Flying is probably one of the best feelings in the world to Freya. She feels so free and unbound to anything. Her hair whips behind her as she makes her way over to the airport. No more than a few minutes later, she spots the hangar with the quinjet. As she comes in to land, a man dressed in a black suit walks down the ramp of the jet. She immediately recognizes this to be Phil. Dropping down so her feet meet the pavement, she smoothly transitions into a walk and stops a few feet from him.

"Agent Coulson."

"Agent Stark." After a few seconds of silence, both of them break out into big smiles and step forward to embrace each other. "It's good to see you again, kiddo. It's been a while," Phil smiles.

"It has, hasn't it?" Freya chuckles. "It's good to see you too, Phil."

"There's a tablet on one of the seats inside," Phil says as he releases her and guides her toward the ramp of the jet. "Get yourself familiar with the info on it if you haven't already. I've gotta head over to the tower and try to rope your father into this."

"Yeah, good luck," she snorts. "He won't easily forget being told that he didn't qualify in the first place and was only asked to be a consultant." This causes Phil to chuckle and nod in agreement. "Will you be back on the carrier tomorrow?" she asks.

"Yep, I'll be there in the morning with the Captain. So I'll see you then. Fly safe," he tells her before heading toward the car that's waiting for him. His pace fast due to his excitement.

"Hey, Phil?" Freya calls out. He stops and turns to look at her with a questioning hum. "Don't freak the Captain out too much. Try to keep the fangirling to a minimum," she smirks at him. Phil sighs, turns back around and keeps walking to his car.

"Get on the jet, Stark," he says over his shoulder.

"Yes, sir," she chuckles with a mock salute before jogging up the ramp of the jet.

Twenty minutes later they're already in the air. Freya's silently studying the files on the tablet. She had already read them months prior when Fury had ordered her to after he finally told her and Natasha about the Tesseract and Clint's assignment. But she still skims over them to pass the time. So far she's looked over Bruce Banner's file and information on the Cube. Her file is in there too, but due to an agreement with Fury, it doesn't have any information or even a picture. Only her code name. Mercury.

She swipes her hand to the left and gets to Natasha's file. Freya's mouth quirks up into a small smile as a memory comes to mind from one of their sparring sessions four years ago.

~Flashback~

Natasha grunts as she hits the mat again. Groaning, she rolls over, stands up and hunches over with her hands on her knees. In the process, she shoots Freya a playful glare. Freya, who's standing only a few feet from her with her arms crossed, smirks back at her.

"Getting tired, Red?" Freya teases.

"You know, not all of us are 'enhanced individuals,'" Natasha retorts.

"Yeah, that's a nice way of calling me a 'magical freak from space,'" Freya snorts.

"A 'magical freak from space' who happens to be my best friend," Natasha replies with a small, warm smile. With a sigh she stands up straight. "Seriously, though, I need some water."

"Gettin' old there, Nat?" Clint shouts from across the room where he's fiddling with his bow and arrows.

"Fuck off, bird brain," Natasha flips him off.

A loud laugh escapes Freya as her and Natasha walk over to their bags. As they sit down and grab some water, Freya catches the other woman looking at her. She turns her head and furrows her eyebrows.

"What?"

"You know, you would look good as a redhead," Natasha smirks.

"Yeah, right!" Freya's eyes widen as she starts laughing uncontrollably. "I'm totally not gonna color my hair red."

"Aww, cmon!" Natasha whines. "We can make a girls day out of it. It'll be fun!"

"Nat, I will dye my hair red when you dye yours blonde," Freya chuckles.

"Hey, you never know," Natasha grins.

"Oh please," Freya snorts. "You love being a redhead."

"Pleeeease, Freya," the redhead begs. Freya glares back at her and thinks for a moment. An idea suddenly hits her and she smirks.

"How 'bout this. I'll dye my hair red when I marry Captain America. How does that sound?"

"Aww, hey!" Natasha protests. "Now that's not fair!"

Clint lets out a loud "ha" from across the room. Freya sticks her hand up in response for an air high five. He returns it instantly.

"Take it or leave it, Nat," Freya smiles cheekily. "That's the only way you'll see me as a redhead."

"Ugh, fine whatever," Natasha groans. "Deal."

Freya grins at her while they shake on it and the other woman pouts back playfully.

"Alright, old man. You ready?" Freya asks as she stands and stretches.

