Elaine gave a vague hum of agreement and settled back in to finish her work for the day. Since it was Friday, she had the next two days Avenger-free; she would see them again on Monday. And since Saturdays were half-days for the library, she and Kae would get out early to be able to enjoy their Sunday off.

The weekend passed without incident, and Kae and Elaine were both at the library early Monday, as usual.

Only this time, instead of the Avengers coming in at their normal time, Tony and Steve came by themselves in the morning, rather than their usual early afternoon meetings.

"You two. The big guy wants to meet you." Tony looked at the two girls.

Elaine heard the familiar footsteps, although she hadn't heard the motorcycle beforehand, and had already turned to face the door when she was stopped from greeting them.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Director Fury wants to talk to you both," Steve elaborated. He felt the need to speak so Elaine would know who he was, rather than leaving her guessing.

"Director Fury?" Kae blinked.

"Yeah. The guy who likes to boss us around. Come on, we'll drive you over." Because if the girls didn't go with Tony and Steve, Fury would likely send someone else, someone much less pleasant, to fetch the girls.

"Um. We're kind of working. We can't just up and leave."

"Fury offered to pay double your salary for the time the place is closed," Steve said. "For both of you, and your intern." Because yes, Fury knew how to get the results he wanted.

Elaine raised an eyebrow at that and turned to face where she knew Kae was. That was some mighty good incentive.

Kae wavered for a few moments before she sighed. "Okay. We really shouldn't be gone too long, but okay."

"Define too long. The rest of the day? The week? The year?"

"Stop being so snarky, Mr. Stark, or I might have to hit you with my crutch again."

Reaching over to the wall, Elaine felt her way down until she found the corner. She poked her head around the corner, although she couldn't technically look at anyone.

"Ben," she said, "head on home. Paid day off, go have some fun." And that would take care of the minion for the day, and they could close up the building.

Ben blinked. Paid day off? That never happened. He was about to ask when he saw Steve and Tony. Then he shrugged and gathered up his things.

"Alright, don't do anything stupid. I'll see you two tomorrow, or I'm calling someone." He gave the girls a look before edging past the two Avengers and out to his car.

Kae rolled her eyes. "We'll take my car," she said.

"I'll drive."

"I don't trust your driving."

"And Fury said you can't drive."

"Yes, I'm sure you're in the habit of doing everything he tells you to and listening to everything he says."

Tony twitched at that, just a little.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Elaine broke in, "can we go now?" Because she was kind of interested in what Fury wanted them for, now.

Steve choked on a bit of held-back laughter.

For a moment Kae looked outraged, and then she snorted. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go."

Tony just looked confused, but he followed them out anyway, immediately starting to herd the girls back towards his car. It would be a bit cramped, but then he could keep an eye on them, too.

Elaine grabbed her cane and her purse just before she was herded outside. As always, she hesitated slightly on the step down to the parking lot, but made it easily enough and swept her cane around to make sure nothing was in her path.

"Where, exactly, are we going?" she asked as her cane bumped against the car.

"Our super-secret hideout," Tony said with a brief grin.

"Don't you mean lair?"

"No, we don't have lairs. Didn't you ever read comic books?"

Kae almost wanted to facepalm. Almost. Instead she just helped Elaine into the back seat of his car.

"Why no, Mr. Stark, I don't," Elaine quipped as Kae helped her into the car. Quickly, she folded her cane down and tucked it into her purse. "Comics don't go over so well in Braille."

Steve smothered a snort. Elaine was smart-mouthed today, it seemed.

Tony rolled his eyes but didn't bother to respond, simply folding himself into the driver's seat and waiting until they were all in to start driving. He wasn't quite as reckless as normal though; he didn't want one of the girls to have a heart attack or something.

Then there'd be too much paperwork, after all.

Elaine huddled in her seat. She normally didn't mind riding in the car too much, since Kae was a careful driver, but the way Tony drove unnerved her. She was just being tilted this way and that in darkness, and she'd long since lost track of where they were. If she didn't know Kae was right next to her, she'd be completely lost.

Kae kept a grip on Elaine's arm, occasionally murmuring to her when they passed a landmark one or both of them knew. She was keeping better track of where they were, but even for her it was difficult. Tony's driving was almost as eccentric as he was.

Even with the constant commentary about landmarks, things seemed to be going by too fast for Elaine to catch up. She still felt completely lost.

"Don't let him drive next time," she muttered to Kae.

Kae nodded emphatically. "No way," she muttered. She hated Tony's driving.

So when he pulled into a parking lot and stopped, she let out a breath of relief and got out, helping Elaine out.

Elaine let Kae help her out of the car, and carefully put her cane back together. Then she listened closely for Tony, made her way over, and whacked him with her cane.

"Don't do that again," she said. "You drive like a crazy person."

"I do not!" Tony protested, fending her off. "That was tame!"

"Then I would hate to see how you normally drive," Kae snarked back at him. "Now, who are we supposed to be meeting here?"

"You're late," a voice came from behind them. Elaine jumped; she hadn't heard anyone walking up, and it didn't sound like Clint. Steve, on the other hand, just turned around and tilted his head towards Tony in a clear 'his fault' kind of way.

Fury just looked like he wanted to smack someone and shook his head. Then he looked at the girls. "I take it you two are the unfortunate souls who have had to look after my men for the last few weeks. I would apologize, but that's not my style."

Kae looked up at Fury. "Well, he wasn't lying when he said you were tall." Then she shrugged. "They're not bad to work with. However, I must admit I am rather curious as to why you wanted to meet us?" That was about as diplomatically as she could put it at the moment, after having had her nerves rattled around in Tony's car.

"I felt like I should personally meet the people who were able to handle my whole team all at once for more than a minute," Fury replied. "Although now that I have, I find I'm not surprised."

"And why is that, Mr. Fury?" Kae looked at him evenly, tilting her head to the side just a little. She was still trying to figure him out.

"It takes a certain kind of person to handle them," Fury said simply. He didn't offer more explanation than that, because his cell phone went off. Opening it, he lifted it to his ear. "I'm busy," he said mildly into it. He was silent for a few moments. "I'll handle it." Then he ended the call and looked at the group. "I'm afraid this little field trip is going to be cut short."

"What's going on?" Steve asked, his attention sharpening.

"Thor is back early," Fury said. "And he's not alone."