Disclaimer: Not mine. The Avengers do not belong to me. The OC, however, is mine.

Chapter 2:

"Says his name's Matthew," a woman's voice penetrated his hears.

"Hey, Nat, I think he's coming to," a man's voice spoke this time. His voice sounded like it was closer than the female's.

The boy, Matthew, slowly opened his eyes, blinking off the bright lights that assaulted him. The first thing he saw was the man from earlier and a red-headed woman. Both were looming over him as he laid on the cool, metal floor of the laboratory. A flash of fear and pain went through him as he stared up at the adults. The red-headed woman helped him sit up and propped him up against a metal support beam.

He watched as the woman pulled the man away from them and started to speak with him. Disinterested in their conversation, Matthew looked around the room. To his left, he saw the remainders of what use to be his glass tube. All that was left was the base and some glass scattered around it on the floor. There was a thin layer of the gel-like fluid that use to encase him on the floor. He reached his hand out and scooped up some of the substance. It felt slimy as some of it fell through his fingers. He dropped the rest of it on the ground as his body shivered due to the cold and pain that still coursed through him slightly.

Clint looked over to the child as he addressed Natasha, "We need to get some clothes for him." He felt sorry for the kid. He just looked so lost sitting there naked and shivering. He never saw something so pitiful before.

"I already sent an agent to get some," she replied easily. She too was looking at Matthew, but then shifted her gaze to the folder that was currently in her hands. "Can you believe that he's only six?"

"I believe it. Just look at him, he's so tiny," Clint answered, his gaze never faltering from the boy. Thankfully, an agent walked into the room and handed Natasha a bag that had children's clothing in it. He was afraid that if they didn't get the kid dressed soon he was going to get sick.

Natasha walked over to Matthew and dropped down to his level. The kid watched her every step warily, as if afraid of her. "Hey, Matt, let's get you dressed," Nat said in a gentle tone. She could clearly see that the kid was afraid of her. When she didn't get a response from the child in front of her, Natasha put the bag containing clothes on the ground and pulled out an article of clothing.

Once the kid was dressed, Natasha stood up and gave Matthew a small smile. "Well, don't you look handsome." Clint had to agree with her, Matt did look kind of cute in his faded blue jeans and green T-shirt that matched his eyes. There was something wrong with this picture though.

"Nat, where are his shoes?" Clint asked. The kid's feet were bare; he didn't even have socks on.

"There weren't any in the bag," she told him. What kind of agent goes out to buy children's clothing and doesn't buy shoes?

Clint sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. Someone still had to inform Fury that they were bringing back a child and not an adult. And he did not want to be that person. "Nat, have Smith call the director." That's what lower agents were for, doing all stuff that he didn't want to do.

All of a sudden, red lights were flashing and the alarm was blaring again. Out of instinct, Clint drew an arrow and Natasha pulled her gun. Even though the agents seemed relaxed, they were always ready in case anything went wrong.

Matthew, on the other hand, wasn't as calm as the S.H.I.E.L.D agents. When the alarm went off, he jumped in fright. His eyes darted over to the adults in the room and when he saw that they had their weapons drawn, he jumped to his feet. He knew that these people had helped him, but he couldn't help but fear them. As far as he knew, no one had ever been kind to him. Everyone had hurt him in the end.

He took a quick glance at the agents and saw that their attention was elsewhere. Matthew took the opportunity to get away while he still could. His bare, little feet slapped the ground quietly as he made his escape. Matthew darted out of the room that acted as his prison and dodged other agents as he made his way out of the building.

xXx

Clint relaxed slightly as he realized that no one was storming into the room. "Who the hell tripped the alarm!" he shouted angrily. He lowered his bow and looked over to Natasha, "We work with idiots."

Natasha just rolled her eyes at his comment. She knew he was right, but she didn't want to say that out loud. She holstered her gun when the alarm stopped and looked over to where the kid was, only to see him missing. "Matthew," she called. "It's okay. You can come out now. No one's going to hurt you."

