Coulson was waiting to greet her. "Mrs Higgins," he said amicably.

"Agent Coulson," she responded.

"You're wanted in a meeting with the director."

The first thought that ran through her head was oh god what have I done did I kill someone are they going to kill me now I should never have left London. Her second thought was isn't Fury the director?

She'd been getting the hang of finding her way through SHIELD, but Agent Coulson took her through hallways she'd never noticed before, until she was thoroughly lost. Maybe that was part of the plan to kill her. No one would ever find her in there.

But they actually arrived at an office, and she was told in no simple terms to 'sit her ass down' in a chair, and the Director sat across from her, looking huge and angry, which to be fair was sort of his normal state. Coulson hung back at the side of the room.

Director Fury opened a folder and pulled out a number of sheets of paper. He folded his fingers under his chin and stared at her. "Miss Potts has sent over a job contract. Apparently Tony Stark wants you to work for him."

"I thought he was joking," she said weakly.

Fury glared at her. "That's the thing about Tony. When you think he's joking, he's dead serious."

"Bullocks," she muttered. She was hoping the whole thing would blow over as a result of drug induced delusion, and that the world would return to normal in the morning. It wasn't meant to be.

Fury continued without noticing, or perhaps ignoring, her panic. "This would be a different sort of position. You'd be on call 24/7 for any sort of emergency, ranging from explosions to illnesses. You'll have the full use of the SHIELD facilities at your disposal, although I understand Stark has an extensive collection of medical equipment. Completely justified. You've seen his medical history."

She nodded. Most of it anyway.

"Your clearance would have to go up, just because of where you'd be working, but you were well on your way there already." He sighed. "I just don't like the idea of Stark stealing you from us, after all we've done to get you here."

Miranda looked to Agent Coulson, who hadn't said anything yet.

Coulson considered it. "Actually, this could work even better," he said thoughtfully. "Having you under the same roof as all of the Avengers would save time. And because they tend to run off after battles instead of going to medical, this could ensure they actually got looked at by someone with real medical training. Dr Banner has been doing that, but he was trained in physics, not medicine," he added.

Fury glared at Coulson, who didn't so much as flinch. Miranda wondered if that took special training, or if the man was simply born fearless. She didn't dare ask.

"Fine," he growled finally. "You will be hired by Stark to be the live in Avengers doctor. But you still work for SHIELD and report back to us. Think of it as an undercover mission."

"So... I'm moving in?" she asked, remembering the whole 'under the same roof' thing. "Because I really like the flat I'm in now. So does Ron. What about Ron?"

"Stark has more than enough room for both of you. Believe me, it'll be nicer than your apartment now. And he's got an English butler. You'll feel right at home," Fury smirked, and Miranda couldn't help but feel like there was something he wasn't telling her.

"Alright then," she conceded. "I'll move there, and work for Tony I guess."

Fury snorted, and she looked up at him. "What?" she asked.

Coulson explained. "Tony doesn't actually run things anymore. He signed over his company to his former personal assistant, Pepper Potts. She's the CEO. He technically still owns it, but he'd give Pepper the world if she asked. We thank whatever various gods we do or don't believe in every day that she doesn't ask."

Right. Miranda nodded, just trying to wrap her head around that. "So I'll work for this Pepper person, but I'm supposed to let Tony think he's in charge?"

Fury nodded, snorting. "You'll get used to it."

Coulson pulled out the paperwork that she didn't really read, because the man really loved his paperwork. She had to sign a lot of things, and suspected that she may have sacrificed the first born she was never going to have to some sort of alien being they kept in the basement.

When she checked her phone after the meeting, she noticed a text that she'd received during the meeting. It told her that everything was being taken care of, signed TS.

She wasn't surprised that Tony was already taking care of everything, although it was slightly unnerving that he was watching them, even now. Which meant the undercover still working for SHIELD thing was mostly out the window.

Oh well.

So that was how she ended up being stolen from SHIELD, and going to work for Tony Stark. Well, she was technically working for Pepper Potts, who was the CEO of Stark Industries, but Tony certainly thought he was the boss, which was nice for him, really.