Five agents rushed back and forth, picking up crates and moving them to another part of the facility, when the lights cut. Everyone froze and a few guards pulled out their guns and flashlights. Suddenly, someone gave a strangled scream and fell. The torches immediately went to a guy, who was lying on the floor, with an arrow through his eye and bleeding out fast. A walkie-talkie crackled and a guy whispered into it, "We need support. Leave the kid. Something's got inside, no idea- ARGH!" he made a choking sound and collapsed as an arrow went through his throat. "Goddammit. Where is he?" one of them muttered, waving his torch like a lightsaber. Another arrow plunged into his arm. But this one was different, it was beeping. The guard pulled the arrow out and stared at it for a few seconds before it exploded. The blast was huge, for such a tiny a tiny arrow, it immediately killed the remaining three agents. Once the smoke settled, a man in his 30's with brown hair and a black suit ducked out from behind a pillar of boxes. He carried a bow and held a quiver full of arrows on his back. "Hey guys, I'm all clear here." he said into his comm, "Are you done too?" there was a pause, "All right, I've gotten to the cells. One of them is occupied, should I get them out?" Another pause, then he ducked behind the box column again and sent another exploding arrow at the locked door. It didn't stand a chance. When he came out, the door was missing one half. He crept inside and called out, "Hey, anyone there?" No reply, so he shines around his torch until he spots something wrapped in a black cloth. It was the size of a small person stuffed into a sack, but a tail was poking out of one end. "What the hell..." the man murmured as he edged closer to the thing. He quickly turned the bundle around to get a better look to see a kid with black hair and red tips, her face was concealed with glasses and a mask and she was dressed in a black shirt and dark blue jeans. Most importantly, she had the tail of a fox and ears similar to that of a fox a couple inches above where an ordinary person's ears would be. The guy inhaled sharply, "Guys, they had an enhanced. She's out cold, what do I do with her?" he whispered into the comm then waited, obviously listening to the conversation on the other end, "Look, I don't know. Let's just take her back to base, then you can run a background check on her and see if she's clean. Until then, we keep her on surveillance. She's just a kid, how bad can it be?" The responder seemed to not agree, since the guy quickly added, "Wanda is an exception." the connected people had probably agreed to the plan, because the guy picked up the kid and walked out of the compound. He met with a couple of people outside the facility, near a van.

A woman with red hair dressed in a black catsuit, scrolling through a tablet looked up at him when he arrived, "So that's the enhanced, Clint?"

The guy, Clint, nodded, and put the girl down on the back seat of the van, "Where's Cap?" he asked.

"You were taking so long he decided to go back and see if there were any agents left inside." the woman answered without taking her eyes of the screen.

"Ha, ha, he hasn't come yet, has he?" Clint said lightheartedly.

The woman smirked into the screen, "He'll be around soon. I've told Friday we've got a guest..." she was cut off by a sudden spark as the little fox girl enhanced jolted up and down.

Clint spun around and caught her before she fell to the floor. He hissed and released her, "Ouch, that was one hell of a shock."

The woman looked over, her interest peaked, "You think that's what's keeping her under? Or is that probably just one of her powers?"

Clint shot her a mildly annoyed look, "How am I supposed to know, Nat?"

Nat rolled her eyes, "Is there some sort of device that might be shocking her attached to her? That might a good place to start."

Clint nodded and scanned the girl, "It's hard to tell, she has wires all over her hands and neck. They're all attached to this main point, a collar hidden behind her cloak. Hold on, let me try and break-" he pulled at the collar, but it let out a quick discharge of electricity that made him quickly release the kid, "Never mind, bad idea."

Nat continued to type at her tablet, "If you need help, Cap said he's nearly reached the van." True to her word, someone in a blue suit with white and red stripes around the middle and a circular shield strapped to his back.

"So, that's her, is it?" Cap said as he looked at the rather small child, "Is the tail real?"

Clint nodded, "Obviously. Anyways, we need you to remove the shock collar she's wearing."

Cap leaned forward, his hands tightening around the collar. He slowly started pulling the metal buckle apart. His face contorted from the pain of the electric shocks and the fox-girl's tail bristled as static sparked around the fur. There was a splintering sound and the collar fell apart. The enhanced girl collapsed forward onto the seat and Cap gingerly held up the orange and yellow collar with several wires sticking out of it, the glasses that hid her eyes were dangling from a pair of wires. "We should get this to Tony and see what he thinks."

