A/N, All my stories stick to the same basic head cannon. These shorter crossovers add clues to the longer stories. This story is set about 2 years before Benji's Dream and 5 years before Virginia. I love playing with all these characters, but alas, they belong to Marvel and Universal- and ultimately Disney. Yes, I know Disney doesn't own Universal, but it's only a matter of time…

So, back to poor Dr. Marta who just found out what it's like to have the whole truth withheld from you. (Not that SHE ever did anything like that, of course)

Marta sat on the narrow bed in the infirmary staring through the window in the door. She could see two guards on either side of it. A nurse had brought her clean clothes, food, and medication to ease the pain of her aching head and muscles. Other than that - nothing. They would tell her nothing about where she was or where Aaron was –wait -that wasn't even his name. Well, of course it wasn't his name. But his name wasn't Kenneth either. She'd heard him say Clint Barton. Was that it? Was that his real name? Did he even have a real name anymore? And was he ok? He should have been in surgery by now. Did they have a surgeon here? Wherever HERE was? It felt like a ship – a very large navy ship, but she couldn't be sure. It had been two hours and the hard gurney was starting to look comfortable enough to sleep on. As if reading her mind, the nurse returned with a pot of tea and a blanket. "Try to rest, ma'am." Was all the woman said before she left again. Marta sipped the tea and pulled the blanket over her lap. She leaned back and fell asleep within a few minutes. And since she succumbed to fatigue, she didn't see the tall man dressed in black looking at her through the window.

Marta woke up with a start. Every part of her body hurt from the hellacious ordeal of the last week. She wondered if they might offer her more pain killers. She slowly walked over to the window and knocked. The guard motioned her to stand back and he opened the door. "Is anyone ever going to talk to me?" she asked.

The man looked sympathetic. "I'll let them know you're awake. "

"H-how long was I out?" she asked.

"About 6 hours. We can have some more food brought in if you like."

She nodded. "Thank you."

He closed the door and she heard it lock. So, they take good care of their prisoners here, she mused.

A few minutes later, a dark figure covered the window. She heard the door open and a very tall man wearing a black eye patch walked into the room carrying a tray of food. He set it on the side table and sat himself down in the one chair in the room. It was pretty clear he was NOT medical personnel.

"Dr. Schering, how are you feeling?" he asked in a deep, haunting voice.

She felt her lip quiver. Damn it. "F-fine, I guess. Who are you?"

"That's not important right now, Dr."

"What are you doing to do to me?" she whispered.

"Do TO you, Dr.? Nothing. It's what I can do FOR you that you might want to know."

"What's that?"

"Protection, Dr. I can offer you protection from the people who are still after you."

She wrapped her arms tightly around her knees and started to shake. "Still?"

The scary man gave her a soft smile. "They won't give up. I'm sorry about that. They think you know too much."

She looked at the floor and stayed silent.

Nick Fury stood up and took a deep breath. "One question." He said.

She glanced at him, "What?"

"Answer one question for me: honestly and to the best of your ability, and I can assure you that you will stay safe." He moved closer to her so that she had no choice to look at his face, an incredibly scary one. She flinched, so he moved back and sat do down.

His voice was softer this time. "Dr. Schering, where did you get the formula?"

She startled and looked back over at him. "What? What do you mean?"

Fury sighed again. "I said 'honestly', Dr."

She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"We analyzed the chems you gave Agent Barton. So, I'm going to ask again. Where did you get the formula?" He didn't sound as soft this time.

"L-lots of people worked on it. I don't know where it all came from."

Fury stood up in anger. "Fine you can stay in here until you decide you wanna talk. And if you don't, I'd be happy to drop you off back in Manila." He snorted and walked back out the door, slamming it behind him.

Marta felt tears welling up in her eyes and hugged her knees harder. She started rocking back and forth, sobbing. How? How could he have known?