Thor instantly leapt into action, moving from the seat he had been sat in as he reached for his hammer, gripping it tightly and prepared to do anything that his sister asked from him. Looking him in the eye, she nodded before grabbing hold of her bag that contained her keys and her money. She slung it over her shoulder as she spoke to Thor, already on her way out of the apartment and towards Doctor Andrews apartment.

"What is happening?" Thor asked from his sister.

"HYDRA," she said to Thor. "They are what's happening. I just need you to help me, okay? I don't know what we're going to find behind this door."

"Who is HYDRA?"

"I'll explain when we're back to safety," she promised her brother and began banging on the door to the Doctor's apartment, her fists hammering against the wood, but no one answer.

"Doctor Andrews!?" she called in, but there was nothing.

Sighing to herself, Ella lifted a jean clad leg and kicked at the door, opening it with one swift motion. The door flung off the hinges and went into the room as Ella stormed inside, looking around. Groaning to herself, she shook her head. The apartment was completely empty. Turning to face Thor once more, she saw him scanning the kitchen for any sign of movement before he noted something.

"Ella," he spoke and she moved to him, seeing that there was a vat of soup of the stove, bubbling away and boiling over.

Ella rushed over and turned the stove off, leaving the mess of soup. "He was here," she said. "They must have gotten to him minutes before we found out the truth. They can't have gotten far. If they need him then they have to be heading to the airport."

"What do we do?" Thor enquired.

"They need Doctor Andrews because he has been working on the sensors for the hellicarriers," Ella said. "That means they have to be taking him back to DC. We need to get back there before he does, Thor. We need to go and we need to go now."

Thor nodded as he followed his sister from the apartment. "You do know that I have no idea what you have been talking about, right?" he asked from her and she felt her lips move upwards despite herself. It was another moment before she came back to her apartment and the two of them heard a sudden noise.

Holding a hand up, Ella urged for her brother to keep quiet as they looked around the room. The bleeping noise seemed to grow louder as Ella stepped further into the apartment, wondering what was going on. Moving into her bedroom, she looked around as Thor stood in the doorway, his eyes also scanning around him before he saw her open the door to her closet. Her eyes widened and Thor saw her turn back to face him. He looked into the closet and saw a large cube with some form of timer on it, counting down from thirty minutes.

"We need to get everyone in this building out," she snapped at him.

"What about Doctor Andrews?" Thor wondered. "I am so confused right now."

"Thor," Ella growled lowly, "there is a bomb in my closet. If we don't get people out of this apartment then they are going to die. This…HYDRA planned this. They knew I would never chase Andrews, not if other people were at risk."

"We will get him," Thor said as his sister grabbed hold of her cell and he wondered how she had adapted to Midgard so well as she called the police.

"Start banging on every door and tell people to evacuate," she urged from him as she placed her cell to her ear and Thor watched her go, running in the opposite direction to him as she pulled the fire alarm and whirling began to go off in the building.

People began leaving their apartments, looking slightly put out as Ella spoke to the police and told them of the situation. She banged on doors as she went, hoping that the loud noise would be enough to make people leave. The apartment block was four floors with sixteen apartments on each floor. She could only hope that no one was ignoring the alarm or her yells at people to get out.

She took the ground and first floor while Thor took the second, third and fourth. People ran out from the apartment, rushing down the staircase. They were all in various states of dress. Some were in nightwear while others in gym gear. Some wore suits while others wore causal clothes. Everyone was different, but everyone was bewildered. They grabbed hold of anything valuable on their way out. There were some cradling children while others held pets and Ella gulped, knowing that she had to be quick.

Police sirens soon sounded and Ella moved to the foyer, flagging them down as she did her best not to panic. Thor came to the foyer then, looking to his sister as he placed a hand on the small of her back.

"All the rooms are empty," he said. "I broke down the doors of those who didn't answer, but there were no people in them."

"Good," Ella said.

"Ma'am, we need you to evacuate-"

"-No," Ella said to the officer who spoke to her as her and her brother remained to be the only two in the room. "The bomb is in my room. It is in my closet. Everyone has been evacuated from the building, but I have no idea how powerful that things is."

"The bomb squad should be here in minutes," he said to her. "But we must insist on you going. Tell us-"

But the man had no time to speak. Before Ella knew what had happened, a loud blast echoed through their ears. Flying from her feet, Ella was pushed forwards, the glass to the foyer of the building shattering around them. Thor moved with haste, grabbing his little sister and holding her in his arms to keep her protected. They hurtled metres through the air before landing on the pavement, screams and gasps audible as people ran and fled.

Ella managed to sit up as Thor held onto her, the two of them looking to the apartment building. Gaping, Ella shook her head as Thor checked her over, making sure that she hadn't injured herself. Pushing herself to her feet, she stumbled slightly as she looked to the building. It was on fire, smoke coming from it as police officers demanded for everyone to stand back. Ella did as she was told, clinging onto Thor as the two of them moved backwards.

"Thor," she whispered his name. "We had time…we had time before it went off."

"Unless it was a lie?" Thor suggested to her. "It could have been a lie…lure you into a false sense of security."

"Maybe," Ella whispered. "We need to go…we need to find Andrews."

…

Steve could hardly believe what he was hearing on the news. He had been involved in a highway fight when he had seen Bucky. He didn't know how it was possible, but it had been his friend. It had been the one man he had been unable to save. The one man he had wanted to save more than anything. He was still coming to terms with it, but he knew that he had other things to worry about.

