A/N: Hello again! This chapter was a little difficult to type out, but I hope it's good enough for you guys. Please bear in mind that I still haven't read the comics yet, and most probably never will (due to the long history of all of the comics, and the many writers and artists they have all had). That being said, if something is written in my story that goes against anything in the comics to the point of setting your teeth on edge and putting you off the rest of my story (which are moments that we've ALL had), then don't be afraid to calmly and politely tell me either through review or private messaging. That also goes for previous chapters.
Also, I forgot to point out that I've now changed the rating to 'M'. The reason for this is simply due to the language (what can I say? I grew up with worse in the first year of middle school...) It can be sort of hard knowing when it's too much swearing when half the 'T' stories I've read have at least one swear word in each chapter and fairly risque love scenes.
Anyway, to those of you who actually read all of that rambling ( XD ), thank you for choosing to read my story, and I hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 20
The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
A tense silence engulfs the living room as everyone sips their respective drinks in cautious silence. Now that the heart warming hugs and kisses are out of the way, it only managed to clear up some space for the other elephant in the room to come barging its way into the sweet family reunion.
Ben stares at the agents with suspicion, taking a large sip of lager from the can he holds just tight enough to dent.
The agent that drove me back here stares back at Ben. He's the only agent that chose to have the lager- the other two from the car having preferred coffee. He watches Ben with narrowed calculating eyes, and the chosen lager left forgotten on the table.
Mom carefully eyes another agent that I haven't met yet while drinking her tea. The female agent blankly stares back at Mom from where she stands near the slightly open window; her face is void of emotion as she seems to take a very calculated sip of her water.
Agent Dickhead simply chooses to glare at me. Don't know what his problem is.
A little out of the way; seated on the floor near the corner of the room, Lexie keeps his head down and his face covered by his now shoulder length hair while pretending to do homework. I know he's only pretending because the tablet screen he'd been reading from had gone black around ten minutes ago.
Agent Coulson casually leans against the wall a couple of metres away from the door. He most probably would be sitting down, if it weren't for the fact that all the other seats are taken. He started humming random songs about a quarter of an hour ago -obviously trying to defuse the potentially deadly tension (those agents are fucking terrifying!) but failing miserably.
"This is a very nice home," Agent Coulson says with a benign smile. Mom looks away from her staring contest with the female agent and gives a shaky smile.
"Thank you," she says softly, before taking a long sip from her tea. With the amount she's already drunk from it, it has to be empty by now.
"You're welcome," Agent Coulson says politely. "I always believed that a person's home reflects their character." Mom hums distractedly as she feigns another sip of her tea.
The silence falls again. Swallowing the last sip of my own lukewarm tea, I turn to the female agent.
"So, who are you?" I ask her, not that I actually care. I've never really been much for politeness, and these agents haven't exactly left a very good impression for me...
Well, the American one isn't so bad, I guess...
She raises an eyebrow in a manner similar to the way Loki does when he's moderately unimpressed.
"Agent Mischerova," she says flatly with a strong American twang.
Two Americans. I honestly don't know whether I'd expected more or less of them. Probably more, considering how dangerous they consider Loki to be.
"Why are there only four of you?" I ask her, as Loki most certainly could have killed them with a twitch if he'd wanted to.
"I assure you that we are fully capable of holding our own in a fight, if we need to," Agent Coulson says reassuringly from his place against the wall. I raise my eyebrows as I flick my eyes towards Agent Dickhead, who now seems to be judging our couch and carpet.
"Really?" I say, my voice full of skepticism. "The three of you, against Loki?" Mom drags in a sharp breath of air over on her two seater couch. Ben -who'd chosen to sit next to her- pats her on the back, looking rather pissed at the mention of Loki.
Yeah, they wouldn't understand... I drop my gaze to stare at the carpet. Their reactions don't exactly make me feel any better. Forcing myself to look back up at the agents, I see that the female agent that stayed with my parents -Agent What's-Her-Face- has now turned her suspicious eyes to me. She takes a short sip of water as her eyes seem to unravel my very soul in an attempt to reveal my secrets. I swallow nervously as the stare seems to intensify.
Meanwhile, Agent Coulson works to answer my already half-forgotten question.
"We were only sent in to gauge the situation, as we had no proof that Loki had, in fact, taken residence in those woods. All we had to go on was a funny feeling the locals had been describing around that area, and some fireworks. Not nearly enough to call upon an entire task force, so it's very fortunate that we had decided to take the chance, or we wouldn't have alerted Thor of your location, and we wouldn't be talking here now." Agent Coulson sends another of what seems to surely be a signature smile my way before taking a sip of what must be disgustingly cold coffee.
