Disclaimer: The characters and things you recognize in this story don't belong to me. They belong to Marvel and Janet Evanovich. I'm pretty sure you'll recognize which is which. Mistakes belong to me.


Chapter 3 - The Tower

Steph's POV

The ride to Manhattan from Trenton could have gotten awkward really fast once I'd stopped having things to read, but it actually didn't. It started with Tony's, "so… blue dye pack?" which got an answering "I'm going to kill Ranger!" and some laughs from the guys. So I told them about Carl the monkey, and my other crazy cases, which served as a pretty good ice breaker.

Once we all seemed more comfortable with each other, I decided to go for it. "Alright, I signed your paperwork, tell me what's going on."

"As you probably know, we fought with Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye as The Avengers in what is now called The Battle of New York," Tony started, waiting for my nod that did know this before continuing. "After the Battle, Bruce stuck around to live in my Tower and work in the science division after everything was rebuilt. I made that invitation open to everyone, and Thor took me up on it as long as I provided living space and jobs for his girlfriend Dr. Foster and her assistant, Darcy Lewis as well. I had no problem with this because Dr. Foster's science is all space-rippingly awesome. Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye showed interest in the arrangement, but were pretty well and under SHIELD's thumb."

"And SHIELD, which I recognize from the news, was kind of like the MIB, but with more evil Nazis infiltrated in it, right?" I asked.

"And more espionage, but sure." I nodded for him to continue, and he did, "We were working on ways to get them out of their SHIELD contracts without having to worry about retaliation and transferring The Avengers over to an independent organization when everything that happened in D.C. happened. Now we want to find them, including the new kid, and bring them back to New York. Or at least let them know that we have space for them."

"Yeah, I'm going to need a little more than 'everything that happened in D.C. happened,' and I want to know what your plans are for that Winter Soldier."

"Unfortunately, we don't even know what really happened in D.C. We know that the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury was shot and allegedly killed. Though the last person SHIELD told me was dead actually wasn't, so I'm not so sure."

"Would have been a really good time to be playing dead."

"Exactly. We know that HYDRA, or those you referred to as 'evil Nazis' had infiltrated VERY high up in SHIELD. Like all the way to the man above Fury, and as a result, they were able to attack and lead a manhunt against Captain America. From what we've been able to tell, Natasha and this new guy Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, were able to help Steve foil HYDRA's plans and essentially burn SHIELD to the ground after deeming it too corrupt to stay. A judgment I, personally, have no issue with. You'll meet Maria Hill tonight. She's the former Deputy Director of SHIELD and had her hand in this as well, but she has to play things very close to the vest right now in order to avoid jail, so don't expect to get much information from her."

"Okay, I follow all of that. Now. Winter Soldier."

"That's the really sticky bit. Until recently, everyone believed the Winter Soldier to be more urban myth than reality, but it turns out he was a HYDRA assassin. Unfortunately, it also seems that he is the brainwashed former best friend of Captain America. He was captured by HYDRA during WWII, and Cap rescued him. Apparently they'd been experimenting on him with some version of the serum or something similar. He fell from a train over a cliff during a mission and was assumed dead, but somehow actually survived and became a prisoner of war forced to do HYDRA's will while being brought in and out of cryofreeze for decades. Captain America and Falcon are trying to track him down and bring him back with the hopes of restoring his memories and un-brainwashing him."

"Cryofreeze is a working thing?"

"Really? That's the part you're stuck on?"

"Yeah, though I suppose it is like Captain America being frozen on ice for 70 years, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"Okay, thanks for the information. And where does Hawkeye fit into this?"

"He's just MIA. No one knows where he is, though we're fairly certain he wasn't involved in what went down in DC. But goodness knows he would have been there helping Natasha if he was aware of the situation."

"Which leads us to believe he is in deep cover somewhere," Bruce cut in, "which could be a VERY dangerous situation for him now since his backup, and likely his handler as well, are now gone. We're not going to tell you how to do your job, but-"

I cut him off saying, "he is quite possibly actively in danger, so you'd recommend I go for him first."

"Exactly," said Tony with a smile, "plus, he can probably help you find the others, especially Natasha."