Clint nodded and took a look back at the girl, finally noticing the massive burns around her neck, "We should get her to the Medbay, right?" he asked.

The other two nodded, "Definitely."

Valerie's Pov:

Valerie woke up with a splitting headache. She didn't understand why the pain was there. She opened her eyes and hissed and squinted against the bright light, flattening her ears. Then she slowly started waking up, processing things. She tried to get up but rings of metal around both her hands kept her in place. Then the sensory data came in. Oh, god, this was obviously not her room. There was too much light, her hammock was situated slightly above the window and she always slept turned away from the window, not only that, but she was sleeping on an actual bed, with the softest pillows she had ever seen. Then there was the smell of disinfectant. Lots of it, like who in their right mind would use so much disinfectant? Then there were the metal and magnetic materials around her. Subconsciously, she could sense three meters around her, and only if it was in large quantities. She had become used to the input from the video games and her phone and occasional piece of jewelry, but this was HUGE. Then the events of last night hit her like a cargo train. "Shit," she muttered, "HYDRA. I was captured." How could she have been so stupid? There was a sound of a door sliding open and she bared her teeth when she smelt someone walk inside. There was something... off, about him. She couldn't place it, but there was something in his scent that wasn't quite... human. It smelled a lot like a large amount of testosterone, but she hadn't ever been able to pinpoint the smell of testosterone so it could be anything. The person touched her arm, cautiously, as though he was afraid. Valerie's instincts took over and she snapped at him.

Turns out she was ridiculous close to his hand, because her teeth scraped his fingers and he yelped and retreated, "Hey! It's okay, you're not in HYDRA anymore." the voice was kind of soothing and oddly familiar, so Valerie cautiously opened her eyes, praying he didn't pepper spray her or something. She blinked when she saw a curly haired man wearing glasses and a lab coat,

"You're Dr. Bruce Banner." she said slowly, "Am I hallucinating or something? 'Cause you can't possibly be real. I mean it's not like I never wanted to meet you, you being an expert in biochemistry and all. But I'm like pretty sure it's never gonna happen. Oh god, I'm rambling. I'm so sorry... are you real, though? Please tell me you're real."

Bruce blinked, either trying to process what she just spouted or trying to get used to the attention, he chuckled nervously, "Yeah, I'm real. What do you remember of last night?"

Valerie twitched her tail, which was started to fall asleep, "Well, I was on a mission. I heard about HYDRA transporting vibranium weapons from a weapon smuggling I was gonna bust. So, I thought if I could stop the delivery while it was en route they wouldn't get the payload. Turns out they were ready for me. Next thing I know is that I feel like my neck's on fire. Then nothing."

Bruce nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose, "So, we can assume Clint found you some time after that because you were out cold in one of the cells when they busted the place. Can you feel anything in your neck?" Valerie looked at him blankly, so he leaned forward and touched it against her neck, "Did you feel that?"

Valerie shook her head, "No... why? What's wrong with my neck?"

Bruce shook his head, "Nothing's wrong. Well, nothing that can't be fixed. The shock collar left third degree burns but your nerve endings will grow back in at least a month or two. Anything else?"

Valerie stared at him, "Why am I tied up?"

Bruce looked startled at the change in her tone from sweetly innocent to mildly dangerous, "Nat didn't want to take chances. She did a background check on you when they got back from that mission. That's why I'm here; to take of the handcuffs. I'll be back, Nat's debriefing everyone about you during breakfast, so it's probably not a good idea to pop up until after breakfast."

"Breakfast?" at the sound of food, Valerie just realized how hungry she was. Like, it felt like her stomach was about to digest HER.

Bruce nodded, "If you like, I'll send Peter down with a tray, alright?"

Valerie nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. Wait, who's Peter?"

Bruce glanced at her, a kind of panicked look appeared on his face for a split second, before going back into kind doctor mode, "He's just an intern for Stark Industries, he drops by a lot, and he helps out with everything. I need to go, so just let me..." he clicked a remote and the handcuffs fell off Valerie. He backed out of the door, which opened automatically "Bathroom's in the door on the right. Natasha washed your clothes, they're inside as well. Just wait for Peter and stay put."

