AN: Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! Don't forget, italics are flashbacks.

AN: Someone: Thanks for the reviews! I love getting them from you! I'm glad you love the story so much. It's nice to see someone getting enjoyment out of my writing. Can't wait to hear what you think! J

Vern Hessling runs through the woods. Fury had dropped him off a mile down the road and he had to move fast to get to his destination in time. Fury found out that Romanoff and Barton were going to be attacked; that whoever was going to attack them was going after their daughter, and it was his job to make sure they didn't succeed. Hessling comes to a stop and he slowly makes his way to the edge of the woods. He crouches down and peers out of the bushes at the house before him, watching for anything out of the ordinary. There is a sound and Hessling looks around for the creator of it. He doesn't have to wait for long when a group of ten people quickly make their way up to the front of the house. Hessling quickly scurries through the woods until he gets to the back of the house and runs up to the back right window. Fury had told him which one was the window to the nursery before he left. There is a loud crash and bang from the front of the house. He hears some shouts and some more loud noises. Seeing it as his time, Vern picks up a rock and smashes the window, clearing the glass free of the frame. Hessling reaches up and pulls himself onto the ledge and through the window, dropping to the floor. He looks around and sees the crib across the room. Vern runs over and wraps up Alex in the purple blanket and picks her up, carrying her back to the window. There is a loud crash from nearby and Hessling looks behind him making sure he doesn't need to eliminate any threats. There is a whooshing noise and then a thump from outside the door. Vern turns and climbs out the window, holding Alex tightly as he jumps down to the ground. He runs into the woods and doesn't look back, knowing where he is to take the baby.

AVENGERS

Alex walks out the door into SHIELD's garage. Don looks up at her, sending her a smile. Alex forces a smile on to her face. Don grabs the keys to the Camaro and hands them to her.

"Thanks Don," Alex says, taking the keys and walking to where she sees the Camaro parked. She unlocks the doors and throws her bag in the backseat before climbing into the front and starting up the car, driving off. Once outside of SHIELD, Alex puts on the gas and speeds to the edge of the city, her destination clear in her mind.

AVENGERS

Johnny walks into Alex's room and looks around, not seeing her anywhere. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion; she should still be in here, but maybe she got up earlier than usual today. He exits the room and begins searching SHIELD for her. He walks into the archery range but doesn't see her there either. Sighing, Johnny makes his way to the gym. Walking in, Johnny looks around and again doesn't see Alex anywhere. A girl walks by him and Johnny gently grabs her, stopping her forward motion.

"Hey, Leiya, have you seen Alex anywhere?" he asks the girl. Leiya looks over at him and shakes her head. Johnny purses his lips and turns around to go check the garage; maybe she had gone to visit Avenger tower. Johnny walks out the door and over to Don's room. Don looks up when Johnny leans up against the counter.

"Johnny," Don says in greeting giving him a knowing look. Johnny offers him a smile.

"Hey Don. Has Alex come through here at all?" Johnny asks with a furrow of his brow. Don nods his head.

"Yeah, about a half hour ago. She took the Camaro. I assumed she was going to visit her parents. It's what she usually does," Don answers with a nod of his head. Johnny nods his head, thanking the middle aged man before going back inside. A blonde agent approaches him.

"Coulson wants you in his office," he says with a nod in the direction of said office. Johnny nods his head and the blonde man leaves. Johnny walks through the halls, rounding a corner and knocking on one of the doors.

"Come in," Coulson's voice sounds through the door. Johnny opens the door and walks in, noticing not only is Coulson here but Fury as well.

"Sir?" Johnny asks, his eyebrows furrowing, wondering what's going on.

"We'll explain as soon as Alex gets here," Fury replies cryptically, looking at Johnny.

"She went to Avengers Tower," Johnny says, glancing at Coulson before looking back over at Fury. Coulson raises his eyebrows.

"When?" he asks urgently, leaning forward on his desk.

"Uh…Don said she left about a half hour ago," Johnny says warily, not liking the look Coulson has on his face.

"I just got off the phone with Barton. He said Alex called Romanoff and said she was sick; she wasn't coming out today," Phil says, looking over at Fury.

"This isn't good," Fury says, looking between Coulson and Johnny. "We called you in here to tell you, you had to keep an eye on her. I've been getting intel that the people who tried to kidnap her years ago have been spotted."

"If she's off the grid…" Coulson says, trailing off, shaking his head. "We need to call Barton and Romanoff."

"They're not going to be happy," Fury says, giving Phil a look which Coulson returns with a determined glare.

"They'll be even more pissed if we don't tell them," Coulson counters, already taking out his phone and making the phone call.

AVENGERS

"You did what?!" Romanoff shouts angrily. Before anyone can do anything, she has slammed Fury into the wall behind him, her forearm in his throat. Coulson stands off to the side, knowing this was going to happen. He looks over at Barton, his fingers twitching for his bow and arrow on his back. The only thing keeping him from putting one through Fury's body is Steve's hand on his arm and Bruce stepping between Clint and Fury. Fury had just finished telling the whole of the Avengers the complete truth about Alex's kidnapping.

"We did what had to be done. No one could know where she was. It was just me and Hessling and even still they found them," Fury tries to explain, Romanoff's forearm digging into his throat.

"Her parents are SHIELD's top agents, they used to be assassins. You didn't think she was safest with them?" Tony bites out, glaring at Fury.

