A/N - Here you go! Left off after the attempted kidnap of Bella in broad daylight.

Previously:

Before hysteria - crying or laughing, she wasn't sure which - could set in, she heard a voice that overrode all the others, and she turned to see Harry, his green eyes ablaze like she'd not seen since London. He moved quickly towards her, ignoring the calls of the police to stay behind the yellow tape. Bella rushed him and fell into his arms, the stress of the last ten minutes finally crashing down on her, and she let him lead her to a vehicle nearby, past the swarming police teams and the SHIELD agents with their dark suits and mirrored sunglasses and gleaming white earpieces, all standing sentry under the warm afternoon sun.

Waiting for Loki's next strike.

Chapter 25

The Helicarrier

It wasn't until almost nine pm that evening that Bella finally had a moment to herself. Stretching on her toes, her arms over her head, she finally settled down on the thin mattress in the spartan quarters SHIELD had provided for her. She pulled the zip on her outfit the final few inches up, needing to shrug her shoulders a bit as the tight-fitting SHIELD uniform took a few moments to stretch properly, though it was quite comfortable once in place. Thankfully, someone had earlier gone back to her apartment and retrieved her belongings, just before she and Harry were bundled into a helicopter. The pair were soon winging their way out over the ocean towards their rendezvous with the Helicarrier, a ship Bella had heard about but had never seen. The ride itself had been quiet, and tense; Harry held her hand in vise grip, his other hand clenched into a fist. He would frequently look over at her, as if he were making sure she was really okay and uninjured.

It took him a long time to settle.

After they landed on the large and noisy flight deck of the Helicarrier - though why it was called that instead of just 'aircraft carrier' when Bella saw mostly fixed wing aircraft and only a few helicopters on deck - they were hustled off for a quick debrief: the first of several to come, she'd been warned. Afterwards, she was able to catch a quick shower and thankfully change into fresh underclothes from the bag they had grabbed for her. Her clothes from the afternoon were heavily soiled; besides the rips and tears from her street tumble, they were drenched in sweat and smelled like gasoline. Not a pleasant combination.

After more debrief meetings that lasted several hours, she and Harry had decompressed for a while before he had to go off to another meeting. When he left, Bella finally got some time to herself, trying to will her mind to relax. She knew Harry would be back soon, so she decided to check her phone, having a fairly good idea what she'd find there. Bella had gotten permission to use it from Hill, after a stern lecture about what she could and could not say on it. Furthermore, in a few hours the ship was going 'stealth' and she would be unable to make any further calls. She wasn't sure what that fully entailed though it sounded pretty self-explanatory.

Bella was a bit trepidatious to see all her missed calls, as she knew her phone had been going off all afternoon. After all, she had been all too correct about making the evening news; the aborted kidnapping attempt and the middle of the day shootout were the lead stories for the five and six o'clock local news and had also shown nationwide on the big networks. ABC got the big scoop and the interviews; they had been doing a community local interest piece when Bella had been snatched not a hundred yards from their news van.

Luckily, the car's explosion wasn't seen on TV, as that was presumably what made them turn their cameras towards the fray. Unfortunately, they got almost the entire aftermath, including her gun battle, and they'd had front row seats to everything. They'd even been able to interview a lot of eyewitnesses before any of the other news stations even arrived on scene or the police got everyone moved back.

Either way, after the story broke, Bella had known that her time of keeping her secret realities away from the attention of her friends and family had come to an end. There was simply no way of lying her way out a video of her in a gun fight.

Shaking her head, she glanced at her 'de-briefing' sheet one last time, making sure she was clear on all the points of what she could and couldn't say. Hill had assigned an Agent to go over it with her, but she figured one more reading couldn't hurt; and with a grimace, she realized she couldn't say much. Just about everything was redacted, and the thin explanations she was going to give would not be easy to sell to her mom.

Bella knew a similar story was presumably being spun to the news media: SHIELD did, after all, have a press department, and they normally used the cover story that they were an 'arm' of the FBI. No reason to talk about super spy agencies, after all, and get people all worked up about conspiracy theories.

