Sorry for the long wait. I got back into a new semester and I started another story.

Before you begin reading, I failed to inform you lovely readers that this takes place a couple months after the "I am Iron Man" drop so you know where this is on the timeline.

Disclaimer: I only own my 3 OC's revealed so far. Hartfield, Shaheen and Donovan. Everyone else belongs to Marvel.

Chapter 2

Power

"Casseas," Bryce Donovan practically growled the name under the painful pressure he was held under. The large man's hands tightened around his upper arms. He struggled to hold back another wince and failed.

The man before him raised an eyebrow.

"I believe there was a failure of proper introduction, Mr…?" Casseas trailed off.

The blonde agent refused to utter another word. He let his response be a glare instead.

"I see." Diego Casseas folded his arms and looked a tad aggravated. "Manners were not taught by your father, I presume."

Donovan narrowed his eyes further with that comment. "Not as if you were father of the year either for what you did to your daughter."

Maybe he crossed the line a bit there. Normally Donovan was alright doing an in and out job without too much of a struggle. This was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission. He internally blamed the pair on the other side of his comm for not giving him any sort of warning of the large cluster in his path. Why on earth did the Director assign all of them together?

A pinching grip once again reminded Donovan how much trouble he was in.

Casseas seemed to be pondering as he took a few steps closer to the agent. His small guard stayed behind him, but kept a defensive stance.

"If you are implying that I would ever harm my own daughter, you are gravely mistaken. The accident proved that she was too fragile to handle her powerful gifts. However, one must question—" Casseas' left arm darted forward and grabbed Donovan's chin, forcing him to look up at him.

"Who sent you."

Donovan did everything in his power not to utter a word or give any emotion. The cold metal glove encasing Casseas' left hand rapidly grew warmer to the touch. He grew heavy in his breathing both due to the pain of the strong man still gripping his arms and the stare down he was forced to do with the leader of this cult circle thing.

Donovan never cared to learn the name they called themselves. He only focused on knowing what he was against. His eyes darted around the room in attempt to recognize anyone else. Casseas' muscle must be Eric Conroy. He currently didn't see anyone else specific in the room that stood out as suspected members of Casseas' group. Only some goons. They stood back and watched while armed as Casseas and Conroy held onto him.

"Donovan," A male voice sounded in his ear. "Hang tight. We will get you loose."

Donovan huffed to himself, barely resisting an eye roll. Of course, his 'team' decide to patch a message through to him at this moment. What could the two desk agents do to help now? This is why he preferred to go on missions solo or with his trusted partner who was currently deep on assignment for nearly the past month. He missed Cam.

Donovan let himself glance again behind Casseas for anything that could help him get out of this mess. His arms were currently unmovable so there went any luck for a physical attack.

Diego Casseas let go of the agent's chin, studying him carefully.

"Very well." Casseas examined his own clenched left hand. The metal rapidly darkened and glowed black. "If you have nothing for me, I have no need for you."

Donovan's eyes widened at the sight and he heard a gasp on the other end of his comm with an urge to hurry.

He was screwed.

Casseas shot his left hand forward. A black energy hit Donovan directly in the chest. The blast caused him to fall back and go limp. Conroy released the blonde agent and let him crumble to the floor, unmoving. He gave a side glance at his perpetrator with a sigh.

"A waste." He said nonchalantly. Casseas looked towards his goons. "Check the perimeter. He was not alone."

He then turned to his strong man. "Bloodstrike, get rid of him. Dump him in the river or something to make sure he's dead." As Conroy reached towards the fallen man, Casseas held up his hand, "Wait," the large man paused as he looked at his leader. "Search him first."

Before anyone else moved, the lights flickered a few times and went out. The men reacted to the darkness in yells and complaints. Emergency lights came back on, dimly illuminating portions of the building. Casseas scanned the room in deep suspicion. "Go!" He ordered his men.

He gave one last glance at the blonde agent on the floor. "His help came too late."

An explosion went off from outside, leaving a small hole in the wall.

Casseas angrily barked out orders to get up and move. His left hand glowed black again as he scanned the room. He stalled when he heard a strained voice from behind him.

"I—I beg to differ."

The agent struggled to get on his hands and knees, visibly shaking. Bloodstrike reached down to grab him by the neck. However, when the strong man's hand touched his skin, he was thrown back a few feet with a loud thud.

Donovan immediately relaxed and stood up with more ease. He looked over at Bloodstrike from the corner of his eye as the big guy groaned, yet remained on the ground. "Woo! Thanks for helping to get that out of my system."

"How?!" Casseas demanded.

Donovan shrugged as he took a stance. "You pack quite a punch, but so do I."

Casseas shot more black energy at Donovan. He moved to the side, narrowly missing it. The ball of energy instead hit one of his guys.

"Hope he's okay, though," Donovan offhandedly commented, gesturing towards the fallen goon. Casseas practically growled in response. He glanced down at his watch before turning emotionless.

The man is running late. Donovan thought to himself.

Even though a majority of the energy left his system when muscle man touched him and he was able to let it loose, he still felt a bit weak. Nasty dark energy. The rumors are true on that front. Hopefully not on the other suspected ability.

