Avengers Assemble....Again!
 

Twelve hours ago Director Nicolas Fury had sent two of his handlers out to fetch the assist he would need in translating the piece of rock in the basement.

Thirty six weeks ago Shield scientist had discovered the stone tablet while responding to reading of high energy readings left over from Thor little stunt in London. A stunt Fury was itching to get answers on since Miss Foster and her gaggle of interns seemed to be most unhelpful. If he was honest he had never been called a ' jack booted thug' so openly to his face before meeting miss Lewis. His feelings on that were mixed.

So far his best and brightest were failing the mark. It was giving off energy reading similar to the ones given off by the Teseract but all electronic in the vicinity had been hacked before shutting down. That left him with his hands tied. The teseract had been alien and in it's own way magic. That meant he brought in Lillian. But the presence of a possible hacker being attached to it meant they need someone else as well. Deanna had been on their watch list for sometime. Mostly for recruiting purposes. He had went over her work and personally he'd like to see the girl take a track at Stark's ego.

" Director Fury, the Consultants have been brought into the ground floor."

----

The air smelled of old leather and candle smoke and if you were trained to pick up on the smell of magic. Of course if asked to describe said smell you would get a different answer for every person you asked. To the dark haired magic user It was crushed sage, dragon's breath, and a little bit of electricity.

Along with the smell sound filled the small bookstore. The normal cadence of the stores playlist- enya and soft tribal drumming- was replaced by the Taylor Swift Radio playlist on pandora.

Dancing around between book selves Lillian cleaned up after the usual teenagers that had spent time in the shop after school. Mostly browsing, maybe buying a tarot deck, trying to shoplift. Of course when they got home they would have their bags empty. She wasn't a gag shop she dealt int he real thing and no one stole from her.
Mostly she was enjoying being back home for awhile. It was nearing three weeks with out a single call from mister tall-dark-and-horrible timing and she had been basking in doing nothing. She ran her shop, taught Micheal more magic, and reconnected with some old friends. Hell she even had a date lined up for next week.

Which is why she wasn't the least bit surprised when her handler Agent Ryan Goss walked through the door. Using the key she wasn't quiet sure Shield had obtained legally.
" Ryan a pleasure. Here to cut my vacation short?"
" Director Fury request your presence at Headquarters." He all but saluted.

Finishing up the last stack of books green eyes glanced longingly over to a section of wall concealed by more cloaking and protective magic then Hogwarts had- yes a real life "Witch" was a Potter sure her. Her own personal lab of shorts had been highly neglected as of late and she had been looking forward to a night of losing her self in research and spell writing.

" Lets head upstairs so I can pack." With a defeated sigh she turned the music off and scrolled through her contacts. She had plans to cancel and an apprentice to inform of her departure. " How long will it be this time?"

(( I get the others in in the next post!))

(Okay.[:)] I'll do the same. )

Deanna was a bit tense as she entered SHIELD's Manhattan offices. She was more used to Brooklyn these days and rarely made it to this part of town. Deanna shiver a bit and still wasn't comfortable with all this. Genrally, she avoided working with government agencies due to most of her family working for them. Yes Deanna would admit she was a black sheep of sorts since she was one who wanted to work for a small IT company, though there had been rumors of a buyout and she was worried she would be one of the staff let go.

Deanna was dressed in nice navy dress pants with a blue, yellow, tan and white striped boat necked blouse. She also had a denim vest on , and realized she was a bit under dressed compared to most of those she saw walking around in the lobby." Now what do I do ?" She whispered to herself hoping to ease her nerves and observing her surroundings.

She had no intention of leaving him down in another sub basement with an alien artifact. As much as Natasha enjoyed slamming her partner's head into things she would not deal with another brainwashed Hawkeye killing other agents.So she had point blank informed Fury that his he wanted Clint's eyes he got her as well. Considering what had happened last time Fury didn't put up much of an argument.

Leaning back against the cold metal wall the Russian watched as scientist scurried around testing the range of their computers in a vain attempt to get a read on the stone tablet. Casting gray blue eyes up towards the rafters she tried to spot Clint. When he wanted to he could evade even her.


The one benefit that Lillian found in traveling via Shield expense was the comfortable chairs and the lack of five year olds kicking the back of her seat.
Being dropped off at the New York branch had actually been a bit of a surprise. Normally they sent her overseas where she needed a translate and her own bottle of water.
Though it wasn't the first time she had been here. The place was still sterile clean all white and shining metal. She new that she looked out of place. brown lace up boots and a thin strapped clingy black sun dress were not the common attire for agents. Waving at the few people she recognized Lillian waited for Fury to come to her.
Taking on of the empty seats in what she guessed you could call a waiting area she smiled over at the other girl there. The brown haired girl looked around her age and nothing like Shield personal she had ever encountered.

