Raven is in the control room of the Helicarrier, still on the tablet. But this time she's actually done with all the reading, and is just trying to hack into files, so she can delete her real name and put 'Raven DeValdez' instead. But even with all the will she puts, it seems like she just can't, all her combinations and algorithm getting rejected, one after the other.
"Still trying to change your name ?" A deep voice startle her. She look up seeing Fury pass in front of the table looking at her, then goes to stand at the principal platform of commands he was earlier on.
"How did you know ?" She ask incredulous. Fury just turn to her an eyebrow raise, then turn back, but she didn't missed the look he gave to agent Hill. First thought that came to Raven's mind is obviously 'snitch'.
Not long after, a sudden feeling take place, and the enormous control room doesn't feel that enormous anymore. Raven stand from her seat with a pale face, and try to find her way through this maze of corridors. She finally manage to find her way outside, leaning on a the wall just next to the door she came out of, and is met by nostalgia, seeing all this movements around her. The planes, the soldiers running, all this commotion reminding her of the good old days.
Soon, people start to get away from a certain space, and the sound of a quinjet approaching can be heard. She look at the way it lands, admiring the mobility and the design of the plane, the way everything is calculated to be at the same time, a small plane that can lift heavy things, and a deadly weapon, smooth to control.
But even if the quinjet seems like a good ride, nothing will ever compare to her 'Rafale F3-R' she was piloting back in the french army. She smile to herself remembering her rides, no that long ago, but sudden flashbacks quickly wipe that smile off her face. Raven look at the people getting out of the quinjet, and let out an annoyed sigh when she spot vibrant red hair.
"Seriously ?" she mumble to herself, but the man following then pique her interest, recognizing Doctor Banner. She take out her aviator sunglasses and put them on, then start to make her way to the scientist, ignoring the redhead.
"Bruce Banner right ?" Raven ask with her arm out for him to shake. The scientist look up, and shake her hand nodding his hand in confirmation. "Yeah that's me. And you're Alix Montjoie right ?" he then ask her, making her tense. "I don't go by that name anymore so please, call me Raven." She ask trying to remain calm, but the way her body tense didn't go unnoticed by Natasha. "I looked at your work, it's impressive. It didn't really go as planned but, it still is impressive." Raven says. Banner doesn't respond, probably a bit uncomfortable but slightly nods his head with a small smile in a 'thanks' way.
Raven sense his discomfort so she just leave him, looking around at the quinjet closer. She spot Natasha walking away, to the door she was at minutes ago, then look at Doctor Banner who's looking closely at fighter aircraft. The ex soldier then move to the edge of the aircraft carrier, looking out as far as she can, breathing in the salty air.
She doesn't know for how long she was standing there, but it was enough for agent Romanoff to do what she had to do and come back on the landing decks.
"You're going to turn into a statue not moving like that." a raspy voice interrupt Raven's thoughts. "And you need to leave me alone." She says turning around to walk away, but a soft hand with a tight grip on her forearm stop her in her tracks. She look up, meeting the gorgeous green eyes of the agent, but her tight jaw and tense body give away the urge she has to yank Natasha's hand away. "Raven, it's been a year. You can't keep up this hate towards me forever." The spy says softly.
Raven look away from the woman, not sure if she wants to answer. "I don't hate you Romanoff..., I haven't forgive you yet. That's all." she says through gritted teeth. The grip on her arm soon disappear, but Raven can sense Natasha still want to say something, so she turn her head back to face her. The ex assassin open her mouth, when a quinjet land, Raven's gaze turning away to see the new arrivals. Natasha look at the quinjet as well, and walk towards it leaving the brunette alone.
Soon the access ramp open, and Raven immediately spot Agent Coulson with Captain Rogers stepping out, Natasha arriving in front of them. Raven let out a long breath and walk to them, nodding her head, when Coulson pass her heading for the bridge, which he return politely. She stop right in front of the super soldier, waiting as he look at her, then extend his arm which she shake with as firm hand. "Steve Rogers" he says making her smile. "I know. I'm Raven." She answer back. "Oh, I thought..." He start but Raven cut him off "Yeah I know, but I won't ever use that name again so, just call me Raven."
