MYSTERY

“So the first time we actually have her in front of our eyes. Carrying out a felony in FRONT OF OUR EYES and we still have no single clue???”

Steve looks at his fingers entangled together, sitting on the desk in front of him as he clenches his jaw. Not a single clue. The most frustrating thing ever!

“Yes I mean, we searched the entire parameter for a whole day, Sam had to let go his Yoga lessons and still nothing Nada” Wanda supplies sighing dejectedly

“Even the computer looked untouched”

“But she was on the computer, she was downloading something we heard her, Clint and Steve saw her!! How can this be?” Tony asks angrily again, the dark circles around his eyes a clear indication of his sleepless nights.

Steve shakes his head in annoyance. If her memory, her voice and the dents on the wall due to Clint’s arrow were not present, he too would have thought it was a part of his imagination.

When the vigilante/criminal left. There was not a single trace of her anywhere in the building, no sightings, no camera recordings, it was like she just appeared out of thin air and vanished the same way.

“She has ways Tony” Natasha shakes her head “This is the first time we even got proof of her existence only because we saw her. If I am to guess I will say she belongs to an organisation that trains their recruits very well”

“Like Hydra?” Steve looks at her, furrowing his eyebrows

“I think its something else” Bucky interrupts before Natasha can even open her mouth “Hydra trained me to be a ghost story, to leave no clues behind like she does but they don’t allow their assets to talk this freely”

“Maybe she isn’t an asset, Maybe she is part of their upper group” Sam looks questionably at Bucky

Bucky just shakes his head “Whatever Hydra would do they don’t send their higher ups in the field. They are too coward for that. They only use their assets to carry out their filthy work”

“Also we cannot forget, the computer she was hacking into belonged to a Hydra sleeping cell that we just caught” Bruce adds

“So which means her organisation is after Hydra” Sam looks around “then why make enemies with us aren’t we on the same side?”

“Unless we aren’t” Bucky looks at his fingers on the table as he says “What if she wants to take down Hydra to initiate something even worse”

There is an eery silence that embraces the room as all of the avengers looks at each other trying to decipher what their next move could be.

—————

His glasses covering his eyes and a dodgers cap pulled all the way down to his forehead he makes his way through the trees surrounding him.

This was a place he found long ago. A little trail leading to isolation in the woods encompassing the avengers compound. It was his sanctuary, a place to be alone with his thoughts. Thoughts which lately have been a lot.

Thoughts of missions, of this new organisation that seems to have sprouted out of no where, of a new ghost story in town, of the past, of a future he is not sure he even has, the new enemies, hydra and also the ever lingering worry that these will be his only thoughts. He definitely does not think about the life he knows he can’t have.

The white picket fence, maybe a child or two no definitely not less than four that’s for sure. A faceless woman calling his name from behind as he stirs the food in the pan. Because yeah Steve Rogers was that kind of man. The one that craved domesticity, normality.

But no he never thought of those things. Never. Not even for a speck of stolen time in the early glow of morning light, or in the silences of the shady nights because no that was not a life the three ladies were weaving for him. Faith definitely would not allow for him to have that.

As he makes his way towards the pond, seeking comfort that on only dipping his legs while sitting on shore can bring he a serene voice surrounds his senses. A melody that rings through his ears to his heart and Steve has to stop himself to look at the creator of the sudden peace his mind finds.

A silhouette sits at the edge of the small sanctuary Steve thought only he had the address to humming along the tip tap of their feet on the water body. The glow of the sun, bright from behind him does good in hiding the features of the mysterious singer.

He takes small, slow, careful step towards the stranger who he can now see has shoulder length hair as black as the ashes of the burnt buildings they saved hostages from.

Okay maybe Steve was not romantic with his metaphors. But he was the romantic type which is why he feels himself smiling as he approaches the woman with the voice of an angel.

All his thoughts forgotten as he sits down on the bank on the pond (he is not sure what it is called). A little away from her, not to make her uncomfortable, pulling the lower half of his pants to his knees and dipping his legs the the water.

The woman stops singing and turns to him with a curious look in her eyes, the little lunch box in her lap forgotten.

“Hey ummm sorry to interrupt your moment” he raises his hands “I can leave if you want”

“No umm that’s not necessary” she shakes her head shyly. He looks at her lunch box filled with boiled vegetables

“Nice choice of food you got there” he nods at the lunch box in her lap and then flinches internally. God he can’t flirt.

She seems not to have caught up to his embarrassment as she looks at the food and scrunches her face.

“Yeah no” she shakes her head

“Don’t like vegetables?”

“Not boiled ones”

“Then why you eating them?”

She looks at him and smiles scratching the back of her head

“Well you see my friend kinda said I’m really unhealthy in my food choices and I kinda got offended even though she was completely right”

Steve laughs at that. A genuine laugh as he remembers countless escapades jumping from buildings when his friends said he couldn’t.

