EDIT 4/24: OK WHAT HAPPENED TO WHILE I WAS GONE I JUST EDITED THIS CHAPTER AND IT'S NOW MAGICALLY DELETED AND I REUPLOADED IT TWICE. Besides that I fixed a few things, like that insane repetition part. Terribly sorry. I'll proofread more from now on.
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or the Avengers. I own my characters and the story, that's it.
Jack felt like screaming.
How dare Michael? How could he not have seen that something was wrong with this guy? Especially considering that Michael was Kiersten's ex, he assumed that there would have been a hell of a lot more tension between the two. But no, Michael came to that jerk's defense and refused to help him?
They were the ones keeping his sister from him. He was certain of that. That guy was trying to keep him from getting to Stark.
Whatever. He didn't need Michael anyway. He wasn't even a serious hacker.
I should have just gone to Eric. He's the one involved with the Rising Tide anyway. I was wasting my time from the start.
Jack decided to head off to Eric's usual hangout, the NYU Bobst library. He usually hid out with a few cans of Red Bull and his laptop in the most secluded area with the best Wi-Fi. Damn, it was far away. He'd have to hail a cab.
"Taxi!"
Kiersten looked at Loki, perturbed. "What was that all about?"
Loki shrugged. "I do not trust the boy." Kiersten groaned.
"Loki. You can't just verbally attack random guys on the street. What if he tried to punch you or something?"
"What, do you assume that I am incapable of fighting a mortal?"
"Ahem. He's no more of a mortal than you are, and no offense, you're not exactly practicing your moves every day."
"Aren't I?" Loki responded haughtily. Kiersten wasn't amused by his tone.
"I'm serious."
"As am I. I am certain that he means ill." Loki was set in this decision. Why was he so dead-set on contacting Stark? And so urgent that he could not tell them what was amiss? Trust was an issue, of course, but surely the boy did not assume them to blindly agree to whatever he asked.
Kiersten fingered her temples. "Whatever. I don't feel like taking a walk anymore."
Loki's eyes circled the area. "Peculiar..."
"Hm?" Kiersten stopped while opening the door.
"There was a change in the wind earlier..."
"What are you talking about?"
"There has not been much wind today, but before, when I was having words with the boy...the air felt colder. The wind picked up. You did not notice?"
Kiersten shook her head. "Your hair was a bit ruffled before, when you were talking to Jack, but that was it."
Loki's brow furrowed. "Perhaps I was imagining it."
Eric was, as suspected, tapping away on his laptop in the back of the library, headphones plugged in and blasting. It looked as though he was already on his third Red Bull. Jack wondered if the guy ever slept.
"Eric." No response.
"Eric," Jack repeated, with more intensity.
Tap tap tap.
Jack clicked his tongue in annoyance, pulling out one of the headphones. "Hell-o. Earth to Eric Walker. Still in there, bucko?"
Eric jumped slightly, then heaved an annoyed sigh, leaning back from the desk. "Ah. Jack. I was wondering what annoying half-asleep twenty-something year old it was bothering me this time."
Jack crossed his arms. "I almost forgot why I never bother your scrawny ass. Look. I need some information."
Eric smiled crookedly. "Your local Rising Tide representative is listening."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Where are they located?"
Eric's eyes lit up. "You know, quite a few people have been asking me about them. Hot topic. Now, I'll gladly tell you, but...you can't get something for nothing. Whatcha got for me?"
Jack thrust some crumpled bills on the table. "This enough?" Eric looked them over, and slowly nodded. "Pleasure doing business with you. I've heard there's one actually in the city, but I think the larger one you're looking for is in Westerlo."
Jack waited for the rest of the address. "And?"
Eric was sheepish. "Honestly? I don't know. And even if I did, that-" he gestured to the money on the table "-doesn't cover it. I want at least 150. This stuff could get me in some serious trouble. Or you could try to find it yourself, but I doubt it."
Jack sighed. He'd have to get some sort of job to get that kind of money.
And getting to Westerlo? It would take a while to get there on foot-or even on wind-power.
He had a long way to go.
Jack rapped on the door to Eric's dorm room. "Eric! It's Jack!" The door opened with a creak.
"Well, well. It's been long enough. Four weeks!" Eric scoffed.
"Jobs don't exactly pop out of the sky. Here's your money," Jack replied. "Now what's the address?"
Eric scribbled it down on a piece of paper and gave it to Jack. "Try not to get killed, whatever you're doing there."
Jack's face was stoic. "Trust me. I won't."
Moments later, he shot off into the sky, high enough so that he wouldn't attract a large amount of suspicion. He'd been practicing controlling his abilities even more now, so that he'd be prepared to get back Lisa-whatever it took.
"Why the hell isn't this baby here yet?" Kiersten moaned, laying down on one of Stark's many couches. "It's been 40 weeks already."
"It can't be too long now. If you've already been having false labor pains, that would mean the baby is coming soon, yes?" Loki asked.
