The stars in the black sky were beautiful enough to bring tears to her eyes. Jiru craned her head back, staring into the forever-ness of space; taking in the sight of what had to be a whole nebula's worth of stars. The whole panorama of such galactic skies made her heart ache with its cosmic beauty. Black backdrop holding swathes of yellows, reds, purples and whites sat silently for her vision to admire.
Tearing her watery, awed eyes away from the nebulous sight, she turned to discover where she was. The ground, silent as the sky, was dark; having no particularly nearby sun to illuminate its surface. The only sources of light were the galactic sky and…inset blue orbs of what seemed to be electricity. Jutting slate-black rocks decorated the landscape; reminding her of barren desolate mountainous tundra and termite mounds – there was no sign of any plant life or animals. It was all just dark rock and starry darkness, tinted with a blue phosphorescence. Turning around, Jiru saw something that made her flinch and duck behind a large pillar-like rock.
Yards away, there stood two bi-pedal beings; one whose back was to her and the other – ugly and alienistic looking – facing her, talking to the other. Behind the two beings was a tall cliff, with a set of stairs carved into its face, leading up towards empty space. It was very disconcerting to see the rocky steps hang in midair. Turning her eyes back downward to see the two figures moving about, as if they were talking, her body finally shivered in the cold that only dead space could produce.
Where was she? WHEN was she? And why?
Deciding to creep closer, the dimensional walker found herself suddenly closer, like she was dreaming the whole thing. Now nearer, she could easier discern the two bipedal beings apart: One was – undoubtedly – Loki, wearing the same green and gold long duster-jacket with leather armbands and boots that he wore when he appeared from the Tesseract portal in New Mexico – the only difference was the large dual-horned helmet on his head. The second creature, far less pleasant looking than Loki; was a blue-skinned malicious, seven-digit-per-hand alien. The face, thankfully, was covered by some slit-eye mask, and the blue-black cloak around its tall body hid the rest of its extremely tall physique. She didn't care to see any more of the alien than what was visible.
Jiru hated dreams like this – she was indeed in another realm of mind, the Astral Realm of Dreams. Sometimes it happened, pulling her awareness – omniscient like – into another's dealings. Nagging the back of her dream-sharpened consciousness, she blamed Loki – the Lie-Smith had found it to be his pleasure to drag her here, allowing her to spy on the little starry scene.
It would be so cliché, had she been able to hear an uttered language between the two – she did not. Moving herself to get even closer, her body flinched as a hand, pale and warm, clamped over her mouth, disallowing her a chance to cry out or move. Craning her head over her shoulder, she blinked to see none other than Loki. The Asgardian-based God of Lies was behind her, balancing himself on one knee, while his other leg was bent. Being startled, her eyes flickered back towards the alien and…Loki? Loki, in full leather gear and helmet, was still posturing, talking to the towering ugly alien.
Looking once again behind her to the second Loki, Jiru studied his profile. Unlike the sharp cruel blue eyes she had seen in New Mexico, the Loki behind her had green, more mischievous orbs. His hair was longer and fuller. The smile on his face was full of kind humor and directed at her. Tensing her whole body as the Loki behind her leaned in closer, she prepared herself to retaliate – after all, wasn't Loki the aggravator, the villain who stole the Tesseract and killed people? Lagoon-green eyes watched – movement per movement – as the green-eyed Loki silently brought his other hand up to his own lips, placing a single finger in the universal sign of 'quiet'.
Holding that finger over his lips for a few, long seconds, Jiru was quite surprised when felt herself nodding in agreement. Green-Eyed Loki's eyes brightened as both his hands were lowered; the hand over her mouth coming off. She was supposed to be dreaming, so anything that happened at this point shouldn't come as that big of a surprise. Her brain didn't really care to exert itself to work out just how there were two Loki-s. Instead, her body reacted by leaning further into Loki's presence; responding by pushing endorphins through her blood. She was mildly aroused when Loki snaked an arm around her waist, drawing her even closer against his strong chest.
"My little Lovey. You should not be here." Loki's near-silent breath of words tickled her ear. She inhaled sharply, feeling every point of contact between her back and his front torso. "If the Chitauri find you again, they will not be so kind."
