Chapter 2. Familiar faces.
"Of course it's your damn room that's messing with my work!"
Startled Clint looked up from prodding at his newly issued set of arrows Fury presented him with and swiveled his head back and forth before looking up at his air vent- should've known, he sighed rolling his eyes. Dark brown eyes peered down at him through the shutters of the vent-where he effectively nestled his bed ("nest" they all say) at to get all the cool air he could get. So maybe he sticks his covers over the vents to cool them down to take a power nap between shifts- who doesn't?
"Move along, Bree" Clint stated going back to his scrutinizing, flicking the tip of an arrowhead, twitching when it opened up to reveal a small vile of liquid.
"It's Ellie to you, Ellie" the brown eyes narrowed at him before she banged her screw driver against the vent, "and push your bundle of coverlets away from my workspace, alrighty? I smell you all the way down the engine room- nasty, do you shower? Or just fluff your feathers?"
"Goodbye, Bree" Clint pushed on, squinting at the vile as he brought it up to his face before shaking it around, "and maybe it's those damn rats you're smelling, just dump them, please"
"The only rats onboard are you and those giant splinters" Ellie grumbled backing up along the air ducts, briefly checking the chemical reactors stationed at every edge before moving down the rounding right corner, back to the engine room to check on her fellow crewmembers before heading off to her own personal duties. Just as she rounded another corner there was an audible click above her before cold air blasted down and in front of her, making her highlighted fire truck red hair curl around her face in a chokehold.
"Why? Why? Why?" she groaned sputtering out strands, shaking her head and continuing on her way, briefly glancing through vents at the empty quarters that they led to. They were to be occupied soon due to the new tear in the sky, seemingly a permanent one this time, having stayed for longer than two days. It was making her anxious, after years –years- in this strange place she would be going home.
Finding the bright yellow of her personal vent leading to her station right next to the left engine, Ellie easily slipped through the swinging panel, huffing when her back landed on her large beanie bag before making her way over to the stairs leading to the navigating room.
"Find anything yet?" she called over to the slouched leathered figure at the head of the assembly table who seemed to be having a pleasant conversation with the person on the other line- the screaming being the first clue.
Nick Fury glanced up at the red and yellow haired repair girl- narrowing his eyes at her lack of uniform being leveling the screaming device in front of him, pressing the speaker button, watching her facial expression.
"-know what I saw, who else wears those repulsive colors except our spangly monkey boy? And last I checked he couldn't fly! Hear me? Freaking spandex man flew by and-"
At that Fury ended the call, stuffing it in his pocket just as it started to buzz again. Raising an eyebrow at the female in front of him, he waited.
"Director?" Ellie asked, heart pounding in her chest in anticipation- he wouldn't have let her hear that and not let her assume the worst-or best- without a reason that involved herself. Her red and yellow sneakers shifted restlessly, waiting for a reply.
"Why didn't he try to go back, Miss Pennyworth?" Fury asked her leaning back in her chair, crossing his arms. At her blank, anxious expression, he continued, "if we're talking about the same person, he must have known his ride back home is stationed right above us, now why would he be all the way over in New York?"
She didn't want to jump too far ahead of herself, but the first thing that almost poured out of her mouth was that Bruce had found a way to stabilize the prototype enough to send someone out here to look for her, to bring her back. Just what if it was another accident like the ones appearing off and on in this place? It happened in S.H.E.I.L.D's history not too long ago, but that was purposefully opened, these were sporadic . Had someone else made the same mistake as her? Wasn't even looking for her?
So then why haven't they tried going back-
"You can't take me back through, can you?" Ellie sighed dejectedly, ringing her hands once more in frustration.
"We need communication through the other side- the right side" rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "we already sent Thor to inspect it, but he verified it just leads to one of the distant realms leading to his home. I believe if we can communicate and keep that connection going through to the place we want it to go, a rift will open up to the place you two came from"
"Sir?" she pressed on, clenching her fingers together.
"Why don't you give a little warm welcoming to our lost friend, think he'd recognize you?"