"Not necessarily, but I'm hoping she comes sooner rather than later."
Loki sighed. "Try not to worry over it."
"You really don't understand what we are capable of," the girl hissed through clenched teeth, mocking hatred evident in her voice. She waited for her captor's response.
"We understand that you are capable of great things, provided you stop being so...volatile. We can assist you. If you let us, we will be your allies. And who exactly is this we you're talking about?" her captor, a large male with an eyepatch, repeated for what must have been the thousandth time.
The girl, angered, lunged at the wall, flames shooting from her fingertips. "Allies? You think that we could ally with your people? Especially after what you've done?" she growled.
Her captor had no visible reaction.
"I will remind you that the walls are fireproof. There's no use doing that here."
A dark smirk crossed the girl's face. "Yes, but are you?"
Her captor had no time to avoid the wall of fire approaching him. By the time he was able to see again, the girl was gone and there were flames clinging to his coattails. He whipped out a high-tech walkie talkie and barked into it.
"This is a Code Red! I repeat, Code Red! Prepare to evacuate unnecessary personnel from this base! Prisoner 1057 has escaped from holding and is capable of serious attack!"
He could hear the brewing chaos. This would be an incident not easily contained, he was certain of that. That girl was a mystery to him, and a dangerous one. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't even know who her other ally was! If she managed to escape, New York would have their biggest incident since the Chitauri attack.
"Place a call to Agent Barton and Agent Romanov. We're going to need them."
Clint Barton rushed onto the main floor of Avengers Tower, bow clasped in hand.
'Natasha!' he barked, tone worried and urgent.
She rushed over, fully suited up. 'Let's go.'
Kiersten looked over at them from her place on a couch. Sitting next to her was billionaire Tony Stark's girlfriend, Pepper Potts.
'What's going on?' Pepper asked.
'S.H.I.E.L.D is having some small...problem.' Clint replied bluntly. He couldn't tell the others of the incident, Fury ordered it confidential. He disliked having to lie to his own team members, but it unfortunately could not be helped.
"S.H.I.E.L.D never has a small problem." Bruce was suspicious. It was true though, S.H.I.E.L.D never managed to have a small, easily dealt with issue.
"Look, you guys, we have to go. I'll tell you all about it later."
The two agents disappeared out the door, working hastily to get to the New York Branch, where chaos ensued.
Unessential personnel streamed out of the New York Branch. Clint and Natasha glanced at each other, concerned.
"The last time that happened..." Clint murmured.
"I know, Clint." Natasha entered the Branch cautiously, brandishing her guns. Clint drew his bow and took in the area, looking for any tiny detail that would further alert them to the circumstances of the situation.
"Fire! FIRE!" The two agents heard repeated cries that warned of flames, but neither of them saw any source of one.
Suddenly, a roaring inferno exploded out of a hallway, in a way that was anything but natural. Screams of terror shook the walls, and over them, a scream of pure, unadulterated rage.
Clint stared at the red-hot fireball in disturbed wonder. He found himself unsure what he could do at long range...an arrow would burn in that fire. Besides that, he couldn't pinpoint the cause.
"What in the hell is going on here?!" he asked Natasha, bewildered. The redheaded agent seemed just as baffled.
The fire died down slightly, and Clint searched for the source as Natasha helped to guide panicked S.H.I.E.L.D personnel out of the building. The surrounding areas were damaged by the fire, but Clint still had no clarity over what led to the flames. It's almost as if it came from a person itself...he thought. In an instant, a girl-she couldn't have been older than seventeen-shot out of the fiery wreckage, flames rolling off of her.
"What in the hell?! Natasha!" Clint yelled. Natasha turned around, a look of honest shock coming across her face.
"S.H.I.E.L.D NEEDS TO THINK TWICE ABOUT KEEPING ME LOCKED AWAY!" the girl roared, a lashing of hot fire shooting out across the massive hallway with a large gesture of the girl's arm. Clint and Natasha ducked and rolled out of the way.
Unexpectedly, the glass exit doors fracture. Clint, Natasha and the girl turned their heads in that direction. The two agents got under cover as the glass shattered completely.
"Lisa!" a new voice yelled, a deep, male baritone. The girl's face lit up, and she ran to the man, embracing him tightly.
"Jack..." she sighed happily, hardly the person she was moments ago.
Jack clutched her tighter, and Natasha took the opportunity to shoot at the girl. Miraculously, Jack pulled Lisa forward, her face contorting in pain as the bullet grazed her shoulder. Natasha cursed under her breath in Russian, and Jack glared murderously in their direction. A powerful gust of wind swept Clint and Natasha off their feet.
For a few minutes, Jack and Lisa paused. Lisa's breathing was shallow, a mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion making her hands shake.
Jack looked at Lisa with concern. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe they did this to you."
Lisa brushed off his worry. "Let's go." Jack nodded, and the two sped out of the building at a run.
Boom!
A large pile of rubble blocked their path. Lisa turned to see some sort of sleek, precision aircraft, its pilots being the two agents they had believed to be out cold. "Jack."
