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The view in my new room was nothing but trees, and in the far, far distance was city and ocean. But my eyes weren't focused on the view outside my window. They were focused on the laptop sitting open on my desk.
Nat sat at the keyboard, fingers flying faster than I could track. I was plopped nervously on the bed beside Wanda, while Steve sat on the surface of the desk with his arms folded while he waited.
I tried not to pay him much attention. And I tried not to pay Loki, who was leaned against the wall across from me, much attention either.
"Strucker was good," Nat said breathily as she eyed the computer screen, "Laid low pretty much all his life."
"I don't understand," Wanda began, her Sokovian accent thick, "You plan to find all there is to know about Strucker on the internet? With just a little laptop?"
"People leave trails, Wanda," Natasha explained, just as her lips peeled into a grin and she opened up a page, "Trails that people like me are specially equipped to follow. Trails that connect what people like Strucker don't want connected."
"Take it you found something?" I asked, hope burning hot in my chest.
"Looks like our friend Strucker spent a lot of time throughout the eighties and nineties in New York, in the company of one Bram Van Leer," she said, the light of the laptop screen illuminating her eyes.
"Does the name mean anything to anyone?" I questioned, looking pointedly between Steve and Wanda.
"Never heard of him," Steve answered apologetically.
Wanda shook her head, wearing the same sorry expression as Steve.
I deflated a little. Enough for Natasha to notice.
"Hey, chin up," she said, "Don't lose faith in me." She turned next to look up at Steve, "Remember all that fun you and I had, airing out S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dirty laundry for all the world to see?"
Steve smiled gently, nodding.
"Just so happens, Van Leer and Strucker surfaced a lot together when I combed the leaked data," she explained, her fingers flying, "Seems a certain project that was started in the eighties also makes an appearance in the data."
I grinned widely, clasping my hands together and leaning forward. My heart drummed against my chest, and I swore that everyone could hear it.
"Seems Loki's scepter wasn't the first time Strucker tried his hand in human experimentation," Nat said, scrolling through text on the computer, "It looks like a group called CELS was founded as a branch of HYRDA to do just that. Headed by—Guess who?"
"Van Leer and Strucker," I finished. I let the hope in my chest flare. This was actually going to go somewhere. Mean something.
"Looks like Strucker dropped out of CELS in the late nineties, and the program was relocated."
"Where?"
"Not sure," Nat said, biting the inside of her cheek.
Nerves racked my chest. Please tell me this wasn't all for nothing. Please tell me we hadn't just hit a dead end.
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Fanfiction"You are unimaginably precious when you're flustered, my dear," he said lowly, "And I can assure you that while I often find you distracting, you are much more than just a distraction to me. Why do you think I haven't killed you yet?" "Because you'd...
