｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆
CHAPTER ONE— STRIKE VS AVENGERS

~ FOUR DAYS EARLIER...

          Every SHIELD agent knew that Hope Kenner, aka Dove, was unofficially claimed as Steve Roger's mission partner for the past two years that he had been working for the secret government agency.

Director Nicholas J. Fury always had a plan behind his actions. He assigned Hope and Steve on the same missions because he needed someone to be Captain America's leash.

Whether Hope realized it or not, she was the only person as SHIELD that Steve fully trusted. He only partially trusted Natasha, and she had also been on the Avengers team with them.

Steve connected and formed a bond with Hope during the Battle of New York along with what happened beforehand and, whether Hope would admit it or not, she formed the same bond with the super-soldier.

Steve was only sent out on missions every once in a while when they needed his specific skill set to accomplish it, and Hope seemed to be there every single time.

Lizzie Saltzman often teased Hope, thinking that Steve had a crush on the tribrid due to how much time they spent together off-duty(their apartments are a few doors down from each other) and how he seems to follow Hope around like a lost puppy.

Natasha Romanoff, on the other hand, held the same sentiment she knew Tony would have. She was overprotective mama bear(even though she hid it from most people besides Hope and Clint). Natasha was more protective of Hope after the Battle of New York and didn't trust Steve with her precious маленькая птица(little bird).

Natasha spent a lot of time trying to find a date for Steve just in case he had some sort of romantic feelings for Hope. The Black Widow was normally good at reading people but she couldn't tell if Steve's affection for Hope was platonic or not.

This is why the infamous Black Widow started to be apart of more of their missions, approved by Fury mostly because he needed someone who was willing to do the more 'dirty' work that the other two would question. And they were assigned another mission that they thought would be the same, typical mission that always turned out well due to their unique abilities.

The current mission was to save the hostages on the S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel, Lemurian Star, that had been taken over by a group of pirates. It would involve Hope, Steve, Natasha, and the STRIKE team.

Hope got along fine with the STRIKE team, she had joined them on missions on and off since she started working for SHIELD as a teenager.

They were hesitant at first to work with an actual teenager, but they quickly got over it when they saw Hope kick ass and take care of herself just fine. She just hated working with them because she couldn't use her supernatural abilities other than magic.

Hope could feel the tension swallowing them all while they were all in the quinjet, flying over the Indian Ocean. Hope might get along with the STRIKE team, but Steve seemed to keep them on edge because of his fame, his enhanced abilities, and his constant questioning of Fury's orders.

"The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago" Brock explained to the three, using a touchscreen monitor to show them all the evidence.

"Any demands?" Steve asked. "A billion and a half" This caught the Captain's attention.

"Why so steep?" Brock avoided eye contact with the super-soldier, knowing how he would react once he heard the real reason.

"Because it SHIELD's" Steve mentally groaned once he realized what was going on and Natasha sent Hope a knowing look, easily able to identify what was about to happen. Steve was stubborn and hated some of the shady business SHIELD seemed to be apart of and kept secret from everyone else.

"So it's not off-course, it's trespassing" Steve glanced over to Natasha as he waited for her excuse, she always had one for these situations. "I'm sure they have a good reason" She half-tried, knowing it wouldn't really work in calming him down.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor" The blonde's scowl seemed to lessen when his gaze landed on Hope who sent him a warning look, her eyes flashing a quick golden hue at him in which made him sigh in reluctant submission before continuing.

"How many pirates?" He inquired. "Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc" The monitor showed the picture of the man. Hope scrunched up her nose in thought.

"Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties" Brock explained.

"Who are the hostages?" Hope asked, releasing some of the tension between Steve and everyone else by changing the focus. " Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell" Brock pulled the man's picture up on the monitor to replace the leader of the pirates.

"They're in the galley" Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" He commented to himself before preparing to give out orders.

"Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Hope, you're with me. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Let's move" Steve gave out his orders.

