A/N - My apologies for the extended break from this story. I've had some other things to wrap up but now we're underway again.

"Holy shit!" Daniel mumbled astonishly, seeing a younger version of his father, Captain America standing in front of them.

"Oh, my, God," Anna gasped, at the moment she truly did believe that they had travelled back in time.

Daniel could not recall the last time that they had seen his father dressed like that. He had seen photo's but never the real thing. But it was surely him.

Captain America's eyes drifted from Daniel to Anna who stood slightly behind him. When the call had come in that a high level of radiation was detected near the Santa Monica Pier, he was expecting aliens. From what he could tell, they appeared as human as the next person. They could be just a couple of kids playing with some left over djtari technology left over from the New York City attack. But he had come to realize that after his experience with Loki, that it was possible that they weren't human. Still, they hadn't given him a reason to doubt that.

No one said another word until Captain America took a step forward.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said pleasantly, noticing that the pair looked a bit apprehensive. Except what he interpreted as apprehension, was simply shock. He swung his shield onto his back and smiled at them. "We just need you to tell us where the alien weapon is."

The voice was certainly Steve Rogers.

"Alien weapon?" Anna asked.

Daniel shook his head and then finally he spoke.

"I'm sorry," he told him with the utmost respect. "But if you could only understand. You need to let us go. It's important."

The smile disappeared on the Cap's face as he shook his head.

"I can't do that. If you could just answer some questions..."

Steve was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a muffled gun shot. First one, and then another less than a second later. He didn't even get the chance to react when the pair fell unconscious to the planked deck right in front of him. His eyes fell on Natasha who stood a few meters behind where Daniel and Anna had come to stop. She still held onto the rifle in her arms and had a smug expression on her face.

"What?" she asked, smirking.

"You didn't have to do that," Steve told her as he walked up to Daniel and Anna's unconscious forms on the ground. "We could have handled this without pulling out the tranquilizers."

"You were taking too long," she said, walking up to him and looking down at the two she had shot. She reached down and pulled the darts from the back of their necks. Natasha turned Daniel over onto his back and pulled out a cell phone and snapped a picture of him before doing the same with Anna. "Besides, this one is giving off a faint Extremis heat signature. I didn't think you'd want to become barbecue."

"Extremis, huh? We should call Stark in on this. He knows more about it than anyone."

Natasha nodded, and sent the photos back to S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I don't think they have been in contact with any alien weapons," Steve commented as he crouched down beside Natasha as she quickly scanned Anna and Daniel once again.

"Why do you say that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. "They seemed genuinely confused when I asked about a weapon."

Natasha smirked. "You're out of touch with kids these days, Rogers."

The helicopter that had been circling hovered above them as three agents descended on ropes onto the deck.

"Captain, S.H.I.E.L.D is evacuating the area," one of the agents told him. "We've already emitted the electrical disruptor over the pier and beach."

"There are going to be a lot of ticked off tourists when they realize that all their photo's are destroyed," Steve commented.

"Either that or this event will be all over the news," the agent told him.

The helicopter lowered a basket and Steve lifted Anna into it before doing the same with Daniel. Finally, the agents and both he and Natasha made their way up into the helicopter. When they were finally enroute and heading away from the pier, Natasha turned to Steve.

"S.H.I.E.L.D has started on the facial recognition on our pair here and so far nothing is coming up," she said, working at the computer embedded into the wall of the large helicopter.

"They may not be in the database," Steve said, sitting beside her.

Natasha shook her head. "It's taking images from around the world. If these two have shown their faces somewhere, anywhere, we would know. There is no governmental record of either of them. No drivers licences...not even a school ID card with a picture. Somehow they have evaded the worlds cameras or they just popped out of nowhere."

"You're leaning more onto the alien theory now, aren't you?"

"It's hard not too far fetched to consider now. Combined with the radiation they have been exposed to, it's becoming more of a possibility."

"We'll need to get blood tests done," Steve told her. "See if we can cross examine them with specimen's that Thor had given us."

"Excuse me, ma'am," an agent sitting in the front seat of the helicopter called out. "Just getting reports from HQ. Thor has suddenly arrived and was inquiring about a radiation spike within our atmosphere."