They had been forced into the back of a van by HYDRA, but before they knew anything, the van had stopped and Maria Hill had revealed herself to them. She had taken them to a hidden location where they had discovered Nick Fury to be alive. But then Steve had seen the news on the TV screen in the corner. He had frozen, shaking his head as he thought that it could be somewhere else.

He saw the headline that read that there had been an explosion in London. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if it was her building. Was that possible? Could it not be something else? What were the coincidences? He didn't know and he had told her to toss her phone away. Nick Fury had looked up then, looking at the screen before he had nodded his head and gulped. He had been the one to set Doctor Andrews up in an apartment. He had decided where he should be. He had put Ella next to him.

"That is her building," Steve said as soon as the location flashed onto the screen.

"No," Steve said with a shake of his head. "It can't be…"

"I recognise the location," Fury said, managing to croak out his sentence. "She might have gotten out of there, Steve. If she knew…if she knew then she might have gotten out."

"She…she has to," Steve said, struggling to find words. He couldn't comprehend everything that had happened. Ella had no idea just how deep this went. She had no idea how compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. was. All she knew was that Doctor Andrews was a key link and somehow they now had no tabs on him because HYDRA had found him. Steve reached for his cell and decided to call Ella, hoping that she would answer.

It rang for a few moments before she picked up. "Steve," she said in a tone of anguish. "What is going on?"

"I don't know," Steve admitted as Fury eyed the super soldier with intrigue. He knew, of course, that Rogers had developed feelings for the Goddess from Asgard. He was well aware of that fact. What he didn't particularly like was the fact that the two of them worked together. In this line of work, in Fury's experience, romance didn't often end too well.

"There was an explosion at my apartment," Ella said. "I didn't have time to chuck my cell. I went to the lab but there is no sign of Andrews. I think HYDRA must have gotten to him."

Steve looked to Fury and put Ella on speaker.

"Whoever put that bomb in my apartment didn't want me there," Ella's voice crackled around the lab.

"Ella, it's Fury," the main man spoke. "Do you have any idea where they might have taken Andrews?"

"None at all," Ella said. "My best guess is that they have flown him back to DC to install the sensors."

"Mmhmm, that would be my best guess too," Fury said. "Ella, I need you on the first flight back to DC. Keep a low profile until you land, okay? HYDRA could still be watching."

"Got it," Ella said. "It also might be difficult to keep a low profile. My brother is here."

"Thor?"

"Good afternoon, Fury," Thor's voice sounded over the phone. "I leave Midgard for a few years and you can't look after it."

"Good job your back then," Fury said, a hint of sarcasm to his tone. "Both of you keep low and keep your wits about you, do you understand me?"

"Yes," Ella said and hung up.

Steve placed his phone back in his pocket as Fury saw him look at the screen in a forlorn manner. He whistled lowly and chuckled as Rogers looked over to him. Smirking, he chuckled. "You've got it bad for her, Rogers, real bad."

…

"I simply don't seen why we can't have Heimdall send us to DC…or let me use my hammer."

"Because that is not keeping low key," Ella said as they entered London Heathrow airport. Thankfully, she had managed to secure Thor a passport thanks to contacts from S.H.I.E.L.D. in London who she trusted. As they stood in the queue to board the plane, Ella rocked back and forth on her heels.

"So, you and Rogers," Thor began and Ella rolled her eyes.

"Can we not do this now?" she asked from her brother. "HYDRA have infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. so we have bigger things to worry about other than the fact that I might be dating Steve Rogers."

"Considering he told you that he loves you, I would say you are definitely dating," Thor said as he saw his sister's eyes widened and she moved to hit him across the arm as they moved forwards in the line.

"You were eavesdropping," she said in an accusatory tone.

"Guilty," Thor said with a chuckle. "But just admit it, Ella, you love him."

Ella shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't thought about it," she said, trying to act nonchalant.

"Of course not," Thor said, sarcasm in his voice. "Honestly, Ella, I think you should simply own up to it. You know that you deserve to be happy and I think that he makes you happy."

"He does," Ella nodded.

"Oh, little sister, how I have longed for this day."

"What day?"

"The day of someone actually being prepared to take you on," Thor joked and Ella nudged him in the stomach as they went to hand over their passports.

"I forgot how much of a pain you were."

"But you love me."

Ella said nothing in response, simply agreed with him silently.

…

He let the illusion fall whenever he was in public. He couldn't deny that he felt sick when he heard what had happened. Heimdall had come racing to him to tell him of what had happened to Ella and Thor. He had remained poised as Odin, assuring Heimdall that his children would be fine and could handle themselves. But then he had returned to his private chamber and raked a hand through his dark hair, sitting on the seat at the end of the bed as he thought about Ella. There had been an explosion. Someone had sought to kill her.

The very thought made his blood boil, anger rising to the surface as his teeth ground together. Someone had wanted to harm his little sister. Someone had dared to try to harm his sister. Who would do that? Was she going to be fine? How was she faring? He closed his eyes for a second and gulped loudly, thinking about his two siblings and whether he should simply tell them the truth. Shaking his head, he pushed that notion to the side. He couldn't. He couldn't do that. He had to stay hidden for as long as possible.

…

A/N: Do let me know what you think!