S.H.I.E.L.D ASTROPHYSICS LABORATORY: CLASSIFIED LOCATION

"Find anything yet?" Natalie inquired, not looking up from the screen in front of her.

"Not yet." said Selvig, engrossed in observing the readings showing up on his own screen. "We may not find anything toni--"

"Eric? What is it? Did you find something?" she asked, finally looking up from her work.

"Look at these readings, Natalie. This is interesting, very interesting indeed," he said as she peered at the screen over his shoulder. "These exact patterns that you see on this planet, show up in the same magnitude and frequency right here. In Gloucestershire, England. But the curious thing is that they show up at specific times. And it's not random."

"Well that's no coincidence. It looks disturbingly like some sort of portal."

"This is amazing!"

"Yeah, I know right? I can't wait for the next alien invasion. Let's report this to Director Fury, immediately. If it isn't aliens trying to take over Earth again, then it's probably some morons meddling with something that ought not to be meddled with." Natalie stated.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"I know I am." she quipped, smirking as she submitted their findings into the system and printed them out.

TRISKELION: CLASSIFIED LOCATION

"Agent Potter, this better be important."

"Trust me, sir. It is," Natalie said dropping the papers on his desk. "Selvig and I found something. It looks like some sort of portal. It could be HYDRA."

"These fuckers don't learn, do they?" he said, going through the papers.

Natalie couldn't help but smile a little bit, "No, sir, they do not."

2 HOURS LATER

"This castle has been confirmed as an official HYDRA base. I need you three to figure out what the hell they're doing. Potter, what ever it is, I need you to shut it down. No extraction. Dismissed."

QUINJET: FLYING OVER GLOUCESTERSHIRE

"We're gonna have to land the jet a couple of miles away from the castle." said Steve from the cockpit. This was a three-man mission, apparently. Natalie could've done it on her own, but the castle was an active base and therefore, swarming with HYDRA agents. There's no way she would have made it out alive, even with her advantage. Steve and Bucky volunteered to go with her, naturally. The three of them had become thick as thieves after Nat and Steve helped Bucky recover. They never let her go on a mission alone, even on the simple ones.

"Even if we're cloaked, there's a possibility that they could still track us."

"Well had I known we'd be going for a hike, I'd have worn different shoes." she said, looking down at her black jumpsuit and boots while pulling her frizzy, brown hair up into a ponytail. Bucky smiled. He never tired of her witty sarcasm.

They stood as Steve landed the jet in the middle of the clearing in the woods surrounding the base. It didn't take long to get to the edge of the woods, nor was it difficult. The facade of the castle was lit up like a county fair. It wasn't hard to find.

"Well they certainly aren't hiding..." Bucky muttered under his breath.

"Don't get too comfortable, boys. We aren't out of the woods yet." Natalie said, laughing at herself.

"Okay, there are sensors at each wing, guards flanked at each wing, and more along the front." said Steve, ignoring her. However, she noticed as the corner of his mouth twitched up.

"So what's the plan, Star-Spangled Man?" inquired Bucky with a smirk.

"We go in covering Nat, taking out the guards in the front. We'll pave a path for her and then she can get inside. Once you're inside, work your magic and find the 0-8-4. We'll be right behind you." Steve said, nodding in her direction.

"0-8-4, huh? That's what we're labeling it as? Alright, let's do this." Natalie said with a smile.

They cut through the guards like a hot knife through butter. It was easy. Way too easy. They made into the castle within minutes, Natalie taking the lead. Unlike outside, no HYDRA agents came to greet them.

"It's eerily quiet in here."

"Let's just find what we came for and get the hell out."

"Hey now, Steve, keep it PG." Bucky quipped. Steve ignored him.

The rest of the castle was completely vacant.

"Hey, we haven't checked down here yet." Nat whispered, gesturing to the hallway branching off to their right. Voices could be heard in rapid conversation.

Natalie turned to Steve and Bucky and nodded. Steve nodded in silent understanding and took the lead. As soon as he turned the corner, a spray of bullets fired at him, ricocheting off of his shield. Bucky gave her a wink before turning the corner himself, wielding his guns.

Natalie gave it a few seconds and then rounded the corner as well. The hallway, now littered with unconscious and bloody bodies, led into a large circular room. In the middle of the room was a dark blue crystal, the color of the night sky. Four steady beams of light were hitting it, causing rays of blue to hit the metal ring encircling the crystal. The metal was shining in a multitude of colors.