The stare down continued. Casseas finally spoke, "Clearly I have underestimated you. As much fun as I've had tonight, your time has run out."

"Sniper behind you on your left!" A feminine voice rang in his ear. Donovan dodged for the nearest wall. His back barely hit the wall when a bullet grazed the wall two feet from his head. Donovan pulled out his gun and looked back and forth towards the direction of the sniper and Casseas.

Their attention was diverted when a hand-sized metal contraption floated in through the blown-out hole in the wall.

"Donovan, duck," The agent promptly did what he was told through his ear piece. He dropped to the ground as the floating device briefly sparked with electricity before sending out an electric wave across the room, knocking out a few of Casseas' men.

Donovan's eyes widened at the sight of men scattered along the ground. He frowned as he did a quick glance over. Casseas wasn't one of them.

The man in question suddenly appeared behind him. Out of instinct, Donovan fought against the leader who held his own quite well in blocking his hits.

"Target behind you!"

Hartfield's warning threw off the agent, leading Casseas to vanish and reappear behind him and grab him in a hold. Donovan huffed in annoyance.

"Thanks a lot," he harshly whispered through his teeth. That also answered the question of Casseas' possible teleporting abilities.

The man leaned down close to his ear. Donovan cringed as he was met with a hot smelly stench of breath. "Let's see you survive this one, agent."

Casseas' hand glowed once more, this time directly in front of his face. Donovan honestly wasn't sure how he could manage to get out of this close-range attack. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark shape behind him as well. He internally prepared himself, calling forth any power left in him and willed it to his hands as the glowing hand in front of him grew with dark energy.

When the glowing hand nearly touched his face, it faltered, the energy disappearing from around it. The grip around Donovan went limp. Donovan shook off the now unconscious man. From the looks of him, he looked to be in a paralyzed state; a patch of red on his neck. Donovan immediately faced the black clad figure behind him, their hand still outstretched in front of them.

While still staring down the agent, they slowly reached up to the mask covering their whole head and pulled it off. Long black hair cascaded down her shoulders to her back. Her piercing green eyes glared Donovan down. The agent relaxed at the sight.

"Thanks for blowing my cover." She replied coolly. "I was finally starting to get some good Intel on them."

The blonde gave her a small apologetic smile. "Director's orders. You've been out of contact for weeks, Cam."

The pair turned to the sight of movement. Eric Conroy was starting to get up. Without hesitation, the woman lifted up her left hand and shot a small dart from her wrist. The dart hit the man in the neck and he slumped over, out cold.

"With his size, I give him 2 hours tops before he comes to." She turned back to Donovan. "And that's what going undercover means, B." She added, referring to his previous comment.

Donovan touched his comm. "We got them. All clear," Once he heard a conformation, he set to handcuffing Casseas. The man was still completely paralyzed.

Cam chuckled. "Some back-up, huh?"

Bryce Donovan gave a scoff, but otherwise remained silent.

Meanwhile, back at the abandoned factory, Alexa stared at the security screen with a frown. That mission was close to being completely botched. She should have been paying better attention to their surroundings. She had been a little nervous about this whole field assignment.

Then there was the fact that she should have realized that Donovan's source was once of their own. Carmilla Black. The agent who was best known for her covert infiltration, nearly rivaling the famous Black Widow that had joined SHIELD a couple of years ago.

With a sigh, Alexa began to help Manish in packing up their things. More agents would be coming in soon to take in Casseas and his men, now that they were finally able to secure him. She just hoped that Fury would be able to come up with a convincing excuse on why she was there in particular in order to hide her abilities.

The auburn-haired woman stacked the files before she stilled, sensing a really strong energy signature appear nearby. One she had never felt before practically seeping in great power. Alexa again peered at the screen to see Donovan and Black now securing the rest of Casseas' unconscious men. She searched for anything amiss. They seemed to be unconcerned.

Alexa straightened up and stared at the wall in deep concentration. She could still sense the strange energy, yet was not able to locate it.

"Alexa?" She slightly jumped at the sound of her name. Manish looked at her in concern.

"Are you alright?"

Alexa nodded her head and forced a reassuring smile. "I'm ready to go when you are,"

The genius gave her a long look to which she chose to ignore as she continued packing. Soon, the pair left out the door with everything in tow. Alexa mentally scanned the area for any possible trouble. The only thing she could pick up was the strange energy signature that continued to linger.

Am I feeling a little paranoid after tonight? She wondered. Alexa gave one last glance back before following Manish out.

In the darkness, a hooded figure in a light-colored robe peered around the column of the now empty area, studying after the leaving pair with interest. A gust of wind blew a few leaves across the concrete. The hooded figure was no longer there.

Alexa Hartfield is the main character of this story, but I will have some chapters like this that focus on some other characters. Carmilla Black is an actual Marvel character. I was looking up potential characters to include and knew I had to use her, replacing my early draft of an OC. I will definitely name which characters are mine. The rest belong to the world of Marvel. I hope that I do every one of them justice.

I can take a few Marvel comics suggestions to have as cameos. Again, I will be following along the MCU timeline, altering a few things along the way.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to drop a review!