"-and while I agree that the Avengers have done a great service to the city, there's still the question of who is going to be responsible for the cost of rebuilding it, and then there's the question of this so-called Merlin figure. I've gotten reports that he's been called the possible Seventh Avenger, though there has been no word from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, nor from the Avengers themselves and I find that a little concerning. We should be able to know something about the person who reportedly closed the portal. The American people have a right to know who these… enhanced individuals are if they are going to run around and cause this much damage-"
"Are you saying that they shouldn't have stepped in and stopped the alien invasion?"
"What I'm saying is that there needs to be some level of accountability and governmental oversight. Who is going to be responsible for all of the damage this city has faced? Are they going to be allowed to run rampant on the city like a band of thugs? What about the terrorist Loki? I have a report saying that he's simply vanished! That man is responsible for the deaths of numerous Americans, as well as British and German citizens, and no one can seem to get an answer-"
The ring of a bell pulled Angela Liang's attention away from the television screen, her body moving mostly of its own accord, and soon enough she had a cup of coffee and a brown paper bag in her hand. She gave the little Mexican woman standing behind the counter a crips twenty-dollar bill and refused to take the change. The exchange rate of the Galleon to the American Dollar was almost ridiculously skewed in favor of the Galleon, and departmental scuttlebutt had it that the Goblins were going to press harder on their No-Maj investments, that they were going to turn the situation even more so to their advantage. It would hardly be dent to her wallet to help out the No-Majs financially.
Going off the No-Maj news, it seemed like things for them were only going to get more complicated, both politically and economically.
However, it was ultimately not her problem as much as she hated to think like that, and Angela pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she exited the bodega. Manhattan's streets were nearly as crowded as they had been prior to the Chitauri invasion, especially on the busy Monday that it was, and Angela noted that most of the city was cleaned up. There were still some areas of the city that were sectioned off due to the massive dead alien carcasses, but for the most part, things had returned to normal.
Or whatever passes for normal nowadays.
Angela sipped her coffee, stepped around the No-Maj national guardsmen who were still patrolling the streets, and headed towards an alleyway between to of the apartment buildings. She glanced at the Avengers style graffiti that marked the brick walls around her before taking out her wand. Notice-Me-Not and No-Maj-Repelling Charms were hastily thrown up, the No-Majs none the wiser, and with a crack Angela apparated away.
She landed on the apparition point with nary a stumble and took another sip of her coffee. The sounds of pained screaming didn't reach her ears, so she took it as a good sign, and made her way down towards the interrogation room. The grey walls made her feel slightly uncomfortable, too enclosed, and the room itself didn't help matters.
Jasper Sitwell was spread out on the floor, unconscious and twitching slightly, the wooden chair he had been previously bound in now a mess of wood.
"Finally." Cochrane pushed off from where she had been leaning against the wall. The Federal Sergeant had her wand in one hand, the other held out, and Angela filled it with the paper bag. "Took you long enough. Ole baldy here passed out again while you were out."
"Lets just get this over with." Angela said and ignored the way that Uller chuckled. The wizard had a look in his eyes that she didn't particularly like. "No need to drag it out any more than you already have. We've all got better places to be anyway."
"And here I thought we were becoming fast friends." Cochrane took out the sandwich and transfigured the paper bag into a table. Then she leaned against it, unwrapped her sandwich, and took a bite. Then she placed a hand over her heart and pouted at her. "My feelings are hurt."
"I'm surprised you even have feelings considering you have that shriveled up hunk of coal you call a heart."
"She's got you there, Jo." Uller snickered from where he stood next to the unconscious body of Sitwell.
"Yeah, and you can suck my dick, Timmy." Cochrane smirked, tossed her half-eaten sandwich to the side, and took her wand in hand. Uller simply chuckled and took a step away from Sitwell's body, keeping his wand pointed in his direction all the while, and Angela matched him. "Now, lets see what our favorite No-Maj has got to say before we enter his mind, yeah?"
"Just revive him already." Angela snapped.
"Hey! I'm running the show here." Cochrane gave her a look. Angela simply frowned at her and gestured with her free hand. Her wand remained pointed at Sitwell. "It's not like you got anywhere better to be."
"Eh, Liang kinda has a point," Uller shrugged. "it's gotten rather boring here and we've still got that thing Lestrange foisted on us."
"What? Finally lost interest in torturing No-Majs?" Angela asked. Uller opened his mouth to say something, but Cochrane stepped forward and spoke first, cutting him off.
"Alright, we've got actual work to do, so keep the flirting to when we're off the clock." Cochrane smirked at the both of them, seeming to enjoy the way they both recoiled, and then pointed her wand directly at Sitwell's face. "Rennervate!"
