A/N: Thank you all so much for the encouraging reviews and lovely favs and follows! Sorry for taking so long to update. Real life happened and then I was inconveniently struck by the bag of bricks that is writer's block. I really hope it doesn't come across in this chapter even though I struggled to complete it. Anyway, please enjoy.

WARNING: Sherlock in a tight fitting jumpsuit. Nuff said.

Chapter 2: Meet the Team Part 1

When Molly first heard shouting, she jumped, her mind immediately thinking they were under attack. However, when she heard JARVIS answering, she realized it was Tony Stark. She found him in the shop, working on some bit of machinery with a look of angry concentration on his face. It took him a few minutes to realize she was there.

"What do you want?" he demanded, obviously annoyed.

"Well, er, is everything alright? I heard shouting." Molly replied nervously, still unable to get over the fact that this was the Tony Stark.

"Your boss, boyfriend, colleague, whatever is making my life harder than it needs to be." he answered bluntly after a while. Molly waited for him to say more, but when he didn't she felt small again, like he was too important to be bothered to talk to someone like her. She was about to say 'okay' meekly and leave, but something stopped her. A strong sense of deja vu flooded her mind and she remembered all the moments like this she'd had with Sherlock before his fall. No. She wasn't going to let herself be treated like that again.

"I know you don't like Sherlock because he's rude. I understand. He's like that with everyone. He can't help being honest and open about his thoughts all the time. Sometimes he says the most awful things and doesn't think about people's feelings." This seemed to catch Tony's attention, because he looked up at Molly, though his expression did not change.

"What's he done to make you so lovestruck, then?"

"I don't...I'm not..." Molly struggled to respond coherently and she was blushing bright red. Tony laughed and set aside his tool before approaching the pathologist.

"Oh, come on. You can't fool me." Tony said, now amused rather than angry. For a moment, Molly didn't say anything. She was too busy trying to stop herself from blushing so brightly and formulate a proper answer.

"H-He's brilliant and as much as he pretends not to care about others and says feelings are a weakness, he really cares about the people who trust him and who he trusts back. I think deep down, he's a wonderful man. People just need to give him a chance to show it." Molly explained. Ever time she got to see Sherlock be clever or catch a glimpse of his heart, she felt like it was worth all the nasty things he often said to her. Tony raised his eyebrows at her. He wasn't taking her seriously. She had to fix that. "Listen, he used to treat me like a doormat. He never noticed me. Not really. I gave up hoping after a while, but I kept helping him solve his cases because I loved seeing him be brilliant and it felt good to help people. And then one day I got to see the real him. He came to me for help when his life depended on it because he trusted me and he knew that I trusted him. I helped him fake his death so that he could save his friends' lives." At the end of her little anecdote, Molly turned to leave, sure that Tony didn't really care what she had to say, but he surprised her.

"Wait. Hold up. Are you telling me this guy has a selfless streak?" he asked in disbelief. Molly nodded. "Well, that certainly explains why Fury thought he was a good idea." Tony laughed again. He was looking directly at Molly now, grinning. "The poor bastard probably doesn't even realize how lucky he is to have attracted such a nice girl." This made Molly blush again and he just kept grinning. "Tell you what, hun. I'll get off his back if he- as Thor would say- proves himself worthy of being an Avenger." At this, the pathologist beamed at him.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. Like I said, he just needs a chance."

"Please, call me Tony." he said casually as he went to go back to whatever he had been working on before she had showed up. He may not like Sherlock Holmes, but he kind of liked this Molly Hooper. A plan started to form in his mind to help her out. A mischievous one. He was going to have a little chat with Steve later.


Sherlock was up at six in the morning by Natasha's request for a training session he did not particularly wish to attend. Now he stood in one of the many training rooms in Stark Tower, wearing a SHIELD issue training uniform that the Russian had insisted he wear ("You wouldn't want to ruin one of your nice suits, would you, Holmes?"). It was much tighter than anything he'd worn before, in fact skintight, which he didn't like ("Not much tighter than your suits, so what are you complaining about?"), but it allowed him to move very freely, which he could appreciate. Still, following orders like this was completely foreign to him and he felt like SHIELD was holding him on a leash. Thinking back on it, Sherlock couldn't understand for the life of him why people would pay Irene Alder to dominate them.

