A/N - hey folks! next chapter, a bit of a departure from the last few. Hope you enjoy, let me know!

Previously:

"Hmm." Aro's eyes unfocused, and Demetri stood silently, used to waiting on his Master as he contemplated his plans. Even with his own sharp mind, Demetri was unsure how Master Aro kept everything straight, with all the accumulated knowledge, the thoughts of thousands of minds that he had absorbed over his long reign. Finally, though, he looked back up at Demetri, his smile almost predatory. "It's quite interesting how our dear Ms. Swan lived in Forks at the same time we had that problem with the newborns in Seattle." He raised his hand and tapped a single finger against his stone lips. "I also believe our old friend Carlisle and his coven resided in Washington state during or close to the same period."

This was news to Demetri. He certainly knew about the newborn army - he had led the mission with Jane to eradicate them - but he didn't see how Ms. Swan was involved in that. But it did surprise him to find out the Cullen's had also lived there.

Quite a coincidence, Demetri thought.

Aro was speaking again, his voice sharper. "Can you find out exactly where the Cullen's resided? I'd like to know if they lived near Forks, and if they perhaps encountered Ms. Swan. And also find out where they are living now? I recall that two of their number had been spotted by one of our teams in New York City not too long ago, but they did not follow them to their home as they had a different assignment." He tapped his lips again, his eyes now staring forward as his voice deepened."I might need you to fetch the Cullens' before we proceed on our plans for Ms. Swan and Harry Potter."

After a long pause, Aro's cloudy red eyes turned to fix Demetri with a flat stare. "It seems this Isabella Swan might be of interest to me."

Steve took a breath and turned to Thor. "Loki is going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"

Still facing the screen, his arms still crossed and his countenance grim, Thor answered. Bella was surprised his voice was so deep, and seemed to reverberate despite his not speaking loudly.

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor of any known world." He paused, his arms falling to his side as he took a step before stopping, his demeanor somehow resigned. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth; in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

Bella shivered at hearing the grim news from Thor, and a quick glance showed that she was not the only one affected.

"An army," Steve said, looking at Natasha, "from outer space."

As the rest of the group discussed the situation, Bella let her eyes travel again to the monitor which was still showing Loki in the glass cage, staring at the camera with his dark eyes, a small smirk on his face.

And though she was standing with some of the strongest people on the planet, Bella was afraid.

Chapter 32

Aboard the Helicarrier, traveling west at 65 knots

When Nick Fury re-entered the room after his talk with Loki, he noted that Potter and Swan had arrived and were chatting with the rest of the team. Pausing in his steps for a moment, he was pleased that the group were discussing Loki's objectives and how he might achieve them.

Everyone acknowledged him with a nod or a brief twitch of the lips, but he didn't interrupt them; instead, he walked to the railing that let him look out at the bridge crew, the soft conversation of his team washing over him. As they all bantered a bit, he had to bite back a smile; the men and women in this room would - he fervently believed - soon meld into the team he needed them to be.

The Avengers.

Nick Fury had become the hard-ass cynic he showed the world because of years of pained experiences. He'd seen the worst side of people, knew what a power-hungry person could do, how slippery the slope to depravity was and how easily it was justified by twisted people. So it was rare the Nick ever had hope in his heart; always questioning motives, always filled with doubt, always looking for angles.

But with this group, he did have hope; hope that they could - as a group - become greater than themselves, could showcase the best humanity had to offer.

He just hoped they did it in time.

Oblivious to Fury's introspection as the Director leaned over the rail, Harry learned that Romanoff was going to be interrogating Loki within the next day or so; they wanted him to stew in isolation, make him more antsy and uncomfortable, and then send in the Widow. Harry didn't think Loki would be an easy nut to crack, but he had a feeling about the Black Widow, that underestimating her would be a mistake.

Meanwhile, he and Bella strolled over to where Fury was standing, and put their hands on the railing next to him. The Director turned to look at them and greeted them with a terse nod. "Marshall, Cygnet." His lips quirked as he saw Swan's reaction to the name: clearly she didn't care for it. Well, she'd get used to it; her real name had been redacted in almost every SHIELD file and replaced with her new moniker. "What can I do for you?"

Bella glanced at Harry before turning back to the Director. "I need to talk with Loki."