Yeah, very good job. Perfect, in fact. I can sense Agent Missy's eyes practically burning my face off as I turn my mug over in my hands and stare as the cute cartoon fox face appears and disappears with each rotation.
Does Loki like foxes? I never thought to ask him...
"Miss White-Friar," the female agent says in the silence that follows Agent Coulson's speech. "What exactly was your relationship with Loki?"
My head whips up to meet her stare as a frown takes over my features.
What?! She couldn't have- Wouldn't have- How could she possibly-
But yet the look she's giving me says it all. She knows. That bitch reads people better than I read books, and my thoughts were most probably plastered all over my face.
"He was my captor," I say, but I know it'll be completely useless to argue the matter.
"You can tell us the truth, Miss White-Friar," the woman says in a much gentler tone. Her change from stiff and unapproachable to gentle and understanding almost gives me emotional whiplash. "You would be surprised with the amount of kidnap victims we encounter who end up developing a strong emotional bond with their captors. You wouldn't be the first to have such feelings, Shana." So, resorting to the first name basis strategy to make me feel more comfortable with her on a friendly level. She's smart, I'll give her that.
"We... got to know each other fairly well, but that's about it." While Mom and Ben glance at each other in confusion, the agents simply look at me with their expressions cold and serious.
"Would you mind if we spoke with Miss White-Friar on her own, Ms. White-Friar, Mr. White-Friar and Mr. Asin?" Agent Coulson asks firm but politely, with his sharp eyes fixed on my face. Reluctantly, the others leave the room- Mom and Ben obviously wanting to stick around to provide me with support. Lexie most probably just wants to know the latest gossip, and make sure that the agents don't go whisking me away so soon after getting me back again.
The agents wait several minutes after the door closes; the female agent only opens her mouth to speak once the soft murmuring of speech between the others can heard through the thin walls of the house. It sounds like they might be somewhere in the kitchen.
"You're not in trouble, Shana," she assures me in a voice just soft enough to prevent eavesdropping, whilst still allowing me to hear her. "We just need to know so that we can figure out the kind of situation we are in." Agent Coulson nods his head in encouragement, while Agent Dickhead just smirks knowingly at me. I glare back at him.
"Alright, I'll tell," I eventually say, dragging my eyes back to Agent Missy. "But only if you tell me your real name."
Agent Missy's face swiftly returns to being blank and expressionless. Everyone in the room stares at me mostly in shock.
"What do you mean?" Agent Missy finally says, her tone harsh and not allowing any bullshit in my part.
"Well," I say slowly as I look around the room at the other agents. "You don't really strike me as being quite in the same league as the other agents in this room."
"And why would that make you think that I'm not Agent Mischerova?" she asks me, her tone sharp and forceful.
"Because out of all the other agents, you're the one I'm scared of," I reply honestly. "Of course, I can't speak much for Mr. Strong and Silent Type over there, but Agent Dickhead is either playing up your scary vibe, or you should seriously consider firing the arsehole. As for Agent Coulson, he seems friendly enough. Might have a little bit of danger about him, but he seems harmless- though I also doubt that Coulson is his real name." The man himself gives me a rather proud smile, which serves to more or less confirm my thoughts. "You, on the other hand, strike me as a lier who could kill me in a snap."
Everyone stares at me in silence as I watch the woman narrow her eyes at me. You don't spend two months lodging with Loki without developing a certain sense for this sort of thing.
"So, you tell me your dark little secret, and I'll tell you mine," I negotiate. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone your name; which is more than I can say for you lot with my secret," I flick my eyes around the room, knowing full well that they'll tell their superiors (and in Agent Dickhead's case, their friends) about my secret fairytale affair.
"I can't give you that information," she says stiffly. Her posture screams refusal, and I know I wouldn't be able to push her into doing this.
"Alright, then," I say with a slow nod of my head. "Well, then. You'd just have to stick with assumptions and hear-say, then; which is a shame, as it was such an easy offer." I shake my head mournfully, but I secretly rejoice at dodging this bullet. I don't want to be talking about my feelings to these people. Not when I already know what they'd say and how they'd react.
Either they'd react in pity, or in disgust. Either way, they'll probably talk down Loki, and that's the last thing I want to hear right now.
Agent Missy turns her head to look towards Agent Coulson. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him make a slight movement, but I keep my eyes trained on the woman standing near the window.
