Author's Note: Hello everyone. I am sure you are all happy to see another chapter. Sorry for the long delay between chapters, but real life takes priority. Also, I haven't had the time to sit down and write more chapters, and it's only in the last few hours that I've actually been able to sit down and transcribe the chapters onto google drive.

Yes, I have this on google drive and then later upload it onto fanfic. It's mostly there for the viewing pleasure of Ivorycrawler, and because she has an AO3 account, she has my permission to upload it there so that more people can view and read this.

To further note, however, do not expect another update for a while. I'm still trying to write up more chapters (transcribe them) and then I need to sit down and write more. To add to it, I also have an internship for the summer with the possibility of being involved in a research project, plus I'm currently in an online summer class to try and make sure that I can graduate sooner.

Knowing all that, the next update might be happening next month at the earliest. I cannot and will not make promises that I'm not sure I can keep.

Disclaimer: If you can google it and find at least 20 pages of it, or recognize it, then quite obviously, I do not own it.

Bitter Coffee Chapter Thirty-six

Serena knew that her mostly anonymous existence wouldn't last, but to have it all ended so suddenly was a bit of a shock to her.

Being escorted by Thor to the room where everyone seemed to have gathered was… odd. Eyeing his broad form, Serena couldn't help but still feel a bit uneasy. If there was one theme to all the stories she had been told about Thor, it was that he was a man of his word.

But…

Her eyes went down to Mjölnir and her fingers gained their familiar itch. The enchantments on it made her skin tingle and she wanted nothing more than the chance to poke and prod at the war hammer, to figure out what those things were and -

"And look who shows up! Little Miss Secrets!" Serena slid her eyes over to Tony. "So, what other gods exist, or is the whole thing about Apollo some sort of code phrase?"

"Stark, back off." Fury snapped. Serena knew that it was more over the loss of a highly kept secret that could, and most likely would threaten his organization now that it was out, than in her defense.

"It's fine, sir." Having the Avengers knowing about the gods didn't really matter, if only because sooner or later the Mist would cloud and alter those memories. When that one eye landed on her, Serena shrugged. She already had a good cover story ready to spill out of her mouth. "With the exception of the Black Widow and yourself, everyone in this room was marked for the Avengers Initiative."

"Wait, you were marked for it?" Steve stared at her as if he was only now seeing her for the first time. Apparently he was getting a few too many shocks to the system when it came to information about her.

"Yes. As I told you, Fury personally recruited me after my dad died." I was actually the reason for it.

"You mean after you killed him?" Serena glared at Tony's off-handed question.

"Do you, or do you not, want an explanation?" That seemed to have shut him up… for now. How the hell can anyone stand being near him? "First off, my tongue is bound. There are things I cannot say unless someone else who knows the secret shares the information first." Serena gestured in the direction of Loki's cell. "He bound my tongue as a means of protection. If I can't talk about a sworn secret, then I can't divulge it. Doesn't matter if I get tortured or brainwashed, and I'm still going to have a go at him about that, but anyway, I won't be able to speak." A look around showed that everyone other than Thor and Fury didn't seem to believe her on that.

"Seriously? Your tongue was bound?"

"Would you like to see the inscription, Tony?"

"Well, since you're offering."

Rolling her eyes, Serena stuck her tongue out. She knew what they would see, even if she saw their knee-jerk reaction. Then again, it wasn't everyday someone saw a pulsing green mark in the shape of two intertwined serpents moving over a piece of skin… or was it, technically, considered a muscle?

"What the hell?!" Pulling her tongue back in, Serena flexed her jaw, testing if she could explain.

When she felt her tongue numb, she shook her head. "I knew my brother excelled in magic… but I never knew he was this proficient in the arts."

"So says the man that ridiculed him over his skill set." It was a knee-jerk reaction for her to defend Loki when he couldn't do so himself. She saw the look Thor gave her. "When he was around he told me all about you, Odin, Frigga, your friends, and Asgard. I think even you know who would have been spared a few bad retellings." Thor winced and Serena rolled her wrists, satisfied that she had made her point. "Look, knowing that people from one mythology and pantheon is real, is it really hard to believe that the Greek ones are, also, real?"

"Until I see proof, I'll just take your word as a hypothesis. What's with the sword?" Trust Stark to have all the questions. Or at least be the only one fast enough to voice them.

Of course, her tongue numbed and she had to shake her head. She settled for her fall back answer. "Ask Fury." The man knew and could -

"Sir, you're not going to believe this." A monitor suddenly changed to show Maria's face, and from the tight pinch of her lips, she wasn't happy about something.

"Report. Tell me something normal is happening." Serena couldn't blame him for wanting 'normal'. If she only had to worry about being Clear-Sighted like almost all SHIELD agents were, and had all this happen, 'normal' sounded like a pretty good vacation.

"We know she's here! Look, just let us talk to her!"

"Oh hell no." Serena blurted out. She knew that voice. "Maria, how the hell did they get here?" The senior agent gave her a dead panned look even as Serena felt mischievous amusement from Stormwing. Well, she had wondered why the griffon had been staying silent for so long…

"Ask a certain griffon."

"Those are real?"

"Do you know what he had to do just to find it?"

Voices were starting to mix together while Serena rubbed the bridge of her nose as she listened to Annabeth and someone else argue with Maria, Tony firing off questions, and who knows who else saying what. "That bitch ratted me out."

Through the empathy bond, Serena felt and heard Stormwing laugh.