A/N: I realize that the story is unfolding slowly; my beta (bless her tattooed heart) says that I am over-thinking things. In the meantime, I do enjoy reading other fics, and there is a nod in the middle of this chapter to a personal favorite: I-Am-Sirius-LOCKED's story "Coffee Run". If you haven't read it, please do; it is marvelous. Since I don't have permission to write her OC, she cannot actually appear (waves at IASL).
Hawaiian Translations: "keiki" means "child", "kamali'i" is "children", "wahini" means "woman", "kane" means "man", "haole" (here) means "white boy", something Agents get called when they act like "lolo" (idiots).
Please feed the plot bunny! On with the show!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Kilauea Visitor Center, Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii…
"Sorry, folks: the summit is off limits to tourists. Local scientists or university personnel only," the park ranger explained. "Take all the photos you want, but this is as close as you get. It isn't just the lava you have to watch out for: the SO2 gas is deadly, too."
The view was spectacular: a rooster-tail made of fire arched out of the cone ahead of them, while new black-top etched its flaming way down the other side toward the ocean. Crowds-and the SHIELD team-excitedly snapped pictures as the earth rumbled beneath them.
"I have our university passes in the back of the van," Coulson lied smoothly. "Didn't think to grab them. I'll be right back."
Coulson left the Information kiosk and grabbed May by the sleeve. He started to murmur something to the agent, when someone grabbed his sleeve: Skye.
"AC," she murmured, "please don't lie to Pele or her staff."
"Skye, let me handle this. It isn't my first rodeo."
"Phil…"
"Just a minute, Audrey…"
"Do you trust your agent?" May pressed, giving Coulson a hard look.
"Of course, May, but…"
"Then you need to listen to me right now," Sky insisted in low tones. "Lying is a bad idea here."
"Phil…"
"Just a second, Aud. Skye, I've done this sort of thing before…"
"No, you haven't. Not with the Lady of the Mountain! AC…"
"Skye," Ward said sternly, "let the professionals take care of this, ok?"
Skye whipped a look onto Ward that made him step back.
"Ward," Fitz shook his head. "I was goin' ta warn ya to not make an ass outa yourself, but ya spoke too fast."
"PHIL! WHERE IS STEVIE?!"
Audrey stood by one of the volcano displays, a child-safe interactive diorama, holding a desperately wiggling Bruce. Baby Steven was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, gods no," Phil muttered. "He has to be around here somewhere. Look around, everyone, will you?"
Phillip Coulson cast around, desperately looking for his son, as the team scattered to assist. Audrey ran to the Ranger Station with Bruce, who wailed out of frustration that he could not play. An Amber Alert was issued, and mountain-trained rangers hustled out of the breakroom…
One of them, a huge man that looked half-Polynesian and half-black, accidently bowled over Skye as he rounded a corner. They fell together in an awkward pile of rock-hard abs, nubile legs, and long black hair. The ranger grunted an apology and offered Skye his hand.
"Sorry, wahini! Didn't see you. Do you need a medic? I can't stay long, we've a lost keiki on the mountain, and…"
"Amber Alert, I know," Skye gasped. "I'm with the family." She glanced up at the brown behemoth's nametag…
Kalo Opelu
"No way! Kalo?!"
Skye had never met the Hulk. She wondered if he could be bigger than this man-shaped chunk of rock.
"Last I looked, wahini. Let's find the child, and then you can complain to my boss, ok?" He started to turn away.
His voice was gravelly, but familiar. Skye felt like a fool, but she had to know…
"I'll settle for Milk Duds out of the vending machine, ok?"
Black hair whipped around chiseled features, and his eyes opened wide.
"Mary Sue?" He grabbed her off her feet in a crushing embrace. "Here? How?"
"OOF! It's 'Skye' now, Kalo. Find the boy, and we'll catch up later. Ok?"
"Right. How old?"
"One and a half. His name's Stevie. He's so small..."
