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Disclaimer: All characters and story arcs belong to Marvel and Disney.

May 2, 2012

A particularly bad case of turbulence woke Josephine from her nap. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, and the tablet she'd been reading has nearly slipped from her hand and onto the floor. Only a few hours ago, she'd made it to the Roswell Base and found herself in front of Agent Coulson, receiving the news of Barton's compromise and creating a plan of action.

"Dad doesn't trust Romanoff. If she goes to talk to him she won't even make it to the door."

"I'll go get him. Fury thinks she should be the one to go get Banner, anyway."

"Romanoff and Banner in the same room by themselves? Is that wise?" Joei had asked skeptically.

"The director seems to think so. Who knows what sort of things make him draw those type of conclusions."

"Where does that leave me?"

"On a Quinjet toward the East Coast. Go get some sleep in one of the bunks. One of them will be ready to take you tonight."

"A nap would do you some good, too, Coulson. Have you had any sleep? Or breakfast?"

He'd shook his head and insisted he was fine. "I need to get going if I want to reach Stark Tower in time."

At around 10 pm Pacific Time, she'd been lead to a remotely piloted Quinjet and an agent had shoved a tablet into her hand and told her to read through the files. Most of them were things she already knew about her potential team. Dad was in New York putting the final touches on Stark Tower, Steve was in Brooklyn, Banner was in Calcutta, and Natasha was on a mission in Russia. She was more worried about Barton's whereabouts, which were currently unknown, and his possible mental state. She knew brainwashing existed, of course, but it was usually known as a long process full of conditioning and trigger words. It could take days, or even weeks to break a civilian. What kind of power could this Loki character wield if he was able to completely brain wash Barton in less than two seconds?

After she had reread Fury's report for the third time, she opened a browser and began to search. If Thor of Asgard was a part of Norse Mythology, then Loki must be, too. She took most of the stories with a grain of salt, but character traits like selfishness and self-preservation stuck out in her mind. Loki was neither a bad guy nor a good guy. He allied himself with whomever would get him what he wanted.

She moved on the Tesseract. She'd read the information already, but that had been months ago, before she'd wanted to know what Loki was planning to do with it.

"FRIDAY, is anyone we know stationed at the Hellicarrier?"

"Twin brothers Carlos and Hector Torres are on board with their Superior Officer, running facial recognition."

"What about Jimmy?"

"Agent Fullerton has returned to the Library. He will be monitoring transportation from there."

"Thank you, Friday. Hey, is there any news on Alex? Any tweets, paparazzi spottings?"

"None so far, Miss Stark, but his parents are currently in New York for a Charity Auction."

"Thanks. One more thing, how long until I land?"

"You should reach your destination by 6:30 am, Miss Stark."

"Thank you, Friday, that will be all."

Joei looked down at the tablet in her hands again and opened the message icon.

Instructions upon landing: All Agents must report to their living quarters where they will be provided with appropriate uniform and/or tactical gear for their assignment. An interactive map of the Hellicarrier may be found here.

*Special Instructions- Junior Agent Josephine Stark: Open package left in living quarters and subsequently report to the Bridge with package contents and appropriate uniform.

"Wake me when we land, Friday. I have a feeling there won't be a lot of time for power naps on the Hellicarrier."

"Yes, Miss Stark."

May 3rd, 2012

The living quarters were really just a tiny room with a small closet, a top bunk, and a desk, a mirror, and a chair placed underneath the bunk. Josephine slid the door shut behind her, putting her ID back in her pocket after she'd used it to open the door. On top of the desk was a notepad, some pens, and a black box with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo engraved on the top.

Josephine let her bag drop to the floor and placed the tablet on the desk. She picked up the box and shook it slightly, before shrugging and removing the lid.

A leather badge holder sat nestled in black sponge foam, next to a communication device. She took the leather square and flipped it open to reveal the silver S.H.I.E.L.D. badge and a new ID above it. It read Stark, Josephine; Title: Team Leader; Clearance Level 6.

With a proud smile, she dug through her backpack and pulled out her laptop, starting it up on the desk in front of her.

"Friday, do you think you could link to this comm?"

"Allow me one moment to find access, Miss Stark."

