The Nikki Wolf Chronicles || Avengers

CHAPTER (19) NINETEEN

I had grinned back at Fury, signifying that I was kidding, before he locked me in a cage-- something Bruce told me he used to have to be wary about. After all, I was happy to stay at S.H.I.E.L.D. while Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor were off retrieving something.

Okay, maybe I was a little envious.

However, they, the Avengers, left without me. Tony begrudgingly drove the rental truck that is long since overdue to Home Depot, and Clint and Bruce took the Dodge.

If you fast forward, you'll hear a distressed dame yelling for Tony.

"Where is he? He's here, right?"

"Virginia, please, calm down," I hear Fury try to reason.

"Don't you 'calm down' me! You of all people should understand why he shouldn't be out! We have no idea if he's going to die! I have nearly lost him to near death experiences too many times. Now, get him back here, right now!"

"He risks his life every day. I'm not sure why this gang is upsetting you so much more. And I'm afraid I can't do that. We have a lead, and we need to follow it," he replies.

I turn to Agent Hill, confusion being my main expression. She smiles warmly.

"That's Tony's wife, Virginia. Everyone calls her Pepper, though, except Director Fury, who likes to keep things a little more formal. She's actually very friendly, and easy-going. Recently she's been pretty upset."

"I advise you to go home," Agent Hill and I hear. "There's nothing we can do but to wait it out." Pepper starts to yell at him again, but stops abruptly.

"Fine," she finally breathes out, "Please, tell me when he's back. I've got a bone to pick with him." As Fury walks her out, their voices start to fade.

"How do you like it here?" Agent Hill asks me, it being clear that there's no more to hear from the duo down the hall. I shrug.

"I feel a bit like I'm in a never-ending dream. Where everything is so hypnotic, and it's all too vague to absorb." Agent Hill nods understandingly, launching into her story as an agent here. Apparently, she has been working here for quite a bit of time, escaping from her father's rages.

"Oh, and by the way, please call me Maria." She smiles at me, her eyes comforting.

--- --- ---

Natasha notices Clint's hesitation as they approach the family who's son is possibly under the influence of Loki Laufeyson. She knows about why he left S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick had filled her in about that.

"'Scars remind us where we've been... They don't have to dictate where we're going,'" Natasha says, looking at Clint with a hint of a glimmer in her eyes, as she remembers the silly memory.

"David Rossi..." He smiles. Tony looks between the two of them.

"In the chances of looking really stupid, I must ask who David Rossi is," he finally says.

Grinning humorously, Clint and Natasha both say, "Criminal Minds." They'd watched that episode together when they'd been looking for something to do to kill an hour-- figuratively speaking.

"You guys watch that? You know you can just walk out your door, search for trouble, and be that show."

"Not quite, man," Bruce cuts in. Tony gives a look of terror.

"You, too?"

Bruce and Steve go up to speak with them, and the rest stay back, not wanting to overwhelm the distressed parents and worried-sick siblings. They hear, "He wants to be in the army, and he ran off when we told him, 'no'. He's so young..."