"We won't lose him, not on my watch!" A solid, calloused hand clapped her on the back, and they separated, calling for Stevie.
He wasn't anywhere: not under the tables, nor in the restrooms, nor at the snack bar. The place was gradually emptying of people: students, families with small children, oldsters. The mountain belched fire and rumbled on, impassive to the human drama. An odd seagull picked up scraps of food, but there was no 18-month-old boy in blue-jeans. Cars were searched: trailers checked, coolers opened, trunks inspected. Scientific teams further up the mountain were contacted by radio: nothing. Bushes were trampled through. The long grass was searched.
An hour went by.
Audrey Coulson was forced to sit, inconsolable, in the Visitor's Center with little Bruce. Kilauea shivered. Ice-cold hands wrapped around Phil Coulson's heart, and its beat seemed to be notmysonnotmysonnotmysonnotmyson…
"STEVIE!"
Skye found him, bawling on a dirt path through yellow-flowered bushes. A scruffy red-brown dog sat on him licking his face. A broken flower lay next to the boy, where he had torn it from the plant and dropped it when Fluffy had tackled him. Sky tried to scoop them both up, her eyes misting as she fumbled and sat on the flower.
"Stevie! No wandering off!" she scolded, pulling him into her lap. She sniffled and scooped up Fluffy, too, laughing a little as the scruffy animal started licking tears from her nose. She reached for her cell phone…
"PITYFAURMAMA!" Stevie wailed, and smacked Skye in the face. "SKAASH!"
"OW! STEVIE!"
"BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!" said Fluffy.
"Don't be too hard on him, dear. He wanted a pretty flower for his mama," said a gentle voice, "and now you've sat on it. He's only a baby."
Skye looked up through eyes that still stung. "Thanks, Grandmother," she sniffled, wrestling the toddler away from her face. "And thank you, Fluffy, for finding this naughty boy," she ruffled the little dog's fur, and got her face licked again.
The old woman chuckled. "Oh, he'll do anything for a burger and fries. Here, let me give you a hand."
The oldster held a brown, wrinkled hand out to Skye, and to the young woman's surprise hauled her upright with ease. The soft-looking flesh felt hard-like stone-but very warm. Skye's eyes widened.
"Let me see our truant, will you?" The oldster held her hands out for little Stevie, who still sniveled in Skye's arms. Skye passed him over, and then called her boss, who hustled around the bend in the path a moment later. Skye waved at the tot's dad, who radioed the rest of the team as he joined them.
"Skye!" Phillip Coulson called. "Stevie…"
The old woman's head cocked to one side, as did Fluffy's, and their eyes suddenly glowed black. "Steven Roger Coulson," the oldster said sternly, "kolohe…that was naughty."
The child hiccupped. "Srry gamma!" he cried, and threw his arms around the oldster's neck.
She patted him firmly on the buttocks. "Shhhh. I know. Now, when you visit gramma's house, you stay with Mommy. Understand? And say 'sorry' to Skye. Hitting is kolohe, too."
Stevie's bottom lip curled out. "Srry Kye," the toddler sniffled.
The Coulsons reached them a moment later.
"Thank you so much!" Audrey gushed. Oblivious to the old woman's change, she threw her arms around her. "I don't know what I would have done," she wailed.
"There, there, dear. I lost a child myself, once. I wouldn't wish that on another mother," the oldster said, patting the overworked woman on the shoulder. "Don't be too hard on the lad. He wanted to pick you a pretty flower."
"Can I at least buy you dinner?"
"That would be lovely. The Observatory has a wonderful restaurant, and the Planetarium some magnificent displays. If you don't mind, dear, I'd like to have a word with your husband."
"Of course, Grandmother," Audrey gave a relieved smile through her tears.
"Oh, and Steven needs changed. Believe me, dear, I know sulfur when I smell it!"
