It's been awhile, but I'm sure you're all used to that by now. And for the record, this chapter was perhaps the hardest to write thus far. It is a testament to our friendship that teddystwin and I are still talking to each other after this chapter. So read it.

The room the elevator opened onto was not the same room Asa had left. Sure, some of the wedding décor still dripped from the ceiling, and the bar was more or less intact, but other than that, it was completely transformed. The shattered window had been cleared away, broken tables and chairs had disappeared, and bright utility lights chased away the encroaching sunset. There were screens and blinking lights and cords everywhere, strung along the walls and trailing under heavy-duty cord mats. The whole room was bustling with people in neat suits, indistinguishable to Asa's tired eye. The only redeeming quality, in Asa's opinion, was the abundance of rolling office chairs. The good kind, with arms that you could propel all the way across the room if there was no furniture in the way.

It was to one of these chairs, set in front of a desk near the center of the room, that Agent Coulson directed her. He seemed to be absorbing information and making decisions at an alarming rate; by the time they made it to the chair, no less than four people had reported to him, two had shouted across the room, and he had given orders to at least three more. The stack of paperwork on the desk, which Asa assumed was his, was truly alarming.

"Barton and Romanoff are on their way in. Should I tell them you're here, sir?" a woman in a navy suit asked.

Agent Coulson shook his head. "No. Let's let it be a surprise, shall we?"

The woman shrugged, as if to say, 'your funeral.'

Who was this man, that he could surprise Natasha and Clint? For the first time, Asa felt uneasiness uncurling in her stomach.

"So…" Asa cleared her throat, trying to muster up the courage to interrupt Agent Coulson's conversation. It seemed to be the only way to talk to him. "So what's happening?"

Agent Coulson handed the latest applicant a folder and dismissed him. He half-sat against the edge of his desk, and inspected her for a long moment. Asa shifted uncomfortably, very aware that she was sitting cross-legged, and that her dress was bunched up into the scrubs someone had brought her, and that she probably looked like hell. She sure as sunrise didn't belong here.

Then she remembered the meeting with Fury, the new employee paperwork she hadn't had the chance to read yet, and Fury's promise of a uniform. She straightened a little. Maybe she wasn't an agent or anything, but she was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. Or something.

His scrutiny was thorough, and he finally gave a little nod. Asa relaxed ever-so-slightly. Agent Coulson turned to tap on the screen on the desk, pulling up a real-time, aerial view of Manhattan.

"The Hulk and Miss Haven are still missing. You can see the direction they went-" he indicated a swath of damaged building, which trailed away into what looked like some kind of run-down manufacturing district, "But Captain Rogers, Agents Romanoff and Barton, Mr. Parker, Mr. Stark, and Thor have been trying to locate them without success. However, the search effort was… impromptu, and so uncoordinated. We're in the process of recalling everyone now. Once we've had a chance to conference, we'll start again."

Asa chewed her lip thoughtfully, trying to focus her questions into words.

"He just… hulked out. In the middle of the wedding. Why?"

Agent Coulson shook his head. "We're not sure."

"But you have a theory," Asa guessed. People like Agent Coulson always had a theory, if not five. He nodded.

"We have a theory." His tone was clear: he had a theory, but he wasn't going to share. Asa decided not to push it- she didn't even know if she had any kind of security clearance.

Just at that moment, the elevator doors opened again, and Asa caught a glimpse of Natasha and Clint, Tasha still in her slinky dress, and Clint with his bow still out warily. They both had thick sheafs of paper in their hands, and looked distinctly harried. Asa guessed they'd already been waylaid by a suit wanting them to fill out post-engagement reports. They paused for the briefest second to assess, as if plunging into enemy territory. She waved an arm cheerfully, gladder than she could say to see them. Neither of them saw her, though.

They were too busy staring at Agent Coulson.

The hesitation lasted only a second, and then they were stalking through the maze of technology, which had quieted to a dull hum as everyone stopped what they were doing to watch them. For a second, Asa thought that one or either of them was going to kill Agent Coulson, and panicked. Had she been tricked? Taken as some sort of bizarre captive?

Natasha stopped a bare two feet in front of Agent Coulson, looked him straight in the eye, and just said, "You owe me." Agent Coulson nodded, and Asa thought he looked nearly relieved. She had the sense that something important had just happened, but she didn't have time to try and puzzle it out; Clint was staring at Agent Coulson, jaw tight, hand clenched so tightly around his bow that Asa could see every vein in his hand. Asa stopped breathing. She had seen Clint kill people, but never out of anger. Until this moment, she would have said he was incapable of it. Now, she wasn't so sure.

The silence stretched out. Then Clint shifted slightly, took two steps towards the desk, and slammed the papers he held onto the desk with a resounding bang. Then he left.

Agent Coulson moved as if to go after him, but Tasha stopped him. She didn't touch him, just lifted her hand and let it hover near his waist. Agent Coulson opened his mouth to argue, then shook his head.

"What did you expect?" Tasha murmured. Agent Coulson sighed.

"Honestly? I was hoping he would just punch me and get it over with."

Tasha shook her head. "Forget the lies, Coulson. We've all lied to each other. You abandoned him. He's not going to let you off easy."

Agent Coulson sighed again, and turned away from the door. This time, Tasha did touch him. Just the barest pressure on his shoulder to catch his eye, and she nodded. Agent Coulson almost smiled, and Asa turned away, feeling she'd just seen something far too intimate for outsiders.

When Coulson spoke again, he was back to business.

"Captain Rogers is on his way back. We're trying to get in contact with Thor and Mr. Parker. JARVIS?"

"Yes, Agent Coulson?"

That smooth, calm voice was the most comforting thing Asa had heard all day.

"Could you ask Mr. Stark to return here, please?"

"I can't guarantee he'll listen."

"Tell him I'm asking."

"Of course, sir. And may I say sir, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Thank you, JARVIS."

The next few hours seemed to involve a lot of hushed whispers and waiting. Asa grew more and more tired, as the drain of the past 14 hours started to catch up with her. There seemed to be nothing useful to do; Coulson and Natasha kept moving between screens, two confident generals directing some sort of technological, informational battle that Asa couldn't seem to follow at all.

She thought about asking for a coloring book. She settled for turning around in the chair over and over and over…

"We need Barton."

Asa looked up at the sound of Clint's name. Coulson and Natasha had both returned to Coulson's desk, which seemed to be some kind of central home base. Tasha shook his head.

"You're not going to get him back."

"Do you think he went-"

"Yes." Natasha's voice brooked no argument.

"You could-"

"No."

To his credit, Agent Coulson stood his ground. His voice lost its soft, compromising tone.

"Agent Romanoff, The Incredible Hulk is loose in Manhattan, and General Ross is loose looking for him. This is all hands on deck. Agent Barton is just going to have to cut his sulking short."

Natasha shook her head again. "If I go after him, we'll only fight. He's spoiling for it, you know he is."

"Do you think if I-"

"Again with the fighting."

"I could go."

It took Asa a full sixty seconds to realize what she'd just said. She wished she could take it back. But that would make her a coward, so she was glad she'd said it before she could think.

Coulson and Natasha both paused to look at her, considering.

Finally, Natasha said, "She could. He's a whole lot less likely to lash out at her."

Coulson squeezed his eyes shut, and nodded.

"Alright. Get her on a jet. I want him back as soon as possible."

So, what did you think? Let me know in a review!