Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I need to call it quits, I’ve been here for too long. I sit back in my office chair and roughly wipe at my eyes. It’s probably not the healthiest thing to be staring at a computer screen all day long, but science needs to be done. 

Astrophysics isn’t the most applicable science compared to biology or psychology but damn is it amazing to learn about the cosmos. Massive flaming spheres filled with plasma, extrasolar planets, galaxies, and to think that there’s so much more out there is what attracted me to the field in the first place.

I can get sucked into my work and forget that time is passing. aaand this is how we end up in my office at 3:00am on a Friday. I sigh and open my eyes to look at my work in front of me. I make a note to clean up my code on Monday, it’s looking a little too messy to send out. When I get up to stretch I crack more bones than I thought was possible.

Jesus, is this what aging is?

I look out my window to take in the city that never sleeps. I’ve been here for 2 years, but it never ceases to amaze my midwestern roots. I may work at the American Museum of Natural History, but the learning curve to survive the hustle and bustle of the city was steep, but I survived and I’m comfortable saying that I’m used to the atmosphere of New York City. 

I start to grab my things around my office, the most important things being phone, keys, and wallet. I would lose my head if it wasn’t attached, so misplacing things are second nature to me. In the middle of me trying to remember if I packed my research notebook, my computer lets out a loud ding. 

A ding? Weird. My computer always stays muted so why is it dinging? I look at my screen to see a red banner signifying that a high priority email came through, from Dr. Erik Selvig.

My eyebrows scrunched in confusion, Erik Selvig? Why is the Erik Selvig emailing me of all people. The only thing I could think of was my old friend Jane Foster, I met her at an astronomy conference in graduate school and I’m pretty sure Erik was her research mentor at the time. It’s been 5 years since I last spoke with Jane. Life just got to the both of us and we lost contact, last I heard she was down in New Mexico studying some abnormal phenomena in the interstellar medium. 

I quickly click open the email,

Erik Selvig March 2nd, 2012

Needed Contact           3:13 am

To: Anastasia T. Marshall

Dr. Marshall,

I wish we could’ve met under better circumstances but you’re the only person I could think of to contact. I can’t talk about much over an unencrypted server, but Jane needs you down here in New Mexico. I haven’t told her I’ve contacted you, but I wouldn’t have reached out if it wasn’t serious. I’m being called away for a new project but I don’t want to leave her here alone,

Here’s my personal cell for more details, I can get you a plane ticket to leave first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks,

Erik

(###)-###-####

After reading the email it didn’t help my confusion. What did he mean by Jane needs me down in New Mexico? Why am I the one he had to reach out too? Is she hurt? Why does he need an encrypted email server? I just had so many questions that needed to be answered right away, so I pulled out my phone and sent Erik a text.

[Me]: Hey Erik, this is Ana, you just sent me an email?

He replied within seconds…

[Erik Selvig]: Ana! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly, I know the late hour over there. I’m assuming you have questions?

[Me]: Um yes, the tone of the email was confusing, is Jane okay? Why am I the person you had to contact?

[Erik Selvig]: Jane isn’t physically hurt, but I can’t say more about anything over the phone. I’m aware of how out of the blue this is, but I know how close you guys got in graduate school and since her family is out of the picture I couldn’t think of anyone else.

Jane and I both weren’t close with our families so we bonded over the fact that we became each other’s chosen family. I just assumed she had other friends she may have become closer with, knowing that she could be down there alone worries me a little more and not having more information isn’t helping. 

[Erik Selvig]: A flight is leaving out of JFK at 9:00am on Saturday, would you be able to make it?

[Me]: I’ll do it for Jane, send me the flight details?

[Erik Selvig]: Of course, I’ll explain everything when you get down here. Thank you so much Anastasia.

Now what the hell did I just agree to, a 9:00am flight to New Mexico, seeing a friend I haven’t seen in years, not knowing what I’m walking into. She’s not physically hurt. He made that distinction very clear, so what the hell is going on?

It may seem rash, but deep down I know that if Erik reached out to me personally it had to be serious enough for me to head out as soon as possible. It’s the weekend, you can spare a few days, and you’ll be back Monday. I have a bad habit of lying to myself

I grabbed my packed bag and headed out the office knowing I had to make a flight in five and a half hours.

—-

“GROUP 4 NOW BOARDING, GROUP 4 NOW BOARDING FLIGHT 364 TO NEW MEXICO”

The loud announcement jolted me awake, the bright noisy airport was all coming to me at once and it was overstimulating. The mass of people rushing to their flights, the abundance of shops and restaurants carrying a mass of loud conversations, and don’t forget the weird looks I get from people. I hate the airport.

I can’t believe I fell asleep on such an uncomfortable seat, I can’t believe I made it to the airport on time. I remember rushing home to aimlessly stuff a duffle bag with basic toiletries and some clothes to last me a weekend. It made going through TSA a breeze and I found out that I had some time to kill. I was supposed to rest my eyes, but it looks like I passed out judging from the slight drool on my face. 

I double checked my boarding pass: GROUP 4. Well shit someone is looking after me, I got up ignoring the pain in my lower back as I sling my duffle bag on my shoulder and head to the gate. Once I passed through the gate and got to my assigned seat, I stuffed my duffel in the carryon bin above me and slumped right back down into a slightly more comfortable seat. I got a window seat, which is essential but this time I didn’t have the energy to admire the ingenuity of the airplane. Once I sat down I couldn’t even stay up for the flight attendant’s demonstration, my eyelids fought with me for a good 30 seconds and I was about to succumb to sleep, when the person next to me sat down. I’m the queen of minding my business but I did notice the black clean pressed suit and the lack of luggage he brought. I didn’t get a good look at his face but I remember thinking about D.B. Cooper and making myself laugh. 

He may have just checked all his luggage Ana, stop being nosy. 

After thinking about the nonsense that was the D.B. Cooper case I finally closed my eyes for the upcoming 6 hour direct flight

— 

The abrupt jostling of the plane landing woke me up and I was a little bit more well-rested than I was when I arrived at the airport. I texted Erik saying I landed and I waited patiently for the plane to finish it’s journey to the gate. I looked out the window and saw the desert, something I wasn’t used to at all. Doing my undergrad in the midwest, to graduate school in the pacific northwest, to now being on the east coast hasn’t prepared me for how barren the desert looked. 

Being distracted by the desert, the door to the plane finally opened and I was able to make it out to arrivals. 

Erik was already there waiting outside this massive white SUV, he had a huge smile on his face and he gave me a bear hug within 20 seconds of me walking up to him.

“Anastasia! It’s so great to see you, thank you for coming on such short notice.”, Erik beamed, still having his big smile on his face. My nerves died down a little bit seeing Erik’s friendly demeanor. Okay…so Erik seems well enough. 

“Hey Erik, thanks for getting the ticket out here.”, I say squished in the bear hug. He immediately lets go after hearing the strain in my voice. 

“Oops, sorry I was just so happy to see you. We have lots to talk about.” He says dropping his voice so only him and I could hear him. 

——

“Yes, I agree.” I reply getting into his massive vehicle. Being 5’7” I don’t consider myself short, but I still needed to jump to get into the passenger seat. There was astronomical equipment strewn across the dashboard and the rest of the car, it made me feel instantly at home. As he pulls out of the airport, I didn’t want to waste any time. 

“Erik, you can give it to me straight. Is Jane okay?”, I asked, preparing for the worst. He sighed, keeping his blue eyes on the road.  

“Jane is fine…physically. Mentally, she’s in a deep depression. Darcy and I have been on rotation with helping her out and checking in on her.”  My nerves calm down a little more. So I don’t have to kill anyone, good news. 

“So she’s fine but not fine.” , I confirm, with him nodding in response. 

“The past 3 months have been hard, especially on Jane. I’ll let her tell you most of the details, but basically Jane, Darcy, and I all made contact with a being not from earth but from Asgard.”, He says cautiously, trying to keep an eye on the road and my expression. 

“Asgard?”, I question, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. 

“Asgard. Norse Mythology?”, He kept giving out examples of Norse gods and goddesses seeing my expression turn from concern to genuine confusion. I barely know anything about Norse Mythology, most of my knowledge was from Greek mythology and that came from Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians novels from when I was a kid. 

“What do you mean ‘came in contact?’”, I asked, I did my best trying to keep my tone respectful, but they’re telling me they came in contact with a real alien? These are serious astronomers, so they wouldn’t risk their careers on something baseless. Why would they keep this secret then?

“Well we hit him with our car…on accident…”, he corrects noticing my ever-changing expression on my face. “…Jane got romantically attached to him and he had to leave back to Asgard. He promised to come back but he hasn’t been back for months.” He explained, in a much more relaxed tone. 

Poor Jane, I remember how quickly she got attached to her partners. She’s been through her fair share of shitty men, and this Asgard guy didn’t help anything. 

“So why do you need me down here?”, I ask, and Erik’s tone changes completely. 

“I’m being pulled away for a project and Darcy is back in university.” His explanation was short and sweet, but it was clear that I shouldn’t pry into this “project”. It dawns on me that I’m going to be here for longer than a weekend. Thank god I can work remotely. 

Are you really thinking about work right now? Jane needs you!

I internally sigh and focus my gaze on the never-ending New Mexico desert. 

Chapter Text

We pull up and stop in front of Jane’s trailer, and before I could say anything Erik interrupts me.

“This is a temporary living situation.”, He blurted out. I wasn’t even thinking about that because it doesn’t matter where she’s living, as long as she has the essentials. I hope she has air conditioning, I’m not built for this heat. I nod in response and then hop out of the massive SUV, clearing at least 4 feet, landing on the dusty New Mexico terrain. Erik and I already discussed how I was going to be “revealed” to Jane in the car. It felt a little dramatic, but I understand not wanting to drop a bunch of bombs on her. 

Erik shuts off the engine and makes his way to the trailer door. He knocks in a very specific pattern before waiting a moment, and then he disappeared in the trailer. I stood off to the side taking in my surroundings. There was a covered outdoor living area with a functional kitchen and some space to lounge, but it was taken up by more miscellaneous instrumentation. It made me smile, Jane was always talented in building her own instruments, I just didn’t expect her to have so many. 

I walk into the living area and saw that there was a cork board with a bunch of paper attached to it. I may be the queen of minding my business but that doesn’t mean I can’t be nosy sometimes, especially when it comes to research. A lot of the papers were pictures and graphs depicting different weather phenomena. That struck me as odd because last I checked, her work focused on the gas and dust in space, not on earth. The biggest picture in the middle of the board intrigued me even more. It was similar to the others but there was a clear outline of a person within the cloud she was imaging. Was that the Asgardian?

