Okay, so I've been working on this for a while and I like to think it's good. Please tell me if you think otherwise. Um, a few things about my O.C. She used to work for SHIELD- this doesn't matter other than she already knows Coulson, Widow, and Fury- and she can do more than phase through things, but we learn more in chapter two. Enjoy.

TATATATATA

Claire had been having a pretty crappy day. She woke up an hour late, had her editor up her ass for being so late, spilled things- plural-, came home to see her dog-watcher had left early and her fat, mini-Dachshund Poppy had made a nest of pillows and shredded papers. After cleaning that up and telling the dog that she should know better, Claire poured a bowl of cearal, only to find that there was no milk in the house. Irritated, she put Poppy in her kennel and went to the store, picking up a gallon of milk and a bottle of .

Finally, she pulled into her driveway and got out, locking the car behind heard a car door slam somewhere behind her and wouldn't have thought anything of it, if not for the "Miss Winters?" that followed. 'Oh, dammit,' she thought, speeding up and wondering why she had such a big front yard. No one- that she wanted to see, at least- called her that.

Her eyes flew to the street, where a black suburban was parked across from her house. "Miss Winters?" the same man from before asked. She knew his voice from her brief stint in SHIELD. Without a second thought, she turned and ran for her front door.

"Stop her," the man said calmly, just as two large arms encircled her waist. It would have overpowered someone normal of her short height, but she just phased through them and kept going. Her dark hair started spilling out of her bun, and a surprised voice, deeper than the first, muttered,"Damn."

"Claire, stop. We need to speak to you." Claire made it to her front door and pressed her back against it, ready to phase through in a second. Slowly, she raised her head, studing the four men in front of her. Two had their guns out, one- probably the one who tried to catch her- was staring at her funny, and one looking untroubled by what just happened.

"I turned in my SHIELD crap a while ago," Claire said, straighting up and looking the calm agent in the eye. "I'm retired."

The agent smirked at that, but pressed on. "Please, we need to speak with you."

"'Bout what?" Claire asked, not caring that she sounded like a five-year-old.

"The Avengers Initiative," the agent said. "You were personally requested by Director Fury." Claire remembered last fall, when Nick Fury had approached her in a nearby bookstore and handed her a manila folder with info about the Avengers.

She gave a short laugh and muttered,"You guys are persistent." She raised her voice. "I told Nick I'd think about it."

"Well, now is the time to decide." The agent stuck his hand in his jacket and pulled out a folder. He walked up to her, holding it out, and she gingerly took it, flipping it open. She was met with a slightly blurry photo of a thin man with long, black hair and grey-blue eyes. He was dressed in some green and black get-up and was holding a golden baton with a blue, glowing thing at the end.

"Who is he?" Claire asked, accidently slipping into 'Agent' mode.

"He said his name is Loki-" Claire raised an eyebrow, but left it alone."- He's taken two agents and one Dr. Selvig, as well as leveled one of our research facilities.

Claire sighed heavily and ran a hand down her face, slumping her shoulders. "Well, in that case," she said, sounding resigned. "I gotta let you in, don't I, Phil?"

TA

Claire's house wasn't very big, seeing as it was just her, but it was colorful, Phil noticed. It had a slight boho feeling to it and was quiet and welcoming. It fit the personality he knew Claire had from their short partnership in SHIELD.

The agents stood awkwardly in Claire's living room, while she was in the kitchen and her small dog sniffed their legs. Phil watched it for a second before it seemed to decide they were okay and toddled off.

Claire came back into the room and chuckled. "You can sit down, ya know," she said, taking a seat near the window and putting the tray she got from the kitchen on the coffee table. Phil walked over to sit across from her, while the rest stayed put. He glanced at what was on the tray she'd brought and took one of the glasses of iced tea. He turned back to see her hazel eyes flit across his face in a way that always made him feel like he was being studied.

Claire watched Phil for a moment, waiting for him to speak, so when he didn't, she asked,"So... if I join the Avengers, what would be... asked of me?" She watched Phil pull another folder from his jacket- how they weren't smushed, she had no idea- and held it out to her. She raised a brow and took it, flipping it open. A satellite photo of a big, green thing was the first thing in it.

"Is that...?" she trailed off, tilting her head at the folder before looking at Phil. 'He can't be serious, can he?' Of course, she'd make it out alive, but if he Hulked out, it'd hurt like hell.

"Yes, that's a photo of the Hulk. His whole portfolio is in there. If you decide to join the Avengers, your assignment would be to collect him."

Claire flared a bit at that. "Collect him? He's a person, Phil. Not a trading card."

"That's not what-" He sighed "- Sorry."

She clenched her jaw lightly and flipped through the folder. There weren't many pictures of the un-Hulked doc, nor was there much on his personality. She was in the middle of squinting at a blurred photo of Bruce as a human, when someone cleared their throat. She looked to Phil. "What?"

"You're the farthest out, which is why I chose to pick you up first. I still need Stark to agree, so what's your choice?" he asked.

Claire blinked, her eyes widening. "Stark? As in Tony Stark? Iron Man?" she questioned excitedly. Phil gave a small nod, his always barely there smile widening a little. She smirked for just second before sighing and leaning back. Pinching her nose, she quickly went over the obvious pros and cons in her head.

"Fine. Yes, I'll join," she muttered, caving. She dropped her hand to see Phil smirking lightly. "Oh, shut up, you!" she said, standing up.

Phil did the same and said,"Better start packing. The flight to India in kind of long." Claire's mouth fell open.

