Frostbite

An Unexpected Surprise

I jolted awake, sitting up in bed to listen closely. My eyes were heavy with sleep, and I rubbed them, making it easier for me to see. I thought I had heard a noise, but Steve was still sound asleep. Maybe I had imagined it.

Right as I decided to lay down and fall asleep again, there was an audible thunk from the other end of the condo. I slid out of bed and lightly tread to the doorway. It would have been impossible for someone to bypass the security; Alexandra, the AI Tony had insisted on installing, would have alerted us.

I snuck into the living room and turned the corner to see light pouring from the wide-open refrigerator. Someone was rummaging around in it. What the hell? Who breaks into someone's home to raid the fridge?

Figuring it was some common thief, I strode towards them and slammed the door into their body with a significant amount of force. He howled in surprise and cursed, quickly turning to retaliate. He was much quicker than I had anticipated, and I let out an embarrassing shriek, dodging his grasp.

My hands lit up, ready to obliterate him, when I finally caught the details of his face. I let it dissipate and picked up the closest thing to me and chucked it at him.

"Ow!"

"Thor, what the hell are you doing in my kitchen at three in the morning?!" I demanded incredulously. Steve suddenly dashed around the corner and skidded to a halt next to me, taking in the scene in confusion.

"I thought you needed help," he stated simply as I lifted a brow at his choice of attire. Which was only his pajama pants. Not that I was complaining.

"Hello, Captain," Thor greeted him enthusiastically. Steve inclined his head and smiled, turning on the light as he did.

"Yeah, I needed saving from the golden retriever," I snorted, waving at Thor, "You still haven't told us what you're doing here."

"I've been on Earth with Jane since I turned down my throne. She had to leave for work. Your people think I need ID and a credit card to acquire a room. They refused my money!" he ranted, plopping on a barstool. I snickered and Steve shook his head.

"Yeah, they don't take too well to cash," I said, sitting across from him. I was surprised to hear he had turned down the throne; it seemed like he had really wanted to rule his people before.

"So, you just need somewhere to stay?" Steve concluded, approaching the counter to lean against it.

"Well, that and I wished to ask a favor of the Avengers," he replied, turning serious. Steve and I spoke at the same time.

"What is it?"

"Wait- how did you get in here?"

Steve gave me a look for changing the subject, but I ignored it. Thor nodded towards the patio door, a small grin emerging from his own cleverness.

"You don't lock our back door?" Steve questioned incredulously, staring at me like I had committed a crime. It was still weird hearing him say our. He had moved in shortly after S.H.I.E.L.D's fall.

I held up my hands defensively and sarcastically said, "Well we're like on the fortieth floor! I honestly didn't think someone was going to scale up here! I guess I should have accounted for flying intruders."

"Back to that favor you needed," Steve said slowly while shaking his head, switching the subject yet again. I wanted to stick my tongue out at the back of his head.

"I've been looking for Loki's scepter, and I've had no luck in tracking it down. Jane and Erik told me about S.H.I.E.L.D's collapse and how many of the weapons and alien tech in your possession disappeared. I can't let that scepter get into the wrong hands," he explained, his face twisting into a grimace.

"Well, I'm afraid it's a little late for that. Baron Strucker has it the last I heard. He's the new leader of Hydra, but no one knows where he went," I told him warily. I swatted a few strands of hair away from my face that were agitating me and got up to make coffee. There was no way I was going back to bed now.

"We cannot leave it in his possession. There's no telling what he will do with it. Will you help me, please?" Thor asked sweetly, batting his lashes at Steve serenely. He had to have gotten that little trick from Natasha.

I almost dropped the coffee scooper from doubling over and laughing so hard. Thor turned to glare at me, and I covered my mouth and straightened back up. I gave Steve a pointed look and pressed the button to start the coffee.

"Yes, we'll get the staff back," Steve reassured him confidently. Thor finally relaxed and nodded in satisfaction.

I hadn't been sure what Steve was going to say, since we'd been doing some active tracking of our own. We'd only chased some dead end leads on Bucky, and I knew it was taking a toll on Steve. Maybe a change in direction would do him some good.

"I'll call Tony and have him get ahold of everyone else. If we're going to do this, we need to do it right." They stared blankly at me, and I explained further, "If we're going after Strucker we should take down as much of Hydra as we can. There's still a lot of them out there, and we'll have to go through a lot of them to find him, I'm sure."

"You're right," Steve agreed and Thor nodded. The pot beeped, announcing that the coffee was done.

"I love coffee!" Thor proclaimed, bouncing in excitement. Steve chuckled, and I patted Thor on the shoulder.

"I've missed you," I laughed, pulling out my phone to make a call as Thor helped himself and Steve started pulling out breakfast items from the fridge. It rang only a few times before he answered.

"What's up, Lanie?"

"Tony, you'll never guess who just broke in."