They call her Human Torch! Chapter 37

Thursday October 15, 2015 – late morning. Triskelion

Walking into the Triskelion was a surreal moment. All movement stopped and every Agent stared in awe either at me or at Steve. We kept walking through the throng of people glad that no one tried to stop us but I did stop short when I spotted 2 faces I recognized more than the rest.

"Simmons? Fitz?"

Their eyes lit up when they saw me walking towards them with Steve trailing along behind me. Simmons smiled and met me half way, surprising me when she threw her arms around me.

"Agent Swan! We were so glad when we found out you were back! Is it true you were in another planet? I can't imagine what that was like. Could I bother you to give me an hour of your time? I'm sure the science department would love to have you as a guest speaker, or maybe a panel?"

"Yeah, we couldn't believe it! We were there with you one minute, seeing you take off and the next we were informed that you were sucked up into some wormhole!.. You look incredible though, I mean, all of you did but you were flying around and landing and kicking alien ass but you look, looked great!"

I looked to Steve, who seemed as amused and overwhelmed as I was. They were both so enthusiastic that they were talking at the same time and ended their speech at the same instant as well.

"Uh thanks, yeah it happened so fast but honestly I have a meeting with Fury in an hour and I don't know what I will be able to say or not.. you know how it is."

They nodded understanding but with a hint of disappointment.

"Yeah, we are only level 5.. Only level 7 Agents know more about what happened in New York. You are level 6 aren't you?"

"I am level 7."

"Oh, a specialist then? Wow."

They looked at me confused that I had such a high level even though I had not been with S.H.I.E.L.D for long but before they could ask more questions, Phil came out of the elevators and walked right up to us, greeting Fitzsimmons first in a way that only an upper level can, intimidate them to dismiss themselves and leave. Once he turned to us with a relaxed smile I rolled my eyes as I greeted him.

"You are horrible Phil!"

"I didn't say anything, it's a natural reaction, for most but just because you were trained by Agent Romanoff and Barton you are not intimidated by clearance levels."

I shrugged but smiled his way. He was right, I never cared who was in charge of what.

"It wasn't disrespect, I just refused to go on a mission unless I knew what, where, why, and who. I know different people are sent and some Agents have a separate missions that are kept from the rest of the team, that imbalances us and it's part of the reason I don't play well with others."

He nodded his head in acceptance, having heard the same speech before and I saw Steve smile to himself.

"You seemed to play very well as a team in New York."

"Yeah, because we were all on equal footing and all in the know."

He nodded but led us back the elevators. He spoke while scanning his clearance badge and authorizing both Steve and I as well. Finally the elevator system recognized us and we were able to close the doors and pick a level.

"Agent Coulson, Agent Swan, Captain Rogers."

Steve gave me an exasperated look as he looked around the elevator walls.

"Do all buildings talk now? I thought Jarvis was only used for Stark properties and your apartment."

"Yes, Jarvis is only Tony's but the elevator here of course has to be secure.. can't have any random person slipping passed the lobby security and calling the elevator up to Fury's office right? Speaking of, is he going to be here Phil?"

"Yes, of course. Director Fury and Wold Security Council Secretary Alexander Pierce will both be ready for you in the Holographic Projection Room."

"Oh hell no! Phil don't tell me I had to come to D.C to face-time them?!"

"Bella-"

"Don't Bella me! Un-fucking-believable!"

I clenched my fists in anger but tried taking deep breathes. I saw a look pass over Steve's face and knew he hated not being able to at least put a hand on my shoulder. Nat and Clint let me know that Fury, Hill, and Phil were informed of my relationship with Steve but Fury said he owed me and would not say a word to the world council if it was not necessary, though he did not understand why we were keeping it a secret for now. It still annoyed me that Nat and Clint felt he had to be informed but I knew they were loyal Agents before anything else.

"Bella, I understand you are upset but these are not people you want to piss off, really."

"I won't roll over and play nice either and you know that."

"Just don't threaten them alright? We convinced Pierce that we didn't need armed Agents in the room so.. don't kill anyone."

"I'm not that out of control Phil."

"I know.. but if they prod at you, bring up sensitive subjects.."

"I understand protocol Phil, I won't do anything that would make them give you orders to try and hurt me."

Phil looked to Steve and I saw some nervousness hidden under his poker face.

"Not that I would.. hurt her I mean."

Steve nodded stiffly but even I felt bad for Phil when he stared him down with a calculating look, a look I wouldn't want to receive but it was hot to see others squirm under it. It felt like a 7 minute long elevator ride when we finally got up to the top floor but then again, I was accustomed to the fast one in my building and this building was double the floors.

"Alright, you ready?"

"Now? I'm early."

"You didn't think they would be ready for that?"

"Don't you mean 'did I really think they have not been planning how the meeting will go all morning'?"

"Pretty much."

"Fine. Does Steve have to stay out here?"

"Let me ask. I will go tell them you are here."

We nodded as he left but once he entered the office I tuned out the conversation inside and focused on a worried Steve.

