A/N: This chapter flew off in a completely different direction than I expected it to. Hopefully, you enjoy it.
Natasha had convinced Clint to engage in a game of cards with friendly stakes, no money of course. Steve was sparring with Thor in the gym. Tony and Bruce were sequestered in Tony's lab going over a new project. Pepper had left for the day to attend to Stark Industry matters and Jane, Darcy, and Dr. Selvig were sequestered in their own lab working away. That left Sigyn, who was closest to a screen and most likely to respond, to answer the intercom when Jarvis asked her for assistance.
Wary of what "assistance" had led to the last time she was cooking something, she set her knife aside and requested a visual of the visitors. To her chagrin, it was the one eyed black man in his trench coat with three men flanking him. "Is he authorized to enter the building?" she asked.
"No. As of the last time, sir has upgraded my encryption codes and thus the Director is unable to force entry as he did before," Jarvis informed her.
"Stark, open the damn door!" Fury growled into the speaker.
"Jarvis?" she asked, eyes never leaving the screen.
"I am disinclined to allow entry to this particular…individual," Jarvis said dryly.
Sigyn smiled as she glanced up at the ceiling and took up her knife again. "Then don't. He'll get the message eventually and attempt to contact Tony the way everyone else does."
"I may or may not have been screening his calls and e-mails," Jarvis admitted-sounding perhaps a little smug-and Sigyn laughed.
Natasha chuckled without looking away from her hand and a smile curved her lips. "That explains why he's here in person, at least," she said, shuffling her cards and waiting for Clint to complete his turn. "I'm surprised it took him this long to make an appearance."
Clint looked up at her over his own set of cards and eyed her suspiciously. Laying the cards down on the low table between them, he asked, "Naaaaat, what did you do?"
There was a lengthy pause as she contemplated the faces of several Queens and Kings. Finally, she glanced up at her partner and said, "I filed my final report on Sigyn."
"And that prompted this visit?" Clint prodded while Sigyn continued to carve a ham with a delicate hand and Jarvis talked her through a new recipe. For her part, Sigyn appeared to be ignoring their conversation and for that he was glad. Since they had made their decision, the woman had not looked twice at Natasha or tried to engage her in conversation.
At length, there was another pause. "It would appear that he did not like some of the things I had to say, especially regarding the new, potential threat of the Enchantress."
The elevator dinged open to admit a harassed looking Tony who made a direct beeline for the Asgardian. "You haven't done anything to the wiring in the walls again, have you?" he asked, referring to an incident that had happened two days previously. Sigyn just smiled at him and dug her fingers into the pig bones, tearing the last bits of meat from the carcass. He made a face and her smile turned into a grin. "That's disgusting."
"It's also how people go about obtaining enough food to feed the nine individuals you've allowed to live here as well as yourself and Pepper," Sigyn pointed out and Clint glanced at them, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "On that note, have you eaten today? I promised Pepper that I would force some food into you at the first chance I got."
Tony waved those concerns aside for the moment. "Not right now. Right now, I want to know why some of my equipment is on the fritz," he said impatiently and Sigyn frowned at the new word. "Not working correctly," he amended and she nodded.
"I have touched nothing electronic that Jarvis has not directed me to touch," she said and looked up at the ceiling. "Jarvis?"
"I have run the appropriate diagnostics on the malfunctioning units. There appears to be no internal damage, however the coding in place appears to have been tampered with recently," he informed them. There was a pause before he added, "Tracing the root of the code and comparing it against previously stored memory lends credence to the theory that my systems have been compromised. I cannot say how far my files have been infiltrated."
There was the cracking of bone and Sigyn looked up at the ceiling, blood draining from her face and possibly even whiter than Tony. Magic crackled at her fingertips even as she forced herself to release the ham bones and ask, "What needs to be done? How can I help?"
Another moment of silence before Jarvis answered, a pleased not creeping into his voice, "There is nothing to be done, Ms. Sigyn. I am tracing the root of the corrupted files to their source and isolating and destroying the damaged files. Recovery of the missing files will require Sir to update them as I have no memory of the files since the last time that they were backed up."
She looked at Tony, a slightly wild expression lending a hard look to her eyes. The ham was forgotten as she stepped away and asked, "What can be done?"
"Nothing," Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair. "What can be done is already being done."
Her eyes flicked to the screen again where Fury was waiting impatiently. She nodded at them. "Might they have had something to do with endangering Jarvis?"
Tony saw where the woman's thoughts were headed and his own features hardened. "It's possible and not out of the question," he answered. "Jarvis, let them in. Direct them to the third floor conference room. We'll be there momentarily." With Sigyn, Natasha, and Clint in tow, Tony led the way to the conference room.
