A New Beginning

Chapter 22- One Way Trip

With a flash of blue light, the beam of energy spurting from the Tesseract dissipated and the huge wormhole in the sky slowly vanished.

But Noelle kept her eyes on the sky until she saw him.

The shell of the Iron Man falling at a rapid pace.

~~~~~~

Noelle leapt down from the top level of the roof down to the lower level where she had initially encountered Loki, the suitcase containing the Tesseract in one hand, and the Scepter in the other.

Dr. Selvig took the ladder down after Noelle had helped him pack up his gear.

The other Avengers had come up to the Tower, along with Tony, who looked worse for wear.

"Well Stark," she said with a smile as he came over to her. "I guess there's more to you than your ego suggests huh?"

Tony gave her a light punch in the shoulder. "You're full of plenty of surprises yourself, kid."

Noelle shook her head good-naturedly.

Tony, she thought. He'd never change.

Steve passed her by next. "Good job, Noelle," he said.

"Thanks Cap," Noelle said. "Now we just have to figure out what to do with–"

Thor came up behind Steve. "The Tesseract?" he asked.

"Yeah, and the Scepter."

"I shall take the Tesseract back to Asgard– along with my brother to face his justice before the AllFather."

Noelle certainly wasn't opposed to the last part. Although she didn't know Asgard or even Thor all that well, she had a feeling deep down that the Tesseract would be safe in his hands.

"And the Scepter?" Steve asked.

Noelle looked down at the glowing spear in her hand.

"The Scepter goes to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha said, passing them by.

Noelle didn't particularly like that idea either, but she knew she couldn't be the one to take it. She had nowhere to hide it. And she knew S.H.I.E.L.D. would come after her for it eventually.

"I will keep an eye on it," Natasha added, seeming to sense her uncertainty. "Clint too."

Noelle handed it to her. "Tell Fury he's going to answer to me if I find out he's been doing anything shady with it."

Natasha rolled her eyes, but Noelle saw her smile. "I will," she promised.

"And now we have to deal with him," Barton spoke up, pulling out his bow.

The Hulk growled.

Noelle turned to face the smashed glass windows of the Stark Tower, knowing exactly who Barton was referring to inside there. She turned on her lightsabers.

"Let's go get him," she said.

Loki was laying in a heap of rubble on the ground. It almost appeared as if he had been smashed into the floor somehow...

He pulled himself into an upright position, before noticing that all seven of them were standing above him and pointing their weapons at him.

"If it's all the same to you," he said. "I'll have that drink now."

~~~~~~

Noelle tried another bite of her sandwich she had ordered from this "Shawarma" place Tony had insisted they all try.

This is disgusting.

Shaking her head, she pulled out her smashed phone that she had retrieved from the Quinjet from her pocket. She had tried half a dozen times just to get it to turn on, but it was no use. It was shot.

Guess she wouldn't be calling anyone to tell them she had survived. Not that she was sure anyone back home cared.

Sighing, she put the phone back in her pocket and peered around the table at her fellow Avengers. They obviously thought the same way about the food.

"Better luck next time I guess," said Tony, wiping his hands.

Nobody said anything.

Thor took a bite of the third sandwich he had gotten. He didn't look like he was particularly enjoying it, but he must have been hungry.

The rest of them all sat there in silence, so Noelle answered Tony.

"Yeah, better luck next time," she agreed.

They heard the chime signaling that another customer had opened the door and all heads looked up. Apparently anything was more interesting than the food.

Noelle felt her jaw dropping slowly as her mouth hung open in shock.

How had he gotten here so fast!

Fury grabbed an unoccupied chair over and scooted it over to their table. He wedged it in between Natasha and Clint Barton.

He sat down and leaned forward on the table as he folded his hands together.

"Well team," he said solemnly. "Well done."

Everyone exchanged awkward glances around the table.

"Thanks to you."

All heads turned to Noelle in surprise. After all the fighting she and Fury had done...

Fury looked more surprised than anyone, and almost like he didn't believe what he was hearing.

"You brought us all together," Noelle continued on quietly. "Regardless of whether we liked it, regardless of whether it was the right way or not, but if it wasn't for you–" she paused before taking a deep breath. "–we wouldn't have won."

That was the first time Noelle had ever seen Fury genuinely smile.

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Hey guys! I know this is a short chapter, but hope you all like it. :))