Chitauri? Find again? What was Loki talking about…- It was then that it all came back:
The running in fear, confusion in a hostile dimension: finding Loki, having feelings for the God, hearing his whole story and sympathizing with him; offering her own wisdom on his situation. She had traveled with Loki for three dimensions, before they both ran afoul of the Chitauri…-the horrible, war-like aliens had caught them off-guard and planned to experiment on her and her powers. Loki had used his silver tongue to negotiate her freedom and in doing so, had tricked the Chitauri to free her, using his newly negotiated power to teleport her to Earth.
"So you do remember, lovey." Loki's voice slithered into her ear, his hair brushing against her temple. The look of her eyes must have told Loki that she did indeed remember him.
"What will you do now, Lovey; that you remember!"
XXX
"AAAHGGH!"
Bolting upright in the rather uncomfortable bunk she had fallen asleep in, her brain swirled for infinite seconds, sharply – instantly – remembering the dream. Neurons continued to fire from nerve to nerve, and the wakefulness state overcame her senses. The dream quickly faded into the back of her mind, but remand in knowledge.
"Ugh…stupid dreams." Her fist came up to her forehead as she lightly tapped her skull over and over again, in a vain attempt to possibly knock out the dream-knowledge. "Stupid, stupid, stupid – Loki. Stupid. Why me." Bringing her other hand up to join the first, the young woman rubbed her face, working her sleepiness away. "Ugh."
Finally being awake enough to look around – half-expecting the dangerously clever Loki to be sitting in a chair, smirking at her – Jiru sighed when she only found herself in the same small Helicarrier room she had gone to sleep in.
There was a knock at the door and she sat up straighter, folding her legs up to lean her arms over. "I'm awake and stuff."
Phil Coulson entered and gave his glamorously bright smile.
"Good morning, sleepy head." Phil spoke. "It's nearly lunchtime."
"HA! You're so funny." With her brain fully awake due to her bolting-from-R.E.M. sleep, she was snarky – somebody as alert and sharp as Phil catching her being remiss was slightly embarrassing. "Why are you so smiley, P.C.?"
"Oh, no reason." The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent stepped into her small room, allowing her to view that he was carrying a duffel bag – a S.H.I.E.L.D.-labeled duffel bag.
"What's that?"
"Since you were unable to return to your apartment; I took the liberty of gathering a few of your personal items this morning." He answered her.
"Huh." Jiru smiled and rubbed her face again, sliding out of the bunk before she realized she wasn't wearing any pants – just panties. The young woman wasn't expecting herself to A. oversleep so late to have her best friend (a person who wakes up every DAY at five A.M) to have enough time to run to her apartment flat, grab whatever it was he had in the bag, B. have someone just plain walk in when she had yet to change from her sleep gear.
"Uhm." Her blood rushed to her head, when her brain processed she was in nothing but a long blue shirt. "Thanks."
"That's quite alright, Miss Jiru; I've seen worse." Phil said calmly, nothing in his face changed or indicated any interest or distress. The man had a damn good poker face.
"Say what!? Are you saying I'm ugly?" She had blushed while grabbing the weak blue sheet that S.H.I.E.L.D. passed off as a bed cover. Wrapping that around her underdressed form, she stepped forward to grab at the black bag Phil held in his hands.
"I did not say anything like that, Miss Jiru." Phil continued to smile – and waited at the last second to move the duffel bag out of her reach. He was teasing her.
"P.C.!"
"Yes, Miss Jiru?" Coulson's voice was calm and even. "Is there something wrong?"
"What are you DOING?" She once again reached for the duffel bag, having it elude her grasp again.
"I'm not doing anything, Miss Jiru." NOW she could hear the amusement in the agent's voice.
"Very funny, Phil." She had stepped back, took one look at his face and smirked at the agent. "Ah, now I see it. You've met Steve Rogers, your face is all a-light."
"Am I really that obvious?" Phil's smile lessened – he couldn't talk and smile that wide at the same time.
"Yea, you've got that look in your eyes, P.C." Jiru teased back. "You always get that look when you talk about Captain America."
"Well, I can't help it." Phil finally held the bag out to her. "He is Captain America."
"Well, duh. Steve Rogers is Captain America and Captain America is Steve Rogers. The way you go on about it, a person would think they are two separate people."
"But he isn't." Phil nodded as she took and tossed the bag on the bed. "Anyway, Director Fury wants you on the bridge."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere wearing just a shirt…"
"You look quite nice in just a shirt, Miss Jiru." Phil interrupted her. Jiru paused, her hands in the bag looking for clothes; then slowly looked back at Phil.
