Do You Have Heart (Avengers/Loki fan-fiction)

Chapter Two - Welcome Back

Alina's POV

I just about have enough time to go back to my apartment and load some of my stuff into a suitcase before Phil and I are due to catch our plane back to the SHIELD helicarrier. Headquarters was, apparently, destroyed by the build up of energy caused by Loki's arrival, so the agents have temporarily moved to the half plane-half boat vehicle reserved for special occasions and emergencies.

I clear my wardrobe of old black jeans and shirts and throw a collection of pistols and throwing knives into my case, leaving the pencil skirts and patent heels on the floor of the apartment: I have no use for them anymore: they're not exactly needed at SHIELD. And then we leave the apartment, and I lock the door behind me, saying silent goodbyes to the place I have called home for the past four years. Now, I'm going back to a life that I haven't seen in quite a while. I can hardly contain my happiness at the thought.

The small airplane with the SHIELD emblem emblazoned upon the side of it is waiting in a clearing a few miles away. Phil and I exit the car, followed by agent Ford, another old colleague of mine, and a young woman that I don't know, around the same age as myself. As we stand before the plane, I look towards Phil, and he smiles, lowering his sunglasses. "You ready to return, Alina?" he asks.

"You bet." I answer, striding towards the steps leading me back to my old life; the one I loved and lived to the full: the life of Raven, SHIELD agent.

As the plane touches down on the tarmac that covers the top of the helicarrier, the butterflies start to swarm in my stomach. I take deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, but I know that it won't work. A hand rests on my shoulder, comfortingly, and I look upwards to find Phil, already stood up and ready to exit the plane. "Come on, Alina, we're here." he says, squeezing my shoulder "You're going to be fine, Director Fury asked me to bring you back, so I'm pretty sure he's not going to shout at you."

"What a great reassurance." I sigh, standing up and retrieving my suitcase from the corner of the plane, before reluctantly following Phil to the now-opening door, my heart threatening to burst out of my chest at the rate it's beating at. When the doorway is finally clear, we are practically spat out of the plane on to the asphalt, the wind whipping my long black hair across my face, blocking my eye-line.

And then, suddenly, a heavy object barrels into me, and my vision is totally obscured by a rather large quantity of bright red hair. "Nat!" I shout, throwing my arms around my best friend, and embracing her in a hug.

"Ali, where the hell have you been?" she says, laughing as we pull apart "I haven't seen you in so long, I hardly recognized you in that outfit. No more jeans and leather jackets, eh?" she asks, the grin on her face completely contrasting with the man standing awkwardly behind her, hands in pockets, eyes to the floor. "Well, not at the moment, but I'm pretty sure they'll be back, now that I'm working here again." I laugh, and she chuckles back at me, before turning around to acknowledge our company.

"Ah, Ali, this is Dr. Banner." she says, indicating the guy behind her, who looks up from the floor, gives me a half-hearted smile, and then says a quick "hi" before returning to his previous stance. "Hi, Dr. Banner, I've heard a lot about you." I say, trying to smile at him, but he doesn't really seem interested.

Of course I've heard a lot about him: when you work at SHIELD, it's hard not to know about the guy who nearly died in a radiation accident but instead turned into an enormous green monster, and now does so every time he gets a little too angry.

But, to me, his scientific research is much more interesting that his superhuman credentials: the guy is a total genius, and great minds think alike. I've always wanted to meet him, just so I could see how his brain works, compared to my own. Genius can be a gift and a burden, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has been graced with it.

I realise, now, that what I said must have seemed a little awkward: he probably gets the whole 'I've heard a lot about you' thing all time, and I doubt that he's very appreciative of it: he appears to be a kind of solitary person.

"I'd love to see some of your scientific work sometime, I'm really interested in astrophysics at the moment, so I hope I can be of some help to you with your work while you're here." I try to press on, to see if I can maybe redeem myself. At this, his eyes leave the floor and return to me, and he smiles, a little more enthusiastically this time, replying "Of course, Alina, I'd be grateful for the help."

Just then, Banner is herded away from Nat and I by some other SHIELD agents, who take him through a door at one side of the runway, and we are left alone. Now that the surprise welcome back is over, we are both left to our thoughts, which I'm pretty sure are based around the same thing. She is the first one to speak.

"How are you holding up?" her voice is quiet over the wind, and she doesn't look at me; we stand side by side, letting the breeze carry our hair across our faces as we stare out over the ocean surrounding us. "Not too bad, I suppose." I reply, having to take a deep breath to stop my words from stuttering and coming out all wrong: we've got to stay strong for each other, and for Clint; if we don't, we have no chance of getting him back "I only found out this morning, Coulson turned up at my office."

"At least he told you face to face and was there to comfort you when you found out." she says, barely audible "I got a call in the middle of a mission, and had to go and get Banner afterwards. I didn't get any time to think."

"It was worse at first. The rage was bad, and I ended up shooting a mirror, but nothing too dangerous, at least, not for the general publ-"

"It's just the way he was taken so quickly." she says, shaking her head a little. I notice her nails digging into her palms, trying to calm herself, and the shaking in her voice. She controls her anger a lot better than me, that's for sure. But, then again, she wasn't a mad scientists guinea pig for her childhood years. However, we are both the same in the sense that we are bound together by an unbreakable bond of friendship, that includes Clint too. And now Loki has taken over his mind, practically brainwashed him into carrying out his dirty work. That bastard.

"I know, Nat, but we have to stay strong, and keep up the hope that we can get him back." I say, resting a hand on her shoulder "You know that he would do the same for us..." I trail off, my voice carrying on the wind as Nat sighs, her breath shaking as she exhales. She turns to face me, nodding her head. "You're right, he would."

And then we turn around, and head inside, for me to face my past, and, apparently, my future.

NOTE: I know this isn't very long, but I needed this conversation between Alina and Natasha to happen because it just needed to. Hopefully the next chapter will be more interesting for you :) Comment and vote if you like it :D ~ Sky