[1.3] "YEAH I KNOW, I'M KIND OF DOING AN ASSIGNMENT ON YOU"
*****
AFTER FREYA LEFT THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE, she went to her locker and gathered her things she had brought to school that day before she proceeded to the field where Fury told her to wait as a Quinjet would come and get her. But as Freya started walking towards the door that led her outside to the field, she was pulled into someone's arms.
Freya shrieked and turned around to see Brody laughing his head off. "That's not funny!" She frustratingly punched his arm, even though she couldn't help but smile. "What are you doing out of class? You'll get detention if you get caught!"
"I don't care if I get detention," Brody said, tucked a strand of Freya's loose hair behind her ear. His hazel eyes stared directly into her green eyes. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."
Even though they've been together for nearly half a year, Brody still managed to make Freya's heart melt and flutter. He always knew what to say at the right time to make Freya feel special, happy or loved. He was truly gifted with words. Freya hugged him and pulled him flushed against her, leaving no space between them. "I'm okay," Freya whispered into his chest.
"Even after what happened during lunch?" Brody asked, pulling away from the hug to get a closer look at Freya, never letting his eyes waiver from away from her own. Freya looked away in thought for a second about how she felt before looking back into Brody's gaze and decided to shake her head no. Brody seemed to expect this because he held and hand and walked outside towards the field, unknowing that was where Freya had to be.
They sat on one of the lower seats of he bleaches and Brody held her hand, gently rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles to comfort her as they sat in silence for a few minutes. "I'm not angry, by the way," He spoke at last. "For whatever happened with Loki. I don't blame you at all." He gave her a warm, comforting smile and gripped her hand tighter. "If I were you I would've thought it was just a dream too. There is no way that you couldn't have known you weren't dreaming. It's not your fault."
Freya felt tears start to swell in her eyes and she took her hand out of Brody's and flung her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Brody, though shocked at first, complied with the kiss. Freya pulled away first and just stared at Brody. She could never not get sick of looking at his face. Brody smiled at her, "So, why did you get called into the Principal's office?" Brody had asked.
Freya sighed, not feeling up to explaining the whole story. "Long story short, my father's boss wants me to join this superhero group to stop Loki." Brody's eyes widened. Freya had, of course, told him of her father's job at S.H.I.E.L.D and how he was a high level agent. There wasn't much Brody didn't know about Freya. Freya basically told him everything. He wasn't only just her boyfriend, but he was also her true best friend.
"I thought you had to help Loki?" Brody asked, puzzled about the situation.
Freya threw her arms into the air, "I do! But I also have to help Fury and this group," Freya started breathing faster as her heartbeat accelerated and her body tensed up. "I don't know what to do! I want to find my mother, but I don't want to help Loki and at the same time I don't want to end up betraying this team I'm supposed to be a part of."
Brody pulled Freya into his arms and rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. After a moment, Freya's body relaxed and her breathing and heartbeat returned back to normal. "Just do whatever you think is right okay?" Brody said, pulling away from the hug and put his hands on Freya's shoulders, staring into her eyes again. Freya nodded, smiling.
Just as Brody went to lean in for another kiss, a loud rumbling sound from above. They both looked up to see what Freya recognised to be a S.H.I.E.L.D Quinjet. "That's my ride," Freya sighed, standing up and collecting her bag.
Brody stood up, towering over her and gave a small but meaningful kiss. "Please be careful, Freya," Brody said worriedly.
Freya gave him a comforting smile and placed her hand on his cheek, "Of course I will. I'll see you soon."
She planted another small kiss on his lips and went to walk away, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back and gazed into her eyes, "I love you." He said, a look of worriedness mixed with seriousness was the expression on his face.
Freya's heart leapt. This was the first time he had ever told her. She was filled with a whole mixture of different emotions as she said for the first time to Brody, "I love you too."
Brody gave her a boyish grin, "Well how about if what you need to do gets done by the field trip, we could go to the city together and to the cafe my sister, Beth, works at?" Brody asked, his cheeks a bit blushed from the earlier conversation, "I haven't seen her for a while so it would be cool to see her."
