Chapter Two

Natasha and Bruce were the last ones on the jet out of Sokovia, and once they were securely on board Tony took us up in the air. I watched with a little smile as Nat took Bruce to the back wall of the jet and sat him down, handing him his headphones. She always took such gentle care of him.

I was standing across from them next to Thor and Steve, and averted my gaze to join them in staring at Loki's scepter. I knew every one of us hated the thing for our own reasons- mainly Clint. He'd made a point out of sitting as far away from it as possible, which meant moving the cot he was laying on to the opposite end of the jet.

Natasha, who had been kneeling in front of Bruce while they muttered back and forth to each other, glanced back over her shoulder. "Thor, report on the Hulk?"

"The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims," he answered a little too merrily, shaking one fist before clapping his hands together. Bruce moaned and dropped his head into his hands while Natasha turned back fully to Thor with her mouth gaping open and wide eyes. Steve and I turned to face each other with strained expressions, trying to hold back our laughter as Thor started to sputter out half-assed corrections. "Uh, but not the screams of the dead of course. No, no, uh... Wounded screams, whimpering... mainly, uh. A great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and uh... and gout."

I patted Thor on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "Smooth, Lancelot."

"Hey Banner!" Tony called back from the pilot's seat. "Dr. Cho is flying in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"

"Uh, yeah. She knows her way around."

"Thanks." Tony told Jarvis to take the wheel before stepping out of his seat and joining us at the back of the jet. He came up behind me and poked my ribs, carefully stepping out of the way when I tried to slap his hand away. With a wink he stood where Thor was between the two of us before speaking up again, following our example of staring down at the scepter. "Feels good, doesn't it? I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."

"But this," Thor finished for him. "This brings it to a close."

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for," Steve added. "And I don't just mean weapons. Since when has Strucker been capable of human enhancement?"

Tony nodded, scratching his beard with a thoughtful expression. "Banner and I will give it the once-over before it goes back to Asgard." He looked up at Thor, raising his eyebrows. "Is that cool with you?" When Thor nodded, Tony continued. "Then just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying right?"

"Yes, yes of course." Thor slapped a hand down on the case holding the weapon. "A victory should be honored with revels."

"Yeah, who doesn't love revels?"

"Revel rebels," I chuckled to myself. All three men turned to me with the same tired expression- none of them ever appreciated my brilliant sense of humor. "Oh, screw you guys, that was funny."

Steve shrugged, which I took as a compliment seeing as it wasn't outrightly negative. "Well, hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA, so... yes," he smirked. "Revels."

"Hooray!" I cheered quietly, softly clapping my hands. "I love parties."

"Revels," Tony corrected with one finger pointed at me. I rolled my eyes and waved him off, dismissing the difference between the two.

Our small group dispersed to random seats to wait out the ride back to Avengers Tower. I joined Tony at the front with him sitting in the pilot's seat while I leaned my back against the wall on his right. When there was nobody around to make funny of Tony for being mushy, he took my left hand in his and flipped it over so that the back of my hand was resting against his palm.

He did this after every fight, and it was both endearing and annoying. The tiny screen that sat on my wrist displayed my temperature and heart rate, and he flipped back to check the readings for the battle. We both knew what would happen if I overheated, which is why he was so cautious.

"See?" I pointed towards the screen. "Nothing happened. Even if something did, you would have known."

One feature he had added into the bracelets was that if my temperature reached critical degrees, it alerted Jarvis who in turn alerted Tony. "I know," he answered. "Just making sure everything still works."

"Better be careful Tony," I warned teasingly. "Your soft side is showing."

He scoffed, dropping my wrist. "I'd have to have one first."

"Mhm." I rolled my eyes and left the cockpit to return to my seat, contemplating taking a nap until we reached New York.

When we landed Clint was rushed out of the jet by Natasha and a few of Dr. Cho's helpers. Bruce followed after them and Thor picked up the scepter before heading out himself. I had just woken up and was rubbing the sleep from my eyes when Maria walked in with a tablet tucked under her arm. "Mounty!"

Maria flashed me a small but genuine smile before turning to Tony. "Lab's set up, boss."

Tony turned around in the pilot's seat and pointed at Steve. "Oh, actually he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything, and... make everyone look cooler."

Steve stood from his seat at the same time I did and walked over to see the tablet Maria was holding. "What's the word on Strucker?"

"Natives got him."

"The two enhanced?"

"Two?" I mumbled to myself, trailing after them on the very tips of my toes and peering over her shoulder to see what she was showing him. "Nobody tells me anything."

Steve flipped to a photo of two kids that looked at least seven or eight years younger than me, followed by a video of them shouting in a language I didn't understand surrounded by other screaming people. "Wanda and Pietro Maximoff," Maria explained. "Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special."

"Well that's all grand, Mounty." I slipped in between the two of them and took the tablet from Steve to look over their photos. "But what about the nitty gritty, hmm? What do these two actually do?"

"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermohomeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectric phasing, telekinesis, mental manipulation."

I nodded along, understanding most of what she said. When you spend the better part of three years around Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, you learn a few things. Knowing what they could do only made me want to meet them. Steve, however, looked nothing short of completely bamboozled. I chuckled to myself about the word 'bamboozled', and Maria's short-and-sweet explanation didn't help my laughter.

"He's fast, she's weird."

Steve nodded, understanding that, and stepped inside the elevator. "Well, they're gonna show up again."

"Agreed. Files say they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts." Oh, that is interesting. Now I really want to meet them.

Steve slapped the button for the floor he wanted to go to before turning to face Maria and I with a cheeky smile. "Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?"

I slowly turned towards Maria with my eyebrows practically reaching my hairline and let out a low whistle. She tilted her head slightly in my direction, but must have decided against saying anything as she refocused her attention on Steve. "We're not at war, Captain."

"They are."

As if one cue, the elevator doors slid shut with Maria and I left standing there. It took my a second to realize that my jaw had practically dropped to the floor. When I did realize it, I looked back and forth between the elevator and Maria a few times before clapping my hands together. "Well, that was dramatic."