A/N: Guess what beautiful people, we're halfway there. Another 11 chapters after this and the story will be finished, this is so exciting. We've got a reference to Agents of SHIELD in this chapter, a tribute to the fact that it returns in two weeks. The excitement is almost too much, so I'll just leave you with my classic saying, don't forget to read, review and enjoy.

"Hold it up high," Tony instructed Phoenix. "Remember this isn't archery where you need to calculate the wind speed. Just aim directly for the target."

Phoenix and Tony were in Tony's workshop, where Phoenix had been helping him with a new suit design. They had gotten distracted however, when Tony had finished putting together the right arm of the suit and had decided to test it.

Phoenix stood about three meters back from a mannequin Tony had set up with a big red D painted in its front. Attached to Phoenix's right arm was the new suit Tony was building, with cables running out from the back of it, connecting to a power source.

Tony stood next to Phoenix, holding her arm for support and instructing her on how to shoot. "Good, you're doing good," he praised her. "Now ready. One, two, shoot?"

There was a whir emanating from Phoenix's arm as it fired up, Phoenix fired at the mannequin, hitting the exact centre of the red X. The mannequin was thrown backwards and hit the wall with a snack, two of its arms and one leg fell off.

Phoenix grinned and triumph and Tony admired Phoenix's work. "Packs a pretty powerful punch doesn't it?" He retrieved the broken pieces of the mannequin and tossed them into a large trash bin. "How about we try again, but this time, see if you can get all the limbs."

Phoenix nodded eagerly so Tony found another mannequin and placed it next to the glass door, in front of a black sheet he had hung from the ceiling. Gathering the red tape, he placed another X on the mannequin, this time, placing a red dot in the centre of the mannequin.

"That's the bullseye," Tony declared. "5 bucks says you can't hit the exact centre."

"10 bucks says I can," Phoenix grinned cheekily as she raised the stakes.

She lifted up the arm and steadied it, aiming it very carefully at the red dot. Just as she fired, the glass door opened and Steve walked in, jumping in shock as the mannequin was hit and flew backwards, coming dangerously close to hitting him.

"Woah!" Steve exclaimed loudly as he jumped out of the way.

"I'm sorry Steve," Phoenix apologised in distress, coving her mouth with her hands, but quickly removed them, remembering that she still had the Iron Man armour attached to her arm.

"Don't worry about it Phoenix, you didn't even hit me," he reassured her, turning to Tony with a suspicious look. "What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Testing," Tony answered simply as he investigated the mannequin Phoenix had just shot. As he lifted it up, he saw that Phoenix had hit the red dot. "Looks like I owe you 10 bucks kid. You're a natural at this, I might even build you a suit of your own, if you're lucky."

"Stark," Steve warned.

"I'm joking Rogers," Tony shook his head at Steve before moving to help Phoenix out of the armour, carefully detaching it from the power source and pulling the arm off. He placed the arm to the side and directed Phoenix towards one of the benches filled with what looked like piles of scrap metal. "Go find the rotor and weld it to the power couplings," he instructed her.

Phoenix nodded in understanding and walked over to the bench, after taking a seat, she began sifting through the piles of metal looking for the rotor. Tony proceeded to pull up a holographic image on one of the tables, of an armoured design that Steve got a glimpse of over Tony's shoulder. While it was similar to Tony's other designs, It didn't look like very much like an Iron Man suit, to Steve it was clearly something else entirely.

Upon Tony's realisation that Steve was still in the room, he quickly closed down the image and looked over his shoulder at Steve. "Can I help you with anything?" He asked sarcastically.

"What was that?" Steve demanded. "What are you working on Stark?"

"In case you hadn't noticed Rogers, this isn't the army. You can't just boss me around like another one of your soldiers," Tony retorted, sitting on one of his desk chairs with wheels and spinning around on it. "I'm not getting on a desk and declaring, Oh Captain, my Captain."

Steve shook his head, a mixture of irritation and anger in his expression. "Stark, if you're hiding something dangerous..."