"Are they…" I trailed off, mostly out of amusement for the look of exasperation on Tony's face.

"Who the hell knows?!" he cried, throwing his hands up. So clearly he'd tried to find out, and was frustrated at being unsuccessful. "All the pictures I recovered of her in DC have her wearing an arrow necklace though, so, maybe?"

We were pulling up to a tall building that could only be called ostentatious, and Tony's eyes lit up with glee, "Welcome to Avengers Tower! Home of The Avengers, I hope, and your new home for as long as you're working with us."

"My apartment is in this building? In the middle of Manhattan?"

"Yep!"

"I'm certain I can't afford this."

"Well, I'm certain you couldn't really afford anything until now, but it is included in your benefits package, remember? I'm also certain that when leads come in the middle of the night, you'll be glad you don't have to travel in from who knows where."

Waiting right next to the parking spot when the limo pulled up was a rail-thin, gorgeous woman with strawberry blonde hair. Tony got out first and gave her a kiss, barely leaving enough space in the doorway for Bruce and I to squeeze out past them without brushing against them.

When they pulled apart, I teased Tony, "If that was you staking your claim, Tony, I assure you it was unnecessary. I'm not into other women. No offense. You must be Ms. Potts, is that correct?"

"None taken and yes, but please, call me Pepper. And you must be Ms. Plum."

"You can call be Stephanie, or Steph for that matter."

Somehow without even giving us direction, Pepper had us all walking with her and we were stepping onto an elevator as she said, "Bruce, if you don't mind, we're just going to take Stephanie to my office and finish up the paperwork before heading up for dinner. Would you mind telling the others we'll be there shortly?"

"Not a problem, Pepper. I'll see you soon, Steph. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"You too, and thanks for the, uh, aid." I said, holding my bandaged hand up awkwardly as I followed Pepper and Tony off the elevator when it stopped.

As I followed them, my eyes were drawn to Pepper's feet and the heels that were clacking against the tile. Those were some to die for shoes.

"Thank you. Do I sense a fellow shoe fan?"

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes?"

"Damn. I do that way too often without meaning to." At the worried look Pepper shot Tony, I added a hasty, "never with secrets, usually just with observations. Often embarrassing ones. But yes, I am definitely a shoe person."

"Alright, well, have a seat, and take a look. This is your final short-term contract."

I started reading through when I frowned, "this way too much."

"Nonsense. Stark Industries recruits the best, and we pay accordingly. You'll notice that we're also asking you to go ahead and start working for us tomorrow, rather than giving you the standard time off for a relocation, so your relocation and signing bonuses have been adjusted to compensate you for that."

"Yeah, but you're also giving me a fully furnished apartment, so it isn't like I'd need the time anyway."

"Fully-stocked, yes. And we usually give people a week or more if we can spare it just to adjust to their new home and get to know the area, so you really are getting the short end of the stick."

"This can't be right. It says that I'll receive combat pay in addition to my regular pay while I'm on missions. Shouldn't that be in lieu of? And isn't this too high either way?"

"Nope!" Tony said happily.

"Are these bonuses?"

"For each Avenger you find, yes. And extra if you convince them to come back," replied Pepper calmly.

"Is there anything I'm going to be able to say that will convince you to pay me less?"

"Nope!" this time it was Pepper who sounded way too happy considering she was giving away tons of money when she chimed in with that.

I blew out a breath and signed everywhere indicated, which caused Pepper to clap in delight as she quickly made a copy and handed that to me. I shoved it in my purse, and then said, "well. thanks!"

"Okay, well, family dinner time," said Pepper.

"Sure, no problem. Just show me where my apartment is and where I should be tomorrow, and I'll get out of your hair."

"Not so fast, Kiddo." Tony said, and when I raised my brow at that, he said, "alright, I suppose that nickname won't work."

"Steph is fine, seriously Tony."

"Well, Steph, I'm much more into nicknames but you'll figure that out soon enough. Anyway, with all those forms you signed and the fact that you're willing to put yourself at risk for The Avengers, you're part of the family now! So, if I have to go to family dinner, then so do you. Which means it is time to go up to the Avengers' level! Then we'll show you your suite."

