I got up and paced around the room, trying to calm my racing heart. I wasn't ready. Not in a long shot. If Loki and I came face to face I wouldn't be able to kill him. That was what my job required, but my heart screamed at the thought of hurting him. Why did everything have to be so hard?

I was broken from my reverie to the sound of my pager going off on the bedside table next to me. I reached over and pulled up the message.

Attention all Avengers: Emergency Meeting in half an hour.

I rolled my eyes. This had better not be Stark's idea of a joke. I washed my face and dressed in my usual training outfit. I had upgraded to a leather number simply because it was sturdier than the stretchy material I had been wearing. Stark had recommended it, and at the time I had agreed with him. But then I remembered who had said it and realized that my safety probably hadn't been on the top of his list of priorities concerning me when he had suggested it. Whatever. I didn't mind.

I pulled my boots on and stuck my knife down into the right one. I had been offered many weapons while here, and I had accepted a few of them, but this knife along with the switchblade kept me tied to the life I had left behind. My newer arsenal was far more impressive.

Strapped to my legs were two silver pistols. I had had another knife installed in the toe of my left boot that would spring out at the push of a button. Put those weapons, numerous other blades stashed here and there all over my person, a rim of black eyeliner around my crystal blue eyes, and my power to control Electricity, and you had BlackLite.

I had come up with the name on my own. Despite the others' attempts to name me themselves, I had picked my own out. I had cut my hair to fall just under my chin, making it easier to keep out of my face when I was fighting. Just short enough to wear down, but just long enough to form a ponytail. I brushed it out and left it down for the meeting in a messy tossle.

I slipped one last knife into my belt and went outside. Something told me Loki had finally represented himself. My dreams had become fairly accurate when it came to his reappearing. I could only hope that this wasn' t that serious. Maybe another failed robbery or something, but nothing too big. Stop kidding yourself, Veronica. Fury wouldn't call you out of bed for a fricking failed robbery.

When I got outside, Banner and Barton were waiting. Rogers was there too, looking tenser than usual. He had to be worried. He was supposed to be the leader of the team. Thor came out, dressed in full armor. His hammer was clutched in his hand. He was tense too.

Stark followed him. He wasn't his usual self either. What had been an arrogant rich boy was now a stressed older man. Everyone, myself included, was sitting on the edge of their seats. Pale, haggard faces looked around the room, everyone avoiding one another's gaze. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark.

Well crap. I had just quoted Hamlet myself. My thoughts drifted back to Loki. Loki, what are you up to?

I could hear Fury before he came into the room. "And get those men out of there!" he yelled down the hall before he sped into the room. That didn't sound good at all.

"Today is the day," he said. "Loki has just penetrated SHIELD headquarters in Berlin. He's after the cube. We don't know how he got in yet, but we sure as hell know why. Now gentlemen-" He was cut off by a voice over the walkie talkie on his belt.

"Sir?" Agent Coulsen's voice was unmistakable.

Fury closed his eye, inhaled a deep breath, and reached down to the walkie talkie. "Yeah?"

"He's- he's got the cube, sir." Silence. "Sir? What do we do now?"

"We get ready." Fury said after a brief pause.

Okay. I know this is a super short chapter, but this felt like the right place to end it.

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