if you ever change your mind

about leaving, leaving me behind

Sakura is guided through hall after hall of metallic rooms, the tight grips on her shoulders and biceps not lightening for a moment. She has been interviewed (interrogated) and examined and observed for what feels like days, but she knows that mere hours have passed.

Among the rushing of people around her, she sees, up ahead, a tall, dark figure standing still and facing their direction. Sakura places him as the fallen man she remembers in her first memory, the one that was injured - the one that made her hands green instead of blue.

He cuts an imposing figure, with furrowed brow and his singular eye intense and unreadable. She doesn't need to see her escorts salute stiffly to him to know he is the one in charge. With their salute, they say firmly, "Director Fury, sir!" - the hands still on her biceps tightening slightly to betray their nerves.

"At ease," He says gruffly, turning to the man to her left, "I'll take her. Report back to… wherever you report back to." There is only a moment of hesitation from the escorts, but this moment is enough to annoy the man in front of them - Director Fury, she now knows - further than he already seems to be, if possible.

"I don't have the time, or the patience, to hear whatever stupid shit you're about to say. Leave," And this is the only cue the men need, as they scramble to salute and depart swiftly.

Fury stares - maybe glares is more appropriate - at her quietly for a moment, before exhaling loudly through his nose and bringing his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Sakura feels some sort of vague sense of recognition to this scene, but can't place it.

"Alright. Listen. Sakura, whatever," She wants to laugh at his overflowing exasperation but that'd probably get her thrown back in some cold metal room. "Everything's going to shit. I've lost some of my best men to that mind-bendin' snake, some alien cube with untetherable power got jacked, and I have a massive migraine. So I will be short, and simple."

He reaches forward, grabbing hold of her cuff-linked hands and lifting them up slightly. Sakura's eyes are drawn downwards, and she watches as he pulls out a small metallic rod, with a circular head that shone with a dull blue light.

Her eyes dart back to Fury as he continues, "I am going to unlock you. You will assist us, in ensuring Loki stays apprehended and in the recovery of the Tesseract. In return, we help you with your… ah, forgetfulness." Sakura scoffs slightly, but Nick pointedly ignores this.

"You look back, make one step in the other direction, towards him," With a pointed tilt of his head, "We lock you back up and figure out what makes those hands of yours glow. Make sense?"

Sakura feels something buzzing within her - excitement and nervousness and anticipation and adrenaline - but tries not to focus on that; instead, she chooses to nod her head sharply.

Fury's one eye focuses intently on her, deconstructing and reassembling her from the inside out. This tense silence lasts a moment before he grunts in decisiveness (towards himself or her, she can't say) and places his thumb particularly over the circular end of the rod. A bit pops out of the opposite end, and she realizes it is the key to her cuffs just as he is unlocking her from them.

Sakura flexes her fingers, rotating her wrists to shake off the stiffness. Her energy flickers to life for one brief moment before disappearing, but she looks up quickly to gauge Fury's reaction.

He is staring at the cuffs, sitting, open, at their feet. Then his eyes move to her hands, to her face and eyes.

Sakura isn't sure what to say, exactly - what will appease him or piss him off more. So she settles for, in a hoarse voice:

"Thank you, sir. You won't regret it."

Fury only shakes his head briefly, before starting towards the right and leading them down the hall. Sakura follows after him, playing with her hands out of nervous habit.

The sound of Fury mumbling something that sounds like "My desperate ass…" is drowned out by the voices heard up ahead. And as they round the corner, and approach a table surrounded by people Sakura fought about 9 hours ago, her nerves come back full-force.

She honestly wouldn't mind fainting at this point. It would probably be less stress-inducing.

Steve watches the interaction between Tony and Bruce with a crease between his brows. They speak about concepts - that make absolutely no sense to him - as if they were discussing the weather.

And looking around, at the blatant confusion on the face of the Norse god and the slight tilt of Natasha's head, makes him think it's not because he was born over 70 years ago.

He's not sure when science and technology became so advanced but Steve's just grateful the vast majority of his job involves throwing a shield and throwing punches.

Tony then says some snarky comment about Bruce's… other guy, and Steve opens his mouth to remind him to "play nice" - but Nick Fury enters instead, saying to everyone that Bruce's purpose here was, mainly, to find the Tesseract.

And then Sakura enters - unrestrained - behind him, and Steve isn't sure what Fury is trying to say to everyone.

The room shifts, instantly.

