"So, is he as good looking as they say?" Natasha says. I whip my head to the side to look at her and find a full eyebrow arched looking at me.
Shaking my head, I turn away my head to look back out over the water. "I'm not discussing that," I say tersely. A small smile quirks up at the corners of my mouth. If I were to pick out my best friend from the people I knew, Natasha Romanoff would be the closest thing to one. We got along well, fought well together, but we were far from comparing nail polishes over coffee.
"Well, I'll guess I'll find out soon enough," she says. The sound of the jet grows louder as it approaches the deck. We both stand side by side, arms crossed over our chests as the jet touches down.
"Just…be nice to him, okay?" I say, suddenly getting antsy to see him. Turning my head towards her again, I find her looking at me…again. I had to admit; when I first met her she was a bit intimidating. Then, I was able to read her and found out she was just as twisted as I was. Right now, she was giving me that intimidating look. "You heard me," I mumble, starting to walk over to the jet.
At the rear, I watch as the back hatch opens, Steve and Phil Coulson walking out. Steve immediately starts looking around, taking in the sights of the floating aircraft runway. When his eyes land on me, a smile jumps onto his lips. "Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Rogers," I say, introducing the two.
"Ma'am," Steve says in greeting. He reaches his hand out and shakes hers.
She gives him a noncommittal greeting before turning to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge," she says to him, getting right down to business. "Face time." Coulson nods his head once before hurrying off and disappearing. The three of us start to slowly meander across the deck. "There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Natasha says, directing the comment to Steve. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"
"Trading cards?" Steve asks, looking at Natasha and then at me.
"Tasha," I chastise. "Be nice."
I can hear her mentally roll her eyes at me. I had my block down, getting my feel of the staff on board. It's just a question Jansen, she says, fully aware that I'm listening. You know you want to know too. "They're vintage, he's very proud." She explains to Steve.
Our group stops as we see Dr. Banner stumble into our path. We watch him spin around, totally perplexed by his surroundings. "Dr. Banner," Steve says, immediately walking up to him, no hesitation like most had when approaching the doctor.
Steve extends his hand, shaking hands with Dr. Banner. "Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming," Dr. Banner says.
I think your boy has a little crush, Natasha thinks, invading my thoughts. I shake my head just a little, enough for her to notice. No to the crush…or no to him being your boy? I narrow my eyes before looking at her, wishing her mind was weak enough to inject thoughts into. Before I can try and shoot a thought at her, a voice rings out over my ear piece, telling me that Fury wanted to talk to me.
"They need me down on the deck," I say, making the group turn to look at me. "I'll catch up with y'all later. Natasha, be nice to the boys." I turn away from the group before they could react and make my way over to the down leading inside as the deck starts to shake.
"How's he doing?" Fury says before I've even come to a stop next to him.
"Phil? He's fine," I say, sarcasm dripping through. "I think the pilot said he only passed out once when he met Steve." Fury turns to look at me, his one visible eye narrowed at me. "I just left him last night Nick, right after you gave us the orders. He's still the same…confused at this world, but willing to help however he can."
"Good, that's good," he says, turning back to look over all the people at computers, buzzing around like little worker bees. "The rest will come to him. You'll make sure of that."
"Yes sir," I say.
"Can you really not hear him?"
"Nope," I say. "And yes, it is just as frustrating as you dreamed it would be."
"I was wondering about that," Fury says. I didn't even have to read his thoughts, the smug glint in his eye told me he found it amusing.
As I work up something to say back to him, I hear Steve, Natasha, and Bruce make their way onto the deck. I watch Steve as he walks up to us, staring around the deck. I let out a chuckle as I watch him reach into his pocket and pull out a ten dollar bill, handing it to Nick. "Pretty cool…isn't it?" I say to Steve as Nick walks over to Dr. Banner.
"It's…something else," Steve says, still looking around. "A boat…and then a plane…now all this…" He holds an arm out, sweeping it towards the rows of computers. "I'll be fine though," he says, giving me a smile. I was starting to pick up on his tells, this was his I'm probably in over my head, but I'll make it through this smile.
"Yeah, you'll be fine," I say, nodding my head. "If it makes you feel any better I heard they have great food on board."
"How do you know that?" he asks, arching an eyebrow at me.
I take a finger and tap it to the side of my head. "I have my ways," I say, giving him a smile. He shakes his head in amusement as he continues to look around at all the commotion going on. As we stand there silently, I hear Phil Coulson's thoughts from behind me. "Oh boy," I say with a small chuckle.
"What?" Steve asks.
"You'll see in just a minute," I say, trying to stifle an all-out laugh. "Get a pen ready Cap…"
"What the hell is that thing?" I say, as Natasha easily realigns the jet after Loki shot whatever the blue stuff was towards our jet. She trains the machine gun back on the Asgardian as he fights with Steve.
"They're all over the place," she mumbles. "I can't get a clean shot. Jansen can you-"
"No, I can't," I say, watching the duo move around the area below us. "He's moving too quickly. Probably acting before he thinks. If we're right on our hypothesis, Hawk probably already told him about me. I'm sorry, but I'm useless here."
Suddenly, the instruments on the dash light up, a familiar rock song blaring through our speakers. "Agent Romanoff…Agent Jansen…did you miss me?"
