PANDORA

"Have you found anything yet?"

If I heard that one more time, I was going to throw something at the director's bald head.

It was bad enough that I was awoken by sirens on the very first night that I stayed on the Helicarrier, but it was worse that I had no idea what was happening. And Director Nick Fury, of course, was not helping.

I finally glanced up angrily as no one responded, my eyes narrowed in tired slits. "I've been staring at these monitors since I was rudely awakened at four am," I snapped. "It is now seven. Three hours isn't going to cut it."

Maria flashed me a warning glance, one that I ignored naturally, and smiled apologetically at Fury. "We're working on it," she clarified.

"I have three of the most talented minds working on this," Fury retorted, obviously unhappy with the lack of progress that we had made. He turned to look at me. "Well, at least two talented minds. How much more time do you need?"

I opened my mouth to shout back at the director, but Steve cut me off, trying to save the conversation from going sour.

"With all due respect, we don't even know if there's anything on these tapes," he added cautiously, not wanting the director to explode again.

He did.

"Dammit!" Fury exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table that we were all gathered around. I nearly jumped right out of my seat. "There has to be something!"

Fury didn't give us as much credit as we deserved.

For a team that consisted of Steve, Maria and me, searching through an entire night's worth of security footage in all of the suspected cities that the Tesseract was located was nearly impossible. Nearly, because Fury insisted that we should be able to find something "unusual" amongst these tapes. I had no idea what the hell I was even remotely looking for, and I was getting angrier by the minute.

"What about Bruce?" I questioned, wanting to rid myself of the constant footage playing in front of my eyes. "Or Natasha? Or Phil?"

Maria cleared her throat, not helping my cause. "Doctor Banner and Agent Romanoff are working on the face trace," she said, but I cut her off, narrowing my eyes further.

"Face trace?" I blurted out. "For who?"

Even though, of course, I already knew who had the Tesseract. I just had a sneaky feeling that I was being left in the dark on purpose.

"We decided it would be more productive if we left Agent Coulson out," Maria continued as if I hadn't spoken. But I, at least, earned the curious glance of Steve.

I shrugged my shoulders, keeping the horrible thought about Loki in the back of my brain. "Probably true," I relented, staring back at the screens laid out in front of me. I was going cross-eyed. "Are you following any other leads?" I asked, tagging onto my original statement.

Maria exchanged a quick glance with Fury, another reason to believe that I was being left in the dark. Although this time, she actually chose to answer my question.

"The security breach came from Stark's technology."

"What?" I exclaimed, almost knocking over the screen in front of me. "How is that possible?"

My heart hammered in my chest, immediately thinking the worst. What if my worst fears were confirmed and something had happened to Emerald?

"We called in our consultants."

If my blood could turn to ice quicker, it did.

Tony wasn't supposed to arrive on the Helicarrier until after Germany, and this was clearly before. How badly had we screwed things up? I had to physically hold my head to stop my thoughts from freaking out further.

Which is why I wasn't able to do anything but simply stare at the doorway as Tony Stark appeared in it.

"I hope you didn't have too much fun without me," he drawled as he sauntered into the room. "After all, it's not a party until I'm here."

If looks could kill, Tony wouldn't have made it past the doorframe.

He nodded to each of us, a wide smirk crossing his face. "Popeye. Ginger. Capsicle." He frowned, turning to Maria with confusion lacing his expression. "And you are?"

"Maria Hill."

"Interesting."

Tony stuck out his hand to which Maria only accepted begrudgingly. He turned back a moment later, continuing the conversation, and I snapped myself back into my body when I came to the realization that Emerald wasn't beside him.

"So," Tony said, clearing his throat. "Why have you suddenly decided that now is the best time to call in your favorite superheroes?"

"Where's Em?"

I didn't even know the words escaped my mouth until everyone turned their heads to stare at me. I probably looked as shocked as the rest of them.

"She had to deal with some things," Tony declared, shrugging off the comment. "She should be by shortly."