After their little meeting, the three of them start to walk, Rogers in between the two women, Natasha deciding to brake the ice. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon." She says making Raven chuckle quietly at the thought. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet ?" Romanoff pursue while Rogers look at her with a questioning face. "Trading cards ?" He ask, while Raven really want to ask if those things actually still exist. "They're vintage, he's very proud." Natasha finish her explanation looking ahead at Doctor Banner, who seems to have finish his examination of the airplane, and just look around to make sure he's not in the way.
"Doctor Banner !" Captain Rogers call making the scientist turn around, leaving the women by themselves. "Trading cards... those things still exist ?" Raven ask Natasha who look at her with a smirk. "And here I thought Captain Rogers was the old man." Raven just roll her eyes at the answer and look at the men talking, while Romanoff get a call on her earpiece.
"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath." She says confusing them.
Deep rumbling and sounds coming from the bottom of the ship pique the interest of the two men walking to the edge to see what's going on "Is this a submarine?" Captain Rogers ask puzzled making Banner scoff "Really ? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container ?" Raven already knew what the carrier was. An entire night spent in the control room looking around, she put two and two together when she looked at screens with the repulsor engines on it.
Natasha look at the two men smugly, and proud, waiting for their reaction. She turn to look at Raven who's just looking around at the crew securing the planes and jets. "You don't seem impressed" She says with a smirk making Raven scoff. "Yeah well, I'm not that impressed anymore, it's progress. Tomorrow this will be an antic, and soon something new will come out." She shrug.
Soon the Helicarrier is in the air, making the two men and women step inside, following the agent to the bridge. When Raven get in the room she goes back to her seat, and the tablet she left earlier, a different idea in mind. She look up to see if someone is peaking behind her shoulder, but all she see is Dr Banner getting in a corner trying to make himself unnoticed and small, while Rogers look around impress. She turn her head back to her tablet, but keep an ear out for anything.
"Gentlemen !" Fury's voice interrupt her typing. She look up, seeing Rogers hand him a ten dollar bill. The director then make his way to the scientist. "Doctor, thank you for coming." He says reaching out to him. Banner seems reluctant at first but he shake his hand anyway. "Thanks for asking nicely." he answer with what sound like sarcasm in his voice.
"Oh so I'm not the only one." Raven says loudly to make sure Fury hear, making him roll his eye, while she's still looking at her screen.
"So, how long am I staying ?" Banner ask "Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Fury reassure the scientist.
"What ? that's not fair" Raven mumble turning back to her tablet while Dr. Banner ask how far they're close on the case. But her attention quickly goes back to Coulson when she hears his next words, not missing the Captain's face when he hears them too.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops etcetera. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"And that people is why I don't have a phone anymore. How, the fuck, did you find me ?" Raven ask a bit angry that her impression on being watched all the time is now confirmed. But nobody seems to care about her for now.
"It's still not gonna find them in time." Natasha state with a bit of nervousness in her voice, making Raven look at her crouching next to a computer, not able to resist and look at her ass but soon realize what she's doing, and turn back to hear Banner's words. "You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to ?" He ask Fury "How many are there ?" the spy ask "Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work ?" The scientist list taking off his coat, and preparing himself to get to work in the minute. Raven can't help but smile at Fury's face, when Banner list all his science, not knowing what the hell his talking about.
At least they thought about a workplace for the scientist. "Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please ?" He ask, the agent nodding her head walking out with the man "You're gonna love it Doc. We got all the toys."
"How come he get a whole lab and you just gave me a locker for my stuff ?" Raven ask Fury who just roll his eye again with a sigh, probably regretting his decision to call her in now.
