*****Author's note: If you haven't seen the movie The Avengers, this will not be as interesting. GO WATCH IT. You'll still be able to understand the story without it.*****
I am Piper, Most Trusted Magical Advisor to the Black Widow (also known as Natasha Romanoff), and this interrogation is going south. Natasha (she lets me call her that sometimes) and I are strapped to chairs while these Russian thugs threaten us. If only they knew what fools they are. They're telling us everything and they have no clue! But they are getting more violent and unless I misunderstood his Russian, the leader is about to take us out.
Thankfully I know that Natasha and I can get out of this easily. That's why I'm Natasha's right-hand woman. I have magical powers that basically allow me to do whatever I want, and this makes me a powerful ally. Fortunately, I'm not known to the whole world yet so Natasha's got me without competition as long as I feel like it. I love working with her and her men. There's never a dull moment and the men have learned to trust me just as much as her. They even take orders from me because they've learned to trust my powers, not just my brains and strength in hand-to-hand combat.
Anyways, before we begin to fight our way out of the interrogation, a phone rings. The thuggee leader picks up and I focus my hearing to listen in on the conversation. It's a threatening man's voice. So threatening, in fact, that it takes me a minute to recognize Agent Coulson's voice. I like Coulson, and I usually call him Phil. I think it annoys Natasha when I call people by their first names (heehee) I love messing with her. Surprisingly, the thug hands Natasha the phone. I chuckle when she refuses to come in because we're working. I'm sure Phil knows exactly what we're doing since SHIELD monitors everyone important. So of course he knows exactly how to persuade her: Agent Barton. As soon as I hear him mention Barton, Natasha freezes.
"I'll have to put you on hold," she says.
I recognize our code for TIME TO GO. She nods for the thug leader to take the phone and just as he reaches for it, she kicks him. Hard. Right where it counts. He goes down and our escape begins. Natasha has told me over and over to reveal my magic as little as possible because I could be discovered and used by someone evil. So, I just use my powers to slice my bonds and fade into the background a bit. I'm supposed to watch and cover Natasha but I've already surveyed the thugs mentally and none of them are smart enough to take her down. I focus my hearing on the phone again and sure enough, Phil is still there, calmly breathing as he waits for Natasha to get back to him. I smile. I can just picture him listening to the grunts and yells of Natasha's fight and not showing any sign of the violence he's hearing. He's good at his job.
A chain rattles and brings me back to the fight. Natasha has just dropped the lead thug into a hole in the floor and none of the others are moving. She motions to me to follow her as she picks up the phone and her shoes. We exit the building to where our backup contingent of men is waiting for us. Natasha flips the phone shut.
"Barton's been compromised. SHIELD has asked us to come in." she states shortly. "Piper, Agent Coulson is sending a jet. Dress as a guard if you don't want to broadcast your appearance. I know how much you love the attention Avengers get."
She pauses, as though she's gathering her thoughts.
"We need to do something before we get to HQ though. The world is in another crisis. Loki, the Asgardian, has stolen something called the Tesseract and I've been asked to recruit someone else to help us. His name is Bruce Banner."
I inhale sharply. "Isn't he still unstable?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "He hasn't had an incident in over a year and he's not going to start now. You and I both know how familiar he is with gamma radiation. Apparently this Tesseract reeks of it. He'll be very helpful if we can convince him to come with us."
I nod. This makes perfect sense but I still dislike doing SHIELD's dirty work.
"Why can't Nick Fury just recruit him?" I question. "Why us?"
Natasha looks at me sharply. "If Nick Fury, Director of Everything SHIELD, barged in on your one safe place in the world and demanded you come help, would you go?"
I look down, damn she can be intimidating sometimes, even to me. She takes my silence as a 'no', and instructs everyone to board Phil's jet as soon as it arrives.
The jet lands and as we settle in, she explains what I begin to think of as Plan Bring Banner Back (hehe I'm clever).
"Piper, Banner doesn't know you yet, so stay dressed as a guard and stay in the shadows while I talk to him. Do your invisible thing or whatever. Just don't let him see you. It's important to gain his trust and that means I'm going to have to talk to him myself. Alone. Or, as alone as he can tell. I suppose we'll need a house or shack on the outskirts of wherever he is, just in case."
She doesn't need to remind us what could happen if this goes wrong.
"And then we'll need a way to lure him there. Everyone else will stay outside the building and set up a perimeter as another precaution." she says to the men. "Be prepared for telepathic orders from Piper if I need you."
There are lots of nods and "Yes m'am"'s from the men and we ready ourselves for landing. I have to dress as a guard (ugh). There aren't any spare uniforms around since it wastes necessary space. I sigh. I'll just have to use my powers and create a uniform. It's all black (Natasha likes to dress to her name) with a padded two piece jacket and pants. The helmet looks much like a motorcycle helmet, except it's bulletproof and equipped with a one-way radio from Natasha's earpiece. Also black.
As soon as I picture it, the uniform replaces my previous clothes. I blink, getting used to the dim vision inside the helmet. The jet shakes as we touch down and I peer out a window. It's very dark and shadowy outside, not much to go on.
Natasha's voice crackles through my helmet.
"I've just been informed that we're in Calcutta, India, and this jet is dropping us off at the outskirts of a tiny village where Banner works as a doctor. Exit the plane and I'll point you to the shack we're staking out for this."
Sure enough, as we disembark, it feels as though we've hit a wall of hot, humid, heavy, air. It's India alright. I spot Natasha already directing men to surround a nearby home. It's small but that should be okay if this all goes according to plan. I approach Natasha.
"How are we getting Banner here?" I ask.
"I've already sent out a bait," she replies cryptically.
I sigh inwardly. She does that sometimes when she's tense or distracted. Not telling me everything. She forgets for a moment that she can trust me with any and every part of her plan and usually I remind her but it doesn't seem important enough this time. She motions to me and I follow her into the ramshackle home.
"Banner will come in through here," she muses. "So you stand over there, just behind those curtains and keep out of sight."
I comply and move to stand where she points. As she looks on expectantly, I carefully use my powers to bend what little light there is around my body, effectively obscuring my appearance. She nods when she sees I've vanished.
"Still there or have you run off on me?" she says drily into my headset.
I send back a telepathic 'I'm not leaving' and she turns to hide herself in preparation for Banner's arrival. It does not take long. Suddenly a small Hindi girl runs into the room and exits quickly out the back window. I cannot see him yet because of the curtains but I hear him groan slightly.
"Should've got paid up front, Banner." I hear him mutter to himself.
Natasha emerges from the shadows and I can sense his body tense up as he goes on high alert. Since he's distracted by Natasha, I know it's safe to move out from behind the curtain as long as I remain invisible. I do this slowly while Natasha assures Banner that they are all alone. I'm surprised by his appearance. He seems very soft and composed for a man hiding a giant rage monster inside himself. He speaks gently and I mentally note to respectfully call him Dr. Banner from now on.