From the tone of his sister's voice, Jack could tell what she was attempting to convey. He grabbed her by the hand, and the two leaped up and away from the agents in a jet of wind. Natasha and Clint followed, just at their heels.
"Clint, call Tony."
"On it."
Natasha gritted her teeth. The two mutants-or whatever they were-were fast. Even with the girl injured.
She had hoped that this job could have been finished quickly, without any of the other Avengers worrying about it, but that was no longer possible.
It won't be easy to fight them, she thought. Engaging in long-range combat is our best hope...but they're both good at extending their attacks.
"Hey, Natasha. What's up?" the voice on the intercom drawled. "Where are you guys?"
"Heading towards the Tower...bringing a party to you." She couldn't believe she had just said that.
"What? Party? Are you serious?" Tony asked. Natasha sighed.
"Tell everyone to suit up. We've got a problem. Two people...two mutants, I think. One's a guy, he messes with the wind...other one's a girl, she's injured and angry. She can control fire."
"The fuck? Where have they been? Why did nobody tell us about them?"
"The girl was holed up at the New York S.H.I.E.L.D branch in Westerlo. We had no idea about the guy." Natasha veered left as the two mutants took a sharp turn. "We're going to be there in...maybe about 15 to 30 minutes."
Tony muttered something unintelligible and hung up the phone. Why did this have to happen now? He was getting really tired of Fury not telling them about anything. They were the Avengers, for God's sake! Didn't that give them some right to know about new powered people?
"Steve! Thor! Bruce! Guys! We have a problem!"
The rest of the team ran over. "What is it, Man of Iron?" Thor asked. Loki, Pepper, and Kiersten had walked over to Tony as well, listening intently.
"Some new freaks, Tasha and Clint have to drive them over here. They're volatile, and we don't know much about them. One controls fire, the other wind. Suit up. They'll be here soon."
"Uh...if we're fighting them in the Tower, shouldn't I go someplace...safer?" Bruce asked. Tony nodded, contemplative.
"And what about those of us without...significant combat abilities as of current?" Loki interjected, voice slightly strained.
Tony rushed to get his suit equipped. "Uh...two floors below this one, it's reinforced and large enough to support the Hulk, if he decides to join the party. You guys get down there. If you need us, Jarvis is obviously listening. We'll try to keep them as far away from you all as possible. Hopefully...we'll be done quickly."
Bruce shook his head. "With them? If...if he gets out..."
Tony sighed. "Bruce, they can activate a Hulk-proof containment area for themselves if anything happens, and Jarvis will be alerted. And I trust you enough that it won't happen."
Kiersten and Pepper nodded. After a moment, Loki did as well.
"Okay? Okay. No more time to talk! Get down there!" Tony barked.
Steve and Thor returned, brandishing their weapons in hand. "You ready?" Steve said, more of a confirmation than a question. Thor and Tony nodded.
"We will do battle with these creatures!" Thor boomed.
Jack and Lisa crashed through the windows of the Tower.
"I just had those fixed." Tony began to charge a repulsor blast, aiming it at the two.
Jack intercepted the strike by knocking over some large shelves. Wood splintered in pieces, raining down in front of Tony. Lisa put a hand on the floor, sending a projectile jet of flames directly at the three Avengers, who jumped away to dodge the attack.
"For children, they appear to be of some ability," Thor remarked, readying his hammer.
The sound of gunfire permeated the air, bullets whizzing past the heads of the two siblings. They rushed away from the window as Clint and Tasha jumped through, their weapons pointed at the siblings' heads.
"Stand down," Natasha told them, voice steely calm.
Jack's stoic expression faltered for a second. In the back of his mind, he wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.
His sister charged the redheaded agent.
An arrow moved toward his forehead.
A gust of wind directed the arrow back at Barton's direction.
Jack reminded himself that there was no going back.
A.N.: Wow, pretty sure this is the longest chapter yet! And I updated within a relatively short period of time!
As you can see, Jack and his sister are antagonists. There's a sort-of sequel in the making for this story with Jack and Lisa as the main antags (but that wouldn't be until later on in that story). This is an awfully inopportune time for Loki to not have his powers. Whoops. Might have to fix that...
Writing action scenes is a tad new for me, especially for this story, so hopefully it's not too bad. And poor Tony, the tower keeps getting broken in places.
Thank you all for reading this story and faving, following, and/or reviewing. I'm really glad that you all like this story so much!
If you feel like it, please review, I love getting feedback.
anon: New chapter is here! Loki's hatred of Jack will be further explored soon.
123petmaster: Ha, yeah. I don't think that will change no matter how long he stays with Kiersten, the humans will always be little mortals.
Whitelion69: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! Sadly, I don't think we'll be seeing Michael anytime soon.
I'll try to update as soon as I can! See you all soon!
To my fellow Americans: Happy early thanksgiving! To the non-Americans: Happy Wednesday!