Holy space balls, readers! I have had the craziest, worst/best summer of my life! And were already a month and a half into school. That's why this has taken so long…..sorry about it! Anyway I hope you all like the new installment in our saga. I love you all and thank you so much for feedback! Keep it up!
Love always,
Emma
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"If you think about it just a little longer you might not be that upset," Clint insisted as we pulled into the underground garage at Stark Tower. SHEILD agents surrounded the car whipping the door open before I could even make up my mind if I wanted to get out. They hauled me to the elevator, the meaty hands of the larger men gripping me tightly. We rode up in silence, a defiant scowl on my face. Instead of going to the familiar living space we rode only half-way up. Apparently in the year that I had been gone they had made there permanent residence here in Stark Tower. The doors swished open to reveal a man that I thought was long dead.
"Nice to see you again, Ms. Olsen." The once dead Agent Phil Coulson smiled a certain twinkle behind his eyes. I don't know how I did it but suddenly I was free of the agents and running into his arms. He didn't really know how to respond to this so he awkwardly patted my back. Tears were welling up in my already tired eyes. I was not ready to deal with this much emotion in one day. If Bruce was going to walk through the next door I might just faint.
"How is this real?" I whispered letting go of him slowly staring into the same crinkled smile that I had grown to love.
"I may have faked my death." He sighed cringing slightly as if he expected a punch. I hit him lightly pulling away from the bone crushing hug I had given him. "When Fury orders it, you can't really ignore it."
"One day I might actually kill him." I sneered.
"Most people around here hope you will succeed." Fury whispered from behind me. I whipped around not daring to back down. He used his best hairy eyeball but my scowl felt fiercer on my face. We stayed like this for a good while before he gave up a repressed sigh stuck in his chest. "Good to have you back Olsen."
"Don't know if I feel the same, sir." I shot back an eyebrow raised at his kindness.
"Walk with me. Coulson ready the jet, we leave in twenty." Fury made a sharp turn on his heel coming back from the hallway he must have appeared from. I sped behind him throwing an absent minded wave to Coulson. "Things have changed since we last saw you, girl."
"I noticed, moving into the tower how much did you have to pay Tony for that?" I smirked falling into step with the director. He rolled his good eye at me before continuing on.
"The Avengers are no longer spending most of their time here. Tony and Bruce obviously stay here the most. Steve, Nat and Clint all have separate assignments, while Thor is a little bit harder to keep track off. He was last seen almost a year ago, but something is stirring."
"I had a feeling." I sighed still looking around the new office of SHEILD. "Where were you guys when Tony died by the way? If we're a team," I air quoted to Fury. "Then why didn't you come for me then? Why wasn't Cap or Clint going after him?"
"You're a lot less angry then I thought you would be." He replied not answering my questions again.
I sighed I was going to have to play this game if I was every going to get the answers and the people that I wanted.
"It was a good idea to open with Coulson." I smirked walking in step with him now. "Did you hurt Ryan?"
Fury remained silent for longer than I would have hoped which made an instant cold sweat break across my body. What could he have done to one of my best friends? "He is physically fine but his mental state is surely up for debate. I didn't mean to break his heart, but your needed here. We both know you wouldn't have come willing no matter who I sent."
"Speaking of that," I said stopping in our quick pace. "Where is my team? Tony was dead for a fucking week and it seems as if SHEILD didn't want anything to do with him."
"You won't ever forgive me for that, will you?" He smirked turning suddenly into one of the many door.
"Probably…" I started following him into the room. Only to be cut off by the sight of the two of the remaining members of the team. Tony was messing with his cell phone, Pepper sitting by his side writing furiously in her planner. Steve was sitting with his arms on the table his eyes averted to a different side of the room. Darcy was with him, but she had her eyes closed leaning against her boyfriend. I froze hoping that there was still time to turn back. My stomach felt like it was full of sour acid creeping up my esophagus.
"Well if it isn't the kid herself," Tony smirked from behind his phone not meeting my gaze. Pepper whipped her head up a huge smile on her pale face. Darcy's eyes flew open her eyes bright with excitement. Steve's even stare came to me a small smile replaced his frown. "How bad is bird boy and queen spider hurt from the capture of our lost sheep?"