"Did you just…"
"Offer a compliment, I did." Coulson stood in front of the door, hands clasped together at his waist in his 'at-ease' pose. His poker face was still in place.
"I was going to say…"
"Flirting, no, Miss Jiru. That would be against company policy if two personnel were to say such things to each other."
"Yea, if you say so." She smiled, turning back to her duffel bag to get dressed. "Wow, thanks P.C. You sure do know how to plan."
Indeed, the sharp-minded agent had packed correctly; her comfortable clothes were in the bag, shoes too. Phil was a life-saver, because he had packed a few of her books, her music player and toiletry kit. Since the Tesseract event in New Mexico, she had been void of her personal stuff (S.H.I.E.L.D. had confiscated her luggage for some obscure reason) and had been wearing impersonal S.H. .D.-issued clothes. Now she had her stuff back and it was awesome.
"You're quite welcome, Miss Jiru." Phil answered back.
"Well, let me get dressed, and then something to eat, then I'll go see whatever it is Fury wants from me."
XXXX
Helicarrier Bridge:
Stepping onto the metallic bridge, followed by Phil Coulson, the young woman was smiling brightly – Helicarrier food was really dang decent. Salads, protein bars and tea to sandwiches and fresh fruit; she had to give credit to Director Fury for stocking his secret base with great food. Having slept through the first morning meal; she was ravenous and took more than thirty minutes to eat her fill. Coulson, of course, stuck with her the whole time – something about her charming presence and escort rules.
Finally on the huge deck she saw through the windows yesterday, her amazement soared at the warmth and bustling energy vibes the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were emitting as the numerous staff ran around running the hulking – now in the process of flying – Helicarrier bridge. A few of them were calling statistics out to as other workers focused on their computer screens.
Analyzing the deck more, she found out that it was divided into two parts; upper and lower. The upper portion of the deck was raised by at least five steps and sported plenty of walking space, railings separating the lower from upper and a huge round table, marked with the S.H.I.E.L.D./eagle emblem that was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s icon. In front of that round table was an extended platform, open to the lower level and had steps to join it. The platform looked like the main focal point for…indeed; Director Fury was standing in front of the platform's two mobile computers, staring down at the numerous Helicarrier workers.
"Sir, we're at level." A woman – looking very sharp and focused – reported. Director Fury stood on the bridge between his two computer screens, his one eye surveying the computer-filled deck.
"Good, let's vanish." The director ordered, sounding very powerful.
"Holy CRAP! This thing turns invisible!?" Jiru gasped as she saw out the front windows. The sight of the ocean changed, growing smaller as the sky, the lighter blue horizon, grew larger. Her senses told her that the ship was lifting itself out of the ocean AND refracting the local light. "I should have guessed."
"Yes, it does, Miss Star." Director Fury's voice took her attention from the outside view to him. The dimensional walker smiled to herself as the already present Steve Rogers was in the process of handing Fury a ten dollar bill – a lost bet the two men had made about weird things. Poor Captain America; Steve Rogers was still taking 21st century life minute by minute. Now that she thought about it, when DID Steve Rogers enter the large room…she hadn't been paying attention.
"Captain, sorry to say this, but this isn't the weirdest thing you'll see here." She commented when the man drifted over to her. The table stood to their left, putting itself between her, Rogers and Fury.
"I don't doubt that, Miss Star, not one bit." The blonde soldier turned to her and smiled. She offered a smile back; her initial shyness from before completely disarmed. No wonder Coulson was fanatic about the man; Steve Rogers was one of a kind…-to call her by the surname of which Fury was so kind to give her. Jiru Star.
"If you two are finished?" Fury interrupted her before she could speak further. "What is the status, Agent Coulson?"
Turning away from Rogers, Jiru spotted her ever-on-the-move friend. Coulson had gone from walking behind her to being on the bridge, interacting with the various computer workers on the lower level.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet; cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to be a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Coulson explained.
"You have to narrow the field, yes." A new voice explained, masculine and strong. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?" She turned to the source and mentally reeled.
The speaker, a head taller than her, was very nervous looking, as if being on the metallic bridge was going to get him in huge trouble. But that wasn't what made her step back; it was the powerful feeling of emotional recognition, as if she had met the man in another dimension. Looking closer at the seemingly nervous man, she got the impression he was a scientist of some nuclei-physics or Quantum Mechanics subject; something beyond her scope of understanding. From his brown eyes to his tousled salt-brown hair to his muscled white-shirted arms, this man was clearly brilliant enough to be talking like he was – she would have to look up the definition of 'spectrometers.'