Freya gave Brody a hand squeeze, "That's sounds like a plan,"
When the Quinjet landed a few metres away from the on the football field, Brody pulled her into one last hug and gave Freya one last kiss before she walked away towards the Quinjet, occasionally looking back at Brody to see if he was still there. When Freya arrived at the back of the Quinjet, it opened and an agent came out. An agent Freya knew too well. Freya leaped from the ground where she was sitting and ran towards Agent Phil Coulson.
"Phil!" Freya shouted at him as she tackled him into a hug. He chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"Hey Frey, geeze you've grown so much since last summer."
Freya laughed, "Yeah but I'm still shorter than most."
Phil Coulson was Freya's father's best friend. Phil and her father were both high level S.H.I.E.L.D agents and some of Fury's most trusted agents. At the thought of her father, Freya couldn't help wonder about her father now knowing about this. Over the last few years he had become more protective about Freya, so she knew he would definitely not have agreed to this if he did know. Freya made her way to the Quinjet and sat down. Just before they shut the entrance to the Quinjet, she saw Brody waving. Freya smiled and waved back just as the entrance shut and the Quinjet's engine burst and they were soaring through the sky.
It wasn't until she heard someone cough that Freya noticed another man sitting across from her. Freya could tell from the first look that he was well built from the way his checkered shirt hugged his chest. From further observation, Freya noticed the man also wore brown khaki pants and had dirty blonde short hair paired with blue eyes that suited his handsome face. As Freya studied his face more she recognised him. She sucked in her breath. Captain America was sitting across from her.
Freya had loved Captain America ever since she started learning about him in History this year. Tomorrow the year group were meant to go on an excursion to the Smithsonian in D.C where they had an exhibition on him to learn more for the student's assignment, but obviously Freya wouldn't have been able to go. But this is so much better.
Freya held her hand out for him to shake, "I'm Freya, Freya Jones. Nice to meet you." Freya was deeply surprised her voice didn't stutter or waver.
He gave Freya a small smile and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you ma'am. I'm Steve Rogers."
"I know, I'm kind of doing an assignment on you right now." Freya blurted out. She cringed, "I mean, in my history class we are learning about you and we got given an assignment. Sorry if that made you uncomfortable." She nervously apologised.
Steve sent Freya an awkward smile, "It's okay ma'am, I understand."
"You can call me Freya or Frey, everyone else does." Freya offered and he nodded.
"Okay, Freya."
Freya smiled at him and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Freya saw Steve out of the corner of her eye staring confusingly at it, "What is that?" He asked.
Freya held up her phone. "It's called a mobile phone, or a smartphone. It can send electronic messages and call people from wherever you are. You can also play games on it." Steve nodded in puzzled understanding before Phil handed him a tablet.
Steve stared at it perplexed. Freya got up and sat next to him to help him with it. There the video files like the ones she saw when she was with Fury. Steve watched the one about Doctor Bruce Banner, the Hulk, before he started talking to Phil, "So this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum used on me?"
"A lot of people were," Phil answered, holding onto a metal bar for support, "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."
There was a sound of the Hulk roaring coming from the tablet. Steve made a face, "Didn't really go his way, did it?"
"Not so much," Phil said solemnly, "When he's not that thing though the guy's like Stephen Hawking." Steve looked bewildered.
Freya sighed, "Stephen Hawking is like a really smart person, a scientist."
Steve nodded, looking back to the tablet as Phil continued talking. "I gotta say, it's an honour to meet you officially." Steve gave him a small corner smile, but Phil kept rambling.
"I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."
Steve looked uncomfortable and got up, leaving the tablet on the chair and walking near the pilots. Phil trailed not far behind him, trying to explain his mistake of a sentence. "I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice," Phil looked ready to give up. "You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board."
"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." Steve answered, not taking his gaze off the ocean.
Phil answered immediately, "Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input. Same for yours too Freya."
Freya jumped out of her seat. "I've got a uniform! That's so cool! Even if I'm just on the sidelines." Steve grimaced at her outburst.
Phil gave her a sympathetic smile, "It's for your safety Freya. Fury, or your father, wouldn't have let you do this otherwise."
"So Dad does know," Freya muttered.
