Three Months Later
I woke up to hearing how completely obnoxious classic rock could be. At this point, I bet even Jarvis was tired of playing AC/DC. I moaned loudly and covered my face with a bright red pillow. Did every bedroom need to shove the Iron Man colors down my throat? I heard the door creak open and I moaned again. "It's too early, leave me alone," I muttered. I felt pressure beside me on the bed before the pillow was ripped away from me. Normally, I wouldn't suffer defeat like that but technically, I was a guest in Stark Tower.
"Hey, it's not my fault that you didn't hear your alarm this morning," said Tony. I narrowed my eyes at him. I never overslept.
"You can't possibly be serious," I said back, my voice cracking from being tired.
"See for yourself." I turned slowly and eyed my Thor-themed alarm clock. It was an old fashioned alarm but a small Mjolnir hit the bells and Thor's face was the background to the clock. I had bought plenty of Avengers merchandise since Fury had given the go-ahead to outlets to produce them. I owned a Captain America toothbrush, Iron Man slippers, a Black Widow belt, a Hawkeye bow, a Hulk action figure that said, "Hulk Smash!" every time you pressed a button, and the aforementioned clock. Noticeably, there was nothing my face was on.
I pushed myself out of bed and shooed Tony out of the room once I realized that he had been right and I had overslept. After I dressed in shorts and some loose floral tank top, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. My hair was grazing my shoulders now; it had always seemed to take too long to grow but I'd been keeping it short out of necessity in training. Clint was certain that long hair would be the death of me but eventually, I no longer cared. Natasha had worked with long hair before and it wasn't likely that I was going to be trusted with some huge event any time soon.
My back popped when I straightened out my posture and I groaned before stretching my arms high above me and then touching my toes. Skills training was incredibly brutal and I certainly hadn't been built for it. Bruises covered both of my hips, most of my back and my legs, and my lips had been busted more than a few times. Tony had filled a tub with an ice bath at least once every week. I couldn't keep my nails as long as I usually liked to and my ankles weren't fond of high heels because they'd been twisted to near extremity. Sometimes I wished I'd magically get a superpower and this training would stop.
I pushed my bangs out of my face forcefully and stepped into some flip flops before grabbing my weapon belt. Tony had crafted a few new things for S.H.I.E.L.D., my tool belt being only one of them. The belt hung around my hips and was tight enough not to slide but I could barely notice it being there otherwise. It was designed to hold a couple of handguns for me and my now signature throwing knives. Given different scenarios, the belt could hold any number of things I might need, including backup supplies.
I tossed it on the counter when I arrived in the converted kitchen. It was partially a living room as well. I grimaced as I stared at part of the floor in the living room. This area was what had been torn apart during the last battle with the Chitauri and the place in the floor I was staring at was where we had found Loki after the Hulk had basically butchered him. The balcony's fence had recently been finished but the name was still only, appropriately, an A. Thor and Loki had seen to it that the rest of the letters of "Stark" had been removed.
"Charlotte, you know how Pepper feels about you putting your weapons on the table," said Tony. I rolled my eyes and turned to simply stare at him. "She's here, you know that right?"
"Believe me, I know she's here," I responded. In fact, it was entirely possible that the whole building and all of Tony's employees knew that she'd been here last night. That kind of noise was hard to keep down and it only frustrated me more.
"I saw you staring over there. Doesn't the floor look fantastic? To be honest, I'm surprised Bruce didn't leave a hole there. Thank God, it was reparable." I heard Tony opening cabinets behind me so I moved my belt and placed it on the floor.
"She's gonna have to get over this with the weapons," I said, as Tony slid me a PopTart across the counter. I took a seat at one of the bar stools and bit into it solemnly. PopTarts never failed to remind me of Thor. I was certain that was the only reason Tony had Pepper buy them.
"You need to learn the difference between work and pleasure."
"I just can't believe I overslept. That's the first time I've done it since I've been assigned."
"As I recall, you didn't really ever sleep." I turned at the sound of Bruce's voice. He was right, of course. Besides, my being up all night usually helped Bruce with his experiments. If he needed a human guinea pig, I was always up for it.
"Take a look in the mirror," I responded. Bruce only shrugged. When he wasn't around Tony and I wasn't working out, this connected condo or apartment or whatever convoluted term Tony wanted to call it, was just a depressing place to be in.
