(8 am, The morning after LOKI arrives)

The moment SHIELD's mainframe received the message about its a facility at Staten island collapsing, FRIDAY's communication systems went into overdrive. Initiating the first phase of her plan to reduce SHIELD's power, she sent the information along with photos to every major and minor news agencies across the United States. The major agencies of other countries got the information some minutes later. She had discussed this with Boss lady, boss, and Ms. Romanova, with each of them agreeing that SHIELD cannot be allowed to stay in the shadows any longer. If they wanted to act as a global security organization, then FRIDAY would make sure they face the consequences of it, be it good or bad.

The CCTV recording which showed Dr. Selvig experimenting on the tesseract was also copied to her private servers. She had plans for that part, plans which Boss had agreed to immediately. He said that he wanted to help her, but she was sure that he wanted an excuse for creating chaos. Every member of the group was informed about the facility's fate when they woke up the next day and with that, a part of humanity started reacting directly to what would be the first widely known alien invasion of the earth.

Boss was working in his lab with boss lady telling him about Morgan's demand for an alpaca when FRIDAY informed them. The amusement on their faces drained away and was replaced by seriousness. Boss pulled away from a prototype search and rescue suit and took a seat on the couch with Boss lady.

"So it starts, huh."

"yes, Mr. Stark. Loki has taken the tesseract along with three SHIELD agents and Dr. Erik Selvig."

"Birdbrain is still at his home, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark. Director fury accepted his request for leave without any question and directed a future member of the STRIKE team to take his assignment."

"HYDRA agent?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts."

Boss lady leaned into Boss who put an arm around her. There was silence for a few minutes before boss lady spoke up.

"What if we lose tomorrow FRIDAY?"

"The probability of such happening is very low, Ms. Potts."

"But there is some right. And what about Tony and our friends that will be fighting tomorrow. I am sure there is a possibility of them dying too right."

FRIDAY wasn't sure what else she could answer.

"Yes, Ms. Potts."

"And what probability you have calculated for their survival? Tell me."

"Ms. Potts.."

"Tell me FRIDAY."

She was silent for a few seconds as the calculation for each individual was done again. She gave the best estimate as the answer.

"Ms. Romanova is on top of the list with a 76% chance of dying in tomorrow's attack and Mr. Potts is at the bottom with 29%. The only other person below 50% chance is Dr. Banner with 32%, but that may be wrong given Hulk's limit of power is not known."

Boss lady's eyes were full of tears now.

"And what about Tony, Nela, and Rhodey?"

"Mr. Stark and Ms. Stark are third-highest on the list behind Mr. Barton with a 65% and 62% probability of death. Colonel Rhodes has been marked as 59% and Mordo at 51%."

FRIDAY knew her tone was too neutral, but she didn't know how else to answer. Boss lady was crying in Boss's embrace, who was resting his head on the couch with his eyes closed.

She received a notification from the barton's farm and inquired boss about it.

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Barton has requested to use one of the suits to arrive in New York."

"Tell him yes, FRIDAY. JARVIS dispatch another spare mark 24 to his house and tell Legolas to stop messing with my suit inflight."

"Yes, sir."

Boss's tone was tired and sad, so FRIDAY decided to make him focus somewhere else.

"Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, I have informed the other members of the group about the facility. Their reactions were somewhat unexpected."

She had deliberately added the last part and could feel the amusement from all her siblings. As expected Boss asked the next question.

"oh, what did they, FRI?"

Pushing the happiness she was feeling aside, she projected multiple videos around them. Colonel Rhodes was in his room at the base at was pacing around swearing, while Ms. Romanova and Mr. Barton were beating the hell out of punching bags. The others were doing something like that, but it was the last video that FRIDAY wanted Boss to focus on. And some seconds later, he did. The reaction was just as she expected. He jumped up from the couch, nearly throwing Boss lady down.

"What the fuck are they doing? They cannot do that."

Boss lady was confused for a second before her eyes found the video boss was pointing to, the video in which Nela and Virgil were kissing on the terrace of the Mansion. The laugh that came was the loudest FRIDAY had ever heard from her. Boss didn't seem to find it funny.

"Why are you laughing. She is not allowed to kiss anybody."

He had started moving towards the lab doors, his intentions clear to FRIDAY. Boss lady seemed to know it too, because she jumped from her place and grabbed his t-shirt, stopping him from leaving.

"Tony, you cannot say anything to her. She can kiss whoever she wants."

"Like hell, she can. She does not have my permission."

"She doesn't need your permission, Tony. She is an adult, not a child."

"She is my child. I have papers to prove it."

"That's not real and you know..."

