Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: for the people that have been waiting, Calista appears in this story once more :)

Thank you WithinHerHeart for beta reading this story :)


Chapter 6

The aircraft was hovering over Germany, just a few miles out of Stuttgart where the facial recognition software that S.H.I.E.L.D possessed had found an exact match to Loki, and Fury had instructed that Natasha and Steve go in.

"What about me Nick?" Dahlia had found herself asking.

Fury locked his eye on her and arched an eyebrow. "Considering your aversion to these kinds of confrontations, I thought you'd be happy to sit this one out."

She wasn't happy that her friends were going out there without any kind of back-up, but she couldn't deny that she was relieved she didn't have to. Despite her reservations about the god of mischief, her experiences of using her abilities had ended badly 90% of the time and with all those civilians down there…no, she couldn't take the risk.

Dahlia watched, arms folded across her chest and propped up against the entrance to the changing room (she really couldn't think of a better name for it), as Steve shrugged into the updated Captain America uniform. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and gestured her forward, turning his back to her.

"Zip me up?"

"You know, this would be a strange thing for my male best friend to say in any other situation than this," Dahlia muttered, mostly to herself, as she brought the two pieces of fabric together. The edges of the durable fabric met and locked together, leaving no appearance of a seam behind. The wonders of technology…

"You're worried," Steve stated confidently.

"Yes, I am. You're going out there to fight a god, Steve. Worry is a normal reaction for ones friends," Dahlia retorted.

"I'll be fine," he brushed off her concerns.

"Don't be so flippant," she snapped, "You've forgotten, I've met him before. He doesn't look like much of a fighter, that I'll give you, but he's smart and he has this thing…the way he can get into your head, make you see things, you can't just…" she shook her head firmly.

"Hey," Steve said softly, offering an encouraging smile, "I'll be fine…"

"You better be," Dahlia threatened, maybe too weakly to have the desired affect, "Because I'm telling you, I will bring you back and kill you myself, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Steve nodded dutifully, his expression mimicking mock seriousness.

"Glad that's understood solider," Dahlia nodded, falling into character easily. She reached out to hold onto the infamous shield and held it out in offering, "Good luck."

He reached out to ruffle her hair. "Have fun with Dr. Banner," he winked at her, his smile knowing, before turning to make his way towards the helicarrier runway.

Dahlia frowned deeply. "What's that supposed to mean?" she called after him, demanding an answer that she never received.

Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do, about you now

She huffed in annoyance, folding her arms across her chest. Natasha curved silently around her, eyebrow arched as she gave her friend a pointed look.

"Answer your sister," she told her firmly.

Dahlia was stubbornly silent for a moment, but when she realised the S.H.I.E.L.D agent would stand there until she did as she was told, she sighed and reluctantly brought her phone out of her back pocket. She looked at the caller ID hesitantly for a moment before answering. She took a pause, breathing deeply, before holding the phone to her ear.

"…Hello?" she answered unsurely.

"Hello? Hello! That's all you have to say to me!" Calista's voice thundered down the phone line, making Dahlia wince and hold the phone a little away from her ear. "I've been calling you since nine o'clock this morning – nine o'clock! – with no answer! You've had me worried sick! Do you know why you don't answer your phone? S.H.I.E.L.D is putting my baby sister into another ridiculously dangerous situation because the world is always bloody ending! The last time you did this, you were attacked by a giant flame throwing robot! And you were in hospital for three weeks!"

"I know, Callie, I was there…" she reminded weakly.

Natasha smirked in amusement and Dahlia narrowed her eyes into a glare. She mouthed the words 'I hope you're happy', to which the red head nodded and gave her a little salute before continuing down the rest of the corridor, grabbing the weapon holster on a hanger as she passed and attaching it to her waist.

"Then you should know better than anyone what not answering your phone means!" Calista argued. She paused to take a deep breath, and Dahlia could practically hear her sister counting to ten.

"I am sorry, I've just been…busy…"

"Busy? Busy with what?"

Dahlia breathed out a sigh. "Calista, you know I'm not supposed to tell you anything about S.H.I.E.L.D business."

"When has that ever stopped you before?" Calista questioned almost nervously.

"Well, since now. This…is different. I don't want to get you involved," Dahlia admitted.

There was a moment of silence. "…Are you going to fight?"

"No," Dahlia answered quickly, "At least not yet. Not unless it's absolutely necessary, I promise that. Director Fury wants me to help Bruce in the lab."

"Who's Bruce?" Calista wondered.

"He's a gamma rays expert that S.H.I.E.L.D recruited as a consultant. Fury thought it would be good for us to work together, considering our parentage…"

"Well, if anyone was going to be able to help, it was going to be you," she responded dryly. "So…is he cute?"

"Calista!" she hissed exasperated.

"What?" Calista answered defensively, "It's a valid question. Besides, I need some kind of good news from this phone call. Besides, I'm your older sister; it's my job to pry mercilessly."

"Well, you do a good job of it." Dahlia answered sourly.

"…So? Is he?" she pressed the matter after a moments pause.

"Urgh, fine, yes – yes, he's cute. He's also unbelievably smart and has this adorable awkwardness about him, are you happy?" she snapped.

"Well, it'll do," Calista replied smugly. "Cute, smart and awkward, eh? Sounds like someone you'd like."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Dahlia wondered with a sigh. She reached a hand up to rub her temples. "So, yeah, he's an attractive guy, but that doesn't change that this is hardly the time to be discussing this kind of thing, does it? We're here on business, and it'll stay that way for the foreseeable future. Besides," she continued with a sigh, "I don't think he's the type of guy to think about me that way…"

"What, he bats for the other team?"

"No, Callie, he doesn't 'bat for the other team'," she rolled her eyes, "I mean, I don't think he's the type of person that looks at someone and sees them as thinks of them in any other way than friendly. He's just…too nice."

"It's the nice ones you have to watch out for," Calista reminded her wisely.

"That may be, but that doesn't mean every nice guy is plotting a way of getting women out of their knickers," she stated amused.

Dahlia looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat and met Bruce's gaze. He was holding a large amount files unsteadily in the crook of his arm and rocked on the balls of his feet. For a split second, she wondered how much he had heard but judging by the flush that had appeared on his cheeks, she'd say it was long enough. She felt her cheeks heat up and bit her bottom lip.

"Um, Callie, I think I'm going to need to call you back later. I'm, uh, being summoned," she lied carefully.

"Summoned?" Calista repeated the word ludicrously, "Ooh, do you mean Bruce is there? You don't need to lie to me sis, I know when to take a hint."

"Really, it's not like that…" she tried to explain.

"Just remember don't do anything I wouldn't do," Calista teased.

Dahlia ended the call abruptly, frustrated. "Bloody sisters…" she grumbled.

"I hear siblings can be nosy," Bruce offered, as if attempting some kind of empathy.

She couldn't help smiling slightly. "Yeah, and my sister is the queen," she retorted, "What's with the folders?"

"Oh, I uh, found some more files on the Tesseract project…" he shifted the large pile in his arms.

Dahlia took half the pile from him, despite his protests that he could carry them. She shifted and balanced the heavy weight. She smiled reassuringly. "Come on, this is a lot to get through."

"Uh, right," Bruce agreed and quickly took the lead.

Dahlia moved to follow but paused. She glanced behind her and watched as a helicarrier, Natasha at the wheel, rolled past the opening. She bit her bottom lip worriedly.

Be safe.


The next chapter will reveal some basics about Dahlia, and maybe even Bruce's (but since I haven't really watched the modern movies, or read the comic book, this may be made up or googled information) past and background.

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