"Are you getting a bad feeling?"

"Phil said they have been speaking all morning. You know that means they will try asking or bargaining with you. They want something out of you."

"I know, and I have a feeling they will want something out of you if they let you be in there listening.. We won't give in to that Steve, we can't."

"Of course. There can't be any more reasons for people to risk their lives by trying to replicate us."

I nodded but didn't get the chance to answer as Phil and Fury stepped out. Fury held his hand out and squeezed mine, giving me a long stare in warning or caution, I wasn't sure.

"Nick."

"Bella, good to see you. Captain Rogers, good to see you looking more up to date as well."

He looked at both of us and smiled slightly but didn't comment as he scratched at his ear. That alone was enough indication to Steve and I that we were being heard. He led us back into the office and I could see the faces of the council members on the glass in the room but Fury ignored them for a moment and introduced Steve and I to Alexander Pierce, instantly I disliked him, he had a cold, calculating look in his eyes and an arrogance that was deeply rooted into his body language. I could tell Steve didn't like him either but I was not sure if it was because he and Phil were dismissed to stand in the corner of the room or because Pierce ran his eyes over my body slowly, studying every move I made with every breath I took.

"Pleasure too meet the Human Torch in person at last. I must say Ms. Swan, you have been the center of many discussions for the world council since your incident, I do hope we can change that soon."

"Oh I hope so as well, I'm sure the world security council has much better things to do than talk about a simple girl."

His eyes turned steely as he smirked.

"Girl you may be, but simple you are not. If we may get on with it, please sit."

"I am okay standing, thank you. I'm sure the council members would appreciate being able to see me clearly anyway."

"Of course."

He went to stand by Fury who was looking as serious as could be but I could have sworn I saw some amusement in his eyes. The woman on the screen took lead on the meeting but I was not sure why I was not introduced to them by name, probably for security reasons but, it's not like I couldn't just look it up somewhere right?

"Ms. Swan, We all know why you have been called in today. You have reportedly been missing for the past couple of months and now, you are back on earth. The public wants to know where exactly you were, what you were doing, and in my opinion the most important question, how are you back?"

"All valid questions Ma'am, however, I was under the impression that this meeting was so I could ask my own questions. For example, why is my family's names on a threat list?"

"Yes, we are aware you have questions on information you were never meant to be aware of,"

She sent a glare Fury's way as she spoke but cleared her face as she turned back to me.

"Before we get to that, we would like to listen to what happened after you were taken through that portal."

I tried to use an overly patient tone but by the look Fury was giving me, I think it ended up sounding condescending instead.

"I understand what you want to listen about, however, I am here to get my family's names off that list. Fury told me you wanted my DNA, that's not going to happen, so what else is there? What do you want in exchange for my Family's names? I don't have to talk about the Bifrost.. I could though, if I had a valid reason to.. an incentive."

"We are not here to play games with you! We could easily take legal action against you for the information we want."

"Oh yes Mr. Pierce because that would go over so well with the public wouldn't it? I don't even think you lot are ready for more information, you could hardly protect the earth as it is, I can't imagine adding in other planets!"

"Agent Swan!"

"I am not an Agent Fury! I've already told you!"

The council all stopped to look at him in shock and he seemed to glare at me.

"Did you not tell them I would no longer be a full time Agent?"

"No, We have been occupied if you have not noticed."

I snorted and muttered.

"Obviously not enough if you called me here."

The older man besides the council woman spoke up for the first time with a dry voice.

"Why do you hold such contempt for the council? If this if your way of assuring us that you are not a threat, I'm not sure where your head is girl."

"That is where I have a problem. I am supposed to prove to you I'm not a threat? You are the threat. You tried blowing up New York, a whole state! How are you not a threat to the public?"

"We did what we had to do to save the rest of the world."

"You didn't do shit but kill off a few extra people!"

"Watch your tone! You do not know what precaution we use when making such impacting decisions."

"Oh so you actually thought about it? Did you honestly think that killing everyone in New York was going to solve the problem? It wouldn't have closed down the portal. More Chitauri would have kept coming but with no city to damage they would have just moved over to the next state! You would have spread them all over! We contained them, We killed them, We closed the portal! We could have closed it sooner, avoided more of them coming down, avoided some lives to be lost but we had to hold off on closing it until Tony could put the bomb that you sent through the damn portal, almost losing his life in the process. Excuse me if I am not kissing your asses for trust in me when I certainly cannot trust you!"

I didn't mean to go off on them the way I did but they sat there calmly looking at me from their offices around the world, safe, while trying to look down on me. It seemed that at least on some level they understood what I had said. The 4 figures on the monitors looked down while Pierce looked deadly. He really didn't like me then. Fury on the other hand stood up straighter and came to stand by me with a smirk on his face directed at them.

