Unexpected

XVI

"Hey, are you nuts?" Steve asked Tony. He couldn't believe Tony was threatening everyone's safety for his entertainment.

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?" Tony asked Steve. "What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" Nina cringed. Why was this guy like this. His father was so nice, at least when she knew him.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked him incredulously.

"Funny things are," Tony answered. Nina and Bruce shared a look. They just wanted out of this conversation.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," Steve declared. He then realised what exactly he had said. "No offense, doctor." Banner shook his head.

"No, it's alright," he dived into the conversation. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," he reassured. Tony snickered.

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve said, his formality nothing but a joke.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before?" Stark asked him.

"Because there's a God from outer space who wants to kill us all?" Nina guessed. Tony gave her a look, but ignored her comment.

"What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables," Tony announced.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets," Tony said with an obvious tone. He pointed a Banner. "It's bugging him to, isn't it?" Bruce gave Nina a look, and it made her realise he knew she was hiding something too.

"Uh... I-I just wanna finish my work here.." he stuttered.

"Doctor?" Steve asked, wanting Banner to tell him what he really thought. Nina saw how Banner didn't want to give any opinions, because obviously, Steve trusted Fury.

"Okay," Nina interrupted. "Seeing as I am a SHIELD agent, I'll leave you guys to your conversation," she said, dropping everything and walking towards the door. Before leaving, she turned around. "Thanks for not trusting me, by the way," she said, before walking out.

Nina heard Steve calling for her name as she walked through the halls, but she didn't even bother to turn around. She walked all the way to the conference room, where she sat down at the table with Coulson.

"Natasha is about to interrogate Loki," Coulson announced as Nina looked down at the camera footage.

"There's not many people that can sneak up on me," Loki granted her when she took him by surprise. Natasha was standing over by the buttons, next to a chair.

"But you figured I'd come," she guessed. Loki nodded slightly.

"After," he said. "After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate," he said.

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton," she said. Nina smirked at Tasha's way of getting information. She would talk about something a bit less relevant so that Loki wouldn't be paying attention on the Tesseract. And then he would end up letting something slip. Not that Barton was irrelevant, he was Nina's closest friend after Nat, but their mission as SHIELD agents was to locate the Cube.

"I'd say I've expanded his mind," Loki gave as an answer.

"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?" Natasha pushed.

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asked after a gentle but terrifying smile. Nina had to stop herself from snorting. Clint was a very well married man, thank you very much.

"Love is for children," Natasha snapped. "I owe him a debt."

"Tell me," Loki said, sitting down. Natasha pulled a chair as well. Natasha now had to tell him the story of her life.

"Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh...well, I made a name for myself," Nat said. Nina couldnt believe she was actually doing this. "I have a very specific skillset. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."

"And what will you do if I how to spare him?" Loki asked her cunningly.

" Not let you out," she assured him.

On a side note, I think you guys don't know how much work I'm putting into this story 😂😂😂