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INVADING HYDRA WITH
THE AVENGERS

"We tend to fear things we don't
understand." —Unknown
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HYDRA Research Base

Location: Sokovia, Europe

April 28, 2015

"JUST stay here and wait for my signal," Aurora confirmed through the earpiece, strolling stealthily towards the entrance she once called home. She didn't understand why she had to come back, just staring at the large building made her blood boil and the urge to destroy HYDRA. No matter how hard she wants to change, the past will always haunt her. At least, there might be something she could look forward to in the future.

'Never let fear decide your future,' Aurora recalled from reading a book that Pepper gave her on her birthday. A piece of advice that she will always follow, even if she was already the daredevil herself. Oh how identical she is with Tony's personality. Stubborn, intelligent, and talented people believed that they didn't deserve the chance for succeeding.

The teenager had her own little mission in mind whilst the Avengers were here to retrieve a certain scepter. Loki's scepter. It's been months raiding different HYDRA bases with the help of Aurora, making sure they left nothing behind during the attacks. It seemed that only this time they were expecting their arrival, based on how the agents were vigilant. Shouts erupted from the distance, with their weapons aimed at Aurora as a warning. She couldn't help but smirk at the stupid agents that thought they could just capture her.

Just because she wasn't with HYDRA anymore didn't mean that she has lost her touch of being an assassin. Aurora's eyes flashed to a sickly blue hue that harmonized with her energy ability, the mist creeping along to the agent's minds. Without a second thought, she mind-controlled them to do her bidding with the Avengers closely behind. Steve stole a motorbike, Natasha managed to steer the tank with Clint and herself beside the female Avenger, and the others either walked or flew to the base. However, instead of entering discreetly, Natasha crashed against the gate, thus alarms blared throughout the base warning them of an intruder.

"Fuck! Why is no one listening to me when I say to be discreet?" Aurora declared through the earpiece, firing energy beams at the HYDRA soldiers advancing at the vehicle along the snowy road. Until, the road was cut short with everyone jumping out beside one another dramatically. Aurora manipulated their weapons to fire themselves as the others went their separate ways.

"Language!" Steve scolded her, still, Aurora laughed softly whilst shaking her head slightly at the moment. Nonetheless, the team continued to fight against the soldiers with Steve asking Jarvis, "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken." Tony's A.I. responded, causing Aurora to frown since they never have the advanced technology yet.

"Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last." The God of Thunder declared, pleased that their search for the scepter was going to end soon. Aurora had to admit that she was glad too— just being here was a bad omen for her.

If only they knew how similar Thor and Aurora were....

"At long last is lasting a little long, boys," Natasha said in relief after knocking two soldiers with ease. From a distance, Clint was hiding behind a tree as he was being aimed by a hidden bunker. With his precise vision, Clint made the bunker explode after just using one arrow.

"Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint called out over the commotion of gunshots and screaming. Aurora leaped into action by following Thor as she struck a row of soldiers with the energy beam.

"Wait a second. No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language?'" Tony teased him, Aurora cracked a small smile at the thought of her father's shocked expression.

"I know," Steve said before throwing his bike at some soldiers driving up in their truck, "It just slipped out."

The teenager maintained her composure until she felt a slight pain in her head. After spending months with the Avengers, she grew attached to them but with a small price. Her pain infliction worked both ways, affecting either her target or herself when someone she knows is in danger or injured.

A flash of blue blur appears along the snowy forest and knocks down Clint in surprise. The archer briefly stared at the individual as the young man answered, "You didn't see that coming?"

The individual zooms off with Clint trying to get a shot at him, but he hesitates to shoot the arrow. Unfortunately, he was shot at the abdomen that alerted Natasha as she called to him, "Clint!"

This only confirmed Aurora's suspicion upon seeing Steve being knocked down to the ground by the same blur. Aurora tried to get a better look at the man's face, but bullets flew by and she was forced to take cover nearby the trees. She growled softly at the position she was in, glancing briefly at the direction of the bullets. Aurora then grabbed her gun from the thigh strap and killed three soldiers at once until she retreated closer towards the research base.

"We have an enhanced in the field," Steve affirmed through the comms, standing back on his feet as he swiftly ran after the man.

"Clint's hit!" Black Widow shouted back, helping her best friend by wrapping the wound to prevent blood from sweeping out. Clint was groaning in pain, Aurora reciprocating by clenching her eyes shut from the headache.

"Stark, we really need to get inside." Steve insisted with urgency, noticing how quiet Aurora was from her side of the comms. Usually she would make a sarcastic comment on how well the situation was going but instead there were just low grunts and groans.

