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Devon peered into the microscope for the third time. The few minutes had led to no change. Their current experiment was going nowhere which was frustrating. Every other day they would work on her problem. She had both Tony and Bruce's support in the issue. The other days they worked on Stark Industries projects that in most cases were actually Avengers work.
She shared the plans for both the Helicarrier and Quinjet with both of them. She also shared with Tony some of the knowledge that her mother had on his father's projects. Those days were the better days. The team was more productive and it felt less like they were running into a brick wall. Repeatedly.
She was staring through the microscope at that brick wall.
"Arrahh!" Devon shouted in frustration. Quickly she backed away from the equipment for the safety of the lab. Instead, she paced in the open area giving her time to cool down.
Tony and Bruce barely looked up from their work. They were adapting easily to her responses to the stress. To her benefit, Devon was learning to control her reactions more with each day. All of her reactions.
In the evenings, Devon was spending time with Steve. They were taking it slow and for now, they were happy.
Devon smiled remembering the previous evening. They had watched some old movies like 'Casablanca' and 'The Maltese Falcon'. She had surprised Steve with the fact that she liked the old films. Seeing his face light up when she said the titles was more than she could have ever asked for. She was grateful to her mother for teaching her so much of the past. Devon could not begin to imagine what her mother would think about her relationship with Steve.
With each step back and forth, Devon calmed down a little more. Thinking about Steve had a way of doing that to her. Of course, that is when he is not getting her heart racing by just being close.
There was a loud crash from the hallway drawing all of their attention. Before they could do anything, a group of three men heavily armed came barging into the lab. JARVIS had not warned them of the intruders. Devon's system had only just signaled the warning light when they entered. She could not help but feel some admiration for these criminals.
"Stand and back away from the computers," shouted one of the men with a thick European accent.
The men who had entered the lab matched SHIELDs description of the group that called themselves Enclave. Their records thought that there was possibly a fourth man as well, however they had no records on who that man could be. Devon could not help but wonder where that fourth man could be.
Devon already in the middle of the room stayed where she was as the men backed away from their terminals. She raised her hands in a show of meek compliance. She wanted their attention on her, that way she could be in control of the situation. Control was relative though, the men before her felt like they were in control all while keeping the men behind her calm so that their reactions would not fuel any possible explosion.
In her peripheral vision, she could see Bruce and Tony behind her but not enough to know their situation. Tony could be cocky sometimes but without his suit, he would be just as vulnerable as anyone. Luckily, for once Tony was silent.
On her other side, she could hear the sharp breathing from Bruce. Devon risked looking over her shoulder. The scientist was huffing and shaking slightly.
"Easy Doctor," Devon said quietly with a small smile, "there's no need to get angry… yet."
Bruce closed his eyes when she spoke. His breathing was only just a little calmer. She had to hope he could stay in control of his other self, at least long enough for her to diffuse the situation. She did not need much time she only needed to get to the computer.
Two of the men went to her terminal, but from her current vantage point, she could not see what they attempting to do. She knew that her programs had safety protocols and the loss of control could lead men to act irrationally.
Slowly Devon took a step forward, which one of the attackers matched by having a large weapon of unknown type waved at her. The others carried assault rifles and pistols, so Devon kept her focus on the larger unknown gun.
"Stay where you are," the big man growled at her.
"I was just wondering if I could help," Devon frowned at her wording. "That's my terminal and I just think it might go better if I could…" She pointed at the computer taking a step forward.
The pair at the computer spoke quickly in Russian, and one of them nodded sharply. The one with the big weapon tipped his head before he stepped aside allowing Devon to walk up to the computer.
Devon stood in front of the terminal. She looked back and forth between the men on either side. She was waiting for one of them to tell her what they were doing. When they were not forth coming she asked, "What is it you are after?"
"All of it," the Russian man said gruffly. "All of the plans, the designs, the electronic devices. All of it."
"Okay," Devon said nodding, "it'll take some time, but I'll get it started."
Devon started typing rapidly. Programming windows popped up as she entered the system in a base code system. Swiftly she deactivated her safety protocols allowing Jarvis to signal the others with an alarm. She also put in place an encryption program so that any of the data that did go through the transfer would be unusable on the other side.
Within moments, the alarm sounded with a shrill ring as Devon stepped back from the computer. The attackers quickly became agitated, brandishing their weapons. Chaos was what she had been hoping for; she just needed to keep her charges safe until the others could get there.
"So, don't know what you did," Tony said rolling his eyes, "but you seem to have gone crazy for a moment."
The comment gave the attackers something to focus on as unspoken they targeted Tony with their anger at being stopped. The trigger clicked as the man pulled it and in the instant before the strange weapon fired, Devon moved herself between the gun and Tony who no matter what he said was just a man when he was not in his suit. Unlike most guns, this weapon did not shoot bullets. The energy pulse struck Devon in the gut. The pain was like nothing else. She crumpled forward clutching her ribs as several of them broke simultaneously. The weapons energy surged through her doing more damage than just the initial impact.
Jolts of energy pulsed through her, ripping and tearing her apart with each passing second. The weapon was doing something to her. She had never thought it possible but this weapon was killing her with just a simple blast.
Before she lost consciousness, Devon saw a whirl of red, white and blue amongst the chaos.