A/N - Next chapter, enjoy!

Previously:

Focusing on the present, Harry opened the folder, flipping pages, unsurprised to see a one page dossier on himself, Agent's Romanoff and Barton, Tony Stark, Captain America, and Bruce Banner. All of these had green borders on them, presumably signifying something. Flipping to the next page, he saw there were several more dossiers in there, but these were bordered in yellow. One of them was for Thor, the Asgardian he'd met in Puente Antiguo. And then, the very last page - also bordered in yellow - was Bella's dossier.

Letting out a slow breath, Harry held that in his hand, the rest of the folder forgotten as her lovely face jumped out at him from the page. Even in the less than flattering SHIELD id photo that they used for the dossier, you could see the kindness in her expression, the warmth in her eyes. He hated that she might be a part of this.

Even more, he hated the fact that they might very well need her.

Blinking away some dust in his eye that caused a tear, Harry saw that Hill and Fury were waiting on him.

Closing the folder, he folded his own calloused hands on the table, and leaned forward with an air of determination. "I'm in, Director."

Chapter 23

Ithaca NY

In a luxurious white Mercedes sedan traveling speedily on Route 17 West towards upstate NY, Rosalie Cullen was unusually silent. She was traveling with her husband, Alice and Jasper to their current estate just outside of Ithaca - a small city about 250 miles from Manhattan. With Jasper driving and Emmett sitting beside him in the front, Alice had been trying to engage her about their shopping trip for the past thirty minutes with no success.

"Rosalie, what's going on? You looked guilty of something...fess up!" Alice quipped, only half joking as she tried to get a reaction from the quiet blonde.

Emmett's attention was finally distracted from talking about a new video game purchase with Jasper, and he turned around to face his wife, his dimples on full display. "Hey babe, what's going on? Shorty is right - you've been in la la land since we checked out from the hotel."

"Even before," Jasper opined, glancing at Rosalie in the rear-view mirror, and noting the frown on her face, and the quick cut of her eyes as she favored him with a sour glare. Jasper looked away, knowing that Rosalie hated when he or Edward shared what she was feeling or thinking with the family, feeling it a breach of her privacy.

Meanwhile, Emmet's smile slowly faded as Rosalie continued to ignore him, and he reached his hand backwards, stretched out to take Rosalie's which was limp in her lap. "Rose, is everything okay?"

Rosalie sighed; she was never one to keep something from Emmett, and she wasn't even sure if keeping this to herself was the right thing. Nevertheless, she felt like she was standing on the edge of a precipice, not knowing what was down below if she answered Emmett truthfully.

A moment later, however, Alice gasped, her eyes going blank as she fell into a vision; and Rosalie realized that, subconsciously, she must have made the decision to tell them, triggering Alice's vision of that future.

A moment later Alice came out of her vision, her wide eyes snapping to Rosalie's. "Bella," she whispered.

Jasper and Emmett's eyes both flew to Alice when the name of their missing...friend? Sister? Acquaintance? None of them were really sure how to classify Bella anymore, and they felt shame and guilt about that.

All eyes turned to Rosalie, who took an unneeded breath before confessing. "When we were shopping two days ago," she started softly, "I was people watching while Alice browsed through another store. I glanced around, and something about a woman across the street caught my attention. I looked a little harder, and that sense of familiarity increased, but with all the humans crowding the streets I didn't really get a clear view of her."

She paused for a moment, and then spoke again, more slowly. Meanwhile, her family watched and listened like stone statues: completely still and silent. Only the occasional twitches of Jasper's fingers as he made tiny corrections as he drove the car indicated they were not actually frozen.

Rosalie's voice was a whisper. "And then I got a clear look: it was really her. Bella."

Almost as one, the thee Cullen siblings re-animated, taking in breaths of air, Alice's being the biggest of all. A moment later, a smile began to tug at her lips, her eyes straying away into space for a moment, before she suddenly turned back to Rosalie. "Rose! I wanted to see her too! Why didn't you tell me?" Alice wasn't really mad, per se, but was very disappointed to have missed that chance. After all, Bella had been the best friend she'd ever had, and the only human. And almost as important, if she was honest - she, and the rest of the Cullens to some extent - lived vicariously through Bella, allowing them to feel more human than they had ever felt before. And for all Bella's embarrassment about being the only one who ate, or slept, or used the bathroom - the vampires took pleasure in those routine, mundane human activities, recapturing part of their lost humanity.

Alice repeated her question when Rosalie just stared out the window. "Why Rose?"

Finally turning her head to Alice, Rosalie met her eyes. "She looked happy, Alice. She looked happy, and I didn't think it right that we barge back into her life. We all hurt when we left, but we are starting to heal; and it looks like she is too. Why rip the bandaid off again, when the healing process seems to be working?"

