Hell Hath No Fury

"Out of all the places in the world, that bastard picks England." Tony murmured. "Why?"

"Agent Poole was born and raised there." Fury replied as he turned to look pointedly at Kate.

"So you think he picked England because of me?" Kate turned to face the Director. "Last time I checked, Director, Loki thinks I died during the battle in New York a little over a year ago. Why would this have anything to do with me?"

"Maybe it's just a coincidence." Bruce suggested.

"Nothing my brother ever does is a coincidence, Dr. Banner." Thor stated. "Every move he makes is made with a specific purpose in mind."

"Then whats Tall, Dark, and Loathsome's 'purpose' in picking the UK?" Tony questioned.

"I do not know." Thor replied tiredly.

"Shocking." Tony muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"Regardless of his motives, England, and more specifically London, is under attack." Fury stated. "And it's our job to stop it."

"Looks like the team is getting back together." Tony said as he rubbed his hands together and smiled like a little kid on Christmas.

"With a new addition." Fury added. "Agent Poole, you are now an official member of the Avengers."

"Thank you, sir." Kate replied, trying to mask her excitement. "I'm honored." Fury nodded at her before he continued speaking.

"Now, we're still a couple hours away from London, so I want Barton, Romanoff, Banner, and Rogers to take a jet and head to London ahead of us." The four of them nodded at Fury before making their way through the door and off the bridge. "Stark and Poole to suit up and follow them. Thor, you'll fly with them."

"Um, sir?"

"What is it, Poole?" Fury questioned irritably.

"I have absolutely no idea how to use the suit that Ton-I mean, that Mr. Stark gave me."

"You're a fast learner, Agent Poole." Fury replied as he turned to face one of the many monitors on the bridge. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Right." Kate replied dryly. "I'm sure I will."

"Don't worry, Katie." Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they made their way off the bridge, Thor following closely behind them. "There's nothing to it."

"Says the MIT graduate who invented it...In a cave." Kate mumbled. Tony nodded proudly.

"Well, we better get our asses in gear." Tony stated as he quickened his pace. "Looks like we have to go and save the world...again."

"How you doing, Katie?" Tony's arrogant voice echoed through the comm system in Kate's "Iron Maiden" suit.

"Uhh, just trying not to crash." Kate replied shakily.

"No need to worry, Agent Poole." The cool, accented voice of Tony's computer sidekick, JARVIS, sounded over the comm system. "The statistical likely hood of you crashing is approximately 500,145.6 to 1."

"Thanks, JARVIS." Kate responded. "But you're not really helping."

"My apologies, Agent Poole."

"Don't worry so much, Kate." Tony scoffed. "JARVIS controls most of the onboard systems, and basically all you have to do is point and shoot at the bad guys."

"You make it sound so simple." Kate replied sarcastically. "Oh, and thanks for having the suit repainted so fast."

"No problamo, Mini-Me. The blue really makes your eyes pop." Kate rolled her eyes.

"You can't even see my eyes." She stated dryly.

"Well if I could see them, I'm sure they'd be popping." He stated matter-of-factly before drastically changing the subject to one Kate hoped he would avoid. "So, you never told me you were British. I'm actually rather hurt, Katie. I thought we were the best of friends who told each other everything." He drawled in and exaggerated British accent.

"It isn't exactly rocket science to figure out, Tony." She responded. "It's not like I talk with an accent for my own amusement."

"You never know." He said as he flew higher to avoid a thick cloud bank, Kate following behind as best as she could. "Were you born in London?"

"No, I was actually born in Surrey, but I was sent to London to live with some relatives after my parents died when I was seven." She said, her voice devoid of emotion.

"I'm so sorry, Kate." Tony replied as he pulled back to fly abreast with her. "I had no idea."

"It's no matter. No need to dwell on the past." She took a deep breath before continuing. "Plus, SHIELD prefer their agents to be orphans with no familial connections. It makes things less complicated." Tony was about to respond when the sky suddenly darkened and a whooshing sound filled the air, followed by a loud crack of thunder.

"Here comes Fabio." Tony muttered before Thor flew by them, hammer in hand and pointed straight ahead.

"We better get a move one. We're almost there." Kate said as she increased her speed to catch up with the determined God of Thunder.