"She actually didn't fight that hard to stay, seems if she was ready to come home." Fury leered at Tony a sudden anger rising in the Ironman's eyes. "I'll leave you all to catch up; dinner will be served at six. Everyone will be in attendance."
He left in a blur of movement I was frozen in my place tears were making it hard to see whose arms wrapped around me first but the absence of the arc reactor and the familiar smell of to clean and expensive cologne gave me a good idea. He stroked my hair as I bawled into his chest. My apologizes where silenced the moment they let my mouth. I jumped into Peppers arms next feeling her small body shaking along with mine. Darcy's face was suddenly in mine and before I could hug her a large object was in between us. I looked down on her huge stomach, Darcy was pregnant.
"OH MY GOD!" I squealed, immediately glaring at her and the Captain. But certain guilt suddenly washed over me. I had missed a wedding, two people I cared about completely had needed me to be here to support them, but I hid away selfishly. New tears spilled over my eyes.
"Liz, seriously please stop," Darcy gripped my hands hard almost pulling me down. I snapped my head back at her a growl almost escaping my lips. "We don't blame you for anything that has happened. We are all just glad that you are here now. The wedding was super small anyway, just my parents, Tony, Pepper, Clint, Natasha, Phil, and Jane. It really wasn't that grand of an affair."
"I'll second that!" Steve grinned wrapping his arms are me and lifting me into the air. "Darcy and I have been dying to ask you if you will be the child's godmother."
"OF course," I smiled feeling tears threatening my eyes once more, but I pushed them away. I still had so many questions. "Where exactly is the big guy? Not that I'm not excited to see you all, but I don't think I was pulled back here just to have a happy reunion."
Tony and Pepper eyed each other, while Steve and Darcy pointedly looked away from me. I sighed taking a seat on the many comfy spinning chairs around the room. "So I'm guessing he bailed too."
"Right after I refused to help find you," Tony smiled weakly a certain pain behind his eyes. Tony and Bruce were the best of friends before I left. Imaging the hurt that came between them because of me was another stab at my already low self worth. "He said that he needed space, somewhere to think. He didn't even say goodbye. Fury said that he took the trace out of his system."
"The trace?" I questioned fearing the worse.
"After you left SHEILD placed a microchip inside everyone on the team. Clint and Nat had already had theirs from working here so long, they got Steve while he was still frozen, and Tony refused until he got the arc reactor taken out. Bruce had his put in days after you left, but when we noticed that he was gone all that was left was a blood trail and a broken chip."
"He did that all without causing the other guy to come out?" I asked wide-eyed with shock.
"Apparently," Tony shrugged. "But I got a feeling Fury has a general idea on where to find him."
"Clint," I whispered. "He has a debt to pay and finding me was the way he thought to repay it. Do you think that they are on the same team in all of this?"
"That was exactly what I was thinking, but I guess we will just have to see where this all goes tonight. Remember what Fury said dinner is at six sharp and we all have to be there."
"Speaking of that, shouldn't she go take a shower? Get used to being back in the swing of things? Don't worry we left your room exactly the way it was!" Pepper smiled nudging Tony slightly out of the way.
"Sure," I shrugged following Pepper out the door and into the elevator.
She remained quiet the whole way up. That's what I liked most about Pepper she wasn't going to push anything unless you wanted to talk. We reached the living floor and I was not surprised that it had remained the same. The living room was slightly less clean, laptops and books strewn about, I could see two or three baby books on one side of the giant coach. The movie collection had grown slightly given the fact that Darcy was now a full time resident of the tower.
"Do they have a place of their own? Like if they want to be alone?" I asked looking towards the kitchen rolling my eyes at the pile of dishes and a few misplaced weapons.
"That was our wedding gift to them, a small getaway house in the Hamptons. It's quite beautiful, and they usually spend every other weekend there." Pepper answered.
"How nice of you," I replied looking around feeling a sudden lump in my throat. "God, I made such a huge fucking mistake."
"You did what you thought was good for you. That's all that matters." She shrugged avoiding my eyes.
"You have no idea how much I regret it. I was being selfish and I wasn't thinking about what everyone else. I really hurt the people who cared about me; I hurt you, Tony, Bruce. I destroyed what little chance of being a family we had." I whispered turning away from Pepper. I walked down the familiar hallway stopping at a door that I had seen last before leaving. I touched the handle hoping to feel something, hoping that I could sense where he was. Nothing came to mind, I slugged onward toward my door.