Briefly touching her wild hair, Ellie's lips twitched and she nodded her head vigorously, "oh, yes, Director, I'm sure he will"
"Then let's give you a ride for pickup"
~BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK~
"What's taking them so long? It isn't like I didn't see a living reenactment of The Flying Superman right outside my company window! What'd they do, stop to buy him greeting cards?"
"I still don't understand why you didn't go after him, it isn't you not to" Bruce Banner murmured taking a sip of his tea as he continued watching the famous Iron Man throw darts at the wall as he continued his monologue.
"Not happening with a hangover, Brucie" Tony stated swinging his arm back before releasing the last dart, pursing his lips when it smashed into the bulls-eye but didn't stick, "besides, why can't the man fly around? I do it all the time"
"All of the world knows who you are" Bruce pointed out leaning back against the counter of the small bar.
"Oh, I think all of the world knows who he is" he mumbled glancing at his phone, "and who has the decency to hang up on me? And why aren't the men in black here yet? Whenever I blow up something it's like they appear around the corner right after it happens, but seeing a man in a cape flying around leisurely, they decide to make pit stops!"
"Maybe they already have him?" Bruce offered off handedly.
"As if they're that good" scoffed the billionaire waving a hand across a sensor to receive a fresh new board through a rotating wall and was bending over to grab new darts before a new voice joined in.
"Sir, it appears that you have company" JARVIS informed as both men looked up, "and-"
"Jarvis?" Tony called out, his eyebrows raising at the sudden silence before swinging around at a door being thrown open with a skidding woman stumbling through it. "Security breach" he duly informed the obvious while Bruce adjusted his glasses to view the new presence.
"Finally, the right room" Ellie announced regaining her composure after running through the whole tower just to find one man, geez, who had that many lounge rooms anyway? It felt like every other room she barged in on had a minibar and a ginormous flat screen.
"How'd you get in?" who she hoped was the infamous Tony Stark asked sizing her up. She only briefly looked over the Avengers Initiative briefly when she first arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, but since she didn't want to get too attached, information flew over her head, only facial recognition from photos helped her search as of now.
"Uh, this" she held up a transparent card that had the Stark logo on it, printed neatly in bold letters was the culprit's name, "courtesy of yourself, I'm told, in case of emergencies, yes?"
"I thought emergencies arrived here faster, response teams are supposed to respond, not delay" Tony snarked with a twitch of his lips, "you're late".
"Fashionably" Ellie added, throwing the card at him before rocking back on her heels, "so, where's the guest?"
"They only sent you?" Bruce spoke up, surprised, though he knew he shouldn't be, appearances are usually deceiving, but, wouldn't S.H.I.E.L.D. send a more trademark agent in, or a small team in. Considering who Tony claimed to see, after all.
"Yeah" she frowned a bit, squinting at the doctor, trying to remember if she read his file, "hey, what's your favorite color?".
Caught off guard, Bruce sputtered out, "y-yellow"
"Hu" Ellie uttered still trying to place him, "mine's green". With a sudden snap of her fingers, she realized she answered her own inquiries, "oh, I got yeah"
"What're you supposed to do? Flag him down with your hazardous hair?" Tony pushed, mentally going through all the files he recently looked at through S.H.I.E.L.D's database.
"Something like that" she shrugged, catching on they didn't have him, "how long ago did he fly by?"
"An hour" Bruce supplied seeing as Tony was pondering on something.
"Mind if I bunk until morning? Jet legged from the sudden transport and I don't think I'll be in the right mind flagging that man down like this" she gestured to her jean skirt that had black leggings down to her calves, a red and yellow hoodie complimenting her hair and shoes.
"Oh, ho, ho" Tony mimicked Ellie by snapping his own fingers, a grin spreading across his features, "I got you, little miss Flash jr" ignoring the twitch of her facial features at the name he continued on, "this is gonna be mind blowing, my good doctor, so yes, I would gladly invite you to stay as long as we get to have a nice, long, story telling time"
Bruce looked at Ellie while she seemed to do the same, both shrugged and faced the giggling Iron Man.
Should be doing something else, really, but will never happen. Read, Review, Happy Biddings.