Sophia Holmes and the Invasion of Earth (Avengers Fanfic) *Completed*

Chapter Four

Stark flies me back to the 'Quinjet' as he calls it while Thor takes Loki and the Captain.

It would appear they've reached some kind of agreement that I'm on their side and so they allow me to remain unbound on the flight and to come with the once we've docked onto the 'hellicarrier' - something only comparable to a military base and runway like you would find on the water, but this one is considerably larger and hovers 30,000 feet above the ground. Seeing as I'm not particularly good with heights, especially at the moment, I remain inside.

"Miss Holmes, I had heard they brought you in." They've seated me inside a lab while another man I haven't met before works on Loki's sceptre. I look up at the sound of the voice and see a tall man dressed entirely in black with a black eyepatch over one eye - like a pirate. Dad always loved pirates.

I shake the thought from my head and look back at the man. "Have we met?"

"Not personally," he says, walking forwards. "Thank you Doctor Banner," the other man in the room looks round, square glasses down low over his nose.

"Oh - you want me to go?" he asks, stumbling over his words as he talks quickly. "Yeah sure." My eyes follow him out of the room and Banner closes the door behind him.

"I know your uncle, on the other hand. He gave me access to your file and recommended you join S.H.I.E.L.D. I hear your IT skills are exceptional and you're pretty handy in single-combat too, am I right?"

So it would appear dad wasn't the only one to have his lifestory sold by Mycroft. I give a small nod, unsure where this is going.

"I know your skills with perception and know you've spent some time with our prisoner. What do you make of him?"

"He's not a bad person," I say slowly and go to continue but the agent interrupts me.

"I'd have to disagree, Miss Holmes. In just the few days he's been here he's killed eighty agents and kidnapped another two."

"But he's being controlled by someone himself! Some guy called Thanos - ever heard of him? That's the real threat here, not Loki."

"You might want to watch saying things like that, Miss Holmes," he warns. "Someone may think you're  still on his side." He turns and heads out the door and I sit quietly for a moment, thinking it over. Like most people, he only wanted to hear my opinion if it was the same as his own.

Doctor Banner walks back into the room smiling nervously. "Don't let Fury get to you - he's like that with everyone."

"I'm used to it," I smile in return.

"Oh, I'm Bruce by the way - Bruce Banner."

"Sophie Holmes," I reply, meeting Banner's extended hand. Banner's eyes drift upwards as we shake and I turn to see what's caught his attention.

Loki is being escorted down the corridor outside by at least a dozen guards and smiles at us as he passes, nodding courteously.

"You know that guy, huh?"

"We met briefly in Stuttgart," I confirm. "Mainly consisted of him controlling me with that thing," I point to the sceptre, "but it's easy enough to break." Banner nods in understanding and the lab door opens again.

"Hi Banner," Agent Romanoff says, walking inside. "Mind if I borrow Miss Holmes for a bit?"

"Sure Nat - I mean, it's up to you Sophie."

"Yeah, sure," I say, standing up and following Romanoff back out.

"We didn't meet proper on the jet," she says, leading me down the corridor in the opposite direction to where they were taking Loki. "I'm Agent Natasha Romanoff but feel free to call me Nat - most people do. But call me Tasha and I might kill you." I glance over at her and see her smiling so I laugh.

"I'll bare that in mind!"

"Fury's asked me to let you shadow me for a bit so we're going to get you fixed up and go back to the lab to watch Loki's interrogation," she explains and I nod in understanding, aware that I'm still dressed in the same torn dress. "He also said we had a lot in common: what's your skill set?"

"Digital skills mostly - hacking, things like that - but also basic self-defence and weapons training."

"Preferred weapon?"

"Pistol."

She nods. "Good girl. I'll train with you later, test your different strengths and maybe even try you with different weapons."

"Sounds good," I say as we arrive outside Nat's room. She unlocks it and leads me through to her wardrobe.

"You're around the same size as me so you shouldn't have too much trouble with these," she says, revealing a wardrobe full of tight-fitting body suits - only slightly tougher than a catsuit. "Get dressed and I'll meet you in the briefing room when you're done."