The moment she had decided to share the videos, FRIDAY had pinged everyone with a live recording from the lab. Now everyone except the parkers were watching it, and all of them had smiles on their face. Well, everyone except Nela, who had a strange expression on her face and tears in her eyes. As Mr. Potts seems to be consoling her, FRIDAY let it be.

(2 pm, same day)

FRIDAY had been monitoring SHIELD systems and the news when JARVIS opened a communication channel. Even though his voice was light, FRIDAY sensed that he was uncomfortable.

"Mr. Coulson is at the gate of the mansion, FRIDAY. I stopped the override attempts, but it seems that instead of knocking SHIELD is now trying to disable me."

She checked his firewalls and found the attack source. When their portable device had been disabled by JARVIS, Mr. Coulson had asked the IT department of SHIELD to get his access. The people working in the department seemed to have taken the request differently than he had intended. FRIDAY blocked the attacks and burned the systems being used for it. She then directed JARVIS to speak to the agent.

JARVIS

At FRIDAY's direction, he hacked into the communication device Mr. Coulson seemed to be using.

"Mr. Coulson, I would prefer if you knock at the gates if you want to meet Sir, instead of trying to override my controls."

From what little he could see through the cameras, Mr. Coulson did not seem to give any reaction to his words.

"JARVIS, May I ask how you got accessed this device."

"Given what you were attempting to do, Mr. Coulson, I don't think it's a fair question."

Once again there was no change in his neutral expression. He stepped out of the tree he was standing under and walked up to the gates.

"I want to talk to Stark. There are some things he needs to know."

JARVIS waited for a few minutes before replying.

"Sir has agreed to meet you, Mr. Coulson. Please drop the portable audio bugs in your pocket outside the gates before stepping in."

JARVIS observed the agent dropping the devices in his car before walking back. He opened the main gates and directed the agent to the main hall. Sir met him at the door of the mansion. He had a serious expression on his face.

"Agent Coulson. There wasn't any need to attack My A.i. just to talk to me."

The reply was in a condescending tone.

"This is not about your A.I., Stark. We have some serious problems and want you to help us."

"And why should I help you, when you just attacked my friend."

"There are things bigger than you in this world. Look into this."

The agent had extended a folder towards sir, who pointed it at one of the tables.

"I do not like to be handed things. I am sure you know that."

"Yes, Pepper told me about that. I forgot about it."

Sir's face had hardened at the casual mention of Ms. Potts's name.

"I will look into it. You can leave now, agent."

"I would prefer to stay Mr. Stark, while you go through it."

"Yeah, not happening. You can leave now. I will contact you when I am done."

For a few seconds, it looked like Agent Coulson would insist on staying, but then he nodded and turned to leave. When he was at the door, sir spoke again.

"Agent, the next time someone tries to hack JARVIS, I will not stop at just burning that computer system."

Agent Coulson nodded with a neutral face and the left.

FRIDAY

She checked for any bugs once again before speaking.

"He did not mention anything about Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark."

"You noticed that too, huh. I am guessing Fury is counting on me to bring him along. Did they contact captain spangles yet, FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark. Director fury requested the president to borrow Mr. Rogers for an urgent assignment, as they had negotiated. The request was approved by Mr. President and CSA. Mr. Rogers is on the way to helicarrier right now."

"Did he tell them anything else?"

"No, Mr. Stark."

"Huh. Very well, inform Rhodey to proceed as we discussed. He can alert the armed forces when he wants too."

"Okay, Mr. Stark."

"TADASHI, Tomorrow morning send a message to every employee registered with SI. No one is to approach the Stark tower until any further notice, except those with permission to do so. Once we confirm the location of the invasion, send an alert to the SI's medical department, security department, and heavy machinery department to start preparing for an alien attack and it's aftermath. Once the portal is closed, issue a request to every employee in the city or near it for volunteer help. Accept every employee who offers, and co-ordinate with Pepper, Virgil, Police department, fire department, and the military to assign them for search and rescue operations. Pepper will be handling the people we need to talk to and Virgil, Nela, and I will be handling everything that happens in the tower."

"Captain, even with FRIDAY's help my servers would not be able to handle such a large amount of work. I know JARVIS would be busy handling your suit along with the mansion security, but If VERONICA and KAREN help me, I would be able to handle everything."

Boss was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again.

"I am sorry about that, TADASHI. I forgot that you don't have as much processing power."

"No problem, captain."

"FRIDAY, what do you think?"

She had to think before answering.

"It would be a good opportunity for KAREN to learn handling complex situations. But I would recommend she and VERONICA use TADASHI's voice module when contacting anyone outside the people that know about their existence. Only TADASHI and JARVIS's existence are known to the world as of now, and I would like to keep them a secret."

"You heard your sister, TADASHI."

"Roger that, Captain."