"Oh shit, I forgot to tell you," said Tony, "it doesn't matter that you overslept. Clint got called out this morning. Something about some back alley terrorist that needed to be sniped down in Washington DC." I solemnly nodded. I had forgotten about that, even if Clint had told me. Natasha had left a couple of days ago for some super-secret Black Ops mission or something along those lines. Neither of them was ever clear on what exactly they were doing. "But you had promised Jane and Darcy a lunch date. I answered your phone when Darcy called you for the fifth time. She said she'll text you where to meet so that Happy can take you."
"Does Happy driving me have anything to do with the reporters?" Bruce quickly sat down beside me. He couldn't even pretend that he wasn't interested in the next few minutes of conversation.
The paparazzi loved to try to get pictures of us doing anything, even menially eating in a diner on Park Avenue. With the newfound love for the Avengers, the public had originally taken to us. Tony and Bruce were on the covers of magazines (nothing new for Tony), people speculated on Clint and Natasha's relationship, but the press had no real love for me. I had consistently and vehemently denied being a member of the Avengers and when they wanted to treat me as such, I didn't react pleasantly. All in all, I was just trying to tell them that I didn't deserve that honor and I constantly had to remind them that I was a normal person. I wasn't a super-spy like Natasha or an expert marksman like Clint. I was an average, everyday woman who had been put into an incredible situation. I didn't like being in the public eye, especially once my training increased. The field agent training put it in my head that everyone was out to get me and I couldn't trust anyone; not that I would've trusted the press to begin with. Whatever the case, the reporters began to feel my animosity over them invading my privacy. They had gone so far as to interrogate former teachers I'd had in high school to find things out about me. My mom couldn't even go to the grocery store in Savannah which was, in and of itself, an entirely different animal that I didn't want to deal with. My family wasn't even supposed to know the name of the company I worked for. I had given up ties with my hometown, even closing off relationships with close friends so that I could work with S.H.I.E.L.D. I had been handpicked for that job and they took their security seriously. Now that had been blown to hell. I had known there would be serious consequences for my real name being given out; I just hadn't realized that this was what I was going to deal with.
Beyond that, I was the only person of the Avengers Initiative that seemed to be going out anymore. Clint and Natasha lived in headquarters; little did I know at the time that they were the ones who had made the smart decision. Bruce was always holed up in the top floors of Stark Tower, trying to mess around in the labs. Tony didn't care about the publicity because he was used to it. But every day, I walked to headquarters to train, I'd go get something to eat, I'd go into a shop. It didn't matter where I was, the photographers found me and they were rarely kind anymore.
After the initial joy of Earth being saved by the Avengers, the public had started looking at them, and myself, differently. Tony had called it because it had happened to him before. We started experiencing backlash. Many of the world's officials wanted Loki to answer for war crimes and we'd sent him back to Asgard before anything like that could happen; a smart move on the part of S.H.I.E.L.D. Then of course, there was the question of where the heavy hitters of the Avengers had gone off to. Aside from Tony, none of them were really even around. Bruce basically lived in the labs and it's not like he would've been recognized on face value. Thor was in Asgard and Steve had been on various missions over the past three months. I hadn't seen him once in that period of time and clearly, whatever he was doing wasn't high profile. Aside from the four of them, the public wasn't very curious. None of the rest of us had superpowers and I used every bit of air time I got to explain that I wasn't a member of the team and didn't deserve to be. No matter the case, the reporters rarely left me alone and I had long ago given up on trying putting up with their bullshit.
"I don't wanna have this argument any more than you do, Charlotte, but face it, if you were nicer to them, maybe they'd be more inclined to leave you alone," Tony said. I rolled my eyes.
"You don't actually believe that, do you?" I responded. "How am I supposed to respond when they start interrogating me about where Thor and Steve are? How am I supposed to just sit back and take it that they're involving my family in this?"
"Because you're a celebrity now and this is what happens to celebrities."
"They all hate me and I don't care that they do so they think that gives them some sort of right to invade my privacy and I'm sick of it." I finished off my PopTart and Bruce stared between Tony and me, as if he was wondering whether I'd throw myself over the counter to choke him. Bruce seemed to think since I'd started training, that I had some newfound anger problems and that he should be on the lookout for when I'd snap.
"I'm just saying that you could try to be a little more courteous." I made a face. "Don't, you know I'm right. Who am I kidding? I'm always right!" Tony turned to get something from one of the cabinets and I got down off my bar stool. I could do a little target practice before Happy would take me to see Jane and Darcy.