Opening her phone, she cringed when she saw the text queue: it was so long that her thumb got tired from all the scrolling she had to do to see them all. Worse, a good portion of them were in all caps, demanding to know if she was okay: clearly, she had some people really worried about her.

Sighing, she noted that the voice mail and missed calls were just as bad; 19 voice mails and 54 missed calls was the final tally, at least a dozen being from her mom and Sophie, and a few from her father as well, which really made her grimace. If he was hearing about this all the way in small town Forks, then this story really had gone nationwide.

And why not? A live gun battle in the nation's capital was surely the kind of sensationalistic news the networks loved.

There were other numbers on the callback list as well, many which she didn't recognize.

"Ahh well, family first, then Sophie," she thought.

Just as she began to dial, the phone vibrated in her hand. Of course, it was her mom. With a grimace, she was half hoping Harry would come early and save her from what would be a difficult conversation.

Here went nothing. "Hi Mom!" she answered, false cheeriness in her voice, realizing too late that perhaps she should have chosen a different tone.

There was a pause, and then, a voice screeched at stultifying volume. "ISABELLA MARIE SWAN!" Her mom's voice shrieked, taut and shrill, giving Bella hearing loss, she was sure.

And then a rapid-fire tirade came pouring out the phone. Bella wasn't sure when the rant would end and she'd have a chance to speak, but Bella was sure her mother would have to stop to breathe sometime.

She hoped.

It was forty minutes later that a weary Bella finally hung up the phone, the last call being with Sophie. Out of all the people she knew she should call back, she only spoke with three: her parents, of course, and Sophie. Her Mom had been the hardest to get off the phone, and Bella was worried the woman might have a stroke. Renee was particularly incensed when Bella calmly told her the pre-arranged story that she was doing internship work with a government agency and she simply wasn't able to discuss it, as Renee didn't have classified clearance. When her mom demanded why interns were embroiled in gun battles, it took a lot of fancy lying - Bella had never been very good at this - to finally calm her down; and it took another ten minutes to dissuade her mother from getting on a flight from Jacksonville that very night.

As to why she was not in her apartment, all she could tell her mother was that she was staying in a secure location until they were sure there were no more bad guys after her.

Her Father was a tad easier, though Bella felt much worse lying to him. He too was disappointed that Bella had kept the reality of her employment from him and was very worried about her safety. However, Bella could also detect a hint of pride in his voice. After all, Charlie was in law enforcement, and now his only child was heading in that direction too - at least in his mind. In fact, just before they hung up, he expressed that directly to her. "Bella...besides giving your old man a heart attack...I want to say I'm really proud of you. When I saw you out there facing off against that guy...well, I don't think I've said it enough to you. You make me really proud, kid. You always have." Bella thought she heard Charlie sniffle at the end, and her own eyes were wet.

"Love you, Dad."

The call with Sophie was, thankfully, relatively easy. After assuring her that she was okay, and once again giving out her 'intern' cover story, Sophie whooped for joy. "I can't believe it," she exclaimed, her British accent sounding particularly heavy. "I've got Janie Bond for a roommate!"

After a tense afternoon, Sophie's silly remark made Bella laugh, a sweet release she needed. "Janie Bond? I think your obsession with handsome British actors is a bit much, Soph."

"Not at all, Agent Swan," Sophie retorted. "I bet you'll have your own call sign soon enough. I can just see it now!" And here Sophie put on a fake, deeper sounding voice with her already posh British accent being even more exaggerated. "I'm Swan, Isabella Swan. Double-oh sixty-nine, licensed to thrill!"

Bella laughed again, falling back on the bed as Sophie giggled on the line. "If you get shot, Swan, it better be with a fleshy pink torpedo!" They chatted for a bit - a nice bit of normalcy that Bella needed - and then she admitted that she might be away for a while, and to please keep up with her bills and such. "This internship might last a while," Bella added lamely.