"SHIELD was hacked by one of your technologies," Maria butted in, making a face that clearly stated what she thought of Stark Industries.

Tony, however, wasn't buying it. "Like I said over the phone," he snapped, "that's impossible."

"That's the fact," Steve added, rolling his eyes. I had to admit that I was surprised at Steve's tone towards Tony after our bonding session at Stark Tower, but I shrugged it off moments later, boiling it down to crankiness. Even super soldiers needed their beauty sleep.

Tony paused for a moment, a single moment, as he judged all of our facial expressions. They were as serious as ever.

He sat down at the table across from me, immediately pulling some sort of machine from his pocket. "I'll start a trace," he uttered, instantly becoming consumed with the device in his hands.

I had no idea how Emerald put up with him.

As if she had read my mind, the door swung open to reveal my blonde best friend, looking more grim than usual. I immediately knew that something was wrong with her. Breathing a sigh of relief, I tried to catch her eye unsuccessfully as she stared down at her feet.

When Emerald entered the room, she glanced up for a moment, staring straight at me and stopping dead in her tracks. We locked concerned gazes for a moment, and for a second, I swore I saw a hint of a smile. But then, she had put a shell back on as she plopped down across from Tony, two seats down from me.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Maitland," Fury remarked, waiting for an explanation of her lateness.

Emerald only raised an eyebrow distastefully. "I don't like to be summoned," she snapped, folding her arms across her chest.

"And yet, here you are," retorted Fury. "What took you so long anyway?"

Emerald glared at the director, something I figured she would have to pay for later. "It's called none of your business," she said. "End of story."

For the first time, I wondered if there was something deeper behind Emerald and Fury. They seemed already pissed at each other, and not just due to Emerald's lateness. I reminded myself to ask her later.

I happened to glance across the way at Tony, and I had to blink several times to make sure that I saw the dirty look he was throwing Emerald. What had happened that I had missed in the span of a few days? Granted, I had become a SHIELD agent in that period of time, but this was different.

Something serious had happened to my friend.

Emerald glanced up, catching Tony's eye as well, noticing the distaste in his gaze. She shook her head, flipping him off in response.

Fury, on the other hand, had just realized that no one was paying attention to the task at hand and slammed his fist down on the table for the second time in the span of twenty minutes. I still jumped out of my seat.

"Stop it!" I shouted, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart.

"Is anyone even listening?" he demanded, scowling in Emerald and Tony's direction.

Emerald rolled her eyes, directing her attention back towards the SHIELD director. "Sorry, sir," she responded easily, her voice dripping with coolness. "There were a few distractions." She threw a pointed glance towards Tony, which was the last straw for me.

I was getting more and more stressed by the minute.

I turned my attention back to the screens in front of me, busying myself in the task that I had been given now almost four hours ago. If I just tuned them out-

"As I was saying!" Fury bellowed. "Someone broke into a Stark Tech phone last night, which I might add has the highest security known in New York City, managed to find Stark's top-secret password, and proceeded to steal all personal files that were needed. All under your noses." He turned his glare back on Tony. "Care to explain?"

Tony didn't falter. "So now, this is our fault?" he chuckled, staring back down at his device.

If Fury had wanted to say anything else, I didn't give him a chance. My mouth dropped open as my eyes landed on a familiar-shaped figure, my heart rate immediately increasing once more.

"Wait."

Instantly, everyone's eyes were trained on me as I squinted at the one particular screen, rewinding and pausing it quickly before the image could fade away. I pointed to a shadow that was almost invisible to the naked eye. If I had not been concentrating so intently to block out the chatter around me, I wasn't sure if I would have caught it.

"There. Zoom in."

I paused, my heart leaping into my chest. Suddenly, all of my suspicions were confirmed in a single blurry outline of an image. "Oh my god," I breathed out, earning the curious attention of everyone in the room. "That's Loki."

I glanced up just in time to see Emerald's glare on the side of my face, but I ignored her. I knew her lecture to me would be about saying anything that would mess up the movies even more, but honestly, we were already screwed at this point.

