Doreen rolled her eyes and walked with her down to the kitchen, at least to start. She grabbed her own plate of food and settled down with the rest of the group.

Laurel periodically checked her phone to see if Coulson had gotten back to her. The 'Rising Tide' message was really starting to bother her.

It took Coulson a little while to get back to her, because he was a bit busy. But then he just texted her instead of even an email.

The Rising Tide is a threat. How did they make contact?

Got a message on my blog. They left a note in my inbox. Laurel nudged Doreen, showing her the text from Coulson. If Coulson said the Rising Tide was a threat, then it was definitely something she wanted her friend to know about.

Doreen looked at the message and nodded a bit.

I wondered if they would try to contact you. They've hacked into SHIELD databases a few times now. We're investigating.

That was really all Laurel needed to know. If Coulson was investigating, then things were likely under control.

I'll let you know if they contact us again.

Please do.

"Well, that's interesting," Doreen murmured. "I wonder why contact us?"

"They said something about information," Laurel replied quietly. "Being in the business of information. Maybe they think we're part of an informant network, rather than getting everything first-hand."

"Could be," Doreen agreed. "Or they wanted to make a deal, see what kind of information we have. I mean, we've put up that we're now the Avengers PR, that really implies first-hand info."

"Definitely a distinct possibility," Laurel agreed. "I don't know. I'm going to keep an eye out for any more messages."

"Good plan," Doreen agreed. "But it sounds like things are under control anyway."

"Yeah," Laurel said, nodding. "I'm going to keep an eye out anyways, just in case, so we can let Coulson know if it happens again."

Doreen nodded and stayed there until dinner was over. Then she helped clean up.

Things were quiet for a few days. Until someone just missed shooting Natasha in the head through a window because she moved.

That set the entire tower on high alert. Nobody just assassinated the Black Widow, it just wasn't done. Add that on top of the fact that she had been targeted while she was inside the tower, and that made all of the Avengers very nervous indeed.

Natasha ran out after him, of course. As did Steve, and Clint scrambled up to get a view on the shooter.

"He's half a mile away, just packing up a rifle."

Natasha snarled something in Russian as she went after the shooter. She didn't care who he was; he'd just taken a shot at her, that meant he was going down.

Half a mile out, the Winter Soldier was already hightailing it out of there. There was nothing he could do about the missed shot, he'd have to take another one later on.

Steve had gotten down on the ground and was sprinting towards the location of the shooter. Clint kept an eye out for them, moving as needed and reporting as the shooter moved.

With that arrangement, it didn't take long for Natasha and Steve to corner the shooter. When she saw him, though, she faltered just the slightest bit.

"The Winter Soldier," she murmured, watching him carefully. He was definitely not someone she wanted to let out of her sight.

"You know who this is?" Steve asked quietly, shifting to keep the Winter Soldier penned in. Tony was supposed to be there momentarily too, to help out.

"Our paths have crossed before," Natasha replied, still watching the Winter Soldier carefully.

The Winter Soldier watched them both in return as he waited for the opportunity to escape. He recognized the Black Widow, of course, but somehow, Captain America seemed very familiar to him as well, and he had no idea why.

Tony came in from another side. "Whenever you're ready, Clint."

Clint was silent for a moment before he released the arrow. A net exploded over the Winter Soldier, although Tony and Steve both remained alert in case he escaped that.

Winter Soldier's eyes narrowed as he twisted out of the way. His body contorted in seemingly impossible ways as he grabbed a corner of the net and whipped it around, back towards Black Widow and Captain America. A simple net wasn't going to catch him. Then he turned and used his mechanical arm to pull himself up to the roof of the building he was cornered against, and he ran.

Natasha almost got out of the way of the net, but it managed to tangle up one of her legs enough that she couldn't follow when the Winter Soldier took off again.

Tony took off after him, since he was still unencumbered. Steve and Natasha would get out of the net on their own. He needed to keep track of Winter Soldier.

Steve swore and wrangled himself out of the net after a minute, making sure Natasha was clear too before he threw it to the side.

Winter Soldier did everything he could to keep ahead of Iron Man. He'd heard about that suit, and he definitely did not want to give the man inside the suit a chance to use his weapons.

Natasha took off as soon as she was clear of the net, swearing under her breath in Russian as she darted into an alley to try to head the Winter Soldier off.

Tony didn't attack him, just kept track of him. He figured Natasha wanted him alive for questioning, and he really didn't pity the man at all at that point.

Steve went another way, also in hopes of heading him off and getting ahead of him. He wanted this done and over with so he could figured out why things felt odd.