"Hey, Charlotte." I turned back when I heard Bruce. "I finished analyzing Loki's blade last night. I couldn't find anything that was extremely out of the ordinary but that has more to do with the design than anything. The metal is out of this world, to be honest. It's light as a feather but incredibly sharp. It hasn't dulled in all this time so be careful with it." Bruce handed over Loki's throwing knife that he'd stabbed Thor with on the balcony during the last fight. Apparently, Thor had dropped it on the balcony floor before he flew off to my rescue. Bruce had found it before the repairs had officially begun and he'd started analyzing it without telling S.H.I.E.L.D. He had promised me early on that he'd give it to me once all of his tests had been run and came back. He wasn't sure whether the blade retained any of Loki's original magic and before handing it over to me, he wanted to be sure that it was safe.
"So you really didn't find anything at all?" I asked, my voice sounding tired. Nowadays, it always did.
Bruce shook his head. "I didn't exactly expect to since Loki stabbed Thor in a heat of the moment ordeal. He didn't even throw the thing. But I had wanted to get some more information on Asgardian metal but neither this nor the spear has offered anything up."
"I doubted the spear was Asgardian anyway but God, am I glad that you gave up studying it. Having that thing in the building was almost too tempting for me to handle." Ever since I had visited Loki in his holding room before he and Thor left, the scepter had been having strange effects on me. Whether I was at headquarters or when it was in Stark Tower, the thing had started trying to draw me towards it. Tony said he hadn't felt any temptation but Bruce had. I'd been up in the middle of the night a month ago and I saw Bruce standing in the hallway holding it and looking at it like he'd never seen anything more beautiful.
"Personally, I think we should've given it to Thor to take back too." My hand gripped the edge of the counter. I really missed Thor a lot. It was a pretty consuming feeling and I was depressed about it most all of the time. Loki wasn't here; he was probably being tortured wherever he was. Thor was being a prince. I hadn't seen Steve or even really heard from him in months. But I refused to talk about any of it. Fury and Coulson had been right. My emotions couldn't get in the way of my training.
"Well, thanks for giving it to me and not to them." I flipped the blade over in my hand. The weight was nice and perfect for a throwing knife. I might have to have mine modeled like this one. I stuck it into my belt before locking the belt around me. Tony had a dart board on the other side of the room that let me practice and watch TV at the same time. I couldn't state enough how much of a luxury that was. The dart board may not be the human shaped targets over at S.H.I.E.L.D. but there was a TV.
"They have their hands full enough already," said Bruce. I nodded when I moved to position myself at the wall opposite my target.
"The day they realize that, hell will freeze over," said Tony. "By the way, Charlotte, Coulson wanted me to tell you that he's got an assignment for you… and you are not turning it down." I rolled my eyes for what was possibly the fifth time in an hour as I pulled out one of my knives. This one was nifty because both ends of it were curved. It wouldn't hurt that much on single impact but pulling the thing out would be a bitch.
"And if I say no?" I asked, angling my arm behind me and hurtling the knife across the room. I barely looked at the center of the target anymore. Clint always stressed that I should be prepared to hit anything, even things I couldn't see.
"I already told you that you can't. We're all getting sick of you moping around and acting like you're doing training for training's sake." The metal ending of my thrown knife curled out of the red center of the dart board.
"Who says I'm moping around? And if I remember correctly, I asked Clint to help me out, not to run and tell Fury so that I could be upgraded to field agent. I'm not good enough for that and they all know it. So yes, I am training for training's sake right now. I need to be stronger for whatever comes next." It was Tony's turn to roll his eyes. I threw another knife, this one with a baby hilt for me to grab onto.
"Do not start with that alien invasion crap right now. How many times do we have to say it? Thanos isn't a threat! And yes, you are moping around. You drink half as much as I do!"
"That's saying something," muttered Bruce. I stifled a laugh as I grabbed another blade.
"Did Coulson put you up to this?" I asked. Tony made an audible noise. There was my answer.
"I'm not saying he didn't but that doesn't mean this doesn't need to be said. We get it, you miss Steve and all of his unadulterated patriotism. You miss Thor and his love of PopTarts. You even miss that disgusting asshole who almost took over this planet. But it's been three months and you need to get it together. You've turned into a fun-sucker. Coulson has been ready for you to take on assignments since a few weeks ago. He said you've been turning them down." My hand hesitated before I threw another knife. Tony wasn't wrong and maybe he was saying what Coulson had told him to but he was right. Even though I didn't make it apparent that I was having a rough time, clearly it was something everyone could sense. Maybe that was why Bruce thought I might snap at any moment.
