AN: Have a great December everyone. Let me start by thanking my Beta MegaDiary123. Unfortunately university deadlines happened and I haven't had the chance to write at all this past week, so I only have one more chapter ready for you all. This means that I'll be uploading again next weekend and I'll let you know what's going on Saturday. Until then, please enjoy.

All rights go to Marvel

Clint's POV

I watched from high above when this alien appeared through the portal that the Tesseract had created. He appeared to be like a human, a man, and the encounter that I had with Thor popped up in my mind. I knew that even if I hit him, the chances of my arrow harming him were really low, so when I released it, I immediately ducked on the side, expecting the shot that came my way.

And so I remained hidden, not speaking into my comm, since I didn't want to distract Skye from dealing with the intruder or protecting the director. But when the man grabbed Skye, pressed his spear to where her heart was and she willingly put her gun back to its holster I knew something was wrong as a cold chill run through my spine. She took a step back and did nothing when the man moved on to, what was safe to guess, control other agents. Many people, had they seen how this played out, would have deemed it to be a rookie mistake, saying that she could have acted differently and prevented. But I was her S.O. and I knew very well how high her combat abilities were. So, if this guy managed to overpower her with only one arm, I knew the situation was not in our favour.

I didn't speak in my comm, knowing that even if I spoke to Skye, the chances of her snapping out of the alien's control were low. It was better for me to remain in hiding and see how the scene played out, closing in slowly so that if anything happened I would be near Fury.

"Please don't" the man broke the silence, making Fury stop in his tracks from taking the Tesseract and leaving the facility. "I still need that"

The director turned to the man so that he was facing him. From the corner of his eye he registered my movement but didn't act on it, not wanting to betray my location. "This doesn't have to get any messier" he stalled.

"Of course it does" the man reasoned. "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose" he spoke as if he held all the power in the world.

Well, it seemed that I was not mistaken when I thought that the guy could be of the same place as Thor was. The God of Thunder, if my memory didn't betray me, was of Asgard as well. And when Dr. Selvig said that he was the brother of Thor, it all clicked. The guy who had brought a monster on New Mexico, trying to kill his own brother, was now on Earth and was after one very powerful Cube. What could go wrong?

The director kept talking with him, buying me some time to get closer and Loki, as he had introduced himself, took Selvig under his control as well. I was almost in the place I wanted to be when Skye spoke again.

"Sir, the pirate is stalling" she said as she walked closer to the Asgardian. "This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us" even her speaking seemed to be a little bit robotic and lacked its usual bite.

"Like the pharaohs of old" Fury said.

Selvig, reading something at his computer confirmed everyone's saying. "She's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical" he reported to Loki.

He on the other hand spoke to Skye who, without hesitation, fired at Fury before I even had a chance to release an arrow. The director fell back and Skye, along with Loki, Selvig and the other agents, took the suitcase which contained the Tesseract and marched out of the room.

Immediately I landed on the floor and rushed to Fury's side. Before I even had a chance to kneel beside him, he had sat up and was trying to take the bullet off his vest. "Call Hill, now, and run upstairs!" He ordered as he handed me his walkie talkie.

"With all due respect, sir, I am not leaving your side" I said as I grabbed the talking device and pressed the button at its side. "Hill! Hill, do you copy?" I asked in the device. Not waiting for a reply I continued, "Skye has turned". I helped the director up and placed him in front of me as I followed behind. The energy from the portal was destroying the building and the seconds we had to get out of there were counting down. "They have the Tesseract. Shut them down!", was the last thing I said before holstering it on my belt and running out towards the helicopter that the director had come in with.

Natasha's POV

I was on mission to Georgi Luchkov, who was a Russian general selling weapons to the highest bidder. I had already been in the mission for a solid week, as I was sent in to spy on the general's activities. I knew my mission was coming to an end, so I let one of his henchmen find me sneaking around and knock me out in order to be able to get more information out of Georgi.

When I awoke, tied up in a chair, and the general in from of me with a sick smirking smile on his face, I knew that I had him where I wanted him to be. Not that he was aware of that, of course. He thought that he had the upper hand.