While Friday searched for an entrance to the communication device, Josephine went to the small closet. Everything was made of fire retardant material and had the S.H.I.E.L.D logo stamped somewhere on it except for the pants. She decided on a standard issue blue and black long sleeve shirt with a zip up the front and black pants. There were two pairs of shoes in the closet, but she decided on the black boots she used for training that were sitting in her bag. In a drawer at the bottom of the closet was a small collection of weapons and gear. Putting on a thigh holster, she checked the gun and put it in its slot.

"Communication device has been linked to my server, Miss Stark. Is there anything else I might do for you?"

"We're all set for now, Friday. I'll keep you updated through the comm."

Taking a quick look in the tiny mirror, she ran a hand through her hair and grabbed a hair tie from her bag, slipping it through her wrist. She put the comm on her ear, placed the new badge inside her pocket, and grabbed her tablet, deciding it was time to head to the bridge and get her team together.

Halfway there the screens along the corridors began to flash with the word TAKEOFF. She looked down at her tablet and saw the same word. Down the hall she could make out a window. She ran to it just in time to witness the massive aircraft carrier lift out of the water and rise into the air.

"Amazing, isn't it?" an agent beside her said. She looked young, perhaps in her mid-twenties, and her voice had the airy buzz of a French woman.

Joei nodded, "You don't think people might freak out a little when they see a giant metal boat in the sky, though?"

"That is why we 'ave retrorefleciton panels." the agent winked, pointing to a part of the Hellicarrier's back wing which was visible through the window just as hundreds of panels flipped to reflect the sky around them.

"That is insane."

The agent extended her hand.

"I am Agent Fontaine, by the way. I am one of the engineers in charge of keeping the Hellicarrier's maiden voyage." she said the word voyage the way it was said in French, making Joei feel considerably less classy, "If you 'ave any questions about it, or if I can help you with anything, I will be around."

Joei shook the offered hand but hesitated, "I'm...Agent 96."

"Ah, so you are one of those agents. Perhaps I won't see as much of you around as I 'oped."

Joei shrugged, "It's a small boat, Agent Fontaine. I'm sure we'll bump into each other soon enough."

Josephine continued on her way down the halls toward the control deck. In a crowd of people in blue and black uniforms, she felt less like she was being watched all the time and more like another member of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Agent Stark," Fury called as soon as she had entered the Bridge, killing in anonymity. She took a quick look around as she walked towards him, noticing Coulson and Steve were not too far. She tried her best to ignore Steve for now, but she could feel his eyes trained on her as she walked.

"Director." she nodded.

"I apologize for the quick promotion. Usually there would have been a whole ceremony and I would have given you the badge personally."

"I understand that the circumstances called for hastier actions, Director. No harm done. So, were are we with finding them?"

"Everyone on that side of the Bridge is working on tracking down the cube, Loki, and our brainwashed agents."

"And everyone on this side?"

"They're helping steer the boat."

"Ah."

"I believe your team should be getting ready to assemble soon." said Fury, stepping back to his command station and focusing on the screens in front of him. He added, almost as an afterthought, "Rogers has been asking for you."

"Great," Joei mumbled, then excused herself from the Director's presence. She turned to see Steve and Coulson looking more awkward than she had ever seen either of them, and had just about resigned herself to facing them when a skittish movement caught the corner of her eye.

"Dr. Banner," she smiled and spoke softly as she approached his spot near the conference table. He jumped slightly at the sound of his name, but his shoulders seemed to relax at the sight of a familiar face, "How was your flight?"

"I'm still a little shifty," he admitted, "A lot of turbulence. But it's nice to see you, Miss Stark. You're the only friendly face I've run into so far."

"Oh, but I heard Agent Romanoff was sent to retrieve you. She's usually so warm and friendly that you can't help but like her," Joei said innocently.

"Oh, is she?" Dr. Banner swallowed, "Maybe she was just nervous or..."

Joei laughed and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder, careful to move slowly so he wouldn't be surprised by the contact. The poor man was already jumpy enough, he needed to relax, "I'm joking, Dr. Banner. I know Romanoff can be a bit...intense."

"That she is. So, I'm supposed to find the cube. What are you up to, Miss Stark?"

"Oh, I'm just the babysitter," Joei waved a hand nonchalantly. Dr. Banner looked confused, but didn't say anything.

