Natasha's POV

We'd been waiting for Jane for two hours and forty minutes. Her meeting was taking too long and i was bored out of my elements. Thor and i discussed the previous events at the Tower while we continued to wait.

"But i think she's quite innocent on this one. She appeared really shaken when she asked me to come look for Jane. I think they know each other." Thor suggested.

"But why give such an information at a time like that? She waited until the last minute. That makes her a suspect." I said rolling a pen on the large desk in front of me.

The reception was very large with a big glassy desk in the middle. Although, it was comfortable, i didn't feel so. Every staff in the building stared wide eyed at us like little kids seeing Santa Claus for the first time. I glared at the ones who stared for too long making them turn their gaze.

The lady behind the counter stared at the book on her desk forcefully. She also bit on her lower lip till i could see it turning red. Thor was responsible for that effect.

I chuckled a bit and Thor looked at me placing a hand on his knee as he sat.

"What's amusing?" He asked then suddenly followed my gaze towards the poor lady who dropped her eyes immediately Thor's locked with hers.

He didn't smile, he merely shook his head and gave a low rumble i thought was a laugh.

"She's suffering and it's all your fault." I said with humor dry in my tone but i think Thor still understood.

"You call Selvig and let him know i'll be in Philadelphia by tomorrow. Further research would have to wait until i get back." Jane said accompanied by two men in white shirts and black pants and three ladies quite like herself with black suit jackets, white shirts and black skirt. They each had a tag on the left side of their breast pockets.

Jane halted the minute she spotted us. Her entourage left her when they noticed us as well. The black blue haired lady made an "O" shape with her mouth then shut it. She must be a fan girl.

"Jane. Jane!! " A scream came from outside then the doors burst open. Every head in the room turned to look at the blonde haired girl with an apron over her blue stripped sweater and black jeans and boots. I recognized her at once. Anne Belcher.

"Anne? What are you doing here?" Jane asked. Her eyes would momentarily leave Anne's and lock with Thor's then mine. Anne looked panicked and as if she'd been running for miles.

"You know this girl?" I asked leaving the confusion out of my expression.

"Yeah. She's uh, a friend of mine." Jane nodded placing both hands on Anne's shoulders to keep her calm.

"Ellesmere's in trouble. They've got her. They killed him. Zeke. He was so innocent. We have to help her or they'll kill her too." She rambled on. It wasn't making any sense.

Anne looked shaken. Really shaken. There was so much fear in her eyes. Her entire body trembled wildly even Jane's comforting hug couldn't keep her still.

"Who's got her?" I asked but received no reply.

I turned to Thor.

"Steve told me she put a barrier. How is she now abducted?" Nothing made sense at that point.

I pressed the earphone in my right ear then walked a few inches away from the others.

"Steve? Steve? Steve, are you there?". No reply. There was a loud scratch over the line, i covered my other ear.

"We have to help her, Jane. We have to do something." I could hear Anne's cries even though my ears were closed. I turned briefly to look at her, Thor held her this time. Her tears were all over his brown jacket. She still shook from fear.

"Anne. You have to calm down and tell me everything you know." Jane said taking her hand. Anne nodded vigorously, her cheeks had turned a rosy pink and her nose, red.

The counter lady had mustered up courage to walk up to us, with a shaky hand, she handed Anne a kerchief.

"Tell us what happened to. . . " I was interrupted by another loud scratch on comms then Steve's voice came through. He sounded breathless.

"Nat? We have a big problem. Sam's been knocked out cold, Wanda too. Bruce has been compromised and so has Ellesmere. She turned him against us and had us trapped inside an impenetrable force field now we have to battle the Hulk. Things have gotten outta hand really fast." He said in between grunts and sounds of crashing and shouting.

"What? Uh, just hold on we're coming to you." I said.

"That's not possible. She's increased the electricity by a million watts. It'll pulverize anything that goes through it. There's absolutely no way in and no way out."

"How high up does the barrier go?" I asked hoping it didn't touch the sky.

"I don't know. But it's really high." He replied breathlessly.

"We're on our way. Just keep the Hulk busy."

"What do you think we've been doing for the past four hours? "He fired back with a dry laugh.

"Thor. We have to go really high. How high do you fly?" I asked.

"Oh, higher than your brows can go." Jane said then realized herself.

I shared a look with Anne though i really didn't know what the look meant.

"Let's go. Jane, you take care of Anne." I ordered then turned to leave but Jane took my hand.

"Take me with you. I can help. Ellesmere's my. . . . "

She held back her last word then looked briefly at Anne then at Thor.

"Your what?" I asked waiting for an answer. There was something going on but it was hard to decipher.

"My niece." She answered. I raised an eyebrow. Well, that was unexpected.

"She's related to you?" Thor asked, his brows arching together.

"Yes. Please let me help. Anne can stay at my apartment here until we get back." She said placing a hand on Anne's shoulder.

She wasn't telling the whole truth but i didn't want to push further. We needed to get to Steve and the others as fast as we could. Family issues could come after.

