Golden Eyes

I was jamming out in my car swerving between traffic and singing at the top of my lungs with a smile plastered on my face with not a car in the world. Poor Steve next to me though was dying. “What is all this noise? Do they call this music?”
I almost slammed on my breaks in shock. My mouth dropped open as I stared at him for a moment before returning my eyes to the road so that we didn’t cause an accident. “Sweet Home Alabama is a classic! It’s-…Oh wait.” I thought about it for a moment for smiling again but this time sheepishly. “I forgot.”
I went shuffling through my glove compartment before producing a CD case. “This is more your speed. Pick one.”
He started looking through them smiling at certain CDs of songs and groups he remembered but he still looked confused. “What are these?”
“They’re CDs. They’re basically Vinyl’s but in a smaller size. Plus you can play them in the car, on a computer and in a DVD slot.” He held up his hand to get me to stop. “Yeah I still have trouble with all of those as well. But I’m working on it.”
I pulled my Audi into a parking garage and put it in park when we reached the top level. I opened my door and was immediately met with the sound of the jet starting up. I felt my eyebrows raise in question. What happened to the chopper we were going to take to look less conspicuous?
There was a faintest sound of a wind hitting clothing material and I sprung into action. I turned and blocked the on coming punch like it was all planned out in a movie. Dodging a kick to the face I swung my leg out to knock the attacker off their feet but they saw it coming and hopped up. We went at it for a few more moments before I caught their hand and ended up slamming the person into the floor holding them down.
“Okay okay you win!”
I chuckled letting her go. “Hello Natasha. Long time no see.”
She flipped herself up and smiled at me. Putting her arm around me she led me to the jet. “So, how was Austria?”
“Mission was a success. Package was safely delivered and the threat was eliminated.” She nodded in a approval with a smirk on her face. “What?”
“To think you used to be this scared little girl so long ago baffles me. Look at you now.” I grinned and could feel my face heat up with pride. I always felt good to be useful.
“Why are we taking the Quinjet by the way?”
“There was a change of plans.” Was all she said taking her arm from around me as Agent Coulson decended down the ramp to meet us. She nodded at him in acknowledgement and I did as well.
“Agent Carson, pleasure to see you again. All go well in Austria?”
“Phil, come on. You were there with me. You know exactly how it went.” I said laughing walking up the ramp to him. He smiled before looking over my shoulder and I almost smacked myself in the face.
I forgot about Steve being with me.
“Agent Romanoff this is Steve Rogers. Steve this is my good friend and battle buddy Natasha. And this old fool behind me is Agent Phil Coulson.” I felt something hit the back of my head and I had to hold in a chuckle because I was trying to be professional and serious.
He nodded his head at Natasha. “Ma’am.”
“Hi.” Was all she said raising her eyebrows at me in a suggestive manner. I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything because I’ve told her all about him and my time with them during the war.
“Are we all ready?” Coulson asked and I said a Sir yes sir comment which caused him to roll his eyes and walk back onto the jet without a word.
I offered Steve my arm and we walked side my side onto the craft sitting down next to each other and buckling ourselves in. He was really quiet and I wasn’t going to make him uncomfortable. The jet started to rise and soon we were on our way out into the middle of the ocean where I knew Headquarters was. Steve would occasionally ask me questions about what I did, how something worked, or other things but honestly I could feel the awkwardness rising in the craft. When we landed we couldn’t have done it soon enough. I was starting to wonder if Steve was still angry with me for something or what else I didn’t know. I wanted to ask but I was afraid of the answer.
The Quinjet landed down on a massive battleship known as the Helicarrier. It has two runways, one with direct access to a hangar at the rear that was aligned along the spine of the vessel. Agent Coulson and Steve walk down the ramp after Natasha. I hung back to relax my nerves a bit. Sitting so close to him after so long was hard.
I heard someone talking outside of the aircraft “They need you on the bridge. Face time.” And then came Coulson’s response of “See you there.” I walked out onto the ramp just as Agent Coulson walked away leaving Steve with Natasha who was walking towards the railing of the ship.

“There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?” Natasha asked as I walked up to stand beside her at the railing. The water was slapping against the side of the Helicarrier causing the waves to spray their water everywhere. I loved the sea and I never missed a chance to go out on it whenever my job allowed me to.

“Trading cards?” Steve asked in astonishment.

“They're vintage, he's very proud.” I said smiling at him as I started throwing my hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of my face. I looked away from Steve’s searching eyes to watch all the people bustling around the craft. We had started moving towards the bridge when I noticed Bruce Banner stumbling around looking lost and nervous. He’s moving around as people keep walking in his way.

“Dr. Banner.” Steve walked up to Banner and shakes his hands.

“Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming.” Banner said shaking his hand seeming to calm down just a tad. I nodded at Banner as he looked at me and nodded back. We’ve met briefly before but he always ends up running away in the end of whatever. He thinks he becomes untraceable but we always know where he is. Natasha was the one who had to go a recruit him this time and she wasn’t too happy. Honestly as quick and powerful as we were we were still merely human and he turned into the Hulk. The freaking Hulk with all his greenness and Godly strength. I was not planning on pissing him off ever in my lifetime.

“Word is you can find the cube.” Steve asked letting go of his hand. The Helicarrier swayed a little bit with the force of the ocean and I ended up taking a step towards Steve to keep myself from falling. He put his hands up to help me out but I was already taking that one step back. Banner went silent for a moment as he tried to calm himself down and steady himself as well.

“Is that the only word on me?” He asked taking a deep breath.

“Only word I care about.” I caught onto the sentiment in that one statement and Banner did as well. He smiled in gratitude and nodded.

“Must be strange for you, all of this.” He stated looking at Steve and then me. I nodded in agreement because I don’t care if I was awake when everything changed and Steve was asleep. This was all still a culture shock every time.

“Well, this is actually kind of familiar.”

“Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath.” Natasha said starting to walk again towards the bridge. Suddenly the Helicarrier started shaking as it prepares to fly, or rather "sail."
“Is this is a submarine?” Steve asked turning to me. I went to answer him but Banner cut me off sounding shocked.

“Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?” They both moved closer to the edge of the Helicarrier as four huge lift fans mounted on the sides begin to lift us into the air. Steve looks over to me in awe as Banner smiles. “Oh, no…this is MUCH worse.”

I chuckle and gentle squeeze his arm. “You’ll be fine Doc.”

I turn to walk away and motion to them with my head to hurry up and get going. Soon we were inside with the doors parting and we entered the bridge of the ship. ¬In flurry of activity, ¬dozens of agents sit in front of their view screens. Agent Hill was shouting her instructs to leave as we entered and all of us quickly turned to Nick Fury who was at the command chair.

“We're at lock, sir.” Hill said standing straight showing her command and authority. She was really just big softy on the inside. She winked at me as I walked over to stand at her side with my hands behind my back. I was in charge after her if anything was to happen.

“Good. Let's vanish.” Was all Fury said as he watched us rising over the water. Steve and Banner were walking through the glorious, gleaming bridge, as Fury got up taking his position at the science console. “Gentleman.”

Steve walks over to Fury and gives him 10 bucks, referring to his earlier statement about never being surprised again. I chuckled at Steve’s amazed face and he looked at me.

“This is what you do for a living now?” All I could do was smile and nod my head. Yes it was pretty damn amazing. I loved my job. How many people can actually say that? Fury walked over to Banner and extends his hand. Banner, reluctantly shakes it.

“Doctor, thank you for coming.”

“Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh... how long am I staying?”

“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear.”

“Where are you with that?” Nick Fury turned to Agent Coulson to explain, while Natasha eyes an image of Clint Barton on a computer screen. I had heard what happened and I knew we needed to help him out soon. Natasha and Clint were best friends so I knew she was dying to get out there and do something to help. But we do have our orders that we need to follow.

“We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us.” Coulson explained.

“That's still not gonna find them in time.” Natasha said in annoyance. I raised my eyebrow at her but she looked away.

“You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?” Spectro-what? Banner was looking at Fury and it looked like Fury knew exactly what he was talking about.

“How many are there?”

“Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?” Banner was already moving to the door to leave with expectancy.

“Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please.” Natasha nodded and walks off, leading Banner down the hall.

“You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys.” I could hear the excitement in her voice and I could only shake my head. When I looked up Fury was looking at me expectantly as well.

“Sir?”

“Please escort Mr. Rogers to his living quarters Agent Carson.”

“Yes, Sir.” I nodded and looked at Steve beckoning him to follow me. I took him through a few corridors and soon we stopped in front of his door. I pushed a button and the metal door slid open to reveal a nice spacious room with a King sized bed, a view of the water outside, a bathroom with a huge bath tube that also doubled as a Jacuzzi, a living room area with a TV attached to the wall and a walk in closest. Everything in one large room, well two if you included the bathroom.

“And here you are Captain.” I said moving out of the way from him to look inside.

“How am I supposed to find my way around this place?” He asked in wonder taking it all in. I just shrugged.

“You could either do what we all did and just randomly walk around till we find what we need or just call for me on the intercom over there. My code to reach me is 93. It will go straight to my phone and I’ll come straight over to help escort you to wherever it is you need to go to.”

I turned to leave the room when he called out my name and I stopped. “Vanessa, where do you stay?”

“On the corridor just above you. If you need me, just give me a call. I wouldn’t mind putting on my resume how I helped out Captain America in his time of need.” I winked at him as I left with the door closing behind me but not before I saw a small blush grace is tan skin. Yep, I still got it!

And with that I walked away with a little bit more bounce in my step.