"How many are there?" Fury asked the man.
"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays." The brown-haired man told Fury, as he removed his jacket, draping it over his muscled arm. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"
"Oh good god…what the what?" Jiru hissed in shock; earning a curious, reproachful look from Steve Rogers, who was close enough to hear her. "HE'S Bruce Banner!?"
"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys." Yet another voice entered the fray. Turning to her right, Jiru groaned inwardly to when her eyes finally were introduced to Agent Romanov. The woman was killer beauty, like her code name: Black Widow. The S.H.I.E.L.D. files didn't do her justice at all. The hue of the woman's red hair was absolutely intriguing, and the black suit she wore – the one which hugged all her curves – was enough to make even Jiru blush.
Watching as the woman…- Agent Romanov move past her and Rogers, the dimensional walker caught herself staring in mild jealousy as Bruce Banner – he had yet to say something to her – casually follow the red-headed agent to a door way off-set the upper deck. Her emotions roiled out – wanting to follow Bruce Banner and introduce herself. The man had a deep earthy handsomeness to his face and physique and it was enough to pique her interest. Bruce's solidness made her itch to walk up to the man and study him with her eyes; to help him overcome his shame for being…-that's right; the man was none other than the Hulk.
"Miss Star?" A voice jarred her out of her daze. "Miss Star? Are you ok?"
Turning around to find Fury, Coulson AND Rogers looking intently at her; Jiru coughed and shook her head, turning away to hide the blush creeping up her neck.
"Yea, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" She felt abashed – Captain America was giving her a concerned look, like she had sprouted purple fur or something.
"You've been standing there for the past five minutes, not moving." Rogers stepped up to her and peered into her eyes.
"Oh…I…um…" Now she REALLY felt the blood heat up in her face. "I was?"
"Yes, you were, Miss Jiru." Fury interjected. "Is there something you wanted to share with us?"
"NO!" She stated hastily. "No…I say nothing."
"You sure?" Fury's face became more intent. Jiru noticed that Coulson too, was curiously watching her, from Fury's side across the table.
"Yes, I am sure, Director Fury."
"Good, because I was saying I want you to work with Dr. Banner to help find the Tesseract."
"Uhm? What!?" She squeaked. "Why?"
"You rather unique powers should be able to…help Dr. Banner focus his attentions on finding the cube."
"Oh swell." Still fighting off that aggressive feeling of blushing, she rolled her eyes. Reading between the lines, she could easily see what Fury was playing at – at least she THOUGHT she knew. The S.H.I.E.L.D. leader wanted to make sure the Hulk didn't appear and cause chaos. The man was a damned bastard for implying she use her largely unknown powers to do that. "You want to me use my powers to keep Bruce Banner calm and collected?"
"No, I want you to help keep Doctor Banner focused." Fury answered her, keeping the high-and-important look on his face. "Is there going to be a problem with that?"
"No…no problem, patchy." She muttered as Coulson stepped into motion next to her. "I can handle that; no problem at all."
"Good, then you're going to need this." Fury tossed a small grey thing towards her. Being startled at the action, Jiru subconsciously reached out to catch whatever it was the black-man threw. She – thankfully – didn't make an ass of herself and actually caught the tiny object.
Looking at what she caught, Jiru looked back up at Fury. "You're giving me this?"
"Yes, Miss Jiru, I am. It should be enough to help you assist Dr. Banner."
"Lovely. Thanks a bunch Fury." She smirked at the man as her hands untwisted the Vibranium cap, pouring the rice-grain sized diamond onto her palm. Finally; FINALLY Fury had given some of the diamond back; and for what? – to keep the Hulk from showing up on the now invisible and flying Helicarrier.
"I'll show you to the lab that Dr. Banner is working in, Miss Jiru." Coulson smiled at her. "Please follow me."
"Alright, fine, well played, Fury. Well played indeed." She offered Fury one of her best smirks and turned on heel to follow Phil.
"Make sure you're not too busy flirting with the good doctor to be distracted." Fury's quip barbed her in the back.
"Curse you, Fury; May rabid geese fire missiles at your stupid HELICARRIER AND COMMANDO STORM IT TO PECK YOUR REMAINING EYE OUT AND PISS ON YOUR MUTLATED BODY!" She shouted back, not daring to turn around; thus missing the wide grin of sardonic humor that split Fury's face. The director loved provoking her snarky mouth.
