Stars Dance

Nick Fury is Furious

"Well what are we suppose to do?" i ask.

"Fix her. Easy. Simple." i sigh and roll my eyes.

"It's not that simple." Dr. Banner says tiredly rubbing his forehead.

"And why the hell not?" Fury demands.

"Can't fix something when you don't know what the problem is." Clint replies evenly. Fury sets his stare on him but Clint is unmoving, and unemotional.

"The problem is her memory." I correct. Fury flicks his eyes toward me.

"We just have to fix that." Nick turns around all the way to stare at me.

"What are you suggesting Captain?" He demands.

"Nothing. It's a statement. She just needs more time to.." He cuts me off instead.

"She doesn't have time Steve." I furrow my eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" I question.

"If she doesn't get better in a week, we kill her." With that statement he begins walking away again.

"She can't be killed!" I protest. Fury scoffs.

"That's what she thinks. That's what you all think but everything that bleeds can die. I will not have her compromising..." Clint stops him this time.

"We've already been compromised. She can't do anymore damage than what's already been done." Natasha says, backing him up. This is a strange day. "Our defenses our down, all of our headquarters are compromised, most of our agents dead or for the other team and you want to kill one of the most powerful members of this team." She stares at Fury and crosses her arms over her chest.

"She knows I'm alive." Was his only argument.

"So do we. Are you going to kill us next?" Dr. Banner asks with a heavy sigh.

"She can also destroy the world. There's that." I roll my eyes and sigh.

"She wouldn't do that." Fury looks so unamused it would almost be funny.

"She's insane! She just took apart Downtown L.A posing as Loki, one of the biggest threats this world has ever seen and his scary ass older brother and personified herself as a sane happy go lucky girl who just happened to stumble upon Loki and her team after she escaped our facilities. She's a national threat." With that he turns around and beings hobbling away again.

"Nobody knows she's a national threat! Just seven months ago she saved the world and..." Fury shuts me down again.

"Seven months ago. Since then she's been in contact with Hydra and has told them god knows what about all of us and she's caused more than one major problem while under our care. I say we put her under." Fury glances at Coulson and Maria like they might go off and do just that.

"Put her under, sir?" Maria asks slightly confused.

"He means put her on ice." Coulson clarifies with a sigh.

"Freeze her?" I demand.

"She'll be completely fine and monitored regularly. Your girlfriend won't die Cap. She'll be less of a problem." He shrugs and turns down a hallway as we continue to follow his tail.

"So are you going to freeze everyone who becomes a problem?" Tony asks speaking up for the first time. I think he just likes hearing people argue. "Or are you going to pick and choose who you freeze and who you kill?" He continues. He's a smart ass but he always as a point.

"Fix the problem in a week or I'll deal with it myself." Fury says. We stop following him then while Maria, Coulson, and Fury continue on back to his room. He didn't use her name. It's like she's not even a person anymore.

"So what now Captain?" Tony asks tossing grapes in the air and catching them in his mouth.

"Why are you asking me?" Usually he'll want to control every aspect of everything.

"Your insane girlfriend. Your problem." He shrugs and I glare at him.

"What if we wiped her memory." Natasha suggests suddenly.

"Nat." Clint says in a hard voice.

"You have a machine here that can wipe peoples memories?" I demand balling my fists at my sides.

"Nat." Clint says again when she opens her mouth. Natasha glances his way and purses her lips but turns back to me and continues.

"Yes." She says evenly.

"Why and why put Astella through it. She'll just get her memories back through us and what if is not even her memory? What if it's just her brain?" Natasha and Clint share a look.

"When it's necessary. If someone is leaving S.H.I.E.L.D.." Dr. Banner stops her there and its weird because I've never seen him get angry before. I don't think anyone has.

"So you wipe the memories of those who want to leave!? For the people who don't die!" I think everyone's a little shocked and scared that he might just get angry enough now to kill us all.

"Bruce." Tony says lightly putting his hand in his shoulder lightly.

"That's so... So! Unfair! What if they don't want their memories erased! Then they stay here until they die and that's not right!" He continues shouting glaring at Clint and Natasha.

"Bruce." Tony says again.

"I'm not going to get angry!" His voice rises when he says this. He begins breathing heavily and balling his fists at his sides. Then he begins gathering his things.

"What are you doing?" Tony questions.

"I'm leaving. I can't deal with you guys, this team." He mutters shouldering his bag.

"So you're just going to leave?" I demand. He sighs and places his palms on the table.

"It sounds like there's not much any of us can do for Astella, Steve. She trusts you the most. If anyone can bring her out of this it's you." I know what he's really saying.

"And if I can't you don't want to be around to watch her die." He continues to head for the door.

"Yes." He says pushing out the double doors and disappearing down the hallway. Tony takes off after him shouting his name. I look back at Clint and Natasha.

"So tell me about this memory wiping machine." It's not the best idea I've heard today but it's one of the only ones we have. According to them the machine has been her since the Hydra days, my day. It's old and worn out but they've made replicas of it, like the kind used on Natasha not to long ago.

"We haven't used it in a while and it's not one of our better options." Natasha finishes.

"You think I can pull her out of this in a week?" I ask arching an eyebrow. I know Natasha and I are sort of in the way to being friends, if she even knows the concept of friendship, but she loathes Astella. I would have thought she would like to see her destroyed.

"Like Dr. Banner said, if anyone can do it. You can." With that she stands up straighter drops her arms and heads out the door with Clint on her heels. He gives me a weak smile as they leave. So I have a week to make Astella better or they start trying to kill her. Shouldn't be too hard.