Sophie was quiet for a moment, and then spoke in a quieter voice. "Bella, you don't have to lie to me, okay? Just tell me to mind my own business, promise me you'll be careful, and then go kick some arse!"

Bella chuckled, promising she'd see what she could do. When she hung up the phone, she was in a much better mood.

Bella still had a bunch of calls to make; Jacob, Angela, a few girls she was friends with from school, but they could wait a bit. A quick text would suffice for now, thanking them for calling and telling them she was fine but was on a comms blackout. She was sure Charlie would give Billy details, so Jacob would hear about it shortly.

A knock at her door a few minutes later had her standing from the bed, opening it to find Harry waiting. "Ready for Fury, love?" he asked, indicating that it was time for hopefully their last debrief of the day. He pulled her close, relaxing in feeling her in his arms. He was scared today, a feeling he wasn't used to anymore.

Bella's eyes ran over Harry's face, seeing the tension there, despite his cheerful greeting, which she knew he did for her sake. The tightness of his eyes, the taut muscles in his shoulders, the tremor in his arms. "Harry, hey. Please, I'm okay. Not a scratch," she said softly, trying to calm him again.

He took a deep breath, and when he let it back out her words seemed to have helped. "Okay," he said, his voice more even. "Thank you, Bella."

She smiled warmly. "You're very welcome."

"You ready for Fury?"

Squaring her shoulders, she walked from the room, pulling the door shut. "As I'll ever be."

Walking beside him, Bella could tell that, even after her words, Harry was still angry. When they'd spoken earlier, he told her he was furious that Loki had targeted her, his voice sharper, with a more dangerous 'edge' to it than she had ever heard him use before; and she had felt his magic roiling in him whenever the trickster Asgardian's name was mentioned.

Indeed, Harry was stewing, though he was trying hard to keep himself calm. He clenched his fists in anger at what might have happened today, and thanked Merlin she got out unscathed. He would have - should have - made sure Bella was fully debriefed when the alert first went out, and not the 'compartmentalized' bullshit that she was given. Perhaps she'd have been more alert if she knew all the details.

But he also largely blamed himself. He should have made sure he personally saw to her safety, no matter what Shield thought or did. She should have been laden up with portkeys, tracking spells, everything and anything that could help him get her out of danger or find her in an instant if he needed to.

He should have protected her like she was the most precious thing in his life, which was in fact how he saw her.

Well, he certainly learned his lesson. Until this threat was over, he would never leave her so unprotected again. She was too important to him, and he'd suffered enough in this life about having loved ones ripped away from him.

Never again.

And he knew this was a promise he would keep, as the thought of her dead or in Loki's grasp made him shiver with dread.

When they had been together earlier, he had spent several minutes waving his wand over her, explaining to her in clipped tones what he was doing. Portkeys on the two rings she always wore: one voice activated, one keyed to her conscious state. Tracking charms on same, as well as on her fingernails, shoes, and phone. More spells of protection on her clothing: flameproofing, tear resistant, shock resistant, acid resistant, waterproofing. He wanted to cast unbreakable charms on her clothing as well, but Hermione had once demonstrated to him why this was a bad idea when he suggested it for his auror robes. If a projectile - like a strong knife or bullet - hit them, it could still cut the skin underneath and might push the unbreakable clothing into the wound. As it moved around in there, the flesh would tear further against the unbreakable clothing. This could be worse than not having the spell at all, she'd said, and he had to let that one go.

Better to apply that spell to armor, anyway, which wasn't flexible like clothing.

Keeping his pace to match hers, Harry tried to calm himself as they were joined by a junior agent who asked them to follow along. This was needed, as they might have gotten lost as they walked through the bowels of the carrier. The private quarters they were assigned were deep in the bowels of the vessel, and they had already climbed several grey steel ladders and metal ramps before they got back to areas that looked more familiar to Harry.