"Have you met Captain Rogers?" he asked, "We bumped into each other right before takeoff and Agent Romanoff brought us here."

"Yeah, we already know each other." Joei mumbled, trying to keep her back to where Steve was.

"Is that why he's looking at you like you killed his cat?"

"Is he, really? I've been afraid to look at his face so far. Our relationship is unstable at best. Which we'll probably have to deal with soon since I'm supposed to be working with him."

"And here I was hoping you'd be in the lab with me," said Banner, "I could use a competent hand."

"Well, about that..."

"What?"

"You know how you've been avoiding my father for the past few years?"

"He's here, isn't he?"

"Not yet but...he is a consultant and Starkonium was being used to harness the Tesseract's power so...I figured I should warn you. He likes playing with pointy things."

"I can handle pointy things. Excitement, not so much."

"You're more than welcome to tell him to shut up any time you like."

"I will take you up on that offer if necessary."

"Captain!" Fury called out as he made his way toward the conference table, "If you could please join us."

Joei swallowed and blinked slowly. Dr. Banner gave her a sympathetic smile as she turned around.

"Gentleman, Agent Stark, welcome aboard."

Before Fury could say much more, Steve took his wallet out and handed him a bill, to which Fury only smiled. Dr. Banner and Joei shared a confused look before focusing on the Director once more. Steve looked quickly at Josephine and walked back toward the windows at the front of the bridge.

Josephine's eyes darted between the Scientist and the Captain, but her mind was made up for her when Fury approached Banner and shook his hand. With a slight shake of her head, she followed Steve and stood beside him as he stared out the window.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Joei counted the seconds of silence that stretched between them. When she got to twelve, she had to make it stop.

"Can we stop staring out the windows? I'm getting air sick."

Steve let out a breath of laughter and turned to look at her, "Always ready with the witty comments."

"It's a family trait."

"So I've heard."

"My dad's coming on this mission."

"Does he know yet?"

"Nope. And I have no idea how I'm going to tell him. Do I just wait in the lab for him to walk in and say 'Hey, Dad, guess what? I went against your wishes to keep me out of danger and became a super spy?'"

"That sounds complicated." said Steve, making his way back toward the computers that were set to track down Loki and his team.

"It is. Very."

"We're sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet," Coulson was saying, "Cellphones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Romanoff approached one of the computers focusing on Barton, and the knot that had taken permanent residence in her chest since she'd left her apartment tightened.

"That's still not going to find them in time," said Romanoff. She didn't say in time for what, but Joei knew enough about mind control to know that they wouldn't find them in time before the brainwashing became so ingrained into Barton's brain that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of it, and some of his conditioning might never go away completely.

"You have to narrow your field," said Banner, "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" asked Fury.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places."

Fury nodded, looking impressed, and turned to Coulson who seemed to understand immediately. Before he walked off, he placed a hand on Joei's forearm and smiled.

"Congratulations, Agent Stark."

"Thank you, Agent Coulson," Joei smiled proudly, "For everything."

"I'll see you later. We can celebrate over lunch."

"Sound good," she nodded.

"Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"

Dr. Banner got that uneasy look again, and Joei stepped forward, "I can do it, if you want. I was going to head that way anyway."

"Actually there are a few agents I still want you to meet, Agent Stark. Romanoff, show Dr. Banner to the lab."

Joei gave Dr. Banner a 'Sorry-I-Tried' shrug, who shrugged back and followed Agent Romanoff out of the Bridge. Fury led Josephine up the stairs to the top section of the Bridge, where more computers lined the round room.

"Agent Stark, meet our tracking team. This is Agent Alfonso Cruz, he's the team's Superior Officer," Fury pointed to a middle aged man with a rather large mustache, "And his second-in-command Agent Tia Noguchi. Agent Kayla Andrews, and I believe you've met Agents Hector and Carlos Torres."

"I have," Joei smiled at the boys, who looked a lot more serious and professional than she ever saw them at the Academy with their blue S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms and IDs pinned to their chests. "So, besides seeing into every wireless device out there and completely invading people's privacy, what else have you guys been up to?"

"Ignore her," Hector said quickly to his teammates.

"We figure that if Loki is planning somehting big, he's going to need more people to help him."

"It was Kayla's idea, actually."

