Kansas 10
"I suppose it would be but it's impossible" said Bruce
She smirked
"Just because something's never been done before doesn't make it impossible, just difficult" said Gin
He glared at her for a few minutes and she waited for him to make a decision. He suddenly snorted.
"So now we're bargaining is that it?" said Bruce
"Guess so, do we have a deal?" said Gin
Bruce crossed his arms over his chest.
"What are the terms? I mean how far are, we going to take this?" said Bruce
Gin thought about it for a few minutes, could she do this? She wasn't sure but she wanted to find out.
"Okay, for one you get some new clothes that haven't been used as a litter box, which goes whether you win or lose" said Gin
Bruce nodded and looked down at his current duds
"Agreed and?" said Bruce
"I put up the barrier if he can get out, we leave you alone. I'll make sure Fury does too" said Gin
He gave her a doubting look because he was sure Fury wouldn't go for that no matter what she said.
"And how do we decide who wins" said Bruce
"Whoever gives up first?" said Gin
Bruce nodded in understanding.
"And in the off chance you win?" said Bruce
He sounded amused because he doubted this contest would last five minutes.
"Then you follow me back and you work with us to stop Loki" said Gin
Bruce shook his head and chuckled.
"Fine what the hell, agreed" said Bruce
She stepped back from him. She may not fear him but only a crazy person would lock themselves in a cage with an enraged hulk.
"Whenever you're ready sweetheart" said Bruce
She smirked at him and pulled the energy. The same way she had done to sever the connection between Loki and Barton. In doing so she dropped the barrier blocking Steve and Thor. She quickly shoved the energy outward and wrapped Bruce in a rather large bubble that even went under his feet. There was no way he was going to trick his way out by digging out from under her bubble. She felt Steve and Thor walk up beside her.
"You know this is a bad idea right?" said Steve
Thor was staring at her shield and appraising it
"Possibly not, the barrier does appear sound" said Thor
Steve glared at him.
"That is in no way helpful" said Steve
She promptly shushed them both because she was trying to concentrate. It only took a few seconds for Bruce to shed his form and become the green behemoth. She noted absently that most of his clothes were shredded by the change. In a completely off the wall moment she wondered if everything on him got bigger and turned green.
She was surprised part of the pants even remained to cover him. She quickly shook that thought from her head because even she wasn't brave enough to ask. The hulk quickly went to work trying to smash his way out of her bubble with his fists. The surface didn't even ripple. The green guy was getting increasingly frustrated with each hit.
He even tried throwing a boulder that she had enclosed in there with him at boulder disintegrated and still the barrier didn't budge. Suddenly the hulk stopped and tilted his head. It appeared to be examining the structure for flaws then with a frustrated roar it attacked again. It kept going for several hours. By now Thor and Steve were bored and sitting on rocks. Gin's legs were getting tired so she found a rock of her own. The sun was starting to go down and even the ship's crew was bored and playing cards on the ramp. Hill appeared to be sleeping standing up, at least until Fury called to see what was taking so long. Gin turned her attention back to the Hulk. He was breathing heavily and for some reason looked a bit freaked out. He spotted her gaze and roared at her. She sighed and pulled her legs up on the rock and sat cross legged
"Give up yet?" said Gin
He answered with a growl and renewed his attack. She sighed and tried to get comfortable on the rock. She wondered if they had any pillows on the plane. The sun went down and still the Hulk was trying to break her cage but he was beginning to show signs of tiring.
"Just give it up already Banner, she will not surrender and the sun has set" said Thor
He sounded frustrated. The Hulk roared at him and Thor sighed in irritation. He didn't look like he was going to give up soon but she hoped he would. Someone turned on the ships lights and started the engines to keep from killing their batteries. One of the agents and Hill pulled out lanterns and positioned them around the area. Gin could hear some of the guys discussing plans to camp for the night.
Gin was starting to shiver because the temperature was dropping now that the sun was down. She didn't even notice Steve had moved until someone draped a blanket over her shoulders.