"And how would you know that?" demanded Fury, narrowing his eyes towards me. At least he wasn't denying it.

"She reads a lot of Norse mythology," Emerald blurted out before I could defend myself.

I wanted to comment that I could take care of myself, but I knew she was stressed, consumed with something I couldn't tell, and protective. I bit back the words instead.

Fury frowned. "The god has been on our radar for a while now," he said slowly, admitting it begrudgingly. "His return is most troubling."

"He's the one who stole the Tesseract from you, isn't he?" I blurted out, unable to keep the secret back any longer.

Fury nodded slowly. "He is."

Steve, however, was focused on another aspect of the conversation. "You're saying that this villain is a god?" he questioned, squinting at the fuzzy image in front of us.

"Weren't your brains super-sized along with the rest of your body?" Tony said with a smirk, unable to stop from teasing the soldier. "Apparently not."

"Listen-" Steve started to retort, but Fury broke into the conversation before it could turn into a full-out brawl.

Fury shook his head, his eye darting to the screen and back up at the rest of us. "This still doesn't explain how he managed to get into a phone that he doesn't have access to and steal personal files," he said. He didn't seem surprised by this new information, nor did he have any qualms about keeping the information on Loki from Steve and me.

"He's magical," I replied with a shrug. "He can basically appear any place he wants to."

Fury pondered my comment for a moment before shaking his head once more. "Without setting off any alarms, especially from Stark?" he added. "Something is not right here."

A chair's squeaking noise erupted from two seats down from me as Emerald shot to her feet, her face completely neutral. I could tell that she was wearing a mask, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

"Excuse me, I need some air," she announced, not meeting anyone's eyes as she left the room in a hurry.

I shot a glance in Tony's direction, taking in his neutral expression. If anyone knew what was going on with her, it was him.

"What is wrong with her today?" inquired Fury, asking the question that was burning on all of our brains.

Tony didn't look up from where he was still tinkering with his device. "She had a rough night last night," he explained in a mumble.

I raised an eyebrow at Tony, one that he ignored dutifully. "What are you implying?" I asked, a thousand thoughts running through my brain.

"Nothing," Tony sighed, setting the device down on the table and getting to his feet slowly. "Let me go talk to her."

I echoed his actions, holding a glare to his face as I stood up as well. "I'm her best friend," I said. "Maybe I should."

"Ginger-"

"Agent."

"Agent Ginger then," Tony retorted with a sharp tone to his voice. "You've been missing from her life for a while now. Let me handle this one."

Before I even had the chance to recoil from being mentally punched in the stomach, Tony was gone, and I was standing in the middle of the room like an idiot.

He was right, deep down I knew that, but I hated admitting that my friend had changed. For the first time ever, I was scared of losing the people that were closest to me, watching them fade away in front of me.

I finally turned to Fury after I took a moment to recover from the blow. "Do I have your permission to punch him in the face?" I asked, taking deep breaths to calm my rage.

"Be my guest."

I was damn sure that I was taking that opportunity.

The very moment that Tony walked back into the room, I stood up from my chair, clocking him right across the cheek. I was surprised at how hard I actually hit him, shaking out my hand as he doubled over in shock.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed, clenching and unclenching his jaw to set it back into place.

I shrugged, a smirk growing across my lips. "Sorry, that felt really good," I apologized, retaking my place at the table.

Steve snickered from beside me. "That looked good."

"Is she alright?" I finally asked Tony when I realized that he returned alone, concern revisiting itself in my tone.

"I did it."

In a split second, we all dropped whatever we were doing and turned our attention back towards him.

"What?" Maria was the first one to respond, shaking her head in confusion.

"Did what?" I echoed, standing up slowly to hear him better.

Tony shook his head, leaning against a nearby chair. "I left my phone on, unlocked last night," he explained. "It was on the main floor, easiest to break into."

I narrowed my eyes. This wasn't adding up. "What are you even saying?" I interrupted, shaking my head as I tried to make sense of what he was throwing on the table.