She would have stopped to admire it's beauty if people weren't trying to kill her.

The controls were on the other side of the room. She made a beeline for it, narrowly avoiding flying bodies and firing guns.

She was almost there when a voice made her stop in her tracks.

"NATALIE!" she heard Bucky shout. She turned to find herself looking down the barrel of a gun about 20 yards away. A bullet lodged itself in the man's head, but not before he pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down as the bullet made its way toward her torso. Her arm raised, outstretched, before her, fingers splayed.

It seemed to dissolve into mist before her eyes, creating a tail like a comet. In less than a second, it morphed into a line of space dust just inches from her face. She dropped her hand, releasing her hold on it, and the particles plummeted to the ground.

"She's an Inhuman!"

"Capture her, kill the others!"

She saw an old man standing behind a much younger man, about her age. They must've come in from a different entrance because they weren't there before, she thought. Suddenly, the younger man's eyes were trained on her and a little shiver ran down her spine.

Her legs responded before he brain could and she practically threw herself onto the controls. Frantically scanning the dials and buttons laid out before her, she tried to figure out what to push. Right as she started flipping switches and pushing buttons, deactivating two of the rays, there was a click behind her.

"Back away, slowly." said a warning voice.

She stopped moving her hands, but didn't step away from the controls.

"I said, move away." he said in a more threatening tone.

Natalie lunged for the controls once again, desperately trying to deactivate all of the beams. She yelped as he yanked her away by her ponytail.

"Walk." he growled in her ear. He pushed her toward the door that he and the old man had come through.

Natalie swung her leg out to kick him the head, however he grabbed her ankle. He kicked the back of her knee and let go of her ankle. She fell to the ground.

She flipped onto her back and saw a familiar red, white, and blue shield hit the man in the head, affectively knocking him out.

Getting up, Natalie shut down the last ray. Quickly, she entered an override code and told the system to self-destruct.

She swiped the crystal with her gloved hand and tucked it into the pouch on her belt. There were only three agents left and the boys took them out easily.

"Come on! This place is about to blow!" she shouted to them.

The three of them bursted out of the gates of the castle. The remainder of the agents still on the base ran out as well.

Nat stopped running and spun around to face the oncoming agents.

"Nat!"

"Natalie, what are you doing?"

"Just go! I'll be right behind you!" was all she said as she raised her arms. She focused all her energy into a shield. A semi-circle of shimmering energy formed a near-invisible blockade.

She watched as bullets zoomed towards her and dissipated just feet from her. Natalie turned and ran back in the direction of the jet, praying and hoping that the force field would hold up long enough for her to get inside the quinjet.

Her legs burned from the effort, but she finally made it to the clearing where the jet was parked.

300 feet, 250 feet, 200 feet, she was so close.

A gunshot went off behind her.

She gasped as a sudden, sharp pain erupted in her left shoulder. The shock sent her stumbling to the ground.

"Nat! Dammit!" Another shot rang out, but this time it came from the ramp of the quinjet.

There was a thump in the grass behind her. No doubt the asshole that shot her.

She summoned as much strength as she could to stand up and start running again. And she didn't stop until she was practically in the cockpit with Steve.

"Take this baby up, Steve!" Bucky shouted as the ramp ascended.

Soon enough, they were back in the air. The jet shook violently as from the explosion of the castle.

Natalie let out a relieved, shaky laugh which almost immediately turned into a groan of pain. Bucky guided her to one of the seats along the wall of the aircraft and proceeded to cut away the fabric around her wound with his knife.

"Geez, Nat. Try not to get shot next time, huh?" Bucky joked, pressing a gauze pad from the first-aid kit to the back of her bare shoulder.

She winced at the pressure.

"She got shot?" they heard Steve ask from the controls, worry clear in his tone.

"Yeah, but it's nothing to worry your pretty little head over, Steven." she replied.

"How come you never call me pretty?"

"Because you're just not as pretty as I am, Buck."

"Shut up. Punk."

"Jerk."

Natalie laughed as they continued their banter. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but she felt ridiculously happy, despite the bullet in her shoulder. She smiled at her two best friends in the world. The two boys who could always make her happy, no matter how down she was.

I'll cherish this moment forever, she thought contentedly as she closed her eyes.