"I don't miss them all the time, alright? And I'm not saying yes to a mission unless I think I'm qualified. I just don't have the skill set they need yet." It wasn't a total lie. I truly wasn't ready but that had more to do with my mindset than my physicality. I knew I wasn't ever going to possess an immense amount of strength so I let myself still remain delicate in that regard. But the throwing knives had been a better success than I ever would've dreamed. Clint started me on them after realizing what a good shot I was. He didn't want to limit me to only sniper rifles and handguns; anyone who was a good shot could use guns. Fury had told him that I needed something unique. Natasha had her Widow's Bites, which were basically tasers attached to her wrists and Clint had specialty arrows when even just being an archer was unusual. After I'd excelled at the archery Clint put me through, he'd handed me throwing knives. Even though he didn't want to admit it, I knew he'd found some things out about Loki from Erik Selvig. The fact that Loki was good with throwing knives was no secret to me but the two of us had always been good at mimicking each other. I figured it was worth a shot and did well with them, even with all the resulting scars on my hands. Now I had a specialty weapon. But the mindset was where I was failing. My emotions were still somewhat creeping into my brain. It was why I had a hard time sleeping and consumed most of my waking hours with training.
"Of course you do. You're basically a full-fledged Avenger now. Coulson even said as much."
"Yeah, right. He's gonna tell me something like that so he can make me do some weird mission that I don't wanna do." I wasn't letting it show but that was a pretty great compliment. Fury and Coulson had been watching me train recently so maybe they were finally sure of my abilities. Maybe they thought I'd be a great addition to the team. Dammit, I needed to focus. Being an Avenger had never been my dream so I needed to stop being flattered by being called one.
I had moved to my last knife, which happened to be the one Loki had used. It was by far the nicest looking and the dynamic of holding it was perfect. It was everything I'd searched for when I looked for a fit for myself. Throwing knives were usually built to be extremely personal weapons. This blade fit me more than any of my own did.
"Well, I certainly doubt that he'd ask you to do something as important as bringing in an agent if he didn't think you were qualified," said Tony. I raised my eyebrows. Bringing in an agent?
"I'm not saying I'll do it but I'll talk to him about it if it would so appease you," I said, sounding sarcastic.
"That's another thing, you've been stealing my thunder as the sassy asshole lately."
"Hey, Bruce and I have just bonded over our dry and depressing humor." Tony rolled his eyes. I heard the clacking of heels down the hallway and knew that it was Pepper. I hurriedly grabbed all of my knives and stuck them back in their respective places in the belt. Another thing that was really great about them was that they could be secured to my wrist when I was wearing my jumpsuit and they would be at the ready.
Pepper entered the room, efficient as always, carrying Tony's iPad, his laptop, and his phone. "You've got several calls to make in the next hour and I suggest you get a head start," she said, putting everything on the counter before turning to Bruce and me. Tony looked majorly disappointed at what was on the screen of the iPad and reached for his phone reluctantly. "Good morning, Charlotte. Did Clint cancel on you today?" I liked that Pepper feigned interest in my life but I knew she was only doing it because she thought of me much in the same way Bruce did: someone to be handled with the utmost care.
"As a matter of fact, he did. I'm having lunch with Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis, though." Pepper's face scrunched as she struggled to remember their names; given that Tony had barely dealt with Jane before and had never been face-to-face with Darcy, I didn't find it surprising that Pepper didn't know who they were. "And would you look at the time? I'd better be leaving!" I had raised my arm to look at my watch and I headed out of the converted apartment with my purse before another word could be said.
I was rather fond of Pepper, simply because she knew when and how to put Tony in his place and that was never not entertaining. But she was clearly hesitant to be around Bruce and I a lot of the time. She thought of both of us as some kind of ticking time bombs but that didn't mean that she didn't also put us in our place when it was called for (and sometimes when it wasn't).
I clutched the handles of my huge purse that I still lugged around. The thing was nothing if not efficient. It had everything I could ever want or need inside it, including a handgun and a couple of my knives in small sheathes. I had the one of Loki's in my bag for no other reason than that it was the sharpest. I didn't want to think that it was for any other reason. At any rate, I didn't plan on telling anyone that I felt like I should keep it close. I felt like deep down it still retained some form of Loki's magic, even if Bruce couldn't confirm it.
The elevator seemed to take it's sweet time on going down and I checked my phone to see the address Darcy had texted me. I was ravenous and seeing the two of them generally always put me in a better mood, even if they asked the personal questions I liked to avoid. But that was actually a good thing about them; Darcy certainly wasn't scared of setting me off and Jane didn't think I needed to sacrifice my feelings in order to do my job. Besides, Jane and I had quite a bit in common at this stage. People we cared about were off in another dimension (or just across the world) doing God knows what.
