Tony didn't look surprised, in fact, he didn't even raise his eyebrows. Jade opened her mouth to continue when a small crash came from the adjoining room.
She looked over just in time to see a man wearing a deep purple shirt and tan pants walk in. Without looking at her he started to talk.
"Hey, I know your kind of obsessed with finding Loki's staff and this whole Project Winters thing, but could you take a break from that, and look at these files? They're heavily encrypted, but I think that- wha why are you doing that?" He asked addressing Tony's ridiculous head nodding. He was, of course, nodding his head toward Jade.
Jade gave a small smile and waved at him when he turned his head to look in her direction.
"You didn't tell me we had a guest," He solemnly states to Tony. Jade noticed he refused to look away from her.
"You and me both, buddy," She says to him then glances quickly at Tony.
"Dr. Banner, this is Jade. The girl Clint told us about. She has decided to be helpful and tell us about Project Winters."
"That's right. You also told me that I could use the computer, so hand it over." She motioned to the table.
"You haven't completed your side of the deal," Tony reminds her. Dr. Banner, who seemed to have relaxed, leaned against the nearest table. Jade started to chew on her bottom lip. The arrival of Banner made her on edge. She began to realize how bad of position she was in.
"I don't want to say any more than I already have. Just give me the computer," She pleaded with him. Tony seemed to be caught off guard at her sudden change in tone, and Banner raised his eyebrows at her.
Jade's mind was screaming at her to run. she definitely didn't have the upper hand here. She quickly glanced around looking for a weapon, but her eyes found something even more unnerving. The Iron Man suit sitting in the corner. She took a deep breath and looked back over at Dr. Banner. They made eye contact and she silently pleaded with him to help her. In response he looked down at the floor. She was on her own. She shifted her footing into a more defensive position.
"I don't think so," Tony replied, "we have a deal.''
Jade saw that this wasn't going anywhere fast. She wanted more than anything to run, but she didn't like her odds of escaping without a confrontation. A confrontation she would mostly likely loose.
"Jade," Dr. Banner intervened. "It is Jade right?" After she nodded her head he continued. "We don't want any trouble. If you don't want to talk about it that's fine. Why don't you just show us what you can do?" Banner was trying desperately to keep the peace. He had noticed her change in position and knew if she ran Tony would likely chase after her. The last thing they needed was to frighten the girl.
"I'm sorry, but wasn't part of the deal, and doing it gives me a really bad headache," She took a few steps back and waited for a reply.
"No..." Tony started but before he had a chance to say anything else Jade had made up her mind. She bolted from the room. She heard Tony yelling, but didn't stop. She didn't even make it out of the computer room before a blast came through the wall. The energy from the blast blew her off her feet, and made her hit the ground, hard. She crawled behind a desk, and brought a hand up to her head. She immediately felt blood. She inwardly groaned. The ringing in her ears was minimal otherwise she would've missed what Tony Stark said to her.
"We're not going to hurt you, just come out." The voice was filtered and she knew he had the suit on.
"A little late for that," She grumbled to herself. She saw a gun a few meters from her feet and reached to grab it. The gun wasn't going to work against him, and she knew it, but it could come in handy later.
She was only a few feet from the door, if she moved fast enough she might be able to make it. Still holding the gun she crawled to the edge of her hiding place. In one swift motion she was on her feet and out the door. The way still fresh in her mind she headed for the front door. A blast at her feet made her duck into the nearest hallway. ''Can't you leave me alone!" She yelled.
"Sorry, not in the job description." He shot another beam at her. She jumped out of the way, but she was having a really hard time keeping her powers under control. If she lost focus she was very likely to go through the floor and fall into to basement. She continued to run down the hall.
"Almost there, almost there." She chanted to herself. She abruptly turned a corner and went through the nearest concrete wall.
When she made it to the other side she pressed her back up against the wall. She hoped Tony would think that she had went through one of the doors. She ignored the pounding in her head and leaned through the wall so only her head could be seen. She had yet to figure out whether the pain in her head was from her injury or using her powers. She found the hall empty it seemed she had lost him. She stepped through the wall and ran back the way she had come. On the way back to the computer room she put the gun in her backpack and made sure to zip it closed.
When she walked in she looked around but didn't see Bruce. Assuming he had left. She got to work. She went to the nearest working Hydra computer and typed in the password. She did a word search for winter soldier.
"Come on, come on," She pleaded to the load screen on the computer. She looked back at the door, but nobody had shown up yet. When it finally did load there were only one file that hadn't been deleted. Jade was just glad there was at least one. She clicked open the single file and read quickly. She knew by this time Tony would've figured out what had happened and was in his way back, and who knows where Banner had gone.
June 7, 1976
The Winter Soldier, James Barnes, went under after a complete memory wipe. Doctors suggest to make wipes more frequent to avoid any complications. Mission was successful.
She skipped to the last update on the file.
April 14, 2012
The Winter Soldier, James Barnes, is believed dead in helicarrier crash outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in Washington D.C.. No body was ever retrieved. Mission Failed.
'Perfect.' She thought sarcastically. 'Even Hydra thinks he's dead.' Maybe she could check out an article about this helicarrier crash, but not here. She'll go to the city she saw last night to see what she could find.
Good, she at least had something to go on, and she also had a plan. She deleted the file Mr. Barnes and bolted out the door. She left the room without ever noticing Bruce hiding in a nearby closet.
She slipped out the back door without any problems, and ran for the city.
Avengers Tower
"I saw her, she was there." Was the first thing Tony said when he came back from the facility in Brazil. Most the facilities were in Europe but they would occasionally find one on another continent. "She was right there and I let her slip through my fingers." Tony concluded his story after telling the rest of the team.
"She came back after Tony chased her too. Whatever was on that computer was extremely important to her," Bruce said after Tony had whole team was in the living room. Nat and Clint were sitting on the couch kicking their feet up on a stool, very entertained by the fact that a fifteen year old girl had outsmarted the great Tony Stark. Bruce and Thor were in the kitchen leaning on the counter, and drinking orange juice, while Steve was standing behind the couch listening intently to Tony's' story.
"What could be so important that she would risk a battle with the Hulk?" Clint asks to no one in particular
"Hope," Steve stated quite simply. The rest of the team look at him, waiting for him to continue the thought. "Think about it. She probably has never been unsupervised in her life, she's in a strange place with no one left she knows, Iron Man is in the facility with the Hulk, and she has these weird powers she probably doesn't have complete control over. If I were her, the only thing that would bring me back to the place I just escaped from, especially under those circumstances, would be hope that something or someone would be there. What ever was on that file she deleted was probably one of the main reasons she came back." The team looked around and Nat spoke up.
"What do you propose we do?" She asks Steve.
"I'm not going to sit around and wait for her to show up at our front door. We need to find her, before she does something to hurt herself or the people around her." Clint intervened.
"I say we look for her," Tony put in. Steve nodded his head in agreement.
''Stark, do you know what kind of file she deleted? And if you don't you and Banner try find out. The rest of us will go to cities and towns around the area to search for her. Does that work for everyone?" He waited for any negative response. When he didn't get one he picked up his shield.
"Then lets' head out."
