Y/N LEANED AGAINST the wall in the hallway as he placed both of his palms on his face. He exhaled as he removed them, thinking back at the words the Asgardian villain revealed to him.

He remembered the faces of his parents, the ones who raised him before he enlisted in the army. But now he doesn't know if they really were his...he wasn't sure if anything he believed was real.

The young man waited in the hallway for what seemed to be only a few minutes before Natasha walked back out. She motioned for Y/N to follow her.

"What'd you get out of him?" He asked as he walked.

"We have to get to the lab. It's about Banner." She answered.

"The green giant?" He asked again, but shook his head. "Sorry, I'll stop."

They continued walking down the hallway and stumbled upon Thor. He asked how the questioning with his brother went.

"We know his plan. Follow." She commanded, in which the god gave a simple shrug and did as told.

The three entered the lab and saw Nick Fury already in an argument with Stark and Rogers. Banner stood idly by and noticed the three walk in.

"Did you know about this?" He asked Natasha, referring to the current conversation he was having with the other men about the Tesseract.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" She replied.

Bruce chuckled. "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

Natasha stepped closer to Banner. "Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

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

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."

Bruce scoffed, then walked over to the computer screen.

"I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury pointed at Thor. "Because of him."

Thor raised a brow and looked at him. He wasn't even supposed to be in the room. "Me?"

"Really?" Y/N questioned.

Fury shook his head and began to explain.

"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."

Thor faced the director. "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."

Fury turned and looked at everybody in the room.

"The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked.

Thor got face to face with Nick.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

Y/N crossed his arms. "Whoa, wait? A higher form?"

Fury continued. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something—"

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony interjected. "Because that always calms everything right down."

Fury turned around to face Tony. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."

Steve decided to chime in. "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep—"

"Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor cut in.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury shot back.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust."

Natasha also had her arms crossed. "Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors all potential threats."

"Captain America is a threat?" Bruce asked.

"We all are."

Y/N looked at her. "Are you saying I'm a threat?"

She didn't know how to answer his question, but Fury decided to do so.

"Every enhanced being should be seen as one. In case—"

"In case what, Nick?" Y/N interrupted, stepping closer to the director. "What am I going to do?"

"You were experimented on by...an unknown party. I still have yet to know how far they went."

Y/N scoffed. A lot was happening today and he was starting to get annoyed. His experience with Loki earlier also didn't help.

"How far in what? Making me some type of weapon?" He asked.

"That's not what he's saying." Natasha said.

"Sure seems like it. There's a lot of things Fury here likes to keep to himself."

Tony nodded. "Forrest Gump has a point." He pointed at Y/N. "Can I call you Forrest Gump? I'll call you Forrest Gump."

He ignored Stark's remark, but the billionaire still gave himself a pat on the back for finally coming up with a good nickname for the young agent.

"I don't tell you everything...because we have bigger things to deal with." Fury replied.

"Yeah, like tracking me. Right?" Bruce asked.

They continue to argue with each other, all while the scepter on the table emitted a faint noise.

"You speak of control yet you court chaos." Thor exclaimed.

"That's his M.O, isn't it?" Bruce agreed. "I mean what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away." Fury ordered.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony said as he put a hand on Steve's shoulder. The soldier quickly slapped it away.

"You know damn well why. Back off!" Steve exclaimed.

"I'm starting to want you to make me."

Steve chuckled as he faced Tony.

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

Natasha was pretty impressed by his comeback.

Steve persisted. "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you're really right for is yourself."

Tony stared at the Captain and stayed silent. He continued.

"You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony finally replied.

Steve looked over at the team, who stood idly by and listened to their argument. He looked back at Stark.

"Always a way out." Steve said. "You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Tony didn't like his comment. He chose to rebut.

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

Steve nodded with a glare. "Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughed. "You people are so petty, and tiny."

"This is quite the team." Y/N remarked.

Fury turned to Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his room?"

"Where? You rented my room." Bruce said, mentioning how Loki was in the containment chamber made for the Hulk.

"The cell was just in case—"

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried."

Bruce explained how he tried to commit suicide one time in hiding, but his Hulk form stopped the attempt. He moved on and chose to help people overseas. "Now you dragged me back into this freak show."

He looked at Natasha and continued. "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

They all noticed Bruce reaching for the scepter. Fury and Natasha put their hands on their gun holsters.

Y/N extended his hand in Bruce's direction, "Dr. Banner, put down the scepter."

Bruce looked down seeing that he was holding Loki's scepter.

Suddenly, the computer in the lab started to chime, informing them that the cube was located. He put the scepter back down and went over to check.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." Thor said.

"I can get there faster." Tony told them as he started to walk away. Steve held his arm and stopped him.

"You're not going alone."

Tony pulled his arm away. "You're gonna stop me?"

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

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

Y/N scoffed and started to walk out himself, passing by the two men. "By the time you two make up, I'd have already gotten—"

Suddenly, a part of the lab exploded and launched everybody back. Natasha and Bruce were flung through the window and fell into the maintenance area below. Y/N landed beside Fury, and was rendered unconscious for a moment before getting back up a couple minutes later.