Clint was on his perch in the rafters and was glad Nat was there with him. Ever since the incident with the Tesseract, he was very wary of objects that supposedly had magical properties. " You reading the file on Ms. Tyler?" He texted since he usually liked to hide his presance up here.Clint had met Deanna Tyler's older brother Lucas and had a feeling she didn't know he was a SHIELD agent.

" Hello. " Deanna said to the woman sitting somewhat close to her and had noticed that some of the agents knew who she was. She was nervous and thought back to when she had met with Director Fury before. Deanna had been a bit tense then but had a feeling that she wouldn't have been contacted if Fury felt she could handle this task. Though what the task was, Deanna didn't know.

Not taking her eyes off of the area she removed her glanced quickly at the screen before returning her eyes to the blond scientist trying to once again get close enough to the table to get a useful reading on it.

'Covered it last night. Smart girl. Family ties with Shield. Clean as far as I could dig up. This she'll actually be of use?'

Gathering the files off of his desk Director Fury entered the glass private elevator from his floor to the lobby. The thin looking glass was something that Shield was quiet proud of. Light weight and able to with stand constant fire power. Glancing out over the bay he could- as always- see Stark Tower looking in the distance. It had been the first building repaired after the battle in Manhattan, the rest of the city came next. He would admit to being slightly surprised when the billionaire turned the lower three levels into shelters and shop kitchens while the construction was under way. He felt that Miss Potts's hand had played very strongly into that.

Stepping out into the sun lite lobby the one eyed spy easily picked out his consultant and the hacker in a sea of well dressed agents. Moving through said agents that parted for him as if he was mosses he started hard at the two women.

He had worked in the field with Ross before. The girl knew her stuff even if it was a bunch of hocus pocus. She could back talk like Stark but with out the wealth to back it up she was smart enough to know when to back down. He could live without her flirting with his agents though.
Miss Tyler on the other hand appeared far more logical and like less of a handful. She was smart, observant enough to notice that she had a tail, and not egotistical to go for a better job. The lack of an ego would be a bit refreshing if he was honest. His geniuses tended to know it.


--
Stretching gloss covered lips into a knowing smile Lillian gave a wave, "Hey." Making it clear that was looking the girl over, "So obviously you don't work here. Consultant?"

Leaning back in her chair she crossed one leg over the other softly swinging the foot back and forth.Glancing away for the other women the witch cast bored eyes over the lobby. Fury was catching hell if he made her cancel a date with latte shoppe guy for nothing. She had no legal obligation to them and if it wasn't for the fact that A: they sent her to some great places, B: the pay kept her small shop and a frankly great loft in her name, and C: the things they sent her on could very easily have escalated to a much bigger Avengers sized problem if she hadn't helped nip it in the bud. If it wasn't for all of that she would have told the slave driver to jump off a cliff ages ago.

" I think so. She did graduate in the top 20% of her graduating class at NYU and good relationships with her co workers at her current job. Though from the reports that company is being sold to a larger one out of country. " Clint said and wondered why Miss Tyler hadn't gone for a job at a larger company. " I mean who turns down job offers from Google or Texas Instruments?" He asked glad that Ms. Tyler wasn't like Stark.

" That's correct. " Deanna said with a nervous smile. " I'm Deanna Tyler. It's nice to meet you. " She said having a feeling she would be working with this woman. Though Deanna had a feeling this consulting job could become more of a full time job, and was a bit nervous if it did.

" Lilian Ross." Turning to look back at the woman she was talking to. She had to wonder what department was requesting her. She looked harmless enough but looks really were deceiving. The prickling along the fine hairs of he neck let her know they weren't alone any more. "Well my rides here.have fun." Standing she age the spy an 'I caught you look' one he was I phased by.

" actually you an miss tyler will be working together miss Ross."

" We will?" Deanna asked and stood up." It is nice to meet you Ms. Ross and I am looking forward to working with you." She said and thogut a bit." What exactly are we working on?" Deanna asked hoping this was a project she could handle.

