New York, 2012

Manhattan, New York

I had left almost immediately with Phil Coulson that night, going outside to sit in the luxurious black car with Miss Pots. Pepper had assured me that I would see Tony soon enough and that this Phil person was definitely trustworthy. During the 20 minutes before we dropped Pepper off, the two spoke about a cellist that Phil had been seeing. He sounded sweet saying that he wasn't sure that he should get too involved if he was going to be a part of SHIELD. Once she exited the car, Phil turned to me.

"So Miss Fairhaven-"

"You can call me Victoria if you like, I'm assuming I can call you Phil too?" I said quietly, trying to keep my calm. The agent seemed shaken, definitely worried about something. "Pepper seems to trust you. I'd like to trust you too."

"Victoria it is then." Phil replied, smiling wearily. "I wanted to make you an offer tonight, to join the Avengers initiative. We need help facing a threat to humanity and with help from people like Iron Man and Captain America."

"And you want my help? But I'm nothing like those people… I'm not as strong or as good at fighting – what would you want me to do?" I asked, concerned that this man was overestimating my abilities.

"Director Fury believes that your shields could prove useful in the fight to come. Even if it's just to cover the team or perform civilian rescues. He has faith in you Victoria." Phil assured me, placing a hand on my own. I wanted to believe him, that maybe I could be of some use or do some good. I'd never done anything like this before, and I didn't want to disappoint anyone.

"Does Tony know that you're asking me?" I spoke up, anxious that Tony would disapprove. Since I had met him he had become very protective of me. I imagine that his aloof and yet overbearing way of showing he cared was somewhat like having a father figure, and I didn't want to jeopardise that relationship.

"He will after reading this." Phil stated, handing me a manila folder. Opening it cautiously and beginning to read, I felt my heart drop. What had I gotten myself into…

Washington, DC

Upon arriving at SHIELD, I had been given a new combat suit, similar to the one I had seen Maria wear time after time. A gun was holstered at my hips as well as some electro discs. I had been given fingerless combat gloves and told that the suit would need to be given back after the mission.

Mission…

I walked up the ramp to the Quinjet, clasping my shaking hands and checking for the 50th time that my cuffs were in place and functioning normally. I took a seat in the back of the jet and placed my head in my hands. Though my long hair was tied up, it fell over my shoulder in a wave of fiery curls, more red in the light of the jet than usual. Just as I had been about to start panicking a familiar voice broke me out of my funk.

"Tor? What are you doing here?" I stood up and hugged Steve Rogers in greeting. He didn't look happy to see me, his eyebrows drawn together in a concerned frown.

"I've been asked to help with the mission to retrieve the tesseract," I answered him, not bothering to hide the wariness in my voice.

"Are you sure about this Tor? It could be really dangerous… I'm not sure that the battlefield's the place for nice dames like you – girls like you," he said, taking a seat next to me and trying to meet my eyes.

"I know what you're saying Steve, but if this," I motioned with my hand creating a tiny sphere shield in my palm, "If this can help people, I can't really back down. I don't want to wait around for you to do all the work. You don't have the Howling Cammandos anymore, but that doesn't mean you have to fight alone."

"You never stop surprising me kid," Steve said, giving me a very begrudging smile and placing one of his large hands on my shoulder. I smiled back and sat down. He took the seat next to me as Phil came aboard and started to brief him on the Asgardian named Loki and the Avengers initiative. Almost two hours later the pilot broke the silence that had taken over the jet, jerking me awake and away from Steve, whose arm I had been using as a pillow.

"We're about forty minutes from base, sir." Phil got up and nodded at the pilots before approaching us. We both peered at the tablet in Steve's hands, where images of Bruce Banner and the Hulk were playing.

"So, this Dr Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Steve asked with a harsh edge to his voice. I couldn't tell if it was guilt, regret or resentment. Phil nodded.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first super hero. Banner thought that gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erksine's formula," he explained. I jumped as the Hulk smashed through a jet on Steve's tablet screen. That poor man, I wonder if he regretted his decisions now that he had this sort of strange Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde situation.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve responded, cringing at the screen.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking." I could see Steve's confusion at Phil's analogy. "He's like a smart person." I giggled and shook my head.

"He's a world renowned scientist that studied black holes and relative physics. He's sort of a super genius." I whispered to Steve, who still looked puzzled.