Valerie watched in a bemused expression as he left, then swung her legs over the bed, and stretched as hard as she could, before looking around. She appeared to be in a large room, well, large by her standards. For rich people, she supposed it was an ordinary size. The whole place looked kind of like a guest room that had been rigged into a temporary hospital room or something. There was equipment lying about, like thermometers and burn cream. She sighed and made her way to the bathroom. What she needed was a long hot shower.

The shower helped. A lot. By the time she came back in the guest room she had woken up in, she had processed everything. It was still bizarre that she was in the Avengers HQ, but she had to admit, with Wakanda being the only source for vibranium and their sovereign king being an honorary Avenger and all that, they would have asked the team to recover the metal. It was just her luck they checked wherever she had been stuffed, otherwise she would have been roadkill. She looked around the room with a sigh. It may have been big, but all it contained was a dressing table, a bedside table and what was probably the softest bed in the world. Dr. Banner had told her to stay put until that Peter dude showed up, but what the hell was she expected to do till then?!

Thankfully, that Peter guy showed up pretty quickly. She was trying to pull off a handstand, when the doors automatically slid open to allow a boy in his late teens, with curly brown hair to come inside. Valerie immediately lost her balance, collapsing on the floor. The boy blinked as he looked down at her, "You have a tail." he noted, in an amazed voice.

Valerie pulled herself up, trying to make herself look more dignified than what had just happened. She rotated her ears as well, to the astonishment of the guy who just walked in, "And funny ears." she supplied, smirking. "I'm guessing you're Peter?"

The guy, who was dressed in baggy jeans and a hoodie and awkwardly carried a tray full of plates of toast, eggs and bacon, nodded, carefully putting the tray on the bed, "Yeah, that's me. I'm Peter, Peter Parker. I'm an intern here. Who're you?"

Valerie listened to his spiel, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was really off about his scent. Now, she wasn't saying that in a stalker-ish way, no matter how creepy it sounded. There was just something about this guy that sent alarm bells off in her head. The kind off smell that wasn't human, or wasn't mostly human. She tried to zone in on the source but then he snapped his fingers in front of her face, she lost her focus and looked up at him, "What?"

Peter was staring at her expectedly, "I was asking you your name. What is it?"

Valerie blinked, "Dr. Banner didn't tell you?"

Peter shrugged, "Well, yeah, I guess. Still, I need a proper introduction, right?"

Valerie nodded, "I suppose so. Well, my name's Valerie Simmons. And is that tray for me? Cause I'm starving. I don't think I've ever gone this long without eating."

Peter started, as if just realizing why he was here in the first place, "Yeah, sure, dig in." Valerie thankfully picked up a piece of toast and some bacon, and started eating. Peter looked around, half-heartedly before asking his next question, "Is your tail real?"

Valerie held up a finger while she chewed, then she swallowed and replied, "Yeah, and my ears. I've got a few other powers as well, but these two are the most obvious ones."

Peter looked around as Valerie returned to her food, "Mr. Stark didn't tell me all that much about you," he said, "so I'm going off a hunch here... Are you a vigilante?"

Valerie finished her toast, before the smirking, "One of the best!" she boasted, eagerly, "I'm the Dark Fox."

Peter rubbed the back of his head, regretfully, "Er... never heard of her." he said sheepishly.

Valerie deflated, disappointed, "I work in the shadows most of the time so you probably wouldn't have." she finally said, as though trying to excuse away his ignorance, "Besides, the Dark Fox isn't a she, it's an it."

Peter raised an eyebrow, "I'm, sorry, what...?"

Valerie grinned, "I sometimes teleported. There was this special gear that allowed me to warp to places. So, with my expert marksmanship and constant teleportation, I somehow convinced the smuggling amateurs that I'm a demon."

Peter chuckled, "There is no way you pulled that off."

Valerie drained the glass of orange juice, "Don't be so sure."

Peter checked his watch, "Er... the debriefing should almost be over, then you can go around the rest of the facility. We're gonna need to see some of your powers, for the database, while you wait for your guardian to pick you up. So... until then, which Avenger do you think is the most inspiring?"