"Thanks" said Gin
"Your welcome" said Steve
He partially sat on the only available spot on her rock. She scooted over to make room for him. She wasn't sure if she could maintain the barrier if Banner wasn't in her view so she kept her gaze on him.
"I owe you an apology" said Steve.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"So I'm sorry, I should have given you a chance to prove yourself" said Steve
She nodded in understanding.
"It's okay, I understand" said Gin
"No its not, I of all people should have known better" said Steve
She wasn't sure what he meant by that. One of the crewmen was pitching a tent and that's when Banner finally gave up the ghost.
"I'm not sure why you feel that way, but I'm not mad at you, so apology accepted" said Gin
He smiled at her. It lit up his whole face and it distracted her for a few seconds, fortunately by then Banner was already changing back. With a groan the crewmen pulled up the tent stakes they had already put into the ground and rolled the tent back up. Gin slowly uncurled her feet and groaned.
"What's the matter?" said Steve
"Foot fell asleep" said Gin
Thor chuckled behind them, as Gin stood on wobbly feet. She quickly saw another dilemma and quickly opaqued the bottom of the bubble.
"Thanks" said Bruce
She took a few steps and winced as the pins and needles sensation traveled down her leg. She wobbled again and Steve put his arm under hers. Steve smirked at her.
"We could always carry you" said Steve
She glared at him in response. Thor placed his hand on her shoulder
"Relax my tiny friend, the words were in jest" said Thor
Steve chuckled
"He's right I was only kidding" said Steve
He nodded towards the bubble and the now standing Banner. She hobbled closer and lowered the barrier. She pulled the blanket from her shoulders and handed it to Steve to give to Banner. Together they slowly made their way back to the ship. She was still hobbling and Banner was bare foot so it was slow going. Hill met them halfway with some sort of jumpsuit for Banner and some slip on sandals. Banner quickly took a moment to slide the sandals on. They gave him a few minutes alone on board the plane to put on the jumpsuit, while the crew fetched the lanterns and stowed them away.
She was completely exhausted as she hobbled up the ramp and slowly sank to her seat. Steve buckled her harness and took the seat beside her. Thor took up the seat next to her and Banner sat across from them both.
"You are one stubborn lady" said Banner
Gin yawned and leaned her head back.
"Thanks I think" said Gin
The doors closed and Gin closed her eyes for a few minutes. She must have drifted off to sleep because when she woke she was resting her head on Steve's leg and her feet were in Thor's lap and somehow the blanket had made its way back to her. The ship was landing as she slowly sat up.
"You okay? you passed out on us there for a while, we were starting to get worried" said Steve
"Yeah just a bit tired I guess, sorry for laying all over you two" said Gin
"Your weight was hardly noticed" said Thor
She frowned at him, because she wasn't sure what he was implying with that statement. Thor patted her on the back.
"He's right we didn't mind at all, you're actually kind of light" said Steve
Thor nodded
"Yes, the weight of a child with curves where they should be" said Thor
He looked down and grinned at her. She gave him a strange look until she realized his height gave him the perfect view right down her top. She blushed bright red and glared at him.
"I thought you had a girlfriend?" said Gin
Thor smiled at her
"That stops me not from looking" said Thor
Her mouth dropped open in shock and she could feel her cheeks heating up. She glanced back at Steve and found him looking embarrassed and turning in another direction. A quick glance at Thor confirmed her suspicions, he was almost the same height as the blond.
She pulled the blanket over her shoulders to block their view and snorted. Bruce was quietly sitting just staring at her. She wondered if the man was in shock or something. The pilot said something to Hill and she turned to the others. She gave Gin a look that looked suspiciously like respect.
"We're touching down in five minutes, Smythe your with me" said Hill
Steve gave the woman a seriously hard glare that confused Gin. Why was Steve being so rude about this?
"The rest of you Fury wants in conference room five, he wants to talk to you" said Hill
The ship touched down on the helli-carrier deck. The pilot shut down the engines and opened the door. Fury, Tony and several others were waiting on the flight deck for their arrival. Gin undid her harness and slowly stood up. She slowly followed the others out of the craft. Steve kept glancing in her direction and his worried gaze was starting to worry her.
