The light flickered overhead below the red, white, and blue sign of the bowling alley. The street was still busy with traffic. Across the street the little post office was dark, but laughter and talk flowed from the barbershop next door. Faint music filtered through the hot, sweltering summer air from the Mexican restaurant down the street.
Fury paused outside the ring of light and pulled up the hood of the Yankees sweatshirt he wore, hoping the bandaging around the gunshot wound in his arm would hold.
"Fuckin' Wilson. Had to be one of my few reliable shots," he muttered. Course, you'd just remind me he isn't one of my good shots since I'm still alive, wouldn't you, Coulson?
He started down the street, hands stuffed in his pocket to conceal his SIG Sauer, his eye darting into every dark corner. He kept his pace fast, but casual, taking a turn every few blocks as he made his way toward the Hoboken ferry. He paused at the bakery before he turned onto the footpath that would take him past the train tracks and open parking lots. Unable to keep waiting by the closed bakery, he jogged down the stairs, across the road, and down the footpath.
The footsteps he'd been waiting for joined him down the footpath. He kept his pace, seemingly paying no attention. The steps were far enough back that he didn't want to assume it was an assassin. When they hadn't turned off by the time he got to Willow Ave, he knew they wanted him to lead them to the Avengers.
"Not today, motherfucker," he muttered.
Fury paused for a moment, glanced around, and disappeared down the next alley. He jogged a few steps and slipped behind a dumpster a moment before the footsteps echoed into the alley.
"Yes, sir. I'm tracking him north parallel to Garden Street. It looks like he's heading to Harborside Park." The footsteps jogged closer.
Shaking his head at the stupidity, Fury waited around the corner. The agent rounded the corner at speed.
"Goodnight, motherfucker." He punched him dead in the face, leveling him to the ground.
The agent opened his mouth to call for back up, but Fury dropped, knee-first, onto his solar plex. A soft grunt was the last sound the agent made. Fury snapped his windpipe.
He let a sigh slip out as he removed the insignia and weapons.
"Why the hell'd you have to do this, Strom?"
Tearing his clothes and planting an empty bag laced with traces of heroin, Fury shifted the body under the dumpster. Pocketing everything and glancing at his watch, he retraced his steps and then continued toward the ferry in as straight a line as possible. He saw two men heading north up the streets. Once they were out of sight, he broke into a run to make it on the 9:43pm ferry.
"Sir, Dr. Banner is five minutes from landing."
"Thank you, Jarvis. Let Lizzy know so she can calm him down."
"Yes, sir."
Tony pulled image after image out of the data he'd pirated from SHIELD's files. Data swept passed his eyes. He glanced through his screens at Steve who had stood motionless in front of the map for the last hour. Damn idiot. He's even more self-righteous than I thought. I swear if Arriana ends up sick because of him, I'm going to kill him. He turned back to the screens. There it is. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Fury, you sly dog.
Bruce sat bolt upright, blinking around him. The flight attendant stood in the doorway of the cockpit.
"We'll be landing in just a minute, Dr. Banner."
"Oh, uh... yes, thank you."
"There's a car waiting for you as soon as we land."
"Thank you." He shook himself, trying dislodge the last memories of his nightmares.
The plane gave a gentle bump. He peered out the window, but he could only see lights in the distance. Everything was dark near the plane. As the flight attendant swept back in, he unbuckled and grabbed his bag. She pushed the door open as soon as he was ready.
Bruce stepped out onto the stairs, glancing around him. Then he hurried down, not wanting to be such an easy target. I'm okay. Everything's okay. Nothing's going to happen. Lizzy said everything was fine, and she wouldn't lie to me.
"Welcome back, Dr. Banner."
Bruce spun toward the sound. "Oh," he sighed. "Hi, Happy. Is everything okay?"
"Yes, sir. I'm here to pick you up." He gestured toward the SUV behind him. "We should get going. Everyone's waiting for you. And Mr. Stark informed me that if I didn't get you back in a timely manner I would get to answer to Ms. Lizzy myself."