"Just peachy," I mumble, watching Iron Man swoop in and blast Loki back.
"Make your move Reindeer Games," Tony's voice says over the coms.
"Lookin good Jansen," Tony whispers at me.
I look up at him from where I was leaning against the wall of the jet. "Knock it off Tony," I say, tugging at the high collar on my suit. I hated the suit I wore when I was out on missions, but it was easier to fight in. It was almost exactly like Natasha…except with a lot less cleavage due to the high collar. A graze from a bullet aimed at my neck years ago had me antsy…hence the high collar.
"What?" he says out of the corner of his mouth. "You are…no shame in saying it."
Not now Tony, I think. Tony had a weaker mind…so I was able to communicate with him this way.
Why? You got the hots for Gramps? He thinks. I see the way you're eyeing him.
So help me Tony…I will throw you out of this jet. He shakes his head, but doesn't say anything else.
"I don't like it," Steve says in a low voice as he walks up to us. He stops on the other side of Tony, but throws a glance over at me.
"What?" Tony says, throwing a glance back at Loki. "Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
"I don't remember it ever being this easy," Steve says, staring back at Loki. I look back at him myself. He was just staring straight ahead…not looking at anything else. "This guy packs a wallop."
"Still, you're pretty spry for an older fellow," Tony says. "What's your thing? Pilates?"
"What?" Steve says, looking back at Tony.
Knock it off Tony, I think. "Just ignore him Steve," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's what I usually do."
Oh, it's Steve now, huh? Natasha thinks at me.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle." Tony says, ignoring me.
You gonna let him talk to your man like that? Natasha thinks.
"Shut it Romanoff," I say out loud. Tony and Steve both look at me with questioning looks. I shake my head as I hear Natasha laugh in her head. After that, I put up my block.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve says. I look over at him and see his chest swell up as he looks down at Tony.
"Yeah, well there's a lot Fury doesn't tell you," Tony replies, the cool cocky look still on his face.
A clap of thunder and lightning and crack across the sky, shaking the jet. "Where is this coming from?" Natasha asks.
"There was nothing on the radar," I say, walking up towards the front of the jet. "I-" Oh crap…
"What, scared of a little lightning?" I hear Steve say. I turn around and look at him to see him looking down at Loki.
"Loki…" I say, knowing exactly where all this was leading to.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," he drones out, looking out of the window.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash outside the jet that simultaneously shakes it. A second later, something rips open the back hatch of the jet. The large blonde haired Asgardian brother of Loki drops down into the jet. He walks into the jet, knocking Tony and Steve back out of his way. "Thor, NO!" I yell over the wind. He ignores me, grabbing his brother and jumping out of the jet, his hammer leading the way.
"Well, there's that guy," Tony says, his Iron Man helmet clicking into place.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha says, flicking switches on the dash.
"Yes," I yell back. "His brother, Thor."
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony says. He turns towards the open hatch and braces himself to jump.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve yells.
"I have a plan…attack," Tony says before jumping from the jet.
I stare after him until I see Steve walk over towards me and reach for a parachute. "Steve, no," I say, grabbing his arm that is stretched out for a parachute.
He looks down at me as Natasha chimes in her two cents. "I'd sit this one out Cap."
"I don't see how I can," he says, shaking my hand off and slinging the pack on his back.
"These guys come from legend, they're basically gods," Natasha says.
"There's only one God ma'am," Steve says, simultaneously tightening the straps on his pack and walking over to the open door. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." I open my mouth to say something, but shut it after seeing the look Steve was giving me: I'll be fine, this is what I was built to do.
"Dang it!" I say as he jumps. "Romanoff, circle back around."
"Let me guess," she says. I feel the jet tilt as I grab a parachute of my own.
"Well I can't let the boys handle this…now can I?" I say, tightening up the straps.
"That's my girl," she says. "Com me when you round them up."
I bend my knees as I feel my feet hit the ground. Unstrapping the chute, I look around and assess my surroundings. "Ah, the mind reader," I hear.
I look up a makeshift path ahead of me and see Loki sitting there, cuffs still thankfully intact. "Oh not now," I say, walking up past him. Down in the forest below, I spot multiple trees falling. "Great…" I attach a quick rig and scale down the side of the mountain. Making my way through the forest, I try and keep tabs on what is going on by tracking Tony's thoughts. Right as I'm about to near them, I hit the ground and grab onto a large rock, bracing myself for the wave of pure energy that razes most of the forest around me as Thor's hammer connects with Steve's shield.
Once it passes, I stand up and see them right below me, standing around looking at each other. I let out a nice, loud slow clap. It does the trick and captures their attention. "Congrats boys," I say. "So who won?" They stay silent as I jump down the rocks and walk up to them. "Oh, by the way, the prisoner is still there, in case you forgot about him."
"Loki is not your concern Agent Jan-"
"Our turf, our problem," I cut Thor off. "I'm sorry Thor, but you know we're right."
He nods his head as he picks his hammer back up. "It's good to see you Agent Jansen," he says, politeness filling his voice.
"You too," I say, giving him a smile. "Now, if you three are done, we have work to do."