Serenity.

﹤AVENGERS COMPOUND﹥↛ MEETING ROOM

"We have a threat in our midst."

Heads subtly lurched at the statement, looking to assess the peers that surrounded them. The team, sitting around the glass conference table, didn't dare say a word, not wanting to interrupt Nick Fury in his sardonic lecture.

"So who is it?" Sam blurted, tired of waiting for more to be said. "-uh director."

"Oh. None of you," he shrugged, slightly amused by their irritated glances. "Just trying to keep you on your toes 'Avengers'. There is no threat in your group, that I know of."

"I thought you knew everything," Tony said, almost taunting his intelligence, even though the rich man knew that there in fact was no traitor among their ranks. 

"You shouldn't have anything to worry about-" Fury said boldly, casting a quick glance around the room. His eyes, almost unnoticeably, flickered to Wanda and Bucky. "yet"

"So what is this meeting about?" the former inquired. She ignored the pointed statement, doing a better job than Bucky at the task, his fist clenched hard enough to make his knuckles white. Steve, sitting next to him, shot him a worried glance. "If not about a threat."

"I never said it wasn't about a threat," he said, nodding to Tony. Lacking the signaled urgency, Tony flicked on the television, Fury stepped aside so the large flat screen was visible to those listening.

"There are many people on the large screen, they look quite like ants," Thor said, not regarding the natural volume that the meeting was set in. Natasha, closest to his earshot, rubbed her temples lightly. "I apologize Lady Nat."

"That's alright," she said, sending a glare to Clint as his lips curled upwards. "What's this for Fury?"

"This," he gestured shortly to the screen. "Is an aerial view of New York, the central, often most populated area. Live feed."

The lightning god was right. The proximity of the camera, and the speed people moved during the afternoon rush, made them look like small, scrambling animals.

The slide changed, to a picture instead of a video. The new image confused them more than the one shown prior.

A small girl rested on the screen, age ten at the most. An old, faded headshot, cutting off just barely below her chin. Her pale skin almost matched her dull grey eyes, brown hair fell over her face in messy waves. It was odd, almost unsettling, how the girl stared at the camera, not an ounce of anything in her. Most children wore some kind of emotion, if not a smile. But not her.

"Who's this?" Steve, as usual, asked the question on everyone's mind. "Why are you showing us all this?"

"This is a very important person," he said seriously, pointing to her face to further prove his point, though his tone did the job well enough. "A very important person we know virtually nothing about."

"How do you know if they're important then?" Nat questioned.

"If you'd let me finish..." he trailed off, "About a month ago, S.H.E.I.L.D was able to find a thumb drive, stashed in an inseam of a Hydra agent's uniform. One of the scientists."

"How'd you get the uniform?" Bucky asked, most of the Hydra bases were no longer in serious operation.

"Unimportant. And classified." Fury answered, "On it, there were about fifty different kinds of firewalls, ones that even a computer- human or electronic couldn't crack."

"How about you give me a crack at it," Tony offered, obviously not serious in his offer as he tapped at his phone with an irritated glare. His focus was elsewhere.

"As I was saying," he almost shouted, long tired of being held up. "Because of the setup, all we knew was the file was on a test subject, a person. It was best to assume it had something to do with another stage of the Super Soldier Trials." Postures tensed at the term. It had been expected, seeing they were dealing with Hydra, and it wasn't hard to imagine them preparing a whole new trial to better their fallen army.

It was just difficult to hear, more so for those with experience in the brutal experimentation.

"Then, just a day ago, we received a notification. The file had been opened. All firewalls were brought down. Most of the data entries had been terminated."

"An emergency override entry, most likely." Vision said, the android sure of himself, as he always was.

"Of course, he knows." Clint scoffed quietly, slightly lost in the conversation.

Fury continued, "we opened the file. And left in it, we found this, the picture from a few years back in a tab labeled 'Serenity'. But along with it, was an order."

"An order?" Bruce questioned, speaking up for the first time.

"Prisoner lost. Search and capture, do not kill. Last known tracker location, New York border. " he recited the order word for word, then sat back down. "We are ninety percent sure this girl is still in the city, injured from her escape, and easy to take. You lot, need to track her down, and bring her in.."

"There's something you're not telling us," Wanda noted, she didn't need her powers to know it was too simple to be the full truth.

