[Post Avengers: Age of Ultron - AU]
For the last seven years, Aurora Taylor has only known loyalty to Hydra. She, among others, is part of their latest batch of successful experiments. They all share a mutual hatred for anyone who dares to get in th...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
One small team comes back after a few days, empty-handed like I had expected. So now, on top of Barnes, I have the Maximoff twins, Captain America, and Bruce Banner back at the Avenger Tower with me.
I haven't felt up to causing trouble, and I'm rewarded for my unusually good behavior. I'm still chaperoned though, with everyone taking turns. Barnes is the one who escorts me to the kitchen, where there are sparse Avengers getting something to eat.
Wanda Maximoff regards me carefully, like she's ready to blast me into the nearest wall or knock me out, or mess with my head. Her brother is beside her, making nanosecond movements: brushing his platinum blond hair; cracking stiff joints. I hear his foot thump like a rabbit's against the floor.
"Got jitters there, Thumper?" I ask him as I break away from Barnes to help myself to generic brand cereal. I hear his foot stop. "Wow, rough crowd this morning," I mumble. "So, remind me again where the others are?"
"A few went to Canada to check out a lead," says Bruce from behind his newspaper he's got in front of him. Who even reads the paper anymore? "The rest are picking up a lead in Guam. Your friends are pretty spread out, Aurora."
I sniff noncommittally, chewing my slowly-sogging cereal in thought. So far, one team has been unsuccessful. I wonder who they tried to nab. Clearly, whoever it was, they didn't do any damage. None that I can see anyway.
There's no chance of the Avengers lying about coming back empty-handed. They don't seem like the type, but I've been wrong before. My parents had deceived me, and I thought they always told me everything.
"And you say you have no idea what they're up to?" Captain America asks me, though right now, he's just Steve Rogers, not donning the spangled outfit.
"No idea," I confirm. "I wasn't valued enough to learn all of their plans. Even if I was, I wouldn't tell you."
"You are putting loyalty to the wrong people," Wanda Maximoff comments softly.
"So you think I should join you and act like you guys didn't abduct me? Like you didn't knock me out against a tree?" I look at her accusingly. "Sweetheart, I hold grudges."
"It isn't wise to hold them," says Wanda's brother. "You have something against my sister, then you have something against me too."
I roll my eyes. "I'm not afraid of either of you."
Bruce's tablet on the table starts beeping, and we get our daily lives interrupted.
"We struck out," says Black Widow. "They got away. I'm assuming you guys struck out too?"
"Hydra two, Avengers zero," I whisper under my breath.
"Did you lose them?" asks Rogers.
"Yeah, they took out their chip once they realized how we found them. We might lose that one for good. We'll be at the tower in a few hours. How's our snow queen doing?"