"Thank you Bella, if you would let me lead in on this meeting for a moment. I ignored the request of the council to set off the bomb, you all went against me and did it anyway, these are the repercussions. I put trust in the team that I put together to stop what was happening, I knew the moment that I looked into this woman's eyes that she was not a threat to our world because she held the same expression in her then and now as she did the day I met her. Tell me council, when have I ever given a new Agent that has not even been trained, level 6 clearance? She was trained under the 3 best Agents S.H.I.E.L.D has and it was done under my supervision. She became level 7 in less than 3 missions, and she was on her way to become level 8 had this all not happened."

"She said it herself, she is no longer an Agent, she came back to earth and one of the first things she does is leave the Agency she was so loyal to? How is that not a red flag in your eyes Director?"

"We drove her away with our actions, she felt this was no longer the Agency she had thought she signed up for, it's as simple as that. She also never quit, she simply wishes to be on call as an Avenger when she is truly needed, she has only retired from being a full time Agent, she remains loyal. Frankly, I understand, I realized that after that bomb was sent actually. However, though she was no longer part of S.H.I.E.L.D, she still gave all the information she could and did what she had to do to keep her team together and working. The world needs the Avengers, we know that now more than ever, but if you do not remember, there are no Avengers without her. She is the glue, she is the pack leader for lack of a better term. Like it or not, for both information and world security, you need her. Now moving on to plan D shall we?"

"Plan D?"

He shook his head at me softly but kept locking eyes with the figures on the monitor. They seemed more inclined with whatever plan D is but of course Pierce was the one who protested first. No wonder Phil warned me not to kill him.

"Now wait a minute Nick, we all have to agree to move on to plan D, that is a step too far. We still have no actual proof that she is not being controlled."

"How can you possibly know if I am or not? You Mr. Pierce are reaching to get a blood sample from me. Newsflash, you don't have one on file so how can you compare it to a previous one and check that nothing is different? You can't. The only way it could be slightly possible would be to check my brainwaves and compare them to Agents Coulson or Barton's brain waves, if you would have recorded them while they were under Loki's control, but again, you didn't."

"If we cannot prove it does that mean we have no choice but trust you? Do you think it will be so simple?"

"Honestly? Yes. You could take my word, or you can try locking me up somehow for the rest of my life… I don't know how that will work out for you."

"Is that a threat against the council?"

"Did I ever say it was? No. You seem to be the only one that is so against me at the moment Mr. Pierce. I wonder why that is."

"I take the security of our world very seriously."

"Are you saying the rest of the council does not?"

I smirked slightly when the rest of them turned cold eyes his way until he looked away from me.

"For the record, I take the security of our planet seriously as well, which is why I was so.. upset to hear that the Tesseract had been woken here on earth, in S.H.I.E.L.D's possession. I didn't want to believe it but of course, it was the council's decision to prod at it and try to weaponize it, to try to use something not of our world, something you did not understand."

"Which brings us to another point. You returned it to another planet.. something so dangerous as you say. You let it go to the enemy."

"Asgard is not the enemy! They are our allies! Thor fought with us, he prepared us for what was coming and helped us understand how to shut it off! Look at the news! Look at the people in the streets of New York and all the new things they are trying to sell, all the Avenger t shirts and merchandise! They have us all on them, even Thor. Like it or not, he is an Avenger, he has been accepted as an ally by the world, just not by the council apparently. We proved we cannot have such powerful things in our possession, it is safer for many reasons for it to be locked in a room surrounded by guards. If it were here, it would only act like a beacon again one day, as Thor said, it is a sign that earth is ready for a higher form of war, but we are not!"

The council woman gave Pierce a sharp look and spoke to him on behalf of the rest of them.

"Alexander, we all have agreed prior to this meeting that Asgard has proved to be an ally, that the Tesseract must be safer in another planet, away from earth."

I visibly saw him turn red with anger before glaring at me and taking a deep breath. He nodded to the council and put a pleasant facade on before stepping back behind the monitors. This man is hiding something, he's not right..

"Agent- Ms. Swan, the council must agree with Director Fury. We may have been.. rash to place your daughters name on a threat list, your whole family can be removed, we are willing to cooperate with you if you are willing to cooperate with us. You know as well as we do that there is information we must know. Space travel no longer seems relevant, not with the information you hold."

"Thank you Ma'am, I am more than willing to cooperate if I can be assured that my family and friends will be under no threat list, that now includes Mr. Rogers."

The man on the far left gave me a surprised look while the one on the right looked at him then back to me.

"We would not commit a crime as bold as to place Captain America on a threat list Ms. Swan, your affiliation with him means nothing to the status he holds."

"Yes, I must agree with my colleague, you do the country a favor to take him in and modernize him. How long do you expect to have him in your home?"

I wanted to tell him to fuck himself but kept my face neutral with only a hint of a playful smirk in response to the question.

"Well sir, I do not plan to kick him out of my home once he no longer needs help if that is what you mean. I can assure you he is more than capable to grasp everything around him quickly, however, I believe Mr. Stark will be rebuilding his tower to house any Avenger that may need a home. They will stay with me until further notice, with the exception of Agent's Barton and Romanoff of course."

