The Think Tank

Scraping the barrel

The Triskelion was eerily quiet despite the situation at hand. Fury knew that informing everyone woud have been a bad idea, not only would it make the operation all the more chaotic but his agents' loyalty would easily falter the moment they returned to their families.

He could only trust a select few that already had experience with these matters, able to keep a secret and act natural in the meantime, like Stark and Wilson, strolling around the structure searching for someone.

"Are you sure she can help?" Sam asked, his paranoia leaking out despite his attempt to stay calm.

"Sure, she's a smart girl, not to mention she always thinks outside the box." Tony replied, seeming a lot more serene than the previous day.

So, Sam challenged what he just said by pointing out: "And maybe the reason she thinks outside the box is because no one taught her how to think in it. Maybe she isn't up to it, maybe–"

"Sam?"

Stunned by the sudden interruption, he wondered: "...yeah?"

"Trust us the same way we once trusted you."

Sam soon understood what he was referring to and, in ways that perhaps not even Tony expected, it made him feel better. This wasn't the first time they had to save the world from certain destruction.

There was that time that Gah Lak Tus threatened the Earth and with less geniuses on their side they stopped him. It was all thanks to Vision and the trust that Sam showed her... god, he still missed her.

"Still..." Falcon couldn't help but say: "...it would be nice if we had some more people on the project... even Richards and Doom."

Iron Man turned around and replied: "If all these years of fighting taught me anything, it's that people show who they really are in the direst situations. If they refuse to put their differences aside with the world on the line, they're no good at all."

They halted when they finally saw their "target" outside the entrance and to their dismay it seemed she was kept outside by a phone call.

Slowly, they crept out of the reception area, at a respectable distance but still not far enough away not to hear what the brunette was saying.

"No, I don't know either but it must be something important."

She was wearing a black dress and a red jacket which, Tony remarked, she seemed to wear quite often. The sun wasn't anywhere near as strong as it was around Coulson's base so waiting wasn't an issue.

"You know that I would never come here unless it was something of vital importance... That's right, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that's tracking my phone, I said that."

They were too far away to hear the person on the other side speaking but they could hear her laugh then and there. Sam whispered: "Is she always like this?"

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked, making the other two flinch for a second before she kept talking on the phone: "Well, maybe don't break all their bones."

Tony whispered back: "It's a thing with all Spider people, you know? Even Jess."

Jess seemed to answer to the other person on the phone saying: "Aww, that's sweet! Trouble, right?... No?... He's fighting a girl isn't he...?"

Tony and Sam just looked at each other, a little confused.

"Well, I really have to go now. Shellhead and Birdbrain have been staring at me for a while."

Jess finally turned around with the fakest smile one could imagine on her face. Tony just waved at her like a doofus and Sam made an equally awkward smile.