Alice opened her mouth, ready to deny Rosalie's reasoning, but then she slowly closed it, her eyes taking on an ancient sadness that was felt by all of them. A moment later, Jasper pumped a feeling of calm through the car, as he'd sensed everyone's overwhelming emotions.

A silent minute passed, then two, with the very soft radio and the 'whooshing' of the wind as they blasted past slower vehicles the only sounds in the car.

Predictably, Emmett was the first to crack, and turned back to Rosalie with a gleam in his eye. "How did she look, physically? Did she look older? Same hairstyle? Clothes?"

Rosalie saw everyone eagerly awaiting her answer, and her mouth curved in a small smile. "She looked older, definitely. She didn't look like a teenager anymore, but rather a young woman." She let that sit for a moment, noting the momentarily sad look on Alice's face, and then asked, "What is she now, 21, right? It's only to be expected, after all."

Rosalie then paused for a minute, thinking if she should share this next part. When she finally decided she would, she took another unneeded breath, before adding, "She was with a man. He looked a few years older than her."

Unsurprising, this got a reaction from all of them. Emmett's shoulders sank a bit, and his eager posture - he had been leaning towards Rosalie, hungry for news - slumped as he sank back into his seat. Some part of him, buried deep, still hoped that one day Edward would pull the stick from his ass and go reclaim the girl he loved. But as months - and then years - passed by, this seemed less and less likely.

Jasper too was affected, his lips becoming a hard line, as he he dealt with his own emotions on top of everyone elses's in the car. He knew, at some level, that he was still blaming himself for their hasty departure, despite everyone exculpating him of any blame right from the go, and Edward confiding in him that he always expected the axe to fall on his and Bella's relationship one day.

Of course, eternal pessimist that Edward was, Jasper took this with a grain of salt.

Of course, of the four of them in the car, the biggest reaction came from Alice. She had been, far and away, closer to Bella than any of them.

Now, she looked almost devastated.

"Alice," Rosalie said, not unkindly, "this was to be expected. What did we think, she'd stay a nun forever? You knew better."

"I know," Alice finally answered, sighing. "I knew she would meet someone someday. Bella was pretty, and kind, and smart. She had such an easy way about her that guys were just attracted to." She sighed again, staring out the window at the passing trees with sad eyes. "I'm mostly sad that my visions of her as part of our family never came true." She turned back to face Rosalie. "We looked so happy in them, Rose! All of us! And Edward...the look on Edward's face in a vision I had of him and Bella running together in the forest...I've never seen him look like that before, Rose! All that worry and self-hatred he always carried, that pucker between his eyes, the weight in his brows..it was all relaxed and gone. He looked at peace, Rose."

Alice's little tirade moved all of them, and they all mourned for their brother, the self-martyred boy-man who sacrificed his happiness for the supposed safety of his love.

The car was silent for a while, until Alice softly added; "this is going to really hurt him down deep, I think. I'm not sure we should ever tell him."

Despite several nods, Rosalie knew that Emmett was very bad at keeping secrets from Edward. He was just a straightforward person, a quality Rosalie loved about him. But sometimes she did wish he could keep his thoughts from Edward.

The only silver lining to this whole messed-up situation was that until recently, Edward was almost never home anymore. And even after he recently returned, he still spent a lot of time running alone, or studying whatever caught his fancy in the Cornell University library. He'd recently enrolled there as a transfer, to help pass the time and keep his mind off of his lost love.

So, Rose thought, perhaps he might not find out about this for a long time, when he's had more time to heal.

Meanwhile, Alice was restless in her seat. She'd not seen a vision of Bella in almost two years now, and had not even tried to look. Despite Edward's admonishment not to look for her, soon after they left she would sometimes have very sporadic visions of her. They were disturbing to see, and Alice cheated a few times, trying to force visions of her sorely missed friend.

When she could 'see' her, Alice hated the fact that Bella was really suffering in those early months. It got so bad in Alice's mind that she and Jasper had a fight - a rarity for them - when Alice decided she was going to buy tickets to visit Bella over Christmas. But Jasper - with Carlisle's reluctant assistance - vehemently disagreed and eventually talked her down, despite Alice's pleading.

Despite that, in her mind, Alice had resolved that, if Bella wasn't better by graduation, she would go see her no matter what, and simply inform Jasper after the fact.

Thankfully, however, Bella *did* seem to gradually get better. At first, she saw her spending time with a boy from the reservation, but he - and then Bella - began to get blurrier and blurrier, until huge gaps would appear in Alice's vision where she couldn't see Bella even when she tried to force it. But just when Alice would get really worried, she'd pop back up, going about her business, attending class, and just living her life. By graduation, Bella looked much better, having put back the weight she'd lost, and her smiles didn't look forced.