Fury head back to his control panel, Rogers look around again before going back to the table where Raven is coding to try and hack into something. He take a seat next to her, looking a bit shy. She look at him her gaze narrowing on his face, then go back to her screen. "I know you want to ask something, just say it." She says her voice a bit distant since she's still focus on the tablet.
"I actually just wanted to ask a bit about your years in the army. I read your file and... I guess maybe, I just want to know if we're on the same line if you, see what I mean."
Raven let out a heavy sigh, a bit taken aback by the Captain's words, not really expecting this, but she couldn't blame him. The guy woke up not that long ago in a complete different world. He seems to seek familiarity and, Raven being an ex soldier seems like a fit.
"I'm not really chatty about this time of my life. Sure I have some great memories and I cherish almost all of them, but I got out for a reason Captain. And I'm pretty sure after that, I did more bad than good." She says seeing his face fall a bit. "I'm not saying I can't help you if you need to understand something, we might even have a lot in common if you want my opinion, but, I don't think I'm the friend you're looking for."
"Ne vous inquietez pas, nous pouvons parler d'autre chose si vous voulez." (Don't worry, we can talk about something else if you want to.) He respond making her smile and chuckle. "What ? Did I say something wrong ?" he ask with a smile.
"No, you didn't, it's just your accent, I think it needs a bit of work. But, I'm impressed. I didn't know you could speak french." Raven explain
"I had french friends in my team back in the war.But don't get any ideas, I'm not that good. I know a word or two" He explain zoning out, lost in the memories. "But I'm quite impressed. I don't hear any accent in your voice when you speak." He compliment her
"Thanks. My mom is an English translator so, she kinda forced us to learn early. And I've been living in the states for the past two years so, it helped." Raven says with a frown at the mention of her mother. She look at the soldier with a smile, an awkward silence taking place between them. "Do you have any question ? Need advice ? Don't hold, just ask." She says trying to break the awkwardness. "You want to listen to some music ? I have great sounds if you want to. Jazz, Blues etcetera. We don't really have anything to do, but wait for the face trace to get something so..." She ask him with a smile.
He smile back nodding his head. "Sure, I could use a bit of new music." he answer. Raven take out her Ipod and headphones looking for her Jazz and Blues playlist. She turn to face the Captain, and almost burst out laughing at his face. "Sorry, I didn't say what that is. This is what we call an Ipod, it's a small device where you can store music and listen to it through these headphones. No vinyl needed anymore. I advise you to plug only one in your ear, we don't want you to go deaf at fifty years old." She says making the both of them chuckle at the bad joke.
Raven then shows him how to change the music if he didn't like it, or how to change the playlist if he's ready for new style. He propose her the other headphone but she just shake her head, and goes back to coding.
For at least two hours she's been cracking fire walls and security systems, just to get where she is now, two numbers away from being able to call, or see her family. But the more she waits, and the more her anxiety build up. It's been now two years since she talked to her family, and a year since she last saw two of her nephews. She promised Rebecca she would call her mother a year ago, but when Raven was close to buy a burner phone and dial her mother's number, she ran away.
She close her eyes taking a deep breath, she look around seeing if anyone is paying attention to her, but it's difficult to tell, when there is so many train agents around her. So she get up from the table and wander in the hallways of the Helicarrier, trying to find a quiet place if that's even possible. After a good ten minutes she manage to find a small quiet room, the only thing bothering her are the glass wall and door. Not very discrete but it'll do.
Raven type in the last two digits, waiting for something to happen. At first the screen stay black, but then, slowly, faces appear, the access through her family's camera granted. She quickly check to see if she's truly invading someone's privacy, but the little voices of all her nephews draw her attention to them. For now, nothing is still, all her family doing their business. One camera start to stop shaking and Raven manage to sneak a peak of blond hair and a little hand, trying to grab the phone.
The emotion of seeing Marius can't stop, and get to her, a smile on her face, tears trailing down her cheeks softly. Soon enough, Gavroche join his brother, into trying to snatch their mothers phone, and Raven cover her mouth to not let her sob out, as she sees the little one now able to walk.
