Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Marvel and Annie or it's characters. The girls in the foster home and Ceri are based on the orphans from the musical Annie.

Chapter 6

Natasha informed the Avengers about recent hacks in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database during one of their catch ups. Fury had been grilling her and many agents to figure out who it was, but it was tricky to trace where they were coming from and who was doing it.

"They are clever," Clint said leaning back into the sofa. "Bouncing around the country like that and using different computers like that...classic. They better find out soon. Fury is getting a tad bit irritating ever since it started happening."

Steve frowned. "I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. could stop the hacks in a heartbeat."

"Oh they can," Clint replied. "They are just having a little fun and wasting time while their files go missing."

"Why is it whenever we do see each other all at once again, we always talk about S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Tony wondered aloud walking back to the seating area with a drink in his hand. "Why don't we talk about something else...like movies or something?"

"Yeah," Bruce agreed. "Why don't we talk about something else?" Talking about the organization made him uneasy at times. He wasn't too pleased with them after New York.

Clint nodded and looked over at Tony. "How is the search for the kid going?"

Tony tensed at the mention of Lessa. Over the span of three weeks he came up with nothing. It confused and frustrated the hell out of him. How hard is it to find an eleven year old girl? Apparently it is pretty hard for someone known to be a genius with advanced technology. "Not good, but I know for sure she isn't in the city anymore."

"WHat did you tell her foster mom?" Natasha asked, sipping on her drink.

"Nothing."

"You should tell her something soon and find the girl faster than you are right now. I would get some agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. to help you, but as we all know, their hands are tied."

Shifting in his seat, Steve looked up at Tony. "Someone has to find her soon. How old is she?"

Tony went through his memories back to when he took the kid back home. "Eleven." His heart fell at the number. An eleven year old foster kid was missing and was not even in one of the largest cities in the country. "She has to be found and I have to be the one that finds her. It has been weeks since she went missing."

"Anything can happen to a child who has been gone for that long," Bruce agreed with his head hung low. "She could be dead, Tony."

Tony shook his head. "No she isn't. I just have to look harder. Think of ways to find her I haven't already."

"Do what shield does and search any cameras or photographs," Natasha suggested. She set her glass down on the coffee table and smoothed out her dress. "Or anything suspicious that has happened around this area in the last couple of weeks."

"How about the hackings?" Clint added. "You said she disappeared about three agos, right? Isn't that when all the hacking drama started? That could be something to go off of."

Natasha's phone went off next to her glass and she picked it up, swiping the screen to unlock it.

"What is it?"

Locking the screen, she looked up at Tony. "I have a feeling you should come back to base with us."

Tony folder his arms. "Why?"

"Because I think you might want to see who was behind all the hacks."

Once Jennifer told her to hide, guns began to fire all around the house. Lessa hid under the moldy sink with her hands covering her ears with tears streaming down her face. She regretted her choice. She regretted her choice so much.

Boots shuffled along the flooring of the home with their guns pointed up as they went through, looking for the ex agent. Jennifer escaped through a window and hid under it in the bushes.

Lessa quieted her breathing as the boots came by the cabinet. They spoke in low voices with singals she didn't understand. Her slip up on bringing the computer with her wasn't exactly a mistake, but she didn't plan on the home invasion happening either. She didn't know what to expect to be honest. But all she knew is that they didn't know she was there.

More gunfire erupted and shouts came from outside with silence following. The silence came so sudden that Lessa didn't realize it at first. "Mom?" she croaked, uncovering her ears. She scooted towards the door of the cabinet and gently pushed it open, peering out into the kitchen.

There were tracks of mud and dirt all over the floor, but that was the most damage she could see. The light above the small stove was still on being the only source of light in the small room. Lessa released her hand from the wood. Her whole body shook as she was brough back into darkness. Her hand felt the bottom of the cabinet till it rested on the laptop she took with her. The files she took and copied were still on there, waiting for someone to read them.

The invasion happened right when Lessa was gearing up to sneak into a nearby S.H.I.E.L.D. facility out in the mountains. Jennifer told her that they were going to help someone escape. From all the maps and warnings that Lessa memorized, she knew deep down inside she knew she might not live through it.

What if the silence meant her mother was dead?