Alice had to admit, then, that Jasper had been right to keep her from visiting at Christmas. As humans almost always did, Bella was moving on: growing, changing, living.

The last vision Alice had of Bella came out of the blue some months later, when Alice was in Biloxi doing research into her sister Cynthia's descendents. The vision was short, but clear: Bella was at college somewhere, walking with a taller girl on a tree lined path at a campus that Alice didn't recognize. The sun was shining down brightly, and Bella was genuinely laughing as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and chatted with the other girl.

After that, Alice did not look again, as the emotions involved were too bittersweet.

Now, in the silent car filled with the four vampires that raced along NY Route 17 on the way to Ithaca, her sadness warred with the promise she made to herself not to look again.

Jasper might have been aware of Alice's churning emotions, but he attributed them to Rosalie's news, rather than Alice weighing her decision. When he got a sudden surge of determination from her, he wasn't quite sure to make of it.

Meanwhile, Alice turned her face away from Rosalie, focusing on the passing scenery, and trying to force a vision of the only girl she'd ever called best-friend.

Unfortunately, it had been so long since Alice had 'seen' Bella that she couldn't find her at first. She spent almost ten fruitless minutes trying to find her, but got nothing but snippets of color that were too brief to make any sense of. She was annoyed that she hadn't seen her in New York - it would have made this so much easier to 'zoom in' on her.

More wasted minutes passed, but just as Alice was about to concede defeat, something suddenly began to coalesce in her mind's eye, like a curtain being swept open at the start of a movie, revealing the colors and images on the screen.

Alice recognized the locale at once; the architecture of Georgetown, and the Capitol building in the distance made it clear where she was. But of much more interest to Alice was the amazing view of a considerably more mature looking Bella Swan, walking with a spring in her step and a confident air about her. No hunched shoulders, stumbling walk, or meek appearance - Alice wanted to squeal at how good her friend looked and how well she was dressed!

Alice was undoubtedly aware that Jasper would have immediately sensed the complete 180 degree turn her emotions had done, but she let the vision hold her for a few more seconds, relishing the sight of Bella after not seeing her for so long. Her minds-eye catalogued everything it could, and her perfect vampiric memory would hold the image forever. With satisfied feeling, Alice began to dis-engage herself and 'close' her sight down, when a car stopped at the curb next to Bella, and two men in suits exited and approached her.

Alice tensed, getting a foreboding feeling from this. The men had a no-nonsense look to them, and their startling blue eyes zeroed straight in on Bella. When the first man pulled out a wallet to show to Bella, Alice felt even more uneasy. And though Alice could not hear what was being said by them, it looked serious from the expression on Bella's face, which had darkened considerably.

Bella nodded her head, and then a moment later she was getting into the car with the two men. She got into the front passenger seat, leaving the driving to the man who flashed his wallet. the other man sat behind Bella.

The last thing Alice saw, as the car pulled away, was the expression on Bella's face suddenly changing from fear to determination. As the vision ended, Alice gasped, having a bad feeling about the situation that Bella suddenly found herself in.

Shaking her head, she focused on the view out the window, and realized the car had come to a complete stop on the side of the highway. And then Alice turned her head, to find three pairs of eyes trained on her.

Taking a deep breath, she began to explain what she had just seen, trying to keep her voice from trembling at the fear for her friend.

Aboard the Abraxi, on the Atlantic Ocean 420 miles southeast of Newfoundland, en route to Southampton, England

Sitting comfortably in the captain's cabin aboard the 800 foot cargo ship he now controlled, Loki Laufeyson pondered his current situation. Most interesting to him at the moment was the information he'd gleaned from the mind of Agent Barton. Barton had a wonderful mind for logistics, which favored Loki immensely. As soon as the Phycisist - Selvig - told them they needed Iridium to hold open a portal and that the largest source was in Germany, Barton knew precisecly how to get them there without attracting any attention.

Hence, the commandeering of this vessel and it's crew. Barton's estimable plan had them hunkering down in London in an old WW2 bunker that had long been abandoned, but which would serve as a base of operations admirably well. At first, Loki chafed at the idea of traveling in such a slow vehicle as this ship, but Barton had shown him the wisdom of it. And in truth, Loki would only make himself known to his enemies when he was fully prepared, and he was not quite there yet.

Loki sat with his legs crossed, tapping his fingers idly on his chin, considering everything he'd learned. The bowing and scraping Captain came and gave his report to Barton, and was readily dismissed. Loki sneered at him as he left, laughing to himself as the once-proud man slunk out of what was once his own cabin.

Loki considered the number of people he would need to execute his master plan, and decided this crew was mostly worthless and were completely expendable. Thus, Loki decided, when they reached their destination - the large shipping port of Southampton - Loki would direct them to pilot their ship back into the North Atlantic and then scuttle it, taking themselves and any trace of Loki down with them to the bottom of the ocean.

