It was several hours later until she creeped back up onto the helicarrier; she hoped no-one had noticed her absence.
Her heart was still racing from the attack as she walked through the corridors, back to the lab, but before she got there Steve greeted her, "are you alright? You look a bit shaken."
"I'm fine," she smiled, "where are you going?"
"We found out where Loki is; I'm suiting up."
"You found Loki's base?" she asked alarmed.
Steve shook his head, "no, but he's in Stuttgart, Germany. Are you coming?"
"No… I err… I'll leave it to the professionals. Besides, Loki knows how I fight, I'll be no help."
Steve nodded, "I'll see you later then."
Lavender watched as he walked off, trying to calm herself down. She slowly walked back to the lab, composing herself as she walked in, "any luck on finding the tesseract yet?"
Bruce shook his head, "No, but it shouldn't take long now. Where have you been?" He asked.
"I've been reading up on the tesseract, why?"
"Fury came in five minutes ago looking for you."
Lavender's stomach lurched, "what for?"
"He didn't say, but it didn't look to urgent."
Lavender relaxed a bit, "do you know where he's gone?"
"Should be back on the bridge."
"I should probably go then," She smiled, walking out to the bridge.
She saw Fury on the bridge and carefully walked towards him, "Director, I heard you were looking for me?"
Fury looked towards her, he seemed calm enough, and nodded, "hopefully, we'll be bringing Loki in after this and I was wondering if you would talk to him?"
"Why?" Was all she could manage to ask.
"You know Loki better than any of us, you could find out what his plan is."
Lavender shook her head, "you know, I thought I knew him, but I really don't. It looks like he's thrown Asgard away and that means me with it; he won't talk to me, but Natasha's techniques may get to him. That's all I can offer I'm afraid."
Fury nodded, "I'll take that into account but you might change your mind when he gets here."
"I hope so sir, but I sincerely doubt it," she said, walking away.
Lavender was almost by the doors when Fury called her back, "Lavender, I would like to know where you went earlier."
Lavender turned around in surprise; mentally kicking herself for getting caught. "Excuse me?" She asked trying to play it innocent.
"And I'd also like to know how on Earth you got off this boat without me noticing until now."
Lavender hid her smirk and was secretly pleased with herself. She'd never got caught sneaking into the palace grounds, but the security here was ten times better and for nobody to notice until now, Lavender thought was quite an achievement. "Your pilots don't seem to ask any questions when it comes to people like me asking for a lift down."
"And why is that?"
"Probably because I lied, telling them I had orders to go down; they're very trusting."
Fury eyed her carefully; clearly taking a mental note of what she'd just said, "you must've been very convincing."
"Well, you don't befriend the God of Lies and Mischief without learning a trick or two."
"So where did you go?"
"I thought I knew where Loki was, so I went to see if I was right, but it turns out I was wrong."
"You should've told me."
"That's what I ought to have done, but if I had, you might have sent your best agents there while Loki was heading for Stuttgart."
Fury couldn't argue with that, "next time you'll consult me before doing anything like that again, are you clear?"
"Yes sir," she said obediently before leaving.
