Umbra

Chapter Three

Grey made her way to the control bay of the Helicarrier, still invisible. She lingered at the doors of one laboratory for a while, before moving along before she was sucked in. She spied Natasha standing by one of the many computers, and hastily shuffled to stand by her, dropping her invisibility as she went.

The computer showed the face of a man, and Grey looked at it curiously. Above the figure was the name "Clinton Barton". Grey thought back to the reading she'd done the previous night. This man was Hawkeye, a fellow 'Avenger'. Grey noted the large 'COMPROMISED' sign over his name.

Natasha cleared her throat, before looking back down at Clint's face. "My partner. He's been compromised. He's part of the reason we're bringing everyone in." She sucked in a breath, before regaining her composure. "You should hold on, we're about to take off."

"Take off?"

Grey's dubious repetition was left unanswered as she felt a jerk, and she felt the sensation of going up in an elevator, the twisting in her stomach making her involuntarily vanish again. A computer nearby her sparked and shut off, causing an agent to groan in annoyance. As the Helicarrier straightened out again, Grey reappeared, her face significantly paler than the previous moment.

"You didn't tell me this thing fucking flew," she grumbled.

Natasha let out a snort, before mentioning "the suit really does work well on you." Grey shot her a look, before Natasha left, saying something about 'bringing in the new recruits'.

Looking around, Grey had time to fully take in the insides of where she was staying. A large circular stage was placed in the middle of the aircraft, screens and computers surrounding it. She assumed that was where Director Fury himself stood. Rows upon rows of computers and agents scattered the craft, and Grey went to sit herself at the grand consultant table near the entrance, just to people watch. As she was invisible most of the time, Grey made a habit of observing everybody she saw. This made her people reading skills almost perfect.

Hearing the murmur of new voices, Grey quickly vanished, nerves taking over her. She watched from her seat as Natasha led in two men, both of whom she recognised from the files. One, Doctor Bruce Banner, leading scientist whose work Grey had based her dissertation on in University. She watched him carefully, noting how he stayed away from the large groups of agents and the twitch in his jaw. She made a mental note not to scare him by accidently appearing in front of him.

She looked over at the other man. Steve Rogers, Captain America. A massive block of pure muscle. Grey smiled as he saw the awe in his eyes, not so different from hers, as he looked around the space. She could tell he was still stuck in the past, just from his clothes to the way that he held himself. That was interesting to Grey.

"Gentleman."

Nick Fury walked back into the Bridge, heading towards the two men. Grey observed Steve slip $10 into Fury's hand as he walked through the aircraft. She furrowed her brow, not liking seeing something she didn't understand. Fury looked over at her, and she had the uneasy feeling that he could see her through his eye patch.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Fury walked over to shake Banner's hand, who had been stood relatively close to her. Grey noted that Bruce was reluctant to shake, his own hand trembling. "There's somebody I'd like you to meet."

Grey rolled her eyes as she slowly appeared in her chair, knowing Fury was only introducing her like this to make an entrance. "Nice to meet you, Doctor."

Bruce jumped when Grey spoke, his eyes wide as he turned to stare at her. "Uh... You weren't there a minute ago."

Grey laughed as she stood up, offering a hand to shake. "I'm Grey. Grey Caron"

Bruce shook Grey's hand, a small smile on his face. "'Umbra'. I read up about you, in the file. Invisibility, right?" He seemed intrigued, and Grey noted his hand wasn't shaking as much, and his twitch had calmed down.

"Right." Grey gave him an encouraging smile. "You're Doctor Banner, atomic physicist. I studied you when I was in university. I'm- I'm a fan." She let out a small laugh, as did Bruce.

"I'm honoured." He said to her, flashing her a rare smile.

"Already charming the ladies, Doctor Banner?"

Steve Rogers was stood behind Grey, a smile on his face as he introduced himself to her with a gentlemanly shake of the hand. Grey could tell he was confused by her, especially as she had teasingly been turning her own hand invisible as she shook his. "Nice to meet you, Captain."

"It's nice to meet you too, and it's Steve. Captain makes me feel old." He raised his eyebrow at her hand. "That's something I haven't seen before." Grey smiled sheepishly, before disappearing entirely. The only visible thing was the necklace which was hanging from her neck. "Wow."

A laugh was heard from the spot Grey was, before she reappeared again. "Get used to it, Cap." She gave him a wink, before she tuned into the conversation which Bruce and Fury were having a couple of paces over.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear." Fury was saying. For some reason, Bruce wasn't convinced.

"And where are you with that?"

Another agent walked to the group, an older man with a kind face. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Grey frowned slightly, mumbling to herself, "That's not going to be quick enough", as Natasha spoke up. "That's still not gonna find them in time." They glanced over at each other, and Natasha gave Grey a quick, weak smile.

Bruce looked down at Grey, and thought for a minute, taking his glasses and biting the temple. "You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

Fury shrugged, "How many are there."

Grey's eyes suddenly lit up, before she said quickly, "call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays," Grey nodded up to Bruce, "According to the reading, Doctor Banner here is the best person to go to for gamma rays." Grey gave him a smile, hoping that he wouldn't take offense at the little tease.

The scientist nodded, a smile on his face. "She's right. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places." Grey smiled up at him, nodding along, before Bruce said, "do you have somewhere for us to work?"

Grey raised an eyebrow at the 'Us', before a twisting feeling started rising in her stomach. She couldn't say no to working with the Bruce Banner in a state of the art laboratory, but she knew something would go wrong, someone would get hurt. She looked down, her eyes squeezing shut as she tried to calm her breathing. "Stay calm. Focus. Don't touch anything. It'll be fine."

At the final word, Grey opened her eyes and nodded to herself. She would at least try to make an effort. It was the first impression she will make on Doctor Banner.

"Agent Romanoff, would you please show Doctor Banner and Miss Caron to their laboratory?"

Bruce and Grey turned to follow Natasha, and Grey grinned nervously when she mentioned how S.H.I.E.L.D. had 'all the toys'. She let out another breath, her skin vanishing and reappearing with every step she took. It will be okay. It will be okay. It will be okay.