What the fu-

“Anastasia! Come on over!”, Eric beckons from the trailer. It takes me out of my thoughts, but I definitely need to know who or what is in that image. I lightly jog my way over to the door and I hear a bunch of rustling and noise coming from within the trailer. I step in slowly not trying to make any matters worse. 

The trailer was a mess, but that didn’t phase me at all. I suffered from depression on the regular and a messy living space is nothing new to me. I can understand the shame and embarrassment that can come from someone judging, especially if they have no idea what you’re going through. 

I follow the source of the noise to see Jane frantically trying to clean up the mess. Most of it was near the eating area of the trailer. Various cereal boxes were being stuffed into the cabinets for dishes, food wrappers were being thrown into plastic bags, and aluminum cans were quickly being pushed into a corner. 

“Jane you know you don’t have to clean for me.”, I say teasingly. Jane whips around, her long dark hair following her. 

“Ana! Oh my god, oh my fucking god it’s so great to see you!”, Jane exclaims hopping over clothes and random shoes to give me a hug. I return the hug and squeeze a little harder because it was genuinely so good to see her. It’s been years. 

“Jane I’m so happy to see you too, it’s been way too long.”, I say as we pull away. I notice the clear lack of sleep from the bags under her eyes. My heart sank, I hated seeing my friend like this. Knowing how debilitating it can be, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. 

“Erik gave me a run down, and I’m so sorry about the mess I never have guests.”, She says motioning to the mess around her. I shake my head indicating that what she’s saying doesn’t even matter. 

“I promise you it’s okay, I completely understand. We definitely need to catch up, because from what Erik told me and what your research looks like, there’s a lot going on?”, I question, pretty eager to get some real answers as to what the fuck is going on, and to know about this so-called Asgardian alien.

“For sure, I think we should let Erik prepare for his big trip tomorrow. Let’s head to the roof?”, She questions, looking at her watch. I check my watch and see that its almost 4:00pm. 

Jesus where did the time go?

“Thanks Jane, I’ll catch up with you both later!.”, Erik says smiles at us on his way out of the trailer. Once he leaves, she opens the fridge door and grabs a 6-pack. Jane sighs and smiles at me with a tired look.

We head to the roof of the trailer. There wasn’t much, just some lawn chairs, some blankets on the side and an umbrella for shade. Jane slouched in a chair and let out an exasperated groan as she set the beers to the side. We may not have seen each other for years but the feeling isn’t weird. I feel like we can pick it up and act like distance and time hasn’t kept us apart for as long as it did. 

“Okay seriously, what’s going on? An alien? You apparently got ‘romantically attached’? Is that him in the pictures down there?” I immediately question as I open a much needed beer for myself. 

She doesn’t answer immediately, she stares out at the dusty terrain and I can see tears welling up in her eyes. It takes her a minute but she finally gives an answer. 

“Yes it’s been a very interesting past couple of months, but I don’t need a babysitter Ana. I’m kinda peeved at Erik for bringing you all the way down here without even asking me. I’m not a child.”, She explains, taking a long swig from her beer. I look down at the drink in my hands, she’s completely right she’s a grown woman. Erik and me both took it upon ourselves to help when she didn’t ask for it. 

“You’re right, you’re not a child, but I know how hard it is to ask for help. I don’t think Erik would have contacted me if it wasn’t serious.”, I counter as she meets my concerned brown eyes. I could see in hers that deep down she agreed with me. 

“Regardless, I really appreciate you coming down here. I’m sure you’re up to your balls in work.” She jokes, lightening the mood. We both laugh, and I appreciate that her sense of humor is still going strong. We die down and she lets out another big sigh as she continues.

“So yeah, Darcy and I were seeing this periodic phenomena in the atmosphere that looked way too strong to be the solar wind disrupting the magnetosphere. Especially since we’re in New Mexico and not at either of the poles.”, She kept fiddling with her beer bottle before she went on.

“I called Erik down here to get his opinion on it, and it happened again right when he arrived but so much stronger. We went out to the site where my equipment was saying the signal was the strongest. A bunch of other shit happened but a man just was there and we accidentally hit him with the SUV.” She says cringing, and I also cringe at the thought. That thing could kill someone. I lean forward towards her beckoning her to continue as I was completely invested.

“Long story short, the man we hit was Thor, the crown prince of Asgard, and the events were something he called ‘The Bifrost’ which is sort of their preferred mode of interplanetary travel. Well not interplanetary, more like traveling between realms. We’re in the realm Midgard and-” She was saying before I cut her off.

“Wait, wait, wait slow the hell down. You met a god? How?!” I ask a little too excited but also just plain astonished. Midgard? Bifrost? All of these terms were foreign to me so that didn’t help my confusion. 

Jane laughed and replied, “Yes and he was just so mesmerizing. Imagine a 6’3” muscle of a man, with brains, super strength, and amazing hair with-”, her voice stops as I notice a tear falling from her face. We stayed silent for awhile. It’s clearly affecting her and it makes me so angry to see her broken from this. I better not run into this so-called "Thor” cause his ass is grass for hurting my friend. 

“Erik told me he was supposed to come back and he still hasn’t?”, I say quietly breaking our silence. She nods and wipes away her tears as she stares angrily at the sky. It was starting to get dark, and the lack of light pollution made the sky look beautiful even in the dusk.

“I feel like Erik sees me as his own daughter, which is why he probably was so worried but honestly I’m getting through it well enough.”, She says bringing her attention back to me. I smile sadly at her, I hate that she’s going through it but I do love that Erik was being her support system. That is so important during times like these.

As it got darker we caught each other up on the other things in our lives. I learned more about the Thor situation, and I was so fascinated that there was proof of extraterrestrial life, and my friend dated that proof. It was amusing to hear about how he was so unaccustomed to earth behaviors. How he walked into a pet store asking for horse and smashed a mug in a diner had my stomach hurting from laughter. Clearly she had more interesting updates as I lead a pretty mundane life and I have no problem with that. Jane knows about my upbringing and a boring peaceful life is what I’ve been striving for my entire life. We laughed and drank some more until we weren’t too drunk but we definitely shouldn’t be operating heavy machinery. 

I was about to ask a question about how Thor didn’t get arrested after assaulting all of the hospital personnel, when Erik came up onto the roof with an ecstatic expression on his face. 

“Erik! Join us talking about how Thor is an idiot in all the best ways!”, Jane shouts before reaching for another beer. 

“No time, you both have to get packed ASAP.”, He says. I stumble out of my seat and almost topple over.

“What do you mean we have to get packed, I just got here.” I say getting defensive at how demanding he was being. He practically dragged me down to New Mexico and now he’s telling us both to pack up and go somewhere? 

“Yeah Erik why do are you being so…whatever Ana said.” Jane says staying slumped in her chair not even attempting to stand up. I’m sure she would face-plant immediately. I kept my irritated gaze on him and it didn’t phase him one bit it was like he got the best news of his life. 

“I thought you were supposed to be preparing for your new project?” I question, trying to come off as serious but I was too drunk to stand up straight let alone raise an eyebrow.

“That he apparently can’t tell us ANYTHING about!” Jane adds from behind me. 

“Yeah what the hell is that about? We can keep a secret. We’re all astronomers here.”, I say in a matter-of-fact tone. Jane makes a sound that I think means she agrees with me.

“I need you and Jane on this project with me, I talked to my bosses and they agreed that the load is too much for just one.” Erik says gauging the expression on my face. 

“I already have a job, and besides you haven’t told us anything about this project.”, I say folding my arms across my chest. Erik Selvig requested you by name to help him with a project why do you choose to obey logic now? Jane snorts from behind me and I hear her attempt to get up. 

“Is it with S.H.I.E.L.D?”, She says calmly and Erik looked surprised. So she was correct, who is S.H.I.E.L.D? Is it a hotshot research group? She noticed his expression and it looked like she sobered up a little bit more. Erik nods quickly trying to gauge Jane’s mood. Jane looked at me and smiled super wide,

“Then count us in.”

Chapter Text

Standing in the middle of the New Mexico desert is not how I wanted to treat my hangover.

But here we are.

The sun was unforgiving as it beat down on Erik, Jane, and I as we waited for “transport”. For something that’s 93,000,000 miles away it definitely still stings. 

So much has happened in the past 48 hours and I have a feeling it’s not going to slow up anytime soon. After Jane signed both of us for a project we had no idea about, she immediately headed down to get her stuff packed. I first thought she was joking, but after seeing her packing all her stuff into suitcases I sobered up and demanded an explanation.

``Last Night``

“Wait, Jane, why are you packing up?”, I ask nervously seeing her overstuff her luggage. I have a single duffle and a full-time job so I can’t just up and leave. Even if I could why does she and Selvig expect me to drop everything on a dime for a project I know nothing about? Is there a contract? How is funding set up? Where would we be living? Any other sneaky policies we need to keep an eye on? Jane stopped for a second and turned to me.

“Yes, and you’re coming too.”, she says eagerly. I give her the most confused look I’ve had all day.

“I can’t come because I already have a job, I can’t just up and leave. I have a life in New York!”, I say a little too impatiently. Am I the only one with some sense? Jane just shakes her head and laughs to herself like what I said had no affect on anything whatsoever. 

“Ana, you can keep your job and your place in New York. S.H.I.E.L.D can pay and take care of everything.”, Jane explains as she turns back around to her unorganized luggage. I almost scoff, it’s like what I say doesn’t mean anything and it’s starting to piss me off. I’m known to be a pretty level headed person, but that just means I’m an expert in internalizing, but sometimes I slip and can’t hold everything back and it’s just a headache for everyone. 

“Jane I love you, but I’m not going with you and Selvig tomorrow.”, I say putting my foot down. Jane doesn’t stop her packing and she replies unbothered.

“How about you just come with us and meet with someone already attached the project, they’re going to have to have someone escort us so you can just ask them questions then.”, she says shrugging. I rolled my eyes at our stubborness. We both aren’t going to budge and we could go back and forth all night. 