Fury's eyebrow cocked at the unexpected request. He looked Swan over, impressed with her bearing and that she didn't lower her eyes in the face of his hard stare like so many others. He answered her tersely anyway. "Why? I wasn't aware you were trained in field interrogations, Agent Swan." Fury's stare down would have discomfited most anyone - he knew how potent it could be and how intimidated most people felt when facing it. But Bella stood her ground, her back straightening, her eyes locked with his, and Nick had to fight to keep his lips from twitching into - what for him - amounted to a smile.

Swan had come a long way from that timid girl he'd interviewed last year.

Bella meanwhile - as always - was buoyed by Harry's presence when she answered. "Loki seems to have a dangerous fixation on me, Director. I want...I need...to understand why."

Fury's brow crinkled as he stared at the young Agent, his mind casting back, trying to see if he could remember any instances where the Asgardian seemed to focus on Bella. After a few moments, he honestly could not remember anything that stood out to him - unless the snatch 'n grab in DC was aimed specifically at her and not just any SHIELD agent - and tilted his head as he considered her. "Please explain that to me, Agent Swan."

Bella glanced quickly at Harry by her side, before turning back to Fury and taking a deep breath. "Last year...when we first met him back in the desert...he was very surprised when his illusions didn't work on me, especially as I hadn't done anything to try and negate them. He said a few things back then to me...," she paused biting her lip as she remembered, her eyes unfocused and far away.

She blinked twice, coming out of her recollection. "And then tonight - mostly after the fighting when he was led in cuffs to the Quinjet or after he got on it, he seemed to always be staring at me with a strange intensity." She paused for a moment, gauging Fury's reaction, and in a softer voice added, "he didn't look at anyone else like that. I need to know why."

Fury pondered her request for a few moments, his eyes moving to Potter. It was easy to see how much Potter cared for the girl; even standing there before him, surrounded by friendlies and knowing she was as safe as she could be, his entire posture seemed to lean towards her, ready to shield her from anything bad coming her way.

The director considered her request for a few minutes until finally, he nodded. "Okay. Learn what you can while you talk with him. Maybe he'll let something slip."

Unnoticed by Bella, who had her back to the others in the room, Thor had approached and heard the gist of the conversation. "I think perhaps getting anything useful from my Brother will be difficult," Thor stated. Bella turned in surprise - she hadn't heard him approach - and had to look up at him as he stood close.

Bella hadn't really appreciated his height before; he was so well proportioned - unlike Loki, whose height was obvious because of his thin frame - but Thor towered over everyone there, easily six and a half feet in height. With his fancy armor and vambraces, long blonde hair and muscular frame, he really looked like a Viking hero stepping out of some storybook.

On his face though, was an easy smile, above which twinkling blue eyes considered her. "Mayhap you shall have some success, winning him with your gentle smile."

Harry rolled his eyes at the smarmy line from Thor, but Bella - despite her enormous growth in self-confidence over the past year - still blushed pink at the compliment, swirls of color lighting up her cheeks. Seeing this, Harry chuckled, and then Thor laughed as well, throaty and loud, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

Seeing everyone looking at her, and Natasha smirking - Bella didn't doubt she'd heard every word as nothing got by her - Bella blushed even more. After a moment though, she smiled and shrugged her shoulders, chuckling herself at her annoying and embarrassing tendency. True, It had been a pretty corny line, but she was made of sterner stuff these days and could give as good as she got. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Bella replied with a saucy wink, earning a good hearted laugh from the mighty Asgardian.

Not even an hour later, Bella walked into the secured area where Loki was being kept. The only way into the compartment were a pair of double doors - like an airlock - and only one could be open at a time, minimizing the chance of an escape into the main part of the ship. As she passed the second door, it sealed shut behind her with an ominous hiss, like a snake warning her away. She had asked Harry what he thought about coming with her with a charm, or maybe under his cloak; but Harry said there was a chance Loki might detect him, and Thor concurred, saying that he possessed many magical abilities that let him find hidden foes. If Harry accompanied her and Loki found him out, Thor told them it would probably ruin any chance Bella would have of getting an honest answer from him.

The glass and steel cage dominated the otherwise drab grey room, filled with pipes and conduits and other things Bella couldn't even guess the function of. A fairly noisy background 'thrum' resonated through the space, probably coming from all the pumps and bearings that worked the huge turbines powering the ship. Under her feet, solid metal grates covered the floor area, ending right in front of the cage itself.

As Bella approached Loki, she was well aware that he was on his feet and examining her. She hadn't looked at him directly yet, but she could almost feel his gaze upon her skin, like an unwelcome caress of cool air.

