*Kat's POV*
Sunday was spent searching for any sudden spikes of energy or constant energy sources. We had to monitor the whole world for them so we broke into groups to keep an eye on each part of the world. Tony, Dr. Banner and I knew the most about the technology we were using so we were in charge of each of our groups.
Tony, Thor, and Clint had Europe and Asia; Dr. Banner, Natasha, and Logan had Africa, Australia, and Antarctica; and Loki, Steve and I had North and South America. Each groups monitored the bodies of water around their continents incase the Dark Elves were on an island somewhere.
We each had our own shifts so one person was monitoring their area at all times while the other two were doing whatever they wanted before it was their turn.
Now, it was my turn.
I was sitting at a desk with the holograms in front of me. Nothing exciting was happening so, with my feet kicked up on the desk, I was finishing up my weekend homework. All that was left was my trigonometry worksheet and it was not going easy on me.
Right when I slammed my book shut and let it fall to the floor, the door opened.
"You okay?" Steve asked, holding a plate and a bottle of water in his hands.
"Math will be the death of me," I ranted. "What are you doing here? Your shift is in two hours."
"Brought you lunch." he answered, setting the plate and bottle on the desk.
"Ah, the way to my heart is through my stomach," I took my feet off the desk to eat. "Thank you."
"No problem," he sat in the chair next to me and twirled it around to face me. "How's it going?" He gestured to the hologram
"Nothing yet. Just your basic, everyday life on planet Earth." I bit into my sandwich.
"How did you get into all of this?"
"Fury asked me." I guessed, not getting what he was asking.
"Not that. I meant this life?"
"You read my file. I was forced."
"No, you were forced to participate in the experiments," he watched me closely, noting how I stiffened at the mention of experiments. "You could have ignored your powers and had a normal life. Instead, you're on SHIELD's radar since you came to New York by fighting crime."
As he spoke I broke of pieces of my sandwich and popped it into my mouth.
"Did the others send you to get information on me?" I raised an eyebrow, eyeing him for any tells.
"No. I'm genuinely curious." he said honestly.
My eyes studied his face for anything that might give up his act, if he had one. When I came up with nothing I decided that he actually wanted to know.
"You know how when people do something bad, they try to redeem themselves by doing good things?" He nodded, keeping eye contact. "Well, I'm one of those people."
"Have you redeemed yourself yet?"
I smiled briefly at his question before replying, "I'll never be able to redeem myself. But I can try and do my best until I breathe my last breath."
"What could have possibly been so bad that you can't come back from?"
The smile was gone from my face as the memories threatened to surface from where they were buried in the back of my mind.
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
The Captain opened his mouth to speak again but a red flashing light made us snap our heads to the hologram in front of us. There, by the Hawaiian islands was a blinking light that we had been waiting for.
"Jarvis, zoom in on the red light." I commanded, standing up from my chair, my lunch and conversation forgotten.
Jarvis did as I ordered. There, just off the coast of the smallest island, Niihau, was the light.
"There must be a ship or hidden island in the middle of the ocean." Steve said, he was also standing with his hand on the desk.
"Jarvis, what level is the energy source." I questioned.
"Level 5, Miss." the AI answered.
"That's the highest level," I informed Steve. "Jarvis, alert Tony and Dr. Banner."
"Right away."
Five minutes later, the doctor and billionaire were racing into the room, eyes locking onto the hologram as the stood behind me.
"You've got a level 5?" Tony asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, right off of Niihau." I reported.
"That's the highest we've seen all day." Dr. Banner put in.
"I know." I answered excitedly, happy with the progress.
My hands found the see through keyboard in front of me and I started typing as fast as my hands would allow. Steve watched in amazement.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Trying to identify the energy. Seeing if its of Earth or alien. Hopefully the latter."
Minutes later a small, holographic screen popped up under the red light.
"It's alien," I explained, my hands still typing away until another screen came up. "According to this, its from Svartalifheim. That's the realm of the Dark Elves."
"How did you know that?" Tony questioned.
"Norse mythology was my favorite subject in 11th grade. It has come to good use," I clarified, cracking my knuckles from typing so much. "Are we going to check this out?"
"If this really is the Dark Elves then we need the whole team to go right now." Steve answered, going into leader mode.
Fifteen minutes later I was in my spare suit, mask hiding my face as I headed to the lower levels of the Tower with Logan by my side and a duffle over my shoulder. He didn't want me to go on this mission, but then I pointed out that it was his idea for me to join a team. That shut him up. Before he told Steve that he was coming with them.
"Logan, I appreciate it, but-" Steve had tried, but Logan interrupted him.
"Listen, bub, I'm not one to sit back and twiddle my thumbs while I worry about her," he pointed at me. "Gettin' hurt. I'm coming with you."
"You need to learn to trust my team." I had stolen his own words.
"Once you do, I will." he whispered as he passed me to get suited up.
Now, here we were, ready to find the Elves and take the Tesseract back. Hopefully it would be guarded better this time, that or destroyed. No one should have that much power at their disposal.
Once the elevator doors opened Logan and I stepped into the giant room. This floor was lower than the garage and that was underground. It kind of looked like where the X-Men kept the X-Jet.
Part of the team was by the aircraft that we would be taking to the hidden island. Steve was talking with Clint and Natasha as Tony walked aboard the jet to put down a colored suitcase. They noticed our presence as we joined their group.
"We're just waiting on Thor, Loki, and Banner." Steve informed us.
"What's in the bag?" Tony asked as he walked down the platform.