"We could have protected her. At least she would have been with us," Clint growls, taking a step forward. Steve Rogers pulls him back and Bruce Banner rests a hand on Clint's chest. Clint looks down at Banner's hand, glaring at it, before turning his glare to Banner's face. To Bruce's benefit he doesn't back down. Coulson steps forward and rest a hand on Natasha's arm, waiting for her to let Fury go. Reluctantly, Natasha forcibly let's Fury go and steps back, but still aims a glare at him.

"Whether you like me now or not, we need to find out where Alex is. If these people find out she's still alive? Where she is? Before we do? She will be in danger," Fury says, looking at each of the Avengers.

"We're going to need all the help we can get, so I called in Thor," Coulson adds, making sure to look at Romanoff and Barton.

"Thor can come so soon from the last time he was here?" Banner asks, glad he is coming but knowing Thor is also ruling Asgard.

"He was very determined to come help when he heard Alex was in trouble," Coulson assures the team as he meets Banner's gaze.

"Who are these people?" Barton asks Coulson but is still sending Fury a death glare. Phil looks over at Fury who nods his head, seeing the group is more inclined to talk to Coulson over him right now.

"The best we've been able to find out is they call themselves Dark Renegade," Coulson says hesitantly, knowing they don't have much to go on.

"We know the leader is called the death serpent, but other than that, we don't have much on him," Fury chimes in, causing the glares he's receiving to darken.

"So you're telling me, you've been chasing these guys for over a decade and you've got nothing on them? And we have no clue where our daughter is?" Clint all but shouts at Fury, his body and jaw tensing in anger.

"Okay, well then let's look at the other important part of this. Where would Alex go?" Rogers asks, taking a step forward, putting himself in the middle of the group, making eye contact with everyone.

AVENGERS

Alex pulls the car off the road onto a pull off. She puts the Camaro in park and turns it off. Climbing out of the car, she grabs a map she had picked up at the local store of the surrounding woods and trails. She opens it up and pulls a marker out of her back pocket. She searches the map for a few minutes before finding what she's looking for and circles it numerous times with the marker. She had seen where the house she spent her first ten years of her life was on Nina's computer screen before they were interrupted. She looks at the map some more, only not as long, and finds where she is now and circles it once, drawing a line from it to her destination. Looking at the map for a moment and sighing, Alex replaces the marker in her back pocket and folds the map up in a way that it only shows the section she needs. She locks the doors to the car after grabbing her backpack, and enters the woods through a path nearby.

AVENGERS

Alex walks through the woods, glancing down at the map in her hands to make sure she's heading in the right direction. According to the map, she was almost at the house. She looks back up and sees a clearing up ahead. She quickens her pace until she reaches it and puts the map in her bag. Alex crouches down behind some bushes and watches the house carefully. The grass around it is cut and a table and chairs are on the porch. Nothing is falling apart and there are objects lying around that weren't there when she had lived there, so it seems to be inhabited by someone. Alex waits a little while longer but doesn't see anyone around. She stands up and warily walks over to the house, up the steps, and to the front door. She glances around before knocking on the door, waiting for someone to answer. She knocks one more time, in case her first one wasn't heard, and waits once again with the same result.

Alex looks around once more and pulls out a lock pick set from the inside pocket of her jacket. She squats down in front of the door and quickly picks the lock, opening the door slowly. She sneaks in the house, putting her lock pick set away and looking around her. She keeps her eyes and ears open as she walks through the house, looking around. As she approaches the living room, Alex's eyes fall on the spot where she had found Vern lying in his blood on the floor. She tears her eyes away and continues searching throughout the first floor of the house. She doesn't see anyone and doesn't notice anything that can help her with what happened all those years ago.

Alex moves up the stairs quietly, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone that might be hiding in the house. She steps on a stair and it creeks loudly. She freezes and waits but doesn't hear anything so she continues up the stairs. She looks in the first room and sees it's the bathroom. The next room shows a furnished bedroom, one that she remembers used to be Vern's. Alex goes inside and begins searching throughout the room, in the drawers and dressers. She finds papers but nothing of any value to her. She leaves the room and continues down the hall to the last room; the room that used to be hers. Stopping at the closed door and pressing her ear against it, she listens carefully. When she doesn't hear anything, she slowly opens the door and peers inside.

Instead of a bedroom, Alex sees it's a study. She walks into the room, shutting the door behind her and begins searching. She moves to the desk first and begins searching through the drawers, moving on to the shelves and the boxes on the other side of the room. She opens the door to the closet and searches through it, but still doesn't find anything. Not that she expects to find anything lying around but she is hoping that maybe Vern hid something somewhere and the new owners never found it. She lets out a sigh of frustration and falls back into the wall behind her. A piece of wood from the paneling in the closet falls to the ground. Alex moves and turns around, looking down at it. Her eyes move up to where the panel was and notices a small compartment in the wall. Alex raises an eyebrow and she moves closer to the compartment and pulls out a journal and a file folder from inside it.

Alex moves to the desk, setting her backpack on the floor beside her and opens the file. After close reading, Alex realizes that it contains information about the mission and who is after her: a group called Dark Renegade and someone called the death serpent. There isn't much in the file so Alex closes it up and puts it in her backpack before grabbing the journal and opening it up. It is in Vern's writing, that much she is sure. She begins reading it and soon finds that Vern had kept a log the whole ten years they had lived here. Intrigued, Alex begins reading through it trying to gather as much information on those ten years as she can.

AN: Please review and let me know what ya'll think! Love hearing from you!