Fury nodded in her direction as Hill led Gin past him. The woman was heading for a far door so Gin followed her. The woman led her down a few corridors and into a room. Hill punched a code into the door panel and it slid open. She walked in and took a seat. Gin calmly sat across from her.
She was confused as to why she had been separated from the others. Someone knocked on the door and Hill walked over to it. It opened and someone handed Hill a stack of files, she thanked them and shut the door. Hill walked back to the table and deposited the entire stack in front of Gin.
Hill flipped open the first one and Gin noticed her picture in the upper hand right corner. It was when she had brown hair and eyes.
"Hmm, going to have to update that one" said Hill
"Can I keep the old one?" said Gin
Hill hesitated then shrugged.
"Don't see why not" said Hill
Hill flipped the page and set a pen in front of her.
"I need you to sign a few things before you can read the rest of these, standard non- disclosure forms and the like" said Hill
She shoved a huge stack of forms towards Gin. She slowly picked up the first one and read a few lines. It sounded an awful lot like an employee hand book.
"And these?" said Gin
"Those are for the insurance, your new driver's license and passport, as well as documents for payroll" said Hill
Gin gave her a wide eyed look.
"Oh, is Shield hiring me?" said Gin
Hill nodded yes.
"The others have established careers, you and Rogers on the other hand need a bit of a cover story so to speak" said Hill
"Rogers?" said Gin
Hill pointed to the folders
"It's all in there, but I can't let you look until these are filled out" said Hill
Gin sighed and picked up the pen. Two hours later she had new identification for this world, her first paycheck and a form to deposit the subsequent ones into a bank of her choice. She also had the key to an apartment in New York, now all she needed was a new set of wheels and she was good to go.
She wasn't sure about working for the government, it just wasn't her. She was a bartender not a secret agent.
"Ah, so what is my official job title?" said Gin
"Consultant, same as Stark but you have a higher security clearance, don't tell him that though" said Hill
She signed the last one, convinced she had just signed her life away, and Hill slid the folders in her direction.
"You have twenty minutes to familiarize yourself with your team mate's files, before Fury expects you in the conference room" said Hill
"Team mates?" said Gin
She smirked at Gin and walked out of the room. Gin quickly flipped open the next file under hers. It turned out to be Steve's. She read though it quickly taking in as many details as she could. She flipped open the next, which turned out to be starks. She had to agree with the personality assessment, he did seem a bit full of himself. She did have to wonder what a billionaire was doing with a group of what amounted to super heroes and if she even fit into this group at all.
She flipped open Barton's next. She had to admit they all had an impressive set of skills which was why she was confused as to why Fury thought she belonged in this group. Next was Banner's. She skimmed over the parts she knew and went right to the how and why section. After reading that Banner had been exposed to the same radiation she had, she got just a bit worried about herself. She quickly moved on to the next file.
Natasha's had her dropping her mouth open in shock. She couldn't understand why the woman wasn't in jail. She could understand that the woman was incredibly skilled but to just look the other way when she was responsible for such a high body count. Still the woman appeared to be trying to change, absently she wondered how much of it was Barton's influence.
She opened Thor's file and looked it over. She was just finishing it up when Hill came back.
Gin closed up the files and handed them to the woman as she exited the room. Hill stopped in front of some doors and they slid open.
"We got the lifts working" said Hill
The woman touched two buttons and the doors slid shut. The elevator rose to the first floor Hill had pushed the button for. The doors slid open
"This is your floor, they're four doors down on the left, good luck" said Hill
Gin stepped off the elevator and walked down the hallway. She stopped in front of the double doors and keyed the code Hill had given her into the key pad. The doors slid open and she walked in.
Fury was at the head of the table and everyone looked irritated again. Gin calmly walked over and took a seat next to Tasha. The red head gave her a worried glance and Gin suddenly felt bad for judging her. Yes the woman was dangerous but she was pretty sure most of shield had red in their ledger as Tasha had stated earlier. Barton turned toward her and gave her an appraising look.