Finally, she looked up, seeing him wearing an amused smile as he stood in the exact center of the cage, his hands folded in front of him similar to the way his brother Thor had been standing. She again was aware of his great height, taller than his brother by several inches and seemingly taller because of his thin build. "I was wondering when you would come, Isabella. I expected you before this - surely your poor prisoner deserves some human interaction?"

Bella stopped a few feet short of the cage. not rising to Loki's bait; she looked at him, his arrogant expression filled with an almost mocking cruelty. Not surprisingly, he in no way, shape or form looked like a prisoner or even as he'd suffered a defeat. As Steve had insightfully remarked, Loki seemed to be the only one who wanted to be on the boat.

His attitude make Bella wary and nervous; she'd talked a bit more with Thor about his brother, trying to gain some insight. During their conversation, though, Bella would sometimes glance at the monitor, only to see Loki staring right back at the camera - it felt almost like he was looking directly at her.

Thor had warned her, though, to never let Loki spot weakness; that he thrived on it, and, figuratively speaking, enjoyed driving home his nails into the beaten skulls of his opponents. So Bella put on a brave face, and taunted Loki right back. "Well, I figured that, given your current accommodations," and here she gestured with a loosely waved hand at the cage around him, "you wouldn't be coming to see me."

Loki's smirk faded a bit, replaced for a brief moment with an almost genuine smile. "This," and Loki let his eyes glance around his cage," is but a temporary dwelling for me. I shan't be here long." His eyes seemed to glow as they focused on her again. "When I depart these luxurious quarters, however, I think I may steal you away with me."

Again, despite her nerves and Loki's threats, Bella stood firm. "And how would you do that? Besides being locked up in a cage, I seem to be able to resist your scepter. And I doubt your charm alone will convince me to decamp with you."

On the monitor, Harry and Natasha each smiled, watching as Bella verbally fenced with Loki.

"The maiden does well," Thor remarked. "She has gained my brother's interest, but she must take care. My Brother has high intellect and is skilled in matching wits."

Loki's eyebrows rose a fraction, his eyes glittering as he stood in silent contemplation, observing her for a long minute. Staring into his green eyes, Bella swore that she could see circular patterns in the iris...almost like looking down into a spinning funnel. For a second she felt disoriented, but then she could concentrate again and the effect diminished and she held his gaze steady.

Despite her show of strength, Bella was very nervous, and could feel a drop of sweat sliding down the center of her back. She worked on the mental exercises Harry and Natasha had taught her, keeping her breathing and heart rate under control.

For his part, Loki was impressed. Besides her wit and intellect - which he would enjoy teasing out further once she was properly subjugated - this young girl had not only defeated his illusions and broken the power of an infinity stone by releasing his thralls from his dominion; no, she had done more. He had just used his most subtle Vanir Magic that he had learned from his mother, trying to break her mental defenses in a bid to read her mind - and she had not even twitched! The All-Father himself was not immune to Loki's skill in this area, though he could admittedly detect when it was used.

But this girl! Such an innate talent!

Loki finally shook his head in surprise and a touch of respect; he'd taken her measure, and she had surpassed expectations. She was indeed worthy.

Tilting his head to the side, he broke the strange stare down. "These walls shall not hold me a moment longer than I wish it, Seid-Kona. I'm content to rest myself here for now." He waved a hand as if his imprisonment was truly of no import. "But you! You are the first mortal...indeed, the first of any race...that has resisted my talents since I'd come into my power." He took a step forward, closing the distance to her and surprising her as they now stood only a few feet apart, forcing her to look up at him. "That is indeed a wondrous feat, likely worthy of a song to my brother's band of merry friends back in Asgard." He couldn't keep the disgust of the name out of his tone, but quickly turned contemplative as he considered her.

He paused for a moment, raising one arm across his chest which then supported the second at the elbow. His fist came to his chin, putting him into a classic 'thinkers' pose. In a quieter voice, devoid of his usual tone of arrogance and derision, he asked, "I wonder why that is?"

Bella didn't answer, her mind cataloguing everything about what he said - and maybe didn't say, before finally she just shrugged, her lips twitching. "I'm just special that way, I guess."

Loki chuckled, seeming delighted with her banter. "It's refreshing to have someone of wit to converse with. I've missed proper company lately; your Hawkeye seems rather dull, and your other companions...the less I say about them the better."

Bella had to force down an angry retort, and instead spoke in a reasonable tone. "If Clint is so tiresome, why not release him back to us?"