"Is there a reason you all wish to be together?"

"We are a family, we are friends."

"We have been informed by frequent travel patterns that you contact Dr. Banner regularly. Is there a particular reason for that?"

"Yes, He is a very close friend. You have studied my travel history so you must have studied my S.H.I.E.L.D file as well. My control was not where I needed it too be when my mutant gene was first activated, I saw his file and thought if anyone had good control to teach, it must be him. I was right to a certain extent. He taught me what he could but together we have taught each other more. He is not a threat. I take responsibility to take him to a secure place once every couple of weeks or months so he can let out.. pent up frustrations if the council can assure me that he will no longer be looked for or after."

"Do you think that is safe to civilians?"

"Yes, it is why I would take him far from crowded city's. We have done it in his backyard, no one ever found out. It is all about the trust I have in his control, he is no longer fighting himself or repressing himself, he is free to be calm in both personas, so long as he does not lose control.. which is why yes, it is safer to have him let out his frustrations regularly instead of building them up."

"Very well. Let us take a vote as the council that we are. All in favor of proceeding fully with plan D, raise your hand."

Slowly every single one of them raised their hands except Pierce, when they looked to him he simply dismissed them with a flick of his wrist.

"I am clearly out voted, do what you wish with her."

I glared at his use of words but didn't comment since I was still confused as to what plan D is.

"Very well. Ms. Swan, plan D has been put on track for you, the names of your family will be removed on the basis that we no longer consider you a threat. Proceeding will have no effect of this action."

"What this means is that the council has chosen to believe that you are not a threat to the population at the moment therefore your name and the names of those affiliated with you will be taken off the threat list, however, the council reserves the right to place your name on any given threat list once again based on your future actions. We still would like you to perform a number of additional tasks, though under the previously stated outline of plan D, whether you choose to complete the tasks or not, do not effect in anyway the removal of names to any threat list."

I held still, not willing to sigh in relief yet, I had no idea what these tasks could be and I was not ready to believe that they would remove names if I chose not to do them.

"What do you want from me?"

From the corner of my eye I saw Steve flinch and narrow his eyes at my words.

"Everything you have learned. We want peace with Asgard, they are our allies at the moment but that could change in the future, we would like you to act as an ambassador between us, to keep the peace and communication open. We want to speak to whoever is in charge-"

"The king would never agree to leave Asgard unprotected. I don't think it could ever be possible to have him come here and I don't think they would let you all in at the same time, unless you went unarmed.."

"We understood that could be a possibility, still, we would like to send someone, perhaps Director Fury himself might accept the mission. Once terms are set in place and they have accepted you as a proper representative of Asgard, we can begin with information exchange. You would not be a council member as you are not qualified, however, with the aid of Asgard, we would like to bring you in as a consultant for world security."

I opened my mouth, ready to say something but nothing good came to mind.. ambassador, consultant, representative...

"Are you serious?"

Her expression grew somber as she looked right at me.

"We have to be Ms. Swan. We know nothing about planets beyond earth. We thought we did but now it seems our information, our science, our planet as a whole is lacking. We were informed that there are more planets other than Asgard."

"Yes, I have been to some of them but.. there are a lot, more than the amount of countries we have. They are not part of the nine realms though."

"Which are?"

"Well, it would benefit each of you to read up of Norse mythology, turns out there is nothing mythical about it. If I'm honest ma'am, I need to go back, there are things that I need other humans to see, not as much for the beauty or magic of it, but simply to confirm that what I saw was actually real."

I looked around a little lost with how to keep explaining but I couldn't see a board or paper to write on.

"I wish there was someway I could show you a graph of some sort, or that I had somewhere to write.. In the tree that Asgardians call Yggdrasil, there are nine realms, Midgard is what they call earth and it is in between the rest of the realms, the Bifrost connects all of them, and King Odin, who resides in Asgard, he has a powerful army, it allows him to keep peace between all of the realms, if one of them tried to attack Midgard, he would send someone to eliminate them, as he sent Thor with me to help. I know it is a lot to take in but that is how things work there, however, there are galaxies beyond that, other planets outside of our bubble that are not in the nine realms, that are not under the control of the King. That is where the Nova Empire comes in."

"What is the Nova Empire?"

I felt everyone's eyes on me, even Steve's since I had not gotten to this part with the family.

"Nova Empire is headquartered in a planet called Xandar, I was there briefly.. honestly it looks a lot like earth, for a moment I thought I had found my way back.."

I looked away to clear my throat and compose myself before my feeling could effect me.

