The Avengers and the Hit Girl

Chapter Two

“I miss my Impala.”  I groaned, letting my head fall back on the headrest of the cab we were in.  Violet, Rufus, and I were all in a cab headed to Stark Tower because it was, of course, Avengers Headquarters and Nick Fury was sure to be there.  That’s if we ever even get there, I thought, looking around at all the traffic surrounding us.  I had half a mind to get up and walk there until I saw the sidewalks.  I was sure to lose Violet at some point in that chaotic mess of people.

The only good thing was that Rufus had finally stopped whining an hour or so ago.  He doesn’t like when he’s away from Lottie for long periods of time so he usually whines until he sees her again but Violet managed to calm him down before I left him behind.

“Are we almost there?”  Violet asked half an hour later, obviously ready to get out of the cab.  I couldn’t blame her, it smelt like beef jerky and cigars. 

“Fifteen more minutes, Violet.”  I answered; I could see Stark Tower not too far ahead.

When we arrived at the looming skyscraper I paid the cab driver and hurried out, rushing to the front of the building and fishing out an ID card from my purse before flashing it in front of the scanner by the door.  I knew snatching Agent Hill’s ID card all those years ago would come in handy.

“Do not let him go.”  I told Violet; she gripped Rufus’s leash a bit harder and followed me into the tower. 

The place was crowded with people in suits, all of them paying no attention to either me or Violet, which is exactly what I wanted.  Violet and I made our way to the elevator and didn’t have to wait long for it to open.  We were alone in the elevator until the nineteenth floor when our presence was graced by none other than Tony Stark who was possibly the worst person to have gotten stuck in the elevator with as he’s more or less Violet’s idol.

Violet tugged at the end of my jacket and I looked down to see her giving me puppy dog eyes that quickly darted to Tony.  I gave her a look that clearly said, “Don’t you dare.”  She just made a face and stuck her tongue out at me then darted around me and tugged on Tony’s jacket sleeve.

“Mr. Tony?”  She asked sweetly, making him look down.

“Yes?”  He asked; I could tell he was slightly amused.

“You’re my most favorite person ever, other than my mommy.  Could I have your autograph?”  She squeaked. 

Tony’s expression softened and he laughed.  “Of course you can!  Does your mommy have a pen?”

“There’s one in here somewhere…”  I muttered, looking in my purse for a moment before pulling out a green pen and handing it to him.  Tony pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and smoothed it against the wall, signing his name on it and handing it to Violet who had the biggest grin on her face.

“Thank you!”  She cried, hugging the paper to her chest.

“No problem, kid.”  Tony said, smiling at her.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where Director Fury is, would you?”  I asked, seeing as I actually had no idea where to find him.

“I’m on my way to see him, I can take you.”  He said.  “Is that a dog?”  His eyebrows furrowed.  “Do you even work here?”

“Yes that’s a dog, no I don’t work here.  Director Fury and I are old friends and I need to see him.  The dog keeps her quiet.”  I ruffled Violet’s hair. 

Tony didn’t seem to find anything wrong with that statement and we got off on the next floor.  Violet and I followed quietly behind Tony.  This floor seemed to be a laboratory.  There were test tubes, big machines, and rats everywhere.  Classic laboratory; it reminded me of this one movie I watched with Violet, The Secret of NIHM it was called.

We walked into a section of the lab called Microbiology.  The room was occupied by Director Fury and Bruce Banner. 

“Yo, Fury, someone’s here to see you.”  Tony called, making Fury’s head snap up.  He looked at Tony for a second then at me.  His expression quickly went from surprise to anger.

“Who the hell let you in here?!”  Fury barked, walking to me.

“I let myself in actually.  I had a little help from Agent Hill though.”  I smirked, flashing Agent Hill’s card for Fury look at.  “Anyway, I’m not here to talk about how easy it was to infiltrate your Head Quarters.  I’m here to accept the job you offered me so many years ago.  Also I have vital information.”

“That offer no longer stands –”

“Trust me when I say that once you hear this information, you’ll reconsider that last statement.”  I said, smiling sweetly.  “Loki’s back, Nicholas.  I don’t know how, I don’t know why.  I only know that he’s back and he’s taken my sister to Asgard.  I want her back, Nick.”

“That’s bullshit.”  Tony snapped.

“Quiet Stark!”  Fury ordered.  “Veronica has an inability to lie.  It was part of her brainwashing.”

“Training!”  I snapped.  “We’re getting off track.  Loki is back and he’s got my sister.  What the hell are we going to do about it?!”

“There’s nothing we can do about it right now.”  Fury stated.

“What?!  What the fuck do you mean there’s nothing you can do about it?!”  I screamed, pushing Fury back.

“Watch it, Veronica!  You said he’s taken her back to Asgard, there’s no way we can get her back unless he’s planning to come back to Earth.” 

“Are we supposed to sit here and do nothing then?  Am I supposed to stand around and play tea party while my fucking sister has been kidnapped by Loki?!  The God that practically destroyed Manhattan and killed hundreds of people because he could?!”  I was screaming at the top of my lungs by now and was very close to the edge.

“No!  Veronica you need to calm down before you hurt someone.”  Fury demanded, his eyes flashing to Violet for half a second, but it was enough to get the message across.  I took a deep breath and picked up Violet, looking back to Fury.

“Then what the hell are we supposed to do?” 

“We train.  Knowing what your sister is and can do we can assume Loki is planning another attack on Earth.  We can’t know when it will come, it could be weeks, it could be months, but we need to be ready.  I’ll inform the rest of the team immediately.  You should get some sleep.  There’s an extra bed in the room on floor thirty-six you can use until we can get a floor for you.”  Fury explained all of this in a rush and called Tony and Bruce to follow him to one of the elevators.

I walked to the other elevator, calling Rufus after me, and waited for it to come.  When it did I hit the button to floor thirty-six and kissed Violet on the forehead.  “Was meeting Tony as amazing as you thought it would be?”

“Better!”  Violet grinned, looking at his signature again.

The elevator dinged and I walked off almost robotically.  I didn’t bother to look at the furniture or design of the flat; I just wanted to find a bed and sleep.  The first bed I laid eyes on I claimed as mine and laid Violet down on one side before going to the other side and passing out as soon as my head hit the pillow.