"And it was absolutely brilliant."

"So we've started compiling a list of mercenaries that Barton might know-"

"-which is not easy considering almost everything he does requires a Level 7 or higher clearance-"

"-but we've narrowed it down to a bout ten guys who would totally be down for an alien invasion-"

"-and-"

"Guys!" Joei snapped, "You're doing it again with the sentence finishing and I don't need an even bigger headache."

"Sorry," both twins said.

"Anyway," said Hector, receiving a nod from his brother to continue the conversation, "We've narrowed it down to about ten guys, and so far six of them have started traveling East, so for now we are staying above the Atlantic."

"If we can get those six in the same spot, we'll be able to narrow down our field of where Loki, Barton, and Selvig might be." said Agent Noguchi.

"We tried tracking Barton, but it was impossible. His trail disappeared before he even left New Mexico." said Andrews.

"If there's one thing Barton knows how to do, it's be sneaky. You'll never find him unless he wants you to find him. Following the mercs is our best bet. At least until they catch up to Barton, after that they'll probably disappear, too. In the mean time, I'm going to look for a way to make myself useful since I can't follow my S.O. around like I usually do."

"Hey," said Hector when the rest of the team had gone back to their work, "We're going to find him, Joei."

"Yeah," said Carlos, "Cruz is the best of the best at this stuff. He's got us working around the clock. They won't be able to walk into a gas station bathroom without us finding out. Barton will be making you do extra push ups before you know it."

"Thanks guys. Speaking of, I think I'm going to go let off some steam and try to think of a way to tell my father that I've been lying to him for three years."

"Josephine Stark, voluntarily exercising?"

"Who even are you these days?"

"Oh, shut up, and work on your algorithm. I'll see you guys later. Text me if anything new happens."

The Hellicarrier was equipped with a full gym that could easily house fifty people at a time. There was a group of nine agents in a corner, practicing their fighting on the mats. One agent was running on a treadmill and she could make out another through the bulletproof glass of the small shooting range. A few of the agents had switched out their uniforms for workout gear, but Josephine kept her boots on. What was the point of training so hard if she was going to end up messing up because she wore different shoes on a mission?

After a quick stretching session, she walked over to the bars and began to do pull ups. She still hated pulls ups and push ups, but she was determined to develop her upper body strength and she needed something to focus and hopefully organize the rest of her thoughts.

An hour later, she was on her fortieth sit up when FRIDAY's voice in her ear startled her. She'd all but forgotten about the comm, but she was no where closer to finding the right words to say to her dad.

"Miss Stark, there's been a hit on Loki."

"I'm on my way."

She hastily threw on the jacket she'd been wearing above her tanktop and readjusted the gun holster on her thigh. A couple agents stared at her, but the rest paid her no mind as she rushed out the gym with a towel against her neck.

"Wow, that must have been some workout," said Hector when she arrived at the bridge once more.

"Yeah, you stink." Carlos added.

Joei rolled her eyes but blushed none the less. She wasn't really that sweaty, was she?

"You smell fine," Steve mumbled behind her. It made the fine hair on her arms and the back of her neck stand on end.

"What have we got?"

"One hundred percent match," said Agent Sitwell, "Stuttgard, Germany. He's not exactly hiding."

Joei turned to Steve with her hands on her hips, "Time to suit up, Captain."

"Agent Stark," said Fury.

"Yes, sir?"

"If Loki is out and about, Barton and the others won't be far behind. Romanoff and Rogers will take a quinjet out to meet Loki. In the mean time, you'll be on a separate quinjet on standby in case things go south or we find another one of Loki's henchmen."

"Yes, sir."

"Take a Torres with you, and Agent Sitwell."

"Yes, sir." she said, turning to the twins, "Carlos, since you seem to think I smell, you get to enjoy the lovely aroma of getting left behind. Hector, you're with me. Captain, I think now would be a good time to suit up."

Josephine waited with baited breath in the copilot seat of the quinjet, her eyes scanning the sky.

"I don't see anything."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"I don't know. Maybe." she lifted a hand to her comm, "Romanoff, how are things on your side?"

"We're almost there. Loki broke into a gala and seems to have caused a panic. Captain will be making the jump in ten."

"FRIDAY, give me a live feed off Romanoff's quinjet's cameras."