"It wasn't until I saw the buildings and the clothes.. The color and looks of people that I realized that it just looked like a futuristic movie, except my fellow Asgardians and I were the alien looking ones.. Anyway, Nova Empire is an intergalactic hegemony made up of multiple alien species that maintains a strict but benevolently personified rule over a good portion of the galaxy. I know I sound like a machine but I am reciting what I read in the book.. It's like their version of our UN. They all come together to keep the peace between planets, they make peace treaties and such but if a race is not playing along then the Nova Corps are sent into action. They are the military and police armed forces of the Nova Empire, largest army anywhere apparently. They don't rule over the nine realms, and that's including us, because the King of Asgard is a good leader and the Asgardian army is more than strong enough to take care of itself.. Like I said, they are not the enemy, it is because of Asgard's protection over the 9 realms that we have not been taken over or made an abandoned planet. We have lived independently and have shaped our own planet, made our own mistakes without outside influence.. It caused us to be lacking in many areas but, it's ours because of the protection of the realms around us."

I think I shocked them or overloaded them with information because they kept quiet for a good 2 minutes but in a room with 9 people in it, it felt much longer. Finally Nick was the one who was able to compose himself first.

"Is this Nova Empire friendly then?"

"Oh yes, for sure, they just want to keep the peace between planets.. it's so easy to destroy them apparently.. their weapons and space ships are.. well, 'it's out of this world' is a very appropriate expression I must say."

"If they act as the UN for aliens, would it be, in your opinion, a good idea to reach out to them and make our own peace treaty with them?"

The man on the far right had asked the question in a way that made me think my answer was some sort of test, like my answer would determine something for them.. problem was I couldn't think of one right now, I was still reeling over the whole ambassador thing.

"I couldn't give a yes or no answer right now. I would need to speak with the King, ask how his experience with them was, find out more information on the Nova ranks and just how far into the Galaxies they rule. I would say for now though, no. We are not on their radar, we have nothing to offer, they won't even bother coming this far out. When I looked into getting a spaceship to get to earth that way, it was made known to me that it was restricted access, that is why we don't see them here. We are so far away that no spaceship could get here without a substantial amount of money spent on fuel.. that and well, they don't care for our planet so no one would bother coming here. The exception was Loki because he needed the Tesseract. If there are no more alien artifacts on our planet that can activate to act as a beacon to us then I do not feel we are in enough risk to take that step. I may be wrong about being on their radar though, like I said, the Tesseract waking up here was very dangerous. Only speaking with Heimdall and the King could clear that up."

"Who is Heimdall?"

I tried biting my lip and bringing up all my training to prevent a smile from coming up. I knew they would not like what I would say and I was excited to see their expressions.

"Heimdall is the gatekeeper of Asgard. He is blessed with sensory capabilities that surpass other Asgardians, it allows him to see nearly all things that happen in the nine realms and protect them. He ensures no enemy gets passed his watch to get into Asgard and he watches over any enemy's that are a threat to our nine realms, he has sworn his loyalty to the King to be the guardian of our worlds. He is the one who told me the Tesseract was awoken on earth and how it came to be in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also kept me informed of how my family was doing while I was away."

"You expect us to believe this?"

"Mr, Pierce, aliens invaded earth the other day.. are my words really that crazy?"

"You are claiming that a man sees all like some kind of god, that he sees and hears every person in 9 whole planets?! You are right, maybe we do not need your blood but a mental evaluation might do you good."

I tried, I really tried to not kill him. It took everything in me to keep my feet planted but I could feel my veins glowing. I heard Phil gasp lightly, saw Fury and some council members glare at him but what worried me was hearing, then seeing Steve stalk passed me and up to him with his hands in fists and a strong glare in place. When Steve spoke to Pierce it came out in a dangerously low growl.

"Apologize to the lady son. Now."

Although a part of me wanted to be amused at him calling a man that looked 2 times his age son, I knew now was not the time. I suppressed all the heat and stepped up to him, pulling his elbow with my hand until we were both back in the middle of the room.

"Just ignore him Steve."

"I won't allow anyone to disrespect you! He has done nothing but that since we got here."

"Steve, choose your battles."

He vibrated with anger but nodded stiffly and turned to glare at Pierce once more before turning to the council. The council looked to each other after a moment of warily watching Steve and I before nodding and turning back to me.

"You have given us much to think over Ms. Swan. If you could give the council a 1 hour break to speak about what we would like to do with this information, what kind of tasks we would give you and how we want to proceed."

I was not comfortable speaking about tasks but I nodded my head anyway. I felt that with the exception of Pierce, they all listened open minded and all seemed to be open enough to me so I was calm enough to walk out of there confidently with my head held high. I heard Fury and Phil following behind me and heard the council stop Pierce. Not knowing where exactly to go I walked straight to Fury's office with Steve beside me. Once he caught up he scanned his clearance and let us into the office, flipping the privacy switch to close all blinds and turn off all cameras. I relaxed finally once everything was closed and reached my hand to take Steve's while sitting on one of the couches.

"Well that was a clusterfuck!"

"You did good Bella."

"Didn't feel like I did. Nick why in the world would I be considered for any type of consultant job?"
"They need you. You are the only person that has been to another unknown planet and given that the 'Bifrost' is man operated, no one could sneak in or be trusted to go in your place. You joined their army, they trust you, who better to be the middle person?"

