This is the beginning of "The Avengers" movie. Point of views will be bouncing around a bit more between first and third person. Hope you all enjoy. Hope no one ends up out of character, and trust me when I say Jess isn't going to end up on everyone's good side, despite initial appearances. She's just a bit too stubborn for that. ;) And thanks to everyone who's read/reviewed/followed/favorited thus far! I love hearing feedback from you guys!

I took a piece of bacon from the pan, earning a slightly annoyed look from Tony as I typed on my laptop that was tucked in the crook of my arm.

"Did you hear about this?" I questioned. "Big earthquake down in New Mexico."

"No, and not to sound rude, but why should I care about anything other than the reason you're stealing a part of my breakfast?" Tony questioned.

"Our breakfast."

"That I'm cooking."

"At nearly ten at night."

"It's breakfast for us."

I rolled my eyes, turning the laptop around on the table as I sat, and he slid over a cup of coffee. He eyed the image on screen with furrowed brows.

"Casualties?"

"Not many. Most evacuated from the building not too long before the quake. The picture just caught my eye." I eyed him over the rim of my cup. "Doesn't look like earthquake damage. Too localized. Not directly on a fault. Looks more like a sinkhole, except there's no way it could be."

"Weather in that area wouldn't account for that. So? What're you thinking?"

"Power plant was playing with something in their basement and it blew."

He turned the laptop back around, returning to the stove. "And why does that bother you?"

"A lot of things bother me."

He snorted. "Understatement of the year, though, it doesn't account for the bags under your eyes. Classes getting to you?"

I shook my head, skimming the article. "No. MIT is going fine. It's lack of sleep. Been having some odd dreams, and I figured I should keep an eye out for things that might cause trouble for us."

"Us, as in Iron Man."

"Hm," I hummed in agreement.

"What kind of dreams?" He questioned and I ran a hand through my hair.

"Odd, like I said. Make no sense. Hard to remember clearly. Just… a box."

"A box?"

I nodded. "A blue box that just sort of whispers. I can't remember what it said though, just… I don't know. It bothers me."

He cracked a small smirk as he brought over a couple of plates of food. "A lot of things bother you."

"Don't play smart."

He kissed my temple as he set down the plate and went to take a seat himself. "What's on the agenda this evening?"

"Getting the power working properly in this place," I said, just as the lights flickered.

"Did you figure out where the electrical grid pathways are?"

I nodded, typing up a few things before sliding the laptop over so he could see. "Not far, just under a few hundred feet of water. You'll have to take the suit."

"You say that like I hate taking the suit."

"I'd rather you avoid doing chores in the suit, so, yes. I'm not thrilled, especially after what happened with the laundry."

"You said the dryer wasn't working. The electrician wouldn't be able to fix it until next week and you already had a finished load in the wash. I assumed hanging it up to dry would take too long and thought flying around with it would dry it up nicely."

"Only for half my laundry to go missing in the tri-state area, half get covered in bird shit, and a video of you getting attacked by angry pigeons to go viral because you accidentally landed on a roof that wasn't stable and fell into a large nesting site." I shot him a look as he smiled fondly at the memory. "I may not be your lawyer anymore, but I'm still cleaning up after you now that everyone knows about us. Your reputation is attached to mine, you know."

"You don't mind."

"I know," I sighed. "What has the world come to?"

He chuckled as the door opened and Pepper strolled in, eyeing the two of us with a raised brow.

"I was going to ask if you were ready to do the power upgrade, but you two are obviously having a moment. Should I come back later?"

I groaned as Tony waved her in. "Oh, don't start, Pepper," I complained. "We're just eating."

"Sitting a little close for 'just eating.'"

"And discussing my sanity after getting together with him."

She chuckled, sitting down as well as she pulled out her own laptop and a headset. "Please. I knew you were mad for dealing with him from the start."

"Says you," I huffed, sipping my drink as Tony hastily finished his meal and went to get his suit on.

Once he was on his way, we waited to hear word from him finishing up.

"Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you two," he soon responded.