"Oh, I'm so whooping your ass," Clint grins excitedly while he walks out to the middle of the mat. His expression quickly turns into a pout. "And no powers this time!" he whines.

"As if I need them," Freya rolls her eyes. She hears Natasha snort from behind her and looks at her over her shoulder. "I remember taking you down just fine without them."

The redhead tries not to grin while she rolls her eyes and waves her hand at them.

"Whatever, just start."

~End Flashback~

"Five minutes until we land, Agent Stark!"

Freya's head jerks up at the voice. She realizes she must have dozed off for a little bit.

"Thanks Frankie!" she calls out back to the pilot.

She stands and stretches before putting the tablet in one of her bags Phil had gathered for her. Walking up behind the pilots, she looks out the front window. The lights from the helicarrier are starting to appear in the distance.

"Welcome home for who knows how long."

She hears her phone ding and pulls it out of her pocket. It's a text back from Natasha.

-Banner's been recruited. Won't see you until morning - stay safe. Love you back.

Freya smiles softly at the text and puts the phone back in her pocket.

"Nat is gonna have a field day when Captain Rogers shows up."

Her mind wanders to her other partner and a sigh escapes her as she thinks about Clint. She can feel her anger bubbling just below the surface. Threatening to burst out. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and starts to gather her things for when they land. Her phone starts to go off again, indicating she has an incoming call this time. Pulling it out of her pocket once more, she looks down at it in confusion when she sees the caller ID.

MOMMA PEP

She quickly accepts the call and presses the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Pep. Everything okay?"

"Hey, sweetheart. Uh, define 'okay'."

"Your definition might be way different than mine," Freya chuckles.

"He knows."

Freya's smile instantly falls and her eyes go wide.

"What do you mean 'he knows'?" she asks frantically. Even though she already knows the answer.

"Your father. He knows about your job. When Phil came to the tower, the nickname Tony gave you, well I guess that's your code name now. But, anyway, it was in the debrief. It was just the name, but it was enough. I've never seen him so angry."

"Oh, I'm so fucked..." Freya breathes out. "Does he know that you already knew?"

"Yeah. He was disappointed, but I think his daughter working for a secret government agency as an assassin while using her super powers trumps that big time. I thought I'd call ahead and warn you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Freya sighs. "Where are you now?"

"Phil gave me a ride to LaGuardia. I'm waiting for the plane to finish fueling up before I head off to DC. I'll be working on the zoning for the next three buildings."

"Okay, be safe. I don't know what's gonna happen with this mission, but I don't have a good feeling about it. Call me if you need anything."

"Same for you, sweetheart. Love you, Frey."

"Love you too, Mom," she smiles softly.

Ending the call, she puts her phone back in her pocket with a loud sigh as she hangs her head in frustration. Knowing she has to refocus, she rids herself of the worry regarding her job secret being out. When the jet touches down, she walks down the lowered ramp. Only to be met by a bruised and cut up Maria Hill.

"Hey, Ria," Freya smiles softly.

Maria walks up to her and pulls her into a hug. Freya instantly returns it to comfort the other woman. Clint is friends with Maria too, but the other woman knows Freya's connection with him is a lot stronger.

"We're gonna get him back, Frey. Okay?" Freya just nods her head and starts to walk alongside her. Maria puts an arm over her shoulders and guides her to the nearby doors. "Cmon, let's get you inside so you can get fully debriefed. Then you need to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm sure," Freya sighs.

The next morning, Freya makes her way up to the deck to meet Natasha. She decides to wear black jeans with a blue long sleeved shirt paired with her standard uniform boots from S.H.I.E.L.D. She lets her blonde hair flow freely down her back in loose waves. The tips of it almost brush against the top of her back pockets.

As she walks out onto the deck, she immediately spots her favorite fiery redhead waiting out there for her while she looks out over the edge of the helicarrier. Freya quickens her pace and makes her way toward Natasha. Somehow knowing she's there, Natasha turns around and an immediate smile falls on her face. The other assassin walks toward Freya and meets her in the middle. The two embrace in a tight hug. Both feeling the loss of their teammate. Releasing each other, Freya is the first to speak.

"So, where's Banner?"

"Still getting his bearings," Natasha nods her head toward the parked quinjet at the end of the deck. "He should be out in a few. Coulson will probably be here any time with the Captain."

