Onto the final chapter of the first story! Hope you like it!

Chapter 9: Something Interesting

The days passed, turning into weeks, and then months, and there was still no sign of the man from the stars.

The events that had transpired in New Mexico had been quickly forgotten; overshadowed by Iron Man and what had been dubbed 'The Incredible Hulk', both of whom had been over every form of media possible. Even now, they were still talked about, even after the mysterious, unstoppable monster had vanished.

Scrolling through a report given, Ciara's brow furrowed, seeing the NDAs that the people who lived in the small town had been given. No wonder the truth hadn't come to light, remaining a claim of an earthquake. Not that she was very surprised. SHIELD tried to hide as much to do with the unnatural as they could. But considering how 'normal people' reacted to something different, Ciara couldn't fault them.

Reaching up, she idly scratched the scar tissue that formed two lines over her right eyebrow, standing out against her pale skin, and continued to read the files on screen.

"Weapons?" she spoke aloud, opening another set of files. Ciara's blue eyes scanned them at high speed, no sooner had she opened it, she was closing it to open another. "Such a wonder why I don't trust SHIELD. Using that big thing's tech to make weapons..." Ciara muttered, unimpressed.

Sighing heavily, she closed the files, and drummed her fingertips against the desk, her brow knitting together. After a moment, she pulled up another search, trying to find reports of any sort of events taking place around the world. "Come on, you idiots," she murmured when each one turned up nothing she needed. "Where are you? I could use a little help from you guys," Ciara pleaded, frustration taking over. When she reached the last report, with none of them showing anything she wanted, she cursed and slammed her fist against the desk.

The bang made her freeze, and she waited, not moving an inch for several seconds as she waited for an alarm to go off. Her pounding heart seemed to grow loud enough to be heard through the thick silence, which hung over her like a weight. When nothing happened after the noise she'd made, she sighed, relaxing. "Pointless. It's another waste of my time," she declared, before something else caught her attention. "The...Avengers Initiative?" Ciara spoke quietly, her frustration gone as curiosity took over.

A quiet laugh escaped her lips as she opened and read Fury's files, listing a group of individuals who had come onto SHIELD's radar, including Tony Stark. Ciara let out a hum as she brought up information on the monster known as the Hulk. "Human? Not even a mutant? Poor guy," she murmured as she read about Bruce Banner, who after exposure to a large amount of radiation, could now shift into the Hulk; impossibly strong and full of rage.

Her eyes widened when she moved onto another, bringing up information on a hero that everyone knew. "So, they finally defrosted the most patriotic hero on the planet. Interesting," the Speedster had to admit, she was intrigued. Running her hand through her silver hair, which had grown since her adventure in New Mexico, Ciara continued to read the files, entertained. "Oh Fury, you're more of a dreamer than I expected," she smirked.

Ciara's entertainment faded, when she something else caught her attention. "Phase Two...now that sounds more like the SHIELD I know," Ciara opened the file, but no sooner had she started reading it, did an alarm start to blare loudly. "Whoops," she laughed, backing away from the computer and pulling the hood of her cloak up. She heard the footsteps pounding towards her.

"Ciara Ellis, stop where you are!" a man burst in, his gun raised, but Ciara was gone. He swore loudly. "Hunt her down and bring her in!" he ordered, furious, and the team he was with rushed back out quickly.

At first, Ciara thought nothing over the SHIELD agents finding her in the lab, taking a peek at their databases. After all, it wasn't the first time it had happened, and all that had happened then was a stern talking to from whoever found her first.

This time, she noted, it was different. Whether it was something she'd read, or if she'd just pushed them too far after what had happened with the Destroyer and breaking into their temporary base to help Thor take back Mjolnir, it seemed that she had finally gone too far with SHIELD.

"Ellis, we have you caught this time!" an agent warned as they stepped into the apartment, guns ready as the rest of the team surrounded the building. He stopped, a little taken aback, when he saw the young woman on the sofa, not looking the least bit bothered.

"Huh. I guess you really have had it with me poking my nose in," Ciara didn't open her eyes, her hands behind her head as she lay across the sofa. "What was it that pissed Fury off? Me getting into the base without trouble? Or maybe reading about Phase Two," the man's eyes narrowed, and he trained his gun on her.

"You're under arrest Ellis, come quietly or we will have to use force," he ordered. Ciara just yawned widely, before opening her eyes and standing up slowly, her hands raised. He lowered his gun, going for his cuffs, and heard Ciara laugh quietly.

"Clearly you've not read my file," he looked back up, finally registering her attire. Under her black cloak, she wore a blue and grey shirt and blue trousers, both made of material that wouldn't wear easily, and a pair of black boots, one with blue laces and the other with grey, also looking as if they were designed for heavy duty. "Because I don't ever do that," Ciara smirked, and flitted out of view. There was a gust of wind and the agents struggled to try and stop her from getting to the door, but she collided with the man blocking the exit. He slammed against the wall, hard enough to crack it, and the team leader fired a shot, but Ciara avoided it easily. She winked, and vanished, running again.