“Fine, but I’m asking questions because I care about you and Selvig, not because I’m coming with you.”, I responded as I set up my bed to lay down. I pass out right as Selvig comes down to talk to Jane, I was too tired to fight the sleep as it overcame me. 

````

After our Uber dropped us off, Selvig explained to Jane and I that S.H.I.E.L.D. gave him the opportunity to bring in his own assistants on “Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.”. I wanted, no,  needed him to elaborate, I was getting tired of all the vagueness of this situation and all of these acronyms, but he apparently already spoke too much. I turn over to Erik and Jane and see their pile of luggage, and compared to my measly duffle bag, it looks like they’re bringing an entire house. 

How long are they supposed to be working on it?

“So, just double-checking, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t know you picked us for your assistants?”, I ask Erik. I’m a little peeved at the label “assistant”, collaborator would be nice seeing as we all have a Ph.D. Erik shook his head, his mood hasn’t dipped since last night and I found it charming. 

“S.H.I.E.L.D. just agreed that the load was too much for one person, I found a loophole.”, He said shrugging in response. I nodded, a little wary of how this interaction was going to go. Based on the very vague information Jane and Erik gave me about S.H.I.E.L.D., we probably shouldn’t be poking the bear, but my authority issues are making it hard for me not to give in and join them. 

I opened my mouth to ask another question before it got cut off by this aircraft, which acted more like a hovercraft, made its descent a few hundred yards from where we were standing. The wind from the engines and landing almost made us topple over. I guess this is the transport we’ve been waiting for. 

The back of the aircraft opens and a man steps out to walk towards us. He had on a perfectly clean black suit, dark shades, and a neat haircut, a stark contrast next to the dusty terrain all around us. He held an expression that was hard to read as he got closer to us. He was probably trying to make sense of the two extra people he wasn’t expecting. 

“Dr. Selvig, it looks like you have some company.”, he remarked as he folds his hands together in front of him, looking very much like a secret service agent. 

Is he from this mythical S.H.I.E.L.D.?

“Why yes, this is Dr. Anastasia Marshall, another brilliant astrophysicist. You’re familiar with Dr. Foster.”, Erik replies calmly. The man didn’t change his stance or expression as he was introduced to us. 

“Yes, I’m familiar. It was my understanding that S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to provide you with an assistant.”, the man challenges. He wasn’t being rude but it seemed like he was just trying to get a grasp of the situation in front of him. I don’t blame him, some of us were going through the same thing. 

“Agent Coulson, Jane and Ana will be invaluable assets to the project.”, Erik reassured, trying to win him over. 

Agent? We’re dealing with Agents now? 

The agent was just about to speak before I cut him off, “Hi, uh yes, I’m not coming with you, I just wanted to get some more information to know what my friends were getting involved with.” He looks at me, his sunglasses masking his eyes. 

“That’s classified information, and clearly you know too much already.” He replies, and then he turns to Jane. 

“Dr. Foster, I’m afraid S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t have you on this project. I do believe we could compromise. We do want to keep things cordial since we did get off on a bad start.” He explained to her. Why can’t Jane get onto this project? He continued before I could get the chance to blurt out my questions. 

“We do have an open spot in our observatory in Tromso that would need your expertise.”, If he had any emotion at all he was an expert in hiding it, because I couldn’t read his face or body language. Jane stayed quiet and Erik’s cheerful demeanor finally dropped. These are some big decisions happening on a whim. I interject again.

“What’s the big deal with this project and why-”, the agent cuts me off.

“Anastasia Teresa Marshall, Ph.D. in Astrophysics from University of Washington, 27, single, no contact with living family, your dog Marley, sorry Mayci,  died 6 years ag-”, the agent drones on before I cut him off. 

“How do you know so much about me?”, I ask, trying to mask my surprise. He literally just met me two minutes ago. 

“We looked you up the minute we spotted you with Erik and Jane from the sky.”, He says calmly, “You are well-versed in thermonuclear astrophysics though.”, he says with an interested tone. I glare at him and roll my eyes. He looked me up, big whoop. Is that supposed to scare me? 

“If we wanted to scare you Dr. Marshall, we would have already.”, He challenges. Fuck, I can’t be that easy to read. The agent quickly touches his ear, it seemed like he was listening to something. 

“Look, we don’t have much time. Dr. Selvig we can’t have Dr. Foster on the project due to S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol, but since you do need a collaborator and Dr. Marshall has the skills needed, we can permit her to be on the project.”, he stated. Jane finally spoke up.

“Wait, what protocol?”, Jane asks. It must be pretty important for it to bar her from helping on the project. 

“I can’t say, but the project details for Tromso was just sent to your email and I can get you a folder while we’re in the Quinjet.” He replied. That’s bold of him to assume she’s going. Jane turns towards Erik and they whisper for a little bit before she turns back to Agent Coulson.

“Okay, I’ll go.”, she says finally. I look at her with this crazy look because there’s no way she’s okay with this. She was so ready to work with Erik and now she’s getting whisked off to Norway? Before I could say anything, the agent turned to me.

“The American Museum of Natural History and S.H.I.E.L.D. have a friendly relationship, if you agree to work on the project you will not lose your permanent job while you’re on leave. S.H.I.E.L.D can also keep up your lease for your home in New York while you’re working for us. NASA also is a contributor in this project so AMNH would be eager for you to be a collaborator.”, He says being very certain about all of this. I was speechless, Jane was right. There would be no consequences from me literally picking up and working on another project doing who knows what, the gods know where.

“Also, judging from your lack of luggage, we can have your things arranged for transport from your home to the research site.”, He states. This was almost too good to be true. 

That’s because it probably is.

I ignore my overactive conscience and give a look to Erik and Jane who are smirking at me, saying I told you so with their eyes. Fuck it. 

“Okay, I’m in.”, I say crossing my arms. Erik and Jane both cheer as Jane gives me a hug. 

“See I told you.”, she says before we let go. 

“Yeah I know, I know.”, I reply smiling. How bad could this be?

“Great, so it’s settled. Let’s debrief in the Quinjet.”, Agent Coulson says as he turns and says something incomprehensible into his ear mic thingy. 

—

They didn’t give us any details as to where we were going. All we knew was that Jane was going to have to de-board onto another Quinjet to head to her Tromso position. I wasn’t going to try to hide the fact that I was sad to see her go. I just reunited with her yesterday and now she’s leaving for some undisclosed amount of time. 

Coulson speaks over the headpieces they gave us, “We’re coming up on the transfer site, Dr. Foster.”

“You better call me with updates, I want to know all about your adventures in Norway.”, I say as I give her the biggest hug, trying not to cry. I could tell she was doing the same thing because her voice broke as she replied. 

“Don’t forget about me Ana, and keep an eye out for Erik?”, she says quietly. 

“How could I forget about you? I’ll definitely be seeing you soon. Of course I’ll keep an eye on him.”, I say warmly. Erik clearly was a father-figure to her, so I’m glad she trusts me to stay with him on this project. She smiles and mouthes a Thank You as her and Erik give one last hug for the road. The Quinjet landed smoothly on a runway and Jane and some other agents helped grab her stuff as the cargo doors opened. 

“You both better have a Nobel prize when I get back.”, She says with tears in her eyes, but she was smiling. It was a bittersweet moment, heading to a career defining project but leaving her family behind in the process. 

“You first!”, I yell back as the cargo door closed behind her. 

Once we were in the air again, Coulson comes and sits next to Erik and I. He hands both of us a thin translucent tablet with a bunch of information on it. I haven’t seen technology like this ever, so I was admiring it when Coulson chuckled. 

“That’s the usual first reaction to these things, but that’s all the information on Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. I would’ve told you earlier but we try to keep the amount of bodies with this intel to a minimum.”, He explained. I nodded my head, quickly understanding how S.H.I.E.L.D decides to run things. 

I scrolled through the tablet and saw that our main base of operations was in the Mojave Desert in Nevada. P.E.G.A.S.U.S was under NASA and S.H.I.E.L.D’s Joint Dark Energy Mission. There were other research divisions but we were mainly going to stay in the Western Division. 

Erik and Coulson were catching me up on what the main goals of the project were. This thing called the Tesseract was found on Earth and they wanted to understand it and potentially harness its power. Harness its power for what? Where on Earth did they find it? I didn’t ask. I’m learning to choose my battles with S.H.I.E.L.D, especially Agent Coulson.

Agent Coulson turned out to be a pretty nice person to be around. He was giving me a crash course on what happened with the Thor situation from S.H.I.E.L.D's perspective. I was glad Erik was here because some familiarity was the only thing grounding me in this moment.

We finally land and meet Agent Hill and Agent Barton. I’m made a mental note to get used to calling people Agent around here. Based off of what Agent Hill said, us and a select few other lab assistants knew what was happening with P.E.G.A.S.U.S. so we had to keep a very low profile. If I was supposed to be outside the lab, I had an alias with a whole different occupation and everything. It felt like I was in a Mission Impossible movie or something.

There were living accommodations and some pretty good food options on the massive campus for being in the middle of the desert. After all the information I got the past two days, I needed to sleep. Immediately after the briefings and tours of the compound, I headed to my room which was a good 10 minute walk from the meeting rooms. I didn’t have the energy to see the Tesseract up close today because that’s way too much information all at once. 

It felt weird knowing that I just up and left my job for a cool secret government position in the middle of the desert. It was dark out, but with all of the security patrols and cameras I felt safe enough to make the trek back to my room alone. I also liked the cool desert air and I wanted to see the stars in the sky. As I was headed out I hear my name. 

“Hey! Dr. Marshall, wait!”, I turn around and see Agent Barton jogging after me. I wave and smile at him. We didn’t get much time to talk during the briefing meetings, but he seemed nice enough. 

“I don’t feel comfortable with you walking alone when it’s so dark outside.”, he stated. 

“I really appreciate the offer Agent Barton, but there’s plenty of patrols and cameras so I feel safe walking by myself.”, I reassure him. He gave me a serious look.

“Anything can happen and it takes only a second.”, He explained, genuinely worried about something happening. Again, I decide to choose my battles with Agent Barton. I nodded and smiled.

“Thank you Agent Barton.”, I say as I start walking again in the direction of my room. He shakes his head as he walks beside me. 

“You can just call me Barton, Agent is way too formal for my taste.”, He says. Noted

The rest of the walk was him giving me some more background on S.H.I.E.L.D. and where he fit into with all of this. He apparently is “good at archery”. That’s a very specific skill but I shrugged it off as a party trick or something. We quickly talked like we were old friends and that made me feel a little better because I couldn’t hoard Erik all to myself while we’re here. 

I got to my room and let sleep envelop me yet again. 

````

“Dr. Marshall, you need to see this.”, one of the lab assistants, Cameron, said from across the room. I was busy adjusting the containment arm for the Moody Blue Cube as I like to call it. It’s been about 3 months since Erik and I arrived to work with the Tesseract and we quickly got used to it’s “moods”. 

I quickly made my way over to Cameron’s station and saw his screen. All of its past measurement limits were growing exponentially, and before I could analyze them the cube activated itself. I instantly call for Erik because the readings we were getting were dangerous. If the cube doesn’t stabilize, it’s going to kill everyone in a 100 mile radius. 

“Erik, I need you down here.”, I say into my earpiece, making sure it’s a secure line between only the two of us. I don’t want anyone else worried about this yet if it’s another one of it’s moods.