"She's powered, isn't she?" Bucky said, more a statement than a question. His eyes were still locked on the photo.

"She is." Fury nodded as if it was an irrelevant detail. He got an array of disparity from many on the team, another powered individual roaming the streets. "We don't know what her abilities are, but I know that if Hydra is putting out an order not to kill this girl, she's important."

"Or dangerous" Steve added. "She could be wreaking havoc as we speak."

﹤QUEENS﹥↛ ?

Children screamed and cried as the world spun.

The mechanical horses seemed to bring them so much joy, they moved up and down in tune to the carnival music. The kids waved to their parents, who stood still, for they were not on the rotating dais with them.

She waved her feet as they hung over one side of the neon green painted stallion. The color was extremely unrealistic and rather foolish, she'd only picked that particular animal because it was the only one the children didn't run to. If she caused a hassle over one of the more desirable ones, it would have brought attention to her. So she didn't walk towards the yellow, nor the blue horse, instead she'd slowly stalked to the undesirable one. Maybe the kids were smart for their decision to avoid it.

Though all the features were impractical, out of all the ranging breeds on the spinning platform, a bright, green-painted horse would be the least likely to survive in a natural habitat.

"Is that cranberry juice?"

A little boy, riding on the beige horse across from her, had turned to face her, his eyes giddily focused on her attire. She looked down, just realizing the condition of her attire.

Blood.

Her charcoal grey colored sweatshirt slightly contrasted the deep stains, which had splattered or seeped into various places. Even her hood, which was tightened around her crown, had remnants of the liquid. Some of it was hers, but other splotches belonged to those who got in her way. It was half and half, really.

Her escape wasn't clean, she was wearing the proof. But still, she got out. There weren't many who could say that, so she didn't mind not leaving unscathed.

Leaving.

Left.

She'd left Hydra. And for some reason, her mind wouldn't let the thought sink in.

The girl nodded to the boy, who'd surprisingly still been awaiting an answer after she zoned out.

The ride slowed, and the excited noise came to an end. Adults flooded through the gates to collect their young ones. She watched as the little boy, who'd compared the vile liquid to something so simple, was tugged away by his mother. The children were replaced with the others who'd been waiting their turn.

She jumped off her painted horse, leaving the spinning podium as the next bunch of kids broke past the gate. The girl swiftly left the attraction, soon falling into sync with the pedestrians hustling down the crosswalk as she walked across the street.

"Once we step onto the sidewalk, we will quietly convene in the first alleyway to your left." the gruff voice didn't exactly surprise her, but she hadn't been expecting someone to find her so soon. "That's an order, agent."

They walked in sync, just the two of them, though she expected more to be close by. Watching.

She didn't think he was an agent, or that any of them were. An agent would've waited, and wouldn't have exuded such boldness in an exposed setting. The girl glanced back, scoffing as she caught sight of the pistol he had, pressed against her back.

Idiots.

Just as he'd told her to, she took the left at the sidewalk. The crowd got farther and farther the deeper they walked into the alley.

"Alright, turn around, hands over your head." still, the girl did as he said. He was of average build, a little under average height.

But the men who'd emerged from around the corner were a different story.

She'd overshot just a bit, it was only a group of three who were his backup. That's probably all they thought they needed, considering their muscle mass. The men stood behind the smallest of them as he spoke.

"You stay right there. Your hands leave my sight, I shoot you. You even- fuckin' move, I shoot you." he threatened, tightening his clutch around the gun. "Call them, tell 'em we got her."

She assumed the last part was directed to his comrades, seeing as they quickly followed the direction. If they called, Hydra would surely be there within the hour, and she'd go back into her cage within the next.

It was a basic tactic, and a rushed one. Hiring outside, local handymen. It was one of the riskiest methods. There was no constant line of communication, neither side knew of the other's exact status.

In simpler terms, if the call was never made, Hydra wouldn't be made aware of their condition, or her locale.

"You think I'm playing with you?" the small man hollered, stepping closer with his weapon as she put one of her arms down at her side. "Don't you get cocky now girlie."

He got close, so close that his foul breath bounced off her face. The small man pressed the gun to her temple. She fought back a grimace as he hissed in her ear. "I heard they don't like cocky up there, especially from their star show bird. Agent Zero..."

"Serenity."

She closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, the girl dropped her other hand.

It was funny. In her head, their screams could blend in with those of the children across the street.