"Aro," Commander Coulson turned to the Asgardian, "would you mind briefing the team on the full extent of the situation?"
The demi-god stepped forward from the wall he'd been leaning on, and placed his left hand on the pommel of his sword,
"My uncle, the traitor Loki, escaped from his prison on Asgard one Midgardian month ago. My father had, from the start, suspected the Enchantress' involvement in it. She had always loved my father, and since his marrying my mother, a Midgardian, it was not beyond believing that she was the one to help Loki to escape to spite him. My father, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three pursued Loki and the Enchantress, but to no avail. At my mother's bequest, I came here, to Midgard, on the chance that they had fled here to hide."
Aro's grip on his sword tightened then, and his tone became resentful,
"I was here, when my family needed me. Heimdall called me to Asgard, but when I returned, everyone had been petrified by the Enchantress' dark magic. I was barely able to escape back to Midgard."
Aro then became silent, and stared bitterly at the ground. When it became apparent that he would not continue, Commander Coulson finished,
"We put the rest of the pieces together ourselves. With no way to stop him from the Asgardian front, we knew we needed a way to defend ourselves."
"And here we are." Terra chimed in, grinning, "The New Avengers."
"Couldn't we have come up with a better name?" Randall added sarcastically, "Why not, 'Team America' or 'Team Earth'?"
"We're not a cheerleading squad, and this is not up for debate." Coulson cut him off curtly.
Commander Coulson turned to Terra,
"Miss Stark, you know this heli-carrier better than its engineers do. Care to show your teammates to their quarters?"
"Yes ma'am. But first," she pulled a stack of what seemed to be credit cards from her back pocket.
"Credit cards?" Randall said, raising one eyebrow, "so this is a cheerleading squad."
"Denning do I have to put a shock collar on you?" Coulson said exasperated.
"These are your New Avengers contact cards." Terra said handing them out to their individual owners. "They'll grant you access to any Avengers-cleared room on the heli-carrier, as well as Stark Tower in New York. They also serve as communicators; we can contact each other from virtually anywhere on the planet."
Erick examined his contact card. It looked and felt just like a flimsy, plastic credit card, but he knew it contained millions of dollars' worth of technology within. The card displayed his name and an image of himself that he didn't recall releasing to S.H.I.E.L.D. or Stark Industries to use.
"These are amazing." He said turning the card over.
"Truly a marvel of your Midgardian technology." Aro said observing his card as a caveman would observe a diamond.
"My father's idea." Terra said with a grin, "He'd intended to use them for the original team, but by the time he'd developed the prototype, the original team had disbanded."
Terra Stark then walked over to the door of the conference room,
"Now if you'll follow me."
The group all filed out the door, Maria leaving them to take command of the bridge. Renee snapped a salute to her commanding officer, and then followed the group down the stairs.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier was indeed enormous, Renee was all but used to it, and had memorized all of the important corridors and locations of the ship, Erick and Aro were continually amazed by the complexity of the craft, Randall was continually amazed by the sway of Terra's lower half. The New Avengers' quarters were located in their own wing on the fourth, and highest floor of the heli-carrier. The wing was equipped with five rooms and a small lounge with a kitchenette. Terra showed the three men their rooms, and Renee where her things had been relocated.
"If it's all the same to you ma'am," Renee said upon hearing this, "I'd rather stay in the barracks with my squad."
"Of course Captain," Tara said politely, "but you're always welcome to this room or any room in the Avengers wing."
"Thank you ma'am."
"Is that offer open to anyone?" Randall sidled up to Terra, and grinned down at her with a hungry look.
Terra gave him a look that seemed to have been stolen from her father's face,
"Please," she said sarcastically.
She turned to the three other Avengers and said,
"You'll find another packet on your desks in your room. They have information on yourselves and your fellow team members."
Randall became defensive, "What kind of information?"
"Nothing personal, just the things your fellow team members are going to need to know about you."
"I'm sure." Randall said skeptically.
Terra ignored him, and went to exit the Avengers Wing,
"Read up and rest up guys, group training starts at 1900 hours."
The automatic door slid shut behind her with a hiss, leaving the four remaining Avengers staring at each other. Renee took it all in stride, and went to go collect her things to re-relocate to the barracks on the second floor of the heli-carrier. She never felt truly secure unless she was with her squad.
Erick couldn't help but laugh inwardly as he watched Randall try not to count on his fingers the time that Terra had designated for group training. Aro, presumably, had little knowledge of Earth-time, and headed carelessly to his designated room.
"She meant seven o'clock." Erick said walking past Randall into his room.