Erik was down to the lab in minutes. His worried expression darkened as he saw the readings increasingly rise. He looked at me.

“We need to evacuate, now.”, He said and everyone got to work. We have clear protocol for evacuation, we don’t know what we’re dealing with and we don’t know the extent of the Tesseract’s power. 

I transferred my comm to a line with Erik, Barton, Hill, and Coulson, and I said the code word signifying that we needed an immediate evacuation. Within seconds the alarm was going off. I let out an inward sigh of relief. Our main objective is to keep everyone safe, and I’m glad I pushed the evacuation protocols onto Director Fury, who I have yet to meet. 

“Ana, Directory Fury is inbound, ETA 15 minutes.”, I hear over my comms from Coulson. Great, what else should I manifest, a boyfriend?

“Copy.”, I confirm into the comms and I focus back to the evacuation procedures. We had to shut down all of the queued experiments we were planning on executing on the Tesseract. The cube was getting more volatile and the building was starting to get affected like it was getting hit with an earthquake. We were several stories underground and the cube was affecting all of the offices upstairs. It was turning into absolute chaos. I loose track of time as I focus my energy on getting the other lab assistants done with their protocols. 

“Talk to me doctor.”, a booming voice echoes behind me. I turn around and see a man with an eyepatch speaking with Erik. It looked like Erik was quickly explaining the situation as I met them near the Tesseract. Erik introduces us.

“Directory Fury, this is Dr. Anastasia Marshall. Ana this is Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, he added. Fury and I shake hands as he follows Erik and I to the console that has been monitoring the Tesseract’s energy. We were explaining to Fury the implications of the cube activating itself like this, and he calls down Barton to talk. I wonder if Fury thinks we activated the cube. What good would that do for us? We barely have a handle on the thing. A voice cuts over to my comm.

“Dr. Marshall, we need you in room B304, we’re running into trouble transferring the data with all of this commotion.”, an agent urgently says. I tell the other lab assistants to evacuate immediately. I reply that I’m on my way and quickly let Fury and Selvig know that I’ll be right back. 

The trek to B304 was definitely a wild one. The building was shaking almost uncontrollably  so everything was crashing around me. The lights were flickering and making it difficult to see, and all the people rushing out of their offices to get to safety was becoming overwhelming. I almost lose my balance when a column lands right in front of my feet. 

That was too close

I didn’t have time to freeze, I couldn’t be the one responsible for these agents being stuck behind because of our research. 

I finally make it to the room unscathed. They were correct, the major cracks in the walls and the unstable power source was making it hard to transfer the files over to our Eastern Division. The agents were looking at me for an answer. 

“We’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.”, I say as I start to download everything onto a physical drive. I hear the cracking in the ceiling and immediately stop the transfer. This will have to be good enough, it’s not worth risking anymore lives. 

“Here, take this and make sure this gets to the Eastern Division. Get out of here, go!”, I yell as I hand one of them the drive and almost push them all out of the room before the ceiling collapses onto the computers right where we were standing. 

That was also too close. 

“Dr. Marshall where are you going?”, one of them yells. I didn’t have time to reply I instantly  headed straight back down to the lab to grab Selvig because this situation was getting too dangerous. Seeing the damage all around me, I knew we had to get out, NOW. 

As I run back into the lab what I see stops me right in my tracks. There was this weirdly dressed man holding a golden spear against Erik’s chest. Before I could scream and run over, Erik’s eyes turned blue and he looked like he was under a spell. I noticed Barton standing over to the side with the same dazed blue eyes. Fury had his back towards me and I saw that he had the Tesseract in a metal briefcase. I couldn’t really make out what they were saying either. No one noticed that I was there and I honestly didn’t know what to do and I was worried about Erik. The atmosphere was tense, I tried my best to stay quiet and out of sight. As I slowly moved to the side I accidentally tripped over something and fell straight on my ass. 

Nice going Ana

I looked down to see that I tripped over an entire dead body and that’s when I finally screamed. There were several other dead bodies around me and I didn’t know how to react to the violence all around me. 

“Well, well, well…who do we have here?.”, a sly voice says behind me. I quickly turn around and stand up to meet the green eyes of the crazy man. Being up close to him made him seem even more deranged. He had long raven black hair, but it was sweaty along with the rest of his face. He had a murderous look and his eyes scared me even more. I saw nothing but pain and chaos in them and I was way too close to him. I was frozen in fear as he towered over me. He didn’t break eye contact as he slowly moved closer to me, leaving only an inch of space between us. I couldn’t place his scent but it was overpowering. 

“I am Loki, of Asgard.”, He said studying me, as if I was supposed to be impressed with that. 

“Asgard? As in Thor?”, I said breathlessly. I couldn’t control my heart rate and I couldn’t calm down, this man was too close to me and I didn’t want to be any closer to that spear. He growled as he pushed me against the closest wall. 

“Fuck! Get the fuck away from me!” I yell as I try to push him away from me. He kept looking at my face as if he was trying to understand something. He was completely unfazed by my yelling. 

“There’s something about you, Miss…” He says expectantly waiting for my name. The way he spoke, it was like he was in a Shakespeare play. His cadence was throwing me off, was he trying to be seductive or get me to submit to him? Yeah good luck with that

“Doctor Marshall.”, I spit out, with bile in my words. What did he do to Erik? He smirks at me as he backs away. It was like he was satisfied getting that reaction from me. He looks me up and down which made me want to puke on the spot. 

“What do you want Loki?”, Fury challenged. Loki didn’t react right away, he just kept his gaze on me, but I couldn’t read it. He leaned closer near my ear and whispered.

“I am enamored by you, Dr. Marshall.”, He breathed, and it sent a terrible shudder down my spine. He sneered as he turned towards Fury. 

“You know exactly what I want.”, He says, as Barton simply shoots Fury in the chest. I gasp as I see Fury hit the ground with the briefcase out for the taking. Loki tries to grab my arm and I instantly pull back. The last thing I want is for him to touch me. He raises a brow, amused that I resisted and tries to go for me again before Erik spoke. 

“Sir, the Tesseract is becoming more unstable. It’s going to bring the entire compound down on top of us.”, Erik says looking at the data on the console. Loki turns his attention to the Tesseract and nods to Barton and Erik to head out with him. I keep myself pressed against the wall.

They step over Fury’s body and grab the briefcase. I wanted to shout after Erik but it was no use, he was clearly under Loki’s control.

“I’ll be seeing you soon Doctor Marshall.”, Loki quips right before the three of them disappear to the garages. 

Chapter Text

Kidnapping my boss and collapsing a building on me is a terrible first impression. 

Fury turned out to be okay since he was wearing kevlar, and we barely made it out of the compound as it almost collapsed with us inside. Scarcely making it out alive, I needed a minute. I bent down to put my hands on my knees to try to process what was going on. Loki is from Asgard too, so are all of our aliens coming from Asgard? Does he know Thor? My mind went back to Loki whispering in my ear and it sent another shiver down my spine. Uncomfortable doesn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling at that moment. I was surrounded by dead bodies, in imminent danger from the volatile tesseract, saw Erik succumb to some sort of mind-control, and I can’t forget the literal god who decided to encroach on my personal space. 

Disrupting me from my thoughts, Fury grabbed my arm and guided me to a helicopter that was standing by. I’m not the biggest fan of being touched, and while I make plenty of exceptions, this wasn’t the time. I try to rip my arm out of his grip, but it was too strong.

“Get off of me Director Fury!”, I yell as the blades of the helicopter picked up speed making it hard to hear almost anything. He didn’t answer me as he practically dragged me to the doors of the helicopter. 

“Get in!”, Fury yells at me. I decided not to protest, as he helped me take the huge step to get on.  He finally let my arm go once I was sat in my seat. He quickly jumped in after me and yelled for the pilots to take off. The doors were still open as we ascended and I immediately strapped myself in seeing the increasing distance between me and the ground. Fury on the other hand was standing in the opening looking out below us. I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying to the pilots, it looked like he was giving them directions because he was pointing at something near the ground. I swallowed a little of my anxiety from being so high up as I tried to lean forward to see what he was pointing at. Before I was able to clearly see anything, a beam of high-energy flew right past us, barely missing the helicopter. 

Fury kept his stance at the opening as the pilots went into their evasive maneuvers. The alarms in the cockpit were going off and I was starting to get dizzy from the aggressive turns. Some more energy beams came towards us and I realized that I was screaming. I covered my head and closed my eyes, praying to something hoping I make it out alive. I’m a civilian I am not trained for this.

The shots immediately ceased after I screamed and the helicopter leveled out. Fury still didn’t look very phased. It was quiet for a moment. I don’t know what came over me, but I unstrapped myself and while keeping an iron grip on the sides of the aircraft I stood next to Fury to see what he was looking at. 

It was Loki, Erik, and Clint all in a stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. truck. Loki was in the bed of the truck holding his scepter. Erik and Clint weren’t paying us any mind staring straight ahead, most likely waiting for further instructions. 

“Erik!”, I yell trying to get his attention, he looked unbothered. I knew it wasn’t going to work but I needed to try. The sound of the helicopter wasn’t doing me any favors. I looked at Barton and yelled his name, I didn’t get a response. My eyes angrily met Loki’s and he had that same stupid look on his face from earlier. I didn’t say anything as he stared at me. That same shiver ran down my spine and his face immediately turned into a grimace as he looked beside me. I turned and saw Fury holding a literal bazooka. He kneeled and pointed it right at the vehicle.  The one holding two of my friends. 

“NO!”, I scream as Fury lets the rocket shoot towards the truck. Loki returns the favor by shooting at it with his scepter, intercepting the rocket mid-air. The blast immediately blew me back into the helicopter and Fury stumbled a little bit as the pilots avoided it as much as possible. By the time the smoke cloud faded away, they were gone. Fury cursed and said something over his comm. I couldn’t look at him, I was too angry. He was willing to kill Selvig and Barton. Over what? A fucking cube from space? Fury tells the pilots something I couldn’t make out and we start to head farther away from the compound. 

“Wait, we’re not going to go after them?”, I try to yell to Fury as he sits down next to me, “There’s no way we’re giving up this easily. We’re in the air, we have an advantage. Clearly Loki doesn’t want to kill me, so we can use that to rescue Erik and Barton!”, I try to explain as he continues to ignore me.

“Sierra is with me, we need to get her off the grid.”, Fury says into his comm. Sierra? Off the grid? 

“I’m not going anywhere, we need to find Erik and Clint.”, I argued as I disregard the weird codename. Fury looks at me annoyed and I couldn’t care less. 

