This was supposed to be the first part of a longer chapter, but I figured you all have been waiting long enough so here you go; more action will happen in the second half :)
"I've almost…" Tony squinted at the screen for a moment longer, then huffed and threw his hands up in the air as he turned away to face the gathered team. "Nope. That's it. That's as far as my genius can take you."
"Is it far enough?" asked Fury bluntly.
"Unfortunately, no. When I told you I needed Banner I wasn't kidding."
The Avengers minus said Banner winced collectively; the absent scientist was a sore spot for all of them. Steve could still remember the look of horror and devastation on his friend's face as if the battle had been hours and not months ago. "Are you sure you can't do it on your own?" he asked as he crossed his arms, a hint of a challenge in his voice. "If you were actually as smart as you walk around claiming to be it shouldn't be that difficult." Was he still a little mad about the way Tony had acted towards Leah yesterday? Maybe. Fury had promised to deal with it, but Steve knew the man was not one easily reasoned with.
Tony gave him an almost pitying look. "If I could do it all on my own it would be done yesterday; unfortunately being a genius does not equate to being the global expert on gamma radiation, which Banner is."
"We have our researchers working night and day, I'm sure they can come up with something-"
"In a few days or weeks, Fury, but we don't have that long if we want to utilize the spot where Leah came down. We're close to a breakthrough here; we can't waste this chance."
Steve couldn't argue with that, and neither, apparently, could the Director; they'd been waiting too long to let an opportunity like this slide right by them.
Natasha and Clint shared a look, the redhead then speaking for them both. "We just got in some intel from one of the field operatives that could be helpful. We were going to double-check its accuracy, but at this point…" she gave a small shrug. "I think we have to go with it. Our man is near certain he found Banner's hideout."
"Then let us go there immediately." Thor's words were soft, as they had been since his brother's conquering of the two realms he held most dear, but filled with a deep-set anger that gave them more strength than if he had been shouting.
"That might not be such a good idea," Natasha said, her voice dry.
"I think she's right," Steve agreed reluctantly. "Remember how he acted right after? He wouldn't even look at us, much less talk to us or help us. He blames the whole thing on himself."
"What if it wasn't one of us he talked to?" suggested Clint.
Fury shook his head. "That man would know an agent the moment he set eyes on them, and who knows what that could do to him. New York might not have been all his fault, but he's unpredictable and every single one of us knows what he's capable of."
"So not one of us, not an agent, not anyone from SHIELD, really." Tony ticked off his fingers as he went down the list. "I'd say that leaves with a very small pool of, oh, the one girl who he would never know or recognize as one of us because she just crash landed here a few days ago."
"No." The objection flew from Steve's lips immediately. "You can't ask her to do something like that." Leah was traumatized enough as it was and in no shape to try to reason with Dr. Banner.
"It would make sense," Natasha said, nodding slowly and seeming to ignore Steve. "He wouldn't react to her the way he would to one of us."
"She'd be able to at least talk to him, which is more than any of us would get the chance to do," agreed Tony.
"You're forgetting that not only is Leah incredibly shy and quiet, but she's been through more than any of us could ever imagine," Steve said, working hard to keep his voice calm. "And how do you think she would react? I doubt this is something she'd want to do."
"Then we'll convince her otherwise," Natasha said firmly.
"Agent Romanoff is right," Fury nodded. "This is bigger than one girl; she will help us whether she likes it or not."
"We must do whatever it takes to end this…but if kinder methods can be found to sway her, we should use them," said Thor, looking gravely at the Director. "We need not sink to Loki's level and resort to violence against an innocent girl."
"Finally." Steve couldn't help the sigh that left him when one of his teammates finally started talking sense. "This needs to be her choice; she's had too few already, I'm sure. And if she's too nervous or scared to do it, we'll find some other way."
"Well, how do we convince her to say yes, then?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. "Shower her with gifts and our affection? I'm sure she'd just love that."
"She should want to do it," Clint spoke up. "She'll be helping to take down the monster who hurt her; I wouldn't say no in her place."
Barton would know better than any of them what Leah felt towards Loki, yet Steve had to disagree. "She's a little more…timid than you are. We have to show her that we can be trusted- which means you can't be involved, Stark." He paused, trying to find the right wording for his thoughts. "Leah has to know that she's safe with us, that we'll protect her, but I think it would help her to move forward."
"So you want to distract her? Normally I'd be on that in a heartbeat, but there's no time for fun and games right now," Tony scoffed.
"Spending a small amount of time taking her mind off of the past and getting her to trust us wouldn't be too much of a waste," Natasha said slowly. "But how are we going to do it? Does anyone here know what she actually likes?"
Steve blinked, frowning. "She likes hamburgers, um…" It was sad how little they knew about her, other than what she vehemently did not like. "She seemed like she missed things that were inherently human, or that they didn't have on Asgard."
"There are many things here that we do not have in my realm," Thor said. "But I do not believe that we will find them in this bunker."
"Taking her- or any of you, for that matter- out in public would be dangerous," Fury warned. "While some people here want nothing more than for their heroes to return, others think it's your fault that Loki won."
"Most of them haven't seen me without my mask," said Steve. He gave a pointed look at Tony. "You, however, are known by everyone."
"You're the only one here who even wears a mask," Tony snorted. "Are you going to take her out into the world all on your own?"