"The point is we can't do anything until we know what Loki's plans are" said Stark Gin frowned because when she had severed the tie to Barton she had caught a brief glimpse of Loki's intentions.
"And we have no idea what those are at the moment" said Steve
"Yeah we do" said Gin
All eyes turned to her.
"Please explain that statement Ms. Smythe" said Fury
She sat forward and took a deep breath.
"When I severed the connection between him and Barton. I got a brief glimpse inside his head" said Gin
"Ouch bet that was scary, that man's head must be crazier than a bag of cats, you can practically smell it on him" said Bruce
"Have care how you speak of him, Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother" said Thor
"He's killed eighty people in two days" said Tasha
"He's adopted" said Thor
"He's not crazy" said Gin
"And you base this opinion on what exactly?" said Fury
"I saw the inside of his head remember" said Gin
Thor shifted uncomfortably and glared at her.
"What he's the one who left the door open, can't help it if I'm curious enough to look inside" said Gin
"So what did you see exactly?" said Barton
Gin took a deep breath.
"Well it was kind of jumbled but I did catch a glimpse of an army waiting on something and what looked like schematics for something, possibly a transmitter of some sort. Sorry I don't know anything about machinery" said Gin
"Could you draw it?' said Steve
Gin considered the request
"Yeah I guess, if someone has any paper" said Gin
Tony pulled what looked like a pane of glass from his jacket pocket. He tapped on it a few times
"Here just use your finger or the stylus" said Tony
Gin took it from his hand and stared at it for a second.
"Is this a phone?" said Gin
Tony rolled his eyes.
"Yes, geez where did you grow up?" said Tony
"Someplace where the cell phones are larger and solid" said Gin
She picked up the stylus and started drawing on the screen. When she was done she handed it back to Tony. He frowned at the small screen.
"Well?" said Fury
"It definitely looks like some sort of field generator and if it is, it's going to draw massive amounts of power" said Tony
"Not if he powers it with the tesseract" said Steve
"True you said he had an army waiting for his command what did it look like?" said Thor
Tony tapped on his phone and handed it back to gin with a blank screen. Gin drew one of the hideously ugly aliens she saw in Loki's head and handed the phone to Thor. His gaze darkened and he let loose what sounded like a swear word in another language. He briefly looked like he intended to throw the phone so Gin quickly retrieved it.
"I take it they're bad news?" said Gin
"Aye the chitauri are always a race one wishes to avoid, why they would ally themselves with my brother is confusing at best" said Thor
Gin got the impression he was hiding some useful information.
"Perhaps he promised them something" said Tasha
"Aye that makes sense, especially if it was the tesseract" said Thor
"Which we still have no clue as to the whereabouts of" said Steve
"Actually that's not entirely true" said Fury
They all turned to look at him.
"Loki took the tesseract with him when he retrieved his staff" said Thor
"Not so" said Fury
He turned the pad he was working on towards them.
"These reading were taking during the attack and then again later when Ms. Smythe was sent to retrieve Thor and Dr. Banner" said Fury
Tony snagged the device from his hands and banner looked over his shoulder. "They are nearly identical to the tesseract's reading" said Banner
Gin gave them both a confused look.
"In English please" said Gin
Tony smirked and handed the device back to Fury. Tasha promptly snagged it and Thor looked over her shoulder.
"If these are correct, then the tesseract has never left our possession" said Tasha "indeed it hasn't it has simply hid itself quite well" said Fury
Gin gave him a confused look. The others turned to look at her.
"The tesseract is in her, is that what you are attempting to convey?" said Thor
Gin's jaw dropped open in shock.
"Precisely" said Fury
"Wait, wha..."said Gin
"That's why you wanted her on the team" said Tasha
"She still can't fight" said Steve
"That can be remedied" said Barton
"Indeed" said Thor
"I think we're all missing an important point here" said Tony
He looked right at Gin.
"And that point is?" said Bruce
"With the tesseract in her, Loki needs her, he isn't likely to leave her here" said Tony
"The tin man has a point, he will likely focus on her and may possibly try to remove her from our midst" said Thor