HARLOVSEN - An Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 7 - Silver Plate

Silence spread in the room until Fury cleared his throat.

"Give her a room and wake her up. I want to talk to her," he demanded and turned around.

〰〰〰

"Miss Harlovsen. First, I would like to excuse for the inconvenience." The man on her opposite began the conversation. He wore an eye patch that lent him a pirate-like look.

Katta had woken up on a regular bed in a neutral room. Not in the cell. The door and all windows had been locked, and even the air vent was bolted. From the sight out of the window, she could have told that she still was in the Stark Tower. Her combat clothes had been taken away and replaced by plain black trousers and a long-armed shirt. She'd been in prisons with better uniforms for their prisoners. Even her bra had been taken away. It was a fucking joke.

The man on her opposite walked towards the vast window and looked out. "You have an impressive family background, if I may say. Assassins, personal securities, hackers - everything the security sector has to offer. You have been on our radar for a few years but never were spottable until now." He looked over his shoulder and watched her curiously. "I probably imagined somebody else when I thought of the terrorist attacks you are associated with."

Katta looked at his face and crossed her arms over her chest. He opened a folder and spread some photographs over the table. Katta bent slightly forwards on the chair and looked at them. Holy shit. Pictures that showed Arne, Erik and Olaf. Going by their clothes, they must have been taken when they broke in the previous day to save her. Katta swallowed. So much to staying faceless assassins.

"Those are the first usable photographs of the Harlovsens. I spent years searching after you all. And here I have you, served on a silver plate." The man smirked to himself, crossing his arms.

Katta pondered whether she could surround the table, kill him and destroy the pictures, but he most likely had copies. She scowled.

He spoke on. "Here and now, I am offering you a deal. You assign to the initiative, and I let every record and photograph taken be kept under lock and key. Your brothers remain the ghosts they have been before, and you do something good."

Katta furrowed her brows. She looked up at the man. "And you are?" she asked.

"Excuse me. I'm Director Fury. Responsible for this project," he said.

Katta looked back at the photographs. Her brothers were unmistakable to be recognized. If those photographs were published, it was only a matter of time until they would be tracked.

"It's up to you. I would have liked to hire you without threatening, but it is this way."

Katta leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes to think. She couldn't risk these pictures being published.

〰〰〰

Director Fury entered the elevator, a folder under his arm. Katta had agreed to work for the Avengers initiative. Katta Harlovsen. He smirked to himself. She was an incarnated weapon, and soon, she would beat the shit out of aliens. Let them try coming for the earth. Motherfuckers.

The doors opened with a slight hiss, and he walked towards the expansive kitchen and dining room. The few Avengers who sat around the table looked up, pausing their meal.

Fury leaned against the kitchen counter and nodded. "Miss Harlovsen agreed to join the Avengers initiative."

"How have you convinced her?" Clint asked nervously. Fury answered without looking at him. He would have a word with Barton later about the fact that he'd hidden her under his nose for years. He'd even taken her with him to S.H.I.E.L.D missions without telling him.

"Let's say that the other Harlovsen's won't be on our radar for now," Fury said before taking a look at his watch. "Nonetheless, she will be chipped so that we can locate her. We'll assign her a room next to yours for safety precautions, and Barton, you'll make sure she gets into the training program from tomorrow on."

Clint nodded and took his seat to see the director leave. He leaned back, breathing in. What had he done?

"How comes that we chase her around the whole world, and Fury only needs to talk to her ten minutes until she says yes?" Bruce asked, shaking his head.

"I think this is a question of leverage," Clint answered bitterly. It was his fault that Katta was now a part of the Avengers against her will and that Fury had threatened to blow up her family. It could be the only reason why she would ever agree to this arrangement.

He got up and left the kitchen without another word. After he hesitated shortly, he opened the door to Katta's new room and found her standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking into the darkness of the night.

Clint stood next to her, watching the night sky. He felt her glare at him.

"I hope you're happy now," she mumbled. Clint swallowed.

"It sounds weird, but somehow I am. Now that I can watch over you and protect you," he uttered.

"The only ones I need to be protected from are you," Katta whispered.

"I know," he sighed. "What I wanted to say is I-I didn't mean to get you in all of this. I just wanted--"

"You wanted to do something good," Katta ended the sentence for him, nodding to herself. She sighed deeply.

"Would you like to eat something? I could offer you a burger." Clint said in an attempt to relieve the tension. He looked at Katta, who still seemed in deep thoughts. After a few seconds, she roused.

"Fair enough. I haven't properly eaten in days," she muttered, not meeting his eyes. Clint quickly made his way to the door and waited for her to follow.

Bucky watched Clint return, followed by Katta. She looked tired yet alarmed. No wonder. She was surrounded by the people she had fought and tried to escape from for the last few days. She curtly met his eyes but quickly looked away as she took a seat, grabbing a burger from the plate and opening a beer. She sipped on it and grimaced, holding it away to read the label.

"You must be fucking kidding me," she uttered. "Light beer. How is that supposed to help?"

Bucky chuckled lightly, grabbing for another burger.

"Go laugh about your own jokes." She glared at him.

Tony cleared his throat, standing up. "Welcome to the Avengers, Katta. I think I speak for us all when I say that you don't need to prove to us that you have the requiring skills." He raised his glass with bourbon and smiled at her smugly. Katta watched him with a scowl upon her face.

"You owe me a door, Stark, and three new safehouses."

"Your family blew up three bombs in my building. I think we're even," he answered, holding up three fingers. Katta glanced at him for a few moments before a slight smile graced her face. As quickly as it appeared, it vanished.

Clint relaxed a bit, seeing that she at least wouldn't kill anybody right on the spot. Not that she'd be wrong about it.

"Mind, telling us, the chip's purpose in your wrist is?" Tony questioned, looking at Katta curiously.

"Communication device." Katta shortly answered before placing the beer bottle back onto the table.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, show me the records from the cell," Tony demanded with wide eyes and looked through the videos.

"You clever little thing," he murmured as he turned around the screen, so the others could see it.

"What the -- are you using the morse code?" Bucky asked as he watched the video. "SOS - STARK TOWER - UNHARMED - 5", he mumbled, watching the screen. "Who were you sending the message to?"

"Take a sharp guess, tin arm," Katta replied, getting up.

She went down the corridors and towards her room. All she longed for was a hot shower and some sleep she needed to regain. Sooner or later, she would have to contact Magnus to inform him about the newest development in her situation so that he could figure something out to help her, just in case. "Better prepared than surprised" had always been his slogan.

This was just the beginning. Never underestimate a Harlovsen.