“I can relate”

“Yeah I’ve heard the stories” she swings her legs in the water, as he raises an eyebrow “Oh yeah its like a big gossip in the med bay whenever you do that and Sargent Barnes drags you to the doctor”

He furiously blushes at that looking away from her.

“Yeah well, Bucky just overreacts”

“If my friend jumped off a building like that, I would be much worse than he is” she laughs, a laugh that is melodious and sweeter than the songs the birds sing in the background.

He smiles looking at her beautiful shining eyes mocking him playfully and the curve of her lips mocking his heart unknowingly. Get it together Rogers.

“I guess so” he shrugs trying to look nonchalant and not as if her teasing is making his insides all smushy “Not a good disguise I see”

He refers to his half assed identity hiding attire as he takes off his cap and glasses.

“To be honest Captain America, its the worst disguise I have ever seen”

He gives her a hurt expression moving his hand to his heart. She just laughs shaking her head and Steve wonders what he has to do to listen to that beautiful laugh again.

“Steve” he says after a moment of staring at each other. She scrunches her eyebrows in confusion “My name, its Steve”

“Oh yeah yeah right” she nods her head looking forward now “I knew that, I mean who names their kid Captain? And I don’t think America even is an existing last name”

“Well maybe America was my first name and Captain was just a rank, you know and I am hiding the last name”

She laughs at that

“You’re really not good at this flirting gig aren’t you?”

Steve feels his entire face go red as he starts to stutter “I-I-I”

“Its kinda cute, I mean I was not the smoothest person either was I? Analyzing if Captain America was a name” she shakes her head

“You were flirting with me?”

“Trying apparently”

“Well I’m a flattered” she makes a face at that and he feels his heart drop. He did not just say that. “No no I mean I’m really glad you said that because I was really flirting with you and I’m horrible at it as you may have seen”

“You’re not that bad”

“Tell that to my friends” He shakes his head “Sam claims He will get his legs waxed if I even got a girl’s number through my techniques”

“Well that would be a scene to watch wouldn’t it?” She wiggles her eyebrows before digging in her pocket and pulling out a pen and motioning for him give give her his hand. Ignoring a tingles he feels shoot through his heart at her touch he focuses on what she is writing “You don’t have to call me but please do send a video of Him suffering through the hair removal. Its gonna be hilarious”

She starts to close the lid of her lunch box as she gets to stand up.

“What if I do wanna call you?”

“Then call me, Steve” she smiles looking at her watch “My break is almost over I should go, See you around”

And she turns to leave. Steve feels a smile grace his face as he looks down at the number on his hand and then suddenly realizes something quickly looking up to see her walking away

“I didn’t catch your name”

She looks back at him

“Ra-” she shakes her head “Y/N my name is Y/N”

—————

“West wing clear”

“North clear”

“South clear”

A pause before Steve presses a finger on the comm attached to his ear

“Bucky?”

“First half of the east wing clear but I have no access to the other half” Bucky’s breathless voice says in his ear, there is sound of something hard hitting another hard thing in the background of his voice “The entire area seems to be sealed off, there’s broken building parts everywhere”

“You tried finding other ways in?” Natasha’s voice asks

“Ofcourse I did” Steve just knows Bucky is rolling his eyes right now “Every single part is sealed, seems kinda deliberate”

“Which means the hostages are there”

“Wow Birdbrain wouldn’t have thought that, was just trying to get past for fun”

“Shut up barnes-”

“Guys please, we’re on a mission” Steve calls out annoyed “okay Wanda, go see if you can help Bucky while others stay in position this may be a rouse to get us out”

“On it Cap” Wanda says and he can make out the sound of her running feet through her comms

Steve looks around for something, some entry he may have missed before another voice calls out in his ear

“East wing clear” a furrowing of eyebrows in confusion before looking forward and moving his finger to his comm, That was a woman’s voice, did Wanda reach there and got rid of the obstacles so fast that is-

“What the hell?” Its Bucky

“Did Wanda swipe the area so fast?” Natasha voices the question in his brain

“No” Bucky replies frantically “She was all the way in the West wing, she isn’t even here yet”

“Yeah its not me” Wanda calls out

“Then who-” Clint is cut off before he can even finish his question

“The hostages are here and safe” The other voice replies again and suddenly Steve knows who that voice belongs to

“YOU” he screams out before he can even think and there is a laugh in his ear through his comm

“ME!” The cherry voice shouts in return “Hiya! Captain how you doin? Really felt nice at-least someone remembers me, was really feeling bad for a minute there I really thought I left an impression there and-”

“Can you shut up” Bucky says clearly annoyed “What do you want”

“What?”