“Dr. Marshall, clearly Loki has taken an interest in you and you happen to be S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most valuable asset at the moment. So we’re going to take you off the grid so he doesn’t find you and make you another one of his mind slaves.”, Fury explains. I know I’m pushing his patience but that wasn’t what I was concerned with.

“Valuable asset?”, I question, absolutely confused. I bring absolutely nothing to the table, they can find another me literally anywhere.

“Dr. Marshall, you are our only hope in helping find the tesseract. Between already having experience working with it and your expertise in thermonuclear astrophysics, you are simply too valuable for S.H.I.E.L.D. to lose. We designate the codename ‘Sierra’ for scientists needing to be in S.H.I.E.L.D. special custody.” Fury clarified. 

“So I’m in witness protection.”, I reply crossing my arms. 

“If that’s how you want to take it, then yes.”, He huffed as he pulled out another high tech S.H.I.E.L.D. communication device. I rolled my eyes. Clearly I have no say here, and now I’m being shipped off to witness protection. I’m getting sick of S.H.I.E.L.D. making these decisions for me. This is exactly why I have problems with authority. 

My mind went back to Clint and Erik. When I saw them they looked fine, but I hope they’re not trapped inside their own minds, watching themselves make these horrible decisions. My phone is buried under rubble and concrete at the compound, so there was no way to update Jane about this. 

How would I break it to her? Yeah hey Jane, I know it’s been a few weeks since we’ve talked but another Asgardian came down and stole Erik. Would S.H.I.E.L.D. tell her? Based on Fury’s attitude, probably not. It’s not really my call, she deserves to know. Once I get my hands on a phone, I’ll have to contact her. 

The rest of the helicopter ride was silent. I was angry and Fury was irritated, nothing we said to each other was going to be productive. I wanted to know where we were headed, but I was too stubborn to break the silence. All I knew is that I was getting dropped off at a “safe house”. 

I can admit that what happened back in the lab was weird, but I feel like the safe house is an overreaction. Loki is dangerous and unpredictable, but just because he was weird with me a few times doesn’t mean my life is in danger. Erik and Clint’s lives are in immediate danger and I’m not seeing the same urgency and that simply pisses me off. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Another night, no sleep. 

Steve was at his local boxing gym, trying to tire himself enough to fall back asleep, unfortunately he happens to be a Super Soldier. Each punch of the bag echoed in the empty space. It was 2:00am, no one was going to be around for the next six hours.

You’ve been sleeping for 70 years.

Flashbacks of Bucky…punch

Peggy…punch

Erskine…punch

A flashback of Steve hitting the ice made him punch the bag off its hook across the room, spilling sand everywhere. He sighed, this was his third time tonight doing that. As he was walking to grab yet another bag for him to destroy, he sensed another presence in the room. He turned to see it was Director Fury. 

Steve still didn’t know how to feel about Fury, he was one of the first people he met after he woke up, but he doesn’t know anything about him. S.H.I.E.L.D. helped Steve get acquainted with the 21st century and it’s been a challenge, but he’s going at a steady pace. 

“Trouble sleeping?”, Fury said across the room. 

“I think I’ve had my fill of sleeping, sir.”, Steve says as he starts to punch the new bag hanging in front of him. The sounds of his hands hitting the leather filled the room again. 

“Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world.”, Fury replied as he walked closer, holding a folder in his hand. Steve stopped punching and avoided what Fury mentioned. He just found out everyone he ever knew is dead or currently dying, he doesn’t feel like celebrating anything. He’s alone. 

“Are you here with a mission sir?”, Steve said as he walked towards his gym bag. “Trying to get me back in the world?”

“Trying to save it.”, Fury replied as he handed the folder to Steve. The first page was a briefing on the Tesseract. His mood darkened.

“Hydra’s secret weapon, you should’ve left it in the ocean.”, Steve warned. A lot of good people died because of this thing. Fury nodded.

“We’re starting to realize that.”, Fury admitted. 

Steve flipped through the rest of the folder reading his mission details. Based on the brief skim he did through the pages, he was supposed to be on watch at a safe house. The folder gave a codename: Sierra

“Sierra?”, Steve questioned. 

“Dr. Marshall is under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s protection and we figured that this was a good start for you Captain.”, Fury replied. Steve nodded, it seemed way below his pay-grade but he was just happy to be back in the field where he belonged. 

“There’ll be a car at your apartment tomorrow morning to take you to the airfield.” Fury stated. 

Steve looked at the folder again and read up on Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. , which had most of its details, including the names of the people involved, redacted. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Missouri. They took me to Missouri. 

I don’t know what Fury was thinking sending a woman of my color to the middle of Missouri, but here we are. 

I was standing in front of this old farm house with nothing but my ratty clothes from last night. I just really needed a shower and a nice warm bed. So much has happened and my body was desperately needing some rest. 

The poor agent who was assigned to me had to deal with my attitude and they quickly understood that with the past 24 hours I had, no one would be chipper. 

Once I stepped up to the house I noticed that it was more than just an old farmhouse. There were slight enhancements all around the outside. The windows were double paned and were probably bullet proof knowing S.H.I.E.L.D. and their practices. There was a finger print scanner next to where the doorbell would’ve been and there were probably hidden cameras everywhere. I guess they had plenty of time to deck out this house with no one around for miles. 

“Sierra is in, I repeat, Sierra is in.”, The agent said into their comms. They were clearly new and wanted things to go well, I probably should be a little nicer.

“So it’s going to be you and me here for awhile huh?”, I say jokingly trying to lighten the mood a little bit. The agent looked at me and smiled. 

“Actually no, I’m leaving as soon as I’m relieved by a…Captain Rogers?”, The agent said checking their S.H.I.E.L.D. tablet. Captain? Jeez Fury, you didn’t need to send a Captain to babysit me. I told the agent I was headed to find a room and a shower. On the way here, they mentioned to me that every S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house has plenty of clothes, food, and entertainment since they’re built to keep the occupants in the house at all times. 

I headed up the creaky stairs and found a room with a nice queen sized bed with an attached bathroom. I checked the closet and saw that there were a bunch of clothes of various sizes. I found some oversized basketball shorts and an oversized t-shirt and instantly got into the shower to wash off the Asgardian and rubble smell that was probably seeping from my pores. 

The scalding hot water felt too good, I lost track of how long I was in the shower. When I finally decided to get out, I found some expensive products near the sink that I took full advantage of. I was clean, but now I needed something to eat. My appetite came back in the shower and the only thing I was craving were potatoes. 

After drying myself off, I put on my Adam Sandler clothes, wrapped my wet hair in t-shirt, and headed downstairs. I noticed it was now dark outside and the stars were fully visible. My demeanor completely changed, I haven’t lived somewhere without light pollution in years and this farmhouse the perfect place. I guess there is an upside to this place. 

Completely forgetting about the potatoes, I head straight for the back patio which was conveniently right off of the dining room. Right before I grab the door handle to race outside, I hear someone clear their throat behind me. I froze, it definitely wasn’t the agent from earlier because this someone had a much deeper voice. 

I immediately turn around and see one of the most attractive men I’ve ever laid eyes on. He was tall, had dirty blonde hair, and a pair of the beautiful blue eyes covered with the thickest lashes I’ve ever seen on a man. He was big, it looked like he was completely made of muscle. He was wearing clothes that seemed a little old fashioned, but comfortable. He smelled of cedar and I wanted to drown in whatever cologne he was wearing. 

“Ma’am?”, the specimen spoke, breaking me out of the trance he put me in. Fuck, did I really just stare at this man? I was mentally facepalming myself. I get overly self-aware and I wanted to shrink from the embarrassment. This is one of the times where my darker skin benefits me by hiding my blush. 

“Uh, yeah, sorry…um…hi?”, I ask. Who was this man and why is he here?

“My name is Captain Steve Rogers, and I’ve been assigned to protect you until further notice on Director Fury’s orders.”, He declared broadening his stance like a soldier. 

Aaaah, so this is Captain Rogers. 

“Nice to meet you Captain Rogers, my name is Anastasia, but you can just call me Ana.”, I stated, trying to relax the room a little. He was a little tense and it seemed like he took his job extremely serious. 

“I’d rather keep things formal, Ma’am.”, Steve replied. I debated arguing with him on this one. Who knows how long we’re going to be on this “farm”, I don’t want someone calling me “ma’am” or “miss” all the time, this isn’t the 40s. 

“Captain Rogers, I’d prefer it if you called me by my name because I consider myself a pretty informal person. I’ll respect your title, but I’d prefer not be called ‘ma’am’.”, I say, seeing him relax a little bit. 

“Sorry, I’m still getting the hang of things around here.”, He added. Is he new?

“Oh! Is this your first mission?”, I question as I keep eye contact with his gorgeous eyes. He has to know what he’s doing with those things, they’re dangerous. He looked down and chuckled to himself. 

“No, not by a long shot.”, He replied not breaking eye contact. Was there sexual tension in the room? Maybe. Could I be assuming there’s sexual tension, when in reality he’s just being nice? Most likely. 

“Well it’s great to meet you Captain Rogers, I-”, I start before he cuts me off.

“If I’m calling you Ana, you can call me Steve it’s only fair.”, He says smiling. My knees wanted to shake after seeing him smile, I was barely holding it together. Why is a man having this much of an affect on me? I knew I needed to get away from him because I was getting way too horny for my own good. 

“Well Steve, I don’t know if they told you but I’m in love with space and I can see the stars outside, so that’s where I’ll be.”, I state as I finally grab the door handle to head outside. 

In a flash, Steve moves around the table to put his large hand over mine stopping me from opening the door. It stays there for a millisecond too long and I take my hand away and step back, giving him a confused look. How did a man that big move that fast? The feeling of his warm hand felt on mine creeped into my mind as I tried to keep a serious face on. 

“Sorry ma’a— Ana, but you can’t go outside. It’s S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol.”, Steve quickly says as he puts his hand by his side. I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed. I moved around the wall of muscle towards the kitchen. I’m not even going to argue, I need mashed potatoes. I hate how “hangry" I get, and Steve doesn’t deserve to get his pretty head bitten off by me. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Marshall, or “Ana” was beautiful. Even her short fuse was endearing. I watched as she stomped towards the kitchen. A bunch of clanging was happening, and I was amused seeing her angrily get things together to make whatever she was going to make. It was cute. 

Your mission is to protect her.

My conscience quickly snapped me back into shape. According to Fury’s instructions, she wasn’t even allowed to boil water, let alone be making entire meals. I quickly walked over to her, keeping the kitchen island between us because I don’t want her to take her frustrations out on me.

“Dr. Marshall you’re also not allowed to be cooking, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t want to take any chances.” I advised as she stopped filling a pot with water. Her beautiful brown eyes met mine as I silently pleaded with her not to keep going. I could see she was contemplating her options. In about three seconds, she decided to continue filling the pot up with water. I sighed, I guess this is what we’re doing tonight. 

