"Are you alright?" Agent Coulson looked over at me worriedly as we were returning to the airship. I shook my head, looking away from him. In all honesty, I was incredibly confused about the day's events. I hadn't gotten so much as a hello from my father, and I'd heard things I wasn't supposed to hear. The worst part of it was that the good Agent had heard as well, but had said nothing about it. It was odd; like he already knew exactly what my father was talking about.

I didn't feel right questioning him on it; I'd feel bad about accusing someone who'd been so nice to me when I'd first arrived. I decided to keep my mouth shut, and to figure it out myself. I could start by trying to find my file in the S.H.I.E.L.D computers when we were back on base. I wasn't computer savvy per se, but I know someone who is.

"You need me to what now?" Tony smirked as I glared. It was killing my pride right now for me to admit that I couldn't do something that he could; he was basking in this, I could do. Begrudgingly, I repeated my request for him. If it wasn't for the fact Bruce was sitting in the room with him, I might've attempted to murder him and hide his body so that he would never mention this to anyone.

"I need to see the file S.H.I.E.L.D has on me. I think my father might've had some connection to them. I just need to check, alright? Can you do it or not?" He chuckled.

"Of course I can. But the question is, what can you do for me?"

"I can try to hold back the urge to punch you in the face every time I see you." He raised an eyebrow again, before extending his hand.

"You've got a deal." I shook his hand. "Shouldn't take too long." He circled around to stand beside Bruce, who was now regarding me curiously.

"Why do you need access to your file?" He asked. I shook my head, not wanting to explain to him. He nodded in understanding, moving over so that I could stand between him and Tony. I watched as Tony made quick work of the security system, with some help from Bruce. A picture of my face popped up, followed by paragraphs of script. I leaned forward, scanning for anything pertaining to what my father had said and finding nothing.

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"Anything about my origins. Wait. How about… typing in my mother's name."

"Got it sweetheart." Tony typed it her name as I told him it, breaking through the security code once more. It was tougher this time around, however. It was under heavier lockdown than my own, which was suspicious in it's own right. I frowned as I read over the text.

It gave me no defining information, however it did say my father was arrested and thrown in jail at one point due to 'suspected abuse' of my mother. She has questioned, and after denying all of the charges pressed against him, he was released. At the time, he had been a scientist working for a big corporation on a secret project. There was a cliffnote that the project was more detailed within my fathers file.

Another thing that caught my notice was her status report. She had gone missing for years, laying off the radar until recently. It noted that she had contracted her deadly illness after my father was released, and that further investigation was going to be conducted. My father had been under close observation due to him being a former scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Think you could hack one more file, macho man?" Tony winked.

"You know I can." I felt as though the only reason he was cooperating with me was because he wanted to show off his intelligence. I had heard him mention it enough in his fights with Steve to know that he had a serious superiority complex compared to the kind Captain. Having confidence was a different story than being arrogant; one trait was admirable, the other gets you killed.

Even though Tony annoyed me greatly, I didn't wish for him to get killed. It hasn't happened so far, so I don't know what I'm worried about. All of them around here can handle themselves much better than I can.

"Hm, the file seems to have been deleted." Bruce muttered under his breath as the words 'file removed' flashed across the screen. "They must not want this information getting into anyones hands."

"Where do you think they'd keep his hand written file, then?" I asked curiously, placing a finger to my lips. Bruce sent me a wary look, and Tony raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose they'd keep it in Fury's room-"

"Thanks Bruce!" I turned on my heel, quickly heading towards the door and ignoring the confused expressions I was receiving from both males. They turned towards each other, shrugging and shaking off my behavior before turning back towards their respective experiments.

I made my way down the hall towards Fury's room; I knew it was the room farthest from everyone else's. I was so anxious, my mind reeling with ideas, that I wasn't focusing on what was in front of me. Before I knew it, I had tumbled onto the ground and onto the person who had been unlucky enough to be in front of me.