A few moments passed in silence. "It's all right kid. Nat's right, no one is going to hurt you," Clint tried this time. Matthew still didn't appear though.

"Clint, I think we have another problem," Natasha said.

"Oh I am not telling Fury that lost the kid," Clint replied.

xXx

Matthew ran down the street as fast as his little legs could carry him. He ran through alleyways and down deserted streets before he stopped at a very busy street. There were tall buildings on both sides of the street and people were walking shoulder to shoulder with others. Tons of yellow cabs were stuck in a traffic jam and the noise level was high. Matthew didn't know where to go from here, so he just walked. He walked passed adults on cell phones who didn't give him a second look and wonderful looking store fronts. He didn't know where he was going to go and he didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew for certain that he wasn't going to go back to his once prison.

As the day went on storm clouds filled the sky. The number of people on the street diminished as rain began to fall. It started out as a drizzle but turned into a downpour that soaked his clothes and made his hair stick to his forehead. Matthew wrapped his arms around his body as he tried to combat the cold that gripped his small frame. A shiver ran through his body as he turned down an alley. He huddled under a fire escape that gave him at least a little cover from the rain and settled down for the night.

xXx

After Clint and Natasha debriefed the director on the situation they requested that they be put on the team assigned to find the child.

"I cannot assign you to recover the boy," Fury responded.

"What? Why?" Natasha questioned.

"Barton has been assigned to another mission; A very important one. As for you Miss Romanoff, you have been assigned to a mission in Russia." Fury glanced at both of the agents before him before addressing Natasha, "Miss Romanoff, you are dismissed."

Natasha glanced back at Clint as she left the debriefing room. She wondered what his very important mission would be. It would probably be way more exciting than her mission in Russia. As she walked the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. she couldn't help but think of Matthew being alone and afraid on the streets of New York.

Back in the briefing room, Fury was looking at Clint in silence. Clint's gaze didn't waver as he looked back at the director.

"Tell me, Barton, have you ever heard of something called the tesseract?" the director questioned.

xXx

Matthew spent a few days in the alley. The rain had let up on his second day, but it was still cold at night. For a while it seemed like his body would never stop shivering, but on his third day alone something happened to him. He was enduring another cold night, when it happened. His body suddenly became warm and his shivering subsided. At first he didn't notice what happened to him, but when the same thing happened the next night he began to wonder.

During his fifth day on the streets of New York, he was starving. He wandered around trying to find something to eat. He came across a man who was selling hotdogs and his stomach growled. Matthew wished that he had some money to buy one. But when the vendor looked away to gave some change to a man, something miraculous happened. One of the hotdogs that was sitting on top of the cart flew into Matthew's awaiting hand. It momentarily shocked him and he didn't know what to do. But hunger won out and he began to eat the hotdog as he walked away. To his six year old mind, there was only one explanation for what just happened. Magic.

xXx

While making his escape from the underground base he felt it. There was a spark of something that went through his entire body. It felt familiar and it was like a part of him was reaching out to whatever caused it. He needed to know what caused this sensation. He wanted to make it his. He had to find it.

xXx

On his seventh day alone, Matthew felt like something was calling out to him. He couldn't explain what it was, but he knew that he had to find it. It felt familiar, like home. He had never felt something like it before and he wanted to find out what it was. He started walking down the sidewalk toward where the feeling was coming from. But as the feeling became more urgent, he started to run. He weaved around people as he tried to get to his destination. He bumped into many people but he just continued. He had to reach the source of the sensation. While he was running, he wasn't completely aware of his surroundings and thus, crashed into someone. The force of the crash knocked him to the ground. The sensation stopped. Matthew looked up at the man that he ran into. The man was dressed in a black suit with a black tie. Around his neck was a green and gold scarf. Matthew's eyes traveled up the man's body and stopped when he was looking directly into the man's eyes. The blue eyes felt like home. At that moment, he knew that this man was like him.

"Hello there. My name is Loki."

Thanks for reading, sorry if there are any mistakes, I am currently have no Beta...

~Shiro