Coulson had once told Harry that this vessel was 'special'; and when they landed on deck, he was impressed with the extra-long foredeck, double decker design, and sleek looking aircraft. But down in the depths of the ship, so far as he could tell it just looked like any aircraft carrier he'd see on tv. Yes, there were some fancy gizmos and data pads and lots of video screens that he was sure were not part of the original ship, but besides that nothing looked any different from what he'd expected. The grey painted, metal corridors, intersecting every which way; ladders and water tight doors everywhere, the flywheels ready to be turned at a moment's notice; the piping above his head, the firehoses and fireaxes and alarm klaxons every thirty feet or so...it looked just like the ships he'd seen in the movies.

He kept very close to Bella, their hands brushing as their footfalls echoed on the steel deck plates. Her presence made him calm, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't admire her trim and toned figure in the close-fitting outfit she'd been given, and he couldn't blame the junior agent who glanced at her a bit too frequently. She was hot, after all.

He also tried to distract himself from the other, quite unsettling thing that had happened earlier by sneaking peeks at her bouncy bum or toned thighs, one of which had a service weapon strapped to it.

His mind, however, wouldn't be distracted for long. Earlier, when he was in his quarters and resting while Bella was showering and returning her calls, Harry had felt something pinging his occlumency barriers. Disturbed, he turned around and saw the ghost like figure of a bald woman in his room. And then, as if she was stopping by for tea, she spoke to him in a cultured accent, calling herself 'The Ancient One.' He wasn't quite clear on how she had accomplished that bit of magic - 'astral projection' she called it - but having a conversation with someone who wasn't there except for a ghostly image made him uncomfortable; it smacked too much of when he shared a mindspace with Voldemort, speaking with him when he wasn't really there.

Her message too had been a bit bland and cryptic; of course, why should he expect differently anymore? As far as he was concerned, anyone with a title like 'Ancient One' was of course going to talk about mysteries and prophecies and speak in vague riddles! He had learned that lesson quite painfully with Dumbledore and Trelawney; just puzzles and clues and a remarkable inability to simply say what they needed to say directly.

Why did they have to be so obtuse?

At least she had been brief; after a few veiled warnings, she said she simply wanted to introduce herself to him, and proceeded to give him an address to visit the next time he was in New York at her 'sanctum'. When he flat out asked her if it was important that he come, he felt amusement from her before she answered. "Not quite yet", she'd said. "But soon, yes."

And then she vanished from his room like the Cheshire cat.

Shaking his head at the strange encounter and returning his attention to Bella's bum, it wasn't long until their escort finally gestured towards a well-appointed briefing room. Inside, everything was painted black and grey, with a large, dark table dominating the space. On the walls, large screens faced the table, all of them showing nothing but the SHIELD logo. Hill and Fury were already inside, but Hill nodded to them and left without saying a word, leaving the three of them alone as the door closed behind Hill.

"Agent Swan, Agent Potter, please sit." Fury said, his voice tight. He took a seat himself, looking wearier than Harry had ever seen him. After they settled, Fury turned towards them, his hands folded on the table in front of him.

He didn't beat around the bush. "I owe you an apology, Agent Swan; SHIELD should have - as Agent Potter has forcefully and repeatedly stressed to me - given you all the information we had about Loki after he stole the Tesseract. We should have notified you of the danger and told you about the Agent's we assigned to follow you in the event you were put in danger."

He took a breath and unfolded his hands. "We simply did not think Loki would target you." And then his voice became sterner. "I can promise you that you will not be left in the dark again regarding pertinent information."

Bella nodded in gratitude, but Harry frowned as he noted Fury's careful use of the word 'pertinent.'

The Director was still speaking. "In fact, it wasn't just for your special abilities for this mission that you are here on the Helicarrier; we believe that this is the safest place for you right now. Keeping you under 24x7 guard at your apartment was simply not an option, not even counting the danger of civilian casualties if Loki comes after you again."

Harry watched quietly as Bella reacted to Fury's speech; and, as he expected her to and to his chagrin, she completely forgave him. "Thank you, Director. I appreciate that, and in no way do I blame anyone for what happened. Who could have possibly guessed he would go after me? I met him once, for a few minutes, almost a year ago. I've no idea why he wanted me."

