Dedicated to Kyla, who is lovely and wonderful for bouncing ideas off of

CHAPTER EIGHT

Angel returned to the lab, still feeling a little worried about Sharon. She internally berated herself for not having thought of the ramifications if Sharon were to get near or even touch Bruce.

"Sorry about that, Shar was just feeling a little airsick" Angel said upon entering the lab, stopping when she saw that they had another visitor.

Natasha Romanoff leaned against Sharon's desk; she and Bruce were staring at each other intently. They looked over at Angel as she entered, "I think I got everything I need for now; I'll go see about those spectrometers." Bruce said quietly, passing past Angel to exit the lab.

Angel looked over at Natasha with a confused expression, "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing pertinent to your knowledge." Natasha said nonchalantly, "But you are the one with more interesting secrets." She said, looking at Angel with a knowing look on her.

Angel paused, calculating her next move in her head. She glanced up to the corner of the room where Sharon had pointed out Barton's nest a few days ago.

"Don't worry, he's busy with your friend." Natasha said.

"Did Fury tell you?" Angel asked, walking slowly over to her desk and sitting down.

"I'm also a skilled manipulator, but I don't need to have mutant genes to do it," Natasha said with a smile, "I figured something was going on, since you two are not science people and yet you are the heads of the mission. But unlike Barton, I think it's just easier to ask Fury first before going about the hard way and snooping around." She said with a smirk, Barton's fixation on Sharon amused her greatly.

"So Fury trusted you enough to tell him?"

"I don't know about trust, but he was kind enough to fill me in." Natasha uncrossed her legs and stood up, walking around Sharon's desk and sitting down in her chair. She turned and faced Angel, "I haven't seen many mutants in my life, and you two are very adept at keeping your secrets covered."

"It calls for secrecy when so many view us like abominations." Angel said.

Natasha, "Trust me, if you want to talk about abominations you should talk to Banner, he's seen is fair share," They lapsed into silence as they regarded each other.

"I'm sure you can understand why we would like to keep it a secret, at least for the time being." Angel said warily, wondering if she should use her manipulation to keep Natasha quiet.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, I just thought you should be aware that I know, and that Barton is determined to find out. But he won't from me." Natasha chose that moment to stand up, "And so you know, if you use your power against me you'll find yourself in a lot of trouble later."

With that she walked out of the room. Angel let out a breath at her desk, she leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling, I'm going to have to talk to Sharon about this and she's not going to be happy.

At that moment, Sharon walked through the door and skipped over to her desk, "Seems that Barton wants to be friends and be more chummy but he also openly admits he's going to do everything possible to figure us out." She laughed and sat down, spinning in her chair gleefully.

"Shar where is Barton now?" Angel asked warily, glancing up at the nest in case he was listening.

"Still at the shooting range doing his impression of Legolas," She said, still spinning around absent mindedly, "I wanted to stick around and watch, he does have nice arms… But I didn't want to be to obvious so I came back here, figuring Banner would be gone."

"Shar we need to talk."

"Is it about Steve? Because you two really need to just get together already, I mean you already eat breakfast together every morning; and don't tell me that's just business, I've seen you laughing and smiling."

Angel blushed, "We're just friends…" She muttered, shaking her head and standing up and walking over to her friend. She grabbed Sharon's chair and faced her so that they made eye contact, "Natasha knows."

Sharon went pale, "How?"

"She went to Fury and he told her. She said she isn't going to tell anyone, she just wanted to let me know that she knew."

"Oh please Ang, you and I both know not to trust a word she says! Remembered when she got past Tony to work in Stark industries? Who knows what she can do with the information she holds! She's probably going to use it against us, blackmail or whatever so that she holds power!" Sharon stood up from her chair and paced around her desk, "Please tell me you manipulated her so she won't tell anyone."

"I didn't have to," Sharon groaned and Angel walked around to try to keep Sharon from pacing a hold in the floor, "She's not going to tell anyone Shar!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Sharon yelled, startling Angel. Sharon shook her head, she was shaking with anger, "This is a mistake, we need to leave."

"Would it be the worst thing Shar? I know a lot of people hate mutants, but if anyone was going to understand it would be this team. For god sake! Banner turns into an enormous green rage machine if his pulse gets too high! Thor is a demigod and Steve is a super soldier from World War II!"

"My one stipulation for being here was that no one found out what we are. What if everyone assumes we are the heads of the mission because you manipulated everyone into making us the heads?" Sharon threw her hands up and turned around and walked out of the lab.

Just as she opened the door she ran into Steve, "Whoa there!" He grabbed her by the arms to steady her, "you all right?" Sharon felt the familiar tingle run down her spine and through her nerves. Normally the feeling made her feel empowered, but instead she felt anger. She smacked his arms off her and walked away quickly, leaving Steve looking after her in confusion.

Yes, they are mutants, I'm sure you can all guess Angel's power now. As for Sharon... Anyone wanna try and guess what she can do?

Feedback is always appreciated!

Alasiel