Casting another glance towards Deanna Lilian gave her aura another hard look.Nothing felt out of place with the girl and she wasn't giving off any kind of magical vibe. What could Fury possibly need both of them for? "Same." Deciding that Fury would tell them when he was good and ready she let it go. She had never worked with anyone at Shield much before now. It was always getting reading from far off sites, or instructing agents on how to handle occult type phenomenons.

Nodding his head toward the private elevator he had just vacated Fury indicated that the two should follow him. The agents milling about in the lobby gave the three a wide berth. Though not everyone worked directly with Nicolas Fury he was a legend.

Once inside the elevator he handed each woman a consultants badge and file on everything they had managed to gain from the Tablet. Hitting the button for a sub level basement, then typing in his code and letting the scanner read his thumb print.
" We found it off the coast of Brazil. As you can read Our computers haven't been able to scan it. As soon as they get close something or someone hacks into our servers and shuts it down."
Turning so he was facing Deanna, " That's where you come in Miss Tyler. Our hackers have failed to stop this. We are hoping you can do better."

" And I'm here because..." Shifting against the wall she opened the file scanning over the pictures and text.
" You are here Miss Ross because what readings we could get from it we have seen before. Reading that fall under your expertise. "

" I'll do my best. I assume these computers are are made by Stark Industries?" She asked and hoped they had feature where she would be able to duplicate her location in one place and hide her where she would be. That was a new trick she had and seemed to work with security systems. Deanna hoped she didn't fail at this and wondered what Lillian's expertise was.

" They are almost here Nat. And so is Lillian. " Clint said as he watched the security feed from his special perch. " I don't want to know what Stark says when he finds out he wasn't chosen for this. He avoids us but not a chance to show off. "

" Why that little..." Tony's rant was cut off before he got a chance to begin. One look from the red head standing in the middle of the living room on her phone was all the warning he needed. Or should have needed. BUt if there was one thing Tony Stark never did it was learn when to leave one Miss Virginia Pepper Potts alone while she was on the phone.

"Pep, the pirate spy stole my protege!" The super spy was also keeping secrets and that just wouldn't do. Well he was trying to keep secrets but nothing could be hidden from Jarvis is Tony really put his mind to it. And screwing around with Fury was one of the things that kept the madness and boredom at bay.

Rolling her eyes Pepper bid the contractor a good day before hanging up. They had been staying in the newly finished Stark Tower in New York since the incident where Tony thought it would be a good idea to goad a terrorist. A slight shutter ran through her at the memory of all that had happened.

Seeing the same half panic looked forming on her face as Tony had seen on his own after the Battle of Manhattan- A phrase he had coined. He rested his head on her shoulder and rubbed his hands down her arms. Distraction was always the key. And he wasn't finished being upset by this. So he repeated himself.
" Fury stole my protege."
" I didn't know you had one."
" I didn't either but look at this! She would have been perfect!" shoving the tablet in her hands he moved over to the bar to make them some drinks.
" I remember her. Her file showed up on my desk for a potential recruitment. She's working at Shield now?"" Scrolling through the file she tried to be a little surprised when she figured out that he hadn't gotten Miss Deanna Tyler's file legally.
" He stole her to work on his super secrete project." At the look she sent him Tony merely shrugged. " I'm having Javis crack their fire wall now. I'll know what it is soon enough."


Reading the text by angling the phone to reflect off of a computer screen- she was bored- she sent a half smile up toward the location she thought Clint to be.Straitening out of the slight lean she had against the wall Natasha turned towards the concealed doors.
She had been assigned a couple of missions with the half Romanian consultant. She had to say she liked the girl. Though not very well taught in hand to hand combat she was- in Natasha's opinion- skilled at the defense of her craft.

As the doors opened she moved to meet Fury and the consultants.

" As I'm sure you are aware this is of the highest level of security. Do not go running your mouths."

Stepping out of the elevator first he made eye contact with the black widow before surveying the scene. It looked just how he had left it.


There was a crackle in the air that she felt as soon as the doors opened. What ever this Tablet was there was defiantly some strong energy coming off of it. The kind that set her teeth on edge.

However the sight of the Russian red head standing by the doors did bring a smile to her face. The last time she had seen Agent Romanov had been when they had called her in to help contact a terrorist in Egypt who had almost succeeded in raising an army of the dead. " Agent Romanov." Looking back at Deanna she moved to make introductions. " Deanna, this is agent Romanov, probably the scariest woman I have ever meant."

In return Natasha gave the hacker a smile that was probably meant to be more reassuring and held out her hand.