Fury nodded, his one eye sharp on Bella's face. "Be that as it may, he clearly has an interest in you - and I think now we can all work out why - and we won't be caught unawares again."

Bella nodded in reply.

Leaning back in his chair, Fury paused for a moment as if choosing his words carefully. "I reread your report from your encounter with Loki last year and compared it with the field notes from your near-abduction today. It's clear that you - for some unknown reason - are able to not only see through his illusions but can also nullify the mind control effect he has on our Agents. That makes you a serious threat to him, and we are not going to give him another shot at you."

Harry appreciated the sentiment but knew quite well that Fury wanted Bella close so she could hopefully share the mojo and help them figure out how to free Loki's imperious victims. For that was how Harry saw the mind control: just another version of the imperious curse. He had idly wondered if he could shake it off as well as he had the wizarding version of it.

With his preliminaries done, Fury asked Bella once again - for what had to be the fifth time today - to recount everything she remembered from this afternoon. He flipped a few switches, and suddenly about half the screens in the room were filled with faces. "These are some of our best experts in what we call 'psionics.' The field deals with telepathy, telekinesis, and other abilities that are centered in the brain."

Bella was intimidated for a few moments as she saw all the SHIELD personnel focusing keenly on her, but she straightened her back and focused on recalling everything she could. For the next fifteen minutes or so, Harry listened while Bella walked them through the entire encounter, with Fury or some of the 'experts' asking questions at certain points.

They mostly focused on the thralls themselves. "Are you sure his eyes changed color?" or "Did they seem like they getting orders or were communicating with a 3rd party?" At least a dozen questions were asked.

Of most interest to Fury and the team, of course, was the fact that Bella's magic somehow interrupted Loki's mind control of one of the thralls, they kept harping on this one point, and Harry understood they desperately needed a way to break Loki's mind grip. Unless they did - or found a way to at least prevent anyone else getting controlled - the Asgardian trickster could use SHIELD's best people against them.

Unfortunately, Bella had no idea how she had done it. She was firm in stating that she hadn't meant to blow the car up - just to 'push her shield outward to protect her in case they shot at her' - so she was not quite sure what she did to break Loki's magic or explode the car. And, since they didn't have any other agents who were under his mind control, they couldn't test and see if she could duplicate it.

All they had was guesses, and the hope that, if needed, Bella would be able to replicate the feat.

Hopefully without blowing anything else up.

Finally, after the questions ran dry and seemed to extend to bickering scientific speculation amongst the experts, Fury thanked Bella again. "Agent Swan...Bella...you did a fantastic job out there today. Granted they tricked you into the car," - and Harry thought Fury's lips twitched, - "but everything you did after that was top notch. Congratulations, Agent."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Fury's unexpected praise; in his experience, Fury was not prone to such, and smiled to himself at Bella's small blush. Agent or not, Harry didn't think she would ever accept praise without feeling self-conscious.

It was adorable, and genuine, and was one of the many things he loved about her.

"And now," Fury continued, flipping a switch that cut off the view of the screens and turning them black, "I'd like to bring you both up to speed on what our mission parameters are."

He pressed a button, and the center screen lit up. Dominating the screen, a blue cube that was faintly glowing floated in a 3d perspective. "In the briefing a few days ago, you might have seen in your packets that this artifact was stolen from a SHIELD facility. It's an energy cube called the Tesseract, and is possibly the key to clean, endless energy. In the wrong hands, it can be turned into a weapon of enormous destructive potential."

Another flick of the hand switch, and several faces appeared, including Agents Barton and a scientist who they had seen before, Eric Selvig. And also, the pictures of the two men who had accosted Bella. "These are the personnel from the facility that Loki mind controlled and took with him. We don't know if he has acquired any more, but we are vigorously interviewing the agent we captured today." Fury ground his teeth as if admitting this was painful. "We suspect he has at least a dozen more personnel with him. Several military outposts were raided shortly after they made their escape with the Tesseract, and most of the outpost personnel are unaccounted for. We suspect they are all in his thrall, now."

