One of the perks of the Iron Man suits is that I can breathe underwater, which is really helpful considering that I'm putting a mini-arc reactor on the pipeline leading towards Stark Tower. Being the only big name in green energy was awesome. Less guilt-ridden that selling weapons (not that I would ever truly admit it). As soon as I connect the reactor to the pipe, it wraps around the pipe and lights up.

I fly out of the Atlantic and head back to Stark Tower. "You're good on this end," I say into the comm, "the rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"

I roll my eyes at Pepper's questions. Hello, genius here! Pepper's face appears of the screen inside the helmet. "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," I say in answer.

"Wow." I roll my eyes again. Really, after all these years, she's still surprised by my amazing skills? "So maybe our arc reactor takes over and it actually works?"

Oh, I know it'll work. "I assume." I around the corner of the building, Stark Tower dim and lifeless. "Light her up."

A few seconds later, Stark Tower lit up like the giant Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. It was a sight to see. There, Dad, I think, your "greatest creation" did you proud, eh? "How does it look?" Pepper asks, and I can hear a glimmer of awe in her voice.

"Like Christmas, but with more... me," I say, my voice filled with false ego.

Pepper's muffled laugh can be still be heard through the comm. "Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards," she says, babbling in her business-like way.

I sigh. "Pepper, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Get in here and enjoy the moment with me, then," Pepper ordered. I giggled, knowing Pepper would know I was thinking a dirty thought when I finally landed, activating a cloaking shield around the pad so I can take off my armor without revealing who actually wore the armor. Robot arms (Dummy's children, who I had the great pleasure in naming the Dumlettes) appear from the ground, JARVIS guiding them as they grab onto different parts of the armor and peeling it away from my body.

"Ma'am, Agent Coulson is on the line," JARVIS informed me, sounding tentative.

"Tell him I'm busy and call back later for tea time," I say as I walk down the aisle.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Grow a spine, JARVIS. I got more important business to attend to." I finally cross the threshold, Pepper's back to me as she stares at the monitor. I glance at it quickly to check that the numbers are good before walking over to the small table to grab some champagne. After filling up two glasses, I walked back over to Pepper, holding one out for her.

Pep took the glass, turning back to the monitors. "Levels are holding steady... I think."

I can't help it; I roll my eyes. "Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?" I ask, taking a sip.

"Well, I really wouldn't know, would I?" she responds, not looking away from the monitors.

"What do you mean? This," gesturing to the Tower, "came from you."

That got Pepper to turn around. "No, all this came from that," she said with emphasis, pointing to the reactor resting comfortably between my breasts.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit," I teased.

Pepper looked at me indignantly. "Twelve percent?"

"An argument could be made for fifteen," I reply calmly, succeeding in hiding my smug smile.

"Twelve percent?" Pepper asks, walking away. "For my baby?"

I follow immediately. "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things," I point out logically, "and sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you." Pepper snorted as she sat down. "My private elevator―"

"You mean our elevator?"

"―was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" I ask, sitting down beside her on the floor.

Pepper took a sip of her champagne. "Not gonna be that subtle."

I give her a look before taking a sip myself. "Y'know, how 'bout this? The next building says POTTS on it."

"On the lease," Pepper negotiates.

I give her a sour look. "Call your mom and ask if you can sleepover this weekend."

We laugh for a few moments before we're interrupted. "Ma'am, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."

"Toni, we need to talk," Coulson's voice says through the intercom. I tilt my head, curious. It takes me a second to realize that Coulson sounded strained beyond what he normally is. Like he's about to snap.

I sigh in faux-resignation. "Come on up." A moment later, the elevator doors open to reveal Coulson. He looked even worse than he sounded. "Security breach," I joke, hoping to lighten the mood. Pepper elbows me in the stomach for my troubles, standing up before running over to Phil, hugging him. He accepts it too easily for my comfort, my concern rising. When they let go of each other, Phil looked only slightly better. I walk over and give him a hug too, understanding that he needs some sort of physical comfort. Phil takes it willingly, wrapping his arms around me, his SHIELD-issued computer bumping against my back. I don't care, because someone needs my help, and his needs were above my comfort zone. We pull back a few minutes later, still keeping some physical contact. "So what's up?"

"I need you to look at some files," Phil says, fully letting me go. He holds out the computer towards me.

I give him a look. "You know I don't like being handed things."

"That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade," Pepper said, handing her glass to Phil and taking the computer from him before taking my glass and handing me the electronic.

I glare at her, no real heat behind it before looking at Phil. "Normally my consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday, but for you I'm willing to make an exception."

"This is not a consultation. Not this time," Phil stated. "This time it's different."

"Why, what happened?" I ask, disassembling the computer as I walked over to the monitors, reassembling the device as I set it down on the table.