"More like Pepper," I said around a mouthful of food as she replied back to him.

"You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?"

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

"Assuming everything works," I hummed.

"Well, aren't you positive."

"I'm a realist, thanks."

"Light her up."

Pepper pressed the key on the laptop and the lights flickered before turning on brighter than ever. "How does it look?"

"Like Christmas, but with more… me."

"Careful," I mused, "your inner narcissist is showing."

Pepper cracked a smile. "We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings."

"Pepper, you're killing me. The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment? Even Jess is appreciative."

"Actually, she got up to do the dishes."

"Jess, come on!"

"Sorry if I don't feel like adding to your ego," I hummed, spotting the ringing phone and checking the caller ID. "Tony, that Agent Coulson is on the phone."

"We're not in. I'm actually out."

"Wasn't he in New Mexico?"

Jarvis chimed in then. "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Grow a spine, Jarvis. I've got a date, right, Jess?"

I rolled my eyes at Pepper's raised brow. "He picks one day every two weeks to have a date of his choosing. Last week was my turn and he wasn't thrilled to get dragged downstairs to work on my suit."

"Well, it's not exactly bonding."

"You'd be surprised. We didn't exactly get much done."

She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I think I should head out then. I don't think I need to see what happens when he picks the date."

Tony stepped in then, glancing at Pepper's retreating back. "Leaving already?"

"Yeah. Levels are apparently holding steady and I'm not sticking around to be the third wheel between you two."

"Oh, well, see ya."

I gave him a light slap on the arm. "He meant to say thank you for your help."

"No, he didn't," Pepper replied good-naturedly, stepping out with a wave and leaving me to shoot Tony a disapproving look.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me. Be nicer to her, would you? Don't forget that she almost quit on you and if she changes her mind about staying where would we be then, huh?"

Tony sighed, but gave in, strolling over to where I leaned on a table near a holographic display of the tower.

"All right. I suppose we'd both be a little screwed."

"More than that," I chuckled with a shake of my head as he placed his hands on my hips.

"Well, how does it feel to be a genius?"

I snorted. "I'm hardly a genius."

"What do you mean? All this came from you," he said, gesturing to the hologram before it vanished.

"Don't flatter me, Tony. We both know this mess came from your little toy," I argued, tapping his chest piece lightly. "I hardly did anything in comparison to you and Pepper."

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself twelve percent of the credit."

"First off, don't call it my baby. Second, twelve percent?"

"Well, Pepper did approximately fifteen, but I could argue you did more."

"Fifteen?" I scoffed, slipping past him as he tried to make up by… not really making up.

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

I shook my head with a snort of amusement as I grab us some drinks.

"My private elevator," he continued.

"Our private elevator?" I countered, passing him a glass as I poured my own.

"It was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

"Probably, though I don't know about subtle."

"Tell you what," he took a seat across from me. "Next building is gonna say Jess on the tower."

"God, no. I'll kill you if you even try. I'm not a fan of being in the public eye."

"Yet, you got together with me."

"Again, I don't know what I was thinking," I teased before Jarvis chimed in.

"Sir, ma'am. The telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden."

"So much for a date," I grumbled, sipping my drink as Coulson broke in through the line.

"Mr. Stark, we need to talk."

Tony sighed, picking up the phone and holding it up so Coulson could see him. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."

Coulson didn't fall for it. "This is urgent."

"Then, leave it urgently."

The elevator opened then, the man stepping out himself, earning a raised brow from me.

"Definitely urgent then."

"Security breach," Tony said, giving me a look. "It's on you."

"I'll fix the protocols later," I huffed at him, earning a small smirk.

"Mr. Stark, Jess."

"How are you, Phil?" I asked, leaning back to peer at him from over the back of the couch.

"Phil?" Tony questioned.

"I can't stay," Coulson said, us having somehow managed to come to a mutual agreement to be civil to one another unless we do something annoying.

"Uh, his first name is Agent," Tony replied, confused about the first-name basis.

"Curious," I chimed in, drawing Coulson's gaze to shift to me. "How was your trip to New Mexico? Feel the earthquake?"

