Vertigo (Book Three of The Avengers Reports)

Epilogue

An Isolated Park

Washington DC, Capitol of the United States of America

Natasha emerged from the passenger’s seat of Gibbs’s car, Gibbs getting out from the driver’s side. “Now we’ve just got to wait for everyone else,” he commented.

“Shouldn’t take too long,” DiNozzo replied, getting out of the back.

Abby got out on the other side, Freddie in the palm of her hand. He beeped something sounding happy and crawled up onto her shoulder. She smiled at him, then sighed. “I’m going to miss you, little guy,” she told him just as Stark’s red sports car roared up.

Stark got out of the driver’s seat, Bruce getting out of the passenger’s side. Loki and Thor got out of the back end as Steve rode up on his motorcycle. Another federal car, but this time with the eagle plates of SHIELD, pulled up. Clint and Maria got out of the front, Jane from the back. The final car they were waiting for pulled up, and Vance emerged from the driver’s seat, Borin from the passenger’s side. Ducky, Ziva, and McGee got out of the back.

As they all gathered around the fountain in the center, Natasha smiled across all of them. Sure, they may have had their missteps, but they had come together in the end, and they were closer than ever. That meant more to her than the whole world.

Loki and Thor stepped forward and began saying their goodbyes. It was funny how Loki had gone from being their archenemy to being on their team. And he had saved her life twice. She hugged both of them when they came to her. “I couldn’t thank you enough,” she whispered.

Thor smiled. “Then maybe we should be taking you with us to Asgard, Lady Romanoff,” he suggested.

Natasha smiled back, shaking her head. “Nah, I’ve got work I need to handle down here.”

Loki grinned at her. “Just stay out of any gamma radiation problems,” he warned her.

Natasha pointed at him. “It was your fault.”

Loki chuckled. “Goodbye, Agent Romanoff.”

“Bye, Loki.”

The two Asgardians stepped back, and everyone else formed a semicircle around them a few feet away. They faced each other, the Thunder king and the Trickster adopted brother, and gripped each other’s forearms in a warrior’s handshake. They held on tightly, and an aqua light glowed around them. “Beam us up, Heimdall!” Thor called.

Thunder crashed, and the two were gone. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m actually going to miss Loki,” Stark commented.

Natasha turned to him. “I can’t believe that you risked Pepper’s wrath to get out here.”

Stark smirked. “Your Goth friend convinced me.”