The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 13: Holding the Abomination Off

"Is that any way to greet a friend Lydia?" Nat asks smugly, a smirk on her face as she stares at me, clearly amused at how surprised I was to see her here with a gun pointed directly at Sterns. "I thought you'd be glad to see me- it's been a while," She adds.

"I thought you were in Tokyo," I reply. "For a mission. A long one.

"Yeah well, things change," Nat replies, shrugging her shoulders, causing her long red locks to bounce along her arms. "Fury called me in, cutting the mission a little short. He thought you'd need some help when Ross showed up, so he sent me here to help.

"How did Fury know Ross was coming?" I ask with my eyes narrowed. If Fury had known this, then why didn't he warn me or alert me to the fact that Ross was hot on our tail

"Because yesterday, Fury went to meet with Ross and told him that it would be in everyone's best interest if Ross stopped the manhunt for Dr Banner, and if he would stop trying to make super soldiers," Nat explains, causing my eyes to widen at her words

"He did?"

She nods her head in confirmation. "As you can tell by now however, Ross didn't really take to mind what Fury had told him. Instead, he basically told Fury to stick it as he wasn't going to stop- with the manhunt or the soldiers."

"Then why didn't Fury tell me this?" I demand, taking a step forward. "A little heads up would've been nice!"

"Because Fury didn't think that Ross would find you or Banner," Nat explains calmly. "He even provided Ross with a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D agents to help Ross- but truth be told, they were ordered by Fury to throw Ross off your scent without making Ross suspect anything. That lasted until Dr Banner slipped up and there was nothing that they could do to prevent Ross from coming to find you."

I shake my head at this as I absorb this new information that Nat had just informed me of. Though I was grateful for the fact that Fury had attempted to reason with Ross- even if he had done it for his own intentions- I was still annoyed that Fury hadn't contacted me for this- he could have easily told me the moment that the S.H.I.E.L.D agents knew that Ross had found Bruce that Ross was coming.

Nat must've guessed what I was thinking about as she sighs and shoots me a small smile. "Let's worry about Fury and his tendencies to keep secrets later and deal with the problem at hand, OK Lyd?"

"Whatever- I'm still not happy about it," I mutter in response.

"Trust me, I can tell."

I sigh and shake my head. Nat was right. There were bigger things to worry about at the moment, which included what the hell was that orange thing that had burst through the building moments ago and why Sterns had a gun pointed at him while he was still muttering things to himself. I'd deal with Fury and his secrets later.

"OK. Why are you pointing your gun at him?" I ask Nat, nodding my head towards the still sitting Sterns.

"He tried to attack me while I was coming up here," Nat explains, turning away from me to turn and face Sterns instead.

"Sterns tried to attack you?" I ask her in disbelief. Sterns- small, squat, little Sterns tried to attack Nat? "Is that true Dr Sterns?" I ask the still muttering Sterns leaning against the wall in front of us.

"Samuel Sterns?" Sterns asks, cutting off halfway through his muttering to lift his pale face up to lock eyes with both Nat and I, a dazed expression on his face. "I-I think perhaps...I once was...but now...now I shall become much more," he adds.

I raise an eyebrow at his strange choice of words. "Pardon?"

"For I am changed now," Sterns continues on as if he hasn't heard a word that I said. "I see my future unfolding. It's an illustratious future defined by power and influence. A future that begins this very instant."