ᴛʀᴏᴜᴠᴀɪʟʟᴇ | 𝐖. 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐅𝐅 [ ɪ ]

| ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ |

The only sounds heard in the Quinjet on the ride back to the Avengers tower were Clint's soft groans and the quiet whirring of the engine. Sage's thoughts were plagued with the dark-haired girl she had met back at the fortress. Had she been born with her powers the way Sage always assumed she had, or did she get them from Loki's scepter? Why was she working for HYDRA? And what had she meant when she said Tony ruined her life? These questions and a million more ran through her mind as she sat down in front of Clint, staring blankly at him. Nat's voice soon broke her out of her thoughts.

"Thor, report on the Hulk?"

"The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims," said Thor proudly, raising a fist. Bruce groaned softly, putting his face in his hands and Nat glared at him. "But not the screams of the dead, of course. No, no, uh, wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining, and tales of sprained deltoids and, uh... gout," Thor corrected himself immediately before turning away in embarrassment.

"Nice save, big guy," said Sage, chuckling softly as she shook her head before sparing a guilty look in Clint's direction. She still wasn't over that.

"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?" asked Tony from the cockpit.

"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around," said Bruce, putting a momentary pause on his moping before going back to staring at the floor.

"Thanks," said Tony before mumbling something to Jarvis and walking over to the scepter. "Feels good, yeah? I mean, you've been after this thing since S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties-"

"That I wasn't invited to," grumbled Sage under her breath. Was she a little bitter that she hadn't been present at these aforementioned raiding parties? Yes. Had she been taking every opportunity to express this bitterness to the Avengers simply to annoy them? Also yes.

"No, but this... this brings it to a close," smiled Thor.

"As soon a we find out what else this has been used for. I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?" Steve reminded him.

"Do we have any information on the two enhanced we met today?" asked Sage, perking up. She wasn't doing a very good job at hiding her curiosity about enhanced boy and girl.

"No, but I've already asked Maria to try and dig up whatever she can find on them," Steve assured her.

"Anywho, Banner and I will give it a once over before it goes back to Asgard. Is that cool with you?" Tony asked Thor. "Just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels," affirmed Thor.

"Yeah, who doesn't love revels?" said Tony dismissively. "Captain?"

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and Hydra. So, yes, revels," said Steve, smiling slightly.

Sage watched this interaction thoughtfully, wondering if this would be something she would be allowed to attend seeing as she was a) new to the team, and b) not of the legal age to drink yet. In all honesty, she wouldn't have minded if she wasn't invited, seeing as she didn't really do all that well in social situations, but she had heard good things about Tony's parties from the rest of the team, and a part of her wanted to know what all the fuss was about. So, she decided to test the waters by speaking up. "Well, I'm not really that into revels, so I'll just..."

Tony scoffed. "You're coming."

"Wouldn't miss it," said Sage, grinning.

The rest of the flight was pretty quiet. Clint was still unconscious and Bruce was still moping, so that sort of put a dimmer on what would have been a more cheerful atmosphere due to the fact that they had finally acquired Loki's scepter. Sage was pretty sure she had fallen asleep at one point, she just didn't remember actually doing it. It was almost as though she had blinked for twenty minutes. When they reached the Avengers Tower, Nat and some of Dr. Cho's assistants promptly rushed him off to the lab and Maria walked into the jet.