"I'm not!" Tony exclaimed. "Trust me on this one Cap, what I'm working on could change the world, but for now, it's nothing more than an idea."

Steve scoffed in disbelief but said nothing more on the matter. Instead he looked over at Phoenix working, a bright white flame was alight in her hands and she was using it to weld two pieces of metal together carefully, her face scrunched in concentration.

Steve nodded to her. "Is she your lab assistant now?" He asked Tony in a hushed whisper.

"No that's Bruce," Tony answered. He also observed her working before looking back at Steve. He spoke quietly. "She's a genius Rogers, and she offered to help out. She can follow instructions, but she doesn't exactly have an affinity for this sort of this. She told me yesterday that she likes spending time in the lab because of the ambiance."

"Ambience?" Steve repeated incredulously. "You blare rock music from the labs constantly, whenever you're in there."

"Exactly," Tony nodded. "The kid loves music. In fact, I caught her listening to old time jazz the other day, you should have a chat with her about it."

Steve tilted his head suspiciously and folded his arms. "What does Natasha think of Phoenix spending so much time in here with you?" Steve asked. "I highly doubt Barton would be very happy with the arrangement either."

"They don't control Phoenix you know, she's free to do what she wants," Tony told him like it was an important reminder, as if he had forgotten that Phoenix was her own person. "Not all of her hours are spent with Barton and Romanoff. Every morning she's up at dawn, meditating with Bruce, before she goes down to training. After that she might occasionally come up to the lab."

Steve remained stoic but looked over his shoulder to see Phoenix working away, the scrap metal pile had slowly begun to form a shape. "What exactly do you make her do?" He inquired.

Tony shrugged. "Anything really. You have no idea how intelligent she is, besides even if she doesn't know how to do something, all I need to do is show it to her one and she gets it, just like that," Tony clicked his fingers and spun around once again on his chair. "I've found out that she can make a white-hot flame in her hands, about twice as strong as you get from an industrial grade blowtorch. Do you have any idea how powerful that makes her?"

"I have a vague idea," Steve answered flatly.

Tony held up a finger as a signal for Steve to wait silently while Tony opened up an interactive hologram on his desk. "JARVIS show me the results for Phoenix's Fire Temperature," Tony commanded. An image appeared in the hologram of a table, one column showing date, and the other showing temperature.

Tony pointed to one of the dates and zoomed in for Steve to see. "Two days ago, the fire in her palm reached a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit," Tony informed him. "That's extraordinarily powerful. She could melt a person's face in second just by placing her hand on their face. There's something in her blood Rogers, something we haven't seen before."

Tony's words echoed like a gong in Steve's head, he knew where the conversation was going, and he knew that it was a bad direction. "No," Steve refused to give Tony permission before he even asked him. "You are not doing any more testing on Phoenix. Measuring temperature is one thing, blood samples are something else entirely."

"I never said blood samples," Tony looked offended.

"You were thinking it," Steve said bitterly. "Phoenix isn't a lab rat."

"I wouldn't never do that to her!" Tony exclaimed in a hushed voice. "All I'm saying is We have no idea what that psychopath Doctor Blake injected her with. Whatever makes her what she is, isn't something we've encountered before. It could be dangerous, it could be killing her."

Steve clenched his jaw. Tony raised a point that Steve had considered previously, but he wasn't prepared to admit that to him. He truthfully didn't want to know what was flowing through her veins, because he had a theory, and he wanted more than anything to be wrong.

Steve was about to say something in argument but as he looked over at Phoenix, he saw that she had stopped halfway through her work and was staring at them with a flat expression. Tony noticed as well, and before he could say anything, he was interrupted.

"Dr Banner requests your immediate presence in the living area," JARVIS announced. "It's an emergency."

If Bruce classified the situation as an emergency, then something had gone wrong. Steve and Tony scrambled frantically to get out of the door, and Phoenix followed closely behind them. They surged towards the elevator as a hurried mass, trying desperately to reach the living area, thinking the worst.

Upon reaching the living area they found Bruce standing on his feet, thankfully not in Hulk form. He stood in front of the television, a stunned expression on his face. Once Steve Tony and Phoenix saw what was happening on the screen they halted as well, not saying a single word, equal looks of horror on their face.

