As Cloud disembarked, he took a second to appreciate the machinery of the plane. Cid would have liked this, and even Cloud could appreciate the impressive technology of it, though it was nothing compared to the Highwind, and even more so the Shera.

A red haired woman in the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform approached the aircraft with confident strides. She easily distinguished herself from the bustling crowd. Cloud was already feeling cramped on the deck, not to mention his motion sickness had apparently decided to kick in during the latter half of the flight back. Coulson smiled genially. "Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Rogers and Cloud Strife."

Natasha gave both of them a dismissive glance before turning to Coulson. "Hi," she said, "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."

Coulson nodded. "Right. See you there." He began to leave, but Cloud grabbed his wrist. Coulson appeared startled, but Cloud was too anxious to care. He shot a glance at Natasha and Steve, before asking Coulson, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Make friends." Coulson said, as though it were obvious Cloud was supposed to voluntarily socially interact. Cloud let go and he walked away, leaving Cloud both frustrated he had done that and awkward because there was nowhere to go. The aircraft carrier was out at sea, for Gaia's sake, and even though Cloud had crowded onto the Tiny Bronco with everyone, those were his friends . Everyone here was a stranger, or worse… Cloud shot a glance at Natasha and Steve, who were shooting furtive glances at him - people who were supposed to be replacing his friends.

Cloud tried to go find somewhere to be alone, despite Natasha trying to catch his attention.

"Hey, pretty boy!" She called. Cloud ignored her and continued towards the command deck. Surely there would be an empty hallway where he could be alone for a while?

"Strife!" Steve tried, "Cloud!"

Cloud kept up his pace. He was done for today. Maybe he could practice a few spells? If he was back home, he would kill some monsters to work off his nerves, but there weren't any monsters on Earth. It seemed to only be humans and animals. Could it be from the lack of mako? He idly wondered. He was distracted enough that he nearly missed the low sweep from behind him. Cloud instinctively jumped over it, reflexively drawing his sword and nearly slicing Natasha's neck. She was frozen as the cold steel met her neck, a blood droplet beading and falling.

"Tch." Cloud sheathed his sword. His mood fell even more. Steve was already running towards them, but Cloud turned away. "I don't appreciate back attacks. Especially not if we're going to try to be friends."

Natasha was unmoved from his attack, merely crossing her arms to consider him closely. "We're not here to be friends. We're here to be teammates." She narrowed her eyes. "At least I know you're a competent one."

Cloud turned away. Steve was quiet, at a loss for what to do.

"Strife!" Natasha called, "You can't leave yet! You've got to meet the rest of us."

Without looking back, Cloud said, "Not interested."

Cloud entered headquarters and set about finding a quiet place to rest. He found one in the lower hallways, which while somewhat busy were nothing compared to the upper levels. He took off his sword harness and slid down the wall, resting his forearms on his knees as he relished the relative quiet. He was never good with crowds.

So that's Natasha… Cloud's mind belatedly caught up with the events of the day. He rested his head against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. This is going to be more difficult than I thought.

Cloud glanced at his materia before pulling out a fully mastered Fire. He had never been good with precise control, mostly just pouring in his MP and hoping for brute force. Well, no better time than the present, he mused. He gave the materia a bit of power, and a small flame came to life in the palm of his hand. He tried to will it into different shapes, then into a spiral, then into a double helix. He failed on the last one, but mentally shrugged, slightly proud of himself. He did, however, almost accidently let out a Fire3 when Fury seemed to just appear in front of him. A pregnant silence filled the hallway.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Cloud finally asked. He wasn't even shocked by strange resurrections at this point.

"Strife." Fury said, ignoring his question. His one eye gleamed and narrowed. "Do you remember our deal?"

Cloud carefully slotted the Fire, then stood up and put his harness back on, watching Fury warily. "Yeah, I do."

"What were my conditions, if you don't mind me asking?"

Cloud let out a noncommittal noise. "I've got to become a citizen of Earth, and I've got to sign on to the Avengers initiative."

Fury appeared to consider this a moment, before he said slowly, as though Cloud were throwing a tantrum, "And do you remember what those documents said?"

Cloud crossed his arms. "I have to defend Earth for as long as I am here. And I have to work with the other Avengers to form a, in your words, 'ass kicking' team." It sounded so silly.

"Now Strife," Fury continued, "Why aren't you fulfilling your side of the deal?"

Cloud nearly growled, but settled for grinding his teeth together. "I'm just taking a break."

Fury put a hand to his chin. "You know, Strife, I just don't think that's going to cut it. Next time I see you alone, you better have a god damned great reason. Now, we have… suspicions Loki is going to be in Germany within the next couple hours. Don't make me chase you down again. Get to the bridge."

Cloud scowled, but did as he was told. He hated being under Fury's boot, but Fury was still his best shot at going home. So he climbed the stairs, all the while thinking of how miserable the next few minutes were going to be.

Cloud had managed to get rid of the rest of his motion sickness and nerves during his practice with the Fire materia. Once he arrived on the bridge, he didn't bother trying to be nice, instead keeping his expression flat as he leaned against the wall, farthest from the rest of the team. They kept glancing his direction, but Cloud ignored the looks and closed his eyes.

"Captain, Strife. You're being deployed." Coulson said. Cloud pushed off from the wall and made his way to the deck. At least he would be working with the Captain, who so far had proved very different from Sephiroth. He wasn't cold, or calculating, and that was enough (for now).