Burning Bright: An Avengers Fanfiction

Explaining the Situation

Captain America POV

After yet another successful mission, all that I wanted to do was go back to Stark Tower and relax. I knew that the rest of the team felt the same way. But, Fury always liked to debrief us himself, so everyone sat down at the table that was in our way of a good night's sleep. I had been making small talk with Bruce when suddenly the door nearest to me burst open. No one expected what came out of it.

 It was a teenage girl, skinny as can be and with a mess of red curls similar to Agent Romanoff's. The kid tripped and was suddenly sprawled all over the floor, only a couple feet from us. She looked up at us with huge green eyes filled with wonderment. Mere seconds later, an agent comes barreling in and dives for the girl.

 "I've got her, sir," the agent says while pressing his hand to his ear. The girl was trying to buck him off her, but the agent was stronger than she was. He yanked her up by her hair, exposing her neck. Reaching for his back pocket, he pulled out a tazer, then dug it into the girl's neck. She let out a guttural scream, then just fell limb. All of this happened in a matter of seconds.

It took me a minute to process what was going on, but as soon as that little girl screamed, I acted like any soldier would. I grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and threw him with all my strength against the wall. He tried to get up, but suddenly Barton had an arrow aiming straight for the guy's heart.

"Don't even think about it," he said with a calm demeanor.

I saw Bruce hurry over to where the girl was passed out., and I quickly followed him. He pressed his fingers to her wrist.

"Is she alive?" I whispered. What would a teenage girl be doing in the Helicarrier? Even more so, why was she running from a S.H.I.E.L.D operative?

"She's alive, but she'll probably be out for  a couple hours. She's dehydrated, so I'll need to get an IV into her."

After Banner made his diagnostic, he started to call over some agents who had been passing through the room to help him. I grabbed his wrist and shook my head.

"Bruce, if she was running away from an agent, I think its best for now if you don't let anyone else come near her. Take her to your lab and treat her there. No one goes in but you and her, okay?" 

Bruce nodded and picked up the girl's lifeless body and carried her away. I turned my attention back to the scumbag who had been chasing the kid. Tony, Clint, Natasha, and Thor were all gathered around the man, who looked absolutely terrified. Good. He should be scared.

"Why were you chasing that young girl? What possessed you to think harming an innocent child was an action that would be warranted?" Thor growled at the dumbfounded man. Tony grabbed the man by his shirt front, and pulled him forward to where their faces were only inches apart.

"Start talking buddy," Stark snarled.

"If you would kindly put Agent Holler down Mr. Stark, I would be pleased to fill you in myself," someone said. We all turned around to face Director Fury. He sighed and sat down at the table. The agent scrambled to get up off the floor, and then was dismissed by Fury. No one missed Thor cracking his knuckles suggestively at the man as he almost ran out of the room.

"That, Mr. Stark, was Lila Annette Sutton, a fourteen year old girl from a small town in Ohio called Riverton. She ran away from home some time ago and has been on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar since then."

"That doesn't explain why she's here, or why she was just tazed!" Tony exclaimed, getting exasperated.

"If you would let me finish a sentence Stark, I could tell you!" Fury snapped. He let out another long sigh and rubbed his eyes.

"When Lila was about four, her mother came into Lila's room to find her daughter ablaze, crying from a nightmare. She and her husband called the paramedics, but when they found no burn marks on the child, they wrote her parents off as another crazy midnight call. Whenever Ms. Sutton's adrenaline levels spike, her body can produce fire. And no, we don't know how this happened," Fury said just as Tony opened his mouth.

"What's keeping her from burning down the Helicarrier?" Natasha asked.

"She has an anklet that will inject strong sedatives into her system should her body temperature hit a certain degree mark. She'll be out before she can even spark. We'll be moving her to headquarters as soon as we can."

"Still," I interjected, "She's a kid. She looked beyond scared when she ran into this room, and you expect her to just do whatever you say? And what happens when she gets to D.C? Are you going to lock her up like a criminal, even though she hasn't done anything wrong? You're just going to put away some kid forever because of what she is? That's wrong Director Fury, and you know it."

Every member of the team was looking at Fury, who was clearly becoming uncomfortable.

 "It's out of my hands now Rogers," Fury mumbled.

"We all know that's not true. You could stop this in a minute," I replied strongly.

I had seen my fair share of runaways in Brooklyn before I was enlisted. All had the same look that that little girl had been wearing. Fear and despiration. I never, ever want a child to look at me like that again. And I knew the rest of the Avengers felt the same way.

"For now, let's just go see how Bruce and Ms. Sutton are faring, okay?" Fury said as he rose from his chair.

I knew that the conversation wasn't over. And I'll be damned if I let anything happen to that kid while under my watch.