A flash of red burst from Cochrane's wand and impacted Sitwell's body. The man immediately gasped in a breath of air and his eyes barely took in their forms before a think length of rope bound him up. Sitwell's arms and legs snapped together and all he could do was writhe on the floor as his eyes widened with shock.
"P-please! I… I didn't do anything!" Sitwell cried out as Uller chuckled. That took the man's attention, and he flinched at the sight of Uller's large frame, even more so when the man lazily waved his wand around. It made Angela frown.
"Oh, shut up with the yammering, baldy." Cochrane said and grabbed Sitwell by one of the ropes that was wrapped around him. Her wand was pointed in his face, with only a couple inches separating wood from flesh, and Angela noticed the way that Sitwell was shaking. Was that the aftershocks of the Cruciatus Curse or just raw fear? "This is your lucky day after all. New orders and all that, so try to calm down and give me an open mind, yeah?"
Sitwell only babbled something incoherent. He also seemed to have wet himself from fear, his pants growing damp, and it only made Uller snicker. Disgusting.
"Stop messing with him and just get the information already." Angela gritted out. It was one thing to torture a man into submission. This was just uncomfortable and so completely not what she had signed up for when she became an Auror. It was just cruel at this point.
"See Sitwell? You've made Angela all bitchy." Cochrane tapped her wand on Sitwell's face and the man jerked back violently. "Right, now let's see what secrets you've been hiding in that head of yours, yeah?
Sitwell's eyes widened even further. He tried to get away from Cochrane, but her grip on him remained firm no matter how much he writhed. "Wait! Pleas-"
"Legilimens!"
"So, you have no idea who they are?"
Clint Barton shook his head softly at Steve's question. The sounds of flesh meeting flesh filled the air and provided a subtle distraction. Like white noise. But it didn't ease him up anymore, not when he had to contend with an unknown party sending tails on him, nor the fact that SHIELD didn't seem to have any answers. Even if they hadn't overtly said anything.
"Nothing, and they're more slippery than an eel too, evaded us when we went to pursue and everything." Clint looked around the gym that Steve suggested they meet in. It was an old style one, faded posters of the glory days plastered on the walls, and the most recent piece of technology was the CRT television. It was muted and playing the local news, subtitled, and all they seemed to be talking about was the Avengers. "Nat's been combing through some of her contacts but hasn't heard anything back yet."
They both turned to look towards the woman in question and just caught the way she took a foot to the ribs. Clint hissed at that as Nat when down with a grunt. Steve's lady friend seemed to be really good at whatever form of martial arts they were sparring in. That curious gold tattoo on her shoulder, which looked like a six-legged cat, was slick with sweat and seemed to glow under the yellow fluorescent lights.
It was almost taunting, like a predator going in for the kill, and then it became a blur as Nat kicked out the other woman's legs.
"Did you run it by Tony?" Steve asked. The man had his brow furrowed and was absentmindedly taping up his hands. "He has all that technology that could find whoever it is that's tailing you and Romanoff."
"We informed JARVIS about it, and he said that he'll add it to the list," Clint rubbed his jaw as he watched Nat spar with Steve's friend. He didn't recognize the name Elia Fontaine from anywhere. She was probably just a normal person and one of the few who hadn't bought into the whole craze of superheroes like the rest of the city had. "because apparently there's a list of people to investigate now."
"Well, there are wizards now, and aliens too. World's gotten a lot larger than it was back in forty-five."
"Or maybe its just that we didn't know that they were there in the first place."
A particularly loud slam drew their attention and both of them watched as Nat locked her opponent into an efficient headlock. Elia tried to maneuver out of it but only succeeded in making it tighter, her airway constricted by Nat's arm, and soon enough her face was turning purple. She held out for surprisingly long before her hand was tapping against Nat's arm. The arm around her throat was released and she was gasping slightly for air.
"What about our newfound ally?" Steve gestured to the silently playing television. There was some government official being interviewed about the state of the city. He didn't look happy. Underneath him was that ever-present question of who the Seventh Avenger was. "He might be of some help. The news seems to think that the guy is all knowing and all seeing. Or, the senator seems to think so, he's been going on about it for the last thirty minutes."
"Harry Potter?" Clint said, and from the corner of his eye he noticed the way that Elia Fontaine tensed for a moment, before returning her attention to Nat. He mentally kicked himself for the slip. And now, that would be something they'd have to look into as well, since Elia seemed to have recognized the name. But it could have been a coincidence. He might have accepted it as fact if he believed in them. "Maybe. Though I haven't actually met the guy yet."
