Unexpected

Introductions and Showing Off

At this point in my life, I was thinking that I really kind of hated flying. I was tired of sitting squished in the airplane seating with people I didn't know as we rocketed through the air for hours. I hated how I couldn't get comfortable and how, no matter what I tried to do to distract myself, I couldn't do anything to escape my thoughts as they swirled erratically through my head, setting me more and more on edge throughout the flight. I wished there was some way that I could simply empty my thoughts out of my head so that I could see them and organize them. Loki, the Convergence, my new orders, mysterious disappearing acts, aliens, Selvig, and everything else that had gone down over the last twelve hours rampaged my mind space until we finally landed in England.

As soon as I was off the plane I called Selvig. He was ecstatic to hear my voice, though he hardly heard any of it before he started going on a huge rant about portals and Greenwich. It took me a few minutes, but I finally got him to quiet down long enough for him to tell me his temporary address. I explained to him quickly that my plans had changed and why I was sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to London to see him and Jane Foster. Selvig's tone grew sober once he realized the business at hand.

The taxi ride from the airport to the apartment that Selvig had given me the address to seemed to take an eternity unto itself. I couldn't help but feel nervous. It had been a year since I'd last set eyes on Selvig in the flesh, and considering all that had happened since, I was wondering what kind of state I would find him in. I was no longer here for pleasure and personal matters, but now I was on S.H.I.E.L.D. business. How would he respond to me? How would Jane Foster respond to me? It sounds like they'd all gone through hell and the clips from the newscast only showed what kind of chaos they'd been forced into.

Climbing out of the taxi, I looked through my texts at the address Selvig had sent me. Which apartment was theirs again? I squinted up at the building ahead of me as the cabbie popped out of his side of the car, going around to grab my carryon suitcase from the trunk for me. I smiled graciously at him, thanking him once more before grabbing the case's handle, about to walk into the building when I heard a shout from high above.

"Penny! Penny Copper, is that you?"

I craned my neck back, backpedaling to the edge of the sidewalk where I could finally see a greying head poking out from a fourth-story apartment balcony, "Dr. Selvig?"

"You made it!"

"Of course I did!" I grinned up at him.

"Come on up! There's so much to tell you!"

There certainly was. I didn't even wait for the apartment's elevator, choosing to instead charge straight up the staircase, a feat that would have winded me when I had first known Selvig, but that now barely counted as a warm up, especially with the help of a quick shock from my little silver device attached to my hip. I barely made it to the door before it was flung open and I was being swallowed into a hug. I patted the old man's back, laughing as I returned his embrace.

"Oh, Penny! It's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too! It's been too long!"

"Far too long!" Erik pulled back, looking at me seriously with his pale eyes, "You're on S.H.I.E.L.D. business?"

I nodded bashfully, feeling kind of guilty about the fact. I'd meant to come here strictly as a friend and support, but now...

"That's to be expected." Selvig muttered, nodding understandingly before brushing me into the apartment, "Not much to be done about that now. Besides, those stuffed shirts and secret agents need to know what's gone on here. Maybe now that they've seen the damage themselves they'll finally listen!"