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The helicopter ride that brought me to the new SHIELD facilities was bumpy and mildly frightening. I recall having to learn how to emergency land one of those when I trained to become an agent, and I recall it being one of the hardest tests I had ever taken. I hardly passed it, which is really something to applaud, considering I don't even know how to drive a car. Humans had a bit of a vantage when it came to technology-related tasks. The flying artefact landed in a sort of floating ship, a gigantic one. I found myself hypnotized by its size and appeal.
"This way, agent." The man that had accompanied me helped me get off of it.
I landed perfectly on my feet and walked where the higher agent commanded me. He instructed me to enter the facilities, where I would be expected apparently. My stomach burnt with excitement and nervousness, for my task there was unsure and emotionally demanding. I wasn't informed of what exactly I was to do: help them find Loki? Try to reach him? Talk about him? Any of those possibilities tied a knot inside my throat, considering how we left things -well, how I left things- in Asgard.
The second we arrived at what appeared to correspond to the front of this strange ship, I spotted Coulson. "There she is." He half smiled at me.
The place was surrounded by busy agents, small desktops and a constant murmur. It seemed like they were all planning.
"You'll meet them any second now." He explained to me.
"Meet who?"
I was cut off by a distant conversation. Four people entered the big room: I immediately recognized Natasha and SHIELD's superior, Nick Fury. I had never met him personally, which meant additional anxiety to the situation. The other two men, however, were unknown to me.
"Slow down, Dr. Banner, it might be a bit too much for the Captain." Natasha clearly mocked one of the mystery men.
One of them was brunette, and the other one tall and blonde. The last one replied. "Well, we're talking about space weapons." He sounded as if he was agreeing with Nat. "Yesterday I didn't even know Asgard existed."
Nat spotted me in the distance, where I stood frozen, and she smirked. "I did. I have a friend from there. There she is." She pointed towards me.
The two men directed their gazes at my person, showing evidence of confusion. Once they approached me enough, they both frowned in sync, perplex maybe, only I had the slight feeling that they were thinking I didn't look asgardian. It wasn't their fault, I was wearing regular human clothes instead or silk dresses and golden ornaments, which is what they were probably expecting.
"Gentlemen. Karina." She presented me, always in that playful tone of hers. "The Asgardian Princess."
At the sight of the men's shocked reaction, I jumped in to correct the previous statement. "I'm not... a princess." I assured them, still nervous to meet them. "I'm a SHIELD agent, I just so happen to come from Asgard."
The blonde man reached for my hand, his face still in disbelief, and I shook it in return. "Captain Rogers. Nice to meet you."
I nodded in reply. What was I supposed to say? They examined me as if they had seen a ghost. It made me feel very subconscious.
The shorter man approached me as well and mimicked what the 'captain' had done. "Dr. Bruce Banner." He introduced himself. "So you're from Asgard? How long have you been living here?"
"Less than a year." I said right before the man's eyes widened with somewhat pleasant surprise.
Coulson stepped in to add his protective personality to the scenario. "You can't run tests on her." He warned the doctor. "If you want information, you'll have to wait for SHIELD's research results."
Dr. Banner chuckled in embarrassment. Evidently, he indeed wanted to run tests on me, and his thirst for information on my life shown as bright as daylight. "You're here to help us find the Tesseract?"
Before I could reply, Natasha jumped to my defense and answered the question for me. "Not quite. You know that one friend who had to move cities because of a crazy ex-boyfriend?" The men frowned, but nodded, which indicated it must have been a very recurrent situation here on earth. Nat raised her eyebrow before dropping the bomb on them. "Guess who the crazy ex-boyfriend is."
Both Rogers and Banner shared conflicted glances before opening their eyes in shock, a sign that they had understood what that meant. I suppose it was something to get startled about.
"You're kidding." Banner let out in disbelief. "You dated this guy?"
In all honesty, I had no reply. I felt anxious already thinking I would have to give SHIELD information on Loki, relive those bad memories I had tried so hard to push back and reject. Obviously, I didn't feel like explaining it twice. I stood straight and simply added. "I almost married this guy." My voice mimicked his, hoping he would get the hint.
Luckily he did. He understood how I didn't wish to discuss it any longer, allowing me to turn my back on them and face Coulson, physically letting him know I was ready to receive his orders.
"I'll show you your room shortly." Phil informed me, yet raised his finger to symbolize him wanting me to pay attention. "But, first, I'm gonna need you to get ready to speak with Intelligence. They need to know everything about Loki and I need you to tell them anything they can use." His voice and facial expressions tendered, for he was fully aware of how sensitive I was to this topic. "I know you can do this. I'll let you know when we have him, alright?"
I nodded. "Alright. Good luck."
Nevertheless, I needed to know everything about this mission, therefore I stood planted on the floor, my hands on my back and still, like a proper agent would. I heard them talk about how they were going to find Loki and the Tesseract. Dr. Banner seemed to be in control of the operatives, for he gave people orders and everyone obeyed him. Eventually, Natasha led the doctor to his lab and I stood waiting for any sort of news on the matter, mostly because I felt I had to mimic Coulson, the Captain and Fury. Suddenly, a loud beep was heard from one of the agent's computers, making everyone's heads shoot up.
"We got a hint! Sixty percent match." The man announced, then retracted himself. "Wait, crossed match: seventy-nine percent."
Phil practically flew from where he was standing to join the siting man's desk. "Location?" He questioned.
The agent said a specific address in Germany, then added. "He's not exactly hiding."
As soon as I took a glimpse at the screen, my heart skipped a beat. There was a camera recognition image showing Loki, and indeed, he was exposing himself quite evidently. I feared for what his plans were, and apparently so did everyone, for we all exchanged wide-eyed glances.
Nick Fury was the first one to break the silence. "Captain..." he addressed a calm order to the blonde man. "You're up."
Rogers sought for my eyes first, as if demanding some sort of approval, yet did not wait for any reaction. Instead, he took a deep breath and nodded before turning on his heels and walking away.
Coulson turned to face me decisively. "Stay here." He instructed before I could even ask to join the mission.
I frowned, yet accepted his order. With the sound of his fingers snapping, another agent began showing me the way to my room. I fulminated Phil with my eyes, getting the radical idea that perhaps he had foreseen this happening and had previously ordered someone to take me to my chambers, where I would be locked while other people sought for Loki. What a bastard.