The lab was engulfed in flames and filled with smoke. He looked down, seeing Fury slowly getting up. He helped him to his feet, then looked around and noticed everybody else was gone. 

Fury let out a cough before speaking into his radio. "Hill?"

"It was an external explosion. One of the engines. If we lose another one this aircraft is going down." She reported back.

Fury radioed Tony, and was quickly informed that he was going to deal with it.

"L/N." Fury called him and motioned him to follow. They ran through the corridors of the hellicarrier, passing by other agents who were racing to their stations. Y/N and Fury made it to the main area, where the latter began to speak to one of the supervising agents.

"Bring the carrier about to a 1-8-0, heading south! Take us to the water."

"We're flying blind. Navigation's recalibrating after the engine failure." He shot back.

"Is the sun coming up?"

"Uh, yes, sir."

"Then put it on the left. Get us over water. One more turbine goes down, and we drop."

Fury went over to his console and Hill walked by.

"We need full evac on the lower hangar bay." He told her.

"I'll go too." Y/N said, in which the director responded with a nod.

He followed Maria but before they can leave, a grenade rolled into the main area.

"Grenade!" He shouted, and quickly grabbed Maria and pushed themselves away.

The explosion still sent them flying back and they landed into the lower floor by the computers. Gunmen in full tactical gear came into the room and Fury got behind cover. He waited for two of them to pass by, then attacked and subdued one of them before shooting down the other.

Y/N leaped over the railing and threw his baton at one gunman about to shoot Fury. It disoriented him before Y/N landed a roundhouse kick to take him down.

A couple more gunmen ran in, and Y/N was like a blur as he engaged them. He kicked one against the wall, and swiftly grab the other man's rifle before he can fire. He shot a few times into the ceiling, then Y/N disarmed him and hit him across the face with his own weapon.

Another man arrived and aimed at Y/N, but Maria had recovered and shot him down before he can attack.

"We got a perimeter breach. Hostiles are in S.H.I.E.L.D gear!" Fury spoke into his radio.

Fury, Maria, and Y/N stuck together as they continued taking down incoming rogue agents. Suddenly, an arrow was shot into the room and exploded upon impact, incapacitating a few agents.

Another one was shot into the room. The young agent looked up and saw a familiar look man through a hole in the wall.

Barton.

He drew another arrow containing a USB and shot it into a port on a console. He quickly ran off.

"It's Barton!" Y/N shouted.

The hellicarrier started to power down thanks to the virus Clint's USB had. The engine shut off and the aircraft began its descent.

Fury spoke into his radio again. "Barton took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level where Loki is. Does anybody copy?"

"I'm on it!" Y/N shouted back, then heard a recognizable voice through the same channel.

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."

"Meet her there." Fury told Y/N, who quickly ran off.

Freedom Fighter was making his way to the detention center. Two gunmen appeared in front of him down the corridor and raised their rifles, but Y/N was quick to act.

He ran along the wall and leaped off to kick the first agent in the face. He then took out one of his batons and hit the second gunman with it before grabbing his arm.

He spun back around and grabbed the gun of the first agent, disarming him while simultaneously ducking a swing from the second agent. He knocked the first man down, then kicked the second one in the groin before hitting him across the face while he knelt.

"I'm in a rush. Sorry." He breathed out before continuing on.

Y/N made it to the engine room, then looked up and saw Barton on the catwalk. It wasn't long before he also saw Natasha run up behind Clint to engage him.

Clint lifted his bow and was about to draw an arrow, but she swiped it away and started to attack. Y/N decided to act as well, and used his agile prowess to quickly climb up the pipes and reach the catwalk.

Clint continued fighting Natasha, but a baton hit him in the back of the head and he grimaced. He pushed Natasha away and looked back at Y/N.

"If you toss that baton at me again..." Clint said with a glare, still mind-controlled.

He activated his bow staff and swung at Y/N, but he evaded his attack. Y/N punched him in the side, and also evaded Clint's knee to his abdomen. He landed a right hook across Barton's jaw and caused him to stumble back.

"You trained me, Clint. And I know your moves." Y/N spoke.

Natasha engaged him again and kicked him in the back. Clint recovered and tried to punch her, but she grabbed his arm and stopped the hit. Y/N ran up and grabbed the archer from behind, but Clint head-butted Y/N and got him off.

Barton kicked Romanoff away and unsheathed his knife. He looked at both of his friends, one on his left and one on his right.

"Come on, Barton..." Natasha pleaded, but the mind-controlled Clint didn't relent.

He charged at Y/N, who deftly grabbed his arm as he thrusted his blade. He kicked him back and Clint swiftly spun around and tried attacking Natasha, but she evaded his swing. She grabbed his arm too, but he tossed the blade into his other hand and swiped again, still missing.

Clint ultimately pinned her to the railing and raised his knife to stab her. Y/N reacted and charged him, punching Clint's side and freeing Natasha from his grasp. She quickly initiated a takedown and threw Clint against the railing, hitting his head.

He groaned as he fell the floor, then got onto his knees and looked up at his two colleagues.

"Natasha?" He muttered.