"I'm closing in. JARVIS, am I... closing in? Do you see a power source for that shield?" Tony promised him, circling the building to find the power source.

"There's a pathway below the north tower," Jarvis confirmed with Tony complying as he blew up the invisible shield right at the power source. Immediately, Aurora teleported near the west wing with soldiers surprised to see her. She just smirked softly when she used her enhanced combat to temporarily knock them unconscious.

"Drawbridge is down, people," Tony informed them, scanning the building to find Loki's scepter. Once the scan was completed, Jarvis notified him of the possibility that the enhanced individual will return.

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac." Natasha alerted the team, with Thor and Steve being the closest as they finished fighting off some soldiers until they stared at one another firmly.

"I can get Barton to the jet. The sooner we're gone the better. You, Aurora, and Stark secure the scepter." Thor explained briefly to Captain America, nodding his head in agreement at the plan. Soldiers approached the two men in their HYDRA tank, loading their weapons at them. Thor noted them coming as he referred to the incoming group, "Looks like they're lining up."

"Well, they're excited." Steve shrugged his shoulders, Thor summoning lightning as he pounds on Steve's shield with his hammer and the force knocks down all the soldiers. The tank split in half with the two heroes resumed with the raid.

"Find the scepter," Thor tells them shortly, flying off to where Natasha and Clint were. Aurora replied in confirmation, continuing to fight against incoming soldiers with ease.

"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony remarked to Steve, causing Aurora to laugh loudly whilst Captain America just sighed through the comms.

"That's not going away anytime soon." Steve nodded his head, glancing around the building as he jogged up there. Now, it was only Steve, Aurora, and Tony to complete the mission in retrieving Loki's scepter.

"Nope," Aurora answered, dragging out the syllable as her lips curved into a teasing smile. Tony landed beside his daughter as more soldiers appeared from a stairway. The pair used their weapons respectively to take the soldiers down. Although they're on a mission, Tony was proud of how much Aurora has changed for the past months. Her old habits seemed to crumble away as she progressed to be a normal teenager, creating bonds with the team and himself.

Still there was nothing normal with her if anything— she was never meant to be normal. If only he knew the entire truth... she was still latching onto the only thing from HYDRA. Her partner... Bucky. And Aurora would do anything to keep him safe if it meant risking her life and freedom during the process. Because of her, Bucky was her father figure before Tony entered her life. Nonetheless, she was grateful for Tony's patience and understanding yet resented him for not being with her sooner.

"Loki's scepter must be in the underground laboratory," Aurora confirmed, shooting bullets to the head of soldiers. She placed them away as she guided her father inside, mind-controlling whoever crossed their path. Meanwhile, they didn't suspect a certain female enhanced following them from a distance.

Tony broke through the glass window, alerting the HYDRA personnel by shooting at him when he started, "Guys, stop. We gotta talk this through." However, mini-missiles flew out of his Iron Man suit that injured them immediately, Aurora jumped after to see the agents and scientists on the ground.

"It was a good talk," Tony answered rather snarky, heading towards the bottom chamber with Aurora behind him. The Starks find Dr. List typing something on the computer until Tony knocks him out, then he steps out of his Iron Man suit.

"I know this place," Aurora mumbles to herself, glancing around the room where everything started. The day when she experimented with the super-soldier serum. How ironic that this was the last place she expected to be. Who knew after many years she remembered every detail of that exact day.

She was placed at the middle in the room, from the right side was the machinery that was meant to power up the chamber. Aurora still remembered their faces along with the voices on who it belonged to. Her mentor, Brock Rumlow was among them to witness the historical event while Aurora called it the worst fucking day of her life. It only took her three days to finally understand her purpose... forgetting everything about the pain when she wants is revenge.

"Sentry mode," Tony demanded his suit, temporarily making Aurora refocus on the mission. Tony noticed a slight difference with his daughter's eyes, wavering around with an eerie frown. He went to gently touch her shoulder and asked, "You alright, kid?"

"...Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Aurora nodded, gulping down the lump on her throat as she glanced over at the computers. Tony followed her eyes as he walked over with a small grin, "Okay, JARVIS. You know I want it all. Make sure you copy Hill at HQ."

Tony typed on the computer, trying to find the location for Loki's scepter. However, Aurora briefly glared at the far corner that's barely lit, sensing that someone was probably hiding. Thus, she grabbed her mirror by clicking on one side to release a small tracker. The teenager aimed it at whoever it was, successfully not being noticed by the enhanced person. Tony muttered to himself, "I know you're hiding more than files. Hey, J, give me an IR scan of the room, real quick."

"The wall to your left... I'm reading steel reinforcement and an air current," Jarvis responded to the Iron Man suit pointing on the door as Tony walked over to lean against it.