"Tony apparently has." Steve reached into his gym bag and took out a sleek looking Stark Phone. It was basically a thin sheet of metal with a glass screen. Something which Steve seemed to know little about and took some time to unlock. He eventually got the messages open. "He said that the guy is 'really a broom flying wizard' and that he also has a 'magic cauldron where he brews nefarious potions in' who also seems like a nice guy. I… don't know if that was completely serious or not."
Clint could only grin as he read the message for himself. "He seems like a pretty interesting character. I might have to swing by the Stark Tower to see if Tony's embellishing the truth or not."
"I might join you." Steve stuffed his Stark Phone back into his bag. Then he placed it back on the bench and rolled his shoulders. "If you can stick around for a little while? I've got a lesson ahead of me."
Clint simply nodded and leaned against the wall. He found it slightly heartening that someone like Steve Rogers was integrating into modern day society as smoothly as he was. That he was making new friends as well seemed like a good sign. Though, when he caught sight of the expression on Nat's face, a hint of doubt crept in.
His fellow SHIELD agent looked a little worse for wear.
"Bruised ego, bruised body, or both?" He prodded with a slight upturn of his lip. Nat punched him in the arm hard enough to draw a yelp.
"Steve's new friend is deceptively strong." Nat muttered as she massaged her own arm as if she hadn't just punched him. He still found himself smiling through the pain. "She also apparently got enough stamina to rival a horse."
Clint had the feeling that there was still something that was bugging her. Years of experience and countless missions meant that he could read her better than most. Which might have alarmed her more than anything else if he actually told her that. Some secrets were best kept to just himself.
Eventually, after watching Steve and Elia go through some simple motions in the ring, Nat spoke up again. "She recognizes us." Her voice was but a whisper, but Clint still heard. "Even though she's trying to hide that fact."
"Maybe she doesn't want to make things awkward?" He offered.
"Doesn't explain the recognition I saw on her face when you mention the wizard's name."
"Coincidence? Harry Potter seems like a pretty common name."
"Not with that context." Nat nodded towards the muted television. It was now showing shaky camera footage of the battle, Chitauri zooming through the air, and the Hulk smashing everything in his path. Then it cut to the Stark Tower again. The footage was unclear, but a faint outline of a person could be seen next to the portal generator, holding a familiar staff.
Clint shuddered and turned away from it, thankful that the thing was muted, and that the low voices of Elia and Steve were filling the air. The cold feeling, the slimy tendrils of the scepter still felt present on his mind, even though he was out of its influence. He hated the feeling.
"I have-"
A soft buzzing sound interrupted Nat. Clint looked her way as she took out what looked like a burner phone. She quirked an eyebrow at whatever the message said. He was about to ask what it was when the phone was pressed into his hand.
It made his eyebrows rise on his face.
"We're gonna have to cut this lesson short, Steve." Nat said as she picked up and tossed Steve's gym bag at him. It was caught in one hand with an accompanied questioning look. Elia Fontaine too looks curious. "Stark's called a meeting."
Clint watched as Steve said something to Elia which had her shrugging. She didn't seem all that surprised that he was being called away on what to her was probably seen as Avengers business. Clint would have found it more concerning if not for the message that Tony had sent as well as why they were suddenly holding a meeting.
What the hell does MACUSA stand?
"Stupefy!"
Angela Liang paid little attention to Uller's spell, only faintly recognizing the way that Jasper Sitwell fell unconscious again, her own mind reeling from what she had just witnessed from Sitwell's mind.
The feeling of the stone ground met her hands, and it took her a moment to realize that she was on the floor, her legs giving out. Thoughts. Emotions. Training. Protocols. Secrets. Faces. Names. They all swirled around her mind like a maelstrom and Angela gritted her teeth as she tried to sort them all out. Her Occlumency shields were shot to shit and her head felt like it was going to burst.
Why had she insisted on peering into the No-Maj's mind?
"The fuck did you two see in the No-Maj's head?" Uller's voice was at once too loud and all too distant. Angela looked up at him and saw the truly concerned expression on his face. Then she had to such her eyes as the light in the room was too bright for her eyes.
"She took in too much too quickly." Cochrane's sounded uncomfortable, like she was sick with the flu, as well as missing a lung. "Legilimency is a delicate art after all."
"That doesn't explain why you're like that as well." Uller said and the sound of a spell coming from his wand sounded throughout the room. Angela rubbed her temples as the sound of conjured rope impacted flesh. If she had to guess, Sitwell was once again bound, and thank God that he was. Cut off one head and two more shall take its- "Do I need to get a Medi-Witch down here?"