Audrey grabbed both boys firmly by a hand and took them to the Visitor's Center. The oldster glared at Ward, who flinched. May, who had kept her distance, nodded respectfully to the old woman, grabbed Fritz and Ward, and hauled them off.
"Ma'am," Agent Coulson choked, "I can't thank you enough. You, too, Skye. I…"
"We're just getting started, haole," the oldster said sharply, grabbing Agent Coulson by one ear. Coulson gasped and bent over sideways. "Your son has a good heart, Phillip," the old woman said. Her eyes shone like polished obsidian, as did-suddenly-her hair. Her wrinkles disappeared, and the dress she wore took on the colors of flowing yellow-red lava. "He is entirely without guile: a lifestyle you should emulate, young man," she finished sternly. "Did Skye not warn you against lying to my staff? Yet you set out to deceive me and my family. Such behavior does not get a warm welcome here. For your sons' sakes, I have mercy on thee! For our home's sake, I have mercy on thee!"
"Yes, ma'am! Thank you, ma'am!" Agent Coulson croaked, his eyes wide. "Skye?"
"A/C: Her Highness Pele, Lady of the Mountain, Keeper of the Flame. Lady Pele, this is my boss: Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD," Skye suddenly remembered her manners, and bowed.
"It is good to see you again, child. You have been away far too long. You say this bad kane is your boss?"
Skye shrugged. "He tries to do good most of the time. And he gave me a chance to make something of myself, other than a hacker and a thief. We're trying to save the world now, too."
"A noble undertaking." Pele smiled warmly and patted Skye's cheek. "My son has missed you."
"He has?" Sky asked faintly.
"Most certainly," Lady Pele answered. She released Coulson's ear, and the agent dropped to his knees. Fluffy glared at him. "Mixed children always gravitate to each other, and you both have mixed blood. Three centuries have I called him Opelu-nui-kauhaalilo. You know him as Kalo Opelu."
Skye sat down hard again, in shock.
The mountain shivered a little as Pele rolled her eyes. "Kamali'i these days. Honestly child, get out of the mud! Dinner will not wait forever!"
Pele set a good pace back towards the Visitor center, shifting back to her 'old woman' disguise as she walked, Fluffy beside her. Coulson rubbed his pinched ear and helped Skye up.
"Skye?"
"Yeah, AC?"
"You told me so."
"Uh-huh."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The Hub: Western Europe
"What's the matter, pretty girl?"
Simmons scowled into her computer.
"This doesn't make sense," she fretted. "None of this makes sense!"
"What doesn't make sense?"
"Skye's bloodwork. It doesn't make sense!"
"Why not?"
Simmons sat back in her lab chair and chewed on an apron end. How to explain this to a non-scientist? She scowled at the computer screen again, trying to make it tell her something…anything…different.
"When we gave Skye the GH325 serum…she was dying," she began.
Tripp nodded. "Gutshot. I heard about it from Garrett."
"So, I injected her with this…thing…and she seized up. She thrashed on the table and then coded on me."
"Coded?"
"Her heart stopped. I hit her with the paddles twice." Simmons sniffled at the memory. "She came back right away…her heart started, and the bleeding stopped. She pinked out…"
"That's great! She's alive!"
"But I can't figure out how!" Jemma wailed. "Something changed somewhere, but I can't figure out what! Her integumentary system is off the charts. She heals four times faster than a regular human now…"
"How the hell did you test that?" Tripp flushed, angry.
"Draw site analysis," she snapped. "That, and the fact that she was itching to get out of bed days after being shot. She should have been bedridden a month!"
"So this serum is like the juice Captain America took?"
Simmons waved a hand. "No, no, no. Dr. Erkstein's formula was a construct, made from Earth materials and boosted by a specific radiation wavelength. GH325 was made of…" she gulped "alien bodily fluids."
"You shoved ET blood into your hacker?"
Simmons nodded.
"ET phone home?"
"Blown up," she choked.
"And you can't find any difference between Skye blood before and after ET."