A mobile phone began dining in Steve's pocket. He drew it out slowly and pressed the accept button, placing it against his ear, he heard Natasha's voice. "Are you seeing this?" She asked.

"Yep," Steve answered. "Get back here right now. It's time to be bring Loki out of his cage."

Clint pushed Loki into the chair, and as he smacked into hard, Loki looked up at Clint with irritation. Natasha pushed the laptop across the table towards him, on its screen was a YouTube video, paused at the beginning. Down below was a title that read, Mystery Woman and Gang Attack Charity Event.

The Avengers of course, were gathered in the living area to discuss their plans. Steve had insisted on all of The Experiments gathering as well, much to the annoyance of Natasha. Most of them sat on the couch under the watchful eye of Bruce, Phoenix however, stood behind Loki, leaned against the wall where she could watch him and the video.

Loki said nothing and stared at Natasha, waiting. After a moment of silence, Natasha pressed play on the video.

It started with a female reporter, stood in a room with tables and chairs filled with various individuals and a large stage at the front of the room, announcing something in an excited voice. Things went wrong very quickly as a white beam, fired from somewhere right of the camera's vision, knocked a group of spectators backwards.

Screams echoed over the video as people leapt out of their chairs, the camera panned right, revealing a woman.

A blue dress hung from her tall and elegant figure, trailing the ground as she walked. She took graceful steps, one foot in front of the other as she entered the room via the main door. Ruby hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing a regal face, and accenting her smooth cheekbones. Her sapphire eyes shone with malice, full lips drawn back into a sadistic grin.

The woman formed a small ball made up of what appeared to be white light. She threw it in the direction of the crowds, many of them flew backwards, and more screams erupted from people trying to escape. As people tried to run for their lives, more people joined the fray.

Men came in through each door in pairs, brandishing weapons, they pushed the crowds away from the exits. While the woman moved gracefully, the men thundered into the room, taking no time in being gentle with their steps. While each had different features, all of the men were extremely tall, extremely strong and heavily tattooed. That was what everybody but Loki saw, since he knew what they were, he could see past the glamour and observe what they really were.

The primary weapon that the men were carrying seemed to be spears, they used them to push people into one large crowd in the centre of the room, herding them like sheep. The woman circled the crowd like a bird of prey, ready to strike at any moment. The crowd fell into a panicked silence, until all that could be heard was the woman's heels tapping on the tiled floor.

She slunk, all the way up to the stage at the front of the room, and ascended the stairs as if she were walking to her throne. She took a position in the centre of the stage and lifted her arm, pointing a long finger into the crowd. Her finger landed on a young woman.

The girl cowered in fear and tried to back away, but she was grabbed around her wrist by one of the men and pulled out of the crowd. He continued to drag the girl up to the stage, and push her down at the feet of the woman. The woman smiled at the sight of the girl, held up her hand, palms upright.

"Please, no," the girl begged.

The woman did not acknowledge her pleas, and ignited another mysterious white ball in her hand. She raised it above her head, before striking the girl with it. She creamed, and flew backwards, smacking into the adjacent wall with a sickening crack, before falling limp.

The woman laughed as she looked directly to the camera, she looked at it in consideration, before forming another ball in her hands. This time, she threw it at the camera, ending the video with static.

"Well?" Steve asked Loki as Natasha pulled the laptop away and closed it.

Loki was silent for a minute, eventually speaking up after Clint kicked the back of his chair. "What's YouTube?" Loki asked.

Clint smacked him in the back of the head as Steve slammed a fist onto the table in front of him. "Start talking Loki," Steve commanded angrily. "You come here telling us about an outer space magician, and this woman attacks a charity event three days later. It's not hard to connect the dots."

Loki scowled at Clint before he addressed Steve's question. He decided to irritate them a little bit first, brushing some dirt from the shoulder of his armour. "The woman was Hanora," he informed them. "As you can see, she is very dangerous. Perhaps if you hadn't locked me away, this might not have occurred."