He somehow managed to plaster a smile on his face, though it was very obviously forced. "No, actually. I didn't."

"You're a terrible liar."

The smile fell before Tony cleared his throat, moving to stand between us.

"W-We were actually in the middle of something."

Coulson passed him a file. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible."

"I don't like being handed things," Tony murmured, and I got up with a sigh, taking it instead.

"We're working on it, but unless it's an alcoholic beverage, he hasn't changed much." I then passed the file to Tony, taking his drink so he had his hands free.

He sighed. "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."

"This isn't a consultation."

"Just open the file, Tony. The only reason they'd be bugging us is if it's something that'd interest you," I sighed, before giving Coulson a look. "Let me take a wild guess though. I'm assuming it has something to do with the not-earthquake in New Mexico and you're dragging us in because of that Avengers nonsense, right?"

"I thought that was scrapped, and I didn't even qualify," Tony hummed, opening the file anyway.

"That, I didn't know," I said, giving him a look.

"Yeah. Apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

"Sounds accurate."

"They invited you though if I got dragged along."

I gave Coulson a look. "Something else I didn't know. Didn't we talk about communication, Tony?"

Tony flinched, glancing at me from over his shoulder. "Yes, though I will admit, this was before that conversation and I do believe the fact that it was scrapped meant I didn't have to tell you because it wouldn't happen."

I rolled my eyes, giving Coulson a look. See what I have to deal with?

Better you than me, he non-verbally replied before speaking up once more. "This isn't about personality profiles anymore."

"Whatever. Jess, got a second?"

"Since I'm technically involved in this insanity anyway, sure." I downed what was left of my drink and gave Coulson the empty glass to hold as I went over to join Tony.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment."

I snorted. "I was having twelve percent of a moment."

He shot me a look. "What happened to subtle?"

"Pretty sure I said not subtle. Now, what's going on? Phil was a little too easily rattled by my question earlier. He's usually better about lying."

"Why is he Phil?"

"We came to an agreement. I'll stop annoying him if he does the same. The first name was just to get him to call me by my first name instead of Miss Norris. Now, what's in the file?"

Tony swiped outward and the vides and articles spread out on holograms across the room. "This."

My eyes bounced from video to video, recognizing the familiar red, white and blue shield Tony had had for his supposed "commission" and a little surprised by a large green man in another video hurling a car. Oh, no. Don't tell me. I looked at Coulson.

"I don't want to read it."

"Excuse me?"

I huffed, turning away from the videos and ignoring the surprised look Tony shot me. "You heard me. I'm not reading it."

"Director Fury—"

"Is not my boss, and if we're going to get dragged into this Avengers thing, then I want to get to know the members on my terms. Especially if I'm going to be one of the few non-superpowered people working alongside them. If Fury has a problem with that, then he'll just have to get over it. I'm not about to read up on everyone's lives and cause more internal conflict, thanks."

Coulson saw that he wasn't going to be able to argue with me and sighed. "Very well. I'll let him know."

"Good." I looked to Tony. "You'll be busy though, so I'm going to call it a night. You can pick another day for our date."

He pouted, but there was still a hint of hope. "And if I finish early?"

I rolled my eyes, waving a hand over my shoulder as I made for the elevator. "Goodnight, Tony."

"Spoilsport," he grumbled, and I walked out before I saw him pull a holographic blue box out from a file.

Exactly like the one haunting my nightmares.

Steve Rogers stepped out of the plane at Coulson's side as Natasha headed over.

"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers," Coulson introduced, more than a little star-struck.

"Ma'am," Steve greeted.

"Hi," Natasha looked to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."

"See you there," Coulson replied, slipping past and Natasha gave Steve a once-over as they started walking across the aircraft carrier.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?"

"They're vintage. He's very proud."

They spotted another man not far away, shuffling nervously around crew members.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called out, recognizing him from the files he'd read.

"Uh, yeah. Hi," Bruce responded, shaking his hand awkwardly. "They told me you would be coming."

"Word is, you can find the Cube."