The Director waited a few seconds more, and then clicked again, the faces of the brainwashed agents lingering in Harry and Bella's minds.

Several of the screens lit up, stretching the length of the room on both sides. On them were shown a group of individuals that both Harry and Bella immediately recognized, as they had not only seen dossiers on them when they were first told about the Avengers initiative last year, but they had also met most of them since that time.

Despite having spoken to all of them save for Doctor Banner, Harry thought It was still interesting to see the short video clips of the potential Avengers while they were all in their 'work clothes'; gleaming red and gold Iron Man armor for Tony Stark; crisp SHIELD outfits for Barton and Romanoff, with bow and arrow or guns in hand; Banner, immense in his Hulk persona, tossing an army jeep like it was a small rock or fighting the Abomination in New York; Thor, proudly wearing the Asgardian armor Harry remembered from Puente Antiguo, hammer spinning in his hand as he rocketed away; and finally, Captain America, his colorful shield guarding his torso as he looked directly at the camera source with a grimace on his face as he stalked closer to some enemy...it was all quite impressive really, and he idly wondered what his and Bella's dossier videos looked like. Something dramatic from the training room, maybe? Or from Puente Antiguo? Or perhaps they were updating Bella's video to reflect what she did today, guns blazing as she took down the bad guys?

Fury spoke again, interrupting his little introspection. "At this very moment, Coulson is on a plane, coming here with Doctor Banner and Captain Rogers. Agent Romanoff just arrived as well and is upstairs on the flight deck waiting for their aircraft to land. Mr. Stark is, unfortunately, still in New York but he is expected in the next few days." Fury grimaced for a moment before his face relaxed again. "I'd like you both to join me on the bridge. The rest of the team will be brought there as soon as they deplane."

Harry looked at Bella, who smiled at him, a determined look on her face. Turning back to Fury, Harry gave the director a grim nod. "Let's go."

The walk to the bridge from the main briefing room was short - a few long corridors and up a ramp - and both Harry and Bella looked around in amazement as they stepped out onto the bridge of the vessel.

For the first time since boarding, Harry would admit that the setup looked nothing like the traditional carrier that the rest of the ship appeared to be; this was something out of a sci-fi movie.

Harry's eyes scanned the room, taking it all in. The room was probably eighty foot round, with vaulted ceilings at least twenty feet high. Dozens of uniformed personnel were standing or walking on metal grates that were elevated on several different tiers and connected with small steps with built-in edge lights. Handrails zig-zagged along the walkways, sleek and futuristic looking, gleaming silver. Everywhere he looked, dozens and dozens of screens sat on futuristic looking workstations, most with a SHIELD Agent seated in front of them. Above, more screens hung, displaying pictures and data and Merlin knew what-else. In the center of the vast space, near a series of tall glass windows that looked out over the flight deck and towards the front of the ship, was a central dais that had two control hubs to the left and right. This looked like the Captains station, and Harry for a moment imagined Fury standing there like a one-eyed Pirate captain of old, commanding his troops to raid and pillage.

Looking around again, he whistled quietly. This place screamed 'COMMAND CENTER' more than any other room he'd ever seen, anywhere.

It was quite amazing, really.

Agent Hill approached them from the dais, stepping down until she was at their level. She stopped and stood formally before Fury, her hands clasped behind her back. "Sir, Agent Coulson just landed. Agent Romanoff reports that she is escorting Captain Rogers and Doctor Banner to the bridge."

"Understood. Hill." Fury looked around the room for a moment, a Captain ready to take command. "Take us up."

"Yes, sir," she said, a small smirk on her face as she looked at Harry and Bella, giving them a small nod before turning back towards the seated technicians closest to the dais.

