Elemental {Avengers}

37. New Beginnings

" Thor!" 

I was smiling. And I knew my teeth made an appearance, as I ran up and gave him the biggest hug I had ever given a human being. He pulled me even closer, his tight embrace almost choking me to death.

" Lady Maeve!" he boomed, and I stepped back. 

As soon as I stepped away, I realised what I had just done and my face flushed red in embarrassment. I had never ever done that. How humiliating. I took a step back. He greeted everyone else with the same amount of excitement, the same gleaming smile and tight embraces.

The Avengers, for the first time in a while, looked... relieved. Happy. Grateful. Like they finally got something off their chest. 

Steve laughed next to Thor, patting him on the back. " So, the real question here. How did you get out?"

" Oh, my patriotic friend. Do you really think that a collar can hold the great God of Thunder?"

But all of a sudden, Nat snapped. She whipped out two guns, pointing them to Thor. We stilled, surprised by Nat's defensive state. The group went silent. We knew we should have done that earlier. 

Clint started " Nat, we know it's him-"

" What were the first things you said to me" she demanded, her eyes gone cold.

I understood, and stood there, embarrassed for not thinking about it as soon as he got there. He could have been controlled. Of course. Madam B would be disgusted at my behaviour. I glared at Thor, menacing, releasing both of my assassin knives in defence.

But he didn't seem discouraged, just understanding of the situation.  He scratched his chin. " To you? Or the team?"

" Me"

" And you must be the great Black Widow?"

" Good. Now tell me about your brother Loki."

Now he looked taken aback. " He is my brother. Mischievous. Cunning. Quick-thinking. Slightly arrogant-"

Nat furrowed her eyebrows. 

" Deeply caring of his family, even though he doesn't show it-"

She put away the guns. " The real Thor would make Loki his equal. Glad to see you"

We all breathed out a sigh of relief, while the team made small talk. We had plenty of time for stories in the van ride. After all, we had plenty to talk about.

Thor was here, with us. Which meant that there was an almost certain chance that we could defeat Andrei. Well, maybe. If we were smart. If we could take the upper hand.

Thor was the most experienced, most powerful person on the team, although not the smartest. I was certain that he could take down multiple SHIELD agents at once, maybe even the Hulk. And that meant that we have more time to infiltrate SHIELD headquarters. And Andrei didn't know that Thor had met us yet, which meant that we had something on him.

I grabbed a whimpering Storm from Finn, making sure that she was alright. She looked shaken, deeply. I pet her in the head, whispering softly to her. Finn took out some water and beef jerky from the door compartment and we fed her some, and watched as she came back to the curious, relaxed Storm that I knew.

Finn smiled at me. " Where did you find her?"

" When we stole a car. She was a puppy from a dog ring. And I thought that she deserved a lot better"

" I'm glad she has you"

" Me?" I smirked. " To be honest, I'd never touched a pet before in my life."