'Well this is going perfectly' Holly told herself as she tried to adjust herself so her shoulders wouldn't hurt. She had been in her room reading a file that Pepper had given her about the New York incident with the Tesseract and she was stuck on the way it had affected Clint and Selvig. Somehow Loki had been able to take complete control of their minds by touching his spear to their chests. Their eyes were just so blue while under it's control. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the pictures of Clint's eyes and she probably should have noticed the change. But she hadn't, and she had walked out of her room and straight into Natasha.

"Hi. You must be Natasha Romanov. I'm-" Natasha punched her so swiftly in the jaw that she didn't have time to react. Before Holly could respond she was bound to a chair with her hands behind her back and Natasha had summoned Clint and Tony.

"What's going on? Who is she?" Tony asked as they rushed into the room his eyebrow raising at the sight of Holly on the chair.

"Her eyes…" Clint's voice sounded tortured and Natasha touched his shoulder.

"What?" Holly looked around and saw her reflection in the TV screen. Her eyes were the same glowing, cyan that Clint's had been and shut her eyes tight. 'Shit…Shit…Shit…' she screamed at herself mentally. She hadn't been here but a couple of hours and she was already in trouble.

"JARVIS! A little help please!" Holly cried out, fighting against her bonds.

"Right away ma'am." The AI spoke overhead.

"JARVIS! Ignore that!" Tony growled and turned back to Clint and Natasha. "Loki?" he inquired.

"There's no way. How would he get away from Thor?" Natasha said, gesturing with her hands but her eyes never breaking away from her partner. Holly stared at Clint as her eyes changed back to their normal darker blue and saw his breath catch in his chest.

"Please let me explain myself. It's not what you think!"

"Your eyes?" Clint stammered.

"JARVIS! Call Pepper and get her down here!" Holly shrieked.

"Yes ma-"

"IGNORE THAT!" Tony bellowed at her, stalking towards her.

"JARVIS!" Holly cried.

"What is going on here!?" Pepper yelled as the elevator door opened. 'Oh thank god…' Holly thought as her head sank onto her shoulders. Pepper crossed the space to where she was bound in a matter of moments but she was stopped by Tony a few feet away.

"What are you guys doing to her!?" Pepper shrieked.

"Who is she?" Tony asked, confused by Pepper's sense of urgency.

"What does it matter?" she snapped back at Tony. She tried to push past him but he held her back yet again.

"It matters." Tony said with a dark undertone to his voice.

"Her eyes were the same color as the people who were influenced by Loki a couple of months ago." Natasha said curtly.

"No they aren't. Look her eyes are no where near that shade of blue!" Pepper said matter-of- factly.

"But they were." Hawkeye piped. Pepper sighed exasperatedly.

"She's been hired by S.H.I.E.L.D-"

"Throw her out!" Tony let slip but Pepper ignored him.

"She's here to help accommodate your needs. Though JARVIS can order you anything you want and have it delivered he can't be there physically to do things that a real person can. She has been hired by me personally to give her more freedoms and protection should she need it." When the three Avengers didn't appear to be convinced by her explanation Pepper sighed again. "Director Fury has provided an extensive background check and personnel file. Agent Coulson, may he rest in peace, was doing surveillance on her before what happened a few months ago. All of his notes say that she is harmless from what he saw. If Coulson was ready to trust this girl without even knowing her, you should all give her a chance too."

Silence filled the area where they stood as they all felt the pain of losing Coulson at the mention of his name. It was a low blow, that was true, but Pepper had made her point. Coulson was the one person that was the common denominator to all of their stories so if he had been okay with her she must be okay. Right?

"That still doesn't explain the eyes." Clint broke the silence.

"No it doesn't." Tony added.

"If you'll let me go, I'll explain everything in due time." Holly spoke softly.

"And if we want an explanation now?" Tony growled.

"All I will tell you is that I have some unique qualities." Her arms fell to her sides as, to everyone's surprise, Clint released her from her binds. She moved her shoulders and smiled at Clint but he did not return her kindness. She held her hand out to him and it took him a moment to realize what she was doing. He cautiously mimicked her gesture and Holly shook his hand with a gentle grasp.

"I was brought into this place with no knowledge of you so that I wouldn't form an opinion of you before I came to know you. Seeing as you don't know me at all, I would appreciate the same courtesy of getting to know me before you learn things that will make you doubt my intentions." Holly looked at each of them in turn. Pepper's eyebrows raised slightly at the tone of her voice. It was different than the bubbly, nervous girl she had met in the elevator.

"I am at your disposal. I will be staying in that room right over there and if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm not a threat and I hope you will come see me at some point." Holly said. She turned to Pepper then.

"I am so sorry about this. I hope you won't try and have me revoked over this." With that Holly retreated back to her room thoroughly embarrassed. Four pairs of eyes watched her until the door shut- then they looked at each other.

"Can we get a copy of that file?" Tony asked his girlfriend.

"No. They can." she said gesturing at the assassins.

"I'll get that from you later." Natasha replied and walked back to the den where she and Hawkeye had been lounging. He was still visibly shaken and it worried the red headed woman. She pulled him down onto the couch with her and he cuddled up to her chest. Natasha put her arms around him and held him until he drifted off into an afternoon nap.

"Were you going to tell me about her?" Tony asked as he got into the elevator with Pepper. She rolled her eyes at him. He was pouting like a child and she really wasn't sure why she put up with him sometimes.

"Tony I haven't seen you since she got here to tell you about her. You've been in the lab all day." she sneered back at him.

"So this is my fault?" Tony asked.

"Stop making this about you Tony." Pepper said with heat in her voice. "Just give the girl a chance. If she's as good in real life as on paper things are going to be a hell of a lot easier on everyone." Pepper moved to exit the elevator on their floor and Tony blocked her just as he had a few minutes before.

"And if she isn't? If there is some dark secret that Fury missed somehow?" He didn't mean to be mean but it was a reality they had to consider.

"Then we'll deal with that as it comes." she spoke curtly and kissed Tony to get him to relax.

A/N: Yay Chapter Two! I meant for this to be up a couple of days ago but when it came time to write I was too tired to think straight. I didn't want to post something and it turn out to be incomprehensible babble written while half asleep. I hope everyone likes this chapter. I've been watching Avenger's a lot lately which is how the idea for this came up. I go through phases of obsession over different things and that is usually where FF ideas are born. I have a lot planned for this FF so enjoy the ride and comment frequently! =]