"Are you alright?" Steve sat up, pulling me up without a thought. He was certainly stronger than I had first imagined.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Steve."

"It's alright. Have you been okay? Since you've come back, you seem to be a lot more frantic."

"I'm fine, Steve." He frowned, shaking his head. I grew nervous under his stare, knowing that what I was doing was something he wouldn't approve of. I had known him long enough to know he was an honorable man; he didn't like doing things behind the back of Fury. In my opinion he had far too much trust in that man, but it was a trait that made him endearing. Perhaps if I had more time to explain this situation to him, he would understand my secretive behavior, but for now I couldn't trust anybody.

"I don't believe you."

"Look, I promise we'll talk later in the training room or something alright? I'll be down there tonight to get some boxing in, but right now there's something I have to do." He refused to let me push past him, instead grabbing my shoulders and holding me in place. His touch wasn't rough, gentler than that of Thor who had patted my shoulder once in recognition. I had been sore for nearly a week after that.

Steve's eyes scanned mine, looking for something that would give away what I was up to. I remained expressionless, holding his gaze. He finally shook his head, dropping his arms down to his side.

"8 o'clock, alright? Don't be late."

"You got it, Captain." He smiled a bit, patting my shoulder as he let me pass him by. I felt his eyes linger a few seconds longer on my retreating form before he went on his merry way. I sighed, not liking the feeling of lying to him. I didn't like lying to anybody, but this was something I wanted to do on my own. This was something I needed to get done now, before all evidence was destroyed.

The rest of the way there was uneventful; it seemed that everyone had headed down to the kitchen for dinner. I knocked on the door to Fury's room hesitantly, waiting to hear his voice growl for me to come in. When I heard nothing, I jiggled the knob and found the door locked. I patted my hair, pulling out the bobby pin that was tangled in there and crouching down. I glanced around, watching for any passerby's before sticking the bobby pin in.

As a child, my father would often punish me for stupid reasons. Most of the time it would be for talking back. So he figured he would teach me a lesson by locking up my toys and books in his computer room before he left for work for the day. I had learned this little trick from my mother, who had often agreed that I had done nothing to deserve punishment. She said she would deny all knowledge of teaching me this trick if I had ever gotten caught, but that had never been a problem. I could have been a wonderful thief if I had it in me.

"Gotcha!" The door clicked open. I slipped inside, still crouched down as I quietly closed the door behind me. I crawled across the floor, circling around Fury's desk and heading towards the cabinets. It was no surprise they were on lockdown, either. After opening them, I searched through the files, finding my father's before placing it on Fury's desk. I stood up, quickly crossing the room and locking the door once more before sitting down at Fury's desk.

Most of the file was pictures of him working, with vials in hand and him buried in papers. I had never known that my father had previously worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. The file had said he had been fired for doing experiments behind Fury's back, which had gotten him on his bad side. The last page in the file was a picture of two babies, attached to a long lab report.

Written in the chicken scratch I knew as my dad's handwriting, it read 'To duplicate the results of what is now Captain America, we are creating a new serum that shall turn the human into a superhuman to be used in Fury's army. Two young baby girls are being used, for it is in my belief that it must start at a young age. The only test subject to be allowed was my own daughter, and a close friend of mine's newborn baby girl.'

I stopped reading after that, grabbing the picture of the two babies and staring at it closely. I glanced at the back, seeing my name written beside another name labeled 'Elizabeth Hurley'. I frowned, dropping the picture and rubbing my temples. This was enough new information to last me a lifetime, I felt a growing pit of sadness growing in my stomach.

To think I'd been living with a man who tested unknown substances on children was disgusting. I let out a soft sigh; I had known when I had come here that I'd find things I didn't want to. I stood up with the file, placing it back in his rightful place. I was about to leave when I noticed a frayed paper on the ground. I leaned down, picking it up and scanning it. It was another lab report of my father; however the test subject this time around had been…

My mother.