"Clint's been taken." Those words stop whatever joke I was about to make in its tracks, my back stiffening. I can practically feel Pepper's anger, but its not as intense as my own. "SHIELD has decided that it would be best to reinstate the Avengers Initiative."

"I thought that was disbanded. Besides, I didn't even make the cut," I say, booting up the computer.

"I didn't know that," Pepper says casually, bless her.

"Yeah, apparently I'm 'volatile, self- obsessed, don't play well with others'."

"That I did know."

I stick my tongue out at Pepper as I transfer the files over to my databases. "Doesn't matter anymore, does it? This must be one hell of a baddie to pull me into the fray. You know I don't play well with Fury."

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Phil said.

I smirk. "Pep, can you come here?" I hear her tell Phil 'half a mo' before she's standing next to me. "I thought we were having a moment back there," I say. We hadn't really had time to ourselves since Iron Man began, and I missed spending time with my best friend.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment." I give her an exasperated look. "So what's this?" she asks, pointing at the different things running across my screen.

"This is―" I stop. I throw my arms out, making the files expand across all the screens. Simultaneously, footage of Captain America, Hulk and Thor played, the noises blurring together. There was also a man in a green coat and a glowing blue cube. My heart practically stops when I recognize the Tesseract. "That," I breathe out, shocked.

"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

"Tomorrow," I negotiate.

"You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework," Pepper says.

I pout. "But what if I didn't?"

I know I said the wrong thing when Pepper lightly punches my shoulder. "If you finish this," she says in a hushed tone, "I'll convince the board to expand the R&D department for medical research."

I gasp. I notice Phil looking down in embarrassment. I smirk a little. Gotta have my fun where I can, I think. "Square deal. But you better keep your end of the bargain."

Pepper ignores me as she tells me to work hard, hugging me before walking over to Phil. I zone out as I study the files, grabbing the holographic Tesseract before sighing. This was going to be a long night.

~*Avengers*~

As I finish up the last of my research, I got an alert about a possible sighting of Loki in Stuttgart. I was too tired to really fight a immortal lunatic, so I sent JARVIS off with the Mark VI to help out. He knew my attack patterns by heart (or by circuits, if you want to get technical about it), so I was confident that JARVIS could take care of it. I called Phil to come pick me up, taking the Quinjet up to the Helicarrier. It was a quiet ride, both of us somber until we landed. That's when I decided I needed to help. "So, after all this shit is over, you and Clint going to take a vacation?" I ask as we walk down the hallway to the main part of the ship.

Phil doesn't say anything for a moment. Then, "I don't know." Its said quietly, and I feel kinda bad for him. If someone told me four years ago that I would find a sort of kinship with Phil Coulson, I would have had JARVIS blast them in the ass. Now I knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth when it came by way of people who could tolerate me.

We enter the main part of the Helicarrier, I heard someone ask why Loki needed iridium. "Its a stabilizing agent," I answer absentmindedly, turning back to Phil. "Just pick a weekend, and I'll fly you guys to wherever," I say in hushed tones. "Keep love alive and all that jazz." Phil looked grateful at the offer, and I give him a genuine smile before turning back to the others. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." As I walk around the table, I notice the blonde with the cool armor. Thor. I smile at him. "Iron Man told me you had a nice swing. You'll need to show me that sometime," I tell him, patting his arm. "Anyway, back to the iridium. It means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." I come to stand at central command, an array of touch screens surrounding me. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails," I order. Some of the SHIELD agents give me looks of contempt, others trying not to laugh. "That man is playing Galaga!" I exclaimed, pointing to the man in the corner trying to subtly hide his screen. "Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." I cover one of my eyes and turn around in a circle. "How the hell does Fury do this?"

"He turns," Hill says off the side.

I purse my lips, dropping my hand. "That sounds exhausting." I play with random buttons, pretending to look busy while I try to find a good place for my bug. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." I plant the small device on the underside of the computer, clapping my hands together as I finish talking.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asks, hands on her hips.

"Last night." Hill glares at me. I smirk. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?!"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" A voice pipes up. When I turn around, there's Captain America in all his star-spangled glory.

I do a double take. "Where the fuck did you come from?" I ask, my mouth working ahead of my brain. Cap seems surprised, but either by my words or my surprise, I'm not really sure.

The others ignore my surprise, to my not-surprise. "He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," another voice pipes up. I'm happy to see its Bruce Banner.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," I counter.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally!" I shout, excited. "Someone who speaks English." I walk over to Bruce, ignoring Cap. We shake hands, and I can see respect in his eyes. We let go a moment later. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage creature."

Bruce looks down, sheepish. "Thanks, I guess."

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him," Fury says as he walks in. I have the urge to go over and smack him for letting Clint be taken, but I barely manage to stop myself.