Steve caught Natasha's gaze.

"He was able to detect it from his planet?" she asked aloud.

"Tell HQ that we're on our way back and to let Thor know that we have the reason for the spike with us. Get S.H.I.E.L.D medical prepared for two patients and contact Stark. Let him know that there may be some aliens now using Extremis technology. He may be able to offer some insight into how they managed to get ahold of it and he may be able to stabilize it since he did that with Pepper."

"Yes, sir," the agent replied.

"Hopefully we can get some answers," Steve said softer, as he looked down at the man and woman laying unconscious in front of him.

It was then that his eye caught the black bracelet around Anna's wrist. He reached over and gently picked up her limp hand to get a closer look. He turned the bracelet within his hand, noticing the intriquit detail within the dark, hard metal. Two indentations caught his eye and he gently touched them. Instantly, an embedded light glowed from around the bracelet illiuminating letters that couldn't be seen before.

"Hey, Nat," Steve said, getting the woman's attention. "Take a look at this."

Natasha turned and leaned over Anna to see what Steve was looking at.

"It looks like some sort of medic-alert bracelet," he said, reading it aloud. "Asthma, allergies to dairy, shellfish, penicilin and strawberries."

Natasha looked closer. "Stark medical?"

Steve looked up at Natasha. "Care to retract your alien theory?"

"That's impossible," Tony said, interrupting Steve as he was in the middle of speaking. Maria Hill stood beside Captain America as he gave the rest of them an overview of what had occurred and he had discovered.

Steve turned from where he stood beside a holographic image of the bracelet showing the small Stark Medical logo beneath the list of allergies from Anna's medical bracelet. Tony sat at the table behind him along with Natasha, Thor, and Clint.

"It has to be some sort of knockoff with the Stark logo emblazed on it. I know all of Stark Medical's products and although that one is engenious, it is not mine."

Steve sighed and turned back to the image.

"Regardless, we know now that they are not alien," Steve said. "Blood tests are underway since we weren't able to identify them through facial recognition."

"So, is this just a false alarm?" Clint spoke up. "I thought we were dealing with radiation on a large scale that woudl indicate another invasion."

"You would think so," Steve replied.

"My planet detected the raditation coming from your world," Thor commented. "Think of it as throwing a stone int a pool; the ripples get larger over time. It will get the attention of other worlds if we do not discover the source soon, like the jtari."

"But Loki is dead. The Jtari army was destroyed," Natasha stated.

"That wouldn't stop them. They want their revenge and they'll seek us out thinking that Earth is weilding a high source of power. We must find out what these two humans were doing and how they came into contact with radiation of t hat magnitude."

"It would also be interesting to know why the girl has an Extremis signature," Agent Hill said, turning to look at Tony. Everyone else turned to look at the man as well.

"Don't look at me," he said. "I didn't want to be invited to this party. I was rather enjoying the private life away froma ll things strange and unusual."

"You know more about Extremis than anyone. We need your helpw tih this stark," Steve told him.

"Of course you do. But, it would help if we could find Banner and get him here as well."

"He's on his way. He should be here within the hour," Steve commented off-handedly causing everyone to stare at him blankly.

"What? Where has he been hiding out?"

Steve shrugged and glanced at Maria Hill before speaking. "It's above my clearance level. All I know is that S.H.I.E.L.D has been keeping an eye on him once they had tracked him down to his current position."

"I guess no one can truly get lost in this world while S.H.I.E.L.D is around," Stark stated.

It felt strange to be surrounded once again by S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Dr. Banner had never visited the newly built S.H.I.E.L.D compound. He hadn't seen anyone from the agency, Thor or Tony Stark since he went AWOL. Bruce was enjoying the solitude but he also knew that it was only a matter of time before someone tracked him down. Actually, he was rather surprised to find that it wasn't Stark who first sought him.

Bruce followed the agent leading him down the hallway until they paused at a doorway. With a punch at the keypad, the agent unlocked the door and pushed it aside, allowing Dr. Banner into the room.