Loki's lips curved into a slow smile. "Why indeed?" He began to walk slowly around his cage, his hands now clasped behind his back. He completed a short circuit around the edge of the cage before he stopped, swinging his head back to her. "Perhaps I've still a use for him." He waved a hand like it was of no consequence, before he stopped and smirked. "But I think my time with him shall soon be coming to a close." Bella watched as his green eyes began to lighten, the hues changing, the green leeching away, until they were a glowing blue again. He then turned and gave her a sharklike grin, so feral and filled with madness that Bella couldn't help swallowing in the face of it.

Loki noticed the effect his words had, and chuckled again, seeming to calm, his menacing persona subdued again and his eyes back to green. "But for you? I would have great use for you, my dear Isabella. You intrigue me as no one has for a long time." He then gestured with a single finger up towards the hidden cameras in the room, his eyes following. "Too bad that our conversation is not private; I am sure I could be much more persuasive." And then he looked back at her, another calculating smile on his face.

Bella could admit, with his normal smile and his green eyes, he was a strikingly handsome man, but in no way was she charmed; she knew what lay behind the facade, and despite Loki trying to woo her, it wasn't working.

Taking a deep breath, she tried again. "Tell me plainly, Loki. Why are you interested in me?"

For a moment Loki's eyes flickered, the green becoming stronger, like they were struggling against the blue - she couldn't understand it - but then they faded again, the blue taking over. It was strange, and Bella decided she'd ask Thor about it later.

Nodding, Loki began to pace around his cage, his hands again clasped behind his back. "It's quite simple, Isabella. You have a gift...a gift unlike I've ever seen before. Your magic tastes strange, your ability to see through my illusions is unprecedented, and your resistance to...my other talents shows you have the seeds of greatness in you, there for the taking." He cast a lazy hand towards the walls. "These fools at SHIELD...they will not train you properly, and will use you as soldier, throwing you against silly little threats with no care as to your well-being at all." He was gesturing with his hands as he walked, not looking directly at her, his voice gradually getting louder. "I could take you, make you great, and stand you by my side as I rule this world and others. We could end this fighting, and bring about a just world where humans no longer slaughter each other. " He paused for a moment, facing the back of the cage, talking to her over his shoulder. "This is the offer I make you - to take you and make you greater than you are."

He spun back to face her, eyes gleaming green again. "All you need do is take it."

Bella felt the power of his words hammering at her, filled with conviction. They almost felt...heavy, and compelling, and they seemed to make so much sense...And then Bella's shield flared in her mind, and the spell Loki had tried weaving on her dissipated, and Bella finally lost her cool. "I won't ever join you, Loki. You're an indiscriminate killer, and your tricks don't work on me."

Loki leaned forward until his face was almost touching the glass. "We shall see, little Swan." Their eyes locked, neither looking away for many heartbeats, until Loki's eyes faded back to blue and he smirked again. "Run away, now, Isabella. Run back to your pathetic band of friends. Nothing will save them, and I will take you when and as I please." His eyes were full of dark promise.

It was a half hour later that a shaken Bella finally finished her discussion with the rest of the Avengers. They discussed Loki's words to Bella, and Thor was very helpful in calming her as he explained that Loki loved his little games and power plays. They'd decided Romanoff would go try again in a day or two, and then their conversation died out and they'd went their separate ways. Natasha left first, followed by Thor and Phil Coulson. Bella and Harry lingered for a few minutes, listening as Tony and Bruce tinkered with the spear, trying to track the tesseract using the frequency of the stone in the spear as a reference guide. Unfortunately, the thing gave off a huge range of frequencies and it was slow going.

"How much longer, Doctor?" Fury asked Bruce.

"Two, maybe three days."

Fury looked at him with a frown. "I don't think our guest is going to want to stick around for that long, Doctor. See if you can reduce that time."

Bruce took a deep beath, not wanting to get upset with this man who clearly knew nothing of the difficulty of what they were trying to do. Despite the Tesseract being unique and having a signature unlike anything else on earth, it was quite difficult to track when it wasn't actively being used. He had looked over the data from Selvig before the lab in the desert blew up, and during it's 'quiet' states the radiation output was only a bit higher than that of typical x-ray machine in a hospital! Even with all the gamma ray scanners in the world looking, it was going to take time, and the only reason he'd been able to give that answer at all was because he was confident that he could tighten up the cluster algorithm even further.