Hill barked out some orders, and the whine of turbines spinning up was suddenly heard throughout the bridge, as was a vibration beneath their feet. The sound was similar to that of a jet engine, but it didn't seem to be only coming from the area of flight deck - which still had a handful of planes on it - and Harry stepped closer to the glass, looking down to see if he could pinpoint the source of the sound, expecting to see a jet fighter prepping for take-off.

He felt Bella step beside him, also looking around with wide eyes at the controlled chaos around them. When Harry heard her gasp, he turned his head and followed her line of sight to see what she was looking at. It took him a moment to comprehend, and he too then sucked a breath when he saw an enormous fanblade - it had to be at least twenty feet across - slowly rising from the water on a side appendage attached to the ship.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt the floor beneath him lurch, and - impossibly - he felt himself rising slowly like he was in an old, shaky elevator. His eyes trailed back down to the flight deck, and towards the stern of the boat he could see a second fan blade whirring away, now fully clear of the water as the ship continued to slowly rise into the air.

"How...how is this possible?" Harry quietly asked, not able to believe that anything short of magic could possibly lift this enormous ship up into the air. The carrier had to weigh tens of thousands of tons! Harry thought he had a good understanding of the limits of muggle technology, but this seemed almost like magic to him.

Bella just shook her head, just as mystified and amazed as Harry. She was no physics major, but she did love the sciences; the power required to get a vessel this big into the air...she didn't know how big the nuclear reactor - or reactors, she guessed - in this ship was, but they must be immensely powerful.

She and Harry stood in awe as the ship began to pick up speed as it rose, their feet pressing harder on the floor grates as they accelerated upwards. The ocean receded below them, the whitecapped waves becoming little more than small white dots on a blue grey canvas. In under a minute, they must have been over a thousand feet up, and a few seconds later Harry felt his ears pop.

Turning his head, he saw Fury was standing close-by with a smug look on his face.

"Pretty neat, hmm?" he quipped.

Harry didn't have any good comebacks, and just nodded his head, not quite over the shock yet. "Quite."

Turning back to the glass, Harry watched as they passed through the lowest cloud layer. The chatter of technicians went on around him, and slowly the ship seemed to slow it's upwards movement. He thought he heard someone say 'stable at angels 5' but he wasn't sure, as the footfalls of several people were approaching. He and Bella turned at the same time, and Harry watched as Agent Romanoff and Phil Coulson walked onto the bridge, accompanied by Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers, who separated from their escort and went towards different areas of the bridge.

Harry watched as Steve - dressed in a casual leather jacket and button down - was looking around with a wide smile on his face, the same look of wonder on his face that he probably had on his own. Bruce, meanwhile, seemed nervous, and gave everything a quick glance and walked by himself towards the back of the room, seeming out of place in his frumpy brown pants and sport coat.

Bella, meanwhile, had eyes only for Natasha, who she had not seen in a long time. A big smile lit her face as she quickly walked towards her, calling her name. "Natasha!"

Bella watched as the normally stoic agent relaxed a bit and smiled back at her, her green eyes warm in greeting.

Bella felt like hugging her friend - she'd really missed her - but didn't want to make Natasha uncomfortable so she restrained herself, instead reaching for Natasha's hand and squeezing it gently. "I'm so glad you're back! I missed you."

The normally unflappable Black Widow chuckled, a genuine smile on her face. She had few people she'd call friends - and fewer that she trusted - but Bella was one of them. "It's good to see you as well, Bella. And I'm very happy to see you unharmed. I think all that all that time in the gym and at the range helped you today."

Bella's bright smile dimmed a bit as she thought about the poor man she'd shot; but then Natasha stepped closer and softly squeezed her arm. "You did great, Bella. I'm sorry it happened, but it's unfortunately part of the job. Don't overthink it; if you do it might make you hesitate next time."

Bella nodded, thankful for the advice but knowing she would think of it regardless.

Harry, meanwhile, watched everything going on around him. Hill was clearly in command and called out in a firm voice. 'All engines operating, SHIELD emergency protocol one-niner," Harry tuned out the rest, his eyes roaming as a few more commands were issued before Hill said something to Fury, who stood at the central station with a hand on each of the small consoles to his left and right. "Good," he said, his voice carrying. "Let's vanish."