Loki's attention was diverted when Barton left the cabin to go see to ship's security. He maintained that, even though all the crew was accounted for and under Loki's control, you could never discount the possibility of a stowaway who could cause trouble.

Yes, Loki mused, Barton was a great asset; he was very pleased he had not killed him during the skirmish when he'd arrived through the portal. The only negative was that the man had a penchant for fighting Loki's control; he had not yet met anyone who could resist the mind-vise, but Barton came close on a number of occasions.

Loki could admit to a few mistakes; killing Selvig's three assistants had been a mistake; without them, Selvig had estimated that, without their assistance, Loki's initial timetable would be delayed by several days, at a minimum.

But overall, so far his mission had been a success. After their escape from the desert, Barton had recommended hitting a low-level army base in Colorado - just a few hours from their location in New Mexico - to gain access to more resources and recruits (mind-controlled of course). Additionally, Barton stressed that they had to change vehicles, that SHIELD would have undoubtedly had a veritable army of people looking for them. Luckily, as Barton often liaised with personnel from the Colorado base, he knew the layout well and was able to get them in through security relatively quickly. Loki added seven 'recruits' to his forces, and after absconding with a nearby 'eighteen wheeler truck' (a quaint name, Loki thought), they were off to New York to commandeer a ship to get them overseas, and closer to his next target in Germany. In New York, Loki picked up another dozen or so recruits, and then let Barton take charge, ordering them to disperse and make their way to various locations in England and France, and await further instructions, via a stack of legally acquired 'burner cellphones.' A group of three - handpicked by Barton - would make their way to Germany, and prep a forward base there at a specific location Barton gave them.

When Loki questioned Barton on why they simply didn't take everyone on the ship, he explained to Loki that it was safer and less noticeable to travel in small groups - or singly - and rendezvous later on.

With everything progressing well, Loki contemplated his next moves. Once in England, they'd make their way to London where they would they would find a more permanent base of operations. Along the way, Loki would acquire the additional thirty personnel that Barton estimated they would need to carry out Loki's orders, mostly from military outposts as they would need soldiers if they were going to fight SHIELD.

Yes, Barton's mind was a treasure trove of info about the disposition of those who would be arrayed against him. At the moment, of most interest to Loki were his would-be enemies at SHIELD. He eagerly examined every memory Barton had of Nick Fury, and what made him tick, and his potential weaknesses. He also consumed every scrap of knowledge Barton had about the various 'Avengers' that were sure to be activated: in fact, Loki was counting on it. After all, why attack a fortified base if your enemy can be manipulated into walking you right in through the front door...?

Finally, Loki could put names to the three sorcerers he'd met out in the desert when he'd last been on Midgard.

The first one - one of the females - was of less interest to him as she was not slated to be part of SHIELD. Hermione Granger - a strange name, perhaps - was a skilled Seidkona, and Loki planned on collecting her later, once the planet was conquered and if the circumstances were favorable. She was, after all, a skilled and powerful magic user.

On the other hand, the Sorcerer he'd faced - this Harry Potter - was far more skilled and dangerous than the woman, and could prove to be a dangerous opponent. He had held his own against the Destroyer, and in fact had damaged it, something that very, very few beings would have been able to do. After all, Odin's father Bors had built the Destroyer thousands of years earlier to serve as the defense of Asgard's treasure room, and it was a deadly and implacable foe.

Yes, this Harry Potter had to die. He could not be allowed to interfere with his plans, and once all the pieces were in place he'd see to him personally for the insult he gave in the desert.

It was the third - the powerful Seidkona who had stood against him in the desert - that interested him the most.

Isabella Swan: such a benign name for one with so much untapped potential! When he'd fought her in the desert, he had been beyond impressed with her, able to shrug off his magics as if they were simple parlor tricks. Never, in the 300 years since he'd mastered his magic, had someone done so with such ease!

And her counterstrikes! They were untrained and raw, it was true; but her magical blasts were strong, his most powerful shields barely able to stop them, shaking under their fury. Rarely had he been tested like that; always before he was able to win through trickery and subtlety, disguising the deadly knife that would strike from the side or the back. But she had seen through all his pretenses, standing toe to toe with him and giving her compatriots time to gather themselves to strike. Yes, this Isabella Swan was someone who Loki could use, turning her fully to his side, corrupting her pathetic innocence and coaxing out her inner darkness that lurked in every soul; one just needed to know where to apply pressure, and anyone could be made to break.

Loki could not wait until he had her under his thrall, she would be a worthy apprentice once she was properly broken and trained.