Bruce managed a smile. "Well, I don't want to make everyone wait."
Happy popped open the door and waited for Bruce to climb in, and then jumped into the driver's seat.
"Why is it so dark over here?"
"Just a precaution," he said, glancing in his rearview mirror as the windshield lit up green like night-vision goggles. "Mr. Stark has been keeping today's movements as secret as possible, just in case."
"Ah." It didn't do much to calm his pounding heart, but he just kept reminding himself that if there had been any real cause for concern, Lizzy would have told him.
Arriana leaned against Clint's shoulder as they all headed up to the Party Deck, still sniffling slightly.
The elevator doors slid open.
Tony looked up over the ring of screens. "Hey. Bruce should be here in about 25 minutes."
"Jarvis said he'd landed," Lizzy said.
"I've cleared traffic on his route, so he'll be here as fast as I can make it happen."
"Thank you, Tony." She wandered over to him, through the screens, and hugged him.
He squeezed her arms as they wrapped around his shoulders from behind. "It's gonna be okay, kiddo. I promise."
"Yeah, I know." She buried her face in his neck, certain that Bruce didn't and could never love her, but also that she was about to lose him as a friend.
Arriana watched Steve as he stood by the windows. He had barely glanced over when they came in. She wrapped her arms around herself. The core of her body began to ache.
Michael wrapped an arm around her. Hey, it's gonna be okay. I promise. I don't know how, but I know it will be.
I don't know what you mean, she sighed, no longer bothering to sound convincing.
He hugged her. Loki slid up behind them, wrapping his arms around them both.
Clint and Natasha glanced at each other, and then at Arriana and Steve. They wandered over to the bar.
"Why is he suddenly ignoring her?" Clint said.
"I know. It's like she killed his puppy or something." Natasha poured them both drinks. "It's definitely Rogers that feels injured."
"Yeah, Arriana's feelings haven't changed, but what the hell would he have against her?"
"Obviously something the triplets think Bruce will hold against Lizzy, too."
Clint sipped the tequila sunrise she'd handed him. "I wanna shoot 'em. Can I shoot them, please, Nat?"
"No."
"Please? They're making our triplets sad."
"No."
He grumbled into his drink. "Coulson would've shot them by now."
She rolled her eyes. "No, he wouldn't. It would only hurt them more."
"I'd feel better."
"I don't care. You get to feel good enough." She grazed a finger down his spine. He shivered. "Now behave. The fact is Coulson isn't here anymore. So they need us to be there for them."
"I know." He sighed. "Do you have any guesses what their secret might be?"
"They went to Asgard, what else?" She quirked a brow at him.
He narrowed his eyes, fighting the sneer that twisted his face. "Loki."
"Don't overreact." Natasha pushed away from the counter. "We don't know exactly what's going on or even if it does involve Loki. There could be something going on with Thor."
"Do you think Arriana's with Thor?" he said.
"That might account for Steve being upset, but not why they're afraid Bruce will be upset with Lizzy. Thor is somewhat Arriana's type, but he's definitely not Lizzy's type."
Clint snorted. "Oh, god, can you imagine?"
"She'd kill him." Natasha smiled to herself as she poured vodka into a glass, a squeeze of lime, and filled with ginger beer. "We need to kill the tension as much as we can. Arriana's already feeling the strain and it's not likely to get better after the briefing." Clint nodded. She took a sip of her drink. "God, Stark, this is good vodka. And since when does anyone ever have ginger beer?"
He glanced up from the screens. "I keep a full bar on this floor and the arcade and theater floor."
"Arcade?" Clint said. "You know what? I'm not even surprised."
"Is there really a waterpark?" Natasha asked.
"Unfortunately, yes." Pepper walked out of the elevator. "Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, how are you?" She paused to hug and kiss them. "Was your flight alright?"
"Just fine," Natasha said. "We flew high enough we saw very little traffic."
"I'm glad to hear it." She glanced over at Tony. "Is Bruce doing alright?"
