Avery headed back to SHIELD and went straight to the gym. It was late enough that she had the place mostly to herself, so there weren't any other agents for her to freak out with magic if she decided going at a punching bag wasn't enough.

The next morning, Kerry was up and at the tower early enough to gather up Barton and Romanoff so they could head off on their mission. Which probably wouldn't take long but would hopefully take long enough to let them simmer down a bit.

Natasha was up and ready and prodding Clint into getting ready when Kerry got there. The mission sounded easy, but the time away sounded more appealing.

"There's coffee," Kerry said when she saw the two. "And it's a decent flight over there, in case you want to grab anything else for the trip."

"We're good," Clint said as he grabbed some coffee to take with him. No way was he missing out on Stark's good blend before they left.

Kerry nodded and made sure they were ready before heading off to board the quinjet. Even with a quinjet it would be a little bit of a trip. Not that she minded. It got them out of the tower for a while, that's all she cared about.

That seemed to be all the two assassins seemed to care about, as well. They got on the quinjet without a fuss, settling in for the flight. Almost as soon as they were out of the tower, they both seemed to relax just slightly.

"Update from Coulson," Kerry told them about half-way through the flight, having been working on her laptop the whole time. "They're finishing up an op and will be back at the tower at about the same time we should be."

"Good," Clint said, going back to shooting paperclips down the center of the plane with a rubber band.

"And apparently if you don't behave Coulson will do something very nasty," Kerry said, her lips twitching. She turned her laptop so Clint could see the add-on at the end of the note from Coulson, which very clearly stated how much trouble Clint would be in.

That managed to get a snicker out of Clint.

"He says that every time," he said.

Kerry snorted. "Well, then, I'm guessing you'll continue to get those nice little notes from him," she said, turning her laptop back to her so she could get back to work. "Now that he's, y'know, not dead anymore."

"He still owes us for that," Clint said. "Fury owes us for it too."

"Not disagreeing with that," Kerry said mildly. "Although I don't think I have the right to agree, either. Since him vanishing got me this job, and I didn't know him nearly as well."

"We still should have been informed," Natasha said calmly. She didn't look up from where she was inspecting her weapons. "Not immediately, but once the initial crisis passed."

"That I do agree with," Kerry said. "Would have saved us all a lot of time and glaring." She shrugged. "Take it up with Coulson when we get back. Or I can get the Director down for a chat, if you prefer."

Clint looked entirely too much like he'd enjoy a 'chat' with Fury, so Natasha sighed. Someone had to be the adult for once.

"Another time, Clint," she said.

Kerry hid a smile at that and hid behind her laptop again. Because she would kind of love to see Clint having that chat with Fury, it was sounding like far too much fun.

Clint pouted and went back to shooting paperclips.

Back at the Tower, Avery was set up at the kitchen table again, tablet in front of her and some paperwork next to her. She was essentially working on busywork for the moment, just being a presence in the tower.

Loki was exploring the tower with little tendrils of magic, too little for anything to take notice of unless someone was already good with magic. He was stuck in his room, he figured he might as well do what exploring he could.

Avery could definitely feel the magic. She let it be for a few moments, just observing, and then she reached out cautiously with her own to let the other caster know she was aware of him.

Loki observed her magic for a few moments. Yes, he remembered the other magic user in the tower, and it was still rather surprising. She didn't seem afraid, either.

Avery pulled back after a moment or two. She didn't, however, make any move to go and see what he was up to. There wasn't much he could be doing that wouldn't already have Stark ranting at the top of his lungs.

Loki just went back to his quiet perusal, taking his time and being cautious. Because he could do that, especially when in his right mind.

Avery kept a metaphysical eye on him as he explored. She wasn't expecting him to try anything, but one couldn't be too careful.