"JARVIS alerted me that something was wrong, but I thought the security had already been amped," Tony added, still not meeting any of our eyes. "I didn't want to think that anything was wrong. It was my fault."

This sounded too rehearsed to my liking, but then again, I was tired and suspicious of everything today. I was counting on a nap later.

"Then why do you sound so hesitant?" Fury asked the question that, for the second time in this meeting, was burning on everyone's minds.

Tony snapped at Fury not a second later. "Because I don't like to admit when I'm wrong, okay?" he practically yelled. "That's why Em was so pissed off. She knew what I did, and she wanted me to own up to my mistake. Happy now?"

Maria sighed, wringing her hands together in exhaustion. "Now, we just have to figure out what they stole," she said with a nod, immediately pulling up a new set of screens to start another scan.

I, for one, was not about to stick around and watch. I had done my part for the day.

Shaking my head, I didn't even give an excuse before I exited the room, immediately heading towards one of the only rooms I knew in this entire ship. The shooting range.

I hadn't realized how long I spent in the range, nailing every target, until Natasha interrupted me, opening up the blinds to reveal the sun rising high in the sky. It had to be at least noon now. I blinked heavily, pocketing my handgun, as I spun around to face her.

"You're pretty handy with a gun," she commented, folding her arms across her chest.

I shrugged my shoulders, my facial expression remaining neutral. "I thought you were working on the face trace," I responded, my pulse still pounding in my ears from the constant gun shots. "Bruce has to have some sort of plan."

Natasha echoed my shrug. If she noticed how pissed I looked, I didn't care. Tony may have done whatever he claimed to have done, but there was something else that I saw in Emerald's eyes. There was something that she wasn't telling me.

"He's running short as of the moment," Natasha said. "I thought you were supposed to be helping with the break-in."

"I'm not as much help as I thought," I quipped. "A war is coming, and I'm better suited here."

Natasha ignored my remarks, gesturing to the gun I had just tucked away. "You know you won't always have the luxury of a gun," she commented, raising an eyebrow.

She was trying to challenge me, distract me further from being lost in my own thoughts, and as much as I appreciated it, I wasn't in the mood. I needed to be alone right now.

"I can handle my own," I said, fully prepared to turn around and continue my shooting, but Natasha grabbed my arm, forcing me to stare into her eyes.

"Then prove it."

I wasn't going to back down from a challenge.

I immediately attacked her, recalling each and every one of the training sessions that Steve and I had went through. I wanted to prove to Natasha that I could be an agent, that I was stronger than the other recruits, that I was stronger period. However, these thoughts only slowed me down, and that was when I found myself knocked to the ground.

I sighed, laughing at my own failure, and waited for Natasha to get up off of me. I was sprawled across the ground for a moment longer before the older agent held out her hand towards me, offering a chance to get back to my feet. However, I wasn't an amateur.

I yanked her back down to the ground, holding my fist to her throat with a wide smirk on my face.

Perhaps I didn't need to be alone, after all.

My smirk was echoed across Natasha's face as well, and I could already feel the pride swelling up in my chest. I had just beat Natasha Romanoff in a fist fight. I didn't care if she had taken it easy on me, but I had beat her. That counted for a whole lot in my book.

I stepped aside, allowing her to get up on her own, before I heard clapping coming from the doorway. I nearly jumped in shock as I spun around, locking eyes with Steve. He was leaning against the doorframe, watching us spar with admiration shining in his eyes.

"I think she proved it," he commented, unable to keep from smiling himself.

Natasha shook her head, catching her breath. "I underestimated you," she stated.

"And that's the last time you do that," I responded easily, the smirk never fading from my face as I glanced between Natasha and Steve. Forget the fact that I was woken up at four am and my best friend was keeping secrets from me, this was easily one of the best days of my life.

"I think you have a friend to find," Natasha commented, practically reading my mind, as I gave her one last smile and ran past the two observers.

Unfortunately, I had a horrible feeling that my great day was about to take a downward spiral.