So I played my part giving him information about who had sent me, which were all part of my cover. And he in return, believing my words, was spilling out all of his secrets. That was until one of his henchmen grabbed me and forced my mouth open, as the general took hold of a slip joint plier and came closer, threatening to torture me by ripping my tongue out. I was about to make my move when a phone ringtone was heard through the room and the second henchman, who was standing a bit further away, took his phone out and answered the call.

"It's for her" he spoke in Russian as he gave the phone to the general.

Georgi took the phone threatening whoever he was speaking with, only for his face to slowly start paling by what he was hearing, as he looked around. I was not being held by anyone anymore and the general placed the phone to my ear.

"We need you to come in" I heard Clint from the other side of the line. His voice more robotic that it usually was but I didn't pay any attention to it.

"Are you kidding? I'm working" I countered.

I heard him sigh. "This takes precedence" he spoke again.

I couldn't believe my ears, that Clint had interrupted one of my operations, just claiming that what they wanted was more important. "I'm in the middle of an interrogation, this moron is giving me everything" I claimed.

"I don't give everything" Georgi spoke looking from one henchman to the other.

Seriously? I questioned with a look and I turned my attention back at the phone. "Look, you can't pull me out of this right now. Give me a couple of–"

"Natasha" Clint interrupted and this was when I noticed the slight tremor in his voice. "Skye's been compromised" he barely got the words out.

I felt as if time stopped for a second after I heard these words coming off his mouth. No! No, it can't be, I thought. I took a deep breath and looked around once more. I needed to get out of there and fast. "Let me put you on hold" I said and looked at the general to signal him to take the phone. He reached out and the moment his hand grabbed the device I made my move.

Kicking him hard on the leg, I forced him to fall on one knee and I hit my forehead with his, making him collapse to the side.

His two henchmen came towards me at the same time… So this is how you want to play it, huh boys? I thought. It was going to be fun, not a challenge, but fun nonetheless.

I kicked one at the stomach, making him stumble back, and the second one at the nuts making him fall hard. I was still tied to the chair, which I could use in my advantage. So before the first guy had the chance to get his bearings back together, I rolled closer to him and with one of the chair legs I hit him again at the same spot as I had kicked before and then sat on his leg, making him hunch forwards. This was a mistake he would only make once. With the back of my head I hit his nose, breaking it for sure, and then twisted and using the momentum I tripped him and he was knocked out when his head met the concrete floor.

That was when the second guy decided to join in again, after managing to get up. Couldn't a general get a better set of bodyguards? These guys' technique was awful. So, as he closed in completely open, I kicked him in the same spot I had before. He tried to punch me, I had to give him that, but he was nowhere near a level where he would be able to land a punch or kick at me. So, pretty quickly I had him where I needed him to be. By using a box on the side as a step, I jumped backwards and brought the chair on the guys back, breaking the wooden furniture and definitely bruising some of his ribs.

The general was looking at me in horror, finally realising what a mistake he made when he underestimated me. He didn't even put up a fight and I quickly left him hanging in the air, by a metal chain.

"Where is Skye now?" I asked as I picked up the phone that had been dropped on the ground.

"We don't know" he said.

Seriously Clint? You have to give me more than that, I questioned in my mind. "But she's alive?" Was what I eventually phrased.

"We think so. Coulson will brief you on everything when you get back. But first, they need you to talk to the big guy"

"Clint, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me" I said, trying to reason with him. I was not the person that Tony would listen to in order to come in. Everyone in our circle already knew as much.

"Oh, no" Clint exclaimed. "Coulson's got Stark. You get the big guy" he emphasised and that's when I realised exactly who he was speaking about. Awesome. I really needed to handle this with a lot of carefulness if I didn't want to end up smashed… But I did have a hidden trick up in my sleeve, which only Skye knew of.