Hill answered in an equally loud voice, clearly meant to be heard around the bridge. "Engaging retro reflection panels."

Curious at a shimmer through the tall glass, Harry looked outside to see what was going on. Walking forward again, he realized the flight deck was slowly distorting, like he was seeing it in broken mirror. The distortion increased until it became very hard to see, like it was reflecting the sky and clouds on its surface.

As he realized what happened, he was floored. "Amazing," he thought. The muggles had invented their own version of the disillusionment charm, using just science and technology. Surely, at this rate, one day soon they would be able to do things that were indistinguishable from magic.

Coulson was right. This ship was special.

Turning back towards Bella, he noted that Fury had left the center station and had approached Rogers, who was peeling a bill from his wallet. The Director and Rogers exchanged a few words before the bill was passed to Fury, who gave it a look before putting it away and walking to Doctor Banner. The Captain, meanwhile, walked towards the glass, again looking around in awe. Harry slowly meandered over towards Fury, who was now talking with Banner. When he got closer, he heard them discussing something about 'search algorithms' and 'cluster recognition'; Harry shook his head, he had no idea what they were talking about.

Fury looked up and spotted him. "Agent Potter, I'd like you to meet Doctor Bruce Banner. He's going to help us find the cube."

Harry gave the shorter man a nod and a brief smile while he extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Harry Potter."

"Bruce," the Doctor answered in a friendly but reserved tone. "It's nice to meet you too." He was definitely still nervous and fidgety, perhaps anxious to get on with whatever 'cluster recognition' was.

Bella and Romanoff, both smiling, walked up, and Fury continued introductions. "Doctor Banner, this is Agent Isabella Swan."

"Agent Swan," Banner said, giving her a small smile and extending his hand.

She smiled back. "Just Bella," and she took his hand and shook it.

"Bruce, then," he replied, seeming more at ease now, his smile less forced. Trust Bella to get someone to let their guard down, Harry thought.

Bella then turned to the Captain who had joined them. "Steve!" she said like she was seeing an old friend, her grin toothy. "I'm glad to see you again."

Harry watched in amusement as a spot of color touched Roger's cheeks. He had seen how the Captain had been checking her out as he walked up to their group, and he looked to be trying hard to keep his eyes on her face and not on her fit body, accentuated by the skin tight SHIELD outfit that hugged every curve.

"Bella," he said, smiling back at her with sparkly eyes. "I've missed you around the gym."

Harry's lips quirked as Bella blushed, not answering; Harry could hear the faint disappointment and mild rebuke in Steve's tone, and he knew then that the Captain did indeed have a bit of a crush on his girlfriend. He wondered if the good old Cap knew she wasn't on the market?

So, saving his girlfriend from answering, he extended his own hand. "I'm Harry Potter, Captain. It's nice to meet you."

The Captain's eyebrows rose at the interruption, but, if anything, Rogers was not a rude person. He gripped Harry's hand and shook it firmly.

Harry could admit, that holding the Captain's hand was like holding a piece of iron, and he felt the coiled strength in the Captains wrist. The up-down movement of their arms as they shook was wholly initiated by the Captain, Harry had the feeling that, physically, the Captain could crush his hand if he chose to.

Romanoff watched the introductions with a wry smile, enjoying her friend's reddening cheeks and the little pissing contest between Harry and Steve. And Natasha knew that, for all her recent maturity and growth, Bella was, socially, still quite young.

It was very endearing, and this trip might bring some entertainment. They certainly needed something to smile about, she thought grimly.

However amusing the scene was, they all had work to do, so she cleared her throat. "Come, Doctor, let me show you to your lab. You'll love it, we have all the toys."

Ok, next up - Loki arrives in Europe and Germany is on his radar! And we'll find out who else is curious about our intrepid heroes!

Let me know what you think!