I quickly got in the backseat of an ambiguous black car waiting in front of Stark Tower. Happy turned in his seat and gave me a grin. I slyly returned it before giving him the address. Thankfully, it wasn't far away and Happy decided that today wasn't the day to have a heart-to-heart with me.
When I crawled out of the backseat, I tilted my head to the ground to avoid any unwanted attention and opened the door to the diner before I could convince myself that I actually didn't want to see anyone. Usually, I preferred my own company. It was a good thing during training at any rate.
I spotted Jane and Darcy who were already at table. I openly groaned when I saw that it was by the window. At this point, they should know that sitting near the window was a bad idea where I was concerned. The reporters would bang on it until the point where I was kicked out of the restaurant. I really wished I hadn't been caught on film.
Darcy was already grinning when she saw me and Jane sheepishly smiled. When I sat across from them, she started apologizing for the table fiasco. "Honestly, I asked if anywhere else was available and clearly, now there is but when we got here the place was packed-" I held up my hand to stop her mid-sentence.
"It's fine, Jane. I just had a pep talk from Tony telling me I need to start being nicer to the press anyway," I said. "But Happy drove me so maybe they have no clue I'm here."
"I wouldn't count on that," said Darcy, gesturing with her head for me to look around the diner. Most of the servers were staring at me, including one I recognized from the news. Steve had apparently saved her in the middle of Loki's final attack and she had yet to stop thanking him publicly. I mean, could she be any more obvious? Bitterly, I grimaced when I saw that she was waiting on our table.
I gripped the edge of the menu harshly when she walked up. "Charlotte Kent, what a genuine pleasure it is to have a national hero here! What can I get you and your friends?" The girl seemed chipper so I returned her smile with a sly one of my own and we ordered.
"You actually look evil when you smile, you know that, right?" Darcy asked when our waitress walked away. I scoffed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I responded.
"You just look like a villain with a plan, that's all I'm saying."
"Darcy," Jane openly scolded. I shook my head.
"I think it's new spy training, to be real. First, they have me not trusting anyone or anything and now they've trained my facial muscles not to give anything away," I said. When Jane looked slightly horrified, I laughed. "I'm not being serious at all… aside from the not trusting thing. That is real."
From there, Darcy dominated the conversation until our food arrived; talking about Poli Sci, working with Jane, and all that jazz. I started chowing down the minute the waitress put my plate in front of me. I noticed that she had on a Captain America button. My normally large eyes narrowed. I stuffed my face doubly fast from then on. "You're eating like Thor," Jane said, laughing. I tried to smile.
I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and I knew it was some photographer for TMZ or something without looking. I threw them my middle finger while I continued to eat. I genuinely hope they got a shot of that. I'd frame that picture and put it on Tony's mantle. Hell, it could be my Christmas card this year. Darcy was laughing at this point and even polite ol' Jane seemed to be threatening to chuckle.
"You're my hero just because you do badass stuff like that," said Darcy. I shrugged.
"I'm glad someone appreciates my sassy talents," I replied.
"I just don't understand that if they really don't like you, why you're the one they seem the most interested in," said Jane. I shrugged again.
"It's always bothered me but taking pictures of me while I'm eating; I'm sorry but what the hell is that? Is that something that is really gonna sell? They're just a bunch of assholes and I should've refused S.H.I.E.L.D. from the start to do press. It's backfiring." I took another bite. "For right now, they hate me but sooner rather than later, they'll start hating everyone else too." Tony and I knew that for a fact but it still didn't make me any less angry that they harassed me.
Jane looked a little sad and I felt bad that I'd even said anything. The slightest mention of the Avengers made her think about Thor and whenever he would come back. I couldn't count how many times she'd asked me what Thor's exact words were when he left. I wish I had another answer aside from, "He promised he'll come back but he didn't know when." I figured that with Loki's trial, he would be there for an incredibly long amount of time. He wouldn't leave Loki to fend for himself there, especially when we didn't have express need of him on Earth.
I went back to staring at my plate and none of us spoke for a little while until Darcy couldn't take it any longer. "I'm putting the two of you into some anonymous meeting for demigods/superheroes' girlfriends and then you can sulk there," she said. I cracked a smile.
"We'd be the only two members of that fucked up group," I said. Jane started laughing.
"But seriously, you guys are complete Debbie-downers. Please tell me your boyfriends are gonna return soon."
"I missed the memo where I had an actual boyfriend." Jane scoffed.
"Come on, Charlotte. Steve is completely in love with you," she said.
"But if you don't want that fine-ass man, I'll be happy to take him," Darcy said, winking. I made my eyes grow bigger in fake horror.
"How would he handle such a modern woman like you?" I responded, laughing.