Bruce looked around anxiously. "Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about."

Bruce felt a small hint of relief at that, glad at least one person on the ship wasn't bothered by his other self. "It must be strange for you, all of this."

Steve glanced at the soldiers and planes as yet another one landed and someone stepped out. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"Okay, you have to let me get a model of these planes or something."

An Agent beside the figure sighed heavily. "I already told you, they're top secret."

"And now, I know, so they're obviously not that secret. And it's not like I'm going to show them off. Honestly. Where's Coulson? At least he can propose a better argument than you."

Steve raised a brow as the slim figure turned and spotted them. Or, as he soon found out, spotted Natasha.

"Oh, thank God. Someone competent. Natasha! You can get me a model of these planes, right?" The man—No, woman—asked, heading over to where Natasha was rolling her eyes.

"Hologram or physical?"

The woman smirked, shooting her escort a look. "See? Even she knows I'm worth it."

Natasha waved the agent off and raised a brow at her. "Did you torture him the whole way over?"

"I just asked questions. I'm a lawyer, it's what I do."

"Ex-lawyer." Natasha looked to Steve and Bruce then. "Steve Rogers, Dr. Bruce Banner, this is Jess Norris."

Jess turned and took Steve's outstretched hand, giving him and Bruce a small smile. "Hey. Nice to meet you."

"And you, ma'am," Steve said politely, earning a small surprised blink.

"Right. Just call me Jess. I've only been called ma'am while working and it annoys the hell out of me."

Steve cracked a smile, liking her bluntness. "All right. Jess it is."

"She wasn't in the files," Bruce muttered then, eyeing Jess uncertainly.

Jess turned to Natasha in surprise. "Really?"

"You didn't want to read their files, so we assumed you wouldn't care for the other way around."

Jess groaned. "Oh, please. I'm used to getting vetted, and I only refused to read their files because I want to get to know them myself. They can read about me if they want. Give it to them. I mean, it's not like I'm going to really play a big part in all of this." She looked at Steve and Bruce. "I'm a civilian. I only got dragged into this because I'm dating Tony Stark."

Steve's eyes widened. "You're dating Tony Stark?"

"I know. Insane, right?" Jess cracked a smile. "But it's working out so far. Fury just invited me along to keep him under control, so I'm basically a glorified babysitter. If you want my files though, go for it. Just know that I don't know a thing about you, and if you don't want me to, then I'm fine keeping it that way."

Bruce didn't look entirely convinced, but Steve couldn't help but smile. It wasn't often that someone looked at him and saw nothing but a normal human being instead of Captain America.

"Where is Stark, anyway?" Natasha asked.

"Stayed home," Jess huffed with a roll of her eyes. "He'll claim that he sent me here to do reconnaissance, but I'm choosing to help in any way I can. He'll probably show up later in the biggest, most dramatic display he can think of."

Natasha cracked the slightest of smiles. "I see. Don't know if the Director will be pleased or not."

Jess snorted, looking back at Bruce and Steve. "He doesn't like me much. I told him his Avengers plan was stupid."

"I do believe your exact words were something along the lines of 'some eye-patch wearing, scary guy isn't going to be enough to just say the word and stop them,'" Natasha chirped, making Jess shrug.

"Well, it's true. He can't even control Tony."

"He got you here. Isn't that enough?"

"Please. I came because I'm going to get dragged in no matter what. World's in danger, Iron Man shows up eventually. I figured I'd get a head start."

Natasha shot her a look. "You and Tony had a fight, didn't you?"

Jess huffed. "He claimed I only contributed twelve percent to the towers he's setting up and that he did all the heavy lifting. He deserves a bit of the silent treatment."

"Uh-huh," Natasha rolled her eyes, before addressing them all. "Gentlemen, Jess. You might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

The ship began to whir with machinery as an announcement had everyone preparing the ship.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve questioned, though Bruce looked a little nervous.

"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?"

The group walked to the edge though, and Jess grinned.

"Oh, no way."

The ship wasn't a submarine, but a plane itself with turbines revving up to lift it into the sky.