Even more deliciously, Barton informed him that she and this Harry Potter were romantically involved with each other. Loki relished the idea of how wonderful it would it be if she could be coerced into striking the killing blow on him!

The idea had so pleased him that he had done something that might have been a tad reckless. While Barton had made ready for their departure in New York, Loki had decided he could not wait to claim Isabella. In fact, he was so determined to have her, that the last thing he did before their ship left port was to send two of his thralls - both of them from the SHIELD group he'd taken in his initial assault - to collect her. After all, Barton knew exactly where she lived and schooled, and Loki wanted her picked up before SHIELD hid her away - which Barton assured him would happen.

Yes, much easier to get to her now than later on when he would undoubtedly be fighting the rest of Barton's colleagues.

And if she didn't survive the attempted kidnapping? Well, while he had given the thralls orders to bring her in at all costs, he was fully aware that mistakes did happen. If Isabella fell at the hands of two such as those, then perhaps she had never been worthy to be his apprentice after all.

Even so, the idea bothered him more than he liked to admit, and he hoped that she would be taken without any trouble, and stashed in a safe house Barton had told them of. There she would remain - drugged and under guard - until Loki came and collected her.

His thoughts eventually moved to the rest of Fury's collection of lost souls: the 'Avengers,' a truly pathetic lot, scraped together through desperation. Loki didn't think they would be able to work together to thwart him, their ego's battling each other and making themselves easy targets of Loki's manipulations through the Mind Stone.

No, he wasn't particularly worried about them, though he was not best pleased that his Brother's name appeared amongst them. Hopefully, the destruction of the Bifrost meant that Thor was well and truly stranded on Asgard, and would not be able to interfere with the conquest of Midgard, until it was far too late, and Loki presented his brother a hundred million Midgardian corpses and a world truly under his heel, the fruits of his centuries of betrayals.

The presence of Tesseract powered weapons in SHIELD's possession was a minor concern that Loki had not yet decided how to deal with. He knew that, if they worked properly - Barton was not privy to the Research and Development groups - that they could challenge the Chitauri army that Loki was bringing to bear. Hopefully, SHIELD did not have them in enough numbers to make a difference, but it was still of concern.

Hmm, perhaps it was worth risking opening another portal and bringing in a few Chitauri allies to assist him in setting the stage before he unleashed his army on this world. True, he couldn't hold his portal open for long without the Iridium he needed, but certainly he could create momentary rifts that would allow a few select servants through.

Yes, once he had his base secure, that would be one of his next moves. He'd need a safe place to open the portal - as the energies emitted would surely be tracked by his enemies - but Barton could certainly find somewhere that his enemies would be unable to track him. Loki could not risk his enemies engaging him before he was ready for them, after he'd lain his carefully prepared traps.

Nodding to himself, he walked out to find Agent Barton again. When he did, Barton stood at attention, his back straight, his blue eyes glowing with fervor.

Loki smiled, imaging sweet Isabella with her own piercing blue eyes, slave to his every whim...

New York

On the Grand Central Parkway, a non-descript black SUV sped its way towards LaGuardia airport. In the backseat, Phil Coulson say next to Pepper Potts, who he was dropping off before he continued on to White Plains Airport, a small regional airport where his jet would take him back to DC.

Thankfully, Stark had joined the Avengers without too much fuss. Truthfully, Phil thought he'd be more of a whiner about it, but thankfully Pepper was there; Tony seemed to do almost whatever she said.

Phil smiled to himself, thinking that it was a good thing that many men had a soft spot for redheads, as Natasha's plane was landing in India later that day. She'd be trying to coax perhaps the most volatile 'man' in the world – Dr. Bruce Banner - into cooperating with them. Phil wasn't sure if she could convince him to help, but maybe her red hair would play to their favor...

Phil knew Natasha was tremendously skilled, but she didn't know how on guard Banner might be. They'd not had any trouble from him in quite some time, but they had kept their distance. Now, they would be putting their head in the lion's cage. Hopefully, Banner would be interested enough in the science angle - radiation, unlimited power, new science - that he'd come without too much fuss.

Or without killing Natasha's entire team.

According to his file, the good Doctor hated manipulators and liars. Unfortunately, Natasha certainly could fit that bill when needed. 'Perhaps they should have sent in Bella?' Phil mused, his lips twitching into a small smile. After all, the girl couldn't lie to save her life...

A few moments later his smile faded, as he pictured the young woman - her 21st birthday was this month, if memory served - in a SHIELD uniform, wand in her right hand and a pistol in her left. He truly, truly hoped they wouldn't need her, but in his gut he knew they would. The moment he read the words 'mind controlled'...he knew that Bella was going to get the call.

And he hated it. She was, in so many ways, just a step away from being a fresh faced teenager, despite her year of training. She completely lacked that 'hard edge' that the rest of them had, and Phil hated that someone like that might have to fight, losing part of what made her so endearing.