"I could teach him some things about the 21st century."
"Oh God, I'll never get that mental image out of my head."
"Me either," said Jane.
"Don't be like that, Jane! I've heard you and Thor!" said Darcy while Jane gasped. I almost spit out my drink.
"Well, there is no possible way that ya'll can compete with Tony and Pepper. I swear, one day Tony is gonna make sex an Olympic sport," I said.
"This whole conversation contains way too much information for me," said Jane, running her fingers through her hair.
"Be glad you don't live with them, that's all I'm saying."
"I've been meaning to ask you, how is living with them going?" Truthfully, Tony, Bruce, and I had been roommates for a little over two months. We had waited a long time for the upper levels of Stark Tower to be livable and workable again before we could move in. Once we did, however, we got on well enough. Tony would go to meetings and have to fly to talk with consultants, Bruce contained himself in the labs, and I was at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters more than I was actually home.
"I like it fine. Tony has made me ice baths more than a few times so I think our friendship is finally at top notch and when I can't sleep, I can help Bruce in the labs. I think all three of us like living together." Bruce and Tony had become best friends since meeting which I assume made Clint jealous initially but then he became close with Bruce and now the three of them were like the musketeers.
"Ice baths? What the hell do you need ice baths for?" said Darcy. I shrugged.
"It keeps a lot of the swelling down when I've had a particularly rough day at the office. I swear, Clint kinda babies me but Natasha won't have any of that." Frankly, though, Clint worked better when he was explaining weapons and hitting targets. Natasha was the professional in hand-to-hand. But neither Darcy nor Jane needed to know the specifics.
"I can't believe you would even remotely agree to do something like that in the first place," said Jane. We had had this argument countless times before, to the point where I could sell her side to myself. She thought being an agent was dangerous, she thought I didn't want anything like that, she thought my strengths lay in words and not knives. All of her points were completely true.
"I have to be able to defend myself, Jane, and if you want me to be frank, I think you and Darcy and even Erik would benefit from some lessons yourselves."
"I am totally there!" exclaimed Darcy. Jane only leaned back in her chair.
"I need some help with the Einstein-Rosen Bridge and I could really use your insight, Charlotte," Jane said. I shook my head at her. She'd been trying to convince me to do that ever since she decided being a field agent wasn't good for me. But I wasn't a scientist. Even if I wanted to help, I couldn't.
"What sort of insight would I have into something like that?" I said. "I don't know anything about wormholes or anything scientific, really, other than the super soldier serum and that's the bare minimum."
"I'm extremely close to discovering how to finish it." She'd been extremely close since I arrived in New Mexico before any of this shit had gone down. It wasn't that I didn't have faith in her; it was that I didn't think the Rainbow Bridge was going to work from a human standpoint. We didn't have a gatekeeper or anything remotely close to understanding how the thing worked.
"I thought Thor had said they were close to finishing a new Bifrost. Will you figuring this out be needed if that happens?" She sat there, pondering for a second.
"Well, we don't know for a fact that it's close to being finished or whether they've even started on it. Thor didn't talk to me about that stuff the last time he was here." Darcy snorted.
"I don't think either of you did a lot of talking the last time he was here," she said. I tried to hold back a laugh.
"Maybe this is a really dumb question," I prompted, leaning closer to the table, "but what the hell happened to the original Bifrost? When Loki first arrived, all he told me was that it was broken. No one could come or go."
"How the hell did that little douchebag get here then?"
"Darcy!" Jane scolded again. Darcy only shrugged.
"He tried to destroy our planet. He doesn't deserve a reaction other than that." I pressed my lips together.
Before either I or Darcy could say anymore, Jane spoke. "I think there's a lot that happened on Asgard before you met Loki that you need to know. I don't really know the specifics to be able to tell you, especially what happened between Thor going back there and Loki arriving on Earth with the Bifrost broken. But he is the one who sent the Destroyer and that thing was clearly only out for Thor." I remembered random details that Loki had told me when we were living together. He was usually wont to talk about Thor but sometimes, he'd slip up. He'd ruined Thor's coronation day because he thought Thor would be a terrible king and by the actions he set in motion, Thor was banished here and Loki discovered he was another race. He had been jealous and wanted to prove himself. But Jane was right. Clearly, I didn't know everything.
"I guess you're right," I said. "But there's no one to fill in the blanks on anything. I really wish we'd kept Loki in custody for a couple of days. Bruce was studying his scepter and he never found out a single thing other than that it was manipulative. I mean, I can't even take it being in the same building as I am."