"Yes, it took a while to convince him to even let you be on the list of potential candidates for the team, if we need it. Mind you, we didn't believe we would need the team until you were older. I have no idea if he even knows the team has been initiated." Phil said and Freya nodded. Freya didn't find that hard to believe her father was stubborn, he has always said she got it from him.
"What can you do?" Steve asked Freya curiously. Freya burst with excitement and turned to show Steve her powers. She held her palm out and a small flame erupted. Steve remained his composer but the look in his eyes showed he was impressed. She closed her fist and the flame disappeared.
"One of my powers are Pyrokinesis, that means I can control fire with my mind. I can also conjure up force fields and communicate with and read people's minds." Freya explained and smiled up to Steve.
"Can you show me the other ones?" Steve asked, wonder plastered on his face, but Freya shook her head.
"I don't know what it is, but it's hard for me to control and use those powers, they come at the most random times. My Pyrokinesis however, I don't even need to use much willpower and it's there and ready to use."
Steve shrugged, "Even if you can't use those particular powers, the one that you can control is rather impressive."
Freya's heart nearly fell out of her chest. Captain America had just complimented her on her powers. Freya smiled happily and wider than it ever had been and went to say something back to Steve but Phil interrupted.
"We're here guys."
***
When Phil, Steve, and Freya got off the Quinjet, Freya stood next to Steve and watched as he stared at the Helicarrier in astonishment. Looking around herself, it looked slightly different to the one she was on last summer. This one was bigger, with more people and more equipment. Freya couldn't help but think the Hellicarrier looked like an airport. There were lines that looked like roads, people strapping planes down, some testing them to see if they worked.
As Freya was looking around she hadn't noticed Steve and Phil weren't by her side anymore. Freya saw Steve now with Natasha Romanoff -who Freya hadn't noticed joined them- and another man Freya recognised from the tablet as Doctor Banner. She had no idea where Phil went, probably to the main control room or something.
Freya walked over to Natasha, Steve and Doctor Banner as they were talking. When she reached them, Natasha was talking to someone over an earpiece and the two men were nodding and having a quiet chat with each other. They noticed Freya joined them and she held her hand out for Doctor Banner, "Hi Doctor Banner, I'm Freya Jones. Nice to meet you."
Banner shook her hand cautiously, "Hello, call me Bruce." Freya smiled and nodded.
Natasha walked back over to the three of them. "Lady," She winked at Freya, "and Gentlemen, you may wanna get inside. It's going to get a little hard to breathe."
The men looked confused as the engines started turning. They moved slowly to the side of the Helicarrier. Freya turned to Natasha, "How astonished do you think they are going to be?"
"Pretty astonished I reckon," Natasha smirked and turned to Freya. "How's it going, kid? Got your Pyrokinesis under control yet?"
Freya nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah watch!" Freya lifted her hand, palms facing upwards and shut her eyes, the fire immediately sparked up, leaving tingling sensations pulsing through her hands as she twirled the fire around her fingertips.
"Not bad, kid." Natasha ruffled Freya's hair before smoothing it back down again.
Freya knew Natasha from the last few summer vacations she had spent on the Helicarrier. Mainly because her father wasn't able to stay home with her, but also so that she could be apart of this young spy program, which was a program S.H.I.E.L.D put in place to teach the young generation skills to be apart of S.H.I.E.L.D. In their spare time (which wasn't much) Natasha and Clint trained Freya in basic combat and self-defence as well as how to use weapons like guns and archery. Freya had thought it was pretty fun. The two girls walked over to where Steve and Bruce were leaning over the edge to see down below. "Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.
"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?" Bruce sarcastically remarked. Natasha and Freya smirked at each other as they looked over the edge as the engines emerged from the water.
"Oh no this is much worse."
***
Natasha led the three inside to the main control room where they met up with Fury. Fury started talking to Banner about the Tesseract. Freya was only half listening at the beginning and just stared at the people working, until she heard what Phil said, "We are sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera out there. Cell Phones, Laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, its eyes and ears for us."
Freya pulled out her phone from her back pocket and stared into the front camera, "Dude, that's not cool." Fury and Phil rolled their eyes at Freya.