“Ana, I’m sorry, but you can’t be in the kitchen.”, I stressed as I came around the kitchen island to block her from the stove. She clearly didn’t like that and it looked like she was about to cry. Oh no

“Steve, I really need these mashed potatoes.”, She says calmly trying to hide her shaky voice. She looked straight ahead and avoided my eyes. My instinct was to go outside and find every potato in the world for her. I racked my brain trying to figure out how to keep her calm, based on the briefing I read, she had a pretty terrible 24 hours. 

“How about I make them?”, I ask, immediately regretting my answer, knowing I’ve been avoiding kitchens since I woke up. Everything is different, and I know I should expect that since its been 70 years, but I was still wary. Well now you’re doing it for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Make them for me? 

I was fighting back my tears because I didn’t want Steve to think I was sad. The truth is that I was livid. I cry when I’m angry and it pisses me off. I can’t go outside, I can’t cook for myself, what can I do? 

You can look at Steve.

I ignore my horny thoughts and let Steve take the pot. I can trust him, everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes. I sit behind the kitchen island and silently watch him attempt to make mashed potatoes. He looked a little clueless at first before I caved and decided to help him.

“You have no idea how to make mashed potatoes do you?”, I tease as he tries to grab a sauce pan. His face turns red as he nodded at me with an embarrassed look. 

“How about I tell you what to do from here?”, I suggest, trying to not make him feel bad. There could be any reason why he doesn’t know, it’s not really my business to judge. He smiles at me and we get started on the potatoes.

``````````````

Steve sat next to me as we both looked at our cleaned bowls. The potatoes we made hit the spot and we both didn’t even bother speaking as we inhaled them. Who doesn’t love mashed potatoes?

“I feel like we made a good team Captain Rogers.”, I say as I salute him. He laughed and got up to put our dishes away. 

“Yes, yes we do. Are you feeling better?”, He questioned as he raised his brow. I wanted to melt into my seat, everything he does is so attractive. I was distracted by his muscles moving under his shirt as he cleaned the dishes. 

“Ana?”, Steve questioned again waving his hand to get my attention. I loved the way he said my name. 

“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine now. I’m sorry, I hate how crabby I can get when I’m hungry.”, I apologized. Steve shrugged it off, he clearly wasn’t bothered by it. That made me feel a lot better, I try really hard not to misplace my anger.

A large yawn escaped from my mouth as I stood up to stretch. I peeked around Steve to look at the time and it was almost 9:00pm, which is my bedtime. I was extra tired after the terrible 24 hours I had and after this massive bowl of potatoes the bed upstairs was calling my name.

“Well I’m going to turn in, thanks again for the potatoes.”, I say as I start to head upstairs. 

“Good night, Anastasia.”, He replied as he smiled at me. The past few hours were replaying in my head as I was overthinking everything I said or did around Steve. I lost all of my decorum after laying eyes on him and that’s 100% not me.

WHY did you salute at him like a dork??

I made it to the room and immediately hit the bed. I tried my best not to think of the Captain as I eventually let sleep overtake me. 

````````````````

A sound woke me up. I shot straight up in bed and looked around the room. It was bold of me to do since I was secretly afraid of the dark. I wasn’t able to see much as I tried scanning the room from the safety of the blanket. Sometimes I hate being a light sleeper, ignorance is bliss and being able to sleep through things is my dream. It was the middle of the night and my throat was dry, but since I wasn’t home I didn’t have my go-to water bottle next to the bed. Which meant I had to go downstairs and get water. What Steve doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

I reminded myself that I was in the middle of the country, and there are going to be weird sounds outside all the time. It could be a hungry raccoon or a squirrel doing whatever squirrels do. That gave me the confidence I needed to race to the other side of the room to turn the light on and grab a random robe from the closet. 

I quietly made my way down the stairs, trying to avoid any creaky steps. I have no idea where Steve is sleeping and I don’t want to wake him up in case he was a light sleeper as well. I successfully made it to the kitchen and quietly opened up the cupboards to find a glass for water. Once I found a glass I liked I turned around to get some tap water from the sink and came face to face with a tall dark figure. I let out a sound because it scared the bejeezus out of me, and I didn’t hear them come up.

The mystery person clamped their hand over my mouth hard. What is it with people and touching people without their permission? I instantly bit down on the hand covering my mouth, they hissed and backhanded me, sending me to the floor.

That fucking hurt. 

I groan as I get up, the spot where they hit me was throbbing but there’s no way I’m not putting up a fight. 

The figure stalked towards me again before I grab the closest thing near me and swing. It happened to be a pot Steve put out to dry from dinner and it made a big clanging sound. 

“You fucking bitch.”, they say before they lunge at me once more tackling me to the ground. I start to scream as I hit the floor, the pain from the impact and the heavy weight straddling me really hurt. 

“GET OFF OF ME!”, I scream as I thrash around trying to wiggle myself out from under him. The figure starts to laugh before he pins me to the ground. I had literally no idea what was going on and why this person was in here. I thought this place was supposed to be a safe house. 

One second they were on top of me and the next they were thrown off of me into a wall probably 10 feet away. The kitchen light switched on and before I had any time to process how the figure got off of me, a pair of large, warm arms scooped me up off of the ground.

A pair of familiar blue eyes met mine before he raced me to the other end of the room, as far away from the perpetrator as possible. I saw him notice the growing bruise on my cheek and I winced as he walked me to the living room couch and laid me down. His breathing immediately got ragged when he saw me in pain.

“I’ll be right back.”, He said softly as he quickly made his way over to the figure dressed in all black. Steve was wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, and running shoes. Was he out running at 2:00am? I turned my attention to the figure on the floor. They looked like the typical brute type, male, rough around the edges, but I noticed his eyes were the same color of Erik’s and Barton’s when Loki hypnotized them. My stomach dropped immediately. 

Steve approached the man, who was still recovering after being thrown into a wall, and menacingly stood over him. The man looked up at Steve and growled, he tried making a swipe at him before Steve quickly put him in a chokehold. 

“Loki sends his regards.”, the brute choked out before Steve snapped his neck. 

Chapter Text

I am so sick of seeing dead bodies. 

Steve stepped over the intruder and quickly made his way over to me on the couch. He kneeled next to me and when I met his eyes I noticed they were filled with concern. This wasn’t the same man who just murdered that…brute in front of me. 

“Ana, talk to me, are you okay?”, his voice laced with unease. I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn’t say anything. The words weren’t forming, it was like a block was keeping me from replying. I was in shock. 

Steve didn’t break eye contact as he was searching for some kind of indicator to let him know I was okay. 

“You’re in shock, I’m going to take you to your bed upstairs.”, he explained as he scooped me into his arms like I weighed nothing and started to walk me to the staircase. My back was still throbbing from the pain of being tackled onto a hard wood floor and I hissed as we were headed up the stairs. He immediately stopped and looked at me. Those goddamn blue eyes-

“You doing okay?”, he asked with a concerned tone. 

“I’ll be alright, you know you don’t have to carry me up the stairs, Steve.”, I reply, trying to keep the atmosphere light. I try not to take things too seriously, apparently even when there’s been an attempt on my life or whatever the hell that was. Steve shook his head.

“I just want you to get to your bed without any more bumps or bruises.”,  Steve said as he continued up the stairs and around the corner to the bedroom. 

“You calling me clumsy?”, I asked, raising an eyebrow and I noticed him relax a little bit knowing I was okay enough to joke around. He smiled knowingly at me before he gently placed me on the bed. I was still wearing my robe and I was silently thanking my past self for keeping that on. The last thing I needed was Steve to see me braless. I also needed to not think about Steve seeing me without a bra. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that Ana, my job was to protect you and I couldn’t—”, he started before I put my hand up to stop him.

“Steve, you weren’t the one attacking me, you don’t need to apologize, if anything I need to be thanking you.”, I reasoned. I didn’t want him to feel guilty, but by the look on his face it seemed like that ship had sailed. 

“My mission is to keep you safe from any and all harm, I stupidly decided to go get some air out back and then I heard the crashing coming from the kitchen.”, he explained, “When I saw him on top of you I-”, he didn’t finish as he shook his head again and ran his hand through his hair, clearly stressed about the thought. 

“Why did you kill him?”, I asked, bringing him back. The fact that he did it wasn’t bothering me, it was the sound of it that was still playing in my head. 

“I’m sorry you had to see that…”, he apologized again, “I couldn’t stand the fact that he hurt you.” 

Should I press this? Probably. Will I press it? Probably not. I knew he was committed to the mission, but to this intensity? 

“I need to report this to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately and I need to secure the house in case any others decide to break in again.”, Steve stated as he walked around the room checking the windows and looking for possible hiding spots. I wrapped myself in the blanket as I watched him. I could see the muscles from his back under his sweatshirt, and I found myself getting distracted before he brought me out of my trance. 

“This room is secure, are you going to be okay? I’ll be back as soon as I’m done,” he asked, his size taking up almost all of the space within the door frame. I absentmindedly nodded as he quickly ran back down the stairs to alert S.H.I.E.L.D. about the incident. 

Once he was gone, the room felt colder and I was getting more and more anxious. Steve said the room was secure, but it felt ten times more secure with him here. I did some breathing exercises and tried to keep my mind off of what just happened. I really don’t need to panic right now. 

I’ve never been attacked before. Shit, I’ve never seen someone get killed before. What was my reaction supposed to be? Is there such a thing as a correct reaction to what just happened? I don’t know, I just wanted to stay wrapped up in my blanket.

Loki sent that guy, but why? He was weird from the moment I met him and his intentions were never clear. What the fuck does he want with me? He has Selvig who is a far more experienced physicist than I. He has Barton who can do a lot of the grunt work. What am I to him? A toy?

A knock at the door frame startled me out of my thoughts as I saw Steve. He was still wearing the sweatshirt/sweatpants combo as he made his way back into the room. 

“Sorry to startle you. I swept the house and alerted S.H.I.E.L.D., they’re going to be here first thing.”, he told me, “How are you feeling?”

So glad you’re back.

“I’m doing okay.”, I said quietly, trying to process all that’s been happening. Steve’s eyes softened.

“Can you stay in here with me?”, I ask, I know it’s childish but at this point I didn’t care. He made me feel safe and I really didn’t want to be alone. Something quickly flashed in his eyes before he nodded. 

“I’m sorry if it’s a weird request, I know you just met me but I would feel ten times safer if—”, I rambled before he cut me off.

“You don’t have to apologize, I’m just glad you’re not scared of me.”, Steve said, sounding relieved. 