"Right oh, old girl." Tony mocked in his awful fake British accent. Kate just rolled her eyes and looked through a break in the clouds and down to the ancient city that lay beneath them, then gasped at what she saw. London was practically in ruins.

"Holy shit." Kate heard Tony mutter.

"You can say that again." Kate replied.

"Holy shit." He repeated. "And I thought the attack on NYC was bad." Kate stared down at the absolute chaos that was occurring in and around the streets of the city that had once been her home. Civilians were running in all different directions, trying to avoid the blasts from the Chitauris' guns, as well as the Chitauri themselves. Buildings were in flames or completely destroyed and lying in ruins. Smoke and terror filled the air and instantly Kate knew that this time was different. This was no Battle of New York. This was worse, much worse, and Kate had a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach, that victory would not come easily. If it came at all. Kate was suddenly pulled from her morbid thoughts by the sound of Tony yelling at her to watch out. Suddenly, out of nowhere a Chitauri on one of their signature hover crafts fired three shots straight at Kate's head. She barley managed to dodge them before she turned and returned fire, effectively knocking the alien off of his craft and down to the streets below. She was staring at her armor plated hand in awe when Tony flew up beside her and patted her on the back with a loud clank.

"Nice shooting, Katie." He commented as he turned to fire at an oncoming Chitauri. "You're a natural." Kate smiled weakly, even though she knew Tony couldn't see her face, and turned to follow him as he headed towards a large cluster of Chitauri a few blocks away. "You ready for this?" He questioned as they neared the aliens.

"You know it." She stated as confidently as possible. Tony flew right into the middle of the cluster of aliens and began firing his weapons in all directions, hardly ever missing a shot. Kate stayed further away and took out any strays Tony happened to miss and warned him when they tried to sneak up on him. After about fifteen minutes of nonstop fighting, the cluster seemed to be getting bigger, not smaller

"Where the hell did Thor fly off to?" He asked. "There are too many. We need backup."

"Knowing him, he probably went looking for Loki so he can try and talk some sense into him."

"Good luck to him." Tony scoffed as he fired his repulsor right at a Chitarui's face, blowing his head almost completely off.

"Speaking of Thor, where are the others?" Kate asked as she fired at an oncoming alien. "Fury hasn't even tried to contact us, which is odd in and of itself." Tony was about to respond when Fury's stern voice sounded over both of their comm systems.

"Stark. Poole. Do you copy?"

"Speak of the devil." Tony muttered before Kate spoke over him.

"Yes, sir." She responded.

"Have you reached London yet?" He questioned.

"Yes, sir," She began, "but there are too many of them to handle by ourselves. Where are the others?"

"About two minutes out. Get yourselves to high ground and wait for the rest of the team to meet up with you."

"Will do, sir." She replied before the connection ended. "Thank God." She muttered. "Come on, Tony. Lets get out of here."

"Right when I was just starting to have a little fun, Fury has to go and spoil it." He muttered as they shot higher in the sky and away from the horde of Chitauri soldiers. They landed on the roof of a tall building away from where most of the Chitauri were patrolling, and didn't have to wait long for the sound of a quinjet hovering overhead.

"Finally." Kate murmured in relief.

"Took them long enough." Tony complained as the jet landed beside them on the roof, Natasha and Clint in the cockpit. The back of the jet opened up and Steve hurried out, dressed in full regalia, followed by Tasha and Clint who were dressed for battle and armed to the teeth, and Bruce who was dressed simply in a loose pair of trousers and a shirt. As the others were exiting the quinjet, Thor came out of nowhere and landed on the rooftop beside them with a loud boom.

"Look who finally decided to join us." Tony said as he waved his hand in Thor's direction. "Where'd you fly off to, Blondie?"

"I went in search of my brother." Thor stated tiredly.

"Any luck?" Steve asked.

"No." Thor said, shaking his head. "My brother is most likely commanding his army from some hidden location, waiting for the opportune moment to make himself known."

"He could be anywhere." Clint muttered.

"Well, if I were a deranged, egotistical, power hungry god, I would probably station myself in the biggest and/or most important building in the city and watch the action from there." Tony stated.

"Of course you would." Kate muttered. "But, Tony, this is London. There are a lot of big and/or important buildings."

