ACATALEPSY ➺ loki

6 , just getting started

Before I knew it, I had been told to let my parents know I was alright and would be back with them in a few days, Fury had taken his leave, and I was waiting outside a courtroom for Natasha Romanoff. I really could not even start to wrap my head around the fact that this was actually my life, so I chose to simply not—deciding to just go with it as long as I could without having a full mental breakdown. Was it the healthiest life choice? Most likely not. But if I were going to be any help to the avengers, I had to be prepared. And freaking out about meeting superheroes was not going to help.

"How'd it go?" I asked with a smirk as Natasha finally walked out of the building—a roar of questions following her out.

"As well as I hoped—where are we meant to be going again?" A few minutes later, Natasha and I were stepping out of a car in a graveyard, moving to stand beside Fury, Sam and Steve, who were all gathered around one stone. Col. Nicholas J. Fury. 'The path of the righteous man.' was engraved on it.

"So... you've experienced this sort of thing before?" Fury asked Steve, moving closer to inspect his own resting spot.

"You get used to it." Cap chuckled. After Fury has asked both Steve and Sam if they wanted to join him in taking down HYRDA agents around the world, and they had denied, he turned to me.

"It was good getting to meet you, Miss Devoe. I will not ask you to join me, as I know you're needed here—but I would like to make it known if it weren't for that... you'd make a pretty damn good spy."

I smiled, shaking his hand as I shook my head lightly. "I'm honoured you think so, but I'm afraid I'm just someone quite normal from my universe. Trust me, if an actual Marvel nerd had ended up in my position, I'm pretty sure every movie would have been solved by now."

"Take it as a huge complement. That's the closest he gets to saying thank you." Natasha stated after had Fury bid us goodbye and walked away.

Steve turned to face her. "You're not going with him?" he asked, but from his expression he already knew the answer.

"Nope."

"But you're not staying here either."

"Nah... I blew all my covers, I need to go figure out some new ones. Plus... I've got a meeting to set up." she said with a smile.

"That might take a while."

"That's what I'm counting on." she pulled out a file from her jacket pocket. "That thing you asked for—I called in a few favour's from Kiev. Do me a favour in return? Call that nurse."

"She's not a nurse." Steve replied with a small smile, taking the file. And I felt like once again, this was a conversation I shouldn't have been there for, but I didn't really have anywhere else to go, so I just stood a bit further back as they spoke. A minute later, Natasha nodded in farewell, kissing Steve's cheek as she gestured towards me to move along.

"Be careful, Steve. You may not want to pull on that thread." She called back over her shoulder, eyes on the file she had handed to him as I bid goodbye to the super soldier. Turned to look at me as we walked back to the car Fury had kindly let us take now that SHIELD wasn't a thing anymore, she sighed. "He's going to go after him no matter what I say, right?" I just nodded, a small smile on my face.

"Does it work out alright?" she pressed.

I bit my lip, stopping outside the car. "It should, if things go the way they did in the movies."

"Why are you always like that?" we were both in the car now, and I looked to Natasha in confusion.

"Like what?"

"Why do you have to keep saying stuff like that? 'If it goes the way it did in the movies' or 'It should' or 'I think it'll work'. Do you really have that little faith in yourself? I mean—lighten up a bit, really. You've done a lot of good already. And things seem to be going according to your movies till now from what I can tell."

I shrugged, looking out of the window. "Because I don't want to give people false hope. I dont want you guys have to deal with that disappointment if things don't... happen they way they're meant to." Thankfully, Nat seemed to understand speaking about the future was something that made me uncomfortable, so she let it go—deciding to ask me a bunch of questions about my world instead as we drove towards Manhattan, more specifically the Avenger Tower.

Before I knew what was happening, or where the few hour long drive had vanished to, Natasha and I were standing in the grounds of the Avengers actual fricking tower. I couldn't stop staring at practically every single thing we passed—as an extremely amused Natasha led me into the building and towards one of the meeting rooms, where she said Tony and a few others would be waiting. Sure enough, as soon as we got out of the lift, I could see Bruce Banner, Clint Barton and Thor all standing outside the meeting room talking in low voices, all turning to look up as soon as we reached there.

I had wanted to stop and speak to them, but Natasha told me that Tony had requested our initial meeting to be private—only Natasha and I allowed in, that too simply because she knew me. So all I got to say was a pathetic, "Hello." to the three men as I was ushered into the meeting room. And yes, I had had a bunch of guns pointed at me, kind of almost let myself be killed by the Winter Soldier, and a lot more in the past few days... yet this was what I was most nervous about.

Tony looked like, well, Tony Stark. And I had to force myself to remember that this really was Tony Stark, sitting in a chair before me, and not some silly fictional character played by one Robert Downey Jr. "Well, Miss Devoe, I would be lying if I said I didn't know who you were by now, but it seems that that won't be an issue to you, as you claim to know us as well." he started, and I had to force myself to actually reply. "Why are you grinning? Romanoff, tell me you haven't brought me a giggly one."

I quickly wiped the smile off my face, but couldn't help feeling elated at the whole situation. "Right, sorry, its nothing. And yes, I do in fact know you guys—as well as the movies allowed me to, that is. So please don't try and ask me which brand of toothpaste you use, as I would have to say I don't have a clue."

Tony smiled, "Alright... when was the first time I met her? Is that a prominent enough moment for you?" he challenged, gesturing towards Natasha who seemed to smile at the memory.

"Oh, thats a good one—it would be when she absolutely kicked Happy's ass in the training ring." I said, glad he had chosen something that I actually remembered. "That was in Iron Man 2, and yes, you have your own movies. Would you like me to go into what you and Miss Potts were discussing during that scene, Mr. Stark?"

Tony smirked, turning to look at Natasha. "I like this one. Did she really help with the mission as much as you said?" I frowned, wondering what all Natasha had had to say to him to get this meeting set up, but she just nodded.

"Elaina managed to stop basically anyone from dying—which is a huge difference from what she says happens in the movies. Now, this could either be one of the longest and most excruciatingly detailed long con that Miss Devoe is playing with us, in which case I would have to be impressed. Or she'd just telling the truth, and could be the greatest asset to our team." she said confidently, almost making my jay drop at the praise I was receiving from the Black Widow.

Tony thought about it for a second, before shrugging. "Alright, you got me. Why don't I call the others inside, and then we can really get this party started."