"Okay. Meet us outside." I said as i walked out of the building with Thor behind me.

The whole thing was a big mystery but i was going to solve it. Whatever sick game they were playing, i would play along until i get a chance to find out what they were hiding.

Steve had told me Current put up a barrier, then she was compromised and Bruce was on the loose. Anne was blabbering like a lost puppy and here i was trying to figure out what the hidden message was in everything that happened.

Jane met us outside. She had taken off her jacket and put on a black coat. I wondered how Thor was going to fly two of us then someone popped into my mind.

The air around us suddenly blew wildly then lightning followed. The sky grew dark as the white clouds gave way for the angry clouds. The wind almost blew us off balance. We used our hands to shield our faces from the sand that whipped wildly about us.

"What's going on? " Jane yelled then as if the winds heard her, it subsided.

"Well, well, well!" A female voice said from the midst of the darkness that had settled a few metres away from us.

Thor tightened his grip on the hammer while pulling Jane slowly to stand behind him. I stood in a fighting stance with my electric tasers in both hands.

The female finally came out. It was her.

Jane gasped in sadness rather than shock or surprise then covered her mouth. My eyes shot towards her for a brief second then back to Ellesmere.

"What has he done to you?" Jane asked amidst sobs as she slowly walked out from behind Thor to stand in front of me.

"He?" I asked.

"Hello Jane." Ellesmere said, her eyes sparkling a sharp green. She tilted her head then gave a quick smile, it was so fast, i barely saw it. "I was hoping to see you today and here in fact. I believe you have something i'm looking for. "

"This isn't you!" Jane said taking another step towards her.

"Jane, don't move." Thor warned eyeing me to draw Jane back. I didn't move a muscle, i stood fixed to a spot wanting to know why Jane appeared so emotional and who "He" was and why the hell Ellesmere looked like a member of the Trix from the Winx Club cartoon.

"You be a good girl and go bring me the Orb." She said. Only her head moved when she spoke, her entire body seemed lifeless. The whole scene seemed like a repeat of what had happened with Clint but much worse.

"I'll never do that!" Jane deadpanned making me shoot her a surprised look.

"Jane? You have the Orb?" I asked looking at Thor who also appeared surprised at the whole revelation.

"You knew about this all along? Why didn't you tell us? " I asked again.

"Because, Natasha, everyone has their own secrets. Now Hand. Over. The Orb." She said then her body lit up with current.

This time, it was entirely different from the way it used to be, the electricity around her became like blue flames and they made crackling noises like lightning. Her eyes burned like a green fire in the dark.

She threw a large ball of current at Jane but Thor was quick enough to block it. He returned the same ball to her with the hammer. It hit her but she barely moved an inch.

"To be honest, that wasn't impressive at all. " She said in her weird robotic voice.

I ran to go around her but she twirled and gave me a hard kick on the stomach making me fall backwards in a rough tumble.

She held her arms around herself then spinned into a powerful whirlwind aiming straight for Thor. The wind knocked him back giving him bruises on his forehead and neck.

She twisted her hand as the electricity formed a whip. She threw it at me but i ducked too late. It wrapped around my neck choking me but i managed to reach for my small knife and cut it. I coughed really hard then stood up to face her but she didn't seem to be interested in me any more. She looked darkly at Jane.

Taking long strides towards her, she grabbed Jane by the neck then raised her up ten feet away from the ground. They hung mid air saying things i couldn't hear. I looked around for a hard object then spotted a metal pole.

I picked it up then nodded at Thor. A good hit on the head had restored Clint, i was sure it'd work for her too.

He dropped his hammer then held his arms apart. I broke into a run, did a back flip with one arm then somersault into Thor's grip. He threw me towards the pair in the air, i swung the pole and hit Ellesmere really hard on the head.

All three of us fell hard to the ground with Thor racing to help Jane and i up. Ellesmere was out cold. Her black hair was returning to its blonde and the dark patches under her eyes cleared.

Jane looked at me with disapproval written all over her face.

"Don't look at me like that! I had to do that to my friend too." Just then, i heard Steve's voice on Comms.

"Nat, the barrier is down and so is Hulk. He's back to being Bruce again. I take it you knocked the hell out of Current. Good job. We're going back to the Tower. Rhodes is injured really bad. "

"We've got her back and Jane too. We're on our way as well." I said.

Thor picked up Ellesmere. It was then i noticed the similarity of their hair colour but shrugged it off. We took Anne with us as we headed back to New York.

                                 *********

Elles is back to normal, Yay. Let's throw a welcome back party.

Anyway, I'm really glad all that is over. Fists and punches and kicks and hits and teeth breaking. I really had a hard time putting together a fight scene. Hope that wasn't too horrible.

Just so you know, everyone's gonna be happy from here on out and more daddy-daughter chapters to come (though, the secret isn't out yet ) and getting together and fun and egos spiking **coughs ** Tony Stark**

Keep your votes coming...

Means a lot to me.

Lots of love.....

xoxo ❤❤

DuchessRI