Special Agent Loki Laufeyson

Chapter 55

The team of NCIS agents and Avengers read through the files sent over by Fury, absorbing the information about G.R.A.V.I.T.Y. As evening approached, the team reviewed mostly already discovered information, but there was data that had previously been unknown to them.

"Ciyako is not just used as an Enhancer," Barton read. "It's needed for their light-manipulator project, the Photon Guard."

"So if Clare Leopard and her associates are trying to rebuild the Photon Guard," DiNozzo said slowly, propping his elbows up on his desk. Romanoff, perched on the edge of his desk, looked down at him as he continued, "They'd need ciyako."

"What does it do in the Photon Guard?" Romanoff asked.

"It conditions the pieces that make up the machine to withstand exposure to extreme amounts of light," Stark said, standing before the large screen. After sending the command to the energy source in Loki's head, he and McGhee had rejoined everyone in the squad room. Stark pointed the remote at the screen, clicking the button, and a photo appeared. He enhanced the image. "Jarvis and I have been working on creating a visual representation of what the Photon Guard would look like, based on the descriptions and images in the S.H.I.E.L.D. files. And this –" the image rotated on the screen, showing the Photon Guard from every side "– is what Leopard and her pals are constructing."

McGhee practically jumped out of his skin when he saw the image. "That's the same shape –"

"– as the piece that vanished from the Lunar Project," Gibbs said, coming around the corner. He placed a full cup of coffee down on his desk as Rogers came in behind him, loaded down with two trays full of the coffee ordered by the rest of the team.

"We're staying late tonight," Gibbs told them as Rogers handed out cups.

****

DiNozzo woke up with a start, the dim lighting of the squad room showing the faint figures of the sleeping Avengers and NCIS agents. He glanced around, seeing McGhee at his desk and Bishop at hers, Thor sleeping at Loki's. Rogers was sprawled out on the ground in front of the screen. Romanoff had gone downstairs to take advantage of the wiped down autopsy tables, and Barton had elected to sleep in the corner where Loki and Bishop had lost DiNozzo twenty dollars. Stark had thrown a fit on realizing that Dr. Strange had already claimed the conference room in which to sleep, and the billionaire had had to find some other place in which to rest. DiNozzo had no idea where Gibbs had gone.

Slowly easing himself out of his chair, DiNozzo winced as his neck throbbed from the awkward position he had slept in. He thrust his shoulders and neck back to stretch his muscles, moving his arms around to work the cricks out of his body. Then he stepped over Rogers into the hallway, noticing that Gibbs wasn't at his desk as he walked past. When DiNozzo had dropped off, Gibbs had still been at his computer working, glasses pushed back against the bridge of his nose.

But he wasn't there now. And DiNozzo knew that he hadn't gone home. So, had he found a new lead and was tracking it down? Or what?

Palming the button for the elevator, he winced at the soft ding the doors made, the noise echoing through the silence. He stepped onto the elevator and peeked out through the space between the closing doors, glad to see the noise hadn't woken anybody up.

The elevator let him off in Abby's lab, where the first thing he saw was Abby lying on her stomach, head cushioned on the stuffed hippopotamus she kept on a shelf. Gibbs' jacket had been tucked over her. Banner was curled up on the desk chair in the adjoining room, head beside the keyboard.

And Loki was lying, either asleep or unconscious, under the soul forge, with Gibbs sitting silently beside him.

"What, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked quietly, glancing over at him.