When they pulled into the private jet terminal at LaGuardia, Phil said his goodbyes to Pepper. His driver then turned north, across the Whitestone Bridge on the way to the next airport, about twenty minutes away, where Phil's SHIELD jet was waiting.

As they turned onto the Hutchinson River Parkway, Phil was distracted, feeling that he was missing something. It was just a general feeling of unease in his gut. He tried to pin it down, letting his mind relax, tracing his thoughts back to when the feeling first started.

Something to do with Bella...

With a sinking feeling, he realized what he'd been trying to dig up from his sub-consciousness, and it struck him like a bolt of lightning.

Bella was currently the only known SHIELD asset that might be able to resist Loki's mind control; she'd been unable to be mind controlled by Potter, and she'd seen straight through Loki's tricks when they fought in the desert.

Now, with Barton being compromised, that information would be know to Loki if he knew the right question to ask. All he would have to do is question Barton about SHIELD's resources - which was an obvious thing for the Asgardian to do - and the Avengers would be mentioned. And if Loki probed further, and Barton told him why SHIELD was interested in Bella...

Cursing, Barton grabbed the phone from the console next to him, while simultaneously taking out his cell phone from his pocket.

Pressing the first contact button on the console phone, he got an immediate answer: "SHIELD, operations, go code please?"

"Coulson, Delta Bravo Two Two November Six."

While waiting during the slight pause from SHIELD, Coulson speed-dialed Bella on his cell phone.

The SHIELD operator spoke up first. "Delta Bravo Two Two November Six confirmed. Status?"

"All Green."

"Confirmed. What can I do for you Agent?"

Phil's voice became firm. "I have an Alpha One Four emergency, potential enemy target is Agent Isabella Swan. Get a team to her and get her back to base, right now. Again, that's an Alpha One Four emergency."

"Affirmative, Isabella Swan, protocol sir?"

"Zulu Seven. Retrieve at all costs, possible hostiles already have her. Repeat back."

As Coulson issued his orders - an Alpha One Four Emergency indicating a top SHIELD asset was under imminent threat of capture or death, with a Zulu Seven Order of Engagement - protect the asset at all costs, using any and all means necessary - Bella's phone was ringing with no answer. "Come on Bella, answer the damn phone!" Phil knew she would turn off her phone in class, and he'd often berated her for it, until she finally grudgingly agreed to leave it on vibrate mode. Well, after this, he was getting her a dedicated phone that she would NEVER mute, damn it! He'd have them solder the switch to the ON position!

The SHIELD operator repeated back his message, and Phil hung up the console phone, staring at the cursed cellphone which finally went to voice mail. "Sorry, I can't answer the phone right now," sounded Bella's calm voice. "You know what to do." The beep sounded like a funeral bell to a very distressed Phil.

He spoke fast. "Bella, this is Coulson. I've reason to believe that you might be a target for hostiles. Stop whatever you are doing and get yourself to SHIELD HQ, right now. I called a team to come get you, but don't wait for them, I've no idea where you are and what their ETA is." Bella didn't know it, but SHIELD had beacons on her phone and her backpack, besides the GPS tracking in her phone which could be disabled if the phone was turned off or put into airplane mode. With the beacons, SHIELD could track her right to her position. Phil didn't care if this upset her later: better upset than captured or dead. "Call me back the instant you get this message." When he hung up, he let out a soft breath. "Stay safe, Bella."

Debating his next action for almost thirty seconds, Phil decided to break protocol, and dial one more number before calling Fury and Hill.

Hitting the autodial, Phil decided Harry had to know about this. Harry could do things they could scarcely imagine, and no one could move faster from place to place than him. And maybe he had his own ways of tracking Bella? It wouldn't surprise him in the least.

Please just let them be in time.

Washington DC

Bella was walking across the green a few blocks from her apartment, her mind far away and worrying about Harry. Yesterday, she had been worried all day about his cryptic message, chewing her nails to the quick. Bella thought she'd left that habit behind long ago, but apparently Harry being in danger brought back all her old, nervous, worrywart tendencies.

Thankfully, he'd been able to fill her in later that night. She might have gone mad, otherwise. But he did, and she found out what was going on. SHIELD were on high alert, and they were gathering a 'team' together to respond to an enemy incursion. Harry was in DC at the Triskelion, and she'd begged to be allowed to come. He told her to wait, but to pack a 'ready bag' - essentially, a few sets of underwear and bras, sleepwear, any feminine products she'd need, and a few personal items. Everything else – clothing and outerwear, sneakers and boots, you name it – would be provided for her. The 'ready bag' was a simple SHIELD issued black duffel, perhaps three feet long, that had sat in her closet since she'd been issued it last year.

