"Agent Grey requesting entrance…" Jarvis's clear, electronic voice rang out in the spacious and modern apartment. Tony was lounging on one of his leather couches, a wine glass in one hand and the television remote in the other.
"Not home," he responded airily, continuing to flick through the channels.
"Sir," said Jarvis after a moment's pause, "she is… insistent."
"Well that is a shame," replied Tony, still unconcerned, "because I'm. Not. Home."
"As you say, Sir," said Jarvis, falling silent again, presumably to pass on the message. Suddenly Tony's phone went off. He picked it up to see Nicole glowering at him on a voice message.
"Tony Stark you get up off your lazy, good-for-nothing butt and let me up this instant-"
"Hello," he said interrupting her, "you've reached the life model of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."
"Listen, Princess, this is urgent-"
"Then leave it urgently."
With an ominous 'ding' he heard the elevator doors open and Jarvis's tardy warning,
"Sir, the security systems have been hacked…"
"Gee thanks," Tony muttered to Jarvis getting up and greeting Nicole, with an accusing, "That, my dear, is called breaking and entering."
She raised her eyebrows and ignored his threat, handing him a manila folder and saying,
"Here."
"What's this?" asked Tony, not opening the folding, but giving Nicole a searching glance. Nicole sighed,
"Fury's calling you in. Against my advice, I might add."
"You might," he instinctively responded. "But why? What happened?"
"You remember the Tesseract?"
"The ice cube of destiny? Yeah."
"Well its been stolen."
"Stolen?" this got Tony's attention. "By who?"
"Loki, brother of Thor, the two… foreigners involved in the New Mexico incident."
"I don't know anything about that," said Tony innocently. "That's classified S.H.I.E.L.D. information." Nicole raised an eyebrow.
"Anyway," she went on, "Fury is putting together a response team. If Loki has the tesseract, there's no telling what he could do with it."
"Response team?" questioned Tony.
"The Avengers," said Nicole bluntly. Tony looked at her for a long moment.
"I was told the Avengers Initiative was shut down. Besides, I didn't qualify."
"It was and you didn't. Don't."
"So where, pray tell, do I come in?"
"We need you to work with some colleagues in tracking the tesseract through gamma radiation." Just then, Nicole's phone buzzed to life, Fury's face appearing on the screen.
"Agent Grey, report," he said unsmilingly.
"File just delivered, Sir. About to head out now."
"Good work Nicole."
"Nicole?" interrupted Tony. "Who's Nicole? Her first name is Agent." Nicole rolled her eyes, moving her phone so that Fury could see Tony.
"Stark," greeted the unamused Director. Tony returned a cocky smile,
"Bluebeard, good to see you too!"
"Shut up. Nicole, return to base double time and bring Stark with you." Without waiting for a response the feed went dead. Nicole sighed, muttering,
"Aye, aye Captain." Tony snorted,
"I'll just go pack my bags then." Nicole glared at him, before saying stiffly,
"You have ten minutes, soldier."
Steve Rogers stepped off the hover craft with a tired glance about him. He hadn't wanted to come but his sense of duty had pestered him into this excursion. Though, if he was completely honest with himself, his curiosity had played a role as well.
"Welcome aboard, Captain," said a smart looking agent, saluting him.
He returned the gesture with the practised ease of a veteran.
"Thank you, glad to be here…" he trailed off and she obliged him by introducing herself.
"Agent Grey."
"Pleasure to meet you," he said, nodding politely. She raised an eyebrow at him, but made no comment. Just then, another helicopter landed, it's departure ramp lowering and allowing another team of soldiers to disembark.
One individual was out of place and Agent Grey quickly veered towards the stranger to greet him.
"Banner. I'm Agent Grey," she said, with a formal nod. Bruce Banner nodded back, looking about himself in ironic amusement.
Steve had followed her over and now greeted him as well, offering a handshake.
"I hear you're the best when it comes to gamma radiation."
"Is that all you've heard about me?" he asked dryly, accepting the Captain's proffered hand in his firm grasp.
"That's all I care about," responded Steve professionally without hesitation.
Suddenly some internal machines began whirring and Steve and Banner looked about in confusion.
"Boys," said Agent Grey coolly, "if you'd follow me inside. It's about to get a little hard to breathe out here…"
Ignoring her, Banner walked over to the side of the ship, Rogers in tow.
"This is a submarine? Really?" he asked. "They want me in a pressurized container underwater?"
"Fine. Don't listen to me," mutter Agent Grey under her breathe and she marched over to the two gentlemen. "Come on." she order, propelling them towards the door. "You can watch the show inside!"
The two men obeyed this time and she followed behind, still complaining under her breathe,
"It's not like I work here or anything. Blow off for all I care…"
She entered the base behind them and they parted allowing her to take the lead, unaware of her annoyance.
"Follow me," she said, and set off down the hall, both Banner and Rogers following.