"Then let's split up and check all of them out." Natasha suggested. "Any suggestions, Kate?"

"A few." Kate said.

"Call it, Agent Poole." Steve said as the other Avengers turned to face her.

"Tony, why don't you take the Houses of Parliament." She stated and Tony nodded. "Thor, you check the Tower."

"Of which tower do you speak, Lady Kate?" Kate thought she heard Tony mumble something along the lines of "freakin' tourist" at Thor's question.

"The Tower of London." She said, but Thor still looked confused. "Tony? Will you show him on your way?"

"Sure thing, Katie." He said as he turned to face Thor. "Come on, Goldie Locks, lets go." He stated as both he and Thor shot into the air and headed towards their respective destinations. Kate turned to face the others again.

"Steve, you check out Westminster Abbey." Steve nodded. "Clint and Tash, why don't you both take Buckingham Palace." Both agents nodded sharply and headed back towards the quinjet, Steve in tow. "Thank God the Queen goes to Scotland at this time of year." She muttered as an afterthought.

"No kidding." She heard Bruce reply over the sound of the quinjet taking off. "What do you want me to do, Kate?" The scientist questioned.

"I want you to get very angry, Bruce." He nodded sadly. "Then I want you to take out any, if not all the aliens you can." She said as she prepared to depart.

"Where are you heading?" Bruce asked.

"I'm going to go check out St. Paul's Cathedral." She said as she shot into the air. She glanced back down to where Bruce was standing and saw that he was already changing into the Hulk with surprising speed. Kate then took a deep breath and made her way over the city of London and towards St. Paul's. When she was about a block away from the cathedral, she spotted something or someone standing at the very top of the domed structure and she knew instantly that it was Loki. She stopped and hovered for a moment, staring at the armor clad figure from a distance. Kate then took a deep, calming breath and spoke into her comm system.

"I found him." She stated haltingly.

"Where's he at?" She heard Tony reply.

"St. Paul's. On the roof." She said.

"I'm on my way, Katie." Tony stated. "Stay put and keep and eye on him till I get there. I'll get a hold of the others on my way."

"Will do." She muttered as the communication ended. She hovered for a moment longer and watched Loki, but when he turned to go inside, she swore under her breath.

"Guess I'm on my own." She muttered as she flew towards Loki at full speed.

Loki's cape swirled around him in a dark green flurry as he stood on the top of the domed roof of what the mortals called St. Paul's Cathedral. He stared out over the vast city and smiled at what he saw. His army was wreaking absolute havoc on the population of the ancient city of London and Loki couldn't have been happier. He had plans for this great city. He knew that the Avengers had arrived sometime ago and were trying to stop his army and protect the city, but Loki knew their effort was futile. Victory would be his this time. He could feel it. Just as he was turning to make his way back inside the cathedral, he caught a glimpse of something flying towards him with great speed. He smiled when he realized it was an armor clad human, just like the Avenger, Tony Stark, only this human appeared to be smaller and most definitely female.

"Ah, a new addition. Lovely." He stated maliciously as he fired his scepter at her. She dodged his shot, just barley, before raising her hands to return fire, hitting him square in the chest and effectively knocking him off his feet. He bounded to his feet with an undignified bellow and fired at her again. This time he didn't miss, and she fell from the sky and landed on the narrow walkway that circled the dome of the cathedral about three feet from where he was standing. She struggled to stand and he took the opportunity to stride towards her, lean down, and wrap his hand around her armor covered neck. He lifted her off the ground as she struggled against his grip.

"Did Fury honestly think a tiny slip of a woman like you could defeat me single handedly?" She suddenly stopped struggling and her body went limp, but right as Loki loosened his grip a fraction, she took advantage and fired one of her weapons right at his stomach. He let her go as he was knocked backwards, and before he could regain his balance completely, she fired another volley at him. Loki lost it. He threw his scepter to the ground and charged at the girl, tackling her to the ground.

"Enough!" He yelled at her masked face as she struggled beneath him. "I grow tired of this game." He stated menacingly as he reached for her mask. "I think it's time I saw the face of my opponent." He said as he ripped her metal mask from her face. The mask then slipped from his bloodless fingers and landed with a clink beside them when he saw who's face it had been hiding. "Kate?"