Tony Stark stood up from where he sat at a desk across the room. Upon seeing Dr. Banner walking through the door, Tony stood up and extended his hand towards the other man. Banner shook it.

"It's good to see you Dr. Banner," Stark told him, he glanced at his apparel. It was then that Bruce realized it had been a while since he had shaved last. Being on his own, he tended to neglect such tasks. Stark certainly didn't hesitate to tease him.

"I see you're fully embrassing that Castaway look," Tony quipped, gesturing to his own face. "Don't tell me you have a soccer ball with your handprint in your bag."

"I'm more of a basketball guy, actually," Bruce replied back with a smirk.

He glanced at the table holding a holographic projection behind Tony before walking with the man towards it. He was eager to help S.H.I.E.L.D with their current predicament involving their two guests and get back to being on his own.

"This is the DNA in question?"

Tony nodded as Bruce put on his glasses to take a look at Stark's findings. "One of the two. This DNA has markers for the Extremis virus but it's not active within the genes. It's completely embedded in the DNA as though it has always been there and always been dormant."

"That doesn't make sense," Bruce said, reaching towards the holographic representation on the table to turn the DNA strand in front of him. "When you and I caused Pepper's Extremis to become dormant, it still gave a good representation of the virus within her genes. It was a separate part."

Tony nodded, crossing his arms as he watched while Dr. Banner split the DNA strand down to the gene markers.

"The only conclusion I can come up with is that this DNA was never embedded with the Extremis virus. It was created from someone who was infected with it."

Dr. Banner turned to look at Stark. "If that's true, then the only way that can occur is if she was conceived from someone who already had Extremis."

"One of her parents must have carried the virus at one point," Stark concluded.

"But that wouldn't make much sense," Bruce said. "I was briefed on the way in and I was told that this woman that S.H.I.E.L.D is holding hostage is at least twenty years old."

"Yeah, and Advance Ideas Mechanics began the research in the late 1990's. It would be impossible even if she was related to one of their very first test subjects."

"It doesn't make any sense," Bruce said softly, shaking his head. He paused for a moment and looked at Stark. "Has S.H.I.E.L.D thought of...I don't know...like, questioning them?"

Stark shrugged. "You'd think so. But I haven't left this room for a few hours. If it wasn't for my stomach, I wouldn't know it was close to lunch. I'm getting something to eat. Are you hungry?"

Bruce shook his head. "You go ahead. I'll get caught up on what you've been working on."

"I'll be back."

Stark left the room, leaving Dr. Banner alone with the image in front of him. He leaned forward and turned the DNA strand around once again.

"S.H.I.E.L.D should have a record of all known Extremis patients, right?" he asked himself, aloud. "It's a long shot but maybe I can match up a DNA sequence somewhere."

He sat down at the table and began.

Daniel opened his eyes. The bright lights above him caused him to squint. A low hum echoed in the air but either than that, it was absolutely silent.

It took him a good few seconds to realize what had happened and what he last remembered. He quickly sat up on the cot and looked around frantically. He was alone.

Daniel stood up and looked towards the obvious two-way mirror on the wall. For all he knew, he was being watched. Knowing S.H.I.E.L.D, he probably was being observed every second, especially now that he had woken up. If there was no one behind the mirror, chances are there was a camera.

He walked up to the mirror and put his hands on his hip.

"Where is the woman I came with?" he stated.

No answer.

"Come on! Nothing?"

With a sigh, he turned and saw the security camera in the upper corner of the room. Towards the middle, there was a small table with two chairs on either side of it.

Daniel ran his hands over his face before a thought suddenly came to him. He reached down and felt his pockets for the USB card, only to find that his pockets were emptied. That was no surprise to him. It was then that he heard the lock on the door click before it was pushed open. Two armed S.H.I.E.L.D agents walked in before a woman in a one-piece uniform and carrying a tablet stepped through the door.

He didn't recognize her as a current S.H.I.E.L.D agent that he had been trained with. That didn't surprise him though. In his time, this woman would've been in her mid-fifties while he was in training. If anything, she would've been reassigned a desk job by then if she was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D in their time at all.

"You can take a seat," she told Daniel.

"I think I'd rather stand."

