We landed on the Helicarrier about five minutes later. It was a massive barge in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles away from the nearest land. There were a lot of army-type people running around, securing various helicopters and other things down to the deck of the Helicarrier. Steve, Coulson and I exited the Quinjet. I had to steady my footing slightly. I wasn't expecting something this far out to sea. It was a good job Poseidon and I got along swimmingly or I'd be in deep trouble. (Sea what I did there? With the nautical jokes? Oh, meh. My comic genius is wasted on you people.)
"Agent Romanoff," Coulson said to a red headed woman who approached us, "This is Captain Rodgers."
Steve nodded to her. "Ma'am," he said.
"Hi," she said, sounding a little bored. "They need you on the bridge," she said to Coulson.
"I'll see you there," he said, leaving us with Agent Romanoff.
"I'm Eden Llewellyn, by the way," I said, introducing myself to her.
She walked off as if I hadn't spoken.
"There was quite a buzz around here," she said to the Captain, "Finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"
"Trading cards?" Steve asked with a bemused smile.
"They're vintage. He's very proud," she said, smirking slightly. I decided I quite liked her, even if she had ignored me. Like everyone else. I figured it was because I'm a teenager. Or English. Definitely one or the other. Maybe both?
It was then I noticed a very jittery looking man stood by another Quinjet. He was wearing a grey suit with a button down purple shirt underneath. His skin was quite tanned, as if he'd just come from a very hot country. He jerked away from anyone who came to close. When he faced us, I recognised him as Dr Bruce Banner.
"Dr Banner," Steve called to him. He walked over to us.
"Oh, yeah. Hi," he said, shaking Steve's hand. "They told me you'd be coming."
"Word is you can find the cube," Steve said.
Bruce looked around nervously, grasping his hands. "Is that the only word on me?" He seemed... disappointed, almost.
"Only word I care about," I muttered, getting kind of annoyed with being ignored by everyone.
Bruce looked over Steve's shoulder at me. He leant around him to shake my hand.
"Thanks. Good to meet you, Miss…?" he asked.
"Llewellyn," I said, shaking his hand and smiling broadly. Finally, someone who showed an interest that I actually existed. "Eden Lee Llewellyn. It's nice to meet you, Dr Banner. My friend is quite the admirer of yours."
His brow creased. "Really?"
"You might want to step inside in a minute," Agent Romanoff interrupted. "It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."
Just then there was an almighty rumble as a siren wailed. Steve, Bruce and I looked at each other in confusion. The deck became a flurry of activity, with people tying things down and securing various aircrafts, even putting breathing apparatus on.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.
Dr Banner smiled humourlessly. "Really, they want me is a submerged pressurised metal container?" Banner said, disbelievingly.
We ambled towards the edge of the carrier to take a closer look. If it did turn out to be a submarine, I'd probably fair better than if I was flying – Posiden was more inclined to make sure I survived an accident in the sea than Zeus was in the air. Then we felt the shudder rip through the ship as it lifted from the water. We saw the giant propellers come up from under the water. We backed away from the edge slightly.
This thing flies! I thought to myself, not knowing whether to be excited or scared.
"Oh no," Banner said. "This is much worse."
About fifteen minutes later Agent Romanoff – or Natasha, as she preferred to be called – took us to the ship's bridge. I'd never in a million years imagine myself on an invisible flying ship having a meeting for a secret government organisation about a rampant god with a bunch of super heroes. Even by my standards, it was a little hard to believe. Except the rampant god bit – that was completely plausible.
The bridge was alive with activity. Agents were sat at various screens, checking the Helicarrier's statistics and vitals. Steve walked in confidently, looking around in amazement. I suppose this was all very new for him. Dr Banner looked around nervously. Contrastingly, I supposed this was all very familiar to him, or more the Hulk. I decided I'd protect the Doctor. He was a good man and didn't deserve all the shit that had happened to him in his lifetime.
Nick Fury turned from the helm to face us.
"Gentlemen, Eden," he said in greeting, coming over to us. Steve dug in his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. From the smug look on Fury's face, he knew he'd win that bet.