"Oh, okay, well, thanks."

Reaching onto her desk as she stood up, Pepper grabbed an ID badge and handed it to me, "This is your official Stark Industries ID badge. You should wear it when you're on any of the Corporate, non-Avengers floors, though JARVIS should have scanned all of your biometric data by now. Those will get you around the Avengers floor, and the whole building, the human security guards just prefer badges still for some reason. So wearing this will keep them from making an embarrassment of themselves by hassling an Avengers team member."

"I saw JARVIS mentioned in the paperwork I signed, and Tony mentioned him earlier, but who exactly is JARVIS?"

"I am, Ms. Plum." a voice came out of the ceiling in the elevator.

I looked at Pepper wearily and Tony clarified, "he's my AI. Stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, and he runs the building, among other things. For the time being, you can consider him to be your partner. His research capabilities are going to knock your socks off compared to the systems you've been using at Rangeman."

Before I could comment more, the elevator doors opened and a handful of people stood waiting for us.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Blurted out a woman who looked a little shorter than me with wavy, dark brunette hair.

"uh, hi. I'm Stephanie Plum. Until, oh, about 10 minutes ago, I was a Bounty Hunter, now I'm a…" I trailed off pulling my paperwork out of my bag. "Badass Location and Security Consultant?"

Pepper shrugged and smiled, "Tony insisted and since it is a temporary contract, I decided it wasn't worth fighting him over."

"I like it. Anyway, I had a skip- a criminal who didn't show up for court, to bring in to jail this morning. He had a gun, and a knife, and he didn't want to go to jail. Oh, and he really didn't like me in the first place. Honestly though, you should see him!"

A copy of this morning's booking picture popped up on the screen next to me, and everyone winced then turned to eye me.

"Well, he shot me!"

"And stabbed you," added Bruce.

"And threw trash on you," said Tony, shuddering at the memory.

"Did you have help?" Asked the tall, skinny brunette who had been quietly observing.

"Nope. Got him in all by myself."

"Satisfactory- for an untrained civilian. I'm Maria Hill, Director of Stark Industries' Global Security division. We start your training at 5 am tomorrow morning, and I'm going to make sure it takes more than one guy to make you look like this again."

"Thanks? I think." I'd prefer if she made it so that not even a group of guys could make me feel like this again, but that was probably asking too much.

I could almost see a ghost of a smile on her face as she said, "eventually, I'm sure I can. But I like to set realistic goals and expectations, so that's what I chose for the next week or two. You're going to hate me."

"Probably only in the gym or wherever else we're training. You seem pretty alright otherwise."

"Just don't forget she's one of those spies who is so good and in so deep that even her secrets have secrets," sassed Tony. There was really no other word for it.

From the look on Maria's face, I'd say she'd heard that one before and was completely okay with it. Probably because it was true. Bruce stepped forward then, and gestured to the remaining two people in the room, "This is Dr. Foster, and her lab assistant, Darcy Lewis."

Dr. Foster responded, "please, call me Jane," at the same time Darcy said, "hey, I assist all you crazy scientists! Not just Jane; she was just my first ward."

Bruce gave Darcy a clearly amused, fond look that an older brother would give his sister and everyone else chuckled. Darcy's attention swung back to me, "so, this guy shot you, stabbed you, and threw trash on you."

"Among other things."

"What did you do to him?"

"Everything. Except tase him. My stupid taser was out of batteries."

"Ugh, I feel you there. I hate when that happens. Why don't they make taser batteries bigger? Or you know, limitless," she said pointedly with her gaze fixed on Tony.

"For the last time, Lewis, I'm not making you a custom taser. Not until you promise to never use it on me!" Tony replied emphatically.

"I can't make that promise," Darcy fired back.

"Then I can't make that taser," responded Tony.

My eyes were moving between the two as they played their verbal tennis match when Pepper cut in, "alright, that's enough. Let's not scare Steph off on her first day. Plus, dinner is ready!"