Valerie's eyes narrowed, "Don't you work in the same building as the Avengers?" she asked, "You probably see them every day."

Peter shrugged, "Sometimes I like to hear what others think of them. So, who inspired you to be Dark Fox?"

Valerie twiddled with her thumbs, "I guess, every Avenger is admirable." she said slowly, thinking her words out. She usually wasn't all that good with people, usually because she was terrified of them finding out about her tail and ears. But maybe it was the fact this Peter guy already knew or the fact that his charisma and friendliness overpowered her, but she found herself talking, "Hawkeye is cool, the way he can beat aliens and evil robots with only his bow and arrow is amazing." She leaned back on the bed, her breakfast gone. Peter had stolen the last piece of toast when she wasn't looking, the jerk, she'd sort him out later, "Black Widow is awesome, being the only woman in the original Avengers and all. But my all-around favorite would be... Spiderman." Peter choked on his stolen piece of toast, coughing violently. Valerie looked at him, concerned, "Are you okay? I mean, you kind of deserved it, stealing my toast, but still, what's wrong?"

Peter eyes were watering slightly, "I fine. Why do you think Spiderman's the best Avenger, anyway? He's not even an official member."

Valerie crossed her arms, "Well, he should be. What's with you anyways? I didn't peg you for a Spidey-hater."

Peter shook his head, "Nah, I don't hate him. He's cool, sure."

She would've hounded him more but then a disembodied voice spoke up, "Peter, boss wants you to bring Valerie Simmons to the main room. The rest of the Avengers wish to meet her." Valerie screamed, her ears twitching, trying to locate the noise and the glass on the tray was knocked down by her wildly swinging tail.

Peter discreetly caught the glass by shooting a web out of the bracelet-type device on his wrist before retrieving it and setting it on the tray. Valerie didn't notice, still looking for the source of the voice, "That was just FRIDAY. She's Mister Stark's AI and is connected to everything. Bruce must've asked her to not startle you or something."

Valerie nodded, still looking suspiciously at the roof, "Did she just say that the AVENGERS wanted to meet me?" she said.

The feminine voice answered, "I'm trying to get in contact with your guardian. Until he responds, Bruce thought it would be better for Wanda to explain what's going on."

Valerie scratched her ear absent-mindedly, "Scarlet Witch?! I get to meet her? You've gotta be kidding!"

Peter rolled his eyes, "Don't let her hear you calling her that. C'mon, let me show you where the main room is."

Valerie nodded excitedly, her tail whipping around as she trotted after Peter, as he guided her through the winding halls of the Avengers HQ. It was huge, and empty. It made sense though, SHEILD had been shut down ages ago, so none of their agents would be around to keep an eye on things and she couldn't really imagine the Avengers hiring just anyone, the team thrived on brilliant people after all. So, she went through stainless steel corridors and huge floor to ceiling windows with harsh lighting until they came to a place that Valerie assumed was the main room. It was as sophisticated as the rest of the building, with a lot of glass walls (which didn't seem like a good idea to Valerie, but what did she know?) a few brown and orange couches had been set up in a sort of loose ring, with a coffee table in the middle. A huge TV was on the wall, and it was bigger than anything she had ever seen. It was definitely larger than a 75" TV, and the game consoles attached to it had her itching to try it. But the sane part of her reminded herself that she was in a billionaire superhero's house and couldn't really play on it. A young strawberry blonde woman was sitting on one of the couches, casually strumming a guitar. Valerie could see some other people in the kitchen area, namely Black Widow, Hawkeye and who she thought was Bucky Barnes, but she focused her fangirling on one person for now. "Oh god, you're Wanda Maximoff!" she faintly squealed.

The woman smiled at her, "Yeah, you must be Valerie, nice to meet ya. Thanks a bunch for bringing her over, Pete!"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, see you. I've got to go work on Karen right now. Have fun, Valerie!" then he dashed out of the room, leaving Valerie alone with Wanda.

Valerie fiddled with her thumbs, as Wanda went back to strumming her guitar idly, before she finally blurted out, "Can you really make a force field? Or like levitate stuff? 'Cause some people say you can but I've never seen it happen... Can you really do that stuff?"