She would be on standby, Harry said, and they would most likely be picking her up 'in a day or two' when things settled down.

"Why not now?" she'd asked, wanting the security of having Harry in her direct line of sight.

She could hear him sigh through the phone. "Bella, believe me, I understand the feeling. I do. But we haven't even gotten the team together yet, and truthfully there isn't much for me to do yet. But once everyone is gathered, you'll be brought here as a backup."

He had paused then, but began speaking again before Bella could respond. "I wanted to keep you far away from this, but I do recognize that you have a...unique ability that we might need. Everyone knows that." And then, so quietly that she probably wasn't meant to hear it, he muttered 'Merlin, I wish it were otherwise. I just want you safe."

"Harry...," she started, but then realized he wasn't the one making these decisions, that this came from the top. And truth be told, based on the very little info Harry had- and the probable even less he'd imparted to her, given the security lockdown - having to wait a couple of days seemed reasonable.

Taking a breath to calm herself, she willed herself to relax. "Ok, Harry. But promise me, Harry -if you, or if they, need me - that you won't try and keep me back because you're afraid for me. Please promise me that." She hated the pleading note in her voice, but she wouldn't be left behind. She hated even thinking of it.

"Bella, I'll always be afraid for you if we are in danger. Always." Taking his own heavy breath, he let it out slowly. "But I promise this: if we need you - really, really need your skills and no other will suffice - I won't try and keep you back."

Bella felt like a weight fell from her shoulders. "Thank you Harry."

Since that call, Bella had been on edge. She'd spoken briefly to a SHIELD Case Officer, who wanted to make sure she understood what their current Alert level meant, what she had to do (including reporting in every 8 hours), not to leave the city, and a complete update of security and challenge codes (probably because as Harry indicated, a 'top agent' had been compromised and they were all being changed.) For the last item, there were so many new codes to memorize it had taken her half the night before she had them all locked away in her head.

Worst of all - in her mind - she'd been instructed to carry her SHIELD issued sidearm at all times. The gun was a small SIG P365 compact semi-auto that fit snugly into an ankle holster (which she preferred over underarm or hip holsters). She'd become proficient with the weapon from both a left and right hand shooting position. She - and Harry - had insisted on the left hand training because she had her wand in a concealed wrist holster on her right arm, and she could hold both her wand and gun on target, at the same time, reasonably well.

Unfortunately, Bella hated the gun; she hated that it's only function was to wound or to kill. It truly had no other purpose, and she wished she didn't need it.

However, Bella was pragmatic; she knew there were going to be times when she'd lost her wand, or was up against another magic user who was better than her, or any of a dozen scenarios where a gun might save her life. "It's like a condom," Natasha had said. "Better to have it and not need it, than to need and not have it." Bella had blushed at the time, of course, and then had giggled at Natasha's twitchy lips. Bella wasn't laughing now, though, and the feel of the weapon against her ankle - cold and smooth even snug in its holster, the straps itchy and strafing - made her realize how serious things were right now.

The stress of the situation had come to a head for Bella just last night. She had been sitting at her kitchen counter while Sophie natted on about her day. Bella felt completely disconnected from her daily life at school, unable to process anything her roommate was saying; parties and classes and whatever else...Bella couldn't concentrate, not when her mind was spinning, thinking of ram horns and Loki and Mjolnir and metal robots and vampires and Harry and Natasha and...and...

Sophie eventually clued in to Bella's distractedness. "Bella? Is everything all right?"

Bella had looked at Sophie then, just sort of staring at her without really seeing her. The question meanwhile, had rattled around her mind; "was she all right?"

Managing to fake a smile, Bella stood from the table. "Sorry, Sophie. I just have a really bad headache. I need to go lay down."

And Bella retreated to her room, biting her nails through the night, trying to hold in the tears that threated to fall as she thought of what was coming.

Shaking her head to clear her mind of last night's dark thoughts, she turned onto her street, picking up her pace, stepping past slower pedestrians. The street wasn't crowded, but there was a news van - weather maybe? - about a block away that had attracted a small crowd. When she was perhaps two blocks from her apartment, Bella was startled when a dark sedan pulled up to the curb - in a no parking zone - less than a dozen feet from her. She stopped and turned, getting slightly knocked in the back by a jogger who didn't anticipate her sudden stop. Bella tensed, watching warily as two men in dark suits stepped from the vehicle, and made a beeline straight for her.

For an instant, Bella was completely indecisive, her inexperience hampering her. When the lead man's hand went under his coat, Bella stumbled backwards, adrenaline racing through her as her magic suddenly began to buzz, filling her with that same sharp acuity she'd experienced before. Everything became clearer, more defined; sounds were more discrete, motion seemed slower, her own little movements accelerated. She prepared to summon her wand even as her eyes tracked the movement of the man's hand, her mind calculating what she would do if a gun suddenly appeared, regretting having not listened to Nat and getting a hip holster for the pistol...