"What do they want with the information? Will it be public record or will it be hidden away?"

"That is still under debate."

"It should be.. the public deserves to know what is out there. They deserve to know that they are not alone but they shouldn't be scared, we are part of a number of realms all connected Nick. We are the only ones who were not aware of the rest.. we just.. we need to progress. Having Heimdall and the King as allies would be a great thing, Heimdall would be able to maybe warn us if there was a threat coming, even among countries maybe, I mean you just need to ask and he could tell you where on earth the trouble-"

I stumbled over my words, muttering the last sentence as my mind raced. Heimdall could see all.. he could see everyone on earth! Why hadn't I thought about asking before? If he could see Kitty while I was there then he could find Victoria, he could tell me exactly where she is and there would be no need to gather an army, I could go finish her myself, no Volturi needed.. unless they were helping her but he could tell us everything so easily!

"Bella?"

"Bella are you okay?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and focused my sight on the here and now, seeing first Steve kneeling in front of me, holding my head between his hands. I took a beep breath and looked into his concerned eyes.

"Sorry, I just.. I just thought of something. I could ask Heimdall to help me with something but I'll see about that another time. What were, what were we talking about?"

They looked at me closely but Fury spoke slowly, deciding to move on from the moment, Steve didn't seem so sure though.

"The benefit of having Asgard as an ally and public knowledge."

"Yes, that would be good.."

I was still reeling and confused- not confused but shocked that it could be so easy.. They noticed my head was not in the right place so Fury sighed and got up along with Phil.

"I should get back in there. You have 50 minutes Bella, not enough time to go out but your Agent clearance is still in the system."

I nodded absentmindedly and muttered out a "We'll roam around." The 3 of them gave me worried looks but let it go once more when Fury opened the door. I got up and pulled Steve along knowing there was no way in hell would Fury leave anyone alone in his office. He flipped off the privacy switch but before the cameras focused and before the blinds came up, Steve squeezed my hand and leaned down to give me a quick kiss. I smiled at him but he still had a slight frown, knowing we no longer had the privacy to ask any questions or the ability to show affection, I know all he wanted was a few minutes alone with me but nowhere in this building could we do that and 50 minutes was not enough time to leave.

Once out of the office Phil gave us a soft smile before following after Fury. I went to the elevators and thought about the different floors there were. First off I guess we could go to the training centers, check out new recruits.. Then I thought about Steve, what could interest him and I remembered the one person he would like to meet above anyone else.

"Come on, let's go to the 17th floor."

"What's there?"

"I'm hoping a who is there.."

He gave me a strange look but when I winked and him and smiled he just followed along without question. We got out at the 17th floor and I went straight up to the main area desk. A woman sat up straight away and looked intimidated when she caught sight of both of us. Not so much at Steve though, her eyes definitely lingered on his muscular arms, I wanted to smirk at her but refrained.. she seemed nice but if I smirked she would be even more intimidated.

"H-hello, Ma'am, sir.. how, what can I do? I mean, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Agent..?"

"Beck.. Sofia Beck."

"Nice to meet you Agent. Can you log into the system and locate where Agent John Garrett's team is stationed at the moment?"

She scrunched her shoulders and looked up at me almost scared and spoke with the softest voice I have heard in a really long time.

"I- I have to ask for your, um your clearance level..?"

"Yes of course. Agent I understand that is protocol, you are just doing your job.."

She seemed a little relived as she straightened up and logged in.

"I'm a level 7."

Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened.

"Oh! Oh okay, no problem then.. I just need you to enter your badge number or scan your hand here, then enter your authorization code."

I scrunched up my eyebrows and wondered briefly if protocol had changed recently.

"Um, I thought I only needed to input my code if I was trying to access files.."

She looked to me expressionless for a moment then rushed to flip open a small booklet by her desk, she flipped through the pages and scanned them faster than any human I had ever seen before turning the brightest shade of red. She stammered and looked on the verge on a panic attack.

"I- I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry ma'am, t- this is my- my first week on this floor and my training-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright. Took me forever to learn all the damn protocols, much less learning that long ass code. It's no problem, I'll put it in if you want me to, it's fine."

She looked up at me and Steve and I could see how uncomfortable and embarrassed she was but she nodded and took a deep breath before continuing to type.

"Ma'am, teams are not really working together right now because we have a lot of things going on after the.. New York incident so Agent Garrett's team seems to be dispersed between New York, rescue at HQ, and only a few here in D.C."

"No problem, in that case, can you specifically look up Agent Antoine Triplett?"

"Yes ma'am, I can try but he may be on a classified mission and won't be in the system for that."

"Just check if you can."

She read through the team's roster quickly and must have found his name because she clicked on a link and read through it.

"Looks like he just came back to D.C. last night, has to be in debrief meeting right now, floor 8 conference room 3."

"Who is leading the debrief and what clearance level are they?"

"Um, Roberts, level 6."

"All 6's?"

"Yes ma'am, some 5's but no 7's."

"Good. Thank you for your help Agent Beck."