"Let's start with that stick of his," Cap starts, "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." I zone out after that. No matter what, magic was science that isn't understood yet. I'm snapped back to the meeting when Cap shouted something about understanding a reference.

I roll my eyes before turning to Bruce. "Shall we play, Doctor?"

Bruce smiles a genuine smile, holding out his arm. "We shall." I laugh, taking his arm as he escorts me to the labs. We have a steady conversation about Selvig's notes (since we were the only two to read them), throwing in our own opinions on top of his. When we get in the lab, we part to different sides of the room. Bruce goes over to study Loki's staff while I go to make some tracking algorithms for the Tesseract. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process."

I tap a few buttons on the monitor. "If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops."

"And all I packed was a toothbrush."

I laugh. "You know, you should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land," I say as I walk over to him, studying the scepter.

Bruce pursed his lips, looking guilty. "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem."

I hide my smirk. This is too easy. "Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises..." I poke him in the side, shocking him. Bruce jumps slightly, and I hear someone shout. "Nothing?" I ask.

"Are you insane?"

I look over to see Cap looking righteously mad. "Depends. Sometimes I wanna blow up SHIELD because they make me wanna do something evil-ish, and sometimes I wanna blow my own brains out. It just depends on that time of the month." I shrug. "Its really nothing to worry your pretty little head over. Besides, Hulk wouldn't have hurt me."

"You don't know that," Bruce says.

I smile enigmatically. "Believe me, I do. I've made friends who are scarier than you make the Hulk out to be. There's nothing to worry about. Even if there was, it wouldn't be a problem for long."

"Yeah, because putting everyone in danger is nothing to worry about."

I reel back, surprised at the hostility in Cap's voice. I snort sarcastically. "And I thought you of all people would be more compassionate towards others who are judged for being different. Or did you lose some brain cells being on your high horse too long?" Cap's nostrils flare, opening his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. "Look, whatever your issues are, do not take them out on me or Bruce. Right now, I have more important things to do than have an argument with a ninety-year-old baby. Like finding out what Fury's hiding from us. I mean, why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

That seems to deflate Cap. "You think Fury's hiding something?"

"Cap. He's the spy. Even his secrets have secrets. Blueberry?" I ask, holding out the packet to him. Cap shakes his head, so I shrug and grab some for myself. "'s bugging him too," I say, pointing to Bruce.

The doctor stutters, trying to get out of it. He mumbles something about finishing his work before Cap interrupted him. It was quiet for a moment before Bruce took off his glasses, fiddling with them. "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Cap shakes his head, waiting for him to continue. "Well, I think it was meant for Toni." I hold out the blueberry bag to him, and he takes a few. "So, why didn't SHIELD bring her in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files," I say absentmindedly, pulling out my phone.

"I'm sorry, did you say―"

"Yeah, Cap. I meant what I said. JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

I roll my eyes. "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

I look at Cap. "Excuse me, but I refuse to follow people who I can't trust to watch my back."

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce says, not-so-subtly agreeing with me. Cap takes in a breath, looking like he was going to agree with me before shutting himself off, practically ordering us to find the Tesseract before leaving. I glare at his back, feeling myself getting more and more annoyed with the soldier. I can't believe Aunt Peggy fell for that guy. "He's not wrong about Loki," Bruce said, "He does have the jump on us."

"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. And I can't wait to watch it blow up in his face," I say, walking back over to my monitor to check it.

"And I'll read all about it," Bruce said, sending me his readings with the flick of his wrist.

"Or, you could be suiting up with the rest of us," I counter, expanding the readings so I could see them more easily. There was a pattern―

Bruce let out a mirthless laugh, more like a sarcastic breath than anything. "Yeah, I don't get a suit of armor; I'm exposed, like a nerve. Its a nightmare."

"You do realize I have a cluster of shrapnel trying to claw its way into my heart every second of every day, right? This little light in my chest stops it," I say, tapping the outer casing of the reactor gently. "Its a part of me now. Its a horrible privilege."

"But you learned to control it," Bruce countered.

"Because I learned."

"This is different," Bruce said, effectively ending the conversation by turning back to his screen.

I walk over to him, brushing the data to the side so the only thing he could see was me. "Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk― the other guy― saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

I give him a lopsided grin. "I guess we'll find out," I say before walking back over to my station.

"You might not like that."

"And you just might."

Silence.

~*Avengers*~

"What the hell are you doing, Stark?"

I look away from Bruce for a moment, looking at Fury. "Kinda been wondering the same thing about you."

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are," Bruce says, pointing to my computer in the corner, "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss." The computer beeped, pulling up some files that weren't meant to be seen by us mere Muggles. "What is Phase 2?"