She then change and click on her other sister's camera, to try and see if her godson is with her. This time she can't contain the gasp from her lips, as she can see his little face clearly, her sisters voice praising him as he's standing on his little legs, trying to walk without the walls help. At first Raven is confuse as to why the phone is so still when she can make out a street, then it down on her, her sister is probably immortalizing the moment by taking photos or videos.
She look one last time before changing the camera, trying to get a hold on her mother's face, but the space where her mother's camera was showing up is now black, meaning her mother turned off her phone. Raven sigh frustrated, but someone clearing their throat cause her to whip around, wiping her cheeks to get rid of the tears stain.
"What do you want ?" She ask with a cold voice, when she see who disturbed her.
"I came to check and see what you were up to." Natasha answer truthfully not wanting to argue with Raven right now.
Raven scoff at the Russian's words "yeah, because I'm up to so much bad and evil." She says sarcastically. She then take a close look at the Black Widow's skintight suit, fitting her perfectly.
"Nice suit." Raven compliment which make the Russian raise an eyebrow.
A little boy's laugh cut the tension between both ex assassin, Natasha look at the tablet before raising her hand, silently asking her to hand it. Raven sigh, but comply anyway and put the tablet in the redhead extended hand.
The agent take a look at the screen before letting out a heavy breath, a flash of guilt in her eyes. "You should not watch these Raven. You're hurting yourself for nothing." Natasha says with a soft voice.
"Yeah well, it's the first time I'm taking news on my family in two years so, excuse me, for wanting to know if everyone is still alive." She says sarcastically
"So even after what your sister told you to do, you didn't call your mother ?" Natasha ask with a small smile on her lips.
Raven smile at the mention of one of her sisters. "Believe me, she's not the one I'm afraid of so, she can tell me all she want, she knows I won't listen."
Natasha raise a curious eyebrow. "Which one are you afraid off ?" She ask
Raven chuckle looking away at the hallway through the glass wall. "The second one. I assure you, we both scare each other when one is pissed at the other. And when that happens, we run for our lives." She explain a small laugh escaping her lips.
A warm feeling bubble in both the women's chest, before Raven's emotions quickly turn a full 180°, her smile disappear a cold face now replacing it. Natasha knows their little moment is over, but it at least proved something. Raven is willing to give her a chance, with baby steps, like what just happened.
Raven get out of the little room she was in, almost bumping her shoulder in Natasha's, making the agent sigh. Natasha stay in the room a little longer, debating if she should walk up to Raven, or let her calm down, choosing the second option. She take a look at the tablet in her hands a second time, before turning it off and step out of the room.
The ex soldier get back in the control room, just in time to hear about the face match on Loki.
"We got a hit. 67% match. Wait, cross match now 79%" Agent Sitwell, if she remember correctly, announce.
Agent Coulson make his way to the computer looking for himself, and Raven walk to the Captain standing next to him listening to the rest of the information.
"Location ?" Coulson ask the bald agent.
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." He answer back, his last word causing Raven to furrow her eyebrows. She's soon enough brought to reality by Fury's voice calling her and Rogers.
"Captain, Raven, you're up." He says making them turn around to face him with a nod, before they both go their separate ways to suit up.
Raven get in the locker room she put her stuff in, taking out her clothes and change into them, sliding on her gun holsters on her tights. Her knifes hidden everywhere she could, sliding on her black bullet proof vest, then debate if she should take her assault rifle and pump rifle, before deciding against it and just grab her vibranium handle, extending the blade to check it then retract it in again, sliding the handle in it's own holster.
She then make her way to the quinjet, joining Captain Rogers on the way. She take a look at the Captain's uniform, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from a snarky comment.
A grown leave her lips when she make out Natasha's red hair at the controls, not exactly thrilled to share the journey with the agent. As soon as both her and the Captain are strap in their seats, the quinjet is lifted on the main deck, and they take off in a matter of seconds for Germany at full speed.