"Exactly!"
Tripp walked over to the doorway and turned off the lights.
"Tripp!"
"Don't move," he cautioned. "Give your eyes a moment. Now, what changed in the room?"
"Nothing, of course! I…oh."
"Exactly. The furnishings didn't change, I just switched the lights off."
"I've been looking for a fundamental change in her DNA structure, when I should have looked at how the serum interacted with her natural regenerative ability. The serum didn't re-write her genetic code so much as act like a steroid, enhancing her ability to heal! Tripp, you're a genius!" Simmons babbled excitedly. "If I can isolate and copy that GHB325 factor, do you have any idea what this could do to modern medicine!'
"Hush."
"No, I'm serious! This could revolutionize the entire healing industry! I know what I need to do now…could you turn the lights back on please?"
"No," Tripp whispered. "Shut the computer screen off…now."
"Tripp, what is it? I don't have time for mmmmffff!"
Tripp's hand gently muffled her speech. He had made his way unerringly through the room, clicked off the computer monitor, clapped his hand over her mouth, and dragged her under a desk.
"shhhhhhh!" Tripp tugged gently at her ear. Listen. Her eyes widened, and she nodded in the dark room against his hand.
Voices from the corridor."…you sure this is the right lab?"
"Yeah. Look, it even has their pass-code on the lock. They were here."
"Nobody there now. Maybe they went to the commissary. What did Hand want them for, anyway?"
"Coulson's gone rogue. We gotta isolate everybody on his team…see if they're a threat."
"You're shittin' me…Coulson? He practically wrote the Boy Scout Handbook…"
Their voices drifted away with them. Tripp snorted.
"We gotta get out of the Hub," he murmured. "Pack."
Simmons nodded mutely. Her heart felt like it would pound out of her chest. "Stay with me," she begged.
"Always, fair lady."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Avengers Tower, New York, NY
The treaty was drafted, and after scrutiny, deemed ready to deliver. Pepper contacted the UN Secretary-General and made an appointment for Thor and Loki to address the assembly, but there was no sign of the blue prince. Bruce, Tony, and Happy had gone over the preparations for Happy's mission, much to Bruce's displeasure. He had become snappish.
"You're grouchy today," Tony said to Bruce. "You forget your afternoon java or something?"
"Or something," the scientist muttered. He shrugged. "I don't like this idea of killing Mr. Hogun, and I'm worried about Mouse. It's been three days, and…"
"Agent has her. Loki is helping with whatever got shoved into her head. We've talked about this. Nobody's forcing Happy to do anything, and the kid's being taken care of. What are you worried about?"
Banner gave Stark a look. "The first two sentences, nerd!"
"Agent's a good guy; he saved Pepper's life. Thor said Loki's cuffs keep him from doing any bad mojo…"
"Seriously, Tony?! Since when do any of us need 'mojo' to kill somebody?" Bruce snapped. "Did you see Fury's face when she started spouting in tongues?"
"Yeah, but…"
"'But' nothing. I get the same look from Ross. We're nothing but lab specimens: things to take apart and see how they run. If she's with Agent Coulson, then she's in SHIELD custody, and Fury's property. If she's with Loki, she could end up off-planet, where they really think humans are vermin. I talked to Thor about it."
"You're freaking out, buddy." Stark grabbed Banner's leftover coffee and swigged it, then made a face. "Ugh, this crap isn't helping. Since when did you switch to decaf?"
Banner scowled. "I didn't. This was in the pot your secretary made."
"I don't like you caffeine-deprived. JARVIS, where is the nearest pot of real coffee?"
"French roast or Arabica blend, sir?"
"Anything that has real caffeine in it."
"Barring individual Kuerigs, and with the disabling of Stark Towers' Starbucks, due to a computer malfunction, your best source of java is a privately-owned coffee shop one block to the north. I understand they deliver. Shall I call in an order?"
"Seems like a good idea, J."