"No, no. This is much worse," Bruce complained as Jess hurried back to Natasha.

"I want a model."

"You'll have to ask Director Fury."

Jess was still grinning though. "You think he'll let me fly one of the planes too?"

Steve raised a brow. "You fly?"

"Mom flew planes in a military airplane hangar. Dad was a mechanic." Her eyes sparked. "So, yeah. I love planes."

"Maybe I know her. What's her name?"

If Jess was surprised by the comment, she didn't show it. "Janette Wilson."

He nodded, smiling. "I knew her! Or, well, I met her briefly a few times. She was a good person. Always looking after soldiers."

Jess cracked a small smile. "Sounds like her."

"And your father?" He almost regreted asking when her smile faltered.

"Samuel Norris." She managed to force one on. "Not quite as kind."

Sensing that her father was a sensitive subject, Steve let the topic drop as they were led into the main control hub of the ship. Agents were scattered around, some typing away others walking between destinations with Director Fury standing in the center flying the ship.

"Retro-reflection panels?" Jess hummed, appearing behind Fury's shoulder before he could turn around. "Well, aren't you lot clever."

"No thanks to your boyfriend." Fury gave her a glance as he turned. "Nice to see at least you joined us."

"Please. We both know you're not entirely thrilled."

"You're right. I'm not." Fury looked to the other two. "Gentlemen."

Steve pulled out his wallet and handed him a ten-dollar bill, earning raised brows as Jess looked over the controls to the ship and he went to speak with Bruce.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," Coulson explained to them, catching Jess and Steve's attention. "Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"What if he wants to be found?" Jess asked then, drawing attention to her as she folded her arms over her chest. "I mean, I know very little about this whole mess other than some alien guy stealing something powerful from you. Thing is, for someone to just walk into one of the most secured, best-kept secrets of Earth, steal something and walk away? That takes confidence. If I was that confident, I wouldn't exactly fear getting spotted. And if this guy's anything like Tony." Jess snorted. "He'll be showing it off."

"That's still not going to find him in time," Natasha said; Bruce, agreeing.

"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" He asked, taking off his suit coat.

"How many are there?" Fury challenged.

"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."

Jess sighed. "I'm telling you, he's just going to be out in the open. I'd start looking at gatherings or parties of rich people."

"Why?" Fury questioned, giving her a look.

"Because. If you've got all the power you could want, and you've got enough confidence to not be afraid of anyone, you're going to show it off and make the most powerful people feel like dirt under your shoes."

Bruce blinked slowly. "You… You're rather dark, aren't you?"

Jess cracked a smirk. "Lawyer."

"Ex-lawyer," Fury countered. "And Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"

Natasha stepped up and led the way. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys."

Jess sighed as they left and Fury came up beside her, leaning his arms on the railing.

"Any more smart ideas?"

"Well, he took your little power supply for a reason."

"He took more than the Tesseract. He has my agents and a scientist as well."

"So, he needs man-power. Start looking into people who've gone missing within the time frame of him disappearing and now. Despite popular belief, one man can't rule on his own."

Fury cracked the smallest of smiles. "I don't know how Stark deals with you."

Jess raised a brow. "You know, usually people question how I deal with him."

"He's a narcissistic genius, but you're the quiet type. Hidden geniuses are far worse, trust me."

Jess shot him a surprised look before one of the agents called out.

"We've got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Wait. Cross match, seventy-nine percent."

Jess moved to Fury's screens as he brought up the picture.

"Location?" Coulson asked.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

Jess smirked smugly at Fury as he rolled his eyes and she pointed out the clothes the man was wearing in the picture.

"Told you. Black-tie event. Rich and famous. Let me guess, a gala of some kind? Maybe an auction?"

Fury sighed. "Yes, we get it. Captain. You're up."

I watched the screen in the plane, humming in thought while trying to keep my eyes away from the pilot and controls. Flying the plane was beginning to get far too tempting now. On screen though, was footage from the gala where our man—Loki—had appeared.