She nodded at us but I had to turn to her last minute and try to say something.

"Agent, for future reference, it doesn't matter if the president himself walks through those doors, don't let anyone intimidate you, if they do, call upon your training and grow some balls but don't show how intimidated you are by anything, it puts you in the weaker position."

She stammered for a moment and looked shocked but I was glad to see her take a deep breath and pull back her shoulders before clearing her throat and meeting my gaze dead on.

"Yes Ma'am. Thank you."

Once in the elevator again Steve looked to Bella and tried to not to smile. He found something new to love about her everyday and seeing her with that Agent and the way she gave her some reassurance to have more confidence in herself, really showed him how much she cared for others, even if she didn't know them. It felt like lately he had to constantly be holding back his feelings. He was always amazed by her, because of her beauty, her intelligent mind at work whenever she spoke with Stark, Jane or Bruce, her delicious meals, or her genuine care for others, he was always on the edge of telling her how much he loved her. It was a strong feeling, though he was sure she didn't want to hear it yet, he agreed it was too soon to be so in love with her already but he couldn't nor did he want to shake off the ever growing admiration and adoration he felt for her. Having never felt love for another woman before, it almost felt like too much but one look at her and he wanted more, more of everything she had to offer.

"Steve?"

"Yes? I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"No, you just seemed lost in thought."

"I was, sorry. I did want to ask, why are clearance levels so important here? I heard Fury point out that you became a level 7 in 3 missions and you asked about what levels were in that meeting. Does it matter?"

"Hm, yes and no. Not so much in S.H.I.E.L.D, the levels represent compartmentalization, what information and what type of missions you are allowed on. Levels do not represent how long you have been here at all, someone can be here 2 years and be a level 8 while another person can be here for 7 years and still be level 3. It is based on performance mostly, realistically it is also based on how much trust and loyalty you have, how much Fury or your supervising officer trusts you."

"What about outside of official ranks?"

"That is where it is more important in some ways. Among Agents, it's like a respect thing. You saw how Fitzsimmons acted when Phil came up to them. They are mostly in labs and never out in the field so I doubt they know anything about him other than that he is an upper level and a trusted Agent of Fury so that is enough to get him respect. I asked if there were level 7's in the meeting because if there were then I would respect it and not interrupt but since it is lower level Agents then they will not argue if I interrupt and pull out Trip."

She gave him a cheeky smile and although he didn't like the idea of anyone pulling rank on anyone else, he knew she would never do it to cause actual harm or problems. That, and well, he was still a man and watching his woman walk into a room and dominate it was going to be an amazing sight.

"Is there a specific reason you want to introduce me to him?"

"Yes, but you have to wait."

They got off and he followed her down the hall until stopping at a door marked with a large 3. She knocked quickly and opened the door before stepping in and walking with confidence all the way to the front of the room. He stayed by the door, partially out of sight, not that anyone was watching him. He saw a room full of men sitting around a table but they all turned and looked to her, their expressions enough to anger Steve. They sat up and puffed out their chests while looking at her with lust and admiration, some with fear. Both first emotions he could understand but that didn't mean he wanted other men to do it. He stepped back trying not to chuckle at her flirty smile and sultry tone. He knew she was playing them like a fiddle and though it should bother him, he found it didn't, not when he saw all the men ready to fall at her feet. He had seen Romanoff talk to other male Agents this way too and thought it might be their way of subtly taking power from them by using their looks as distractions, he would have to ask later.

"Sorry to interrupt fellas, I know how busy you are."

The man in charge shuffled his feet and nodded at her.

"Agent Swan, good to see you back. Good job in New York."

"Thank you but that was not all me."

She turned back to me, outstretching her hand for me to take and come forward but an emotion passed over her face that made her frown and retract her hand. We kept forgetting not to show affection and were about to just now. I walked into the room and stood next to her while fighting the embarrassment at everyone's stare now on me.

"This man certainly helped a lot didn't he? Getting back on track, I know you have a debriefing to get back to. I just came to ask if I could pull out Trip for a moment?"

"Triplett? What do you need with him?"

He had an incredulous look on his face as did many of the other Agents but Bella's eyes turned cold as she stared him down and raised a perfect eyebrow. It was a deadly combination, her cold eyes and her intimidating body language. He cleared his throat and looked down, shuffling his feet again.

"Right, sorry ma'am. Triplett! You heard Agent Swan! Move it!"

From the back of the room a young black man stood up quickly and strode forward towards Bella. She nodded at the rest of the men and gestured to the door for him to follow us out to the hall. The change in the guy was instant, he had a straight, professional stance in the room but in the hall, away from prying eyes he relaxed and gave her a big smile before stepping up to hug her.

"Hey girl! Welcome back to the land of the living!"

"I was never dead dimwit!"

She laughed and so did he but he then stepped back and gave her a serious look.

"We didn't know that.. we could only hope."

"I know.. but that is too grim to be talking about, I'm back and it's all good. I was in a meeting with Fury and got an hour break so I was hoping you were around, since you told me all that time ago.."