On cue, another quinjet descends from the sky and lands near them. The ramp opens up and Phil begins to walk down it with another man in tow. He hasn't faced them yet since he's still looking around. But Freya knows this is the famous Captain America. Walking up to them, Phil nods at the two women and begins introductions.

"Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers."

He finally turns to face them and Freya's breath hitches. She knew he had looked familiar, but she never imagined that the Steve from the café would actually be Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. That's why she never truly recognized him. Who would even think that they'd run into Captain America at a café in Manhattan and end up talking over coffee?

"Ma'am?" Steve nods at Natasha. His gentleman charm showing. Natasha replies with a simple, "hi." Phil turns and gestures at Freya.

"And this is Agent St-"

"Freya?" Steve's eyes go wide when he immediately recognizes the green-eyed woman from the evening before.

"Steve?" she asks in disbelief while Phil whips his head back and forth between the two in shock.

"Wait, you two know each other?" he asks. Freya freezes. She doesn't know what to say. All she can do is stare back at the Captain. Steve is the one to speak up.

"We had coffee together last night," he announces. Instantly, Freya's eyes go wide. The way Steve said it makes it sound like they had been on a date. She clears her throat and finally finds her voice.

"W-We were at the same café and shared a table since there weren't enough of them," she attempts to explain awkwardly.

Freya looks at Phil, who's trying not to smirk. Then at Natasha, who's actually proudly smirking. Freya knows exactly what's on her best friend's mind. She subtly shakes her head at Natasha, silently pleading with her to keep quiet. Whose smirk only grows bigger as she turns back to Phil.

"They need you on the bridge, they're starting the face trace."

"See you there," Phil nods at Natasha before he quickly winks at Freya and walks away.

She can only imagine how red her face is right now. The three of them start to walk aimlessly across the deck. Natasha's on Steve's right while Freya's on his left.

"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice," Natasha tells him. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon."

"I'm sure he did just that on the flight here," Freya chuckles. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" she asks Steve.

"Trading cards?" Steve asks.

"They're vintage, he's very proud," Freya smirks. She can only imagine how awkward Coulson had made it for the poor guy during the flight. Steve looks down at Freya and studies her. Seemingly asking her what she's doing there. "We can talk inside," she whispers to him low enough so only he can hear.

Satisfied with her response, he nods and looks ahead of them. His expression changes and he seems to recognize someone. Freya follows his gaze and realizes he's spotted Bruce Banner. He walks ahead of the two women to greet the doctor.

"Dr. Banner," Steve says politely and reaches his hand out.

An almost unnoticeable movement is made by Natasha, but Freya sees something out of the corner of her eye though. She glances over at Natasha and sees her hand resting on her side arm. She studies Natasha's face and sees her watching Dr. Banner closely. Freya's eyes slightly widen in surprise. Natasha's nervous. She knows how dangerous the Hulk can be. She also knows how dangerous Freya is, but has never treated her like this. So if she's acting like this, she must have gotten a small glimpse of Bruce's temper. Black Widow had actually gotten spooked. Freya frowns at the thought of Natasha being uncomfortable, but doesn't speak up, knowing the redhead won't want any attention brought to her.

"Oh yeah, hi," Bruce awkwardly nods while returning the handshake. "They told me you'd be coming." He looks past Steve and his eyes fall on Freya. He quirks an eyebrow at her curiously. "Didn't realize one of you worked here."

Freya's eyes widen and she quickly shakes her head to get him to stop talking. Bruce instantly understands the message and becomes flustered as he attempts to continue conversing with Steve. She doesn't like everyone knowing she's a Stark and wants to keep the Captain in the dark for now. She doesn't like doing it, but she knows it's for the best. After all, he was good friends with her grandfather and she doesn't need that distracting him from their mission. They all need to be focused on the same thing right now. And that's finding Clint and the Tesseract. Steve glances back at her in question, but walks away with Dr. Banner to continue their conversation. The two women hang back. Absentmindedly shuffling closer together to the point where they're touching shoulders.

"So you went on a date with Captain America," Natasha says with an obvious hint of amusement. Freya's head whips over to her friend as she becomes slightly flustered.

"Don't you dare start with that, Red. It wasn't a date and I didn't even know it was him!" Freya whisper yells.

