Planning Ahead

The day was a blur of activity from SHIELD swooping in to pick up Loki and the Tesseract to Tony making good on his promise by forcing us to go out and eat shawarma with him only minutes after the battle. We were all absolutely exhausted with more than a few scrapes and bruises, but there was no saying no to the man who had been willing to fly through an alien portal to save us.

We didn't stay in the restaurant long, however. Even if Fury hadn't insisted on our returning to the helicarrier, most of us didn't have much of an appetite given everything that had happened anyway. Once there, we changed into clothing that wasn't battle-worn before going into a quick meeting to discuss our next move.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Thor had insisted. "As does Loki. He will be punished under our laws, and the Tesseract will be locked inside the Vault where no man will be able to reach it."

Nobody had any objections, so he went on to explain that he had a plan for returning home. It involved using the Tesseract as a portal and what he described as "dark magic" that nobody really understood, but he seemed confident in his plan and none of us questioned it.

"We'll get you where you need to go," Fury assured Thor after relaying the directions to the portal opening to the SHIELD agents operating the helicarrier. "You and Loki both. As for the rest of you-" He was interrupted a flash of white dipping in front of his face before fluttering around and landing on his shoulder. The entire team watched with expressions of amused confusion as Fury froze up. "Why is there a bird on my shoulder?"

"Lala!" I cheered, running forward and holding my hands out towards the dove. She obediently flew forward to land gently in my palm while I stroked her feathers. "There you are, baby! What were you up to while mommy was saving the world?"

Clint took a small step behind Natasha, shaking his head and pointing at Lala. "Keep that devil bird away from me!"

"She's not a devil bird!" I glared at Clint, tucking Lala against my chest. "She was just protecting me. She's a good little asskicker, aren't you, Lala? Yes, you are!"

Fury sighed deeply before turning his back on us and returning to his pedestal to take back command of the helicarrier, calling back to me over his shoulder. "Just get it off my ship."

I busied myself with cooing over Lala until we were taken to the stone balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. SHIELD had also provided us with transportation for our way out, thanks to Natasha for speaking with Fury about it beforehand. Once we were finally in place, we turned to Thor before he could make his grand exit.

He shook Selvig's hand before facing the rest of us with a smile. "It's been an honor to call you my allies. I hope we meet again someday, and under better circumstances."

"Aww, c'mon buddy," I grinned. "You'll make us cry with these sappy speeches."

Thor patted my shoulder with a chuckled. "My apologies, Alice." After I nodded he walked over to Loki, who was glaring at us all from his spot in the middle of the balcony. Bruce used a large set of pliers to lift the Tesseract out of a briefcase and place it inside a glass tube Erik was holding that he then handed to Thor.

He nodded at us all once more before shoving the opposite end in Loki's hand, who twisted the handle. Blue light shone down on them from an unseen source, absorbing them into the sky. I would have called it one of the weirdest things I'd ever seen if I hadn't just lived through the potential apocalypse.

When they were gone, the rest of us stared at the now empty space for only a moment before breaking off into smaller groups. Clint and Natasha were standing next to their sleek black car, whispering to each other. Steve shook Tony's hand before making his way over to his motorcycle, swinging one leg over the side. Bruce dropped the duffle bag he had been given by Natasha into the backseat of the red car he would be riding in with Tony.

SHIELD had provided me with a black Jeep that was parked at the back of the group, but I walked instead towards where Bruce was standing. After situating his bag, he turned back to face me with a gentle smile. "So, I'm going out to California for a little while," I explained, shoving my hands down into my pockets as I rocked slightly on my heels. "My brother got himself into a bit of trouble with his boss. Something about hacking the company's finance systems and driving his boss's car into a pool."

"That sounds like quite the vacation," Bruce laughed quietly.

"Scott's always been a bit of a troublemaker," I shrugged. "But that's what little brothers are for, I suppose. My point is that I'll be out of town for a couple weeks, and I was wondering if you would still be around when I get back."

He smiled through his thinly veiled confusion, his eyebrows knitting slightly. "Yeah, I'll be around for a while. I've decided to take Tony up on his offer of visiting 'Candy Land'. Why do you ask?"

"Because," I drawled, rolling my eyes, "we still haven't settled our debate over which is superior, magic or science."

"I guess we didn't. Although, it was never really a debate in the first place. I didn't believe that you really had magic, and your goal was to prove to me-"

"I'd like another chance to debate with you," I interrupted, raising one eyebrow with a smirk. For a genius, he was very naive. "Preferably without Tony's incessant interruptions."

"Oh, you… Oh." Bruce chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck. There it is. "I don't know if that's the best idea. I'm not very good with… debates," he sighed.

I ducked my head a bit to catch his avoidant eyes, trading my teasing smirk for a soft smile. "I think you'd be wonderful. If there's one thing you should have learned about me by now, it's that I never give up. So, when I get back, you and me." He hesitated for just a moment longer than I was completely comfortable with before releasing his breath in a huff, laughing softly beneath his breath. "I'm taking that as a yes."

Before he could say anything else, I wiggled my fingers with a small flourish that produced a rose between them. When he glanced between the flower and myself, I shrugged as I tucked it into his jacket pocket. "Who says the woman can't give the man a flower?"

"You are… really something else."

I offered Bruce a small yet dramatic bow. "You have my thanks. See you in a few weeks, Umbruce."

"Right," he nodded as I backed away. "See you then."

Tony and I crossed paths while I was walking back towards my own car, and I pointedly ignored the smirk on his face while he gestured back and forth between Bruce and I. Even though nothing had happened, a lady does not clumsily-ask-a-man-on-a-date and tell.

I watched Lala land in the passenger seat with a small flutter of her feathers as I started up the car's engine, waiting for everyone else to pull out before I did. Family problems aside, our work was done, my personal mission was accomplished, and the planet was still intact. Not a bad weekend, if I do say so myself.

And there you have it! Alice's part in the Avengers timeline has come to an end.

Her story is far from over, however. I'm going a new direction with all of my future stories, which will include any further installments in this series, where I'll be straying further from the cannon MCU. This is something I've wanted to do for a while but never got around to due to my fear of you all not enjoying it, but I've had many, many requests to go in this direction lately. As Alice's story progresses, it will follow the MCU, though there will be a few changes. I won't spoil anything else. :)

I hope you all enjoyed the story and will continue to follow Alice. But for now, thanks for reading. See you in the next one!