"What the hell am I doing?" She thought as she sat on the tiny jet clutching her bag to her chest. It all happened so quickly, one minute Stella Patillo was working on her experiment with electromagnetic fields in Europe and the next Agent Phil Coulson of the "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division" was insisting she help on a top-secret project.
It had been four years since the first time she had heard from SHIELD and met Agent Coulson. She had been dealing with the aftermath of a failed project when he arrived and even though he had made no indication of knowing about her accident, she wasn't an idiot and knew it was no coincidence he had showed up when he had showed up. He hadn't told her much other than whom he represented and that she might hear from them again in the future before leaving her once more.
Meeting odd government officials was part of the territory when you worked in the fields she did so she had honestly forgotten about SHIELD till Agent Coulson showed up this morning with an urgent request telling her that her services were now needed and forcefully asked to come help.
Not a lot of information had been given to her; also something not unusual when dealing with the government, but nonetheless unsettling, especially when he said the world depended on it.
"We're approximately 20 miles away." The pilot said out loud as Agent Coulson looked over at Stella and noticed her worried expression. "Dr. Patillo SHIELD thanks you for your services." He stated turning to stand from the Navigator's computer on the jet. "I'm not exactly sure what those services are but anything to save the world." She mumbled somewhat sarcastically as Coulson smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Ya know; I can definitely see the resemblance. I mean, your eyes are different, but, you look just like him," He rambled, shaking his head as she raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Who?" She asked only to be interrupted by the pilot. "We're here." The pilot said before Coulson turned to Dr. Patillo. "I apologize for not being able to give you more information, Director Fury asked to be the one to brief you on what's going on once we get on the bridge." Phil clarified as she nodded. "Well that would be nice." She answered, standing from her seat once the plane had landed.
As they stepped outside she realized they were in the middle of the ocean on what looked liked a giant Navy Carrier where people were scrambling to tie down jets and clear the deck off. As she grabbed her small bag a shorter but tough looking red headed woman approached them looking very serious.
"Captain Rogers will be here shortly." She spoke to Agent Coulson as he nodded, with a sad look on his face. "I still wish they would've let me get him." He responded somewhat disappointedly as the red haired woman gave him a smile. "You'll still get to see him. Anyways, they need you on the bridge, they are beginning the face trace." She stated as he nodded to indicate he'd heard her. "Thank you. See you there." He mumbled before turning to face Stella. "Dr. Patillo, this is Agent Romanoff she'll escort you inside." He said before walking away from then as the red headed woman turned to Stella with a polite nod.
"Dr. Patillo, nice to meet you. Welcome aboard." She stated as Stella nodded a polite hello before the two women began to walk. "So you're Dr. Stella Patillo, Director Fury's talked about you, said you'd probably be able to help us." Agent Romanoff began as Stella followed her around the deck. "I'd probably be more helpful if I knew what I was trying to help you guys with." Stella replied as Agent Romanoff smirked at her comment.
"Yea, you'll get used to that. Anyway, he suggested we bring you in to work with Dr. Banner, thought two brains were better than one." She said as Stella stopped, eyes wide. "Dr. Banner? Dr. Bruce Banner? He's gonna be here?" She asked as the agent raised an eyebrow at her. "Take it you've heard of him?" Agent Romanoff asked as Stella nodded excitedly.
"That man is one of my heroes, I mean his work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled." She responded, as the agent nodded politely, not sure what the hell the Doc had just said. "And, are you aware of his…other work?" She asked as Stella nodded once more, just slightly sadder. "I'm aware, doesn't take away from the fact that the man is a genius." She claimed as they noticed another jet land and Agent Romanoff walked them towards another Agent.
"Right, well why don't you go inside. Agent Marks will take you to the director." Agent Romanoff said as Stella nodded her appreciation. "Thank you." Stella added before following Agent Marks towards the bridge, trying to take in everything going on.
Greeting the blonde man that stepped out of the jet Agent Romanoff smiled as Steve Rogers gave polite nod back. "Captain Rogers. It's an honor. My name is Natasha Romanoff. Welcome aboard." She said greeting him as he shook her hand. "Ma'am." He responded as they began to walk away from the jet so they could tie it down. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Agent Coulson was gonna swoon. Don't be surprised if he asks you to sign his Captain America trading cards?"