"Kind of scary how right I was," I muttered, watching as the crowd was forced to kneel before the man. "Someone's got a power complex."

Natasha sighed. "Why did I agree to let you come with me?"

"Because, if I could figure this out with minimal information, how quickly do you think Tony figured it out?" My watch beeped and I showed it to her. "See? His suit's just left the house."

"You got a tracker put on it? How'd he allow that?"

"He didn't. I made friends with his AI. Besides, if he's so clever, he would have worked it out by now." I shrugged. "Curious though, why this gala? He's got to be decently clever to get past you lot, this Loki fella. So, wouldn't he just find the nearest party and crash it? Why Germany? Why here? Has anyone looked into the event at all? Location? Anything?"

"We're a little more focused on getting the Tesseract back, Jess."

I sighed. "He won't have it with him. And the people he took aren't exactly around him. So, he either came alone to have a little fun, or—"

"Or, it's a distraction," she realized.

"Bingo. I'll start looking into information," I hummed, typing away on a holographic pad that Tony had gotten me ages ago. "Let Fury know he owes me flying lessons in these new planes."

She rolled her eyes as I caught sight of a man standing up in the crowd on screen, reaching up and touching my comm.

"Hey, Captain? Aim for the one standing fellow. Loki's going to make an example of him."

"On it."

Natasha shot me a look. "Nice catch."

I cracked a small, bitter smile. "Bullied in middle school. You stand out, people lock on."

The plane was pulled to a stop and armed, all guns aimed at Loki as Natasha called out to him on the PA.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

"Does that ever work?" I questioned, earning an annoyed look from her. "Just saying. Besides, he has the upper hand. We can't fire with civilians in the way. He knows that."

Sure enough, Loki threw a blast at the plane and I grimaced when it was forced to dodge, and the Captain charged in. A fight began between the two and Natasha grumbled.

"The guy's all over the place."

"It's a fight. Of course, he is. As I said, we're not going to get a shot off properly like this," I replied.

"Do you have any helpful information yet, Jess? Or are you just going to mock me from the back seat?"

"Tetchy. If you must know, it's some auction event that was happening with a number of infamous rich people. None of whom really stand out to me."

"What were they auctioning?"

"Looking… Mostly art. A few sculptures, archaeology pieces that I'm sure various cultures would like returned and… Ooh. This might be interesting."

"What is it?"

I typed away, grateful that Tony had helped me develop my hacking skills a little better than they were. "Give me a second. I'm still not quite used to hacking more advanced systems but… there! There's a warehouse owned by a Heinrich Schafer, who was the person who set up the party. Inside, is one an item called, Iridium." My brows furrowed. "There's not much info on it. It's an element found in meteorites, making it rare, and forms anti-protons. I don't know how helpful that would be to Loki, but… oh, dear."

"What?"

"The cameras outside the warehouse are out. I'll try hacking into some of the internal ones."

"Agent Romanoff, you miss me?"

I snorted at the sound of Tony's voice over the comms. "You know, Tony, most people ask that to their girlfriends before they ask their ex-secretary."

"Jess! I didn't know you were in there. Are we finally on talking terms again?"

"Depends. Are you ready to admit I contributed more than twelve percent?"

"Well, if we're adding up everything you did, I might be able to boost it to fifteen."

"Excuse—"

"Guys, we're in the middle of a situation here. Could we save the bickering for later?" Natasha cut me off, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine."

"Fine."

AC/DC's "Shoot To Thrill" came over the PA system as Iron Man flew down and hit Loki with a blast, knocking him back into the stairs as Tony aimed more weapons at the man.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games."

Loki's armor and staff disappeared, and he lifted his hand in surrender.

"Good move."

"Show off," I muttered, before finding what I was looking for. "Natasha, we've got a problem."

"What?"

"I got into the internal cameras and, well, they didn't last long. This was all I got."

I showed her the shot clip of someone walking into the warehouse before they turned to the camera and took it out with an arrow. Judging by the sharp intake of breath though, what I'd shown her was important.

"I take it you know him?"