Lessa felt indifferent about the subject of Jennifer being dead. After all she had only known Jennifer for a few scary weeks. It still baffled her that someone would make their child do all this . Lessa was eleven years old for crying out loud! She should know better than to go through with a plan she was not comfortable doing! Lessa wanted to say something to Jennifer, but she forgot her worries until she went to sleep at night. AT night was when all the information she absorbed during the day came back like cold water, dumping her with guilt and regret.

"We lost her!" A voice growled from outside the kitchen after the moment of silence.

"Keep searching the area!" Ordered another voice. "She can't be far from us. Perez can vanish for only a certain amount of miles at a time. Go!" Boots pounded away from the house.

A different voice, more light, spoke up after the group left. Lessa couldn't tell whether it was male or female, but it didn't sound as threatening as the one giving off orders. "I think there might be someone else in the house. I saw another cot in one of the rooms." More were going to come back in to search for her.

Lessa gathered up the little courage she had and opened the cabinet door with the laptop wrapped in her arm. Crawling out of the tiny space, she stayed at a low crouch. Popping up every now and then, she looked outside the cracked windows and to listen for the sound of the heavy boots.

This was her moment to escape before they searched the house. If they found her, and if her mother's words were true, they would take her into custody allowing them to do whatever they wanted with her. She couldn't let that happen.

Lessa crawled into the room her mother used and stared up at the open window. There weren't any sounds coming from outside that gave off the presence of the boots. Swallowing, she stood up and pulled herself over the windowsill and to the outdoors. The daylight grew dim as the sun began to set below the clouds and Lessa had to make sure the agents wouldn't see her. But the moment her feet touched the warm grass, she forgot all about being sneaky.

She broke out into a sprint across the untidy lawn and onto the street. Her bare feet ached each time her foot slammed onto the pavement as a plead to slow down for put on some shoes. Lessa ignored the pleas and kept her vision on what was ahead and not behind.

"We have a runner!" The agent who gave off orders announced from behind. Panic set in Lessa when she heard the boots following her. The tears came back, burring her eyes as sobs threatened to take over her body's energy that it needed to run.

Her pace began to slow and the boots never did. They kept at the same pace until they were right behind her as arms and hands pulled her back.

"Let me go!" She screamed at them through her tears. "Don't hurt me please! Let me go!" A pair of arms hoisted her body off of the ground and threw her over their shoulder. Her eyes squeezed shut and thrashed against the agent's hold on her. "Please," she sobbed, "Let me go!"

"It's okay. Everything is okay," the agent said, setting her down on her feet, but holding her wrists in place. "Hey, open your eyes. I won't hurt you."

Lessa didn't want to. Her eyes still had tears streaming from them and they wouldn't stop falling. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go home.

"Hey," the agent said again, wiping the tears from her eyes, "it's alright. You are safe."

Opening her eyes, Lessa glared at the agent that knelt down to her height. He was young, possibly in his twenties or thirties from what Lessa could estimate. His dark skin glistened with sweat from the heat of the day put he didn't wipe it off of his worried face as he tried to calm Lessa down. "How am I safe? You tried to kill my mom!"

The agent shook his head. Other agents dressed like him were coming close to the two and he waved them off. "That was your mom?" Lessa nodded. "We didn't try to kill her. Your mother committed countless crimes and we had to arrest her."

"But you didn't," Lessa pointed out, clenching her hands into fists. "She escaped."

The agent nodded. "But we will find her."

Lessa's blood boiled. "Why couldn't you find her before? Why couldn't you have found her before she took me and made hack into your system and steal your files?" The agent's face grew solemn at Lessa's confession.

"Did you do that on the laptop?" He asked in a calm voice, nodding towards the laptop an agent behind him holding the laptop that they took from her. Lessa nodded. "Here is what we are going to do: You will come with us and you can inform us on what happened while you were with your mother, alright?"

"And after that?"

Pursing his lips, the agent stood up. "I can't answer that. I'm sorry." He released one of her wrists and guided her towards a black truck that had to S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol on one of the doors and lifted her inside.

Things are officially rolling now that Lessa is being brought into S.H.I.E.L.D.! I don't know if I had mentioned this or not, but Maybe takes place before the Winter Soldier (hence Tony rebuilding his tower and S.H.I.E.L.D. still in working order). Who is Jennifer working for? I'm sure you may all know, but I had to ask. It's weird asking questions about what is about to happen. I'm going to stop now.

Thanks for reading!