A heartbeat later - to her immense relief - the man produced a wallet which he flipped open, showing a SHIELD ID card. "Ms. Isabella Swan?" His voice was authoritative and deep.

"Yes?" Bella answered, her voice shaky, her heart almost galloping out of her chest. Now that the sense of impending danger had lessened, she found the sudden adrenaline flooding her system made her feel sick instead of alert.

Bella took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. She was prepared for this, the Case Officer had told her they'd send someone to get her if things got bad.

She gave the ID a brief once-over, and it looked pretty similar to hers. She then glanced at the agents, finding nothing about them to be particularly threatening. They were completely non-descript, and truthfully looked like any G-Man you'd see in a classic movie about FBI agents, dressed in their dark suits and ties and close cropped hair. She pegged them about mid-thirties, with the one in front a bit older. Both were reasonably fit, with the man standing closer to the car being shorter and stockier.

Unusually, Bella briefly noted they both had electric blue eyes that looked vaguely familiar to her, though she couldn't remember from where.

"Ms. Swan, we've been directed to bring you in. Director Fury wants everyone under one roof." The agent said this in a formal but friendly way, putting Bella further at ease.

Bella let out another breath, and gave a jerky nod. "Yes, okay. My apartment is right down the block, let me just grab my go-bag."

The 2nd man stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Ms. Swan. Your bag will be collected later; but right now we have orders to get you to safety, straight away." And then without waiting for a reply, he opened the front passenger door, and beckoned with his hand for her.

Her heart - which had calmed a bit - began to thrum loudly in her chest. For some reason, her senses were kicking back into high gear, but she hadn't seen anything that should make her uneasy. She gave another small, jerky nod, and stepped forward, sitting down automatically into the seat.

The first man gave a small smile and walked around to the driver's side, while the 2nd man closed the door and sat down directly behind her. It wasn't until they were all in the car that she cursed her inexperience, realizing she had forgot to ask for the challenge codes.

As the car left the curb, Bella's common sense - and her training - finally kicked in, and the Case Handler's warnings reverberated in her mind. "Um I forgot to ask, I'm new at this. Go Code?"

Bella's magic was pinging again, like an electric current running from her right arm and saturating her skin. Her mind was again feeling hyper-alert, her senses acute and precise. Her sharpened vision saw the tiniest glimmer of the driver glancing briefly at his compatriot in the rear view mirror, and the clicking of the door lock reverberated in her skull like a gunshot. Behind her, her sharpened hearing and heightened senses detected the lightest shifting of fabric, and the sound of something sliding against leather.

With a sinking feeling, she realized this sound was familiar to her. She'd heard it often enough over the past six months: the sound of a gun being removed from a holster.

Bella wasn't a betting woman, but she would bet almost anything that the man sitting behind her seat had a gun pointed straight at her back.

Cursing herself, Bella realized she was trapped in this car with a gun pointed at her, and she was at their mercy. She had fallen for their trick so easily, all of her warnings and her training...for nothing!

Surprisingly, only a few seconds had passed, and the man in the back responded to her challenge phrase. "Delta Five Nine Zero Two," he said, his voice completely neutral, no stress in it at all that she could detect, despite the fact he was almost certainly pointing a gun at her.

Bella nodded, playing along like they got the code right, trying to buy herself some time, hoping to fool her kidnappers; she recognized the old code as one they'd been using just before they were changed yesterday. Her Case Officer had even warned her to be careful of anyone using the old codes!

Of course, Bella was supposed to ask for them before getting into the car!

As the car waited at the traffic light, she felt like the driver subtly relaxed, possibly convinced that they'd fooled Bella.

As they turned to the west, they were held up briefly as there was a news van blockign two lanes, and a reporter was standing outside with a crowd of people surrounding him. Bella didn't even comment that they were heading in the opposite direction from the Triskelion.

No, she'd play 'dumb trainee' for as long as she could.

Let them think she was helpless, trapped, nowhere to go.

Closing her eyes, Bella concentrated on willing her magic to life, grabbing hold of her 'blanket', ready to unleash it on her enemies and surround herself as tightly as she could - tight enough to stop a bullet.

She hoped.

A/N - Poor Bella! However, to be fair, I could easily see her falling for their gambit. She has no reason to suspect a 'fake' agent of trying to get her to come along with them. Why would she? All the warnings she got from SHIELD were 'general' classification; none of them considered that Loki would *specifically* target her.

Let me know what you think! I've added a lot of 'non canon' stuff here, and not sure if people want that or would rather only see canon avengers movie stuff.