"Yes. That's Agent Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye. He was one of the people taken by Loki. Can you send that information to Director Fury?"

"Sure, but by the time anyone gets there, it'll all be over with."

"Do it anyway," she grumbled as she landed the plane and Tony and Steve brought Loki onboard.

"So, did you miss me?" Tony asked, kissing my temple as I rolled my eyes.

"Did I miss you as a person? Sure. Did I miss everything that comes along with you? No, not really."

"Ouch, Jess. That really hurts," he whined, touching his chest as I rolled my eyes and gave him a quick kiss.

"You'll get over it."

"If this continues later, I definitely will." He smirked, only for Natasha to sigh.

"Can we not flirt in close quarters? I might throw up."

"Sorry," I smiled innocently, as Steve raised a brow.

"You know, I think I believe it now. You two being together. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow it seems to work."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Captain," Tony scoffed and as we flew back to the ship, Fury's voice came over the radio.

"Is he saying anything?"

"Not a word," Natasha replied as I gave Loki a glance.

Because he's smart and decent on the eyes, but I'm not about to say that out-loud with Tony here. I drummed my fingers on my keyboard, still trying to find more information on the Iridium.

"Just get him here. We're low on time."

"And the warehouse?"

"Sorry. We were too late."

Natasha flicked off the radio and I glanced back at Tony and Steve as they talked.

"I don't like this," Steve muttered.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics," Tony explained. "You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

"Tony," I chided him, getting up and lightly smacking his chest as I gave the Captain an apologetic look. "Sorry. He's a dick even on a good day."

"Hey, I can be civil."

"Then do it, you twat," I snipped at him. "That was a rule, remember? I get to come along, but you—"

"Have to try and be civil. Yes, I know. It was a stupid idea."

I rolled my eyes, giving Steve a look. "You see what I have to deal with?"

Steve managed a small smile. "Can't be easy."

"Don't even get me started."

"I am right here," Tony cut in.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve pointed out.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

"If it helps, I'm pretty sure Fury didn't want him to come in," I chimed, hearing thunder roll in the background and turning with a frown. "A storm?"

Natasha looked confused too. "Where's this coming from?"

Loki shifted then, drawing our gaze to him.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked. "Are you scared of a little lightning?"

"Hold on," I stopped him, stepping towards Loki, despite Tony reaching out to stop me. "Loki's brother in Norse mythology is Thor, the God of thunder, isn't it?"

Loki's gaze caught mine. "I'm not overly fond of what follows lightning."

"Natasha?" I called out over my shoulder, shifting back towards my seat. "I hope we're on good terms with his brother."

Something hit the top of the plane and I was quick to refasten my seatbelt.

"Because I think we're about to be paid a visit."

Tony put on his Iron Man helmet and I groaned as he opened the rear hatch.

"Really? Do you really have to fight? We could just talk, you know," I complained, glancing over my shoulder to see a blond man land on the opened hatch. "And can I just say, my entire life has just been thrown on its head. Norse Gods?"

Tony was hit by the man's hammer and thrown back, giving the man I could only assume was Thor a chance to pull Loki up out of his chair and fly off through the storm.

"And now there's that guy," Tony complained, getting up again as Natasha looked to me.

"Another Asgardian?"

"Weren't you listening? It has to be Thor, Loki's brother!" I called out over the noise of the storm. "I-I don't know about this Asgardian thing, but it makes sense if we think about Norse mythology. Lightning storm, big hammer?"

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve questioned.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost," Tony said, making me groan.

"Again, if we could just talk to the guy—"

"Sorry, Jess. No time," Tony said, making for the door.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve tried to stop him.

"I have a plan. Attack."

I sighed, rubbing my temples as he flew out and Steve went to grab a parachute. "God, dammit."

"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha tried to tell Steve.

"I don't see how I can."

"These guys come from legend. They're basically Gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Steve too jumped out and I gave Natasha a look.

"Should I…"

Natasha shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

"Oh, come on. Tony and Steve just went out there to fight a couple of Gods who are obviously having a brother's quarrel. If they try to interfere—"

"Getting you involved won't help."