"Uneventful flight and his route is cleared," he said. "Lizzy's been in contact with him. That's the best I can do."
"Well, that's good." Pepper smiled at Lizzy. "Were you planning on showing him his floor?"
"Maybe Tony wants to," Lizzy said with a shrug.
Tony took her hand and kissed it. "Can't, kiddo. I've got to finish this up before we start the briefing." He glanced at the now magnified map of New York as Bruce's green dot moved steadily closer.
"You really should show him his floor before debriefing," Arriana piped up.
"Any particular reason?" Clint asked.
"He might need a place to go cool off afterward and our floors might not be somewhere he wants to be," she said, looking significantly at Lizzy. "It would be good for him to have somewhere he feels safe and undisturbed."
She nodded.
Tony glanced between them, and then wrapped an arm around Lizzy's waist. "It would also buy me some time to finish this up. If you don't mind."
"You know I don't, Tony." She bent and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Dr. Banner is five minutes out, sir," Jarvis said.
"Gotcha, J. Increase surveillance to one sweep every ten seconds. Give two inch clearance on entrance and drop the door in less than 2 seconds."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll go down to meet him," Lizzy said. "How long do you need, Tony?"
He glanced at his watch. "Give me half an hour. I should have everything ready by then."
"What are you working on anyway?" Michael asked.
"You'll find out at the debriefing. It's a long story of its own."
"What did you do, Tony?" Pepper asked, planting a hand on her hip.
His brows rose. "Nothing." He shrugged. "For once. This is me finding out what other people have done."
Lizzy headed for the elevators.
"Do you want anyone to come with you?" Natasha asked.
"No, I'm good." She managed a smile. "The less people there are, the less stressed he'll be when he's just getting in."
They nodded and watched the elevator doors close. Clint and Natasha went back to watching Arriana and Steve. He still stood staring through the map, and Arriana had curled up on the couch with Michael.
The elevator dinged and they all turned. Thor stopped short and gave them all a wide grin.
"Am I interrupting?" he chuckled. "Jarvis informed me that Dr. Banner would soon arrive."
"You're fine, Point Break." Tony flicked a few screens out of his way and pulled several more into view.
"Hi, Thor," Pepper said with a smile. "Bruce should be here in just a couple minutes. Lizzy's going to show him his floor and then we're going to start our meeting."
Tony smiled to himself. "Grab a drink and have a seat."
"Thank you, Stark." Thor looked around with a frown and opened his mouth to speak.
With a soft gasp, Loki slid from around Arriana and Michael and leaped across the room until he was behind Thor, unable to materialize an invisible image of himself. Leaning in close to his ear, he hissed, "Speak my name and I will stab you with every dagger I possess."
Thor closed his mouth.
"Let the triplets reveal my presence or you could very well get us all killed. Don't repeat your mistake of the Jotunheim battle." Seeing Thor nod, Loki returned to his place cuddling Arriana and Michael.
"Dr. Banner has arrived," Jarvis said.
"Secure perimeter and seal the tower, Jarvis," Tony said. "Cut off power, water, and sewer. Move to full airlock. Raise communication restriction to level 5."
"Done, sir."
"Thank you, Jarvis." Tony stood and moved to the map sprayed across the windows. "We're on full lockdown now. Nothing goes in or out." He spread his hands over the map and moved them away from each other, zooming the map in until the ground directly surrounding the tower was perfectly visible. He drew his finger over the outline of the tower and grabbed at the air. A ball of light glowed in his hand. He tossed it into the center of the seating area. A hologram of the full tower and all movement around it appeared. "We can watch the ground and airspace. Jarvis is in constant scanning mode."
"Can your systems pick up suspicious activity?" Natasha asked.
"Jarvis can detect so much as a drug deal. But it wouldn't hurt to have you and the triplets watch for now. You might recognize someone before they start acting suspicious."
Natasha and Clint nodded and moved to sit opposite Michael and Arriana. Thor poured himself a drink and one for Steve, and then joined him by the ground-view map.