" I am aware sir." Deanna said and saw a tablet. She didn't like the feeling she got from the artifact but would do her best to keep calm." It is nice to meet you Agent Romanov." Deanna said with a smiled and shook the other woman's hand.

" Sorry to drop in on all of you." Clint said having slid down the rope that was close to his perch." Tech Support just informed me that our main firewall is being hacked .$50 bucks or a pizza it's Stark and he's upset for one reason or another." He said and knew Steve would be back from a mission soon. Clint just had a feeling that everyone needed to be here in case that tablet decided to do something.

Rolling her eyes at her partner- who would take a fools bet- Natasha let go of Deanna's hand. " Deanna this is my partner Agent Clint Barton. Barton this is Deanna Tyler. You've read her file." Shifting to the right as Fury stepped into place beside her.

"Then we best get started." Nodding towards a flat screen of glass set up across from the face of the tablet he turned to Deanna. " That's where you'll be working from. As the others attempt to get reading from the tablet you'll be on hacker watch. Find it, stop it before it wipes our systems again., and if at all possible track the signal."

Moving is head so he could look at Lillian he pointed to the tablet it's self. "Get any readings you can form it. Where it came from, what it says, and what it does. Also if it does anything how." His tone left no room for arguments. He agreed with Agent Barton that Tony was probably to blame for the breach in their security and he was sure he would be seeing that pain in the ass's face soon enough.

Walking slightly away from the four he spoke into his ear piece. " When Captain Rogers returns inform me."

Turning to the other brunette woman Lillian just shrugged, "Better do as he says." Sending a smile toward the two agents " Drinks tonight?" She asked pulling her thick dark hair up so she could tie it out of her face.

(( It sucks and I know it does. But H had the costumer from hell call in today and I'd rather shoot my self then have this meeting with her tomorrow.))

( that does suck.)

" Sounds good Lil. Maybe we can have drinks and food delivered here. " Clint suggested since he still was on edge because of the tablet.He also wanted Ms. Tyler to feel at ease.

" I can make drinks if you can get the stuff. Worked at a restaurant during college and once I turned 21 took up bar tending. Tips were much better but these days I don't tell many people my hidden skill."Deanna said and went over to her assigned computer. She was able to set up a scanning program and wanted to make contact with the person who was already hacking. " You do realize it's a bad idea to hack SHIELD. " She sent out wanting that hacker to figure out where she was.

`" Oh well that's just awesome." Smiling over at the hacker Lilian moved closer to the tablet. The whole thing set off tiny little waves of electricity across her aura. Her natural magical shielding coming up on instinct to protect her. Stretching out her sense, or mainly her sixth one. the one that help her bend reality more then just a few incantations and potions ever could. The one that had her making singing flowers when she was a toddler. Letting it reach out for the tablet she got hit by what felt like a wall.

'Impressive shielding.Lets see if we can break it down.'


With his head in Pepper's lap Tony flicked through the final design on his new suit. Oh just because he got the arch reactor out of his chest didn't change the fact that he was Iron Man. With out the dependance on the reactor he was able to add more features to the new suit.

' Sir, someone from Shield is making contact.'

Raising an eyebrow she pulled up Shield's database. Shifting so he was more comfortable he addressed the AI " well it would be rude not to answer." The tssking noise from the red head turned pillow was ignored.

' Please this isn't hacking. Besides the pirate makes it too easy.'


Several scientist turned to the consultant the director had brought in. " we are ready to start the test again Miss Tyler." The other consultant was standing near the tablet with a focused look on her face. Though those close enough would swear her eyes were completely unfocused. They could understand calling in a hacker but the other girl had no purpose they could determine.


Moving back over to her section of wall Natasha nodded once towards Clint then let her eyes dart between the tablet, Lilian, and Deanna. She had seen Lilian work enough to realized what she was doing. To an extent.


(( I think in the next post we will get a little look at what Thor's been doing. :) sorry about bitching about work. I just deal with this woman every year and nothing is good enough. She wants a discount that I can't give her and food that we just don't serve. So I can fully say I hate her. And she is fake nice.))

( ranting is fine. Hate people who are fake nice.real nice is better. Sounds good.. )

" Sounds good. This time adjust the settings a notch and try the test again. " Deanna said who had seen a slight change in the readings of the tablet. Though she seemed unfocused, she really was and had been watching for more hacker activity. All they had right now was the one who called Fury a pirate. " I don't think that is wise to say. " She sent and kept focus on the tablet readings having a feeling the scientists were judging how she did things as a hacker.