"Good morning, Agent Holmes." Natasha greeted him as she entered the room. He frowned at being referred to as 'agent', but it wasn't unexpected considering he was technically a member of SHIELD. The woman approached him and he looked her over, trying to deduce things about her that weren't already quite plain to see, but he couldn't find anything. However, that in and of itself told him a few things. She had made a conscious effort to present him with little information, which meant she had things to hide. Already, he was finding this woman very interesting.

"Good morning, Ms. Romanova." the dark haired man returned with a smirk. "Where is Barton?"

"You won't be training with him until I'm done with you." she explained, causing the detective to quirk an eyebrow at her choice of words. "Now, I want you to show me what you've got so I know what I'm working with. Are you ready?" Sherlock didn't even reply to these words as he chose to take advantage of the opportunity to surprise Black Widow. He made to strike her in the side, but her reflexes were astonishingly fast and she blocked him. "Oh good, you know about surprise." she commented before grabbing his wrist and flipping him. "But you're slow." He groaned in pain as he found himself flat on his back on the floor. Quickly, he got back to his feet and threw a punch to distract the woman while his other fist came up to chin her. She caught both hands, whirled him around, and kicked him in the back, causing him to fall to his hands and knees. "These are moves that are standard in SHIELD training. What makes you think you stand a chance against what took those missing field agents?" Sherlock grimaced at this and made get to his feet, only to find himself once again slammed to the ground. "Your opponent will not wait for you."

"I know." the man grumbled, righting himself more quickly this time and as she made to kick his legs out from under him, he jumped and landed a kick square to her chest, knocking her over, but she rolled out of it like it was nothing.

"Good. You're learning. But what can a thinking man like you do to overcome pure instinct?" In another brilliant demonstration of her superior reflexes, Black Widow moved to kick him in the stomach, he grabbed hold of her leg and she lunged, pulling both of them to ground with her straddling his chest and his arms twisting in painful positions. That was when they heard the cough coming from the door and looked over to see John Watson standing there staring at them and feeling awkward.

"Oh, hello, John. What is it?" Sherlock said casually as if he didn't have an attractive Russian woman sitting on him looking slightly miffed at being interrupted. John continued to stare for a long moment as if he wished to be Sherlock's place until his friend's voice snapped him out of it. "What is it, John? Stop ogling."

"Right. Sorry. I was just seeing what you were up to since you weren't in your room or one of the labs. What are you wearing?" The doctor appeared very embarrassed as he spoke and Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"SHIELD standard issue training uniform as requested by Ms. Romanova."

"You're taking orders now?" John asked, sounding completely flummoxed. Since when did Sherlock Holmes take orders so easily?

"I said requested." Sherlock insisted, trying to make it sound like he could have said no if he felt like it. His friend laughed and shook his head. Natasha rolled her eyes and got off of Sherlock.

"You need to improve your strength and speed. One hundred push ups in the morning before you get down here until you can do them in two minutes or less. Understood?" Natasha said and the Englishman nodded silently, knowing better than to argue with this woman. "Good." With that, she went out the door, leaving John to laugh at his best friend.

"Shut up." Sherlock grumbled as the two men made their way to the lift. John never thought he would get to see his friend take orders from a woman who had just completely thrashed him. Obviously he had some measure of respect for her.

When the doors of the lift opened, Sherlock and John were surprised by the sight of Molly Hooper. She was surprised to see them as well and when it registered in her brain that Sherlock was pretty much wearing a tight fitting jumpsuit, she turned bright red.

"Oh! Uh...h-hello! I was...just about to go get some breakfast. Care to join me?" It took a few words to push aside her nervousness this time and it didn't help that Sherlock was now standing very close to her in the lift. He was about to reject her request, but John had already said yes and he thought he might as well get some coffee.