"Trading cards?" Steve asked as she smiled. "They're vintage. He's very proud." Natasha teased as they turned to see Dr. Banner bumping into people while he observed the carrier. "Doctor Banner." Steve said reaching his hand out to shake Dr. Banner's who looked anxious and lightly overwhelmed. "Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming." Dr. Banner spoke as he studied the super soldier he had heard stories about.
"Word is you can find the Cube." "Is that the, uh, only word on me?" Dr. Banner asked cautiously. "Only word I care about." Steve responded honestly as Bruce gave him a polite smile. "Must be strange for you, all of this." He asked Steve who shrugged taking in the sights around him. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar." He said nodding to the military training that was taking place around them. Finally somewhere he felt a little bit comfortable. "Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." Natasha informed as the two men leaned over the edge and watched as the craft begin to lift giant propellers out of the water.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked as Bruce shook his head incredulously. "Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" The Propellers then began to spin and the carrier began to lift into the air. "Oh much better." He mumbled when he realized what was happening.
"Follow me." Natasha ordered as they turned to walk behind her. "They also mentioned that Dr. Stella Patillo would be here." Bruce asked as Natasha simply nodded. "She is, she's already inside." Natasha said as Steve turned to look at Bruce. In his briefing he had heard anything about a Dr. Patillo being involved. He really didn't like it when things were kept from him.
Walking inside Stella looked around the giant room shocked at the sights in front of her. It was like some sort of futuristic spacecraft. Everything was electronic and big, it reminded her of the bridge from the new Star Trek movie, but black instead of white, and ten times bigger. Who knew the military had this kind of budget.
"Dr. Patillo, it's an honor to have you on board." An African-American man spoke turning to face her from his computers. He was built like a jackhammer, tall and strong and dressed in dark clothes with an eye patch covering his left eye. "Thank you." She responded as she shook his extended hand feeling very much intimated by the man in front of her.
"My name is Director Fury, I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now, and I promise you'll be brought up to speed, but since we're short on time I'm gonna keep this brief. The things you're gonna see and hear are gonna be more than the mind can handle, even a brilliant one like yourself, but I can assure you this is very much real. The world is under attack from an alien force…" "I'm sorry alien?" She interrupted suddenly feeling like she was being set up.
"Maybe I shouldn't use the word alien, more like…not of this world. His name is Loki, he is a demi-God from Asguard…" "Wait…Loki…like Loki, the God of Mischief from Norse Mythology?" "Oh good, so you know your mythology. That'll make things easier. Loki is here on earth and we're guessing his brother Thor isn't too far behind." "Thor, God of Thunder Thor? Right, right. Of course he wouldn't be far behind. Cause of Loki is here why wouldn't Thor come?" She mumbled shaking her head in disbelief.
"I know it's hard to understand…" "No, No…I understand completely…this is uh, this is a joke. I'm being set up right? I mean, Asguard, Demi-God's…this is…" She rambled trying to comprehend everything as Director Fury raised his eyebrow at her. "Is it really so unbelievable…given your experiences?" He asked as Stella felt the blood drain from her cheeks as she closed her hands tightly.
"My experiences have nothing to do with Gods and aliens. If that is the case…why am I here?" She asked defensively crossing her arms in front of her chest as Fury continued on.
"Loki has taken something that belongs to S.H.I.E.L.D it's called the Tesseract." "Tesseract. It's real?" She asked as he nodded. "You've heard of it?" "My dad used to talk about it when I was a kid. I thought it was just drunken ramblings." "Well it is very much real. And it's fallen into the wrong hands. I don't know what his plans are, but I can assure you they aren't good. You've been brought in because we need your help locating it. You'll be working with Dr. Banner in helping us find it." He said as she felt excitement swell at the thought of working with Dr. Banner.
He was one of her heroes and probably the most brilliant minds she'd ever studied. It was heartbreaking when he had disappeared after his incident in New York, but now she was finally going to work with him.
As if on cue Agent Romanoff walked in with two men. The shorter one she recognized instantly as Dr. Banner but she had no idea who the taller blonde one was, however she had to admit he was a beautiful looking man. He was tall, with blonde hair done in a short but simple style; his blue eyes seemed to sparkle under all the lights and his strong cheekbones helped emphasize his well-defined jaw. He looked like he'd been carved out of marble, strong, fit and even under his clothes Stella could tell he was rather muscular.
His eyes were wide as he studied the ship's interior before turning to look over at Stella. She offered a polite smile, which he returned, letting his eyes linger on hers.