He'd been tempted to cut out huge swaths of the search areas - places like Antarctica, and the frozen areas north of the Arctic Circle - thinking that Loki would have difficulty getting men and equipment to those places. However, Stark had warned him that they had no idea what Loki's capabilities might be, and Thor had agreed with him that Loki was too crafty to rule anything out, even adding that it wouldn't surprise him if he was hiding it inside a big city, right under the government's noses.

Just as they turned to go, Tony made a teasing remark about how badass Bella looked on TV, and she turned to him with a worried frown. "I'm really worried about what my parents and friends might be thinking," she admitted. "I can't get a message out from here, and I know they are probably going crazy."

"Don't you worry, Isabella. Uncle Tony will handle it." He gave her a lopsided smile, and Bella thanked him before she and Harry left the lab. They had not even walked for a minute before Bella's SHIELD issued communicator beeped, and she looked at the screen in curiosity. "Handled. Love, Uncle Tony."

Bella smiled as she showed the screen to Harry; she wasn't sure what Tony did, but she trusted that he'd somehow gotten word to her parents and Sophie. Those were the people she thought, that would be the most worried.

She and Harry eventually made their way to the mess hall, a fairly large and square shaped room with perhaps seven or eight tables in it. The tables themselves were very cheap looking and unimpressive; orange Formica tops on rounded steel frames, and foldable plastic chairs to sit in. There were maybe fifteen or so chairs at each table, and less than a quarter were occupied by crew. She knew there were a few of these canteens, but didn't know if they were separated by officer and enlisted men like Harry told her they had on normal navy ships.

The walls were slate grey - the favored color of the Navy it seemed - with innumerable pipes and metal hoses going every which way. A few photographs lined one wall, but they were too far away to see them in detail. A notice board and the day's menu were the only other items in the dreary room.

After grabbing some trays they navigated to the buffet service areas. After looking over the selections, Bella settled on a salad and a coke, while Harry had a very unappetizing looking - at least to Bella's eyes - chunk of meat loaf in a brown sauce with some waxy looking vegetables on the side. She continued to make faces at his selection even as they sat down at one of the tables near the door, a few feet away from a group of men who looked like naval officers.

Bella took a bite of her salad, quietly crunching on the lettuce and trying not to laugh when Harry made a face at the taste of his food. "Not to your liking?" she teased.

Grimacing as he swallowed the meat loaf - he now doubted that is what it was - he made a sour face. "Not the worst thing I've had."

She laughed at him as he tried to swallow his bite. "Oh Harry, I could have told you it was going to be gross. And you cook! You should have known when you saw that meat floating around in that goo."

He waved his fork as he plucked a baby carrot up and popped it in his mouth. "You're right, but I figured how hard could it be to ruin meat loaf?"

"Trust me, this bunch could ruin anything," the voice of Natasha Romanoff interjected, surprising them as she slid into a chair next to them. "Someone should have told you never get anything that is in a sauce on this ship. That generally means its disgusting enough that they want to drown the taste out." She pointed to her own salad, with slices of white meat chicken on top, not too disimilar to Bella's.

Harry looked down at hi own plate, then at the girls smirking at him, and he pulled his chair back and stood up. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up. I'll be right back." And he walked towards the salad bar, dumping his meat loaf on the way.

Natasha turned towards Bella and lowered her voice. "So, how are you feeling? Your first mission, and it was a tough one." Her green eyes roamed Bella's face, looking carefully to gauge if Bella was really as composed as she seemed. Fury had asked her to keep an eye on Bella, to make sure she was integrating well and that she was comfortable. Natasha would have done this anyway, simply because she liked Bella: this was not something she could say about most people. Bella had a vulnerable honesty - part of which came from being so young and 'green' - but some, Natasha figured, was just the girl's open personality.

Bella finished chewing her lettuce, and looked at Natasha, touched by the concern she heard in her voice. "I'm...okay, I guess. It was very stressful, but Harry helped. A lot." A small smile pulled at her lips, and Natasha smirked.

"I'm sure he did. And I'm sure you helped him, too," she said with a teasing voice. When Bella's cheeks pinked, the older woman chuckled. "Gotta work on that blush, Cygnet. It'll give you away every time."

Bella huffed and rolled her eyes, scooping another forkful of lettuce and chomping on it. "You know," she finally said, "I never realized how much exposure we might sometimes get. I hate that my parents and friends have seen what we do."

