♡

Barton was the first one to react. He ran forward and launched himself at Vex.

She sighed and raised her hand, causing a purple aura to form around it. Her white-painted fingers twitched slightly and Barton suddenly stopped.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help," she said softly.

"Really?" Bruce questioned sarcastically. "Were you helping when you pushed Natasha out of the tree?"

"It was an accident. Natasha had snuck up on me when I was watching you all and when I got scared I just pushed her," Vex defended herself.

Tony scoffed and narrowed his eyes at her. "You're a liar!" He muttered.

Vex shook her head, frowning. She hated when people said bad things about her. "I am not a liar Mr. Stark," she stated calmly.

"I am not a monster either," she continued. "When I heard about Natasha's current state I felt bad. I thought she would recover from the injury so I pushed away most of the guilt that had built up when I saw her fall."

"How do we know that you're not trying to kill us?" Steve asked, watching her carefully.

"If I wanted to kill you all, I would've done it back in Paris," Vex answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "The spell that I put on you and Thor wasn't meant to last until one of you killed one another. It was supposed to last until I got a safe distance away from you all."

"Then why are you on SHIELDS' watch list?" Banner asked, holding his glasses as he stared at her.

Vex laughed slightly. "Mr. Banner, we are all on SHIELDS' watch list," she told him.

The team went silent for a moment. They all remembered the time when they were on the helicarrier and Steve had realized that the entire team was on SHIELDS' watch list.

"But why did they call you the enemy?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Anyone who isn't apart of SHIELD is considered an enemy," Vex told them, smiling. "SHIELD made up lies about me when I refused a job. I didn't want to work for the agency because I didn't agree with their work and what they did."

"So they lied to make you look bad?" Steve questioned, still slightly confused.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying Captain Rogers," Vex replied, a gentle smile on her face. "If SHIELD can't have someone, no one can. They are considered an enemy because they declined an invitation to join and are put on watch. There are a lot of supposed 'villains' that SHIELD agents have killed. Those 'villains' were just people with powers who didn't want to join SHIELD."

Everyone seemed to grow tense at her words and she noticed. "I guess you couldn't blame SHIELD by themselves. I'm sure you're all aware of the Hydra infiltration a year or two ago? Yes, they were apart of that too so you can say that it was Hydra's fault. Don't worry, SHIELD does it all the time without batting an eyelash," she reassured them.

The team continued to stay silent. They expected to fight Vex, kill her even. But, her words had struck them hard and they were forced to think about everything they had ever been told about Villains.

"Look, I'm not asking you all to forgive me," Vex stated. "I don't want to join your team...I don't even want to work here. I just want to help Natasha and go back to my life. Well, I guess I wouldn't call it a life since all I do is stay in hiding thanks to SHIELD but..."

"What do you want in return?" Steve asked, speaking up for his team.

"I just want you all to let me live in peace," Vex replied, smiling slightly. "I just want to be able to walk out of my house and actually enjoy my day. I don't want to keep looking over my shoulder all the time."

"That's it?" Steve questioned.

"She's evil, we just can't let her escape like that," Clint said, finding his voice again as he glared at Vex.

"Mr. Barton, let me ask you a question; have you ever seen me on the news?" Vex asked, her blue eyes staring intently at him. "Have you ever seems story about the so called famed supervillain Vex? Have you ever seen me on television causing damage and mayhem?"

Clint was at a lost for words and Vex shook her head, laughing slightly. "Exactly! And the nickname? I use Vex so I won't have to worry about SHIELD digging into my past."

The entire team looked between each other. They were silently discussing wether or not they should let Vex help them. Once again, everyone's gaze landed on Steve, awaiting the final decision.

He turned to Vex and eyed her cautiously. "We will let you help Natasha. But if you try to turn us-"

"We will kill you," Clint finished. Steve sent him a look but Clint was too busy narrowing his eyes at Vex to notice.

"Understood," Vex said, shrugging. "And if you don't complete your side of the deal, I won't hesitate to hunt you all down and kill you."

Shock surrounded the room as the threat left her mouth. She shrugged. "Peace is a hard thing to earn...and it's the only thing I'd kill for, besides family. But I don't have any so...where is Natasha?"

"I will take you to her," Steve stated, walking past her and out of the room.

"Oh, Steve?" Vex called out, following slowly behind.

Steve sighed. He didn't turn around but kept the 'conversation' going. "Yes?"

Vex didn't reply, instead, Steve heard the sound of metal. Confused, he turned around and saw Vex holding his shield. She tossed it to him and he caught it effortlessly.

"I thought you said you were keeping it?" Steve questioned, a small smile on his face.

"I got tired of it," Vex shrugged, obviously lying.

Steve chuckled slightly and continued towards the infirmary. "No one gets tired of the shield."

"Yes but I do get tired of SHIELD," Vex sighed.