A loud clank startles Bruce, a huge-ass weapon on the table, Steve standing right next to it. Best part: he looked more pissed than he was earlier. And it wasn't directed at me. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." To me: "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

I shrug it off, not the least bit offended. Fury tries to pull the wool over Steve's eyes, but I clear my throat, turning my screen around to reveal a animation of the weapon Steve had brought in assembling. "I'm sorry, Nick. We're you lying?"

Steve gave Fury a look before walking over to me, standing on my other side. "I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit," he said just as Thor and Romanov walked in.

Bruce stared at Romanov, starting to get angry. "Did you know about this?" he asked, his eyes starting to turn into a glowing green.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Romanov asked, completely ignoring Bruce's question.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce took off his glasses, grabbing the screen and pointing with said glasses. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury paused for a moment before pointing at Thor. The demigod looked confused, but suddenly everything made sense. "Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned," Fury explained, like it would make his actions any better.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor said, his booming voice indignant.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve said.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve asked, but he was ignored.

Fury: "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."

I decide to butt in. "So, a nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune?"

It was all her Daddy's work. Without him, she'd have nothing. I flinch violently, ducking around to figure out who said that. Bruce gives me an odd look, but I mostly ignore it. Are you afraid, Natasha? Tell me, who would miss you if you were gone? Would you even be remembered? I start scratching my arm, the urge to scratch the skin off greater than it had been in years. Someone catches my wrist, stopping me. I whine, looking up to see its Steve who stopped me. He looked concerned, but I don't understand why. Because he's kind. He doesn't care about you; only the human you are. He would rather see you dead than living. What does it matter anyway? You're already dead on the inside. One pull of that reactor, and your light would be snuffed out― "ENOUGH!" I shout, wrenching my wrist from Steve's grasp, ramming my back into the table, the staff wobbling. I look at it, then moving closer when I realize it's glowing. I move on wobbly legs around the table, grabbing the reader Bruce had put down earlier. I look down, seeing that the readings were off the charts. I put down the counter, staring at the staff. It seems to glow more now that I'm looking at it intensely. "Huh," I mumble, "the Professor would really love this." I look up at Thor. "What's the stone made of?"

Thor stares at me for a second before his gaze shifts to the stone. His eyes widen in both surprise and horror. "Odin's beard, that is the Mind Gem."

I cock my head to the side. "I'm gonna assume that's a bad thing." Everything is bad. "Shut up," I tell the stone, trying to calm down. "What does it do?"

Thor pursed his lips. "It was a gem created from the binding of the universe. When it exploded into existence, the remnants of the systems created were concentrated into five stones, each with an ability of their own. Their powers are singular, but together they can cause detrimental destruction. Together, they have the power to destroy the Nine Realms."

It was silent before I started giggling maniacally. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but I couldn't stop laughing. When I can finally calm down, I look at Bruce. "I like how Loki wants to unleash the monster, and he assumes Hulk is a monster. He's not the monster in this room. I am."

Before I'm forced to elaborate, an explosion rocks the Helicarrier and all hell breaks loose.

~*Avengers*~

After all the hell we went through to get back Clint, we ended up losing Phil (even though I didn't trust Fury's assessment, I would play along for now). After Fury's less-than-encouraging pep talk, I walk out, wandering the Helicarrier until I find myself in the detention center staring at the large bloodsplatter that adorned the wall. I don't move a single muscle when I sense someone else enter the room. Out of the corner of my eye to see Steve leaning against the doorway, arms crossed as he stared at me. We were quiet for a few minutes before Steve asked me if Phil was married. I shook my head. "But he had someone waiting for him," I say, trying to keep the tightness out of my voice, but not succeeding in keeping it from my throat. "Clint was waiting for him."

Steve inhaled sharply. His shoulders sagged slightly with the revelation. "I can only imagine how he's gonna take it."

"Oh, Clint's gonna want to gut Loki like a fish, but he can't. Not until we get the Mind Stone back." A pause. "He shouldn't have gone alone. Should've waited for backup."

"He was doing his job. Sometimes there isn't a way out, Toni."

"I swear to Christ if Fury is lying to us to get us, I'm gonna knock him down a couple pegs. I refuse to march in his fife."

"Neither am I. Not after― He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list―"

Suddenly a thought struck me. "He made this personal."

"That's not the point."

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us right where we live. But why?"

"To tear us apart."

"That's good and all, but he could have easily done that with the Mind Stone. Warped our perceptions beyond recognition. His ego prevented him from doing that though. Why though? He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it." I move my hands around as I talk, trying to work through Loki's crazy. "He wants an audience."

"Like in Stuttgart."

I wave my hand in dismissal at Steve. "That's fine and dandy, but that was just a preview. This, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered―" I freeze, my body locked up in shock. Steve gives me a look, but I just move forward, grabbing his hand as I pull him out of the room, muttering curses under my breath at the trickster god as we run towards the medical wing. I just hope we get there in time. The thought only makes me run faster.