Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don't own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Don't sue me.
Anywho, without further ado - read on.
Earth-6161 [May 2012]
Unnamed Island, Maldives
–Tony Stark–
The helicopter slowly touched down, along with a bunch of rectangular pads, one for each one of them. The rotund agent from SHIELD simply stood up on one of them and he had to raise an eyebrow as a long rod came out of those platforms, and then two belts, as Fury and the agent seamlessly stood on top of them, holding onto the handle for support.
"What?" Fury asked everyone, who was giving the apparently mobile scooter odd looks, "Unless you want to walk all the way there, I suggest you get your asses on the scooter."
"Actually, sir–" The agent began talking in between, "-they are called the–"
"I don't care about that, Agent Eric. Just get us to the damn woman, will you?" Fury snapped at the agent, who shut his mouth and began moving in the opposite direction. He exchanged looks with Thor and shrugged, before getting on the scooter, followed by Thor and Loki. He gave the scooter an alarming look as it creaked a little bit when Thor, the walking talking hunk of muscle that he was, stood on top of it.
It still held, though Thor's scooter was noticeably slower than the rest of them, including Loki's who did his best impression of a little kid at Thor, smirking smugly, provoking Thor into just pushing the handle head, as if that was going to increase the speed of the poor motor that was audibly struggling to pull Thor's immense weight at the same speed with which Agent Eric was moving.
He made sure to keep a safe distance between himself and Loki, though, no need to relive those moments once more. Realistically, he wouldn't be able to do anything to the alien God, aside from bruising his own hand if he tried to punch Loki, since he did not have his suit here.
Not even high above, floating mid air, waiting for anything to go wrong because if anything did go wrong, he was sure that having even an army of suits would not change a thing. It was kind of liberating knowing there was nothing he could do if the one person who saved the city and most likely the state would turn on them because there was nothing he could do.
The funny thing was that it did not evoke the same amount of despair and helplessness in him as it would have if he had been facing the same enemy with his suit, the Chitauri in this case. He learned something new about himself today and he did not know how to feel about it.
The scooters, they treaded on uneven terrain, crossing significant distances in a relatively short period of time because they were all going on a straight path. Perks of this place not even existing in its current state days ago, as there were no trees, no rocks in their path.
Mid way through, he really wondered if landing the helicopter right in front ofWeber would have made any difference? Because she most likely knew they were coming and if she stayed, it meant she was okay with them approaching her.
"No, no. You don't understand," When he voiced out that question, Agent Eric was quick to shoot that suggestion down, "She doesn't like being disturbed, at all. She will most likely tolerate us but that is only because she knows that it is the best possible way to get us out of her hair. If we landed the helicopter nearby, with all its accompanying noise and sand blasting everywhere, well, let's just say we would have had to call in rescue after we were done talking."
Huh, he could totally imagine that happening.
"So," he said, jostling a bit as the scooter encountered a small pebble of some kind–man, the suspensions on this thing were terrible or rather, completely absent—, "--What are you? Some kind of expert on the subject matter known as Samantha Weber?"
"Uh-huh," The Agent replied, without elaborating a thing in return. It was actually Fury who continued.
"Agent Eric is the only known SHIELD agent to have survived prolonged contact with her. He is also the one who has talked with her the most since he ensures that anything that Weber needs is provided to her without her having to steal it. Less risky this way."
"Wow," He said, genuinely impressed, and if he was not wrong, even Thor and Loki looked mildly impressed at that. He gave the God of Thunder a look who explained.
"Aye, it is mighty impressive that someone, a mortal no less, was able to stay in the good graces of a witch of that calibre. I would suggest you to never mess that up as that connection is worth more than its weight in gold."
Agent Eric gave the God of Thunder a confused look but nodded nonetheless. He was about to quip about the witch remark made by Thor, only to pause as his phone began beeping, loudly at that. Coincidentally, Agent Eric stopped as well, so did the rest of the scooters as they were programmed to shadow Agent Eric's scooter, who was their guide in this land, the land of the biggest predator on the planet, or so it felt like. "We're here."