At that, the group enthusiastically turned and walked off, so I followed them into what was almost certainly the largest kitchen I'd ever seen. I took in the amount of food covering every surface in it, complete with a table dedicated to dessert, and said, "I think I've died and gone to heaven."

"Hopefully not, since that would mean we were all in heaven as well," muttered Jane.

I smiled at her, fairly certain she hadn't meant to say that out loud, and I could definitely relate. "I just meant this food looks great. Especially dessert," turning to Pepper and Tony I said, "it's already way more awesome here than at Rangeman. Ranger only stocks twigs and bark to eat."

When Tony simply shuttered in reply and Pepper smiled politely, I added, "seriously though, there's no way we can eat all of this."

"Well, we never really know when-" Tony was cut off by a loud clap of thunder and Jane's squeal of delight before she ran out to the balcony onto a stream of bright, rainbow light. When the light cleared, Jane was standing there making out with an absolutely gorgeous, hugely muscular blonde man. "Thor will arrive." Tony continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.

Darcy added, "and he seems to have a knack for showing up at meal time. And trust me, after a couple years of trying to feed him myself when he visited Jane, that man puts away even more food than he looks like he can."

Geeze. Where do I sign up for the hunky blonde super hero wait list, I wondered to myself. Or rather, I'd thought it was to myself, but Bruce choked a little, Pepper looked delighted, Tony scoffed as though personally affronted, and Maria just looked at me assessingly. Darcy looked furious for a second before smiling like the Cheshire Cat. I just blushed and looked down at my toes before going to fix myself a plate and wishing I could drown myself in the bowl of gravy that was sitting on the table. It was completely silent behind me, and I felt their gazes on me. Finally I turned around and sighed, "I'm sorry. I meant no offense. It just slipped out; he's hot, but he's clearly taken and I don't do cheating. I've had it done to me enough for one lifetime, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else or enable it in any way."

Everyone seemed to still be studying me and I fidgeted a little under their scrutiny until Pepper said, "so honesty must be pretty important to you, huh?"

"God, yes."

That resulted in more looks being exchanged around me, and I resolved myself to the fact that I'd aligned myself with another group who seemed able to communicate via ESP. Thankfully I was saved from the awkward moment dragging on any further by Thor entering the room with Jane tucked into his side. He let go of her in order to go around and greet each person, which seemed to, in his case, involve lots of almost painfully tight looking hugs.

Finally he stopped in front of me and I set my plate to the side as he smiled genuinely and enthusiastically, "Heimdall has told me about your arrival at the Tower, so I wanted to come and make your acquaintance. My Lady Jane has informed me that you are going to search for my fellow warriors here on Midgard. From your look, it appears you may be a shield-maiden as well."

I stared at him for a moment, not really sure who Heimdall or what a shield-maiden was. I genuinely had no idea how to respond. Eventually Thor continued, "you appear to have been in battle recently, have you not?"

"In a manner of thinking, sure." I said while the rest of the group answered him in the affirmative. That shook me out of my confused stupor long enough to reach my hand out and say, "Stephanie Plum, you can call me Steph. It is an honor to meet you."

Much to my surprise, Thor took my proffered hand and, after grasping it, pulled me into his embrace. "The honor is mine, Lady Stephanie."

"Seriously just Stephanie, please."

Thor frowned a little at this, but appeared to acquiesce. We all fixed our plates and ate our fill while filling the time with friendly conversation. It seemed everyone had questions for me, but that made sense as I was new. What was probably at least an hour flew by before Thor was saying to Tony, "I was unaware that so many of our party were missing, Friend. Although he is busy, Heimdall has offered to assist La- Stephanie in her search when he is able."

Seeing the confusion on my face, Jane added, "Heimdall is the gatekeeper of Asgard, which is the realm Thor is from; he is all-seeing, so although it may take him a while to find them, he will probably be able to help you locate the rest of the team."

"All seeing?"

"Don't worry, he doesn't spend his time being a creeper though!" Darcy rushed to assure me, and I'll admit, it really didn't do much to help.


A/N: Hit my goal chapter this weekend... possibly at the neglect of my move... at any rate, so begins the week of updates! Merry Christmas! Thanks for all of you who read and review!