"Weapons to use against aliens." I answered, putting the bag on the ground to open.
Steve let out a low whistle, "You weren't kidding about that."
"And we're lucky," Tony knelt down to pick up one of the handguns. "Did you develop these yourself?"
"Yep."
"When?"
"After the Battle of New York."
"Did you test them?" Clint asked, picking up one of the sticks that lit up a bright green.
"Yeah. Wouldn't have brought them if I didn't."
"How?"
"There was an injured alien that crashed by where I live and I held it hostage to test them on." I deadpanned.
"How did you manage that!?" Steve practically yelled.
"I have a dungeon."
"You have a what?" A voice came from behind me.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that our three missing teammates were standing there, all checking out the weapons in the bag. Dr. Banner was the one who asked the question.
"Its not like I build the place. It was there when I moved it. The Bunker use to belong to a secret society before they all vanished or died. There was an unconscious alien in the abandoned building close to the Bunker so I tied it up and dragged it to the dungeon."
"Katherine," I looked over to see Tony with seriousness covering his face before his mouth split into a grin. "You're awesome."
"I like to think so."
Grabbing the straps of the duffle, I headed up the platform, into the jet.
"Come on, Santa's helpers gone bad aren't going to attack themselves." I called.
Soon, we were all seated in the jet and heading down a long passageway. Logan sat to my right, leaving me in the aisle seat. Leaning over, I looked up to see Tony and Steve flying- more like driving- the aircraft.
"Hey, where does this lead out to?" I asked, raising my voice so they could hear me.
"You'll see!" Tony told me with a childlike grin on his face.
As we ran out of tunnel and picked up speed an opening came into view, sunlight leaking in through the window. Shielding my eyes from the light, I kept my eyes trained on where we were heading.
Then we were flying into the sky, a statue appearing outside of Logan's window. But not any statue.
"Is that Lady Liberty!?" I exclaimed before I leaned over to call out to Steve. "Hey, Cap, I found you a girlfriend!"
Tony's laughter could be heard throughout the jet as Steve's laughter was mocking.
"Ha, ha. Very funny."
"I thought it was." Tony mentioned.
Logan cracked a smile before it disappeared. I nudged him with my shoulder, resting the side of my head against the back of my seat.
"You okay?" I questioned when he looked at me.
He nodded, but he had a look on his face that I had come to know.
"What is it?" I pressed.
Sighing, he began to speak, "I've got a feeling."
"What about?"
"This mission. I don't think we should be going in right when we find out about it."
"Well, we can't send anyone else. Since I'm going to be an Avenger its gonna be my job to do this," I motioned to the area around us. "I'll be jumping into this and fighting bad guys. Isn't that why you wanted me to join?"
"I wanted you to join to learn and have more people to back you up, not jumping on the first lead you have."
"Then, what do you suggest we do?"
I was curious to what he would do, after all, he was the leader for the X-Men so he knew what he was talking about.
"I would send in a small group in and keep a larger group back. The group that went in could sneak in to get an idea of the area, if who we're after is even there. Try to get the first group to get the Tesseract while the larger group held back the enemy."
It was military strategy that he was talking about. One group goes in without making a big scene while other biggest group causes a distraction. It was also like chess, distract your opponent while you steal his queen.
Unbuckling my belt, I began to stand up. That is, until Logan grabbed my arm and pulled me back down.
"Where are you going?" Logan questioned, not letting go of me.
"To talk to Steve." I answered as if it was obvious.
"Why?"
"To discuss strategy. Your plan is good and I want him to know that there could be more than one way to approach the situation," Logan was about to protest, but I beat him to it. "What you just told me is a good idea. It's probably the best way to do this. We need to do this as safely and wisely as possible."
Logan huffed, but let me go. I took that as a green light and started walking to the cockpit before he could change his mind.
"What are you doing up here?" Steve asked as I sat on a bench that was built into the wall, letting me face him.
"She couldn't stay away from you, Capsicle. She's got a girl-crush on you." Tony tease, making Steve's cheeks turn slightly pink as I rolled my eyes.
"No, I'll leave that to you, Stark," I snapped before turning back to Steve. "I wanted to know the plan."
"Plan?" Steve was still a bit flustered from Tony's comment.
"For the Elves." I reminded him.
"Right," he cleared his throat as he regained his posture. "We're going to storm where they're set up from all sides and work our way in."
"Do you know how long that will take?"
"It'll take awhile but we'll get the Tesseract back." Steve assured me.
"There's a better way." I told him.
"Oh, really?" he challenged.
"Yes," I explained what Logan had told me, Steve listening attentively. "It's like chess. Distract your opponent with a false move while you're setting him up to take his queen." I finished, leaning back to let his absorb everything.
"That sounds good," Tony said. "Did you think of that?"
"No. Logan did."
"Sound more like military." Steve added.
"He was in the military. As far as I can tell, he was in both World Wars."
"He looks so young."
"Like you?" I mentioned. "'The eyes are the windows to the soul.' Project X kept him around for a while."
They already knew that we were from there and what they did to us so I didn't mind bringing it up as long as I didn't think too much about it.
"The plan sounds good. I'll think on it." Steve promised.
"That's all I'm asking." I thanked him before standing to go back to my seat.
As I walked back I caught Thor looking at me, he smiled to cover it up. I puffed my cheeks out and crossed my eyes at him before sitting next to Logan, who gave me a questioning look. He rolled his eyes and looked out the window when I gave him a thumbs up.
Let's just hope that Cap really thought about Logan's idea and didn't blow it off like other leaders.