He seemed to remember what she was hinting at and smiled wide as he looked up at me.

"Yes, right, thank you! Uh sir, sorry she dragged you down here, she just knew that I would want to meet you in person if I could, I have heard a lot about you from my grandfather, Gabriel Jones."

He stretched out his hand for me to shake but it took me a second to click it all into place and look him up and down while feeling a smile stretch across my own face. I slapped my hand onto his and shook it enthusiastically.

"You are Gabe's grandson? Wow, great to meet you, that's incredible."

"It's an honor to meet you sir, really it is, I almost feel like I already know you from all the stories my grandpa and the other howling commandos use to tell me. My momma almost started bawling when news of you came on the TV."

-Bella

I stood back for a few minutes just watching them both interact. I knew Steve would be happy to meet him and although I could see a sadness lingering in his eyes at the time he lost and at hearing of Mr. Jones' passing, I could mostly see the happiness and joy at seeing the resemblance. He looked him up and down every few minutes like he couldn't believe it but they did hold a conversation for a good while. If Steve wasn't my mate I would think that they forgot I was here but I knew it was pretty impossible for him to not feel my nearby presence.

"So how have you been adjusting?"

"It's been okay. Much better now that I have help."

He turned to smile at me fondly while speaking but Trip raised and eyebrow and looked at both of us.

"Well I can see that! Gotta warn you brother, you may be a super soldier but hurt this girl? And there will be whole organizations coming after you."

The small smiles that lingered on our lips slipped off.

"What? How did you?.."

The bastard laughed and looked at both of us surprised.

"Oh don't tell me you are trying to hide it?! One look at you together and the little looks you share is enough. Girl you are at the Triskelion! You know this is a S.H.I.E.L.D building right? Filled with Agents that are trained to see those little looks and your body language."

Shit, he was right.. I looked at Steve and he raised an eyebrow at me before shrugging and holding my hand. I laughed and squeezed it back.

"May as well confirm it then.."

"You could have fooled some that haven't worked with you and seen how you act during missions but I don't think it would have held for long."

We nodded and smiled at each other, happy to just be able to hold hands before Steve turned back to Trip.

"So you said you heard stories from the rest of the gang? Were you raised with them around then?"

"Sorry to interrupt guys, before you keep talking I'm going to call and check in with Kitty before having to go back up alright?"

He nodded and brought my hand up to kiss it casually before letting it go. I stepped away enough to be out of hearing from other humans around but not enough for Steve's hearing to not pick up my voice.

"Hello? Mom, you okay?"

"Hey baby girl I'm fine. Just calling to check in."

"So everything went good? Is your name off that list thing?"

"Yes, all our names are but I'm not on my way back to the hotel yet. They just gave us an hour break so they could talk about what they want from me. They said something about me playing peacekeeper between Earth and Asgard but.. I don't know exactly what that entails."

"That would be crazy, and weird.."

"Yeah. Not sure if I'm on board yet. I have to hear everything they say and find out if they have some other motive but it's not a bad meeting so far, I think it's an actual opportunity. Where are you?"

"I called a ride to the Capital Wheel, there's some pretty awesome views from up here mom. I bet it's way better at night though."

"I read about it, it does look nice… though you know I could give you a better view."

"Yeah yeah, don't think that thought didn't slightly ruin the experience for me. There's an outlet mall like right next door so I'm hitting that up next and I'll head back once you call me or something."

"Sounds good. Hopefully we don't have to be here too much longer. Be careful okay? And call Tony to tell him I checked in so he doesn't come pick you up."

"I know, you too. I'll call him right now."

"Good, see you later."

"Okay, Bye."

"Bye."

As soon as I hung up the phone I got a ping from Phil.

'Now that you are off the phone, can you pull Steve away from Agent Triplett and come back up? We are ready for you.'

I rolled my eyes as I read it and stuck my tongue out at the camera by me.

'Be nice.'

Snorting out a laugh I put away my phone and walked back up to Steve and Trip.

"Sorry, they are ready for me upstairs. You can stay if you want, unless you have something to do Trip?"

Before he could respond Steve shook his head.

"No, I want to be there with you. It was a pleasure to meet you..."

"Trip, just call me Trip sir. The pleasure, or should I say honor, was all mine, thank you for taking the time."

"Call me Steve please, Trip. I hope to run into you again."

"Same here, good luck on modernizing!"

He smirked at Steve and got one right back. It was the first time I had seen Steve act his (physical) age around anyone that was not me. I was glad and put it in my head to get that reaction from him more often. He fit in with the family great so far but he needed to make a friend that was all his, separated from the family. He held my hand while getting in the elevator and kissed my temple softly once the doors closed.

"Ready?"

"Nope!"

He chuckled and wrapped an arm around my shoulder but I didn't know if it was to reassure me or himself by having me physically closer to him. Either way, I was just happy to feel him against me and the slight tingling of where out skin touched.