Fury was fidgeting and angry by the time that most of the Avengers made their way into the conference room with Sigyn on their heels. They arrayed themselves around the table, Steve and Sigyn at Tony's side with Thor, Clint, and Natasha taking the seats around them. Bruce, for his part, leaned against the doorframe, which made the SHIELD agents glance nervously around the room.
He had to look again and study them each a little closer, but this time Fury was sure that the Avengers each wore the same expression. "Down to business, then," Tony said. "Did you damage Jarvis' files as well as hack him?"
So he knew, no surprise there with an AI like his. "Fair is fair," Fury returned with a growl. "You-" but the air was knocked from him as he doubled over an invisible fist and felt his airway constrict of its own accord. Sigyn hadn't moved, but it was her, had to be her. The world was starting to spin into darkness around him as his agents shouted at her and the sound of cracking gunfire filled his ears while the smell of sulfur filled the air.
The bullets struck home, but flattened themselves against her skin and clinked to the floor. Tony hadn't moved, but Steve had automatically thrown his arm out to catch her around the waist. A useless, but noble gesture, she thought as he yanked her behind him. "Release the spell," he hissed at her.
Her eyes never left the suffocating black man as she murmured, "In a moment, good Captain. My intent is not to kill, but to warn."
Clint had drawn and nocked his bow and held one of the other agents at arrow point. Natasha held the other two at knife point, though she looked to be keeping an eye on Sigyn as well. "Sigyn," the other woman said warningly when Fury started turning purple. The spells released themselves and Fury gasped down a deep breath while glaring at the sorceress and straightening his suit.
"Jarvis is sentient. Damage him again and I'll hunt you until I am the only thing that exists in your world," she said softly. "For that matter, try anything and I will do far worse than what my husband did to your little base." With that, she turned on her heel and left the room. Bruce cast a backwards glance at them all, met Thor's gaze, and nodded before he followed her.
Tony was inspecting his fingernails when he said, "I'm not the least bit inclined to stop her, either. Jarvis is mine and what you did was unacceptable. Hacking is one thing, but destroying his files and replacing his code are another matter entirely, one that I am inclined to repay with exposing your secrets to the world media. If I so much as find a glitch in his coding, I'll contact Dr. Doom and give him the coordinates and security codes to your secret little headquarters where you stash away all your little prototype weapons and-"
"Tony," Steve said sharply and the scientist only glanced at him.
"-tell him to have a spree," Tony finished. "Just so you know, I'm also going to ignore your little orders regarding Sigyn. She's not a hostile, except when you attack someone she considers a friend or family or provoke her into it. I'm taking her on patrol tonight." He delivered his little speech in such a flat tone that Fury just looked at him with a narrowed eye and rubbed his aching throat. When silence stretched across the room and conversation, he looked at his fellow Avengers and said, "Bruce, Thor, and Sigyn are welcome to stay, but I won't tolerate your presence if you are going to remain loyal to SHIELD and Fury. When the call comes to Assemble, I'll be there, but that doesn't mean I have to live with people I can't trust." His gaze lingered on Natasha and Clint. "I'll give you till the end of the day to give me your answer." Then, he left.
Thor frowned at the flattened bullets that were still on the floor as Clint and Natasha eased off their weapons. "It was unwise of you to discharge your weapons at my sister," he said frankly. "I would advise against doing so again in the future. Sigyn is not known for giving second warnings or chances." Then, he followed after Sigyn and the others.
Clint looked tense and unhappy even as his eyes kept flicking to the door, but it was Natasha that spoke for them. "I gave you my initial impressions of her, sir," Natasha said. "I told you that I didn't think she was a hostile or even a potential threat. I listed the benefits of having a magic-wielding sorceress who is Thor's sibling. That she is Loki's wife is a boon. It means that if we can sway her to defending the Earth like Thor, we will have a better chance of not having another invasion on our hands with him. I'm afraid I will have to throw my lot in with Stark and them. You did, after all, bring us together with the intention creating a team, Director." Clint's lips curled a little as he gave her a curt nod and then they both glanced at Steve, who had remained quiet the entire time.
Realizing it was his turn to decide, he tilted his head a little and considered Nick Fury. He wasn't at all like the generals or congressmen that he had served under during the war, nor even like the men and women that he had met since waking from the ice, but that didn't make him good or bad. It simply made him a man with too much power, just like most of the other leaders he had ever met. Memories of Phase Two and moments his team had defended him during the invasion flickered through his mind. It was, he decided, too easy.
"With all due respect, my team comes first. They've made their decisions and I respect them more than you. We'll continue to file our end of week reports and defend the Earth, but we'll do it on our own terms," he said with a nod. "Shall I see you out, sir?"
Even in the face of apparent defeat, Nick Fury's features were inscrutable. That did not, however, prevent the corners of his lips from twitching upwards ever so slightly. The Council wouldn't like it, he knew, but the team had made their decision and there was technically nothing that group of shadow dictators could do.
It had been a good day.