"Yes, Miss Stark."

"I've got something!" said Hector.

"What?"

"There was a security breach in a facility belonging to Schafer Sicherheitsdienst."

"Translation, Friday?"

"Schafer security, Miss Stark."

"Found out what they stole, Agent Torres." said Sitwell, "We're heading there now. Romanoff, you good on that end?"

Before Romanoff could answer, the opening lines of Shoot to Thrill echoed through the comms.

"Looks like we are now," said Romanoff, and Joei could practically hear the smirk as she turned off her own comm. She did not need her father to realize who was on the other end of the call.

"Hey, Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" her dad's voice sounded. Joei rolled her eyes but focused her attention on their new destination.

"Security clearance was just granted for someone called Dr. Heinric Schafer." said Hector, "I've got my team finding out his specialty and what he could be keeping there."

"We're not going to make it in time." Joei realized.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because ETA is four minutes and I'm absolutely certain that Barton will be out of there in three. It's his most basic rule. If you're going to steal something, make sure you can get out faster than you got in."

Agent Romanoff's voice rang through the quinjet, "Loki has surrendered. He's about to be escorted onto the quinjet and then we're headed back to the base."

"We'll try to catch Barton," said Sitwell, "But I think St...aahh" Joei had elbowed Sitwell in the ribs before he could unwantedly reveal her identity once again, "I think Agent 96 is right. He'll be out of there before we can lift our guns."

"Even so, I have no intention of shooting him, Sitwell. He's still a S.H.I.E.L.D agent."

By the time they reached the security lab, the only sign of a break in was a paramedic vehicle loading two unconscious security guards onto gurnies.

"Let's see if we can find out what they stole, shall we?"

"Already did," said Hector, "Iridium. It's a very dense and very rare metal. It makes anti-protons and forms in meteorites."

"Does that mean anything to anybody on this plane? What could he use it for?"

"I have no clue, I just got the description off wikipedia." said Hector.

"Nice. Well, we'll have to get that information back to Dr. Banner and my Dad," Joei groaned slightly, "Now that he's headed toward the Hellicarrier I don't think I could put this off any longer."

Joei pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and noticed two text messages.

The first was from Alex.

Can you at least tell me if you're safe?"

She smiled wryly and replied, Safer than Hogwarts.

Don't try to use a Harry Potter reference to soften me up. I'm still mad at you.

She smiled a little more at his immediate reply and then opened the text from Romanoff.

So far your team consists of red a blue clad first graders fighting over a crayon. Good luck with your dad.

Any hint of a smile disappeared.

Don't remind me.

Romanoff's reply came in through the Quinjet's comms.

"We've been made. Loki has been removed from the quinjet by Thor. I repeat. Loki has been removed from the quinjet by Thor. Captain America and Iron Man are in pursuit."

"Captain America can't fly."

"But he sure knows how to jump." replied Natasha.

"He jumped off the plane?!"

"He had a parachute."

"Fury says we're to report back to the Hellicarrier and let the Avengers take care of the Asgardians," said Sitwell.

Joei bit her lip, thoughts moving fast, "FRIDAY, is there any way I could get information or a live feed from the suit without dad finding out?"

"Perhaps not a live feed, Miss Stark, but I can pull up information on his vitals and suit capacity."

"Give me the deets."

"Vitals are all within a normalized range. No acute physical damage. Suit capacity is at 420%."

"What? How did that happen?"

"I believe a shot of lightening from an alien hammer was involved."

"I see. You know what? Put in a voice call."

The phone rang twice before Tony answered, sounding very short of breath.

"Hey, kid, what's going on?"

"Oh, just driving around town, as one does. How about you?"

"Oh, just fighting with a very big blonde demigod, as one does."

"Now there's something I would pay to see. Too bad I forgot my laptop."

"Hey, honey, I'm going to have to call you back. Captain Party Pooper just showed up. Love you gotta go bye." the last sentence was said almost as one word before he abruptly hung up.

"Well, at least they havne't killed each other yet."

Five minuted later, Joei's cell phone rang with a message from Natasha.

They're back on the quinjet. I'll slow us down to give you some time to hide before your dad gets on the Hellicarrier.

Joei let out a sigh of relief. You are a goddess in your own right, Agent Romanoff.