"Please be a secret door, please be a secret door, please be a secret door...," Tony repeated himself until he pushed and the wall slowly opened up. The billionaire looked over at Aurora with a small grin, "Yay!"

"Come on, we still have a long way to go," Aurora insisted, going first through the secret passageway since she knew that HYDRA might have a few tricks up their sleeves. What the teenager became worried about was how was she going to rescue the twins? Knowing it won't be an easy task since right now they're the enemies invading their territory.

It didn't take long for the Starks to reach almost the end of the passageway, when they heard Steve grunted and said, "We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage."

Aurora curiously raised her eyebrows at what she heard but it didn't compare to what they saw from the chamber. A room filled with recovered artifacts from the Battle of New York, giving Tony a slight flashback of being in space. There was a gigantic Chitauri leviathan in perfect condition and some of his Iron Man scrapped armor. How did HYDRA manage to recover this much artifacts without SHIELD even knowing?

"Guys, I got Strucker." Steve declared firmly, glancing at his surroundings closely. The scientist was knocked out cold from the impact of the vibranium shield, waiting for a response from Tony.

"Yeah, I got... something bigger," Tony replies to the Captain, Aurora spotting the scepter from the distance as she nudged him about what she found.

"Thor, I got eyes on the prize," Tony grinned proudly, strolling forward towards the scepter with Aurora in front. The female enhanced named Wanda Maximoff creeps up behind him and uses her fear manipulation on him. Wanda processed to the younger Stark to reveal her deepest secret as well. However, Aurora was more advanced with her powers that she blocked off from having her fear being revealed. It baffled Wanda on how she could resist being controlled, nonetheless, she focused on Tony's reaction from his fear.

In Tony's vision he saw the Chitauri come to life through a portal, similar to the one in New York. But, what caught his attention was to see the rest of the Avengers team and Aurora all dead, slowly staring in awe and the gruesome scene. Aurora had a large wound coming from her abdomen, her eyes were lifeless and hollow. Tony goes over to Steve's body to check his pulse when Steve suddenly grabs him.

"You could have saved us...." Steve choked until he died slowly. Still, Tony continues to hear Steve's voice in his head, 'Why didn't you do more?'

But what scared him was hearing Aurora's voice echoed around him, 'Why didn't you save me dad? You could have done better....' Tony sees that he is in the Chitauri realm, when he snaps back to reality to find Aurora shaking him softly. He slightly gasped in shock, but she was still alive— and that's what mattered to him. Tony summoned his Iron Man suit to grab the scepter, neither one realizing the twins were watching them.

"We're just gonna let them take it?" Pietro complained to his sister but all Wanda did was smile to herself at the thought of ripping the Avengers apart. Once Tony got Loki's scepter, Aurora created a portal to the aircraft to have a faster escape route. Everyone was inside waiting for them as Tony began steering the aircraft whilst Aurora leaned against the wall.

"Hey, Nat could you wake me up when we get home?" Aurora asked the female Avenger, stifling a small incoming yawn as she rubbed her tired eyelids.

"Of course, Aurora," Natasha grinned softly, Aurora walking away towards the small compartment that had a bed in which she slept in. Eventually, they landed at the Avengers Tower with Natasha waking her up as she promised. With the adults talking about other matters, Aurora locked herself in her room for the next hours since she felt something bothering her.

A few hours after the evening, Bruce entered his laboratory to find Tony waiting for him. Curiously he asked about Clint in terms of the healing process, "How's he doing?"

"Oh, unfortunately, he's still Barton," Tony answered sarcastically, wondering if he should tell Bruce about his plan. Ever since he received that random illusion of vision, he began to become paranoid about the future of the Avengers.

"That's terrible," Bruce insisted with a small frown, adjusting his glasses for better eyesight but Tony just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"He's fine. He's thirsty. Alright. Look alive, JARVIS. It's playtime. We've only got a couple days with this joystick so let's make the most of it. Update me on the structural and compositional analysis." The billionaire revealed as he looked at the scepter on the desk.

"The scepter is alien. There are elements I can't quantify." Jarvis responded, sounding stumped that he couldn't identify the problem.

"So there's elements you can." Tony nodded his head, glancing at the screen beside him for a complete analysis. Bruce stared at him bewildered but then again... Tony was always the one to break boundaries and bend the rules.

"The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside. Something powerful." Jarvis suggested to his creator, waiting for confirmation on continuing the procedure.

"Like a reactor?" Tony questioned swiftly but the A.I. system retaliated, "Like a computer. I believe I'm ciphering code."

