QUIVER [IRON MAN]

08.

"I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare,
I'm just a kid, I know that it's not fair,
Nobody cares,
Cause I'm alone and the world is,
Having more fun than me."

I'm Just a Kid by Simple Plan.

"Well, you let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."

As the monitor went black, Easton's jaw remained where it had been for pretty much the entirety of the exchange between the demi-god and the director - in her lap.

Seated in what Easton's mind seemed rather out of place between Natasha and Captain Rogers, she glanced nervously around the room which was held in stunned silence.

The tension in the room was undeniable, urging Easton do what she does best in these kinds of uncomfortable situations - lower her head to look at her hands that laid in her lap, desperate to avoid the awkward stares of her fellow avengers.

Finally, Bruce Banner spoke up.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce spoke, gesturing to the monitor wearing a tight lipped smile.

Easton scoffed under her breath, only to be met by uncomfortable silence as Thor turned to face her, his less-than-comforting stare meeting her eyes. In truth, she didn't know whether to swoon or shut up.

"Tough crowd."

Bruce chuckled at this, before Steve sat up in his chair and turned his attention to Thor.

"Loki's gonna drag this out," he started, ignoring the prior exchange between the doctor and the archer, "so Thor - what's his play?"

Thor circled back to the table, facing the group and stopping right in front of the Captain.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any known world, and he means to lead them against your people," Thor spoke, his vocabulary resembling that of the many Shakespearean sonnets that Easton had painstakingly studied, only to be met by one of Mr Arthur's infamous 'you could've done more' B's - it was safe to say that science was her true calling.

"They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the tesseract," Thor finished, as Captain Rogers sat stunned by his announcement.

"An army? From outer space?" He questioned, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion, as Banner and Thor moved to discuss Loki's integral need for Erik Selvig's aid.

Easton looked up from her lap, utter disbelief covering her features as she began to question the demi-god.

"So do people of your kind often make humanity-destroying pacts with raging space mobsters, or is Loki some kind of sociopathic anomaly?" Easton asked, raising an eyebrow. Banner waved off her sarcasm, toying with his glasses as he paced behind them.