“Why are you keeping hostages?” Bucky says “What do you want”

“What” the women says, voice laced with fake hurt “Really tin man? How can you accuse me of this, after everything we have been through together”

“Like you attacking properties, hacking into major government systems and being a major pain in our asses?” Clint says

“Hey rude” the woman says “I always left behind the Hydra goons and information you may need and I don’t even get a thank you but I still do it but you know what leave it, thankfulness just doesn’t exist anymore-”

“Would you stop rambling and just tell us why you have the hostages”

“Oh!” She says “I sometimes just can’t help with the rambling, been a problem since I was a child”

Steve rolls his eyes as she starts rambling again, debating whether or not leaving his position to go to the east wing is a good idea before deciding screw it and running towards the east wing

“As for why I have the hostages, well I saved them, Your welcome”

“Why would you save them?” Steve stops in his tracks asking suspiciously

“Because they were scared and being held against there will?”

“Will you just stop?” Bucky calls out “This is getting really irritating now, just get to the damn point”

“Fine you’re no fun” she says in a bored voice “Found the hostages, giving them back don’t worry, won’t tell how I found and saved them, Happy?”

“No” Natasha says “Won’t be happy until we have the civilians”

Steve lets out a breath as he reaches the place where Wanda is trying to lift the rumble with her powers but finding more and more as she proceeds, Bucky is with her trying to lift it off with his hands, and looking for an opening while Natasha joins them from the corridor in front of him

She mouths she was looking at other ways to get in before running off to the other side. Steve nods and goes ahead to help Bucky

“Hey flying guy don’t run that fast, Captain and Black Widow have already reached here”

Steve’s eyes widen before he looks around fratically

“No no not to me Captain” she calls out “you still have the rumble to get through”

“How did she-” Bucky looks at Steve, mirroring his confused gaze

“Hey are you okay birdman” she says “that was a hard fall, told you not to be that frantic”

“Sam” Steve calls out worried

“I’m fine” Sam says

“Thank god, I was really worried” she sighs in relief and Steve feels his anger flaring

“How is she doing this” Clint’s voice calls out in confusion

“I know everything, I see everything, I am everywhere, you can do nothing without me finding out muahh ha ha ha ha ha” she laughs in a villianacious way and even Wanda stops her efforts to look at Steve with fear, another enhanced?

“Just kidding, these bufoons had surveillance cameras everywhere, I can see everyone of you through these” she laughs fully “You guys should have seen your faces, Bird man almost fell again, oh god!”

Sam grumbles something incorrigible, while Steve shakes his head and goes back to finding a way to get to her

“Listen mam” he calls out “if you didn’t take them in why don’t you just let us get them to safety”

“Oh yeah I just need umm 5 minutes and then they’re all yours”

“Why do you-” Bucky shakes his head “You’re downloading something from the servers aren’t you?”

“Ding ding ding, you guys are getting smarter by the day”

Steve rolls his eyes

“Also I just realized you guys don’t have a name for me”

“We just call you her” Clint supplies

“Well that is just lame”

“So what is your name then?” Sam calls out having just reached them and moving to help Steve and Bucky

“Umm I can’t tell you that!” She says “you know what we should do, find me a villain name like Voldemort or something”

“You just said you are not the villain” Clint says

“I said I saved hostages that does not mean I’m not the villain”

“I thought that does mean-” Clint is cut off

“I really like the name Scarlet Witch and Black Widow. Maybe we can work out something along those lines, name of a color and then some noun”

Natasha comes back, shaking her head signaling no other way in and starts helping them move the rocks

“So I need a cool color name and then a noun, hey bridman man give me a cool color name”

“I- uh I” Steve motions for him to do it, they needed to distract her “Black”

“That’s already taken, Come on I thought you would give me the best one, lets take turns, Tin man?”

“Uh Blue”

“No no no” she says disappointed “that is not cool, Black widow mam?”

“Amber”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about, Captain”

“Violet”

“Yes yes very good, Scarlet witch”

“Hazel”

“Yeah! I think we have a winner, I live for multiple colours” she says excitedly clapping her hands “so lets see Hazel umm witch is taken, magic? Nah villain? I like it but nah, Hey Captain what do you think I am?”

“That is a mystery to me”

“Mystery, oh yes!” She says excitedly “Hazel mystery, umm no umm Mystery”

She repeats it a few times before clapping her hands together with finality

“We have a winner, you can call me Mystery from now”

“Seriously?” Sam mutters from his place before sighing “I mean wow, what a great villain name. Really makes me scared Mystery oh wow ahhh sooo scary”

You roll your eyes

“Okay okay bird man I am so jealous of your super unique and original name, Falcon, I mean who could have never thought of naming a flying man after a bird… Anyways as much as this was fun talking about I think you’re all tired from all this digging”

Steve lifts another boulder and throws to find a little gap in the mess that gives him a view of the other side. Before he can turn and call for others Bucky calls out

“Steve!”

His attention is diverted to Wanda who is moving a big clunk of rumble out with her powers and suddenly they have an entrance.

Steve moves in first motioning for the others to follow, his shield raised in front of him.

When he reaches the area, he sees hostages free and no one in site

“Farewell enemies” he last hears.