Vertigo (Book Three of The Avengers Reports)

Chapter Five (Picture of Jane Foster)

Serious butt kicking in here by someone, and some smart talk. :) Enjoy!

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CGIS Headquarters

Washington DC, Capitol of the United States of America

Gibbs pulled into CGIS’s parking lot and got out, Maria exiting from the driver’s side. “Nice car,” she told him, tossing him the keys.

Gibbs grinned. “Thanks. We use them a lot.”

The second car pulled in, and Clint and Natasha got out. Gibbs blinked in astonishment when he saw that Natasha had a catsuit draped over her arm, a pair of combat boots in her other hand. “You suiting up or what?” she asked Maria as if she was asking what the weather was.

Maria grinned, popping the trunk of the car and getting a similar outfit. “I’m going, I’m going.”

Clint rolled his eyes as he got a cylindrical quiver out from the back end of their car and strapped it onto his back. “You girls . . . ”

Maria and Natasha both punched him in the arm at the same time, then darted off towards an abandoned alley nearby. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Clint. “Do I even want to know why they wear those?”

“Maximum flexibility,” Clint explained as he fastened an earwig behind his ear. “Denim gets in the way, and so do bulletproof vests. You have never seen gymnastics until you have seen Three unleashed on people.”

Gibbs cracked a grin. “Yeah, I’ve seen her.”

Clint shrugged as he checked the gun in his holster. “Then you haven’t seen anything yet unless she was wearing the catsuit.”

The backseat door opened up, and Jane got out. She was just wearing jeans and a black spaghetti-strap top with a jean jacket over it. “Aren’t you an agent as well?” Gibbs asked.

Jane shook her head. “I know how to use a gun when I need to. Usually, I’m just the computer hacker.”

“Which is what she’ll be doing in case we do run into Loki here,” Clint added, taking what seemed like an unstrung bow out from his quiver. He jerked it, and it snapped to full length, bow string and everything. “We’ll be running blind.”

“Metaphorically, hopefully,” came a voice from behind, and Gibbs looked as Natasha and Maria came back. Both of them were dressed in catsuits and combat boots. Maria’s hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head. Natasha’s shoulder-length curls were loose. Interestingly, there were unusual-shaped bracelets attached to her wrists. Since no one else commented about them, Gibbs guessed that they were part of her SHIELD attire. “We don’t want to be actually blind,” Natasha added.

Jane smirked. “Hopefully not.” She tossed two other earwigs to the two agents, and the women put them behind their ears.

“So what am I doing?” Gibbs asked.

“Covering out butts if we need to run for it,” Maria replied, placing her gun in the holster at her hip.

Gibbs tossed Natasha’s double holster to her, and grinning, his longest standing protégé buckled it around her waist. “OK then. So I don’t talk or anything?”

Natasha rolled her eyes to heaven. “She’s joking, Gibbs. Just do what you usually do.”

“I feel like I’m underdressed,” Gibbs commented as he looked over Maria and Natasha.

Maria just grinned as she headed for the entrance. “Trust me,” she called over her shoulder as Natasha and Clint fell in step with her. “You’re not missing anything.”