Wanda looked amused by her questions when red misty lines slowly wrapped around the guitar she was playing with, lifting it into the air, she smirked at Valerie, "Yeah, I can do that stuff. Your guardian, Derek, should be answering soon, he really should've picked up earlier if he was really worried, but until then, what do you want to do?"

Valerie wasn't exactly disappointed, per se, being treated like a rather annoying kid someone was being forced to babysit, but she had to admit that was exactly what she was right now. "Umm... do you have a jogging track or something? I'd like to stretch my legs, if that's okay?"

Wanda smiled, "Yeah sure, no problem. Come on." She got up and waved her hand, gesturing for Valerie to follow her and led her outside to where a long jogging track of sorts wrapped around the compound. Valerie grinned toothily and her ears twitched excitedly as her tail flicked around. She armed up her legs, before cracking her knuckles and taking off down the track as fast she could. Wind whipped back her tail and forced her ears down, she was remarkably fast, that she had always known, but she had never been able to go near her boundaries in Brooklyn. She spun a corner wildly, nearly slamming into a dark-skinned man with black hair, she spun herself around and expertly dodged him and continued running. She heard the man curse and speed up so she turned around and started running backwards, yawning pointedly. The guy gritted his teeth and sped up until he and Valerie were neck and neck. Valerie smirked tightly, before spinning back so she was facing forward and started running, her tail nearly tripping her up. The two continued this way, with Valerie usually in the lead, until the guy slowed down, wheezing, to collapse on to the grass on the side. Valerie tilted her head, her left ear flattened while the right one perked up. "What's wrong? You're not tired, are you?" she taunted, a smirk on her lips, as she took deep breaths of oxygen.

The guy rolled his eyes, "You just have to rub it in, don't you?"

Valerie's scratched her ears, "Who are you anyways?"

The guy glared daggers at her, "You're kidding, right? You've never heard of Falcon?"

Valerie's tail and ears perked up, "You're Sam Wilson, as in the Falcon?! Omigod, I just beat THE FALCON in a footrace! Best day of my life!"

Sam scowled, "I was already tired when you showed up! That wasn't even a race, I can beat you in a real race any day!"

Valerie cocked her head, amusement glinting in her bright green eyes, "Are you seriously challenging a fifteen-year-old to a race? If so, challenge accepted."

Wanda suddenly ran up, before Sam could respond. She was breathing heavily, "God, you're fast. What're you doing?"

Sam smirked as he stood up, "I'm proving to FoxGirl here that I can't be outrun by a teenager."

Wanda sighed exasperatedly, "You can't possibly be serious, right? Oh, of course you're serious, what am I saying? You run into a teen vigilante who was electrocuted half to death and the first thing you do when you run into them is challenge them to a footrace!" she sounded like she was scolding him, even though Wanda was way shorter than Sam.

Valerie looked between the two of them before chiming in, "So are we still having a footrace? Cause I wanna know if I can actually beat the Falcon!" Sam shrugged and walked back onto the jogging track, with Valerie on his tail.

"One circuit round the whole track. First one back here; wins. Got it?" Sam asked. Valerie smirked and nodded. "Okay then! 3... 2... 1... Go!" The two charged down the track as fast as they could, pretty much neck and neck, but halfway through, Sam started losing speed while Valerie remained perfectly fine. By the end, Sam was wheezing as he collapsed on the side of the jogging track, while Valerie brushed off her tail, breathing heavily.

Her face was flushed from running her hair was sticking to her face, but she looked more or less like she could run the whole thing again, "Did I win?" she asked hopefully.

Wanda looked like she was about to burst out laughing, "Yeah, you won!"

Valerie's eye pupils dilated and her ears perked up, "Aw, hell yes!" she cheered, "I outran an Avenger! Wait till Dani finds out!"

Sam got an alarmed look on his face, "Don't you dare tell Cap, kid..."

His voice was cut off by FRIDAY who piped up, "Wanda, Sam, boss is calling an emergency meeting."

Wanda smiled ruefully, "Sorry, kid. Stay out of trouble for a while, okay? We'll be back."

Valerie nodded, "Kay, see you. When do you think Derek will call?"

Wanda shrugged, "Can't say for sure. I bet it will be any time now."

Author's note: Sorry for the absence! I'm currently looking for another beta, so that's why my first double update is so choppy. If anyone feels like it, please PM me.