Before I knew it, I was in Kolkata. This Indian village was the latest of Bruce Banner's hideouts and he had been in this specific location for a good few years, so that a lot of people knew of him. Also, him being a doctor and caring for the sick did put him high in everyone's opinion in this place. So, it wasn't really hard to get a child to do the bidding and act as if her father was sick in order to lure Dr. Banner in an isolated and remote cabin to talk to him.

I heard the girl run around in the house, and someone follow her in but I remained hidden. That was until I heard Dr. Banner talk to himself. I took it as my cue to come out front and make my presence known. "You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress you picked a hell of a place to settle" I told him, smiling gently just as the situation required for him to trust me more easily.

He turned to me, clearly irritated by the outcome of his evening. "Avoiding stress isn't the secret" he said as he let his bag on the floor. Good, at least his intelligence let him know that he was not going to go anywhere anytime soon.

"And what is it?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow and a teasing tone. "Yoga?"

In my surprise he laughed at my suggestion, looked around and then his attention was settled back on me. "You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart" he spoke and the smile never left his face. It was clear just from that that it was a forced one, since he was not feeling comfortable in the least with the whole situation. "I assume the whole place is surrounded?" He went closer to the window trying to peak outside.

"Just you and me" I swiftly lied. Of course there was not a chance that I had gone to that remote place, with a guy who could turn into a monster in the blink of an eye without backup.

He didn't show whether he believed me or not, changing the subject of the conversation quickly. "And your actress buddy? Is she a spy, too? They start that young?" He started walking around the room, my attention never leaving his form.

"I did" I answered honestly. And when he asked me who I was, my answer was just as honest, giving him my real name.

He was contemplating what was happening and what was to happen. When he couldn't decide the reason why I was there he spoke again. "Are you here to kill me, Ms. Romanoff? Because that's not going to work out for everyone". With his track who could blame him for guessing that I was there with such an aim.

"No, no. Of course not. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D." the name of the organisation seemed to have not escaped Banner's mind. "We never lost you, Doctor. We've kept our distance and observed. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent".

His uneasiness level had spiked since the new information came to light. "Why?"

"Nick Fury seems to trusts you. But now we need you to come in" my voice still had that happy, playful tone but deep down it was serious as hell. Especially since this guy was the highest chance we had of locating the Tesseract and, as a result, my sister.

"What if I say no?" He questioned. "What if the other guy says no?"

"Well, first of you've been more than a year without an incident" I stated. "I highly doubt you want to break that streak" I moved closer to the table, singling him to follow me. "Second, we are facing a potential global catastrophe".

He laughed at that. "Well, those I actively try to avoid"

"This" I spoke not even waiting to see if he was finished. "This is the Tesseract" I showed him a picture of the Cube on the screen of my phone. "It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet"

Banner came closer and looked closely at the screen. "What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?"

If only it was that easy, I thought. "He wants you to find it. It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no-one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I would be". I could tell that he still had his doubts. It was time for the hidden card to be played.

"Now, Fury may not be after the other guy but there is a catch. A catch especially from my part" I started honestly, which I could tell took him by surprise. "One of our agents was compromised and this stone is at the epicentre. If we learn where the stone is, the chances of getting to her are higher". He seemed passive at the new information he was receiving, until his curiosity spiked from what came next. "You may remember her, actually. She sure remembers you" I said and the smile never left my face.

"And who may that be?" He questioned though he clearly thought that I was mistaken or that my intel was wrong.

"Skye" I said the name and his face cleared with recognition.

"Skye?" He questioned. "She's with S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he asked, taking a defensive posture.

"Not when you met her, no. At the time she was running away from us, trying to get a hold of her powers. A very similar story to yours from what I have come to understand" I got up and closed in on him, taking the phone back. "She's with us now, we helped her with her abilities, though I guess I should thank you for helping her when she was away"

The Doctor didn't speak for a while. "Who else knows?" He looked at me dead in the eyes.

"Only she and I do". I could see the doubt in his eyes. "I haven't lied for anything so far, why would I start know?", I tried to reason. "So, if you're not doing this for us or even for the world, do it for her. From what I've heard she helped you a great deal as well, didn't she? It's only proper to return the favour" and with that I knew that he would come without causing any problems.