Chapter 4: Agents and Heroes

Another case was being closed for the B.A.U. team. In this case, it was a delusional man in Hell's Kitchen with multiple personalities who was unhealthily obsessed with Greek Mythology, and interpreted many people as the monsters from said mythos. One side was the killer, the other was a man who was just obsessed. It was a messy case, and the team was grateful it was over.

"Ready to head back home, Trouble?"

"Can it, Morgan! I'm not that bad!"

"Well, you did stab the UnSub right in the chest, Astrid!"

"You can't blame me, Emily! He was pinning me down and threatening me by pressing a diamond-edged carbon fiber blade to my neck!" Astrid snapped. Though most of the team laughed, a strange beeping sound was soon heard. The team exchanged glances, and then it hit Astrid. She pulled out her wallet, and there was the source.

Her Avengers membership card was going off.

She rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, Hotch. Gotta go. I'm needed to save the world from God-knows-what this time." Astrid joked, glancing up at her boss.

"Just come back alive. This team still needs you." Hotch insisted.

"Not to mention that incurring the wrath of the Royal Family of Asgard probably isn't the best idea!" Emily added. Astrid smirked.

"I'll be back soon enough. Probably a bruise or two, but that's small stuff. Later!" She assured, running towards a window, and leaping out of it. She unsheathed her sword as she began to freefall.

"Blade of Thunder, resound! Fury of Lightning, strike! Awaken your true power, my blessed blade, Sieglinde!"

The old Norse rune chant caused a small series of runes engraved on the sword to glow, and in an instant, Astrid was shifted from her civilian clothes to her beautiful Asgardian armor. She surged through the sky, shooting upwards before getting high enough for a decent flight. She pulled out her card, and answered it.

"Well, takes you long enough to answer the call, Thunder Princess!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Well, you're going to have to forgive me, Tony, if I can't be at your beck and call every second of the damn day because, unlike you, I'm actually doing something good with my life! I literally just wrapped up a case with my team!" She snapped.

"Oh for God's sake-thank you! Sorry about that, Special Agent Foster. Tony's… well…"

"A hopeless drunken idiot with a lot of money and a suit of armor? I've known that for a while, Natasha. And please, just call me Astrid. We're friends, you know." Astrid joked. Natasha chuckled a bit.

"Well, how fast can you get here?" She asked.

"Lucky for you guys, the case was in New York. I'm on my way to the Tower as we speak. Should be there in a half, probably, depending on air traffic." Astrid replied.

"See you soon. Black Widow out."

Natasha ended the communication. Astrid quickly put away her card, and willed a powerful wind to come behind her and boost her speed. She soon arrived at Avengers Tower, landing on Stark's pedestal and rolling rather dramatically in. The winds and everything else died down, and the Special Agent sheathed her sword. She barely was inside before she was suddenly trapped in a crushing hug.

"Astrid, my beloved daughter! It is very good to see you faring so very well!"

"Good to see you too, Dad! Good to see you too..." She laughed, returning the hug and patting her father on the back.

"You know, Thor, you don't have to practically crush your daughter every time we call her to the Tower." Natasha pointed out.

"But she is not crushed, and she is my daughter! I love her, as she is my blood and my heir!" Thor said, turning around.

"Yea, Dad, but you have to remember that being an Avenger isn't the only thing I do. I have to be able to function outside of this, you know!" Astrid said, internally sweatdropping. It was then that Thor finally released her. Nonetheless, the two smiled at each other. Steve cleared his throat, breaking the awkward moment.

"Okay, back to the original reason I called for everyone. Please, everyone, have a seat." Steve said. Everyone turned to face him, sitting in their respective seats in the Avengers meeting room.

"I called everyone here for two reasons. One is that we have two new members joining us today." He began.

"New comrades are always a pleasure! I cannot wait to meet them!" Thor beamed. Steve chuckled a bit.

"Okay… so, where are they?"

"We're right here, Wasp."

Everyone's heads turned sharply to the right. Two girls were standing there, clearly in superhero costumes… and almost instantly, most of the Avengers were confused.

"Hold up. Our new members are teenagers?" Wasp asked incredulously.

"Not just any teenagers! They're the protegés of Tasha and I!"

"Agent Romanoff took on a protegé? Is the apocalypse gonna come today?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Shut your mouth, Stark. They're just as capable in combat as Clint and I." Natasha snapped.

"Well, go ahead and introduce yourselves!" Wasp invited.

"Thanks. I'm Recurve, and this is my longtime best friend/adoptive sister, Black Shadow. You can probably take a guess who's working with who." Recurve introduced, motioning first to herself and then to Black Shadow.

"So… what can you two do?"

"Recurve is a skilled archer, and uses trick arrows. She constantly trains under Hawkeye. I am highly trained in various forms of combat, and I know how to use various spycraft. I train under Black Widow." Black Shadow summarized.

"They learn fast, I'll say. Not even two months in, and I was already teaching her how to use spycraft." Natasha added.

"That's cool! Right, Hank?" Wasp exclaimed, nudging Ant-Man.

"Uh, yea."

"We already know the rest of the team to a good degree, so let's focus on the mission." Black Shadow said, sitting down with her friend. On the other side was her mentor, making a protegé-mentor sandwich-thing that was just a bit awkward. Shrugging it off, Steve brought up the hologram with the mission. Already, Wasp, Recurve, and Lady Thunder were glaring at it incredulously.

"Wait-that's our mission? A glowing blue cube?" Wasp asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't need a profiler's help to track down a god damn blue cube!" Lady Thunder added, sitting back and folding her arms.

"I'm with Wasp and Lady Thunder. I mean, come on! What's the worst it's gonna do-spook a three-year-old?" Recurve asked further.

"No. The worst it could do is freeze over the entire realm of Midgard!" Thor growled. The three girls stared at Thor.

"What the actual hell?! How can it do that?! It's a glowing cube, for God's sake!" Lady Thunder demanded.

"It is not just a 'glowing cube', as you called it. It is the Casket of Ancient Winters. It was originally safehoused in Odin's Treasury…" Thor trailed.

"...But, somehow, it got stolen, and now, it's our problem. Great." Recurve droned.

"Precisely. This thing could mean trouble in all sorts of ways. According to what Thor's told us about it, not only is it super-powerful, but two whole other realms are threatening to declare war on Asgard and Midgard if we don't find the stupid thing and get it back!" Hawkeye pointed out, waving his hand. Astrid shifted back, rolled her eyes, and moaned.

"Well, Goddamnit. This mission just went from 'come-home-with-a-few-bruises-maybe' to 'work-your-ass-off-or-else-all-creation-is-screwed'!" She droned to no one.

"So much for lettin' the good times roll…" Recurve added.