“I assure you, it’s the complete opposite.”, I reply, smiling as I meet his gaze. He smiles back before the biggest yawn comes over me, my body signaling to me that sleep is needed. 

“I’m going to try to sleep.”, I say as I pass him an extra pillow and the blanket laying at the edge of the bed, just in case he needed it. 

“I’ll be right here.”, He said as sleep overcame me. 

—

I woke up in pure darkness. I couldn’t tell the difference between my eyes being open or closed. Before I had any time to panic, a disembodied voice echoed around me. 

Dr. Marshall, it is becoming a headache to come to have you in my possession. It should have been simple, but I made the mistake of sending an imbecile. He was not supposed to hurt you. 

Loki. 

I stay silent, I didn’t want to grant him the satisfaction of hearing the fear in my voice. 

Sometimes there are things that just have to be done yourself. 

You fascinate me Anastasia, it’s only a matter of time before you’re mine. 

—-

My eyes shot open and I realized that I was sweating with my heart racing. I sat up to try to calm myself down, but this time it wasn’t working. 

He came to me in my dreams? I don’t want to think about what being in his possession entailed, I just need to calm down. 

Why is this happening to me? Why did Loki take an interest in me in the first place? What does he want? What is he going to do to me? Is he going to put me under mind control like Erik and Clint? 

The pain from my back reminded me of what happened last night. 

Oh god, who was that man ? He tackled me to the fucking ground and then Steve killed him. He snapped his neck, oh god the sound of-

“Ana!”, Steve yelled, breaking my train-of-thought and finally getting my attention. His hands were on my shoulders and he was sitting right in front of me. How did I not notice this behemoth of a man get into my bubble? 

“Steve I’m sorry, I just-”, I breathlessly tried saying before he cut me off.

“Ana you looked like you were having a nightmare, but you woke up before I could get to you.”, Steve explained, looking more worried than ever. This was only our second day of knowing each other. He didn’t need to care about how I slept and he technically just needed to keep me alive. Steve seemed invested in my well-being past what the mission called for, and I was welcome to it. 

“It was Loki. He came to me in my dream.”, I mumbled, avoiding Steve’s gaze. Based on what happened last night, I don’t think Steve would appreciate Loki threatening to grab me himself. 

I noticed his body tense as he stood up and started to pace around the room. It was practically dawn and the sun was starting to stream into the room. He didn’t say anything at first because it looked like he was trying to calm himself down as well. I silently watched him, waiting for a response. He eventually stopped and turned towards me.

“What. Did. He. Say. To. You?”, Steve questioned, clearly keeping a lid on his frustration. No, not frustration, anger. His jaw was clenched and his eyes darkened. 

“He said he shouldn’t have sent the henchman,'' I replied quickly. Steve was starting to freak me out with how angry he was getting, I really didn’t want to escalate things. It looked like he noticed my apprehension and immediately softened his body language. 

“I’m sorry, I despise the idea of Loki causing you more harm.”, Steve said quickly. Before I could reply, the sound of an aircraft landing took both of our gazes to the window. He rushed over to the window and I saw him visibly relax.

“It’s S.H.I.E.L.D, let’s get you out of here.”

—

Steve was talking to Phil on the ride to our next stop. Coulson looked like he was in love, but could you blame him? Every now and then Steve would sneak some looks my way for a couple of seconds before Coulson asked him another question. I overheard something about how Coulson was the one keeping Steve’s hair “in check”.  There was a medic tending to my bruises, but they looked worse than how they actually felt and I felt fine. I can deal with some back pain. 

S.H.I.E.L.D. was made aware of the dream, well, the part I told them. They didn’t tell Steve or I where we were going, but I was hoping Steve was going to stay. Based on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s behavior, they could’ve taken him off the mission because of the intruder. I wouldn’t have let that happen either way, I don’t think Fury wants me nagging him any more than I already do. 

The pilots alerted us that we were descending and I looked out the window to see an aircraft carrier. I guess we’re switching planes, I hope they don’t choose a safe house in Nebraska or something.

Once we landed, there was a woman standing on the runway right at the opening of the quinjet. She had short, vibrant red hair and was wearing a black leather jacket. She was also absolutely gorgeous. I saw her gun holster and realized she was another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. S.H.I.E.L.D. is global, and I understood that I wouldn’t have met every agent in my hole in the Nevada desert. 

Coulson was the first to step out, and then he introduced us. 

“Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers and Dr. Anastasia Marshall.”, Phil introduced. She nodded, acknowledging us. I could tell she was a high level agent. Being around different S.H.I.E.L.D. agents for the past few months helped me recognize the ranks. I wonder if my clearance has changed now that I’m in protective custody. 

“I’ve heard a lot about you Dr. Marshall, it’s great to finally meet you.”, she said with a small smile. I could already tell we were going to be good friends. She turned to Coulson, telling him they needed him on “the bridge” before he ran off to his next post. 

“Captain Rogers, you also made quite a buzz. Did Coulson ask you to sign his trading cards yet?”, She smirked at him. 

“Trading cards huh?”, He asked, looking amused. Agent Romanoff nodded. She started walking away from the quinjet and we followed her. I noticed that Steve kept a respectful but close distance behind me. 

“They’re vintage. He’s very proud.”, she yelled behind her. The carrier had aircraft everywhere and it was getting hard to hear. We quickly came up on another quinjet with a man looking extremely confused while getting in the way of the very busy crew. 

“Dr. Banner!”, Steve yelled. The confused man turned around and he made his way over to us. 

“Captain Rogers, they told me you would be coming.”, Dr. Banner said, shaking his hand. He turned to me and smiled.

“And you are?”, he questioned. He had messy dark hair and his suit was a little too big for him but he had a very calming and soft demeanor that I found absolutely adorable. 

“Dr. Ana Marshall.”, I say, shaking his hand. He nods at me and smiles at Agent Romanoff. It seems they’ve already met. 

“They say you can help find the cube,'' Steve mentions, starting the conversation. Dr. Banner was still looking around taking in his environment. I’m not surprised the Captain is calm during all of this military chaos. 

“Is that the only word on me?”, Dr. Banner asks, sounding uneasy. 

“The only word I care about.”, Steve replies and before I could ask what they were talking about Agent Romanoff pulled me to the side. 

“Fury would like to speak with you before take-off,” she whispers in my ear. I nod and let the men dive into their conversation. While she flagged down another Agent to take me to Fury, I caught Steve’s gaze. I couldn’t read his expression before Dr. Banner caught his attention again.

You’re getting attached. 

I ignore my inner voice and follow the agent to speak to Fury. 

Chapter Text

“Captain Rogers is taken off your assignment.”, Fury said when I walked into the room. He was facing a window, arms crossed, overlooking what looked like a command center. There were a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents bustling around at various stations, the soundproofing of the room blocked out any noise but I still tried not to get distracted by the organized chaos below us. I focused my attention on Fury instead, glaring at his back. 

“That is entirely unnecessary, he did his job perfectly,” I responded defensively, which made him turn towards me with a suspicious look. I was still unsure where I stood with Fury. Yes, I was the last person who worked with the tesseract, therefore making me valuable to this current…issue, but beyond that? I wouldn’t be surprised if Fury was willing to give me to Loki on a silver platter if it pleased his agenda. 

“Now why does this matter to you Dr. Marshall?” Fury asked accusingly, “Rogers failed to protect you- a pretty simple mission given his history.”, he crossed his arms across his chest, clearly not seeing anything wrong about his actions. I was starting to get irritated. There was no way Steve was going to get in trouble for something out of his control. If anything, I should be the one reprimanded since I wasn’t supposed to be in the kitchen anyway. 

“Director Fury, since I was there I think I can make the call to say if he failed or not.”, I countered. Fury glared at me. “Captain Rogers did everything in his power to keep me alive, and to put it simply, I think it’s fucked for you to punish him for something Loki did in the first place.”, it was my turn to cross my arms. 

“What’s fucked Dr. Marshall, is that there’s an Asgardian running around with an inter-dimensional object that we barely understand. What’s fucked is that he’s dong his best to take over Earth. What’s fucked—”, I flinched at his words, “—is that same Asgardian pining over you.”, Fury sneered. He noticed the confused look on my face.

How did he know?

“You thought I didn’t notice the way he was looking at you when he took Barton and Selvig?”, Fury asked leaning against the window, staring me down. “Why do you think I sent you to the safe house?”

My eyes widened. Fury smirked at my expression, he wanted a reaction out of me. 

“I had to be sure Loki was putting energy into seriously finding you. I sent Captain Rogers, knowing he wouldn’t let you sustain life threatening injuries.” He explained, no remorse in his tone. 

“But injuries nonetheless.”, I fumed. Fury shrugged his shoulders. 

“Look, for whatever reason, Loki wants you. Maybe he wants to corrupt all of our scientists, who knows.”, Fury turned back around and looked over the command center below. “That’s why you’re here, to make sure he doesn’t get to you. We still need you to help find the tesseract.” 

Was I surprised he set me up to be assaulted by one of Loki’s goons? No. Did he need to announce it so callously? No, but he did. The lid on top of all of my emotions was about to blow. I guess this proves my silver platter theory; how far would he go? I felt used and unimportant, but I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I couldn’t let him see how this affected me.

“I request that Captain Rogers stay on my assignment.”, I said, standing my ground. Fury turned to stare at me again, annoyed that I didn’t give him any reaction to the nasty truth. 

“Captain Rogers has other duties awaiting him. You’ll be assigned a room and you’ll have a guard posted at all hours outside that room. If you’re not there, you will be in your lab, nowhere else. You’re dismissed.”, I was so angry that I could spit. I quickly turned on my heel and left the room in a huff. There was another agent waiting for me ready to take me to my “room”. I was getting the feeling that my free will was being slowly taken away from me. We passed the “lab”, which was conveniently stationed above the room where I wanted to kill Fury. It had state of the art equipment and way more space than I would need. I stayed silent with my thoughts as I followed the agent down numerous hallways. No matter how fancy this place was, it was still an aircraft carrier. 

We eventually arrived at my room, with a guard already posted by the door. The guard nodded at us as he let us through. Once we were inside I breathed a sigh of relief. Fully expecting my room to be a prison cell, I was surprised when I saw a relatively nice living area. There was a sizable bed against the wall across from a small kitchenette and the bathroom near a large window overlooking the never-ending blue that is the Atlantic ocean. I was a little nervous being so close to the water, my lack of swimming skills would surely kill me if this thing sank. The agent clearing her throat brought me out of my thoughts. 

“Is there anything else you need, Dr. Marshall?”, I turned to look at her and tried my best to keep any attitude I had at bay. It wasn’t her fault Fury is using me as a pawn in his game, but I still wanted to see how much free will I had left. 

