2012

Cassandra jogged to the lab Dr. Banner and Tony were in, along with Natasha and Steve. Tony and Steve were arguing, Bruce was looking stressed. Cassandra pulled Natasha to the side by her arm, leaning to her ear.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Dr. Banner away from him, don't let him get angry."

"You talked to him?"

"Yes, it was a lovely performance on my part, but that's not the point."

"Yeah, I got it, keep Banner away from Loki, keep him in here. Don't let him get angry."

"Perfect. What are they arguing about?"

"Tony hacked into the system, Steve found out about Phase Two."

"You didn't know about that did you?"

"No clue."

Fury spoke up, trying to explain why Steve had found Hydra weapons in the storage room. The thought was enough to make Cassandra shudder, the thought that S.H.I.E.L.D could be Hydra. It scared her a bit, she didn't want to go back to that lifestyle.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony interrupted. The image of plans for a miss lie was pulled up onto the screen Tony was tapping on.

"Why were you lying?" Cassandra asked coldly.

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve hissed.

Bruce looked to Cassandra, glaring harshly at her. She tensed up, curling and uncurling her fists, but keeping her face blank and neutral.

"Did you know about this?"

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha suggested for her.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here cause I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Yes, Mr. Director, why is S.H.I.E.L.D using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction?" Cassandra asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Because of him." Fury pointed to Thor.

"Me?" The god asked innocently.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

Cassandra sighed angrily, crossing her arms and pursing her lips like she did when she was little. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, in and out, in and out. She attempted to stay calm, knowing Dr. Banner was on edge as it was, if she lost control, it would only be worse. She looked over to the doctor, noticing his skin had a slight tone of green to it, his jaw was clenched, he was trying to contain the other guy. Natasha looked at her worried, but continued to argue with Fury.

"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" Tony growled.

"Tony," Cassandra said, attempting to calm the man down.

"No Cassandra. Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." Steve said, pushing Cassandra back.

"Steve!"

Thor chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest, with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"You people are so petty, and tiny."

"Thor stop it! You're only making this worse!" Cassandra yelled, attempting to pull her nephew back.

Cassandra finally got a hold of Tony, pulling him back by the arms. He rubbed his forehead, while Steve looked more annoyed than usual. Bruce muttered something, his voice a tad deeper than it was normally.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr.Banner back to his-"

"Where? You rented my room." Bruce said harshly.

"The cell was just in case-" Fury tried, but was cut off again.

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!"

The fighting stopped, silence filling the room. Tony looked to Cassandra, giving her a sad look.

"I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!"

Natasha looked unnerved, she tensed, and Cassandra brought her hand down to the gun on her side, keeping her eyes on Bruce. Natasha and Fury did the same, ready to fire.

"You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter." Steve warned.

Bruce dropped the scepter on its table, the metal clanging as it hit the table. The computer that signaled where the Tesseract was beeped, everyone turned their attention the that. Cassandra loosened her white-knuckled grip on the gun, but still kept a few fingers on it.

"Got it." Tony said.

"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." Bruce sneered.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there faster." Tony boasted.

"Look, all of us," Cassandra tried to say.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it."

Tony turned to leave, and Cassandra sighed, looking to Natasha for backup. The other woman was watching Dr. Banner very carefully, not paying attention to anything else.

"You're not going alone!"

"You gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

"Boys!" Cassandra yelled.

Steve and Tony quit arguing get for a moment, turning their heads to look at the monitor.

"Oh my god." Bruce muttered.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down. An explosion blasted her through the glass onto the bridge. She slid on the ground into the podium where Fury usually stood.

"Turn up that engine! Number 3 engine is down! Can we get a run in?" Maria ran to the man who was previously playing Galaga.

"Talk to me."

"Turbine's loose. Mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs while we're in the air."

Cassandra stood up, and rushed over to Maria.

"If we loose another engine we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch the engine."

"You got that Stark?" Fury said into his comm.

"I'm on it!"

Cassandra stepped forward, and noticed something rolling along the floor.

"GRENADE!" Cassandra shouted.

The grenade exploded, and she hit her head on the railing. Smoke burned her eyes, and sound faded in and out of her ears. She saw two men in tactical gear creep forward, holding rifles. Fury attacked one of them, shooting the other. Another popped out, pointing a gun at Fury before he could react. Cassandra shot her hand to her holster, shooting the man in the head. She dropped her arm, her hand landing with a thud on the metal ground.

Cassandra felt blood drip down her cheek, and her hand went up to her temple, yanking off her glove to feel the blood. She winced when her finger made contact with the gash on her head, and she tried wiping up the blood with her glove, failing miserably. She sat down for a moment, waiting for the dizziness to stop, and finally stood up.

"Sir, we've lost all power in Engine One." Agent Sitwell said.

"It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

"This is Agent Romanoff, and I copy." Natasha said over her comm, sounding shaken.

"Agent Barnes, I copy."

Cassandra shook her head, exhaling, before running down the stairs to the detention level. She knew Natasha didn't need any help, but she also had something against Clint at the moment. His men carved a gash in her head, she was going to give him payback.

Natasha was punching Clint, and he pulled her hair. She screamed, and bit his arm. Cassandra hopped over the railing, and kicked the back of his knee. He turned his attention to her, and Natasha grabbed his head, slamming it into the metal rail several times. He passed out, slumping against a water heater.

"I didn't need help," Natasha said as the medical crew dragged him away by the arms.

"His men threw a grenade at us, and it got me. You expect me not to get him back?"

"Fair enough."

that chapter took a while to make, but it paid off cause it's like a bazillion words long.

also, you guys should listen to a song called "Dancing with your Ghost" by Sasha Sloan. it's really good.

love you 3000-