Inside is all typical SHIELD style. Very sleek and technical. Nick Fury is waiting to greet us.
"Welcome to SHIELD," he says. "Thank you for coming."
"Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce replies. It's getting difficult for me to tell if the guy is joking or not.
Fury asks me to show Bruce to his lab so that they can begin their search for the Tesseract. As we leave, I hear Natasha immediately ask after Barton and she is directed towards some technical guys who are running scans for the agent.
"You're gonna love the lab, Bruce," I say as we make our way down the hall. "It's got all the latest bells and whistles SHIELD could come up with."
He smiles. "I've always wondered what it would be like to work in one of their labs. I never would have guessed I'd get to work with all the rest of the top people in this world."
He pauses, unsure how to continue.
"Which brings up an interesting question, I suppose. How do you fit into this equation? What have you done to grab SHIELD's interest?"
He asks his question in the least offensive way I've ever heard. It's that soft voice of his, I think I'll find it difficult to ever be angry with him.
I stop walking for a minute and lean against the wall. I suppose I can trust him. He's really the only one here who doesn't know anything about me. But I don't want him to know everything just yet for some reason.
So I simply shrug and reply, "Ms. Romanoff trusts me. Captain America trains with me. Tony Stark drives me crazy. I guess I just fit."
He smiles slightly. I can tell he knows I'm not telling him everything.
But he says courteously, "Alright, whatever secrets Ms. Romanoff wants to keep are fine with me. I didn't mean to pry." Then, in a more lighthearted tone, "Show me the good stuff."
I'm relieved that he thinks I'm only being loyal to Natasha. I really don't want to make enemies with this guy (honestly I'd really love to be friends with him), but I'm just unsure how much to tell someone new when Natasha isn't breathing orders down my neck. I show Bruce into his lab and he's instantly fascinated. I smile as he moves from gadget to gadget, working out what each one does.
Soon I realize he's completely absorbed and I quietly excuse myself to return to the control room.
Natasha is still occupied with the scans of Barton, so I get to relax and chat with Phil and the Captain for a while.
As I approach them, I can hear Phil asking Steve to sign his trading cards. Steve is (of course) politely agreeing. I chuckle. My poor captain is always such a gentlemen. He really doesn't know how to handle all his publicity yet. I walk up and stand next to Phil.
"What's up, Phil?" I say. "Haven't seen you in a while."
He grins. "Hello Piper, I've been a little busy lately, but you'd know that."
"Oh yes," I laugh. "You're a very big, important agent now, aren't you? Fury's replacement eye?" I'm teasing him and he knows it. It's just so good to be back with people I can joke around with. Natasha is not the joking type and I think my laughter gets bottled up inside me after a while.
He shushes me and whispers, "My code name IS Agent Eye, how did you know?!"
Captain Rogers is trying so hard to keep his laughter silent, but his shoulders are shaking and I'm about ready to laugh out loud too. We all poke fun at Fury more than we should, but if he knows about it, he hasn't said.
We're all still shaking with silent snickers when the scans beep. We have a lock on Loki.
"Suit up," the captain says. I grin. It's good to be back.
Natasha, Steve, and I board a jet and fly off to Loki's location. We arrive just in time to see a crowd of terrified people run out of a very fancy building. Loki has them cornered. Captain leaps to the ground just in time to block Loki from attacking one of the men in the crowd. Natasha and I man the jet's guns to back him up as Loki begins to attack him instead. Suddenly, our controls go haywire and our intercom is overridden.
Shoot to Thrill by ACDC blasts from the speakers and I know exactly who's coming.
None other than Tony Stark, dressed in his fancy iron suit, comes flying out of the sky to land next to the captain. I roll my eyes at Natasha. He always has to have that dramatic entrance.
Iron Man and Captain America combined seems to be enough because Loki quickly surrenders and they pack him into the jet.
When Stark enters the jet and sees me behind the controls, he grins.
"Hey there, Piper," he greets me and sticks out his hand for a shake. Very formal for him, I think, but hey, maybe he's in a courteous mood. But of course, when I go in for the handshake, he dances back and flips me off, just teasing.
"Every time, Magic Girl!" he laughs.
I groan but give him a rueful grin. I should've known. Classic Stark. Natasha rolls her eyes at us and the jet takes off.
As we fly back to HQ, I wonder why Loki has surrendered so easily. When I pose my question to the others, they agree it seems strange and we watch him closely.
Suddenly thunder rumbles and our jet shakes with a sudden wind. We all turn to look at Loki. He is leaning forward and seems very nervous.
"Scared of a little lightning?" asks Captain Rogers.
Loki does not take his eyes off the storm but replies quietly, "I'm not overly fond of what follows."
Then a huge bolt of lightning crackles through the sky and our jet tilts severely as something heavy lands on the back. We all whirl around but are too slow to do anything but watch as a large man carrying a hammer lifts Loki off the floor and leaps back out into the storm. I recognize him immediately.
"That's Thor!" I shout.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asks in disbelief.
"That guy's a friendly?" the Captain is stunned by what happened.
I nod and turn to Stark who appears to be about to jump after Thor.
"Wait Stark, we need a plan of attack!" shouts the captain.
"I have a plan," Stark sasses back. "Attack."