"Liang." Angela screwed her eyes shut and groaned as the information assaulted her. She barely recognized the feeling of hands on her face. They were warm, rough, and smelled faintly of lavender. "Angela!"
"Too loud…" She managed to get out. Your task is to investigate the unknown entities- Angela opened her eyes and were met by Cochrane's own brown orbs. Was that concern? Then she felt fingers on her face. "Too much…"
"Her pupils are dilated." Cochrane grimaced and then tapped her wand against Angela's throat. "Heartrate is elevated and rising. Occlumency shields shredded. Get a Medi-Witch over here, Uller, and make it quick!"
Angela scrunched her eyes shut and covered her ears at how loud that voice was. When she did that, images started flashing in front of her as if she hadn't done a thing, and sounds started ringing in her ears. We got a hit. A sixty seven percent match. Lights flashed. An acid smell filled her nose. Smoke too. Voices familiar and not reached her ears. Engine number three is down! Sitwell! Get me a-
"Angela?" Textbooks. Pencils snapping. Shouts of laughter. Exams. "You need to ground yourself and focus." The target is a Russian national going by the name Gregory- "Compartmentalize." A glowing cube, the Tesseract, with unlimited energy potential. Make sure to focus your efforts on the Scepter as well. "Shit, can you even hear me?"
The world is unbalanced, in chaos, and only Hydra can reorder it.
Cochrane's hand slipped down to her shoulder and Angela grasped it until her knuckles went white. Her eyes were shaking, and Cochrane's face was moving back and forth in front of her, never staying still. Angela gritted her teeth so hard she feared that they would crack under the pressure. I saw him once. The metal arm and all- She let out a hiss as she pushed the other man's memory away.
Compartmentalize and focus.
Her Occlumency shields felt weak, and they trembled as they were slowly erected. Hail Hy- She harped back onto the training that every Auror had to go through. Clear the mind. No surface thoughts. Suppress everything. Think of a blank white room. She took sharp breathes in and out even as Cochrane hissed at the pressure from Angela's grip.
"You with me, Liang?"
The blaring of a klaxon rang through her left ear. It only stopped when she focused on not hearing it. "I'm here." Angela managed to say, her voice wavering more than she would have liked, and her grip of Cochrane's arm dropped. "I'm back."
"Good," Cochrane sniffed as she rubbed her arm. Angela could see the outline that her hand had left through the dress shirt. "now you know why I didn't want you to look into his mind. Legilimency isn't as easy as everyone makes it out to be. But when did that ever stop an Auror?"
"Okay, you were right, now can we put the stupid rivalry aside and focus on whatever the fuck all that was?" Angela gestured towards the unconscious and bound body of Jasper Sitwell. Her mind still felt heavy, uneven, and she wasn't positive she could stand without immediately tipping over. "What the hell is Hydra?"
"A giant headache, that's what." Cochrane sighed as she sat down on the ground across from Angela. "Looked like a terrorist organization that was deeply rooted into No-Maj society. Sleeper agents, traitorous governmental workers from multiple countries, and a ridiculous belief that they know best. And they're willing to get their hands bloody in order to achieve their goals."
Angela held her head in her hands. The implications alone spelled disaster no matter how she looked at it. All those memories, all those thoughts, had been centered around one goal. "Fuck."
"This is also above our paygrade."
The sounds of multiple people walking at a brisk pace came from the hallway. It seemed that Uller had finally returned with that Medi-Witch. But Angela's focus wasn't on her personal health at the moment.
"We've gotta do something about it." She said, and surprisingly, Cochrane nodded.
"Oh, all the Department Heads are just gonna love all the new shit we've just discovered," Cochrane smirked, though it seemed hollow, empty even. "and it looks like our little friend here is going to be staying us for the time being."
Angela could only glance at the body with a frown marring her features as Uller and the Medi-Witch entered the room. They were quickly checked over for any lasting damage, and all throughout the examination, Angela could only think about what a mess things were going to turn into. She didn't even notice when she was pulled to her feet or when Cochrane spoke the first time.
It was only after the Medi-Witch had snapped her fingers in front of her face did she pull away from her thoughts. They were to head back to the Woolworth Building to inform their respective departments of the massive threat they had uncovered. Uller had Sitwell's body levitated, his wand held in a firm grip, and he looked deadly serious. A far cry from his attitude. Cochrane led them down the hallway towards the apparition point with a frown marring her features.
When they arrived, Cochrane grabbed hold of Uller and the unconscious Sitwell, and then apparated away. Angela felt the Medi-Witch grab hold of her own arm, and when she turned to question her, she got a look in return. One that she couldn't argue with as her current state left much to be desired.
Side-Along-Apparition with newly constructed Occlumency shields was not a fun experience.