After a short breakfast that was awkward for everyone except Sherlock, who didn't understand why John and Molly were acting so strangely, the three were confronted by a very serious woman named Maria Hill. She ordered them to follow her and it turned out that she was taking them to SHIELD's NYC headquarters not far from the UN building. The car ride there was uncomfortable because Sherlock was still in his jumpsuit and the three were in very close proximity. John was preoccupied with thoughts of how insignificant and weak he felt next to his best friend because that accursed jumpsuit showed off Sherlock's lean yet muscular physique and seemed to enhance his tall stature. Molly was trying desperately not to stare at her dark haired friend. Sherlock just disliked being squished between two people in the back seat of a car. Every now and then, he would catch the pathologist next to him admiring how tight his jumpsuit was. He couldn't decide whether he was annoyed or pleased by this.

When they arrived and stepped out of the black SHIELD car, they were escorted to a conference room where Thor had been waiting for them.

"You will be working with Thor during this investigation. He has the best understanding of how to find out what happened." Agent Hill explained curtly. Sherlock rolled his eyes at her.

"I am perfectly aware of those facts. You are simply saying it to fulfill your compulsive need to demonstrate your authority over someone, probably caused by long running self esteem issues. The way you speak to men you outrank suggests that this stems from many failed relationshi-" Before Sherlock could say anything further, he was slapped very hard across the face, nearly knocking him over. Agent Hill stormed out of the room, probably to report him for harassment, Sherlock noted, and his companions stared at him in shock. He'd be lying if he said he had expected that slap.

"Maria, Daughter of the Hill, is similar to the Lady Sif. It is unwise to rile her. It is like prodding a sleeping dragon." Thor commented solemnly. Sherlock straightened, rubbing his cheek and looking slightly taken aback.

"So I gather." he grumbled. "Not good?" he said, turning to John, who nodded and was visibly resisting the urge to laugh.

"Not good, Sherlock." the doctor replied.

"Right then. Down to business." With this, the three Brits took their seats at the table and Thor launched into his explanation of the situation.

"There is no trace of the missing agents that can be seen or detected by mortals or their instruments. However, I am able to sense an energy that is common on my world in the place where these agents were last seen. Most mortals would call it magic." Sherlock scoffed at this.

"I am not most mortals, Mr. Odinson." the detective drawled.

"I did not think you were, Sherlock of Britain. You must be exceptional to have been called upon by SHIELD." The Englishman smirked at this and John elbowed him in the ribs as if to say 'don't get cocky, buster'. "Nicholas Fury believes that your mind is strong enough that I may be able to train you to sense magic. I am not nearly as skilled with magic as my brother, Loki, but I possess enough knowledge to do this. Once you have been trained, you may be of great assistance in discovering what has happened." It was evident from the expression on Sherlock's face that he found this very exciting and interesting and was eager to learn this new skill.

"I accept." he said with a grin.


Since Thor insisted that John and Molly leave because the energy that he was going to expose Sherlock to was potentially harmful, the two returned to Stark Tower without their friend, whereupon they ran into Tony Stark himself.

"Oh, hello, Molly and..." the billionaire struggled for a moment to remember the doctor's name. "...John. Where's Mr. Cheekbones gone off to?" he asked as he gestured for them to join him in the sitting room.

"He's with Thor apparently learning how to see magic." John explained and a look of jealousy came across Tony's face. He had been considered before Sherlock for that privilege, but it had interfered with the function of the arc reactor in his chest, so SHIELD had had to find someone else.

"So you two are just wandering around while he gets let in on all the club secrets?" John and Molly nodded and Tony smirked. "We'll have to fix that, then. Since you and Mr. Cheekbones sort of came as a package deal, I don't see why you can't be included a little in what we do here. I'm sure you'll get along well with all of us. Even Natasha. Although, a little advice on that, Molly: don't get too friendly with Clint. And John, don't try to flirt with her. That woman will break you." John raised his eyebrows and nodded at this, already having been given a demonstration of what the Black Widow could do and having no desire to put himself on the receiving end of it.