"I wasn't asking for your personal opinion Loki," Steve refused to take Loki's bait. "I wanna know right now. Who is Hanora, what are her strengths, her weaknesses and what does she plan to do with the mystery object she stole. I also want to know who those men were."

"They weren't men," Loki answered. "Hanora has placed a glamour on them, making them appear as something they are not. In reality, they are Frost Giants from the realm Jotunheim."

"I've heard of that place before," Bruce mused from his position. "Mythology can only tell you so much. What are Frost Giants like in reality?"

"Tall and blue, I can't really say much else," Loki shrugged. "They are gifted in frost magic, ice and the likes of it. If Hanora has them under her thrall then she must've promised them something. We cannot focus on them however, they are only the pawns. A means to whatever end Hanora intends to bring about. I assume Hanora fled after her demonstration?"

Tony nodded. "Police arrived just after the live feed cut out. By the time they arrived she and her henchmen were gone, vanished without a trace. The only person that was killed was the girl, everyone else got out alive."

"What I don't get is why she killed only one person," Natasha spoke up. "If you want to make a big statement you kill everyone in the room."

"It's a demonstration of power," Loki told her. "Hanora doesn't play with her victims, she strikes quickly and without mercy. She's proving that she doesn't need to kill a roomful of people, to make them fear her all she needs to do is kill one, and leave the rest wondering if they will be next."

"What about her powers?" The question came from behind Loki, turning, he saw the girl Phoenix. "She obviously had some form of ability. Understanding what she can do can help us take her down."

Loki looked over at Natasha was a classic tricksters smirk. "Quite an intelligent one you've raised," he commented. Clint smacked him upside the head once again, much harder this time. Loki whinged, smile vanishing, he rubbed the back of his head and glared at Clint. "Is it necessary for you to be so childish?" He asked rhetorically.

"Is it necessary for you to be such a dick?" Clint retorted dryly.

"Hey!" Natasha clapped her hands together urgently as she shouted, stopping a time-wasting argument before it begun. "Stop avoiding the questions Loki. If you're not going to be useful, we'll lock you back up in your cage. Now answer the question."

Loki sighed, and glared once more at Clint, before addressing the person who originally asked the question. "Hanora was a powerful apprentice of an even more powerful sorceress. The magic you saw her using, were small orbs of pure white energy, strong enough to kill a man as you witnessed," Loki explained to Phoenix who nodded as he spoke. "She is also gifted in glamours, as you saw with the Frost Giants. Essentially an illusion that changes a person's appearance. However her most powerful ability is healing, she can cure a man of any wound with a single touch."

"Any weaknesses?" The question came from Steve, who still seemed to be processing the full extent of Hanora's abilities.

"Not many," Loki answered truthfully. "She is much like any other Asgardian, difficult to kill. However I do know of one thing, an emotional weakness if you will. She has a son whom she is highly protective of. Perhaps you might want to use this to your advantage."

Steve hesitated, meeting Natasha's eyes before he responded to Loki's idea. She seemed to think using the son was a decent plan, but Steve was not ready to use a child as bait. As Loki had said, it was an emotional weakness, but it felt wrong to exploit it.

"What information do you have about the son?" Tony asked, he was considering the plan as well. Steve could see them having an argument later about whatever proposed plan they came up with.

"The son's name is Thravi," Loki answered. "He is an adolescent, more or less of similar age in Asgardian years, to those ones over there," Loki gestured towards The Experiments sitting on the couch. "I don't know much else about him."

Natasha looked to Steve once again, expecting a decision. "We're not going to use a kid as bait until we know more about Hanora's plans," Steve announced. "Do you have any information about that Loki?" He questioned flatly.

"The usual agenda I suppose," Loki answered half-heartedly, clearly becoming bored by the conversation. He leaned back in chair and put his hands behind his head casually. "Death, destruction, chaos and so on and so forth."

"If you don't start cooperating Loki I'll lock you up again," Natasha threatened. "We need to know what object that Hanora stole from Odin's Vault. If we don't know what we're up against then we can't stop her."