Natasha just hums in amusement. The smirk not leaving her face. The two women put a hand to their right ears and listen in as a call is made for deck lock down over comms. Signaling that it's time to get in the air and in turn start heading inside.

"Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute," Natasha states, getting the guys' attention.

"It's gonna get a little hard to breathe," Freya tells them cryptically with a small smirk.

The helicarrier begins to rumble as it lifts out of the water. Bruce and Steve walk to the edge, wondering out loud what kind of contraption they're on. Natasha and Freya share smirks as the guys talk to each other about the helicarrier. When they finally start to get airborne, the two assassins lead them inside to the bridge. Freya looks back to make sure they're doing okay and shoots Steve a reassuring smile. He gladly returns it with a thankful one. Happy to see a familiar face. They walk onto the bridge as they hear Maria shout orders. Who finally turns to Fury, while he overlooks the operation.

"We're at lock, sir," Maria informs him.

"Good," he nods "Let's vanish."

Freya grins when the helicarrier turns completely invisible to the naked eye. Putting them in stealth mode. She walks down the stairs to the front windows and watches the world go by. Fury's voice causes her to turn around.

"Gentlemen." He looks between Steve and Bruce before turning to Freya. "Freya, it's nice to see you again." A small smile pulls at the corners of his mouth.

"You too, sir," she smiles at him. Her eyes excitedly scan the surrounding computer stations. "Is Aaron here?"

"He's back at headquarters," Fury informs her.

She lets out a sad sigh and nods. Looking over at Dr. Banner, she notices he's a nervous wreck. She catches his eye and gives him a warm smile. Bruce returns it with an awkward one. Her eyes swivel over to Steve and watches him walk up to Fury and hand him a ten dollar bill. She snorts and turns back around to look out the windows again. Wishing she can be out there flying. After a few moments pass, she feels another presence behind her. She turns her head and meets entrancing ocean blue eyes again.

"Hi, Steve," she smiles.

"It's nice to see you again, Freya," he says as he smiles shyly. He approaches and stands next to her to look out the window as well. "So this is your government job."

"Yeah, since I was 16," she confirms.

"Really?" he looks down at her in surprise. "How old are you?"

"I thought you weren't supposed to ask a lady her age," she grins mischievously. Steve's eyes widen as he attempts to sputter out an apology. "Steve, I'm kidding," she laughs. "I'm 22."

"Oh okay," he sighs in relief. "You started young." He looks down at her intently, trying to figure her out.

"I did. But I wouldn't trade it for anything," she states matter-of-factly. He hums in agreement. Understanding the feeling of wanting to protect and serve.

"So, uh, who's the person you were asking about?" he asks curiously.

"Oh, Aaron?" she asks. He nods in response. "He's a close friend of mine. One of the first friends I made when I started working for S.H.I.E.L.D.," she smiles fondly.

A small smile forms on his face as he watches her. Seeing the caring person she is when it comes to her family and close friends. A thought suddenly strikes him.

"Did you know who I was when we had coffee last night?" he asks.

"Actually, no," she looks up at him. Honesty clear on her face. "I really didn't. You did look familiar to me, but I couldn't place where I had seen your face before. I never thought I'd randomly run into you on a coffee run."

He nods as she looks out the windows again. Happy that someone is treating him like a normal person for once and not a lab experiment or a fragile object. He watches the clouds go by with her before another thought pops up.

"So, there was someone in the debriefing packet that had no background information," he tells her. "Mercury. Is she going to be here?"

"Who told you it's a woman?" she asks as her head snaps over to look up at him with narrowed eyes.

"Agent Coulson," he states innocently. "He said she would probably show up sooner or later."

Freya lets out a frustrated sigh. She usually doesn't have to worry about Coulson having loose lips. But, then again, he was in the middle of fangirling when he told Steve. She knows it was an accident. She looks back out the windows and nods.

"She's around," she states quietly.

"When will she be joining us?" Steve asks with a hint of excitement. The mysterious nature of the unknown teammate making him curious.

"Sooner than you think, Captain," she says cryptically as she fights off another mischievous grin.

"Does she have any special abilities?" he presses.

"I'm sure she won't mind telling you about them when the time is right," Freya replies with another nod.

"You talk like you know her well," he says while he tilts his head and studies her. "Are you two close?"

She smiles at him again and turns to walk back toward the computers that are attempting to track Loki.

"You have no idea."