"STRIKE, you heard the Cap. Gear up" Brock reinforced the man's command, getting his team to start gearing up.

Hope didn't have to gear up as much as the others, and a lot of what she did end up doing was for show, but she did need her communication devices secured.

"Secure channel seven," Steve said into the communication piece as he and Hope both prepared to jump out of the quinjet, Natasha waiting with them.

"Seven secure. Did you do anything fun Saturday night?" Hope couldn't help but smirk at Nat's bluntness with her question. The younger agent didn't know why her teammate kept trying to get a date for Steve but she had been for the past two years since the invasion and failed every single time.

"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so...no, not really," Steve said sarcastically, earning a snort of amusement from Hope.

"Coming up by the drop zone, Cap, Dove" The pilot spoke over the comms.

"You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics, she'd probably say yes" Hope hit the hatch button, opening the hatch for her and Steve to get out of the plane.

"That's why I don't ask" Steve looked Hope over for a moment to make sure she was ready and had all of her gear(mostly for show). The agent nodded to let him know that she was.

"Too shy or too scared?" Natasha teased, although serious in the sense that she wanted to keep him from catching feelings for their resident tribrid if he hadn't already. Even if he hadn't, Hope was one of the only females(or people, really) that Steve hung out with besides Hope's roommate, it was bound to become an issue one day.

"Too busy!" Steve lied before jumping out of the jet. Natasha looked over at Hope for an explanation. "I think he needs a bit more time, Nat" Hope consulted before jumping out after him.

"Were either of them wearing a parachute?" A newer agent asked out loud. Brock Rumlow smiled at this, always amazed at the antics of the two avengers. "No, no they weren't".

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Steve went to clear out one side of the ship, leaving Hope to clear out the other. "Invisique" She muttered right as she landed, becoming invisible to the guards around her.

She easily used her magic to take out the guards on her side without them even realizing that. She didn't kill them, needing them for information later, but she made it so they'd be knocked out for a really long time.

"Dove, you clear yet?" She heard someone ask over the coms.

"Yeah, wasn't that hard" She answered, gazing at the unconscious bodies of at least five men around her. A smirk slipped on her lips in pride of what she did before she let her face turn back to neutral. 

"Make your way back to us, we're starting to land where Cap is" Hope nodded even though they couldn't see her. She then responded to let them know she was on her way before quickly running over, still invisible until she got close enough where she undid the spell so everyone could see her. The STRIKE team and Natasha were with Steve.

"I still don't understand how you can take on five enemies without getting a single scratch on you" One of the newer members of the STRIKE team commented, gazing over with a look of awe at the girl who had her head raised high confidently.

"I don't think any of us understand, just go with it," Another agent told him. Hope moved to walk with Steve and Natasha, overhearing her friend try and set Steve up again with someone.

"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kind of nice" Hope chewed on her bottom lip with a bit of guilt. Steve had no idea that it was really a SHIELD Agent who was pretending to be a nurse in the orders of Fury.

To be fair, Hope wasn't supposed to know either but Fury didn't realize that Hope and the blonde-haired agent named Sharon were well aquatinted. Sharon had been one of the first agents who didn't underestimate her because of her age and gender when she first joined. She was one of the good agents.

"Secure the engine room, then find me a date" Steve scolded in more of a playful manner, smiling inwardly when he noticed that Hope was back. "I'm multitasking" Natasha's attention turned to Hope who immediately shook her head.

"Don't even try to set me up with anyone. The only person I've ever almost-dated turned out to be evil and helped kill my mother" She reminded the red-haired agent. Most people would've been uncomfortable or looked at her with pity but Natasha just smirked deviously.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Hope has joined helping the STRIKE team to save the hostages. She grew concerned when Natasha wasn't answering their calls to her over the coms.

Steve has been calling for Natasha too over the coms until he abruptly was cut off by something. Rumlow urged Hope to go aid the Captain.