"That's not going to find them in time," Natasha said as she swiped a screen that had the face of Clint on it. Did something happen to Clint? Freya decided to ask Natasha later.
"You have to narrow the field," Banner explained, "How spectrometers do you have access to?"
"How many are there?" Fury asked. Bruce started taking off his jacket.
"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places."
Freya did not understand a word of that, and she knew for a fact Steve didn't either, as he looked around confused at the inside of the Helicarrier. "Do you have anywhere for me to work?" Bruce asked Fury, twiddling with his fingers like Freya did when she was nervous.
"Agent Romanoff, could you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?" Fury asked Natasha. Natasha immediately obeyed, leading Bruce away from the Main control area and out into the hallway.
"Hey Ph- Agent Coulson," Freya stopped herself from calling out his first name. He turned around to face her. "Do you know where my Dad's room is?" Freya asked Coulson.
"Yeah in room two-five-six. It's across from mine," Phil smiled kindly and pointed the way. Freya smiled and thanked him before skipping off to find her father.
Freya got to the staterooms about half an hour later. Freya got lost along the way there and she had to ask a lot of agents to help her but she finally got there. Freya knocked on the door and a few moments later Kevin Jones answered the door. He looked like he had been sleeping, his raven hair was a mess and he had barely noticeable rings at the bottom of his brown eyes. He was also wearing his pyjamas.
"Freya? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in school?" He asked worriedly, eyes widening at the sight of her and he pulled inside and into a hug. Freya hugged him back as she explained what happened at the school with Fury and the Avengers. Freya couldn't read the expression on her father's face.
"Hold up. Fury pulled you out of school to fight Loki! What was he thinking?" Kevin said frustratedly, slamming his door shut. "You're fourteen years old! You are absolutely not fighting this guy. I'm telling Fury right now that you're going straight home."
"Dad! Wait!" Freya shouted, but he was already storming up the hall. "You're in your pyjamas!" Freya yelled as loud as she could. He suddenly stopped and turned around and stomped back to her.
"I'll get changed and then I'll show you around and we can talk about this, alright?" He had calmed down and said to her. She nodded and waited outside his room for a few minutes as he got changed.
He came out dressed in his work suit with his badge and gun and they started walking. There was a sort of comforting silence as the two walked the halls of the Helicarrier. "I don't think you should be a part of this, this is really dangerous Frey. You could get hurt." Kevin said softly, jumping straight into the topic.
Freya rolled her eyes, "I'll be fine."
"You don't know who you're up against though, honey. I was there when the Loki guy came through that portal. He threw a dagger at me so fast it almost got me and then he almost caused the whole building to collapse on everyone. He killed a bunch of people already and he's only been here for two days." Her father tried to persuade her.
In that moment Freya wanted to tell him about her dream with Loki and how she could find her mother and then he could retire again and he wouldn't have to risk his life anymore, but Freya didn't. She was too scared to say anything. She was scared that he would be disappointed in her like Maddie and Tyler were.
"I'll be fine Dad, don't worry," Freya reassured him. "Fury and Phil have made it clear that I am to stick to helping civilians or contribute from the sidelines. Plus, they wouldn't put me in this situation if they didn't think I wasn't capable of it. They need me, Dad. I can help save the world. Please let me do it." Kevin said nothing as they continued walking. Kevin was as stubborn as Freya was, it was hard to change his opinion.
They found their way back to the main control area where Freya saw Steve and Phil talking again. Kevin chuckled, looking at the two also. "I feel sorry for the Captain. I hope he isn't uncomfortable." He turned to Freya. "Don't make the Captain uncomfortable. He's already uncomfortable enough as it is being in a world he doesn't recognise."
Freya scratched the back of her head and nervously laughed, "I kinda did that in the Quinjet over here, but it's fine now."
Kevin gave Freya a look before someone at the computers yelled out, "We got a hit. 67% match." Phil and Kevin raced over to the computer as the man yelled out again, "Wait, Cross match. 79%."
"Where is he?" Kevin demanded. The man searched his screen.
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konistrasse. He's not exactly hiding."
Fury's voice boomed above them. "Captain, Miss Jones. You're up."