"It might," I argued. "If we could just talk to them—"

"You can't solve everything by talking."

"Because people don't try talking first!" I countered a bit sharply, earning a slightly surprised look from her. "Look. We all want the Tesseract. He just wants Loki. We jump in to interfere with that, and we're doing nothing but causing more trouble than we need to. We come up with a compromise. We hold onto Loki with Thor able to stand with him as well, we work together to get the cube, everyone's happy!"

Natasha looked conflicted. "Where's your suit?"

I smiled, tapping my watch. "I can bring it right here."

She sighed, before waving me off, and I was quick to undo my seatbelt and jump out of the back of the plane. Ooh, okay. Not the smartest move. Falling is definitely not fun. I hastily tapped my watch, grateful when the dark blue of the suit began to fly around me and attach before I got the thrusters going.

"Jarvis, send me right for my idiot boyfriend."

"Yes, miss."

It was easy enough to find Tony and Thor, and I even spotted the Captain heading over. Loki though was up above them and I sighed.

"Idiots left the one we need all on his lonesome. He could easily just run off."

I landed behind Loki, who turned with a glare, but I held my hands up and had my mask flip open.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to spook you. I mostly came to stop everyone fighting. Would you mind joining me down there?"

"What for? This is quite amusing if I'm being honest."

"Yeah, sure. My thing is, I don't want Tony getting hurt. You may or may not want your brother getting hurt. But… well, I think it'd be hilarious if a woman was able to stop all of them, don't you think?" I cracked a smile, hoping my plan would work.

If I remember anything about Norse mythology, it's that Loki's a trickster, a joker. If he and his brother don't get along, then he should be willing to embarrass him. And what better way than to throw a woman in the midst, as sexist as it is. Loki began to smirk.

"All right."

"Cool."

My helmet flipped down, and I grabbed him by the back of his clothes—much to his shock—before I plopped us both right between Thor and Steve. Thor had been about to hit Steve with his hammer, but I reached around, grabbed the Captain's shield off his arm and hit Thor in the wrist, knocking his aim off completely and ending the attack before it could even start.

"Who dare—"

"Jess?" Tony questioned, his helmet flipping off as mine did the same.

"Yeah, are the three of you quite finished?" I asked, giving them all a look as I shoved the shield back into the Captain's chest. "Look. Captain, you get back to the plane. Asking someone to put down their weapon when you yourself still have yours is rude. Everyone wants to be safe, so everyone keeps their weapons. Okay?"

Steve seemed to shrink back a bit but nodded.

"Tony."

"Oh, dear," Tony muttered when my glare turned to him.

"Not everything needs to be a fight. Get your ass back on the plane or we're going to have a problem."

"Jess, I—"

"I mean it."

He scowled but huffed. "Fine."

They both started to walk off and I turned to Thor, who eyed me with uncertainty, though he wasn't attacking yet, possible because Loki was dusting himself off behind me.

"Thor, right?" I asked. "I'm Jess Norris. I want to make a deal with you."

"I don't want any deals," he snapped.

I blinked slowly, not really threatened because it was obvious he had some morals seeing as he hadn't come any closer to me despite his brother being within reach. "I'll just talk then, and you can listen. I don't want a fight between you or anyone else. You want Loki and we can give him to you, but he took something from us, and we would like to know where it is. If you also happen to be looking for this Tesseract thing, then I think we could work together."

"Why?" He questioned, looking lost.

"Because I don't think you want to fight either." I lifted my hands in surrender and had the suit removed and sent back. "You get your brother, safely, and the Tesseract gets dealt with, safely. That's all I want, and I'm sure it's all you want too. So, why not work together?"

"And if I refuse?"

"Then, I cannot account for whatever happens to you, your bother, or the Tesseract, because people are stupid. They will fight back."

Slowly, he began to lose his rough edge and lowered his hammer.

"Very well, Jess Norris. I will speak with you."

I let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through my hair. "Good. I really didn't want to try and fight a God."

He cracked the smallest of smiles.