"She's on the move, get ready," the man called into his radio, and the men keeping an eye out from the outside aimed their weapons at the doors as they left the apartment and rushed down the stairs. Pushing the door open, they stopped, raising their hands when they realised they were face to face with their own men. "Where is she?" he yelled, and they shook their heads.

"She hasn't left the building," one told him, and the man snarled and ran back inside.

Ciara snickered to herself, watching them rush around trying to find her. Glancing to the camera on her, she winked, waving, and pulled her hood up before starting to run, vanishing from view.

People bustled around Ciara as she looked around. The lighting was poor and there was a dripping noise, echoing behind her. She couldn't make out the faces of anyone around her, as a blue hue shone too bright for her to make out any features. Her fists clenched as she looked around, finding the place was similar to others she had seen in the past, putting her on edge.

Ciara rubbed at her eyes, but still couldn't see anything as the blue light seemed to grow stronger. Someone bumped into her, knocking her off balance, and she stumbled forwards, putting her hands to her ears as the dripping noise faded into obscurity and instead a humming noise started to grow in volume.

Not sure what was going on, she crouched, clamping her eyes shut to try and block out the blue light that was growing brighter and brighter, burning through her eyelids. The light then faded as a shadow fell over her, and as she opened her eyes, the shadow split into three, and the humming grew even louder.

Ciara woke up with a start, breathing heavily as she almost fell from the tree she'd been sleeping in.

"That dream again..." she murmured, rubbing her eyes. "What is going on?" Ciara looked down at her hands, her brow furrowing. "Please don't be some sort of change to my powers..." she pleaded to herself, before hearing her phone buzz. She sighed, and answered it. "What's up?" she yawned.

"Still on the run, huh Speedy?" the deep voice of Gadget echoed from the phone.

"It must be big if you're bothering to call," Ciara said, not answering his question. Gadget laughed in amusement.

"Can't I just call to see how you are?" he asked, sounding innocent. Ciara rolled her eyes, running her hand through the hair.

"Jonny, not once in the years I've known you, have you just 'called to see how I am'," she said dryly.

"Well when you call me that, why would I?" he argued, and Ciara smirked slightly. Ever since Darcy had told her the nickname for the man, she couldn't resist calling him it. And he hated it. "But you're right, I do have something interesting for you," Gadget cleared his throat, knowing that she was enjoying getting under his skin.

"Do share," Ciara requested, intrigued. As she'd said, it was rare for Gadget to call her, as he preferred to use his powers to send her messages instead.

"Well Speedy, I was looking into SHIELD like you asked," Ciara moved, taking a quick glance around. "Seems it really was a combo of all the stuff lately that's finally tipped them over and labelled you a threat to security," his words made Ciara laugh.

"Took them long enough," she laughed, not seeming very worried by his announcement.

"I am surprised it took them this long alright. I figured you breaking into their base with that hammer would have been the last straw," Gadget admitted."But that's not the most interesting thing I found. When I was looking into it, I found details of another base that's totally off the grid, and it's providing a hell of a lot of power," Ciara's laughter faded as he told her this. "The security is intense, so they must be guarding something really big there," he told her.

"That does sound interesting," Ciara hummed as she thought about it. "Something I wouldn't be able to resist," she spoke slowly, her leg swinging freely. "So either SHIELD have set this up to lure me in, or you are selling me out," Ciara accused, her tone mild.

"Both are plausible. I mean, we aren't allies Speedy," Gadget reminded honestly. "You don't do teams and we have clashed in the past," he considered. "But...if I was going to sell you out, I would have done so already," Gadget told her, and Ciara had to admit, he had a point. 'So this could be something that SHIELD have come up with to try and get your attention so they can catch you, but I haven't found anything to prove that. I think it's legit, or else they have someone really good with computers," he said.

"Better than you?" Ciara arched an eyebrow, and received a snort in response.

"Please," Gadget almost sounded offended. "I really want to know what's going on here myself too. I can barely get any info on it, like I said, they're off the grid. Short of walking in myself, I can't get anything," he complained.

"So you want me to risk my ass to find out for you," Ciara summed up.

"Well...in my defence, you'd be going anyway, once you knew. What's the harm in me reaping the benefits?" Gadget asked innocently.

"That's more like it," Ciara chuckled. "Now that's something I can trust," she allowed, thinking about. "Okay, I guess you'll have to send me the details. Breaking into a temporary base is one thing, but a high-security building where there's potentially something powerful? That's going to take some planning," she told him.

"I look forward to it," Gadget hung up, and Ciara returned her phone to her pocket, before leaning back and looking to the sky. Her dream was forgotten as her mind focused on what Gadget had told her, and a potential new adventure. The idea made her laugh quietly.

"I doubt it'll be as interesting as a man falling out of the sky...and a hammer that nobody could move," she yawned widely, her eyes closing as she drifted off again, wondering what was going to happen next.

So that's the first story done! As you can tell, this was just a starter to what's going to be shown more in the sequel, Destiny Unclaimed.

Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and followed this story!