"Like he would've said anything about it anyway," said Darcy. She had a point. Why would Loki offer up information on that when he was about to be punished anyway? He could let the staff influence us all on it's own.
"Still, it would be nice to know something, anything about it."
"He never talked about what it could do?" asked Jane. I shook my head.
"I could tell that it would influence him too but other than that, he never said anything. I had some stroke of brilliance where I knew it was linked with the tesseract but that's all anybody at S.H.I.E.L.D. knows. I wish that I had more to give Erik to work on but I don't." Erik had asked me so many questions about Loki that it sometimes made me want to hurl. I generally didn't like thinking about Loki anymore but he wanted to know everything that I did so that he could compare information with old myths. I had explained Loki's duplicating trick to the point where I thought I could perform it.
"He really is sorry for putting you through hell about it," said Jane. I raised my eyebrows. "He can tell that it upsets you." I sucked in my breath.
"It doesn't upset me; it's just irritating having to explain certain things he did over and over and over again." I ran my fingers through my hair forcefully. Jane made a face and she knew I was covering it up.
Darcy looked between the two of us. "Seriously, a demigod recovery group is needed." I laughed.
"You got to see Loki before he left, didn't you?" Jane asked quietly. I wanted to bite my tongue. Thor hadn't had the time to visit her. She hadn't even been in the city. She watched the coverage on the news. But I felt bad for her because there was no knowing when Thor would get back.
"I had maybe two minutes with him, two monitored minutes," I said. "It doesn't matter in the long run though. All he did was warn me to take care of myself." I tried not to mention Thanos around Jane. I figured that would unnerve her and she didn't need extra stress. But that sucked because Darcy and Jane would probably be the only two people who would take that threat seriously. "Thor will be back before you know it," I said, trying to be positive.
"Steve will be too," she said back. I gulped. I didn't like talking about Steve either.
"It doesn't matter. He'll be sent out on something again so…"
"Is he avoiding you?" asked Darcy. Jane gave up on trying to scold her. "It's just, you know, he hasn't even had a real amount of contact with you in months."
"I really don't know," I responded. Steve would call every now and then but that only amounted to around 4 times and the service would cut out after a few minutes. Of course, he couldn't tell me where he was, have any sort of real conversation with me, and most of the time, he wanted me to relay some sort of message to Coulson that I didn't understand. "I don't care. I don't deserve him."
"Is that the only reason you've held yourself back from going after him?" asked Jane, in disbelief.
"Holy shit, Charlotte, you are blind, deaf, and beyond stupid!" exclaimed Darcy. I tried to ignore the glares she got from the people around us. "Who cares about that crap? He is obsessed with you!" I felt heat rising to my face. "And now that that little magical weasel isn't around, you have a real chance!" I put my face in my hands, literally facepalming. "If you don't take it, I will punch you. You and Jane have got the sexiest dudes in the universe drooling over you and I am not letting a wasted opportunity pass by. I need to live vicariously through you guys."
"I think I need a drink," I said.
Jane, Darcy, and I went our separate after paying our Captain America obsessed waitress. She made a point to tell me to tell him that she was his biggest fan. I almost rolled my eyes to her face. God, was I jealous again?
After telling off another reporter, I got in the back of the black car that Happy was driving and asked him to take me to headquarters. Evidently, I needed to talk to Coulson and I was desperate to punch something. When I got there, I changed down in the barracks into a sports bra and gym shorts. It was too hot to where anything more. When I arrived down in the gym, I automatically felt more at peace when I spotted a punching bag.
I wrapped my knuckles in gauze systematically, trying to forget talking to Darcy and Jane about Steve and Loki. I just needed to punch something. It would get rid of these conflicting problems.
I moved to stand in front of the bag and I breathed out. The thing was probably my size and definitely weighed as much. I wasn't usually very fond of punching bags but today, I happened to be in the mood. I planned my first hit and went for it. In between each one, I'd repeat in my head, love is for children, love is for children. I didn't know how much time had passed when I heard something behind me and I turned quickly, wishing I had one of my knives from my bag. I wiped sweat off my brow when I realized that it was only Coulson, clutching a file, and Fury. I took a minute to catch my breath, resting my hands on my knees. When I raised myself back up straight, I heard my back pop. I twisted my neck and heard that pop too. I felt like groaning but refrained.
"Well, this is certainly an ironic situation," said Director Fury.
"I'm fully aware of it, sir," I responded, beginning to unwrap the gauze from my hands. He was talking about when I had first been introduced to Steve. He'd been doing exactly what I was doing and I had been where Coulson was. Only Fury was the player that hadn't changed. "Tony said you had a mission for me. I'll hate to refuse but-"
"There is no refusing this one, Kent. This is important, extremely important, and I'm under the impression that retrieving this agent will be of particular interest to you." I raised my eyebrows, still breathing heavily.