"A good cup of coffee isn't going to make me feel better about this, Tony."
Tony raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"Happy chewed my ass already, Bruce. You wanna step outside, get anything out of your system?"
"I dunno, Tony. You gotta suit for that?"
Bruce's eyes were starting to glow green. Tony put on his best 'worried friend' face.
"Not yet," he admitted calmly. "Do you think I should make one?"
"Might be a good idea," Bruce said, calming a little. "In case you ever have to get me out of town."
"Boyz, can tha two of yaz not fight? Cuz it puts a damper on my going-away party," Happy interrupted. "Besides, there's a lady present."
"Who thinks that we all need to take a break and get something to eat," Pepper chimed in. "What happened to our coffee supply? I thought Chef Paul kept the upper floors stocked."
"And why didn't he say sompin'?" Happy groused. "Coffee is serious stuff, here, compared to planetary security."
"I bet Thor happened," Tony deadpanned, "Thor and his super-friends. Goldilocks can put down a 12-cup pot like it's a single mug."
"You would not be the first to lay such blame, friend," Thor rumbled. "Truly, we could lay waste to all of your victuals within a few hours."
"Keeping the lot of you fed must be a full-time job back home," Pepper cracked. "JARVIS, was the coffee shortfall logged by kitchen staff?"
"The royal kitchens ne'er close." Thor took a long drink from his tankard of whatever-it-was. "Sir Volstagg's lady-wyfe does a fair job, as well, keeping him and their bairns comfortable. My parents were sad when she left our employ."
"Volstagg ran off with your head cook?" Happy asked.
"Chef Paul indeed logged the shortfall, and tried to inform First Chair, but was cut off," JARVIS informed her.
"Why didn't you say something?" Pepper asked the AI, horrified at the secretary's blunder.
"I attempted to intervene when trouble arose with the phone system, and was told to-and I quote- "scram" so Miss Malick could do her job."
Tony groaned. "JARVIS, please note that coffee is to be considered a staple from now on."
"Before or after sliced bread, sir?"
"Before!" said Tony, Bruce, Happy, and Pepper.
Thor shook his head. "Nay, they eloped not, but were hand-fasted by Father himself. I miss her terribly! How do you think I got this big?" Thor laughed good naturedly. "Do not let his appetite fool you. He is a sensible man. He found a match for his temper and his tastes. You, friends," Thor motioned with his goblet, "should do the same."
Loki materialized at Thor's side, startling the group.
"This coming from the man who abandoned the throne of Asgard for a mortal girl! Beware, lest your hypocrisy be your undoing," he deadpanned.
Five heads swiveled to stare at the newcomer, now a head taller than Thor and just as thick.
"Father's beard, Loki! What have you been eating?" Thor exclaimed.
"And where is Miss Sauer?" Pepper demanded.
"Please tell me you didn't eat her," Tony cracked, then scowled at the thought. "Although if you did she might loosen up a little…nah…"
"Stark, can you be more abominable?" Loki looked pained.
"Is that a personal challenge? 'Cause I totally can." Tony nodded.
"Really not helping here, Tony." Bruce chided.
Loki sniffed dismissively at Stark. "You speak thus of your ladies-in-waiting, and I am considered a villain?" He shook his head and turned to Pepper. "Your young friend is on the lift as we speak, with your other servant, Charity Able."
"What?" Pepper said, alarmed.
"Aye, she was injured on your doorstep. Miss Able assisted us in your healing halls, and accompanies her now on the lift." Loki looked from one alarmed face to another. "What has happened?"
Pepper muttered a word that made Tony cough, and left the room at a run, screaming for Fandral.
"How does she do that in those heels?" Happy mused.
Loki looked from one face to another, puzzled. "What did I miss?"
Bruce Banner stepped away from Tony, his eyes misting over with green.
"What do you mean, 'injured'?" he demanded, his voice dropping a few octaves.
TBC