"Um, I hope I'm not interrupting." a male voice came from the door and they all looked over to see Steve Rogers, in his uniform, standing by the door, looking nervous. Tony grinned at him and shook his head.

"Oh, no, Steve. It's fine. In fact, I was rather hoping you'd pop up."

"Okay...it's just...I think I may have broken one of the machines in the training room." the blond admitted apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at his feet. Tony laughed and waved it off.

"No biggy. Why don't you stay here and chat with Molly and John while I go and fix it." the billionaire replied good naturedly and left, leaving Steve to stand there awkwardly, looking a little confused.

"That's odd. Yesterday he was sulking and today he's all sunshine."

"Sherlock's like that too sometimes." Molly commented with a giggle. Steve smiled at her and felt a little less out of place. He could tell already that this woman was very sweet and very different from Black Widow or Maria Hill, the two women he saw the most. He liked that.

"So, how did you come to know Mr. Holmes?" he asked, taking a seat on the other side of the glass coffee table. John looked to Molly to urge her to speak first because she had known the detective the longest and he was also curious as to exactly how Sherlock had forced his way into Molly's life.

"Well, I suppose the first time I met him was when I was still an intern and he came bursting into the morgue where I work and started looking over the body I had out without any authorization or anything. He was just so brilliant that I couldn't bring myself to say no." the pathologist told them, blushing a little.

"That sounds like Sherlock, alright." John said with a laugh. "I only met him because I mentioned to my old friend Mike Stamford that nobody would want an army doctor for a flatmate. He introduced me to Sherlock."

"You're an army doctor?" Steve asked, perking up.

"Yeah, I was. Until I got shot and sent home."

"Oh, sorry." There was a sorrow in the super soldier's voice that John didn't miss. He liked how considerate this man was and he really hoped he wouldn't fall victim to Sherlock's manipulative and insulting tendencies.

"It's fine. I've been able to do good work as a civilian too." The captain's smile returned at this.

"Dr. Hooper, your job is to find out how people died, right? Forgive me, ma'am, but that seems like an unusual line of work for a nice lady like you." At this, Molly blushed brightly. It's not every day she was addressed as ma'am, let alone got to sit in Stark Tower and be called nice by Captain America.

"I like it because I feel that I'm doing something important for people." she replied softly, staring at her lap. Steve was beginning to get a general idea of the sort of people Sherlock Holmes liked to surround himself with and he found himself respecting the detective even more. He talked with John and Molly about this, that, and the other thing for a while, growing to like them very much, until Tony swaggered back into the sitting room.

"All fixed, Cap. Just remember not to throw your shield at any of the turrets until I upgrade them, okay?" he informed Steve, though his brown eyes were flitting between the soldier and Molly.

"Alright. I'll get back to it, then. It was nice to talk to you both." the tall blond gave the two Englanders a small bow and was about to turn to leave until he caught the look Tony was giving him. "Um, actually, before I go, could I have a word with you, Dr. Hooper."

"O-Okay." Molly said, blushing again. She followed the captain into the hallway and he looked nervously back at her. He tried for a moment to say to her what Tony had told him to say, but he couldn't and incoherent noises came out. Molly frowned at him. "Sorry?"

"I can't to lie to you. Listen, Mr. Stark has this plan and he thinks it's going to help you and your situation with Mr. Holmes." Molly smiled as she deduced what Steve was getting at (eight years around Sherlock was rubbing off on her).

"Oh, I see. That's very kind of you both."

"Will you have dinner with me, then?" Molly had been about to say that she doubted their efforts would be fruitful and needn't bother trying to help her, but she reconsidered with this request. It couldn't hurt to try, right? Besides, what sort of girl would refuse dinner with Captain America?

A/N: ...and thus I will leave you to wonder what hilarity is going to take place when these two awkward and shy people team up and try to make Sherlock jealous. To those of you waiting for the action and excitement in this story: have no fear. It will come very soon. With any luck, I'll have this writer's block defeated and another chapter to you within a week. Reviews motivate me a lot and are much appreciated. Thank you! ~T.Z.