"I believe you already know about him from the snooping you did down in our file rooms," said Coulson. I shrugged. It had been my job to know what was down there and who the files were on. What the hell was he talking about?
"I still don't really understand why this is something I should be interested in," I said.
"Agent Romanov has already failed in bringing him here," said Fury. "But I think you'll do better."
"Cut to the chase," I said. I tried to be more obedient now but it still came difficultly to me.
"His codename is the Winter Soldier," began Coulson. I couldn't even attempt to hide my surprise, "but you probably know him better as Bucky Barnes, Captain America's best friend during the war." I nodded and he handed over the file.
"Report here tomorrow afternoon," said Fury. "We'll tell you the destination then. For now, get your mind ready and learn all you can from the file and from Agent Romanov's mistakes. We'll need your tricky way of getting into people's heads. Violence isn't going to make him obey." I nodded again. When the two of them turned to leave, I spoke.
"Does Steve know about any of this? Is he aware Bucky's still alive?" I asked.
"You tell me, Agent Kent," said Fury. "You and Dr. Banner are the ones who originally found his file. Why didn't you tell him?"
"It's not my place," I responded. "It's yours."
"Just bring him in, Agent Kent. He's a dangerous man now but he's still a good soldier." With that, they left and I went down to the throwing ranges to practice a couple of moves. I definitely needed to get my mind off of this.
When I arrived back at Stark Tower, still clad in only a sports bra and gym shorts, I slowly moved past the receptionist without looking her in the eye. I groaned when I hit the elevator button and my back popped loudly once I was in the lift. I was sincerely glad I'd called Tony and told him to fix me a bath. Maybe I wasn't normal but I almost enjoyed ice baths more than normal ones. Maybe it was because now that summer had arrived, New York felt like a humid and sticky jungle. Whatever the case, I majorly preferred the cold to the hot.
When I entered the apartment, I threw my purse on the counter and pulled out the Winter Soldier's file. "Guys, I'm home! And Bruce, I need to tell you something!" I called.
"What did you do this time?" asked Tony as he appeared in the hallway.
"Punching bag, throwing range, and a couple of weights," I replied. I was always sore after weights. That's why I only ever did them once in a blue moon. "Where's Bruce?" Tony shrugged.
"Working late, as usual. But hey, the light over the tub is busted. Will that bother you?" I openly sighed. Tony was so lazy about buying different light bulbs.
"Yeah, I planned on reading this." I held up the file for him. He raised his eyebrows.
"Little Miss Independent took an order. Well, I'll bring a lamp or something for you." He ran off down the hallway before I could respond. Actually, I was too tired to respond anyway so that was actually a relief.
I shrugged off my shoes in the bathroom and the gym shorts before lowering myself into the tub. I sucked in my breath when I realized how freezing it was but my body adjusted soon enough. I never got completely naked in an ice bath because Bruce told me it wasn't a good idea to do so. Tony came in and put the lamp beside me on the edge of the tub. "If you electrocute yourself, you will officially be the biggest clutz I've ever known," he said. I tried to laugh but found I was too tired to respond.
I opened the file once he left and leaned closer to the light to get a good look at Bucky's face in the profile photo they had of him. He was good looking and in general, from the rest of the file, seemed like a good guy. He'd been brainwashed by the Soviets, which I vaguely remembered hearing from Bruce, and had only recently recovered from terrible amnesia. He was staying in a house in Brooklyn and had been avoiding working for S.H.I.E.L.D. since the discovery of Steve in the ice.
The guy was going to take a lot of convincing if Natasha couldn't persuade him. She was usually incredibly good at that and she even seemed to have quite a bit in common with him. The Russians had trained her to be some sort of killer and clearly, the same thing had happened to him. He just originally didn't remember anything before being a mercenary. So of course, now he felt guilty about all of it. I could only guess how he felt about not seeing Steve. Hell, did he even want to see Steve? Did Steve not knowing anything about this have something to do with Bucky? I couldn't see why he wouldn't want to be reunited with-
My arm ticked from the cold and hit the lamp mid-thought. The papers from the file scattered across the bathroom floor and the cord hit the water beside me. I shrieked and threw myself out of the tub when I felt the shock. A piercing pain went through my head and I yelled again before passing out.
Hey guys! So this is the first chapter in the sequel. I promise the next couple of chapters will up the ante. But I hope you enjoyed this one! Please tell me what you think!