"I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Poor Phil, I could tell that he was trying to look cool in front of Steve, but boy was he floundering. "I mean, I was… I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a… a huge honor to have you on board." I gave Phil a knowing smile as he looked at me for reassurance. I tried to give him a look that said 'it wasn't too bad', but his little speech had definitely been a little awkward. Steve had gotten up to lean against the cockpit, watching the windshield and our trajectory.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." He said with uncertainty. I could understand how he felt, and knowing that he felt that way too gave me a little more confidence. Maybe we would all feel a little inexperienced or uncertain at first. When I focused back in on their conversation Steve was questioning whether his old uniform wouldn't be too old fashioned for the upcoming mission. Phil gave him a thoughtful look, standing up a little straighter.

"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned." Steve seemed to take on this sentiment and looked on.

I thought about what Phil said. The things that were happening… Was I really ready to take part in them? Alien gods and battles for the Earth's safety… I wished that Professor Xavier was here to give me some advice. I would have to rely on my new family this time. Steve and Tony, and whoever else I was about to meet.

As the Quinjet came in to land on a massive battleship, I felt all of nerves coming straight back to me. It was huge, with two runways. One with direct access to a hangar at the rear of the vessel, which is where we landed. Upon landing the ramp of the jet opened and Phil motioned for us to leave.

Following Steve out of the jet I was shocked as a family head of bright red hair met us.

"Nat!?" I called out in surprise, running to give her a hug. She looked shocked and a little guilty, which I didn't understand at all. As I pulled away Phil and Steve approached us.

"Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers. I believe there's no need to introduce Miss Fairhaven?" Phil spoke, gesturing to each person as he mentioned them.

"Ma'am?" Steve responded, tilting his head to Natasha.

"Hi," she responded, regarding him before turning her attention back to me. I must have been giving her a very questioning look. She shrugged and let out a sigh as Phil was called away to the bridge. "Sorry, Tori, I have to keep my alias' on until I know I can rely on people. You can still call me Nat. It's just short for Natalia Romanoff, not Natasha Rushmore." I frowned at this admission, feeling a little hurt that she hadn't trusted me sooner. She rubbed my upper arm, giving me her best apologetic look. She turned her attention to Steve.

"There was quite a buzz around here you know? Finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" She asked, smirking slightly.

"Trading cards?" Steve responded, looking confused.

"They're vintage, he's very proud." With Nat's last comment I decided to follow after Phil, smiling at Bruce Banner shyly as I walked past him. He looked lost and dazed, I felt like it wasn't really my place to say much more, he was heading towards Nat and Steve anyway.

I walked across the tarmac, heading for the bridge. The automated, bulletproof doors slid open as I approached to reveal a huge room. There was a flurry of activity as dozens of agents sat in front of view screens. Maria Hill was shouting instructions to the crew telling them to leave the water. She smirked and nodded as she saw me. "We're at a lock, sir."

I turned to see Director Nick Fury standing at the command chair in roughly the centre of the room.

"Let's vanish." He said, as Steve and Banner walked through the glass doors and on to the bridge. "Gentlemen."

Fury turned to speak to Banner, as I approached Steve.

"Well, this is impressive… and daunting," I said, leaning over the railing beside Steve. He turned to look at me, leaning on the rail.

"Hey," he said softly, putting his arm on my shoulder. "You're gonna be great."

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear," Fury was saying to Banner, who looked as though he was on the defensive about something. I realised that he probably was under the assumption that Fury had ulterior motives regarding the Hulk. I couldn't say that I blamed him. The transformation looked painful, and from looking at his file, he did not approve of using the Hulk as a weapon.

"Where are you with that?" Banner responded, Fury turned to Phil to have him explain. I was vaguely aware of Coulson explaining their wireless sweeping of cameras around the world, but I was more concerned with the way Nat was looking at a photo of a man on one of the agents' viewscreens. I had never seen her look concerned before, but that photo clearly bothered her for some reason.

"That's still not gonna find them in time." She spoke, catching my eye and looking away, as if she didn't want me to see what she was feeling. I moved towards her and looked at the screen. Agent Barton. I looked back at her and was about to ask her what was going on when Fury cut me off.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please? Take Fairhaven with you, she might be able to use those socio analytics to help us find our target," Nat nodded and started to walk towards another exit, motioning for me to follow her.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

I followed behind them quickly, feeling like a fish out of water.

The lab was amazing, and as soon as we stepped in I started using one of the screens. If Fury thought my socio analytics could help, then I wasn't going to let him down. I would search through trending media and make an algorithm to pin point any negative or shocking events that were occurring. I watched Banner start to set up his own screen and begin using the equipment. Once my screen was flashing through news feeds and pinging on related articles, I approached him to see if I could do any more. "So, what are you doing?" I asked, genuinely curious. His fingers and eyes were moving furiously over the screen. At first I didn't expect him to answer, but he smiled at me, before continuing his work.

"I'm using spectrometers around the world to search for clusters of gamma radiation in order to narrow down the cubes location."