"Natasha Romanoff," she finally says, her voice seeming to dare me to say something against it.
"How do I know that's your real name?" I ask her. If she lied once, I'm sure she could easily lie again about this.
"You'll just have to take my word on it," she says simply, crossing her arms over her chest as she looks at me expectantly.
She has a point. She gave me her name, so I guess it's time to spill.
I seriously thought she wouldn't say- what with her being a top secret government spy and all. Maybe Natasha Romanoff isn't even her real name? But then again, maybe it's just the name she uses the most?
With a sigh, I nod my head in defeat.
"Fine, we fucked," I say, figuring it would be best if I went about this as quick and blunt as possible. "Course, he started off being a bit of an arsehole, but he soon got better."
"But he hurt you," the quiet agent says in a much higher pitched voice than I'd expected. He gestures to my arms, where the soft shimmering of scar tissue can still be seen visibly. I shrug dismissively.
"It was a complete accident," I say in explanation. All four of the agents look at me in disbelief.
"It's true," I say, a little defensively. "He was working on his ice magic. I'd followed him out into the woods while he was distracted and made him jump whilst his mind was focused on other things. He made it more than a little known that he felt sorry for hurting me." They still don't look completely sold.
"Ice shouldn't give people that kind of scarring," Agent Coulson says in concern as he walks over to examine my arms.
"Well, it looks like magic ice does," I say stubbornly. Subconsciously, I wrap my arms across my chest, not liking the way that the agents are staring at them. I try to cover the light shimmering with my hands, but even they are lightly scarred.
"But he never... forced himself on you, did he?" Natasha asks before we could get any further off topic.
"Believe it or not, he didn't," I say decisively. Definitely nothing forced about any of it...
"Who would willingly screw that monster?" Agent Dickhead scoffs under his breath. I immediately turn my eyes to him and growl at the man.
"Me, obviously," he curls his upper lip in disgust at my answer. "Alright, you listen now, Agent Fuck-Face-"
"It's Agent Kerne," he interrupts me to say, sounding very annoyed with his nicknames (he wouldn't be the first person). "Agent Coulson had told you that the second we were in the car."
"Whatever," I roll my eyes. "I've had it with you. You've been glaring at me from the beginning, before I'd even so much as opened my mouth; so please, just shut your face and let me talk," I snap, giving him my own look of disgust.
He opens his mouth to argue some more, but Agent Coulson- who's taken a seat on the now empty two seater couch adjacent to me- catches his eye and shakes his head.
The man wisely clamps his jaws shut and fixes his eyes to blankly stare ahead of himself.
"I hope you wouldn't mind if we brought you in at some point soon to run some tests on you," Agent Coulson says delicately. I stare at the man warily.
"Why?" I ask him. They're not going to go do some sort of alien autopsy thing on me just because I happened to shag an alien, are they? I'm pretty sure that's not the way it works...
"We need to perform some tests to make sure that no harmful substances have entered your bloodstream- regardless of whether or not it was intentional," Agent Coulson explains; quickly adding the last part before I have chance to argue back.
"As he's from a separate Realm to Thor, any data we have managed to gather on Thor wouldn't be considered reliable enough for your situation," Natasha cuts in to explain.
"I guess it makes sense," I cautiously allow. "But, could it be done later? Maybe tomorrow or something?" I'd really wanted to be able to settle down first, now that I'm back home again.
"It would be better if we did the tests as soon as possible," Agent Coulson says. "But I suppose the lab would need time to be effectively set up. How about we come to collect you at around six, tomorrow morning?"
"Six in the morning?" I ask in horror. Nah, fuck that!
"We could make it five," Natasha cuts in slyly. I give her a glare capable of burning up a thousand Suns. She just smirks back.
"You know what? Fuck it," I say with a shrug as I turn to look back at Agent Coulson again. "It's not like I have a great deal planned for tomorrow, anyway."
"Good," the Agent says as he stands up; cueing for everyone else to do the same.
"Then we'll see you tomorrow, Miss White-Friar," Agent Coulson says politely.
With very little else said, all four agents leave the house to go wherever agents go to hang their suits. I stay seated in my chair, thinking of all the things that might happen to me tomorrow. Will there be tests and experiments? Would any of them hurt? Will I get superpowers at the end of it all? Will there be needles?
I hope there won't be any needles...
All of them are valid thoughts and concerns, but there's one thing that's painfully obvious to me.
There goes my day of relaxation tomorrow.