The Avengers reunited back in Stark Tower where they found Loki, dragging himself across the floor. They stood around him looking pissed, of course, Hawkeye with an arrow aimed right and Loki's head.
Loki took a few seconds to catch his breath before saying, "If it's all the same to you. I'll have that drink now."
Tony was the first to break form, "All right, get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up."
"So who gets the scepter?" You ask looking at it in Natasha's hands.
"STRIKE team's coming to secure it," Tony reveals.
STRIKE team arrives, entering the room through the elevator as the doors open. Brock Rumlow, one of the STRIKE agents comes through with a long briefcase as Jason Sitwell approached Natasha and takes the scepter from her hands.
"We can take that off your hands," Sitwell said putting it in the now open briefcase.
"By all means," Natasha said, relieved the thing was no longer in her possession.
"Careful with it though," you warned them, arms folded over your chest as you watched them take the case away.
"Unless you want your mind erased," Clint added offering both you and Nat a strong glass of whiskey from Tony's bar, "And not in a fun way."
You felt you deserved a drink after the mess you've had to deal with the past 3 days. Steve walked passed talking through the comms, "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue."
Loki then shape-shifted into Captain America himself and began mocking him, "'On my way down to coordinate search and rescue!' I mean, honestly! How do you think you'll be—"
Loki was cut off by Thor attaching a device on his mouth to keep him from talking, "Shut up," he ordered.
The group walked over to the elevator to take the scepter and the briefcase containing the Tesseract down to the bottoms floor. Tony sat on the briefcase as Hulk approached the elevator expecting to be allowed in.
"Whoa!" Thor shouted, holding his hand out to stop Hulk in his tracks.
"Hey, hey! Maximum occupancy has been reached!"
"Take the stairs," Thor suggested, but Hulk wasn't happy. He huffed, punching the elevator door once it was shut, and turned around to walk over to the stairs.
"'Take the stairs!' Hate the stairs!" He complained as he proceeded to take the stairs.
Tony, Thor, Loki, and I arrived at the lobby making our way over to the shawarma restaurant across the street.
"Do shawarmas have different flavors? Like, do they have chicken shawarmas? I think chicken shawarma sounds good..." I rambled on as we made our way through the Stark Industries lobby.
As we continued down the corridor, we were approached by a group of men in expensive-looking tuxedoes who stopped us in our tracks.
"May I ask you where you're going?" One of the men, known as Alexander Pierce, asked as he put his hand out.
Thor answered back quite rudely, "To lunch and then Asgard. I'm sorry who are you?"
Tony, who was slightly embarrassed by Thor's reaction whispered to him, "Alexander Pierce. He's the man, one of the folks behind Nick Fury."
I'd never met Alexander Pierce but I had obviously done my bit of research before joining the Tesseract Project. I needed all the knowledge about S.H.I.E.L.D I could get before agreeing to work with them. It also reminded me that my parents worked closely with Pierce during the early 90s.
My parents were scientists and they worked all around the country, often leaving me and my siblings behind. They often encouraged me to follow in their footsteps but I always refused, one of the many reasons we disagreed a lot.
I was however surprised when I found that Pierce worked for S.H.I.E.L.D which would mean my parents were connected to the organization I was now working for. I wasn't sure whether that made me feel closer to them or ruined the whole experience altogether.
Either way, Pierce was a big name behind the organization, so I fixed my posture and tried to look more presentable out of respect.
"My friends call me Mr. Secretary," Pierce informed Thor, whilst putting his hands in his pockets, "I'm gonna have to ask you to turn that prisoner over to me."
Thor shook his head in protest, "Loki will be answering to Odin himself."
"Oh, he's gonna answer to us. Odin can have what's left," Pierce stated, "And I'm gonna need that case, that's been S.H.I.E.L.D property for over 70 years."
One of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents beside Pierce held his hand out to retrieve the case, "Hand over the case Stark."
"Mr. Secretary, Odin is a god, if he wants Loki, can you really deny him of his wishes?" I asked trying to reason with him. I was also kind of concerned that if Odin was to be upset, all sorts of hell would break loose.
"Oh, and may we also add that he won't be coming for us, he'd be coming for you, " Tony said condescendingly pointing at Pierce.
I didn't know what Odin was like but if he was anything like Loki, or even worse Loki and Thor combined, I didn't want to be dealing with him.
Thor also added, "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. It was never Earth's to possess to begin with. I think it has been proven you are not worthy protectors."
Pierce huffed in frustration, I knew he didn't want to risk another invasion from space if the Tesseract was kept in S.H.I.E.L.D's possession, "Let them keep it," he sighed to the agent who tried to take the briefcase from Tony.