"Interesting. I's going to search through trending posts and use the known images and traits we know about Loki to scan for anything relevant. Can't underestimate the power of social media," I smiled.

It was about two hours later that I found myself sitting with Steve on the bridge, my head in my hands as I watched my smart phone, still flicking through news posts. I found something interesting on a live fed news site about a charity gala in Germany. I walked over to an agent and scanned the images I had found into the screen.

"We got a hit. 67% match…" A bald agent stated, staring at the image I had sent through. Steve looked at me approvingly, before looking back to the agent. "Wait… Cross match, 79%."

"Location?" Phil asked the agent.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, Fairhaven, you're up." Fury said, after looking at the screen. Steve and I looked at each other, giving each other a subtle nod as we left the room to prepare. Heading to the lockers, Steve took out his newly prepared uniform as I strapped on my gun holster and took out my utility belt, complete with charged electro discs.

Stuttgart, Germany

As we arrived in Stuttgart, we moved towards the museum which the gala was being held in. I focused on my psionic energy, feeling the ripple of it across my skin, allowing myself to become invisible. The Asgardian, Loki, was standing before a large crowed of terrified people. Yelling at them to kneel. I felt bile rise in my throat as the group collectively lowered themselves to their knees. This was abhorrent.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" I could feel tears stinging my eyes as the man with a horned helmet continued his speech. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity."

"Steve?" I whispered, making sure that he could hear me. His nod confirmed that he could. "I'm going to try and get to the middle of the crowd, otherwise my shield might not be able to protect them in time if things turn sour." Steve, who was definitely the Captain right now, gave me one nod of confirmation. I began to move, ensuring that I didn't bump anyone or cause anything to move or give away my location.

"You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." I began to panic as an elderly man stood up, refusing to kneel with the others. I quickly changed my path and headed towards him.

"Not to men like you," the man said. I was so close, only a few meters away now.

"There are no men like me," Loki sneered. Only a few feet away.

"There are always men like you." I was right next to the man now.

"Look to your elder, people." Loki smirked. "Let him be an example."

Loki points his staff at the man, ready to execute him. His scepter begins to glow with a bright blue light. Just as the energy beam shoots out, I drop my invisibility and create a dome like force field around myself and the man, my forearm out in front of me as I deflect Loki's attack. Steve jumps down in front of us and smirks at Loki as the shock of my force field bounces the energy back at him and he falls on his ars.

"You know," Steve said, quickly checking on me as I dropped the shield. "The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"Ah, an amateur illusionist. How quaint. And the Soldier. A man out of time…" Loki spoke, as if his failed attack meant nothing.

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Steve spoke, just as Nat in the Quinjet appeared above us, her machine gun pointed straight at Loki.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Nat's voice boomed over the PA system.

Quicker than I could react to, Loki had shot at the Quinjet, Nat got out of the way just in time to avoid a direct hit. Steve used Loki's distraction to throw his shield at him and run forward, throwing punches and kicks at the God. Loki threw Steve to the ground, but he quickly regained his composure and sent his shield flying back towards Loki. Unfortunately Loki deflected and sent the shield flying towards me. I caught it within a force field, quickly dropping it out of the field and turning to help the civilians escape the area. Using my force field I managed to get them out of the line of fire without too much difficulty. However, as I turned back towards the fight and saw Steve in trouble, I realised that I was running out of energy. I wasn't used to using my force fields for prolonged periods of time and I could feel it starting to drain on my energy. Loki had his sceptre pointing at Steve's helmet.

"Kneel," he sneered down at Steve.

"Not today!" Steve yelled as he sprung up, using his momentum to kick Loki. I watched in horror as Loki flipped him over. It was clear the Nat couldn't do anything without possibly hurting Steve too. I looked around in desperation.

Suddenly music started to play over the Quinjet's PA system. 'Shoot to thrill' by ACDC. I grinned. That could only be one person.

"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?" Tony Stark's voice came over the PA. I looked to Steve and Loki who were watching as Iron Man appeared, flying towards them and blasting Loki right to the ground. Touching down and standing with all of his weaponry systems activated and pointing at Loki.

"Make your move reindeer games." He spoke calmly, facing off with Loki, who was still sprawled on the floor. Loki raised his hands in surrender, his armor de-materializing before our eyes. "Good move."

"Mr Stark," Steve said through heavy breaths.

"Captain." Tony replied. "Kid, how's things?"

"Oh you know, same old!" I replied, grinning from ear to ear.

Hey guys, glad to see people are reading. Please feel free to leave reviews or feedback – particularly if you notice a typo. I'm trying to really pump these out, but I've noticed a few silly mistakes so feel free to point them out for me to change if you notice them too! Thanks for reading J