The woman pursed her lips. "Suit yourself."

She proceeded to sit down in the chair and crossed her legs before staring up at Daniel. The two agents that had accompanied her into the room stepped off to the side and stood along the wall, keeping their eyes on Daniel.

"My name is Agent Maria Hill," she told him, holding the tablet on her lap. "I just want you to answer a few questions. First off, what is your name?"

"I wont be answering anything until you can tell me what happened to my colleague," he told her smugly. "Where is she?"

Maria nodded.

"She's fine. She's in another area of the facility."

"Why?"

"For our safety and protection."

"Protection from what? She's not dangerous!"

"I'm not certain if you're aware but she had a gene called Extremis," Maria told him. "Under certain circumstances, it's possible that she can become a hazard to my people and to this facility. This is merely a precaution."

"I'm not answering anything until I know she's fine," Daniel stated harshly.

With a sigh, Hill looked down at the tablet. Daniel watched as she tapped a few commands before turning it on the table and pushing it towards him.

"As I said, she's perfectly fine."

What Daniel saw made him feel unnerved.

Anna sat on a bench with her ankles and wrists shackled in front of her, her hands encased within a cylinder that she held between them.

Agent Hill could clearly see that the live feed video of where Anna was being held caused him to become angry. She could see his jaw clench as did the two men at the wall. They both took a step forward as Daniel glared at Maria.

"We haven't done anything wrong and she isn't dangerous," Daniel snapped. "Confining her like that is barbaric."

"We will decide that. In the meantime, it would be helpful if you can answer my questions. Like, why there seems to be a high level of radioactive concentration emitting from the two of you."

Daniel scoffed and ran his hand through his hair. If this was the S.H.I.E.L.D. his parents turned their backs on nearly two decades ago, he could certainly see why. He had no idea how he was going to get themselves out of this mess. According to the plan, they were never supposed to come into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D or anyone from this time.

"Fine then," Maria said, seeing the defiance within the man standing in front of her. She pulled out the USB stick that had been pulled from Daniel's pocket and placed it on the table. "Let me know the encryption code to get into the files on this stick."

"I don't have it," Daniel told her, crossing his arms.

Agent Hill picked up the USB stick. "You see, my computer scientists have discovered something unique about this thing. The encryption software is so far advanced that they are unable to crack it. Why is that?"

Daniel shrugged innocently. "I have no idea. Maybe it's because you're not authorized to open it."

"Let me tell you what I think," Maria began. "You and your girlfriend here, came into contact with some alien tech. The two of you analyzed it, pulled it apart, and even used some of the software and put it onto this drive."

"That's...that's pretty impressive," Daniel stated. "I would never have come up with that one."

"Another thing that has my mind boggled is this," she said, pulling out a bracelet. Daniel recognized it immidiately. "It was on your girlfriends wrist. It's a medic-alert bracelet, am I right?"

Daniel nodded.

"What intrigued us is the technology within it," Maria said, lifting it up and pressing the two buttons on either side, illuminating it. "Not only does it state her long list of allergies and medical issues, but it has a small insignia for Stark Medical. Within this seemingly simple bracelet, there is a tracking system embedded within it. Now, oddly enough, this technology doesn't exist within the inventory for Stark Medical. Tony Stark confirmed it himself."

Daniel shrugged. "Chinese knock-off. Companies copy everything these days."

Maria sighed and paused for a second before continuing. "You know, you never answered my first question. What is your name?"

"I can't answer that."

"Why not?"

"I was given direct orders," he told her.

"Orders from whom?"

Daniel weighed his options. If he was going to be able to complete the mission, he'd have to say something eventually. He decided to pull out his Ace.

"The same man who is the only one capable, besides my friend and I to open the encryption on that drive. Phil Coulson."

He watched emotions flash across Maria Hill's face.

"Agent Coulson is dead," she said, her voice softer.

A small smile appeared on Daniel's face.

"Are you going to tell me that Fury is dead too?"

Again, she attempted to hide any internal thoughts from flitting across her face. It was obvious that she heard his sarcasm within the comment.

"I'll only answer questions from Director Coulson."