"India?"

"Yes," Phil replied. "It was on page two." Claire snapped her mouth closed, knowing she probably looked stupid, but she had been focused on finding a picture of the doc as himself.

"Right. Well.. I'll just call my sister and we'll be good to go."

TA

Claire was packed into the SHIELD car and Poppy was on her way to Claire's sister's house. Claire sat in the back, in between Nameless Agents One and Two, while Phil sat on the passenger side and Nameless Agent Three drove.

"I thought I called shotgun," she stated, leaning in between the front seats. N.A. One chuckled on her left, but she watched Phil, who ignored her. "Ya know the closest airport is in Dallas, right? That's a two hour drive." Phil's hint of a smile widened a bit.

"Yes, but the closest helipad is on the hospital downtown."

Claire's eyes widened. "Helipad? Like, for helicopters?" she asked the two most obvious questions ever.

Phil gave a small nod. "You'll be flown from here to the airport, then from there to India. Your things will be taken to the Helicarrier." She frowned, thinking of the overnight bag and small suitcase she had packed.

"All of it?"

Phil glanced at her. "You'll be taking the small one with you," he replied as N.A Three pulled out of Claire's neighborhood and into traffic. Claire, who had grown used to Phil's short, but informed way of talking, leaned back against her seat and tried not to feel uncomfortable smushed between the agents.

Maybe six minutes passed before Phil said,"He's a nice guy. Very humble. You two should get along well." Claire's eyes had slid closed, but she cracked one and smiled lightly. "Mm-hmm," she hummed in agreement.

TA

The small girl Dr. Banner was following led her right outside of town, to a small shack of a house. The moment he stepped in, he knew something was wrong. There was no coughing father or family of any kind. In fact, the second he came in, the little girl hopped out the window in the room across from him.

"Should have got paid up front, Banner," he muttered to himself, his shoulders slumping a bit.

"Yeah, you should have," a voice from behind him agreed. Bruce turned on his heel to see a woman sitting at the tiny kitchen table, wrapping a pair of earbuds around her iPod before storing it in her pocket. Her eyes, previously focused on her task, darted up to meet his and he got the feeling of being sized up.

Then again, he was doing the same to her. She was brunette, short with long-ish hair and a young face. She was dressed in dark jeans, a black v-neck shirt, a brown leather jacket, and a beat-up pair of red converse, along a few of what looked like hand- or custom-made jewlery pieces.

She gave a small, awkward smile. "Hope you don't mind. Thought I'd listen to some music while I waited."

"Who are you?" he asked, ignoring her words. She nodded like expected the question, standing and hesitantly walking closer to him.

"My name is Claire Winters," she said, holding out here hand. He didn't take it, so she let it awkwardly drop to her side.

"Brought me to the edge of town, huh? Smart." He saw a look of... was it hurt? Or just confusion... cross her face for just a second before she composed herself. "I, uh.. assume the whole place is surrounded?"

She frowned at that, muttering," And Phil said you were nice." She raised her volume. "Actually, I'm a big girl. I can use a stove, flush the toilet, take on the Hulk... read."

Bruce kind of smirked. "So, I'm supposed to believe that you're here all by yourself?"

"Of course not," Claire replied, laughing a little. "Like SHIELD would allow that. But I did ask for as little as possible." Claire noticed the doctor's face lost some of the mirth it had at the mention of SHIELD.

"So, that's who sent you? How'd they find me?" he questioned.

"According to your file, they never lost you." Claire gestured to the she'd been sitting at. "You wanna sit?" she asked, taking the seat she had abandoned.

"I'll stand, thank you."

She shrugged. "Your choice." Reaching into her jacket's inner-pocket, she pulled out her phone, though she didn't miss Dr. Banner tensing. Giving him a small grin, Claire muttered,"I don't need a weapon to take you on, doc." He raised his brows, but stayed quiet, while she scrolled through her photos, pulling up the one Fury sent her.

"This is the Tesseract. It is a potential global threat," she told him, holding out her phone for him.

"Well, those I actively try to avoid," he replied, slipping on his glasses and taking her phone.

"That thing has enough energy to wipe out the planet," Claire explained, leaning on her elbows and studying the doctor. He was slightly stocky, but still taller than her, with dark and a little grey curls and dark brown eyes. His lips were full, but in a masculine way and had a natural rosy tinting to them.

'Yes, Claire, because noticing how attractive he is will somehow make you less awkward,' she chided herself.

"What does Fury want me to do? Swollow it?" Claire chuckled, taking back her phone. "Actually, I think we need you to find it, not ingest it. I believe it was stolen. It gives off a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. No one knows gamma radiation like you... If they did, I'd probably be there."

Dr. Banner looked at her knowingly, but his eyes were just the tiniest bit confused. "So, Fury's not after the monster?"

"Not that I know of."

"And you know everything?"

"I know a lot," she replied in the same condesending tone. They glared at each other for a second before Claire took a deep breath through her nose, reminding herself it was imprerative to keep Banner calm. "Look, trust me-"

"Trust you!" he shouted, his hands slamming down on the table. His sudden change surprised Claire as she jumped and glared at her. Insantly, the part of her that wanted to keep this quiet shut up.

"Yes, trust me. I can understand-"

"Understand? What, does Fury want to put you in a cage, too?" he shot back between deep breaths.

"Even if he wanted to, he couldn't!" Claire said, standing and walking stright to him.

Through the table.

TATATATATA

How was that? Please tell me what you think and I'll probably update day after tomorrow. Bye.