Natasha nodded in agreement. "It may not happen often, but you can't count on anonymity these days. Everyone has a camera, so unless you are inside a building or in a dark alley you've got to figure that someone will grab a snapshot of you. And if its dramatic, expect it to be on TV or the internet."

Bella nodded thoughtfully, taking another bite. "What about getting a mask? I noticed that Clint had one that he sometimes wears, and Steve and Tony have their own too."

Too late Bella realized her mistake in mentioning Clint when Natasha's green eyes became cold; clearly, Clint was a sore subject at the moment. "I...I'm sorry, Natasha. I didn't think."

Taking a deep breath - which was an uncharacteristically huge tell for the Black Widow - she turned to look at Bella. 'Not your fault. I'm just...I hate feeling powerless. Clint's been my partner…and friend...for a long time. You remember I told you how he and I met?"

Bella nodded, remembering it very well; how Clint had been sent to kill the Black Widow, a young assassin for the infamous Red Room. Natasha was barely nineteen at the time, and Clint - himself only 23 - decided to spare her life and give her a chance to come over to SHIELD. Natasha never looked back, and had said on several occasions that she owes Clint her life and sanity. "I do remember," Bella replied softly." She leaned forward, her eyes locking with the older Agent. "And we'll get him back, I promise. If I can get close to him, even just for one minute, I know I can cut the tether to Loki and get him back to you."

Natasha's eyebrow raised at the specific reference Bella made - she didn't say 'to us', but rather 'to you.' She doubted it was an accident - after all Bella was usually very perceptive - and she reached over and gave Bella's free hand a squeeze in acknowledgement. "Thanks Bella."

"Anytime, Nat."

The pair shared a small smile, and Harry arrived and sat himself down, a fresh salad on his tray. "That looks like a much better choice that the meatloaf, Harry," Bella said, her mouth full of crunchy lettuce as she gestured with her fork.

Natasha grinned. "Meat Loaf? Who told you it was meat loaf? I am pretty sure it's old horse and maybe some yak meat. Everyone knows not to ever eat that. Why do you think the hot tray was so full? No one eats that slop."

Harry's eyes widened as he turned towards Natasha. "Horse meat? Yak meat? What.,.."

Bella started to giggle and Natasha just smirked, and Harry belatedly realized she was kidding. "Oh, hardy har," he groused, shaking his head and chuckling himself as Bella continued to snicker. "Let's just see who saves your tight little butt next time, missy."

Bella's eyes widened in mock outrage and the three all got a good laugh from it. They continued to chat for a bit as they ate, until Natasha brought Bella back around to the question she'd asked earlier. "So, in terms of a mask or disguise...I sometimes wear one on missions that I know are going to be in the public eye. Not much lately, but early on in my career, before people knew I was in SHIELD, I would wear a mask that covered the top half of my face and hair, sort of like a half cowl. If you want, you can ask Maria Hill and she could get something ordered for you from outfitting."

"Outfitting?" Bella asked. "Do they like, make outfits?"

Natasha shrugged. "I guess they do a little of this, little of that. Outfits, masks, specialized combat BDU's, stuff like that. They also do all the camo gear...-", here, Bella made a confused face," - sorry, camouflage gear, Natasha continued," and they do take special orders. Just think about what's comfortable and what can be quickly taken off and stashed away. Remember our jumpsuits don't have a lot of pockets so make sure its small and easily stash-able."

Bella nodded, running her hands down the sides of her jumpsuit. She had to admit she'd gotten used to it, though it left very little to the imagination when it came to one's body shape. Thankfully, she was toned and fit and looked pretty good in hers. It also made her feel a bit safer for the protection it offered; it was a lightweight polymer cross weave, similar to Kevlar but lighter and more flexible, so Bella figured it was worth the sacrifice of being embarrassed by her female attributes being so lewdly displayed by the outfit. It could easily stop a slashing knife, and was at least somewhat resistant to penetrating weapons, flames, acids, and even icy cold water.

Yes, Bella decided, she'd be talking to outfitting quite soon. She didn't want to worry anyone again.

"Do I get to help pick the mask?" Harry asked, a not-fooling-anyone innocent expression on his face.

"Absolutely not!" declared Bella, while Natasha just raised an eyebrow. "I can't even imagine what you will put me in!"

With that last remark, they finished up their meals and waved goodbye to Natasha as they headed back to their quarters.

Just some character driven stuff this time around. Thinking that deviations from the movie are coming up. Let me know what you think!