Vertigo (Book Three of The Avengers Reports)

Chapter Six (Picture of Abigail Borin)

Check out the Author's Note at the end!

***

The Pentagon

Washington DC, Capitol of the United States of America

　

　

DiNozzo sighed, taking a seat back in one of Steve’s chairs. "They’ve been gone for over an hour," he commented, looking at his watch. "Would it take this long usually?"

"Maria is one of the best SHIELD leaders I have ever met," Steve replied, looking at his computer. "She knows what she’s doing."

"And Nat and Clint kick butt like no agent I’ve ever seen before," Bruce added. "And I’ve had tons of agents after me before."

Ziva frowned. "When?"

Bruce cleared his throat. "I kinda broke Harlem a while ago."

DiNozzo couldn’t help it. He snorted, then immediately regretted it when Stark’s gaze flew from his phone to him. "Is that funny, Agent DiNozzo?" he asked.

DiNozzo raised his hands in defeat. "No, sir, Mr. Stark," he replied. "No offense meant, Dr. Banner."

Bruce gave a weak smile. "Not much taken."

Stark tapped something on his phone, then slid it back into his jeans pocket. "That was Foster. They’re trying to find Agent Borin. I’m guessing that’s the redheaded CGIS chick – "

"Do not　let Borin hear you call her that," McGee advised.

" – and the building is overrun with Chitauri," Stark finished.

Bruce started, narrowing his eyes. "Do they want us over there?"

"No," Stark replied. "She just thought we’d want to know what was taking so long."

"Well, she was right," DiNozzo muttered.

Wisely, no one commented back. Then Abby stirred. "So what was that robot you were looking at on your phone?" she finally asked.

Stark looked at her, surprised. She was sitting on top of one of Steve’s filing cabinets behind him. "You saw – ?" he asked in surprise.

Abby grinned. "I’ve learned bad habits being around these two groups for a while."

Stark sighed, then pulled his phone back out. "I asked Sam if I could borrow Freddie for a while."

"Wait," Bruce said, narrowing his eyes, "who?"

Stark shrugged. "I’ve been helping SHIELD here and there with some technical stuff. Fury’s been trying to recruit this ex-agent, Sam Clarke. And she has this awesome little robot spider. He has his own little personality and everything. He’s called Freddie."

"And this Sam let you borrow him?!" Steve asked in disbelief.

Stark shrugged. "Freddie likes me. Sam couldn’t refuse. Besides, she said that she owed me for when she was almost shocked to death."

Steve opened his mouth to comment, but then he shook his head. "I won’t even ask."

"Probably a good thing, Capsicle," Stark agreed, looking back at his phone. "But Freddie should be here soon."

DiNozzo was still wondering over the fact how a robot spider could somehow help them, but his phone buzzed, stopping him in his tracks. He looked at the Caller ID: Ducky. "Oh, crap," he muttered.