"I can't tell you," Loki shrugged unapologetically. "As you and your little espionage agency might say, it's classified."

Clint looked ready to smack him again but Natasha shook her head at him, signalling him to step back while Steve made a decision about what to do. They had no idea where Hanora was, and if Loki knew, he certainly wasn't going to tell them. There was also the added bonus that they had no way of knowing what her plan was, or how they were going to find her.

"Loki, I want you to give me a description of Hanora's son so I can draw a sketch," Steve ordered him, and thankfully he didn't argue. "When I'm finished I want you to use his picture to track the son down. If we know where he is, we might be able to find Hanora."

Natasha nodded, and walked over to Phoenix, putting a hand on her back gently and leading her out of the room and into a small corridor out of earshot and out of sight from everyone else. Phoenix was confused when Natasha pulled out her mobile phone and gave her a questioning look.

"What I'm about to tell you is classified information, so don't repeat it. Do you understand?" Natasha asked. Phoenix nodded and Natasha returned the gesture before continuing. "I told you that SHIELD had fallen apart, but that's not entirely true. There's a small faction that are still loyal, and they've gone underground."

Phoenix titled her head to the side and gave Natasha a suspicious look. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked cautiously.

"A friend of mine has a team are part of the group that have gone undercover to rebuild SHIELD," Natasha answered. "I'm sure you've heard about Agent Melinda May."

"The Cavalry?" Phoenix lowered her voice to a hiss, aware that the conversation required a degree of quiet. "She survived? Clint told me that there was a rumour going around, that she was taken down in the second wave of HYDRA attacks, after the initial reveal."

"You'd be surprised how many people did survive," Natasha remarked as she began dialling a number on her phone. "Her team specialises in dealing with unclassified cases. After seeing the Hanora incident all over local news and the internet, I have no doubt she's probably tracking the case as well. I can't have her team caught in the crossfire."

Natasha pressed the call button, Phoenix watching Natasha silently, as she waited for a response on the other end of the line. Eventually, the phone was picked up. "Nat," Natasha heard May acknowledge her on the other end of the line, although there was a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Seen the news lately?" Natasha asked casually.

A pause on the other end of the line. "I assume you're talking about the Charity Dinner Disaster?" May deduced. "I've seen it. Do you know something that I don't?"

"You could say that," Natasha responded whilst smirking. "I need you to keep your team away from the case. I'm handling it, but if I need your help I'll contact you."

"Honestly, with everything that's happened, I wasn't planning to send my team in anyway," May informed her. "What do you know about the woman anyway? From what I could tell, it seems like we have an Asgardian on our hands."

"You're not wrong," Natasha murmured. "I have to keep this short Mel, I'll talk to you later. Try not to get into too much trouble with HYDRA."

May huffed humorously on the other line. "Same to you Nat," she responded, before hanging up, a click signalling the end of their conversation.

Phoenix had been staring at Natasha the entire time throughout her conversation, paying close attention to what was being said, but also confused about her own presence as an observer. "You still haven't told me why you're telling me about all this."

Natasha stuffed her phone into her back pocket, she placed a hand on Phoenix's forearm and drew her closer. "Do you still want to be a SHIELD agent?" Natasha asked.

Phoenix hesitated, considering an answer. Truthfully, the only reason she wanted to join SHIELD originally was to make amends. After discovering the SHIELD had collapsed, the possibility of being an agent had slipped from Phoenix's mind. Now that the possibility had been raised again, Phoenix was seriously considering it.

"Yes," Phoenix answered after a minute. "I do want to be an Agent."

"That's why I'm telling you," Natasha told her, smiling as she nodded. "If you want to pursue this, then it's important for you to know the situation. However it's highly classified information, and you can't tell anyone about it, even Clint."

"Why can't I tell Clint?" Phoenix questioned. "I thought you trusted him more than anyone."

"I do," Natasha answered. "Like I said, it's highly classified. Technically I'm not even supposed to be telling you, but I trust you as well Phoenix. You're just as important to me as Clint it, and I don't want you to forget that."