Tony steps forward slightly, hand traveling to grip the lapel of his blazer. Bruce does the opposite, stepping backward and fiddling with the glasses he holds in his hand. Natasha's hands travel to beneath the table, and Thor's entire upper body tenses. Steve, without much realization, only straightens slightly in his seat.

He said he believed her - he won't let everyone else's distrust shake his so easily.

Steve feels Natasha's eyes dart to him. She has, undoubtedly, taken notice of his reaction and will file it away for a later interrogation. Can't wait.

Thor is the first to speak, and says in a voice that rumbles from his chest, "What is the meaning behind this? That is the woman that lent her strength to my brother, is it not?!" With an accusatory point towards the pink-haired woman. "You meddle in affairs of which you know not, aligning yourself ignorantly to a god-"

The long-haired man is cut off as Nick throws a pair of metal handcuffs noisily onto the central console. Everyone's eyes follow this action immediately, but quickly return to Fury, all with a quiet question in them.

"Despite your tone, ignorant is the right word in this situation." Thor says nothing, and Fury seems to take this as a willingness to listen. "As you've all been made aware, Sakura has extensive retrograde amnesia. She appeared shortly after Loki did, from the same wormhole as him. He was the first person to interact with her - the first to offer his assistance in exchange for her abilities. That is the only reason for her working with Loki and… meddling in his affairs."

"As far as we know," Tony quips, scratching at his jaw and avoiding Fury's pointed look, "As far as she's told us."

"As far as we know, Loki is going to stop at nothing until he's used the Tesseract to take over the damn planet. Or destroy it," Fury replies without hesitation, "She's passed all our tests. I'm not too proud to turn away a possible ally."

There is a muted tension as everyone mulls over Fury's resolute words. He can see Tony and Bruce glance at each other out of the corner of his eye, and some silent conversation occurs.

Steve's gaze shifts to Sakura, whose green eyes are traveling from person to person. She's biting her lip - she's nervous. Her eyes land on him, and there is the slight jolt of her body once they make eye contact.

He only offers her a tentative half-smile - knowing the smallest showing of kindness at this time would probably lift some weight off of her (deceptively) small shoulders.

Steve feels satisfaction bloom in his chest at the hesitant - genuine, he thinks - smile he receives in return.

If she is lying, Sakura is the most believable actress Steve has ever seen.

Or… he's the most gullible, trusting man alive.

Time will tell.

And then the girl is stepping forward, with hesitant steps.

Bruce cannot figure out what to make of her. The questions regarding her loyalty are interesting, yes - but he is far more interested in the memory loss plaguing her mind and the power she can draw forth to her hands.

But his empathy outweighs his clinical curiosity. Bruce knows far too well about being displaced, brought to an unknown environment, just to be scrutinized and observed. That seems to be a permanent cycle, for him.

He's brought out of his musings as Fury continues on, gesturing to the pink-haired woman now standing at his side, "Sakura will fight with us. Any questions, ask her. Any complaints, keep them to yourself." Fury then reaches into his pocket, drawing out a small, computerized key and tosses it to a slightly thrown-off Steve Rogers. His gaze is on the super soldier, but his tone seems to be directed towards everyone.

"Any wrong move she makes, you restrain her. Think you can do that?"

Bruce chuckles underneath his breath, realizing the purpose of Fury's extremely public declaration. Show Sakura that everyone is willing, and able, to deal with her if she does wrong by them. Let the group know that she's trustworthy, but not blatantly ignoring everyone's hesitations. But placing the key directly in the hands of Cap - the most sympathetic one of the bunch. Create accountability for everyone present. All very strategic.

There probably isn't a better man to lead a covert government organization.

Seemingly done with disturbing the non-peace of the group, Fury turns to him and Tony and draws everyone's attention back to their main concern.

"That damn sceptre is powered by the cube. I don't need a phD to know that - but I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Thor is visibly confused, "Monkeys? I do not understand."

Steve is eager to respond, "I do! I understood that reference." Bruce can practically feel Tony rolling his eyes dramatically beside him. Fury only shakes his head, before he turns to leave, Agent Hill following after him briskly.

There is an extended silence that Bruce is just waiting for Tony to break.

"….Weeeeeellllll…"

Yeah, there he is.

"As unofficial leader," There are scoffs heard around the room at this remark, "Welcome. To the team. Ah, don't try to attack us. Please, then we won't attack back. You've heard that already, probably. Uh-" Tony snaps his fingers messily, then turns to Steve.