The room was almost exactly the way I had left it, except someone had come through and cleaned up the mess that I had left. I also noticed that a few of my pictures were missing from the far wall. They were pictures of the team, but now their frames stood empty. I checked the garbage can to find there shredded pieces at the bottom. Only one frame was completely gone and that was the picture that I had given to Bruce for our six month. I had printed off the picture for myself as well because it was my favorite of us, but now it was gone. He must o took it somewhere or burned it.
I quickly changed out of my dirty clothes and showered. Pepper was still waiting for me when I came back to the living room. We were whisked downstairs by an anonymous agent who was taller than me, but not very much taller than Pepper. He had smallish brown eyes, brown hair and a square jaw. His lips formed a perfect bow, which reminded me of the Hawk. He led us to one of the many rooms on the SHEILD floor. The rest of the team was already gathered. There was no food, only a pitcher of water in the middle of the table.
"Now as everyone knows, Ms. Olsen has finally decided to join us here in the tower again," Fury started.
"Forced is the better word," Tony added snidely receiving the hairy eye ball from Fury.
"There is something coming and we are going to need all the help get. Thor had been spotted earlier today, but soon disappeared with Jane Foster," Pictures slid across a screen that I hadn't noticed before. "Dr. Selvig is working quickly trying to replicate transport to their location, but we think they may be back on Asgard. Unsure of their return we will work the only other angle we have. We have to find Dr. Banner."
My stomach dropped instantly, that was why I forced back here. They knew where he was, and they wanted me to go get him. Tony looked into my eyes; he looked like he wanted to protect me from whatever Fury was going to say next, but knew that we really had no other choice.
"Agent Barton has a lock on his location, Elizabeth. Your plane leaves in thirty, we have already packed a bag with all the supplies you will need. Good luck." That was my queue to leave, but I left like I had been cemented to my chair.
"Now see you, Director, you can't just send her out on mission two hours after her return," Steve started taking a stand for me. "She isn't ready, she hasn't trained, and she can't just go out on mission again like nothing ever happened."
"This is my call Rogers, so you can sit your ass down. Do you think he would come back with just a promise of her return or an actual sighting of her?"
"He could go green at the sight of her," Tony suggested meeting Fury's cold gaze.
"He could go green at the sight of any of you, but she has calmed the big guy before, no one else has done that."
"That doesn't mean we should just throw her out there alone!" Steve protested actually standing up, making a slight move towards Fury.
"She isn't going out alone," Barton answered him putting his hand on my shoulder. I hadn't even noticed he had gotten up. "We have to leave now or we will be behind schedule."
I stood giving a smile of thanks to both of my protectors in the room, while giving a curt nod to Fury. I couldn't met the gazes of the other women who would gladly do anything to get there men back even after what I had put mine through. I wasn't ready, I wasn't old enough, and I wasn't prepared to fix what I had broken. Clint sped out the room with me on his heels; we zoomed through the hallways up to the top of the building not speaking a word. As soon as the jet was in the air I was ready to start a conversation, but Clint was way ahead of me.
"We will be landing in about eighteen hours, but we have to make a stop in Dubai, to fuel before we officially land in Hyderabad. Banner has been living in the slums for the past week, helping people and all that jazz. We don't have a real lock on his location just a general idea on where he has been. If he moved on we can always try again."
"I'm guessing that we have other clothes for me than just this," I indicated my tight fitting black skinny jeans and royal blue tank top.
"Yes, we have clothes for you to blend in with, along with a professorial team to fix your hair, once were on the ground." He smirked putting his sunglasses over his eyes, leaning back into his chair. The jet we were on was one of SHEILDS many private ones. It was spacious almost like the ones you saw on criminal minds, but bigger. The main compartment that held Clint and I was the only the front part of the plane, while behind us I was sure was a full kitchen and at least ten more personal.
"I like my hair," I pouted letting the chest length locks slip through my fingers. It was a light brown now with blonde highlights, but if I was truly going to go back with the Avengers I needed to fit that role once more. I leaned back in my own chair, closing my eyes, hoping; praying that Bruce would be harder to find then Clint made it out to be.