__xx__
–Eric Koenig–
He took in a deep breath, the visuals of Ms.Weber singlehandedly holding off an entire horde of aliens too fresh in his mind, as he got off the scooter, the handles and the tread belts disappearing into the small rectangular plate.
His hands felt clammy, and his throat felt dry as he pondered on how he would handle the interaction with her. It felt easy before, since all he knew was that she was powerful, beyond belief, yes, but all he had as an image of that was her killing some people with her water, and using her powers to calm the waves all around her, or to lift things.
Nothing like the feats of strength he saw her performing just a while ago. That really put things into perspective for him, as he exhaled before opening his eyes. He repeatedly told himself that this was nothing new. This was the same woman he had been dealing with for years now, without any incidents whatsoever.
He felt the eyes of everyone on him as he walked forward, towards her, who was currently with a bottle of alcohol in one hand, lounging on a chair, overlooking the ocean. His eyes instantly caught onto the blue glow from the tote bag she had by her chair.
"Did she really put the Tesseract into a tote bag?!" Tony Stark exclaimed behind him, which he expertly ignored and walked towards her. Hands folded in front of him, he asked her, "Ms.Weber, can I assume this is the place you will be using as your residence from now on? So that I can make further arrangements?"
His smile remained in place even as he began sweating buckets, and only half of that was because of the tropical weather and humidity of this place, as she continued drinking and staring ahead. He could feel the tension in the air and before he could say anything else, she said, "Why are they here?"
He sighed in relief as it meant she was at least open to continued communication, which was a very essential thing for their agency as a whole.
Thor took this as an invitation to speak as he stepped forward, "We are here to collect the Tesseract, for it is the rightful property of Asgard."
He internally winced at the demand. Before he could try to smooth things over, he stiffened as he felt something in the air, the water around them growing restless as a result. He looked around, feeling something change, a thing that everyone else noticed as well.
Ms.Weber had put her bottle down as well, and was looking in the direction behind them. He mechanically turned around, so did everyone else as Thor gasped in joy at the sight of crows? No.
They were Ravens.
"Mortal witch," A voice boomed all around them, his hand flinching as he stopped himself from making the motion to draw a gun because he had none with him.
"I am Odin Borson, King of Asgard, and I advise you to heed my son's request. The Tesseract is Asgard's property, and is essential for Asgard's role as the protector of the Nine Realms."
Huh. So the myth about Odin and his Ravens was true then. Minor mythological fact confirmation aside, he stepped behind and aside, creating a clear line of sight between Ms.Weber and the twin Ravens with the glowing golden eyes.
Thor was uncharacteristically silent in all of this as Ms.Weber drawled, "Can you guarantee that the Tesseract will not be seen on Earth again?"
The Raven was silent for a moment before nodding, "I can guarantee that. The Tesseract will be stored in Asgard's vaults for safekeeping. No midgardian shall ever lay its sight on it, that I can guarantee."
"Fine," She said as her left hand snaked through the bag, took hold of the Tesseract before tossing it in the general direction of Thor who fumbled as he caught the legendary artifact. Everyone gasped as she did that, but Ms.Weber was not focusing on them, she was looking straight ahead at the Raven, "Is that all? Or do you wish to stake a claim on the sceptre as well?" She said while holding the sceptre.
"No," The voice boomed once more, "That is your spoils of war. You have a rightful claim of that. Asgard has no need for it and you are better suited to safeguard it from grubby mortal hands."
With that, the Raven vanished in a mist of gold before the presence in the air left as well.
"Huh," Tony quipped, cutting through the tension in the area, "You guys don't have Skype, do you?"
Fury's palm met his face at that. He quietly coughed to hide the snicker that almost came out, before turning to Ms.Weber once more.
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