“Am I only allowed in my room and my lab?”, I ask secretly hoping that Fury wouldn’t go that low. The agent shook her head.

“Those are the only two places you can be without an escort, but there will always be a guard posted at the door.”, she explained, “Director’s orders.”. I wanted to roll my eyes but I kept myself together. An escort? Fucking ridiculous. 

“I think I’m good now, thank you.”, I grumbled. The agent didn’t miss her chance as she quickly nodded and left. As soon as the door closed, I fought the urge to burst into tears. They weren’t sad tears, they were angry tears. They just made my mood worse as I sat on the bed and brought my gaze back out to the ocean. The calmness of the waves versus the absolute chaos that is becoming my life was pretty ironic, but I guess they were a good distraction. 

Not good enough.

The attack was still on my mind, and I tried not to think of what would’ve happened if Steve hadn’t been there. The fact that Fury counted on it happening made me sick to my stomach. I don’t think Fury counted on me to get attached to Steve, and knowing how perceptive the director is I hope I didn’t tip him off by requesting he stay assigned. 

This isn’t “The Bodyguard” Ana, he protected you because it was his mission. 

I let out the biggest sigh. I really shouldn’t be worrying about Steve. A batshit crazy alien was after me and I was under S.H.I.E.L.D’s protection. As an astrophysicist, I should be reeling over the fact that there is living, walking proof of extraterrestrial life. Maybe I should focus on that instead of Mr. Perfect Eyes, even though it was hard to ignore his reaction to my dream. Maybe that’s just how he is. Intense? 

Overprotective.

A knock on my door took me out of my thoughts. When I went to open it no one was there except the guard. I waved at him and he nodded as he pointed at the ground. There was one of those fancy S.H.I.E.L.D. tablets with a sticky note attached to it. 

Homework. -Fury

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

I grabbed the tablet and went back into my room. Having worked for S.H.I.E.L.D for a while, I knew these were given out to non-agents as briefings. Curious to see what Fury wanted me to know, I turned the tablet on. The first thing that popped up on the screen was in black bold letters:

CLASSIFIED - LEVEL 7

I was definitely not level 7 and I didn’t know why Fury sent something he knew I wasn’t allowed to see. All of a sudden the tablet scanned my face like out of a sci-fi movie and the classified description disappeared.  Before I could ask questions, 6 folders popped up all with names I was familiar with. Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers. I didn’t care that the ultra famous Tony Stark had a folder, I instantly tapped on Steve’s.

Steven Grant Rogers

Codename: Captain America

DOB: 07-04-1918

I noticed the weird typo in his birthdate, especially since this was an official S.H.I.E.L.D. profile. He was definitely born in 1981. That man looked not a day over 30. I looked back at the codename and slowly set the tablet down.

Steve was Captain America. The Captain America, the historical figure we learned about in school. 

“What. The. Fuck.”, I said completely reeling from the fact that Captain America literally watched me sleep, and as if the universe was mad at my potty mouth, my entire room started to shake as if we were having an earthquake. We were on the water…

Very stupidly, I ran to the window and saw we weren’t in the Atlantic anymore, we were hovering above it and it was getting smaller and smaller as we lifted through the clouds. I slowly backed from the window and ran outside to ask the guard what the hell was going on. 

“Dr. Marshall?”, the guard asked cautiously. I knew I looked crazed, but I was up to my eyeballs in stress and now I was floating in an aircraft carrier. 

“Can you please tell me what’s going on?”, I was practically begging at this point. Nothing was familiar and too much has happened for me to stay calm. 

“Ma’am, we’re on the helicarrier and we’ve just taken off, I promise you it’s perfectly safe.”, he tried reassuring me as best he could but I could tell he was annoyed for whatever reason. I didn’t have time to question his attitude with me, I was going to freak out. 

So I ran. 

I didn’t care that the guard was on my heels, I just needed to get away from everything. 

“Dr. Marshall! Stop right there!”, he yelled as his heavy footsteps behind me made my panic worse. I tried my best to evade him and I was doing a pretty good job, but I heard him get more and more frustrated. The people we were passing in the hallways had confused looks on their faces.

“You bitch, I said STOP!”, he practically roared, “Someone grab her!” I don’t know how my non-athletic self was dodging all of these highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents but adrenaline is a bitch. 

Ignoring his comment, I cut around a corner and quickly passed my lab. Still running, I glanced inside for a possible place to hide before I hit a wall. It hurt like hell as all my momentum was conserved and came right back at me. Before I could yell in pain the wall’s hands grabbed my arms and held me steady. 

All the pain and panic left me as I met Steve’s amused gaze. He opened his mouth to say something, but the guard came bumbling around the corner. He was heaving and he looked angry. Steve’s hands didn’t leave my arms as I turned around.

“You fucking bitch, how many times did I have to say—”, the guard stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes trailed seven inches above my head. Steve had to have felt me flinch when the guard called me a bitch, because he gave me a reassuring squeeze as he stepped in-between us. I wasn’t able to see his expression, but it couldn’t have been good because the guard slowly backed away with fear plastered all over his face. 

Before he could get away, Steve moved faster than I’ve seen anyone move before and twisted the guard’s arm behind his back. I caught his face and his eyes had darkened, reminding me of when he snapped the goon’s neck. Oh fuck. The guard’s cries of pain made everyone stop. 

“That is no way to speak to a lady, apologize. Now.”, Steve whispered in his ear, pulling the guard’s arm back further and further. 

“It’s okay Steve, let him go.”, I say carefully. Steve flashed a murderous smile at me. He was enjoying this. 

“He called you out of your name Ana, he needs to apologize.”, he said as I heard a sickening snap. The guard’s arm broke. 

“AHH! I’M SORRY DR. MARSHALL!”, the guard screamed in pain before Steve let him drop to the ground. Steve walked over the man writhing on the ground in pain. 

“This man needs a medic!”, Steve called out in an authoritative tone, the murderous look was gone from his face. Everyone was just as confused as I was as to how quickly his attitude changed. That didn’t stop them from scrambling around. I kept my eyes on him as he walked over to me with a soft smile on his face, it was like nothing happened. 

I felt incredibly stupid to not immediately know he was Captain America. History was never my strongest subject in school, but it was still embarrassing that I didn’t catch it. The way he spoke, the way he dressed, it all made sense that it came from a man from the 1940s. I wonder if he was offended that I didn’t recognize him.

“Are you okay Ana?”, Steve asked softly, saving me from my spiraling thoughts. I nodded trying to keep the sound of that man’s arm snapping out of my head. Was the guard rude for whatever reason? Yes. Did he have to have a broken arm? No. 

“Look, Cap—”, I began nervously, keeping my eyes on the floor. 

“Please, Steve is fine.”, he said gently. Despite the fact that this man has snapped someone’s neck and another’s arm for me, I didn’t feel apprehensive around him. I felt safe. A little too safe. 

“Steve, I really appreciate you having my back, but you didn’t have to do that.”, I said motioning to the guard now getting medical attention on the ground behind him. 

“You were running away from him and he was calling you a bitch, it didn’t look good Ana.”, Steve justified. “I was coming to grab you anyway, Directory Fury called for a meeting.”, he explained.

“What has Fury told you?”, I asked, trying to see what he knew. Based on his behavior, I don’t think it would’ve gone well if he knew that Fury planned on me getting attacked. Before Steve could reply I heard Fury’s voice over the intercom. 

“Dr. Marshall and Captain Rogers, your presence is needed on the bridge.” Fury’s voice echoed. I looked up and made eye contact with a camera. Fuck. That camera saw everything, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Fury saw it too. Steve sensed my anxiousness, but before he could question anything I started down the hall towards the bridge.

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“I’m glad you two can join us.”, Fury said as Steve and I took our seats. I didn’t expect him to sit right next to me but I liked him being near me. Dr. Banner nodded at me and I smiled back. I realized I didn’t touch anyone else’s file but Steve’s. Phil, Maria, and Natasha were in the pit talking with the other agents looking at a plethora of different consoles and screens. 

“So, how long am I staying?”,  Bruce asked cautiously. Something was off about his tone but I couldn’t place it. It was as if he didn’t trust Fury either. I didn’t blame him. 

“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract," Fury replied. “You and Dr. Marshall will be in charge of that. Dr. Marshall has intimate knowledge from working on the cube with Dr. Erik Selvig, before he was…compromised.”, Fury avoided my gaze because he knew how I felt about Selvig. I still felt guilty that he was taken, and I still needed to figure out a way to tell Jane.

“Where are you with that?”, Banner asked. A question I also needed answered. 

“We’re sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops…if it’s connected to a satellite it’s eyes and ears for us.” Phil said confidently. 

“You’re going to have to narrow your field.” I spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to me which triggered my social anxiety. I was going to ask about their equipment but my voice got caught in my throat. I could tell that Banner sensed this and spoke up for me. 

“How many spectrometers do you have access to?”, he asked. I silently thanked him for taking the attention off of me. I may not be panicking anymore, but I felt like it wouldn’t take much for me to get triggered. Banner was grilling them about the spectrometers before I realized how all of this could be a lot for Steve. I looked over at him and he looked super confused. He was listening intently and smiled at me when he noticed me looking at him. I smiled back before turning my attention back to Banner and Fury. 

“Do you have somewhere for us to work?” Banner questioned, completely ready to dive into tracking the tesseract. 

“Agent Romanoff, can you show Dr. Banner and Dr. Marshall to their laboratory please?” Fury asked. Natasha was already on it. 

“You’re gonna love it Doc, we got all the toys.”, she said as he stopped and turned towards me.

“I’ll catch up with you guys.”, I said as he nodded and followed Agent Romanoff. I wanted to talk with Steve before we got separated. 

Before Fury barked out more orders, one of the consoles started beeping. 

“We got a hit! 67% match.”, the agent said as all of us went over to investigate. I noticed that Steve waited for me to go first and followed close behind me. It reminded me of Queen Cersei and her “Mountain” from Game of Thrones. 

“Location?”, Phil asked. 

“Stuttgart, Germany. He’s not exactly hiding.”, the agent explained as Loki’s face popped up on the screen. He wasn’t wearing his weird alien attire, but a nice long black coat with his hair nicely styled back. It was a completely different look than when I last saw him. His face still made me uncomfortable. 

“Captain, you’re up.”, Fury said. Steve took a deep breath, nodded at Fury, gave me one last longing look and rushed off. I watched him go before I made eye contact with Fury. He was staring at me suspiciously and I glared right back at him. 

“Everything okay Dr. Marshall?”, Fury asked as I walked past him.

“I have homework.”, I mumbled as I quickly headed towards my room.