"Dr. Banner, thank you for coming." Fury said moving to greet them. "Thanks for asking nicely. So um, how long am I staying?" Bruce asked as Stella broke the gaze to turn and look at Dr. Banner feeling a little star struck in his presence. "Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Fury answered as Bruce nodded.
"Well where are you with that?" Dr. Banner asked looking over at Stella and giving a polite smile. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Agent Coulson answered as Stella shook her head, breaking out of her star struck gaze of Dr. Banner to do what she was supposed to do and help.
"You have to narrow your field. How many Spectrometers do you have access to?" Stella interrupted as everyone turned to look at her quizzically.
"My apologizes. Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers, this is Dr. Stella Patillo; she'll be helping you in your laboratory. Dr. Patillo, Dr. Bruce Banner and Captain Steve Rogers."
"Dr. Patillo, it's so nice to finally meet you." Bruce said walking over to her and extending his hand as she did the same. "Dr. Banner, the feeling is mutual. I feel a little star struck." She mumbled as Bruce blushed lightly at her compliment.
"Well the pleasure is all mine. The work you've done with Vita Rays and linking them to the electromagnetism of lightening and strong nuclear forces is just astonishing. That's why I was so excited to hear you would be helping with this." "Well thank you Dr. Banner, that's quite a compliment coming from you." She said with a big smile before turning to the blonde gentleman.
Steve had noticed Stella the minute he'd stepped onto the bridge, it was hard to miss someone as pretty as her, plus there was added feeling of familiarity about her that he didn't quite understand.
She was a little taller than most girls, with long legs that were only emphasized by the heels she was wearing. Her figure reminded Steve of the pin-ups from his time, with delicious soft curves and a voluptuous chest. She had dark brown hair that she wore pulled back in a simple ponytail and when she turned to look at him, he couldn't help but stare into her unique jade green eyes.
Her delicate pink lips were pulled into a small purse as she studied Steve and suddenly her eyebrows shot up in recognition.
"Captain Rogers…oh my god, I can't believe I didn't recognize the name." She replied, and it looked like a light bulb went off in her head. "Captain Steve Rogers?" She asked as he nodded.
"As in Captain America, Captain Rogers?" She continued to ask walking towards him as he nodded once more, chuckling a little bit out of embarrassment, not really used to when people actually recognized him, especially someone as like her.
Pretty scientist girls hadn't exactly been his fan base back in his day.
"I can't believe I didn't recognize you. My father was quite the fan, he talked about you all the time, I can't believe…wow." She whispered in disbelief reaching forward to shake his hand.
Her skin was soft when he took her hand in his and he couldn't believe the bolt of electricity that shot through him from the contact. "It's a pleasure ma'am." He answered honestly with a smile, liking the small blush that crept on her cheek.
They held each other's gazes for a moment and there was something about her, he had just met the girl but she seemed so familiar to him.
"Right well now that introductions are out of the way, back to work. How many are there of those spectra-things?" Fury asked as Stella shook off her haze and Steve let go of her hand, reluctantly.
"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the Spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for Gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for us to work?" Bruce asked getting them back into motion as Fury nodded.
"Agent Romanoff, show Dr. Banner and Dr. Patillo to their laboratory." He said as she nodded and the two followed behind her. "You're gonna love it here Docs. We get all the great toys." She told them as Stella followed behind Bruce glancing back over her shoulder once more at Steve with a sweet smile that Steve couldn't help but return.
Stella and Bruce walked into the laboratory and with a polite nod Natasha let them get to work.
"Well I think first thing is first Dr. Banner, since this is definitely your area of expertise I'll follow your lead." Stella said taking her coat off and placing it on a table as he nodded.
"Please call me Bruce, and I wouldn't say it's my expertise…but, I uh, do have some first hand experience with Gamma rays." He joked as she chuckled and began to start up some of the computers.
"I've heard." She added as he also put his coat down turning to look at her.
"Does it make you nervous Dr. Patillo?" He asked curiously as she stopped, turning to look at him.
"Stella's fine, and to be honest…a little. But I don't think you would've come if you couldn't control…it." She said not sure how to describe the green monster she'd seen in news footage as Bruce chuckled.
"I wouldn't say control…" He mumbled looking over at her as she nodded.
"Well, I'm sure it will be fine. Besides, I'm not completely helpless." She muttered as he raised an eyebrow curious to her cryptic statement.
"Let's get to work, shall we?" She asked before he could ask any questions about what she meant. Getting the hint he nodded and they both moved to different computers to begin entering the formulas and information needed to track the energy levels of the Tesseract.