"Dr Banner," Nick said, offering his hand. "Thank you for coming."
After a beat Bruce shook his hand. "Thanks for asking nicely," he said. "So, urm, how long am I staying?"
"Once we have our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."
Bruce nodded. "Where are you with that?"
"We're sweeping every accessible camera on the planet," Coulson answered. "Cell phones, laptops; if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
'Much like how monsters track demigods,' I thought dryly. 'Good to know the government can do the same thing. Makes me feel even safer and not at all uneasy...'
"That's still not going to find them in time," Romanoff stated.
"We need to narrow the field," Bruce said. "How many spectrometers do you have access too?"
"How many are thee?" Fury countered.
Dr Banner turned to Agent Coulson. "Call every lab you know. Tell them to put their spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays," he said, taking off his suit jacket. Did they have one of those in the Athena cabin? Probably, knowing them. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places. You have somewhere for me to work?" he finished, rolling up his sleeves.
"Agent Romanoff," Fury called. "Could you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please?"
She nodded and came over.
"You're gonna love it Doc," she said, leading the way. "We've got all the toys."
I was tempted to follow, but decided I would be neither use nor ornament there. I let the good Doctor get on with his work in peace. I just stood back and watched the activity in the room. When I tried to wander around and peer over people's shoulders, no one objected. I did find a man near the back playing an old arcade game on his computer (Galaga, I think) but other than that nothing particularly interesting. That was, until I came across a screen with Loki's photo on it.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Cross referencing the images of Loki we obtained from the CCTV of the mostly destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D research labs with all the cameras around the world," the agent replied. "As soon as Loki comes out into the open, we'll have a lock on him."
I nodded, swallowing slightly. I was both nervous and aching to see him again. Would he still be the same, or would he have changed so completely that I wouldn't recognise him? The few looping scratchy CCTV frames they had on the screen to reference from didn't look like the Loki I remembered: his eyes were sunken, his hair longer, his lips chapped and skin paler than usual. Only time would tell, I supposed.
Just then the screen started flashing red and beeping. The agent whirled around to Director Fury.
"Sir, we've got a hit. 67% match." Fury walked over to him. The agent turned back to his screen. "Wait: cross match 73%."
"Location?" Coulson asked.
"Stuttgart, Germany," the agent replied. Germany? "28 Konienstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."
There was a picture from a CCTV camera to the right of the screen, next to a map of the location. I had to catch my breath a little. After not seeing him for a whole year, his flawless skin and perfect face made my heart stutter more than it did usually when I saw him. Especially since he was wearing a close fitting suit that made him look particularly dashing. At least now he looked a lot more like his usual self. I took a moment to calm myself before turning expectantly to Fury.
"Captain?" he called. "You're up." Steve nodded and set off. "You too, Llewellyn. Suit up and meet the Captain and Agent Romanoff in the hanger in ten minutes."
I nodded and went off to where my bags had been dumped. I chose a secluded spot and strapped on my armour. The brown leather fit my frame like a glove. I could quite happily walk around it all the time if it didn't look so weird – after all these years of wearing it the weight felt like nothing to me. I secured my weapons in various places on my person and, once satisfied, made my way towards the hanger.
When there, I saw Steve and Natasha outside the Quinjet I assumed we'd be taking to Germany. Before I got there, Agent Coulson stopped me.
"I was kind of lying when I said you didn't have to wear a uniform," he said a little sheepishly. He handed me a small leather mask the same colour as my armour. It was only big enough to cover my eyes. "You don't have to wear it," he continued, "But we figured you might not want everyone knowing your identity."
I thanked him and put it on. It didn't hinder my sight at all, which I appreciated. He let me go and I went onto the Quinjet. In a few hours I'd be face to face with the man I love. In battle.
Not exactly the reunion I was hoping for.
A/N: Hi guys! So, Loki next chapter! Unfortunately, we now have Mock exams, so I have to revise like mad for them and might not be able to update regularly for a few weeks. If there is a big enough response, I may be persuaded to update early before exams actually start... R&R! Fronk x