Fury was furious.
He'd been lecturing all of us (Why did I have to get lectured?) about disobeying orders, irresponsible behaviour (… That one might have applied) and letting a wanted war criminal escape. Though in all honesty in that one Loki had left mere moments after we had arrived and we were all to busy celebrating being alive to notice.
We hadn't even time to dry ourselves off or change are clothes and we all looked like we had gone swimming in a dirty lake. All of us except Stark that was who sat there looking smug as the rest of us suffered the uncomfortable-ness of it all. Coulson had come into the room and whisked us of to the Helicarrier where Fury had proceeded to live up to his name.
"Whoa, calm down- we got the Tesseract didn't we?" intervened Tony. "And Crazy Chick."
"They can still get it back- did you bother to find their other device?" pointed out Fury.
"We will increase the guard in the vault," said Thor, who was once again to take the Tesseract back to Asgard. "Now that we know of their plans it will be a more manageable task to keep them at bay."
My moment of glory over, I was sitting back into my chair and fiddling with a burn hole in my jacket. I somehow felt it was my fault Loki had got away, because I knew he would leave and he would have been a fool not to leave straight away. But I also wasn't bothered by the fact, Loki may have gotten me captured in the first place but he also gave the means to go home and stuck with us till the end.
That earned him a little freedom at least.
Asides from the occasional interruptions- mainly from Tony- Fury got through his lecture without anyone protesting or complaining. All of us were hoping he wouldn't take too long to dismiss us so we could get back to the tower and finally relax.
When he was done, he gave us all a stern glare before dismissing us.
"Miss Attwater, I'd like to speak to you privately," said Fury, and I remained in my seat as the others left.
"I hear you have magic now," he said, when the door had slid shut behind them. I didn't say anything, getting the feeling he didn't want me to. "From the sounds of it there was a reason the Tesseract- and outside forces- brought you here, other than a distraction."
The others must have been listening over the com and figured out what I had. On his fall, Loki had dropped by my world and began to hate us mortals because of the comics. So in some sort of temper tantrum he had opened up a portal to connect our two worlds and it had connected to my world because my magic signature resonated with its own (I wondered if other people from my world had dormant magic).
"And from the sound of it, you displayed some impressive battle skill and tactical knowledge," he continued, and I guessed this was one of those 'but' or 'so' moments. "So…I'd like to invite you to join SHIELD."
I was literally slack-jawed from shock. Had Fury really just asked me to join SHIELD?
"Wait, so you don't want to send me back this time?" I asked cautiously and he shook his head.
"I thought it would be better to send you back as it's unwise to keep a civilian around superheroes," he explained. "But you've shown now that you have the capacity become a good agent."
Well duh, Thor had already told me I'd be a good warrior. You should have listened to him.
"Of course, being an agent of SHIELD isn't fun and games," he continued. "You will be put through rigorous training and exercises, and in this job a mistake could likely cost you your life. So I'd think carefully before you make this decision, after all, you srill have to make the decision about whether or not you want to stay."
That got me. It was true I hadn't answered the question about whether I was or wasn't going to stay and that was another thing I'd have to think carefully about. I'd had a chance to experience both lives again but in the end I was going to have to choose one or another and I couldn't get this wrong or I'd spend the rest of my life in misery.
With that, Fury dismissed me and I headed on my way out to the Quinjet which had brought us here. Everyone was on board except for Steve who was waiting just outside as he waited for me and smiled broadly when he saw me coming.
"Ready to go?" he asked, and I nodded as we went inside. He didn't ask what Fury had wanted to talk to me about, and neither did anyone else though I could tell Tony was almost dying too. I half-wondered if the two agents knew, but if they did they didn't give anything away as we went back to Stark Tower.
/
As Tony had promised earlier on during the battle, he ordered pizza- almost every kind of pizza it seemed- and we all sat back in the lounge in clean clothes, choosing films- or movies as they said- and just having a lazy night in. Bruce had taken one of the armchairs, Nat the other with Clint perched on the arm, the rest of us went to sit on the sofa, which wouldn't seat all four pf us so I solved it by sitting on the playboy's lap- much to his amusement and Steve's discomfort.
Tony had a huge collection of films and put the responsibility of choosing the first one on my shoulder. I thought about it a bit before choosing War Horse and smacking Tony playfully across the head when he said it was bound to be boring.
He changed his mind afterwards though.
We went through several films, generally not moving even as it got late into the night, but after awhile Bruce excused himself and went to bed, the two agents followed shortly and when Tony chose Saw Steve was quick to follow. So it was just Tony, Thor and me- I had moved off the genius's lap and now sat between him and the Thunderer, who was engrossed in the film.
"So what did Fury want to talk to you about?" he asked, looking at me with curiosity. "He wasn't trying to send you back again was he?"
"No, he…" I hesitated slightly. "He asked me to join SHIELD."
"…Seriously?" He didn't seem that surprised, more interested. "And what did you say?"
"He gave me time to think about it- and about whether or not I want to stay," I replied, picking at my trousers. Tony sensed my distress and sighed, running his hand through his hair.
"If there were no consequences to your actions, which world would you choose?" he asked.
"This one," I said without a moment's hesitation. "But there will be consequences and it doesn't feel right to leave everyone behind."
By this time Thor had become distracted enough from the film to notice that I was upset and looked at Tony accusingly.
"Why have you upset Miss Attwater?" he demanded, and Tony responded with a look of disbelief.
"I didn't do anything," he replied and to prove it pulled me in to a hug, rubbing my back. "Look, no-one will blame you whatever you choose so stop beating yourself up about it. If you think that you'll be happier here then stay, I'm sure we could always get Thor to drop off a message to explain it- not a completely truthful one mind you or they'll think you're crazy."
He quickly let go and went back to watching the film looking uncomfortable, probably not used to comforting someone and Thor, understanding the situation now, patted me gently on the knee.
"The Man of Iron is right," he said simply before going back to watching the film.
Tony was right, the only thing that was really holding me back from staying was the fact I didn't want to leave everyone in my old life behind with reason- and I also didn't want that reason to be because I was an Avengers fan just trying to be close to her favourite characters. But I could no longer say that anyway after to getting to know them properly and spending time with them.
I could honestly say that it was not a selfish reason that I wanted to stay; I had a better life here- a more exciting one with great friends and possibly soon a great job. Sure this meant I would be battling dangerous enemies now, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
I was going to stay. I was going to stay and I was going to accept Fury's offer.
Agent Jessica Attwater- I liked the sound of that.
THE END
A/N: OMG it's over. D: I can't believe it, I'm so evil like that.
But have no worries because I like this character and I will write lots more stories with her in- especially since there are a lot of epic upcoming films.
I think I'll do a sequel to this though that shows her time in SHIELD , the Avengers and Loki (Let's face it, he was bound to come back ;).) Maybe it will be up soon, maybe it won't, and maybe I'll post a collection of oneshots if there are a few scenarios floating around out there that people want to see.
But thank you all for reading and reviewing.
I'll see you soon (hopefully)- KF.