Author's note: Heya! I told you, didn't I? Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I'm a little late today, given that I was a bit preoccupied this morning, but still; enjoy! Yes, I know, I know; another short chapter; but you just wait for chapter six. That's when it gets really fun!

God, it's nice to have all my stuff back.

As promised, Fury let me take a trip to my old apartment and bring back anything I wanted, including good 'ol Cassie! I stashed her under my pillow. I brought my wardrobe, (I was wearing a black cut-out t-shirt and dark blue jeans) my CD player, my posters, (My walls looked like an altar to Wade Wilson and Black Sabbath) and my CD collection. I plugged the player in and chose a disc at random. Heavy rock music began blasting from the speakers. I couldn't resist; I threw up my rock hands and started banging my head to the beat. After yesterday's mission, I had had a few questions. What, for instance, was the history with Phil and Loki? His answer?

"He killed me." You'd better believe my jaw had dropped to the floor.

"He what?" I had said.

"He killed me. Or, at least for a while. But Fury's medical team... they're impressive. Well trained, to say the least. I died more than once, actually, but when I finally came back for good... well, you should have seen the faces when everyone learned I was alive and well."

"Um, Wendy?" Bruce walked in, interrupting my train of thought. I looked up, blowing hair out of my face.

"Bruce, hey!" I jumped into his arms and let him hold me up while I kissed him, which sounds sort of weird, but trust me; he's strong enough.

"You finally got all your stuff back!" He said, letting me down. He listened for a second to the song I was playing. "Is this Marilyn Manson?" He questioned, looking at me with an amused smile.

"What'd you think I'd be listening to, the bible on tape?" He laughed. I love his laugh.

"So, hey, why'd you stop by?"

"That's a good question. I actually need your help."

"With what?"

"I need some files on my old laboratory for my research, but I couldn't find them in the computer." I gasped and put my hand to my chest in mock-surprise. "I know, the world must be coming to an end." He smiled. "Anyway, I was hoping you'd help me search through some of the more physical files. I think Fury still keeps some actual paper around here somewhere."

"Sure, I'll help." I said. "But will you make it worth my while?" I stood on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck.

"Well," He said. "I was thinking I could convince the lunch-ladies to serve five alarm chili tonight."

"Deal." I grinned. Not what I had in mind, but good enough. I was still probably going to jump him later, though.

As it turns out, there actually were physical, paper files in the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. A huge room in a forgotten corner of the helicarrier full of cobwebs and file cabinets attested to that.

"Here we are. The last remnants of an archaic system that the modern world has all but abandoned since the invention of computers. I just need to see if I still remember how to use these things." I had something a little less astute on my mind.

"Holy shit this place is huge!" I exclaimed. Bruce chuckled.

"S.H.I.E.L.D has files on just about everything you could ever want to know about down here." He said, pulling open a file cabinet. "No." He opened another. "No, no no. Aha! Here it is."

"Here's what? The file?"

"No, the B section. We should start looking over here." And so began the long, tedious job of, as they say, looking for a needle in a haystack. If the needle was colored like hay. And shaped like it. And the haystack was the size of the helicarrier. We sifted through files for hours. Bruce seemed as focused as ever, but I eventually found myself drifting away from the B section. And one of the files caught my eye. It was a file on me. I looked over to see if Bruce was looking my way, then opened the file. My eyes scanned the page. Blah blah blah, stuff I already knew, blah blah blah… wait. This was interesting. I pulled out a piece of paper. Blueprints for my collar. "I found it!" I heard Bruce's delighted voice from the B section. I quickly folded up the blueprints and put the file back.

"That's great!" I said. "What exactly were you looking for, anyway?"

"Alright. It sounds stupid, but I needed to know where the sand came from in the bomb range my lab used."

"The sand?" I questioned.

"Just about anything can interfere with an experiment. Temperature, time of day, and especially surroundings. I could be able to use this to…" He trailed off.

"To cure yourself?" I finished for him.

"No, it's nothing like that. I gave up on that a long time ago." He sighed and put the file under his arm. "What I need to do is to make sure nothing like this ever happens to anyone. Ever again." I smiled. I put my arms around him and kissed his cheek.

"Saving the world, one file at a time, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He grinned.

"So." I said as we walked out. "You mentioned chili?"

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