"We'll go with them." Natasha spoke for both herself and Clint. "We've actually been out there recently, and she should be more comfortable around another woman."
"Where do we take her, though?" asked Clint, shifting his stance.
"Somewhere crowded- yes, Steve, I know she doesn't like people, but there have to be crowds- and preferably somewhere they would never expect to see us," said Natasha.
An idea suddenly sparked in Steve's mind. It might be a little childish, but he could perfectly picture Leah enjoying herself there and it was, as far as he knew, completely unique to Earth. "I think I know where to take her."
xXx
A knock sounded on her door and Leah looked up from the ball she'd curled herself into, her face half hope and half dread. "Come in," she said, voice wavering and just loud enough to be heard. Please let it be Steve, please let it be Steve…he was the only one here that might have a chance in hell at making her feel the slightest bit better. After that terrifying dream, all she could do was wrap her arms around her sides to try to hold herself together as hitching sobs racked her body and memories made a graveyard of her mind.
It was with concerted effort that she hid her disappointment at seeing Natasha walk in, but she could not hide the fear on her face when Clint followed right after her. "Hello, Leah," the woman said with a smile, but she seemed to notice her reaction immediately, shrewd eyes glancing between the two. "Does Clint bother you?"
"I- um, no," she said unconvincingly, tucking her hair back behind her ear. She felt like this woman would judge her immediately the moment she admitted any weakness; the twinge of unease at seeing the man of her nightmares manifested before her was still there, but she could try to push it away, even though that was a largely doomed effort.
Natasha made a shooing motion with her hand, sending her partner out the door for a moment as she walked over to the other girl, carefully sitting down next to her. "Did Clint do something to you yesterday?" The slow words came out like she didn't quite believe they were true, but there was a surprising kindness in them too.
Blushing, she shook her head. "I just…I…I had a nightmare." By the end her voice was barely there, driven away by embarrassment and the image of the monstrous man still stuck in her mind.
"And he was in it?" Her calm, sensitive voice had a soothing quality to it, one that made Leah want to open up to her- but she couldn't open up all the way, not to anyone, not ever.
"He was. And, um, he was in it too, and they were working together, and they got me and took me back and-" she bit her lip and blinked, trying to keep back the tears that sprung up in her eyes. In a whisper she added, "It didn't feel like a dream."
"That monster can't get to you, Leah, and he'll never be near you again." She wanted so badly to believe the woman's words, but how could these heroes in hiding truly protect her when they couldn't even protect themselves. Natasha took hold of her gaze as she continued, "Clint is the last person who would hurt you; you don't need to be afraid of him. Did Steve tell you what happened to him?"
Leah nodded. "He was under mind control, or something along those lines. But…he's stronger than me. He's not broken."
"He's just had longer than you to patch himself up; silence is his safe place. Have you found one yet? Your own safety? Everyone has a glue they use to keep themselves together."
A blush crept onto her cheeks as she whispered, "Steve. He's nice to me, and he's so warm…I feel better near him. Safer." Admittedly, she was starting to feel that way about Natasha, but there was something more to Steve that the other woman couldn't come close to. It was easy for her to trust another woman, but that one man had tainted her entire view of the sex; the amount of comfort she felt around Steve was a testament to his kindhearted nature.
Natasha gave a knowing smile. "He's special that way- and he's actually the reason we came here. He thought you might want to get out of the bunker for a little while."
That piqued her interest. "Out, as in the real world?"
"Exactly."
The corners of her lips twitched in a semblance of a smile. "I would love that. Is it safe, though? With, um, him in charge?"
"He's not in as much control as he would like to think; it's not in human nature to stop fighting and submit," Natasha said. "That being said, things have largely stayed the same; day to day life goes on without much change. And we'll be there to protect you, should anything happen." She rose and went to the door, reaching out and taking a bundle from Clint, who considerately stayed out of sight. "You can borrow my clothes, for the time being. We'll be waiting outside."
Leah nodded, taking the clothes and waiting until Natasha had left the room before she started changing. The other woman's clothes were loose on her slim body, looser than they would've been if she was at the peak of her health, but she liked it; she didn't feel like revealing too much of anything to anyone, not for a while at least.
When she stepped out into the hallway, her first instinct was to shy away from Clint and try to avoid contact with him as much as possible…but then, maybe she should try to step out of her comfort zone. If she was ever going to get better, if she was ever going to show that monster how much better than him she was, she'd have to take a risk or two. And besides, Natasha would still be there just in case anything went wrong.
"Hi Clint," she whispered, her eyes skidding off of his at her attempt to look at him, but it was a start. He seemed distant, but not nearly as cold or cruel as he had in her dream; perhaps she'd be able to like him.
"Leah," he nodded. "Are you not scared of me anymore?"
She bit her lip and gave a small shake of her head. "I'm trying not to be."
"That's good," Natasha said approvingly. "You don't have to let fear control you."
"Having a choice is nice," she murmured as she tucked her hair behind her ear. Being able to choose, well, anything was a welcome change.
"We've already decided where we're going," Natasha cautioned. "But Steve thought you would enjoy it."
Steve picked this place out just for her? The thought almost made her blush, it was so personal. "That's okay, then," she said softly. "All I want is to get out."
Please please please let me know how you feel about Leah! There's a lot that's going to be happening with her, but if no one likes her or her story that's good to know so I can spend less time on her parts. Thanks, as always, for your kind reviews (critical ones are awesome too!)