They turned around and walked back down the lobby to the exit. I returned back to my relaxed posture once Pierce was out of sight, "Jeez, that was so unnecessary."
My state of relaxation was rudely interrupted by Hulk bursting through the door of the stairwell and scaring both me and a few people gathered in the lobby.
"NO STAIRS!!" Hulk yelled, stomping towards the people who then proceeded to run away in fear of their safety. The Hulk was still seen as a danger to many, although we now saw him as an ally who helped us during the battle.
Beside me, I felt Loki jump back, slightly. I had a feeling if he wasn't wearing that device on his mouth that stopped him from speaking he definitely would have screeched.
"Hulk, no," I scolded him, "We're going to get lunch. You can't do that when we get to the restaurant."
"BUT HULK HATE STAIRS! SO MANY STAIRS!" he protested right in my face. I took a second to wipe the saliva he sprayed over my face before proceeding to try and calm him down, "Hulk, you've already done it. You don't have to take the stairs ever again, just please calm down," I begged him.
Instead of calming down as I hoped, he punched the wall beside him, leaving a huge dent in the shape of his fist. My heart started racing, giving me flashbacks to when I thought the Hulk was going to kill me. However this time, I remained stoic. I refused to let him see my fear and I believed that was what set him off in the first place.
I saw Natasha, Clint, and Steve arriving back at the lobby at the same time which slightly relieved me.
"Nat, a little help here!" I called out and she made her way over, "Do you think you can calm Hulk down," I whispered to her. She gulped quietly, indicating she had no idea if it was possible and also that she too was still scarred.
Regardless she whispered back, "I'll try," and she edged closer to Hulk hesitantly putting her hand on his arm.
He flinched and moved his hand back, jolting both of us back. Natasha took a deep breath and tried again, "Hey, it's me, " she cooed at him. The frown lines on his head faded and his face relaxed.
"It's okay. It's just us, " she continued to soothe him. Surprisingly it was working and Hulk was settling down from his angry state.
- - - - - - - - - -
Natasha was able to calm Hulk down well, just like I knew she would. So well that the Hulk had actually morphed back into Bruce Banner. Of course, he was naked in from of everyone which was slightly embarrassing for him, but Tony directed him back upstairs and lent him a spare shirt and pants for him to wear while we got lunch.
Just as I had decided beforehand I opted for chicken shawarma and it was honestly the best thing I had ever tasted. The group loved the shawarma so much we ordered a round of seconds, and thirds...and forths...and fifths...
To be completely fair as barely ate in the 72 hours we spent on the Helicarrier. We had too many things to worry about, the Tesseract, the scepter, Loki, Bruce potentially turning into the Hulk, Bruce actually turning into the Hulk, Loki escaping, and then the battle of New York.
We were starving to put it lightly.
Steve, Clint, Natasha, and I had completely tapped out by the fourth shawarma. Physically I couldn't take it anymore and I could feel shawarma sitting at the back of my throat I had stuffed myself that much.
Clint had his feet up on Nat's chair because he needed a more comfortable position, the food wasn't sitting well in his stomach and he needed to create more space. Natasha beside him was hunched over like she wanted to be sick.
Steve was on the end of the table, head being held in his hand. He had a look of regret on his face as he stared down at his fourth half-eaten shawarma, probably wishing he hadn't eaten so much.
The other three boys were still going. Thor was happily munching on his food like he hadn't eaten in years, Tony continued to chew although he looked like he didn't want to be eating it. He looked zoned out probably comprehending everything that just happened in the last 4 hours, and Bruce was still picking at the fries that came with the shawarma. I took it the one thing Bruce and Hulk had in common was their appetite.
I had my head laid down on the table. Sat down right in between Thor and Tony I could hear them both chewing their food which immediately annoyed me. As much I loved the shawarma I could never eat it again. I had eaten a lifetime's worth of it in 30 minutes and I was now suffering the consequences.
I had drifted into a food-coma for a good 20 minutes until I was woken up by the sudden sound of a familiar voice...
"What happened to you?"
I looked up and saw my good friend Rhodes wearing the War Hammer suit. He'd been called by Tony to come and help with the battle but he'd been busy dealing with the Hong Kong incident that I was supposed to be helping him with.
"Rhodes, hey," I grumbled and then unexpectedly burped.
"Rhodey, pull up a chair!" Tony suggested to Rhodes, inviting him to come and join us. Rhodey however, only pulled a face as he examined the scene.
"I think I'll pass," he said, "I don't know what's worse: the mess outside, or the state of you guys."
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you," I apologized sincerely. I knew how much of a threat the Ten Rings were and I felt bad I left Rhodey to deal with it all by himself.
"Don't sweat it, Sergeant. Duty calls..." he smiled...