"Steve can take care of himself, he'll call if he needs backup" He gave her a 'really?' look. "You and I both know he's way too stubborn to ask for help. We've got it from here and you're the most capable to help him and find Natasha" Hope hesitated but followed the agents' instructions.

She feared that Steve would be in trouble(because trouble followed him everywhere) but hadn't wanted to leave the hostages and the rest of the team alone in case someone attacked. But, like Hope, the STRIKE team had been trained intensely and could handle themselves in a fight.

Hope had been speed walking around the ship on her quest to find Steve until she heard the grunts of her teammate as he engaged in combat with someone. This made her run in the direction of the noise in an inhuman speed as fear pumped through her blood along with adrenaline.

Steve wasn't invincible. He might be a super-soldier but even he could be hurt or worse...killed. After all, the world thought her father was indestructible for a thousand years until his demise.

She eventually found Steve fighting some random pirate who was surprisingly holding his own in the fight. Knowing it would otherwise go on forever, Hope stepped in and took the element of surprise to get an advantage that she would've already had due to her supernatural abilities.

Hope's eyes instinctively glowed the gold color of a werewolf as she ran straight to the enemy and threw the first punch.

The man stumbled quite a bit backward, stunned at the sudden appearance of the young agent as well as the inhuman eyes and strength. He shook it off and went to punch her in the face. Hope, rolling her eyes first, grabbed the man's fist before he could do anything and twisted it, squeezing hard enough that the two agents heard loud cracks as his fingers broke. The man screamed out in pain.

Steve had been previously watching in awe. Two years of fighting side-by-side with Hope and he was still amazed by the now nineteen-year-old's abilities.

He shook out of this state and joined Hope in the fight. Both of their collective strengths came together and they knocked the guy backward which making him go flying into a door that led to a transmission room, breaking the door down and landing on top of it. Hope's eyes stopped glowing at that point.

Hope rose an eyebrow at Steve inquisitively. Steve spoke before she could. "I didn't need help" Hope sent him a knowing look. "Sure," She said, unconvinced, before moving to where the guy was.

Hope stood over the barely conscious man, balling her hand into a fist before punching him one last time which knocked him out.

"Well, this is awkward" Hope got up from her semi-kneeling position and whipped her head around to see Natasha in the control roll on one of the computers.

"Nat?" Steve walked into the room behind her. "What are you doing?" He questioned, obviously upset that Natasha had been there all along.

"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get in to" The two made their way over to her, Natasha typing away on the keyboard without a single care.

"STRIKE and Hope needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?" Hope made it to Natasha's side first, peering over her mentor's shoulder to see what she was doing this entire time.

"Saving SHIELD intel" Hope answered for Natasha after reading what was on the monitor. "Whatever I can get my hands on" Natasha winked almost mischievously at her mentee, making the girl smile despite her attempts not to.

One of the reasons Fury didn't want Natasha and Hope to go on missions just the two of them anymore was because the younger girl brought out Natasha's playful side which made them a bit reckless. Add Clint to the mix and there was a lot of paperwork for Fury to sign.

"Our mission is to rescue hostages" Natasha half-listened to Steve's usual scolding as she waited until the files completely downloaded onto the flash drive. That was when she pulled it out and turned to face Captain America.

"No. That's your mission" She fake smiled. "And you've done it beautifully" Steve grabbed her arm before she could leave. "You just jeopardized this whole operation" Hope glowered at the man.

"Steve, let go" She hissed in warning, gold eyes flashing for a moment which made Steve follow her orders. Natasha wasn't phased but gave Hope a comforting look as she knew the tribrid could get overprotective as she feared losing someone else in her life.

"I think that's overstating things" The man who Hope had knocked out had unexpectedly became conscious and threw a grenade towards the three before running off.

Hope immediately grabbed hold of her two friends and helped them run away as fast as they could. Steve used his shield to block them from the impact as the grenade went off right as they had jumped through a window to escape the explosion.

"Son of a bitch" Hope swore out loud, ignoring the disproving glance from a certain someone.