"Uh, Steve. Captain. Old man, you mind lookin' after her? Bruce and I gotta play with that sceptre," Tony says with a sniff, "Agent Romanoff probably has spy stuff to do. Thor is…" Bruce looks to the Norse god, who seems to have retreated into himself after his outburst and is crossing his arms tightly across his broad chest.

"Thor's dealing with some family stuff. Right, yes, so you watch her, Bruce and I go solve some spacey science problem, sound good with everyone?" Tony says this as he begins walking backwards out of the room, and Bruce can only sigh quietly and trail after him.

"Well, wai-" Steve begins, but Tony is waving his hands emphatically.

"Don't worry, Cap, I believe in you! Even if no one else does!" Bruce nearly runs into Tony when he stops suddenly, seeming to remember something, and turning sharply to Sakura. His head tilts comically to the side. Bruce is afraid of what he'll say next.

"Your hair natural?"

Sakura's fists turn blue, Tony is tugging on his shirt to pull him out of the room, and Bruce is very grateful he hasn't turned green from pure stress yet.

Steve is feeling more than a little out of his element. More than usual, anyway.

After Bruce and Tony left, Thor walked out, murmuring something about a woman named Jane. Natasha gave him and Sakura a strained smile, suggesting he just show her around for now, and then leaving as well.

Yes, of course. He arrived here days ago and Natasha is intimately familiar with every inch of this helicarrier, but he should give Sakura the grand tour. Makes sense.

Steve can feel Sakura's inquisitive gaze on him, and he hastens to stand up from his sitting position at the table.

"Ah, alright," He isn't sure what to do with his hands, so he settles them on his belt awkwardly. "I will, uh, show you. Around. Yes, ok, let's… um, I'll just-"

A slow smile blooms on Sakura's face at his stuttering, and Steve can feel heat rising on the back of his neck. 70 years and a super soldier serum later, yet he still is as awkward around girls as when he was 6 inches shorter and 65 pounds lighter.

Sakura takes mercy on him, as she asks lightly, "Are there any… sleeping quarters? Or something like that?"

Steve nods quickly, "Ah, yes! Yes, there are- we have sleeping quarters. We can go there. Right now."

She follows quietly after him, in the direction - he hopes - of their rooms. He's thinks there was an empty room beside his, but he'll really not know what to do if not. Steve has really only been in his room a couple times, and his attempts at sleeping are restless at best, but it's the only place he doesn't need directions to find.

The walk has been silent enough that Steve nearly jumps when Sakura asks, "Would you… would you like me to call you Captain? Or…" He glances at her out of the corner of his eye, to see she is looking his way as well, and biting her lip.

"Ah… Steve. Just Steve is fine." He says with a half-smile. She nods tentatively, and stops biting her lip. Good. The less nervous, the more trusting, he thinks. The more willing to help them.

They arrive at the hallway that holds their rooms, and Steve knocks on the door to the right of his, pressing the button to open it when only silence responds. The bed looks untouched and the open closets are empty, so Steve steps to the side and gestures for Sakura to enter.

She does so, taking everything in and stepping briefly into the attached bathroom, before turning back to him.

"I'll, uh, give you some time to… freshen up?" It comes out as more of a question than a statement, but Sakura doesn't acknowledge that (thankfully). "I'm just to the right of you, so, just, um, grab me. When you're done. I'll do my best to show you around," Steve finishes with a chuckle, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Sakura stares at him for a moment, opening her mouth to say something, before shutting it quickly. Steve tips his head slightly, silently urging her to say what she wants.

"I… At the moment, I don't think I'm… worthy of your kindness. I haven't earned it," Her eyes seem to tighten in resoluteness, "But I'll do everything I can to be deserving of it."

Steve takes in the decided look in her eyes, her hands held, clenched, in front of her, and the stiff set of her jaw. For the most part, he is always trusting of his instincts when judging the morality of another. A powerful fighter is not as useful, to him, as an honest person.

Sakura hasn't disappointed him yet.

And so he smiles - fully - at her, nodding his head sharply, and says as he exits:

"I'm looking forward to it, ma'am."

/an/

thanks again for all the support! i love you all ! the pacing might seem a little slow at the moment but i'm really trying to ease sakura into this world and into interacting with these people - and they wouldn't immediately all trust her and become friends. trying to make everything believable, mostly. it should pick up soon in terms of action / relationships! thank you for reading !