Once Natasha had gotten the answers she wanted from Betty, though, her thoughts turned to Agent Maria Hill, and why she might be on the list that Sigyn had. Agent Hill was Natasha's closest female friend, and though she'd never said so to her face, Natasha had noticed the way that the brunette agent had looked at Steve Rogers the first time she'd seen him before the Battle of Manhattan.

It made Natasha wonder, and she shared her thoughts with the other four women aboard Tony's plane, asking for their opinions.

"You said that you weren't told anything about the women on your list, right, Sigyn?" Pepper asked.

"Correct."

"Well, let's do a little deducing then," Betty suggested, settling into a more comfortable position in her seat on the plane. "So far, every woman on that list has been romantically involved with one of the Avengers men, am I right?"

A collective nod.

"And here's another thing:" Jane said, scrounging around in her purse until she drew out a crumpled sheet of her notes and a pen. Smoothing out the piece of paper, she began writing on the clean side of it as she continued to speak. "The guys are Thor, Loki, Clint, Tony, Bruce, and Steve." She drew a dash beside Thor's name, and then her own name behind the dash, continuing, "I, Jane, am basically in a relationship with Thor… or I would be, if he had ever come back to see me, like he promised. Sigyn is married to Loki. Pepper is dating Tony, and Natasha is in a relationship with Clint. Betty is kind of close to getting in my boat; you'd still be in a relationship with Dr. Banner if he'd come back for you, true?"

Betty agreed, and Jane held up her paper triumphantly, saying, "There are five women currently on this plane, and we're going to pick up the final one. There are also six men, and only one of which doesn't have a girl recorded on this paper. That guy is Steve Rogers, and the woman we're going to pick up is Agent Hill."

"Was that your long way of saying that you think they've got something going on with one another?" Natasha asked Jane.

"Yep," Jane nodded pertly, ignoring Natasha's eye-roll as she asked Pepper, Sigyn, and Betty, "What do you guys think?"

The other three women agreed with Jane easily.

"Well," the former Russian muttered. "That should make this interesting."


Surprised at who she thought she saw coming through the doors of the SHIELD headquarters helicarrier, Agent Maria Hill did a double take before realizing that not only was Agent Romanoff here, but she was followed closely by four other women and heading in Maria's direction. The brunette almost yelped in surprise when Agent Romanoff simply grabbed her by the elbow as she passed by, not even glancing at Maria as she dragged her along beside her into Maria's tiny office and shut the door behind the six women.

"You're back early," Maria huffed, ripping her arm from Natasha's grasp. "And with guests, I see – unauthorized, I'm sure."

"We won't be here long enough for anyone to notice," Natasha said coolly, taking a seat atop Maria's desk as she met the other agent's eyes. "We're going to Avengers Tower, and we want you to tag along."

"Thanks, but no, thanks; I have actual work to do."

"We're asking for your help here, Hill," Natasha replied before switching tactics and adding, "And if we don't get it willingly, we'll just drag you along as out hostage. Right now it's five against one, and I could even take you myself. Who do you think would win that battle?"

"And why do you need my help so desperately?" Maria asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"As backup in case Loki starts to go haywire once we get there."

"Or some of the other guys," added a woman with hair the same shade as Maria's own.

Maria narrowed her eyes at the other brunette, trying to place where she knew her face from. A second later, it hit her. Dr. Banner's file. This was Dr. Elizabeth Ross. Scanning the other faces, Maria recognized most of them easily then. Pepper Potts, of course, with Dr. Jane Foster and Natasha. But who was the tiny blonde?

"Let me guess," Maria drawled sardonically. "You're Sigyn?"

She was surprised when the woman answered softly, "Yes."

"And she is understandably afraid of her husband at the moment," Natasha spoke up again.

"Then why not just stay home and do needlepoint or something?"

Sigyn flushed, looking Maria squarely in the eye as she replied, "Because in the past nine weeks, I have had no less than twenty attempts on my life while on Asgard, and contrary to what you Midgardians believe, the people of Asgard are not immortal. Mine might not be the best life at the moment, but it is the only one I have, and I would like to keep it. To that end, my mother-in-law sent me here with the instructions to gather allies and then approach my husband. You were on the list of women she gave me, and that is why we require your assistance."

"But why me?"

"Good question," Natasha said, watching her carefully. "Right now, our theory is that you have a thing going on with Captain America. True or false?"

"How about none of your darn business?"

"So, it's true, then."

"Not according to SHIELD or – if you were to ask him – Steve." Even if she had quickly grown fed up with that fact in the past weeks

"That hurts," Sigyn spoke up again. "How easily men who claim to love you can shove you aside in the name of their battles."

"He does love me," Maria said quietly, barely believing she was saying the words.

"I believe you," Sigyn replied. "I'm not saying he doesn't; I'm saying that, in a way, I understand your situation. And that perhaps it's time to rectify the Avengers' understanding of those circumstances. I would greatly appreciate it if you would come help us resolve my situation. Well, perhaps it's now become mine, and Jane's, and Betty's situations, and I believe that Natasha even has a few choice words for her Hawkeye as well."

"You better believe I do," Natasha said, offering to Maria, "You wanna come see the show?"

"Or join in it?" Jane cajoled.

Maria looked around at the five women, considering this situation and all of its outcomes before she sighed laboriously, giving in with a quick nod of her head, but saying, "We need a plan."

"We'll get it together on the way." Jumping down from Maria's desk, Natasha declared, "Now, off to the tower!"