Clint had a feeling that Deanna knew what she was doing and trying to convice the hacker to leave. "Don't think he'll leave willingly. By the time Stark finds this spooky little secret, we'll be needing his help. " He said and was notified that Steve was back. Clint notified Fury and knew where Bruce was currently but wasn't sure where Thor was at the moment.

A tap on his forehead let him know that Pepper needed up. He shifted over letting her move as he pulled up the results of Javis's search. So ancient artifact in a sub-basement. Boring. And not worth the time and energy Fury had used to keep him out of it. Typing back to the other line,
'Wise? maybe not but still true. Besides I got what I came for.'

Scanning through the rest of the file with the same level of disinterest he read just about anything handed to him Tony was about to toss his stark tablet aside and go find Pep.

Then he got to the information about a hacker tracking the scans on the piece of clay Fury had brought in. That was... really actually interesting. So that was why the master spy had brought in little Miss Tyler. Ohh this sounded fun.

"Pepper I'm going out!" Jumping off the couch he headed for the bedroom.Laughing at the response, " Play nice with the other kids!"

Nodding towards Barton Fury headed back up to his office to meet with Captain Rogers. He needed the debrief on the latest mission and had decided to bring Rogers down for added back up in case things got messy.

After Malekith and denouncing his claim to the throne Thor had traveled the realms to make sure none of the dark elves had survived. The lost of Loki had hurt more then he had let on to his father, though a part of him refused to believe his trickster of a brother was really dead. Now it was time he returned to Midgard though.

" Hacker is gone. But I don't think that's the last of him. " Deanna said and then turned to the tablet readings. " Can you guys focus the camera a bit closer if possible please Those markings look like Norse runes. " She said and gave the scientists a warm smile. " Thank you all for tolerating me. Not many people stick with me for this long for projects. "

" Why do you say that?" Clint asked.

"Most people don't think I care. But I do. My co workers understand my methods and know how thorough I am with these things. I would have graduated higher in my class but my professors thought I was too lazy. Not lazy but a stickler for functioning code. " Deanna said with a grin.

Steve sat in Fury's office and was glad to be back. Something seemed out of place when he finished his mission and wondered why the man he was told was a terrorist had ended up being just someone forced into the job. Steve had promised Aayan to see what he could do and knew the man was terrified if someone else.

" Rogers I hope you have good news for me."

Walking into the room Fury stayed close enough to the door to let the Captain know They would not be staying long. As soon as he knew that Steve's team had taken out the terrorist he was sending the boy scoot down as back up. He did not miss the way that Lilian had stayed clear of the tablet until told to. That told him enough to want another hitter down their in case another Loki showed up.

There was a moment standing in his bedroom that Tony debated how to get to Shield. Car or Suit? It was easily decided that if he was going to be crashing Fury's party he would be doing it in style. That meant showing off his new suit. So far Bruce was the only one to see it, well and Pepper. But that had been an accident and really he thought he had gotten full control of flying. It was all Bruce's fault anyway and the hole in the floor had been fixed.

Thinking of sometime big and green, "Jarvis call Banner. He wasn't invited to the party either." If Bruce would just stay in the floor that he had built for him- one for each of the avengers- he wouldn't have to have Jarvis hunt him down. Heading back out of the bedroom he made his way to the balcony. It had been the one bit of the original design that hadn't been completely destroyed with Loki's attack. " Sir I have informed Dr. Banner that you wish for him to meet up at Shield Headquarters. "

" Thank you Jarvis."


(( Sorry it's short. :( ))

" I do have good news for you sir. Aayan Amiri has promised to give you full unrestricted access to his resources. I know this isn't what you expected but I didn't expect this either. He gave himself up willingly once he realized who I was and said he admired me. I was a bit shocked but was impressed about how much he knew. He says that someone forced him to do this and was holding his children hostage. Not just him but all the men in his operation. " Steve said.

Bruce sighed and wondered what Tony was up too. " Tony is this really a good idea? I'm sure we'll be notified once they need us but I have a bad feeling about this. " He messaged and got ready to go. He just wondered what Tony had found out that he shouldnt know. He decided to go walk since SHIELD's Manhattan office was only a few blocks from here.

" Why is there an unexpected surge of energy ? It's not the tablet but it's gathering around the office. " Deanna asked since she had been scanning the area for unexpected phenomena.

" Probably Thor and yes I mean the Thor. He's a good guy and he might be able to help us figure this tablet out. " Clint said.