Vanish • The Avengers

twelve

Everyone was listening to Fury brief Loki on his situation. Some didn't even look at the screen, but others were watching intently.
Beau sat at one of the chairs, hugging her legs, resting her head on her knees in exhaustion. She heard all of Fury's words, all of Loki's replies. Subconsciously, it scared the shit out of her to think that Loki was on the helicarrier with them. Regardless, she had faith that Fury knew what he was doing.

"Well, you let me know if Real Power want a magazine or something."

With that, the monitor went black, and the ones who were watching retracted from the screen.
Beau eyed Thor, not turning her head. He looked torn apart. Everything Loki had said was utterly insane. He was a psychopath. Beau couldn't imagine what it'd be like to have a sibling like that.
Everyone else was silent, equally stunned.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner said, breaking the silence.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve said, on a more serious note.

Thor, seeming to have been broken from his thoughts at the sound of his name, thought more before answering.
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army? From outer space?" Steve said, stunned.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner added.

"Selvig?" Thor perked up.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

Natasha broke her silence. "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours."

"But," Beau started, and everyone turned to her. "Why did Loki let us take him? He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him." Banner said, seemingly proud of his comment.

"Have care how you speak," Thor said, "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Beau said looking down, then turning her head to look at Thor.

"He's adopted."

Beau held in an eye roll. What does that have to do with anything?
She picked at the dirt underneath her fingernails, still there from the day before, even after washing them. She thought of what they had said. Alien army, from space, that was going to take over the world. She knew they were powerful, and with Thor, even more. But how the hell were they supposed to beat that?

She also thought of the previous day itself. Her first mission. She couldn't put words to what it felt like, helping people. She realized, as well, that she saved that old man's life. She couldn't decide if she thought he was being foolish or brave, but she saved him nonetheless.

Even after that, when Loki was taken by Thor, and he was fighting Tony; she felt like she wasn't questioned. For her age and appearance, specifically. When she landed on the ground in front of Thor after jumping of the jet, it made for a rather dramatic entrance. But she didn't feel shy. She felt powerful. And she didn't feel small compared to Thor or Captain, despite her age. She felt just as strong as them.

***

Beau was wandering the halls of the helicarrier, as everyone had retreated to their own matters. Surprisingly, she was bored. An Avenger was bored. She then remembered they had what was basically enemy #1 on the ship, and decided it wouldn't hurt anyone if she talked to him. She was curious about him, and he was certainly curious about her, too.