited for his answer. Odin took a deep breath before replying.

"No." he said and she smirked suddenly as Steve's triumphant look fell.

"Exactly. What you did was all you. You might not have recognised it as it had probably been a while since you'd last experienced it, but it was all you big boy." She smiled and Steve shook his head as he took a step back but the game was reversed and she followed, matching him for every step and keeping him close. Now they were right in front of Tony.

"No." Steve said, "I would never…"

"But you did." She interrupted him in the same low voice. "The virtuous Captain America isn't so virtuous after all." She smiled before leaning up and planting a quick kiss on his lips. Once she was done she stepped back and surveyed her Avengers and their varying levels of anger. Clint looked partially relived that he had been left out but the rest of them were staring at Steve with shock on their features.

"What did he do?" Tony asked in a small voice and The Reaper turned to look at him.

"Your little girl is all grown up now Tony. She's not as innocent as you might think. If you wanted to experience her when she was innocent maybe you should have paid her more attention." She replied harshly, her red eyes flashing with anger.

"What did you do to her?" he asked Steve, choosing to ignore The Reaper's latest dig at his parenting skills.

"Nothing Stark I swear. She kissed me and I stopped it." He answered truthfully.

"That's not quite the whole story though is it Steve?" The Reaper replied with a raised eyebrow. Steve took a step toward her.

"That is exactly what happened. I don't know what you did but you got inside of my head. Please Stark you have to believe me." he said and turned back to the man he called his friend. He walked toward him and prayed that he didn't throw a punch. "Listen to me this is what she wants, she wants us divided. I swear I will explain every single detail to you later on if that's what you want but right now we have to stick together." He said and Tony nodded, he knew that Steve was right.

"Hey, Reaper." He said as he stepped around Steve, trying to bottle his anger. "Listen to me. I get that you're trying to take us down so you can destroy the world or whatever it is you want to do. I don't care. Alright, you've won over me. You won the minute you took my daughter and I get it, you don't want to give her back because you want the shot at life that you feel you've been robbed of. I literally don't care though." He walked slowly toward her and she remained rooted to the spot, watching him with curious eyes.

"You don't care about the fact that I'm in your daughter's body?" she asked.

"Of course I care." Tony replied, getting ever closer slowly, cautiously. "But you just want a shot at life right? Fine. But you have to meet me halfway. You have to share her with me. You have to share everything with her. Her thoughts, her emotions, her fears." He said, reaching into his pocket, she didn't notice.

"Her fears?" she asked, confused.

"Yes. Bitch." He said and suddenly barrelled into her. He tackled her to the floor and she was caught too off-guard to summon her shadows. She let out a small shout of anger and flicked out a hand to try and gather shadows but Steve ran forward and held down her wrist. Natasha ran forward and took her other hand and they held her down. Carefully, Tony injected the sedative into her neck and helped to hold her down until she finally stopped moving. Bruce checked her breathing and pulse before nodding to the others.

They all sat for a few moments, looking at one another. No one really knew who to trust anymore.