Y/N believed that his friend was now free of the mind control, but Natasha took no chances. She punched him straight in the face and knocked him out cold.

"You think it wore off?" Y/N simply asked as he looked down at his body, panting in the process.

Natasha exhaled. "Yeah. But you know, precautions."

• • •

MORALE WAS AT a low. Despite dealing with the rogue agents, Iron Man and Captain America restarting the engines, and Clint being back to normal, a lot of things went wrong.

Loki had escaped and killed Phil Coulson while doing so. Thor and Banner were also missing in action after dealing with the attack on the hellicarrier.

Fury finished speaking to Rogers and Stark about his plan, on how he gathered them all in order to unite and fight the battles regular people couldn't.

His idea.

The Avengers.

Tony walked off as Y/N entered the main room. Steve sat there for a bit before excusing himself as well. Maria then left afterwards, leaving only Fury and Y/N at the table.

The young man crossed his arms as he looked at Coulson's bloodied trading cards on the table. He breathed out, remembering how the agent was good to him ever since he first joined S.H.I.E.L.D.

"He's really gone..." Y/N began, then massaged the bridge of his nose as he thought about Loki. "We have to stop him."

"Then get in line, L/N. So do many others." Fury said as he sat at the edge of the table.

"Then put me in front. I'm going to kill him." Y/N shot back, eyes still fixated on the cards. "I'll even find him myself."

Fury looked up at the young man, surprised at his sudden sense of vengeance.

"You sure about that?" He asked Y/N as he got up, "I've never pegged you for wrath-of-man type."

Fury was right. Freedom Fighter completed missions for them with a sense of duty and never went into them wanting to kill or be violent.

Not yet at least.

"Then I guess it's time for a change." Y/N finally got his eyes off the stained cards and looked at Fury.

The director sighed and got close to the young agent. He recalled what they argued about back in the lab.

"What I said...about the people who experimented on you..." He began. "Yes, you could've been a weapon, Y/N. But I took you in so you could be something better. I don't send you out to kill people for our benefit, I give you tasks that will better our world."

Y/N nodded as he took in his words.

"I saw something special in you. Some people didn't, but I did. And I know at heart, you're not a killer."

"How do you know that, Nick? I don't even know for how long I was experimented on." He then remembered his resurfaced memories and what Loki told him. "I don't even know if my parents were even mine to begin with. What if I was born to be one? I could be Stalin's kid for all I know."

Fury chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. Inside, the director knew that was untrue. He knew where Y/N came from. He knew about his real parents...but kept it to himself for now.

"You are a main part of a unit that I know will do extraordinary things for our world. You wouldn't be here otherwise."

A unit, a team. Y/N thought.

Natasha.

Clint.

Tony.

Steve.

Thor.

Bruce.

Together, once they recover, they can take Loki down for good.

Fury continued. "You're remarkable, which is why I brought you all together."

• • •

NATASHA SAT BESIDE Clint at the edge of the bed. The archer took a sip from his mug as they conversed, still recovering from a headache.

He continued their topic from seconds ago. "You're a spy. Not a soldier. And now you want to wade into war. Why? What did Loki do to you?"

"He didn't. I just..." She paused, recalling her experience with Loki. How he got into Y/N's head, and how he mentioned Dreykov and threatened to have Clint kill them all.

"I've been compromised." She added. "Not just me, but Y/N."

"What did he tell the kid?" He asked.

"How he can't remember his past. About his mother. All things that the scepter resurfaced."

"Man..." Clint muttered. "He's strong, though. He won't let it get to him."

Natasha nodded as she fiddled with her hands. Clint took notice of her body language.

"We trained him to be tough. Your boy toy will be fine." He said as he leaned over to put his mug down.

Natasha glared at his remark. "Are we sure your head's clear? I might have to punch you again."

They shared a laugh before Y/N suddenly entered the infirmary, still in his suit.

"How's Robin Hood doing?" He asked as the doors closed. "Do we still need to knock him around a bit?"

"I'd like to." Natasha quickly agreed as the older man scoffed.

"Come on, guys. It's embarrassing enough I had to get hit with his damn club." He remarked as he walked towards the bathroom. He always thought Y/N's batons were goofy.

Clint entered the bathroom and left the two alone. Natasha spoke to Y/N.

"You all right?"

"I'm not really having a ball, as some would say. The magician is gone and it seems like we're stuck up here."

"We just gotta regroup and plan. He won't be in the wind for long."

Y/N nodded and let out a sigh. Natasha still knew what he was feeling, about the current situation and of his memories. She got close and rubbed the side of his arm.

"Having a ball?" She questioned with a smile about his phrasing from before.

Y/N chuckled at his own slang from when he was a teenager in the 50s. "Do people not say that anymore?"

Suddenly, Steve Rogers walked into the room wearing his Captain America attire.

"Time to go." He said.

"Go where?" Natasha asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can any of you fly one of the jets?"

Clint exited the bathroom and wiped his hands with a towel. He overheard his question. "I can."

"You got a suit?" He asked him.

"Yeah."

Steve looked at the three agents and spoke before walking off.

"Then suit up."