Elizabeth Barton/Ghost (Avengers Fanfiction)

Unleashing the Chitauri

"Wow," Tony muttered. "That was sick."

"You said it." Steve seemed lost in thought as he slid down to the floor in front of us. "Are you okay?" I nodded, but the truth was I felt drained after everything I had just shown them. He patted my knee. "What happened to the GECS?"

"Phil and Clint found facility A-09 before they found the one I was in. They freed the kid there before finding the information that led them to where I was. All of GECS's work was confiscated. The Operators and other members of the group were arrested or scattered and the organization fell apart. That's all I know and care about."

"And... Henry?" Tony asked hesitantly.

"Never heard or seen anything of him since the day I found I was alone in that cell. I've accepted that he was dead a long time ago."

"But it doesn't make it any less painful," Steve said knowingly.

"No," I replied softly. "What I just showed you, I've never shown anyone or even told anyone before. I can barely sleep because of the things that have happened to me. Nightmares haunt me every time I try. Not even Clint knows about those things. He can only guess at what has been done to me and just the mention of that time makes him so angry that I fear he might go out and track down every last Operator and kill them. If he knew what really happened, there's no telling what he would do."

Tony and Steve glanced at each other. "You showed us." Steve said slowly. I nodded once.

Tony frowned. "Why aren't you with Barton? I would have thought that now that he's back you wouldn't have left his side."

I was not ready for this question and didn't look at either of them as I said, "It's complicated."

"How complicated can it be? Your brother is back and himself again. He isn't under Loki's control anymore. You should be happy."

"I am. It's just that... I saw things in Clint that I have never seen in him before and quite frankly, it scared the hell out of me, especially when he was prepared to shoot me."

Steve gasped. "Did he do that to you?" He pointed to the bandages around my arm that were turning scarlet. I was bleeding through them already and needed to change them.

"Natasha stopped him from putting the bullet in my head."

"I never would have thought Barton capable of doing that to you, possessed or not." Tony shook his head.

"Neither did I. And that's why I'm just not ready to see him yet." Neither of them pressed me. I hurried to change the subject. "We need to find Loki. What's his plan?"

"Thor told us that he has an army of creatures from their universe called Chitauri. Loki's working on opening a portal with the Tesseract that will allow the Chitauri to come to Earth. They will take over the planet." Steve answered. "Right now Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list..."

Tony was looking at the blood stain on the wall as Steve was speaking. Now he turned to us. "He made it personal."

"That's not the point." Steve replied.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart,"

"He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."