"Alright keep working on it while I check on Barton," Tony ordered his A.I. system, whilst Bruce had to collect some feedback from Dr. Cho on the new regeneration cradle. Later on, Aurora was trying to find her father some information about her training. Just as she was going to head towards the next level after not seeing him at Banner's laboratory, Loki's scepter captured her full attention.

Something made her follow the faint blue glow coming from the scepter... almost as if she was in a spell. Therefore, Aurora glances around until she discreetly enters the laboratory with an emotionless expression. Voices echoed softly in her mind, Aurora tried to ignore the mysterious man's voice that somewhat sounded soothing. But she couldn't— it was unexpected that made her eyes glow into an electric blue hue, almost exactly when the man told her to come forth.

Her feet swayed rhythmically, like a moth drawn towards the bright light without knowing the danger she's in. No one ever dared touch something alien, like the Tesseract of the thought that they might be killed or something much worse. Warnings blared on her mind when she outstretched one hand to grab the core of the scepter. If only she knew that no one can survive touching an Infinity stone if they're a mere mortal.

"Miss Stark would you like me to call your father?" Jarvis inquired Aurora, but it fell to deaf ears in which she drowned out everything she was meant to do. Therefore, the A.I. system continued to question the girl until Jarvis took the matter to his own hands upon sensing the change of the scepter.

Aurora finally felt a cool sensation on her fingertips as she dared to pick up... only to find that she was alright. Her fingers didn't even twitch in pain from the burning glow of the power source. The teenager then manipulated the power source by combining her powers with the scepter, causing a sudden joint of energy. She dropped it suddenly in shock, her eyes turning back to its normal color after what she just saw.

The teenager swiftly realized what she did as she moved the scepter back to where it belonged. Aurora noticed her fingers turn blue but the strange thing was... she was left unharmed. This puzzled her profusely that she didn't hear footsteps marching towards her.

"What were you doing?" Tony demanded her, Aurora snapped her head towards him to find Steve and Bruce beside her father. She tried to formulate some kind of response but no words were formed, rather an expression that perplexed the group at her reaction.

"I-I... I was l-looking for you. And you usually are h-here so I came but then I just blanked out." Aurora said sincerely, Tony saw her face and he knew that she was telling the truth. After living together, they picked up the habits of one another which helped strengthen their bond with trusting each other.

"Blanked out?" Steve asked softly, but Aurora didn't answer. She didn't even know the answer herself, it was unlike her to lose focus or control over something.

"You could have waited for me outside, but you alright, kid?" Tony asked the second time this day. Aurora stiffly nodded her head gently, clenching her hand that touched the scepter. She was later dismissed by Steve, thus she ran to her room without wasting another moment to look at herself in the mirror. She looked normal with some dark circles forming under her eyes after taking a toll on different time zone changes.

The peculiar thing was how her hand changed back to normal, almost unharmed of the damage she created. She wasn't harmed from the power, the only thing she got was a slight bruise from holding Loki's scepter for too long. What could this mean? Why was she able to do that without injuring herself? Her hand felt normal... so was something wrong with her? Something no one can understand right now?

No if she was, she wouldn't feel better now then she did before. Rather, the scepter made her powers multiple times fold without her even knowing. Something strange was going on about herself... and she didn't like it. Aurora loathed that she didn't have all the answers right now. It seems that HYDRA will always have more secrets to reveal with crushing the human soul to nothing but ashes.

HYDRA was definitely not telling her the entire truth about her powers or maybe her heritage. Just when she thought she had everything figured out, one way or another life will throw a curveball at her. It's like flipping a coin to determine her fate will either save the world— or destroy it.

Aurora decided not to tell the Avengers anything, in fear that they will find her a threat and might not help with the situation. After that moment, she received night terrors and panic attacks randomly that she was afraid of even sleeping again. It showed the same thing: being on a completely different planet filled with a destroyed civilization. An alien ship crashed nearby that resembled a circular ring that had spider webs on some areas that seemed to latch on the ship.

Faces... there were also random faces she didn't recognize except for Tony's. But whoever they were, Aurora hoped it would be a long time until the moment came. The worst was yet to come and she knew it, Aurora just wondered if she was prepared for it when it arrived. The thought alone terrified her to the core, something she hasn't felt in a long time.

The next few days passed like a blur, Aurora busily training to ease her mind, Tony and Bruce working on their new project, and the others were minding their own business. A dysfunctional family Aurora has but since she wasn't normal, nor were they.

And that's what makes her family special....

Here's the first chapter of Act Two and I hope you liked it! Also, I added some hints and foreshadowing... so did anyone catch that? Tell me if you did because I want to hear your theories. Anyway, Please vote and comment if you liked anything and I'll have another chapter soon!