Valen: A Collector's Item

Bounty

The lights flickered on and off as Nitro stood out of his chair as much as his chains would allow. The room slightly shook, and Nat looked around, wondering if Nitro was causing the disturbances.

"Romanoff." Was all that was said through the room's speakers.

She stood up and walked out of the room with Valen on her tail, sliding through the open door before it closed. Nitro screamed, but his cries ended when the door closed.

Valen followed Nat through the same depressed-looking hallways until she arrived in a new room with Fury and Stark. Two empty chairs faced rows of televisions recording the interrogation room she was just in. There were more screens on the other walls of different locations throughout the bunker. If Valen didn't know better, she would think all the screens showing hallways would be the exact same recording.

Fury put his walkie-talkie down. "We have visitors."

"Who?"

"The space brothers." Tony answered.

Everyone's eyes moved to the camera showing Loki and Thor headed for the outside hatch. A burnt engraving singed the ground behind them. Thor was holding his hammer and dressed in a hoodie and jeans, while Loki was dressed in a sleek back suit. They were both sharing the same expression of seriousness.

She waited for the pair to enter their room, watching them through the cameras as they got closer. Her eyes followed every screen change from the different hallways until they were right outside.

"Tony. Fury. Natasha." Thor greeted. Loki remained quiet.

Valen fought the urge to run to them. She wanted to hug the both of them and not let go.

"Wow. It's been how long, and that's all we get?" Nat asked.

"I apologize for the abrupt pleasantries, but we have a problem."

"When don't we?" Tony asked under his breath. He crossed his arms and leaned against a desk behind him. "Go on."

"Valen is alive." Not a person in the room spoke. Thor's eyes stayed on Tony's, gauging his response. He was ready to deal with the emotions it would bring to know his daughter was alive after all this time. He squinted his eyes when Tony didn't react. "I'm sorry, I thought that would have a much bigger reaction."

"We know." Fury said.

"How do you know? We found out only earlier today."

"These two hid her this whole time." Fury looked at Tony and Nat.

"Well, she's not hidden anymore." Loki scuffed.

"What do you know?"

"There's a generous bounty out for her. A man known as the Collector has sent out a galaxy-wide notice for her capture. Anyone and everyone is out searching for her right now." Thor explained. "We returned wanting to know if you knew where she was because she's not safe here."

When no one seemed to want to answer, Loki lost his patience. "So? Where are you hiding her?"

"We don't know where she is." Nat sighed.

"How do you misplace a person?"

"We didn't misplace her. She's no longer in hiding. She was last seen with Peter, but he says he doesn't know where she went after they fought this guy." Nat pointed to the screen where Nitro was still screaming.

The next second the crazed man calmed down. He sat in his seat and smiled up at the camera. Thor grabbed the sides of the television repeating the word no and ran to leave the room.